AMERICAN NATURALIST,

NATRON

AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

EDITED BY
A. S. PACKARD; Jr, arp EDWARD D. COPE.
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Dr. ELLIOTT COUES, DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS.
ProF. O. T. MASON, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY.
ELLIS H. YARNALL, DEP. OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS
Dr. R. H. WARD, DEPARTMENT OF MICROSCOPY

VOLUME XIII.
sq -$00d ene,

ri ieee

HILADELPHIA:
bib ans OF OCALA & STAVELY,
JOS. 237 AND 239 Dock STREET. `

a

CONTENTS.

On Certain Contri for Cross-fertilization in Flowers. .. 1% E. Todd... see es t
Curious Aboriginal Customs. . s. » s s se ea E e A pe WM i a eu 6
Notes on a Lost R mat SW ie ora Ma ss ete ek Mi: Patten ee 8
The Gemmule vs. a Pa as a Ultimate ee Unit
= AGRE an ie a e eee eo to - . » John A, Ryder ee: |
tion of Water y the Leaves of Plants........ ed W. Bennett.. s... 20
The 1 Breeding Boble of tie Eel. coco bk i eis a ee at: Ss. n, Fi. 26
A Sketch of New Zealand with Pen and Pencil. . Cy Ress So. ew a BS
Notes on the Manufacture of Pottery among Sansa aaa - Ch. Pred. Harth. ac 6 6 os 78
Seeds of the Violet and other Plants as Projectiles. > . . 1... Moses N. Elrod. ..... . 93
Lustinet and Reasta gc Ss oss ci ce cles eae k AT S SONRA Ea
The Discovery of “ artie oai E din in the District of
Colm E NO Ans W. F. Hoffman... o as 108
Remarks on Fossil Shells e he Colorado Desert Par eae Te | Robert E. + Ge Slaw’, Sea Bae
The Distribution of the Nort can Flor By Ser ee Dalten Hooker... . 155
The Origin of the Specialne RR pry sh Sng vith dee i Cope. ee ie SER
Grief inthe Cimento. ch. aos cae ewe ‘ ee A DA E ee
Experiments with Pyrehr r roseum in t Kiling Insects. . + WOE Carpenter Ceea O
Valentine . KERE BN. 6 0 O E A Rs A ole ate ete Y r
Ani abani Muai, iar Babies nad roa es es

The Artificial Mounds of the Island of Mara, Brazil.» , ár o» Orville A. Derby... oo + 224
Native — — the Pitch Lake of Trini Ci

Notes o ve Deposit of ase ig in ya Fion
Wm. IK Holmes. vs 0 6s 249

Nation vik a a

e Destructive Nader of ee Bosit Sponge, with Observa-
pub on its Gemmules or Eggs... - . - nais « Gums A. Ryder... ‘ew DN
The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic e. ee oa checks = Persifor shat re yd ee
On Unsymmetric Arrow-heads and Allied Fo ee ee eae oe ay Oe
Examination of Indian Graves i ester county, Pennsylvania HF 7 graria T
Notes on Some Fishes of are Mes sek WN: Lockington. . 6 5c om
mins Hartt on the — Sandstone Reefs . Richard Rathbun... .. . 347
& Bird Biogtaphy . os 6 6k ee Ci. Sea E Lockwood... «+ 359

On the Morphology of te ‘Semicircular Canals . Cie ok eae a POTS DIE So se
Boll .

g A PEN . ¥ Boll oes oa es

Phe at Saetis an a ¥ WN 1 Selection in Plants. . . . . Robert Sie e a y R
A Speculation on Protoplasm.. . . . <s >.» ees eo o o Persie? Pras, Fr... : .

‘The Fertilization of Several Species ot Lobelia. .... - 3 liam Trel -s 4f

Contribution to the Zod! Of Moutenh., ss vik Skee se ES. 5k as se OR

Adjectives of Color in Indian es ee ke ANTT D CORIO a aaa ATS

he Habits of a Tarantula.. . .... <<a Se E Tre se eb ee M3

The Formation of Cape Cod . Warren Upham.. . . . 4895 552

The Geological Museum of the cue of jini, Columbia ‘Col.
Pet A. gaa os we NN ee ee T
cbs amie ae ea Se

Bincitian Corali ani Caii Reefs .
bie em or Mcdnd-Evrthartenh of Šai Diego, ‘Calica . G. r
‘Ins ` o, ia a os:
An Account of a New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods . aie oo Ryder... 00s 60:
Microscopical Fungi Infesting our r Cereals. wi Barbet. o ONS Ore

$l

P ae

iv Contents.

Freshwater Entomostracta .... 0.4050. 5 6 sane ss Shee. week Ga ee ae eae: G20

Notes on the Thrushes of ‘Wastngton Ferriby. sso «ce pe On Aes Ds Ce es - 629
The Leather Turtle. . ... RRS RCS pe eg eer bh PORE POI ee on Pace cs 633
Were they: Moundsbatlders fog a is ok ae es EH ORD gn gest as a E 637
How our a rs in the Sis Azé Made their Implements. . B. B. Redding........ 667
Colorno SIRI ee eS Se Pa enw UG ae a eee . . haac C. Martindale... . . 675
Mold as an baad IONOV as boa eG e Sse eee are Ny C. G. Siewers . Bee kn OR
Notes on Pacific Coast F thes GHA PREE 06 5 ache coe eS W. N. Locklagion Baru era - 684
The Fertilization of our Native PR gs Clitoria and Centro-
E a ee Ay Maes yl Ses ia TV LATO DP CLER EE Son ea, ORO
Archeology a the Changlais Valley hs DEE Ge mee he «Geo. H; Pee kihs s s a ae = 758
The Origin of the Domestic Animals. ....... . G. De Mortillet. ... e «+ + J47
Hissceical “Sket h of the Science p Botany in North Aresa
M3056 10-2840 n a a wae A pee E E CARTE ia REE A T r)

RECENT LITERATURE.
Sars’ Molluscan Fauna of Arctic Norway; 30; Smithsonian Report A 1877, 32; Palæontologi-
al Report of the Princeton Scientific Expedition of 1877, 32; Packard’s Guide to the Study of
oxious Insects of Illinois, 34; Lockyer’s Guillemin’s Forces of Nature,

B
rt a the Uni Gogh Survey, F. V. Hayden in charge, 120 ;
t msto

=
&
as
na
D
pg
z
8
a
S
B
w
8
°
g
A
g
y
a. f
De
R
og
o
i?)
z
°
5%
2
a
o
<
2
$
3
%
S
t
@
a
5
’

orway, 7 Mc
314; Waterton’s Wanderings in South America, 315; Recent Books and Pamphlets, 316; Web-
ster’s Annelids of the Virginian coast, 385; Rutley’s Study of TS 385; T s Se tribu-
tions to American Helminthology, 386; Scientific Raie of the l Labora
rt o f éoriatesttin of the Geological Survey of Posse fe

oan tagio. 515; ten Ornithology, 516; Recent Books and Pamphlets, 519; Miers’ Crus-
of C and Japan, 575; Bronn’s Classes ran Orders of the Animal Kingdom, 577;
mais aaa oad of Scleneh and point. 578; Recent Books and P lets. 578; Geo- a
logical Survey of Indiana, 644; Hyatt’s Common Hydroids, Corals and Echinoderms, 645;
— eased Pamphlets, — Clark’s Anatomy and Physiology of the Lucernarie, 692;
Rec d Pamphlets, 696; Pagenstecher’s General Zodlogy, 772; Harvard Library d
Ca aa free Seri sil. 772: Zittel sH k of a 73; ; Miss Ballard’s Insect Lives,
774; Graber’s Insects, 774; feen Books and stot ay ets, =
d

gee Horik
APEE of an Inconspicuous on with Proterogynous Dichogainy i in Insect-

eck tin s, 39; Botanical News, 40;

Nectar ied 124; ical News, 125; a N

èrmän, f Ara aare 138; The Ta r of Stam
Ring, 256; I i a sip

Leaves of Sanson PR 319: Davenport's s Caas of th
Goodale’s Co a few Common

oncerning a
‘News, 391; The Mutual R greoa hin Flowers and the I
451, Botani » AS2;
tilization of Symplocarpus shen $86 ; Bota:
tae 47; Bees Ga

| Wistaria; 648 ; Humbl
—— Porn:
—

Contents. v

gestion, 700; Botanical Notes, 70r; The Sea-weeds of Salt Lake, 7or; Botanical News, 703; On
the eat of Badodeiieen: oarba, 777; The Twining of the Stems of the erik Bind-
weed, etc., 778; Botanical News, 779.
Zootogy.—On the Origin of Bilateral Symmetry and the Numerous Segments of the Soft wiped
of Fishes, 41; Some New Points in the Construction of the Tongues of Woodpeckers, 43; Am

Habits of the Dace, 321; Large Salant.

Lecanium of the Tulip Tree, 324; Molting of the Horned Toad, ab: SEE ise eana
392; The Westward b oiri of the Imported Cabbage- one 393; Parthenogenesis in the
Honey-bee, 393 ; The Anatomy of the Rea Apes, 304; Ona Difference between the Rana
esculenta and other species of ORNS 395 ; Strange Habitat t of a Barnacle ma a a Pike,
453; Animal Music, 454; Shedding of the Trachez in the Molting of Insects, 454; hrys-
alids in the same Cocoon, 455 ; New Deep-sea Fishes, 455; To Prevent Grease fro: bhi ae the
Plumage of Birds, 456 ; Another Siredon, 456 ; Lota maculosa in the Susquehanna river, ced Hab-
its of the Red-headed Woodpecker, 522; Fish Notes from the Pacific coast, 522; Notes on the
Apple-worm, pu Does the Snowy Owl a in the United States, 524; Double-headed aaia.

52s; Amia calva, ; Habits of Ants, 525; A Poisonous Centipede, 527; Does the Fox Snake
“ mimic” oe Rattlesnake? 582; Breeding a Laridecked. naiean, so; Notes on American Crus-
tacea, 584; 85 ; The Maiod Crabs, e
The Rocky poner See n New Mex S os: Zoöl ogical Notes, g i. The Spade-foot Toad

New Haven, Conn., 651; The Shedding of ihe Trachez and Double Cocoons, 652; Relations of re
Ctencphora to the jelly Faka. 652; Swimming Polypes in Deep Water, 653; : sesh re of a Saw-
nes

705; Diaa veness of Poire Seming Curious Habit of the English Sparrow, 706;
ries, 706 Ant, 707; otes i

Horned Owl, 783; Note the ae of geese americanus Coues = econ,
1

logy. —

Sculptures, 191; Anthropological News, = The Porat Lae Congress of Anth cael
Sciences held in Connection with one Universal Exposition at Paris, August 16-21, 1878, cal
List of some Anthropological Catalogues of the Fari eeprom, 1878, ; Ant! ,
News, 268; Perforated Skulls, 327; Exhuol aA nE , 327; Crania as eta
Urns in the Mounds of Ohio, 328; Anthro ui News. 28, 396, 457; Mastodon, Mammoth
and Man, 527; Archzology at St. Louis Boy Puce: 527: gitar ee Stones and i
528 ; Iron Axes, 528; ee News, Laps =. 656; Prehistoric BER ts of the Riv-
ers Coyote and G 715; Anthropolog oa Sek 716, 787.

Geology and Paleontology- —Extinct M ad. of Oregon, 131 ; The Necks of the Saurop-—

h € i

ineral Wax in Utah, 197; Merycopater and Hoplophoneus, 197; The Nature of Eozoön, 197:
The Age of the Laramie, 197; On the Occurrence of a Solid E bon in the e pas ESN ;

of New E Bay z — udson River our at Pou ag ; The Ge 1270;
Dawson on Eoz Ge f Perissodactyla, 2 age ga ADEN s of FENKE
gia, om: ; Muschelkalk coon ia Idaho, an; The Geol Geological Survey of a Zealand, 330; The
Amyzo: Vertebrata, Sting Ray from the Green |

ttiary » 332;
River Shales of Wyoming, 333; American Aceratheria, 333; The Lower Jaw of Loxolophodon,

vi Contents.

334; The Tertiary Eruptive Rocks, 399; New Jurassic Dinosauria, vo A Peculiar Cave in
Utah, 460; The Babna Basin, 462; A New Anchitherium, 462 ; A Decade of Dogs, 530; Classi-
fication of Rocks, 531; Geological and Palzontological News, 532; A cake e New Genus
of Giant Sloths, 590; A New Species of Coelodon, 592; Devsan of the Trilobites, 659;
Geological Monee, 719; The Cave Bear of California, 791.
Geography and Travels —Unknown Africa, 51; African Exploration, 51; Summ of the
Field Work Pe the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Sesrititice under
rof, F. V. Hayden, dering the — ca ass 55; Geographical News, 56; The Swedish Arc-
tic Expedition, 132 ; l Society. President’s Annual Address, 199; Obit-
uary, 201; The Dutch Arctic Hhipedition , 271; The Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition, 272;
Geographical News, 273; African Exploration, 334, 404 ; Geographical Professorships, 463 ; Geo- .
; The Slave Trade in Cent i k i ;,

pria alan of the British ocat 793

+ 7033 hical News, 724; The eed ache Tadia 791; Proceedings of the a
Mic opy.—Removal of Air from Microscopic Specimens, 57 ; Limits of Accuracy in Mea i
h ake :

j

man Blood,
Microscopical Societies, zor; American Quart yee Microscopical Journal, 202; ait of a Micro-
i ; Spring Clips, 202; On a Standard for T Pett American Society
meri S

f Lake Water, $ ;
595; The Microscope in Entomology, 595; e Mandibles of ‘Ants worn Blunt by use, 596;
American Quarterly Microscopical Journal, 596, American Society j Microscopists, 662;
American Association for es Advancement of Science, 663 ; The Postal N l Club, 724;
A New Local Club, 725; West Chester Philosop hical Society, 725; alta Be Laboratory
796; Trichina spiralis, A Removal, 796; Ernst Gundlach, 797.

SCIENTIFIC Wey 6o, 138, ay 274, 340, 409, 467, 535, 596, 725, 798. :
Proc 63, 205, 277, 345» 410, 473, 537 602, 664, 730, 799. 3

RO 3 23 4/7 t33 331)

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS, 64, 208, 278, 346, 410, 474, 538, 602, 730, 801.

Ai aae
tet ete o E

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xi. — JANUARY, 1879. — No. 1.

ON CERTAIN CONTRIVANCES FOR CROSS-FERTILI- ©
ZATION IN FLOWERS.

BY PROF. J. E. TODD.

INCE the first announcement of the principle of cross-fertili-

zation, by Darwin, many most interesting and instructive
examples have been na and published, but the field is by no
means exhausted.

Some ingenious contrivances for cross-fertilization are charm-
ingly described by Prof. Gray in his little work “ How Plants
Behave,’ which he published a few years since as earnest of a
larger work, which, we hope, may be soon forthcoming. One as
wonderful as any is the Iris. His description applies nearly
‘equally well to any species of that beautiful genus. His figure,
perhaps, is open to slight criticism; the pistil is too erect and the
stigma, therefore, too high above
the sepal to illustrate its function
to the best advantage. The posi-
tion given is sometimes observed
after the pistil is fertilized, but before
that the pistil turns down so close
to the sepal that a large bee in
entering must touch the stigma
with his back, which has been pow-
dered with pollen while working
in some previously visited flower
(Fig. 1). Not stopping, how-

well stated before, I would simply Aah a ae portion of an k
ye call attention to one p2int which I isis Bower. a, stigma. a
~ think is worthy of mention, viz: the pieaiikei am of the

VOL. XIIL—NO. I

2 5 ” Cross-Pertilia sation in Flowers. [January,
sepal. Is it not well adapted for tripping the smaller insects, or
raising them, so that they shall hit the stamen and stigma, forcing
them by increased activity, or by their walking on its top, to com-
pensate for lack of size? In this arrangement of parts in the
Iris we have the main features of a plan which is traceable in
many other flowers.
Strangely enough uoy irregular oe eara seem to
copy this regular p
in its method of cross-fertiliza-
tion. This is especially true of
Martynia proboscidea Glox., the
unicorn plant. The general form
and structure of the flower is -
shown in the figures. The
lower petal forms a broad plat-
form upon which the bee
alights. As it enters the tube
(which I believe is broader be-
fore fertilization, the roof rising
Fic.. 2.—Side view of Martynia ro- as the corolla fades), it first
biecheteds: ` (Natural size.) A
brushes the lower lip of the _
stigma, Fig. 3 a, then while getting the nectar at the bottom of ~
the tube its back is dusted by the anthers. As it withdraws, the — ;
|
:

Ae
N a ATTA tet rye
= i

uy thy

Bee eee

flexible lobe of the pistil, like a valve, allows the pollen to pass
without touching the stigma,
which is on its upper or inner
surface. This lower lobe is
very sensitive before fertiliza-
tion, during which time it hangs
nearly vertical. In the case ot}
a flower kept for examination,
as soon as it was touched with
; a mass of pollen it rose toward
E E e e ARE
flexible lobe of stigma as its motion was very perceptible.

In the Penstemons (my obser-

vations are mainly upon one species, P. >, glaucus [?] Grah 3, we

oe snag Se ane on.

_ Central Nebraska. The species was not familiar to me: I made a hasty sketch a
the flower as given. Certain notes of the characters of the plant were taken, but not
- enough to decisively distinguish it from the many species of the same = IC
gin n that —

1879. ] Cross-Fertilization in Flowers. $ 3

have another slight variation of the plan. The corolla tube is
broad and large. On the upper side are the four anthers in two
pairs, and above them, or back of them, the pistil with undivided
stigma. Before the anthers discharge their pollen the -style is
straight lying close to the upper side of the tube. While the
pollen ripens and is dis-
charging, the style elon-
gates, and its end, after
passing the longer sta-
mens, turns abruptly
downward. ‘This position
is not usually taken till
the pollen is all gone

from the flower. This” Fic. 4. — Penstemon glaucus (?).. Side view.
arrangement brings the (Natural size) 7

stigma right in the way of any insect entering the flower, and
scrapes from it the pollen it
may have. received from
some neighboring flower in
which the stamens are dis-
charging pollen.

Fic, §.—Cross-sections of the same. a, Fic, 6.—Front view of the _
staminate stage; 4, pistillate stage. same after discharge of pollen. —
The following table, showing relative development of pistil and :
stamens in P, glaucus, gives full authority for the above state- _
ments: ` i

: Anthers discharged Partly discharged. Closed.
Pistils strange ee isi csc se a, o 7 2

1. cared eS iis 21 17 pho

It is to be regretted that the degree of curvature of the pisti :

was not more carefully noted; it may be said, however, that

4 Cross-Fertilization in Flowers. [ January,

generally it was considerably less when the pollen was partially
discharged, than when it was entirely discharged.

We see very clearly, therefore, how the later development of
the pistil with the curving of the style in this case accomplishes
the same end as the flexible bi-lobed stigma placed in front of the
stamens, as in the Martynia.

It is very interesting to find in the lower side of the tube, in
the Penstemon, the fifth stamen, which is sterile and bristling
with hairs, serving the same purpose, apparently, as the crested
sepal in the Iris.

In the Gladiolus a relation of pistil to stamens is found similar

to that in the Pe Penstemon, while in several of the Ladiate we find -

both the valve-like arrangement of the stigma and the later
lengthening and bending of the style.

In Lobelia syphilitica L., as probably in all the Lobelias, we find
a very different arrangement, but accomplishing the same result,
viz: cross-fertilization of the plant.

The corolla is monopetalous and two-lipped, the lower lip con-
sisting of three petals and the upper of two. Between the latter
is a slit extending to the base of the tube. The five stamens are
free from the corolla and united, their anthers and upper parts of
the filaments forming a tube; or it may be said, the anthers com-
bining, form a com-
mon cell for the pol-
len, which opens by a
pore at its apex. Qn
the lower margin of
the pore are many
short stiff hairs, which
at first project across
the pore closing it,

Fic. 7 — Lobelia syphgfitica L.,
in the staminate stag. ripe they turn abruptly
a, side view, vie size; 0, eres downwards and leave
view, do. ; c, stamens, do.;
til, dó.; 4 stigma, E a p it open. There is only

front view of d ; & pollen cell; ae ‘ :
A, longitudinal st of do. one pistil, which is

r EN ue as tet E. BC Bee

but when the pollen is a

armed near the end of
we style with a collar of short stiff hairs, similar in size and _
_ character to those on the anthers just mentioned. The end of the .
style with its hairs forms the bottom of the pollen-cell before _

1879. ] Cross-Fertilization in Flowers. 5

described. We have, therefore, the stigma shut up with the pol-
len in the same cell. “ A capital arrangement for se/(fertiliza-
tion,” one says. Nay, not too fast! The stigma is composed of
two fleshy lobes, its receiving surface being on their inner surface.
And they are closed firmly together, so that the end of the pistil
looks like a closed mouth with its lips firmly pressed together.
| With its bristly collar it reminds one of Jack-in-a-box, with an
unusually “ stiff upper lip.”

This combined pistil and stamens is S-shaped, and when the
flower opens, it springs through the slit on the upper side of the
corolla and stands with the tip of the pollen-cell just behind the
upper lip of the corolla, vide Fig. 7 a. The front view of the
same is given in Fig. 7 6. Sometimes there is no trace of the
stamens seen from the front; but if an insect tries to enter, the
slit between the petals opens, the hairs of the anthers strike his
back, and as he forces his way in, they
produce a jarring of the pollen-cell which
freely sprinkles the pollen upon him.

As the pollen escapes it is kept up to
the pore by the pressure caused by the
gradual lengthening of the style. The
hairy collar acting like a swab, sweeps the
cell clean. When all the pollen is gone,
the style, continuing its growth, pushes the

through between the upper petals. The
end of the style then comes downward, Fie. 8.— Zobelia aspir
the lips of the stigma open and roll back ica in the pistillafe np oe a,
as though turning inside out. This ex- “¢f Mec aai erer Spa
poses the whole surface of the stigma to be stigma, enlarge ea
covered with pollen from the back of the first insect which comes
from a flower discharging pollen. So the cross-fertilization is
beautifully accomplished. |

These entertaining structures present some very suggestive —
ideas. We are impressed with the importance of cross-fertiliza-
tion in the economy of nature, but why it should be of any
advantage who can tell? We readily see that in several of these _
cases cross-fertilization between flowers upon different roots is likely
to be quite rare. In Martynia such fertilization may be quite —
frequent, as there are comparatively few flowers open at once, but

ia

6 Curious Aboriginal Customs. [January,

in Gladiolus, Penstemon, Labiate, etc., there are many flowers on
the same root at the same time, presenting the various stages of
advancement. The chances are strongly in favor, therefore, of
their being fertilized by pollen from flowers on the same root. In
the Iris, notwithstanding its elaborate structure to secure cross-
fertilization, it is quite probable that a particular pistil will be fer-
tilized by the pollen from a stigma of the same flower.

While, therefore, we may admit that these contrivances may be
to render a little more frequent the transfer of pollen to ovules
on different plants, yet it impresses the thought upon us that each
flower (and in the Iris each ¢hird of what is commonly called a
flower) is a distinct vegetable unit. Therefore separate plants,
as they are commonly called, like their marine mimics, the Hy-
droids, would be colonies, composed of hundreds or even thou-
sands of phytons.

One more lesson, which we find given in the following admira-
ble words of Prof. Gray:

“ Now, no matter whether or not the flowers themselves, with all
these structures, have been perfected step by step, through no
matter how longa series of natural stages—if these structures

: and their operations, which so strike the mind of the philosopher

no less than of the common observer, that he cannot avoid call-
ing them contrivances, do not argue intention, what stronger
evidence of intention in nature can there anywhere possibly be?
If they do, such evidences are countless, and almost every blos-
som brings distinct testimony to the existence and providence of
a Designer and Ordainer, without whom, we may well believe,
not merely a sparrow, not even a grain of pollen may fall.”

:0:
CURIOUS ABORIGINAL CUSTOMS.

BY W. J. HOFFMAN, M.D.

(NNE of the most singular and wide-spread customs practiced

\ by the aborigines of North America, was that of cutting off
the nose of the woman found guilty of adultery. In a previous
article in the NATURALIsT,! several tribes were referred to as hav-

ing practiced this mode of mutilation—one or two of them to
_ within recent times. Since the publication of that paper, I have _
_ met with various references upon the same subject, which may .
be of sufficient interest to enumerate. The earliest notice of the =

1 Am, Naturalist, xii, 1878, pp. 560-562.

1879. ] Curious Aboriginal Customs. 7

execution of this punishment dates back to the year 1660, when
the Jesuit Fathers first penetrated the then extreme North-west.
The informant says, in a letter to Father Claude Boucher, that
the Nadouechiouec (Dakotas) cut off the cartilaginous portion of
the nose of an adulteress. John Payne,” in quoting Carver, states
that, “ Among this nation of Indians (Nawdowessies, z. e., Dako-
tas), if a married woman is found to have been false to wedlock,
the punishment inflicted upon her is for the husband to bite off
her nose; this our author saw inflicted whilst he was in the
country.”

I had received information to this effect in 1872-73, while I
was stationed on the Upper Missouri, but coming as it did from
unreliable sources, I gave no credence to the stories of bygone
punishments, as I had not seen any references to this practice
among any tribes north of Arizona. Now, however, I am in-
clined to believe that there was some truth in the assertions above
referred to. Several days ago, in conversation with several
gentlemen upon aboriginal customs and manners, I chanced to
mention this form of punishment, when one of them (a promi-
nent official of the B. & O. R. R. Co.) remarked that he had seen
squaws among the Utes, near Ft. Bridger, thus mutilated, and
was told at the time, less than two years ago, that they had been
punished for infidelity. No doubt others scattered over the extreme
western portion of the continent practiced the same cruel custom
at no remote time.

This extended throughout some of the tribes formerly inhabit-
ing the country between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. Caleb
Swan, writing about 1791, says} that prostitution was common
among the Creeks, and scarcely any attention was paid to it, as
far as any punishment was concerned. But, when a marriage

has been contracted according to the more ancient and serious

custom of the tribe, it is considered more binding than ordinary,

and in violation of this law, or in taking the least freedom with
any other person, is considered adultery, “and invariably pun- — —
ished by the relations of the offended party, by whipping, and __

cutting off the hair and ears close to the head.” In this case the
ears are named only, but very probably the nose was included in

1 Margry, Jesuit Rel. i, 1876, p. 53 ef seg. [Extrait de la Relation de la Nouvelle-

France, de 1660, addressée au Révérend Pére Claude Boucher. ]
*Universal Geography, iv., 1799, p. 42.
Schoolcraft, v, 1868, p. 269.

é

8 Curious Aboriginal Customs. [ January,

some instances, as the latter was the organ chosen by tribes living
near the border of the territory occupied by the Creeks. As
before stated in the NaturA.ist (Vol. xii, p. 561), Gregg! says of
the Comanches that the “ punishment is most usually to cut off
the nose or ears, or both.” The same author also says that the
Creeks practiced the same custom? (having reference to the pre-
ceding).

Bancroft, in quoting Las Casas, says that in Itztepec (Mexico)
“the guilty woman’s husband cut off her ears and nose.” The
punishment among the Meztecs was sometimes commuted to
mutilation of the ears, nose and lips.‘

John Johnson,’ referring to the Indian tribes inhabiting Ohio,
says, “ Adultery is punished by the family and tribe of the hus-
band. They collect, consult and decree. If they determine to
punish the offenders, they usually divide and proceed to appre-
hend them, one-half going to the house of the woman, and the
other half to the family house of the man, or they go together,
as they have decreed. They apprehend them, beat them severely
with sticks, cut off their noses, and sometimes crop them, and
cut off the hair of the woman which they carry home in triumph.
If both parties escape, and those in pursuit return home and lay
down their weapons, the crime is satisfied; if they apprehend but

one of the offenders, and the other escape, pape take satisfaction

from the nearest of kin.”
In this paper of Johnson’s (who by the way was considered
good authority) are enumerated the following tribes, viz: “ Wy-
-andots, Shawanoese, Senecas, Ottawas, Delawares, Miamies,

Putawatimies and the Weas.” It is questionable whether the
Senecas, who were of the Six Nations, ever practiced this cus-
tom, as at no other time have I met with the names of any of the
latter in this connection. :

_ As before stated, the custom of cutting off both the ears and
nose extended down into Central America, and César de Roche-
fort,® in speaking of the Caribs, refers to this custom as practiced

1Commerce of the Prairies, 1844, ii, 308, 309.
< Ibid, p- 308.
3Bancroft in Native Races, r 466, quotes Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS.,
Cap. cerik
‘Ibid, p. 406. Lome, Hist. = T iii, lib. iii, cap. xii,]

ican 20, p. 2
‘Histoire des Antilles, 1681, p. 548. ei Lenscot, ch. 16, for Sorin cat

i
:
l
:

1879. | Notes on a Lost Race of America. 9

by the Bengalese, but makes no mention of it in reference to the
Caribs. It would appear that some similarity existed, or he
would not have been prompted to make reference to such an odd
custom practiced near the opposite side of the globe. The
Egyptians! cut off the nose of the guilty woman, and the man -
was beaten with rods; this is again, and very remarkably too,
noticed in the punishment of the Nicaraguans.

The above references have been collated with the intention of
illustrating the wide-spread prevalence of this singular and bar-
barous custom, and for the purpose of inducing the publication
from others upon the same subject, for the purpose of ascertaining
to what tribes and families the knowledge of it extended.

sO;

NOTES ON A LOST RACE OF AMERICA.
BY LIEUT. A. W. VOGELES, U.S.A.

O department of natural history appears at present to attract
more general interest than that which relates to the pre-
historic Aborigines of North America; nor is this.to be won-
dered at, for throughout the extensive valley of the Mississippi,
and also in the Gulf States, we find numerous mounds and re-
mains of ancient fortifications; they have, however, been so ably
described in the different scientific journals, that we shall confine
the subject of this essay to those of Western Florida, which are
not so generally known.
these ancient people no written history remains, nor can
any reliable account be obtained from the Indians inhabiting the
States, or from the earliest Spanish explorers. The Spaniards
are silent upon the shell mounds of Florida, although they visited

Tampa in 1512. We know only of the existence of these i

mounds, and of the arts, industries and manner of interment of

the people who made them, and from these we can only add | s

a link to the chain of evidence that connects the eastern mounds
of Florida with those of the western coast. a

The only group at Tampa, Fla., of importance to the archeolo- _
gist, is a series of shell mounds running obliquely across the
town, commencing on the southern seashore, on the military A
reservation of Fort Brooke, and extending to ae Hike ,

1 Diodorus Siculus. Lib, i,

10 Notes on a Lost Race of America. [January,

river. During the Florida war this series was complete, but at
present it qonsists only of a large mound on the military reserva-
tion. The,second, which was located immediately outside of the
reservation, has been destroyed with the third mound situated
near the site of the present town market. At the foot of the last
mound in the clay banks of a small stream which flows into the
river we find chippings of flint implements.

The only remaining representative of the ancient series of
mounds is conical in form, being about fifteen feet in height, with
a diameter at its base of about fifty feet. By digging into this
mound, commencing at its apex, we found that its surface con-
sisted of drifted sand, about five feet in depth; immediately
beneath this we uncovered a layer of shells made up of the edible
species of our southern coast, and generally composed of old
valves of Ostrea virginiana, although among the shells there are
a few fossil species which are common to our tertiary marls.

Immediately beneath the shells, in a white sand which forms
the principal material of the mound, we uncovered a male skele-
ton, which was interred at an angle so that the head laid toward
the east and scuth. It is remarkable that in the vicinity of the
body we were unable to discover implements or ornaments. Con-
tinuing our excavations on the same level in a southerly direction,

we found the remains of a second body, consisting of the pelvic —

bone of a female, and other parts with the exception of the
skull. `

It is worthy of remark that the sandy structure of this series

of mounds corresponds with that of the sand dunes of our pres-
ent sea coast which, in connection with the well-known geological
fact of the former elevations and depressions of the Atlantic
coast, would give a reasonable explanation for the phenomena

observed in the study of the Tampa mounds. The recent eleva- —

tion of the shore around Tampa is evident from the fact that
_ immediately in the rear of the Fort Brooke mound we found a

ridge parallel with the present southern shore line; it is composed

of wave-broken shells, and probably formed the ancient shore
line during the occupation of the mound, and has since been

; raised, although previous to its existence the whole shore line had _
-a series of elevations and depressions, a fact which becomes self

evident from an observation of the country directly in rear of the
town of Tampa. |

Pe ae, tery Mees ET Tae

i Ga Moh oa ita PENSE

‘

1879. } Notes on a Lost Race of America. II

We would suggest the theory that these mounds were formed
in the same way asyour present sand hills along the Atlantic
coast, and that in their sheltered position in Tampa bay, their
form was preserved during the series of depressions of the coast
by the shelly deposits made upon them by their inhabitants.

‘In digging into the sides of the Fort Brooke mound, we dis-
covered the position of the original fire places, and in their ashes
we found that the largest proportion of animal remains consisted
of those of mankind. The longer bones, and especially the flat-
tened tibiz were charred and split; these were intermixed with
those of the dog, deer and also burned oyster shells and portions
of the common edible sea crab.

These incremations of human remains by the mound-builders,
were evidently for the purpose of preparing food; at least we
would so judge from the fact that the marrow bones are charred
and split. We have then here the kitchen of a race of cannibals.

The pottery of the mound found near the former fire-places
and also the implements, are very primitive; the latter consist of
arrow heads, and in the former, which is generally plain in style,
although now and then a few pieces of an ornamented pottery
marked with chevron lines are found, the typical forms of the
eastern mound group of Florida generally prevails.

The Cedar Key group of Florida is not contemporary with
the shell mounds of Tampa, at least we would so judge after our
investigations of that group with our friend Mr. Calkins, of Chi-
cago. The pottery of the Cedar Key group is certainly much
more ornamented than the former; this taken in connection with
the number of implements found in these mounds by Mr. Calkins
would certainly show a higher degree of advancement.

The habits, ceremonies and manner of interment of this lost
race are parallel with those of the ancient Danes. These people
constructed artificial hills for the sepulchre of their kings. The
cannibalistic habits are similar to those of the Troglodytes found
in the caverns of Mount Chauvaux in the province of Namur,
Belgium. |

1 Pascalis, an Exposition of the Danger of Interment in Cities, p. 12.

12 The Gemmule vs. the Plastidule as the [January,

THE GEMMULE VS. THE PLASTIDULE AS THE ULIH

MATE PHYSICAL UNIT OF LIVING MATTER.
BY JOHN A. RYDER.

S is well known to every well informed person, protoplasm is
now regarded as the substance which enters universally and
constantly into the composition of the living form-elements or
cells of all living things. It is, therefore, the material basis of
life. All the varieties of organic structure, no matter how differ-
ent from each other, have been primarily differentiated from
apparently homogeneous protoplasm. Premising, therefore, that
we understand that all histological differences presented by the
tissues of living organisms arise by differentiations of, or secre-
tions, derivatives of p/astids (cells) primitively alike, we are ready
to consider the theories advanced to account for the phenomenon
of hereditary transmission. Transmission or heredity may be
defined as that inherent tendency acquired from ancestry and
manifested by developing or growing organisms to become essen-
tially like, in appearance and structure, their immediate ancestor
or ancestors, if the parentage be a sexual one. The appearance
of a characteristic belonging to a remote ancestor in a new organ-
ism, which characteristic did not belong to its immediate ancestor,
is said to be a case of reversion or atavism. This is explained
upon the assumption—a rational one—that in the germinal matter,
that is, a plastid, or an egg-cell or a sperm-cell or cells, if reproduc-
tion be sexual, derived from the immediate ancestor, may still
inhere a tendency to develop characteristics belonging to the
most remote of, an indefinite number of removes back, from such
immediate ancestor. The tendency to develop such palzonto-
logical characters is supposed to remain in a latent or potential
state in all those generations intermediate between the ancestor
in which this characteristic was present and the young organism
in which it has again made its appearance. In this way gradually
but continuously, and adaptively acquired characteristics are trans-
mitted, as well as habits. It may be that profound and enduring
sensory impressions upon the maternal organism in higher forms,
by their persistence, may produce immediate effects upon the
offspring which cannot be attributed to ancestry. The many

a et Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia.

i

ae the substance of an essay read before the Microscopical- and Biologi-

1879. | Ultimate Physical Unit of Living Matter. 13

recorded instances in the human family of the effect of the

so-called pre-natal influences would justify such an inference.

The phenomena of development presented by the embryologi-
cal history of an organism, are serially or successively related to
series of ancestral forms in a way which shows that the most
remote ancestor was indubitably unicellular, for all beings com-
mence their embryonic history as a one-celled egg, or as an egg-
cell fused with one or more unicellular spermatozooids. To this

law no exception has ever been discovered. It passes at first by

a process, then by processes, as complication is established by the

‘former; not by leaps, but from one stage to the next higher, and

so on in an absolutely continuous manner, so that it is impossible
to mark the transitions, so that absolute continuity becomes a
fundamental characteristic of the process of development.

It has also been noted that these successive stages, or a part of
them, often represent, perhaps always within the limits of groups,
a sort of recapitulation or successive shadowing forth, sometimes
faintly, sometimes strongly, of the forms which appear to repre-
sent the phases through which the organism has passed in attain-
ing its present form and structure. The process of development.
accordingly shows in a pronounced, or may be dim way, the
types which have successively formed the starting points of its
development in past time. A phylum or branch from the tree of
life or chain of ancestors, is thus represented in its embryonic
history. The being, in its evolution from the ovum, accordingly
recapitulates the forms of its successively more and more com-
plex, or more and more modified ancestral series—its palzon-
tological history preserved in the rocks together with more or
less note of its living cotemporary allies. The fossil forms of
successive formations are frequently found to bear such a rela-
tion to the developing embryo. The rock record linked with the
now living one is said to be the phylogenetic history, that is, it
unfolds the history of the fy/a, or branches of the tree of life.
The history of the being or ontological history, therefore, becomes
a more or less distinct record of the phylogenetic. In a word,
Ontogeny, or the development of individual beings, is an epitome
of the Phylogeny or phylogenesis of the race to which they
belong. . -

This doctrine and its modifications is the motive force of
modern Biology. Upon this ground, Laplace, Lamarck, Wolf,

14 The Gemmutle vs. the Plastidule as the [January,

Von Baer, Darwin, Spencer and Haeckel have given to the science
new impulses and aims far higher than possessed its masters in
its infancy.

Dr. Darwin, in order to account for the phenomena briefly set
forth in the above remarks, had recourse to what he called the
“ Provisional Hypothesis of Pangenesis.’ The following is Mr.
Galton’s brief statement of the hypothesis:

. Each of the myriad — in every living body is, to a great
cue an independent organi

2. Before the cell is developed, and in all stages of its develop-
ment, it throws “ gemmules ” into the circulation, which live there
and breed, each truly to its kind, by the process of self-division,
and that consequently they swarm in the blood in large numbers
of each variety, and circulate freely in-it

3. The sexual elements consist of organized groups of these
gemmules.

4. The development of certain of the gemmules in the off-
spring depends upon their consecutive union through their natural
affinities, each attaching itself to its predecessor in a natural order
of growt

5. That gemmules of innumerable varieties may be transmitted
for an enormous number of generations without being developed
into cells, but always ready to become developed, as shown by the
almost insuperable tendency to feral reversion in domestic
animals.

Galton, in order to test the truth of the foregoing hypothesis,
transferred the blood of different breeds of rabbits from one to

_the other, actually establishing a cross-circulation, in which cases
the blood flowing from one individual to another was practically
unchanged. After this operation upon the animals, the young
ones reared by these were not found to have been influenced in
the slightest degree by the admixture of foreign blood with that
already contained in the vessels of their parents, which should

not have been the result were the hypothesis of pangenesis a true
one. FPangenesis having been subjected to a crucial test and found
= wanting, nothing was offered, as an avowed substitute, until

the Plastidule, except by Prof. Cope, who, in his “ Origin of
Genera” (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1868), and afterwards in a
paper entitled “ On the Methods of Creation of Organic Types”
_ (Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 1871) more fully developed the views

el Haeckel’s have been discussed.

presented in the first mentioned. His views will be considered -

_ Haeckel proposed his Provisional hypothesis of the Peregenesis of .

1879. | Ultimate Physical Unit of Living Matter. 15

The plastidule of Haeckel is hypothetically the molecule of
protoplasm, and therefore the simplest possible form in which
protoplasm can exist as protoplasm. The theoretically high
degree of complexity of the molecule of protoplasm renders it in
the highest degree susceptible to influences brought to bear upon
it by its environment. Primarily its atomic constitution C H ON,
must be related in some way to its properties.

Haeckel attributes to every existing atom a modicum of force
or energy as eternal and quantitatively unchangeable as the atom
itself, which he calls the atom-soul; by aggregation of the atoms
into chemical compounds, the mode and nature of the manifes-
tation of individual atomic energies become mutually modified,
and as resultants we have different properties and behavior mani-
fested by such different compounds. By a long process of differ-
entiation a compound was finally evolved answering in composi-

tion and properties approximately, or entirely, to existing proto-.
plasm. ‘his highly unstable matter, representing the aggregate
or resultant of the energies of its component atoms as the energy
of living matter, became the ancestor of some primordial amor-
phous being out of which, by adaptation and “survival of the
fittest” the ancestors of the Protista became differentiated. On
the principle that motion or impulses once imparted to bodies
tend to be perpetuated in the absence of other interfering causes,
the energy of movement, called life, once set going tended to be
kept up, and in order that it could withstand the interference of a
great variety af disturbing causes, it gradually acquired the power
of adaptation. This adaptation being simply vibration of. its
molecules in unison with outer conditions as a resultant of those
conditions. . From the well known postulates in regard to the
persistence of matter and motion, it is clear that the molecules of
different masses, subjected to differing conditions, would grad-
ually acquire different modes of molecular motion, which would

tend to be persistent and perhaps approximately alike throughout

the same mass. Any part of this mass broken off would tend to ~
retain the molecular movements and consequently the properties

of that of which it at first formed a part, but the new conditions __

to which it might become subject in the event of separation, ren- |
der it probable that these motions might have others superadded, ©
or the old ones so changed as to give rise to different phenomena.
Different food, tempered surrounding, media, etc., are thinkable __

16 The Gemmule vs. the Plastidule as the [ January,

as immediately active causes in the differentiation of the modes
of molecular activity. Accordingly by the persistence of the
type of molecular motion or motion of the plastidule, its charac-
teristics tend to be exactly reproduced where reproduction is a
process of mere division, as in the Protista. On the other hand,
the motion of plastidule tends to vary as the surrounding condi-
tions vary. Hence the difference in individuals arising from this
adaptive power of the plastidule to accommodate its motions to
the environment. Where the process of reproduction is sexual
the fusion or blending of the products of the sex-glands to form
embryos, there results a blending of the plastidular motion of the
two. The characteristics of the resulting being is hence a result-
ant of two molecular modes of motion in the same way as the
diagonal of a parallelogram of forces is the resultant of two more
or less antagonistic forces. Putting this and that together, it is

clear in what manner the characteristics of the offspring of sexual _

unions may come to preponderate in favor of the one or the other
_ parent as the plastidular-molecular motion of the germ elements
preponderates over that of the sperm element, and vice versa,
thus mutually modifying each other in order to produce a result-

ant. It is also conceivable that the plastidular motions of remote _

ancestors as well as of approximal ones, tending to be persistent,
may suddenly re-appear under favorable conditions, and that in
this way there may arise a tendency to revert to such ancient
progenitor. This hypothesis, if extended so as to conceive
of the molecular vibrations of different stages of develop-
ment as composing parts of a great molecular rhythm

coeval with the first appearance of life on the earth, also 3

explains the phenomenon of the recapitulation of Phy/ogeny and
ontogeny. The tendency is to manifest the molecular motions

in the order in which they succeeded each other in time. The

registry or repetition in ontogeny being not always exact, it may

-~ be assumed that in the process of differentiation some of the page A

of vibration were in these instances irrecoverably lost.

- Stated thus briefly, it seems to me unnecessary to enter into the _
account of the hypothesis of perigenesis further than to impress upon
the mind of the reader that the vibrations of the plastidules are |
_ adaptive in character, that is, they are the resultants of outward con- Ei

_ ditions, represented hypothetically by X or any other unknown, ;

> static or dynamic quantity. The theory is therefore purely me- 5

neS EF

CAN Se a See ee ae j j ENRE AAT ERN i = 4 5 ‘ 3
PAED ee ee a ee i e a a a TAE r a aaa aiaa eaae een tT i ea a aeiia aaa a a aaea a a SECS a a an ye a a a ae Ta a a E e Ie eee

EEREN
LASSE, NA RE E NERE ea

aor Gt Sait ain al a a te Set a
ee F URE PEE

1879. | Ultimate Physical Unit of Living Matter. 17

chanical and causal, and hence the word perigenesis—generated by
surroundings. It seems to me that some form of hypothesis
similar to this will be adopted unless the current views in regard
to the physical constitution of matter undergo very great changes.
It may be, if reports be true, that the so-called elements are not
elementary, as Mr. Lockyer has been led to suspect from his
spectroscopic researches, but even this will not destroy the essen-
tial elements of the problem, which are undoubtedly to be ex-
pressed in terms of matter and force without respect to what the
nature of that matter may be.

Prof. Cope (l. c.) after discussing at length the evidence in
favor of the correlation of life forces with the other physical forces
and its conservation, goes on to particularize as follows: “ Dr
Carpenter, in describing the correlation of physical and vital
forces, defines the difference of organic species to be similar to
that prevailing between different chemical bodies (the latter de-
pending on different molecular and atomic constitution), which
leads them ‘to dehave differently’ from each other under similar
circumstances. This may be more fully expressed by saying that

_ different species possess different capacities for the /ocation of the

conversion of the physical forces into growth force.” On this
basis, “ A ‘descent with modifications’ contemplated by evolution
signifies a progressive change in this capacity.” Applied to the
explanation of his law of Acceleration and Retardation, he says:
‘Acceleration means an increase in this capacity; retardation a
diminution of it.” In other words, the undulations or vibrations
of the molecules of different organisms and different parts of
organisms differ in character, which is essentially the doctrine of
Haeckel. He also speaks of growth force [energy] as cumu-
latively potential (p. 26). Its degree of potentiality he considers
as marking the degree or grade of grade influence as manifested
by successive higher forms. Grade influence is supposed to be
the resultant of “ effort and use” in the process, so that the static
or dynamic environment and the organism are considered to be
in a relation of retroactivity—in a state of interaction. At page
29, “ Method of Creation,” On the transmission of Grade Influence,
the author admits: ‘‘ How force potential in nerve structure is in-
herited through the reproductive elements is a great mystery,”
but he observes further: “In the spermatozodids * * * growth
force [energy] remains potential,” that is, in a static condition,

VOL. XIII.—NO I. 2

18 The Gemmule vs. the Plastidule as the [January,

ready to be set free in the dynamic process of fertilization of the
ovum, and of embryonic development. “‘ Growth force potential
in the spermatozoid, on its destruction [fusion with the egg] be-
comes converted into heat or other force. Thus may originate
the growth force of the ovum, which, once commenced, is con-
tinued through the period of growth.” It seems to me probable
that the process of repetition is simply a phase of the manifestation
of growth force as in the asexual fusion of growing cells, forma-
tion of spores in low plants and navicelle cysts in Gregaring. It
seems to me probable, also, that the cleavage of the yelk of the
ovum supervenes just as soon as the static condition of its mole-
cules is interfered with by blending with the spermatozodid whose _
molecules are in a dynamical or potential condition as aforesaid. —
It is clear that if this is true, we get a composite result or resultant.
In point of fact, this is tacitly implied where Prof. Cope says in
continuation: “ The process might be compared to the application —
of fire to a piece of wood. The force conversion is communicated —
to other material than that first inflamed.” That is,the molecular `
movements of the embryonic mass, viz., sperm and germ, tends —
to be assumed by all the material which it appropriates to itself;
this: may be extended to the process of digestion or appropria- —
tion of protoplasm in animals and to the formation of protoplasm —
by plants when in growing conditions from binary and ternary —
compounds It is also clear that the quantitatively indefinite
element x of the modifying environment of the plastidule is ad-
mittedly involved in consideration of the effect of use and effort,
as held by this distinguished biologist, and that if use and effo
are modifying causes, and molecular vibrations, whether they be
-in waves or ellipses or curves of any kind, will be influenced and
accordingly modified. It must also necessarily be implied that
these effects are persistent and that they involve the idea o
Perigenesis quite as much as the plasticule.
The totality of the phenomena of differentiation and reduction
(specialization, cephalization) in living forms, are, in view of the
foregoing considerations, it seems to me, to be referred to dynami-
cal causes. Laplace, from a mathematical standpoint, saw that
= this must be so. Lamarck, in his Philosophie Zoologique} in the
_ chapter VII, tom I, pp. 218-268, entitled, “ Zhe influence of cir-
cumstances upon the actions of animals,’ has some observations:

1 Nonvelle Edition, tom. I and II, Baillere, Paris, 1830.

1879. | i Ultimate Physical Unit of Living Matter. 19

which show what a profound conception he possessed of the
causal relations existing between the uses of parts and their de-
velopment. Of recent authors, Darwin must occupy the first
place, as many of his hosts of facts are admitted by him to bear a
more or less distinctly dynamico-causal interpretation (vide, Varia-
tion of Animals and Plants under Domestication). By far the most
comprehensive principles of dynamical biology have, however,
‘been suggested by Herbert Spencer, and they must be regarded
as the first attempts at scientific presentation of the subject, in
which, although the factors of the problem were not stated quanti-
tatively in most instances, yet enough was said to show the appli-
cability of the quantitative method. Besides these authors, more
recent writers have begun to pay attention to the subject. Prof.
Owen has for many years avowed his leaning to Lamarckianism.
Prof. Jager,’ of Stuttgart, has written upon the influence of me-
chanical strains in determining the length, etc., of bones. Prof.
Lucae, of Frankfort, a. M., has also contributed to this subject.
Gegenbaur, in his “ Elements of Comparative Anatomy,’ has nu-
merous observations upon this subject. Prof. Cope may be added
to this list, having contributed an article bearing solely upon this
subject, to this journal, within the past year. This author, who,
as we have seen, had already advanced views similar to Haeckel’s,
which, if not as clearly expressed, were nevertheless published
more than five years previously. These names show that I have
not been alone in the study of animal metamorphosis as produced
by means of dynamical agencies. I have always held that both
the organism by means of its voluntary acts and -its passive sur-
roundings reacted upon each other so as to produce morpho-
logical and consequently structural changes. My short essay,
“On the Laws of Digital Reduction,” which appeared in this
Journal (Oct., 1877), and which was republished in the Kosmos,
for 1878, illustrates what I- have just said. My papers on the
“ Mechanical Genesis of Tooth-forms’’ also show the application
of the method, besides minor papers on the mechanical differen- _
tiation of certain portions of the vertebral column, in this Journal —
and Popular Science Monthly, 1877.
The logical consequences of the acceptance of the Hypothesis

1 Principles of Biology and also his Principles of Psychology.
‘ parey Zeitschrift, BA. V.. 18
c. Phila

4 a ay

. Acad. Nat. CE I sis. and the Dental Cosmos, 1878 (Etiotogi : >

20 Absorption of Water by the Leaves of Plants. (January,

of the Perigenesis of the plastidule, and with it the theory of —
dynamical differentiation—because the latter is no longer a ©
hypothesis—forever relegates teleological doctrines to the cate- —
gory of extinct ideas. No matter how much our ideas may need ~
to undergo modification, some similar hypothesis must eventually
hold sway over the minds of biological thinkers, as the facts of
science point in that direction and in no other.

It has been suggested in conversation by my friend Dr. A. J
Parker, of this city, that the assumption of the plastidule as the
ultimate physical unit of living matter was unnecessary, as it con-
sisted merely in naming the protoplasm molecule, and it must be
admitted that this view of the case is not without reason. Prof.
Haeckel, it is to be supposed, however, adopted this name merely |
to distinguish his own provisional hypothesis from that of his
acknowledged master. The word plastidule is a diminutive of the x
current word plastid, which is synonymous with cell, and there- _
for, implies and correctly, too, that the plastids are aggregates of —
varying numbers of plastidules, which are for physical reasons the —
smallest possible or conceivable units of living matter, of which
even the most minute gemme or, budding cells are composed.

ate :
ABSORPTION OF WATER BY THE LEAVES OF |
| PLANTS.

BY ALFRED W. BENNETT, M.A., B-S., F.L.S.

~LTHOUGH gardeners universally maintain that growing 4

leaves, both in the liquid and the gaseous form, in addition to the

The first recorded experiment, of any value on the subject, was
about the year 1731 by Hales, as described in his “ Vegetable
Statistics; the conclusion to which he came being that “it is
very probable that =e and dew are imbibed by vegetables, espe-
cially i in dry seasons.” This result was confirmed by Bonnet in ~
ee | 17 33- A century later, however, in 1857, Duchartre,experimenting

-on the absorptive power of plants, came, after considerable waver- _
ing, to the conclusion that rain and dew are not absorbed by the
leaves of plants. This opinion has been, with but little exception,
held by all physiologists during the last twenty years, notably by

1879. | Absorption of Water by the Leaves of Plants. 21

DeCandolle and Sachs; the explanation offered of the fact that
withered plants revive when placed in moist air or when the
leaves are moistened, being that transpiration is thus stopped, or
is more than counterbalanced by the root-absorption. In his
“ Text-book of Botany” (English edition, p. 613) Sachs says:
“When land plants wither on a hot day and revive again in the
evening, this is the result of diminished transpiration with the
decrease of temperature and increase of the moisture in the air
in the evening, the activity of the roots continuing; not of any
absorption of aqueous vapor or dew through the leaves. Rain
again revives withered plants, not by penetrating the leaves, but
by moistening them and thus hindering further transpiration, and
conveying water to the roots, which they then conduct to the
leaves.” McNab has, however, proved that leaves do transpire,
even in a moist atmosphere, provided they are exposed to the
action of light. The result of recent experiments, conducted by
Boussingault in France, and by the Rev. George Henslow, in
England, seem to force us to return to the earlier theory held
before the time of Duchartre.
Boussingault’s experiments relate not only to the absorption of
water by leaves, but also to transpiration under various atmos-
pheric conditions. The first experiments were as to the amount
of transpiration from the Jerusalem artichoke in sunshine, in
shade and by night. This he found to be hourly, for every
square metre of foliage, sixty-five grammes in sunshine, eight
grammes in the shade, and three grammes during the night. In

the vine the corresponding numbers were thirty-five grammes in-

sunshine, eleven grammes in shade, 0.5 grammes by night. He

reckoned that an acre of beet could give off,in the course of

twenty-four hours, the enormous amount of between 8000 and

9000 kilogrammes of water, and a chestnut tree, thirty-five years — .
old, sixty litres of water in the same time. The next question

investigated was whether the absorption of water by plants, and
the ascent of the sap, are due to the force resulting from transpi-
ration on the surface of the leaves, or whether the roots exercise

also a certain amount of force to this end. In the case of mint,
a plant with roots, showed an hourly evaporation per square
metre of eighty-two grammes in the sunshine, and thirty-six —
grammes in the shade; without roots the evaporation was six- _

teen grammes in sunshine, fifteen grammes in shade. ` The effects

e

By

22 Absorption of Water by the Leaves of Plants. [J anuary,

of pressure on the absorption were next examined. A chestnut

branch dipped in water was found to transpire hourly sixteen —

grammes per square metre; when inserted into a tube of water and
subjected to the pressure of a column of water twoand a-half metres
high, the evaporation amounted to fifty-five grammes per square
metre per hour, and the branch, at the end of five hours, weighed
more than at the commencement. As to the effect of the epi-
dermis in restraining evaporation, he found that an apple deprived
of its skin loses fifty-five times as much water in the same time
as one with its skin entire ; while similar experiments in the case
of a cactus leaf showed a difference in the proportion of fifteen
to one. Losses by rapid evaporation lessen appreciably the phy-
siological energy of leaves. Thus an oleander leaf containing
sixty per cent. of water, when introduced into an atmosphere
containing carbonic acid gas, decomposed sixteen c. cm. ofthe
gas; one containing thirty-six per cent. of water decomposed

eleven c. cm.; while one containing twenty-nine per cent. of water —
was without action. As respects the relative power of evapora- —
tion possessed by the upper and under surfaces of leaves, he found |
the average proportien in a dozen different kinds to be as one in —

the former to 4.3 in the latter case.

Boussingault then proceeded to investigate the question of the —
ability of leaves to replace the roots of a plant in serving as the ©
agent of absorption. A forked branch of lilac was so placed that —
one portion was immersed in water in a reversed position, while —
the other was exposed to the atmosphere, the superficies of foliage —
in both portions being the same. The transpiration from the —

exposed portion was found to be the same as under normal cir-

cumstances, and after the lapse of two weeks the foliage was as ,

fresh as at the commencement, showing that the submerged leaves

were fully able to replace the roots in supplying the shoot with —
moisture. A vine-shoot half plunged in water maintained a nor- |
_ mal evaporation in the free foliage, and remained fresh for over a _
month. An oleander shoot, under similar circumstances main- a

tained its normal appearance for four months. With the arti-

= choke it was found necessary that the amount of surface of leaves _
beneath the water should be four times that above it. A number _
of experiments, with regard to the power of leaves to absorb —
water in the state of vapor from a saturated atmosphere, showed _
we ee could do this only when they had previously lost a por-

Pye eee

er ance Weak as oa

be go hin Bee

1879. ] Absorption of Water by the Leaves of Plants. 23

tion of their water of constitution, 2 e., that which is essential to
their normal existence. Thus a wilted branch of periwinkle,
weighing four grammes, after remaining for a day and a-half in
an atmosphere saturated with aqueous vapor, weighed 4.2 grammes;
after twelve hours immersion in water it weighed 9.4 grammes.
His last experiments related to the power of leaves to absorb
aqueous solutions. Drops of water containing 0.2 per cent. of
calcium sulphate in solution were placed on the leaves of a great
variety of plants under conditions favoring absorption, and pro-
tected from evaporation by inverted watch glasses with greased
edges. In most instances the drops were entirely absorbed,
leaving no trace of the mineral matter. As in the case of pure
water, the under surface of the leaf absorbed much more rapidly
than the upper surface. Solutions of potassium sulphate and
nitrate gave corresponding results; the absorption of solutions
of sodium chloride and ammonium nitrate were not so perfect.
It is obvious that these results must considerably modify the view
at present held by physiological botanists, that the small quantity
of ammonium carbonate contained in the air, which is believed to
be the sole source of the nitrogen in the tissues and secretions of
plants, can only be absorbed by the roots after having been
brought down to the soil by rain.

Mr. Henslow’s experiments, as detailed in a paper read at a

recent meeting of the Linnzan Society of London, are altogether _ :

in harmony with those of the French professor. The results of
a very large number of experiments extending over several years,
may be epitomized as follows :

The absorption of water hy internodes. —The experiment con-
sisted of wrapping up one or more internodes of herbaceous
plants in saturated blotting-paper and in noting the effects. As
a rule the leaves on the shoots rapidly perished, showing that
transpiration was too great “for the supply. The stems, however,
ii fresh for different periods up to six weeks.

2. Absorption by leaves to see how far they could balance transpi-
ration in others on the same shoot—The general result is that as
long as the leaves remain green and fresh 3 in or on ig they act —
as absorbents; but that the leaves in air keep fresh or wither
according as the- ‘supply equals or falls short of the demand. _

3. To test how far leaves on a shoot can nourish lower ones on the

same.—It appears that it is quite immaterial to plants whether _

they be supplied with water from the absorbing leaves being above _
or ce, those transpiring. Water flows in either direction mey oe
wel DAN

24 Absorption of Water by the Leaves of Plants. (January,

4. Leaves floating on water—It was found that one part of a
leaf can nourish another part for various periods, though the
edges out of water died first.

5. Absorption of dew—A long series of cut leaves and shoots
were gathered at 4 P. M., then exposed to sun and wind for three

hours, then carefully weighed and exposed all night to dew. At-

7.30 A. M., after having been dried, they were weighed again, and
all had gained weight, and quite recovered their freshness,
proving that slightly wetted detached portions do absorb dew..

6. Imi tation dew.— Like results followed from using the

“spray,” by which dew could be exactly imitated.

7. Plants growing in pots, and of which the earth was not
watered, were kept alive by the ends of one or more shoots being
placed in water; eg., Mimulus moschatus not only grew vigor-
ously and developed auxiliary buds into shoots, but also blos-
somed.

By these interesting experiments the physiological botanist is
again placed in harmony with the gardener who syringes his
plants not merely for the purpose of washing off dust and insects,

è
$
i

but in order to facilitate the actual absorption of water by the sur-

face; and with the field botanist who sprinkles ‘the plants in his
vasculum with water to keep them fresh till he reaches home.
Mr. Henslow concludes with the following hints as to preparing
bouquets of cut flowers : :

If some plants have buds upon them, let the stalks long, and allow
a few leaves to remain on and be also immersed in the water, and
the buds will then be often found to expand successively. The cut
end, to be more absorbent than it otherwise would be, should be
again cut off under water. Ifthe blossoms be ona ligneous stem, as
of lilac, then the loss of water by evaporation is greater than the

woody stalk can supply, so that in this case the addition of leaves _

in the water will greatly aid, and retain the bunch of flowers fresh
for a longer time. On the other hand, if a blossom be already
about to shed its petals, then the additional supply of water fur-
nished by the leaves on the stalk appears to hasten the coming dis-

solution, and the flower perishes rather sooner than it would other-
= wise do. The water must be changed every day, and the sub- ©

merged leaves must be lightly wiped with a cloth, as by endos-

= motic action they soon become more or less coated with mucus.

No leaves must be in water unless perfectly green and of vigorous

growth.

1879. | The Breeding Habits of the Eel. si
THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE EEL.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR.

HERE is a considerable degree of mystery regarding the
spawning time of the common eel (Anguilla bostoniensis), the
place of spawning, and especially the differences between the
male and female. The following facts appear to throw some light
on the subject, and are published with the hope that it may stim-
ulate others to observe with care and in detail all the facts
regarding the spawning habits of a fish which is interesting as
being the lowest bony fish, and is more and more used as an
article of food, several eel-fishing establishments having been.
lately started in this country.

So far as we are aware, the eggs of the American eel were first
discovered by Mr. John Mooney, of Providence, R. I., in October,
1877. Mr. Mooney is an intelligent mechanic and a close observer,
but entirely self-taught. He carried the eggs to Prof. John Pierce,
of Providence, who assures me they were veritable eggs, and
measured one-hundredth of an inch in diameter.

Late in December, 1877, Mr. Vinal Edwards sent eight eels to
the Museum at Cambridge. These were examined by Mr. F. W.
Putnam, who reported upon them to the Boston Society of Natu-
ral History.! He states that during the month of December eels
were brought into New Bedford “ with eggs in various stages of
development; where they spawn is. not yet known.” The speci-
mens examined by Mr. Putnam “had the ovaries in various
stages of development. In two the ovaries were very small, and
the eggs in them exceedingly minute. From these the series
showed a gradual increase in the size of the ovaries and the con-
tained eggs, to the specimen exhibited, in which the eggs were still
so small as only to be seen by a lens of considerable magnifying

power, and not yet ready to be excluded, though the ovaries

themselves were large and full.”

During the month of November, 1878, I found several eels in
spawn in the Providence market, and at my request, Mr. Mooney
brought me two eels, one of which he pronounced to be a female
and the other a male. The ovaries of the female were larger and

fuller than in any other female I have examined, and the eggs © =

riper. The eggs of this eel, which was about two feet in length © :
judging by the portion secured from the fisherman by Mr. `

_ 1 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 1878, Vol. 19, p. 279.

-

:
26 The Breeding Habits of the Eel. [January, —

Mooney, were distinguishable by the naked eye, were well filled
with yolk cells, with a clear nucleus, and measured nearly two
millimetres (1.90 inch) in diameter. The under side of the eel

was tinged with golden-yellow. Mr. Mooney’s so-called male —

was darker, dull silvery beneath. A microscopic examination
showed that the thin sexual gland was quite different in histologi-
cal structure from that of the ovary, and the examination of sev-
eral undoubted male eels, with active spermatozoa, showed that
Mr. Mooney was right in his conjecture that his supposed male
was really such.

Fourteen eels were then obtained, from twelve to about sixteen |

inches in length, and ten of them were examined with a Tolles
fifth and Hartnack immersion, No. 10. Several females were
- examined, and it was found that it was easy with the microscope
to determine the sexes, from the different nature of the histologi-
cal structure of the reproductive glands. The results of our

examination are as follows: The males are abundant, and it —
seems probable that there is an equality in the number of indi- —

viduals of the sexes. When about a foot in length, namely,
when the eels are about a year old, there are no external structural
differences, but at this period the males contain sperm i
sperm cells and immature (?) spermatozoa.

When the eels are from eighteen inches to two feet in length,
in the autumn and early winter, the external sexual characters —

appear. This is confined to the style of coloration. No external
structural characters could be detected, the form of the head, lips,

body, fins and even the single genital pore being identical in the ©

two sexes. In color the females are of a rich yellow on the

under side, especially the long anal fin; the median line is silvery, —
but on each side there is a pale yellowish line. In the males the —
yellowish tint is entirely wanting, except on the long anal fin, the l
belly is dull silvery, and pigment spots are numerous heneath the —

head.
It is probable that the females are larger than the males, and

when the ovaries are filled with ripe eggs, the body is a little n

-more swollen than in the males.

The testis, as well as the ovary, is in the eel attached by ©
one edge to each side of the intestine, and hangs vertically —
down i in the body cavity. There is no oviduct, but the eggs or
er particles, as the case may be, drop directly by s

easa h nas

1879. | The Breeding Habits of the Eel. as

cence into the body cavity,and pass out through a funnel-shaped
fold of the peritoneum by a single small pore or opening identi-
cal in form and situation (just behind the anus) in each sex.
There are not two openings, as has been stated by some authors.
The testis does not differ in form and appearance from the ovary
when the female is not in spawn, at least we could find no differ-
ences except that it is rather thinner. Both the right testis and
ovary extend, in individuals about seventeen inches long, from
about an inch and a quarter behind the vent, to near the dia-
phragm; extending on the right side to half way between the
anterior end of the gall bladder and the diaphragm, while both
the left testis and ovary are shorter than the right, ending an inch
behind the diaphragm.

Microscopically examined the ovarian eggs lie in rows, with the
stroma or tissue of fat cells between them. In the testis the sper-
matozoa are developed in sperm cysts, or “ mother cells,” much

smaller than the ovarian egg (one-sixth to one-fifth mm). The
mother cells contain a nucleus about one-third the diameter of the
mother cell ; in the nucleus is a dusky nucleolus about one-half
the diameter of the nucleus. The sperm-cells are developed in the
nucleus, They are nucleated, the nucleus large, and they (the
sperm-cells) vary from ygdyp tO sọpv inch in diameter. The sper-
_matozoa themselves are very minute, from s9$95 to sso00 inch in
diameter. They are active in their movements, the tail was indis-
tinctly seen, but is present. It is doubtful in my mind whether a
male eel when less than eighteen or twenty inches long, i. e., when
in its first year, is capable of fertilizing the eggs, as most of the -
spermatozoa noticed seemed not fully developed. In males twelve
to fifteen inches long, č. e., about one year old, the number of
spermatozoa was much less than in larger, older individuals.
From information collected from persons living in Providence, _
it appears-that the eels begin to descend the rivers and brooks of
Rhode Island and Connecticut at the first frosts, when fishermen
begin to catch them in eel-pots. They are in spawn in October,
November and December, and probably through the winter, and
they probably spawn in shallow salt and brackish water in har-
bors and at the mouth of estuaries and rivers, where it is well-
known eels are speared in winter. That eels spawn in the autumn
and early winter, and that the young soon hatch, seems proved
by the fact that young eels from two to three inches long appear- as

28 3 The Breeding Habits of the Eel. [January,

in the spring, in April and May. I caught an eel at Providence,

six inches long in October. It seems probable from this fact —

and the statements of others,! that by the last of summer and early
part of autumn the eel hatched in late autumn or the winter at-
tains a length of from six inches to a foot in length, and becomes
from sixteen to twenty-four inches long the second year. It is
well-known to all who have raised fish, or studied the embryology
of animals, that individuals of the same brood may be accelerated
or retarded in growth, so that eels a year old may vary greatly
in size.

In conclusion, so far as our observations extend, our common

American eel descends fresh water streams into the salt water of ;
harbors and estuaries, while those habitually living in the sea —
spawn at the mouths of rivers and in shallow harbors in the —

autumn and early winter, if not through the winter; the sexes
only differ in color and in the histological structure of the repro-

ductive glands, and do not breed until at least the second year. —
The eggs and spermatozoa arè exceedingly minute, the former
must be laid by millions; the young are two or three inches long
in the middle or last of the spring, and the eel grows about an inch |
a month until maturity. It is desirable that these facts and induc- —
tions should be proved or disproved, and that the entire history —
of the breeding habits of the eel, hitherto so obscure, should be —

cleared up.

Since the preceding lines were written I have read Dr. Syrski’s —
“lecture on the organs of reproduction and the fecundation of —
fishes and especially of eels” (1874), translated in the Report of —
the U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1873-4 and —
1874-5. The author gives an interesting review of the various —
and discordant opinions as to the breeding habits of the European —

ore June Mr. D. G. Colwell procured several thousand young eels and ~

ced them in the mill po: ne They were about two inches long at that time. Last

inches in length, showing that they had oor" about one inch per- month since

placed in the pond. In about a year from now we may expect good eel fishing in — 4
the daisies: — Quoted yes Fenton pideasbad: Michigan, in Forest and Stream,

Nov.,

burrowing ünder 1 the latter when spawning.

1878.
_ 2 For example, the small eel above OE to, about six inches in length, col- -
~ lected early in October, had not increased in size two months later; it has not been
: ie since = See As pagar the food of eels, Mr. S. A. Simmons, Jr., of Pr ov-
feed on the eggs of the king crab ORAE ;

1879. | The Breeding Habits of the Eel. 29

eel. It appears that Carlo Mundini first discovered the ovary of
the eel in May, 1777; this was confirmed by Rathke, who de-
scribed the eggs. Siebold (1863) states that eels may repro-
duce by parthenogenesis, or are hermaphrodite. In 1872 Ercolani
claims to have found spermatozoa in eels, but Syrski is positive
that he mistook them for “ the molecular movement of the gran-
ules found so frequently in the tissues of the animal body.”
Whether Ercolani was right we have not at present the means of
ascertaining, but think it more probable he was right than his
critic, Syrski. In the same year (1872), Crivelli and Maggi, of
Pavia, claim to have discovered, and have figured the spermato-
zoa. This memoir we have not yet seen. Syrski does not seem
to endorse their statements. In 1874 Prof. Minter stated that
he found ovaries in about 3000 eels examined for that purpose,
but he never found a male eel, z. e., a milter. He therefore admits
that eels are reproduced by parthenogenesis, z. e., from non-
fecundated eggs, and remarks, “In all probability is eggs are
deposited at the bottom of the Baltic sea from the middle of
March to the middle of April, and the young eels, one-half to
two inches long, born from such eggs, migrate into fresh water
about the beginning of May.”

Syrski then describes and figures the ovaries and “ testes,” as
he regards them, of the eel. The “eggs” figured as such by him
are certainly not such, but are the male sperm-cysts,.and he has
thus entirely mistaken the sex of the eel. He does not figure
or describe the true ovarian egg or the ripe egg, which are, in the
American eel at least, wholly different in their mode of develop-
ment from Syrski’s so-called eggs, and so different that we doubt
not but that his females were really the males of the European
species. He figures and describes a portion of what he regards

` as a testis, but gives no description of the mother-cells, sperm-

cysts and spermatozoa; of the latter he says nothing. It is evi- |
dent that this observer has been throughout mistaken, and has
thrown little light on the subject.

To be sure that I have not been over confident in regard to this _
matter, after reading Syrski’s article I have dissected another living —
male, and found the mother-cells, sperm-cysts and the exceed-

ingly minute, free-moving spermatozoa, which were more abun- __

dant than usual in small males. I also reéxamined the ovary of |

a female not in spawn, and demonstrated them to Mr. J. S. Kings- a

30 Recent Literature. [ January,

ley, who adopted the view that the bodies he saw could not have:

been anything else than spermatozoa. My friend, Prof. John Pierce,
an experienced microscopist, several times with me examined
the free moving spermatozoa (we saw hundreds in active motion),
and agrees with me that the bodies we repeatedly observed from
different males could not have been organic particles vibrating
through the Brownian motion. We both, without distinctly
observing the tails, witnessed effects that must have resulted from
a rapidly vibrating appendage or “ tail.”

NoTe.—Since the above was written I have received (Dec. 12) from Mr. Vinal
N. Edwards, of the U. S. Fish Commission, a ie of eels from’ Wood’s Holl,
Mass., forwarded at the suggestion of Prof. Baird. Ther two races or varie-
ties among them, some dark with yellow on at tally, aie yee and silvery be-
neath, with the anal fin bright red, as well as the edges of the pectoral fins, I sup-
posed that the yellow bellied ones were females and the silver rages ones were
males, but found males and females of both races; so that while the above remarks
concerning the colors of the sexes may apply to what eels I e from Provi-

ence River, in the Wood’s Holl specimens, there was absolutely no coloration
difference between the sexes, and the difference in color is probably due to the color
of the water, and especially the nature of the sea bottom, whether sandy or muddy.

The females from Wood’s Holl were about ready to spawn, and the males contained

more abundant spermatozoa than any others examined, but no milt.

:0:
RECENT LITERATURE.

Sars’ Motiuscan Fauna oF Arctic Norway.!—The connection

between the northern faunz of East America and Europe is so

close that monographic work of any kind done for one region,
deserves and usually obtains the careful attention of students

whose field of research is in the other; and it is daily becoming —
more necessary as wider observation reveals with greater clear- —

ness the intimate relations which the two districts bear to one

ability of the author as an observer, an investigator and an artis-

tic delineator of the objects he describes, warrant us in expecting

results, in the main, of the highest excellence. Yet candor com-
pels us to admit that these expectations are only partly fulfilled.

The work contains a short introduction followed by a descrip-
_ tion of each species in zoological order, without synonymy or des-

aeria til PRENS om Norges — Fauna, 1, Mollusca Regionis Arctic
No Af Dr. G. O.

2 Sars, Prof. Zoöl. v. Christiania Univ. Universitets pro-
-gram for Lori halvaar 1878. “Christiania, 1878. - 8vo, pp. 456. a and fift yur ©

autos sraphic pla

1879. | Recent Literature. 31

‘criptions of the genera, and with occasional but incomplete ref-
erences to specific synonyms, followed by such remarks on each
species as the wide experience gained by the author from eighteen
years of study has suggested. The length of time over which
the work has extended, has rendered a short supplement neces-
sary to the main body of the book, which is followed by tables
of geographical distribution and a discussion of the questions
involved in this branch of the work, a full index, and the plates
with their explanation. The text is in Norwegian and the
descriptions of families and species in Latin

he plates are autotypic and contain an aoum of work which
must be seen to be appreciated. It is true that a certain amount
of progress may be traced in them, a few of the earlier ones being
slightly less artistic than the rest, and an occasional correction
will suggest itself to the special student, but aside from these
inconsiderable matters, it may well e doubted if the animals of
any other fauna have ever heck so roughly and effectively
treated by the pencil of a competent draughtsman. The ;
simply invaluable to the student of Arctic and boreal Mollusca,
not only for their delineation of species (often unfigured else-
where), but for the thoroughness with which accessories, too often
neglected, such as dentition, opercula, anatomical details, etc., are
represented whenever known. These plates alone would form for
the author an enduring claim to the gratitude of his fellow natu-
ralists of all countries.

A serious drawback, however, to the fullest usefulness of the
work exists in its nomenclature, which does not appear to con-
form to any particular principles, and which most unfortunately
adds very largely to the already overwhelming mass of synonymy
with which this branch of science is loaded. Prof. Sars exhibits
a tendency to divide species and genera to their fullest extent, and
while this alone is not particularly reprehensible if carefully done,
yet when done without great care, as in the present case, one ma
be pardoned for taking exception to the method, and lament-
ing the inevitable results. Thus we have as absolute synonyms
of already established names, Boreochiton Sars (Trachydermon
Crp.), Boreofusus Sars (7; voschelia Moérch), and Solenopus M. Sars
(Neomenia Tullb.) first described by Tullberg. Craspedochilus
Sars, also belongs ina section first characterized and named by
Carpenter, In this connection it may be mentioned that a reéx--
amination of the dentition of the Chitons would Vek ae result
in a revision of some of the figures. Of names which hav
adopted without that search into their credentials which e
have shown them to be untenable, a few may be mentioned.
Such are Portlandia Mörch, Tridonta Schumacher, Nicania Leach,
Timoclea Römer, Rupicola | (2), Antalis Aldrovandus (/), Del irae os
dea Brown, Pilidium Midd., Pyrene Bolten, and Conulus Nardo.. —
Of names ‘applied erroneously to forma which cannot by any a

32 — Recent Literature. [ January,

recognized rules come under them, there are quite a number,
such as Chiton (restricted) for Chiton hanleyi; Lepidopleurus to
Chiton alveolus M. Sars, Nacella to Patina pellucida, Acmea (re-
stricted) to Collisella testudinalis, while Tectura is retained for
Acmea virginea, Scutellina to Pilidium fulvum, Ampullina to Bul-
bus Smithit, Chrysodomus (as of Swainson) to Fusus Turtont, while
a typical Chrysodomus is called Neptunea, and so on. We are far
from asserting that these blemishes are sufficient to condemn
wholly a work which will always be of permanent value, yet it is
impossible not to regret, that while the greater part of it is sc
very good the remainder was not brought a little nearer perfec-
tion. We presume the work, though not provided with a nominal
publisher may be had of the author, or of the authorities of the
University of Christiania. It was actually issued on the 6th of
June, 1878, though proofs of part of the plates had been kindly
furnished to several naturalists some time before their publication.
—W. H. Dall.

SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1877.'—This report, the last made
by the lamented Henry, contains matter of very general interest,
not only as to the workings of the Smithsonian Institution but
also the progress in the scientific explorations of the United
States. Of particular value is the full “ List of the more important
Explorations and Expeditions, the collections of which have con-
stituted the principal sources of supply to the National Museum,

which prosecuted.” Besides the numerous articles in the appen-
dix, translated and original, concerning archeology, physics and
meteorology, zoologists will be interested in the translation of
Weismann’s parad Se ae “On the Change of the Mexican
Axolotl to an Amblystoma

PALZZ:ONTOLOGICAL Resse OF THE PRINCETON SCIENTIFIC Ex-
PEDITION OF 1877.2—This stout pamphlet represents the work of
an expedition of students of Princeton College, who, under the
auspices of Prof. Guyot, director of the museum of that institu-
tion, made an exploration of the fossiliferous beds of the Bridger
Basin of Wyoming, and the fish-bearing shales of the South Park
of Colorado. It is cause of congratulation on the part of the
friends of scientific education, that the liberal endowment of this
department at Princeton College should have commenced thus
early to bear fruit, and in so profitable a direction. The seed
sown by the late Mr. Green has evidently fallen into good ground,
and we see at once the realization of President McCosh’s view,
that the great schools should not only be institutions for teaching,
1 Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution .. . for
~ 1877. Washington, 1878. 8vo, pp. 500
-Contributions fromt the Museum of Geology ma “Shere. Mad Princeton rage
= 1, Palzeontological sg ada c. By HENRY F. OSBORN M. B. ScoT
Francis SPIER, Jr. Sept. 1, 1878. 8vo, pp. opi pl. x,

1879. ] Recent Literature. : 33

but also furnish the facilities for the prosecution of original
researc
The present report gives descriptions of the osteology and

Perissodactyla, ? Orohippus Miio, Pulih yeys major and P. lew deni.
Leurocephalus eerste" gen. et sp. nov., Amdblypoda, Uintatherium
leidyianum sp. n d U. princeps sp. nov. The new species are
Megencephalon (Carnivora new genus) I sp.; Hyrachyus, 3 sp.;
Helaletes, 1 sp. Lthygrammodon gen. nov. , supposed to be Artio-
dactyle and related to the Camelide,1 sp. Crocodilus, 1 sp. Of

which is doubtless a genus distinct from Palgosyops, although
the authors have not seized its single character in their diagnosis.
The most beautiful specimen is the Uintatherium letdyianum, of
which the party obtained a nearly complete cranium and much
of the skeleton. The excellent heliotype engraving which
accompanies the report gives a good idea of the appearance of
this extraordinary animal, whose place is evidently between the
two extreme forms, Uintatherium mirabile and Loxolophodon cornu-
tus. Other figures representing vertebra and other parts of the
skeleton will prove very useful. Several of the other species are
represented by figures engraved by photographic process. We
can only wish for a few representing the crowns of the teeth.

e fish-beds of Florissant, Col., yielded some fine specimens
of safes species, among which is a new Z richophanes.

The authors of this catalogue may congratulate themselves on
having measureably mastered one of the most difficult branches
of our palzontoloyy, considered from the standpoint of literature
and synonymy. They have presented the results of their labors
in a form which is available to their fellow workers. We con-
clude this notice with the single regret that they did not retain in
MS. the compiled catalogue which closes the report. There are
several reasons why this course should have been followed; one of
which is that a large proportion of its names are as yet without
authority, but are rather in the condition of those that fill sales
catalogues of different kinds, than available for scientific purposes.

PACKARD’S GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF InsEcts..—We notice the
present edition. for the purpose of drawing attention to certain
cunan and suggestions which may prove of interest to those __
who do not possess the last edition, and for this purpose quote as
follows from the preface. “ More important additions and altera-
tions have been made in this edition than in any previous one.
The author has decided to consider the — Arachnida —

VOL, XIII.—no. L 3

34 Recent Literature. [ January,

and Myriopoda as sub-classes of Tracheata, and consequently
what have been in former editions regarded as sub-orders are
called orders. The Thysanura, moreover, are separated from
the Neuroptera and regarded as a distinct order, comprising syn-
thetic types with features allying them to the Orthoptera, Neurop-
tera and Myriopoda. hey are divided into two sub-orders,

‘Tuomas’ Noxious Insects oF ILiiNois.— This voluminous
report evinces the activity shown the past year in Illinois as
regards the prevention and cure of injuries from injurious insects.
The State entomologist has employed Prof. G. H. French as
general assistant, Miss Nettie Middleton as office assistant, and
Miss Emily A. Smith as special assistant for the north-western
part of the State. Over a hundred pages are devoted by Prof.
Thomas to insects injurious to corn; an excellent report by Miss

louse, while the second half of the report is devoted by Prof.
French to a description of the butterflies and moths, with their
caterpillars, especially injurious in Illinois.: The volume is weil
calculated to interest and instruct the people of the West in
_economic entomology, and, we think, is an improvement on last
year’s report. i

LocKYER’S GUILLEMIN’s Forces or. NATURE.?—By its general
accuracy of statement, simplicity and clearness of style, and the
excellence of the wood-cuts and full page illustrations, this work
in its English dress, will commend itself to those naturalists who
wish to broaden their field of study and to ascertain the nature of
the environment by which the life of the globe is surrounded.
From many points of view the naturalist and geologist will need
to review and utilize his knowledge, or if that be wanting, acquire
some idea of the physical phenomena of nature.
the State of Llinois. Secon
Entomologist. Springfield, 111., 1878,. 8vo, pp. 290.

e. A popular introduction‘to the study of Physical Phe-

1 Seventh Report of the State Entomologist on the Nos ious and Beneficial Insects of
d Annual Report. By Cyrus THomas, Ph.D., State

oo. nomena, By Amédée Guillemin. Translated from the French by Mrs. NORMAN
i iti tes í

_ i} y J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.
Ilusirated by nearly five hundred engravings. London, Macmillan & Co., 1877-
- 8vo, pp. 725- 13 numbers, one shilling a number,

1879. ] Recent Literature. | 35

The work after having had, as the English pübtishovi claim, an
“ enormous circulation ” in France, and two very large editions in
England, is republished in England in eighteen parts, “ at about
half the original cost.” It is divided into seven books, treating
of gravity and attraction, sound, light and color, heat, magnetism
and electricity, the rainbow, the rise of clouds and fogs, and
atmospheric meteors, with a full index. A brief appendix con-
tains the reprint of a paper by Prof. Henry Draper on the dis-
covery of oxygen in the sun by photography, and a new theory
of the solar spectrum.

LETTER FROM O. C. MARSH, ETC., TRANSMITTING THE REPORT ON
“THE SCIENTIFIC SURVEYS OF THE TERRITORIES, ETC.!—We have
received a copy of this document, which consists of the report of
a committee which was appointed by Prof. arsh under
the following circumstances: Certain persons, not friendly to
some cf the U.5. Geological Surveys as at present constituted,
succeeded in having included in the Sundry Civil Appropriation
Bill, of June 30, 1878, the following clause:

“And the National Academy of Sciences is hereby required,
at their next meeting, to take into consideration the methods and
expenses of conducting all surveys of a scientific character under
the War or Interior Department, and the surveys of the J.and
Office, and to report to Congress as soon thereafter as may be
practicable, a plan for surveying and mapping the Territories of
the United States on such general system as will, in their judg-
ment, secure the best results at the least possible cost; and also
to recommend to Congress a suitable plan for the publication and
distribution of the reports, maps and documents, and other results
of said surveys.”

In pursuance of this act, Prof. Marsh, who is acting president
of the Academy, pending the appointment of Prof. Henry’s suc-
cessor, selected a committee consisting of six gentlemen who —
were not personally connected with the surveys. Of the seven
members of the committee, four were geologists, of whom the

with the constitution of the National Academy, a committee may
be appointed in the interval of the meetings, in response to a

request of Congress, and such committee is not required to refer _

to the Academy for advice and assistance, but reports its conclu-

sions to Congress direct, and its proceedings to the next meeting _

of the Academy. It is evident that reports made in this way lose
much of their authority as utterances of the Academy, especially _

when, as in the present instance it has just been deprived of `

its president and has not yet secured the services of a suc- oe
cess oe

1 Letter from O. C. Marsh, vice Lips raat: president of the National Acad. oi
emy of Sciences, transmitting, in obedience tolaw, the Report onthe

of the Territories made by the Nat. Academy of Sciences. Senate Mis. Doc., No. % o

36 Recent Literature. | January,

The report of the committee makes three recommendations ; as
follows: First, that the geodetic surveying of the Territories of
the United States be placed in the hands of one organization, and
that that one be the United States Coast Survey, which they also
propose shall be transferred to the Interior Department. Secondly,
that all of the existing geological and geographical surveys be
abolished, and that a new organization be created under the In-
terior Department, to be called the United States Geological Sur-
vey. Thirdly, the limitation of the duties of the Land Office to
questions relating to the disposition and sale of public lands, their
titles, the records, etc.

At first sight there is a simplicity and harmony about the plan
thus recommended, which is pleasing to one’s sense of order and
fitness. The proposition for the unification of all geodetic work
is every way reasonable, and we hope to see it adopted. So, also,
with the plan of conduct of the Land Office. But as regards the
geological work proper of the country, there is no such reason for
consolidation. If the work be well done, it matters not to how
many organizations it be confided, provided it be not duplicated,
and of this there is now no danger. In fact, in view of the utter
absence of reasonable grounds for the committee’s proposition on
this head, we seek for the presentation of some in the report, but
in vain. We have now three or four extensive and complex or-
ganizations fully equipped at great expense, and ably manned, all
doing work which is the admiration of the older countries, as
well as of our own, which this committee proposes to snuff out of
existence. And this while they are in the midst of their useful-
ness, and preparing to bring out work which is the result of years
of preparation. The proposition seems especially absurd in view
of the other fact, that the term of existence of Government su-
pervision of this work is, at most, limited. One portion after an-
other of the territory west of the 1ooth meridian will be entering
the Union as States, and then the sustenance of the geological
surveying will fall to the State Governments. It does, therefore,

ject at this time. We can only account for the proposition in
view of the universal truth that “some men labor, and other
men enter into their labors.”

The following summary includes the more important objections
which occur to us:

1.) The surveys as they now exist are the results of private
effort and energy, and the force of personal interest on the part
of their directors is an important element in their success. Re-
move this, and much of their working power is gone.

(2.) The territories will, before many years, become States, and
the services of the General Government in surveying will be su-
_ perseded by the State Govenments. It is therefore unnecessary

to create a new organization to accomplish a work which is

1870. | : Recent Literature. 37

now in large =e completed, and for which competent organiza-
tions already exist.

The Ae organizations are abundantly capable of doing
the work, in the opinion of competent critics in America and
Europe.

) The existence of several distinct organizations is a guar-
antee of better work than where but one exists. The emulation
which exists between different surveys, and the constant neces-
sity for preserving each other’s respect, secures a high standard of
work, and prevents the development of a Beaurocracy which is
foreign to our methods and tastes.

(5.) The objection raised on account of the duplication of work,
ceases to exist with the proper division of territory between the
Surveys.

(6.) No department of the U. S. Government should be pre-
cluded from oe on any geological or other scientific work
germane to its obje

(7.) The more numerous the surveys, the more numerous the
avenues of publication of scientific work, an advantage highly ap-
preciated by the savants of the country. sk D. Ca ope.

ECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—The Amateur’s Handbook of Practical Infor-
mation for the Mbp 4 and Laboratory. New York, The Industrial Publication
No te Re Ramer sur t quelques Diptères Tertiaires et en particulier sur un diptère
des marnes tert ane ene agi tid = Chadrat ie e) La Protomyia

Oustaleti qui dev appeler Plecia Oustaleti. Par M. Charles Brongniart. (Ex-

trait du Bulletin Scientiñque e du depar te du Nord.) Avril, 1878. 8vo, pp. 9.
Note sur veau are d’Orthoptére Fossile de la Famille des

provenant de Tenia rupea Maaien de i — (Protophasma Du-

era Pa harles Brongniart. m ” I

Ter, tology, or the Belén of Mons oe wk

Pine -e the regis Medical Colet of Philadelphia, pet oe ave,
P 3. IU

n the pe of apb iota alcicornis. By Wm. Worth Rice. (From the Ameri-
can a Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. xvi, Sept., 1878. 8vo, pp. 3. Illustrated.
Notes on Cladocera. By Eaward A. Birge, Ph.D. Read Dec., 1877. Printed,
nee addition Nov., 1878. 8vo, pp. 33, 2 plates
e Entomological ee Dies of John L. LeConte. Compiled by Poot Hen-
eee Edited by George Dimmock. Cambridge, Nov., 1878. 8vo, p
The Woodruff Exposition Round the — 1879-1880. a ied
at the Riverside Press, 1878. 8vo.
Note on the Colors of the British ea. By Sir ioa Lubbock. (Read
Feb. 6, 1878, Trans. Ent. Soc. Part iii, October.) 8vo
Catalogue of the Birds of St. Vincent, from collections ailé by Mr. Fred. ag
ae under the directions of the Smithsonian Institution, with his notes there
y Geo. N. Law

Rall
Birds of the So Valley, A repository of a and popular information

8vo, pp. 185-198. (Ext. from Proc. U. S. National Mus.) ey .

concerning North American Ornithology. By Elliott Coues. Part i, Passeresto :

Laniide. Bibliographical Append 70 istswins. 8vo, pp. 833. (Dept. of

Interior. U.S. Geog. Su urvey of the Terrtiories, Miscel. Publications

No. 11.) Washington: € Gov. Printing Office, 1878, From Dr. F. V. O 5.
Geologist. ;

38 = Recent Literature. [January;

Catalogue of the Birds of Dominica, from collections made for the Smithsonian
Institution by Frederick A. Ober, together w ith his notes and observations. By Geo.
N. . 8vo, pp. 48-69. (Extract ‘ris Proc. U. S. National Mus.) Wash-
ington, 1878.

Descriptions of a a new — of Birds from the Islands of Granada and
Dominica, West I By Geo. N. Lawrence. (From yee ai of the New
York Academ oe beet Vol. i, July y, 1878). From the a

Ic chrhyologische Beitrage S Sron Vol. ie of ne 48 6 der K. Akad. der
Wissensch. 1878. Svo, pp. 14, Taf The same (vii). Fro 2 Vol A,
ibid. 8vo, < pe 1878. By Dr. Prone Steindiichner. "Vien na. cis the author.

Note sur l’absence du Systeme Diestien aux environs de Bruxelles, et sur des
observations ses ae au gore me aiaa en. Par G. Vincent et A. Rutot.
Svo, pp. 13. Liége, m the author

Paléoethnologie ou iedoti uité de. L'Homme dans les Alpes-Maritimes, Par
Emile Rivière. Pianches en chromolithographie par J. Pilloy, gravures sur bois par
Guzman. 4to. sive 3 i, ii, iii. Paris, J. B. Balliére et Fils, 1878-79. From the

thor.

eleve des Sondages executés dans le Brabant par M. le Baron O. Van Ertborn,
precédé Soe ue aes ae sur FH ONS Par G. Vincent et A. Rutot,
8vo, pp. 35. Liège, 1878. From the
Description deg uk Iques Es FR nouvelles de la pete de l’ Est du Bassin de Paris,
ar le Dr. Cha ria Barcel et Jules de Guerne. 8vo 42-64, pl iii. (Ext. A
Soc, Geol. du d.) Lille 1878.. from the auth
Description x la Faune Hi PEtage Landenien k de Be ae: Par G.
Vincent. 8vo, pp. 52, plates 10. Bruiciles, 1878. From the author
_ Communication sur les Ossements Fossiles des Terrains Taiiia inferieurs oe
Environs de Reims, faite à la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de Reims. Par M.
i Mai 1878

Dr. Lemoine, le 8 78. (Mammiferes.) 8vo, pp. 24, planches v. Seine
1878. From the author.

é.ddress of Wm. Spottiswoode, Esq., etc, President of he British Association for
the ensues of Science. Dublin meeting, 1878. o, pp- 34. London

Animal Intelligence, an mep lecture delivered kire the British A aciaiion at
Dublin, August 16, 1878. By Geo. J. Romanes, M.A., F.L.S. 8vo, pp. 23. Lon
don, Taylor & Francis, 1878.

A Century’s Progress in Zodlogica al Knowledge. Address in the Department of
Zoölogy and Botany of ~~ British Association, ‘Dublin, phe By William Henry
ie F.R.S., President of = Section. 8vo, pp. 9

Address deli way în the Department of Geology a he British Association,
* ua 1878. By John thos DCL, F.R.S., ete. 8vo, pp. 23. London, Vir
ue & Co. i

The Geological History of New Te — and Soar. By Prof. J. S. New-
berry, of Columbia College. 8vo, pp. 2 ew York, 1878. From the author.
of New Palzozoic Cae: oN 0 the Annals of the N. Y-
Acad. o P cena, Vol. i, No. z From the author.
UA A ey List of Lower Silurian Fossils, Cincinnati Group. By J. sap
— e d A, G. Wetherby, July, 1878. 8vo, pp. 26. Cincinnati. From the
` authors.

‘The General History of the Cephalopods, Raae -e Fossil, By Miss Agnes
Crane. 8vo, pp. 16. — 1878. From the au
_ Qn Saurocephalus. By Wm. Davies, F.G.S. (ex “rom the Geolog. Mag., No.
6, Sat 1878.) 8vo, s "3 and 1 1 plate, From the

_ Address of Prof. Maxwell gr n, M.D “ERS, pN per Chemical Section
nek Associatio ation), Dublin, 1878. ' 8vo pag 6. From the author.
du “Turkestan Russe, Par J. eooni dto: pp- 32,
Apercu des Richesses Hisia de ia Russie D'Europe. Publie par le Depart-

ment des Mines du Ministéres du Domaine de PEtat, nwon Univiniile de Paris
i E n PP. 151. a

1879. | : Botany. : : 39

e Kettle Range of the Great Lake ries y Ho ae TE
Cas State Geologist of Wisconsin. 0, pp. 2 map. Pans, HE
Note sur le Grès de Bagnoles Ta yee M. r Teea 8vo, pp. 15, with
plate. Caen, 1878. Fr om the aut
“ La Carte resin, de la Sué a ’ et ses envois a l’Exposition Universelle de

Paris en 1878, avec une description ieee des Formations Geologiques de la
uede. 8vo, p n Stockholm, 1
Intorno ae erie: presa in Taranto nel Febbrajo, 1877. Memoria del Dr.
Francesco Gasco. o, pp- 47, with plates. Naples, 1878. From the author

Palæontological a No. 30. Contribution to the Vertebrate Fauna of the
Miocene of Oregon. By E. D. caer dae before the Am. Philos. Society, Nov.
15,1878.) 8vo, pp. 16. From thea

ote sur un nouveau genre de pie te la Famille des Geckotiens; and Sur
Eleotris d’espece nouvelle par Al. Thonùnot. (Ext. du po ll. de la Soe. Philomath,
de Paris, 27 fai uillet 1878.) 8vo, pp. 3. "io m the aut

Recent and Fossil Cephalopoda. By Miss A gnes Crane, (Ext. from the Geolog.
Mag., Nov., 1878.) 8vo, pp. 13. From the autho

Noticias sobre Antigüedades hott de la Buda One ntal. Par Florentino Ame-
ghino. Com 3 laminas fotograficas representando ae de piedra de la edad neo-
litica. 12mo, pp. 26. Mercedes, Argentine Republic, S. A., 1877. From the author.

La Barcenita. ere eee relativos al aan des esta nueva especie
Mineral dedicada al Sr. D. M riano Apap ott de Mexico. Porel Dr. J. W. Mallet.
8vo, pp. 16. Mexico, 898. sis rom the author

The Law governing Sex. ” V communication of Thos. Meehan to a ban
of Nat. Sciences of Phila a Ma nae 1878. 8vo, pp. 3. From the au

Note sur le Grés de Bagno get (Orne). Par M. F Moriere. 8vo, pp. ae
plate, Cack 1878. From thea

atalogue des Mammi fares viet et Fassi Par | . Trouessart,
Advertissment. (Ext. Revue et Magazin de Fore. 1878, iay "8y0, pp. 16.
From the author.

Tenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geolo: fee and Geographical Survey of per

Tia embracing e of Colorado and adjacent Territories, being a report
progress for the year 1878. By F. V. Hayden, U.S S. Geologist. Washington, pins
15th, 1878, pp. 546. :

sO;
: GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY. o
ASSOCIATION OF AN INCONSPICUOUS COROLLA WITH PROTEROGYN-
ous DICHOGAMY IN INSECT-FERTILIZED FLOWERS.— Mr. Wilson,

at the last meeting of the British association, read a paper o on this sub-
ject. He said that there is a class of flowers represented by thecom-
mon figwort (Schrophularia nodosa) which are shown, by their se- _
creting nectar and emitting odors, to be dependant on the visits

of insects for their fertilization, and not on the wind, and yet do

not possess a conspicuous colored or marked corolla for the guid-

ance of insects to the flowers. Moreover, the flowers are in them
not massed together to g sinhighy
colored flowers, like heaths, ae gladiolus, a Highly
colored conspicuous flowers are usually proteranhous, 2 e
the anthers are matured before the Sod and as flowers are us- o
ually developed from below upwards, it follows that in any given _
plant the lower flowers will have shed their poleg and have their

bd

40 . General Notes. [January,

_ stigmas ready to receive it by the time the upper flowers are be-

ginning to shed their pollen. In this inconspicuous class, on the
other hand, the lower flowers will be in the second or male stage
when the upper flowers are as yet in the younger or female stage.
Now it is clear that an insect visiting such flowers, must adhere
to the habit of the bee, which invariably begins at the lower flower
on a stalk and goes upwards, taking each flower in regular suc-
cession. By this means it invariably enters first a female flower
and there deposits the pollen it brings with it from another plant.
Were the bee to reverse this order, the whole elaborate arrange-
ments of many plants for cross-fertilization would be upset, for the
bee would simply transfer pollen from the upper male flowers and
deposit it on the lower female ones. This would be fertilization
by flowers of the same plant, and this Mr. Darwin has shown to
be little or no better than self-fertilization. In the case of the in-
conspicuous flowers, where the opposite condition obtains, a bee
would frustrate fertilization by adhering to its ordinary ascending
habit. Mr. Wilson’s observations of a wasp visiting these plants
indicate that the wasp begins at the top flower and proceeds down-
wards—so that they are adapted specially to such insects, and
as wasps are generally predatory in their habits, and not entirely
vegetable feeders, as bees are, it is probable that, like other car-
nivorous creatures, their perceptions of vision and scent are keen-
er; hence wasps can probably find these obscure flowers quite as
easily as a bee can a highly-colored one. The plant, therefore,
finds that the material can be more economically utilized than in
the production of a colored corolla just as in the case of self-fer-
tile cleistogamic flowers.

Botanica, News.—At the last meeting of the British Associa-
tion Mr. A7 S. Wilson read some notes on dimorphic plants.
The plants referred to in this paper were Arythrea centaurium,
which appears from a microscopic examination of the pollen to
be a dimorphic plant like the primrose or bog-bean; and Siene
acaulis, which presents three forms—a male, having stamens only,
a female, with rudimentary stamens and perfect pistils, and a per-
fect hermaphrodite form, having both complete. In this respect
it resembles S. inflata, which, according to Axell, is triceciously
polygamous,

Mr. Wilson also remarked on “Some Mechanical Arrangements
Subserving Cross-Fertilization of Plants by Insects.” This pa-
per had reference to the three plants, Vinca minor, Pinguicula vul-
garis, and foxglove—and was a description of*latch-like arrange-
ments in the latter two, and a knee-shaped bend in the first, which
when depressed by an insect entering the flowers, cause the pollen
to be deposited on the insect, and, in the case of Vinca, to
smear the pollen with viscid matter from the circumference of the

~ curiously-shaped disc forming the lower part of the stigma.

EA

1879.] Zoölogy. 4I

ture of the Nazidacee. He especially described the ns Eas
of leaves in the genus He/ophila. In this marine tropical phnzo-
gam, the stem is a creeping jointed rhizoma; at each joint occurs
a pair of sheafing scale leaves. No foliage leaves occur on the
main axis. In the axil of one scale leaf of each pair arises eccen-
trically a lateral secondary shoot, which is a jointed rhizoma like
the parent, and the first pair of leaves upon it is a pair of foliage
leaves, the succeeding leaves on this axis are all scale leaves.
From these secondary axes tertiary ones arise, which again re-
peat the process. Thus the foliage leaves in these plants only oc-
cur as the first pair of leaves on the lateral shoots. This is prob-
ably unique in the vegetable kingdom. The pee See of the
parts of the male and female flowers were also pointed o

The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for October (which
was late in coming) contains several notes by Messrs. Eaton,
Underwood and Gilbert, on the ferns of the United States.

In the Botanical Gazette for November, Fendler’s Ferns of Trini-
dad are noticed by Prof. Eaton. The leaves of Darlingtonia cali-
puttin and their two secretions are described by Mrs. R. M.

ustin.

ZOOLOGY. !

ON THE ORIGIN OF BILATERAL SYMMETRY AND THE NUMEROUS.
SEGMENTS OF THE SoFT Rays oF FIsHEs.—As is well known, the
soft fin-rays of Acanthopterous fishes and all or most of the fin-
rays of Malacopterygians, are composed of two bilaterally sym-
metrical ossified and more or less completely segmented halves,
semicircular in section, each having a groove on its inner face to
receive between them a cartilaginous medulla. Their embryo-
logical history shows that the process of ossification is progressive
from without inwards, or in the language of recent authorities it
may be styled ectosteal.

Viewed in a non-teleological, or in the light of what seem to
be the probable mechanical (dynamical) differentiating causes, their
origin becomes extremely simple. No type of vertebrate limb
has such exceedingly short and numerous segments in relation to
its total length. In extreme contrast with them we may place the

digital wing-elements of the Chiroptera and Pterosauria, and of |

these it may be said no vertebrate types exhibit such excessive

elongation of the digital elements in proportion to their aggre- _ :

gate length. Contrasting their habitual modes of use in relation
to their surroundings, we find the media, water and air, in which
the two, respectively fins and wings, are used differ as widely in
respect to density. That such difference in structure should ac-
company such widely differing conditions would seem to be

caused by those conditions. Then, like those types which peram-

bulate over approximate planes, there are no definite points of im-

The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
S. A. :

Cou esc U.

,.

42 Gencral Notes. : [January, `

pact, hence we find no specialization of structure for counteract-
ing, or rather for preventing injuries which such impacts might
cause, as we find in hoofs, corneous pads or soles, nails and claws,
but the whole impinging surface of the osseous supporting struc-
ture is differentiated or developed in degrees ; in general terms it
is most developed proximally and gradually shades off, becom-
ing least developed distally. Again, in the fish but little osseous
tissue is found developed anywhere except in opposition to the
lines of greatest mechanical resistance encountered in locomotion,
so that paradoxical as it may appear, it looks as though the means
of locomotion have actually been cumulatively and ‘phylogeneti-
cally developed by the means used to effect the movements.
this way we may probably explain the bilaterally symmetrical
disposition of the osseous part of the soft rays which are thickest
where the resistance is theoretically the greatest. On the other
hand, the volant types, which are provided with interdigital alar
membranes, have their bones of the ordinary type, that is, ossified
alike on all sides, hence essentially tubular; in the Pterosauria the a
walls of the tubular digital bones are very ‘thin but dense, which —
is in agreement with the gainer of their environments and
is probably caused by thet
As a non-teleological piece the following principles are ~
' derived :
1. In proportion to the degree of resistance or density of the
medium traversed, do osseous segments tend to be abbreviated _
and vice versa. (This tendency is only overcome by means of |
relatively great muscular specialization, as in the long-limbed _
‘Anourous Batrachians and Ungulate Mammals, but even here the |
remote impinging elements tend to become shorter. a
a e tendency to the development of osseous structure in the
lines of greatest resistance seems to be an invariable phenomenon —
attending the exhibition of vertebrate life on our planet, andin |
this way ' bilateral symmetry of the osseous halves of soft fin-rays
is accounted for, and on the self-evident assumption that the ryth-
mical efforts exerted in opposite directions in overcoming inertia _
_are potentially alike, the morphological effects tending from this
cause to be repeated on opposite sides of a part or the. whole of _
the body as the case may be. The general truth that bone is de- _
veloped ecto-chondrially is accordingly in large part explained.

e segmentation of limbs, of the notochord of arthropods,
etc., into series of phalanges, vertebrae, osteomeres, neuromeres,
myomieres, renomeres, antimeres, somites, etc., becomes clearly sub-

ordinate to the foregoing. :
: It will be apparent to those familiar with a sufficiently great
-~ number of animal types and structural features that the above, a

tivity existing between living forms and their environment, will
a away deductively the origin of a avers majority of the

1879. ] Zoology. 7 43

morphological features of those living forms. A so modified La-
marckian philosophy = animal differentiation seems reasonable,
and a most overwhelming mass of evidence exists in its favor ;

varieties, species, genera, etc., presenting only the milestones, as

evolution by means of knowable and discoverable causes origin-
ating in the mechanical and dynamical conditions which surround
living organisms, and by which they are related to the cosmos.
This, however, goes without saying, that types may not be more
or less persistent from the persistence of a uniformity of condi-
tions.— Fohn A. Ryder.

Some New POINTS IN THE Eep a= OF THE TONGUES OF
WooDPECKERS.— The tongue of the woodpecker is -i flat,
horny, and at its end armed with a abe of ae i
short barbs. By means of a peculiar mechan-
ism it can be suddenly pushed out, so as to reach
far beyond the point of the bill. The two car-
pas ee appendices to the hyoid bone, known

th ” are curved into wide arches,
cath horn making a loop down the neck, and
thence bending upwards, sliding around the

culiar muscular arrangement of the sheaths, in
which the horns slide, they can be retracted
‘down on the occiput, and will then work as
springs on the base of the tongue, forcing it out
with great velocity. These peculiarities in the
construction of the tongues of woodpeckers
have long been known, and the above descrip-
tion is pretty nearly the same as that given by
Claus in his “ Grundzüge der Zoologie.”

Some years ago I was engaged in Sweden, in
preparing zootomical specimens, among which The skuit of Gecin-
were some woodpeckers’ heads, viz: one Picus #s viridis L. „Showing ~
Pieced two P. martius and more than twenty re ssymmetrical po: po:
. viridis. .

tg eg ingore) oat
ir tension

ad

In every one of them I noticed a peculiar | through naoi fai
asymmetric arrangement of the horns, which, tothe end of the cav
upon reaching the upper part-of the skull, met ity covered by the in-
in a broad groove of its surface, and following the termaxittare.
groove, are turned towards the right side of F the forehead, running
down between the right orbit and the crest, which is raised
along the median line of the lower part of the ‘forehead, slightly
inclined towards the right side.

In P. tridactylus aud P. martius I found that the horns end

above the base of the forehead. But in P. viridis they extend = |
through the nasal fossa into the cavity, pane is covered by the-

44 General Notes. [ January,

os intermaxillare, their ends reaching all the way out to the ex-
treme end of the said cavity.

Since that time I have had no opportunity of making further
investigations in this matter. It seems probable that such an ar-
rangement as found in the tongue of P. viridis would enable the’
bird to project its tongue further and with greater velocity than
those that have shorter horns. Therefore I would suppose that
P. viridis feeds on larve which live in the deeper parts of the
wood and are quick in their motions. This, however, I must ac-
knowledge to be merely a supposition, but it is a point worthy of
the attention of zodlogists—Dr. Fosua Lindahl.

AMPHIOXUS AND LINGULA AT THE MOUTH OF CHESAPEAKE Bay.
—In his account of a foundation of a zoological laboratory at the
mouth of BA aE bay, as a summer school of instruction for
the students of John Hopkins University, Prof. W. K. Brooks, in
the third Annual Report of the University, thus speaks of the
scientific results of the summer’s work, and of the discovery of
the early stages of Amphioxus and Lingula. We shall elsewhere
notice the workings of this laboratory :

“The amount of advantage which zoological science can
derive from the discovery and description cf new species is very
slight as compared with that which is gained by the careful study
of the whole life-history of any form of life—old or new. As
this work can be done only where the living animals can be
had, it is properly /aboratory work, as distinguished from museum
work, or the identification of specie

“I accordingly made no eons to find and describe new
forms, but devoted all our time to the careful study of a few
important species ; selecting for this purpose, from among those
which were abundant at our station, the ones a knowledge of
which is most desirable to science. I may say, however, that two
of the forms which we selected for careful study were new addi-

tions to the fauna of this region. One of these, Amphioxus, was

studied by Mr. Rice. Amphioxus is a small worm-like animal,
the lowest of the vertebrates, and it is of very great scientific
~ interest, since it has preserved many evidences of a relationship
_ to various groups of invertebrates, and thus serves to bridge over
the gap which was supposed by Cuvier and Agassiz to separate
the vertebrata from all lower forms of life. Its embryology,

_ distinguished zodlogists of Europe, and a number of papers have
appeared upon the subject within a few years. We fortunately
found several larvæ which had passed beyond the stages studied
_ by these naturalists, but which had not yet acquired the adult
characteristics. Mr. Rice succeeded in keeping these alive, and
was thus able to supply the information necessary to complete
ur ee of its development. He also made very interest-

1879. | Zoology. 45

ing observations upon the habits of Amphioxus. Amphioxus has
been found upon the coast of North Carolina, and last winter one
of the assistants of the Smithsonion Institution discovered it in the
Bermudas; until this summer these were the only instances of
its occurrence upon this side of the Atlantic

“ Another important form of life which was carefully studied,
is Lingula, one of the Brachiopods, a group which has been of
great importance during past geological periods, but has now
almost entirely disappeared. Lzngula itself has persisted un-
changed from the time of formation of the oldest fossiliferous
rocks, and is one of the first living things of which we have any
knowledge. As Lingula has not before been found under cir-
cumstances which admitted of careful study, almost nothing was
known of its development, but I was able to trace its life-history
this summer from a very early stage up to the adult form, and to
show that, old as it is, each individual, from the time of the
lower Silurian up to the present time, has transmitted to its
children a developmental record which proves that Lingula itself
.is the descendant of a much older form.”

SINGULAR Hasit oF A MeLorp BEETLE.—I have noticed for the
past two seasons a singular habit of one of the Meloid beetles,
Tricrania stansburi, which, so far as I am aware, seems some-
what at variance with the known habits of this family. Previous
to the spring of 1877 this beetle was very rarely taken, and is
yet, I believe, not common in collections. In April of that year
a few were caught on the Kansas plains, slowly flying over the
uplands on warm sunny days. In the latter part of the month,
however, a number of specimens were observed in the bottom of |
a wagon bed that had been used to collect buffalo bones for the
market; upon further investigation large quantities were
obtained from the decaying buffalo and antelope bones on the
high prairies. They chose only the cancellous tissue of the limb
bones, or more especially the ethomidal and sphenoidal regions of

the skull in weathered skeletons. None were ever taken after the `

latter part of May. In early May of the present year several
were taken from a decayed railroad tie in the vicinity of Como,
Wyoming ; one.female having apparently just deposited a mass-
of eggs in a warm fissure. :

The large number upon the plains, both of species and indi-
viduals, in this genus, eaether with Meloe, Nomaspis, Macrobasis,
Epicauta, Pyrota, Zonitis, Ne mognatha and Gnathium, and the par-
asitism of several of these, as shown by Prof. Riley, upon the
locusts, will render a further elucidation of the habits of Zricrania
an interesting one.—S. W. Williston.

New CARCINOLOGICAL Papers.—Mr. E. J. Miers, of the British
Museum, publishes a “ Revision of the Hippidea ” in the Journal
of the Linnzan Society. Vol. xiv, in which he enumerate six _

46 General Notes. [ January,

genera and twenty-two species from the whole world. This
author rejects Dana’s view of placing these Crustacea immedi-
ately beneath the Corystoidea, but would rather follow Lamarck
and Milne Edwards and connect them with the Oxystomatous
Crustacea through the family Raninide.
_ These Crustacea are represented on our coast (south of Cape
Cod by Hippa talpoida Say, which our author is inclined to con-
sider the same as Hippa emeritus of Fabricius ( Cancer emeritus L.).
A second paper by the same author on a collection of Crus-
tacea from the Gulf of Akabo, at the northern extremity of the
Red Sea (Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., Nov., 1878), has some inter-
e remarks upon some species of the difficult genus Trapezia.
— F. S. Kingsley, Providence, R, 1.

Mone oF DRINKING OF THE RED SQUIRREL.— Ín a late camping
nRa in the wilderness of Wisconsin, on the Upper Manom-

nee, we frequently met the common red or Hudson’s bay
shuiered (Sciurus hudsonius) swimming the river, when they were
easily taken into the canoes. Several of the ladies of the party
interested themselves by confining the squirrels in boxes, and
then feeding and watering them; in most cases they gnawed
their way out and were gone the next morning, but not all. They
were observing girls, and a discussion soon arose among them,
whether the squirrels drank water by the sucking or by the lapping
process, which was finally referred to me for decision. Miss H. had
one which had already become quite domesticated, and would
come at her call to eat and drink, which was done through a
small orifice not large enough to admit the passage of the whole
head. A little triangular cup was formed of a leaf and filled with
water, and one angle presented to the opening and the squirrel
called. He instantly came, projected his nose out about half an
- inch to the water and commenced drinking. This, beyond all
doubt, was done by lapping up the ‘water, as is the habit of the
dog and the cat, but the process was so exceedingly rapid as to
require a very careful scrutiny to detect it with certainty. The
position was very favorable for accurate observation, and the
point was finally yielded by the doubters.

This may be familiar to naturalists, but I do not remember to
have observed any examination as to the modes in which the
various quadrupeds drink, nor had the subject previously occu-
pied my attention. Do all the rodents lap their drink like the
dog and the cat families? Has any naturalist undertaken to set-
tle the question as to what quadrupeds drink by lapping and what
by sucking the water? It seems to me that these are character-
istics of scientific importance, and worthy of attention.—¥. D.
Caton, Ottawa, Its.

Canp. Rost. CoLLETT, of the University of Christiania, has
lately punted a list of Norwegian Zodlogical literature. for
d we of which the consti is a summary :

j

1879. } Zoology. 47

R. Collett, “On Myodes lemmus in Norway.” Some remarks
on the migratory habits of the Norwegian lemmings (Journ. Lin.
Soc. Zool. Vol. xiii., pp. 327-334). /d., three papers containing
contributions to the Ornithology of Norway (Proc. Zool. Soc.,
Lond., 1877, pp. 43-46; Nyt Mag. f. Naturv. Vol. xxiii, No. 4,
pp. 85-225; and Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christiania, 1877, No. 5;

p- 4). Zd., a synopsis of fifty-nine species of birds from Mada- .
gascar and Bourbon, eroas to the Christiania eka (Forh.
Vid. Selsk. Christiania, 1877, No. 6; pp. 20).

J. Koren and D. Danielsen, descriptions of six new species of
the gastropod tribe Solenopus M. Sars (Arch. f. Math. Naturv.,
Vol. ii, No. 2, pp. 120-128).

H. Friele, “ Preliminary report on Mollusca from the Norwegian
North Atlantic ‘Expedition in 1876,” with one autograph plate
(Nyt Mag. f. Naturv., Vol. xxiii, No. 3, pp.1-10). /d., a paper

on the radula of Norwegian Rhipiaoglossa, with four auto-
graph plates (Arch. f. Math. and Naturv., Vol. ii, No. 2;
217): i, — The development of the skeleton in the genus
Waldheimia,” with six ee plates (Arch. f. Math. and
Naturv., Vol. ii, No. 4, pp. 380-386).

i Sparre Schneider, a report on the Lepidoptera collected by
the author near Drammen in 1876 (Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christiania,

1877, No. 4; pp. 30).
H. Siebke, “ Enumeratio pes Norvegtcorum, Fasc. iv,
catalogum Dipterorum continen Ed. J. Sp. Schneider. 255

pages psi programme, a

V. Storm, a report on the Museum of “ Videnskabernes
Selskab,’ ” and some notices of rare Coleoptera, found around
Drontheim (Det Kgl. N. Vid. Selsk. Skr. i 19 Aarh., Vol. viii, No.
4; pages 131-162).

G. O. Sars, on the Myside of the Mediterranean, with thirty-six |
aspareph plates (Arch. f. Math. and Naturv., Vol. ii, No. I, pp. —
10-119). J/d., Prodromus descriptionis crustaccorum Pycnoge-
nidarum, que in expeditione Norvegica, anno 1876, observavit
(Arch. f. Math. and Naturv., Vol. ii, Ño. 3; 237-269).

D. Danielson and J. Koren, a synopsis of the Echinodermata,
collected in the Norwegian expedition to the North Atlantic, in
1876. Several new species, among them one crinoid, Zycrinus car-

penterit, from a depth of nearly 1500 fathoms in a temperature of |
Lo:

— 1.6° C ; three lithograph plates (Nyt Mag. f. Naturv., Vol. xxiii,
No. 3; pp. 45-83).

. Koren and D. Danielsen, “ Fauna littoralis Norvegiæ,” Part
ui, with sixteen plates, pp. 163, folio. Bergen, 1877. This

volume forms the third part of the important work, of which the : : .
first part was published in 1846, by the late Prof. M. Sars and thè
second in 1856, by M. Sars, J. Koren and D. Danielsen. The third ee

rt contains seven separate papers, viz.: 1. New or little known
Cælenterata, by M. Sars; ed. G. O. Sars. 2. New Echinodermata,

48 General Notes. — [ January,

by M. Sars; ed. G. O. Sars. 3. New Norwegian Ce/enterata,
by Koren and Danielsen. 4. Norwegian Pennatulide, by Koren
and Danielson. 5. New Bryozoa, by Koren se Danielson. 6.
Norwegian Gephyrea, by Koren and Danielso new species
of the genus Pennella, by Koren and Danielsin. 1s Ly.

ANTHROPOLOGY.!

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—Dr. George A. Otis, the curator
of the U. S. Army Medical Museum, writes the following with

1952, inclusive, and comprising skeletons, crania and calvaria of
American origin, with the exception of fifteen New Zealand cal-
varia transmitted from the Smithsonian Institution. These speci-
mens have been carefully prepared, numbered and mounted; the
-principal measurements, in each case, made and recorded.
Among the additions to the complete skeletons of American In-
dians was a series of seven Sioux, exhumed by Assistant Surgeon
Corbusier; specimens from the shell-heaps of Florida, from Col-
orado and from Tennessee, of supposed pre-historic date, are of
especial interest.” The immense amount of work required by
the Medical History of the War has exhausted all the funds
appropriated for this institution. But Dr. Otis, with his trained
assistants, has measured and mounted every important cranium
which he has received, and has reconstructed from fragments
many pre-historic skulls, an art in which he is exceedingly skillful.
As soon as time and funds will allow, the results of these meas-
urements will be laid before the scientific world.

The Rev. S. D. Peet, editor of the American Antiquarian, sends
us his Prospectus, and it gives us great pleasure not only to
attention to it, but to urge upon all lovers of American archeology
to make sacrifices to sustain it. Mr. Peet, without State or Gov-
ernment patronage, has for years given his leisure freely to
aboriginal history. It is due to him as well as to the subject
which we love in common, that he be not left alone in the matter.
The brilliant success achievcd in anthropology in England and
Germany, but most of all in France, is due mainly to the interest
awakened by the periodicals devoted solely to this one subject.
The advantage of a special organ ever disseminating our efforts
throughout all the periodicals of the country is apparent to all.
Mr. Peet’s address is at present Unionville, O.

The New York Herald, of November 5th, contains a review of
Col. Mallery’s paper on the supposed decrease in the number of
our aborigines. Having once drawn attention to this paper, our
space and our duty to the truth will not allow us to refer to it
again, lest mistaken zeal rob the truth of its reward. Col. Mal-

Edited by Prof. Or1s T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

1879. | Anthropology. 49

lery meant to say, and did say, that the Aborigines of America
have been overestimated in numbers, that many tribes have been
partly or wholly destroyed by whisky, disease and persecution,
that others, after the first shock of contact, had continued to
increase, and that, on the whole, there is not much difference
between the present number of Indians and that of the “ Discov-
ery.” The main argument of Col. Mallery was to show that,
since the “ necessary withering before the white man ” is a fallacy,
all efforts to help him to destruction are cruel and unpardonable.

We take great pleasure in recording the discovery of a large
obsidian quarry, the largest yet found in America, in the Yellow-
stone National Park. Near the head of the middle fork of Gar-
diner’s river, in the north-western part of the park, deposits of
this rock nearly 600 feet in thickness and of unknown horizontal
extent, were found. The discovery is reported by Mr. W. H.
Holmes, assistant geologist of the Hayden Survey, is reports
the finding of whole and broken implements, flakes and cores in
great abundance.

In the November number of Science News, Dr. C. C. Abbott

to realize the full benefit of their work. Such cautions are
exceedingly timely, ae from one who. has devoted so much
time in obeying his own instructions.

Dr. Emil Schmidt, of Essen, contributes to Archiv fir Anthro-
pologie, 1878, Parts 1, 2, an article of forty-two pages, on the

re-historic copper implements of North America. The article
is illustrated by three plates and fifty-three figures, and is abun-
dantly furnished with foot notes referring to the best authorities
on the subject.

Through the kindness of Prof. J. Duncan Putnam we are in
receipt of advanced sheets of the forthcoming Proceedings of the
Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, Quite a large portion
of the volume is devoted to a description of Mound excavations
by Messrs. Pratt, Gass, Palmerand Harrison. Mr. W. W. Calkins
read a paper, Feb. 28th, on the Shell-heaps of Florida.

Prof. Ph. Valentine has published Vortrag über den Mexica-
nischen Calender-stein, gehalten am 30 April 1878, in Republican
Hall vor dem Deutsch ges. wissenschaftlichen Verein. New
Bit 1878.

. G. Laurence Gomme, honorary secretary of the English

fae ‘Lore Society, has written to the secretary of the Smith- — -
sonian Institution asking cooperation in carrying out the aims of =

the society. Perhaps there is no country where the facts of prim-
itive culture are so easily accessible as our own. In addition to
the fertile field offered by our aborigines, we have the negroes of

the South, and the myth-preserving peasantry transported to our

shores from all the lands of the earth. The NATURALI will be

VOL. XHI,—NO, I 4

50 panes Notes. [Jan uary,

foremost in encouraging this as it has been with other branches
of anthropological study.

The first number of Vol. viii, of the Journal of the Anthro-
pological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, dated August, is
an unusually interesting brochure. The paper which will prove
most interesting to the general student is “ On the coloring mat-
ter found in human hair,” by H. C. Sorby. The author is begged
to reconsider his statement that black hair is not made lighter by
direct sunlight. Our black horses at the South all become a

rown color in August, and many will recall the foxy red hair
of the little negroes that greeted the traveler at every wayside
before the late war. r. W. St. Chad Boscawen makes a com-
munication upon the Primitive culture of Babylonia, which reviews
the evolution of the cuneiform writing. Other papers are:
On the original range of the Papuan and Negrette races, by
Francis A. Allen; The spread of the Slaves, Part 2, by H.H
Howorth. | co

The first and second quarterly parts of Archiv fir Anthropologie
for 1878, come at the same time. The paper on pre-historic cop-
per implements of North America has already been noticed.
The following titles may have some interest to special students :
Upon the value of the frontal process (spina frontalis squame@ ossis
temporum, Stirnfortsatz der Schlafenschuppe) as a race character-
istic, by Dr. Ludwig Stieda ; Upon the problem of the origin of
marriage ; Communications at t the sessions of the Society of
the Lower Rhine, by Prof. Schaafhausen; C. Von Baers’ anthro-
pological and geographical writings, by L Stieda; Upon meas-
uring and fixing the horizontal of the skull, by Prof. Schaaf-
hausen. Bound up with Archiv are Nos. 9, 10 and 11 of Corre-
spondenz-Blatt, giving a full account of the general meeting of
the German Anthropological society at Constanz, 24-26 Sept.
1877. This is by far the most instructive part of the number, and
lets us glance at the immense activity of our German brethren.

ctober number of Revue d’ Anthropologie contains the
Tobis original papers: Note on a pre-historic tumulus in

s Ayres, by Estasnilao Ceballos; Study of the Soninkes
TRN by Dr. Bérenger-Feraud ; The Skulls of the blacks of
India (tribe of amar by E. Callamand; Note on the Bahnars
(Cochin China), by Dr. orice. The most valuable part of
the number is that occupied by the description of the “ Interna-
tional Congress of Anthropological Sciences; The following are
given in full: Openiñg address, by Dr. Paul Broca; Report ofanthro-
pological societies, by M. Thulié; Report on genera] anthropology,
by P. Topinard; Reports on ethnology, by MM. Girard de Rialle
and Bordier; Reports on palzontology, by MM. G. de a
E Cartaillac and E. Chautre; Report on demography, by
Cherv
The “Société Impériale des Amis des Sciences Naturelles

kd

1879. | Geography and Travels. 51

d’Anthropologie et d’Ethnographie de Moscow has not only taken
an active part in the Universal Exposition, but has also published
a pamphlet giving a brief sketch of the society and the work
which it has dene for the ethnology of the countries within Rus-
sian territory.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

Unknown Arrica.—M. H. Duveyrier has recently read a
learned paper before the Paris Geographical Society in which he
divides the pa aR portions of Africa into six great regions.
These regions are: 1. The balani and the Libyan Desert, meas-
uring 5,750,000 aiet kilometres, and notwithstanding its deso-
late aspect containing in s ancient populations and rich oases
much of great interest. In the west the country between the
Joliba and the coast of Guised covering the surface of 1,200,000
square kilometres. 3. In the center north of the equator the
upper courses and the sources of the Benué and the Shari com-
posing an area of 800,000 square kilometres in which to seek to
complete our knowledge of the basins of the Nile and the Shari,
and to discover the sources of the latter and those of the Benue.
4. In the southern equatorial zone adjacent to the preceding and
embracing the head waters of the Nile, the sources of the Ogowé
and the basin of the Congo, extending over 2,000,000 square kilo-
metres, some of the greatest problems of African geography re-
main to be decided. 5. In the south the basin of the Cunene
and the districts about Angola and Benguela. 6. Finally, in the
east, the region which forms a triangle culminating in Cape Garda-
fui whose interior is totally unexplored, and presents subjects of
investigation not only geographical, but also historical of the high-
est interest.

Adding together the areas se these six great lacunz, we find
they amount to upwards of 11,000,000 square kilometres—more
than one-third of the nates continent, But there is no reason
to be discouraged at this large figure. Since the beginning of
the present century the exploration of Africa has pro-

gressed at a mean rate of 234,285 square rear es per year, —

and if it goes on at this rate, the whole of the African inter-
ior ought to be known in less than D years. But this
calculation takes no account of the geometric progression of the

figure of these discoveries which now produce in one year more a

than in the first twenty years of the century.

AFRICAN Exprtoration.—Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs arrived at Tripo-
lis on the 24th of October last. He expects to proceed early in-
December to Kufrah and thence to Wadai. He will then en-

deavor to trace the rivers Shari and Benué to their sources, and

to explore the region intervening between them and the rivers
1 Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia. ;

52 General Notes. [ January,

Ogowé and Congo. He is accompanied by a zoologist, Dr.
Stecker. The German African Association has granted him
$7,500, and the German Emperor has entrusted him with valua-
ble presents for the ruler of Wadai, in recognition of the kindness
shown Dr. Nachtigal.

M. Paul Solleilet, who endeavored a few years ago to open up
a commercial route between Algiers and Senegal, started from
Bordeaux in the early part of 1878, on a second expedition with
the same object for Saint Louis in Senegal. From there he pro-
ceeded to Backel, 250 leagues from the mouth of the Senegal
river. Leaving there on the 8th of June, he arrived at Kuniakaro
on the 23d of that month. When last heard from he was on the
point of starting for Sego on the Niger. He proposes to winter
in that town, and descend the river as far as Timbuktu in the
ensuing spring. From thence he hopes to go to In-Salah and
from thence to Algiers.

The feasibility of connecting the depression of the Shot-el-

Jerid with the Mediterranean, and thus flooding the Algerian Sa-
hara, is being investigated by Capt. Roudaire at the expense of the
French Minister of Education. He has with him Dr. André who
will examine into the natural history of the country.
- The Portugese African Expedition, under Major Serpa Pinto,
left Benguela on November 12, 1877, for Bihé, and reached the
latter place in the following March. From particulars gathered
by the Academy from Lisbon journals, we learn that they found
the porter-difficulty even greater on the west than on the east
coast, because as a rule the natives are only willing to engage for
short journeys and specific destinations. At Bihé the explorers
resolved to separate into two parties; Messrs. Capello and Ivens
starting in a northern direction, whilst Major Serpa Pinto, on May
18, 1878, was on the eve of departing for the Upper Zambesi, in-
tending to reach Zumbo early next year. This journey is likely
to be very difficult, owing to the small escort and limited amount
of goods taken and the hostile character of the tribes to be en-
countered. He proposes first to explore the region between the
Cubango and the Zambesi. The geographical and meteorological
observations already obtained are said to be very interesting.
The Cubango has its source at a great distance west of Bihé, near
that of the Cunene at Bailundo. The streams flowing to the west
directly to the sea, or north into the Quanza, or south into the
Cunene, have their sources in the vast marshy depressions of the
country, between 12° 30’ and 13° S. latitude.

A successful experiment in the introduction of trained ele-
phants from India into Africa has been made this year by Col.
Gordon in Egypt. The elephants were first taken to Khartum
and thence marched to Duffli, where they were employed in carry-
ing all kinds of heavy goods. During their march they swam
across the Nile three times. A portion of their journey from the

`

1879. ] Geography and Travels. 53

Sobat to Bahr was over territory never before traversed. The
negroes along the line of march were frightened by them and
made no attempt to attack the party. The elephants have gradu-
ally learned to live on leaves and grass as the wild elephants do,
and keep in first rate condition. Col. Gordon consequently ad-
vises travelers to the interior from Zanzibar to use elephants, and
thus avoid the necessity for a host of porters—a never ending
source of delay and annoyance.

The Abbé Debaize, for whose scientific mission to Central Af-
rica the French Government has ‘apportioned a sum of 100,000
francs, reached Zanzibar early in June of last year. After the in-
evitable delay in obtaining porters and supplies, he started at the
head of a caravan of 400 persons from Kikoka near Bagamoyo, on
August 6th, and was last heard from at Mpwapwa, on Septem-
ber ist. He has a good knowledge of Arabic, Coptic and of some
East African languages, and has recently received instructions in
Natural History from Milne-Edwards and from Capt. Mouchez, of
the Paris Observatory, for astronomical observation.

The Belgian East African Expedition sent out under the aus-
pices of the International African Association, at Brussels, after
very great delay and several changes in its corps ‘caused by the
death of two and the resignation of other members), and now
conducted by M. M. Cambier, Wantier and Dutrieux, set out
from Bagamoyo on July 4th. The Expedition included probably
over 500 natives, of whom, however, 325 soon deserted with a
large quantity of valuable goods. Leaving his companions to
obtain other porters in place of the deserters, M. Cambier pushed
on by a route half way between those of Mr. Stanley and Mr.
Price to Mpwapwa. On August 13th, he started for Urambo in
Unyamwesi where he contemplates founding the first of the
“stations hospitalières et scientifiques.’ Dr. Dutrieux had reached
Mpwapwa on August 26th

Ten Catholic Missionaries from Algeria also departed from
Bagamoyo, on June 16th, 1878, and arriving at Mpwapwa on
July 27th, separated—one party going to the Victoria Nyanza
and the remainder to Ujiji. These missionaries have been prac-
ticed in the use of scientific instruments.

The Academy states that the London Missionary Society has
heard of the arrival of its Tanganyika mission party at Ujiji. The
march from Urambo, the capital of Unyamwesi, occupied but
eighteen days, and the news “ reached London in the short space
of seventy-eight days, of which forty-five only were required for
the transmission of the letter from Ujiji to Zanzibar, a distance
of some 650 miles, and yet but eight years ago Dr. Livingstone
was looked upon as lost, though he was residing at the former
place

Committee of the African Exploration Fund are about to dispatch : xe

Mr. Keith Johnston, the leader of the expedition which the aos

54 General Notes. [ January,

from the east coast of Africa to Lake Nyassa,' left England for
Zanzibar on the 14th of November last. Nature states that his `
second in command, Mr. Thomson, has had an excellent train-
` ing as a geologist, and it is expected that he will make important
contributions to our knowledge of the geology of the region to
be visited.

Sir Fowell Buxton stated, at a recent meeting of the Royal
Geographical Society, that during the last year forty miles of the
road from Dar-es-Salaam to the north end of the Nyassa have
been made. The natives give rio trouble and gladly use the road,
but continue to walk in Indian file, so that the rapid growth of
vegetation is but little impeded. One of the missionaries at
Livingstonia, Lake Nyassa, departed, in June, 1878, on a journey
through a portion of the country west of the lake.

The mission sent out by the Church Missionary Society to the
Victoria Nyanza and Uganda has not been abandoned, although
of the four who reached the lake in 1877, one, Dr. Smith, died of
disease, and Lieut. Smith and Mr. O’Neil were murdered. The
Rev. C. ilson was at King Mtesa’s capital, Rubaga, in
Uganda, when the news of the massacre of his companions
reached him, when he crossed the lake to Speke’s Bay and made
his way to ‘Unyanyembe. The Society, however, has at least
fourteen agents in the field, some of whom are carpenters, me-
chanics and agriculturists, and expect to have a chain of mission
stations between Speke’s Bay and Zanzibar. Mr. Wilson returned
to Uganda in January, 1878, and up to the date of his last letter
(May 9, 1878), was living comfortably at Rubaga, where he awaits
the arrival of three colleagues sent out by the Nile route. From
letters quoted in the Academy we learn that he has been favorably
impressed with the quickness and skill in imitation of the Waganda.
In his opinion they deserve the title of “the Chinese in Africa.”
They excel in basket making and in working in iron, copper and
brass. They also dress skins beautifully. He also writes that
the north-west corner of the Victoria Nyanza is thickly dotted with
islands, some of which are fifteen miles long. The people say
there are four hundred of them, and he has himself seen fifty or
sixty. They are all called “Sasse” or “Sessé Islands,” which
may be translated “Isles of the Fishermen.” These islands by
dead reckoning extend to about S. lat. 0° 40". In the winter and
spring of 1877 the Nyanza slowly rose until the middle of May,
when the maximum of two feet above the ordinary level was
reached, and it then began to recede. In January, 1878, however,
the water was within an inch or an inch and a half of its maximum
in the previous May. The Academy remarks that in 1878, there
-was “a good Nile,” which was not the case in I

The Church Missionary Society, the Academy also states, has
decided to despatch an expedition to the south-western end of the

eS See AMERICAN NATURALIST for November, 1878, page 763.

1879. | Geography and Travels. 55

Albert Nyanza, and in Dr. Behm’s Monatsbericht in the October
Mittheilungen, it is announced that the Swedish Mission Society,
assisted by a wealthy English gentleman, proposes also to estab-
lish a station at Fatiko, northeast of the lake. The latest ex-
plorations have considerably reduced the dimensions of the Albert
Nyanza. omolo Gessi placed its southern limit at 0° 50’ N. lat.
Stanley E BARRES the Beatrice Gulf at about 0° 25’ N. lat., and
believes it to be à portion of a hitherto unknown body of water—
the Muta Nzige,and not connected with the Albert. Col. Mason

ey, who last circumnavigated the Albert Lake, shows that its
shape is different, and its dimensions even smaller than were sup-
posed by Gessi. His compass survey was checked by four astro-
nomical observations. The lake is rectangular, not elliptical, in
shape, and Mason Bey places its southern limit at N. lat. 1° 10’.
Both Gessi and Mason Bey agree that no large river diehard
itself into the lake at its southern extremity, nor is there any
communication with any other large lake. The Atheneum notices
some views put forth on the subject by an Italian geographer,
who suggests that the Albert Nyanza is simply a back water or
reservoir of the Murchison or Victoria Nile, which would account
for the varying dimensions of the lake. The Atheneum also
doubts if the supposed isolation of the Tanganyika from the basin
of the Albert is yet satisfactorily proved.

SUMMARY OF THE FIELD WORK OF THE UNITED STATES GEO-
LOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES, UNDER
Pror. F. V. HAYDEN, DURING THE SEASON OF 1878. —During the
past season the work of the United States Geological and Geo-
graphical Survey, under the direction of Prof. F. V. Hayden, was
continued northward into portions of Wyoming and Montana
Territories. The usual appropriation for the survey was not
passed by Congress until July, rendering the field season very
short, yet the results were of considerable magnitude and of much
importance.

e survey proper was aviadi into four parties, one of which
was devoted to the extension of the primary triangulation to the
northward, two were engaged in topographic and geologic work,
and the fourth performed photographic and special geologic duty.

the parties left the Union Pacific Railroad from Point of
Rocks and Green River Stations about July 25, and proceeded
northward toward the Yellowstone National Park. Tothe second
division was assigned the duty of making an exhaustive survey
of the park and its surroundings, and to the third the exploration
of the Wind River range and the Snake River country. e

primary triangulation was extended over about twelve tħousand

square miles. Eight rimary stations were occupied, among them
Wind River, Fremont’s and Grand Teton Peaks, which are among
the most difficult and hazardous of ascent on the continent. This

division would have P double this amount of work aa = :

56 General Notes. [ January,

a band of hostile Indians not robbed it of its entire outfit about
the middle of the season.

The second division made a very detailed survey of the Na-
tional Park, securing the materials for the preparation of a topo-
graphical and geographical map ona scale of one mile to one
inch. The geologist not only studied the geology minutely, but
also sketched every square mile of the area. An unusually in-
teresting and valuable collection of volcanic rocks and hot-spring
specimens was obtained. The entire collection of the survey,
which are of a varied character, will amount to about three tons
weight.

The third division explored with equal care the Wind River
and Teton ranges of mountains, a region of which comparatively
little was previously known. The peak named by the survey
Fremont’s Peak was found to be over 14,000 feet in height above
the sea, with no trace that any human being had ever previously
reached its summit. Three complete glaciers were discovered on
the east side of the Wind River Mountains, the first ever known
to exist east of the Pacific coast. The old glaciated rocks and
morainal deposits were found on a remarkably grand scale in both
the Wind River and Teton ranges.

The object of again surveying the Yellowstone Park was to
bring it under the system of triangulation which had been em-
ployed with so much success in Colorado and to make the entire
work uniform. All the old hot-spring basins were resurveyed in
great detail, and several new ones were discovered and mapped.
Soundings and temperatures of several thousand hot springs were
taken. The history and habits of the geysers were carefully
studied. The photographer of the survey obtained over fifty
fine views of the bowls and other curious ornamental details of
the Hot Springs.

The results of the season’s labors, though a short one, have
been on the whole very satisfactory. About 12,000 square miles
of very difficult country were surveyed, much of it in minute de-
tail, and a mass of observation secured for the twelfth annual
report, which will make it of more general interest and value than
any of the preceding.

The district assigned to this survey by this department for the
next Atlas comprises all the area of the Territories of the United
States north of latitude 41° 45’, east of meridian 117° and west
of meridian 94°. It is estimated that the mapping of this area
will occupy five years more, and when this is completed, the sur-
vey will have mapped over one-fourth the territory of the United
States west of the one hundredth meridian.

GEOGRAPHICAL News.—Petermann’s Jhtthedungen will be con-
tinued and conducted by Dr. E. Behm, who has been long con-
nected with Justus Perthes Establishment, is one of the editors of
the well-known Bevölkerung der Erde, and is the author of the _

1879.] Microscopy. 57

excellent monthly summaries of geographical news in this most
important of geographical journals. Besides others, the number
for November contains an article on the use of elephants in African
exploration, written by Dr. Petermann shortly before his

and one concerning D’Alberti’s New Guinea Exploration, with a
map of the Fly River. The Geographical Magazine for No-
vember contains the best map of the seat of war in Afghanistan
which has yet appeared, both as regards accuracy, fullness of in-
formation and excellence in the mechanical execution. With the-
December number this periodical ceased to be published, but is
replaced by the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and
Monthly Geographical Record, under the charge of the Secretary o

the Society, Mr. Clements R. Markham, who so ably conducted the
magazine. Several new geographical monthly periodicals have
recently appeared in Europe. The Deutsche Rundschau fiir Geo-
graphie und Statistik is edited by Prof. Arendts, of Munich, and
published by Hartleben, Vienna. Aus fernen Zonen, published
by Mutze, Leipzig, is especially intended for the reception of

sions in the less known portions of the globe; whilst from
Paris the Annales de l’Extréme Orient, edited by Count Mey-
ners d’Estrey, of the Indian press, expects to keep the scientific
world informed of literary and geographical progress in South-
ern Asia, and especially in the Dutch Indies and in Dutch
Oriental literature. Dr. Nachtigal, the pasran African
traveler, has been elected President of the Berlin Geographical
Socie ty.——The Atheneum states that Mr. Johnson, the present
Governor of Ladakh, when connected with the Indian Survey of
1865, ascended Peak E. 61 of the Kuen Lun range, whose
height it now appears is no less than 23,890 feet! This is be-
lieved to be the greatest height above the level of the sea attained
by any traveler on foot. The plains at the base of the Peak have
probably an altitude of nearly 18,000 feet.

MICROSCOPY.'

REMOVAL OF AIR FROM Microscopic SpecIMENS.—Much diffi-
culty has been experienced by the working microscopist in
removing air from his specimens. If ork wishes to mount wood-
sections the difficulty is increased. Some may suppose that such
an undertaking is physically impossible ; "tee hitherto, in spite of
all the pains and labor taken, unless by some lucky stroke, as it
were, bubbles of air will still be left in the objects, and the slide
becomes entirely worthless as a perfect specimen.

Various methods have been adopted to remove these bubbles

for some length of time. The favorite fluids have been me
1 This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Ward, Troy, N. Y.

58 General Notes. [January,

tine, oil of cloves and the like; these, however, give very unsatis-
factory results. My friend, Dr. C. B. Johnson, of Providence,
R. I., informs me that he has sections of wood which have been
laying in oil of cloves for over three years, and from which the
bubbles of air have not been at all removed. Perhaps the same
may be said of the oleo-resins. Recourse has also been had to the
air-pump; the idea being that an object placed beneath the bell
glass, a few strokes of the piston will suck out all the air from it.
But although in theory this seems plausible enough, yet as a per-
fect vacuum cannot be attained, some air, be it ever so small
an amount, must render the objects of no use for microscopic
examinations.

Thus have microscopists been at their wits’ end to discover
some process by which their object can be perfectly and satisfac-
torily accomplished. As no notice has been made of late of any
new procedure in this direction, I think my friend, Dr. Johnson,
who has had great success in mounting objects for. the micro-
scope, can justly be entitled to the first discovery of a mode for
the removal of air, at once simple and effective. The apparatus
he employs is of very simple construction, being a digester, or, as
in his case, a common dentists’ vulcanizer, the means—steam.
The specimens to be thus treated, especially those of wood, are
prepared in the usual way, and made ready for mounting. They
are next placed in a small vessel of any material which will resist
a certain amount of heat. Dr. Johnson uses a small glass phial
in his experiments ; this is filled up with water after all the speci-
mens, as many as it can conveniently hold, are placed within. A

` cork can be used, but a slit must be cut in it to allow the escape
of air and the admission of steam and hot water. A little water
is now poured into the vulcanizer, the bottle of objects placed
within and the lid of the machine screwed air tight. The whole
is now heated to a temperature of about 300° Fahr. for a few
minutes. This temperature is sufficient for all practical purposes;
a higher degree of heat is unnecessary, or a longer time to
remain at the given temperature needless.

When sufficiently cooled the phial is removed, the water
drained from the bottle and alcohol substituted. The specimens
are now ready for mounting, or can be bottled and set away
indefinitely for use.

This constitutes the whole process; by it the specimens are
absolutely free from air. Perfect satisfaction is guaranteed ; and
in every case we are absolutely sure of the results, provided of
course that the proper care has been taken.

The modus operandi seems to be that the steam penetrates the
pores of the wood or other substances, and forces out the air whose
place it takes. The air is then absorbed by or dissolved in the sur-
rounding medium. The woody fibres are not destroyed by the hot
and compressed steam, except the soft tissues, as one would at first

18 79.] : Microscopy. 59

sight suppose. They are entirely uninjured, and their purposes for
microscopic study remain as good as by any other process. Ten-
der specimens in every case must be tenderly treated. This

mode of ae has been followed by several microscopic
friends in my vicinity for two or three years, and all the specimens

so treated have been remarked for their beauty and excellence.—

F. C. Clark, Providence R. T.

LIMITS oF ACCURACY IN MEASUREMENTS WITH THE MICROSCOPE.
—Before we can safely draw pti from a given series of
measurements, it is necessary to know within what limits their
errors can be determined. A dank and direct way to do this is
to compare the measurements of the same space made by differ-
ent observers and under entirely different conditions. I may get
results which show an agreement, zzZer se, quite within the limits
of the accuracy required, and which are yet wide of the truth.
But if another observer obtains substantially the same results
from a series of measurements made under entirely different con-
ditions, the inference of their general correctness may be drawn
with tolerable safety.

One must draw a sharp distinction between absolute accuracy
and an appearance of accuracy. For example, the head of the
screw of my dividing engine can be set to correspond to a motion
of one billionth of an inch with entire certainty as far as the
mechanical indications of this degree of accuracy are concerned,
and yet previous to May, 1877, the actual errors of a given ruled
plate amounted under certain conditions to yoy of an inch. Even
now, after four epochs o of improvement, 1l can hardly say of a
given space that it is certainly true within yyy of an inch, until
I have made a special investigation of it with my comparator.

In carrying forward this investigation I was fortunate in securing
the coöperation of Prof. Edward W. Morley, of Hudson, Ohio,
an observer who possesses in a high degree the three requisites,
patience, care and skill. I.ruled five plates of bands, plates No.

and No. 2, having spaces of sy and êy of an inch, respect- :
ively. These plates were ruled just as, I regret to say, all plates were
ruled previous to May, 1877, without any attempt to correct the-

errors peculiar to the screw and its mounting. For four years
previous to this date every effort was made to correct these errors
by mechanical adjustments. After this date I deliberately aban-
doned all attempts to do this. Instead, I resolved to admit the
existence of these errors, and after determining their value, I
adopted a device for correcting them during the process of ruling.
Plate No. 3 was ruled like No. 1, but with these systematic cor-
rections applied. My next improvement consists in adopting a
device for correcting not merely the systematic errors depending
on one revolution of the screw, but also the errors peculiar to
particular parts of the screw. Plate No. 4 consists of 1o1 lines

-

‘separated by an interval of yyy of an inch, and freed as sad ae

60 : Scientific News. [January,

possible from errors of all kinds, Plate No. 5 consists of 21
lines separated by an interval of 35 mm. After careful measure-
ment with two different niccousetate and two comparators, the
plates were sent to Prof. Morley, the details of whose measure-
ments will be found in the forthcoming volume of the Proceed-
ings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The
degree of agreement between his results and my own is much
more perfect than I had anticipated before beginning this investi-
gation. ©

From this investigation I think we may safely draw the follow-
ing conclusions: (a.) Two equally skillful observers can measure
the same space within about 30v of an inch if the space does
not exceed $y of an inch. For a space of yy of an inch the
deviation will probably amount to gg}s9 of an inch in case the
measurements are made with an eye piece or a filar micrometer.
(4). The average deviation for accumulated errors under similar
conditions is not far from gg495 of an inch for eleven intervals.
For a larger number of intervals the deviation will be somewhat
ae but it will not be in proportion to the number of intervals.
(c) A single observer can obtain an agreement with a normal
equation representing all the observed values as far as a solution
by least squares can represent them, within somewhat smaller
limits than those obtained by comparing the results obtained by
two different observers— Wim. A. Rogirs, Harvard College Obser-
vatory. (from a paper read at the National Microscopical Congress,
August, 1878.

Tue Society Screw.—At a recent meeting of the State Micro-
scopical Society of Illinois, Mr. Bulloch urged the desirability of
adopting a uniform objective screw of larger size than the society
screw now in use, as being essential to the efficiency of low power
lenses of high angle. That the society screw, which has now
become an almost indispensable convenience, is too small to
admit of efficient work from these lenses, is a conceded fact, and
some makers in this country who make low powers of enormous
angle have already adopted special screws for them. The uni-
formity urged by Mr. Bulloch is greatly to be desired, and could
be easily attained if its importance were appreciated in time.

-ExcHAnces.—Gatherings ey alg polycystina, etc., wanted
in exchange. e I. F. Stidham, Columbus,

Western mosses, etc., for other SA George W. Wor-
cester, West Side, Cead Co

Diatomaceous earths and named dob for named diatoms or
other good mounted objects. M. A. Booth, Longmeadow, Mass.

:o_—_—_—
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The United States Entomological Commission, attached to
oe the poten States Geological and Geographical Survey of the

1879. | Scientific News. 61

Territories, has issued its first report on the Rocky Mountain lo- —

cust, or destructive grasshopper of the West, a volume of 700
pages, fully illustrated with maps, plates, and woodcuts.

The favorable predictions made by the commission last winter
had an encouraging effect, and stimulated the immigration to the
country of late years ravaged by locusts. The statement whicha
full survey of the field enabled the commission to make in ad-
vance, viz: that there would be no serious injury in 1878, has
been fully verified. The commissioners have continued their la-
bors during the past summer, confining their attention to that
soa ls portion of the country which they have designated

1e Permanent Region, the object being to gather further
wled of that region, with a view of preventing the ravages
of the Rocky Mountain locust therein and its migration there-
from

The problem of destroying the young insects as they hatch out
in the more fertile country in the agricultural regions of the
West, is virtually solved in the report which the commission has
already issued, and the task which they now undertake is to en-
deavor $% prevent the migration of the winged insects from the
Permanent Region into the more thickly settled country.

n appropriation of $25,000 was asked of the last Congress for
the completion of the work mapped out, and $10,000 were appro-
priated, and this only toward the end of the fiscal year. The com-
missioners ask for an additional sum of $15,000, in order that they
may be able to revar their investigation until the practical
work is accomplished. It was too late in the season when the
last appropriation was obtained to permit the completion of the

added to the additional appropriation asked for, and with prom-
ised assistance by the Dominion authorities, they will be enari

by getting into the field early the coming spring, to complete

fully the work ee to them.—/vom the Report of the Sa
of the Interior for 1878

— A report of the Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory for the
last summer appears in the Third Annual Report of the John
Hopkins University, Baltimore. This laboratory was established
by Prof. W. K. Brooks for the higher instruction of the students
of the University and others in zoology. It was opened at Fort
Wool, June 24, 1878, and closed Aug. 19th. Some excellent
work was accomplished, notwithstanding the lack of the large
marine animals. Enough was accomplished, we should judge, to
warrant the authorities of the University in maintaining the
school and rendering attendance upon it a necessary part of the
biological course.

We notice that the following papers in biology were read at the

meetings of the Scientific Association of the John Hopkins Uni-
versity: On the early stages in the development of Gastropods,

+

62 Scientific News. [ January,

by W. K. Brooks; A review on the expenditure of energy by
working muscle, by H. N. Martin; On the formation of the
female pelvis, by C. Sihler; On the influence of stimulation of the
optic lobes upon the respiratory center of the frog, by H.
Martin; Contributions towards a history of the Maryland Cam-
bari, by P. R. Uhler; The Urodela of North America, by. SF
Clark.

— The work of the United States Fish Commission was car-
ried on with an unusual degree of success at Gloucester, Mass.,
during the past summer. The steamer Speedwell made her last —
trip September 26th, having been used almost daily in dredging
trips since the middle of July. Prof. Baird, the commissioner, was
assisted by Professor Verrill, Mr. Richard Rathbun and Mr. San-
derson Smith, who paid special attention to the marine inverte-
brates ; Prof. Farlow studied the algz, Prof. Goode, Dr. Bean and
Mr. Earle attended to the fishes, while Mr. Asaph Hall, Jr., had
charge of the temperature observations. A good many new
fishes, corals and other invertebrates were collected, while much
that is new regarding food-fishes and fisheries was discovered.
The energy and success of the manifold operations of this
important Commission are most apparent.

— A goose belonging to a Gloucester, Mass., family died last
week at the advanced age of 70 years. They have another still
living that is known to be 50 years of age.

We have not endeavored to substantiate this statement, but
copy it from the daily papers. Geese of this age certainly
deserve an obituary notice. Can any one give us authentic
statements regarding the extreme old age of fowl and quad-
rupeds ?

— We learn from Mr. S. H. Scudder that a hymenopterous
insect (Myrmar) very slightly larger than Pteratomus putnamit,
being very slightly over one-ninetieth of an inch long, has been
ound in amber, according to Duisberg’s Zur Bernstein Fauna
(Schriften K. Phys. Okonomische Gesellschaft zu Königsberg.
Band .'23). These two insects are members of the same
family (Proctotrupida) and are the smallest insects yet known.

— B Westermann & Co. send us the title of an important work
whose publication has just begun, viz: Buctecker’s Systema En-
tomologiz sistens Insectorum Classes, Genera, Species. Pars I.
Odonata (Fabric.) Europ. 42 tabulæ, photograph. floridisque
coloribus distinctæ. Colored $27.50, plain $13.20 This work
will be published in fifteen volumes, and its continuation is
secured, the MS. being all ready.
`. — We have been repeatedly asked what is the figure on the
first page of the cover of this magazine. It is copied from a figure
-~ in Haeckel’s great work on, Radiolaria, of his Aucyrtidium cran-

1379. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 63

oides. The bell-shaped shell is perforated by numerous holes,
out of which stream in all directions the pseudopodia, some of
which are enlarged at intervals into small masses of protoplasm.

— The death has recently been announced of Sir Richard John
Bart., the geologist and engineer, who died in Dublin,
ed 94 years; of Thomas Belt, an English mining engineer and
oi well known from his “ Naturalist in Nicaragua,” who
died at Denver, Colorado, Sept. 22d; and of Prof. Robert Hark-
ness, who died Oct. 3d, at Dublin.

— Subscriptions are solicited for a Manual of Conchology ;
structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, by
George W. Tryon, Jr., conservator of conchological section of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia. Vol. i, Cephalo-
poda, will be published by the author at Philadelphia, during the
the coming year.

— The schooner Florence, of the Howgate Arctic Expedition,
which returned at the close of October, Congress having failed to
appropriate money for Polar colonization, brought home valu-
able collections of specimens and drawings, made by Mr. Kum-
lein, the naturalist of the expedition.

— Under the name of Sczence News, Mr. S. E. Cassino, of
Salem, Mass., publishes an octavo fortnightly magazine of sixteen
pages, edited by Messrs. Ernest Ingersoll and W. C. Wycko
It is devoted to general science, physical as well as natural.

Dr. Kalter, the editor of the Vaea kes Nachrichten, pub-
lished fortnightly at Putbus a Rûgen, Germany, desires copies of
papers and articles by North American entomologists for notice
in his periodical.

w EN
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILA-
DELPHIA, Nov. 5, 1878.—Thos. Meehan and others remarked upon
the indigenous character of Calluna vulgaris.

Nov. 12.—Dr. Jos. Leidy made some remarks on the dis-
tribution of Chenopodium; he also described some parasites of
Donax fossor, one of which he named Distomum cornutifrons.
Meehan remarked on Mitchella repens. Dr. A. J. Parker made
some remarks on the comparative development of the Island of
Reil in the brains of Primates.

Nov. 19.—Messrs. Gray, Redfield and Meehan spoke on the
evidence in favor of the indigenous character of Calluna vulgaris.
Drs. Leidy and Evarts made observations upon Gordius, the
former gentleman ns a new species parasitic in Clepsine
which he called G. 4

Dec. 3.—Dr. aay bak some remarks on the rarity of Taenia

64 Selected Articles in Scientific Fournals. {| January, 1879.

solium, and the commoner occurrence of T. medtocanellata, with
some account of the specific differences which he had observed.

Proceedings of the Sections of the Academy er a
and Biological, Nov. 4—Mr. J. A. Ryder remarked the
Gemmule vs. the Plastidule as the Ultimate Physical Unit of
Living Matter.’

Nov. 18.—Dr. J. G. Hunt, on the classification of Fungi and
the best modes for their microscopical study. Mr. Jos. Zentmayer
exhibited a new mechanical revolving stage, which admitted of
70° of ey of illumination.

Dec. 2.—Dr. H. C. McCook made pori “On the
minute colai of the stinging organs of ant

Boston SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, T 20.—Dr. David
Hunt make a communication entitled Darwinism and the Human
Eye; Dr. C. S. Minot remarked on growth as a function of cells.

Dec. 4.—Dr. S. Kneeland remarked on traces of the Mediter-
ranean nations in the Northern Ocean. Mr. S. H. Scudder read
a paper on early types of insects, or the origin and succession of
insect life in palæozoic times.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Dec. 12.—Mr. James Doug-
las, Jr., gave an account of his journey along the West Coast of
South America from Panama to Valparaiso.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLus.—Prof. H. F. Walling gave some
account of Mt. Toby, Mass., and Mr. W. H. Pickering described
an ascent of the Half Dome, Yosemite.

:0:
SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ArRtTs.--December, 1878.
Valley of the Minnesota river and of the Mississippi river to the
junction of the Ohio: its origin considered, by G. K. Warren
(with eight plates). On some points in lithology, J. D. Dana.
Anatomical peculiarity by which crania of the Mound-builders
may be distinguished from those of the modern Indians, 7 W.
J. McGee. Discoveries i in western caves, by H. C. Hove

SIEBOLD AND KOLLIKER’S ZEITSCHRIFT FUR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE
ZooLociz.—November 11. On the convolutions of the brain of
the Ungulates, by J. Krug. Contributions to the anatomy of the
Ophiurans, by Prof. H. Ludwig. On some cases of parasitism
in the Infusoria, by J. Van Rees. On the developmental history
of the fresh-water mussels, by C. Schierholz.

ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES.——August 5. Anatomical
and physiological researches on respiration in the fishes, by M.

obert. Experiments on the conditions of development of

Ligulæ, by M. Deschamp.

VOL. XII. —NO N.

Vol. XI.— FEBRUARY, 1872—No, 2.

—_—

~~ A SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND,
WITH PEN AND PENCIL.
BY i; C. RUSSELL.

I. us turn our attention briefly
from the historic lands of Europe
and the East, to the wild and beauti-
ful islands in the southern hemi-
sphere. To a mind well stored with
the poetry and art of ancient civiliza-
tions, such a change will open out
new paths for thought amid scenes
of rare beauty and grandeur. Of all
the islands which, like great emer-
alds, stud the southern seas, none

66 A Sketch of New Zealand. [ February,

have greater natural attractions than New Zealand. As but few
Americans have visited those distant shores, we venture to offer
the following notes, which we have gleaned not only from the
writings of others, but also from personal observations while
residing in those islands and from conversation with colonial and
aboriginal inhabitants.

Like Van Diemans Land, now changed to Tasmania, New
Zealand is unfortunate in its name, as it is in every way in con-
trast with the Zealand of the Netherlands; while the latter is
nearly as level and uniform as the sea, the former possesses some
of the wildest and grandest scenery in the world.

We owe the discovery of these islands to the Dutch navigator
Tasman, who, in December, 1642, then on his great voyage of

f 49 4 Os ©
on

asi
INSANA
TITE

ISA
‘ele
1 gta | d

Storehouses.

discovery in the southern hemisphere, came in sight of a bold
mountainous land wreathed in clouds, which had never before
been seen by Europeans. He relates in the narrative of his voy-
age that upon sending a boat to this unknown shore, it was
furiously attacked by the natives who thronged the beach, and
three of his sailors killed. This bloody introduction, together
with the knowledge which was soon gained, that the New Zea-
landers were cannibals, at once stamped that race in the-sight of
all civilized people as a most fierce and cruel one.

This land was next visited, in 1769, by Captain Cook, who,

i879] - A Sketch of New Zealand. 67

during his three voyages to the southern seas, very fully explored
and surveyed its coast. Passing through the strait that now
bears his name, Capt. Cook showed that New Zealand was com-
posed of two main islands; he also found associated with these
a number of smaller and far less important ones. These are now
looked upon as forming a distinct archipelago, which is not only
isolated from the rest of the world by its geographical position,
but in the peculiar character of its native inhabitants, and in the
nature of its fauna and flora.

The two main islands extend from the 34° of south latitude
800 miles to the southward,
and have an area of about
120,000 square miles, or a lit-
tle more than the size of Italy.
These two countries have,
also, asomewhat similar boot-
shaped form, the toe in each
case being turned towards the
equator. These islands are
known asthe North and South
Islands; or in the more poetic
language of the aborigines,
as Te Ika a Maui—the fish of
. Maui—referring to the form
of the North Island; and Zz
Wahi Punamu—the place of
the greenstone — indicating
the locality that afforded the
highly-prized nephrite from
which the aborigines shaped
their stone implements and
personal ornaments. The place of the “punamu” plays as
important a part in the history and traditions of the New Zealand-
ers,as did the celebrated red pipe-stone quarry of Minnesota
among the red races of America.

The North Island is mainly interesting for its lofty volcanic
mountains and the indications of volcanic activity still exhibited
by the smoking volcanoes, solfataras and hot springs which form
the most striking features in its scenery. Among the numerous
mountains that record the energy of the ancient volcanic erup-

f [3 AN u

Bags made of Phormium leaf, or New
Zealand bag.

68 A Sketch of New Zealand. | [ February,

tions, the most remarkable are Mts. Egmont and Ruapeau, to-
gether with the still smoking peak of Tongario. The latter rises
near the center of the island to an elevation of 6500 feet, and is
the sacred “tapu,” mountain of the natives, which no one is
allowed to ascend. The trachytic mountain, known as Ruapeau,
is the near neighbor of Tongario, and is the highest point in the
North Island, its summit being 9165 feet above the sea, and
about a thousand feet above the line of perpetual snow. According
to the traditions of the Maoris, these mountains once had another
neighbor whom they
called Taranaki, a
quarrel having arisen
among them concern-

the westward as far
as the sea, and now
forms the grand Mt.
Egmont, whose
snowy summit is a
beacon to the far off
mariner.

Northward of the
central volcanic re-
gion is the beautiful
Lake Topu, about
twenty-five miles in
length, which is espe-
cially interesting for
the numerous hot-springs and geysers along its shores, and also
for its charming scenery, the grand summits of Tongario and
Ruapeau limiting the view to the southward. Between Tongario
and White island, in the Bay of Plenty, the only active volcanoes
in New Zealand, lies the wonderful “ Lake District,’ that is so
widely known for the extent and beauty of its spouting geysers,
mud-volcanoes, etc. The heated waters of these springs bring
with them large quantities of silica which is deposited around
them in a series of beautiful siliceous basins, which are orna-
mented, as if by fairy art, with the most delicate tints and tracery ;

Maori Woman.

1879. | - A Sketch of New Zealand. 69

from one to another of these snowy basins flow the clear bluish
waters of the fountains. All these indications of the expiring
volcanic energy that has been for a long time active, combine to
make the Lake District one of the most remarkable places in
New Zealand, and equal in interest to the geysers of Iceland, or
to the wonderful region of the Yellowstone.

Another area of former volcanic activity, is the peninsula of
Auckland, forming the northern extremity of the island. This
region is occupied throughout by a ar number of volcanic
cones, all of whichare
now extinct and are
less remarkable for
their size than for
their regularity and
beauty. Many of
theseconesoferuption
are surrounded from
bottom to top with
a series of artificial
terraces, which, a few
years ago, supported
palisades and formed
-the feudal castles of
the aborigines.

The South Island
is traversed through-
out its whole extent
by a great chain of
rugged mountains,
which were very just-
ly named the Southern Alps. These lofty snow-clad summits
give to the South Island a grandeur of scenery peculiarly its
own. Midway down the west coast stand the giant peaks of this
island; of these Mt. Cook is the highest, and attains an elevation
of 13,200 feet. Mt. Cook and its host of sister mountains, all
robed in eternal snow, combine to form the grandest mountain
scenery in New Zealand, if not in the world. The snow-line is
sharply drawn along the sides of these rugged mountains at an
elevation of about 8000 feet. Above this height the snows and
frozen mists accumulate, and form vast snow-fields which give

Maoi Man.

70 A Sketch of New Zealand. : [ February,

rise to the numerous glaciers that flow down from the Southern
Alps. The largest of these ice-streams yet explored is the Great
Tasman Glacier. This flowing river of solid ice has its source on
Mt. Cook and the neighboring peaks, and flows for a distance of
eighteen miles down the valley, bearing on its surface an immense
load of débris which is slowly carried downwards and at last
deposited at the extremity of the glacier as a terminal moraine.
This immense glacier ends abruptly in a wall of ice, stretching
across the valley one hundred and twenty feet high and nearly
two miles in length. Another of the numerous glaciers of the
South Island which has attracted considerable attention from the
low position it attains before becoming melted by the warm air
and winds in the lower portion of the valley, is the Francis
Joseph Glacier. This ice-stream flows towards the west coast,
and reaches to within about 700 feet of the sea level.

Far below the present glaciers are found the records left by
still greater streams of ice, that in times long past descended
from the same mountains. Sometimes a hundred miles beyond
the terminus of the existing glaciers, an immense wall of glacier-
worn boulders and other débris is found, stretching completely
across the valley. These huge moraines mark the place where
an ancient glacier terminated, and for many centuries deposited,
as a terminal moraine, the stones and rubbish that accumu-
lated on the surface of the ice, and were carried slowly forward
as lateral and medial moraines.

To the eastward the mountains slope gradually to the ocean,
and are bordered by the Plains of Canterbury and other rich areas.
On the westward they come boldly down to the sea, and are
penetrated by many picturesque sounds and fiords that extend far
into the heart of the mountains. Corresponding to the bays and
sounds that fringe the west coast, we find to the eastward of the
mountains many beautiful lakes which fill deep Alpine valleys
and render back the grandeur of the snowy giants that surround
them. Lake Wakatipu, which is the largest of these, extends
for a distance of seventy miles into the Southern Alps, and seems
like a great placid river winding down through the mountains.
In the grandeur of its scenery this lake is unsurpassed by the
most celebrated lakes of Switzerland or Scandinavia. Lake
Wanaka, to the northward of Lake Wakatipu, is pronounced by

all travelers who have visited it, to be “the most beautiful lake in _

all the world,”

6879. | A Sketch of New Zealand. 71

Since New Zealand was made an English colony, in 1840, great
numbers of Europeans have emigrated to her shores. These
colonists carried with them the energy and civilization of their
native land, and at once became actively engaged in commerce,

New Zealand Forest.
agriculture, mining and other industries. The contrast between
the thriving colony of to-day and the luxuriant wilderness
described by early travelers is very striking. It almost seems as
if some magician had waved his enchanted wand over those dis-
tant islands and caused populous and beautiful cities to appear
where before only rank ferns grew.

The early voyagers to New Zealand found the land inhabited by
an offshoot of the widely scattered Polynesian family. These
aborigines still retained the stamp of the brown race from which

72 A Sketch of New Zealand. [ February,

they sprang, were of good physique, having regular and often
handsome features, and with long dark hair, indicating their
superiority to the black races of Africa.

These isolated people were still using implements of stone
fashioned into the desired form by chipping and grinding, and
frequently finished with a fine polish or covered with fanciful
carvings. The material that was often used, not only for stone-
axes and war clubs but also for long ear-rings and other personal
ornaments, was the celebrated punamu, or green jade from the west-
ern shore of the South Island. Many of thestone
instruments in the hands of the New Zea-
landers remind one forcibly of the similar
implements used by the Lake-dwellers of
Europe, and the stone axes, adzes, etc., from
the ancient mounds of our own country
Like the Neolithic men of Europe, the New
Zealanders had their fish-hooks of bene and
their personal ornaments of shell and stone.
As is common with uncivilized people, they
amused themselves in carving on bone—fre-
quently of slain enemies—and on stone and
Mag) ap wood. Many of these elaborate carvings are

Maori Nose Flute. elegant in design and were beautifully exe-

cuted with no other instruments than those of
stone. Their desire for ornament was so great that they covered
their features with tattooing, transferring indelibly to their faces
complicated patterns of curved and spiral lines, similar ‘to the
designs with which they decorated their canoes and houses.

These aborigines were well advanced in all the arts that pertain
to barbarous life. They lived in well built houses, usually
grouped in villages, or “pahs,” and surrounded by strong pali-
sades ; these, if well garrisoned, were impregnable until the intro-
duction of fire-arms by the Europeans. The incessant warfare
that was carried on between the various tribes was exceedingly
fierce and bloody. From the nature of their arms the battles
were usually hand-to-hand encounters. The wars were entered
into not only from motives of self protection or revenge, but also
to obtain slaves and human flesh for the sustenance of the victo-
rious tribe. As may be imagined, such a state of things did
much towards keeping the population pent mag the various
| tribes poea spaan

1879. | A Sketch of New Zealand. 73

These aborigines, Maoris, as they termed themselves, were
without any form of worship; their nearest approach to a religion
being the exaggerated myths and fables of their ancestors. They
stand among the very first of uncivilized races, not yielding in
personal vigor or bravery to the best of the North American
Indians, and unlike them possessing a mind remarkably plastic
and capable of improvement and Christian civilization. Such

Lake Wakatipu.
were the people of New Zealand before the pale-faces came
among them; since that time their destiny has changed. Although
they have abandoned the practice of cannibalism and ceased the
fierce wars among themselves, yet they have met a new element
in the struggle for existence that is more potent than either. The
very presence of the white man seem to affect these children of
nature like a deadly malaria. The Maoris, themselves, are aware
of their destiny and say, “as the clover killed the fern, and the
European dog the Maori dog; as the Maori rat was destroyed by
the Pakeha rat, so our people also will be gradually supplanted
and exterminated by the Europeans.” According to Dieffen-
bach’s calculations the native population of New Zealand was, at
one time, about 115,000; in 1872 it had decreased to a little more
than 45,000. The natives that remain are every day departing
farther and farther from the customs and traditions of their
ancestors. Many of the arts that occupied the people in former
days are now forgotten; they no longer shape and polish imple-
ments of stone, or weave blankets and mats of Phormium. The

$

74 A Sketch of New Zealand. [ February,

é

‘moco” or tattoo that in former days was characteristic of the
people, is now seen only on
the older faces; the younger
generations having abandoned
the custom through the influ-
ence of the missionaries.

Not only has New Zealand
presented us with a new and
extremely interesting picture
of man yet in the stone age,
but its flora and fauna have
been found to be eqyally in-
structive.

The traveler who enters for
the first time a New Zealand
forest, no matter from what
land he may have wandered,
will find everything new and
strange to him. What espe-
cially attracts the attention is
the great profusion of cryptog-
amous or flowerless plants,
in which these islands are

= richer than any other country
The Chief’s Son. in the world. The ferns alone
number about a hundred and twenty species, and form the
the most characteristic feature in the landscape. Thousands of
these beautiful plants cover the ground with their low and deli-
cate fronds, as in some portions of our own country ; others entwine
the trunks of trees for support; still others attain the size of
forest trees and rear their great crowns of feathery fronds to a
height of forty or fifty feet in the air, rivaling in their grace and
elegance the date-palm of Arabia. As there are but a few birds
of song in New Zealand, and a scarcity of insect life, the woods
are always silent. This, together with the strange weird forms of
the vegetation around, makes a deep impression on the visitor to
whom such scenes are new. Despite the luxuriance of the ferns,
we miss the numerous sweet flowers that in our own minds are
so closely associated with the deep shade of the forest. In New
Zealand the blossoms are, for the most part, small and inconspic-
uous, and lacking in sweetness.

egy — =a c
Sni Han

1879. | A Sketch of New Zealand. 75

We would not have our readers conclude, however, that New
Zealand is covered by one immense jungle of luxuriant vegeta-
tion. Although this is true enough of the regions near the
coast, yet in the interior, especially of the South Island, the
country assumes a bold and barren appearance, the rounded hills

‘putjte7z MƏN jo suiag 3AL

having scarcely any vegetation except the brownish bunch-grass
and clumps of Pteris. Still farther inland the scenery becomes
wild and Alpine in the extreme. The cause of this great con-
trast in the aspect of the country lies not only in the elevation
above the sea, but also in the peculiar physical features of the
land. The high snow-clad mountains that border the western

76 A Sketch of New Zealand. [ February,

shore of the island rob the prevailing westerly winds of their
moisture, so that when they sweep on over the land to the east-
ward, they have but little of this life-giving element to part with.

The fauna of New Zealand, like its flora and scenery, is espe-
cially peculiar to itself. The first feature that attracts our atten-
tion is the almost total lack of land mammals and reptiles. The
former are represented by two species of bats and the latter by a
few small lizards. The position filled by the mammalia in other
countries is there occupied by the feathered tribes. The birds
having been, for a long time, almost the sole dwellers on the
island, their development was carried on unchecked and unmodi-
fied by many of the circumstances that influence their existence
in other countries. This freedom of development resulted in the
production of many strange and anomalous forms that were
unknown and unlooked for until the studies of the naturalist
had confirmed the tales told by sailors and adventurers who had
visited those distant shores.

One of the strangest birds in existence is the Apteryx, which,
as the name signifies, is without wings. This bird is found only
in New Zealand, and thus far only four species are known, mostly
from the west coast of the South Island. These wingless birds are
of great interest, not only from the strangeness of their structure
and habits, but also for the information they afford in reference to
the giant birds that at no distant day inhabited the same island,
but which are now extinct. We refer to the huge Moa, whose bones
are scattered over the country, often lying, exposed beneath the
thick groves of fern, and also occuring plentifully in caves and in |
= recent river deposits. That these extinct birds far surpassed in

size and strength any members of the feathered tribes now living,
is shown by their ponderous bones which exceed even the bones _
of horses and oxen in size. Some of the tibias of these birds
measured three feet in length, the femur that once articulated
with it being between seven and eight inches in least circumfer-
ence. The largest of these birds, when alive, must have stood at
least ten feet high, as is unquestionably shown by some of the
complete skeletons which have been mounted. There were surely
giants in the days when these monsters strode along in the shad-
ows of the tree-ferns, or tore up the roots of the Pteris with
their powerful claws. That the Moa lived in New Zealand after
the settlement of those islands by the aboriginal inhabitants is
= shown by the remains of these birds, which have been found _

1879. | A Sketch of New Zealand. 77

mingled with the charred bones of men and dogs, in the ancient
ovens — “ kitchen-middens ” — which have been recently dis-
covered. The natives now living know nothing of these strange’
birds except the existence of their bones in the caves, etc. In
their old traditions, however, which have been handed down
through many generations, references to the Moa are found, con-
taining instructions to the young hunter how to ensnare and slay
them.

In our wonder at the strangeness of these ancient creatures,
we must not overlook the many smaller but extremely interesting
birds now living in New Zealand. Many of these exhibita tendency
towards the wingless condition that formed such a characteristic
feature in the ancient fauna. Among the numerous parrots, one
large green species, called by the natives the Kakopo, attracts our
attention in this connection, as the muscles of its wings are but
poorly developed and useless for flight. The rails also afford two
or three species that are incapable of flight. One of these the
Wika, or wodd-hen, is very common about the swamps and fern
thickets. Another is the rare /Vofornis, of which but two indi-
viduals are known. The Pukeko is another of the rails that
shows by the short, rounded form of its wings a tendency towards
the apterous condition. Besides these more curious and inter-
esting birds, New Zealand possesses a considerable variety of
smaller and often very beautiful species, few of them, however,
of remarkable for the sweetness of their song. Among these
the Tui, or “parson bird” is one of the most interesting ; its
trivial name has reference to the two tufts of white feathers on
the throat, which resemble the tie of the parson. The crooked-
bill plover, which inhabits the North Island, furnishes the only
instance known of a bird with its bill turned to one side; what
useful purpose this strange curvature of the bill can serve is
unknown.

Since the colonization of New Zealand, a great number of
plants and animals have been introduced from other countries;
many of these have found in those islands a congenial home, and
often seem better adapted to the surrounding conditions than
some of the native species, which they are fast displacing. Much
of the fauna and flora that is now so characteristic of New Zea-
land is destined, like the Maoris themselves, to become exter-
minated by the advance of European civilization.

78 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

NOTES ON THE MANUFACTURE OF POTTERY
AMONG SAVAGE RACES.

BY CH. FRED. HARTT, A.M., LATE CHIEF OF THE GEOLOGICAL COM-
MISSION OF BRAZIL.

N making a critical study of the Indian pottery of Brazil, both

ancient and modern, I have been led to investigate some facts
in connection with the methods employed in primitive ceramic
art, which, up to the present time, have received but little
attention.

Some of the more important of the conclusions reached
by a study of ceramic ornament have been already briefly
sketched in a paper on “Evolution in Ornament” (Pop. Sc.
Monthly, January, 1875), in which I have attempted to show
the origin and function of Decorative Art, and describe some
of the more important steps in the growth of these ornamental
borders so common on pottery, and known as frets, scrolls and
honey-suckle patterns.

The use of pottery is unknown to many savage Ee as for
instance to the Esquimaux, the northern Indians of North
America, the Botocudos and Cayapós of Brazil, the Pampean races,
the Fuegians, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Andaman Islanders,
the Australians, the Maoris and the Polynesian islanders gen-
erally. In some cases this ignorance of the art may be accounted
for by the exceedingly low degree of culture of the tribe, as
among the Botocudos, In Greenland we should scarcely expect
the manufacture of earthenware to flourish, and its absence among

the Greenlanders is compatible with a considerable advance in 4

other arts.
Among the Algonkin tribes of Canada and the North-eastern

United States, cooking is often done in vessels of bark, either by —

placing the vessel over the fire or by putting hot stones in the
liquid (Relation de la Nouv. France, 1633, p. 4).
I have seen the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia make square

1 The following article, published at the office of the South American Mail, in

Rio Janeiro, in 1875, assumes an intensified interest from the sad death of its author, —
even before his scientific career can be said to have fully begun. A few introductory —

and non-relevant sentences, and long quotations are necessarily omitted.— 0.

2 Among the Indians included in the great family of the Cayapés by Dr, Couto de le

Magalhaes, may be mentioned the Gradahis, the Gurutirés of the ee the Caca
hós of the sertces of Maranhao, and the Cayapós of Matto Grosso.

SSSR Tal he E Me eg EAIRT E: o ARR Pai Era Sine ani Ae atl eee na E AA ERAEN TAAT TE

Popa grs Seer ie

Cees I Pe te om kee

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. 79

or oblong vessels of the extremely thin, paper-like bark of the
birch (Betula papyracea Ait.) and cook in them directly over the
fire, just as water may be boiled ina paper cup. The Kutchin
tribes of the MacKenzie river have no pottery, but they make
kettles of tamarack roots, woven together very tightly and neatly,
and ornamented with dyed porcupine quills, in which vessels they
boil water with hot stones (Jones Smith’s Report, pp. 66, 321).

The Indians of Santa Catalina, in California “brought fresh |
water to the Spaniards in flaskets made of rushes” (Burney, 2d
Voy. of Sebastian Vizcaino, So. Sea Described, p. 248). Similar
vessels are still in use in the same region, and Major Powell
brought home from the Colorado, water baskets lined inside with
pitch. The Maués of the Amazonas use water-tight baskets, and
so also do the Kaffirs. Wooden kettles for stone boiling are
found among many tribes, both in America and elsewhere, and
the inhabitants of Amboyna and Ternate cook in bamboos
(Chardin, iv, pp. 171, 172; Receuil des voyages, &c., ili, 322.)

The possession of a material like birch bark may render pot-
tery to a certain extent unnecessary, and thus retard its invention
and adoption. The whole subject of cooking in wooden vessels
and of stone boiling has been admirably discussed by Tylor.
` That the inhabitants of the coral islands of the Pacific should be
_ without pottery is not wonderful. It is said, also, that there is
no potters’ clay in the Sandwich Islands.

Man is not the only animal that makes vessels of clay, but he
is the only one that bakes them in the fire to make them durable.
Other animals make nests of clay for their young, but primitive
man makes earthenware vessels in which to hide away his dead.
Man’s most primitive vessel was his hand ; but leaves, shells, bark,
tough skins or shells of fruits, sections of bamboos, &c., were
soon used, as by means of these he could not only dip up water,
but also transport it from place to place. The same vessels must
also have served for the preservation and transportation of articles
of food, etc. The art of pottery has, doubtless, originated inde-
pendently in many different nations, and many circumstances
may have led to the employment of clay for the manufacture of
vessels. At Unalashka, Capt. Cook (Voy. ii, 510) saw “ vessels of
a flat stone, with sides of clay not unlike a standing pye.” Lyons
says (Private Journal, p. 320) that the Esquimaux women have
an ingenious method of making lamps and cooking-pots of

‘ So Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

flat slabs of stone which they cement together with a composi-
tion of seal’s blood applied warm, the vessel being held at the
same time over the flame of a lamp, which dries the plaster to the
hardness of stone, and in a note he adds, that “the cement is
composed of seal’s blood, of whitish clay and of dog’s hair.
The natives think that the hair of a female dog would spoil the
composition and prevent its sticking.” On the Lower Murray the
natives line a hole in the ground with clay, and cook their food
in it, and sometimes they coat wooden vessels and gourds with
clay to prevent their being burned. Both these customs just
described might lead to the invention of pottery.

The material of which pottery is made is clay. Ordinary clay
consists of fine particles of more or less decomposed feldspar,
mixed with a larger or smaller per centage of free silica, which
last may exist, either as an impalpable powder, or as a more or less
coarse sand.

Kaolinite, used in the manufacture of porcelain, is a silicate of
alumina derived from the decomposition of feldspar, containing
soda or potash, and it consists mainly of a mixture of silicate of
alumina and free silica.

Pure clay will not make pottery, because of its tendency to
shrink and crack in drying and baking. It must, therefore, be
mixed with some substance to counteract this tendency. In the
making of sundried bricks, the Egyptians found it necessary to
mix the clay with straw.

In pottery, the substance added is called by the Finch a
dégraissant. One of the best materials for this purpose is sand,
or powdered silica in some form, especially if the ware is to be
burned at a high temperature.

The Danish archeologists have shown that the clay of which
the pottery of the Kjoekkenmceddings was made, was mixed
with powdered granite, apparently obtained by heating the rock
and plunging it into water. In Chiloé to-day, the natives obtain
a dégraissant for pottery in the same way (Wagner Chimie Indus-
trielle. Tomi, 555) In some kinds of earthenware manufac-
tured in England and on the Continent, powdered flint is added
to the clay, the flints being prepared by heating them red hot,
then throwing them into water, and afterwards pulverizing themi
(Brogniart, Arts Cer. 1854, i, 71).

Sometimes a cement of pulverized ae cite or terra-cotta is

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. 81

added in the manufacture of certain kinds, both among civilized
and savage nations. In making, for metallurgical purposes, cru-
cibles that are required to stand great heat and sudden changes
of temperature, burnt clay, obtained by powdering old crucibles,
is sometimes added to the raw clay to prevent cracking (Fonck.
Zeitschr. f. Eth. ii. 1870, iv, 290, Ure’s Dict. sub Pottery; Brog-
niart i, 72).

The ancient Indians of Pacoval, on the island of Marajo, used
to mingle powdered pottery with the clay for their ware, and in.
the mass composing the walls of fractured specimens from Sr.
Ferreira Penna, I have found quite large fragments still showing
their painted surfaces.

In both North and South America, where the Indian pottery
is rarely ever thoroughly burned, the clay is often mixed with
broken shells. Mica enters frequently into the composition of
pottery, and Dr. Berendt has informed me that in Yucatan, even
wash gold was occasionally used. Gold is also found in the
material composing the pottery of. Palembang, in the East Indies
(Jour. E. Ind. Archipelago, 1850, iv, 273).

Powdered coke or furnace cinders, graphite, nonai (Brog-
niart, l. c. i, 74), and even sawdust are employed in some kinds of
modern European pottery, and where a low heat is used in
baking, the clay is sometimes mixed with powdered limestone.
At a higher heat this latter would serve as a flux.

I am not aware that the Indians of North America ever mixed
ashes with the clay, but the custom is very general in South
America, where the ashes of the bark of several trees are
employed. In Guiana the bark used is that of the Couepi tree,
(Couepia guianensis) (F erdinand Fermin, Description Bele,

c., de Surinam, i, 61).

On the Amazons the clay intended for the manufacture of pot-
tery is mixed with the ash of the Caraipé tree, (Moguilea utilis
Hooker) (Benth. Martius, Flora Braziliensis, Fasc. xli, Pl. 8, f. 11;
Wallace, Travels on the Amazon, &c., 484; Marryatt, “ Pottery
and Porcelain,” 509; Bates, “ Naturalist, &c.” 225). The Carajás,
-Caraja-is, Chambiéas, Chavatites, Chereiites, and Guajajaras of the
Araguaya, mix with the clay the ashes of certain sjós. I have
seen the Caraipé bark prepared by stacking the fragments on end
in a conical heap, and then burning them in the open air. The
ash is very abundant and preseron, the original § form of the frage .

VOL, XIII, —nNo. il,

82 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

ments. Having been reduced to powder and sifted, it is
thoroughly intermingled with clay, to which, when wet, it gives
a dark plumbaginous look, but this color grows much lighter on
burning. The use of the Caraipé, according to universal testi-
mony, makes the ware better able to stand the fire. The Indians
of Sariacu use the ash of a bark called Afacarama, perhaps the
same as Caraipé (Smythe & Lowe, Nar. of a Journ. from Lima to
Para. Lond., 1836, 210). The Caraipé bark contains an enormous
percentage of silica, which separates as a fine white powder. It
is to this siliceous powder that the ash, doubtless, owes its value
as a dégraissant. In the Amazonian region is found a species of
fresh-water sponge, called Cauri, containing siliceous spicules,
and whose ash is sometimes used to temper clay for pottery (De
Souza, Lembrancas, etc. do Amazonas, 101). According to
Semper (Der Stil. Band ii, 122) the use of these dégratssants and
cements, besides destroying the homogeneity of the paste, furnish
innumerable points of rest throughout the mass that reduce the
fragility of the ware after burning, and the danger of cracking,
whether through change of temperature or by shock. The
coarser particles serve to break up and distribute the undulations
by which the cracks are propagated, very much as a fracture in a
pane of glass may be arrested by boring a hole at the extremity
of the crack,

By the advent of Europeans, pottery in America was invariably
made by hand, the potters wheel being unknown. In the prov-
ince of Para, among the Indians, and to a considerable extent
among the whites, as each family makes its own pottery, stores of
this clay are often laid up.

The clay, mixed with Carzafé, is kneaded with the hands into a
mass, which is then divided into a number of balls about as large
as the first. The woman potter then furnishes herself with a
board or mat, on which to build up the vessel, some flat object
on which to rol] out the clay, a vessel of water, and a fragment of
a cuta or a shell to serve as a smoothing instrument. If the ves-
sel is to have a flat bottom, she presses out upon the board a
round flat piece of the required size and thickness. This takes
the impress of the board or mat, and fragments of the bottoms of
vessels from the ancient sité of the “ Bluff-Dwellers” at Taparinha, _
near Santarem, are often beautifully impressed by the mat on which _
they were formed. Indian women of Santarem sometimes seat _

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. 83

themselves on the ground holding a large ball of clay between
the feet. On this the vessel is built up, the ball wog afterwards
cut off, leaving the bottom flat.

After the bottom is formed, a piece of clay is rolled under the
hand into a long rope-like cylinder. This rope is then coiled
round the edge of the bottom of the vessel, being flattened side-
ways by pinching with the fingers of the left hand, and caused to
adhere to the bottom. On this, coil after coil is laid in like man-
ner, each being flattened as before.

After a few have been added they are worked into shape with
the fingers, which are occasionally moistened in water, and the
irregularities produced by the coils are caused to disappear.
The vessel is formed by the hand alone, and the surface is
smoothed down by means of a bit of gourd or a shell, which is,
from time to time, dipped in water. If the vessel be large, it is
now set away in the shade for a while to dry a little, after which
new coils are added as above, no other instrument being used
except the hands and the gourd or sell, with which alone the
vessel may receive not only an extremely regular form but also a
very smooth surface. According to Dr. de Magalhaes, “the pot-
tery of the Carajás, the Carajais, Chambioas, Chavantes, Cher-
éntes, Guajajaras of the Araguaya river is always made by coil-
ing, the surface being worked down by the hand and water,
and the aid of a sort of spoon-like trowel made of bam-
boo.” The coils are so worked together that from a simple
inspection of the vessel it is impossible to determine how it was
built up. I should never have suspected that the pottery of-
Pacoval had been made by coiling, were it not that I found the
coils still ununited on the inner surface of the heads of idols.
The coils still preserve the delicate imprints of the fingers of the
artist (Am. NATURALIST, v. 1871).

In building up a vessel, care must be taken to allow it to bar
den as the process progresses, so as to avoid its settling by its
own weight, as it is very likely to do, especially if the vessel be
large. This settling, under the influence of gravity, is, however,
likely to give rise to graceful curves, and it would be interesting
to determine how far the beauty of outline of pottery may have
resulted from the imitation of forms that originated in this way.

Handles and all prominent ornaments are added afterwards,
being luted on. Sometimes the: outside of the vessel is orna-

84 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

mented by applying thin strips of clay laid on in spirals, and
other figures as among the Greeks and Romans.

The ancient Bluff-Dwellers were very fond of ornamenting their
pottery in this way. The “apple-pie” border, made by impress-
ing with the extremity of the finger, or by pinching up a line of
‘elevations between the thumb and forefinger, was also in common
use among the same Indians, and is still perpetuated on the
modern pottery of the Amazonas. It was rarely used by the
Indians of Pacoval.

In- Amazonian pottery, ornaments are rarely impress or
stamped. I have observed on the Bluff-Dwellers’ pottery, circles
made with the end of a hollow stick. The Chambioas and
Carajás of the Araguaya make wooden dies, with which to
ornament their pottery, the Carajas using a sort of Maltese
cross.

- The surface of the vessel, after having been smoothed down, is
often washed with a thin layer of pure, creamy clay, which appears
to be sometimes burnished before cooking, producing a beautiful,
hard and almost polished surface. The common ware of the
civilized Indians of the province of Para is usually very plain and
rarely ever painted, but that of the Upper Amazon is often most
beautifully ornamented in several colors, with frets and borders,
and other purely esthetic forms, the absence of all attempt at
representations of plant forms being remarkable. Edwards says
that the colors are laid on this Amazon pottery with a brush
made of the spine of a palm." The black color is made of the
juice of mandioca.

The ancient pottery of Pacovalid is often adorned with frets and

‘scroll borders and other ornaments, drawn ona white ground ~

with marvelous accuracy (Am. NATURALIST, V., 1871; Pop. Sc.
Monthly, Jan., 1875).

Ornaments are sometimes scratched with a sharp point on the 4

surface of modern Amazonian pottery, and, occasionally, ornaments
are made consisting of aseriesof holes. The etching on the Pacoval
pottery is exceedingly delicate. Sometimes the same pottery is
decorated by first washing the surface with white clay, and then

engraving so as to leave an ornament in relief. The instrument _
used seems to have been a tooth of a paca, or some other rodent.
Some of the large burial vases are covered with ornaments of this a

kind, which r must have pequira long and patient labor.

EET E CO i EN

1879. } Pottery Among Savage Races. 85

Before burning, the vessels are allowed to dry slowly in the
shade, and afterwards in the sun. The burning requires much
care, and is performed in different ways. Usually, they are set at
a distance from the fire, and allowed to become heated gradually,
without actual contact with the flame, after which they are sur-
rounded by fire and thoroughly burned. Very often they are
covered with a heap of Carazpé bark, which is set on fire. Some-
times, on the Amazonas, pottery is burned in an oven or ina
hole in the ground. The Carajas and other tribes of the Ara-
guaya burn their pottery in ovens made by hollowing out the
nests of the white ant. The ware is introduced, another excava-
tion is made below the fire, and still another in the top of the
nest to serve as a chimney. The enormous earthern pans
(yapona) on which farina is cooked, and which are sometimes
four or five feet across, require to be burned with great care, and
their manufacture is usually entrusted only to women of much
experience. Ordinarily the pottery of the Amazonas is not
thoroughly cooked. That of the Bluff-Dwellers is particularly
poor in this respect. While the vessel is still hot after burning,
it often receives inside a coating of melted jutahy-sica resin,
applied with a-swab, but I am informed that before the vessel is
used on the fire, this is first burned out. This resin is said to be
obtained from the Futahy tree of the Amazonas (Hymenea cour-
baril); but it does not appear to be the product of the Futahy
alone.

At Bréves, on the Island of Mårajó, there is made a kind of
pottery which is first washed with white clay, and after burning, |
painted in water color in the most gaudy-and outrageous fashion.
Over this color a varnish of jutahy-sica, dissolved in alcohol, is
laid. A similar resin, said to be the product of the same species
of Hymenea, is used to varnish painted ware among the May-
pures on the Orinoco (Humboldt, Pers. Nar. ii, 309). The Abi-
ponian women rubbed their pottery with a kind of glue to make
it shine (Dobritzhoffer, Hist. of Abipones, ii, 131). The Indians
of Guiana paint their pottery with water color, and varnish it
with the gum simiri ( Simiri tinctoria) or bourgoni( Robinia bourgont).
In Yucatan, Behrendt reports the use of a varnish made from the
Niin (Coccus axin Lallave) The Fijians glaze their ware with a
resin, and the ancient Egyptians sometimes painted pottery in
distemper and covered it with a resinous varnish: (“ Pottery, in-

86 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

Chambers’ Encyc.; Williams and Calvert, Fiji, &c., 53; Jenkins’
U.S. Expl. Ex., 347; Birch, Anct. Pottery, i, 48, 49; Brogniart,
ut supra, i, 502). Von Martius alludes in general terms to the
mode of building up an earthen vessel by coiling (Ethno. Amer-
ikas, 712); and the same method appears to have been alluded to by
Humboldt (Pers. Nar., ii, 309) when he says that the natives of
the Maypures on the Orinoco “ purify the clay by repeated wash-
ings, form it into cylinders, and mould the largest vessels with
the hand.”

We meet with the same method again in Childe, where it has
been described by Dr. Fonck (Die Indier des Südlichen Chile,
&c.), who speaks of the vessel as being built up exactly as at
Ereré, a flat piece being first made for the bottom, on the per-
iphery of which the wall is formed by coiling up a sausage-like
cylinder. He adds that the ware is dried in the smoke before
burning (Zeitsch. fur Eth., 1870, iv., 290).

Gili describes the process of toilihe as Suh among the
Indians of Orinoco, and adds that the surface of the vessel is
worked down with a pebble and the fingers, which are. from time
to time, dipped into water, the ware being. burned in pits with a
fire made of bark.

Prof. Charles Rau, the first ethnologist to give due importance
to the method of coiling, has, in his admirable essay on Indian
Pottery (Smithson. Rep., 1866, 351), translated the description
given by Dumont of the manufactury of earthenware by the
Indians of Louisiana, in which an account of the building up of
a vessel by this method is given (Mem. Historiques sur la Loui-
siane). Prof. Rau is of the opinion that the building up of pot- `
tery by coiling was practiced over a large area in North America.
Certainly in South America it was widely known.

Prof. Eggleston, of Columbia College, New York, informs me _
that in Germany, the large crucibles used in melting are, when
broken, built up again with ropes of clay. In this case we have
either a survival of an old pre-historic art, or its re-discovery in
modern times.

I will now give such information as I have been able to gather
concerning the manufactory of pottery by the aboriginal inhabi- ,

tants of America, for the double purpose of giving a clearer idea :
of the various processes used, and also of showing that the manu- | :

facture is everywhere EOE in the hands of women. rf

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. 87

Molina says (Saggio, &c., Bologna, 1872), that the Chilians
have excellent pottery, which they burn in furnaces, or rather
holes dug in the sides of the hills, and adds that they apply to
their wares a sort of varnish made of a certain mineral earth.
Schmidtmeyer (Trav. into Chile, Lond. 1824, 117) says that the
present Chilefios are good potters for common ware: they intro-
duce a certain quantity of earth or sand, containing an abundance
of yellow mica; and jars, holding seventy gallons or more, are _
made by them of great thinness, lightness and strength, and
which sounds as if it were metal. The Pehuenches of Chili, a
wandering tribe, made new vessels in every locality in which they
establish themselves (Poppig, Reise in Chile, &c., Leipz., 1835, i,
383).

In Bolivia, the women fabricate the pottery with much super-
stitious ceremony (D’Orbigny, L'Homme Amer., ii, 150, 233, 339,
363). According to Castelnau, the Chiriguanos women are excel-
lent potters. One vessel measured by him was a metre in diameter
and twelve decimetres in height (Exped. vi, 56, 307). Woman’s
work among the Mojos Indians comprises also the manufacture
of earthenware (D’Orbigny, ut supra 233). Gibbon speaks of
one Juana Jua Cayuba, a Mojos woman, who superintended the
hired women who were engaged in moulding earthen jars (Expl.
of the Valley of the Amazonas, p. 246).

The Guarayos women also made pottery, and D’Orbigny
speaks of the large vessels in which the dead of the tribe are
buried (Frag. d'Une Voy. au Centre de l'Am. Meridionale, 193).

Both the ancient and modern inhabitants of the Andes were
famous potters, and the vases of the Huacas of Bolivia and Peru
have long attracted the attention of ethnologists (von Tschudi y
Rivero, Antiq. de Peru; Cat. du Musée de Sevres; D’Orbigny,
Atlas d’Antiq. Peruv.; Brogniart, Arts Ceram., i, 525 ; Ewbank,
Life in Brazil). The majority of Peruvian vessels were un-
doubtedly formed in two or more pieces, in a mould, and after-
wards luted together. Some of these molds were made from nat-
ural objects, but others bear very elaborate raised figures.

The women of the Indians of Ucayali are represented as being
the potters. The Tobas of Mbocobi of the Chaco, manufacture
immense chica pots like those of the Chiriguanos, the work fall-
ing to the lot of the women, as was the case also among the
Indians of Itaty, a village of Guaranis, situated at the confluence

88 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

of the Parana and Paraguay (D’Orbigny L’Homme Am, ii, 100;
Voyage, &c., i, 199; Brogniart i, 530).

Dobritzhoffer says, “ The American women seem to have a
natural talent for making various articles. They can mold pots
and jugs of various forms of clay, not with the assistance of a
turning machine like potters, but with their hands alone. These
clay vessels they bake, not in an oven but out of doors, placing
sticks around them. .

The pottery of the Payaguas, of Paraguay, was the work of
women. Among the Guaycurus, pottery appears to have been
woman’s work, for Prado tells us that, in this tribe were found
men who affect all the manners of women, not only dressing like
them but occupying themselves in spinning, weaving, making
pots, etc. (Hist., in Revista Trimensal do Inst. Hist. i, 32).

Hans Staden, who was a captive among the Tupinambas,
relates that the women of that tribe were the potters. The ves-
sels after having been dried in the air and painted with lines of

different colors, were turned upside down on stones, and burned -

by heaping bark about them and setting it on fire (DeBry,
Americae, 3d Part, ii, xiv, 3; See also DeBry, Hist. Nav: m
Braziliam, p. 133, 141, 142, 239).

The women of the Arraial do Barro, opposite the Island “of

Sao Sebastiao are said to have made excellent ware aii de Veri-
fier les Dates, 13, p. I10).

The women of the Mongoyos prepared the clay on a banana
leaf held upon the knee. It was then placed upon a “plateau”
of sifted ashes, and the vessel, after fashioning and polishing,
was submitted to the action of fire.

A writer on Brazil (Noticia do Brazil, Lisboa, 1825, iii, 1, 286), ©

says, that the old Tupinambá women made pottery by hand,
some of which were big enough to hold a pipe. They also made
pots, mugs and pans, This pottery, which was sometimes painted,

was burned in a pit, a wood fire being made above. They super- . ;

stitiously believed that if any one but the person who moulded the
pottery were to attempt to burn it, the vessel would bitak to
pieces in the fire.

Spix and Martius hisia 1824, ii, 246) tell us that the
Coroado women provide the requisite earthenware for the family.

Pottery is still made by the civilized Indian women in many parts —

= of Brazil south of the Amazonas. Old women make earthenware

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. 89

by hand in S. Paulo. The clay is mixed by being trodden under
the feet of oxen, the vessels being formed by coiling or by mold-
ing in several pieces. The clay is sometimes worked into a thin
sheet, which is applied to the surface of a wooden mold. The
outside is worked down with the wetted hand and the application
of acorn cob. After the vessel has dried to the proper con-
sistency, it is cut in two, the mold is removed, and the two pieces
are skilfully luted together. Pottery is made in the same way in
Bahia.

Except in the olarias, where earthen vessels are made ona
large scale, men nowhere in the Amazon region have anything
to do with this industry. (On the manufacture of pottery by
women in various parts of S. America, see Baena, Ensaio Coro-
graphico do Para, sub voce “Monte Alegre;” Candido Mendez
de Almeida, Pinsonia, 1873, 28; Herndon, Explor., 202; Wal-
lace, Travels, 172; Debret, Voyage Pittoresque, Paris, 1834,
Catalogue du Musée Ceramique de Sévres ; Brogniart, Arts Cer-
amiques, i, 532; Humboldt, Personal Narrative, i, 196; Gili,
Storia Americana, ii, 315; Gumilla, Histoire Naturelle, &c., de
l'Orénoque, i, 268; Schomburgk, Hakluyt Soc., Discov. of
Guiana by Sir W. Raleigh, 64, note ; zd. Journ. Eth. Soc., Lond.,
1848, i, 267; Art de Vérifier les Dates T. 15, 285; Perez, Jeog-
raphia de los Estados Unidos de Columbia, i, ‘485 ; Bull. Soc.
d’Anth. Paris, T.i, Serie i, 1866, 403; Squier, Rare and Original
Documents and Relations, p. 46; Bibliotheca de Autores Es-
pafioles, Historiadores primitivos de los Indias, i, 348).

Dr. Berendt writes from Yucatan that “certain classes of pot-
tery, manufactured in some towns of the interior, are not only
carried all over the country, but exported to other parts of Mex-
ico, and even to Havana; among them are unglazed basins for
cooling drinking water, also large and small water-jars, some
preserving the ancient Yucatan forms, others imitating foreign
models. These are made by men, mestizoes, and mostly by
hand, on the turning wheel. In some places far away in the
interior, or without any connection with the larger centers of
trade, as also in Peten, the proceeding is still more primitive, and `
is exclusively in the hands of women. They search for the clay,
load it on the backs of children, and work it on the metate before
fashioning it with the hands. Large jars they generally form from
two pieces. I have not seen that they mix their clay with ashes; _

go Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

but they often mix different kinds of clay together. The class
of. pottery used by the poorer classes comprises the comal, (flat
plates to bake tortillas on), cayetes, or small plates (saucers) for
certain dishes, etc. No kind of glazing is used for this kind of.
pottery, but in its place a varnish is sometimes used, made from
Nun (Coccus Axin Lallave), and this is occasionally painted. It
is an ancient proceeding. I possess a vase, dug out at Jaina on
the Gulf Coast north of Campeche, whose varnished and painted
outer surface imitates admirably the design of ash wood. The
pottery of the ancient Mayas shows great variety in form and in
structure. Clay of different colors (dark red, light slate color,
light and dark red, and brown) is sometimes mixed with mica or
shell-gravel, and other substances, such as, in other parts, even
wash gold. The ornamentation consists of figures and arabesques
sunk or scratched into the surfaces, or elevated into reliefs and
often painted. The modern pottery of the Indians is generally
plain. The ancient pottery found in the interior, and particularly
near the gulf-coast of Yucatan, shows a much higher art than
that from the east coast, Cozumel island, etc.”

Pottery making fell to the lot of the Carib women, and accord-
ing to Ligon they manufactured a very handsome light ware (De
la Borde, “ Relations de l'origine, &c., des Caraibes, &c., Receuil
de divers Voyages, p. 23; McCulloh, Researches concerning the
Aboriginal History of America, p. 84).

Mr. Squier describes the pottery of Nicaragua as painted and
glazed (Nicaragua, i, 287). The ceramic artists among the
„Indians of Fort Yuma, California, are women, and the same is the
case with the Zuñis, whose beautifully painted pottery closely
resembles that of the ancient Indians of Pacoval (Michler, Rep.
U.S. & Mex. Boundary Survey, i, 101; Pac. R. R. Rep., iii, 50).
DuPratz says that the Indian women Hok only “make the pot-
tery but they dig up and mix the clay ” (Hist. of Louisiana,
Lond., 1774, 360).

Adair informs us that the Cherokees glaze their ware, and
make it very black and firm by placing it in the smoke of a pitch
pine fire (Hist. of Am. Indians, Lond. 1775, 4).

Hariot says of the natives of Virginia: “ Their women know
how to make earthen vessels with special cunninge, and that so
large and fine that our potters with thoye wheels can make noe —

= better” (DeBry, A brief Report, &c., 1590; Campbell, Hist. of

1879. | Pottery Among Savage Races. gi

Virginia, 28; The True Travels, &c., of John Smith, p. 131 ;
Strachey, The Hist. of Trav. into Virginia Britannica, p. 112).
On the Georgia Indians see Bartram, Travels, Lond., 1792, 511 ;
On the Iroquois, Schoolcraft, iii, 81, and Notes on the Iroquois
in Squier & Davis, 223; On the Hurons, Parkman’s “ Jesuits in
America,” p. Xxx.

An account of the pottery manufactured among the Indians
west of the Mississippi river is quoted from Hunter's “ Manners
and Customs of several Indian tribes west of the Mississippi ”
in Prof. Rau’s article on Indian pottery in the Smithsonian
Report, 1866, p. 351.

Among the Mandans, women were, as elsewhere, the makers
of earthenware (Catlin, Manners and Customs, Letter 16).

Among the Micmac Indians of Acadia, the birch-bark vessebs
in which cooking is performed, are made by the women, and we
have already seen how she prepares, among the Esquimaux, the
stone lamps and cooking vessels. ,

Jewett thinks that the Celtic funerary urns were formed “ most
probably, judging from the delicacy of the touch, and from the
impress of the fingers which occasionally remain, by the females
of the tribes ” (Grave Mounds and their contents, 83-85).

At Ordezan, near Bagniére de Bigorre, pottery similar to that
found in caves is still manufactured by women. Tylor speaks of
a set of hand-made pottery found in use by an old woman in the
Hebrides.

The Kaffir women not only cook, but they make the pots they
use, the clay for the purpose being obtained from ant-hills.
They also make baskets that will hold milk or beer (Wood’s
Unciv. Races, 77, 143 ; Campbell, Travels in So. Africa, 523).

Burton says, concerning the manufacture of earthenware in
Eastern Africa, “ The figuline, a grayish brown clay, is procured
from river beds, or is dug up in the country; it is subjected to
the preliminary operation of pounding, rubbing dry on a stone,
pulverizing and purifying from stones and pebbles. It is then
worked into athick mass with water, and the potter fashions it with
the hand, first shaping the mouth; he adds an inch to it when
dry, hardens it in the sun, makes another addition, and thus pro-
ceeds until it is finished. Lines and other ornaments having been
traced, the pots are baked in piles of seven or eight, by burning
grass, Usually the color becomes lamp-black. In Usagara, how-

,

| _ tribe has advanced considerably beyond jia: savage sta sss

Q2 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February,

ever, the potters’ clay burns red like the soil. A cunning work-
man will make in a day four of these pots, some of them con-
taining several gallons, and their perfect regularity of form, and
often their picturesqueness of shape, surprise the stranger. The
best are made in Ujiji, Karagwahand Ugunda, those of Unyamwezi
are inferior, and the clay of Zanzibar is of all the worst.”

Schweinfurth states that “as in the case with the majority of
the inhabitants of Africa, the manufacture of pottery is practiced
by the women (Zeitschrift fur Ethn., 1873, i, 8).

“In Yoruba,” says Bowen, “the women make earthern pots ”
(Central Africa, p. 308); and so, also, do those of Garo-a-Bautschi
and Tesan, and the Guinea coast. We are, therefore, I think,
justified in coming to the conclusion that the fictile art, in its
infancy, is confined to the women is as true of Africa as of
America.

In the East Indian Archipelago, the Papuan women make pot-
tery (Journ. of Ind. Arch., v, 313; Norris’ Ethnogr. Lib., i; Earl’s
Papuans, p. 73). While pottery is unknown in the greater num-
ber of the South Sea Islands, in Fiji it has reached a high state
of development (Williams and Calvert. Fiji, N. Y., 1859, 33;
Wood, Unciv. R., Amer. Ed., 930), Women have the making of
pottery entirely in their own hands, and the art, moreover, seems
to be confined to the women of sailors and fishermen. © It is also
worth noting that the Fiji women are skilled in the manufacture
of stamped bark cloth, making the patterns themselves (see also
Jenkin’s U. S. Expl. Exp., 341, 347; Lubbock, Preh. ica: an
Pickering’s Races of Men, 163).

The facts I have given seem to show that among savage tribes
generally, the fictile art is, at first, exclusively practiced by:
women, the reason being that, primarily and essentially, the
fabrication of earthenware is a branch of culinary work, which

last, everywhere falls to the lot of the gentler sex. Man, among
= savages, is the hunter, fisher and warrior, while the woman takes

care of the house, and of the culture of the field. When, how-
ever, in the progress of the tribe in culture, the practice of the
art of pottery comes to be a profession, and to interfere with

household work, it passes naturally into the hands ak man, and it

will be found that in every case where men mak ë

™ a woman not ak bnan vessels <

18 879] Seeds of Plants as Projectiles, — 93

ornaments them, ona if the fictile art has originated with her, and
has grown up under her hands, it seems no less probable that the
ornaments she uses should have originated with her, and the
probability is increased by the fact that to, her falls the work of
spinning and weaving, of making and decorating personal orna-
ments and clothes, and of making baskets, mats, etc. She is
everywhere the primitive decorative artist, and to-day it is the
exception that man occupies himself with ornamental art, even in
civilized countries. Woman covers with ornament. everything
her hand touches, and the lady in her boudoir industriously
embroiders, on some article of mere luxury, the same series of
frets and scroll borders that, on the Amazonas, the savage
unclothed squaw as diligently and with as firm a hand, traces
with a spine on the damp surface of the clay vessel she is fashion-
ing. It is as if they both sang the same simple song. The orna-
ments in both cases are identical and not only of wholly inde-
pendent origin, but it may be also of very different age. Those
of the savage are the mere embryonic beginnings of art-life, while
those of the boudoir, like the ZLimgu/e of to-day, are archaic
forms, persistent through the ages, still flourishing unchanged
among the varied wealth of derivatives by evolution from the
ancient primary forms.

MO cae eared

SEEDS OF THE VIOLET AND OTHER PLANTS AS
PROJECTILES.

BY MOSES N. ELROD, M.D.

HE capsules of the cleistogenous flowers of Viola cucullata, ee
canadensis and V. striata, by a peculiar mechanical movement

of the valves project their seeds from a few inches to four or five
feet. As V, cucullata is a very common plant, with numerous
seed pods in the latter part of the season, it has been most care-
fully studied, and will be the first described. When the seeds are
ripe, the pod that before had been folded back on its crooked
procumbent stem, becomes erect, opens into three valves that
place themselves at right angles with the straightened and erected
peduncle, and, as it were, look directly upwards. By straighten-
ing the peduncle, the seed vessels that heretofore had been con-
cealed, are brought on a level with or above the leaves. Each
one of the carinate valves contains from three to four rows of

94 -Seeds of Plants as Projectiles. [February

seeds, attached by short funiculi to a common parietal placenta.
The seeds of the inner rows being attached to the top, while the
outer ones are attached to the sides of the raised keel, give to the
boat-shaped valves an appearance of overloading, and are heaped
up in the middle, and were it not for their slender funiculi would
be spilled out by the least motion. The shooting process is now
begun by the hard smooth edges and sides of the valves pressing
on the outer rows of seeds below their greatest diameter; the
pressure being transmitted to the under side of the seeds of the
heaped up middle rows, they generally are the first projected.
Usually but one seed is projected at a time, and the short
funiculi permitting another one to take the vacant space, the
inner rows are kept full until but a single row remains. But the
movement does not stop here; it is continued, and the pressure
reinforced by the outer, and sometimes the inner end of the valve
coming into close contact and clasping the seed on three sides,
until all are forced out, one by one, and the sides of the valve are
left in contact. During the process of drying, which still con-
tinues in the now empty and useless valve, the sides are separated
and it again assumes the former carinate shape. Any one seeing
the dry and empty pods would scarcely think of their having
gone through the changes we have described. And as the move-
ments that project the seeds take place while the valves of the
capsule are yet in a semi-green state we conclude they form an
important part in the life history of the plant. The pods of the
inconspicuous flowers of V. striata, are grown in the axils of the
leafy stem, on long peduncles, and have the same movements of _
straightening and erection as in V. cucullata. The pods of View _
canadensis are sessile, ae i

The projecting movement may be roughly compared to the
unlading of a boat by slowly crushing the sides together.

The shooting process may be conveniently watched by gath-
ering the mature pods after they have opened, and plunging the

stem into a cup of sand; however, treated thus the valves after

once closing will not again re-open. The lateness in the season
at which my observations began, prenepied my seeing the pods
_ following the conspicuous flowers. a
In giving the generic characters of Pilea in his Sinise of a
Botany, Prof. Gray says, “Fertile flowers. Sepals three, oblong,
a more or less unequal ; a rudiment of a stamen before aes in the i

1879. ] Seeds of Plants as Projectiles. 95

form of a hooded scale. Achenium ovate, compressed, straight
and erect, partly or nearly naked.”

In P. pumila the distal end of the elastic hooded scales are
held down by the otherwise naked seed. The rudimentary
stamens may be compared to a V-shaped spring, the ends of
which are pressed together. When the seed is ripe and its con-
nection with the receptacle broken, the hooded scales suddenly,
partially straightens and the seed shot into the air five feet or
more. The arrow-head shape of the achenium, and the arrange-
ment of the cymes on long axillary stems shortened from below
upwards, are favorable to the great range of the flying projectile.
The mechanism of the movement is sufficiently simple, but the
special adaptation of an essential organ of a perfect flower toa
new use is very peculiar.

Prof. Gray says of Oxa/is: “ Pod membranaceous, deeply five
_ lobed, five celled, each cell opening on the back. Seeds few in
each cell, pendulous from the axis, their outer coat loose and sep-
arating.” The loose outer coat of the seed of Oxalis stricta
bursts on the edge opposite its attachment to the axis, and
is suddenly rolled back, breaking the funiculus, and at the same
time separating the walls of the cell and projecting the seed two
or three feet. By this movement the loose coat is generally
turned inside out. The flattened oval seeds are marked on their
sides by transverse striz that doubtless give direction to the elas-
tic coat when it bursts. Before the seeds are fully matured they
may be removed from the cell and the coating caused to burst by
touching them with some sharp-pointed instrument. So quick is
the movement that one is strongly reminded by it of a jens
flea. No other species than Oxalis stricta was observed.

That the movements of the seeds described are important, if
not essential to the life of the plant, seems evident. The ripening
capsules of the violet may be found until late in autumn, we have
seen them after snowfall, and without some such movement as ©
has been mentioned, would go on seeding the same ground
the season through, and year after year. The same remark is true
of the wood sorrell, the membranaceous pod of which would other-
wise fall to the ground near the root of the plant carrying its
crop of seeds with it. The general resemblance in habit and
appearance of balsam and richweed would lead us to expect some
special provision for scattering their seeds in the one as the other.

96 Instinct and Reason. [February,

It may be further noticed that while the movements described are
each different and peculiar to a single genus of plants, they are
unlike those of the well-known balsam, and those of the witch-
hazel as given by Mr. Meehan a few years since.

:0;
INSTINCT AND REASON.
BY F. C. CLARK, M.D.

F the great array of startling facts, presented in the works of
Mr. Darwin, be not wholly convincing, they at least clearly dem-
onstrate a somewhat closer connection of man with lower organi-
zations than has hitherto been acknowledged. Since the inven-
tion of the microscope and its application to the natural sciences,
the study of natural phenomena has opened a field of inquiry

never before dreamed of by the most imaginative theorist. Myr- ,
iads of infinitesimal forms of life, which formerly escaped detec- —

tion, have thus been revealed, and though many a one lacks that
complexity of organization which usually attracts our notice, yet
even in their simplicity they present a problem as intricate and
perplexing as the most highly organized being. These minute
organisms often seem but mere centers of life (points of attraction),
around which cluster other existences still more minute and but
_ just perceptible to the highest powers of the microscope. Organi-
zation. appears, many times, hardly more than nominal. Even
to-day their nature defies solution, so as to render it impossible
to assign them any satisfactory place in the scale of being; and
after the new discoveries daily added, the naturalist is at a loss to
find the dividing line between the various forms of life expressed
by the old names of “ animal” and “ vegetable.”

The division of the living world into the “ vegetable ” and “ ani-

mal” is at best but arbitrary. It is not enough to take well
characterized types of each division and compare them with each

other. Such differences would be self evident. But, instead, it a

is needful to give such a definition of each division as will cover
every variety, however diverse, which is included in that division

to which the definition has been given. Thus, much confusion —
in classification is avoided; though, unfortunately for us, the —
problem remains unsolved; for the new facts daily brought to —
ae a: render necessary continual oei in Siasnifioatiofi; and A

Sete tal ered kre ales Mi a Han Wp ty gi

SEPA gts

Meh Pie cope ul los

.

1879.] Instinct and Reason. 97

broader definitions. In the present state of natural science the

best classifications cannot be otherwise than approximate and un-

settled. But the link between unorganized and organized matter
has thus far defied discovery. Whether the different expressions
of existence are due to that inherent change exhibited by all
matter—that change in which all natural phenomena consists,
resulting in a spontaneous generation, the necessary elements or
factors being present; or whether to a special creation to satisfy
each individual case, as a species ; these are questions still under
dispute, whose explanations have their different disciples.

Passing by that which makes up the organization of all living
beings—the mineral—it is designed in the following pages to dis-
cuss the manner in which the different vital forms express their ex-
istence under their different phenomena, dependent of course upon
their individual organizations. Hence organization determines
the character of the individual as well as of a species or family.
But it should be here stated that it is not intended to discuss the
province of a species. This is for the specialist.

Again, we are to observe how each organized being supplies its
wants and the means or organs for supplying them. In every

_ form of life, however high or however low in the scale of being,

there must necessarily be some way in which each form maintains
its existence. It is not to be expected that all vital beings, irre-
spective of their organization, demand the same mode of supply,
but some means of supply. Each after its own kind must so
dispose of the elements of nutrition about itself as best suits its
organization. Each one, therefore, will take from the alimentary
substances it receives only that best suited for it, or is refused,
or avoided by other higher or lower forms. In this way that con-
stant change of elements is effected by which all life is supported;
by which the structure of one is fitted for a higher form of life;
and the detritus of a higher prepared for a simpler and more
lowly being. Thus does the vegetable supply the animal with
food, and in turn the animal adds to the growth and vigor of the
plant. The luscious fruits of the garden, which form a part of
the delights of life, contain the same elementary principles found

in man, but there taken at second hand. The vegetable being a —

builder up of tissue can exist where the animal would become
extinct, for it is the tendency of all animals to mace combina-
tions and to form compound products,

VOL, XIIIL.—NO, II. 7

wes

98 Instinct and Reason. [ February, °

Now, for these various forms of life to effect these important
and complicated results, there must needs be some power behind
all capable of directing the phenomena manifested in each indi-
vidual. The selection of the required food, the choice of a
habitat, and the end of all—the ultimate propagation of its kind—
are by no means mechanical phenomena.

The general opinion has hitherto been, that man was guided
by intelligence or reason, and the lower animals, without excep-
tion, by instinct, differing most essentially from reason in that it
was innate. Gradually, however, many of the actions of the
lower animals, as well as some of man which were regarded as
instinctive, were acknowledged to be intelligent. These actions
were supposed to be the same in kind, but different in degree. A
step was thus made in advance; and what could not be longer
denied forced itself upon the attention of all.

It is a matter of peculiar difficulty to draw a line of distinction
between instinct and reason. The best thinkers, among whom
may be cited Herbert Spencer, consider that no /zatus exists
between the two, but that the one passes into the other by insen-
sible degrees.

Simple reflex action, sometimes called “reflex action of the
spinal cord,” is wholly unconscious action. It is Aas action of vee
cles seen in decapitated frogs, and in acer t
who, in their short life, perform simple acts as readily as babes
with brain intact. Herbert Spencer supposes the simplest acts to
be unconscious, performed by the animal automatically, in its
endeavor to get rid of offending matters. And this acquired
power is inherited and becomes then instinct, or complex reflex
action of another sort.’ Instinct is the inheritance of accumu-
lated experience ; is also a lower grade of intelligence, into the
highest of which it gradually develops. The dog after having
been taught the trick of “begging” will transmit that faculty to
its offspring, which will be used as occasion requires.? Mr. Lewes
and Mr. Spencer appear to agree in regarding instinct as being
lower than reason. Acts which were once voluntary and intelli-
gent may become involuntary and habitual, then instinctive.
And as acts became more complex they become less frequent, and
more subject to the control of the will. Hence instinct is “lapsed
intelligence,” so to speak.

1 Psychology, Vol. i, p. 432 and foll.
2 Problems of Life and Mind, bt i, p. 208 and foll.

1879. | Instinct and Reason. a 99

Some French writers and others do not separate impulse from
instinct. This, Mr. Lewes opposes, since in instinct we see only
one course of action often followed, when other sources as good
may be at hand. This course of action is the result of accumu-
lated experience inherited from the parents, But at the same
time a change in the course is sometimes manifested, which would
imply a slight degree of intelligence. From this it follows that
reason differs from instinct but in degree rather than in kind, as
instinct does from impulse. But as impulse denotes the sudden-
ness of an act, and as an instinctive act follows so swiftly after
the impulse or desire has once been formed, it becomes very difficult
to separate the two. Roughly speaking then, instinct may be
described as the directing force in simple habitual actions; while
reason, in every case implies conscious memory, and may be
viewed as the guiding and directing force in every act which is not
habitual. Tt ts the putting in order of the proper apparatus to work
in the best direction; or the proper selection of the best mode of
acquiring wants. In instinct then we have no consciousness of
action, but reflex acts performed automatically. Hence the com-
mon error of applying intelligence only to the acts of man can-
not be too much deprecated. Instinctive acts are as common
among men as among the lower animals; and even in some
species of plants, we note phenomena so wonderful as to cause
some hesitation in classing them „entirely among instinctive acts.

The theory of evolution aids us greatly in explaining many of
the phenomena observed in the lower forms of life, perfectly
inexplicable by any other mode of inquiry. From the simple and
hardly exertive act of the monad to the complex and manifold
_ actions of man, we cannot fail to perceive a constant progressive
development, undeniable and indisputable. Each separate prin-
ciple, if separate and distinct it be, overlaps another, there being
no chasm, no break to evince the beginning of one and the end-
ing of the other. The simple reflex act becomes compound;
phenomena cease to be involuntary, and become conscious and
intelligent.

First Forms of Life—In regard to those transitional forms of
life whose place in nature has not yet been determined, which
multiply like the individual cells which make up animal and
vegetable structures—by fissuration—little can be said —

1 Principles of Psychology, Vol. i, p. 432 and foll.

100 Instinct and Reason. | February,

either their instinct or reason. But that one or both these prin-
ciples must be present, can be best seen from their analogy to
higher forms.’ But if, as Herbert Spencer teaches, instinct is but
compound reflex action, and if in these lowly beings we observe
simple reflex action to predominate over compound, it is buta
step to invest even these transitional forms with some degree of
instinct. And again following the same author, we cannot fail to
see, from analogy at least, some degree of reason, however
slight.

It is seemingly so immaterial to this class of beings as to their
place of abode, and so easily and rapidly do they reproduce their
kind, that it is not surprising that the theory of spontaneous
generation should have received so much attention and gained so
many partisans. Still, in what light soever they are viewed, they
must be allowed the requisite elements of growth and function ;
for without these they must as truly perish as the higher forms
of life when they, too, are deprived of proper function and
nutrition.

Whether regarded. as animal or as vegetable, these lowly forms
must be conceded some skill, however slight, for obtaining wants
and for protection against enemies. Few, if any, of the higher
forms of life are unprovided in this respect. Thorns render
plants less liable to injury. The cuttle-fish stains the water in
the track of its enemies of an inky blackness, and thus escapes.
The spider simulates death; and so does many a crustacean.
The polyp can be severed into hundreds of fragments, but it
revenges itself by reproducing as many new individuals; and the
mollusc is protected from foes by a hard closed shell.

Our knowledge of the lowest of the protozoans is but scanty,
yet they all have means for engaging successfully in the struggle
for existence. Each protozoan, or other, must put forth efforts
proportioned to its development, to be met and overcome by still
higher development. Something is displayed in the contest of
offence and defence which seems like intelligence, but more akin
to instinct. Their actions observed here are so nearly related to
reflex action alone, that the problem of separating instinct from
pure reason is at present utterly impossible. But yet where
observation fails analogy will perhaps succeed.

Now if, for example, we touch with the point of a fine needle

1 Vid, Pop. Sci. Monthly, Dec. 1873, p. 180,

18709. | Instinct and Reason. IOI

one of those beautiful bell animalcules, named Vorticella, it
instantly darts backward as though attached to a tense elastic
f we observe it more carefully we perceive the stem of

the bell flower to be gathered into several spirals like a helix.
After a while the animalcule recovers from its fear and extends
itself, spiral after spiral being shaken out. If the vessel in which
they are contained be jarred even, they dart quickly backward as
if touched. After a short time they get accustomed to jars and
the like, and a considerable shock is required to cause them to”
withdraw into the depths of the vessel. Now here at least, some
impression, strong enough to affect them greatly, is made upon
these little bell-flower animalcules. If instinct be advanced to
explain this phenomenon, then the onus of proof, as to where
instinct ends and reason begins, belongs to the one who advances
that idea; if reason, however small, then we must allow the con-
sciousness of action to obtain in all the processes of nature.

Every form of life, then, whether animal or vegetable, does but
furnish different modes of expressing life. What is lacking in
one is made good by approximation, so far as it is consistent with
the needs and demands of that organism. The plant has no
brain, no blood circulation; but the sap of the plant is pumped up
by the rootlets throughout every part; and the circulation here
is as perfectly established as in the animal, though in a different
manner. For their purposes in life, then, these transitional beings
need no complexity of nervous system, roots and sap. They would
have no call for them in so simple an organization as they
possess.

Plant Life—A plant, as we understand it, is a cellular organism,
consisting of a part below ground called the roots, and a part
above denominated stem, branches and leaves. Parasitic plants
have properly no roots, but, as their name implies, subsist upon
higher vegetable forms. Air plants, fungi and lichens also belong
to our category of plants, although differing so widely from our
type.

Plants, being for the most part limited in motion, shoot out
roots in all directions beneath the ground in search of elements
of nutrition, rear a stem aloft, push out branches and put forth
leaves to catch the sunbeams, by means of which they decompose
the atmosphere to obtain the proper requisites for the life, respi-
ration, growth and vigor of that form of life. The plant never

102 Instinct and Reason. [ February,

fails to direct its stem, branches and leaves towards the sun; and
in our typal plant, roots never fail to be thrust downward into the
earth, in what form soever it may be placed in the ground.
Leaves often change to roots, and roots in favorable circumstances
become leaves. The greater the spread of foliage the more vig-
orous and, consequently, the healthier will be the condition of the
plant. At this point it may be well to note a universal law or
principle: the more sunshine and air (of course at some time
reaching a limit) the more abundant the foliage, and the denser
the foliage the stronger and more flourishing the plant. This
may be proved by comparing out-door plants with badly managed
in-door and hot-house vegetation. Plenty of sunshine and air
soon show a marked change for the better.

Illustrating the subject by means of our type, we find the organs
of a plant to be roots, leaves and the modifications of the leaves
for reproductive purposes. The stem, or trunk, is but a canal,
altering in size to suit the varying conditions of the plant, and is
used for purposes of alimentation and the circulation of veg-
etable products between the roots and the leaves. The growth
of the stem depends upon the same law which governs the
growth of the roots and the branches upon which the leaves are
supported. In a word, the stem seems to act as a support for the
leaves. Growth itself depends upon the proper assimilation of
the elements of nutrition derived from the chemical changes
occurring in the roots and leaves, and to some extent in the
stem.

Marine and fresh water alge, if deprived of roots, have
in their remaining organs all the functions necessary for their
peculiar mode of existence.

The structure of a plant is cellular, showing its origin to be
from the segmentation and accumulation of cells, one upon the
other. The microscope shows how beautiful is the plant tissue,
and how different in different varieties, but in every one this dis-
tinct cellular formation is apparent.

The plant is also possessed of the means for assisting its
growth, as runners, creepers, tendrils and the like. For repro-
ductive purposes it has nettles, thorns, elastic fibres, as in the
seed vessels of the squirting cucumber (Momordica elaterium) ;
but above all in its essential organs of reproduction—its flowers
= containing the stamens and pollen, ovary and pistil. The first

18709. } Instinct and Reason. 103

class of propagating agents are secondary or non-essential, the
latter the essential organs. The former passive agents, the latter
active.

Thorns, briers, nettles, etc., are also passive elements of defence.
For offence many plants have a singular apparatus, especially
that curious class of plants termed insectivorous, or carnivorous,
hereafter to be discussed.

But the plant demands food. This it obtains in a peculiar way.
Its anatomy and physiology are adapted to that peculiar way. It
does nothing contrary to nature with impunity. Mode of growth
in all plants tend to the same end. Hence the lowest as well as
the highest can do no more than supply wants ; seek a situation
best suited to its growth and development; remove or avoid
obstacles interfering with growth, and reproduce its kind in due
time. For this purpose certain organs are exercised, and this con-
stitutes the functions of a plant.

In plants, as well as in animals, we everywhere perceive the
operation of the law which secures to them what naturalists term
“the survival of the fittest.” The weaker must succumb to the
stronger, and disappears, is annihilated, when the struggle for
existence becomes too great for that form of plant life.

Plants which need much air (or elements of air) and light, and
moisture, are found in situations most favorable for obtaining
them ; if deprived of them the result is obvious.

In the case of most terrestrial plants, a suitable depth and
character of soil are required. If the soil be too poor in the
elements of nutrition required by a peculiar kind of plant, or in
excess, or the soil too dry or too light, the different elements
must be duly supplied or apportioned, and sufficient moisture
furnished by irrigation lest the heat of the sun destroys the roots
of the plant. The same principles are observed in respect to all
the classes of the flora spread over the earth. Warmth implies
light or sunshine, and where it is wanting none but the lowest
orders, like the lichens and alge, survive. The different climates
also possess their own vegetation, and even in different regions of
the same zone we find plants totally distinct from each other.
Hence circumstances, as well as conditions, must find a place
among the demands of a plant.

For the removal of obstacles the plant has two courses, to dis-
integrate the object opposed to its progress, absorbing it if it be —

104 {Instinct and Reason. [ February,

a suitable nutritive element, as are all animal and vegetable sub-
stances and some minerals ; or pass around it; or still again, as in
extreme cases, to bury it up in its own substance, as are stones,
bayonets, nails and the like.

For its protection, defence and reproduction the plant has at
hand sufficient means, Some of the many devices for these pur-
poses have already been noticed. The manner of plant repro-
duction is familiar to all; the object being in all cases the contact
between pollen and ovary or seed vessel. In this way the
propagation of most plants is effected. In regard to the
flowerless or cryptogamous flora, spores, it will be found, take the
place of seeds proper. Yet for all that, the principle of repro-
duction remains the same in both divisions.

Such, then, are the organs, functions and factors exercised in
the life of a plant. It now remains for us to consider how these
are put into action according to the means at hand, pursuing as
the plant does, many times, a most reasonable course, and acting
in a manner so peculiar as to excite our wonder and admiration.
We must first remember, however, that we have to do with a form
of life whose phenomena have been but little studied, for it was
not till late in the period of the Renaissance that botany became a ©
a separate science, and that plants had a natural classication of
their own.

Plants are susceptible of improvement, which is well shown by
cultivation. Thus flowers take upon themselves a great variety
of forms and colors, and sometimes to so great an extent as
almost to deserve to be classed as new and distinct species. But
yet there is sufficient likeness between them, some characteristics
traceable to the original stock ; or some peculiarities due to
inheritance ; some similitude to the parent to make them belong
to the same species. Darwin considers all the different species,
or varieties of pansy to be derived from one parent, as may be said.
in reference to the pigeon and the dog kind.

Trees often adapt themselves, in a remarkable degree, to the
surrounding circumstances. Thus the feral oak, growing as it
does in the midst of other trees, which oftentimes are densely
crowded together, sends out branches at a more acute angle than
does the meadow or cultivated oak. Much difficulty is experienced
in cultivating the feral variety, so as to give it the grace and

: : 1First Nat. Sys. Bernard de Jussieu, 1759; Figuier Vegetable World.

18709. | Instinct and Reason. 105

beauty of the meadow oak. Other trees, like the walnut and
chestnut, present the same peculiarities.

Plants appear to possess sensibility, and often to a remarkable
extent. If the well-known sensitive plant be touched never so
lightly, if but a breath blow upon it, its flowers and leaves close;
and some time elapses ere it dares to expand them again, as if it
knew the danger threatening it. If only a sister leaf be touched
the rest close as if out of sympathy.

Drugs exert their peculiar influence upon plants as upon the
higher animals. Spirits of ammonia, if applied too strong, will
be fatal; opium puts the plant as effectually to sleep as it does
man ; prussic acid is also destructive ; electricity exerts here its
peculiar and wonderful effect.

In plants, as in animals, we sometimes observe what is termed
“suspended animation.” This phenomenon is well instanced in
the “ resurrection plant,” generally known as the Rose of Jericho.
It is found in Arabia, near the shores of the sea, to all appear-
ances a mass of dry, dead vegetable fibre. But when sufficient
moisture is supplied, it revives, its leaves expand, it is clothed in
new verdure, and as it blossoms unfold, the reanimated plant is.
clothed in all its former beauty. No wonder is it that the Rose
of Jericho should be almost adored by the simple people among
whom it is found?

The Sleep of Plants—When night approaches, flowers close
their petals, and thus at rest, only wake when the sun once more
ushers in the day. DeCandolle, as did Linnzeus before him, made
many experiments with plants in this particular. At night, plants
were exposed to a bright light, and during the day were placed in
a darkened room. After some irregularities, the change of con-
ditions was finally adopted by the plants, and in the lighted room
they would blossom, and close their petals and leaves in the dark-
ened one.

Some plants, however, only flower at night. The beautiful
Yuccas, a species of wild lily, only blossom when the moon is
out. The night blooming cereus only blooms as its name indi-
cates. Hence the time, as well as the season and the climate, etc.,
seem to be elements of importance in the flowering of plants.
These conditions may be slightly varied, as seen above.

1 Vid. “ Wonders of Vegetable World.” Scherl De Vere.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

106 Instinct and Reason. [ February,

The Movements of Plants —Slow motion is obvious in all plants,
as in their growth, and in their tendrils, creepers, etc. But the
most rapid and continuous motion probably possessed by plants,
is exhibited in the Desmodium gyrans, of India. Each leaf of this
plant consists of three parts, two external and small leaflets, and
one central and large leaflet. The external leaflets move up and
down in alternate jerks, at the rate of sixty a minute. The cen-
tral one moves but little. This motion is continued during all
the seasons of the year, and during the whole lifetime of the
plant. Warmth and moisture, however, expedites the motion}

The Offensive Weapons of Plants——The first of these offensive
plants is the familiar Venus’s fly-trap (Dione@a muscipula) which
sets its traps, and woe betide the unwary insect which ventures
near the the hidden toils, allured by its attractive appearances.
The springs are all set, the prison prepared and sure destruction
awaits the victim.

The Darlingtonia californica belongs to the pitcher plant family.
Its appearance has been likened to a cobra in the act of striking.
The beautiful “red wattles” within the brim of its pitcher offer
irresistible attractions to insects, especially to flies. These alight
first upon the “ wattles,” then flying upward strike the pitcher, and
owing to the peculiar twist of its walls fall to the bottom of the
receptacle, where many another thoughtless fly has, too late,
found its sepulchre.?

r. Erasmus Darwin,’ grandfather of the celebrated naturalist
of the same name, about a century ago, advanced many curious
theories respecting the consciousness and volition of plants, in a
work under the title of “The Loves of the Plants.” This book
at the time was much ridiculed. Plants seem to put on their
most gorgeous dyes for the same purposes as the animals; and the
idea of the “loves of the plants,” though seemingly absurd, needs
more investigation ere it be wholly discarded and ridiculed.

Plants not only actually eat and digest animal food, but also
drop the insects they have destroyed, upon the ground, and thus
fertilize the soil.

Dr. Hooker has described several kinds of plants which sub-
sist upon animal food, and are hence termed carnivorous. The

1 Wond. of Veg. S. de Vere.

2 Loc. cit.
3 For what follows, vid. Sci. American Dec. 22, 1874, and July 3, 1875.

1879. |} Instinct and Reason. 107

present Mr. Darwin has investigated the same subject very care-
fully, and found that when a fly was caught by one of these
plants, it would be dissolved in a gastric fluid exactly like that of
the animal stomach. Pieces of beef and the like, when subjected
to the same process, were acted upon in like manner. Hard min-
eral substances, like chalk, would, after a time, be rejected by the
plant, though seized upon at first like the rest, shall we say as
soon as it found out its mistake?!

In this country a lady has enlightened us greatly upon this
subject by her interesting labors upon the bladder wort (Uéricu-
laria neglecta). Mrs. Treat has studied the habits of this plant
very carefully, and learned that it allures animalcules by means
of its bright flowers and leaves glistening with dew. The water
bear and other microscopic forms of insect and vegetable life
seem to be its food.”

Instinct and Reason —On analyzing the various opinions formed
at different times in the world’s history, in regard to the reason- —
ing power, or consciousness of action displayed by plants, we
shall meet with extremists on both sides of the question. Pass-
ing over the mythological accounts of plant metamorphoses, so
attractive to the refined Greek and Latin, we only advert to the
mental faculties with which the ancients were pleased to endow
many plants.

Many in more modern times have lavishly bestowed souls upon
plants, as did Adanson, Bonnet, Hedwig and Edward Smith.
Martius and Fechner, of Germany, defended these views, and
were very liberal in their supply of souls to plants, even regard-
ing them as sentient beings.

Another class, taking the opposite side o the question, among
which may be reckoned Hiiler, regarded plants as only suscepti-
ble to the material influences of the universe. So Descartes
made all animals, so far as he could, mere automatons.

The views of naturalists of our own day are more consistent
with nature and common sense; that all plants obey as infallible
a law as do animals, and are subject to like influences as was
observed above. Bichat in his great work on “ Life and Death,”

1 Huxley found in plants something comparable to a nervous system; Darwin
something comparable to reflex action.

2 New York Trib., Pe 1, 1875; also Darwin’s “ Insect. Plants,” Sir J. Lubbock’s
“ Brit. Wild. Flowers

108 “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia, (February,

admits that plants show a life as active, and a sensibility as great
as do most animals! Any disturbance of the conditions under
which plants thrive are as fatal as the subversion of the relations
upon which the lower animals and man himself depend for
existence.

In the investigation of this part of our subject, we must remem-
ber that we cannot see exhibitions as great as in the more com-
plex forms. Each plant, transitional or not, displays in the strug-
gle for existence and the survival of its kind, a force, an influence
almost as great and wonderful as is exhibited by mankind. And
though standing above all this,as head and chief, man is too often
forgetful of the relation he bears to the innocent weed that is in
the pastures bred; too thoughtless, many times, of the vegetable
on which he depends for his subsistence and being; too ignorant
of the chain which leads from the lowest vegetable form, to the
beauty and perfection of his manhood.—[ To de continued. ]

:0;

TPE DISCOVERY OF “ TURTLE- BACK” CELIS Te
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

BY W. J. HOFFMAN, M.D.

ALtHoucH the rude stone implements forming the subnet a
of this paper were not found under such circumstances as to
assign to them the age that some have suggested, yet the term
“turtle-back ” is retained for the purpose of distinguishing them
from the ordinary modern rude forms, and to illustrate their rela-
tionship to some extent to the older and żypical specimens
described and figured by Dr. Abbott.? Before giving a descrip-

tion of the implements, the locality of their discovery will be ;
_ necessary. The surface thus far examined, covers an area of less

than two acres in extent, and is situated on the left or south bank © 2
of the eastern branch, in Uniontown, D. C., about an eighth of a
mile above the bridge connecting that town with Washington
city. From the branch southward, the surface gradually rises in _
elevation, and the region upon which the chief specimens were

1 Loc. cit. .

2Am. Nat., x, p. 331; Tenth Ann. Rep. Peabody Mus. Am. Archeol. and Ethnol.
II, pt. 1, 1877. pp. 30-43, figs. 1-3; Eleventh Ann, Rep. Mus. Am. Archzol. and
Ethnol. II. pt. 2, 1878, pp. 223-257, figs. 1-4. a

1879.) “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. 109

found is about fifteen feet above low water mark. This sloping
surface consists of fine sand, resting upon a layer of water-worn
pebbles of stratified drift. The latter is a continuation of the

formation known as the “cobble-stone”’ drift, upon which the

eastern portion of the city of Washington is built. At several
localities in that portion of the city, street cuts show exposures
varying from five to forty feet in thickness. The several layers
of worn and rounded boulders, “ cobble-stones,”’ gravel and sand,
retain a perfect uniformity of stratification, showing their original
deposition and arrangement through the action of water. Upon
nearing the Branch we reach the shallow valley worn by that
current, and the upper stratum of drift though much lower than
farther back in the city, is not low enough to reach the level of
that stream even at high tide. Examinations indicate, however,
that the upper stratum on the north side of the stream, and the
stratified gravel at the locality where the implements occur are
the same, their continuity having been destroyed by the body of
water just mentioned.

The rude implements were found about one hundred and fifty
yards from the edge of the water, associated with quite a variety
of more modern manufacture, which, by the way, were, with the
exception of two or three examples, all made either of white,
vitreous, Or nearly transparent quartz. These represent spear-
heads, arrow-heads and scrapers of great variety of sizes ; some

of the latter consisting of split pebbles, nicely finished by chip- _

ping, leaving the convex side to retain nearly all of the original
surface. Many of the arrow-heads have been manufactured in
this way, by cleaving the pebbles and finishing up a few irregu-
larities. The smallest specimens are represented by scrapers,
probably used in smoothing down arrows; these are made of
tabular pieces of semi-transparent quartz, about the size of a five
cent nickel, shaped nearly like a horse-shoe, flat at base, and have
the opposite convexity nicely beveled.

The next class of implements represent manufacture of a ruder
character, and undoubtedly points to greater age; to the earlier
and lower state of the art of working stone for pointing weapons.
These consist of quartz, and rarely chert, being rudely chipped
and flaked, always leaving a greater irregular convexity upon one
side of the specimen than upon the other, forming an intermediate
grade between the modern forms and those tecmied, “ turtle-
backs.”

IIO “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. | February,

The latter is the class to which I desire to call special attention.
These lie scattered along various small ravines formed by the rain,
mingling with pebbles and modern relics ad libitum. They are
all made of characteristic yellowish or grayish-brown quartzite, a
. material used in every instance, which has not been found to
occur ina single individual of the two preceding varities. In
form they are true “ turtle-backs,” if the term is admissible. The
variety of forms thus far discovered are represented by that unde-
finable shape usually termed ce/¢s, and spear-heads.

An examination of a celt gives the following measurements, in
inches: length 4.6, width (greatest) 2.4, thickness 1.85. The
anterior surface, or that side upon which we find the “ turtle-
back ” elevation, rises to 1.38 above fhe average line of the cut-
ting edge; while the posterior or opposite side rises to but .47 of
an inch beyond the same line. The top of the greater elevation
retains part of the natural worn surface of the cobble-stone from
which the specimen was wrought, showing the implement to have
been manufactured near the locality. The cutting edge though
still sharp, is very undulating, owing to the removal of large
flakes during manufacture. Secondary chippings, ending in a
perfectly continuous edge, shows the relic to have been a com-
plete specimen and not a core, as has been suggested upon the
discovery of similar forms. Another reason is, that not a single
arrow-head or other specimen has as yet been found, even upon
the closest examination, although the flakes would serve to fur-
nish materials for arrow-heads, which could measure, when
finished, nearly two inches in length. Considering the nature of
quartzite, such utilized flakes should be found, as no disintegra-
tion or decomposition could obliterate their form so long as the
bodies from which they have been flaked fail to present any
changes upon their surface.

The only spear-head found, thus far, presents the same peculiar
irregularity, but is especially interesting on account of its great
comparative thickness. The specimen is 2.5 inches in length
from the projection on the base to the point, 1.8 of an inch broad,
and 1.2 thick, The cutting edge is sharp, continuous all around, _
and slightly undulating, the latter being the result of flaking. —
Secondary chippings are visible at different points. The anterior
lateral cutting edges converge at an angle of 90°, terminating in
an extremely delicate and acute point. The “turtle-back” eleva-

1879:] “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. III

tion reaches its extreme elevation less than half an inch back of
this, forming an angle of 64° when viewed from either side.
Toward the base the descent is more gradual, where there are
deeper notches than usually occur, the projections on either side
somewhat worn, showing traces of having been used. From all
appearance such an implement, as nearly all of this type, appears
useless in attempting to penetrate the skin of anything more
resisting than that of fishes.

It is very probable that these rude implements were not manu-
factured and employed by the Indians of historic times who
inhabited this region. The question is asked, Why then do these
implements occur with more modern ones upon the surface, or in
washes? The only reason that can be given is, that the rude
forms occupying that portion of the stratum of sand resting upon
the gravel, and those of modern manufacture occupying the sur-
face of the later deposit of earth and sand, were brought together
by the removal of the intervening siliceous matter through the
prolonged and repeated agency of rains. Thus the surface relics
were gradually let down, as it were, as the sand and earth were
washed away. This may appear unsatisfactory, but the suggestion
is based upon the following reasons: first, that the sand being
fine and easily removed by water (through the agency of rains)
falling over this locality and over the bluffs, follows the most
natural course towards the stream, taking with it the light silicious
particles, and washing them away from the pebbles, stones and
implements, allowing them to be deposited in an indiscriminate
mixture in the little water courses and ravines; second, that this
has been the case is apparent from the fact of its occurrence in
several places at this time; also that small embankments and
hillocks occur, consisting of gravel thus deposited or brought
together by the removal of the lighter soil ; and at this day, after
any continued or hard rains, numerous accumulations of pebbles,
amongst which we find implements, are formed by the removal
of earth and sand by the temporary streams.

In this way the surface remains have not been carried away
from the localities upon which they had rested, but, were gradu-
ally dropped to a lower horizon, until after a time they reached
the stratum containing the rude and more ancient varieties.

In this connection I shall speak of several localities in Penn- —
sylvania, one of which occupies a position in the eastern portion

112 “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. [February,

of the city of Reading, and another a short distance below that
city. The rude implements found at these places have been
remarked upon by Mr. A. F. Berlin in a recent number of the
American Antiquarian? The first named locality is the one upon
which Mr. Berlin first noticed the occurrence of rude implements
bearing the typical characteristics of so-called “turtle-backs.” A
few days after this discovery I visited the place, and found
various examples, consisting of “ celts,” spear-heads, arrow-heads
and scrapers. These were found over a small area only, occupy-
ing the top of a small limestone bluff. A small stream known as
Mineral Spring creek passes near the base of this bluff, the inter-
vening soil consisting of loam and débris from the more elevated
regions. Immediately above, and resting upon the stratum of
limestone, is a stratum of sand and pebbles, which has been
washed away along the immediate declivity of the embankment,
exposing the rude relics above referred to as found by Mr. Berlin.
I found that this stratum of sand was covered by earth and gravel
from the neighboring hillside, with which it was continuous,
excepting along the greater declivity where the rain had worn
away the super-stratum, exposing the sub-stratum of sand and
rounded and worn pebbles, which occurred in accumulations
where they had been washed into the ravines. Modern types
were also found here associated with the rude implements, but
the latter were not found on the upper stratum, even where the
ploughing of long continued cultivation and local denudation has
removed considerable soil ; but farther down the modern forms
have been washed down and lowered by the removal of sand and
earth to reach the more ancient stratum containing the “ turtle-
. backs.”

This stratum of sand and gravel, or, more properly speaking,
pebbles, continues eastward horizontally, as was proven by: the
digging of a well. Nearer the hill, where this excavation was
made, the workmen reached a layer of stratified sand, pebbles
and cobble-stones at a depth of about forty feet. Upon examina-
tion this proved to be the level (if run horizontally towards the
bluff) of the one containing the implements. Since then this
stratum has been detected along the valley a short distance,
proving it to be the same, the great amount of débris and soil
from the mountain side being accounted for where the well was

1 Vol. i, No. 1, 1878, pp. 10-12, pl. facing p. 16,

1879.) “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. 113

dug, because that lies nearer the slope which rises at an angle of
about 16°. This fluviatile drift, as it seems to be, formed the bed
of an ancient body of water; but whether the implements found
date to that period or a little later, it is impossible to decide.
Were it possible to continue the search by digging at various
places and depths to ascertain if the implements occur elsewhere
than at the bluff, more might be learned, though it is very im-
probable, as will be shown farther on.

Dr. F. M. Endlich informs me of the occurrence of ancient
shore lines on the eastern declivity of the neighboring hills, which
may mark the surface of the same stratum occurring on the
western side, as the continuation may be traced interruptedly
around the hills, following the course of the Schuylkill river.
The implements found at the last named locality present no
appreciable difference from those occurring at Uniontown. Their
conformation, mineralogical composition, typical workmanship
and even the color of the materials correspond in all respects.
Forms from Reading are figured in the American Antiquarian‘
by Mr. Berlin. Some in my possession are identical in form, but
several are more typical of that class found in the drift at Trenton
by Dr. Abbott, and the illustration? given by him represents one
celt perfectly. This striking similarity is certainly remarkable ;
and considering the persistence with which the New Jersey celts
are reproduced at Reading and at Uniontown, there appears to be
greater relationship between the manufactures of the three varie-
ties than has been accredited, or that we may be able to account
for. One, and it may be be considered the strongest objection to
this suggestion, is, the difference in altitude above the tide water
between the several localities. Another is in regard to the geo-
logical positions of the implements.

In another locality, one mile south-west of Reading, on the
right bank of the Schuylkill river, numerous specimens of these
similar rude implements have been obtained. They likewise con-
sist of the same species of quartzite, and are typical “ turtle-
backs.” This locality covers about two or three acres in extent,
sloping very prominently towards the river. The soil is sandy,
and differs in this respect from that lying immediately around it,
has been under cultivation for the last sixty or seventy years, and

1 Vol i, No. I, pl, facing p. 16, figs. 1-3.

2 Tenth Ann. Rep. Peabody Mus., i, 1877, p. 33, fig. 1, a-b.

8

VOL. XIII,--NO, II,

~-€arth and débris may have required but a short time for deposi-
aiia Beyond this elevation the valley was, at some >

114 “ Turtle-Back” Celts in District of Columbia. [ February,

through the repeated plowing, harrowing and the effects of rain,
much of the original super-stratum have been removed, exposing
the older layer of stratified sand and river gravel. With the lat-
ter we find more of the rude implements, which consist of celts,
spear-heads, arrow-heads and scrapers.

In all of the localities referred to, a aa variety of cuar
has been employed, which was found to exist in the “ cobble-
stone’ drift in the District of Columbia. At Reading we do not

. find it, nor within forty miles of that city, to my knowledge. In

each of these regions, the specimens partake of a character of
workmanship that is rude and primitive in the extreme, and just
such implements as might reasonably be supposed to be required
by a rude and primitive people.

Assuming that such a race preceded the Indians—of which
there is scarcely any doubt—several important points present —
themselves which are difficult of solution, viz: Fzrsz¢, the length
of time that elapsed between the disappearance of one race and
the appearance of their successors ; second, at what approximate
period the manufacturers of the rude implements occupied these —
regions; and ird, whether the colony occupying the region
about the Eastern Branch, was of immediate tribal connection of

_those whose remains survive at Reading ?

In answer to the first point, nothing can be definitely known,
though it would appear from slight geological evidence, that con-
siderable time had elapsed. Various traditions have been handed :
down to us regarding a race corresponding to the Eskimo, which,
if accepted, would allow scarcely any time for the soil to’ have
been without occupants ; for that race was, according to said tra-
dition, driven northward by the encroachments of the Indians.

Regarding the second point, the locality in the eastern portion
of Reading furnishes the greatest antiquity. Here the original
stratum, in one section of which implements have been found in
such a condition and under circumstances to lead us to infer that |

they had been buried there by the gradual accumulation of detri-

tus from the mountains ; but whether any specimens occur in the _
stratum of drift, at any distance under this upper accumulation, is
not known. The excavation, showing the drift stratum at forty 1
feet below the surface, is nearer the mountain, and the mass o 4

1879. ] Recent Literature. 115

remote time, submerged, but has become narrowed down through
the same agency from different directions. Being guided by the
manner in which the implements were found, and other meagre
evidence, one would suppose them to date back to the lacustrine
period, but in this we find difficulties which can be explained in
answer to the third point.

The difference in elevation between this locality and that on the
banks of the Schuylkill river (as well as that on the Eastern
Branch) is too great for them to have been occupied simulta-
neously, unless we throw out the suggestion of a lacustrine
period. Acting upon this, the matter becomes more comprehen-
sible, from which may be deduced the following propositions, viz :

Ist. That the three localities were occupied by a similar people,
at or nearly at the same time.

2d. That these people lived chiefly upon fish, as is inferred from
the implements which, under ordinary circumstances, would be
worthless in the chase.

3d. That these typical forms of rude workmanship, indicate
greater antiquity than we find represented in the rudest forms of
Indians who subsequently occupied the same localities. And—

4th. That the position of some of the implements in the strati-
fied drift, and their relation in this respect to the location of
modern relics, indicates an indefinite lapse of time from the dis-
-appearance of this primitive race to the appearance of the Indians

proper, whose rudest forms of workmanship are found near or
upon the surface.
ʻO:

RECENT LITERATURE.

- BRenmMs’s ANIMAL Lire.\—The volumes that have been pre-
viously noticed of the series, have related to the vertebrate animals,
which are naturally in.a work a a thorougly popular character such
as this, treated ofat much grea e
present volume has been an by Prof. Oscar Schmidt, of the
University of Strasburg, who is distinguished for his knowledge
of the structure and mode of development of the lower animals.

This volume begins with the Crustacea, and descends through

1 Brehm’s Thierleben. Allegemeine ee des Thierreichs, Grosse Ausgabe.
Zweite umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage, Vierte Abbeitongs Wirbellose ee
Zweite Band. Die Niederen Thiere. Vou Dr. Oscar ScHMipT, Krebse, Wiirm
Weichthiere, Stachelhauter, polypenartige Thiere, Urthiere. Mit 366 ‘Abbiidanges:
im Text und 16 ge on JOHANNA SCHMIDT, EMIL SCHMIDT und seer
KRETSCHMER. Leipzig, Vei des Bibliographischen 7 See ye ¥ Parts.
40 cents a part, for sale by B. Westermann s Co., New 3 :

116 Recent Literature. [ February,

the worms to the Mollusca, the Echinoderms and the Ccelenter-
ates to the Protozoa. While we cannot agree with the learned
author in some of. his views

classification, the reader may be sure
that the volume is a careful and reli-
able presentation of the more inter-
esting facts regarding these creatures,
and which ‘Should be the property

a Cc
Fic, 1. == sacentae erally educated,
carcini. “Natura who is not con-
versant with i a theories as
to the origin of the different forms
of life ; and as there are several ave-
nues which lead upto the Vertebrates
from the lower animals, no wonder
that a knowledge of the lower ani- Fig —Peltogaster curvatus ;
mals, especially the groups described neath is “the larva or nauplius of Pe
and figured in this volume, is quite ‘henopea, magnified =
requisite. It should be said, however, that the ndati of
vertebrate characters discoverable in the Ascidians, the Worms
and the Molluscs, are recondite, and only appreciable after care-

Fic. 3.—Lima flying through the water by opening and shutting its valves.

ful embryological and anatomical studies. This subject is only
incidentally referred to by Prof. Schmidt, and perhaps the intro-
duction of too many anatomical cuts and schematic drawings
would be considered as out of place in such a work as this.

1879. | Recent Literature. 117
As it stands, the vol-
ree

the book will be a store-
house of admirable stu-
dies from nature of the
leading types of animal
life.

FIG. 5. i petan caput-medusæe. One- half ı aiani size. Á pe Dose of
the same seen from above with the arms cut off. Nat

118 Recent Literature. [ February,

nificent aquarium of that institution, which has proved such a
benefaction and stimulus to working naturalists in Europe. The

—High Island with a barrier and fringing reef.
Fic. 7.—Coral Tsland or Atoll.

Fic. 6

author has also been aided by Dr. Simroth, well known for his
anatomical studies on the invertebrates, especially the Echin-
oderms.

.

ction thr a coral reef,

G. 8.—Se

1879. | Recent Literature, IIQ

= Asan example of the mode of treatment of his subject we
may refer to the account of the Hydroid polyps and coral polyps.

—Schematic section through an island, indicating the different steps in the
forniad of an atoll.

Fic. 10——Colony of Hydractinia echinata on a Buccinum shell inhabited by a
hermit crab. Natural si

The Hydractinia, jelly fishes and other forms that lead up to the
Anthozoa or genuine polyps, are discussed, and the latter are fully
described, and their mode of development as originally worked
out by Lacaze-Duthiers and Haeckel, as well as the that of Hai-
cyonoid polyps and sea-pens. A lengthy chapter is devoted to
the rooe of coral reefs and coral islands, based on the researches:
of Darwin, Dana, Ehrenberg and other naturalists. The accom-
panying ker bruteca will convey an idea of the mode of pictorial
treatment.

Of the full-page illustrations those of the Octopus or Kraken,
the paper Nautilus, the group of Holothurians, are especially
noteworthy. In conclusion we can only praise in the highest
terms this great work, the preparation of which has been entrusted

120 Recent Literature. [ February,

to some of the best men in Germany, who combine with a thorough

+

t

s A

Fig. 11.—Group of a female colony of Hydractinia echinata Enlarged.

special knowledge, the art of setting forth in an interesting and at-
tractive way the “history of animal ‘life.

TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL
AND GEOGRAPHICAL SuRVEY, F. V. HAYDEN IN CHARGE. 1_This
1 Tenth Annual Report of the United etnies Geological and Geogr aphical ait vey sd
aee Territories, embracing Colorado and parts of adjacent Territories. Bei
rt of progress of the Exploration for the ete 1876. By F. V. HA roa; U-
G raa Washington, 1878. 8vo, pp. 546, with many maps ¢ and plates.

1879. } Recent Literature. r%

volume is a worthy member of the large series of annual reports

of this survey, and is quite as important and rather more fully
illustrated than any of its predecessors. The field work reported
upon embraced the completion of the EE ANa known as the
Survey of Fees and portions of adjacent. Territories, and
was finished in :

The first ae relating to geology, contains a ee of Dr. fe
White on a portion of North-western Colora of: F.
Endlich, Geologist of the White River division, of Dr, A. C
Peale, Geologist of the Grand River district, and of W. H.
Holmes on the geology of the Sierra Abajo and West San Miguel
mountains. These reports are followed by an elaborate essay by

r. Endlich on the volcanic rocks of Colorado

The second part, topography, embraces reports by A. D. Wil-
son on the primary triangulation of Colorado; by Henry Gannett
on the arable and pasture lands of Colorado; by G. B. Chitten-
den on the mE pee district, and by G. R. Bechler on the

ampa River district.

The third part, archaeology and ethnology, is rich: j in new facts
regarding ancient ruins of South-western Colorado, contributed
by Mr. W. M. Holmes and Mr. W. H. Jackson. This portion is
illustrated by a large number of plates, and is accompanied by
essays on the Chaco cranium, and on the Indians of Nevada,
California and Arizona, by Dr. W. J. Hoffman.

Part four, palæontology and zoölogy contains an essay by Mr.
Lesquereux pz the fossil plants secured by the Survey in 1877,
and a report by A. S. Packard, Jr., on the insects affecting the
cranberry, &c. Y The maps are in some mrn colored, and add
greatly to the interest and value of the report

Fifty of the plates illustrate the remarkable cliff dwellers
in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. A very inter-

as well as the scientific reader. Unfortunately, Congress has only
ordered the printing of 4,500 copies, and the demand far exceeds
the supply.

This Survey has done so much, by its publications, to spread
the knowledge both at home and abroad of the remarkable coun-
try constituting its field of labor, that every annual report finds
an increasing number of readers, and it is not surprising, there-
fore, to meet with expressions of regret at the want of liberality
on the part of Congress in printing too small editions, expressed
in our own and foreign scientific journals.

OSELEY’s STRUCTURE OF THE STYLASTERID&.'—It will be
remembered that Mr. Moseley substantially set at rest all doubts
1 The Croonian Lecture, o the Structure of the Solod | a a PEA of the

Hydroid Stony Corals. By H. N. MoseLey, F.R.S. (From the Philosophical
os of the Royal Society. Part i, 1878.) London. sA ra 78, 11 plates.

; a rom the

122 Recent Literature. _[February,

as to the hydroid nature of Millepora, first suggested by Agassiz
and endorsed by Verrill. The present admirable and masterly
study certainly proves, beyond doubt, the hydroid nature of the
family of beautiful coral-like structures, called from the name of
the typical genus (Stylaster) Siylasteride.

Most of the specimens studied by Mr. Moseley were obtained
at a single haul of the dredge aboard the Challenger, at a depth of
600 fathoms, off the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, in 1876, It
was the examination of this set of specimens which first convinced
him that the Sty/asteride were Hydroids and not Anthozoans.
The hard and soft parts are described and very fully and beau-
tifully Hoke the drawings being large and thoroughly
intelligible

As in most all Hydroids, the sexes are on different stocks which
have a tendency to grow ina flabellate form with alternate germi-
nation. The family is placed with the Milleporidæ in a separate
sub-order named by Mosely, Hydrocoraline. This sub-order, its
families and genera, are described in full, and an essay is given on
the pedigree of the Hydrocoralline. The author suggests the
former existence of a hypothetical Archistylaster, and regards
Sporadopora as “ the most ancestral Stylasterid at present known.”
The essay closes with a short chapter on the distribution in space
and time of the S¢ty/asteride.

T BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—Report upon the. Reptiles and lees,
colleeied SA the yoan of 1875, 1876 and eae in Teda s eee and Nev
a r. H. C. Yarrow and H. W. Henshaw. Washington 8. meei pp. 2
marine Fishes Soes on the coast of California, a near Santa Hakan] in
a with notes H. C. Yarrow and H. .W. Henshaw. Washington,
1878. 8vo, :

On the ES abled SF eae being a contribution ss the o of th
Exo-skeleton in “ Reptili By Prof. Owen, , F.R.S., etc. (Reprinted frei
the Journal of the Royal Siieroscopical Socie PA Tada: 1878. 8vo, pp. 4.

Preliminary Report of the field work of the U.S. ee ie ge and ngs d
Survey of the Territories for the season of 1878. By F. V. Hayden. Append
oe reprints of early papers by the = from the Aineti Journal of Sci.

ence and Arts. Washington, D.C. 8vo,

i Nauman in the Madila Islands. By Chale B. Cary. (Illustrated.) 8vo,
cloth, pp. 93. Boston, 1878. From the a ‘

Proceedings of the inode of Natural pees of Philadelphia, 1878. 8vo, pp.
329-376. From the Society

The American TER ay Science and Arts, No. 97, Vol. xvii, Jan. 1879. 8vo,

& E

pp. 1-92, pls. iii-x. New Hav sue D. & E. S. Dana, 1879.
The Fossil Insects Bs the Green River Shales. By = ges H. Scudder, Cam-
bridge, Mass. iy m the Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and Geograph. Survey,

No. ayden, U. S. oe in- Ton 8vo, pp. 747-776.
Washington, Dée, I, ee From the author
Hand-book of Alabama; a complete pave to the State, with a geological map
and an cia es of useful tables. By Saffold Berney, attorney at law, Mobile, Ala.
Svo 338. Mobile, 1878. Fro the author. a
p b: the- Honing of one By Eugene A. Smith, Ph.D., State geolo-
te om Berney’s Hand-book.) 8vo, pp. 68, with map. Mobile, fae

1870. | Botany. 123

On the ee of Nevada. By W. J. Hoffman, M.D. (Extr. from the Bulle-
tin of the S. Geol |. and Geograph. Surveys, Vol. 4, No. 3.) Washington, July 29,
1878.

A anode tired Place and Use in Education. By T. Nelson Dale, Jr.,
author of “ A study of the gry ru of the Val di Ledro. 8vo, pp. 23. Pough-
keepsie, N. Y., 1878.

Kupferoxyd- Aamoviak p i mittel. Von Sered Loew. (Separat-Ab-
druck aus dem qom rn. f. Prakt. Chemie, 12mo, pp. 298-302. Leipzig, 1878.)
From the author

Ueber O bis des Eiweisses durch den Sauerstoff der Luft. Von Dr. O. Loew
ia at- Abdruck aus der Zeitschrift f. Biologie.) 8vo, pp. 294-296, 1878. From the
author.

The Natural Sciences in Common Schools. By Prof. Jacob Ennis. (Repr. from
the Journal of the Franklin Institute, July, 1877.) 8vo, pp. Ja From the author.

On some Dark Shale recently bee vered below the Devonian Limesiones, at In-
Ee dence, lowa; with a notice of its Fossils and Description nof New Spe sie es

. Calvin, Prof. of Geolo ay Suite University of Iowa. (Ext. from Bulletin
Geol and Geograph. Survey, Vol. iv, No. 3.) 8vo, pp. 725-730. a Tub
29, 1878. From the a

Studien über fossile S oora Dritte Abtheilung ; Eara Tetractinel-
lidæ gey se A ngia Ned rl Alfred Zittel. (Aus den Abhandl. der K. a

Akad Wissenschaften i ii, ch xiii, Bd. ii, Abth.) 4to, pp. 48, pls. xi, xii. Mün
chen, vee Fron m the au

Views of the War EE onune the Public Surv eys_of the Tona of

the United Sites a aap NN3 of the Annual Report of the Chief of En-
gineers for 1878. 8vo . 1661-1666. Washington, 1878. From the. Dian
ment.

A Monograph of the Silurian Fia of the TA ap in Ayrshire, with spe-
re Te fe those containe “Gray Collection.” By H. Alle fev ae

i sgh and Robt. Etheridge Tak. "s EG. S. Fascic ulus i. (Rhiz
Hano, Tri obita. ) 8vo, pp. 135, pls. i-ix. Mies Blackwood & Sons, P Ea and
London, MDCCCLXX XVIIE From the au

Discoveries se the United States Fish sae Notices of fifty species of east-
coast fishes, many of which are new a the fauna. By G. Brown Goode and Tarle-
ton H. Bean. (Repr. from Am gon n. of Science and Arts, Vol. xvii, Jan., 1879.)
8vo, pp. 39-48. From the aut!

- Description of a new family inà genus of Lower Silurian Crustacea. By A
BaT eee i — if the —— Society of Nat. History, Jan., ei )
8vo

pgs os a nh yore American Flora. A Lecture. By Sir Joseph oust
ton s Hooker , K.C.S.I., Pres. R. S. Delivered on April 12, 1878, before the m
bers of the Royal Institution of e ere (Repr. from the Gardener’s Cinai-
cle, Aug., psi 8vo, pp. 8. From the author.

t sh ia a m of the obit m of human life, here and hereafter.
Cosio: a review uxley and Haeckel. By Wilford. 8vo, pp. 522
Hall & Co Publishers, 234 | came: New York, 1878. Fiom the author.

oo
GENERAL NOTES.
A TREE AS A FRATRICIDE AND CANNIBAL.—On the bank of the
West Nishnabatona river, near Tabor, Iowa, there stands a large a
sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. About ten feet from it is me
decayed stump of another of the same species, The diameter of
each is about three feet. 2

124 General Notes. [ February,

Last season, during a freshet, the river ran over its bank past
them, uncovering their roots on one side. In this way six differ-
ent places were shown where large roots from the living tree ha
become grafted to those of the dead one. For convenience we
will designate the dead tree as A, and the living one as
in one case the roots of B appear to have met the root of A
squarely and followed it, investing it; in other cases the roots
from each had crossed each other and grown to a considerable
size before uniting. In every case, however, but one root lived
beyond the union, and that one belonged to A. In most cases,
also, while both lived above the union, that from B was much the
larger. In one case that from A had died, leaving the remain-
ing living root joined to B with a curious acute angle in it. One
instance was seen of the hoe of two roots from B to each
other, in a similar way. oung ash was growing between A
and B. It is needless to say that its roots showed no tendency
to unite with those around them. Doubtless many similar
junctions remained unrevealed. The stump of A was so rotten
that it could be easily crumbled with the fingers. Its roots, as
before stated, were living some distance above their union with
those of B, and doubtless have traitorously carried the nourish-
ment which they helped store in A in its prosperous days, aae
the root sent out from B, by reversing their action.
say, therefore, that B has first starved A to ore then by gait
its own roots as feeders has been devourin

This glimpse = the hidden life of rie suggests several
lusse inference

1. All trees of thé same species, in a grove together, may
become organically connected. Perhaps this may be turned to
their mutual advantage when contending with other kinds.

2. Weaker members of a grove may be killed, not simply by
lack of sunshine, air, etc., but they may be literally bled to death
by their more powerful neighbors.

. It is seen how the growth formed by a failure or unsuccess-
ful individual is utilized directly in the economy of nature, just as
when in the animal world the large fish live on the little ones.—

. £. Todd. }

On tHE Nectar oF FLtowrers—Mr. Wilson read a paper
on this subject before the British Association, which may interest
American botanists. He discussed the extent to which the vis-
iting of plants by insects in search of sugar occurs in nature, since -
this action is believed by some biologists to have been the cause _
that determined the existence, forms, colors, and odors of flowers.
The number of flowers required to yield a pound of honey—viz:
two and a half millions—was mentioned as showing what an

enormous number of visits an insect collecting honey must make
in order to obtain an appreciable quantity, and as proving that the
industry of the bee is in reality. necessary to its very existence.

1879. } Zoology. 125

BoranicaL News.—Botanists will be interested in the portion
of Sir J. D. Hooker’s recent anniversary address as president of
the Royal Society of London, which appears in Mature for Dec.
5th. He reviews Comte Gaston de Saporta’s essay entitled
L’Ancienne Végétation Polaire, in which the author takes the
ground that life first appeared in the northern circumpolar area of
the globe, and that this was the birthplace of the first and of all
subsequent floras ; the initial conditions of terrestrial life follow-
ing upon the emergence of the earlier stratified rocks from the
Polar ocean. .

Among recent botanical works are Heer’s History of Vegeta-
tion in Switzerland, and Christ's Das Pflanzenleben in der
Schw

The foathaoning eleventh report of the U. S. Geological and
Geographical Survey of the Territories, in charge of Prof. H
_ den, will contain the reports of Sir J. D. Hooker and Prof. Asa
Gray on the results of their botanical explorations in the western
Territories in connection with this survey

Trimen’s Fournal of Botany for December contains an article
on the pro-embryo of Cae: an essay in morphology, by S. H.

Vines.

In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for November,
Dr. Asa Gray records two remarkable forms of Trillium. Mr.
C. G. Pringle notices some north-eastern plants; and the discov-
ery of a truffle new to the North American flora, by Mr. W. R.
Gerard, is recorded.

A Catalogue of North American Ferns (north of Mexico) in
the Davenport Herbarium of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society is to be issued by Mr. George E. Davenport, 8 Hamilton
Place, Boston, Mass., provided that he can obtain a sufficient
number of subscribers to meet the expense. The price will not
exceed fifty ce

In the Ea Gasette for December, Dr. George Vasey adds
to and corrects the catalogue of the forest trees of the United
States. Mr. Thomas Meehan writes concerning Cassia nicticans.
J. R. Lowrie gives a list of the trees and plants inhabiting a
plantation which has been protected, for a series of years, both
from the inroads of cattle and the labor of farmers

ZOOLOGY. ?

TuE BREEDING HABITS oF THE EEL—A cCORRECTION.—Farther
examinations of additional specimens of the eel, convince me that
an error as to the sex of the eel was made in my article in the
January NATURALIST. The motile bodies whose active move-
ments misled me were not «kien but yolk particles, with
an unusually marked Brownian motion he male sex has yet

iThe wrens of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. Erorr
Coves, U

126 General Notes. [ February,

to be discovered. It should be said that the subject is one pre-
senting great difficulties, as formerly stated by Burnett. The
spermatic particles of the perch and smelt, are apti eTa SA mi-
nute, about tybvy inch in diameter, and in t we have thus far
found it impossible to detect the “tails” se a ys inch objective.
have been informed by John Sears, of Danvers, Mass., that
he found young eels, somewhat less than an inch in length, with
the yolk-sac still attached, at the mouth of a shallow brook run- |
ning into salt water at Danvers. This was during the month of
March; the season was earlier than usual, the ice having broken
up in February. This would indicate that the parent eel must
have spawned in December. As Mr. Sears is an observing field
naturalist, and has noticed the breeding habits of other fish, we
suppose him to be correct in the identification of the young eel.
We would inquire whether any one else has ever observed eels
so young and small as these, and with the yolk-sac still attached.
Mr. Sears informs us, that at Danvers the trout begins to spawn
in January, beginning then to make the shallow holes in gravelly
places. He has noticed perch spawning in midwinter, in ponds
in shallow water, their movements being observed through the
ice; at this time the fins become red on the edges. On the other
hand, the bream spawns in spring and summer. The horned
pout, he says, breeds in holes in the gravel in midsummer.—A.
S. Packard, Fr.
A Cark Ineasiring Ant.—The empty dwellings of many ani-
mals furnish suitable abodes for others. The abandoned shell

and wasps as a fitting place in which to ‘build their cells; two 4
species have been found in New England to choose the concave A
vault of the oak-apple for the same purpose. a
I can now record two instances in which galls have been chosen
by an ant, Stexamma gallarum n. sp., as the home of the colony.
The first colony observed was in a gall of Gelechia galle-solidaginis
Riley, upon a dead but unbroken stalk of golden-rod. From _
pupz found in this gall on the 31st of May, and placed in a vial .
under the care of a few workers, there matured three females, one _ :
upon each of the following days: June 20th and 23d, and July a
ay The second colony was found while upon an excursion with _ |
. Mitsikuri, ot the 22d of May, 1878, in a fallen gall of
Ces spongifica O.S. It was more populous than the other |
colony, and re the central cell, as well as the space between _
the kernel and the shell of the gall. Except the queen, who was
without wings, the — consisted of workers and oes
only.!+— W. H. Patton
1 Stenamma gallarum n. sp. j
Femaie.—Yellowish; head scutellum and petiole above, and incisures of thorax
darker; ae) and spot at insertion of wings, black; the segments of the abdomen
_ with dark-brown home: the border on the first segment broad. Length, 3mm. _
ee specimens become darker colored, TE pinned Ọ present the following

1879.] Zoölogy. 127

A Hummer’s MeaL.—Mr. A. R. Wallace, in a recent number
of the Fortnightly Review, says, concerning the tongues of hum-
mers: “ This tubular and retractile tongue enables the bird to
suck up honey from the nectaries of flowers, and also to capture
small insects; but whether the latter pass down the tubes, or are
entangled in the fibrous tips and thus drawn back into the gullet,
is not know

Mr. Wallace’ s remark led to some investigations during the past
summer, the results of which do not entirely agree with his state-
ment. Two hummers were attracted to the house by a saucer of
syrup placed on the window-sill. Each day they would come and
satisfy their hunger. In each instance they would alight on the
edge of the saucer, and lap up the syrup as a dog would lap
water. The question as to whether insects “pass down the tubes or
are entangled in the fibrous tips and are thus drawn back into the
gullet,” was also solved. Insects too large to pass through these
tubes being placed in their way, the birds were observed to take
them as readily as smaller ones. The insects were evidently
secured by adhesion to the saliva of the tongue-tips, and thence
drawn into the gullet. In my opinion, these tubes of the tongue
connect with the lungs rather than with the abdomen. These ex-
periments were abruptly terminated, one day, by the approach of
a third hummer, a male, who drove the others from the window,
and in a fit of rage darted at one of the pair, thrust its bill well
through its body, and both fell dead on the ground.— IW. H. Bal-
lou, Evanston, Ill,

RECENT Papers ON CrusTACcEA.—From Mr. W. N. Lockington’
we have two papers on Crustacea—“ Remarks on the Thalassinidea
_and Astacidea of the Pacific Coast of North America” (Annals
and Magazine of Nat. Hist., Oct., 1878), and “On the Porcellan-
idea of the West Coast of North America * (eid., Nov., 1878).
In the first paper eight Thalassinidea and nine Astacidea are
enumerated. One new species (Gebta rugosa) is described;
Callianidea ce is added to our fauna “ue was described by Milne

Aana, Antenne II gemei joints 3-7 very short, the 8th pm a little TO

joints 8-10 with a brown annulus. Head, thoi A and nodes of the petiole striate, _
metathorax with two stout yap a first node o the petiole ‘with a short cariniform
tooth at base sec see second n with y aes very short, “poets teeth in the median

line beneath. Body lothed with thinly scattered, erect h airs ; wings white, SA

nig s . 3
brown spots above, which sometimes unite to form a broad band; the spines on meta-
thorax more aeren! oa in the 9. The second node of the petiole without teeth
beneat

The worker dirs f “Freeh the European S. westwoodti in having no spine beneath
the a rian of t nh org .. = the species is vores distingushed by its color.

Conne —TInhabitin ls of Gelechia galle-solidaginis me and oe
Si, sihen ni S, and rene the Moe of Violet and Speen ers

128 General Notes. [ February,

Edwards from New Ireland). In regard to the Genus Panulirus,
we would say that three of the four species mentioned (guttatus,
gracilis and americanus) are East Coast species, and that there is
no authority whatever for reporting them from the West Coast.
The second paper gives an analytical key and notes upon 16
species of Porcellanidea from the West Coast, nine of which are

believed to be new. aaa armatus (Gibbes) Stm. is also

credited to the West Coa
In “ Notes on Cladocera,’ by E.A. Birge (Nov., 1878), we have
almost the first systematic contribution to a knowledge of the
American forms of this group of Crustacea. Thirty-six species
are enumerated, of which twenty, and one variety, are new.
new genus ( Crepidocerus) of the family Lyuceide is also pro-
sed.— F. S. Kingsley.

THE NEBALIAD CRUSTACEA AS Types OF A NEw OrpER.—The
Nebaliade, represented by the existing genus Vedalia, have gener-
ally been considered to form a family of Phyllopod Crustacea.
Metschnikoff, who studied the embryology of Nebalia, considered
it to be a “ Phyllopodiform Decapod.” Besides the resemblance
to the Decapods, there is also a combination of Copepod and
Phyllopod characteristics. The type is an instance of a general-
ized one, and is of high antiquity, having been ushered in during
the earliest Silurian Period, when there were, when we regard the
relative size of most Crustacea, and especially of living ebate,
gigantic forms. Such was Dithyrocaris, which must have been
over a foot long, the carapace being seven inches long. The
modern Weéala is small, about half an inch in length, with the
body compressed, the carapace bivalved as in Limnadia, one
of the genuine Phyllopods. There is a large rostrum overhang-
ing the head; stalked eyes ; and, besides two pairs of antennz
and mouth-parts, eight pairs of leaf-like, short, respiratory feet,
which are succeeded by swimming feet. There is no metamor-
phosis, development being direct.

Of the fossil forms, Hymenocaris was regarded by Salter as
“the more generalized type.” The genera Peltocaris and Dzscino-
caris characterize the Lower Silurian Period, Ceratiocaris the
Upper, Dictyocaris the Upper Silurian and the lowest Pe
strata, Dithyrocaris and Argus the Carboniferous Period.
existing north-eastern species is Webalia bipes cheese which
occurs from Maine to Greenlan

The Nebaliads were the forerunners of the Decapoda, aad form,
we believe, the type of a distinct order of Crustacea, for which
the name Phyllocarida is proposed.—A. S. Packard, Fr.

CAMPTOLÆMUS LABRADORIUS.—The first specimen of Camptole-
mus labradorius (pied duck) known to occur in this locality was
taken Dec. 12, 1878. It is interesting, as it adds one more species

to the list of birds of Chemung county, N. Y., and assists in clear-

18709. | Anthropology. 129

ing up the geogr aphical distribution of species. C. /abradorius is
rare everywhere, and its occurrence so far south in the ‘interior
gives special interest to the subject —W. H. Gregg, M. D., Elmira,
Dec. 14, 1878.

ANTHROPOLOGY. !

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—Mr. W. H. Pratt sends us a bro-
chure from the forthcoming part of the Proceedings of the Daven-
port (lowa) Academy of Natural Sciences, pp. 156-162, upon the
shell-beds in the vicinity of Davenport. They are not regarded
as artificial, but were pushed up the bank of the river by moving
ice at its breaking up in the s

In the Fournal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History,
Dr. Charles L. Metz describes the pre-historic monuments of the
Little Miami valley, embracing all of Columbia and portions of
Anderson and Spencer townships. The paper is illustrated by a
map in which the remains are indicated by means of the symbols
in the Smithsonian circular. As this is the first attempt to use
these signs in print in our country, Dr. Metz is to be congratu-
lated on his success, and it is hoped that he will not let his labors
cease at this

Stephen Basta of Vidalia, Cal., commences, in the fron Age
of that place, a ‘series of letters on the “E arly History ‘of

pity that some of the best aboriginal material ever collected in
our country has been lost by publication only in the daily papers ;
notably the letters of Mr. Taylor, of Mr. Barton’s own State.

In the Princeton Review of November, Prof. John LeConte dis-
cusses man’s place in nature. We have seen a notice of a work
of 304 pages, by John H. Blake, printed at the Salem press,
describing a collection from the Ancient Cemetery at the bay of
Chacota, Peru. As we have not seen the work, it is impossible to
speak of its merits. The same is true of other anthropological
publications; it is hoped that those who wish their works on
anthropology noticed in these columns will send a copy to the
editor of this department.

In the Contemporory Review for November, Mr. F. Lenormant,
the distinguished Assyriologist has an article on “ Books and
ae sg bearing upon figured representations of antiquity.”

orgeschichte des nordens nach gleichzeitigen Denkma-
lani is the title of a paper in No 43 of Das Ausland. In No. 41
of the same journal, is a discussion of the moral relationship
eae: men and anim
D. Kaltbrunner Yas published at Zurich a work entitled,
r idi du Voyageur.” (Wurster & Co.) Three hundred pages

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. MASON, ae scum College, Wahina D. C..

VOL. XN. —nNo. n. 9
Ki m

130 Gencral Notes. [ February,

are devoted to anthropology. The work is reviewed in the
Atheneum for November

In Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien,
Dr. Moriz Benedikt makes some communications on onan
This subject is becoming of great importance, inasmu uch a
great deal of the work done is vitiated by the muleiplici of
methods employed.

The most important communication which has come to us in
the last month, is the paper of Prof. Paul Mantegazza, in No. 2 of
Archivio, F lorence, upon the third molar. The conclusions stated
below are based ‘upon oe sae of 277 crania, and their
eee occupies 175 p

. In the lower races the third molar is lacking less frequently
than in the higher races, in the proportion of 19.86 per cent. of
the former to 42.42 per cent. in the second.

2. The atrophy of the third molar is indeed less frequent in

the higher than in the lower, the proportion being 10.90 per cent.
of the former to 20.58 of the latter.

3. Ectopia is also a fact observable in all skulls of whatever
race, 2.01 per cent. for the higher and 1.80 per cent. for the
lower.

4. The same may be said of premature disappearance, 7.22 for —

i lower races, 7.58 for the higher.

5. Summing up all the cases of pisi ge including those
in which there is an absence of the toot nd that in the
lower races there is about an equal number of ahoni and nor-
mal, 50.54 normal, 49.46 abnormal; while in the higher races the
abnormality i is the rule and the normality the exception, 37.09
normal, 62.91 abnormal.

The ancient skulls, as regards the deficiency of the third
molar, stand between the lower and higher of modern races. The
absence amounts to 27.34 in the hundred, and atrophy to 16.41.
On the other hand the premature disappearance i is less frequent
than in the modern skulls.

7. As to the number of roots in the third molar, there is no
relation to the theory of evolution, the teeth examined belonging
to lower as well as higher races. It is not true that in individuals
of the highest race the number of roots is limited to one or two,
while in the lower races the wisdom teeth always have three
roots. Indeed the more common fact is this, that in ancient
races as well as in the modern, higher or lower, we find the third
molar with three roots to be 51.35 per cent. in modern higher
races, ey 20 in modern lower races, and 46.43 in the ancient
cran

8. “Teeth with four roots are more frequent in the skulls of

modern higher races (5.24), after them the modern lower (3. 20), a

and lastly the ancient (2.68).. The occurrence of two roots is

more frequent in the modern high (23.14), the next in the ancient A

1879. ] Geology and Paleontology, 3 131

(20.53), and in nearly the same proportion is the modern low
(20.09).

g. The occurrence of one root is more frequent in the lower
modern (31.51), then in the ancient t (30. 36), and least in the mod-
ern high (20.10).

10. I have been able to find in one of the modern higher skulls
a rare case—a tooth with five roots.

11. In the lower jaw of all races the third molar nearly always
has two roots—gI.84’in the modern low, 81.53 in the modern
high, and 81.84 in the ancient.

12. I have not found in the modern low, nor in the ancient, a
case of a lower third molar with four roots, whilst in the higher
it stands 0.597.

2. Me occurrence of only one root in the lower third molar

s by no means rare, and is found more frequently in the ancient
ae (12. 35), less frequently in the modern high (9.38), and most
rarely in the modern low (6.12)

14. Cases 2 spa lower third molar having three roots are not
lacking, and a ore frequently met with in the modern high
(8.50), “then in so ancient (6.17), and least in the modern low

54).

15. That there is witnessed.in some cases a lack of one or
more of the third molars is an ethnic fact.

16. The dogmatical assertions of Owen upon the number of
roots in the negro races and the whites are therefore false, and the
morphology of the roots of the third molar has no appreciable
connection with evolution.

A remarkable addition 38 ethnological literature is a revision
‘of Sir Gardiner Wilkinson’s “ Manners and Customs of the An-
cient Sp preni a by- Dr: fana Birch, and published by Mur-
ray, London

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.

Extincr MAMMALIA OF OREGON.—A list of Mammalia from the
Miocene of Oregon was published in the December number of the
NATURALIST, p. 833. Since that time, Prof. Cope has determined
the characters of a number of additional species, some of which
are new to science. Two of them belong to a new genus of
Carnivora, whose cranial form is that of Putorius or Lutra, and
which unites the premolar formula 3 with the two superior tuber-
culars of Canis. It is called Enhydrocyon, with two species, Æ.
stenocephains and Æ, basilatus. A remarkable primitive type o
Artiodactyla combining characters of Ruminants and Suillines
with only two metacarpal bones in each foot, is named Bodcharus.
The only species, B. Aumerosus, is as large as the Indian rhino-
eros. new ruminant is Poëbrotherium sternbergit. From
Loup Fork beds are Luwtrictis? lycopotamicus, and a

of Protolabis, which is named P. transmontanus. The article ap- us
pears in mr current number of a Bulletin of the rino REV oe

132 General Notes. | { February,

THE NECKS OF THE SAUROPTERYGIA.—It is known that the
length of the neck in the Plesiosauroid reptiles of North Amer-
ica diminished in length as the group approached the period of
extinction. Thus the longest necks in the order, those of the
species of E/asmosaurus, are seen in the Niobrara (No. 3) division
of the cretaceous. Inthe Pierre formation (No. 4), we find the
shorter-necked E/asmosauri, and the Cimoliasaurt with still shorter
necks. In the latest cretaceous (Fox Hills or No. 5), the neck is
reduced to its most abbreviated proportions, in the genus Uro-
nautes. This shortening of the neck is thus associated with the
shallowing of the water, which, as we know, gradually succeeded
the deep-sea period of the Niobrara. In Europe the history of
the order during the Jurassic period was the same. During the
deep-sea epoch of the Lias we have the typical asec omit repre-
sented by the long-necked P. dolichodirus ; the shallower Oxford

and Kimmeridge seas were the range of the ae mie Mu-
renosaurus; while Plosaurus, with the shortest neck, was co-
temporary with these, and remained as late as the Portland. It
is true, that long-necked forms continued as late as the Kimmer-
idge in England (Colymibosaurus). It has yet to be ascertained
whether the European cretaceous Sauropterygia present the suc- — —
cession seen in those of North America.—F. D. Cope. ;

THE Scates oF Liopon.—Professor Snow, of Lawrence, Kan-
sas, has recently observed the scales of the abdominal surface of
Liodon dyspelor. He states them to be smaller than those of the
rattlesnake. Prof. Snow has also obtained a complete fore-limb
of this species, and gives a figure of it inthe Kansas City Review
of Science and Industry. a

Tue FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE GREEN RIVER SHALES.—
Scudder gives a series of descriptions of the insects s obida -o
from the shales near Green River City, Wyoming, in the 4th vol- _
‘ume of the Bulletin of the Hayden Survey. They represent the
orders as follows: Hymenoptera, 4 sp.; Diptera, 14; Coleoptera, 37;
Hemiptera, 12; Orthopt era, 2: Neuroptera, 2; total, 71. Theo
there are a few species of Myriapoda and Arachnida. Two new —
“generic yos of Diptera and one of Hemiptera are described.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

Tue Swepisu Arctic Expepition.—In the year 1556 Burrough
discovered the strait leading into the Kara Sea, between Novaya
Zemlya and the island of Waigatz; and in 1580 Pett sailed through
the channel which separates Waigatz from the mainland, into the
sea, where his further progress was barred by the ice. In 1595
the famous Dutch explorer, Willem Barentz, also reached the en-
trance to the sea. During the last century the Russians made _
several attempts to cross the sea, and in 1738 eur aie reached
1 Edited by EL11s H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

1879. | Geography and Travels. 133

the mouths of the Obi, Yenisei, and Pyasina rivers. In 1869 the
Norwegian Captains Carlsen and Palliser sailed through the sea
of Kara, and since that year the Norwegian fishermen have annu-
ally visited it in their pursuit of the seal and the walrus. In 1874
Captain Wiggins sailed from Dundee, and passing through the
Waigatz straits, cruised along the Yalmal peninsula, and was able
to advance as far as the gulf of Obi. On another voyage, in
1876, reaching the mouth of the Yenisei, he sailed up that stream
as far as Kureika, where he left his vessel for the winter and
returned overland. His observations demonstrated that the Gulf
Stream flows into this sea. While, in July and August, in the
same latitudes in Davis’ straits and east Greenland, the surface-
water is never above 33° to 34°, in the straits of Waigatz the
temperature was as high as 50°, and from 48° to 49° in the sea
of Kara}

The knowledge thus obtained of the navigability, at certain
seasons, of these waters, induced some wealthy Norwegians an
Russian merchants to endeavor to open up a route to the mouths
of the great rivers Obi and Yenisei, which penetrate some 2,500
miles into the heart of Siberia, and thus provide a new outlet for
the mineral wealth of the Ural mountains, the fur and fish of
the northern and the produce of the immense forests and agricul-
tural districts of central and southern Siberia.

Mr. Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg, a munificent and intelligent
promoter of Arctic discovery, accordingiy fitted out an expedition
which sailed from Tromsö in June, 1875, under the command of
Prof. Nordenskiöld. This gentleman was already a veteran ex-
plorer, having been engaged in six Arctic expeditions (five to
Spitzbergen and one to Greenland), made two important spring
sledging journeys, and experienced the rigors of a winter north
of the 80th parallel, while his scientific attainments were of the
highest order. Passing through the Yugor strait and crossing
the sea of Kara, he reached a point on ihe eastern side of the
mouth of the Yenisei, wa was named Dickson Harbor, from
whence he returned homewards.

In 1876 Mr. Dickson, aided by M. Alexander Sibeirakoff, a
wealthy Russian, again dispatched Nordenskiöld, who, leaving
Tromso on the 25th of July, after some delays by the ice, again
reached the mouth of the Yenisei, and ascended it to Mesenkin,
from whence he returned, arriving at'Tromsé on the 22d of Sep- =
tember.” .

The success of these two voyages induced Prof. Nordenskiold
to plan his present expedition round Cape Chelyuskin, along the
Siberian coast to the straits of Behring. He believed that during
September he would find open water all along the coast to Cape
Chelyuskin. The rivers Obi, Irtish, and Yenisei send a vast ae oe

1 See Geographical Magazine, March, 1877. : ee

2 Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1877, Part IL; ps 54

134 General Notes. [ February,

ume of warm water into the ocean in the month of August,
which would, from the effect of the rotation of the earth exercised
on streams running north or south in high latitudes, be driven to
the eastward, and open a channel along the coast

Heretofore no vessel has succeeded in doubling Cape Chelyus-
kin. Between the years 1735 and 1740, the expeditions sent out
by the Russian government surveyed portions of the coast, and
their vessels reached the mouths of the Pyasina on the west, and
of the Khatanga on the east side of Cape Chelyuskin; but it was
not until 1742 that Mate Chelyuskin discovered the northernmost
point of Asia when on a sledge journey. From the Lena to
Behring’s straits more is known of the coast, but the expeditions
were made in small sailing vessels, and passed over, in most cases,
but small pertions of the coast line. In 1728 Behring visited the
straits now called after him; in 1770 the New Siberian islands
were discovered; and in 1778 Captain Cook reached the 18oth
degree of longitude. Our best accounts of this region are de-
rived from the explorations of the Russian Admirals Wrangell
and Anjou, in 1820, 21, 22, and ’23. Kellett Land and Herald
island were discovered by the British in 1849, and in 1855 the
United States expedition under Captain, now Admiral, Rodgers,
reached the 176th degree of longitude. In 1867 Captain Jong,
in an American whaling vessel, got as far as 170° E.

At present, says the Geographical Magazine, August, 1878, we
have no knowledge of the vegetable and animal life (consisting of

of what animal types are of glacial and what of Atlantic origin,
is of the greatest importance, not only for zoology and for a
knowledge « of the geographical distribution of animals, but also as
regards the geology of Scandinavia. Our knowledge of the ani-
mal and vegetable types which lived at the same time with the
mammoth is exceedingly incomplete.*

Influenced by all these considerations, the Swedish government
and the King and M. Sibeirakoff together contributed £8,000, to
which Mr. Dickson added £12,000, to fit out the present expedi-
tion. The Vega, a very strong steamer of 300 tons, was pur-
chased, and supplied with from two to three years’ provisions,
coal sufficient to steam 8,000 nautical miles, and a steam launch.
The names of the officers of the Vega are: Prof. Nordenskiold;
Captain Pallander, commander (who has had much experience in
Arctic voyages); Doctors Kjellmann, Stuxberg, and Almgvist,
Scientific staff; Lieut. Hovgaard, Danish Navy; Lieut. Brusevitz,
Swedish Navy; Lieut. Bove, Italian Navy; and Lieut. Nordgvist,
a Finnish officer and geologist. The crew consists of eighteen
seamen and three hunters.

The Vega departed from Tromso July 21, J 878, and arrived at

> Ba ʻe also Petermann’s Ait. heilungen, 1878, Part 2, p. G

AW

1879.] | Geography and Travels. 135

Habarowa, a Russian hunting-place in the Yugor hap on the
30th. She was accompanied by a small steamer, the and
also by the steamer Fraser, having a sailing vessel, the Beihai
oo employed by M. Sibeirakoff, to open maritime commerce with
eria. During their short stay here collections were made of
thie fauna of the sea and the flora of the land. any specimens
of fish were obtained, and special attention devoted to the morph-
ology and development of the phenogamous plants. Habarowa
is inhabited in the summer by nine Russians, who live in wooden,
turf-covered cabins, while the native Samceides have tents of rein-
deer skin. Dr. Nordenskiöld purchased some of the native cos-
tumes, and, after some difficulty, specimens of their “gods.”
These objects of veneration resemble the rude rag dolls of chil-
dren, and are of stone or wood, dressed in fur and fine rags, with
pear! ornaments. Sacrifices of bears, reindeers, etc., are made.

The island of Waigatz is a plateau about go kilometres long by
40 broad. The Silurian and limestone beds contain many fossils.
Leaving Habarowa on the first of August, the Vega sailed slowly
(to allow time for dredging) across the Karian sea, while the Lena
was sent to examine the Beli strait, which separates White island
from the Yalmal peninsula. Some fields of rotten ice were en-
countered but fog proved the only hindrance, and they reached
Dickson Harbor on the 6th of August. Prof. Nordenskiold
speaks of this harbor as safe and commodious, and as promising
to become the chief port for the export of Siberian products. In
geological formation, the land resembles Spitzbergen.
quence of the inferior saltness of the water, there is little aiiinal
life. Three white bears were shot.?

After a careful survey of Dickson Harbor, and adding to her
supplies the coal and provisions brought so far by the Express, the
Vega, still accompanied by the Zena, continued her voyage on the
1oth. Further information of the expedition i is given ina letter
of Prof. Nordenskidld’s in the New York Herald, and in accounts
in various European journals. On the rith ‘of August they
passed Cape Sterlegoff, the furthest point ever reached by a vessel.
They soon perceived the charts to be entirely wrong, the coast
being far more to the west than supposed, and numerous islands
not given were met. The fog caused much embarrassment, but
the ice did not often give them much trouble. The saltness of
the water increased and the temperature fell, while the organic
life at the sea-bottom became richer, an d fine specimens of the
remarkable crinoid Alecto eschrichtit, error’ and large ocean
Algz were obtained. On shore the higher fauna and flora were
very poor. Snow sparrows, several species of wading birds, and
some varieties of geese were found. Occasionally scenes of great

beauty were presented when the sea was smooth and clear; the _

1 See Prof. on prer from Dickson’s Harbor in Petermann’s Mi send : :
ungen, 1878, P. i, p. 430. ieut. Hovgaard’s, from w
Ver. pase Sac a Gesellschaft fär Erdkunde zu Berlin, alee p. Eee

3
a

136 General Notes. [ February,

midnight sun hung low over the horizon, and to the south the
Taimyr land glittered fiery red in its rays, while the cliffs and
castles of ice stood colored blue, purple, crimson, and silver-white.
Over this scene lay a stillness which sent a man’s voice miles and
miles away, and the scratch of the bears walking over the ice-
blocks was heard afar off. Waiting for clear weather, they lay at
anchor, from the 14th to the 18th, in a small bay in the sound
between the island of Taimyrand the continent. This haven was
named Actinia Port, and would be a favorable position for one o
Weyprecht’s proposed meteorological stations. The land here
was free from snow, and covered with a gray-green carpet of
grass, mosses, and lichens. On the 18th, the fog still continuing,
they set sail, and in spite of fog and some large masses of ice,
passed Cape Chelyuskin on the 1gth, with flags waving and guns

ring a salute. Cape Chelyuskin is a low promontory, divided
into two parts by the bay in which the vessels anchored. The
west cape is in 77° 30 37” N. lat. and 103° 25’ 5” E. long and
the east cape is in- N: lat. 77° 41’ and E. long. 104° r°. Inland
the coast gradually rises to about 1,000 feet. This hill, as well
as the lowland, was almost free from ice. The ground appeared to
be mainly clay, curiously cracked, and covered with moss, lichens,
etc. The formation here were perpendicular strata of slate, with

no fossils, but rich in crystals of sulphide of iron, and at one point —

traversed by large veins of quartz. Both animal and vegetable life
were exceedingly poor and the former very tame. In the sea also

weighed anchor, when drift ice was soon met with. After being
obliged to sail in a northern and north-western direction they
escaped, and the north-eastern 1 extremity of the Taimyr peninsula

(76° 30’ N. lat. and about 113° E. long.) was sighted. The coast
3 g) g

is about fifty miles more to the west than noted on the charts.
Here they found almost open water. It was observed that the
bergs encountered were of fresh-water formation, indicating the
existence of hilly islands to the north. Mountains of 2,000 to
3,000 feet in height were seen some distance away from the coast.
There was now a great increase in marine animal life, all of pure
arctic types. The island of Preobashenskoi was reached on the
24th, and found to have been laid down sixty miles too far west.
From here — to the Lena an ice-free and comparatively
warm sea was met w

Arriving at the eae of the Lena the two vessels parted com-

pany, and the Vega continued on her way, while the Lena ©
ascended the river to Yakutsk, arriving there on the 21st of Sep-

tember.
As no further account of the former has been received, she is
no doubt passing the winter in the ice, perhaps near the East
cape, where Captain Campbell, of the steamer Norman, from

fae as

1879. } Microscopy. 137

St. Lawrence bay, October 20, 1878, reports that the natives have
seen a vessel.
So far this has been one of the most successful and important
of modern exploring voyages. The chart of the voyage is pub-
lished in the A@itthetlungen for January, and is of great interest to
geographers, as so many corrections have been made in the
coast-line of the northern shores of Asia
he discovery by the Norwegian Captain E. Johannsen, of a
small island in long. 81° E. and lat. 77° 55’ N., was made on the
3d of September last. He named it “Ensomhaden” (Loneliness).
The sea ‘was open in every direction round it except to the south-
east, where drift-ice was to be seen.
lready commerce has sprung up on the new route, and during
the last season vessels were sent out from English, German, and
Norwegian ports, and made more or less successful voyages to
the Ob and Yenisei and back.

MICROSCOPY.*

NucLeaTED RED CorpuscLEs OF Human BiLoop.—Many of the
readers of the AMERICAN NATURALIST are familiar with the little
instrument generally known as Beck’s Vertical Illuminator, it is
in fact a modification of a device invented by Prof. H. L. Smith,
of Geneva, N. Y.

This illuminator was mg oats intended to be used in conjunc-
tion with medium power, dry objectives, of moderate angles, such
as were formerly so much in vogue. Mr. Morehouse, a well
known microscopist of Wayland, New York, fortunately discov-
ered that by the conjoint use of the illuminator with immersion
_ objectives of high balsam apertures, astonishing results might be

secured, as for instance the resolution of the markings of podura
_ and other insect scales, the striation of valves of Frustulia saxonica,
Surirella gemma and similar “ difficult” diatoms, under amplifica-
tions of 3000 and 4000 diameters, and as a matter of course, by
See oe a

Sifficulte in sbistaste h beautiful cme of the Nobert 19th band,
the simultaneous exhibition of the long and transverse striæ af
Terea saxonica, etc., under powers of three and four thousand
diameter:

een to test the vertical illuminator over histological prep-

td

arations, I thus examined a slide of human blood, improvised for oo : -

the occasion, and was astonished to find about three-fourths of

1 This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Ward, Thy: N. Y.

138 Scientific News. 7 [ February,

the red corpuscles nucleated, the amplification employed in these
observations was about 3700 diameters

y observations with the vertical illuminator as above related,
were presented to the Dunkirk Microscopical Society in a paper
which I had the honor to read before that society some two years
ago, on which occasion many of the observations were publicly
repeated, since which date similar results, as to the nucleus of the
red corpuscles, have been arrived at by others, but as far as I can
Jel these later observers subject the blood to treatment by
means af re-agents, etc., the direct observations, therefore, as
oteatived with the vertical illuminator are to be prefer rred:

point which should not be lost sight of is this, the vertical
illuminator can only be successfully used in conjunction with an
objective of high balsam angle; and may it not be further sug-
gested that the use of wide angled glasses is not to be confined
to the work of the diatomist ?— F. Edwards Smith, M.D., Cleveland,
Ohio, Dec., 1878.

THE WENHAM ComPRESSORIUM. — Mr. Geo. O. Mitchell, of
Hanover, N. H., is making this useful little accessory of a some-
what smaller size than usual, and at a less price. His instruments
have been furnished to several colleges and to experienced work-
ers with the microscope. They are well made, and are sent by
mail for $1.50, or nickel-plated for $1.75.

EXcHANGES. — Frank S. Collins, 26 Tremont street, Boston,
Mass, would like to exchange New England for California,
Florida and other Alge.

:0:
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Dr. Albert Günther, director of the zoological department
of the British Museum, has received the gold medal of the Royal
Society for his important researches on the zodlogy and anatomy
of the fishes and reptiles.

— The Polytechnic Review of Dec. 21, states that “ Prof. J. Gib-
bons Hunt, of New York, one of the most accomplished micro-
scopists in the country, says that it is affectation or stupidity for
Americans to send to Europe of microscopes when they can now
purchase better ones at hom t will surprise Dr. Hunt's
friends to learn that he is “ of New York,” especially since the
editor of the “ Review ” ” is, like Dr. Hunt, a citizen of Phila-
delphia.

— We learn that the Princeton Geological and Palæonto-
logical party met with excellent success during the past season.
They visited the region of the Mammoth Buttes, east of the
Green river, in southern Wyoming, which was explored by Prof.
Cope in 1872, and obtained fine series of Loxolophodon cornutus,
Paleosyops vallidens and other species. They will be able to fur-
oe nish much additional iniormiatoh as to the structure of these

1879. | Scientific News. 139

animals, They also examined the region of the upper Ham’s
Fork, and visited the fish-bearing shales of the tributaries of
es river, obtaining a good representation of the fossils of that
regio

ee ns & Co. have just published a translation of Heer’s
The Primzval World of Switzerland. Edited by James Hey-
wood. An ages book for boys with a love of insects is
Candéze’s The Curious Adventures of a Field Cricket. The
‘illustrations and ei S are most inviting. Dr. Ernest Candèze has
long been known as a Belgian coleopterist of high reputation.
Petermann’s Mittheilungen, will hereafter be edited by Dr. E.
Behm, assisted by Dr. Lindeman

— Etna: a history of the rotii and of its eruptions, by
G. F. Rodnell; with maps and illustrations, London
Paul & Co.), ‘is said to be an excellent and most interesting
ses ili comparing hyoably with Prof. Phillips work on
Vesuvi

o The death of George Henry Lewes was quite as much a
loss to biology as it was to literature and philosophy. His Sea-
side Studies is one of the most readable of such books, and in
literary merit far out-weighs any similar works ; besides it is criti-
cal from the point of view of comparative anatomy and physiol-
ogy. What a hold the biological methods of inquiry have gained
among philosophic thinkers is evinced by the reception accorded
to Lewes’ last and greatest work, the Problems of Life and Mind,
however much one may refuse to endorse all the conclusions of
its author.

— A new edition of Prof. Ramsay’s Physical Geology and
Geography of Great Britain is occupying the attention of reviewers
in British journals. His American friends will be pained to know
that late in the autumn Prof. Ramsay suffered the agree cos! of
an oye

— Prof. Tyndall has just communicated to the Royal Socikty
the results of some further observations on infusions boiled in
flasks afterwards hermetically sealed. He took with him to the
Alps, last summer, one hundred tubes. of as ee contain-
ing turnip and fifty containing. cucumber infusions. They were
prepared at the laboratory of the Royal Institution, and boiled
for five minutes. Twenty flasks were broken in transit. The
eighty remained pellucid, and the twenty were turbid with organ-
isms. A number of the eighty flasks had their ends opened in
air in which saw-dust had been shaken up, and all were soon tur-
bid. Another set were infected by water of a cascade derived
from melting snow, and in three days were thickly charged with ©

organisms. Another set were opened in pure air and remained :

transparent, |
— The curious dicen says the English Mechanic, of para- oe
` sitism on a diatom (agate) = a been made mee a

140 Scientific News. [ February, 1879.

Frenchman, who observed small brown points on the surface of
the diatom, which have extraordinary agility, and by means of
their long flexible appendices explore all parts of the frustule.

— Herr Naumann, a German geologist in Japan, has lately
Spire a work on the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of
Ja Ball publishes, in the Geological Magazine for
fandan an A aihjsirakad article on the volcanoes of the bay of
Bengal, correcting some current errors in regard to them.

— We have had an opportunity of examining some excellent
photographs by Mr. Franklin C. Hill, of Princeton, New Jersey,
illustrating the external anatomy of Har palus caliginosus and
Lucanus cervus; they are about six inches long. Each appendage
and joint, as well as the veins of the wings and the different parts
of the body are labeled, so that they are excellent diagrams for the
beginner in entomology. The upper and under side of the body
is represented, there being four photographs in all, at fifty cents
each.

— A writer in Scribner s Monthly refers to the protective color-
ation of the Caribou, stating that the quiet gray color is wel
adapted to conceal its presence from the hunter, and that it
requires an educated eye to pick out its form on the heathy bar-
ren where everything assimilates to it in color. “ The Indians
are so well aware of this, that they always approach a barren with
extreme caution, always traveling down wind, and never discon-
certed if game is not sighted at once. Nor is the case improved

. when one comes to hunt for them in the forest; there, the gray —

tree-trunks and tangled undergrowth make it extremely difficult
to see them,’

— M. Charles Barrois,pf Lille, France, the author of the elaborate — :

treatise on sponges, which appeared two years since, is now in this

country studying the geology of the United States east of the

plains. Hereafter M. Barrois will devote himself to palzon-
tology and geology, while his brother, M. J. Barrois, the author

of the exquisite works on the embryology of nemertean worms _

and Aiat will continue his zoôlogical studies.

— regret to notice the suspension of Field and Forest,
edited by Charles R. Dodge.. It was the bulletin of the Potomac- —

side Naturalists’ Club. The number for April, May and June,
only lately received, closes volume third, and contains an index.

— Mr. Xenos Clark, of San Francisco, writes us that he is :
endeavoring to establish a Biological Laboratory at or near that —
city. Such an institution would be most desirable, and it is to be _

hoped will meet with liberal support.

— The museum of Brown University has secured through the 2
generosity of the Senior Class of 1878, the skin of a Baffins —
Bay walrus, which has been admirably mounted by Professor

Ps, and is now on exhibition.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xur. — MARCH, 1879. — No. 3.

. REMARKS ON FOSSIL SHELLS FROM THE COLO-
RADO DESERT:

BY ROBERT. E. C. STEARNS.

LUMP of earth from the Colorado Desert which it is here

proposed to investigate, is not without interest. It is part of
a much larger piece recently brought from Walter’s station, a
point on the Southern Pacific railroad, in California, where it was
selected by Prof. Geo. Davidson, who has furnished the special
facts as to locality.

It is composed of clayey sediment, and was brought to the
surface, from near the bottom of a well recently sunk by the rail-
road company at the above named place, during the process of
digging through the dry deposit in a forty-inch tubing (an old
smokestack). At forty-five to forty-seven feet the water-bearing
stratum was struck, when the water burst up and filled the tube
to within twelve feet of the surface. The continuous pumping —
out of a two and a-half inch stream does not lower the water
line in the well. The lump, it will be noticed, contains many
small shells. The larger portion of the original piece readily dis-
solved in hot water, in which it at once separated. Thinking it
might contain diatoms or other minute microscopic forms, some
of it was examined by Dr. A. M. Edwards, without, however,
any being detected. The shells, though small, are easily ‘seen

without a lens, are all Deharit: forms and are also faa a

1 Read before the California Academy of Sciences.

VOL, XIII.—NO, III. 10

142 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

in great numbers (sometimes in windrows) at various places on
the surface of the desert.

Physa humerosa Gould. Natural size.

One of the species from the well is Physa humerosa Gould, of
which there is a single specimen; the others, of which there are
numerous examples, are Tryonia clathrata Stimpson, and Tryonia
protea of Gould. These latter belong to the family of Rissoide,
and were described several years ago from specimens collected
by Prof. Wm. P. Blake. They have also been collected by several
other parties. From the late lamented Col. Albert S. Evans,’ I
received, several years ago, half a pint of these desert shells, and
from others I have received a great number; probably altogether
as Many as 40,000 specimens have passed under my inspection,
including the above and a single species of Amnicola (longinqua
Gould), as well as fragments of a Planorbis and of Anodonta cali-
forniensis Lea. It is not unlikely that if we had a sufficient quan-

feet ri D a i
Tryonia protea and varieties (semi-fossil). Colorado Desert, Cal. From nature,
: by Stearns.

tity of sediment from the well, we should find that it contained
all of these forms. All of the great number of specimens which
passed under my observation, are in a fossilized or semi-fossilized
condition, either of a clear opaque white (in this respect resem-
bling the fossils of the Paris basin), or more or less translucent,

though more or less silicified, while the delicate sculpture is as a

perfect as ever.
The surface of the desert at the point where the well is situated
is 195.54 feet below the level of the ocean, as indicated by the
1 Col. Evans was lost at sea, while on his vite from New York to Brazil, ee the
barning of the steamship Missouri off the Berm

1879. ] Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. 143

barometer. Shall we indulge in a guess as to the depth of the
water when these shells were alive; shall we add the depth of the
well to the above figures, and again add the elevation of bench-
marks, the ancient levels? which form terrace lines in some places
along the distant hills, once a part of the shores of a now extinct
lake, the walls of the basin which once enclosed and held a fresh-
water sea?

It may have been, however, that the lake was never as deep as
the figures thus added would indicate, and that instead of a lake
or series of lakes, there existed only a lagoon or chain of
lagoons, connected or disconnected, according to the volume of
water, which probably varied one season compared with another;
a system of shallow reservoirs, receiving the catchment or sur-
plus surface water in periods or seasons of unusual rainfall; some-
times after a prolonged and widespread storm of great severity,
uniting and forming an extensive expanse a few feet only in depth, as
was seen in the valleys of California during the notable winter
of 1861-2.

The rate of depression may have been such as to continue to
keep the lagoons supplied during ordinary seasons with catch-
ment or surface water from the immediate neighborhood, and
have been so proportioned (involving the mean of supply) to the
rate of evaporation, that only within a very recent period has this
depressed portion of the Colorado basin become bare and dry.

Are the phenomena which this vast and remarkable region
exhibits—of which that portion usually called the desert, is but a
part—the result of catastrophic action, sudden, violent and wide-
spread, or the result of gradual changes moving slowly through
countless centuries?

he physiognomy of the wider and more general region in
some of its aspects indicates action which, in geologic time is
unmistakably recent, and the varied phenomena here exhibited,
are more likely the result of periods of slow movement as well

1 For miles and miles ï traced with the a a strange, well-defined line along the
mountain sides, awer at the same level * * Riding out to it I found it to be
the old beach of a sea

The rocks were worn and rounded up to that level, * * * above that line
the rocks were sharp and jagged. The surveying party of the Southern Pacific rail- _
road, in running the line to Fort Yuma, struck the present sea-level the moment their _

instruments reached this ancient beach.—Dr. J. P. Widney in Overland deii, oe

Vol. x, 1873.

144 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

as periods of convulsive action, recurring cycles of sudden and
of gradual changes, operating through different but succeeding
geologic ages or periods of geologic time. Prof. Whitney has
pointed out the coincidence of mountain peaks of extraordinary
elevation and areas of extraordinary depression (below the sea
level), which are a part of the peculiar characteristics and striking
topographical features of the same general area.

During the pliocene epoch the site of the present desert was
occupied by the sea or was, perhaps, a part of the Gulf of Cali-
fornia.

* Hediot I7 ss Me Miocene and possibly Pliocene
fossils are found at the mouth of Kern River cañon, showing that
the sea then washed freely against the foot of the Sierra; there is
even reason for believing that it extended far up the Colorado River
basin; and certainly it deposited a thick bed of the enormous
Miocene oyster (0. é#¢an), with other remains along the west shore

1 For most interesting information as to the height of mountains, the depression of
Death and other seme saline plains, alkaline lakes, mud volcanoes and other phe-
nomena which mark the physiognomy and relate to the general aspect of this won-
derful region, attention is directed to Vol. i, Geol. Survey of Cal. (by Prof. Whit-
ney), also Whitney in Proc. Cal. Acad., Vols. ii, iii eiss iv; Veitch in Vol. i, zd.
Col. Williamson in Vol. iii, ¿ď.; Cooper in Vol. ., and Liew. Wheeler’s Asta a
Report for 1876. Another author, Dr, J. P, cenas Groin whose interesting article
in the Overland pai Poor 1873) I have previously quoted, writes as fol- i
lows of the do Des

Crossing om the San se Pass, the continuation of the Sierra Nevada range
back of San TETA the men leaves e faeije coast mioys po ver

* the

and enters upon t appears remains

of some ancient world As he came ee the. T * pass, upon his right
towered San Gorgonio Peak, * 7 0,500 feet in a ie the left
forming the other wall of the pass, pine-clad tis Bernardino eaches

an altitude of 11,500 feet. But leaving now the mountains behind he descent es
what seems the scorched, blasted bed of sume old cyclopean furnace
San Gorgonio and San Bernardino on this side have lost their pines, and brown, barren
and desolate, frown down upon yet greater desolation. Upon the west * :
stretch the Sierra in an unending line—a forbidding rugged wall. At the north,a
spur from this main chain turns off eastward, and then curving around bears to the
south, parallel to the Sierra, making another abrupt wall, which at last drops down
and is lost near Fort Yuma, Inclosed by these mountains, open only toward the |
south, where 200 miles away it faces out upon the waters of the Gulf of Califerste: a
is the Colorado Dese >
Surrounded upon euri side by mountains, except in one direction, and there
opening out upon the head of the Gulf of ake it shows that the desert is a
portion of the old gulf which then extended 200 miles above its present limit. The
cause of the separation of the upper end of pas gulf, making what is now the Colo-
tido I Desert, is so apparent, that a moment’s examination reveals it. The same-

1879. ] Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. 145

of the present Colorado desert, now at an elevation of probably
1000 feet.” ?

The sedimentary deposits super-imposed upon the more ancient
sea or gulf bed, the top of which now constitutes the floor of the
desert are geologically of very recent origin.

The perpendicular section of nearly fifty feet cut by this well,
as shown by the character of the stratum cut through in connec-
tion with the shells contained therein, indicates a gradual deposit,
a slow settling of sediment; the fragility of the shells and their
present unfractured condition, prove that they were never subjected
to abrasive action; that they were not swept violently from dis-
tant places to this, and here buried pell-mell beneath and among
the varied detritus of great freshets.

Here probably was the home of some of these species, the me-
tropolis of Tryonia, if not its specific center, which has only been

pecs

Anodonta californiensis Lea. Rio Colorado, Cal.
found sparingly elsewhere, and was supposed to be extinct.
Ninety per cent., if not more, of the shells found here belong to
this genus.

agency is still at work, widening the space between the Gulf and the desert. Here
nearly 150 miles from the head of the ancient gulf came in from the east side the
Colorado River, bearing in its thick floods, quicksands and the red mud from the
great plateaus of northern Arizona which gives the river its colorand its name. The
contour of the country shows the gulf to have been narrow here. The filling in of
this alluvial deposit went on unceasingly, as at the mouth of every great river which
enters the sea ata sheltered point. The water grew constantly shoaler, until at
length the separation was complete. The alluvial deposit has steadily increased the
distance between the gulf and the low bed of the desert, until now the division is
marked by a narrow neck of thirty or forty miles of land but little raised above the
sea level. (Dr. Widney, in Overland Monthly, Vol. x. See also various ppro en
Arizona, &c., and the Colorado river, in Vols. iv, vi, and ix, zd.)
1 Cooper in Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., Vol. v, p. 403.

146 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

- Mr. Tryon reporting on certain shells collected by Lieut.
Wheeler’s expedition in Utah Territory, says,

“Included -in the collection are two specimens of the genus
Tryonia Stimpson. This curious little genus was heretofore con-
sidered to be restricted to the Colorado Desert of southern Cali-
fornia. wo species have been described, viz: the type 7.
(Melania) exigua Conrad, of which Melania protea Gould is a
synonym, and 7ryonia clathrata Stimpson. The two Utah speci-
mens are probably 7. exigua.”

The lump of earth from which the specimens mentioned were
obtained was about the size of one’s fist, yet this comparatively
small matrix contained as many as three hundred. What an in-
conceivable number must have been propagated and buried here,
what numberless generations have been born and died, since the
lowest foot in this perpendicular well-section was deposited, to
the last and most recent deposit, when the present surface was
reached and completed! If the mind is unable to comprehend
what is equally imperceptible to the eye, the numbers buried ġe-
neath the surface, the mind also fails to comprehend what és visi-
ble to the eye, the vast number which are seen oz the surface of
the desert in crossing it, the external skeletons of the vast multi-
tude left on the top of the last deposit, when the last inch of water

evaporated and left a sterile and windswept waste, upon which

to-day are scattered untold millions of these tiny forms.

If we may assume that the species to which these forms belong
no longer exist, within the more special area under consideration,
they must have become extinct within geologically a very re-
cent time. An examination shows the sculpture to be wonder-

fully sharp and well defined, yet probably the life of these

minute organisms, that is to say, the specific life, had an ear-
lier genesis than that of the human race, and the particular
specimens before us were living, at a time, prior to the appear-
ance of man on the planet.

We have here also an illustration of the relation of life and

species to environment, as shown in the extinction of the former, _

through a radical change in the latter.
In connection with the total evaporation of the former lake or

lagoons as above, it should not be inferred therefrom that the

particular portion of the desert incidentally under consideration,
1 Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sciences, May 1, 1873.

1879. | Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. 147

has been permanently and continuously dry ever since the extinc-
tion of Tryonia, but that through evaporation, ¢¢ ceased to be per-
manently covered with water, and though since at various times, a
greater or less area has been so covered—the extinction of Tryonia
proves that there must have been a period of drouth, a maximum
both as regards degree and duration which destroyed the limited
fauna, the few species which once existed here—though some of
the species which I have named belonging to the genera, Axo-
donta, Physa, and Planorbis, having an earlier genesis, are known
to have a wider distribution, and migrated hither, as they are still
found living in regions more or less distant, as will be shown
farther on; and it is barely possible that a living colony, a rem-
nant of Tryonia may yet be discovered somewhere within the
desert area. :
It has been implied herein that the metropolis of the form
called Zryonia was here in the former lake or lagoon region of
the Colorado desert or basin, for the reason of the great multitude
of individuals; its specific center may have been far to the north,
nearer to the point from which the Wheeler specimens, referred
to by Mr. Tryon, were obtained; it has not been found and is not
known to be living elsewhere, at the present time. As to the
other molluscan forms which once lived here and are now found
dead either at or below the surface, an inquiry as to the lo-
calities where they are still found living,’ and the probable paths
of distribution which brought them together as congeners or

Amnicola longinqua Gould (showing range of variation). Drawn by Stearns from
recent specimens collected by Henry Hemphill, in Utah Territory.
neighbors of Tryonia, incidentally furnishes further informatién
pertaining to the specific region formerly occupied by these
species. —

_ 1Amnicola longinqua, has recently been collected ving in Utah by Mr. Hemp-

148 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

An examination of Lieut. Wheeler’s Drainage Map! of the ter-
ritory west of the one hundredth meridian, shows the position of
the Colorado as related to the other basins, to be diagonal, its
general trend being north-easterly and south-westerly.

“The region of country drained by the Colorado and its tribu-
taries is about 800 miles in length and varies from 300 to 500
miles in width, containing about 300,000 square miles, an area
larger than all the New England and Middle States, with Mary-
land and Virginia added, or as large as Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.’

While it may be presumed that these forms so intimately re-
lated have gradually through a great period of time spread from
the higher altitudes to the lower, from the older formations to the
more recent, extending the area of their distribution as fast as the
emergence of the land above the sea and the emerged sur-
face had undergone those modifications necessary to fit it for their
occupancy, and are still spreading to new localities; so perhaps in
other portions of the area of their domain they are decreasing or
dying out, or have already died out, through modifications in the
environment as in the now dried up lake or lagoons of the
Colorado desert.

It is highly probable that at numerous places within the great
interior basin, after the emergence of the land, fresh water lakes,
ponds and streams occurred and existed for a time, and be-
came peopled, in part by fluviatile species, such as we are now
considering, including varieties of the mussels, intermediate and
connecting links between the desert specimens and those from the
Wahsatch stations referred to.

It is to be expected that in course of time when this great in-
terior wilderness is thoroughly explored, that living specimens

‘will also be found in those streams and lakes whose waters are
still sweet ; and with a sufficient number of specimens living and
fossil from these two classes of stations, we may be able to trace
the lines of distribution, which followed not alone the direct
course of streams, for instance like the Colorado, but descended
also to the great basin from the now lofty altitudes of the Sierra Ne- _
vada, and the parallel ranges on its eastern flank on one side, as
from the corresponding regions in the Wahsatch range and sub-

1In Lieut. Wheeler’s Annual Report, 1876.
= #Exploration of the C the West, etc., by Prof. J. W. Powell, 1875, P. L

1879. ] Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. 149

sidiary ranges upon its western flank on the other, spreading lat-
erally as well as in the direction of what may be regarded as the
great highways furnished by the main stream and its principal
confluents.

That we may have a better idea of the Colorado river and its
tributaries, and of the regions traversed by the latter, I will quote
the eloquent description of Prof. Powell.

“There are two distinct portions of the basin of the Colorado.
The lower third is but a little above the level of the sea, though
here and there ranges of mountains rise to an altitude of from
two to six thousand feet. This part of the valley is bounded on
the north by a line of cliffs, which present a bold e tenn
step, hundreds or thousands of feet to the table lands a

e upper portion of the basin rises from four to eight thou-
sand feet above the level of the sea. This high region on the
east, north and west, is set with ranges of snow-clad mountains
attaining an elevation above the sea varying from eight to fourteen
thousand feet. All winterlong on its mountain crested rim, snow
falls, filling the gorges, half burying the forests, and covering the
crags and peaks with a mantle woven by the winds from the waves
of the sea—a mantle of snow. When the summer sun comes,
this snow melts, and tumbles down the mountain sides in millions
of cascades. Ten million cascade brooks unite to form ten thou-

unite to form the Colorado, which rolls, a mad, turbid stream,
into the Gulf of California.”

Anodonta. Owen’s River, Cal,

While the specimens from Washoe lake are in every feature so-
close to those from Bear river in the distant Wahsatch range, the

mussels inhabiting Owen’s river at an elevation of es € on

150 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

the easterly flank of the Sierra Nevada, exhibit a consider-
able variation when compared with those from the preced-
ing places.1

The Owen’s river specimens, though inhabiting so elevated a
station, closely resemble those found at, and in the neighborhood
of Los Angeles at an elevation of only 280 feet, and the speci-
mens from both of these places as well as specimens from other
stations with similar elevations within the southern portion of the
limits of the coast drainage area of California as shown in Lieut.
Wheeler’s map, and which stations more closely approximate to
the level of the desert region, are exceedingly close in their gen-
eral aspect and minuter characters to the dead shells of the ex-
tinct lagoons, and to Lea’s type? from the Colorado, presumably
in the neighborhood of Fort Yuma. At many points within the
drainage area described in the foregoing reports the Anodonte
have been detected.

Iam under obligations to Dr. Edward Palmer for specimens
from Utah lake, and to Mr. Henry Hemphill for specimens
from Bear river, also in Utah Territory, These localities are in
the Wahsatch range, at an elevation of over 4,500 feet above the
level of the sea. i

The differences between the specimens from these two locali-

1 The Owen’s lake has no outlet and is fed by the Owen’s river, a stream about
thirty feet wide, two feet deep and having a velocity of about five miles per hour.
As the level of the lake remains constant, there must be perfect equilibrium between
the amount of evaporation and the incoming water. The lake having one hundred
and ten square miles of surface, and evaporation of 4.6 feet per year, would suffice
to swallow up the annual volume of Owen’s river.

ose who cannot appreciate the amount of evaporation, have invented the hy-
pothesis of a subterranean outlet, as in the case of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.—
Wheelers Annual Report, 1876, p. 189.

? Explanatory of my allusions to variation, herein, as shown by a comparison of
the Anodons from one place with those from another, to prevent misapprehension I
should state, that I do not regard variation as exhibited in the West American forms
under discussion, as of specific value, a conclusion I have arrived at after a long and
careful study of the relation of variation to environment. While forms or colonies
of a form belonging unquestionably to the same species, and inhabiting stations pte
a short distance apart, often exhibit aspects of variation in such a degree
pear phenomenal, the cause thereof not being immediately obvious, a careful investi-
gation of the environment frequently rewards us, if not with a full explanation, with
a clue or a ray of light.

1879. } E Shells from the Colorado Desert. I5I

ties are these: The river shells present a somewhat more ovate
outline, are rather more elongated transversely, and are darker
colored than the lake specimens. These Bear river mussels are
so exactly like those collected by Mr. C. D. Voy in Washoe lake,

Anodonta. Bear River, Utah Territory.

which has an elevation of 4,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, that
though the two regions are separated by between seven and eight
degrees of longitude, if numbers of individuals of the same sizes
from these two localities were mixed without previous marking,
they could not be segregated, with any degree of certainty, so
closely are they alike in form, color, incremental lines and zones,
which warrants the assumption that the factors of the environ-
ment are the same at both stations.

The fragments of Anodontæ, met with in the desert, are por-
tions of shells (valves) having the same outline as that figured
and described by Dr. Lea, in 1852,) from specimens collected by
Dr. J. L. LeConte of Philadelphia, in the “ Rio Colorado, Cali-
fornia,” and which Lea remarks as closely allied to “ An. nuttal-
liana” from the “ Wahlamet river, Oregon,” previously described
by that author.’

1 Trans. Am. Phil. Society, 2d Series, Vol. x

2 Eight species of fresh water mussels have been described from Western North
America, west of the Rocky mountains and north of Mexico; of these six belong
to the group Anodonta ; of these six Anodons, four, namely A. nuttalliana, A. wah-

REPTE A, — and A. cali SNES are regarded by me as varieties - cae

e species

In a paper pe the vakion of the fresh. water mussels,” etc., of this western oe
p i

region of America, now nearly ready for the press, I point out the features of their
variation and indicate the influences which have induced it. Seven of ae
species alluded to, were described by Dr. Lea.

152 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

The remarkable season of 1861-2, when the great California
basin was flooded and the larger portion of the valleys included
between the coast range and the Sierra Nevada was for weeks
covered with water, and connected at times, so as to form an ex-
tensive lake, this winter also embraced within the area of its se-
verity the more interior basin east of the Sierra. While, doubt-
less, the volume of the Colorado was greatly increased through
the contributions of its tributaries in its upper portion, it also
must have received an extraordinary supply from the drainage
slopes farther to the south. The record of unusually high water
or floods in the Colorado includes the winter of 1861-2 as well
as several seasons not remarkably wet in California. In the
preliminary report of Lieut. Bergland? on the feasibility of
diverting the Colorado for the purposes of irrigation, he esti-
mates the area of depression below the sea level within the lim-
its of California at approximately “ 1,600 square miles,” yet dur-
ing the severe winter especially referred to, an area estimated to be
sixty miles long by thirty miles wide was covered with water? A
portion of this was without question the surplus surface drainage
from the adjacent country as well as the overflow of the Colorado,
though the New River channel, and the main stream may have
poured a portion of its water, in times gone by, over the desert,
through other channels.

The sedimentary deposit under consideration and the lake whose
waters once held it in suspension, and covered the present desert,
may be accounted for in this way, and its permanence, over the
area covered and the depth of water on which its area depended,
only required a more constant volume in the Colorado, a less
rapid rate of evaporation, even if the topographical features are
the same now as then.

With the data accumulated by various intelligent and trust-
worthy observers, and accessible to all who are disposed to inves-
tigate, we are justified in the conclusion that without spasmodic

1 Wheeler’s Report, 1876, p. 109.

2 Mr, Jaeger, owner of the Ferry at Fort Yuma, and a resident of the place since
its establishment as a military post, says, “ Heavy floods in 1840, 1852, 1859, 1862
and 1867. Tasted the water flowing in channel at New River station in 1862, and
found it fresh water. A Mr. Jones (now dead) told me that he came along the west
side of the great basin in 1862, on his way from San Bernardino to New River, and saw
in the basin a great lake, some sixty miles long by sired wide. This came from the
overfiow i in 1862.” Id. 118.

1879. | Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. 153

or catastrophic action, the present condition of the desert is the
result of gradual and slowly working causes, and that within
comparatively recent times, there has been a decreasing mean
average rain and snowfall to the north, in the higher regions
which are drained in this direction, and also an increasing but
gradual elevation combined with increased evaporation.

While Tryonia as before stated is apparently local, the other
species are widely distributed. The Azodonte (mussels) not only
inhabited the area from the Wahsatch mountains on the east, to
the Pacific ocean on the west, but from the Colorado on the south
to and north of the Columbia river in the north, their migration
in the latter direction having been from the Wahsatch region also,
as appears probable when we consider the statement of Dr. James
Blake,! “that the divide between the waters of the Great Basin
pe of the Columbia is the nog s g " in latitude

° 33’ N., longitude 113° 29’ b, zi r id 600 feet
fis height) above the level of the Salt Lake basin.” And further
he remarks “ the height of the divide above the level of Queen’s
River valley is about six hundred feet, but I am of the opinion
that other outlets must exist, which allowed the waters of the
basin to attain a still lower level, before their disappearance solely
by evaporation began. There must have been a large body of
water ae to aigappear by evaporation, as the concretionary depos-
its are found at an elevation of two hundred
feet above the level of the valley and they could only have been
Sered as the water became concentrated by evaporation. a

Large numbers of Anodonta shells are found on the
stirface of the ground, entirely encased in this concretionary sub-
stance, to the thickness of two or three inches.”

Of the two forms of Planorbis (P. gracilentus Gould, found
dead in the desert, and P. ammon Gould, found living in the Colo-
rado river) one is closely similar to other widely distributed

1 Proc, Cal. Acad. Sci. Vol. iv. (p. 277, Oct.) 1872.

Dr. Hayden believes that his parties have fixed the position of the ancient outlet
of the great lake that once filled the Salt Lake basin. This appears to have formerly _
drained into the Columbia river; and the lowest pass between the great basin and
the drainage of the river is continued directly south at the head of Marsh creek, ue

and so low is it that one marsh connects two streams, one flowing to the Bear river —
and the Great Lake, and the other to the Portneuf and Snake rivers of the Colum-

bia. This generalization was actually made several years ago, but only fully men o

lished during the past season. teres s Weekiy, J March 2d, stn .

154 Fossil Shells from the Colorado Desert. [ March,

forms, to which authors have given many specific names, but
which I regard as varieties only of one and the same species.
The Physa (P. humerosa), also though a well marked form in cer-
tain respects, I am inclined to place as simply a southern or warm
climate variety of the widespread P. heterostropha Say, which in-
habits an area extending from the Atlantic seaboard, to the Great
Slave lake in the north, to the Pacific coast on the west, and is
found also in Utah Lake.

And here I would remark that I do not assert that the distri-
bution of these several molluscan forms may not have been
through other channels and by other lines; from the Sierra pér-
haps, down its eastern flank or from some point or points in the
coast range further to the east.

There are other agencies and methods of distribution, which I
will refer to briefly, before closing. The Axodonte, for instance,
when young, sometimes attach themselves, by their valves, to
the fins of fishes, and are carried to new localities in this
way, as well as by being swept along by streams. Physa
and Planorbis in their embryonic stage are contained in a soft
and sticky mass of jelly; this gelatinous mass adheres to the
legs and feathers of birds, especially aquatic species, and is car-
ried often to great distances from the original habitat ; again tor-
nadoes and water spouts act as distributing agents, taking up the

waters of lakes and streams, and the chips and twigs which fre--

quently abound therein, and transporting the same to places many
miles away, where they are deposited, sometimes, in other streams
or ponds. It is quite common to find the sticky egg-mass as well
as adult individuals of the fresh water snails, adhering to such
objects.

And now after a somewhat prolonged and perhaps tiresome

journey over a rather wide region, pursuing such suggestions as.

have been evolved from time to time during the progress of our
inquiry, let us return to the place of beginning, where I will con-
clude by repeating the noteworthy facts, perhaps without parallel
elsewhere, namely the level of the Southern Pacific Railroad in
the Colorado desert, as compared with that of the ocean. Here

we have several miles of railway upon a plane nearly 200 feet be-.

low the sea level, and locomotives supplied with fresh water from
a well 240 feet below the level of the ocean; the latter, if not the

deepest, being certainly one of the remarkable wells of the world. _

1879. | Distribution of the North American Flora. 155
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN
FLORA

BY SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER.

Wee countries beyond the seas we may visit, in the

temperate regions of the globe, we find that their vegetation
has been invaded, and in many cases profoundly modified by
immigrant plants from other countries, and these are in almost
all cases natives of North-western Europe. Nearly forty years
ago I arrived at night at the Falkland islands, when a boat was
sent ashore to communicate the ship’s arrival to the Governor;
and, being eager to know something of the vegetation of the
islands, I asked the officer in charge of the boat to pluck for me
any plants he could feel for, as it was too dark to see anything,
and the armful he brought to me consisted of nothing but the
English shepherd’s purse. On another occasion, landing on a
small uninhabited island,? nearly at the Antipodes, the first evi-
dence I met with of its having been previously visited by man,
was the English chickweed; and this I traced toa mound that
marked the grave of a British sailor, and that was covered with
the plant, doubtless the offspring of seed that had adhered to the
spade or mattock with which the grave had been dug.

It was hence no surprise to me to find myself, on landing at
Boston last summer, greeted by Western European plants that
had established themselves as colonists in New England. Of
these the first was the wild chicory, growing far more luxuriantly
than I ever saw it do elsewhere, forming a tangled mass of stems
and branches, studded with turquoise-blue blossoms, and covering
acres of ground; the very next piants that attracted my attention

were the oxeye-daisy and Mayweed, which together whitened the
banks in some places, and which I subsequently tracked more
than half way across the continent. !

These, and more than two hundred and fifty other Old England
plants, which are now peopling New England, were for the most
part fellow-emigrants and fellow-colonists with the Anglo-Saxon,
having (as seeds) accompanied him across the Atlantic, and hav-
ing, like him, asserted their supremacy over and displaced a cer-
tain number of natives of the soil.

1A lecture by Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, K.C.S.I., Pres. R. S., delivered on
April 12, 1878, before the members of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. [Re-
EIT from the Gardeners’ Chronicle, August, 1878. i o

2 Lord Aukland’s island, south of New Zealand

156 Distribution of the North American Flora. [ March,

Turning to the hotter parts of North America, the same pro-
cess of invasion by natives of the Old World is going on: a
British-Indian plant! has established itself in the streets of Savan-
nah, and so entirely simulated the habit of a native weed, that
American botanists gave it a new name, regarding it as indigenous;

and one of the most curious cases of plant invasion known to me

is that of the mango tree in Jamaica, which reminds one of the
accounts of captured tribes, which, after being carried into their
conqueror’s country, have so increased and multiplied, as event-
ually to dispossess and supplant their captors. In 1782, Admiral
Rodney took a French ship, bound for St. Domingo from Bour-
bon, with living plants of the cinnamon, jack-fruit and mango,
sent to the botanical gardens of the former island by that of the
latter. These undistinguished prizes the Admiral presented to
the Jamaica Botanical Gardens.

There the cinnamon was carefully fostered, but proved to be
(as it is to this day) difficult of culture in the island; whilst the
mango, which was neglected, became in eleven years as common
as the orange, spreading over lowlands and mountains from the
sea-level to five thousand feet above it. On the abolition of
slavery immense tracts of land, especially coffee estates, relapsed
to a state of nature, and the mango being a favorite fruit with the
blacks, its stones were flung about everywhere, giving rise to
groves along the roadsides and settlements ; and the fruit of these
again, rolling down hill, gave rise to forests in the valleys and on
their slopes. The effect of this spread of the mango has been to. -
cover hundreds of thousands of acres, and to ameliorate the
climate of what were dry and barren districts, by producing
moisture and shade, and by retaining the rainfalls that had pre-
viously evaporated, besides affording food for several months of
the year to both negroes and horses. It may well be, that by
future generations in Jamaica, Admiral Rodney will be known
less for his victory over Count Grasse, and being the first to
“break the enemy’s line”’ than as the capturer of the mango tree
in the Spanish Main.

And it is the same in all countries colonized by the Anglo-
Saxon ; so firmly have the plants he has brought with him estab-
lished their foot, or rather, roothold in the soil, that were he and 2
all other evidence of his occupation to disappear from North _

1 Fragaria indica Andr. (Potentilla durandii Torr. and Gr.).

1879. ] Distribution of the North American Flora. 157

America, these, his fellow-emigrants, would remain as witnesses
of his former presence, not only on the shores and in the forests
of the older States, but in the interior prairie and. the newly set-
tled valleys of the Rocky mountains themselves.

Time does not permit me to dwell longer upon this subject of
immigration during the historic period. I must now hasten to
consider the flora of North America as it was for an indefinite
period before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon, embracing pre-
_ historic and geological epochs; we have to regard this flora as a
whole, and as subdivisible into local floras, characterized by the
prevalence of certain assemblages of plants; to connect these
local floras with the geographical features of the areas they
occupy; to account for their position and composition by a refer-
ence.to the countries from which their components may have been
derived, and to the means of communication which exist, or ~~
in former times have existed with these countries.

Before proceeding with this inquiry I will indicate, with the
aid of the map, those prominent features of North American
geography, which have regulated the distribution of its plants.

Physical Conformation of America —In the Arctic regions the
three northern continents approach, and the hydrography and
geography of these regions favor the assumption that in former
times they may have been connected. Next we observe that in
the American continent (unlike the European and Asiatic), the
great obstacles to the intermingling of floras, the mountain chains,
are longitudinal ; as are the principal valleys, which are the great
aids to their diffusion. If we now run a section across the conti-
nent along its principal parallel (that near 40°), which approxi-
-mately coincides with the isotherm of 55°, we find that it (see p.
5), represents tolerably well any other parallel to it in those
meridians in which there is the greatest development of a tem-
perate vegetation. Commencing on the east, there is first the
Atlantic seaboard, bounded to the westward by mountain ranges of
moderate elevation (rarely attaining 6000 feet), which under various
names extend from New Brunswick, in lat. 48°, to Alabama and
Georgia, in lat. 34° (and which have been collectively called the
Appalachian chain). Westward of this chain are the broad, low
well-watered valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri, the
latter in its intersection with our principal parallel being nearly:
midway across the continent and 1 300 Lexi st the ae ee

VOL, XIII,-—-NO, III, II

158 Distribution of the North American Flora. -[March,

From the Missouri the ascent is very gradual to the elevated
region of the Rocky mountains, which consist of a complicated
series of rocky ridges rarely exceeding 14,000 feet elevation,
occupying a belt 300 miles broad from east to west. These
ridges inclose very large, well-watered, open grassy valleys, called
Parks, the rivers from which usually discharge from the range
through narrow gorges, called cañons.

The parks and valleys to the east of the mountainous belt
present the gray-green (grassy) vegetation of the prairie, those on _
the west, the hoary sage-bush (Artemisia) vegetation of the dry
country to the westward; and these often intersect, so that a
transverse ridge may separate a green and well-watered park from
a hoary and dry one.

The descent from the Rocky mountains on the west is on to a
tract elevated upwards of 4000 feet above the sea, extending for
400 miles to the foot of the Sierra Nevada. This tract is inter-
sected by several short ranges 8000 feet high and upwards; its
climate is dry, its soil saline, and many of its rivers lose them-
selves in salt lakes and marshes, whence the local names of Great
basin, and of the Sink, Salt-lake and Desert regions. The Sierra
Nevada succeeds, rising steeply to an elevation of 12,000 and
sometimes of 15,000 feet. Under various names it traverses
America, with little interruption, from Alaska to Southern Cali-
fornia, at a distance of one hundred to one hundred and fifty
miles from the Pacific; but its breadth is nowhere so great as
that of the Rocky mountains. The descent from it to the west- -
ward is into the great valley of California, whose floor is raised
but little above the sea-level, and between which and the Pacific
are the low and narrow coast ranges, of which the southernmost.
in Southern California unites with the Sierra Nevada.

Turning now to the flora of North America north of the tropic,
we find that the distribution of its plants is in remarkable con-
formity with its geographical and climatal features, being in mer-
idional belts from the Arctic ocean to the gulf of Mexico; the
botanical components of these belts differing more and more in
advancing south, till in the principal parallel that we have traced,
the diversity between the eastern and western belts is greater
than between any two similarly situated regions on the globe.

Polar Area. —Commencing i in the Polar area, the Arctic Ameri-
can flora, though on the wagle a uniform one, is dadota divini

Rupee Pt ary S E E a T a TaD tear Nn Aer A AE ORE ES S A a Meany eee? AA EA a S EN ¥

1879. ] Distribution of the North American Flora. 159

ble into three; the first extends from Behring’s straits to the
mouth of the McKenzie river, and is marked by the presence of
certain Asiatic genera and species that advance no farther east-
ward ; the second extends thence onwards to Baffin’s bay, and
presents various American genera and species not found either
eastward or westward of it; and the third is that of Greenland,
which is almost exclusively European, and presents several
anomalies which I shall hereafter discuss. Besides this eastern
and western distribution of the Arctic flora, it streams southward
along the three meridional mountain chains of the continent.

British North American Flora.—South of the Arctic flora is
that of the British possessions, that is, of temperate America
north of the 47th parallel; it consists of a mixture of North
European, North Asiatic and American genera, in very different
proportions, disposed in five meridional belts. 1, to the eastward,
the Canadian forest region; 2, the woodless region, a continua-
tion of the prairie region farther south; 3, the Rocky mountain
region, where Mexican genera appear; 4, a dry region, a contin-
uation of the Desert or Sink regions to the south of it; and 5,
the Pacific region, which assimilates very closely in its vegetation -
to that of Kamtschatka.

United States Flora.—It is on entering the United States that
the flora of temperate North America attains its great develop-
ment of genera and species in all the meridians, and that the
boundaries of the meridional belts of vegetation are most strictly
defined.

I. The great eastern forest region, extending over half the
continent, and consisting of mixed deciduous and evergreen
trees, reaches from the Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi, dwind-
ling away as it ascends the western feeders of that river on the
prairie. It is noteworthy for the number of kinds especially of
deciduous trees and shrubs that are to be found in it, even ona
very limited area. Of this I shall select two examples from my >
journal. One was a patch of native forest a few miles from St.

Louis, on the Missouri, where in a little more than half an hour,

and less than a mile’s walk, I saw forty kinds of timber trees,’

including eleven of oak, two of maple, two of elm, three of ash, 7s

two of walnut, six of hickory, three of willow and one each of

1For the indication and names of them I am indebted to Di Se of St.
Louis, who took me to the forest. —

160 Distribution of the North American Flora, [March,

plane, lime, hornbeam, hop-hornbeam, laurus, drospyros, poplar,
birch, mulberry and horse-chestnut; together with about half
that number of shrubs.

The other example was afforded me by Goat island, which
divides the great cataract of Niagara, and covers less ground
than Kew Gardens. Here the vegetation was more boreal and
less varied than in Missouri; but with Dr. Gray’s aid I counted
thirty kinds of trees, of which three were oaks and three poplars,
together with nearly twenty different shrubs.

I know of no temperate region of the globe in which any
approach to this aggregation of different trees and shrubs could
be seen in such limited areas, and perhaps no tropical one could
afford a parallel.

No less remarkable is the composition of the flora of the East-
ern States. Prof. Gray has shown that most of its genera are
common to Europe and Asia, but that very many are all but con-
fined to North-eastern Asia and Western America. This generic
identity, however, gives but a faint idea of the close relationship
between the East American and East Asiatic, especially the Jap-
anese, floras, for there is further specific identity in about two
hundred and thirty cases, and very close representation in upwards
of three hundred and fifty ; and what is most curious is, that there
are not a few very singular genera, of which only two species are
known, one in East Asia, the other in East America; and in some
of these instances the Asiatic species is a wide-spread plant in
East Asia, whilst the American is an extremely scarce and local ©
plant in its country, which with other considerations render it con-
ceivable that the Asiatic element in East America is a dying-out
one.

Leaving out of consideration the purely American genera of
this flora, there remain the genera common to Europe, Asia and
America; the genera confined to America and Asia; and the
genera confined to America and Europe. I shall give an illus-
tration of the proportions in which these occur by a reference to `
the principal trees and large shrubs only, their names being
familiar to you, though the smaller shrubs and herbs afford
infinitely more numerous and striking examples ; thus, of those
common to the three northern continents, I find in America
thirty-eight genera with about one hundred and fifty species; these
include maples, ashes, hollies, elms, planes, oaks, chestnuts, nut, a

1879. | Distribution of the North American Flora. 161

hornbeam, birches, alders, willows, beech, poplars, &c. Of those
confined to America and East Asia I find in America thirty-three
genera and fifty-five species, including magnolias, tulip tree,
negundo, wistaria, Virginia creeper, gleditschia, hydrangea, liquid-
amber, nyassa, tecoma, catalpa, diospyros, sassafras, benzoin, mul-
berry, walnut and others which, not being European, are unfamil-
iar to you. Lastly, of those confined to Europe and America I
find only one genus, namely, the hop-hornbeam, of which there
is but a single representative in each country.

Here, then, is conclusive evidence of the close botanical rela-
tionship of North-eastern Asia and Eastern North America; a
relationship of which there is but little evidence in the vegetation
of the prairies and Rocky mountains, and still less, perhaps, in the
regions farther west.

lII. The prairie region succeeds a grassy land with many pecu-
liar herbaceous American- genera, including Mexican types, of
which last the most conspicuous are a yucca and cacti, which lat-
ter increase in number as the Rocky mountains are approached,
where they form a noticeable feature in the landscape.

In the parks and lower valleys of the Rocky mountains, decid-
uous trees are few and scattered, and the forest is an open one of
conifers, amongst which a pine, allied to the American nut-pines,
P. edulis, first appears. Higher on the mountains the coniferous
forests are dense, and almost the only deciduous tree is an aspen,
which forms impenetrable brakes on the slopes and in the gullies.
Above the forest region are the sub-alpine and alpine regions,
presenting a mixture of European, Asiatic and American types.

III. Descending to the Sink region the cacti and yucca almost
disappear, though they increase to a maximum farther south in
this meridian. Deciduous trees are very few, and confined to the
gullies of the mountains, and Mexican genera increase in num-
bers. The hoary sage-bush (Artemisia) covers immense tracts of
dry soil, and saline plants occupy the more humid districts.

Another nut-pine of Mexican affinity (P. monophylla) traverses
the center of this region in a narrow meridional strip, and the
proportion of endemic plants, herbaceous especially, is very
large. `
IV. The Sierra Nevada is clothed with the most gigantic conif- o
erous forest to be found on the globe, amongst which a wy kw
species of deciduous trees are scattered; but none of t! are

162 Distribution of the North American Flora. [ March,

identical with trees of the eastern forests, though several are rep-
resentative of them. New Mexican genera occur at all elevations
from the crest of the range to its base, and thence extend across
the Californian valley and the coast-ranges to the Pacific, mixed
with northern West American genera and species.

In this slight outline of the botanical features of temperate and
Arctic North America, I have alluded to three as most note-
worthy, namely: the vegetation of Greenland, the Asiatic char- `
acter of the vegetation of the eastern half of the continent, and
the more southern and even Mexican character of the vegetation
of the western half. How are these features to be accounted for ?

It so happened that Dr. Gray, Prof. of Botany in Harvard Col-
lege (Cambridge), and I were contemporaneously, but without con-
cert, engaged in botanical investigations which have resulted in
explanations of the two first features. He was at work on the
flora of Japan,} I on that of the Polar zone, and we were both
bringing to bear upon our subjects considerations regarding the
variation of species which Mr. Darwin? almost simultaneously
laid before the public, and which, I need not say, powerfully
directed our studies.

The Greenland Flora—TI shall take the vegetation of Greenland
first, as being first in order, though second in date of appearance
and least in importance. Its chief peculiarities are: 1, that its
plants are almost all of them Scandinavian (that is, North-west `
European), hardly any of the peculiar plants of the American
arctic sea-coast and polar islands crossing Baffin’s bay and Davis
straits; 2, that of its three hundred flowering plants hardly any
present even a variation from their Scandinavian prototypes ; 3,
that it is poorer in species than is any other division of the arctic
flora, and wants many Scandinavian plants that are found in most
other arctic countries; 4, that though Greenland extends four
hundred miles south of the Arctic circle, its extra-arctic continu-
ation adds only about one hundred species to the flora, and these

1 « Observations upon the Relations of the Japanese Flora to that of North Amer-
ica, and of other parts of the North Temperate Zone.” Memoirs of the American
Academy of Sciences, Vol. vi, p. 377- Read December 14, 1858, and January 11,
: x Outlines of the Distribution of Arctic Plants.” Read before the Linnæan Soci-
ety of London, June 21, 1860. Trans. Linn. Soc., XXIII, p. 257.

3 « On the Tendency a Species to form Varieties,’’ by C. Darwin, Esq., F.R.S., and
Alf. Wallace, Es]. Read July 1, 1858. Journal of the pene of the Linnaan
Soc ety of London, Vol. 111 a p. 45-

163

1879.]

Distribution of the North American Flora.

Valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio

Obio River.

i Alleghany
Mountains, ,

€

:
Site mate

Wooded region, of chiefly deciduous trees, Many Eastern Asiatic genera,

E-E

2 S
omg DE ulme fp E
S Range = Desete, or È o&

Coniferous region, heavily Saline region, nearly treee Grasaed and loosely-timbered coni- Grasced region.
timbered, with chiefly ever- less, with sage-bush (Arte- ferous — cacti below ; alpine
green trees, misia). region above.
w. es —
Many Mexican genera.

Section of Nofth American Continent in about Lat, 40°.

all cross the Arctic circle in other longitudes; 5, some Greenland or :
Species are confined to it and to the mountains on the Atlantic

164 Distribution of the North American Flora. [March,

side of America, being found nowhere else in Arctic or Sub-
arctic America.

My explanation of these anomalies was, that at a period pre-
vious to the glacial, a flora common to Scandinavia and Greenland
was spread over the American polar area, and that on the acces-
sion of the cold of that period this flora was driven southwards,
and was affected differently in different longitudes. In Greenland
many species were exterminated, being as it were driven into the
sea at the southern extremity of the peninsula, where only the
hardiest survived. On the return of warmth the Greenland sur-
vivors migrated northward, peopling the peninsula with the
hardiest of the species of its former flora, unmixed with American
species; and unchanged in aspect from never having been
brought into competition with those of any other flora. On the
other hand, the same Scandinavian plants when driven south on
the plains of the continent multiplied there in individuals, and
being brought into competition with American species descend-
ing from the continental mountains on to the plains, assumed
varietal forms. On the return of warmth, therefore, many Scan-
dinavian species that had been exterminated in Greenland would,
having survived on the continent, travel northwards on it, some
unchanged, others under varietal forms, accompanied with the
American species that had descended from the mountains during
the cooling of the continent. Lastly, as some of the Scandina-
vian species were no doubt local, and confined to near the merid-
ian of Greenland, it is not surprising to find that a few such
should survive only in Greenland and on the eastern alps of
North America.

Thus only could I satisfactorily account for the almost complete
identity of the Greenland flora with the Scandinavian after such
changed conditions of climate; for the paucity of its species ;
for the absence in it of varieties; for the rarity in it of peculiarly
American species; for the few species which extra-arctic Green-
land adds to its arctic flora; and for certain of its plants being
limited in range to Greenland and the eastern American alps.

North Asiatic and North American Floras—The rélationship
between the flora of North-east Asia and Eastern North America
has been fully explained by Dr. Asa Gray, in an essay on the
flora of Japan, which is the first entirely satisfactory contribution
_of its kind to the science of botanical geography known to me.

1879. | Distribution of the North American Flora. 165

After a detailed comparison of the botany of Japan and North
America, and proving their affinity, Prof. Gray refers to the fact
that many of the existing genera and even species of both floras
coéxisted in the high latitudes of America during Miocene times,
as shown by Heer and other palzontologists; during which
period he further assumes that the three northern continents were
conjoined, or so nearly contiguous as to allow of a commingling
of their floras.

The glacial period followed, carrying an arctic climate south to
the latitude of the Ohio, but so gradually, that these plants were
not exterminated, but wholly or in part driven southward, fol-
lowed in the rear by the arctic vegetation. As the temperature
rose with the retreating ice, this flora returned northward, leaving
the arctic and sub-arctic plants on the mountains of both East
and West America.

‘He next shows that the retreat northward was to a somewhat
higher latitude than the same plants now attain; and this he
accounts for by a reference to the fluvial epoch of Dana,’ when
the region of the great lakes was submerged five hundred feet
below their present level. This diminished area and lowered
elevation of the land, by inducing a milder climate than now
obtains inthe lake region, favored the extension of the flora to a
higher latitude than it now attains, and hence effected a second
commingling of American and Asiatic plants. Lastly, Dana's
Terrace epoch supervened, when the previously depressed northern
region was again raised, cooling the climate, finally dissociating
the Asiatic and American floras, and giving to the arctic and sub-
arctic plants of the continent their present limits.

It remains now to account for the great rarity of East Asiatic
types in America west of the prairies, and the presence in those
meridians of Mexican and still more southern ones. Hitherto
there have been no other attempts at a solution of this problem
than such unsupported speculations as that the western half of
the continent, though so much the loftier, was submerged during
the southern migration of the northern miocene plants; or that
the climate of the West was unsuited to the habits of these, which

1 Whilst these pages were still in the press, Prof. Gray has informed me that he
now lays little stress on the conditions suppesed to be due to the terrace and fluvial
~ epochs; and that he is rather disposed to consider the separation of the northern

floras by the Glacial epoch to have been final.

166 Distribution of the North American Flora. [ March,

appears to me to be at variance with the fact that when imported
into it they thrive luxuriantly.

The explanation which I have to offer will be best understood
by a reference to the section (p. 163), which shows the western half
of the continent to be enormously elevated as compared with the
eastern, and to have been singularly adapted for the retention
of vast bodies of ice for long after the Glacial period. We find
. there a valley (the desert region), upwards of four hundred miles
- broad, and upwards of four thousand feet elevation, with many
ranges of over eight thousand feet in it, bounded by broad and
lofty mountains, together occupying at least two-thirds of the
breadth of the western half of the continent. We further know
that these mountains were clothed with ice during the Glacial
epoch, and that the valley was then occupied by a vast lake; for
on the uppermost of the many shelves which the retiring waters
of this lake cut on the flanks of the Rocky mountains and Sierra
Nevada, the skull of the musk-ox, the most arctic of land quad-
rupeds, has been found.

It is obvious that this whole western region must have retained
its glacial mantle for an incalculable period after Eastern America
had been sufficiently warmed to admit of the northward return of
the plants that had been driven southward in it; and that this
glaciated condition must have effectually barred a similar return
of the same plants in those western meridians, these must have
perished, in short, on reaching Southern California. Long.ages
after, when the western ice disappeared, and the climate of the
valleys warmed, the Mexican and more southern plants would, as _
a matter of course, take possession of the unoccupied soil, and
advance northward till they encountered the boreal vegetation of
North-western America, with which they now commingle.

I have said that the extinction of East Asiatic types in Western
America was not total; a few escapes are found in the valleys of
the Rocky mountains and Sierra Nevada,! and also along the
coast of the Pacific, the warming influence of which favored their
preservation during the northern migration.

The Sequoias.—Two instances of these escapes are of such inter-
est that I shall, in concluding this lecture, bring them under your

1 And also on the highlands of Central Mexico, where some Asiatic types remain

which have not migrated farther north or south in Anterica. Such are the —
Asiatic genera Bocconia, Meliosma, Photinia, Cotoneaster, Deutzia and Abelia i

1879. | Distribution of the.North American Flora. 167

notice; they are those giants of the vegetable kingdom, the
Sequoias, the red-wood (S. sempervirens), and the “ big-tree” or
“Wellingtonia ” (S. gigantea).

The fossil remains of these trees, or species most ahosely allied to
them, are found in Miocene beds in high latitudes all round the
globe; in Vancouver’s island, Sitka, on the arctic American sea-
ceast, in Greenland, Spitzbergen and in arctic Asia, &c. The
genus, therefore, which first appeared in the Cretaceous times,’
was undoubtedly a member of that mixed Americano-Asiatic
flora that was driven southward during the Glacial period. The
genus is now confined to Western North America, and to the two
above-named species, but it is represented in Eastern America by
the very closely allied genus Taxodium, and in Eastern Asia by
Glyptostrobus,

The distribution of the two Sequoias is most instructive. The
red-wood forms a dense narrow forest tract for about five hundred
miles, skirting the ocean, along whose warmer shore it crept
northward after the Glacial epoch. It rivals in height its sister of
the Sierra, and attains an enormous girth and age, though I can
find no account of any attempt having been made to estimate its
age.

The S. gigantea, or “big-tree” (the Wellingtonia of British
gardens), again, is a plant of a cooler climate; and hence, having
survived the glacial cold, was enabled to establish itself in the
Sierra Nevada under certain very restricted conditions. It extends
at intervals along the western slope of the Sierra to a little north
and south of the parallels of 36° and 38° N., that is, for nearly
two hundred miles in a north-west and south-east direction, at
elevations of five thousand to eight thousand feet above the sea.
Towards the north the trees occur as very small, isolated, remote
groves of a few hundreds each, most of them old and interspersed
amongst gigantic pines, spruces and firs, which appear as if
encroaching upon them; such are the groves visited by tourists
(Calaveras, Mariposa, &c.). To the south, on the contrary, the
big-trees form a colossal forest, forty miles long and three to
ten broad, whose continuity is broken only by the deep sheer-
walled cafions that intersect the mountains ; here they displace all
other trees, and are described as rearing to the sky their massive

_ towns; whilst seen from a distance the forest presents the appear-

ance of green waves of vegetation, gracefully following the com-

168 Distribution of the North American Flora. [ March,

plicated topography of the ridges and river basins which it
clothes.

But by far the most remarkable fact hitherto reported regarding
the disposition of the groves is, that they occupy only those
spots in the Sierra which were first laid bare when its icy mantle
became broken up into isolated glaciers. Thus, commencing at
the north, the gap of forty miles between the Calaveras and
Tuolomne groves was occupied by the great glacier of the Tuo-
lomne and Stanislaus rivers; that between the Merced and Mari-
posa groves by the glacier of the Merced river, which sculptured
the famous Yosemite valley ; and so on—each’ successive group
of trees occupying a lofty spur between the sites of ancient
glaciers, and the greatest continuous extension of the forest (of
forty miles) occurring exactly where, owing to the topographical
peculiarities of the region, the ground was most perfectly pro-
tected from great fields of ice.

Mr. Muir, a very intelligent and accurate observer, who has
studied the groves throughout their length and breadth most
diligently, and to whom I am indebted for the above and much
other information regarding the southern forest of Big-trees, con-
siders that these have never since the Glacial epoch been more
widely distributed or in greater vigor than now, and doubts,
indeed, if the forests have reached their prime, founding his
opinion on the high state of health of the mass of the trees, the
multitude of seedlings and saplings in the southern groves, and
the absence of any trace of trees having existed outside the
present limits of the groves (as of dead trees, stumps, or the great
holes left by fallen trees).

Size of the Big Trees.—So little that is trustworthy has hitherto
been published regarding the age, size and durability of the Big-
tree trunks when fallen, that I shall offer you some accurate data
which I obtained on these points chiefly from Mr. Muir. A tree
felled in 1875 had no appearance of age, it was 69 feet in girth inside
the bark, and the number of annual rings counted by three persons
varied between 2125 and 2139. Another was 107 feet in girth
inside the bark at four feet from the ground; its wood was very
compact, and showed, throughout a considerable portion of the

1 «Qn the Post-Glacial History of Seguota gigantea,” by John Muir, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal, Proceedings of the Amer. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, Buf-
falo meeting, Aug., 1876. ee s

1879. ] Distribution of the North American Flora. 169

trunk thirty annular rings to the inch. This,if the rings were of uni-
form diameter in the rest of the trunk, would give the incredible
age of 6400 years; but as the interior rings of such trees are
much broader than the outer, half that number to the inch is a
more conceivable estimate, which would give an age of 3200
years. The only other instance of careful counting of rings
which I can find is that of the felled tree in the Calaveras grove,
which measured seventy feet girth inside the bark at six feet
above the ground, and which at forty feet above the ground had
1255 rings. In this case the rings next the bark were thirty-three
to the inch, a number which at five feet inward had diminished
one-half. The result of many measurements, chiefly by Prof.
Whitney, gives, as the average height of full-grown trees, 275
feet, and a maximum a little over 320; a girth outside the bark,
at six feet above the ground, of seventy, with a maximum of
120; whilst the maximum age possibly attained may be 4000
years, though this is very improbable.

The duration of the dead wood in the forest is very great. I
rarely observed signs of rot in the fallen trees I examined, whilst
in similar forests in North California I saw gigantic trunks of
silver firs forming mounds of rotten dééris without an atom of
sound wood, and this in two years after their fall, as I was
assured, I had no data for ascertaining the length of time during
which any of the prostrate Sequoia trunks which I saw may have
lain on the ground, but Mr. Muir has supplied me with a very
crucial case. It is that of a prostrate trunk with no signs of
decay in any part of it, which had been burnt in two by a forest
fire, and in the trench between the severed portions of which a
silver fir grew. This fir was felled, and had 380 annual rings ;
therefore, to estimate the time during which the Sequoia trunk
had lain uninjured, we must add to the 380 years, first the time it
lay before the forest fire burnt it in two, and then the unknown
interval between that time and the arrival of the silver fir seed.

_ The millenia during which these Sequoia trees must have
remained čz statuo quo, proving the long duration of existing con-
ditions of climate, are but as minutes compared with the time
occupied by the migration of this very species, or its ancestors,
1 Very careful measurements of the trees in = Calaveras and Mariposa groves

ar
given by Prof. Whitney (State Geol ogist) in the Yosemite Guide-Book, a
under the tampa of the Geological Survey p California (1874).

170 Distribution of the North American Flora. [March,

north and south in the continent of America. Whatever might
otherwise be the extent of the Sequoia’s travels, they are now at
an end. Man has pronounced the sentence, “ Thus far shalt thou
go, and no farther!” The doom of these noble groves is sealed.
No less than five saw-mills have recently been established in the
most luxuriant of them, and one of these mills alone cut in 1875
two millions feet of Big-tree lumber; and a company has lately
been formed to cut another grove. In the operations of the
California wood-cutters the waste is prodigious. The young,
manageable trees are first felled ; after which the forest is fired to
clear the ground and get others out, and thus the saplings are
destroyed. More destructive still are the operations of the sheep-
farmers, who fire the herbage to improve the grazing, and whose
flocks of tens of thousands of sheep devour every green thing,
and more effectually than the locust. The devastation of the
California forest is proceeding at a rate which is utterly incredible,
except to an eye witness. It is true that a few of the most insig-
nificant groves of the Big-trees at the northern extreme of its
range are protected by the State Legislature, and that a law has
been enacted forbidding the felling of trees over fifteen feet in
diameter, but there is no law to prevent the cutting or burning of
the saplings, on which the perpetuation of the grove depends, or
to prevent the burning of the old trees, which, if they do escape
the fire, will succumb to the drought which the sweeping away of
the environing forest will occasion.

During the last quarter of a century the Anglo-Saxon has
been ruthlessly carrying fire and the saw into the forests of Cali-
fornia, destroying what he could not use, and sparing neither
young nor old, and before a century is out the two Sequoias may
be known only as herbarium specimens and garden ornaments ;
indeed, with regard to the Big-tree, the noblest of the noble con-
iferous race, the present generation, which has actually witnessed
its discovery, may live to say of it, that “ The place which knew
it shall know it no more,”

,

1879.] Origin of the Specialized Teeth of the Carnivora. 171

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIALIZED TEETH OF THE
CARNIVORA.

BY E D COPE.

HE specially developed teeth of the Carnivora are the canines
and sectorials. The former are large in many orders of Mam-
malia, and their origin is probably to be sought among the Thero-
-morphous reptilia as Clepsydrops and Deuterosaurus, if not in
still lower types. The successive modifications of form which
have resulted in the existing specialized single sectorial tooth of
the Felide have been already pointed out.? They were shown to
consist in the gradual obliteration of the internal and posterior
tubercles and the enlargement of the external anterior tubercle in
connection with an additional anterior tubercle. The modifica-
tion in the character of the dentition taken as a whole, was shown
to consist in the reduction in the number of teeth, including the
sectorials, until in Fets, etc., we have almost thc entire function
of the molar series confined to a single large sectorial in each jaw.
Observation on the movements of the jaws of Carnivora shows
that they produce a shearing motion of the inferior on the su-
perior teeth. This is quite distinct from the sub-horizontal move-
ment of Ruminants, or the vertical motion of hogs and mon-
keys. Examination of the crowns of the sectorials shows that
the inner side of the superior, and the external side of the in-
ferior, are worn in the process of mastication. The attempt to
cut the tough and stringy substances found in animal bodies,
is best accomplished by the shearing of the outer edge of the
lower molar on the inner edge of the external tubercles of the
superior molar in an animal with simple tubercular teeth. The
width of the mandible is too great to allow the inferior teeth to
shear on the inner edge of the inner tubercles of the superior
Series. The cusps of both superior and inferior teeth engaged in
this process, have developed in elevation, at the expense of those
_ not engaged in it, viz: the internal cusps of the same teeth. The
_ atrophy of the latter cannot have been due to friction, since the in-
ternal cusps of the inferior series which have not been subjected to
it, are reduced like those of the superior sectorial, which have. In-
deed, it is possible that some of the Creodonta, the carnivores of
1 American Naturalist 1878 p. 829.
* Cope, Proceedings Academy Philada., 1865, p. 22.

%

172 Origin of the Specialized Teeth of the Carnivora. [March,

the lower Eocene, may have been derived from ancestors without
or with rudimental inner cusps. In any case the effect of use in
lengthening the cusps appears to have operated in the Carnivora,
as it has done to a greater degree in the Ungulata; and the lat-
eral vertical wear would appear to have resulted in the blade-form,
as transverse wear in the Ungulates has resulted in the plane
grinding surface.

The specialization of one tooth to the exclusion of others as a
sectorial, appears to be due to the following causes. It is to be ob-
served in the first place that when a carnivore devours a carcass, it
cuts off masses with its sectorials, using them as shears. In so doing
it brings the part to be divided to the angle or canthus of the soft
walls of the mouth, which is at the front ofthe masseter muscle. At
this point, the greatest amount of force is gained, since the weight
is thus brought immediately to the power, which would not be
the case were the sectorial situated much in front of the masse-
ter. On the other hand the sectorial could not be situated far-
ther back, since it would then be inaccessible to a carcass or mass
too large to be taken into the mouth.

The position of the sectorial tooth being thus shown to be depen-
dent on that of the masseter muscle, it remains to ascertain a
probable cause for the relation of the latter to the dental series
in modern Carnivora. Why, for instance, were not the last mo-
lars modified into sectorial teeth in these animals, as in the ex-
tinct Hyaenodon, and various Creodonta. The answer obviously is
to be found in the development of the prehensile character of the
canine teeth. It is probable that the gape of the mouth in the
Hyaenodons, was very wide, since the masseter was situated rel-
atively far posteriorly. In such an animal the anterior parts of
the jaws with the canines had little prehensile power, as their
form and anterior direction also indicates. They doubtless
snapped rather than lacerated their enemies. The same habit is
seen in the existing dogs, whose long jaws do not permit the lac-
erating power of the canines of the Fe/ide, though more effec-
tive in this respect than those of the Hyaenodons. The useful-
ness of a lever of the third kind, depends on the approximation
of the power to the weight; that is, in the present case, the more
anterior the position of the masseter muscle, the more effective
the canine teeth. Hence it appears that the relation of this mus-
cle to the inferior dental series depended originally on the use of

1879. | Grief in the Chimpanzee. M

the canines as prehensile and lacerating organs, and that its
insertion has advanced from behind forwards in the history of
carnivorous types. Thus it is that the only accessible molars,
the fourth above and the fifth below, have become specialized as
sectorials, while the fifth, sixth, and seventh have, firstly, remained
tubercular as in the dogs, or, secondly, have been lost, as in hy-
ænas and cats.

10!
GRIEF IN THE CHIMPANZEE.
BY ARTHUR E. BROWN.

OME months ago I called attention in the “Notes” of the
NATURALIST to several evidences of a high degree of mental
power on the part of the chimpanzee. One of the pair which, at
that time, was in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, has since
died, and the behavior of the surviving one on that occasion ap-
pears to me to bear somewhat on the acquired nature of the physi-
cal means by which our strongly excited emotions find relief, as
well as on the origin of those emotions themselves.

Among the lower animals, with the exception of some domes-
ticated varieties, any striking display of grief at the death or
Separation from an animal to the companionship of which they
had been accustomed, has rarely been observed, and although a
few statements of such occurences have been made by different
authorities, it is probable that the feeling of individual association,
or friendship—if the term may be so used—partakes too muc
of an abstract nature to be sufficiently developed in them to re-
tain much of a place in memory when the immediate association
be once past. This would seem to be the case even in one of the
Strongest of animal attachments—the maternal instinct—in which
the direct presence of the offspring, acting as a stimulus, calls forth
the emotion of the mother, which, strongly rooted as it appears
to be, contains much of a reflex nature and ceases on the disap-
pearance of its cause. And here let it be said, that although the
instinct of maternity and the sentiment of friendship perhaps
differ widely in their origin, yet in their manifestations they are
so nearly alike that the reverse feelings excited by any violence
done to them, need not and probably do not differ much in kind.

With the chimpanzee, the evidences of a certain degree of genu-
ine grief were well marked. The two animals had lived together

VOL. X1II,—No, III, 12

174 Grief in the Chimpanzee. | March,

for many months, and were much attached to each other; they
were seldom apart and generally had their arms about each
other’s neck; they never quarreled, even over a pretended display
of partiality by their keeper in feeding them, and if occasion re-
quired one to be handled with any degree of force, the other was
always prepared to do battle in its behalf on the first cry of fright.
After the death of the female, which took place early in the morn-
ing, the remaining one made many attempts to rouse her, and
when he found this to be impossible his rage and grief were pain-
ful to witness. Tearing the hair, or rather snatching at the short
hair on his head, was always one of his common expressions of
extreme anger, and was now largely indulged in, but the ordinary
yell of rage which he set up at first, finally changed to a cry which
the keeper of the animals assures me he had never heard before,
and which would be most nearly represented by hah-ah-ah-ah-
ah, uttered somewhat under the breath, and witha plaintive sound
like a moan. With this he made repeated efforts to arouse her,
lifting up her head and hands, pushing her violently and rolling
her over. After her body was removed from the cage—a pro-
ceeding which he violently opposed—he became more quiet, and
remained so as long as his keeper was with him, but catching
sight of the body once when the door was opened and again
when it was carried past the front of the cage, he became violent,
and cried for the rest of the day. The day following, he sat still
most of the time and moaned continuously—this gradually passed
away, however, and from that time he has only manifested a sense
of a change in his surroundings by a more devoted attachment to
his keeper, and a longer fit of anger when he leaves him. On
these occasions it is curious to observe that the plaintive cry first
heard when the female died, is frequently, though not always
made use of, and when present, is heard towards the close of the
fit of anger. It may well be that this sound having been special-
ized as a note of grief, and in this case never having previously
been called into use by the occurrence of its proper emotion, now
finds expression on the return of even the lesser degree .of the
same feeling given rise to by the absence of his keeper, and fol-
lows the first outbreak of rage in the same manner as the sobbing
of a child is the natural sequence of a passionate fit of crying.
It may be noted too, that as his attachment to his keeper is evi-
dently stronger than when there was another to divide with him

1879. ] Grief in the Chimpanzee. 175

the attention which they received, the grief now caused by the
man’s absence would naturally be much stronger and a more ex-
act representation of the gestures of grief would be made.

Notwithstanding the intensity of his sorrow at first, it seems
sufficiently evident that now a vivid recollection of the nature of
the past association is not present. To test this a mirror was
placed before him, with the expectation that on seeing a figure so
exactly like his lost mate, some of the customary signs of recog-
nition would take place, but even by caressing and pretending to
feed the figure in the glass, not a trace of the expected feeling
could be excited. In fact, the only visible indication of a change
of circumstances is that while the two of them were accustomed
to sleep at night in each other’s arms on a blanket on the floor,
which they moved from place to place to suit their conveni-
ence, since the death of the one; the other has invariably slept on
a cross-beam at the top of the cage, returning to inherited habit
and showing, probably, that the apprehension of unseen dangers
has been heightened by his sense of loneliness.

On looking over the field of animal emotion it seems evident
that any high degree of permanence in grief of this nature be-
longs only to man; slight indications of its persistence in mem-
ory are visible in some of the higher animals ard domesticated
races, but in most of them the feeling appears to be excited only
by the failure of the inanimate body, while present to the sight,
to perform the accustomed actions.

The foundation of the sentiment of grief is probably in a percep-
tion of loss sustained in being deprived of services which had been

of use. An unrestrained indulgence in an emotion so powerful as
this has become in its higher forms, would undoubtedly prevent due
attention to the bodily necessities of the animal subjected to it;
in man, its prostrating effects are mainly counteracted by an intel-
ligent recognition of the desirability of repairing the injury suf-
fered, and in him, therefore, the feeling may exist without serious
detriment to his welfare, but among the lower animals it would
seem probable that any tendency to its development would be
checked by its own destructive effects—the feeling, for instance,
would most frequently occur on the death of a mate—a deep and
lasting grief would then tend to prevent a new association of like
nature and would thus impede the performance of the first func-
_ tion of an animal in its relation to its kind—that of reproduction.

I 76 Pyrethreum Roseum in Killing Insects. [March,

EXPERIMENTS WITH PYRETHREUM ROSEUM IN
KILLING INSECTS.

BY W..L. CARPENTER, U.S.A.

N the August number of the AMERICAN NATURALIST appeared
an article on the carpet-beetle, by J. A. Lintner, in which the
statement was made, as nearly as I can now remember, that
“although he had never used Pyrethrum roseum as an insect
exterminator, he had no doubt that it would prove unavailing if
applied to the destruction of the Anthrenus? As it seemed
unfair to condemn without a trial what is generally regarded as a
useful insect poison, I resolved to test it experimentally; and now
present the result of several trials with different orders of
insects,

The insects were placed under a tumbler, which was slightly
raised to admit fresh air, and a small quantity of the Pyrethreum
roseum, or Persian Insect Powder of commerce, introduced on the
point of a pen-knife. The movements of the insects brought
them in contact with the powder, which readily adhered to the
body ; in attempting to remove it from their appendages a few
particles would be carried to the mouth and thus incorporated in
the juices of the stomach with fatal effect.

A honey-bee became perfectly helpless in fifteen minutes, a
mud-wasp in eight minutes, a small species of ant in five minutes ;
a small species of Pyralide became helpless in twenty minutes ;
the large Papilio asterias resisted the effects of the drug for over
one hour, and upon being released seemed to recover, but died
next day. A larva of one of the Woctuelite did not seem sus-
ceptible, its jaws were repeatedly filled with the powder, which it
invariably ejected by throwing out its juices; at the end of two
hours it was still able to crawl feebly. A house-fly became help-
less in ten minutes, a mosquito in fifteen minutes, a flea in three
minutes,

In experimenting upon the Coleoptera, an insect as nearly the
size of the carpet-beetle as could be found was secured in Dia-
brotica duodecim-punctata, an abundant species here. It was easily
affected and became helpless in twelve minutes. A small pinch
placed in the jaws of a large Carabus stopped locomotion in
thirty minutes. The Hemiptera, owing to their peculiarly shaped
mouths, were enabled to vigorously resist the baleful influence. —

1879. | Valentine. 177

A species of Coreus was active at the end of two hours, but was
ultimately overcome. A large sized katydid was deprived of
motion at the end of ten minutes; Ca/optenus spretus likewise in
eighteen minutes. A dragon-fly (Ledclulide) died in one hour.
Spiders succumbed in one hour and fifteen minutes. The scent
from the powder did not produce any bad effect upon insects sub-
jected to its odor where actual contact was not possible. But
when caried to the maxilla or mandibles, the effect is to produce
complete paralysis of the motor nerves. The legs are paralyzed
in regular order, commencing with the first pair; insects will
sometimes live for days in this condition, but death ultimately
results from the introduction into the mouth of the smallest
quantity. These experiments prove that all insects having open
mouth parts are peculiarly susceptible to this powerful drug.
And as a result, the writer does not hesitate to recommend the
powder to housekeepers as an infallible agent in destroying the
carpet-beetle and preventing its ravages. Twenty-five cents’ worth
of powder liberally sprinkled upon the floor before putting down
a carpet, and afterward freely placed around the edges and never
swept away, will suffice to preserve a large sized carpet. No ill
effects from its use need be feared by the household, since if ap-
plied in this way it will be only poisonous to all kinds of insects.

——:0:——
VALENTINE.

BY Foe W.

PPLE buds and blossoms bourgeon
All the hill-side over;
Rare and sweet the pledge and presage
Nature gives her lover.

Buds will blossom, blossoms wither
In the summer’s sun;

Trees will blush with rosy fruitage
When the summer’s done.

Harvest-time will come and gather
Fruits and yellow sheaves ;

Bud and flower and fruit will vanish;
Left to us, the leaves !

178 Recent Literature. [ March,

Leaves or blossoms—what doth matter ?
Phases of one thought;

Leaf in spring is fruit in autumn,
Bud-and-blossom bought.

Earth has tree and fruit within it;
Life and thought, the clod;
Stones spring up to love and duty

From the sun-kissed sod.
February rath.

-O%

RECENT LITERATURE.

Comstock’s OUTLINE OF GENERAL GEoLOoGyY.'—This neat little
volume of 80 duodecimo pages, is a and interesting, as it.
occupies a novel position among the many aids now furnished to
the student of this most comprehensive branch of physical sci-
ence. In his brief preface, the author explains its character, as
an amplified syllabus of his elementary lectures to a mixed class
in the University, who are required to gain a general familiarity
with the facts and principles of geology, before they can enter
either of the more extended courses, on Paleontology and on
Economic Geology, given at Cornell. It isdesigned as a handbook
of classified statements and references, to be used in connection
with lectures on the one hand and with collateral reading on the
other; and a blank leaf is bound in between every two pages of
text, for diagrams, memoranda, etc. The general arrangement of
topics is similar to that of Dana's Manual, save that Dynamical
Geology precedes Historical. Under each minor division, is given
an exceedingly concise statement of the facts and laws of that

art of the subject, as recognized by the best authorities, and gen-
erally also a brief notice of other or older views. This is followed
by a series of references, made by numeral figures, to the Refer-
ence List at the close of the book, in which about one hundred
and fifty works, both general and special, including articles in
scientific periodicals, monographs, etc., of particular value, are
arranged, frequently with a few words of estimate, guidance, or
caution, for the student.

It will readily appear, from the mere statement thus given, that
the hand-book of Prof. Comstock’s has great value, if only for its
references, apart from its condensed and carefully classified sum-
maries of fact. As stated in the preface, some parts of the sub-
_ ject are treated more fully than others. We may instance the

1 An Outline of General o with copious references. cis ete for the use
of both gerin and special studen By THEODORE B. COMsST RS
in charge of the Department of Geot, Palæontology and pe Geology, in
the Cornell University. Ithaca , N. Y.: University Press, 1878.

1879. ] Recent Literature. 179

section on Heat as a geological agent, Prof. Comstock’s classifica-
tion of Igneous and Metamorphic rocks, that on Tertiary mam-
mals, and the closing section, upon Prehistoric Archeology. But
the general scope and adaptation of the work are excellent, if its
purpose be borne in mind; viz., to aid the student in holding to-
gether the knowledge gained from books and lectures, until in
the course of time and practice, it can grow up into a connected
system in his own mind, and become a permanent possession.
It would be easy to point out things that might be added; but
were the work enlarged much, it would lose the character which
it now has, of an “ Outline,” and become what it is not designed

principal facts and laws of his department, prepared under great
stress of professional labors at the University, in the sadly vacant
place of the lamented Hartt. In his preface, he speaks of his
hesitation, from conscious imperfections, in seeking for the work»
a wider field than his own lecture room; but he hopes
still, ae it may prove of service to some other teachers and
studen He has done well in giving it the possibility of this
wider ulao and we cannot ‘but think that many will thank
him for having done so. We would advise any student who
means to be T and comprehensive, and any teacher or

professor who would do justice to his work, to procure
this “Rete book without ‘delay. S. M.

’ GEGENBAUR’S ELEMENTS OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.’—This
book marks an epoch in comparative anatomy, since the subject
is not treated in the manner of the older works, such as those of
Cuvier, Owen, and even Huxley, inasmuch as the facts concern-
ing the comparative structure of the different organs of animals
are not presented in a simply comparative manner ascending from
the mere simple to the complex, but the author goes a step be-
yond his predecessors, and uses his array of facts as a foundation
for a theory that may explain why the more complex structures
have such a constant relation to the simpler. The facts recorded
in this work are vitalized and interpenetrated by the principles of
the theory of decent. To some this will be the main fault of
Gegenbaur’s work, to others, the introduction of a speculative and
hypothetical thread, weaving all the facts into a connected, logi-
cal system, will enhance the value of the treatise. At all events
it is time an effort should be made to combine the facts of com-
parative anatomy into a harmonious system, and if the hypothe-

1 Elements of Comparative Anatomy. By CARL GEGENBAUR, Professor of Anat-
o idleber; K

JErrrRey BELL, B.A , Magdalen College, Oxford. e Translation revised and a
Preface written by E. Ray Y LANKESTER, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Exeter College,
Oxford, and Professor of Zodlogy and Comparative Anatomy, in Karmi Saa,
London: Macmillan & Co., 1878, 8vo., pp. 645. 00.

180 Recent Literature. [ March,

sis used to connect the facts is true to and explains them, then the
honor is due tothe eminent author. At any rate until the theory
of descent is cast aside as useless and erroneous, the science of
Comparative Anatomy, hitherto so unwieldly and overgrown
with isolated data, must be thus simplified and vivified.

he student will not find the book easy reading, and he should
not take it up until he has mastered books like Siebold’s admira-
ble Comparative Anatomy of the Invertebrates, Rolleston’s Forms
of Animal Life, Huxley’s Anatomy of the Invertebrates and Verte-
brates, and some good work on human anatomy. He will then be
able to appreciate the theory of the origin of vertebrate limbs
from the fins of fishes, and to understand Gegenbaur’s theory of
the skull, which will supplant, and indeed has already, Oken’s,
Geethe’s and Owen’s views based on the consideration of the skulls
of the highly specialized bony fishes and mammals. The origin
and specialization of the vertebrate column is also discussed in a
clear and simple way, most valuable to the student, and so the
formation of the different organs of special sense, the ear, eye
and nose, as well as the rise and development of the brain

e would especially recommend teachers of zoology, com-
parative anatomy and human anatomy to earnestly study this
book, as it will aid in the difficult work of presenting the leading
oer of animal morphology in a simple, condensed, logical

This English anes which is on the whole well done, for
the German of the origi inal is difficult to translate, has appeared
nearly cuba deci with the improved second German
edition. Gegenbaur has in this edition, removed the Brachiopoda
from the Mollusca, and treated them as an independent “ Phylum,”
equivalent to the Mollusca or Vertebrata, thus paying a silent
compliment to our countryman, Morse. The Tunicates also stand
as an independent Phylum or Branch. The sponges are still
united with the Coelenterates,a place which they may not hold in
subsequent editions. The illustrations are choice, the typogra-
phy excellent, and we would recommend the work as the most
stimulating, suggestive and philosophical treastise the advanced
student can find.

ScHMARDA’s ZoOLocy.'—This is on the whole an excellent com-
pendium of zoology, valuable for the lengthy introductory mat-
ter, relating to the following subjects in general zoology; inor-
ganic and organic substances, statics and dynamics of formed ma-
terial, histology, physiology, development Psychology, the geo-
graphical distribution of animals, method tudy, and the prin-
ciples of zoological Ser N The s anai portion begins
with the lowest Branches and ascends to the highest, the author

1Zoölogie. Von Lupwic K. SCHMARDA. Zweite umgearbeitete Auflage. I.

Band, mit 324 Holka. 1877. II. Band. mit 385 Holzschnitten, 1878. Wien,
8vo, pp. 486, 727.

1879. | Recent Literature. 181

adopting seven “ Divisions” or Branches, 2. ¢., the Protozoa, Calen-
terata, Echinodermata, Vermes, Condylopoda (Arthropoda), Mol-
lusca, and Vertebrata.

The illustrations are numerous, very well engraved and printed,
and most of them seem original and expressly designed for this
work. The bibliography is full enough for the purposes of the
work, and there is a voluminous index. The presswork, and
paper, and wood cutting is above the average of work done in
Vienna.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, FER. 12.—GEN. GARFIELD ON GOVERN-
MENT SuRVEYs.—The remarks of Gen. Garfield before the House.
of Representatives in committee on Tuesday last, on the subject
of the United States Geological surveys, deserve notice. This is
especially due, because Gen. Garfield has always been friendly to
the scientific enterprises of our government. But on this occasion
he presents himself in a different light, for while not desiring to
be thought to be attacking the surveys, he really places himself
in opposition to the essential basis of their work, viz., pure
science. He seems to entertain the idea that pure science is one
thing, and economic science another; and that while the govern-
ment may encourage the latter by pecuniary aid, it should not
assist the former. Now it cannot be too strongly insisted that
the two things here distinguished, are one and inseparable, and
that economic science is largely pure science applied to practice,
and that without pure science, it could not exist. For instance,
a most important aid to mining prosperity is geology; but geol-
ogy cannot exist without paleontology; yet paleontology mus
be regarded as in itself inapplicable to human economy, But on
this science rests the determination and identification of rock
Strata everywhere. Now paleontology is itself impossible without
zoology, a science of all others generally esteemed the most use-
less. Gen. Garfield’s distinction is impossible. It is true that the
General may derive some aid and comfort from Maj. Powell's re-
port to the Secretary of the Interior, on the subject of the surveys,
but the sentiments of that document are condemned by the scien-
tific men of the country.

182 Recent Literature. [ March,

ofthe country. They are certainly beyond precedent extraordi-
nary. The difference between state support for religion and
science is world-wide. Theology is apee of opinion, and as such
governments cannot interfere with it; science is matter of fact,
and in so far as it is fact of vital iaoei it is the business of

overnments to develop itas they are bound to see that ignorance
and illiteracy do not prevail among their people. And it is not
always appreciated, in view of the amount of knowledge that has
been developed in the world, how little of it touches as yet, the
deepest problems of human life, and how much therefore remains
to be done. It should also be remembered that our educational
system depends for its supply of fact on the labors of scientific
men ; and that therefore government aid cannot be more judi-
ciously expended than in singe scientific men to bring forth
their results.

We deny squarely that eae is any such rivalry as Gen. Gar-
field imagines to exist between the government and the private
student. Rivalry there may be between individuals, but as these
pursuits do not yield pecuniary rewards, but are for the public
good, such rivalry is beneficial, and should be encouraged. - As
to the supposition implied by Gen. Garfield’s remarks, that gov-
ernment aid gives a presumption in favor of the views of scientists
employed by government, it is quite out of the question, and in--
dicates a wrong apprehension of the spirit of science. In this
field every man’s work stands on its own merits, no matter who
_or where he be. The idea that any scientific man_deprecates
‘government aid to science, is as false as it new. The idea of
government being a “ formidable and crushing competitor” of
science, is very curious. Who could have originated such a
thought we cannot conceive, unless it be some -pseudoscientist
whose estimate of scientific reputation is determined by the offi-
cial position a man holds, rather than by the quality of the work

oes. Most preposterous of all is the remark that aid from
government has tended to discourage private pursuit of science
by our people! We venture to say that our government surveys
have done more to excourage the pursuit of science by our people
than all other causes combined. It has not only encouraged it
in this country, but in Europe, so effectively have the surveys
been conducted. The desire of the people for their publications
is such that the editions are never large enough to supply the
demand, ‘The students of science Akap ao them as one
of the grandest features of our country and t

But Gen. Garfield has not escaped self- Jakes dues He is in
favor of government aid to “inquiries which in consequence of
their great magnitude and = cannot be successfully made by
private individuals.” Here ‘the honorable member reaches the
kernel of the matter. It j is precisely enterprises of the kind to
which he refers which engage the attention of the United States

1879. | Recent Literature. 183

Surveys. The explorations cannot be sustained by private in-
dividuals, and no private person can defray the expenses of the
necessary publication. J.abor is secured here at a cheaper rate
by the government than in any other field, for salaries are small,
and much work is done gratuitously. Students as a rule are
poor, and the number of rich men engaged in its pursuit is small

indeed. - To withdraw government aid is to destroy a most useful
bee eitic, and to leave many departments at least in the hands
of those few rich men.

But in further self-contradiction, Gen. Garfield gives qualified
Support to the proposed new organization of the pate ment

than by this method. As the surveys are now organized, they
stimulate each other, offer a wider field for the development of
Science, and furnish a supply of intellectual food from which s
text-books of the next half century will be drawn. An
Garfield desires this work practically suspended, and the United
States to retire from the position which she now holds in the
commonwealth of nations, as a patron and producer of kitenge
for her people. — Philadelphia Bulletin.

Recent BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—Notes on the Aphidæ of oo United States,
with descriptions of species occurring west of ih Gr y C. V. Riley and
J. Monell. Ext t from the Bulletin of the U. S. Geological iy. F. V. Hay-

en, U, S. Gealotat a a. Washington, Jan., 1879. 8vo, pp. 32, 2 plates.

Catalogue of the prope ds of the U. S. Geological and Geogra ae me
of the Territories. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist. 3d edition, revised to
1878. Washin ngton, Government ee Office, I weg 8vo, pp. 52.

ee on the een History of Fort Macon, N. C., and vicinity (No. 5). By
Drs ott Coues and H.-C. Yarrow. ken the Posesia of the Peat of
Natural Buica, Phila, "August, 1878.) 8vo, 19.

e Orthopteren-Fauna Istriens, Von Dr. Heidiei Krauss. (Aus dem LXXVIII.
Bande der Sitzb, der k. Akad. der Wissensch. 1. Abth. Oct. Heft. Jahrg, 1878.)
8vo, pp. 90, 6 plates.

; S bya Poer, xi Conchology, ige 1, No. 17, Nov., 1878. London, Hard-
Bogue e shilling. 8vo, pp. 32.

ae Be n of the fined States yera peat at No. 1-2, Contribution 2 North
American ae logy. No. 3, A—On the Distribution of "the Fishes of the Alle-

gheny region of eee Grata Georgia and Tennessee, with description of new
Or little known species. By David S S. Jordan a and Alembert W. Brayton. B—A
Synopsis of the family Catostom idee. ‘By David S. Jordon, Deparment of the In-
terior, Washington, Government Printing Office. 1878, 8vo, 233-

United om Bg tg l Exploration of the Fortieth Paralle b Boers Geol-

By Clarence King. Illustrated by xxvını plates and x11 Analytical Geologi-
cal Maps, and soodaa by a a di C and pdiriphii Aia Washington,
1878. Pei pp. 80 03.

Wanderings in South Anierica, the hori west of the United States and the
ites in the years TEI no 1820 and 1824; with original instructions for the
ak ee ae of Birds, etc., for pre nets pe natural history. By Charles Wa-
tert q. New edition. "Bait ed with biographical introduction and explanatory
index, by the Rev. J. Glogs With 100 illustrations. Lenina M acmillan & Co, _

1879. 8vo, pp. 520. $6.5

184 General Notes. [March,

Notes on the Said and ees of Joseph Henry. Read before the Philosophical

Society of Washington. By. Jam a Welling, Oct. 26th, 1878, (Extracted from
the Bulletin of he Soc mre j Svo, 28.

he Natural History of the 4. iaiia Ant of Texas. A EED of the
habits, akiran wA structure of Pogonomyrmex barbatus. By Henry Christo-

pher McCook. Author’s edition. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
. ates.

Report of the ish ** Transit of Venus.” Expedition to OO gape island.
Zoölogy. Seals ae Odit ans. By William Henry Flower, F.R.S o, pp. 6.
? date. From the author

Preliminary Report of the Field Work of the U. S. prg n and ppn
Survey of the Territories for the season of 1878. By F. V. Hayden. &8vo. 29.
Governinent Printing Office, Washington, From the wks or,

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, ein Tagewerk auf dem Felde der Naturforschung
ar neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Von Johannes Hanstein. Bonn, 1877. From the
uthor.

Bemerkungen über den Vorderarm niederer AE aAA Von C. Gegenbaur,
8vo, pp. 314-319: Heidelberg, July, 1877. From the

Ueber das Koppskelet von Alepocephalus rostratus pn Gearaneet
pp. 42, Taf. 11. (Ext. from Morph. Jahrbuch 4, Suppl.) Heidelnerg, Jan.,

From the author,

The Pa ge sag hes No, ote tn 15., 1879. 8vo, pp. 17-24. By U. P. James.
Cincinnati, Ohi m the

pedicel: and Seria Re eene weekly e Edited by D. e Brinton,
M.D., 9, Dec. 28, 1878, and Ta Jan. . From the edito

SEN ogue ae birds of Antigua and Barb TA (ae coll ares made for the
Smithsonian Institution, by Mr. Fred. A. Ober, with his Bea By. Geo. N.
Lawrence. (Ext. Proc. = S. National Museum.) vo, pp. sok “Published Dec.
9, 1878. From Aei auth:

Desaription of a New ‘Spe cies % Topeide u n dey genus Chetura. By Geo. N.
Law (Ext. from Annals e N, Y, Acad. Sci,, Vol. 1, No. 8.) 8vo. pp.
ee "Read Nov. 11, 1877. go T author

Thirteenth Annual Report of the risin on Inland Fisheries, for the year,
pore ful 30, stig Dili pp. 63. (Public Document, No. 34.) Bo oston, 1879.
Fro e Commission

Sev ae Report of the ‘State Entomologist (Walsh, 1; LeBaron, 4; Thomas, 2), on
the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of the State of Indie. Second d Annual Report.
By Cyrus Thomas PhD. State Entomo ooer 8vo. pp. 290. Springfield Il.. D. W.
vik State Printer, 1878. From the author

Address of Prof. Augustus R. Pn Vice-President oe B, before the Ameri-

can Association for the Advancem f Science, at the Louis Meeting, 1878-
(Ext. from the Proc. of the ai. Vol. XXVIL) e pp. 20. em, Mass.,

or.
On oy Aca wg and Distribution of the Cray-fishes. By T. H. Huxley, Sec.
R. S., V.P.Z.S. (Ext. from Proc. Zoöl. Soc., London, June 4, 1878. 8vo, pp. 751-
788. Fr rom the author.

10:
GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY,

On NOMENCLATURE.—“ I think it is about time that the notion
that a species must necessarily be named after some peculiarity
that it possesses, should pass into the limbo of exploded ideas.”
This passage, in the article “ Walks Round San Francisco,” in
the NATURALIST, December, 1878, page 791, induces me to

1879. } ` Botany. 185 |
t

express my opinion on the use of personal names in scientific
nomenclature. __

Linneus in his Philosophia Botanica proposes: “ Nomina
generica ad botanici optime meriti memoriam conservandam con-
structa sanite servanda sunt. Hoc unicum et summum premium
laboris sanite servandum et caste dispensandum.” I agree with
this proposition. Generical names established for the memory of
the most deserving botanists should be kept sacred and imparted
abstemiously.

ike the preacher, who warned his congregation to act accord-
ing to his saying not according to his doing, Linnæus did not
always strictly follow his own maxim, but the rule he proposes is
a good one. Though I would prefer even for genera characteristic
names, I would not blame an author who likes to honor the zost
deserving? botanists by baptizing genera after their names.

In regard to specific names, Linnæus advises against the use of
names of persons or countries. He says: “Inventoris vel alius
cujusquinque nomen in differentia non adhibeatur. Locus
natalis species distinctas non tradit. Differentia specifica continet
differentize zotas essentiales” Indeed a species that has not one
character by which it can be distingushed from its congeners is
not worth being called a species. In contradiction to this rule
the Commission of European botanists, appointed by the Inter-
national Congress at Paris, 1867, allowed the use of personal
names. Itis true what De Candolle says in the preface to those
rules, that the Linnæan rules of nomenclature are obsolete, but
just in this case I think Linnæus was right, and if that commis-
sion had considered how much personal names were misused and
are misused in our time more than ever, then articles 32, 33 and
36 would not have passed in their present form. Of said misuse
I could name many cases, but I take only one: Scheele pub-
lished in Zinnæa 114 new Texan plants, among which I count
twenty-one Remeriana, fourteen Lindheimeriana, one Griseġachii
and twenty Terana. When we deduct from the rest those which
had already been described, more than half of all the new species
got names which mean nothing more than a cheap compliment,
worthtess to a true scientist. The owners of the three above-men-
tioned personal names are botanists indeed (whether most deserving
I am not competent to decide), but how often has a species to

bear the name of a man who finds a new species as a blind hen

1 Many are called, but few chosen.

186 General Notes. [ March,

There is another point in which I do not agree with the estab-
lished rules: that is the right of priority, which the author of the

ungrammatical names. This right of priority is the real source
of premature publications and of the accumulation of synonyms.
For example: Bertoloni, a respectable Italian botanist, professor
in Bologna, receives a number of Alabama plants; he describes
and names many new species which are known and named before.
The trouble is, he is not enough acquainted with the North
American flora and. too hasty to leave the publication of new
American species to an American author, who has at his disposi-
tion a greater quantity of specimens, which are necessary for a
correct description. Now amongst those Puan was perhaps a
single poor specimen of Petalostamon corymbosum. Instead of
laying it aside he describes it as the type of a new genus (Gave-
sia) in the order of Compositæ. How often in the same way we
see a man who is not master of the synopsis, who does not know
what is known, push his name before the 7 public, not
.from zeal for istics, but from desire to see “mihi” behind a
new created species. Then true scientists pat the trouble to
clear the stable.

To meet the case at once there should be appointed an inter-
national committee, an Areopagus, in which the most prominent
botanists should decide on the value of each specific name. Free
competition would be left open, but the author of a name would
have the risk of refusal. Better yet—we, the humble mortar
carriers, should give over to the masters of systems all the peb-

' bles and diamonds we find, and leave to them the task of assort-
ing. The arena of science is wide, and there is chance enough to
search for laurels outside of systematic botany.

And now one word about wrongly spelled or ungrammatical
names. The Parisian congress has acknowledged the right to
correct such bad names, and that is right. The best scholar may
inadvertently make a mistake, and he will not be offended by

eing corrected. It is right to read Astragalus aboriginum
instead of aborigenorum, and Scytonema simplex instead of sim-
plice—fred. Brendel.

Aspipium BOOTTII Tuckerman.—As the following note, pre-
pared for my Catalogue of the “ Davenport Herbarium’ ’ of North
American Ferns, is supplementa to my paper on “Aspidium
spinulosum Swz., and its varieties,” published in the NATURALIST for

November, 1878, I offer it here in advance of publication.

In my paper on “Aspidium spinulosnm Swz., and its varieties ”
(Amer. Nar. l. c.) I was led to consider A. ġoottii Tuck-
erman and A. remotum Braun as identical, by an examination o
a specimen of the latter, at Cambridge, from Braun’s herbarium,
and to credit Braun’s name with being the oldest, on the authority
of remarks in Hooker’s “ British Ferns,” t, 22, but since the pub-

1879. } Botany. 187

lication of my paper I have endeavored to learn the exact date of
the publication of. Braun’s name, with the following result :

The record, so far as it appears from all accessible authorities,
is, that in 1834 Braun first discovered in a mountain valley near

a fern, growing with Aspidium filix-mas and
A, spinulosum (dilatatum) that he at first referred to Aspedium rigi-
dum as a variety of that species (var. remotum), but which he
afterward designated as a species, under the name of Aspidium
remotum. Later he appears to have regarded it as a hybrid form
between A. filix-mas and A. spinulosum, but finally, according to
Milde (Fil. Eur. et Atl., 1867), considered it a form of Aspidium
Jilix-mas.

Braun, however, does not appear to have published any descrip-
tion, and unless, as Mr. Watson suggests, he may have given the
name previously in some catalogue of the Lipsic Garden, the
name Aspidium remotum does not appear until about 1850, when
it occurs for the first time in “ Verjiingung,” Freiburg, 1849-50.

n the other hand, Tuckerman’s name and description was
published in Hovey’s Magazine for 1843, which entitles it to the
right of priority, and justifies my retaining it on stronger grounds
than those given in my paper on A. spinulosum.

The question of identity, however, still remains in doubt. The
two ferns have generally been regarded as identical, by English
authors, but Milde held the opinion (Nova Acta, 1858) that A.
remotum had nothing whatever in common with A. ġoottii, and as
his opinion was based ona careful study of the anatomy of the
two plants, it is entitled to the very highest consideration.

In the face of the opinion of so careful and thorough an in-
vestigator as Milde, it is extremely unsafe for any one to hazard
an opposite opinion, without a most careful and searching investi-
gation, conducted on the same principles as those made by that
eminent cryptogamic botanist; but 1 cannot forbear expressing
the opinion that some of the external characters pointed out by
Milde as separating the two ferns, are not altogether reliable, as,
for example, the comparative length of the stipe, the chaffiness,
or stoutness of the rachis, and the degree of pinnation in the
frond, all of which characters certainly vary greatly in different
Specimens of A. ġoottii.

The difference, however, pointed out in the number of fibre-
bundles in the stipe of A. remotum (7) as compared with the simi-
lar structure of the stipes in A. spinulosum and its forms (5 fibre-
bundles) is a most important one, and one not to be lightly over-
looked.

According to Milde, also, the indusium in A. remotum is with-
out glands, whereas in A. doo/tii the indusium is finely glandular.
But as these glands frequently disappear early, and are not always
present after the indusium contracts, we cannot tell how much
_ Importance to attach to Milde’s statement, without knowing ex-

188 General Notes. [ March,

actly in what state his specimens were when examined. Milde,
himself, in another part of the same work, when speaking of A.
spinulosum and dilatatum, apparently regarded the presence or
absence of glands on the indusium as unimportant.

I shall discuss this question more fully hereafter; for the pres-
ent I can only say that the specimen of A. remotum at Cambridge,
from Braun’s herbarium—the ticket is apparently in Braun’s
handwriting and bears date “Aulich, Sep. 1859 ”—appears to me
identical with ‘our A. doortii / If detached from the sheet and
sent out for that fern, it would be generally received without
question.

But in whichever way the question of identity is finally decided,
its determination either way cannot affect the position of Tuc
man’s name, which dates with Braun’s earliest name (Aspidinm
rigidum, var. remotum, A. Br. in Deell’s Rheinische Flora, 1843)
and is the oldest specific name on record. The name Aspidium
doottat Tuckerman, therefore, must remain undisturbed.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Sereno Watson, of Cambridge,
and to Prof. Eaton, for their kindness in aiding me to look up
authorities. (Geo. E. Davenport in Catalogue of the “ Davenport
Herbarium” of North anerian Ferns, Mass. Hor. Soc. ined.
MeEpForD, Mass., Jan., 1879

Remarks—In m me on Aspidium spinulosum I was inad-
vertently led into two errors of authority that I wish to correct
here. Aspidium spinulosum var. dilatatum and A. spinulosum var.
ġoottii should both be ate by Gray as authority, in place of

“D. C. Eaton in Gray’s ual,”

BoranicaL News.—Sir Ho in es recent address to the
Royal Society, refers to the remarkable theory of Schwendener,
now ten years old, affirming that the lichens consist of ascomy-
cetal fungi united in a commensal existence with alge. Indeed
Stahl has manufactured such lichens, as Exdocarpon and Thelidium
by juxtaposition of the appropriate algae and fungi. That minute
plants (Bacillus) may occasion disease is apparently shown by the
fact that the dried blood of horses that had died of the ‘ Loodi-
ana fever,” in India, on being sent to England, there afforded seed
from which a crop of Bacillus anthracis has been grown, which
justified its distant pathological origin by reproducing the disease

in other animals.
__ That gigantic undertaking, the Flora of Brazil, begun by Von
Martius, is now being carried on by Eichler of Berlin, under the
liberal auspices of the Emperor of Brazil. A little over a year
ago Bentham’s Flora of Australia was completed. It describes
eight pees species of plants

Mr. A: W. Bennett contributes to Mature an account of the ex-
periments of Rev. G. Henslow on the absorption of water by the
leaves of plants, forming a sequel to and confirming those of
— That plants absorb water by their leaves, and that =

1879. | Zoology. 189

_ gardeners should therefore ce n edam plants by sprinkling
their leaves, seem well establishe

The Bulletin of Hayden’s U.S. Geological Survey, Vol. 1v, No.
4, contains a catalogue, by Prof. J. W. Chickering, of Phenogam-
ou

summers of 1873 and 1874, in Dakota and Montana, along the

forty-ninth parallel, by Dr. Elliott Coues, U.S.A.; with which are

incorporated those collected in the same region at the same time,
r. George M. Dawson

Trimen’s Journal of Botany contains articles on a monandrous
Cypripedium, by S. L. M. Moore, and a further note on the struc-
ture of Composites, by M. T. Masters. Braun's article on the
vegetable remains in the Egyptian museum at Berlin, is translated
from the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, the first part appearing in the
January number.

The Balletin of the Torrey Botanical Club contains an account
among other notes, by Prof. Gray, of a sporting Z77ridium ee
Teh and of an Agaricus with the odor of chlorine, by

us

In the Botanical Gazette G. Vasey describes a new Panicum,

P. littorale from Mobile. J. M. Coulter contributes an article on
the flora of Northern Indiana.
ZOÖLOGY.!

Nore ON THE HAIRY-TAILED MoLE, SCALOPS BREWERI OF
AUTHORS.— The earliest description of a mole, referable to the
genus Scapanus and to the species subsequently named “ Scalops
brewerit by Bachman, is that given by Harlan, Fauna Americana,
1825, p. 43, under the name of Talpa europea—he wrongly sup-
posing that it was the common mole of Europe. He does not
state whether he described an American or a European specimen;
and the general drift of his remarks indicates that he compiled,
at least in part, from some staple description of Talpa europea.
But it is evident that he really had in view an American mole
which he recognized as distinct, both generically and specifically,
from our common Scalops aquaticus.

at this is no other than the Scapanus is shown by the den-
tal formula of forty-four teeth, which is applicable neither to
Scalops nor to Talpa ; and the rest of his description is incom-
patible in no respect with Scalops “breweri,” which so closely
resembles 7a/pa europea in superficial appearance that it has not
seldom been mistaken for the latter. That there is no doubt in
the case is further witnessed by Audubon and Bachman, who
State (Quad. N. A. 1, p. 219) that “Harlan had described the
skull of the species we have since described and figured as
Scalops breweri, having forty-four teeth,” &c.
In connection with this description, Harlan published William
‘The departme : k OTT
Cii. Re ay nts of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Di Eu

VOL. X1II.—no, II. re ae

190 General Notes. [ March,

Bartram’s MS. name, “ Talpa americana,’ which thus pae
the trivial name “dreweri” of Bachman. It therefore beco
necessary to.know the hairy-tailed mole as Scapanus americanus.
--Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C.

THE CLOVER-SEED FLY, A NEW InsEcT PEST.—At the annual
meeting of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, held at Albany
in January last, J. A. Lintner, of the State Museum of Natural
History, read a paper in which, among other injurious insects
recently observed, he gave an account of the larvz of an insect
which had been discovered two years ago in several localities in
Eastern and Northern New York, hidden within the seed-pods
of the red clover (Trifolium pratense) and destroying the seeds.
The perfect insect had not yet been seen, but the examination of
the larva showed it to belong to the Cecidomyidz, and in all
probability very nearly allied to the wheat-midge, Cecidomyia
destructor. A description of the larva was given under the name
of Cecidomyia trifolii n. s

The range of this insect’s depredations or the extent of its
ravages was as yet unknown. In some localities in the western
counties of the State of New York, the clover was so infested
with it last year that it was worthless for seed. It is believed
that the not infrequent failure heretofore reported of the clover-
seed crop throughout the country, which has been ascribed to
imperfect fertilization of the blossoms and various other causes,
‘has been the result of the secret operations of this little insect.—
F. A. Lintner.

THE ENGLISH SPARROW AND OUR NATIVE Sonc-Birps.—The
introduction of the English sparrow, and the substantial see

they came in contact with the intruders. The house wren, the
summer yellow-bird, the blue-bird, the green-finch, song-sparrow,
chipping-sparrow, and the vireos, were, a few years ago, abundant
in all these villages; now, but few of them are seen during the
season. e robin is as abundant, and as great a plunderer, of
our small fruits as ever. The Baltimore oriole remains. The
cedar-birds come for their feasts upon the apple-blossoms in the
` spring, and upon the agent a in their season. The slate-colored
snow-bird takes up its winter quarters with us, and the cro
black-bird and the bbird ‘build their nests in our fonder re:
trees.

It can not be supposed that the native songsters retire in antici-
pation of the intrusion of their foreign cousins, and some other
cause for their disappearance must be sought.

In this neighborhood, the want of np nesting-places

18709. | 3 Anthropology. — IQI

is a sufficient explanation. The forests are now all enclosed, and
constitute a part of the pasture lands. The undergrowth and
thick masses of shrubs, brambles, and creepers have’ disappeared ;
the most of our little swamps are reclaimed ; and as these changes
have occurred in the forest and field, fashion has prescribed a
smooth lawn, with scattered trees and clumps of summer bedding
plants around our dwellings, in place of the thick masses of shrub-
bery which were cultivated a few years ago. And it is the birds
which found their nesting-places and their food supplies in this
shrubbery and undergrowth which have most thoroughly disap-
peared. a

The robin finds good nesting-places and an abundance of sum-
mer food; the Baltimore oriole suspends its nest from the droop-
ing branches of the elm; and both these birds are content to
remain with us, In the forest and field, where the English spar-
row does not intrude, the thrushes, the warblers, the fly-catchers,
finches, and black-birds are by no means as abundant as formerly.
Their nesting-places are greatly restricted, their food supplies
diminished, and they find no thick copses, under the cover of
which they delight to hide themselves, and in which so many find
a large part of their supplies of food. ‘Their nests are more ex-
posed, and their life is made uncomfortable by these changed con-
or and they are driven to seek homes more congenial to their

abits.

A care for our forest reserves, which will protect them from the
intrusion of domestic animals, and permit the renewal of the dense
undergrowth which has been destroyed, and the culture of thick
masses of shrubbery about our dwellings, will secure a return of
the exiles, and perhaps a contest for the occupancy with the im-
ported birds: We shall then learn whether they can dwell to-
gether in amity or not.—JZ. C. Read, Hudson, Ohio.

ANTHROPOLOGY.*

?Edited by Prof. Orts T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

192 General Notes. [ March,

scenes in which there are generally two actors, one of them being
a mythological personage. Weare introduced into the very feel-
ings and thoughts of the people, and learn much of their modes
_of living.

“ We are enabled to decide the progress of a people by the per-
fection to which they had carried the oe arts, by the advance-
ment which they had made in the fine and in scientific knowl-
edge, by their religious conceptions, aa by their language, in-
cluding the methods of representing it. A comparison of these
also acquaints us with those things which different peoples have
incommon. Let us therefore compare the sculptures of Santa
Lucia with those of other parts of America in these four particu-
lars, in order that we may perceive the resemblances between
their fabricators, if any exist, and form some opinion of their com-
parative status in culture

“As regards the useful arts, when we consider the hardness of
the material, a dark gray porphyry from the volcano of Acate-
nango, we are convinced that the Santa Lucian sculptors used
to ols of great perfection. The advancement of technical skill is
further attested by the variety of manufactures represented in the
sculptures, such as. wood-carving, textile fabrics, shell and metal
work, leather work, carved stones, etc. The elevated character
of these products of industry is attested by the uses hich
they were put. With the exception of sculptures nine and four-
teen, there is scarcely anything which indicates clothing merely.
Nearly every article which is attached to the body is an orna-
ment, although the drapery suspended from the girdle may have
been introduced to hide the genital organs. The foot also may
be said to derive some slight protection from its ornamented san-
dal. The neck, arms, body, and legs, however, are adorned and
not clothed. The ornaments of the head, and especially those of
the hair, are extremely profuse, reaching often to the ground. It
is worthy of notice that no part of the body is mutilated for ae
sake of beauty, excepting the lobe of the ear, which even in ou
enlightened age serves the ladies as a means of Debarati
barbarism.

“Again, the variety of forms in the same object i is an indication
of progress. The headdresses are greatly varied. In one in-
stance it is a crab, in another entwined serpents, and in others it
is so complicated as to remind us of the fashions in highly enlight-
ened nations. The most lavish care was bestowed on the hair,
- which in very few cases indeed appears without ornament, even
on the heads of immolated victims. The method of ornamenta-
tion seems to have indicated the social position of the wearer.
The hair is at times adjusted to resemble a wig, but is generally
braided with ribbons, adorned with rings, etc., and reaches in cues
to the shoulders and below them. Other r yet more complicated
ornaments reach. oe the ankles, and even trail set the ground,

1879. ] Anthropology. 193

ending in some animal form, as an eagle, American tiger, or a fish.
One of these ornaments which is met with in every case is in the
form of a sheathed scimitar.

“This variety is again noticable in the ornamentation of the
ear, which assume the form of rings, embossed disks, tassels, etc.,
and of the neck, which may be a single band, a double collar, a
ring with pendant tassel, or a necklace of many rows of beads or

“ Generally the wrist of but one hand is adorned with a bracelet,
which is either made of some textile fabric or consists of rows of
stone or metal beads. The other hand is inclosed in a human
skull or in that of a fierce animal. If these are the skulls of im-
molated victims, we have here the evidence of the sacrifice of
animals as well as of human beings.

“ The waist above the hip, is surrounded by a broad stiff girdle,
the upper portion which stands off from the body. On the back
part of it is usually seen the head of a ferocious animal with.
Open jaws replaced in one instance by a human head. From the
lower edge of the forepart of the girdle descend two kinds of
sashes, the one surrounding the thighs, the other tied in a bow-
knot in front. The material of these sashes varies greatly. In
one instance it appears to consist of leaves and flowers ; in another,
that of the priest, it is replaced by a serpent. A twisted band
tied in a bow replaces the girdle on the waists of the immolated
victim.

“The ornamentation of the leg deserves especial attention. A
band with pyriform pendant encircles the right leg below the knee.
A single pendant is attached to the band in all cases, excepting
that of the person sitting ona throne, where the entire lower edge of
the band visiblei pied by six pendants. From thiscircumstance
this person is supposed to have been the chief, or grand master
—to use a heraldic term—of an order of which the others were
simply knights or laymen. The occurrence of the same orna-
ment on the neck of the figure supposed to represent the sun, in-
dicates that an order may‘ have existed in honor of the sun, and
the members thereof may have been knights of the sun, who had
their counterpart in the Virgins of the Sun in Peru.

“ This instance of wearing a badge on the leg below the knee is
remarkable in its resemblance to the Order of the Garter in Eng-
and. It is impossible to suppose that one people imitated the
other, but we have here a striking illustration of the develop-
ment of similar thoughts and ideas in individuals and na-
tions widely separated in time and space. This is further im-
Pressed in the fact that these knights only wore their distinctions
on high and festive occasions, or when adoring their gods; while
on ordinary occasions, as with the sick man, a simple rosette

ikes the place of the badge. ; ee eo
" The protection of the feet is greatly diversified. Exceptional]

i +

194 General Notes. [March,

both feet are nude, but generally the bottom of one or both feet
i praece by a sole, which .is rolled up more or less to cover
e upper part of the foot. The toes, with few exceptions, remain
unprotected, and in no instance is the covering of both feet alike. »
come now to speak of the artistic taste of the sculptors
of Santa Lucia as an indication of the superior culture of the
people to whom they belonged. In the representation of natural
forms we attribute the highest culture to those people who imi-
tate nature most closely in her best manifestations. For this rea-
son we should attribute to the ancient Greeks a very high degree
of culture if we had received no other knowledge of their civili-
zation excepting the relics of their works of art, which, when
attempting to imitate nature, avoid all grotesqueness and
caricature.

“In the sculptures of Santa Lucia the human form stands
before us, not with ill-proportioned features, but in regular outline
combined with marked expression of the countenance. The
observance of these details proves a diligent study of the human
body. That which does appear as grotesque, must not be attrib-
uted to a crude conception or to want of skill, but to the orna-
mentation, which has a barbarous luxuriance. If we examine
the heads in the sculptures of Santa Lucia, we shall find that
while they all possess the curved nose so characteristic of the abo-
rigines of America, they have no stereotyped forms; on the con-
trary, this feature varies with the expression of the face, so as to
individualize each person represented. Some of the faces are
attractive on account of the quiet expression of their features;
and one especially approaches very nearly to our sense of beauty.
The engraving hardly does justice to the original. ;

“ Again, just as each art passes through several stages in its pro-
gress to perfection, so among all arts there is the same gradation.
Thus lyric and didactic poetry are assigned a lower place than
epic poetry, and the drama is the most elevated of all. Dramatic
conception can originate and be cultivated only by a people who
have passed the other stages. The monoliths of Santa Lucia
show that their authors had cultivated the poetic sentiment as
well as sculpture ; for, not only do we find that they had statuary
as well as low reliefs, but we have evidence of the degree of
poetical elevation to which they had attained. All of the scenes
represented are dramatic, and four of them are allegorical. In the
two sculptures representing sick men, the individuals are doubt-
less of high standing. One.of them is visited by death in the
shape of a skeleton, who draws the attention of the sick man to
the fact of his having lived for a number of years, indicated by
the signs for numerals, and that it is, therefore, time for him to
depart. In the other case, the sick man is visited by the medicine
man in the guise of a deer, and reminded of the moderate numbe
of years he has lived, as indicated by the numeral signs. This
news would cheer him with the — of recovery.

1879.] Anthropology. 195

“In each of the other two allegorical sculptures, a human being
is devoured by a bird—perhaps the Bird of the Sun—as it wears
the image of the sun on the breast. This myth, again, has arisen
independently in many lands.

“ The advancement of a people is also said to be measured by
their religious conceptions. If we inquire into the stage which
the evolution of the religious sentiment had reached among the
people of Santa Lucia, we shall find that they were passing from
the adoration of the sun and other heavenly bodies to the worship
of men—Anthropomorphism. Among the deities in the sculp-

with human forms. The entire body is not given, but only the
upper, nobler part. In the images of the deities are preserved
the natural human features, not disfigured by any addition of
animal organs or fantastic attributes.

“The sculptures prove, alas! that human sacrifices were prac-
tised by their makers. e mode of immolation was peculiar.
It was not the entrails of the victims which were dedicated to the
gods, nor the heart torn from the breast and thrown at the feet of
the idol; but we see here the noblest part of the body, the head,
severed and presented to the deity. i

“ Finally, the language of a nation and the methods of repre-
_ senting it are valuable indications of their status in culture. The
same may be said of their numeral system.

“It has been frequently affirmed that the aborigines of Amer-
ica had nowhere arisen high enough in civilization to have char-
acters for writing and numeral signs; but the sculptures of Santa
Lucia exhibit signs which indicate a kind of cipher writing,
higher in form than mere hieroglyphics. From the mout
most of the human beings, living or dead, emanates a staff vari-
ously bent, to the sides of which nodes are attached. These
nodes are of different sizes and shapes, and variously distributed
on the sides of the staff, either singly, or in twos and threes—the
last named either separated or in shape of a trefoil. This man-
ner of writing not only indicates that the person is speaking, or
praying, but also indicates the very words, the contents of the
speech or prayer. It is quite certain that each staff, as bent and
ornamented, stood for a well-known petition which the priests
could read as easily as those acquainted with a cipher dispatch
can know its purport. Further, one may be allowed to conjecture
that the various curves of the staves served the purpose of strength
and rhythm, just as the poet chooses his various metres for the
Same purpose.

“In the supplications of human beings this staff and its knots
have a simple form, in the speeches of death the bends are angu-
lar; but the staves emanating from the deities are exceedingly
complicated, and proceed, not from the mouth, but from the head
or neck. To the variously bent and ramified staves of the deities,

196 General Notes. [ March,

divers flowers, fruits, and Sr SE emblems are attached in
addition to the ordinary no

“ Besides the modes of write just méntioned the sculptures ex-
hibit another method of representing emotions and aspirations
not expressible in words. It consisted in wavy ridges or lines
originating either from the mouth or from the girdle of the sup-
pliant, and uniting at the upper extremity, or separated like the
conventional sign for flames. 1e artists of Palenque have ex-
pressed a somewhat similar conception by a figure blowing a
horn, from the end of which proceed similar wavy lines to de-
signate either the music or the escaping breath. (Stephens, Incidents
of Travels, c. ii, 354.) Besides these methods of expressing
thought there are, as before mentioned, hieroglyphics, chiefly
a circular ridge inclosing the head of an animal or a pointed
trefoil.

“In regard to the piai for numerals, it i$ evident that the radix
of their system, whatever may have been its s value, was repre-
sented by a circle, the same sign indicating zero in our system.
A single horizontal line may be taken for a unit, two lines inter-
secting asin a Roman X, some other value, and lines shorter
than the unit may be taken for fractional parts. This system of
recording numbers throws some light on the question whether
the ancient inhabitants of Middle America had any intercourse
with the civilized nations of Europe. Evidently, if by accident
or design, Egyptians, Phcenicians, Jews, or any other race ha
imported their civilization into Amer rica, some traces of it would
be exhibited here.’

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—-The following brief notices may be
of interest to some: In the Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen
Gesellschaft in Wien, Dr. M. Much has a paper (pp. 203- -273)
upon agriculture among the ancient Germans, in which he takes
the ground that the ancestors of the present Germans were always
a settled people in Germany. The paper evinces a great deal of

schaft, zu Kiel, 12-14. Aug. 1878, in rata. asap No.
10. The Races of European Turkey: Their History, Condition
and Prospects, by Edson I. Clark, Dodd & Mead.

Esquisse d'une Grammaire Raisonnée de la Langue Aleoute.
V. Henry. Revue Linguistique, Oct—Dec., 1878. Aborigines of
the Housatonic Valley, E. W. B. Canning, Magazine of American
— Dec., 1878. Oregon: The origin and meaning of the

e, id., Jan., 1879. The Wanga Plant and Voudooism, Phila-
dep Medical ow hi ua 5 39.

be
1

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 197

GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY.
MineraL Wax in Urtan.—Prof. J. E. Clayton of Salt Lake,

finds it to be ozocerite, and Prof. Wurtz has obtained from the
same region zietriskisite.

_ MERYCOPATER AND HopLopHoneus.—Having recently had the
opportunity of examining the entire dentition of the lower jaw of
the Hyopotamus guyotianus Cope, I find that it does not belong to
the genus to which I referred it, but to an allied one, which ap-
pears to be undescribed. It differs from Hyopotamus, having but
three premolars and a simple diastema. The premolars are wide,
and the last has four crescentoid cones, as in the first true molar
(crowns of first and second lost), Canine well developed, com-
pressed, anterior. The cones, both internal and external
have a crescentic section. The inner cones are convex on the
inner side in Gelocus, which also differs from this form as does
ee te in the simple compressed form of the premolars.
e present genus may be called Merycopater. M. guyotianus was

as large as the white-lipped peccary.

Fine specimens of the Macherodus brachyops Cope (1. c. p. 10),
show that it possessed an inferior tubercular tooth. It therefore
belongs to the genus Hoplophoneus nie It isa very much larger
species than the Æ. oreodontis Cope.—E£. D. Cope.

Tue Nature oF E6z06n.—Dr. Ka rl Mobius contributes to
Paleontographica for 1878, the results of his investigations into
the structure of Eözoön gm oen He used specimens re-
ceived from Drs. Dawso d Carpenter. As an expert in the
study of recent pania tei (Rhisopoda), Dr. Mobius’s opinion
carries with it much weight. His conclusion is, that the col-
umns of the Eözoön limestone which Carpenter and Dawson
supposed to be the casts of a canal system of the “ intermediate
or supplemental skeletons,” are simply casts of fissures of various
and unsymmetrical shapes having no resemblance to the tubules
of any organic being. They are mostly flat, and frequently in-
terrupted. “The fibrous material found between the serpentine an
the calcareous masses, supposed to be casts of the canals of the
walls of the chambers of E6zo6n, such as exist in the Forami-
nifera, consists of prismatic crystals of chrysotile. Dr. Mobius
does not believe them to be casts of tubes, since no tube walls or
interspaces can be seen by high powers either with or without.
polarized light.

Tue AGE or THE Laramiz.—Prof. Schimper, of Strasburg,
PE oita Bulletin, 30, p. 15, Proceed. Amer. Phil. Soc. for November,
I 7 r) 5 rey Se ae ʻ : eas Fa ie y 4

198 General Notes. | [ March,

writes to Mr. Lesquereux to this effect in regard to the fossil
plants of the Laramie gro

“I do not ‘cease reviewing and s tudying your last magnificent
publications which have given to phytopaleontology an immense
forward impetus. ‘Par lesquelles vous avez faite faire un pas im-
mense a la paleophytologie.’ You ask me to express my opinion
on the age of your flora of the lignitic. It seems to me impossi-
ble that one can see in it anything else than a tertiary flora, unless
one wishes to reverse all the data acquired by science until now.
I consider this flora just as you do, as truly (franchement) eocene,
not even pliocene, perhaps agate SET wit t. Bolca or
eocene, possibly a little more recent. It is very possible that in
marine strata, intermediate to the land or lignitic deposits, one
may find remains of cretaceous animals. It has been observed
already many times that the modification to which the inhabitants
of the land have been subjected, do not accord with those exhib-
ited by the inhabitants of the sea. These are very often back-
ward in their development, and this is quite natural from Pi
slower action of the climate or climatic influence upon the
habitants of the sea than upon those of the land. The facies ‘of
your lignitic vegetation is tertiary ; it is impossible to change that.
Messrs. the geologists have to decide as they may find proper.”

ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A SOLID HYDROCARBON IN THE
Eruptive Rocks or New Jersey.—Mr. I. C. Russell states that
associated with the sheet of trap rock known as the First Newark
Mountain, which traverses the central portion of the Triassic
formation of New Jersey, there occurs near Plainfield, at an
abandoned copper mine on the western slope of the mountain—
the upper surface of the trap sheet—an amygdaloid trap passing
into a metamorphosed shale. In this region it is frequently
impossible to distinguish in small exposures the genuine trap
from the metamorphosed shales that rest in contact with it.
Many of the cavities in the amygdaloidal rock are filled with a
bois jet black carbonaceous mineral resembling very closely

e albertite of New Brunswick. ese cavities are frequently
ea in shape having a length of three or four inches and
usually a diameter of about a quarter of an inch. Sometimes
these tubes were lined throughout by infiltration, with a coating
of quartz or calcite a line or two in thickness, before the carbon-
aceous material was introduced. Above the amygdaloid is found
a metamorphosed shale which still retains its bedded structure,
and in places presents something of the usual reddish color of the
akp ea shales. This altered rock is traversed in various direc-
tions by seams and fissures, which are frequently filled with the
same albertite-like mineral. Resting upon these metamorphosed
beds occur slates, shales and sandstones, which eran fossil
fishes and a considerable abundance of obscure vegetable remains.
It seems evident that these organic bodies furnished ap their

1876. | Geography and Travels, 199

decomposition the carbonaceous material in the associated rocks.
The heat derived from the slowly cooling injected rocks may
_have played an important -part in this process.

The mineral whose geological occurrence we have thus
described, gives, when subjected to chemical tests, almost pre-
cisely the same reactions as albertite. It is insoluble in heated
acids and alkalies, and is but sparingly if at all soluble in alcohol,
ether or oil of turpentine. Like albertite, also, it is infusible, but
softens by heat and burns with a yellow flame, emitting an agree-
able odor. It gives when incinerated a little less than 0.10 per
cent. of ash— Amer. Four. Sci. and Arts, August.

Tue Hupson River Group AT PouGHKEEPSIE.—As the result
of the examination of the Hudson River region by Profs. Logan
and Hall, these gentlemen traced the “ Hudson River Group” as
far as Rhineback, and gave that as its eastern boundary. At a
June meeting of the Poughkeepsie Society of Natural Science,
Prof. T. Nelson Dale (who has temporarily occupied the chair of
geology at Vassar College) reported the occurrence of fossils 27
situ in the college grounds. The specimens shown and presented
by him to the society were Leftena sericea, an Orthis (undeter-
mined) and some fragments of Encrinites. A few days ago Prof.
Dale and the secretary of the Poughkeepsie Society of Natural
Science, Dr. E. H. Parker, made a careful examination of the rocks
on the west side of the river, opposite Poughkeepsie, and about
a mile back, and were fortunate enough to discover large quantities
of the same species of Brachiopods as those mentioned above, as
well as some excellent specimens of what appear to be Fucoids,
and similar to what Dana figures as Buthotrephis. This discov-
ery would seem to show that the “ Hudson River Group” extends
perhaps as far as the Highlands— W. R. Gerard.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL AD-
DREss.—At the meeting of this Society held in New York, Feb-
ruary II, 1879, the President, Chief Justice Daly, delivered his
annual address in which, instead of giving the usual summa
of the progress of geographical exploration and research during
the past year, he chose as his subject, “ The History of Cartog-
raphy, or the Progress of the Art of Map-making from the Earli-
est Times to those of Mercator.” Cartographic Art, he stated, is
probably as old or older than the invention of the alphabet, and
has been found in use among races who had had no previous con-
tact with civilized man nor any written language. The Esqui-
Maux understood the charts of Parry and Ross and even extended
lines of coast unknown to the explorers. The North American
Indians have always had maps which were serviceable to them.

1 Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

200 General Notes. { March,

The earliest thing known in the nature of a map is the ground
plan of a town identified as that of Susa, the Shushan of the
Bible, a city of remote antiquity. The ‘plan is supposed to be as .
old as the seventh century before Christ and represents with mi-
nute accuracy the details of the town. The Egyptians doubtless
had maps and some general idea of the form of the earth. It is
from the Greeks that we get our earliest knowledge of maps.
Strabo says that Anaximander (B. C. 612) was the first who re-
presented the world ona map. Parmenides, a contemporary of
Herodotus, is said by Diogenes Laertes to have been the first per-
son who asserted that the earth was of a spherical form and the
same idea was entertained by Socrates. Strabo credits Parmen-
ides also with having been the first to divide the globe into five
zones, or, as they were then called, climates. Aristotle, half a
century afterward, was convinced that the earth was a globe,
drawing that conclusion from the shadow which it casts on the
sun in eclipses. Crates (B. C. 325) constructed a globe of the
inhabited part of the earth—from the arctic to the tropic in the
form of a half circle. Dicearchus (B. C. 296) constructed a map
of the world in oval form. With Eratosthenes (220 B. C.) the -
science of geography may be said to have begun. He devised
what has ever since been employed as the most accurate means
of determining the circumference of the earth, the measurement
of an arc of the meridian. Hipparchus, a century later, first
divided the globe by lines of longitude and latitude into degrees.
Ptolemy of Alexandria (A. D. 250) is one of the best known of
ancient geographers. His geography is based on the work of his
immediate predecessor, Marinus of Tyre. The works of Eratos-
thenes, Hipparchus and Marinus have perished, and the geogra-
phies of St rabo, Pomponius Mela and Ptolemy are the only
important works ‘of the ancients that as come down to us. A
period of 1200 years elapses from the time of Ptolemy to the
inauguration by Prince Henry of Portugal of the spirit of mari-
time enterprise which led to the a ai of Africa and
the discovery of the continent of America. This includes the
period of the Dark Ages. The Arabs Sie the ninth to the
thirteenth centuries. however, assiduously cultivated geography.
To them we owe the preservation of the works of Ptolemy. They
determined the obliquity of the ecliptic and measured two arcs of
the meridian. Through their intercourse with China the west-
ern world probably learned of the mariner's compass. The
Chinese also had maps from a very remote pe

After the journeys of Marco Polo and Caaeticdites't in the fif-
teenth century, many curious and remarkable maps were exe-

cuted. On that of Benewitz (1524-48) the name “America” first
spoon The last and greatest map is that of Gerard AER ot
better known to the world by the Latinizing of his name as
cator (1569). His projection not only gave the world in one view,

1879. | Microscopy. 201

but showed the most effectual way for a vessel to sail in a straight
line over a curved surface and thereby solved what was before
one of the most difficult problems of navigation.

Osrruary.—Dr. J. G. Kohl died at Bremen, his git city,
October 28, 1878. He was born April 28, 1808. He was very
widely known as the author of a very large number of itey
cal works and books of travel. These include accounts of travels
in Russia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Great ponet and Ireland,
Denmark, Styria, the Alps, Netherlands, Dalmatia and Montene-

o, etc. He came to America in 1854, and arena four years in
travel, of which he told in books on Canada and the north-western
States and Territories. He also wrote several works and papers
on the early history, folklore and maps of America. One o
his latest productions, remarkable for its learning and research,
was a history of the discovery and voyages made to Magellan
Straits! He made many friends when in this country, and was a
member of several of our historical and scientific societies.

Nicholas de Kanikoff, a Russian Orientalist, died near Paris on
-November 15, 1878. Born October 24, 1819, he at the age of
twenty accompanied Gen. Perovski’s unfortunate expedition to
Khiva, and afterwards traveled much in Asia, especially in
Bokhara, Persia (where. he was Russian Consul General) and
Afghanistan. He published (1845) Bokhara, its Amir and its People,
and (1861) a Memoir on the Southern Part of Central Asia, for
which the French Geographical Society gave him its gold medal.
These and several other works are the source of much of our
information concerning Central Asia. —

MICROSOOPY.?

New Microscopicat Societies——The Microscopical Society
of Camden, N. J., was organized Spy 7, 1878, with eighteen
members. Meetings are held o e first Thursday evening of
every month, at the residences of cena The following are
the officers for 1870: President, Albert P. Brown, Ph. G.; secre-
tary and treasurer, Joseph L. De La Cour; managers, Harry S.
Fortiner, C. Henry Kain, Samuel S. Cochran ; curator, Alfred
W. Test.

A Microscopical section of the Cincinnati Natural History So-
ciety has been recently formed, with fifteen or twenty members.
Meetings are held on the first Friday evening of each month, at
the rooms of the Society, n good attendance and the promise
of interesting and valuable w

The Rochester Microkentical Society was organized January
27, 1879, with a membership of nearly forty persons. From

1 Geschichte der apart. rise a errei es Magellan’s-strasse un

u den ihr benachbarten Landern und Meeren. Von J. G. Kohl. Zeits shrift der Ge-
sellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, | nig ʻ bead, pp. ES = a ;

a epartment is edited by Dr. R. H. Ward, Tro

202 Scientific News. [ March,

the number of prominent microscopists in that vicinity, an active
and successful society may be looked for. The first officers are
as follows: President, Prof. S. A. Lattimore; vice-president, =

. Merriman; secretary, Dr. E. Line; treasurer, Dr,
Rider.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY MICROSCOPICAL _Joorsar —This new
einer is published by Hitchcock and Wall, at No. 150 Nassau
street, New York. The second number, fide published, fully
justifies the promise of the first, and establishes the Journal as a
carefully edited and liberally published work, characterized by an
abundance of elaborate memoirs upon microscopical subjects.
Illustrations of a high grade are introduced when required. An
able summary is also given of recent news and publications; though
it may be doubted whether the news as such, can be given in a
quarterly with sufficient promptness to meet all the ear greet
of modern science. It only remains for those who use the micro-
scope or study its revelations to decide whether they will reticle
the new enterprise permanent by making it self-sustaining. A good
subscription list is all that is required in addition to what the pro-
prietors have already accomplishe

SALE oF A MicroscopicaL LiprAry.—The library of the late Jno.
E. Gavitt is now being broken up, and catalogues of the books
for sale can be ea i FA from his son, W. E. Gavitt, of Stockbridge,

Mass. The library includes many rare and almost inaccessible
works, which will he doubly valuable as s epee of one of the
earliest American cultivators of Microscopy. Mr. Gavitt also

possesses a very fine copper-plate porrak of old Anthony von
Leeuwenhoek, which, though not specified in the catalogue, could
probably be obtained by any one who would appreciate it at its
re

TER Crips.—E. H. Hawley, of 102 Grove street, New
Haven, Conn., has recently made spring clips for the use of several
distinguished ‘histologists. The clips are very light and neat, be-
ing made of light steel wire, and having a leather disk instead of
a cork to press on the cover. They can be bought for seventy-
five cents per dozen.

20:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

- — WE are sorry to learn that the Legislatures of Georgia and
North Carolina have suspended the geological surveys of those
States. This is much to be regretted, since both regions will
amply repay to the people the small amounts heretofore expended
on them, if only continued lon enough to permit the results to
be elaborated and published. These measures are a blow at the
educational interests of those States which we had not looked for
from so-called “ reform” oo

1879. } Scientific News. 203

recent number of the Gold Hill (Nevada) News, says:
“The artificial lake at the mouth of the Sutro Tunnel swarms
with fish from three to four inches in length. They were planted
in the lake by some Indians about fifteen months ago. They have
increased at a wonderful rate, and there now appear to be millions
of them. These fish are likely to find themselves in literally hot
water when pumping from the flooded mines has been commenced.”

— We have received the fourth, fifth and sixth plates of Leuck-
art and Nitsche’s Zoologische Wandtafeln ; these diagrams illus-
trating the structure of different types of the animal kingdom.
Each diagram is a lithograph, costing in Germany from eighty pfg.
to at most two marks. They are thus cheap, and on the whole
most excellent, and will prove serviceable in schools and colleges.
The present diagrams represent the Crustacea and the anatomy
of the living crinoid Rhizocrinus, This is a most valuable dia-
gram, and very cheap. The sixth represents the metamorphosis
of the potato beetle, Doryphora 10-lineuta, and is not particularly
well done. One of the figures is not accurate, nor is the beetle
sufficiently typical of the Coleoptera, to be selected as a subject
fora diagram. They are published by Theodor Fischer, but can
be imported, we suppose, through B. Westermann Oy 524
Broadway, N. Y., or any other importers of German books.

AS. S. Packard, Jr., and Mr. LA Ani at the Fossil Fish Cut,
: ; M

o
. H. Scudder br jEr E and description ;. nearly fifty new
species of insects were discovered, showing that these beds are
much richer in fossil insects than formerly supposed ; nearly all the
orders are represented ; among them a new dragon-fly, several

species of pee Mr. Scudder is ; engaged upon a general work
on the Tertiary insects of the West, to be richly illustrated. It
will form one of the quarto reports of Hayden’s U. S. Geological
Survey of the Territories.

—M. Lucien Lethierry, Litle, France, desires exchanges of
Ponas Hemiptera and Hymenoptera of the United States,
for Tope species.

new species.
— A paper was recently read ” Mr. B. B. Redding before the -

204 Scientific News. [ March,

California Academy of Sciences, on the desirability of the intro-
duction and culture of the olive in California. From the evidence
presented it would seem that in the olive we have a tree that
can be grown on the dry plains and naked hillsides of California.
In the Eastern hemisphere its limits of profitable cultivation are
as far north as the South of France, and as far south as Cairo, in
Egypt. Wherever on the coast from San Diego to Monterey,
and wherever in the interior of the State, within the limits of
the temperature stated, there is an annual fall of rain sufficient to
produce barley or wheat—on rocky hills and sandy plains, when
once-rooted, this tree will thrive and bear.

— A Wilmington, epi ave Hie! nt reports among the novelties
of that neighborhood, a lake ominguez’s ranch containing a
great number of trout; the its was stocked by an overflow of
the San Gabriel river last winter; some of these fish have reached
a foot in length. e settlers in the vicinity are revelling in this
acquisition to the ordinary bill o

— Mr. A. H. Curtiss, Jacksonville, Fla., has issued a second
fascicle of 250 species and varieties of Floridan plants. Of most
of the species enumerated he has specimens outside of his regular
sets, as also of most northern plants, and if persons desiring a
selection from them will make out a list of their desiderata (the
numbers in Mann’s Catalogue may be used) he will supply as
many of them as possible at $10 per hundred. The fascicles
will be forwarded from Cambridge upon receipt of the price, $20.
The postage on apt tig or freight to New York or Boston will
be paid by Mr. Curt

— The unusually cold winter in California is indicated by the
movements of the wild animals, which have been driven from their
usual haunts in the mountains to the lower lands in the immedi-
ate neighborhood of the settlements.

The mountain lions, so-called (Fels concolor), are reported as
very bold in San Gorgonio and San Jacinto, San Bernardino
county, since the recent storms; in one iastäncë intruding into
the town of Banning in the night. In Carpenteria, Santa Bar-
bara county, these animals made a descent upon a goat ranch and
carried off sixteen Angora goats out of twenty-two; quite a loss
to the rancher, as the Angoras are valuable stock. Deer are
plentiful in the vicinity of Vallecito, prorat county, the storms
having driven them from their higher retreats. It was recently
reported in the local paper, that a sais ‘of Indians killed nine
deer in one day’s hunt. The farmers in and about Lower Lake
in Lake county, also complain of the depredations of. the “ gray
eagles” on their young lambs, In other parts of the State the
grizzlies are prow aoa uncomfortably close to the settlements. —R.
di CS.

1879. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 205

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

RICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Jan. 14th—Major A. G.
Gaastable lectured upon Afghanistan, the present seat of war, and
the relations of that country to England and Russia.

Feb. 11.—Chief-Justice Daly delivered his annual address, the
subject being Cartography, the history of map-making previous
to the time of Mercator.

Bosron Society or NATURAL History, Dec. 18. —

Hagen made a communication on the Carpet- Heet and other
house i museum pests.

Jan. 1879. — Mr. L. S. Burbank remarked on a definite
iad record in certain stratified rocks; also on veins and
enclosures in the granite of Rollstone Hill, Fitchburg, Mass., and
exhibited crystals and cut gems of yellow beryl from Fitchburg.

Jan. 15—Prof. R. H. Richards remarked on some optical phe-
nomena seen at Lake Superior. Prof. N. S. Shaler spoke con-
cerning the Brighton Amygdaloids.

eb. 5—Dr. S. Kneeland read a paper on the monstrous in
art, or the Loe of zoology to symbolism. Mr. W. O. Crosby
remarked on the fossiliferous boulders of Cape Cod, Dr. T.
Sterry Hunt referred to recent studies in Pre-Cambrian geology.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLuB, Jan. 8.—At the election of
officers for 1879, Prof. Charles E. Fay was elected president. Mr.
Frederick A. Ober read a paper on his explorations in the Lesser
Antilles Caan se stereopticon views).

eb Mr. J. Raynor Edmands read a paper on the identi-
fication of dian points, with a description òf Prof. Fernald’s
recent determination of the position of Mt. Katahdin, Me.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILA-
DELPHIA, December 17, 1878.—President, Ruschenberger, in the
chair ; Mr. Meehan made some remarks on the seeding of Catalpa,
stating that terminal flowers only perfect seed. Mr. Ford from
a perfect specimen of Nautilus pompilius suggested that the use
of the siphon was to keep alive that part of the shell constituting
the chambers. Mr. Ryder offered some observations on varia-
tions in the number of toes of young Amphiume, suggesting that
the two sais recognized genera were hardly yet differentiated
from each o

D stent a Dr. Ruschenberger in the chair. Dr. Koe

' gave the results of an analysis of a new mineral substance oan
€ proposed to call Randite, provisionally. In the election for
officers to serve for the ensuing year, which occurred at this
_ Meeting, no changes were made from those who served Poe
the preceding anuual term.
january. 7,1 879.—Dr. Ruschenberger in the chair. The Pres
dent announced the death of the Rev. Dr. E. R. Beadle, s January

Vou. xin. .—N0. HI. l4

a thelial ; and 3d, the nervous.

206 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [ March,

6th, aged 66 years. Messrs. Redfield, Rogers, and Leidy were
_ appointed a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the
Academy’s esteem for Dr. Beadle. The annual reports of the
Sections were then read and referred to the publication committee.
January 14.—Dr. Ruschenberger in the chair. Mr. Redfield
for the committee, offered a resolution Piniitie the death of Dr.
Taan which was unanimously adopted
. A. Kelly exhibited some handsome and perfect casts of
acacias taken from the animals themselves in gelatine molds.
Mr. Ryder said he had recently observed that the jaws of herbi-
vora were moved from without inwards, instead of the reverse,
which threw new light upon the subject of the “ mechanical gene-
sis of tooth-forms.” Dr. Leidy exhibited some lemons with a
species of coccus or scale insect adhering to the rind, which he
thought might become a serious pest in Florida, from whence the
specimens were obtained. A letter accompanied with blanks,
from Charles F. Folsom, was read by the President, requesting
the coöperation of the members of the Society, in the collection
of statistics relating to the subject of heredity.
ecember 16th, 1878.—Biological and Microscopical Section,
Dr. R S: Kenderdine in the chair. Professor J. Gibbons Hunt
delivered a very interesting lecture on the lichens. His remarks
were beautifully illustrated by many fine specimens ‘of his own
preparation, demonstrating the minute structure of these simple
plants, which are found everywhere encrusting rocks, stones, the
bark of trees, etc. A dish in which a large number of specimens
were tastefully arranged by Professor Hunt under a bell-glass
attracted much attention, forming as it did a display quite equal
in beauty to the handsomest fernery. Speaking of their habitat,
the speaker said that these, as well as many other interesting
plants, were found in the greatest profusion and variety in the
swamps of New Jersey, which he called the paradise of the bot-

anist. After going briefly over the classification of these -

plants, the. lecturer entered upon their anatomy. The great
interest and value of the study of these plants as a means of men-
tal discipline, and their use in the arts of design, were also dwelt
upon by the speaker. Mr. Lewis exhibited a specimen of a rare
wheel animalcule of marvelous beauty belonging to the genus
Stephanoceras from the vicinity of Philadelphia.

Jan. 6.--Biological and Microscopical Section, Dr. R. S. Ken-
derdine in the chair. Dr, Carl Seiler favored the society with a
discussion of the leading facts of animal histology, the branch of
science which has for its subject-matter the consideration of
the various kinds of cells composing animal bodies. He con-
sidered the. classification of the living tissues accordi ing to their

offices. These,‘he said, could be very simply and conveniently —

-.

-divided into three classes, as follows :—Ist, connective; ad, epi: a -

1879. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 207

e speaker’s remarks were illustrated by numerous beautiful
microscopical objects prepared by himself, some of which showed
as many as four different colors, each component part of the cells
being of a different color, all of which had been accomplished by
artificial means, though the process was comparatively a simple
one. The great practical use of the study of histology and the
comparative ease with which its main principles might be ac-
quired, were dwelt upon, as well as the great facilities which were
now offered to students owing to the mechanical and optical per-
fection of American microscopes, and the excellence of the tech-
nical processes devised and discovered by our own students.

Some further remarks were make by Dr. Dixon, Mrs. Professor
White and Dr. Hunt, the latter of whom differed with Dr. Seiler
in relation to some minor points relating to the origin of the con-
aegure tissues.

. A. Ryder then offered a résumé of recent researches on
the wi first stages of cell-division and multiplication as worked
‘out by the younger European biologists, who seem to have left
off where the older workers began. These researches, he believed,
indicated more decidedly than ever the identity of animal and
vegetable protoplasm. In both the animal and vegetable cell the
behavior of the central nucleus of the cell seemed to be quite the
same; as it elongated preparatory to division, it was seen to be
composed of two opposite poles, from which very minute granules
were disposed in lines radiating in every direction, whilst curved
lines of granules connected the poles. The appearance was that
presented by iron filings scattered on a plate of glass, and made
to arrange themselves in a curious fashion when the poles of a
horseshoe magnet are applied beneath. It was not claimed that
the process of cell-division was a magnetic process, but it was
simply a resemblance which was suggested between the two phe-
nomena. The curved lines of granules uniting the poles of the
cell-nucleus, in the course of time, form nodes or enlargements
which mark the point of division equatorially of the cell into two.
The radiate arrangement of the granules at the opposite poles of
the nucleus has induced Fol to call it an amp/zaster, meaning like
two stars joined together. The formation of the female and male
pronucleus in the egg-cell was also considered, and shown to be
produced previous to fertilization, at least in the case of a star-fish
and a small species of leech. Many further observations were
offered in dianie bee certain recently-discovered phases of embry-
onic developme

r. Lewis exhibited a fine living specimen of wheel-animalcule,
the Lymnias

208 Selected Articles in Scientific Serials. [ March, 1879.

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND Arts. — January, 1879.
Mesozoic strata of Virginia, by W. M. Fontaine. Notices of fifty
species of east-coast fishes, by G. B. Goode and T. H, Bean, Age
of the clay slates and grits of Fotebkeerii by J. N. Dale, Jr. New
order of extinct reptiles (Sauranodonta), from the Jurassic of the |
Rocky Mountains; principal characters of American Jurassic Di-
nosaurs, by O. C.. Marsh. Early Types of Insects, by S. H.

udder.

February.—Has Lake Winnepeg discharged through the Min-
nesota within the last two hundred years? By J. E. Todd. The
relation of secular rock-disintegration to loess, glacial drift and
rock basins, by R. Pumpelly.

PsycHE.—September—December, 1878. Life history of Danais
Archippus, by T. L. Mead. Breeding habits of Callosamia pro-
methea, by C. E. Webster.

January, 1879——The nervous system of Phylloxera, by E. L.
Mark.

QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. se
- On the existence of a head-kidney in the embryo chick, and on
certain points in the development of the Miillerian duct, by F.

M. Balfour and A. Sedgwick. Notes on some reticularian Rhiz-
opoda of the Challenger expedition, by H. B. Brady. Researches
on the Flagellate Infusoria and allied organisms, by O. Bütschli.
The morphology and systematic position of the Spongida, by F
M. Balfour. Flagellated organisms in the blood of healthy rats,
by T. R. Lewis.

Tue GrotoeicaL MaGcazine.—December, 1878. On the occur-
- rence of a fossil tree in the Upper Silurian of Ohio, U. S., by E
W. Claypole.

ZOOLOGISCHER ANZEIGER.—December 16. Voges, on the Mor-
phology and anatomy of Julidæ

Canapian Naruratist.—December 20th, 1878. Graptolites of
the Niagara formation, by J. W. Spencer. On some marine in-
vertebrata from the West Coast of North America, by J. F.. Whit-
eaves. Description of a new species of Paragorgia from Jervis

Inlet, B. C., by A. E. Verrill.

Tur GEOGRAPHICAL MaGazine.—December, 1878. The Bolan
Pass (Map). Account of the Dutch Arctic Expedition, by one of
the seamen. Voyages between Northern Europe and Siberia in
1878. Darien Interoceanic Canal. (This Journal ceases to exist
with this number.)

THE _

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vow. x1u.— APRIL, 1879. — No. 4.

ANIMAL MUSIC, ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN.
BY XENOS CLARK, B.S.

HE songs of birds and the few other animals that sing, have
almost exclusively been treated of in the world of sentiment,
where poet-naturalists and nature-poets have culled a wealth of
fancies that will endure as long as there is human emotion, but
which count for little in the field of exact knowledge. They are
choice reading ; a kind of pleasure gardens. The purpose here is
simply to bring together such songs as have been written in
musical notation, and from this compilation to make whatever
inductions may seem of scientific value to ornithologists, physiolo-
gists, psychologists and theoretical musicians, whose studies touch
this subject.

The young bird acquires his song by traditional inheritance ;
that is, each brood, endowed by physiological inheritance with a
certain aptitude, learns, after long practice, by constantly hearing
the song of its elders, the melody peculiar to that species, which
is in turn similarly transmitted to the succeeding generation. In
conclusive proof of this is the fact, that a young nestling rered
by foster-parents of some other species will learn their song.
Hon. Daines Barrington (1) an early and discriminating observer,
‘says; “I have educated nestling linnets under the three best sing-
ing larks, the skylark, woodlark and titlark, every one of which,
instead of the linnet’s song, adhered entirely to that of their
respective instructors.” This process seems very decisive, for a
titlark-linnet (a linnet educated by a titlark), well fixed in song,
which he kept for three months with common linnets in full song,
borrowed no passages, but adhered to the titlark melody. It

1The references are made by Roman numerals to the list at the end of the article.

O VOL. XIII,—No, IV. 15
4

210 Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [ April,

is evident, therefore, that birds acquire their songs as infants
acquire a language, by instruction rather than by instinct; and
that those of the same species sing alike for the same reason that
children of one nationality speak alike, viz: that their instructors
have a common tongue.

The next question is, how birds came originally by the notes
which are peculiar to each species. Daines Barrington answers
this also, saying substantially that scarcely any two birds of the
same species sing exactly alike; there are, so to speak, “ provincial
dialects ” in different districts, as well as individual mannerisms
and defects. All these minor differences, continually renewed,
will be imitated by the young birds, and passing from them to
succeeding generations, will be perpetuated and grow to wider
divergencies. The loss of a parent at the critical period, also,
will compel the young bird to invent or copy from other birds,
perhaps of different species. Had this explanation been thought
out a hundred years later, in 1873, it would have been added that
of all these variations sexual selection would perpetuate the
most agreeable, so that, as Darwin says (11, p. 378), “It is not
difficult to imagine the steps by which the notes of a bird, pri-
marily used as a mere call, or for some other, purpose, might
have been improved into a melodious love song.”

The ultimate origin of melody is a more difficult problem.
Darwin writes elsewhere (11, p. 569), “ But if it be further asked
why musical tones in a certain order and rhythm give man and
other animals pleasure, we can no more give the reason than for the
pleasantness of certain tastes and smells.” I will attempt here to
briefly answer this question, reserving at present the fuller state-
ment of a theory, which, very strangely, has never before been
. hit upon, though Darwin in the paragraph preceding that just
quoted, and Helmholtz (111, p. 553) have almost come upon it,
and then passed by.

A musical sound is compound in its structure, being really a
group of simple tones heard simultaneously; in fact, a chord.
This group is composed of a ground tone or fundamental, which
predominates, and of a number of overtones, that decrease in
intensity as they rise in pitch through a series of harmonic inter-
vals, Thus between the ground-tone and over-tone No. 1 is the
interval of an octave; between Nos. 1 and 2, of a fifth; between
Nos. 2 and 3, of a fourth; between Nos. 3 and ‘4, of a major
third (see songs No. 1). These intervals, the octave, fifth, fourth

1879. ] Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 211

and third, which thus occur in every musical sound we hear, and
which existed as physical peculiarities of vibrating bodies long
before any living being came upon the earth, are also at the basis
of human and, I hope to show, extra-human melody. It is a
very suggestive coincidence, too thorough-going to have occurred
by chance. The thought at once arises that the peculiar, com-
pound, harmonic structure of musical sounds (more accurately,
of the vibrations which produce them) has in some way impressed
itself upon the auditory mechanism; so that melody, gradually
growing under the guidance of the ear thus modified, has been
moulded into a musical form similar to that possessed by the
group of harmonically-related tones which we have seen to com-
pose the sounds indicated.

This seems very probable. For since each terminal nerve of
the thousands in the cochlea responds to a given simple tone, the
group of such tones forming a musical sound wilt excite a cor-
responding group of nerves, which will of course be related
amongst themselves as are the exciting tones amongst them-
selves; that is, they will be serially octaves, fifths, fourths and
thirds apart. Every nerve will, therefore, have always been
stimulated in company with certain others, at harmonic intervals
from it; and it is inevitable that the incessant and long continued
repetition of this codperate activity should have resulted in some
anatomical or functional bond; a pathway, as it were, leading
from each member of the group to every other. Zhe progress of
any melody will be easiest along this harmonic pathway, worn by
the physical structure of sound.

For this reason it seems to me, “ musical tones in a certain
order give man and other animals pleasure.”! Take the case of
some primitive bird of the type from which the various Insessores
have diverged (singing birds belong chiefly to this Order). For
innumerable years the harmonic structure of sound vibrations
had been impressing itself upon the auditory mechanism of his
‘ancestors, segregating the terminal nerves, or whatever the audi-

tory units might be, into groups, and habituating the members of

each group to concerted activity. He, in turn inheriting that

1 The word pleasure has been a stumbling block. Were the concretes of which it
is the abstract always expressed, thus—“ I feel an easy performance of some func- —
tion; or a general nervous stimulation and exaltation; or an impulse to continue
this sensation or action ”—were this done, many seeming difficulties of physio-psy-
chology would vanish. ae

>

212 Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [ April,

modified mechanism, began to sing, at first a single note. When
this grew wearisome and for remedy the pitch was altered, true
song arose. But the change of pitch could hardly have been at
a a the first note excited a nerve belonging to a certain
coherent group, and it was a necessary alternative that the next
note should excite some other nerve, either within or without
that group. If within, the combination had occurred mil-
lions of times; if without, perhaps not once. I cannot doubt
that the change was within the group; was harmonic; indeed the
overtones of the first note had already slightly stimulated the
related nerves, so that their faint tremor extended, as it were, an
invitation to touch them more firmly. The invitation was fol-
lowed, and then other similar ones, and finally the song grew
harmonic, because it followed the easy, preéstablished pathway,
rising and falling octaves, fifths, fourths and thirds from one to
another of the many-grouped nerves. He sang to please himself
or his mate, and the most pleasing combination of notes was that
most easily heard ; the combination producing least friction and se-
curing the most economical action of the sound-receiving apparatus.

In this brief exposition all details are neglected, and even
inexactness admitted where rigorous truth of statement would
consume too much space. The more technical treatment of the
theory, if it can be called that, belongs to physiological acoustics,
in which province many facts tend to its support. The further
evidence that can be appropriately presented here, consists of ©
certain statistical proofs gathered from the bird songs which
occupy the last pages of this article, and it seems very con-
clusive.

There are four hundred and six intervals in the thirty-eight
_ bird songs. Of these, all below the major third may be consid-
ered as a “filling in ”—material for runs, trills, etc.; they number
one hundred and eighty-four.

The major third and the intervals above it are the true pro-
gressive steps followed by the bird's ear in the long leaps of his
song; there are of these two hundred and twenty-two. The fol-
lowing table will show the details:

{terval pee ag Maj.3d.| gh. (Dim. sth.| sth. (Mi. 6th:| 6th |Dim.geh{ 7th | 8th
|No. oftones. . 2 | 2% | i 3% t 4% 5 sh eo |
| Absolute No. =} S | 55 ae Ps ” 60 12 8 we veui S

| Proportional No. 26 per ct'25 per ct 2 per ct. |27 per ct 6 per ct.|4 per ct. per ct... . |g per ct.

1879. | Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 213

These results are as pregnant as they are simple. The perfect
fifths, fourths, thirds and octaves have a marked predominance,
their proportion of the whole number being respectively twenty-
seven per cent., twenty-five per cent., twenty-six per cent. and nine
per cent., or taken all four together, eighty-seven per cent. as
against thirteen per cent. of the remaining five intervals. Nearly
all the songs illustrate this pronounced harmonic character; that
-of the song sparrow (Nos. 18-22), for example, in which the best
intervals lie between the trills, is very good. Indeed, the very fact
that various keys are selected in which to write bird songs is proof
that they rest on the same basis as human music. And the
"immense preponderance of harmonic intervals seems sufficient
answer to whatever may be said about the difficulties and possi-
ble inaccuracies attendant on the writing of these songs.

There are some curious observations on the singing of birds in
concert which seem to show that they have an “ear for music.”
Daines Barrington (1) says that, as tested by trained ears, a dozen
singing birds of different kinds in the same room made no dis-
agreéable dissonance. And Mr. Augustus Fowler writes me that
in a meadow where many red-winged black-birds are congregated,
one may “hear their familiar notes pitched to the same key ; not
a discordant note is uttered because the intervals are thirds, fifths,
etc.” Ina concert of male goldfinches, when they sing for an
hour together, “although one may pitch his tune and commence
singing, the others following, begin their tunes on the same pitch,
and to an unpracticed ear, or to a casual observer, their notes
seem discordant, when they are in perfect unison.

What few songs of other animals than birds can be gathered,
point even more strongly in the same direction. Darwin (1, p.
567), speaking of the Hylobates agilis, an ape allied to man, says,
“This gibbon has an extremely loud but musical voice. Mr.
Waterhouse states (xvi), ‘It appeared to me that in ascending and
descending the scale, the intervals were always exactly half-tones,
and I am sure that the highest note was the exact octave to the
lowest. The quality of the notes is very musical; and I do not —
doubt that a good violinist would be able to give a correct idea
of the gibbon’s composition, excepting as regards its loudness.’
Mr. Waterhouse then gives the notes. Prof. Owen, who is a
musician, confirms the foregoing stat@ment. This gibbon is not
the only species in the genus which sings, for my son, Francis
Darwin, attentively listened in the TE EE to H. leu~

214 Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [ April,

ciscus whilst singing a cadence of three notes, in true musical
intervals and with a clear musical tone.”

The Rev. S. Lockwood writes in the AMERICAN NATURALIST
(v1) of a most interesting singing mouse, Hesperomys cognatus,
and fortunately gives the music, written by his son (Song No. 39).
He says, “ Although she had no ear for time, yet she would keep
to the key of B (two flats) and strictly in a major key. Her soft
clear voice falls an octave with all the precision possible, then at,
the wind up it rises again into a very quick trill on C sharp and
D. When singing whilst turning in her wheel, and suddenly
thrown on her back by its stoppage, as if in surprise, she would
roll off four or five notes in a higher octave, and in a greatly
increased loudness of voice.’

In answer to some inquiries, Mr. Lockwood kindly writes me
as follows: “ Octaves, fifths and thirds were usually selected for
the long intervals of Hesperomys’ song. I have had and still
have singing guinea pigs, Cavia cobaia. What is said of my
Hesperomys is in the main true of the Cavia. There are other
rodents that sing, Mus musculus, or house mouse; the rat, Mus
rattus; the white-footed mouse, Hesperomys leuripits ; the wood-
chuck, Arctomys monax, and the squirrels.” Recent numbers of
Nature (vi) and the Popular Science Monthly (vu) contain brief
accounts of singing mice. That in the former confirms some
curious phenomena observed by Mr. Lockwood—the singing of
an air with an accompaniment, and the influence of fright as well
as joy in starting the song.

It is doubtful whether true music is produced by any inverte-
brates. There seems to be no provision in the ear for the exact
discrimination of pitch, and the sounds are instrumental rather
than vocal, being generally produced by stridulation. Some refer-
ences, however, are given with the others to what has been writ-
ten on this subject (xxir to xxv1, see also 11, pp. 274, 289, 301).

For assistance in my work of collecting and studying animal
songs I am much indebted, especially to Mr. Wilson F lagg, Prof.
E. R. Sill, Dr. Elliott Coues, Rev. S. Lockwood, Mr. H. A. Pur-
die, Mr. Robert Ridgway, Miss Alice Bacon, Mr. H. D. Minot and
Dr. P L. Hatch. It was necessary that the work should be
largely one of compilation, for the material had never been
brought together before. «Thus the attempt has much of a
pioneer character, and my chief hope is to direct attention to this
_ important field of study, where acute observation is very much

1879. |

needed;

Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 215

for the comparative sciences hold the keys to all ques-

tions óf origin, and their method is simply the intelligent noting
and collating of the facts of Nature. Allegiance to this method
in the field of animal music has even at this early stage resulted
in two encouraging starting points for future work—a statistical
demonstration of the harmonic character of animal, especially
bird, song; and a theory for the origin of melody, whether hu-
man or extra-human, which besides the usual basis of physiologi-
cal acoustics, employs the law of modified, inherited, selected and
adapted structure, z. ¢., the law of evolution.

XXL
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The Hon. Daines Barrington, “ Philosoph. Apogan ” 1773, p, 249.
m “ The Descent a — ,? Appleton & C , 1875, 2d
a?

<D
+ Hel pise s Bios Sensations of Tone as ‘gs iological Basis for the

Ases ars s. by A. Elis. London, 18

The y A. J. 75-
. James Sully, ° 64 Senate on ie Intuitio on.’ Londo on, 1874, 7th essay.
- Grant Allen, M.A., “ Physiological Aisthetics.” London, 1877. Hearing.
ey, ta Lockwood, “« A Singing Hesperomys,” AMERICAN NATURALIST,
61.

>

+ Sin aan Mi ice, Nat ture, Nov. 8

i
+ “ Singing Mice,” by Henry Lee, z, ‘Seence Monthly Wo. xiv, 1878, p. 102.

White’s “ Natural History of Sel
recher, “ Musurgia’”—Not es of iai uail and cuckoo.

X. Ki
; hie Flag g, “ Birds and Seasons of New England,” Boston, 1875. T

conta be all correct songs of those him in Atlantic Monthly, ae.
832

II. “ Music of Nature,” or Gardi gy London, 1832.
. “ Book of Nature,” by Good, p. 189. Hartford, 1853.
. John Blackwall, y Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester. 2d Series, Vol.

IV, 1824,
« Ornithological Dictionary 1833, p

x 475.
. Given in W. C. L. Mart “ Gene ay ae to Nat. Hist. of Mamm.

An deine ied ares k ghee Owen of Vestchenten, n Vol. II,

p-
ZE; coe - ey Birds of Middlesex.” London Numerous songs.
handl. baier. Akad. (Phil. Abhendl Dy, 1797, p- 169.

Ken
: Savart (F Crores Notisen u.s.w.), 1826, pp. I an

ny Naumanni. 1855, pp ee F; 18i.
Jour m fitr Orn 1855, P. 348, 1856, p. 250.
oe ae ane the Grasshoppers ” by S. H. Scudder, AMERICAN NATU-
LISY I, 18 „p II
es anaig € Crustaceans," Nature, May, 1878, pp. 53 and 9
Insect Music, Landois’ Das Ansan, ang: (1870), pp. 429 a d 430.
Stridulation of Scorpions. See “ Annual Rec. of Science” Bai D, 1877,
p- 282.
Stridulation of Butterflies, See “ Annual Rec. of Science” (Baird), 1877,

Language et chant des oiseaux, par M. F. Lescuyer. (Paris, J. B. Bailliére

XXVIII. 77 Canto Degli Uccelli, note di ficlogs e oes meai in- mappo

alla scelta sessuale e alla r lesistenza colte du Z

Paollucci, Professori di Storia Maione Aa R. sf tituto Peahice

di Ancona. (Milano, 1878, pp. 130.) This is an elaborate and
: : ; aee: i

important work in a Agree ing Beare of the NATURALIS

216

There
pene them according to source, all from
any case to the ooe text

. given Without change. No.

Gardiner’s ‘“ Music of Nature ”
(Nos. 2-4).

Lark, England.

. Nightingale.

4. Robin.

oN

“The Birds of Middlesex” by J. E.
Harting (Nos. 5-15).
5. Blackcap, ua atricapilla.
6. Willow Warbler, Sylvia trachilus.
7. Yellow-Hammer, Zyberiza cib-
rinella.
i. ara Plover.
eewill.

; aiea tcher.
e Ring Plover.
. Whimbrel.

Curlew.

m oH H
aron

. Dunlin.`
15. Swan.

“ Birds and Seasons of New Eng-
land,” by Wilson Flagg (Nos.

16-31).
—_— garment Theme.
= m TUN notes
marked e. to be per-

formed by a rapid telling of these
notes with their octaves).

18°. oe Speen: Joyful.

19°. Plaintive.
20°.“ “ ent.

T s cy aa and quer-

ulous.
Brilliant.

Animal Music, its Nature and Origin.

[April,

are so many possible arrangements for these songs that it seems best to

one writer in succession. No addition is

; the names, vulgar or scientific, or both, are
is the fundamental C with its overtones (111, p. 33).

23. Peabody Bird, Fringilla albicollis.
This is a ees song, sen
by Mr. Flagg.)
qisa Brigadier.”
Wood Sparrow, Hirundo bicolor.
‘ POPAN, Caprimulgis vocif-
us.

27. Chewink, Fringilla erythrophthat-

; Chickadee, Parus palustris.

. Golden Robin, /¢erus Palieery.

Green Warbler Assan rens.
uail, Perdix Virgi

gy" tay, (caged). ars me At Mr.
Flagg

“My Garden,” iy Alfred Smee.
London, 1872.

. Reed Warbler.
Thrush.

Blackbird.

altimore Oriole. Call and reply.
as Kak Sept., ’76.
, Oriolus galbula of
pA A Gossip, April,
. California Meadow Lark, Si
nella neglecta. Threesongs Pease
given me ed a gentleman familiar
with m
ee. ena Llesperomys cog-

8

39.
A nae Mouse, esperomys cog-
matus.

The two above songs, 39 the Wheel
e

Song, 40 the Grand jara are
given by S wood,
AMERICAN NATURALIST, Ta. V,
"71, P. 764

1870. | Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 217

1. OVERTONES OF C.

E ia a2
Ley: RD. | H Cd EET | Hi i
ie 0 -ai ge nom H r a H e I-
A EA -ag f $ i |
E AE E at L Bat i
v ai
C Cc’ G Cc’ E” G’ bB” C” A” E”
2. LARK

etok V O O eA
|
This Music can be had in regular sheet
form (ten pages) by sending sixty cents to
ee publishers.
” McCALLA & STAVELY,
237-9 Dock St., Phila.

( Ainda
6. WILLOW WARBLER.
8va. alt.
`A A AA
DE og y RABIN a ` K re iy
| Smut was EEA E EEE CELE EEA E TE EE |
WON ATES SA F s CT FARR a Lm a
v # ps

1879. ] Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 217

1. OVERTONES OF C.

yJ-
E 5 N ld b, a 4 H
LO’ H H Vy sect Cd H H Hi ji aS J
Los R | i 7 ee OP. m MESA PE i { |
| es oY i (ame) A H A 7
E — ba i S i
g gQ G Cc” E” G” bB” or” Al” E”

4. ROBIN.

' t
2 e

E e <=
ae ay A A | > ee

ee ee

N
E
e

gage

5. BLACKCAP

8va. alt. t es t: ome.

6. WILLOW WARBLER.

&va. alt. A
an E Sak N ` ru }
Sa ton ary MRI AIE seas acts cos D t a ERE I 3
d a, H RP 4s
v nen f + i

218 Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [April,

7. YELLOW HAMMER.

io Sata Salen SS

Es arenas

8. RING PLOVER.

ee Se ot at et Se mae eS ne cet ee
ee _— are Sans
ry U

>
pa K- he a >
Ae a eee a SS =a
2” RTS Aii | BSE 7 TRR : { t J
P A eS Ee =]
LEK Í LAJ. LAZ 4
U e/ eae

EE
Et son nA A A = ned EEES f =

8va
fal E + E
f- (7 A Z t- DUFA
EG 4 4 W f —
12. WHIMBREL.
1 t
2. ff E EPEE E ons
an ARTO TEZ FENT $ er BASIE f i 1 epee ST:
CAS — POORNE SAE
COZ 4
a
13. CURLEW
M £
eon MERER p E AR TRE

at emp

1879. | Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 219

Te
T
f
|
|
|

epee See See eS

16.4 SONG SPARROW.

ef ee. eee ! eo 9 @ @ Sr l

ee =e

17. b SONG SPARROW.

í £ "RRARL LAL RARE

O - H — nS ee ‘ i i H N r!
A ee =
REM Ae |i

eee quttural.
H

v

18. c SONG SPARROW.

19. d SONG SPARROW.

e0 -. Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [ April,

‘20. e SONG SPARROW.

t
Soe ess xn
Pang f
po
, Epeceeeceseaner diminuendo.
= a, ome 2. a cnr er
ə P h a a
LIES l | | BRIE Barnsenoumarsranoaenetor a o ESS 1 11s M A i EETA li

21. f SONG SPARROW.

tr '

SS SS

PES ose T TE e e Ae. _ z =]
e a e a

22. g SONG SPARROW.

Ps TA OB O wa SAN S ED on a s aan i
ATE BEB st SPS ON A EE cc RE AA
E ao CADETE ES OS, ee T Bo
iy I a

== See]

1879. | Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 221

27. CHEWINK.
pn# A | > J
F pe ~ | -e—4 i REPETERA
oa
28. CHICKADEE.
o# 4 j
L. eo Lp. | J
1 a aai H e a, H anan j
LESS d g i Maci i g E
LF I j

30. GREEN WARBLER.

a a E P ee
i TT SE ARS A (TR eT RE TOR PEGE ORO al cr
fr? Oe | H OY RI e E HR ad s si
C a O_o Pk |
A ee ON” ARON IRE gi

. ry , J eo
= a Ry
ud i OA i 7 8 |
Sy { 1 of r
32. SKYLARK.
1 if ji
2 tt Pa RR | See SCAS |
Ge. Bo os
n E Z = M nh Mm mM a A MM
i RR SS ES LE : SE LSD Gente OLE NIE SR RR ai ae RRS RR * |
i See) L BY

a

pt, Se SS E namn oe

222 Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. [ April,

33. REED WARBLER.

34. THRUSH.

eam ete ether)
i s

— ms
v

Eep E

Ee a eae

35. BLACKBIRD.

36. BALTIMORE ORIOLE.

1879. ] Animal Music, its Nature and Origin. 223

37. GOLDEN ORIOLE.

F y ES
SA" S oa ə }
y a : m i
| fam} 8. i 5
SBE Fa = | I
U :

38. CALIFORNIA MEADOW LARK.

$3 a (E ws mE see Se Bl 4 n
E aE e: ooper = EE
= ESY a ee

a ey Si ember ia

39. VESPER MOUSE.—WHEEL Sona.

Rva
OVa

sereset asereses

p PEPEPEPE 24 2

————

40. VESPER MOUSE.—Granp ROLL.

Fees ered A
Eoen -A

224 Artificial Mounds of the Island of Marajó, Brazil. [ April,
THE ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS OF THE ISLAND OF
MARAJO, BRAZIL?

BY ORVILLE A. DERBY,

Of all the localities in Brazil where the remains of ancient In-
dian tribes have been found, the Island of Marajó is the most in-
. teresting to the archeologist. Whether the race at this point was
a superior one, or whether the conditions under which they lived
were more favorable, it is certain that the ancient inhabitants of
Marajo, or at least a portion of them, made greater advancement
toward civilization than any other of the aboriginal tribes, having
excelled in the arts those of every other part of Brazil, so far as
we know to-day. In addition to shell-heaps and stone imple-
ments, similar to those existing in nearly all the provinces of
Brazil, there are found at Marajo antiquities whose characters are
quite peculiar to that locality and indicate superiority. I refer to
the artificial mounds and the objects they contain, of which I pro-
pose to give a brief description.

Marajo, like all the region about the mouth of the Amazonas,
is very low, and excepting a small tract in the east, is so slightly |
elevated above the level of the river, that in the winter it becomes
changed into a large lake. Over all its expanse there is nota
single natural elevation that might be called a hill, the portions
not subject to overflow, being very gentle undulations of the sur-
face, having a height of only a few metres above the surface of
the water. As explained by its indefatigable explorer, Dr. S.
Ferreira Penna, of Para, the island may be divided into two nearly
equal parts; the western, covered with forests in which abounds
the India rubber tree, and the eastern, consisting of plains. It
is the eastern part that concerns us now.

The plains being covered with a heavy growth of rich grass,
constitute a good grazing ground, and are thus well suited to the
raising of cattle, which is to-day almost their only industry.

The farmers have, however, to contend with many difficulties,
due in part to the structure of the island. Every year many

1 Several of the Museums of this country possess collections of pottery from
Marajó, procured either by the late Professor Hartt, or by others; but up to this time
no accurate account of the region whence they were obtained, has been published.
The following translation of a short article, descriptive of this interesting island,
which appeared in the Vulgarisador of Rio de Janeiro, ei z= ST may
thus prove acceptable to American archæologists.—RICHARD RATH

1879.] Artificial Mounds of the Island of Marajó, Brasil. 225

cattle are drowned in the lowlands, or fall victims to the alliga-
tors, and, from time to time, a more severe winter than usual de-
prives them of fodder, and occasions severe losses. Another and
more important inconvenience arises from the impossibility of re-
taining in good condition a sufficient number of horses for farm
work. Formerly horses thrived so well on the island that they
came to take entire possession of the grazing grounds, forming a.
serious impediment to the industry of cattle-raising, and about
forty years ago the farmers killed them by thousands for the sake
of their hides. To-day horses are so expensive and their preser-
vation so difficult that they are only in use where it is absolutely
impossible to dispense with them. For ordinary service, and even
for traveling, oxen are used, and, upon one occasion, I witnessed
a troop of horses being driven to their enclosure by herdsmen
mounted on oxen.

Near the centre of the island, in the midst of the plains, is a
lake called Arary, out of which flows a river bearing the same
name. Other important rivers are, the Igarapé-grande, which
empties at the south-east part of the island, and the Anajús, which
rises a little to the west of lake Arary, and, crossing the forests
of the western side, receives, before leaving the plains, the tribu-
taries Camutins and Moções. On the margins of all these rivers
artificial mounds exist, but only those of lake Arary and the Ca-
mutins have been examined. Those which I shall now describe
may be taken as types.

The best known mound is situated by the side of lake Arary,
and in the winter becomes transformed into an island called the
Island of Pacoval. In shape it is nearly oval, having a length of
one hundred and fifty metres, a breadth of seventy metres, and a
height of five metres above the water of the winter’s overflow,
which covers all the neighborhood for many miles around.

On one side of the island, exposed to the action of the waves,
is a small cliff, in which the structure of the mound is displayed,
and where it is seen that even to its base the earth is filled with
pottery and ashes, proving the artificial origin of the mound.
The waves have excavated very extensively into it, and the beach
below is covered with the fragments of pottery. The mound
being thickly wooded, the objects lying near the surface have
been much broken up by the roots of the trees, but at-a greater
depth they are preserved in perfect condition. Several other lo-

VOL. XI11.—No, IV. 16

226 Artificial Mounds of the Island of Marajó, Brazil. (April,

calities on the shores of the lake have yielded a similar kind of
pottery, but these places have not been investigated.

About six or seven leagues to the west of Arary, on the banks
of the Camutins, there exists another well-known group of mounds,
and a league farther are over fifteen others of large and small size.
The plain is here also very low and subject to inundations, the
.greatest natural elevations not rising more than one or two metres
above the water during the rainy season. ‘A narrow strip of for-
est usually borders the margin of the: river where the mounds,
also wooded, are generally encountered; there are, however,
other mounds situated upon the plain. The principal mound of
the Camutins, known by the same name, is a veritable hill, having
a height of fifteen metres above the plain, and with its sides so
steeply inclined as to render their ascent on horse-back quite dif-
ficult. The outline of the mound is elliptical, its length being
two hundred and ten metres, and its breadth at the base about
eighty metres; but at the summit it is much narrower. The sides
are furrowed by the rain which commences to excavate in holes
made for the purpose of procuring zguacabas, which are in great
demand as receptacles for farinha. In these furrows the earth is
seen to be full of pottery and ashes as at Pacoval. As a stronger
evidence of the artificial origin of the mound there is found near
ita large excavation, similar to those sometimes formed in rail-
road grading, and from which, without doubt was obtained the
material for constructing the mounds. This excavation is on the
opposite side of the river, and near it is another mound almost
equal in size to that of Camutins. A few hundred metres below
the mound of Camutins, on the same side of the river, is a third
mound of less height, but broader and probably longer. This
last is situated in a bend of the river, being surrounded by water
on three sides.

These three mounds all extend in different directions, indi-
cating that their position is without significance. They all have a
more or less elliptical or oval form, but this seems to have been
accidental, as there is no evidence that they were constructed ac-
cording to any definite plan. It is quite different with the North
American mounds, which in other respects closely resemble those
of Brazil. In the former country they often assume the outline of
a geometrical figure or of some animal.

According to the statements of the inhabitants there are in the

1879.] Artificial Mounds of the Island of Marajó, Brazil. 227

upper part of the river ten or twelve mounds of smaller size than
the above. Still others exist on the margins of the Anajus,
Mogoes and Igarapé-grande, and also in various parts of the plains,
distant from any river.

From what has been said it is evident that the mounds of Ma-
rajO were the work of man, and that too of an exceedingly indus-
trious race. For what purpose were they built—for defense, as
dwelling places, or as cemeteries for the dead? They were prob-
ably intended for all these. They were primarily localities for living
upon, elevated as much to escape inundation as to afford a better
means of defense against enemies. That they were also used for
interment is proved by the number of burial urns with skeletons
which they contain. The remains of fire and of an abundance of
pottery for domestic use indicate as well that they were places of
habitation. It is likely that they were the sites of fortified vil-
lages, occupied by a tribe holding to the custom, so common
among Brazilian Indians, of burying the dead inside the house.

I will now pass to a consideration of the objects found in the
mounds; these consist of stone implements and pottery. The
former are not common and do not differ notably in shape from
those of other localities; they are well polished and made of
diorite, a kind of stone heli is not found on a>, nor at
any near locality on the main-land.

Pottery exists in the greatest abundance, and is as Kotani
for its superior make as for the beauty and perfection of form and
ornamentation which it displays. Of the majority of objects
made by prehistoric man, it may be said that they are curious and
interesting, but devoid of taste; that is, they do not gratify our
tastes, perfected and purified by centuries of culture and art.
Among the vases of Marajó, however, are some that compare
very favorably with those of the ancient Greeks and Etruscans
in symmetry and elegance of form, as well as in the relief and
high grade of their decorations. The ancient inhabitants of
Marajó were truly masters in ceramic art.

Considering that the aboriginal mode of making an earthen-
ware pot was to coil up a long strip of clay—and of this fact we
have ample proof in the mounds we are describing—it is won-
derful to behold a pot thus constructed, measuring almost a
metre in diameter, made perfectly symmetrical. This, together
with the regularity and perfection of the lines of ornament,

228 Artificial Mounds of the Island of Marajó, Brazil. [ April,

demonstrates the great experience and culture of the maker.
The ornaments ‘encountered are naturally divided into three
classes—those in relief, the engraved and the painted. The first
kind is found upon idols and trinkets, and upon the sides of
vessels, often forming handles by which they can be lifted. They
are made by the hand, of soft clay, and generally rudely represent
the human figure or that of some animal.

The engraved and painted ornaments, however, very seldom
represent natural objects, and when: they do, it is in a very con-
ventional way, rendering it difficult to interpret them. They are
usually of a purely esthetic character, and include the fret, the
cross and other styles very well known in art.

From some of the primitive forms has been worked out an exceed-
ingly interesting series of modifications, from which arises the
greatest value of the antiquities of Marajó. It is evident that we
have there vestiges of a savage race that had entered upon the
first rudiments of art, and advanced so little that it is possible
now from their relics to trace each step in the early development
of art. As the study of embryology has solved many difficult
questions in zoology, so has the study of art here in the embryo
explained important points in the general history of art.

Prof. Hartt has thoroughly investigated this subject, and has
arrived at very important conclusions regarding it. A single
example will serve to explain the importance of this study.
Ruskin and others have proved that many of the complex designs
of architecture and the other arts are evolved from the fret, but
no one: has carried the analysis farther. Now the pottery of
Marajó comes in to complete the series, by showing that this fret
originated from straight lines, which the savage, like a child, uses
in his first attempts at ornamenting.

I am unable within the limits of this paper to discuss this
exceedingly interesting subject further. It simply remains for
me to add a few words respecting the uses of these various
objects, that an idea may be obtained of the customs and the
mode of thought of this ancient people. Some of the objects
were doubtless idols, and indicate a form of religious belief to
have existed among them; others seem to be trinkets or objects
made as pastimes; others ornaments for the dress or person;
while others still were articles of domestic use, and even these
last were carefully ornamented. Finally, the largest and most
elaborate of all were burial urns, sometimes of broad dimensions,

1879.] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 229

but always so constricted at the mouth as to admit only disjointed
bones, deprived of their flesh. In these are encountered human
remains, unfortunately, however, so reduced to powder that it is
impossible to determine the physical characters of the race. -

In conclusion, I can safely affirm, that even to-day it is very
hard to find on the Amazonas proofs of greater industry than that
furnished by these mounds, or a higher appreciation of the beau-
tiful than is manifested by the ornamentation of the pottery of
the ancient inhabitants of Marajó.

:0:
NATIVE BITUMENS AND THE PITCH LAKE OF
INIDAD.

BY W. O. CROSBY.

INERAL pitch and the most of the native bitumens have
been known from very early times. Among the ancient
writers we find many statements indicating not only a knowledge
but a practical use of these substances; and it is’ known that
asphaltum was appligd to architectural purposes more than four
thousand years ago. That this substance was held in high esti-
mation may be inferred from its being ranked by these writers
among the best building materials of those ages, and from its
application to structures requiring great solidity and permanence.
It is mentioned at several places in the Bible under the names
of slime and pitch: Noah, in building the ark, being commanded
to “pitch it within and without with pitch,” while we read that the
bulrush ark of the infant Moses was “ daubed with slime and with
pitch.” Herodotus says it was used as a cement in building the
strong walls of Babylon, large quantities being brought down
to the Euphrates by the small river Is. These fountains of
Is, celebrated as having attracted the attention of Alexander the
Great, Trojan and Julian, still continue to pour out inexhaustible
supplies. The same author describes the mode of obtaining solid
bitumen and petroleum from a spring near Anderica, on one of
` the Ionian islands, and of separating them from each other and
from foreign substances. This spring is flowing there to-day.
Diodorus Siculus and Josephus noticed the bitumen of the
Dead sea, its use in medicine and in coating ships; its importa-
tion into Egypt; and its being there used with aromatic spices
for the purpose of embalming bodies, which it preserved from
pu ee,

230 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. [April,

In their structures, the Romans directed much attention to
solidity and permanence, and of course endeavored to select
what were considered the most useful and durable materials.
That these materials were often good is shown by the state of
preservation of many of their works, and by the fact that their
cement is scarcely equaled by any of modern time; and yet
Vitruvius, a celebrated architect of the age of Augustus, speaks
of bitumen as superior to every other kind of cement, and regrets
its scarcity.

Notwithstanding the long time that native bitumens have been
known, it is only within the present century that they have come
to be extensively employed in the arts; and that geologists and
chemists have reached definite conclusions concerning their origin,
modes of occurrence, properties and relations. The prevalent
notion that these substances are of rare and limited occurrence is
entirely erroneous, for, as I shall presently show, the bitumens,
taken as a class, are very widely and abundantly diffused through
the crust of the earth. They are found in every quarter of the
globe, and in every geological formation from the Cambrian to
the present time. Their occasional association with what appear -
to be igneous rocks, has led some writers to infer that in their
origin they are in some way connected with volcanic action. An
explanation which, as Canon Kingsley has remarked, “ savors
somewhat of a ‘bull;’ for what a volcano could do to pitch, save
to burn it up into coke and gases, it is difficult to see.” When,
as undoubtedly sometimes happens, the bore of a volcano passes
through sedimentary strata holding bitumen or bituminous coal,
it is easy to see how the connection of these substances with
volcanic products may arise. But be their associations what they
may, it has been definitely settled that in their origin the bitu-
mens, like the coals, are always strictly organic. In every case
they are the more or less transformed tissues of plants or
animals.

Under the general name of bitumen are included both the
liquid forms, petroleum and naphtha, and the solid varieties such
as asphalt. Chemically considered, the bitumens are hydrocarbons
the average composition being represented by the general
formula C, Ha. The so-called bituminous coals, which, how-
ever, are destitute of true bitumen, are likewise hydrocarbons.
These are distinguished from the bitumens by their smaller
hydrogen ratio, analysis affording the general formula C, Han and

1879.] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 231

by the important facts that unlike many of the bitumens they are
not liquid at ordinary temperatures, and unlike all the solid bitu-
mens, are incapable of assuming the liquid state on the applica-
tion of heat. The coals partake in a large degree of the nature
of their chief constituent element, carbon, the most thoroughly
solid substance known, distinguishing, as we should, solidity from
density. In their entire insolubility, again, the coals are strongly
contrasted with the bitumens, the latter class being all more or
less soluble in liquids like benzole, sulphide of carbon, oil of tur-
pentine and ether; and the less fluid bitumens, as asphalt, dis-
solving in the more fluid, naphtha-like, varieties.

Notwithstanding the general distinctness of these two great
classes of native hydrocarbons, there is a point where they are not
easily separated. Among the bitumens there are different degrees of
fusibility and solubility, and a concomitant variation of the
hydrogen ratio, presenting a regular gradation as we pass from
naphtha with the maximum solubility and fusibility, and the
largest proportion of hydrogen, through petroleum, mineral tar,
and the various asphalts to idrialite, which, having the composi-
- tion of bituminous coal, is fusible with difficulty, and only slightly
soluble. From idrialite the passage is easy to true bituminous
coal, and from this, as is well known, to anthracite. So that, as
Dr. T. Sterry Hunt has stated it, “ Anthracite or nearly pure car-
bon, on the one hand, and petroleum and naphtha, or carbon with
a maximum of hydrogen, on the other, represent the two extremes
of a series of which bituminous coals and asphalts are interme-
diate terms.”

Following is a list of the more important members of this
series, with their formulas, which have been calculated for twenty-
four equivalents of carbon, to compare with the chief constituent
of wood, cellulose:

Cellulose...... Dele och eye eetresebosere Cas Hy On
Naphtha
a GHH

nos O EPR EDE BRIE 1 Ma
Mineral Tar. wo len scons si ewan wow nenies has Bene bus H

varies from C, H O
Asphalt a5. iassa ‘ f to GC HO
cette tt PRO, tC a er

Cy Hie
ent i varies from Cy Ho Os
ey bee eae Ohi eas to Cy H, 0
: varies from Cy H, O
Piathracite 666 bh os ee ee | è CH, O.

232 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. (April,

A little study of these figures will make it clear that all these
different hydrocarbons may be produced, theoretically at least, by
removing from cellulose, which represents all woody matter, vari-
able proportions of carbonic anhydride (CO,), marsh gas (CH,),
and water (H,O); and this is, in many cases, the course that nature
pursues. Under ordinary conditions decaying wood is attacked
by the oxygen of the air and burned up to carbonic anhydride,
water and ashes as completely as if thrown into a furnace; but if
kept out of contact with the atmosphere, as when lying beneath
the water and mud of a marsh, or buried in deposits of sand or
clay, the wood is still subject to decomposition, though the decay
is of a very different order and much less complete. The oxygen
is the most active element of the wood, and the first to leave;
but it never goes alone, always taking with it some of the hydro-
gen in the form of water, or of carbon as carbonic anhydride.
Afterwards other portions of the carbon and hydrogen unite and
make their escape as the inflammable gaseous substance known
as marsh gas. The presence of this gas in most swamps and
marshes attests that nature’s laboratory for the manufacture of coal
and bitumen is still in operation. Both these species of decom-
position, whether in the air or out of it, go on much more rapidly
in the presence of heat; the first process being exemplified in
every stove and furnace, and the second by the charcoal pit; for
anthracite, the ultimate product of slow decomposition out of
contact with the air, is simply a mineral charcoal.

A further inspection of our formulas will make it evident that
to transform cellulose or wood into the average bitumen we must
remove all the oxygen, some carbon and but little hydrogen ;
while for the conversion of vegetable matter into coal, the oxygen
is less completely removed, and the hydrogen suffers much greater
loss than the carbon. In the one case the escaping volatile pro-
ducts of the decomposition are mainly carbonic anhydride with
some marsh gas; and in the other case the loss has occurred
chiefly in the form of water, the carbon remaining largely intact.
This is an important difference, and one which would be more
obvious if our series included all the varieties of coal. The fact
is this series is not a very natural one after all. It represents
fairly well the changes resulting in the production of the different
bitumens, viz: a complete abstraction of the oxygen and a
gradual diminution of the hydrogen; but the coals are generated

1879.]| Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 233

by a gradual diminution of both elements, as the following series
will show, the formulas being still computed for compasison with
cellulose :

Peat and mit
he. «Coy Hoo Oro
0.

Brown coal

Lightte:iaylsisscg. isini shoto viti . Cu Hy O;
ae varies from Ca H O;
Ditarin oa Na RS, ta is» e
eee l varies from C,, H O
Ce Hy Ox

We are, then, to regard the coals and bitumens as forming two
distinct but parallel series, in each of which there is an evident
tendency to the reduction of organic matter to the state of pure
carbon. Theoretically, at least, the final results, like the starting
points, are chemically the same for the two series; but they are
reached by different roads.. Graphite, which is essentially pure
carbon, is the final term of the coal series, and it is not improb-
able that diamond stands in the same relation to the bitumens, for
Liebig has suggested that diamond is most probably formed by
crystallization of carbon from a liquid hydrocarbon.

xygen and hydrogen exist in cellulose in the right propor-
tions to form water, and the conversion of this substance into
coal, as already stated, consists mainly in the union of these two
elements. But we may now profitably notice some important
observations of Principal Dawson, according to which we should
no longer regard the ordinary vegetable fibre or cellulose com-
posing the main body of plants as the principal source of coal,
but certain epidermal tissues which differ from cellulose in being
much poorer in oxygen. In other words, it is the bark mainly,
and not the solid wood from which coal is formed. Dr. Hunt
gives the composition of cork, which is a bark, as Cy Hy; O;.
These cortical tissues, Dawson says, “are very little liable to
decay, and resist, more than most other vegetable matters, aqueous
infiltration, properties which have‘ caused them to remain
unchanged and resist the penetration of mineral substances more
than other vegetable tissues. These qualities are well seen in the
bark of our American white birch (Betula alba). It is no wonder
that materials of this kind should constitute considerable portions
of such vegetable accumulations as the beds of coal, and that
when present in large proportion they should afford richly bitu-
minous beds. All this agrees with the fact apparent on examina-

234 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. (April,

tion of common coal, that the greater number of its purest layers
consist ofsthe flattened bark of the sigillariz and similar trees,
just as any single flattened trunk imbedded in shale becomes a
layer of pare coal. It also agrees with the fact that other layers
of coal, and also the cannels and earthy coals, appear under the
microscope to consist of finely comminuted particles, principally
of epidermal tissues, not only of the fruits and spore-cases of
plants, but also of their leaves and stems.”

Every one, I think, must have observed, at some time, decaying
logs, or better, stumps, of which little or nothing remains but a
cylinder of bark, and this is apparently little altered. Dawson
has found such hollow stumps in the coal formation, with abun-
dant evidence that they had been the homes of animals, such as
insects and reptiles. Such phenomena are the best illustrations
of the superior resistance which this class of vegetable tissues
offers to atmospheric action, a resistance undoubtedly due to the
small proportion of oxygen which they contain; their composi-
tion, as Dr. Hunt has pointed out, approaching closer to resins
and fats than to wood, and, “like these substances, they repel
water, with which they are not easily moistened.”

We have now traced to their origin in the vegetable kingdom
all of the coals, so far as known, and many of the true bitumens.
The notion is rapidly gaining ground among geologists, however,
that the bitumens, especially the lighter and more fluid forms,
such as petroleum and naphtha, are largely of animal origin.
This view, for the development of which we are mainly indebted
to Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, is based upon the following general con-
siderations: (1) Animal tissues, the average chemical composi-
tion, but not the molecular structure, of which may be represented
by the formula Ca, Has Ng O4, approaches even more nearly than
epidermal vegetable tissues to the composition of bitumens. (2)
Although, as a rule, eminently unstable compounds, subject,
under ordinary circumstances, to rapid and complete decomposi-
tion; yet we have good reason to believe that there are vast
regions where the conditions are not only favorable for, but must
necessitate, that slow and partial decay resulting in the formation
of bituminous substances. The regions referred to are the depths
of the ocean. Recent researches have shown, contrary to the old
idea, that the deep sea holds an abundant fauna. All grades
of animal life, from the highest to the lowest, have need

18 79] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 235

of a constant supply of oxygen. Now on the land, vegetation is
constantly returning to the air the oxygen consumed by animals,
but in the abysses of the ocean vegetable life is scarce or wanting,
and hence it must result that over these greater than continental
areas countless myriads of animals are living habitually en short
rations of oxygen, and in water well charged with carbonic anhy-
dride, the product of animal respiration. As a consequence,
when these animals-die their tissues do not find the oxygen
essential for their perfect decomposition, and in the course of
time become buried, in a half decayed state, in the ever increasing
sediments of the ocean floor. The same thing must happen to
animals living in higher bathymetric zones, all the way to the
surface, whose bodies sink to the bottom after death; they yield
a little ammonia and carbonic anhydride, and then pass into the
comparatively stable condition of a liquid or solid bitumen.
During the lapse of ages these sediments, rich in organic matter,
will be consolidated into limestones and slates, and at a later
period may be elevated to form new land; a process which has
been many times repeated in the past. (3) For, as geologists
well know, rocks corresponding to those just described are of
very frequent and extensive occurrence among the formaticns
now exposed to their observation.

Petroleum is usually associated with salt, the same well often
affording both oil and a strong brine; a fact very suggestive of
the marine origin of the petroleum. While the disagreeable
smell of some oleiferous limestones is probably due, as remarked
by Newberry, to the animal origin of the oil.

The capability which the so-called bituminous coals possess of
yielding, by a process known to chemists as destructive distilla-
tion, various liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, some of which
resemble petroleum, a property common to most substances of
organic origin, has not only led to their being erroneously
regarded as bituminiferous, but many geologists have inferred
that we have here a clew to the origin of the vast reservoirs of
petroleum known to exist in this and other countries, and which
have of late years been tapped with such astonishing results.
Anthracite is undoubtedly a species of natural coke, produced
when ordinary bituminous coal loses its volatile ingredients ; its
general mode of occurrence and geological relations prove this.
But is nature’s mode of making coke strictly analogous to what _

236 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. (April,

goes on in the retorts of the gas works? Probably not. We
have every reason to believe that the natural process is a very
gradual one, and that the volatile products are all gaseous. In
every bituminous coal mine in the world the two permanent gases,
carbonic anhydride and marsh gas—the deadly choke-damp and
fire-damp of the miners, are constantly escaping from the coal,
but unaccompanied by any oily, petroleum-like liquid. This
action, sufficiently long continued, must result in the production
of anthracite, and that it has so resulted is evidenced by the fact
that the rocks lying above the great deposits of anthracite are
quite free from the liquid bitumens we should otherwise expect
to find there. The fact is, that in Pennsylvania the anthracite is
in one end of the State and the petroleum in the other; and,
moreover, the petroleum is obtained from a formation below the
Carboniferous, to which the coal belongs. Its origin is some-
times referred to the carbonaceous shales or pyroschists of the
underlying Hamilton beds; but these, like the coals, are found,
on examination, not to contain any bitumen, and like the bitu-
minous coals, they still retain perfectly the power of yielding
bitumens when sufficiently heated. Beyond the limits of Penn-
sylvania the general facts are the same, and nowhere is there any
evidence proving a connection of the petroleum with the coals or
pyrochists. Petroleum is generally obtained from wells sunk in
sandstone or slate. In some cases it is probably indigenous in
these, but usually it has been forced up by hydrostatic pressure
or sponge-like absorption from oleiferous limestones, There are
several extensive formations of these limestones in Eastern North
America, and geologists are only beginning to appreciate their
abundance and richness. The oil is found filling the pores and
cavities of fossil shells and corals, and saturating the entire sub-
stance of the limestone, the evidence being plain that it is indig-
enous in this position and has not been introduced into the lime-
` stone subsequent to the formation of the latter. Dr. Hunt has
made a quantitative determination of the petroleum in a lime-
stone of Niagara age occurring near Chicago, with the following
almost incredible result: Although the formation has a thickness
of only thirty-five feet, yet in each square mile it must’ contain
not less than “seven and three quarter millions of barrels of
petroleum,” He says further, “ The total produce of the great
Pennsylvania oil region for the ten years from 1860 to 1870 is |

1879.] Native Bituinens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 237

estimated at twenty-eight millions of barrels of petroleum, or less
than would be contained in four square miles of the oil-bearing
limestone formation of Chicago.”

As a rule limestone is too massive and close grained to permit
the oil to flow freely through it to supply wells sunk in this rock;
but overlying sandstones gradually soak up the oil, and its accu-
mulation along the crests of anticlinal arches in the latter rock is
due to the presence of water in the strata, which, being the
heavier liquid, forces the oil to the top. The richest wells are
those which tap large bodies of oil contained in the great fissures
and cavities which, as geologists well know, usually accompany
an anticlinal fold of the strata. Very often these subterranean
chambers are filled partly with oil and partly with gas, and the
latter serves a useful purpose in forcing the former to the surface.
This gas is derived from the oil itself, and if the situation of the
fissure or the texture of the rock are such that the gas can escape,
its formation will continue until, in some cases at least, the petro-
leum is reduced to a thick viscid or even solid condition. * It is by

a similar but more rapid fractional distillation that the petroleum .

is refined for illuminating purposes, the solid residue being chiefly
the substance paraffine. The fissures filled with solidified or
inspissated petroleum are not wholly theoretical, for several have
been discovered, which, through some accident of erosion or
faulting of the strata, are now exposed on the surface. The most
noted of these is in New Brunswick, the material occupying the
fissure being the famous and valuable mineral, albertite. This is
a jet-black lustrous substance intermediate in physical characters
between bituminous coal and asphaltum, though chemically it is
much nearer the latter than the former, affording the formula
Ci, Ha Oze- .This deposit bears no resemblance to a true coal
bed, but fills a large irregular crevice cutting across the strata.
The enclosing shales are rich in the remains of fish, and so bitu-
minous as to be visibly oily, and to “sustain a fire without the
aid of other fuel.” The grahamite of West Virginia is a sub-
Stance closely resembling albertite and occurring in a similar fis-
Sure or crevice. The same phenomena, on a smaller scale, are
many times repeated in Canada, in the vicinity of Quebec and
elsewhere,

Whenever petroleum is exposed to the air for any length of

_ time, as when it slowly exudes from the rocks, forming petroleum —

s

238 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trididad. [ April,

springs, it is likely, in a manner similar to that just described, to
lose its more volatile ingredients and become semi-solid like min-
eral tar, or solid like asphalt. And so it happens that many of
the smaller deposits of asphaltum in this and other countries are
simply dried up petroleum, and are of animal origin. The great
deposits of the globe, however, those which constitute the prin-
cipal source of the asphaltum employed in the arts, do not appear
to have been formed in this way; but have, in most cases at least,
been derived directly, after the manner of coal, as already
explained, from decaying vegetation.

Extensive deposits of asphaltum, such as that for which the
island of Trinidad is celebrated, are commonly regarded as some-
thing exceptional, something out of the natural order, a freak of
nature. This notion is without foundation in facts, for asphaltic
substances are not only widely disseminated, as already stated,
but in not a few localitics, which form a zone girdling the earth,
they are accumulated in such vast abundance as to ensure an
unfailing supply for man’s purposes for all time to come.

A list of the localities where asphaltum is especially abundant
may further enforce this view, these are: Cuba, several of the
Windward islands, especially Trinidad and Barbadoes, the Carib-
bean shore of South America, particularly the province of Mara-
caybo, Caxitambo and Berengela in Peru, where are lakes of
asphalt similar to that on Trinidad ; Mexico, Texas and California
in North America, Persia and Arabia, Palestine on the shores of
the Dead sea and on Mount Lebanon, Ionian islands, France,
Switzerland and Portugal, It is a curious fact that the asphalts
are confined almost wholly to tropical and sub-tropical regions.
There appears to be in low latitudes some general climatic or
other condition which has in many cases determined the conver-
sion of vegetable matter into bitumen instead of coal.

The largest deposit in Europe is probably that in the Val-de-
Travers, Neufchatel, Switzerland, which has been worked for
more than one hundred and fifty years. This occurs in rocks of
Cretaceous age; but as a rule the great masses of asphalt are
found in connection with Tertiary strata. This is the geological
position in Trinidad, Barbadoes, Peru and other points in South
America and in California. Trinidad is composed chiefly of Ter-
tiary and Secondary beds, the former predominating ; but toward

the north the island otherwise quite low, is bordered by a bold

1879.] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 239

range of mountains, a detached link of the great littoral Cordillera
of Venezuela. These are composed of ancient crystalline strata,
and stand like a wall between the Tertiary plain on the south and
the Caribbean sea, and the long chain of volcanic islands on the
north. There is scarcely a trace of true volcanic action observa-
ble in Trinidad, the hot mud springs—the so-called mud volcanoes
—hardly coming in that category. They may be classed as
hydro-thermal but not as igneous phenomena. I have also seen
little or no evidence of volcanic action during the past epochs in
the history of the island; and the frequent severe earthquake
shocks of the regions on the west and north are very rarely felt
with destructive force in this favored isle.

Asphaltum, usually accompanied by mineral tar and petroleum,
occurs at many points on Trinidad and also on the adjacent main.
But the largest and most interesting deposit, not only of this
region but of the world, is that known as the Pitch Lake. This
is on Point La Brea (La Brea being Spanish for the pitch), in the
south-western part of the island, and one mile from the Gulf of
Paria. The topography of the country about the lake is ex-
tremely simple; from three sides—north, west and south—-the
land slopes gradually upward from the sea to the surface of the
lake, which lies one hundred and thirty-eight feet above the gulf;
while on the east the land is slightly higher than the lake. In
other words, the Pitch Lake is on the faintly-marked shoulder of
a broad, low ridge which, projecting into the gulf of Paria, forms
the peninsula or promontory of La Brea. Contrary to all topo-
graphic laws and precedents, this so-called lake is not in a valley,
but on a hill-top. I have already denied the existence, both past
and present, of volcanic phenomena in this region, and yet the
situation of this remarkable deposit of asphalt is very much as if
the broad-mouthed crater of a low-lying volcano were filled to
the brim with this material. I say filled to the brim, because on
the three sides named above, the surface of the pitch is even with
the brow of the hill, and more so, for at many points the viscous

substance is constantly overflowing and moving seaward, after the |

manner of very sluggish lava streams. The motion is extremely
slow, the pitch, where it issues from the lake, being a brittle solid.
The moving masses present curved lines and surfaces, which are
convex downwards; and Kingsley has very aptly likened these

Streams of asphalt to glaciers, the lake representing a mer de

240 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. [April,

glace. The asphalt becomes harder the longer it is exposed to
the air and the sun, through loss of its volatile ingredients, and con-
sequently the downward progress of the “black glaciers” must
sooner or later be checked, if: not entirely stopped.. It seems
impossible to determine the extent of the overflow, for although
the entire slope from the lake to the sea appears as a continuous
stratum of pitch, the soil being everywhere very thin or entirely
wanting, yet it is probable, as pointed out by Messrs. Wall and
Sawkins, that the most of this superficial sheet has exuded from
the asphaltic sandstone—a sandrock supersaturated with asphal-
tum—which forms the rocky basis of that portion of the ridge
where the free asphalt is found. The area covered or underlaid
by this mantle of pitch is estimated at 3009 acres.

The bitumen is certainly not injurious to plant life, for the scanty
soil covering the pitch, and consisting largely of that material
in a pulverulent state, supports a luxuriant vegetation. The vil-
lage of La Brea, on the shore, with the boiling houses where the
asphalt is refined, rests on the pitch; and the inhabitants com-
plain that their houses are liable to be thrown out of level by the
rising or sinking of the tarry foundations. It seems as if every-
thing superficial here, vegetation, houses, roads, etc., must be
slowly but surely drifting toward the sea.

“It is fortunate,” as one writer has remarked, “that the pitch
when compact will not kindle, or in other words will not burn
without a wick, for otherwise the entire region, npinding the
village, might suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The pitch not only forms the sea-shore for the greater part of a
distance of four miles, but in front of the village it appears from
beneath the sea as a solid barrier reef some hundred yards from
the shore, which is a source of danger to unwary boatmen when
the water is rough. It is probable that this peninsula of La Brea
owes its existence to the protection afforded the land by the
asphalt, which resists the action of the waves and running water
far better than the unconsolidated clays and sands forming the
coast to the north and south. 3

We may now return to the fountain head, the lake. Of the
various published descriptions of this remarkable phenomenon,
there are very few that can justly lay any claim to accuracy, and
strange to say these are not to be found in encyclopedias, nor
even in our best text books of science. Probably no object in

1 Report on the Geology of Trinidad.

1879.] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 241

nature has been so grossly misrepresented as the Pitch Lake of
Trinidad. In an official history of the English Exposition of
1851, under the head of descriptions of articles from Trinidad, it
is stated that, “The Pitch Lake is on the highest land in the
island. It is soft and fluid at the center, and there is an active
submarine volcano near the coast.” I have already given the
true altitude of the lake as one hundred and forty feet, while the
highest point on the island is Mt. Tucutche, 3100 feet above the
sea. The submarine volcano is a petroleum spring which comes
up under the water a short distance from shore; the water is
visibly oily over an area of several rods, and bubbles of gas are
sometimes seen to escape, but nothing farther, though another
writer speaks of this as “a submarine volcano which at times
makes a noise like thunder and emits naphtha and petroleum.”
The lake itself is usually described as three miles in circumfer-
ence, hot and fluid in the center, but cold and solid toward the
shore. In point of fact this body of pitch, which is of approxi-
mately circular outline, is scarcely one and one-half miles in cir-
cuit, and there is no part of its surface that may not be walked
upon with impunity. The temperature is uniform throughout.
The area of the lake is ninety-nine acres. Its surface, soft enough
in a few spots to receive the impression of a man’s boot, is for the
most part quite hard and firm, and everywhere of a dull earthy-
brown or brownish-black color. The fracture is eminently con-
choidal, but the lustre is always dull, the result of an admixture
of twenty to thirty per cent. of earthy matter, sand and clay.
These impurities are removed by boiling, and the pitch then
becomes shining black and still more brittle.

There are some twenty or more patches on the lake, five to
_ fifteen yards in diameter where soil has collected and vegetation
—trees, shrubs and grasses—has gained a foothold, forming green
islands or oases. The surface presents many small dome-shaped
swellings or protuberances, from an inch to a foot in diameter;
these pitch bubbles are always hollow, and contain traces of the
lighter portions of vegetation in a half decayed state, the thin
covering appearing to have been raised by gases given off from-
the decomposing leaves and twigs, or liberated by the sun’s heat
from the pitch itself, Excavations made in the pitch show that
below the surface these cavities or vesicles are exceedingly
numerous; they are usually — or 7. being

VOL. XIII.—No. ty. 17

242 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. (April,

flattened by pressure, and though always: the result of gaseous
expansion, are commonly filled with water; in fact the entire
mass of the pitch is saturated with water, so that even where quite
soft it will not soil the hands, because the water oozes out and
prevents adhesion. The earthy impurities of the pitch also assist
in rendering untrue, in this instance, the old proverb that one can-
not touch pitch without being defiled.

The pitch is mined or quarried by excavating areas thirty or
forty feet square to a depth of two to four feet. As soon as the
work ceases on one of these cellar-like excavations the surround-
ing asphalt, seeking to restore the equilibrium, begins to obliter-
ate it, the walls not closing in perceptibly but the bottom rising
up, and in a few days no trace of the opening remains. This is
only one of many indications of greater fluidity below the sur-
face. The plasticity of the pitch is evidently due to the oily matter
which it contains, and not in any sensible degree to the tempera-
ture. Hardened bitumen, it is true, may be fused by the applica-
tion of sufficient heat, but that which is naturally fluid remains
so at all ordinary temperatures. As already explained, when the
asphalt is exposed to the air it becomes solid through loss of its
volatile ingredients. Towards the center of the lake are several
detached areas, a rod or two in breadth, which are softer than the
rest of the surface,and yield under the feet, “so that on standing
a few minutes one feels that he is gradually settling down, and in
the course of ten or fifteen minutes he may find himself ankle deep.”
“ But,” as Mr. Manross! truly says, “in no place is it possible to
form those bowl-like depressions round the observer described by
former travelers.” Nor is it probable that Kingsley is right in
saying, “ No doubt there are spots where, if a man stayed long
enough, he would be slowly and horribly engulfed.” The inferior
density of the human body would prevent its submergence even
if the pitch were quite fluid.

In the vicinity of these places many small streams of gas
escape from the pitch. The evil smell and. the deposit of sul-
phur left on the pitch tell us that the gas is chiefly sulphuretted
hydrogen; but the sulphurous odor ceases to be perceptible at a
distance of a few rods, and does not extend for ten or twelve
miles, as some writers have asserted,

The surface of the lake does not present a continuous sheet of
_ asphalt, but is traversed by a net-work of channels in which the

1 American Journal of Science, 1855.

1879.] Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 243

rain-water collects. These anastomose and divide most curiously,
forming one connected system, and dividing the pitch into
numerous flat-topped or slightly convex areas or islands which >
are usually of quite irregular outline, though sometimes nearly
circular, and from ten to one hundred feet in diameter. A piece
of marbled paper would make an excellent map of the lake.
The sides of the channels are always convex, presenting curves
of great regularity and beauty; and where three or four chan-
nels meet, a star-shaped depression is formed. Canon Kingsley!
says, “ Conceive a crowd of mushrooms, of all shapes, from ten to
fifty feet across, close together side by side, their tops being kept
at exactly the same level, their rounded rims squeezed tight
against each other ; then conceive water poured on them so as to
fill the parting seams. Thus would each mushroom represent,
tolerably weil, one of the innumerable flat asphalt bosses which
seem to have sprung up, each from a separate center, while the
parting seams would be of much the same shape as those in the
asphalt, broad and shallow atop, and rolling downward in a
smooth curve till they are, at bottom, mere cracks from two to
ten feet deep. Whether these cracks actually close up below and
the two contiguous masses of pitch become one, cannot be seen.
As far as the eye goes down they are two, though pressed close to
each other,” the hard exteriors of the masses preventing them from
coalescing.

The water filling the channels is clear, pure rainwater, and con-
tains numbers of small fishes, water beetles and other aquatic
animals. It has been observed escaping from the canals at eight
nearly equidistant points on the circumference of the lake.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the
peculiar structure of the lake. Mr. Manross says, “ The chan-
nels are produced and maintained by the following singular pro-
cess: Each of the many hundred areas into which the lake is
divided possesses an independent revolving motion in this wise:
In the center of the area the pitch is constantly rising up ez masse,
displacing that which previously occupied the center, and forcing
it towards the circumference. The surface becomes covered with
concentric wrinkles and the interior structure somewhat lami-
nated. Where the edge of such an expanding area meets that of
the adjoining one the pitch rolls under to be thrown up again in
the center at some future period. It is difficult to conceive of a

1 At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. 3

244 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Ti vinidad. [ April,

motion like this going on in a material almost of stony hardness,
but that such a revolution is constantly taking place over the
entire surface of this black lake cannot be doubted. The con-
clusion then to which a close observation leads us in regard to
the present condition of this singular lake is, not that it has sud-
denly cooled down from a boiling state as heretofore described,
but that solid as the material is, it is still boiling, although with
an indefinitely slow motion. As the descent of the glaciers may
be considered the slowest instance of flowing in nature, so. the
revolutions of the scarcely less solid bitumen of this lake may be
set down as the slowest example of ebullition.”

Messrs. Wall and Sawkins, on the contrary, deny the existence
of the revolving motion, and consider that each of the areas rep-
resents a center of emission where the asphalt has issued from
the underlying sandstone, “ and gradually advanced until the
material from the surrounding foci being encountered, further
progression was impeded, and the accumulation proceeded in the
_ vertical in place of the horizontal direction.” But the present
level of the lake has evidently been maintained for ages, and con-
sequently it is difficult to see why, if this view is correct, the
asphaltic bosses have not flattened out and closed up the water
channels.

Neither of these views can be regarded as entirely satisfactory.
Mr. Manross ‘is undoubtedly right as regards the circulation,
though in error as to its cause. He finds unique and conclusive
evidence of the revolving process in “numerous pieces of wood
- which being involved in the pitch are constantly coming to the
surface. They are often several feet in length and five or six
inches in diameter. On reaching the surface they generally
assume an upright position, one end being detained in the pitch
while the other is elevated by the lifting of the middle. They -
may be seen at frequent intervals all over the lake, standing
up to the height of*two or even three feet. They look like
stumps of trees protruding through the pitch, but their parvenu
character is curiously betrayed by a ragged cap of pitch which
invariably covers the top and hangs down like hounds’ ears on
either side.” These fragments of wood are of the same recent
origin as the leaves and twigs contained in the vesicles of the

itch. From the surrounding forest or the green islands of the
lake itself, they have found their. way into the water channels,

1879.] Native Bituimens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 245

become water-logged, sunk to the bottom and been drawn down
by the ever-revolving pitch.

In one case at least within my observation, a recently detached
portion of one of the islands of vegetation afforded incontestable
evidence of a horizontal movement of the subjacent pitch to the
extent of several feet.

According to the present writer, the true cause of the revolving
motion of the pitch, and of the structure resulting therefrom, is
found in a fact pointed out by Wall and Sawkins, but not insisted
upon or fully appreciated by them, viz: the great diurnal range
in the temperature of the surface of the pitch. On unclouded
days the asphalt attains an average temperature of about 140°
Fahr., and sinks during the night to 70° or 60°, suffering a varia-
tion of 70° to 80°, which must produce a considerable change of
volume, especially if we consider the vesicular nature of the
pitch and the quantity of water which it contains. This expan-
sion will be superficial, and its chief tendency to extend the
pitch horizontally. Where the pitch is covered by water it will
not experience this alteration of volume. The courses of the
water channels may have been determined originally by slight
inequalities of the surface, holding shallow sheets of water, or
drifting sand may have occupied these positions and served to.
protect the asphalt along these lines from the heat of the sun.
The main point is that the protected areas would be forced down-
wards by the expansion of the unprotected areas, and this motion
once established would continue without interruption until the
contours of the present surface were developed.

Nocturnal radiation and consequent contraction could not undo
the effect of the diurnal expansion, but the equilibrium would
be and doubtless is maintained by the elevation of pitch from
below in the center of the areas. The plastic pitch beneath the
solid crust is sometimes forced upwards through the crevices in
the bottom of the channels. One interestitig example of this is
described by Mr. Manross: “ In one of the star-shaped pools of
water, some five feet deep, a column of pitch had been forced þer-
pendicularly up from the bottom. On reaching the surface of the
water it had expanded into a sort of center-table about four feet
in diameter, but without touching the sides of the pool. The
stem was about a foot in diameter. I leaped out upon this table
and found that it not only sustained my weight but the elasticity
of the stem enabled me to rock it from side to side. Pieces torn

246 Native Bitumens and the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. (April,

from the edge of this table sank readily, showing that it had been
raised by pressure and not by its buoyancy.”

No soundings have ever been made in this lake and its depth
is unknown. The thickness of the deposit is of course a factor
of the first importance in determining whether the supply of
asphalt from this locality is likely to prove practically inexhausti-
ble in view of the steadily increasing demand for this material in
the arts. According to Wall and Sawkins each foot in depth is
equivalent to 158,400 tons, and they assume the maximum aver-
age depth at thirty feet, making the total supply 4,752,000 tons.
Judging by the uniformity of the asphalt and the size of the
revolving areas, the true mean depth must considerably exceed
this estimate. It is believed that the pitch could be readily exca-
vated to a depth of ten or fifteen feet, and from that level iron
bars could probably be forced to the bottom and the true depth
accurately ascertained. In considering the question of the prob-
able permanence of the supply, it is important to remember that
the material is doubtless still escaping from the underlying
asphaltic sandstone, though perhaps very slowly.

As regards its origin, the lake is believed not to differ essentially
from any of the patches of pitch scattered over the surrounding
country except in this, that the form of the surface has been more
favorable for its accumulation. It appears to be simply a large
puddle of pitch, which has oozed out of the sandstone and col-
lected in a basin-like depression in that rock.

The observations of Mr. Wall have placed the vegetable origin
of this bitumen beyond question. The asphaltic sandrock is rich
in vegetable remains, and it is possible to trace every step in the
conversion of these into asphaltum, until the organic texture of
the wood is entirely obliterated and pure bitumen results, the
external form of the wood alone remaining.

The fact that the Island of Trinidad lies between a portion of
the delta of the Oritioco and the sea, long ago led Sir Charles
Lyell to adopt the view that the asphalt deposits of Trinidad, in-
cluding the Pitch Lake, which is on the side of the Island
towards the delta, represented the drift wood brought down by the
Orinoco in past geological ages. But I believe he afterwards
concluded that this explanation, like the wood itself, was rather
far-fetched. For it can be proved that at the time (Miocene pe-
riod) when these asphaltic beds were forming, the mouth of the
_ Orinoco was some one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles

_ further up stream than at present.

¢

1879. ] Obsidian in the Yellowstone National Park. ` 247

NOTES ON AN EXTENSIVE DEPOSIT OF OBSIDIAN
IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.

BY WM.: H. HOLMES,

ee ee i deposits of obsidian and obsidian porphy-
ries had been observed in the national park previous to our
visit in the summer of 1878, but no satisfactory exposures of the
glassy varieties had been found. In October I had occasion to
make examinations of a locality particularly rich in them, situated
in the north-western part of the park, near the head of Obsidian
or Alum creek, a tributary of the middle fork of Gardiner’s river.
The crumbling trachytes of this part of the park give, in general,
a rounded and monotonous character to the topography. The
slopes of the valleys are gentle excepting at points where the
glassy rocks predominate.

In ascending Obsidian creek, by way of the newly-cut wagon
road which connects Mammoth Hot Springs with the Geyser
Basins, we pass first through broad meadows and parked forests.
Farther on the valley narrows up and the timber becomes
extremely dense. At a point about twelve miles above the junc-
tion of the creek with the main stream, there is a narrow gateway
known: as Obsidian cañon, through which the road and creek
pass. From the east side of the valley a low promontory extends
forward to the creek and breaks off in an abrupt nearly vertical
wall, in which the obsidian rocks are exposed. The road
approaches the cafion along the west side of the valley, and
crosses to the east side at the lower end of the cafion; in order
to avoid the swampy ground that borders the stream it has been
carried across the steep débris slopes of the obsidian cliffs. For
half a mile it is paved with glassy fragments and lined by
huge angular masses of black and banded obsidian rock. From
the upper border of the débris slope the vertical cliffs rise to the
height of nearly two hundred feet. The lower half is composed
of a heavy bed of black obsidian which exhibits some very fine
pentagonal columns, somewhat irregularly arranged and frequently
distorted, but with perfectly cut faces that glisten in the sunlight.
The upper portion of the wall is composed of a much more
obscurely columnar mass of impure spherulitic obsidian, the rude
faces of the columns being often as much as ten or twelve feet —
across, To the right and left the columnar character becomes

E

248 Obsidian in the Yellowstone National Park, [April,

less marked, both in the upper and lower part of the cliff, and
farther out seems to be entirely lost, the glassy rocks grading
into the gray sanidine trachytes and obsidian porphyries of the
surrounding hills.

Extending upward from the edge of the promontory in a mod-
erately gentle slope are four or five hundred feet of obsidian
strata that exhibit some most interesting characters. There is no
heavy mass of pure glassy rock, but a succession of irregular lay-
ers of a dozen or more varieties of spherulitic obsidian, obsidian
porphyries and breccias. The colors of these rocks are exceed-
ingly varied, the prevailing blacks giving way to reds, browns,
greens and the richest possible marblings and mottlings.

One of the most striking characteristics of these rocks are the
spherulitic concretions which cccur to a greater or less extent in
all the varieties. These bodies seem to prevail in the ashy-like
bands or layers which, in the more compact mass toward the base,
are frequently contorted, giving the rock the appearance of a
banded and contorted gneiss. The ashy-appearing layers are.
probably composed of the same material as the concretions, since
when we split the rock z7th the bands, the surfaces of the gray
bands next the glassy layers are simply a connected or coales-
cent series of nodes or hemispheres which have the usual appear-
ance of the more isolated concretions. Where the concretions
are scattered throughout the glassy mass, they are globular or
composed of a cluster of globes. They have, in most cases, a
distinctly radiated structure, with not infrequently concentric lay-
ers near the surface. The interior is gray or pinkish-gray, and
the surfaces, pinkish or flesh colored.

In the coarsely columnar part of the wall the spherulites are
often a foot or more in diameter and appear much flattened and
distorted. It is probable that these irregular forms are produced
by the coalescence of a large number of smaller ones, as there
are apparently many centers of radiation. Large beds of the
rock seem to be made up almost wholly of the concretions, and
where decomposed, a mass of coarsely cellular or honey-combed
obsidian remains. The brecciated beds consist of an ashy
matrix in which are imbedded angular fragments of every variety
of the brilliantly-colored spherulitic and ordinary obsidians.

The collection of hand specimens made at this place is very
complete, numbering upwards of three hundred. Their examina-

+

I 879.] Obsidian in the Yellowstone National Park. 249

250 Obsidian in the Yellowstone National Park. [April,

< tion by specialists in petrography will doubtless develop many
new and interesting features, as no equally rich deposit of similar
rocks has heretofore been brought to their notice in this country.

Indian Implements.—It occurred to me, while making examina-
tions at this point, that the various Indian tribes of the neighbor-
ing valleys had probably visited this locality for the purpose of
procuring material for arrow-points and other implements. A
finer mine could hardly be imagined, for inexhaustible supplies of
the choicest obsidian, in flakes and fragments of most convenient
shapes, cover the surface of the country for miles around.

Having climbed the promontory, I observed that. an old but
quite distinct trail passed along the brink of the ledge and
descended the broken cliffs to the valley above and below. In
the vicinity of the trail the glistening flakes proved to be more
plentiful than elsewhere, and were also apparently gathered into
heaps. After a short search a leaf-shaped implement of very fine
workmanship was found ; it is made of the black opaque obsidian,
and is four inches in length, three inches in width and one-half an
inch in thickness ; an outline of this implement is given in Fig.
1. Having continued the search as long as the time at my com-
mand would permit, I was amply rewarded in the possession of
ten more or less perfect implements. Three are leaf-shaped and
nearly the same in size as the first specimen found, but imperfect
from having been broken. One is somewhat pyramidal in shape,
as shown in Fig. 2; the bottom is flat, the flaked surfaces ex-
tending from the base to the apex; it is two and a half inches
in width and one and three-quarters in height, and is the only
specimen in the collection that appears to have been in the least
used ; the sharp edge at the base is considerably worn; Fig. 3 is
a top view of the same. Another specimen is triangular in shape
with sides about three inches long; another is rectangular and
about three inches wide by four in length, and still another is a
rude oval; nearly all of these implements are imperfect, as it
broken or unfinished. If we are to suppose that the great quan-
tities of minute flakes are the fragments left from the manufacture
of implements we must conclude that extensive supplies have
been obtained here, but by what tribes or at what period it will
be quite impossible to determine.

18709. ] Recent Literature, 251

RECENT LITERATURE.

MACFARLANE'S GEOLOGISTS’ TRAVELING Hanp-Book.—The
design of this small octavo of two hundred and sixteen pages,
which is well expressed in the title, is certainly novel. This is a
distinctly new departure in geological literature; and it is sur-
prising that it is so, since there has long been room for such a
work. It supplies a want long experienced, for every geologi-
cally-minded traveler must have felt the need of a key or guide
to the geology of the districts traversed. But the book is de-
signed for the unscientific observer as well as for the professional
geologist. In this connection the author says: “One object of
the work is to teach persons not versed in geology something of
this science during the tedious and unprofitable hours of travel-
ing, without study, not as in a text book, but by pointing to the .
things themselves as seen at railway stations and through the
windows of a railway car;” and it is not improbable that the
chief value of the “Guide,” as regards the interests of the science,
- will consist in the wider diffusion by right means of geological
knowledge and interest which it will effect.

Forty pages in the first part of the book are devoted to brief
but comprehensive descriptions, especially designed for unscien-
tific travelers, of the different geological formations, beginning
with the Eozoic, the divisions of which are those proposed by
Dr. T. Sterry Hunt and the Canadian Geological Survey. The
descriptions of these are from the pen of Dr. Hunt and are nota-
ble as constituting the first general account that has appeared in a
popular work of those grand fragments of the material record of
the earth’s history which, whether we consider their volume
or the length of time required for their formation, appear vastly
more important than’ the corresponding divisions of the Palaeozoic
and later eras. From an economic point of view, too, the most
of these primary Eozoic divisions are outranked by none of the
more recent formations, except the Carboniferous. Following
these descriptions are two tables of the geological formations, one
by Prof. J. D. Dana similar to that in the second edition of his
Manual, and the other by Dr. Hunt, which differs from Dana's
chiefly in the divisions of the Eozoic and Cambrian. The former
is principally followed in the subsequent portion of the work,
which consists of one hundred and fifty-six pages of tables of
railway stations, the railways being grouped according to States,
while Opposite the name of each station is the name of the for-
mation occurring there, and in some cases the altitude above
sea level. The nomenclature of the formations necessarily varies

| The Geologists’ Traveling Hand-Book.—An American Geological Railway
Guide, giving the geological formation at every railway station, with notes on inter-
€sting places on the routes, and a description of each of the formations. By JAMEs
MACFARLANE, Ph.D., with the coöperation of the State Geologists, and other scien- —
tific gentlemen. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1879.

9

252 Recent Literature, [ April,

considerably in the different States, but a common number
attached to them throughout the book, serves for their identifica-
tion by whatever name ‘they are called.

A majority of those having occasion to use this work, will
probably regret the almost complete absence of references to
palzontology and mineralogy, nothing being given in most cases
beyond the mere name of the arith with very rarely an
allusion to its lithological character; so t e have here little more
than achronological guide. It is true the n ar tells us that to have
included fossils, rocks and minerals in the scope of the work, would
have made an unwieldly volume of what to be serviceable must
be small; but this objection to fuller information appears less
valid when we reflect that an addition of even fifty pages would
not make the book inconveniently large , 2. é., it would still be
smaller than many railway and tourists’ a idle, ‘and that the char-
acteristic fossils, rocks and minerals are not required for every
station, but only for those points, comparatively few in number,

where they are best developed and may be studied to best advan-

tage; and then it would be quite unnecessary to name the fossils,
except, perhaps, in a.general way. at is, one usually likes to
know, not only the name and extent of the formation he is trav-
ersing, but also the points along his route where its palzontologic,
lithologic and other characters are most favorably exposed, as
this will often determine the choice of a route and the stoppages
to be made. To some extent the meagre information on these
points contained in the tables is supplemented by foot notes; but
these are copious only for New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia,
while for the most of the States eye are almost entirely wanting.
The foot notes to the chapters on the Dominion of Canada and
New England, for example, Daa scarcely half a page, while
for New York alone they amount to eight and one-half pages,
and for Pennsylvania there are nearly six pages, and the great
State of Ohio has not a single line.

On railroads where the stations are separated by short dis-
tances, the léss important are sometimes omitted, but we are in-
formed that this only occurs where the same formation is con-
tinuous across the break; a casual examination, however, shows
that this precaution has ‘not always been observed. The most
important exception noticed is on the Boston and Albany rail-
road, in Massachusetts, where eight stations in succession are
omitted between Brighton and South Framingham, although the
two stations named are correctly marked as being on entirely dis-
tinct formations. Brighton and the five stations next to the west
are on Cambrian, then come Grantville, Wellesby and Natick, on
typical Huronian with a breadth of seven miles before we reach
South Framingham, which is marked as Laurentian, though in
the writer's view more probably Montalban.

Although the book is deemed TE of improvement in

.

s

1879. ] | Recent Literature. 25 3

the directions indicated, yet it contains a vast amount of valuable
knowledge carefully tabulated, and is a highly-creditable first step

teur,
without it. The binding is not all that could be desired for a
work of this character, since the covers are neither stiff enough
to resist bending, nor sufficiently flexible to bend without break-
ing.— W. O. C.

REC ai Books AND Pog Tac and Intelligence: a series of Essays

n the Laws of Life and Mind. By Joseph he Murphy. 2d edition. Illustrated,
thoroughly revised, and m ostly re-written, pp. 583. Macmillan & Co., Lon-
don, 1879. From ‘the author

On the Annelida Chetopods = the Virginian coast. By H. E. Webster. getty
Jan., 1879, in adva Vol. 1x of Transactions of the Albany Institute. ) 8vo,
72, pls. I-xI. gey gfe author.

Extracts from ieee and Notices of Eminent Scientific Men and Journals in
Europe and America, il gine. the United States Geological and Geographical

Survey of the Territo ories. (Department of the Interior.) Under the divectiod of
F.V. Ha yden , Geolog ist. -in-charge. 8vo, pp. 42. perg paw 1879.

The A ai, Vegetable and Mineral Tapsan r the Adv reine to be derived
from a stidly of “ Natural History ” in public d private schoo By Mrs. N. B.
Yie er. 8vo, pp. 18. Wilbur & Hastings, New , 1879. From the authoress.

e Mesozoic He don gh ra in Virginia. By Osw att 1. Heinrich, Mining Engine
(Ext. yere Trans. Am. Ins. of Mining Engineers. Read at the Philadelphia dik

n

ing, Feb., 1878. y 8vo, pp. 48, with map. From the peria

The Physical History of the Triassic Formation of ge Ka and the Connecti-
cut valley. By Israel Z Russell. (Ext. from Ann. N. d. of Sciences, Vol.
1, No. 8. 1878.) 8vo, pp. 35- From the authur

The Department of ‘Physical Education and Hygiene in o College. By
Prof. Edward Hitchcock, M.D. 8vo, pp. 10. Boston, 1879. m the author.

Bulletin of the Gana, States National Museum. No, 12—Co: Perce toc to North
American Ichthyology. No. 3, A—On the Distribution of the Fishes of the Alle-
gheny region chi pach ee Georgia crite Tennessee, with deseo of new

mbe

Description of a New Species of Dolabella bigs the Gulf of California, with
remarks on ant rare or little known species fro e same region. By Robert E. C
Poasi (Ext. from Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. mieca 1878.) 8vo, pp. 395-401.
the a recs

aem ae of Sociology to Biology. By Prof. Joseph LeConte. 8vo, pp.
21 uthor

Proceedings of Tia Ameiban Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Pro-,
a aaja cron ledge. Vol. xvi, July to Dec., 1878. No. 102. 8vo, pp.
120. m the so

Rocres spondence pot Water Supply, between James Haworth, Esq., his i
Mr. Rob, A, Parrish, Jr., and John W. Nystrom. 8vo, pp. 25. Philadelphia, pras
From the aia

Remarks on Saurocepheios and on the species EEN have been referred to that
genus. By E. T. Newton, Esq., F.G.S., H. M. Geol, Survey. (Ext. Quar. Jour.
Geol. Soc., London, Nov., 1878.) Svo, pp- 786-796. (Published Oct. 12, 1878.)
From the author

Notes from Private Practice, Is the bite of the Heterodon, or spreading adder,
BY coed By J. Schneck, M.D. Jeen from Chicago Me ne and Examiner.)
Svo, pp. 585-58). Frai the author

254 General Notes. [ April,

Report on the Collection of Fishes made by Dr. pee yee U.S.A., in Dakota

and Montana, during the season of 1873 and 1874. avid S. Jordan, M.D.
(Ext. from the Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and Geog. dle , F. V. Hayden, in
charge. Vol. Iv, No. 4.) 8vo, pp. 777- 799. Washington, 1878. ‘rom the author.

Description ie a New Species of Smynthurus. By John A. Ryder. (Ext. from
Proc. Phila. Acad. T Sciences, 1878.) From the author.

A Contribuiion to the Palæontology of the vicinity of Po 6 ES By T. N.
Dale, a (Ext. from Pek Poughkeepsie Soc. Nat. Sciences, Dec. 4, 1878.)

Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United SB OE Makcik 1v—The
Chimerroid Fishes of the British Cretaceous Roc y E. T. Newton, F.G.S.,
Assistant Naturalist. 4to, pp. 50, pls. XII. From es aut ihe

Guide du Naturaliste, Revue Bibliographique des Sciences Naturelles. Bulletin
Mensuel. Par A. Bouvier. as ia reer ae Large 8vo, pp. 14.
Ire Année, No. 1. Paris, Janv., 1879. From the

rt on the Methods of Survey the Public PERT to the oe o of the
Interior, at the request of the National et of Sciences. By J. W. Powell. 8vo,
16. Washington, 1878. From the author

Letter from the Seisin of the Interior, BTN to the cost x gee sur-

veys. 8vo, pp. 6, (Washington, Feb. 7, ble s From the Secr

Letter from the Secretary of War, communicating Pat ther wat H in relation
to a survey of the ROR west of th e Mississippi river, as proposed xA the Na Nowak
Academy of Sciences. (Washington, ‘a ale From the i tary.

Kampedovendse-Glection Ceelodon. TR einhardt. 4to, pp. 257-349, T ab.

2. (Ext. from Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. J hate tied og mathem. Afd. XII, 3.)
Copenhagen. 1878. rom the author.

Catalogue of the Birds of Granada, from a collection made by Mr. Fred A. Ober
for the Smithsonian Institution, pear o Man others seen by him but not obtained. By
Geo. N. Lawrence. avo, pp. 265-278. (Ext. from Proc. Nat. Museum.) From Je
author

sUh ompte-Rendu de la Commission Géologique g petak pour Punitication
des procédés graphiques. By E. Renevier. 8vo, pp. 11. Lausanne, 1879. From the
uthor

Notice sur L’Ouvrage de M. le Professeur Heim intitulé : Mechanismus der
bicpobildane | im Anschluss an die Geologische Monographie der Teodi_Uindgeellen—
p enevier. 8vo (Ext. fi Archives des Sci. Phys. et Natur.

ruppe. VO, pp. 9.

Nouvelle période, tome s soixante-quatriéme No. 251. 15 Novembre, 1878.) Geneve.
` From the author.

.Un Mot sur a Péche de la Baleine et les Premiéres Expéditions Arctiques. Notice
lue a ssa Publique de la Classe des ne neces le 12 goog 1878. Par M.
F: a ee neden. 8vo, pp. 22. Bruxelles, 1878. From the author.

Report of the ‘Wisconsin paar ie Survey for the year 1878. By T. C.
arte chief geologist. 8vo, pp. 51. Madison, 1879.
Biy of the United ag Geological — Geographical Survey of the Territo-
Vol. 5. No. 1. 8 152. m the

ie Devonian P of Re Ras a j Pan. Brazil. By Richard Rathbun.

8vo, pp. 14-39. (Ext. from Proc, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. xx, May 15, 1878.)

ws
GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY.
THE NUMBER oF STAMENS IN BRASENIA PELTATA.— There is
ber of stamens of Brasenia peltata Pursh, the common water-

shield. A citation of a few of these, and some observations with
a view to remove the differences, may not be out of place. My

1879. ] Botany. : 255

attention was first called to this in 1872, when critically examin-
ing some specimens of the plant gathered at Bear lake, Van
Buren county, Mich. The stamens were generally 24 or 25 in
number. In 1875, specimens were collected at La Porte, Ind.
My notes read, “ Stamens indefinite, sometimes 27.” They were
usually not far from 24.

The past season it was found at Pine Lake county, Ind. The
highest number of stamens noticed was 37, nearly always above
30, and commonly about 36. I also gathered specimens last
summer at Old Mission, on Grand Traverse bay, Mich. The
plants were advanced in flower and the stamens somewhat de-
cayed, but were apparently 18 or less. In all these cases the sta-
mens were picked out one by one, laid on a sheet of paper and
counted, several flowers being taken in each locality. The con-
clusion from these facts is, that the stamens vary from about 18
to 37. It would be safe to say of the plant: stamens varying
from 12 to some indefinite number.

Taking the most accessible authorities, especially in American
botany, I find as follows: Gray’s Manual, and Chapman’s Flora

of the Southern States, “Sta. 12-18.” Gray's Structure and
Systematic Botany, “Stamens definite, or nearly so.” They may
therefore slightly exceed 20. In Torrey and Gray’s Flora of
North America, Nuttall’s Genera, Wood’s Class Book (earlier
edition), “Sta. 18-36. In Pursh’s Plants of North America,
Eaton and Wright’s Botany (1840, genus Hydropeltis), Linnzus’
Systema Vegetabilium (Sprengel’s edition), “Class Polyandria,”
stamens 20 or more. In Rafinesque’s Medical Botany of the
United States ( 1828), “ Sta. 20-30.” In Michaux’s Flora, under
Hydropeltis purpurea, “ Stamens numerous (about 36).” In Wood's
Class Book, last edition, “ Sta. 18-24.” In Baillou’s Dictionnaire
de Botanique, Art. Brasenia, “Its stamens and carpels are indefi-
nite.” In Le Maout et Decaisne (Traité de Botanique) under
Cabombeæ, including Brasenia, “ Stamens 6, 12 or 18”—doubt-
less 12 or 18 for Brasenia, those of Cabomba being 3 or 6. In

Eichler’s Blithen diagramme (1878), “ Sta. 12-8.”

rom these references it is evident that there has been but lit-

tle agreement as regards the number of stamens. While the
older writers in general gave higher numbers, and in this more
nearly accord with what I have found in the vicinity of Lake
Michigan, yet it is probable that they are in error by not going
below eighteen. Most of them also assigned the plant a southern
Or southerly habitat, on the Atlantic coast from New Jersey south- —

ward, west of the Alleghenies from Kentucky south. It may

that in these localities as in the north-west, the number had
a higher range. But the plants found in Northern Michigan
would seem to indicate the lower number, and hence the entire
range be covered by plants in this vicinity. This variation in
number of stamens may be due to locality, or the season, or to

256 General Notes. [ April,

some inherent tendency in the plant itself Consecutive observa-
tions in the same locality can best determine this. But this is
immaterial to a correct statement in our text-books and works of
reference. Assuming that all the authorities cited above are
right, which may be shown to be true for some localities, as my
experience in four localities proves, still there is need of a cor-
rection that shall include the experience of all. Eichler ee
the fact correctly, a conclusion I had already reached bot

observation and a consultation of authorities, before receiving ki

ook.

While collecting the facts for this paper I had noticed a ten-
dency in the stamens to be multiples of six. Those found at Ol
Mission were apparently about 18 in number, those at Bear lake
and La Porte cs 24 (24-27), those at Pine about 36. This
goes to confirm an observation of Nuttall (Genera, Vol. 11, p. 24),
which I had not oe till arranging these facts for publication.
Having stated that the stem is furnished with two sets of conflu-
ent central vessels, which, arriving in the leaf, resolve into twelve
nerves, he continues: “ As the e elliptic form of the leaf originates
from the eccentricity and duplicature of the central vessels,
expanding in an ellipse or two intersecting circles, so we may
justly consider it as a species of double leaf, hence also the
stamina and the fruit is in the same manner augmented. In its
coordinate Cabomba, which produces orbicular peltate leaves, we
find only 6 stamina instead of 18, two or three styles and capsules
instead of six or more, but containing the same number of seeds
and of nearly the same form; hence we perceive the same type in
its simple form. A proof of the small importance of mere num-
ber in the character of classes or of natural groups.’

From this the inference is obvious that the doubling of the
stamens would be in multiples of six.- A plant with a tendency

from 24 to 36; those approximating the simple type Cabomba-
would be intermediate froin 12-18, 18-24, 24-30, 30-36, &c.

Doubtless it is better to go back of this and say that the
stamens are multiples of the three or four parts of which the
calyx and corolla consist. The perianth of Cabomba is on the
whole trimerous, the parts‘alternating. Eichler sfates: “ Brasenia
does not essentially differ from Cabomba except in its ae -2
stamens, and 6-18 pistils.” ‘(Blüthten diagramme, Part 11, p. 177.)

T ough the stamens are not exact multiples of three ie four
in all cases, they vary but a little from it—Z. F. Hill, Engle-
wood, Lil.

A Fairy Rixnc—Last July my attention was called to a “ Fairy
Ring” on the lawn in front of a gentleman's residence in this city.
It was a more perfect circle than could have been made by man
unaided by instruments. The rim of the circle was about twelve
inches in width, and the diameter from the inner edge about fifteen

1879. ] Botany. 257

feet. The lawn was covered with grass some three or four inches
in height, and every blade forming the circle, was found on close
inspection to be covered with minute globular bodies of a grayish
color which, contrasting with the green of the lawn, made the
circle perceptible at a considerable distance.

n the morning of its discovery the ring was not completed by
six or seven feet. The next morning it was finished. Two smaller
circles were also seen on the same lawn; one however was in-
complete where it’encroached on a gravel walk. When the circle
was struck a small smoke like cloud arose. On examining with
a microscope the blades of grass which formed the ring, they
were found to be covered with clusters of globular, sessile bodies
from one-fortieth to one-sixtieth of an inch in diameter, which
externally resembled minute puff balls. Specimens sent to Prof.

. G. Farlow of Harvard University, were pronounced by him to
to be a fungus of the order Myxomycetes (Physarum cinereum).—
B.C. Fillson, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Insects as Unconscious SELECTORS oF FLOWERS. — Natural
selection, the origin of new forms in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms by the survival of the fittest, and artificial selection by
man, agree in many points, though differing in others. In gen-
eral they harmonize in the following respects. From generation
to generation the number of individuals of every species in pro-
cess of selection is increased, while the individuals of a given
generation differ among themselves. Of these individuals, only
such as surpass their fellows in certain diyections are allowed to
produce offspring; and these offspring inherit the peculiarities to
which the prolonged existence of their parents is due. Hence
we find that both modes of selection result in the accumulation

last conditions differ greatly in the two kinds of selection. Man

survival of individual forms are quite similar to those pertaining
to human selection; for the insects which visit these flowers are
guided like man by pleasure or profit; and, though they cannot
weed out plants which do not satisfy them in either of these re-
1 An abstract of a series of very interesting articles, entitled Die Inse’sten als un-
-bewusste Blumenziichter, by Dr. Hermann Müller, Kosmos, Band 11, Heft .
VOL. XIII,—No, Iv. 18 i

258 General Notes. [ April,

spects, they can cease to visit them, and by this means cause their
deterioration and final destruction through self-fertilization, while
such as meet their wants are strengthened by repeated crossing.
Here, then, we have to deal with something more than natural
selection proper, namely, a methodical though unconscious eae
tion by the insects. A most interesting question, and one well
treated by Dr. Müller in his papers, is the following: *“ What
peculiarities of flowers are to be attributed to insect-selection, and
what to natural selection ?”

When an anemophilous flower begins to become entomophilous,
the first step is one tending to cause insects to come in contact
with its stamens and pistil; and this is either the secretion of nec-
tar in both forms of the unisexual flowers, or the union of the
sexes to form a perfect flower. Adhesiveness of the pollen must also
be developed in order to insure its transfer by insects from one
flower to another. Nectar, being of great value to insects, and
not directly useful to the plant, should be considered the result of
insect-selection ; but the adhesiveness of the pollen, being of im-
mediate value to the plant, and only utilized in comparatively
recent times by insects, should be considered as a result of nat-
ural selection. We must suppose that at first all flowers were

insects joined to natural selection wrought great changes, whereby
the flowers were so modified as to adapt them to the visits of
special groups of insects, which themselves experienced, by nat-
ural selection, changes fitting them to profitably visit the modified
flowers.

r. Müller sums up the entire matter as follows: 1. All wild
flowers are the result of the combined action of two different
sorts of selection. Those E A (such as attractive colors,
odor, sheltered retreats, food, and the means of protecting this
latter product against bidia guests) which are immediately _
useful only to the insects which visit the flowers, are usually the
result of the selection exercised by these insects themselves ; but |
such peculiarities as are immediately useful only to the plant (the
securing of crossing when insects visit the flowers, and of self-
fertilization when they do not, and the protection of the repro-
ductive organs against inclement weather and enemies) have been
developed by natural selection, acting quite independently of the
insects; finally those which are equally useful to both flowers and
insects are the result of the combined action of both sorts of
selection.

2. The first flowers were, for the most part, simple, regular and
open, and were subjected to a mixed company of insect visitors,
which succeeded in rendering permanent only conspicuous colors,
odor, and nectar,

4. From this original mixed group, the carrion-loving Diptera,

1879. | | : Botany. 259

with their tastes so different from those of other flower-frequent-
ing insects, have become separated as independent selectors of
flowers ; and, through structural peculiarities enabling them to
utilize certain modifications of the flowers, the butterflies, ichneu-
mon flies, mining-wasps, wasps, bees, and syrphus-flies have like-
wise become separated.

4. The carrion-loving Diptera have bred flowers distasteful to
other insects (Ekelblumen). Natural selection, coming to their
aid, has produced various contrivances for securing cross-fertiliza-
tion, such as kettle-traps (Kesselfallen) (Aristolochia clematidis,
&c.), pinching-traps (Klemmenfallen) (Asclepias, Pinguicula
alpina, &c.) and deceptive-flowers (Tauschblumen) (Ophrys mus-
cifera.)

Lenger tongued, more intelligent, and more dexterous in-
sects have gradually been developed from those remaining, whic
differed from the Diptera, but agreed among themselves in their
tastes. These insects have selected nectar, which less intelligent
or shorter tongued insects could not find or reach, and also recep-
tacles and shelter for the nectar, and marks guiding to it.

6. From this circle the butterflies were adapted by their slender
tongues, and certain moths by their long tongues, to appear
as independent selectors of flowers. The former have selected

escaped the notice of other insects. But after the appearance of
the mining-wasps and bees, the ichneumon flies could retain
their flowers only in places little frequented by these insects.

_ 8. The mining-wasps probably superseded the ichneumon-flies
as flower selectors, and selected those whose nectar was accessible
only by forcing open closely appressed parts, creeping bodily into
a Cavity, or some similar action, easy only to insects accustomed
to burrowing, or creeping into crevices. Later, however, bees
came into partial possession of these flowers, and they further |
modified many of them.

9. Wasps were able by the power of their sting to secure sole
possession of certain flowers which contained neċtar and still
remained open. These they selected in conformity with their

260 General Notes. [ April,

wants and tastes; but in places where wasps are not very abun-
dant the products of their selection are shared by other insects.

10. As the most industrious and most skillful insects, and
withal those most dependent upon flowers for food, bees have
played the most n ganeor part in selecting flowers—at least in
Germany. They have given us the most numerous, most diversi-
fied and most specialty elaborated flowers, the visiting of whic
calls into play those faculties which the bees have acquired and
inherited through their labors in caring for their young.

11. Finally, certain syrphus-flies, passionately fond of color,
and themselves brightly colored, but not especially dependent
upon flowers for food, have succeeded in producing certain flow-
ers APS A to their tastes ; meantime natural selection has
given rise to contrivances in these flowers which secure cross- prak
Elizatfon iani the instrumentality of these insects.— Wm.
lease.

BotranicaL News.—In the ras and March numbers of
the Botanical Gazette, Mr. A. H. Curtiss begins a series of papers
on the Botany of the Shell Islands of Florida. Mr. A. P. Mor-
gan writes in the February number on the the phyllotaxis of
leaves. Mr. C. R. Barns indicates the differences between Helop-
sis and Helianthus, and Mr. C. H. Peck describes eight new
species of fungi. In the March number Mr. A. M. Canby con-
tributes some interesting notes on Baptisia, with a synopsis of
American species.

Trimen's Journal of Botany for February contains an interest-
ing biographical notice of Elias Fries, by A. N. Lundstrom,
accompanied by a portrait. The ferns of Borneo are enumerated

number of new species described by J. G. Baker. Jacob
Bigelow, the author of the “ Plants of the Vicinity of Boston,” a
book thumbed so much by botanical students twenty years ago,’
and which gave such a gentle and healthful stimulus to the walks
of local botanists, died recently in Boston at an advanced age.
Bigelow and other botanists owed much to the zeal and activity
of Dr. J. W. Robbins, of Uxbridge, Mass., who died at about the
same time.

ZOOLOGY.*

THE OVIPOSITION OF THE QUEEN BEE AND DZIERZON’S THEORY.
—According to a classical theory which had its birth in Germany,
and which no one now-a-days disputes, a fecundated egg of the
queen bee is a female egg, and all unfecundated eggs are male.
The mother bee, it is said, can even lay at will an egg of one or
the other sex. This faculty, which is exceptional in the animal
kingdom, is explained by assuming that the bee, at the moment
of the passage of the egg into the oviduct, can apply to it or not

{The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
Coves, U. $. A. ;

1879. ] Zoölogy. 261

a certain quantity of the seminal fluid contained in the seminal
receptacle. Nevertheless the organization of the generative
apparatus of the bee does not differ essentially from that of the
majority of female insects, to which no one has ever thought of
ascribing the power of acting at pleasure upon phenomena which
seem to be absolutely removed from the influence of the will. -

The hypothesis was set up mainly to explain the fact, which
has hitherto not been disputed, that an Italian female fecundated
by a German male furnishes hybrid females (workers and queens)
and pure Italian males. The opposite would be the case if a
German queen were fecundated by an Italian male; so that a
male egg would never receive the seminal SEET a drone would
never have a father.

ow I possess at this moment a hive, the queen of which, the
daughter of an Italian of pure race, has been fecundated by a
French male. The workers in fact, are partly true Italians, others
French, whilst others present a mixture in various proportions of
the characters of the two races.

Being surprised to see in this hive certain drones amongst
others as dark as French males, when according to the theory all
ought to have been Italians, like their mother, I thought it neces-
sary to examine these males more closely. I therefore collected
three hundred of them and examined them most carefully,
obtaining the following statistics : 151 were pure Italians, 66 were
hybrids in different rs a and 83 were French. From this it
is evident that the drone eggs, like those of the females, receive
the contact of the semen deposited by the male in the female
organs; and the theory of Dzierzon, proposed to explain an
insulficiently-ascertained fact, becomes useless if this fact is dis-

rove

It is “easy: to understand how an insufficient observation may
have led to the belief that the drones, the sons of an Italian
mother fecundated by a male of a different race, were all Italians.
Of 300 males only 83 appeared to me to be strictly French, while
151 + 66 or 217, ie., the great majority, being yellower than the
French drones, might easily pass for pure Italians. Thus, in such
cases, if a great number of males in a hybrid hive have not been
carefully examined one b one, it is easy to understand how it
might be believed that they all belonged to the same race as their
mother, especially when the latter belongs to the handsomer and ~
yellower race.—Comptes Rendus, Sept. 9, 1878, p. 408.

MERRILL’S ORNITHOLOGY OF SOUTHERN Texas.—These notes
_ comprise a list of birds observed in the vicinity of Fort Brown,
Texas, from Feb., 1876, to June, 1878. The brochure is extract

from the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, and
is valuable for the many field notes regarding the broeiing habits
of a number of the birds mentioned, with annotations by Dr.
Tae and Mr. Ridgway. Three plates of outlines add to the

262 5; General Notes. | [ April,

value of the article. Twelve species of birds are enumerated
which cross the Mexican border, and are thus new to our avi-
fauna,

AN InsecT BORER IN PowDER Barrers.— We have received
specimens of a Callidium (probably C. variabile), the larva of
which: have been found by Capt. McGinnis, U.S.A., to injure the
hickory hoops of the powder barrels of the St. Louis Powder
Depot. So injurious has this gnat proved that no inconsiderable
sum is now annually spent in re-coopering barrels in order to
make good the injury thus done. Means have been taken to
prevent the ravages of the insects. ;

A LARGE Saw-FisH.—In a communication from Samuel A.
Shields, Jr., we are informed that the saw-fish (Pristis) which was
caught in Grassy sound, opposite Five-mile beach, and about
seven miles from Cape May city, measured sixteen feet in length,
and six feet from tip to tip of the pectorals fins; its weight when
caught was seven hundred pounds. The “saw” was four feet in
length with twenty-four teeth on one side and twenty-five on the

WRENS AND THE BEE Motu. — My bees have at times suf-
fered a little from the ravages of the moth. But in some seasons
I have had several pairs of wrens nesting in boxes suspended
from trees near my apiary, and I have noticed that during these
years the moths are always scarce and but seldom seen. hile
my observation has not been accurate and systematic enough to
enable me to say positively that the little birds, by catching the
winged insects, prevented them from depositing their eggs in the
hives, and thus saved the bees from the destructive ravages of the
worms, I have always belived they were entitled to the fullest
credit in that direction. I am so confident of their good offices,
that I shall try and provide all that come to my premises with
nesting-boxes, though I am well aware that the best possible pro-
tection is to keep the colonies of bees in the strongest possible
‘condition. But I wish to give my feathered friends the amplest
credit for all the good they do, and render all of the social kinds
every assistance in my power.—Chas, Aldrich, Webster city, Lowa,
1878.

An Owt’s Revenct.—In a village of the canton of Vaud, the
inhabitants of a comfortable dwelling house discovered, last
April, that a family of owls had taken up their abode under the
same roof with them. There was a hole in the wall of the gable
end about twenty feet from the ground, and in it these birds had
made their nest. It was the first year that they had built in that

ace.
A young farmer and three or four of his friends who had fre-
quently observed the owls entering and flying out of the cavity, |

1879. ] Zoology. 263

resolved to examine the nest. One Sunday in May, toward the
close of the afternoon, they placed a ladder against the wall,
whereupon the old birds flew out, and our young observers,
going in turn to the summit, were able to gratify their curiosity
by inspecting the family of owls. They found several young
ones of extraordinary ugliness, and, according to their own
account, after examining them they carefully replaced them in
the nest. The parent birds did not that evening appear to be
angered at the proceeding.
The next night, however, between g and 10 o'clock, as the
young farmer was returning home followed by his servant-man
some Six or seven paces in the rear, on passing by the wall in
question he heard a sound of wings and a violent exclamation at
the same time from the servant. The latter, in evident pain and
alarm, held his hands clasped over his right eye. He stated that
the owl had flown suddenly down upon him, had driven her tal-
ons into his chin and then struck him upon the right eye with
her beak. The blow, fortunately, did not fall on the eye-ball,
and was not followed by any mutilation. Upon examination there
were to be seen, besides a violent bruise below the eye, two
bleeding wounds on the chin, the unmistakable imprint of the
talons of the bird of night.
he man could not sleep during the night, partly from pain,
partly from the necessity of applying cooling lotions to the
injured part; he had plenty of time, therefore, to meditate upon
vengeance, and the destruction of the nest was determined upon.
ut the next morning, about 5 o'clock, a cousin of the farmer
passing by found the young owls on the ground at the foot of the
wall. Unaware of the attack of the evening before, he gathered
them up and with the aid of the ladder replaced them in their
nest. Had some one taken these little creatures out? Had

in hand, behind his victim, strikes the fatal blow, and then dis-
covers that he has mistaken the person. Such an incident
occurred in Morges not long since. Was this the case with the
owl? Were the young ones in fact taken from the nest the suc-
ceeding evening, and did the mother’s vengeful beak merely
Strike the wrong person? It is impossible to decide this. The
Servant swore by all his Saints that he had not meddled with the
nest, and that at the moment when he was attacked he was as
innocent as a new-born child.

e next day witnessed a new act in the little drama. The
owl, guilty both of malice and of a blunder, was speedily tried,
condemned, and the suppression of the entire brood included in
the sentence. Execution followed in the afternoon. The owls .

264 General Notes. [April,

were absent or had fled at the raising of the ladder, but the nest
was destroyed and the young ones killed. Immediately afterward
the parent-birds returned, exhibited the liveliest agitation, and
flew backward and forward between the roof anda neighboring
pi snapping their beaks and uttering continual cries. The

ath of the old birds was also decreed, and for an hour or more
a young man and his friends made vain attempts to shoot them.
They were provided with an excellent gun, but the movement of
the birds was so rapid that all their efforts were unavailing.
Twilight came on, and still the owls pertinaciously hovered in the
neighborhood of their ruined home. The friends becoming impa-
tient went away, and the increasing darkness at length compelled
the young man to give up his purpose. Just then the female owl
flew into the dense foliage of a tree; into this the sportsman was
about to fire at hazard when he suddenly heard a violent rustling
of wings and leaves ; the bird shot like an arrow across the thirty
or forty feet of interval, M. F. received a fierce blow full on the
left eye, and at the same time was conscious of the rapid appari-
tion of two round flaming eyes close to his face. The shock and
the pain were so violent that M. F. fell backward on the ground.
The owls flew away, and only reappeared at long intervals during
the ensuing days. The next morning after a night of suffering,
the two wounded men arrived at Lausanne, the master in a car,
with a bandage over his left eye, and the servant driving, with a
bandage over his right. The injuries were as follows : the man
presented a severe contusion of the tissues around the lower bor-
der of the eye, extensive swelling and infiltration of blood in the
eyelids and under the conjunctiva. Ten or twelve days of cold
applications removed all traces of the attack.

M. F., on the other hand, was seriously injured. An L-shaped
wound had laid open the cornea, through the edges of which
projected two fragments of the iris. The anterior chamber was
obliterated, the crystalline lens crushed, and the tissues generally
infiltrated from the hemorrhage. The patient could scarcely per-
ceive the strongest light, and his sufferings were so acute that
for some days injections of morphia were continually required.

The details of the treatment of the case will not interest the
readers of the NATURALIST, suffice it to say that after four weeks
of suffering, during which iridectomly was performed, F:
recovered a partial degree of sight in the injured organ, though
Dr. Dufour is of the opinion that the eyeball will ultimately
become atrophied.)

From this recital two conclusions may be fairly draw

1. That the owl is courageous onbin not to Pa attacking a

man

2. That when thus attacking, its blows are Wireetedl only at the

eye. This intention, or these tactics, as it contd be termed, was
early shown in the two occurrences ‘related.

1879. ] Anthropology. 265

It was not possible to ascertain exactly to what species these
owls belonged. The adult birds could be neither captured nor
killed, although, as may be supposed, after the second attack a
price was set on their heads. All was without avail, they with-
drew from the neighborhood, and were only seen again at long
intervals— Translated by Dr. R. Fletcher from the Bulletin de la
Société Medicale de la Suisse Romande.

ANTHROPOLOGY.'*

THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
HELD IN CONNECTION WITH THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS,
AUGUST 16-21, 1878.—First Day.—Opening address of the Presi-
dent, Dr. Paul Broca. Report upon anthropological societies and
instructions in anthropology, by Dr. Thulie. Report upon ana-
tomical, biological, and pathological anthropology, by Dr. Paul
Topinard. Report upon ethnology of Europe, of Western oT
and America, by M. Girard de Rialle. Report upon the ethnol-
ogy of Eastern Asia, Africa, and Oceanica, by Dr. Bordier. First
report palazoethnology—geological times, by M. Gabriel de Mor-
tellett. Second report upon palzeoethnology—neolithic period, or
that of polished stone, by M. Emile Cartailhac. Report upon
Demography in relation to Anthropology, by Dr. Chervin.

Second Session—Physical development of the two sexes in Italy,
by M. Pagliani. Relations of the conformation of the skull with in-
hs by M. Le Bon. Notes upon the East Indians trans-
ported into Guiana, by Dr. Maurel. Notes on the hair, by Dr.
Latteux. Relations of the proportions of the skull with those of
the body, yi Madame Clemence Royer. New dolmens in Portu-
gal, by M. D a Silva.

jag sees SÀ ancient owe by Dr. Chil y Naranjo.
Creation of laboratories in the colonies of different States, by Prof.
irchow. Incised bones of cetaceans of the tertiary epoch, by
Professor Capellini. The flaked flints of St. Acheul, by M.
d’Acy. A cemetery of the epoch of bronze at Pogues (Niévre),
by M. Jacquinot. Digging in the grotto of the Mammoth, Poland,
Count Zawisha.
Fifth Session—The ancient monuments on the banks of the
Vistula, by M. Sila Homotypical characteristics of the
thoracic and abdominal members, by M. Alexis Julien. Differen-

*Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

266 | General Notes. [ April,

tial characters of the inferior and superior races of men, by M.
Abel Hovelacque. An indication of ante-Columbian relations be-
tween America and Europe, by M. G. de Mortillet. Monograph
upon the grottoes of human origin in the neighborhood of Brives,
Correze, by E. Rupin and Ph. Lalande. The chipped flints from
the north of Africa, and from the Orient, by Abbe Richard.
Presentation of the album. of the first age of iron. and of a
palzoethnological atlas of the Departments of France, by M. E.
Chantre. Pre-historic man in the basin of La Plata river, by FI.
Ameghino.

The communication of M. de Mortillet, whom we have learned
to regard with especial reverence, is certainly premature, to say the
least. The St. Acheul axes, alleged to be pre-glacial and intra-
glacial, are found by the hundreds on the surface all along our
eastern rivers. It is to be hoped that the patriarch of archeology
will suspend his judgment until the facts are more fully in hand.

The paper of M. Ameghino is very interesting and is well re-
ported in the seventh and eighth numbers of Materiaux, from
which magnificent journal this ‘account is taken

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF SOME shinies CATA-
LOGUES OF THE Paris Exposition, 1878.—Catalogue de l'Expo-
sition des sciences Anthropologiques. Supplement au Catalogue
des produits de l'Autriche. Vienne, Juin, 1878. 40 pp., 8vo.

Dr. G. C. M. Birdwood, Exposition. Universelle. Manuel de la
section des Indes Britanniques. Londres et Paris. 144 pp., 8vo.,
5 pl.

Catalogue raisonné des Antiquités du dorë firmo-ougrien ex-
poseés par l'Université Alexandrine d’Helsingfors a I’ Exposition
Universelle de 1878. 36 pp., 8vo., avec gravures,

Catalogue des crânes d'origine finnoise exposés par le musee
d’anatomie de l'Université Imperiale d’Alexandre, en Finlande,
a tereg des sciences anthropologiques. 20 pp., 8vo., une
cart

Es; aña : Catalogos de las secciones de ciencias anthropologicas
y de arte retrospectivo. Madrid, 1878. 56 pp., 8vo

Catalogue special de la section anthropologique et haat
logique de la République Argentine. 80 pp., lithog , Par

Exposition Universelle de Paris. Exposition ethnographique
du musée d’ ethnographie Scandinave à Stockholm, représenté par.
le Dr. Arthur Hazelius, Hiero et directeur du musée. 8

pp., 8vo

Catalogue des objets envoyés a l'Exposition Uhiiversetic de
Paris, en 1878, par les exposants du departement de la Savoie.
Chamberry, 1878 ; p. 302-355 consacrées a l'exposition anthropo-
logig

Philbert Breban : Livret-guide Bi hea à l'exposition his-
torique du Trocadero, Paris, Dent

Tarameli —_— : Note aki sur ’ Atlas de l’Orographie

1879. ] Anthropology. 267-

des Alpes ioe dans les periods tertiaire et postertiaire, essai de

géologie continentale exposé aux sciences anthropologiques ;

Trocadero, ise, 1878. 12 pp., 8vo.

A. Mariette Bey : La galerie de l'Egypte ancienne a l'exposi-
tion retrospective du Trocadero. Description sommaire, Paris,
1878. 126 o.

Chauvet et Liévre: Les tumulus de la Boixe. Angoulême,
1878. . 44 pp., 6 pl.

G. Chauvet: Notes sur la période neolithique dans la Charente.
Angoulême, 1878, 25 PP. 3 pl

Rules for the organization, in 1879, of an Anthropological Ex-
position of the Imperial Society of the Friends of the Natural
Sciences, of Anthropology and Ethnology attached to the Uni-
versity of Moscow (confirmed by order of the government, May 20,
1878). We extract certain paragraphs of the circular, as being of
general interest.

I. In order to familiarize the public with the questions of
anthropology, principally respecting Russia, and to found at Mos-
cow an anthropological museum as complete as possible, an
anthropological exposition will be organized at Moscow during
the summer o

II, The exposition shall be composed of objects having rela-
tion: 1. To the anthropological study of races which inhabit
Russia. 2. To ante-historic races of that country (pre- historic
archeology). 3. To genera anthropology and to the systematic
classification of race

II. The objects admitted to the Exposition may be classed as
follows :
1. Works concerning the anthropology and ethnology of

Russia, and pre-historic archeology.

Charts of the distribution of races, and’ pre-historic monu-
ments.

Photographs of types of different races, views of character-
istic localities for the study of their customs, photographs
and designs of costumes, utensils, habitations, and scenes
displaying the manners of primitive peoples.

Busts and lay figures of different types.

Models of habitations and of costumes of primitive

Y

big

ao mp

les
Objetas of domestic use, or having relation to the beliefs
and the industry of the lower races ;
; Statistical tables of births, deaths, &c.
odels of tumuli (Kourganes) and of tom
. Objects taken from ancient tombs, or see Bi to the
pre-historic epoch.
10, Charts of geological sections and important localities for
the study of ante-historic man; plans, m models and
designs of caverns. sive tate

© oN

268 General Notes. [April,

11. Specimens of minerals which have served as material for
- ante-historic and primitive man for the fabrication of
tools, and charts of their distribution.

12. Specimens of fossil and extant plants which are important
in the study of the conditions of existence as affecting
primitive races.

13. Remains of Pag Pat animals, or such as are snalee
to the conditions of existence among the lower races.
Skeletons and ick models of pee Bek
necessary to the comparative study of fossils.

14. Apparatus of si es i Na research.

15. Anatomical models for the ii study of races,
necessary for yalt and the study of general

anthropological quest

16. Chemico-technical aA upon objects of pre-
historic arc gy.

I7. paeng manuals designed to impart knowledge con-

erning the races of men, used in the courses of history
oa geography of the primary and secondary schools.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati,
have issued a pamphlet of 75 pages, by Judge M. F. Force, con-
taining two papers, the first of which is entitled, “Some Early
Notices of the Indians of Ohio,” the second, “ To what Race did
the Mound-builders belong.” In the latter half of the seventeenth
century, after the destruction of the Erie s by the Five Nations,
in 1656, what is now the State of Ohio was uninhabited. In the
next half century, the first half of the eighteenth, various tribes

&
S

settlements into the North-western portion of Ohio and became
permanently fixed there. Shawnees settled the Scioto Valley,
Delawares moved to the valley of the Muskingum. Little detach-
ments of the Five Nations, mostly Senecas, occupied part of the
northern and eastern borders. The band of Senecas who settled
between the Muskingum and the Pennsylvania border were called
Mingoes. Parties of Cherokees often penetrated north of the
Ohio, between 1700 and 1750, and later a party of them settled
among the Wyandots, in nas neighborhood of Sandusky. The
history of the Eries and the Shawnees occupies the most of the
first paper. and is well fortified by references to-the original
authorities from which the author has drawn. The paper upon
the Mound-builders was read before the Congrès International
des Americanistes, at Luxembourg, September, 1877. The con-
clusions to which the author arrives, are as foilows: “ The present
state of information, therefore, leads to the conclusion that the
Mound-builders were tribes of American Indians of the same race
with the tribes now living; that they reached a stage of advance-
ment about equal to that of the Pueblo Indians; that they were
flourishing about a thousand years ago, and earlier and later ; and

1879. | Anthropology. 269

that at least in the tribes near the Gulf of Mexico were preserved
some of their customs and some of their lineage, all after the dis-
covery of America.”

On page 56, mention is made of trees on the mounds, six hun-
dred years old, and this remark follows: “Some of the works,
therefore, must have been abandoned six or eight hundred years
ago. It is quite possible that they were abandoned earlier, for
these surviving trees may not have been the first to spring up on
the abandonment of the work.” f

It is well to bear in mind the following facts before basing a
chronological deduction upon trees: 1. The outer rings of a stump
are very much narrower than the inner rings. Ifa section of the
outer part of a stump decayed in the centre be counted, and the
number of rings be multiplied by the ratio of the thickness of this
section to the radius, it will give the age of the tree far greater
than it really was. A ratio of increment could easily be obtained

y examining a large number of stumps. Will not some one
make the calculation for us? 2. Although the ground. from
which oak forests are cut, springs up thickly with pines, yet any

growth which now conceals them. 3. What evidence have we,
that trees, especially nut-bearing trees, were not allowed to grow
upon these works by the Mound-builders while they were still in
possession of them? If this be true, all we can say is, that the
mound or work was constructed (not abandoned) so many years

ago.

These slight queries must not be allowed to detract from the
value of Judge Force’s highly meritorious work, especially with
reference to the Eries and Shawnees, the latter of whom seems to
have been the Gypsies of North America.

r. J. D. Putnam, Secretary of the Davenport Academy, sends
us photographs of two mound pipes, one of them representing an
animal like a bear, the other (mirabile dictu !) an elephant. The
former creates no surprise ; the latter is so like an elephant in body,
limbs, head, trunk, all but tusks, that we have no hesitation in
saying that the maker of it had seen an elephant, and tried to re-
produce his likeness in this pipe. It was taken froma mound in

270 General Notes. [ April,
GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY.

THE Genus Caztopon.—In the Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. v, 1887,
Prof. J. G. Reinhardt gives the first full account of the genus
Celodon of Lund, heretofore only described from a few fragments.
The remains were all found by Lund in Brazil, and include, be-
sides the fragments of the C. maguinensis,a skull and a good
many bones of the skeleton of a second species which is described
by Reinhardt as C. escrivanensis. The characters of the genus
are very interesting, being near to Megatherium, although the
species were not larger than the great ant-eater. The paper is
well illustrated.

Dawson on Eozoon.—In the last number of the Amur. Fourn.
of Science and Arts, Prof. Dawson criticises the memoir of
Mobius mentioned in the last number of the Naruratist. He
thinks that Dr. Mébius has misinterpreted the evidence derived
from his specimens. Thus he has mistaken the veins of chryso-
tile, which traverse the serpentine and calcite, for the walls of the
Fozoön chambers, His objections to the unsymmetrical and
irregular forms of the large so-called tubules, are met by the
statement that these irregularities are due to pressure, faulting
and other incidents of fossilization. The regular round and .
branching tubules, regarded as accidental by Mobius, are stated
to be the normal structure by Dawson.

A New Genus oF PerissopactyLta.—In 1873 I described a
species of ungulate, supposed to be related to the Rhinoceride,
te river beds of Colorado, under the name of Hy-
vacodon quadriplicatus, Further investigation shows that this
animal represents a genus hitherto unknown, whose affinities are
probably as much to the tapirs as to the rhinoceroses. The molars
have the form and structure of those of Lophiodon, and the third
and fourth premolars have the same characters as the true molars,
which is not the case in that genus. The second premolar pre-
sents the elongate form characteristic of some species of Anchi-
therium. It has two cross-crests, and the external longitudinal
crest presents three lobes besides the anterior and posterior pro-
longations, somewhat as in the corresponding deciduous tooth. I
call this genus Anchisodon: the species A. guadriplicatus was as
large as the Aceratherium occidentale. A second species has been
found in the John Day region of Oregon, in the White river
formation. Its molar teeth differ in the presence of a fossa which
is isolated by the contact of the edges of two processes, one from
the external crest, the other from the posterior cross-crest. The
anterior cross-crest has no processes; there is a compressed ee
cle at the entrance of the transverse valley, but no cingulum
the posterior base of the crown as in A. guadriplicatus. The ire
and aft diameter of a middle molar is .028 m., the transverse .028.
The anterior crest is strongly recurved, and "the posterior notch

1879.] Geography and Travels, 271

is profound. Enamel smooth. The species may be called Anchi-
sodon tubifer—E., D. Cope.

A New Genus OF IcHTHyopTerYGIA.—Prof. Marsh has recently
described a genus which he does not distinguish from /chthyosau-
rus excepting by the entire absence of teeth, and even of a den-

poses to regard Sauranodon as the type of a new order, but the
only reason he assigns for this course, the absence of teeth, is
insufficient

P sours eae Fossits IN IpAno.—lIn the last number of the
Bulletin of the Hayden Survey, Dr. A. C. Peale describes certain

Jurassic and Triassic invertebrate fossils. The lowest of these
contains Cephalopods described by Dr. White, which Mr. Hyatt
regards as more nearly allied to the forms of the Muschelkalk,
although they are associated with some Jurassic species, one of
which is also doubtfully identified from the top of the section.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.! .

Tue DurTCH re ie EXPEDITION. — In the ah gregh for
August, 1878, mention was made of the sailing of the small

schooner Willem arhi from Ijmuiden, on the 5th of Arsen

1873, for the Arctic seas. This preliminary voyage was chiefly

quite dwarfed i in aoa riso
storm arising pened JaA landing, and on the 12th they
1 Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

“4 Pe nds Royal Geographical Soctety, January, 1879.
trated London News for October 26, hii hig for view of ie Mayen from

photograph ‘ea on board of the Willem Bar Also number for Janay 2$,

:

$

272 General Notes. [April,

nothing but 2 Ceca fe rocks Pee apace the colossal
glaciers, while the sun, throwing a red glow, brings the whiteness
of the snow into startling contrast with the deep shadows.” On
the 27th they reached their furthest northern point in 80° 18’ N.,

off Verlegen Hoek. After stopping at Amsterdam island to
erect a memorial slab of granite in the midst of the graves of
Dutch whalers who died there in 1633-5, and touching at Bear
island they arrived at Vardo, in Norway, on the 22d of July, and
then commenced the reconnaisance of the sea of Barentz, sailing
north along the 45th meridian. Ice was again met on the Ist of
August at 77° 10’ N., and after proceeding westward and attain-
ing a point (lat. 77° 44’ N., long. 35° 30’ E.) eighty miles from
Wyche island, they were driven to the south by heavy gales. To
the eastward of longitude 38° the ice was found to be thin, level
and rotten, while to the westward there were heavy floes of
immense thickness with hummocks thirty feet high. .In the
beginning of August they appeared to be on the boundary line
where the warm and cold currents meet. Up to that time they
found that the temperature of the sea decreased with its depth;
but here they met with cold and warm currents flowing one over
the other. The explorers next proceeded to Novaya Zemlya, and
proceeding northwards along the coast to Cape Nassau, steered
to the north-west and found the ice-field on September 7th in 78°
17’ and 55° 14’ E. From here the Willem Barentz made her
way to Hammerfest, and this successful trip was finally ended at

- Amsterdam on the 1 3th of October. Experience of the ice

acquired, a full hourly series of meteorological observations had
been taken as well as deep sea soundings and magnetic observa-
tions and very valuable collections in natural history made. Not-
withstanding almost constant fogs an excellent series of photo-
graphs was “complete ed.

Tae Norwecian NorTH ArranTIc Expepition.—During the
past three summers a Norwegian expedition under the charge of
Dr. Mohn, Dr. Sars and other scientific men has been exploring
the sea between Norwa ay, the Ferroe staid Iceland and Spitz-
bergen. Being well supplied with the most recent inventions for
dredging, sounding, obtaining sea temperatures, etc., the scientific
results are stated to be very satisfactory. Their investigations
have now been concluded. The three summers have yie elded in
all 375 sounding stations, 113 temperature series, 44 dredgings
and 42 trawlings. It was ascertained that during June and July
the minimum temperature of the water off the coast of Norway
is neither at the bottom nor at the surface, but at some inter-
mediate strata of considerable say The explanation offered is

1879. | Geography and Travels. 273

that in winter the cold water of the surface descends on account
of its increased weight, until it reaches a stratum where the super-
incumbent water causes by pressure an equal density. In the
warm months the surface water becoming heated has no ten-
dency to sink. The warm Atlantic current was traced to the
north of the eightieth degree of latitude along the west coast of
Spitzbergen.

GEOGRAPHICAL News.—The parties under Lieut. G. M. Wheeler,
Corps of Engineers, continued their work during the season
of 1878, in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, New
Mexico, Utah and Washington Territory, and surveyed ap-
proximatively 35,000 square miles, commencing July Ist and end-
ing December 25th. Lieut. Wheeler was with party No. 1, Cali-
fornia section, in the region north of a line joining Fort Klamath,
Oregon, and Camp Bidwell, California, northward to the Columbia
river. Prof. Stevenson, geologist, and his assistant, Mr. Russell,
investigated the coal fields of Colorado and eastern New Mexico,
and Mr. Henshaw continued to increase his zodlogical collections
in California and Oregon.

Ausgabe; Ethiopien-Studien über West-Afrika, von Dr. W.
Hiibbe-Schleiden, and Beiträge zur physischer Geographie der
. Mittelmeerlander besonders Siciliens, von Theobald Fischer.

r. Edwin’ R. Heath, of Wisconsin, sailed from New York

years in South America and is well prepared for the ‘difficult
work he has undertaken.

The newly colonized “ northern territory ” of South Australia
is not the desert it was recently thought to be. The appearance
of the natives is very gaunt and peculiar, their black faces being
painted across with bands of white, so that they have a death’s-
head like appearance. It is stated that they cut off a joint from
the finger of a mother for every child of hers that dies. As they
also kill their weakly or delicate children, this practice is likely
often to be of considerable inconvenience——London Times.

The Russian government survey for a railway between Oren-
burg and Tashkend is finished and shows that it is quite possible
to carry the line through the desert of Kara-Kum. An explora-
tion will be made in 1879 towards Samarcand and in the direc-

VOL, XIII.—No, Iv, i ag

274 Scientific News. [ April,

tion of Cabul and Peshawur. Col. Prejevalsky wili shortly set
out on his new exploring expedition to Kuldja, Thibet and the
Himalayas.

The last supplement to Petermann’s Mittheilungen is devoted to -
an elaborate monograph by Dr. G. A. Credner, of Halle Univer-
sity, upon deltas. .The paper is divided into two sections.
the first he treats of the limits of deltas, their character, and
formation of their surface, their size, power, material, rate and
results of growth, their age, number and geographical distribution
and classification. In the second he treats of the origin an
causes of the formation of deltas, and the geological problem
thus presented. Maps showing the various deltas and illustrating
the upheaval and subsidence of land are also given.

The British Arctic exploring ship A/ert has again been put
into commission under her old captain, Sir George Nares, for
surveying service in Magellan’s straits and the south Pacific. The
work in Magellan’s straits is expected to occupy from one to
two years. The Aert will then proceed to make isolated but
important surveys in the neighborhood of the Society, Friendly
and Fiji islands and of shoals and reefs between the Fijis and New
Zealand, and finally on the south-western and north-western coasts
of Australia. .

Major Herbert Wood and other writers have heretofore confi-
dently asserted that the ancient river Oxus (now the Amu Darya)
has within historic times emptied into the Caspian sea, and that
its ancient channel can still be traced. The recent breaking
down of a dam at Fort Bend on the Amu, which has caused a

water-course and opening a new water way from Moscow to the
heart of Asia is one which would overtask the resources of the
richest state.

:0:
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

'`— In December, 1878, Dr. Gustav Leonhard, of Heidelberg,
died, leaving the editorial management of the Jahrbuch für
Mineralogie, so long and favorably know in America, in the
hands of Dr. Hans Bruno Geinitz, of Dresden. Now, after six-
teen years association with Dr. Leonhard, Dr. Geinitz retires from
the editorship. The dissolution of this distinguished partnership
will create a new feature in geological literature, and we can only
wish Dr. Geinitz the same success in the cultivation of his favor-
ite science in the future that he has had in the past.

1879. } Scientific News. 275

— We regret to learn that in the great press of business which
occupied the last hours of the late National Congress, the
amendment to the Legislative, etc., Appropriation Bill, abolishing
the existing Geological Surveys of the Territories, was passed.
The fact that this measure had been defeated in the Committee
on the Whole, and also in the House by votes of two to one, did
not prevent its passage in consequence of a transfer at the last
moment to the Sundry Civil Bill. A large number of scientific
men will now have opportunity to repent at leisure their apathy in
having allowed the substitution of one organization in place of three
or four, which will, in all probability, not receive from Congress
even the third of the aid which the surveys have been accustomed
to obtain. The only remedy is to give the direction of the new
Bureau to the man who has shown himself most influential in
impressing Congress with the importance of making large appro-
priations for scientific work. The plausible plea that the geologi-
cal surveys have been misused for the prosecution of zoological
and other work, however it may affect the Executive, will not
receive much sympathy from men of science. It is not true that
a generous sympathy with all branches of science unfits a man
for the directorship of a scientific survey.

— With much regret we have to announce the deith of the
distinguished palzontologist and comparative anatomist, Paul

ervais, which took place on February the roth, in Paris. Prof.
Gervais was born at Paris, on September 26, 1816. After taking
the degree of doctor in science and medicine, he served as one of
the aide-naturalistes of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. In
1841 he became professor of zodlogy to the Faculté des Sciences
of Montpellier; and on the death of Gratiolet, in 1865, he was
appointed to the vacant professorial chair at the Muséum d’His-
toire Naturelle, which he filled till his death. M. Gervais’ pow-
ers and industry are attested by the value and number of his
scientific papers, which in 1873 amounted to a hundred and sixty-
our in number. In these he touched on almost every group of
the animal kingdom; b
the higher classes, especially to the mammalia, recent and

was principal editor of the Journal de Zoölogie. TA
n 1873 M. Gervais was elected a member of the Académie
des Sciences, and he was a foreign member of the geological and
z00logical societies of London.
rof. Gervais was one of the few living authorities on the
paleontology of the Vertebrata, and was engaged at the time of

276 Scientific News. [ April,

his death on a work on the minute structure of the bone of the
various groups of Vertebrata. He leaves a son who is an’ able
anatomist

— The Geological Society of London has awarded to Prof.
E. D. Cope the Bigsby Gold Medal in recognition of his services
to paleontology.

— It appears that the Legislature of Pennsylvania is in some
danger of failing es stags appropriation ik the continuation of
the Geological Sur We very much regret the existence of
such a possibility, aad “hope that our aap will carefully
consider the interests of their constituents in this matter. Noth-
ing is more valuable to a commonwealth than an inventory of its
actual possessions, with a knowledge of their distribution and the
methods of making them available. A knowledge of the physi-
cal constitution of a region is also an essential in the educational
system of its inhabitants. Neither of these ends can be accom-
plished without the Geological Survey made by experts in the
science, and no class of public servants produces more valuable
work for less money than they. By all means continue the i

= Survey.

— We have received the first number of the Guide du Natu-
raliste. Revue bibliographique des Sciences Naturelles, Bulletin
mensuel. Par A. Bouvier. Paris, 1879. (Un franc le numéro.)
This is a valuable and newsy monthly, giving full details of con-
tents of the journals and proceedings of the scientific societies of
France, with courses of lectures in botany, zoology and geology.

— An elaborate and fully illustrated essay, by Dr. Hermann
Miller, on the Cross-fertilization of plants, extracted from
Schenk’s Handbuch der Botanik, has been received too late for
careful review.

— Early in January about five million young codfish we
turned nas the sea by the assistants of the United States Fish
Commissions stationed at Gloucester, Mass.

— At the annual meeting of the California Academy of Sci-
ences, held Monday, Jan. 6th, the following officers for 1879 were.
elected: President, George Davidson; corresponding secretary,
S. B. Christy; director of museum, W. G. W. Harford.

— The Marquess of Tweedale, better known as Viscount Wal-
den, President of the Zoo logical Society of London, died Dec.
2 th, 1878. He was an active ornithologist, paying especial
attention to the birds of the East Indies.

— Victor Ghiliani, one of the founders of the Italian Entomo-
logical Society, died in May last at Turin. Dr. Wilhelm Engel-
mann, the eminent German publisher of scientific books died at
Leipzig, December 23.

1879. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 277

ngress has passed a bill appropriating $250,000 for a
fire-proof National Museum, adjoining the Smithsonian Institution.

— According to Nature, the widow of the late Prof. Eichwald
has presented the remarkable paleontological collections of her
husband to the St. Petersburg University. The collection con-
tains upwards of 30,000 specimens of fossils, from the various for-
mations of Western Europe, from the Petchora Land, from the
Aleutians islands, Siberia, Crimea, etc.

— Vogelbilder aus fernen Zonen, is the title of an atlas of
foreign birds, just published by Fischer, of Cassel, under the care
of Dr. Ant. Reichenow. It is noticed favorably by Nature.

Stein’s great work on Infusoria; as well as by a translation of
Bitschli’s essay on the Flagellate Infusoria (referring to H. James
Clark’s work done on American forms), and also by H. B. Brady’s
descriptions of deep sea Rhizopods in the Quarterly Fournal of
Microscopical Science.

:0:
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

New York AcADEMY OF ScIENCES, Dec. 9, 1878.—Prof. Henry
Wurtz exhibited a large series of the minerals from the Silver
Islet, Lake Superior, and described under the name of Huntilite
(in honor of Prof. T. Sterry Hunt), a new species of silver ore
from that locality. Huntilite occurs both massive and minutely
crystallized, and is essentially an arsenide of silver, occupying the
gap in mineralogy between dyscrasite and domeykite ; dyad metals,
especially nickel, appear to have replaced some part of the silver,
and antimony a small part of the arsenic. Prof. Wurtz gave
minute and laborious analyses and many interesting details.

ec. 23d.—Mr. A. A. Julian made a communication on the
glacial excavation of the Kaaterskill Clove. Mr. B. B. Chamber-
lin exhibited a series of minerals from the zinc and lead mines of
Wisconsin.

Jan. 6, 1879.—Dr. Ephraim Cutter addressed the Academy on
Tolles’ one-seventy-fifth-inch objective—its history, construction
and use (with sciopticon illustrations). :

Jan. 13.—Prof. Henry Wurtz presented before the Chemical
Section, further particulars of his new mineral, Huntilite, from
the Silver Isles of Lake Superior.

Jan. 20th.—Mr. S. W. Ford read a paper on the structure and
development of certain primordial trilobites. Mr. A. A. Julian
remarked on the conglomerate from the sand-beds of South-
eastern New Jersey. Dr. R. P. Stevens made a communication
on the glacial moraine at Jamaica, Long Island. | :

Jan. 27th —At a meeting of the section of Biology Dr. Charles

278 Selected Articles in Scientific Serials. | April, 1879.

F. Taylor presented the results of some practical studies in Psy-
cho-biology, with especial reference to the influence of mental
states on disease.

h 3.—Mr. W. R. Gerard read a Note on the influence of
sulphurous acid gas on coniferous trees.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Feb. 27.—Lieut. T. B. M.
Mason, U.S.N., read a paper entitled the “alier of life at
sea.

March 11.—Gen. R. E. Colston lectured upon Life in the east-
ern and western deserts of Egypt and the Soudan, among the
Bedouin tribes, with a description of their manners and customs,
the waterless land, the mirage, the pe pee the camel.

Boston Society oF NaruraL History, Feb. 19—Mr. H. G
Kittredge read a paper on the Natural history of” Cotton. Mr.
L. S. Burbank made a communication on the Clay beds of
ancient estuaries.

March 5.—Prof. W. G. Farlow read a paper on North Ameri- —
can Characez, and Mr. W. O. Crosby spoke concerning a possible
origin of petrosilicious rocks.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB, March 12.—Mr. G. F. Ham-
mett read a paper on the Practical application of mountain
sketching, and Mr. W. O. Crosby spoke on the Pitch Lake of
Trinidad.

——:0:

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

SIEBOLD AND KOLLIKER’S ZEITSCHRIFT FUR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE
Zoo.LoGir.—December 19, 1878. The sexual organs of Cephalo-
poda, by J. Brock. Sixth paper on the structure and develop-
ment of sponges, by F. E. Schulze. Studies on the anatomy of
lean organs—I. On the anatomy of the gills of Serpula, by
L. Low

ETAN OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SUR-
VEY OF THE TERRITORIES, Vol. v, No. 1.—Notes on the Aphididæ
of the United States, with descriptions of species occurring west

of the Mississippi, by C. V. Riley and J. Monell. . The relations
of the horizons of extinct vertebrata of Europe and Nort

America, by E. D. Cope. Observations on the faunz of the Mio-
cene Tertiaries of Oregon, by E. D. Cope. Notes on the birds
of Fort Sisseton, Dakota Territory, by C. E. McChesney. Pal-
zontological papers—No. 9. Fossils of the Jura-Trias of South-
eastern Idaho, by C. A. White. Jura-Trias section of South-
eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming, by A. eale. Fossil
forests of the volcanic Tertiary formations of the Yellowstone
National Park, by W. H. Holmes. Palzontological papers—No.
10. Conditions of preservation of invertebrate fossils, by C. A.
_ White. Supplement to the bibliography of North American
_ invertebrate Ee. by C. A. White and H. A. Nageton.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xu1.— MAY, 1879. — No. 5.

ON THE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF THE BORING
SPONGE, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS
GEMMULES OR EGGS.

BY JOHN A. RYDER.

N 1871 a vessel laden with marble was sunk in Long Island

sound, and according to Prof. Verrill, the boring sponge has
penetrated the exposed parts of the blocks for a depth of two to
three inches from the surface. The canals or tunnels in a speci-
men of this marble which I have examined, vary from one-fourth
to an hundredth of an inch and less in diameter ; the canals are
coated within with a thin film of dried sarcode of a brown color,
which was orange-colored in life. Though the sarcode is dried,
the needle-shaped spicules are plainly visible under a one-fifth
inch lens, and display the form usually seen in the same species
found on the coasts of Europe. The spicules, according to
my measurements are , of an inch long, agreeing exactly
with the length given by Mr. H. J. Carter as observed in
British specimens, and about robo of an inch in diameter,
and are, as is well known, siliceous. The specimen which
I have seen, shows, in what appears to have been the inner por-
tion of the block, a series of large branching canals which
connect freely with each other in the most irregular way im-
aginable; moreover, the form of the canals in transverse sec-
tion is exceedingly variable, being oval or irregular as often as it
is circular. These last facts, together with that of the great
Variability in the calibre of the canals, leaves no doubt in my
mind that it is the animal of the sponge which does the boring,

and not marine worms which have politely abandoned their bur-

VOL, XIII.—No. V.

280 Destructive Nature of the Boring Sponge. [ May,

rows for the accommodation of this toiler of the sea. It is well
known that this species and its allies are found filling systems of
canals in the shells of many species of mollusks, both dead and
alive, as well as in fragments of limestone, but it is probably rare
to find it in such a vigorous condition of development as in the
submerged cargo of marble referred to above. Mr. H. J. Carter
believes that occasionally some of the parasitic species do not
bore their habitation but develop freely in the same manner as
ordinary non-parasitic forms. Bowerbank in his “ Monograph of
the British Spongidæ,” mentions an affiliated species which is
parasitic on a sea-weed, boring or dissolving away the soft parts and
allowing the harder fibrous structures to remain as a means of
support.

It may be well to bear in mind that eesi sponges, notwith-
standing the fact that they excavate their own habitations, are not
parasites in the sense in which nematoid and cestoid worms are
parasitic, as Haeckel, with his usual sagacity, points out in his
Monograph of the Calcareous Sponges. :

Dr. O. Schmidt observes (Brehm’s Thierleben), that, “ A large
portion of the coasts of the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas is
composed of calcareous material which, from its tendency to
become eroded, has a broken, jagged aspect, giving it a peculiar
and often attractive appearance. Of such broken Dalmatian
coast one can certainly measure off some thousands of miles of
strand, and where it does not descend too abruptly, large and
small stones and fragments of rocks cover the ground. One can
scarcely pick up one of these billions of stones without finding it
more or less perforated with holes and eroded by Cliona, often to
such a degree that the spongy remains of the apparently solid
stone may be crushed in the hand.” The same writer farther
observes : “ This brings us finally to the question, by what means
does this sponge eat its way into the rock? One would first
think of the siliceous needles as the cause, but we soon see that
we must abandon the notion that this is the boring apparatus,
since it must be borne in mind that such apparatus must be
operated. Even though the protoplasm executes delicate fluc-
tuating movements, so that in C/iona (Vioa), as in many other
sponges, the needles are drawn into bundles, rows or series in
particular directions, in any case, the force so exerted would
not be sufficient to scrape or erode the lime rock with their

18709. | Destructive Nature of the Boring Sponge. 281

points. The mode of distribution and extension of the sponge
would rather indicate that a process of chemical solution was the
real agent at work in erosion. Of the exact constitution of this
corrosive fluid we, however, as yet know nothing. The importance
of the boring sponge in helping to effect the redistribution of
eternal matter, does not consist in comminuting the stone into
particles, but in dissolving it as sugar is dissolved in a glass of
water, and mingled with the sea-water in this dissolved condition.
Out of this solution the innumerable shell-fish take the mineral
materials which have been mingled with their blood, and from
which it is deposited as new layers on the shell, which, when the
animal dies, either is also finally redissolved by the sponge, or
falls to the bottom of the sea asa contribution to the earth’s
strata of future zons.”

Dr. Leidy? observes in regard to the agency of this organism in
disintegrating the shells of dead mollusks, “ that an extensive bed
of oysters, which had been planted by Thos. Beasley at Great
- Egg harbor, and which was in excellent condition three years
since (1857), had been subsequently destroyed by an accumula-
tion of mud. The shells of the dead oysters, which were of
large size and in great number, in the course of two years have
been so completely riddled by the boring Cona, that they may
be crushed with the utmost ease, whereas without the agency of
this sponge the dead shells might have remained in their soft
muddy bed devoid of sand and pebbles, undecomposed perhaps
even fora century.” The ability of such an organism to comminute
both organic and inorganic calcareous materials is well illustrated
in the instance above cited, and their influence in modifying the
character of marine deposits is clearly implied.

n a specimen of the common Ostrea virginiana, recently
handed me for examination by my friend, Mr. John Ford, the
substance of the shell was thoroughly cavernated so as to render
it extremely brittle and readily crushed; in fact the inner table
of the shell left standing showed a great number of elevations
within, which indicated points where the intruding parasite had
been kept out by the: oyster which had deposited new layers of
calcareous matter at these places so as to give rise to the eleva-
tions spoken of. Besides this, the inner table had become so
weakened at the insertion of the adductor muscles that the animal

1 Proc. Acad. Nat, Sciences, Phila., VIII, 162.

282 Destructive Nature of the Boring Sponge. [ May,

in closing had torn a part of it loose, which had been repaired by
the deposition of a brown horny substance. Evidence of the
presence of the boring sponge may very frequently be noticed in
shells of oysters brought to the markets, though it often appears
as if the parasite had left its work incomplete, being killed on its
host. I find that Schmidt has also’noted this, and that the boring
operations of the sponge usually seem to stop in the case of
living mollusks, at the nacreous layer.

Dr. Leidy (l. c.) gives a lucid account of the living sponge as
found in Ostrea virginiana and Venus mercenaria, He says, “ This
boring sponge forms an extensive system of galleries between the
outer and inner layers of the shells, protrudes through the perfora-
tions of the latter tubular processes, from one to two lines long,
and one-half to three-fourths of a line wide. The tubes are of
two kinds, the most numerous being cylindrical and expanded at
the orifice in a corolla form, with their margin thin, translucent,
entire, veined with more opaque lines, and with the throat brist-
ling with siliceous spicule. The second kind of tubes are com-
paratively few, about as one is to thirty of the other, and are
shorter, wider, not expanded at the orifice, and the throat unob-
structed with spicule. Some of the second variety of tubes are
constituted of a confluent pair, the throat of which bifurcates at
bottom. Both kinds of the tubes are very slightly contractile,
and under irritation may gradually assume the appearance of
superficial wart-like eminences within the perforations of the
shell occupied by the sponge. Water obtains access to the inte-
rior of the latter through the more numerous tubes, and is
expelled in quite active currents from the wider tubes.”

A point of considerable interest in this connection is Mr. W. J.
Sollas’! discovery of the existence of membranous and spiculifer-
ous diaphragms in some English species of these sponges. These
diaphragms are composed of sarcode in which, in some instances,
very short club-shaped spicules are imbedded, pretty densely
packed together, with their opposite extremities lying at opposite
surfaces of the diaphragm. In some cases the diaphragms are
perforate, forming an annular band inside ‘the canal and attached
by an edge, the other edge being constricted somewhat, so that
the bands sometimes have the form of hollow truncated cones.
In other instances these partitions are membranous films contain-

1 Am. Mag. Nat. Hist., 5th Series, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1878, p. 54.

1879. ] Destructive Nature of the Boring Sponge. 283

ing spiculze of the ordinary form; these also may be perforate or
imperforate and conical. Their office is not yet understood, but
it is suggested by their discoverer that they are for the purpose
of interrupting or modifying the direction and flow of the cur-
rents of water created by the ciliated cells of the tissue lining the
cavities of the organism.

In the examination of a second specimen kindly handed me by
Mr. Ford, and which had been removed from its native brine only
a few hours before, I was enabled to distinguish very plainly the
ova or gemmules strewn through the orange-colored sarcode.
These are bodies fully three times as large in diameter as the
ordinary sponge cell, of an oval shape covered with a tough
transparent rather thick membrane. The contents are transpa-
rent and granular with the exception of the nucleus, which is
opaque and deep-orange in color and is often broken up into sev-
eral apparently homogeneous granules of variable size; a part of
these granules may occupy one extremity of the ovum, another
part the other, or they may be placed eccentrically, or be arranged
in a semicircle. The diversity in this respect is very great, so
that but few are met with which are very nearly alike. These
differences may represent various stages of development, but
there seems to be a want of the orderly arrangement which
would be expected if this were the case, besides, the wide sepa-
-ration of the nuclear bodies into two and even three parcels
would not favor such a view.

I was quite unable to distinguish any flagellate cells in this
specimen, even with a power of 1000 diameters, although there
can be little doubt of their existence, as may be inferred from
Prof. Leidy’s account of the physiological actions of the organ-
ism. Mr. Carter, however, has figured these cells in a paper
already referred to, and he observes that the flagelliform pro-
cesses of the cells lining the canals of the fresh-water sponges are
withdrawn into the sarcode body of the cell soon after being
detached from the walls of the canals, which may have been the
trouble in this case.

284 The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. [ May,

THE MESOZOIC SANDSTONE OF THE ATLANTIC
SLOPE.

BY PERSIFOR FRAZER, JR.

HREE pamphlets lie on our table and constitute very im-
portant additions to the knowledge of the most puzzling of
all geological formations, viz: that portion of the series lying
between the Carboniferous and Cretaceous in this country. They
are entitled as follows: “The Mesozoic Formation in Virginia,
by Oswald J. Heinrich, Mining Engineer,’? “ Notes on the Mes-
ozoic of Virginia, by Wm. M. Fontaine,” and “The Physical
History of the Triassic Formation of New Jersey and the Con-
necticut valley, by Israel C. Russell.’’*

Without disparaging the merits of the other two, it must be
said that the paper of Mr. Heinrich embraces more exact and
positive knowledge of lasting value than either of the others.
To complete the set, there should be added to the three just men-
tioned, a pamphlet of a few pages, by Persifor Frazer, Jr., on
“ The Position of the American New Red Sandstone” (read at
the New York meeting of the A. I. M. E; Feb., 1877). In this
paper there is a column of strata represented in a section across the
Mesozoic belt from York to Dillsburg which will be of interest
to those who have carefully.read Mr. Heinrich’s pages.

These contributions, taken together, are so valuable that a
brief sketch of their separate contents will be of interest.

Frazer's Paper—To take them in the order of their date,
Frazer speculates upon the probable relationships of the various
strata represented in his broad section with those of the European
column, rather leaning to the belief that the rocks of Mesozoic
age in Southern Pennsylvania, correspond with those which fill
in the space occupied by the upper half of the lower Permian
and the superior beds at least to the base of the Lias (z. e., in-
cluding the Rhætic beds). He says: “ By this hypothesis the
‘New Red’ of York and Adams counties would reach from
the middle portion of the lower half of the Dyas or Permian
at least to the base of the Lias, including all the rocks at-
tributed to the Trias and the beds below it, except the lower

1 Read at the Phila. Meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers,
Feb., 1878.

-~ 2 American Journal of Science and Arts, Jan., 1879.
3 From the Annals of the New York Academy a Sciences. 1878.

1879. | The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. 285

Rothliegendes of the German scale.” The thickness calculated
by him for Prof. Rogers’ section below Yardleyville is 51,500
feet, or nine and three-quarters miles, on the assumption that
the bedding is normal, but this is regarded as delusive; and
in a subsequent paper, by the same author, on “ Some Meso-
zoic Ores” (Am. Phil. Soc. Proc., April 20, 1877), the wave-
strewing hypothesis, by means of which Prof. Rogers sought
to explain the inclined bedding is rejected as insufficient to ac-
count for all the phenomena.

Mr. Heinricks paper is rich in facts, and is as remarkable for
the absence of speculations as it is for the clear and logical stand-
point from which he views the whole subject. Like Prof. Fontaine,
he commences by describing the divisions of the formation into
belts, but whereas Mr. Heinrich groups all the known exhibitions
of Mesozoic, in Virginia, into four belts, Prof. Fontaine disposes
of them in six belts. This latter arrangement does not seem to
be necessary by reason of the small gaps between the various
members of Heinrich’s belts, and presents to the student not on.
the ground, manifestly greater inconveniences.

It is evident that even Heinrich’s number of divisions i is arbi-
trary, since a prolongation of the “Eastern” belt crosses the
“ Middle Eastern” at Taylorsville and joins the “ Middle Western
at Mount Vernon,” but these separate ranges and the lines indi-
cating them on his map, greatly assist the understanding of his
minute details. His belts here follow.

A Eastern—Includes (1) the ra AS and (2) the
scattered masses of Mesozoic in Greenville and Brunswick
counties, west of Hicksford and east of Ladhadeniies

B Middle Eastern.—(1) rif asa deposits, (2) Springfield
deposits, (3) Richmond depos

C Middle Western—(1) Aquia aie te) Farmville deposits,
from Mount Vernon to Fredericks

D Western.—(1) Potomac deposits, ramping from the Poromag
river near Point of Rocks to the Wilderness, (2) Barbo
ville deposits, (3) James River deposits (near ‘Scottsville), G)
Danville deposits, (5) Dan River deposits, on and south o
the N. Carolina line.

Prof. Fontaine calls D1 his “New ¥ersey” belt, D 3 his
Buckingham belt, D 4 the Pittsylvania belt, C 2 (or a part of them)
the Prince Edward belt, B 3 and a part of A 1 the Richmond
belt, the southern portion of A 1 the Petersburg belt, which Prot.
Fontaine describes as overlapping the Hanover area (č. e., the

286 The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. [ May,

northern part of the Richmond belt [?]), whose uppermost beds
pass into the lowermost of the Petersburg belt; and finally a
seventh belt C 1 or the Fredericksburg belt. The area (or areas)
covered by Mesozoic near Hicksford, which constitute the por-
tions of Mr. Heinrich’s A 2, Prof. Fontaine does not name, as he
acknowledges that he has not visited them.

Mr. Heinrich’s lucid and careful observation of the rocks
which follow that of the boundaries of his belts, cannot be too
highly commended. They are classed as 1, Conglomerates; 2,
Sandstones, (a) Psephites or Siliceous and Feldspathic, and (6)
Psammites or argillaceous matter with fine siliceous sand and
some larger grains of quartz; 3, Slates and Shales; 4, Lime-
stones; 5, Coal, (æ) bituminous, (4) carbonite, (c) natural coke, (d)
semi-anthracite ; 6, igneous rocks; 7, accessory minerals.

The following six pages are devoted to a very good sketch of
the general geological and stratigraphical characters of the forma-
tion, consisting of some useful information as to areas of
drainage.

This third division of his subject ends with a succinct descrip-
tion of the results of diamond-drill boring, and the separation of
the measures pierced, into seven groups. This is an exceedingly
interesting portion of the paper, each division is so clearly dis-
tinguished from the others by striking characteristics as to seize
the attention of the reader, who is too apt to forget that he sees
so clearly because he is looking through Mr. Heinrich’s eyes.

The next six pages are given up to a detailed lithological
description of the section by inches. The third chapter closes
with a summary of the results of investigation, and an observa-
tion (confirmed by the study of the measures near Dillsburg, Pa.)
that the largest beds of trap, more frequently followed planes of
bedding than planes of cleavage.

The fourth division of his subject is devoted to the fossil
remains of the formation, but here Mr. Heinrich confesses his
inability to do justice to the subject, and Prof. Fontaine’s informa-
tion is fuller and has the additional advantage of his own excellent
critical judgment, at least so far as concerns the flora.

The fifth and last division of Mr. Heinrich’s report regards the
economical products of the formation, prominent among which,
of course, is the coal. Forty-nine analyses are given on p. 42,

1 Frazer’s Report. CC, Sec. Geol. Surv. of Penna.

1879.] The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. 287

about equally divided between the north and south sides of the
James river. On the succeeding page six analyses are given of
West Virginia coals, and three from the Richmond basin. On p.
44 is a table of the coal shipped from the basin in various years,
and the whole concludes with a comparative table of the total
amounts shipped from the principal basins in Pennsylvania and
Maryland, and from the Richmond basin.

The illustrations are on two plates; Plate 1 contains a map of
Virginia and part of North Carolina, south of the Potomac
and east of the Blue Ridge with the lines of strike of the four
belts into which the author has thrown the formation. The areas
of drainage are well marked on this map, and the Mesozoic
shaded.

Plate 1 contains, Fig. 1, a geological section of the bore hole;
Fig. 2, a section of the beds on a vertical plane perpendicular to
the strike; Fig. 3, a long section along the James river from
Richmond to Scottsville, showing a synclinal between the western
and middle western Mesozoic belts, a synclinal in the middle
eastern, and a probable eroded anticlinal between the latter and
the eastern, where the rocks seem to dip under newer formations
‘to and under the sea.

In this connection it is almost a pity to note even trifling errors
in Mr. Heinrich’s paper. These are not confined to “elliptic”
for elliptical (p. 7), “dolorite” for dolerite (pp. 17 and 37),
square acres (p. 41), and other similar oversights of the proof-
reader in correcting the text, but may be even found in the maps,
as in “Ezoic” for Eozoic (Plate 11 Fig. 3, &c.). It was to be
hoped that these defects would have been corrected in the vol-
ume of the Transactions of the Institute of Mining Engineers, in
which the paper appears.

Prof. Fontaine's Paper —After his grouping of the outcrops of
the Mesozoic previously given, the author notices a deposit of
stones which plays an important part in the NW. They are
neither conglomerate nor boulders. Under this head is classed
the “ Potomac Marble,” which is all of limestone fragments. In
the Pittsylvania belt, however, the stones are the product of the
granite and azoic rocks lying near.

In his description of the Richmond basin, Prof. Fontaine has
probably been led into error by Rogers and Lyell, and in spite of
his own notes, when he says, “ The lower series, from three to
five hundred feet thick, rests immediately on the granitoid gneiss,

288 _ The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. [May,

which forms the floor of the basin. It contains all the coal found
in the field.”

Mr. Heinrich’s careful column shows the lowest coal (not
counting occasional bituminous and carbonaceous slates and
sandstones) is found at 571 feet from the granite, the second at
600 feet, the third and fourth at 655 feet.

On this subject Mr. Heinrich’s remarks (p. 35) are very instruc-
tive ; for even the variable distance noticed by the author between
the granite floor and the coal could scarcely account for so great
a discrepancy. The faults in the Midlothian region are conceded
by all, and. Mr. Heinrich’s section presents a very rational view
of them; but why “ borings cannot be relied upon” is not clear,
though of course their value as guides decreases as the distance
to the desired locality increases. One would suppose that

they were all that could be relied upon.

A very interesting note in regard to certain varieties of the
Potsdam strata, connect with this horizon the “compact vitreous
quartzites and peculiar sandstones which have the grains of sand
imbedded in a white, non-plastic, argillaceous matter,” occurring
a short distance above Harper’s Ferry. Such rocks are indeed
noticed elsewhere in positions entitling them to be considered
Potsdam, but if by this are intended the quartz fragments imbed-
ded in crystalline schist which make the high bluffs at Harper’s
Ferry on the Maryland side of the river, it is most interesting to
note that they are strikingly similar to a great series composing
the middle and western portions of the South mountain in Penn-
sylvania underlying the Orthofelsites and schists of probable Hu-
ronian age. Neither is the Scolithus a sure guide to the age of
Potsdam in the opinion of all geologists.

The clay deposits and their supposed origin in “ marshes within
the Azoic area swept away in a general and extensive erosion,”
present certainly a new if somewhat hazardous line of dynamo-
geological speculation, as also does the evident leaning of the
writer towards a glacial movement to account for deposits of
schists, granites, &c., on grit. It is noteworthy that Prof. Fon-
taine, Mr. Russell and others, each from his independent line of
argument, arrives at the probability of a series of shallow and
marshy beds to the south of the Mesozoic belts.

But the most novel explanation of the paucity of snivaal life in
the Trias and Jura is that which supposes this time to have been
one of great cold, when a huge ice sheet was advancing eastward

I $79. | The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. 289

from the Blue Ridge, and its streams were feeding the Mesozoic
areas. The ferns, cycads, &c., were furnished with a mi
equable and moist climate by fogs from the Gulf Winds.

In this part of his argument it is difficult to follow the author,
who would produce the glaciers by the cold winds sweeping east
and north-east unchecked from the Pacific, while an “immense
growth of coniferous trees covered the hills.”

The problems with which Prof. Fontaine closes his paper, as to
whether some of the drift in the northern States attributed to the
Glacial period may not be much older; and whether there may
not be drift deposits around the southern prolongation of the
Appalachian chain. thus carrying an ice period into the far South
to meet that of Prof. Agassiz in Brazil, are, as he says, well worth
the attention of geologists.

In this paper the main points of interest are his belt of stones
in the north-west and under the Catoctin range; his criticism of
Schimper’s determination of Equisetum rogersit, and his associa-
tion of the ferns with the “ Rheetic ” beds, or their contempora-
ries, his establishing the drift matter of Azoic fragments in clay
as passing under the Cretaceous in Maryland, and his conclusions
as to the great eroding action of a glacier previous to or coinci-
dent with the laying down of this drift.

Mr. Russell's Paper. —This is concerned nominally with the

England and British American Trias as well. These rocks and
the protecting action of their traps in the bay of Fundy are first
considered, and the tidal action on the soft muds is afterwards
referred to as a good example of the kind of action which pro-
_ duced these soft ripple-marked shales.

In endeavoring to give, from a few localities in New Jersey, a
general idea of the characters of these shales and sandstones, it
must be confessed that either their variety is singularly curtailed
on the crossing of the Delaware into New Jersey, or many of
the diverse representatives mentioned by Messrs. Frazer, Heinrich
and Fontaine must here be classed under the same names.

Note A refers to a south-westward dip of the Trias just east of —
the Blue Ridge in Virginia. Fontaine gives this dip of his “ New —

Jersey belt” as north-west, while Heinrich’s section makes it
east or south-east.
An italicised paragraph seems to claim novelty for the conclu-

Sion to be drawn from the fact that in New —* the dip of

ee

Hid

290 The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. [May,

the Trias was south-east, in New Jersey north-west, while in Vir-
ginia and North Carolina the flexed structure was apparent.

This is more definitely stated on p. 11, where by the aid of a
diagram it is insisted that the Triassic beds in New Jersey and
Connecticut are but flanks of a great arch, the upper portions of
which have been removed by denudation. The lithological
evidence which the writer has accumulated in favor of this old
view must be considered of value. Mr. Heinrich enunciates the
same view, pp. 22 and 23, but on the ground of supposed analogy
between the James and Hudson rivers, and indeed this structure
has been accepted, if not with the foundation which Mr. Russell
now gives to it, by many geologists from the date of the first
Geological Surveys of New York and Pennsylvania to the present
time.

Apropos of the writer’s views of the possible agency of the traps
as lines of displacement, it is worth observing that the largest and
strongest dykes are found by Frazer (Report CC, Second Geol.
Surv. of Penna., p. 325), and Heinrich, to follow planes of cleav-
age. This fact,as stated in the first part of the above,is proof that
no large amount of displacement took place, since the strata them-
selves and other beds of trap parallel with the bedding, which
pursue one direction, and those cleavage dykes, are as so many
keys to structure, for xo displacement of beds could take place
without displacing these. Rogers’ theory of the apparent great
accumulation of the Mesozoic beds is not quite correctly stated,
p. 9 (See note on this subject in Frazer’s Position of Am. New
Red, &c., p. 5).

The supposition that the conglomerate was derived from the
accumulation of pebbles at the mouths of rivers, is not borne out
by observations of this characteristic rock along the western
border of the Trias in Pennsylvania, for it is uniform in character
for long distances, and according to Fontaine, the most abundant
stones in Virginia could not have come from a point further south
than the Lower Silurian of Pennsylvania.

The two authors, Prof. Fontaine and Mr. Russell, unite in their
belief that the Triassic conglomerate is an important landmark in
the formation, but they ascribe its origin to very different causes.
Whereas the former imagines it to have been carried to its pres-
ent position on ice rafts, the latter ascribes it to the deposition of
numerous river mouths pouring out into the sound in which the

= rocks of this age were being laid down.

1879. } The Mesozoic Sandstone of the Atlantic Slope. 291

The text accompanying diagram, p. 16, is not clear, and there-
fore cannot be criticised. The conglomerates of Maryland and
Pennsylvania do seem to mark two horizons near the upper and
lower parts of the New Red series.

Another oversight is the assertion that the bold line of bluffs
composed of crystalline schists can be followed to a distance from
Stony Point, N. Y., towards Virginia, sufficiently far to account
for the conglomerate of that edge as its shore deposit. Over long
stretches of this intervening distance the only high ground is
made of these coarse and hard beds.

In the summary of reasons for accepting the theory of unity
between the New England and New Jersey Mesozoic, considera-
tions Nos, 3 and 4 seem to be new and valuable. No. 1 is valua-
ble. No. 2 if true of New Jersey is not so in Pennsylvania,
where on the very eastern margin of these beds, in York county
(as on the western), the rock is a conglomerate (See Report C,
Second Geol. Surv. of Penna., and CC bid, p. 264.. Section 6.
Frazer). No. 5 on the continuity of elevated ground, if well
founded from Hudson river to New England, is not so for the
entire course south-west.

In the discussion of the eruptive rocks Mr. Russell makes a
very interesting point in regard to the crescent shape of the out-
bursts of trap in the New England and New Jersey Trias. In the
former the horns of the crescents turn eastward, while the con-
vex side is towards the west, whereas in the New Jersey series
this order is reversed.

But it is evident that the trap rocks of New Jersey must differ
materially from those in Pennsylvania, and also in Connecticut,
because he states that “ they are usually composed of an intimate
combination ” (sic) “with some form of feldspar.” They very rarely
contain any hornblende elsewhere, and in the large collection of
traps from Pennsylvania there are but one or two, and these from
exceptional localities in which hornblende has been detected.
Another difference lies in the fact that it is not difficult to find the
junction of the trap with the shales and sandstones that underlie
them. In Pennsylvania this is always difficult and sometimes
impossible.

Mr. Russell expresses the same view of the effect of a sinking
_ Of the floor, or what is the same thing, a rising of the eastern
margin of the MeSozoic area, as that given in bee. 2d G. S. of Pa,
Pp. 269 and 271.

292 Onsymmetric Arrow-Heads and Allied Forms. [May,

= Page 28, he under-estimates the amount of thickness of rocks

with which he has to deal if he employ the “ usual manner” of
calculating it, for Rogers’ and Frazer’s sections of the New Red
in Pennsylvania make the total thickness 51,000 feet.

It is interesting in Note B to find Mr. Russell also testifying to
the probable high and swampy character of the southern end of
the Triassic estuaries,

Taking the papers PRAE A we cannot fail to recognize that
they form a very valuable and suggestive arsenal from which to
draw weapons to renew the old attack on the New Red.

:0;

ON UNSYMMETRIC ARROW-HEADS AND. ALLIED
MS.

BY S. S. HALDEMAN.

LTHOUGH most stone arrow-heads have a symmetric out-
line, a large collection will generally present variations which
may be due to unsuitable material, to want of skill in the work-
man, to a love of variety, to intentional adaptation to a purpose,
or to the consideration that a single barb might be sufficient.
Love of ornament appears in the use of paint, and in the selec-
tion of finely colored jasper and chalcedony for implements.
While irregularities would interfere with the function of arrows,
all these objects are not to be regarded as arrow-heads, some of
the larger kinds being for spears, while others are probably
borers (Fig. 4), scrapers (Fig. 10) and knives (Fig. 8). As in
civilized life, the workman whose kit is limited must make one
implement serve the purposes of several. In fact, the enterprising
explorer, Major J. W. Powell, brought from the Rio Virgen small
knives of what would be regarded as arrow-heads if found
detached, but which were fastened (with the gum of Larrea mexi-
cana) in a notch in the end of a round wooden handle (see Fig.
I, p. 2, in Rau’s Archzol. Collections of the National Museum).
The want of symmetry may be in the form of the body (Figs.
I, 3, 4, 8), in the shape and inequality of the barbs (Figs. 7, 11),
and in the slight indication, or the absence of one of the barbs
(Figs. 2, 5, 6, 8, 9).
A barb may be accidentally broken off during or after making,
1 I have an arrow-head from Tennessee, one side of which is painted with a fer- `
ruginous mie olor.

1879. ] Unsymmetric Arrow-Heads and Allied Forms. 29

N
N

ANV
REN

è e f

294 Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. (May,

as shown in many examples where the surface of fracture remains.
In others, the unarmed side is finished uniformly, as in Fig. 9,
where the simple edge runs from base to point, but we may infer
that a workman would economize a broken specimen by shaping
it anew, as basal and terminal halves are turned into scrapers.

Want of symmetry in the barbs occurs in the short sub-trian-
gular forms (Fig. 11) which are often of large size, with one
prominent barb—forms probably intended for fish-gigs.

Mr. Ch. C. Jones (Antiquities, p. 266-7) does not figure abnor-
mal forms, which he regards “as examples rather of misfortune
than of original design.” But even failures are worthy of record,
and some of the forms may have been adapted to a purpose.

Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, East Tennessee (L. and F. A. Stratton); Fig.
3, an obtuse-angled triangular form, with all the edges sharp; the
base or shortest side in some specimens slightly convex; prob-
ably knives and scrapers; white quartz; Chester county, Pa. (H.
R. Kervey); in the one figure the base is longer than usual. Fig.
5 resembles an equilateral form, in one side of which an indenta-
tion had been made to adapt it for scraping, or for tying it toa
handle; black flint, Fig. 7, Liberty county Ga. (Dr. J. L. Le
Conte.) Fig. 8, Pennsylvania (?). Fig. 9, Arkansas (?). Fig. 10,
Bainbridge, Lancaster county, Pa. (F. G. Galbraith); the longest
edge is dulled and smoothed by use, as if in polishing or scraping
the inside of earthenware. Fig. 11, Tallahassee, Fla.; white
semi-opal (C. N. Haldeman). The figures are of the size of the
originals,

et nn

EXAMINATION OF INDIAN GRAVES IN CHESTER
OUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

BY EDWIN A. BARBER.

N the year 1824 there appeared in the Village Record, at West

Chester, then edited by Charles Miner, Esq., a long and
elaborate series of communications written, evidently, after
careful research and personal inquiry, by Joseph J. Lewis,
Esq., then a young law-student, and now one of the most
distinguished members of the bar of Chester County. In

1 Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania, By Sherman Day. Phila.,
1843. e

1879.] Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. 295

one of these communications the following paragraph appeared :
“There is a place near the Brandywine, on the farm of Mr. Mar-
shall, where there are yet a number of Indian graves that the
owner of the ground has never suffered to be violated. One of
them, probably a chief’s, is particularly distinguished by a head
and foot stone.”?

Having recently obtained permission from the present owner
of the property, Mr. Caleb Marshall, some of the members of the
Philosophical Society of West Chester, on the 16th of November,
1878, proceeded to investigate these graves. The burial-ground
is situated in a group of hickory and oak trees on a prominent
knoll some three hundred yards to the north of the west branch
of the Brandywine or Minquas creek, formerly known to the
Indians as the Suspecough. “The Indians upon the Brandywine
had a reserved right (as said James Logan in his letter of 1731)
to retain themselves a mile in breadth on both sides of one of the
branches of it, up to its source.”

The exploring party found traces of at least thirty graves,
indicated by shallow depressions, but originally there was a much
larger number, as Mr. Marshall asserts that the plough has been
gradually encroaching upon the cemetery, all signs of many of
the graves having beeh entirely obliterated. The portion yet
protected by the receding grove, however, has never been dis-
turbed.

Four of these burial places were opened, with the following
results: In the first grave, at the depth of three feet was. found
a skeleton stretched at full length on the back, from east to west,
the face turned toward the north-west, the arms extended close to
the body. Around the neck were nineteen spherical, opaque,
milky-white, Venetian beads, each about an inch in diameter.
These glass beads are similar to some found in Northumberland
county and other portions of the State, and had undoubtedly been
supplied to the Indians by the early settlers. This grave was
filled with the prevailing red clay of the surrounding country and
was exceedingly stony and loosely packed. The skeleton rested
on a rude floor of rock.

In the second grave another skeleton was unearthed, at the
depth of three and a half feet, having the same orientation as

1 Ib., p. 208.

3 Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia, Vol. 11, p. 160.

voL. XHI..—NO, V, 21

296 Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. (May,

number one, but lying on the left side, with the face turned
upwards. Associated with the skeleton were the following arti-
cles: Around the neck was found a large number of European
beads, consisting of ten-sided amber-colored glass beads the size
of a large pea, and quantities of small cylindrical Venetian beads
colored white and blue. Three objects of aboriginal workman-
ship were also found in this grave, consisting of two finely chipped
gun-flints and a highly polished flat elliptical stone of a dark
color, three inches in length. These were the only articles of
native manufacture found in any of the graves. A quantity of a
red clayey substance resembling paint occurred in this grave,
which in all probability had been employed by the Indians in
personal decorations. Close to the right hand of the body were
found two European white clay-pipes of a pattern employed
during the seventeenth century; on the bowls the maker’s stamp

(R T) was impressed? Around the skeleton were found thirteen
wrought-iron nails, two to three inches in length, much corroded,
with fragments of decayed wood adhering to them. The body
had evidently been enclosed in a wooden box.

In the third grave, three feet nine inches below the surface,
were found a skull and portions of bones much decomposed, the
body extended on the back, face up, head toward the east, as in
the preceding cases. In this grave nothing was found associated
with the skeleton save a single coffin nail.

Grave number four revealed nothing but some fragmentary
bones.

Mr. Marshall states that a couple of stones years ago were
found on the surface of the burial-ground, which were covered
with pictorial etchings. These were doubtless the same alluded

1 In the beginning and middle of the seventeenth century, pipes were made z
various makers in the vicinity of Bath, England. Amongst these was
Tyler, and the initials R. T. in all E were impressed at his ae
We can, therefore, with some degree of certainty assign to these pipes an approxi-
mate date. The earlier British pipes, sometimes called “Elfin” or “ Fairy Pipes,”
and by some antiquaries attributed to the Romans, made, however, in the reign of
Elizabeth, frequently possessed the initials of the makers’ names on the bases of the
flat spurs which charactetized them. These were gradually superseded by pipes
with elongated bowls, in which the spurs or heels were pointed or entirely absent.
The more recent English pipes of the last century or thereabouts had the names of
the makers stamped on the stems. The examples in question are of the elongated
pattern, minus the heel, with the Top stamped in the dowls. The stems have
broken off about six inches from the bowls, having been originally ee They
were brought to this country by tie earlier settlers and traded to the Indians.

1879.| Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. 297

to by Mr. Lewis, and in all probability marked the resting-place
of some distinguished man of the tribe. Unfortunately they
were removed and carelessly thrown into the public road some
time ago, where they probably remain to this day imbedded in
the soil. The exact location of these interesting relics, however,
can only be surmised, and in all probability they will never be
recovered. Indian Hannah, the last of this branch of the Lenni
Lenape, died in the neighborhood, at the Chester county alms-
house, in the year 1803. The graves above described resemble,
in many features, others opened near the Delaware Water Gap,
a few years ago. The skeletons in the latter lay at a depth of
two and a half to three feet and were extended from east to west,
some of them being enclosed in rude stone coffins. The contents
were also similar, consisting for the most part of objects of Euro-
pean manufacture. In Venango county also, in the vicinity of
Franklin, a number of Indian tombs have been opened, in which '
were found remnants of fire-arms and copper and iron implements.
Skeletons —The bones found in grave number one were much
decayed, and consisted of skull, one humerus, both ilia, femora,
tibize and fibule, besides some of the vertebral joints and finger
bones with decayed fragments of ribs. The femur, allowing for
the decay of the extremities, measured eighteen and a half inches
in length, from the upper edge of the head to the base of the
inner condyle. Grave number two produced, besides the cranium,
a few of the long bones, very much decayed. The third grave
contained simply the skull and some small fragments of bones.
The fourth grave had evidently been exhumed at some pre-
vious time, as the few broken portions of bones it revealed were
much displaced. About twenty-five years ago two of these tombs
were opened in the night by a party of relic hunters, and in all
probability this was one of those which had been disturbed.
Crania—The following brief description of the skulls, taken
from notes hastily jotted down in the field, will convey a general
idea of their main characteristics, but I hope shortly to prepare a
more exact description of them, as they are at the present moment
not accessible to me. Skull number one is somewhat prognathous ;
teeth normal and excellently preserved, but the crowns, especially
of the molars, are much worn by the use, probably, of maize. The
general appearance and massiveness of the cranium. would indi-
~ Cate that the subject was an adult male. Skull number two ex-

298 Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. (May,

hibits a marked prognathism, though the superior maxillary was
lost in its exhumation. The lower jaw is exceedingly massive,
the teeth abnormal and number but eleven, the eruption of the
last molar on either side having never occurred. The skull evi-
dently belonged to a young warrior, and probably one of some
celebrity, as the elaborate decoration of his grave would denote.
Skull number three is probably that of a female. The walls
are more fragile and show smoother surfaces than the former.
Besides this, there was nothing of personal adornment found in
the grave. This was the most perfectly preserved cranium of the
series. The number of teeth in both jaws is complete. The skull
is decidedly asymmetrical ; viewed from above, the compression
is seen to be on the right side, but this deformation is undoubt-
edly accidental. It presents a more orthognathous form than the
two preceding.

The late Anders Retzius, of Stockholm, who devoted much at-
tention to the study of the craniology of the American tribes,
classes the Algonquins and Iroquois with the dolicocephali or long-
heads. This point, however, cannot be satisfactorily determined
until sufficient material be collected for more extensive measure-
ments. The few Lenni Lenape skulls which have thus far been
recovered, present such variable features that a general average
of a large number must be obtained before we can arrive at any
satisfactory results. There are some ethnologists who place the
modern Indian tribes of America with the brachycephalic or
short-headed class. It is exceedingly desirable, for the purpose
- of comparison, that every opportunity be embraced for obtaining
and preserving the skulls of this tribe, as in a comparatively short
time all traces of them will have irrevocably disappeared.

The discoveries in these graves go to prove that the inmates
were among the last of their tribe who lingered on the banks of
their dearly loved stream, ere the remnants of their people gath-
ered themselves together and sadly wended their way westward.
They had adopted, to a considerable extent, both in their manner —
of living and the disposal of their dead, the customs of the whites,
with whom they had been thrown into contact for a number of
years. The local legends and memories of the oldest inhabitants
ascribe to these graves an age of about a century and a half,
though some of them may be much more recent, as it is not

probable that the entire number of interments were even approxi-

1879.] Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. 299

mately synchronal. We find that the method of inhumation
practiced by this local clan or branch of the tribe did not differ
materially from that of other divisions situated in other portions
of the State. The bodies were generally extended at full length
from east to west, sometimes encased in rude stone cists, but
more frequently laid to rest with no covering except the vest-
ments which had been worn in life. Occasionally, as we have
seen, under the influence of civilization, the departed were encased
in wooden coffins, furnished the tribe undoubtedly by their
European neighbors.

70:

NOTES ON SOME FISHES OF THE COAST OF CALI-
FORNIA. No.1.

BY W. N. LOCKINGTON,

Slog accompanying notes are chiefly the result of periodical

visits paid to the markets of San Francisco during the months
of October, November and December, with the object of ascer-
taining the comparative abundance of the various species, the
localities where they are taken, their value as articles of food,
etc., etc.

Nö attempt at chtsaifcalioai is made, and in the generic names
I have in most cases followed Günther with whose works I am
better acquainted than with those of Gill. Sarda is substituted
for Pelamys, which is also the title of a genus of Hydrophoid
snakes, and Prof. Jordan informs me that the snakes have a prior

right to it.

The icthyology of the Pacific coast of North America is as yet
far from being fully worked out; in many cases there is consider-
able confusion of names, and little is known respecting the food,
habits, spawning season, &c., of most of the species.

Several rare and some probably new fishes have been brought
to the markets this year, principally because the fishermen use
` trawl-nets to a greater extent, and trawl to a greater depth than
they were previously accustomed to do.

Ambloplites interruptus Grd. Sacramento Rivet Perch.—This
species is abundant along the lower course of the Sacramento
and San Joaquin rivers, and in all the branches of those rivers
that permeate the lowlands; and forms an important article of

300 Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. [May,

food not only to the white inhabitants of the district, but
also to the Chinese, who are particularly fond of it, catch it
in immense numbers and forward it to their countrymen alorig the
railroad as far as the boundary of the State, or even beyond it. It is
usually taken in fyke-nets, which are most effective engines of
destruction. It is occasionally brought to the markets of San
Francisco, but has not been at all common there during the
months of October, November and December. It is a very good
fish for the table, unless taken in sloughs that by the falling of
the water have become disconnected with the river.

Anoplopoma fimbria (Pallas) Ayres, Candle-fish.—This species
is very rare in the markets of San Francisco, but appears to have
_ been more abundant this year than at any previous period.

Dr. W. O. Ayres (Proc. Cal. Acad., 1859) states that in his time
stragglers only occurred in the markets; and the fish-mongers
call it a “new” fish, and declare they have never seen it before.
Dr. Ayres gives the number of rays in the first dorsal as twenty-
three, but I can only find twenty-one in the specimens I have
examined. Probably the number varies slightly. The outline
figure in the Proc. Cal. Ac. Vol. 1, 1859, shows twenty-two. The
tail is much more deeply emarginate than is shown in the figure,
as the central rays are only about half as long as the outer ones.
Most of the individuals brought to the markets this year were
not over ten inches in length, but Dr. Ayres states that he saw
one that measured eighteen inches. The fishermen call this spe-
cies candle-fish, but whether on account of its oiliness, of its
length and slenderness, or of a fancied resemblance to the spe-
cies called candle-fish in Oregon and northward I cannot tell.
The last-named candle-fish (Ammodytes personatus Grd.) is not at
all nearly related to the present species, but belongs to the Oph-
idiid@, a tribe approaching the eels in many particulars; it is so oily
that it is said that the Indians make their candles by pulling their
yarn through its flesh. Since October A. fiméria has not occur-
red in the markets, but it is not unlikely that the severe weather
which prevents the fishermen from trawling is the cause of this.

Ophion HONEN | Gir., Green en Cod.—This is one of the
] ur fish , frequently attaining
a à length of over three et and is usually in great part of a lively
green color, spotted or tdondėd with light brown. But the color-
ation of the adults varies greatly, the brown markings sometimes

1879.] Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. 301

cover almost the entire fish, and different shades of brown occur
in the same individual. The young is spotted with round spots
of a light yellowish-brown, and it was to the young that the name
Ophiodon elongatus was originally given by Girard, who described
the adult with the title of Oplopoma pantherinum. O. elongatus was
said to have a continuous dorsal with twenty-seven spines, and
no membranous flap upon the forehead ; while Of/. pantherinum was
characterized by two separate dorsals, the first with twenty-five
spines, and by the presence of a membranous flap,

Dr. Steindachner corrects this error (/cthyologische Beiträge, No.
11), and proves that the continuous dorsal and membranous flap
are characters of the species.

The correct number of spines is twenty-seven, but the adult
frequently comes to market in a dilapidated condition, with the `
spines torn apart from each other, or even broken away, and it is
most probable that Girard described his O. pantherinum from such
a mutilated specimen. Young and half grown individuals are
common in the bay of San Francisco, but the larger examples are
taken in tolerably deep water outside the bay, especially in the
vicinity of the Farallones. A large individual that I measured
as it lay upon the stall was three feet two inches long. Stein-
dachner gives the range of this species as from Sitka to
Monterey.

Chirus constellatus Grd., and C. guttatus Grd—These species
have been brought to market regularly, though not in great num-
bers, throughout the three months under review, and indeed
appear to be always in season. Those brought to market are
usually taken in the bay.

Scorpenichthys marmoratus Grd., the large red sculpin—
Despite the absence of scales upon its body, this species is com-
monly styled a rock cod. While its nearest relations, the smaller
sculpins, or catfish, as they are often called here, are thrown away
by the fishermen, this large sculpin is allowed a place among our
food fishes. A priori one would expect the other sculpins to be
good food, and I am assured by those who have tried them that
they are; all they need is skinning before cooking.

Sebastes fasciatus Girard, clouded rock cod—The name fas-
ciatus is much less appropriate than Ayres’s name of nebulosus
(over which it appears to have the right of priority), since the
broad light-yellow band which suggested the name is usually

302 Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. [May,

absent, and the dark and light tints of the sides of the body are
mingled together without any regularity. This is one ‘of the
smallest of the genus, but has been known to reach the weight of
seven pounds,

Sebastes nigrocinctus Ayres, black-banded rock cod.—This is
one of the rarest of our edible fishes, as only single individuals
are brought to the market at considerable intervals of time.
Only two specimens have hitherto come under my notice, and
one of these has the black transverse bands much more developed
than the other. It is not taken inside the bay.

Sebastes rosaceus Girard, smooth red rock cod.—This species
appears to attain a larger size than any of its congeners except
S: ruber, which it equals in length but not in weight, as it is more
‘slender and seldom or never exceeds fourteen pounds in weight.
S. rosaceus is taken outside the heads. _

Sebastes melanops Girard, black rock cod.—This fish does not
usually attain so large a size as S. ruber or S. rosaceus, at least in
the locality where it is usually taken, viz: within the bay of San
Francisco. It is one of the commonest kinds of rock-fish.

Sebastes ruber Ayres, rough red rock cod.—This, the largest
of the genus occurring in our waters, is stated to reach, though
rarely, a weight of twenty-five pounds. It is of a uniform bright
red, very different from the brownish-red mingled with orange-
red, which forms the livery of S. rosaceus. In form it is stouter
than S. rosaceus but less so than S. fasciatus. It is taken outside
the bay, usually from deep water around the Farallone islands.
It occurs also northward at least as far as Humboldt bay.

Sebastes auriculatus Gir., black-shouldered rock cod.—This is
rather a small species, seldom exceeding eighteen inches in
length, and is brought to the markets in great abundance,
probably on account of its common occurrence in the bay. Not
only does this species occur, together with two or three others of
the smaller kinds of Sedastes and the young of the larger kinds,
in the deeper portions of the bay near the entrance, but it is also
abundant along the eastern shore of the bay, where no other spe-
cies of the genus is found, probably on account of the admixture
of fresh water from the Sacramento river.

Sebastes helvomaculatus Ayres, pink-spotted rock cod.—This
is smaller even than S. fasciatus, not equaling it in length and of
much more slender form. The three elongated pink spots along

”

1879.| Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. 303

each side are constant, and at once distinguish it from every other
species, In color it resembles S. ruer. Though not so common
as S. auriculatus, or S. melanops, or even as S. nebulosus, S. ruber
or S. rosaceus, it is occasionally brought in, in considerable
numbers.

For all the above species of Sebastes, as well as for S. flavidus
Ayres, S. paucispinis Grd., and S. elongatus Ayres, the fishermen
have no other English names but rock cod or rock fish, although
they can readily distinguish between the species. I have, therefore,
coined names for them from their most obvious characteristics.
All the species named, except S..elongatus, have occurred in the
markets during the months of October, November and Decem-
ber. The names rock cod and rock fish are also applied to the
various species of Chirus, to Ophiodon elongatus and even to the
scaleless Scorpenichthys marmoratus.

Sphyrena argentea Grd., the barracuda—It is well not to
be misled by English names; that of Barracuda is applied not
only to all the species of Sphyrena, of which there are several,
but also to fishes of other families, and even other orders. In the
rivers of South America the name is given to the Suds (Ara-
paima) gigas, a soft-finned, large-scaled, fresh-water, carnivorous
fish. All barracudas, however, are fierce, rapacious fishes, and the
one we are at present considering attains a length of over three
feet, and a weight of from twelve to fourteen pounds. The form is
slender but it is nearly as thick as it is deep, and its jaws are armed
with a formidable row of sharp teeth. When darting through
the water it looks like a silver arrow. It is usually obtained
south of the bay and at the Farallones, but occurs at least as far
north as Tomales. Its flesh is very good eating, so that if it
devours our food fishes, we may console ourselves by devour-
ing it.

E EETA lineatus Gill, Sciena lineata Günthr., the king-
fish—This species was formerly common in the bay, but since
its waters have been defiled with so much tar and drain refuse by
our destructive and imperfect civilization, it has become scarce,
and is now usually obtained outside. It is, in my opinion, one of
the most delicate of our food fishes. ie

Sarda lineolata Girard—This, like all the Pacific coast Scom-
bride, is not very often brought to the markets of San Francisco,
and is, therefore, a high-priced fish. Those that come here are
_ caught in Monterey bay.

304 Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. [May,

Giinther (Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 11, 368) considers this species to
be identical with the Pelamys chilensis of Cuv. and Val.
attains a considerable size, a series of four specimens lying on
the stalls in November of this year measuring respectively two
feet two and a quarter inches, two feet two and three-quarter
inches and two feet three and a half inches, from tip of snout to
fork of caudal fin. The caudal fin cannot be said to be crescentic,
as stated by Girard, since its posterior margin forms two sides of an
obtuse isosceles triangle. The sides and belly are silvery, becom-
ing bluish-black towards and on the back, and five or six obliquely
longitudinal bands of the darker tint run along the sides.

Scomber colias, Spanish mackerel— The Scomber diego de-
scribed by Ayres (Proc. Cal. Ac., 1, 1857, 92) has been proved by
Steindachner to be identical with the long-known S. colias or
Spanish mackerel of the European seas. Steindachner states
that it occurs frequently on the coasts of the Galapagos islands,
and wanders in small shoals along the Californian coast as far as
San Diego, also that single individuals occur near San Francisco.
I have never seen this fish in the markets, but the fishmongers
appear to be acquainted with it. Thus this species and Abula
vulpes are among the few fishes which inhabit both the Atlantic
and the Pacific oceans.

Stromateus simillimus Ayres, pompano.—This species was first
described by Dr. Ayres (Proc. Cal. Acad., Vol. 11, p. 84, fig. on p.
85) in December, 1860, and accompanied by a good outline
figure. Dr. Ayres states that in the course of seven years he
only saw three or four specimens ; but this year, at least, it is far
more abundant, as I have seen as many as thirty or forty on the
same stall on two or three occasions during October. As with
the other Scomberoids, the examples brought to this market are
caught in Monterey bay, which appears to form the northern
limit of many species of fishes, crustacea and echinoderms.

As in the arrangement of the fishes in the Museum of the Cali-
fornia Academy of Science, we are, at present, following the clas-
sification of Dr. A. Günther, of the British Museum, the name of
this species must be changed from Poronotus simillimus, the title
given it by Dr. Ayres, to Stromateus simillimus; as Dr. Günther
admits no such genus as Poronotus, and it agrees with Stromateus
in the entire absence of the ventral fins, short elevated form of
body, and single long dorsal and anal fins.

1879.] Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. 305

The Italian fishermen call this species “pompino,” and this
must be accepted, in the absence of any other, as its English name.
I am informed that a fish called “ pompino,” on the Atlantic coast,
is considered to be the most delicate of all fishes; this is Zra-
chynotus carolinus, a very different species. Our “pompino” is
also highly prized as a delicate morsel, and is one of the dearest
fishes in the market.

Mr. B. B. Redding has given me an account of a little practical
joke in which the New Orleans species of pompino is concerned.
When, during the civil war, Dr. Russell was in this country as
correspondent, I believe, of the Zzmmes, he was so anxious to taste
the celebrated pompino that he obtained leave to pass through
the lines and visit New Orleans for the purpose. It happened,
however, that pompino was not in season, but a perch of some-
what similar size and form, aided by the cookery of a clever
negro cook, was passed off upon him as pompino. Dr. Russell
ate, relished exceedingly, and wrote to his paper a glowing
description of the gustatory delights of pompino, and it ,was not
till some years after that it transpired that pompino was not then
in season, and that he had been put off with perch.

Mugil mexicanus (?) Steind.—Several specimens of a species of
Mugil, evidently very close to the above species, if not identical
with it, have found their way to our markets in the months of
September and October. All of them were taken near Santa
Cruz, in the bay of Monterey.

The specimens examined agree with M. mexicanus in the num-
ber of scales in the lateral line, and of rays in the vertical fins, in
the length of the latter, in the produced upper caudal lobe, and in
the proportions of the body and head, and I should not hesitate
to pronounce them to be of that species were it not that Mr. B. B.
Redding, one of the Fish Commissioners for the State of Cali-
fornia, has informed me that about three years ago he placed
several (I believe about forty) individuals of a Mugil from the
Sandwich islands in the Sacramento river, and it is, therefore,
possible that the specimens obtained may be some of these, or
their young. I suspect this because the shad introduced from the
East, finds its way in considerable numbers to Monterey bay,
instead of dutifully returning to the place of its birth, and this —
Mugil may have acted in a similar way ; also because the speci-
- Mens agree tolerably well with the diagnosis of Mugi cephalotus,

306 Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. [May,

given by Günther. The inter-mandibular space agrees pretty
well with Giinther’s figure of that of M. cephalotus, but it is still
nearer to Steindachner’s figure of M. mexicanus. As this is a
mullet, it is of course tolerably good eating, but it must be re-
membered that it is not nearly related to those famous delicate
fishes, the red mullet and the surmullet, which were so highly
prized by the Romans that they fed them in aquaria, but to the
gray mullet. The first-mentioned fishes belong to the Mullide,
and are provided with a barbel, the latter and our Californian
fish to the Mugilide, which has no barbel and no teeth worth
speaking of.

Brosmophycis marginatus Ayres.—This is a very rare species,
so much so that although it is taken in the bay of San Francisco,
I have as yet seen only a single specimen, and Mr. Johnson, of
the California market, whose practical knowledge of fishes can be
safely relied upon, informs me that in the three years that have
elapsed since he first noticed it, he has only seen three indi-
viduals. Marginatus is a very good name for the fish, as the
long fin which encircles the greater half of the body, undivided
into dorsal, anal and caudal fins, is of a vivid red in the fresh
fish, and forms a most conspicuous margin. The exudation
of mucus from the surface of the skin is most abundant, rapidly
forming an epidermal covering, and it is therefore no wonder
that my friend Mr.-Johnson characterized it as a kind of eel.
In thus naming it he was not so very far off after all, since the
family Ophidiide, to which it has been referred by Dr. Günther,
is in many respects intermediate between the Gadide, or cod
tribe, in which it was originally placed by Dr. Ayres (under the
name of Brosmius marginatus), and the Murenide, or eel tribe.
As it has hitherto had no English name, I venture to call it the
red-fin, on account of its most obvious peculiarity. The family
Ophidiide contains some species of parasitic habits, vertebrates
parasitic upon invertebrates, a strange inversion of our ordinary
experience. ;

Smelts—Several species of fish are commonly sold in this city
under the collective name of “smelt.” The species usually met
with are Atherinopsis californiensis (Girard), A. affinis (Ayres), Hy-
pomesus olidus (Pallas) Gill, and O. smerus thaleichthys (Ayres).

The two last of these are Salmonoids, and therefore have a
right to the name of smelt, but the two former belong to a very .

X

1879.] Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. 307

different family, the Atherinide, and are said to be much less deli-
cate in flavor than the others. A third Avtherinopsis, A. tenuis,
was described by Dr. Ayres (Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., 11, 75, fig. on p.
76) but it is very rare, and I have not yet seen it.

These fishes may be readily distinguished as follows: The two
kinds of Atherinopsis have two dorsal fins, the first very small,
placed about in the center of the length of the back, and formed
of spines or stiff rays, the second rather larger, and separated by
an interval from the first. Their prevailing color is light green.

The two Salmonoids have a dorsal fin, formed of soft rays, in
or near the center of the dorsal outline, and a fleshy fold, or
“adipose fin,” placed farther back near the tail.

Atherinopsis californiensis is a larger fish than its congener,
reaching a length of seventeen inches, and it may be distinguished
by its larger head, more slender form of body, larger mouth and
the central position of the first dorsal.

In A. affinis the dorsal is nearly its own length further back,
the form of the body is much stouter, the head proportionally
smaller, the mouth smaller, the fins larger and the flesh firmer.
Dr. Ayres states that this species never exceeds eight inches in
length, and this size must be but rarely attained, as the specimens
I have seen in our markets seldom pass six inches, while A. cai-
Jorniensis usually exceeds twice that length.

Osmerus thaleichthys is really the nearest representative of the
smelt of Europe, having the peculiar, pleasant smell that sug-
gested the name in that species, which is also a kind of Osmerus.

It may readily be distinguished from the two previous species
by the want of spinous rays on the back, by the adipose fin, by
the absence of the bright green tint which is replaced on the back
by a dull greenish-olive, on which a diamond pattern is traced by
rows of minute dark dots that fringe each scale, and by its smaller
size. From the other small Salmonoid it may easily be known
by the comparatively large size of the mouth and less transparent
appearance. It is usually from five to five and a half inches in
length. Its form is stouter than that of Hypomesus olidus, the flesh
is soft in texture, and the pectoral fins reach very peri to the
origin of the ventrals.

Hypomesus olidus (Pallas) Gill, is called “ whitebait” by those
who are familiar with the delicate fish known by that name in
England, yet is not very nearly related to the real whitebait,
which is asserted by Dr: Giinther to be the young of the common

308 Notes on Some Fishes of the Coast of California. [May,

herring of the Atlantic. Its dimensions are about the same as
those of the preceding species, but the mouth is very small, the
end of the maxillary bone reaching only level with the front of
the eye, while in O. thaleichthys it reaches to the back of the
orbit. The head also is somewhat smaller. But this fish, when
fresh, can be most readily distinguished by the transparency of
its flesh, which, of course, disappears entirely in preserved speci-
mens. The silvery band along the sides, which is found in all
the four species, and is probably the cause of their being grouped
together as smelts, is particularly bright in this fish.

I have not yet been able to ascertain at what season each of
these species may be most common, but all are abundant in the
markets throughout October, November and December.

Albula vulpes (Albula conorhynchus Ginthr., Cat. Fish. Brit.
Mus., vit, 468).—This widely distributed species has been found
at various points along the Pacific coast of North America. Giin-
ther (Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. vit, 469) mentions its occurrence on
the coast of Central America; Steindachner (Sitz. Ak. Wiss.
Wien., 1875, 61) incidentally states (in his description of Mugil
brasiliensis) that it is found at San Diego; in the same year I
received two specimens from Lower California, probably from
Magdalena bay, as the fishes accompanying it came from that
place; and lastly, in September, 1878, several specimens were
brought to the markets of San Francisco. The fishmongers
could not tell the exact locality from which these individuals
were brought; but as few, if any, marine fishes find their way to
our markets from points south of Monterey bay, and as that bay
is frequented by many other fishes which are not found, except
as stragglers, to the northward of it, I think it probable they
came from thence.

The specimens from Magdalena bay (Lockt. Proc. Cal. Ac.,
1876, 83) were most beautiful in their coloration, glowing with
burnished silver below, deepening to gold upon the sides, and to
darker metallic tints on the back; but those found in the markets
this year were uniform silvery, as described by Günther. ©

By a typographical error in my Notes on Californian Marine
Fishes (loc. cit., p. 84), the length of the example from Lower
California is given as 3/’.7 instead of 1’-3'’.7. Those brought to
market this year were only partly grown. The question arises
whether the metallic colors are confined to the adults, or are the
result of peculiarities in the environment.

1879. | Recent Literature. 309

RECENT LITERATURE.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE House oN CoINs, WEIGHTS
AND Measures.—The late Congress has given the country abun-
dant reasons for never wishing to see it again, but it remained for
it to add as an appropriate headstone to mark its grave the above
report. This committee was composed as follows: A. H. Stephens,
Chairman; Levi Maish, Robt. B. Vance, J. B. Clark (Mo.), R. M.

Ryan, J. W. Dwight, R. L. Gibson. To all appearance these
gentlemen have embodied their views on the metrical system in a
report of 234 pages. This report contains a collection of various
works, reports, tables, &c., &c., from many sources, and in so far

p. 6, that “ Phidon of Argos i Greece, nearly a thousand years be-

fore the Christian era, gave the subject (?) his profound attention,

but with no nearer approximation to what was wanting than any
&

”

of his predecessors,” &c.

”

in a boy’s or girl’s collegiate course. oe :
Passing over the loose and only partly intelligible style of this

EN hae

Statement, it is fair to presume that it grew out of “some writer's
ill remembrance of the following paragraph on the back of one of
the Metric Bureau “ Broadsides :” d:
“The Hon. John Yates (an Englishman), after protracted inquiry
and investigations in the schools and among those best able to

310 ) Recent Literature. [ May,

judge of the matter, reported that the complete adoption of the
decimal, in place of the present English weights and measures,
would save two full years in the school-life of every child edu-
cated. In our country the saving would be something less, be-
cause of our adoption of the decimal currency; but the most con-
servative teachers acknowledge that something like this amount
of time would be saved each child if our present confusion of
measures were entirely replaced by the International or Metric

“It should be said in justice to the composer of this report that
his English is no worse than that signed by seven distinguished
names (p. 57), of which the following is a sample: “It is
gratifying to know that the President of the United States, on
having been consulted by Mr. Washburne upon the question of
affixing his signature, was authorized by telegraph to do so, and
signed the convention accordin

It was no doubt very kind of Mr. Washburne to permit the
President to sign the convention, but who did Mr. Washburne
represen

e must conclude this hasty summary of the Report of the
Cominittec on Coins, Weights and Measures, by drawing atten-
tion to the fact that the three tables published i in Frazer’s pam-
phlet on the “ Proposed 4 of the Metric for our own
Weights and Measures,” appear on p. 229 and the unnumbered
following page of the report are without the slightest acknowledg-
ment of the source whence they were taken

This is the more remarkable in the table” called “ Distribution
of English Units,” because this is a photograph of a free hand dia-
gram of Mr. Frazer, which was improved in the pamphlet above
referred to. It contains a patent error (as here produced) in the
line which leads up from the “Rod Pole or Perch” to a group
with which this length has nothing to do. This error does not
appear in the pamphlet printed in 1877.

We would sum up this report by saying that it illustrates but
too forcibly some of the gravest defects in the present system of
doing the work of our Government. The object which the com-
mittee endeavors to further is a good one, viz: the unification of
weights and measures ; but the M. C. of the last Congress could not
bestow the time upon ‘this question of pure statesmanship which
its proper understanding requires, and it is but too clear that some
underpaid clerk has been delegated by the members to make an
indigestible salmagundi of all that has been done, with orders not
to stop short of the two hundredth page. Thus more copy is
afforded our merry Government presses, more disjointed thinking
supplied for trunk linings and lamp lighters, while the committee
may have the satisfaction of knowing that their Report is as un-
_ satisfactory in favor of a good cause, as in the goloid currency
question it might have basir fatally effective in a bad one. |

1879. | Recent Literature. 311

As Mr. Culver, clerk to this committee, furnishes a short preface
in which he speaks of the report as “ compendious” and a “ con-
venient book of reference,” it is likely that he is responsible for it.
None but the too partial eye of the editor could detect these
qualities in a mosaic of which not a stone seems to have been
fashioned to fit its place and all are put together without regard

We have been informed that only 1200 copies of this report
have been published, while 10,000 have been ordered by Con-

ress. It is to be hoped that the other 8800 will not be issued
until they have been completely revised and arranged so as to
subserve some useful end, however small. t present the report
may be compared to the last stanza in the “ House that Jack
built.” Mr. Adams’ (J. Q.) first report on the metric system
representing the malt said to have lain in that house.

Covgs’s Birps oF THE CoLorapo VALLEY, Part I.!— Dr.
Coues writings on ornithological matters have become so well
known both to specialists and the public at large, that the prom-
ised advent of a book from his pen is looked forward to with no
ordinary degree of interest.

The present volume, “ Birds of the Colorado Valley,” may be
regarded as complementary to the “ Birds of the North-west,” and
when the work is finished, for we are promised a second volume
in continuation, we shall have from our author what may be con-
sidered, collectively, as a very complete treatise, both technically
and biographically, of the birds of our western interior.

e volume is introduced with a prefatory note by Prof. Hay- -
den, in charge, in which is briefly given the scope of the work
and a general description of the area treated of, with allusions to
its ornithological facies in its broader aspects, together with a
graceful mention of the several. authors and workers in the same
field whose writings and labors have been most largely drawn upon
by the author.

The volume is divided into convenient chapters, each treating
of a single family and beginning” with a concise enumeration of
the family characters. The genera or sub-genera are next charac-
terized with sufficient amplitude for all practical purposes, when
follows the treatment, in greater or less detail, of each species.

it be permissible to compare the method of handling the
Subject adopted here with that of the companion octavo, whic

` | Birds of the Colorado Valley. A Repository of Scientific and Popular Informa-
tion concerning North American Ornitholo Cours. Part 1.—Pas-
seres to Laniide. Seventy illustrations. 8vo, pp. Xvi, 807. Washington Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1878. Miscellaneous publications of the U. S. Geological
Survey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist-in-charge.

VOL. XIII,—No, v, 22

312 Recent Literature. [ May,

and to demand even higher praise, while the descriptions of all
the species introduced, with the generally more thorough man- —
ner of treatment, gives to the present book a far wider sphere of
usefulness.

It is rarely given to one individual to wield the pen of the exact
scientific writer and, in addition, to possess the light touch, the

Dr. Coues’ writings. It is due to this more than anything else
that our author enjoys such a widespread popularity, since not
only do such books as the present have an acknowledged value
to the working ornithologist, but their popular element renders
them acceptable to a large circle to whom ordinary ornithological
treatises possess little or no interest.

notice, in passing, in not a few instances that Dr. Coues has
done good service in supplying vernacular names to birds
hitherto christened in Latin, and in replacing inappropriate or
positively objectionable appellations by others of his own coin-
ing. In most cases his selections are apt and well chosen. In
others they cannot be so strongly endorsed, as, for instance,
when he imports the term “ Accentor” from the continent and
applies it to our water thrushes. Its original application was to
a group of birds of very different character, and hence the same
argument against it applies that has very properly been given
weight in other instances, as the robin, quail, partridge and
others, which names, as attached to our birds have no proper
significance, to say nothing of, the fact that our bird’s familiar
name of water thrush is sufficiently appropriate and descriptive.

The use of Bartramian names in a number of instances wil
probably not find favor in the eyes of some ornithologists. But

ere there is ground for honest differences of opinion, and the
discrimination for or against their use, at least in certain of them,
must be left to the judgment of each writer.

Dr. Coues has especially laid the student of North American
ornithology under heavy debt in two particulars, first in the syn-
onomy, and second in the bibliography of the present volume.
Just how much is meant by the statement of a personal verifi-
cation and settlement of synonomical points and references, and
the amount of labor involved in such a work will probably be
appreciated by the few workers in the same field—and the para-
graphs, amounting in certain instances to pages of fine type,
which precede each description, will probably be passed over by
the general reader entirely unnoticed, or with a mere glance of
wonder as to their purpose.

' The closet worker, however, will here find much matter to be
grateful for, and in consequence of the thorough manner in which
it is here presented, will be saved many an hour of painstaking
search in musty and uninviting old volumes. The collection of

1870. | Recent Literature. 313

synonomical lists involves many nice points in the settlement of
which it is hardly to be expected there will be an unanimous
opinion among naturalists, especially when a question of such
prime importance as to what does or does not constitute a species
is left practically to each author’s own judgment, and hence, not
infrequently, its settlement becomes simply a presentment of indi-
vidual opinions, or merely an exponent of the amount of material
on hand for comparison. ‘Here our author’s power of. research
and fine critical ability is well displayed, and we think that in the
main his conclusions rest upon safe ground.

In other cases we believe his views will bear scrutiny, and may
cite, as a possible instance of hasty conclusion on the part of the
author, his statement that the Petrochelidon fulva, of the West
Indies, is scarcely, if at all, distinct from our P. /unifrons. We
are giad to notice that he has left the matter open for future
investigation and final settlement, as we feel sure that direct com-
parisons of specimens will show that the two are entirely distinct,
even on the least conservative grounds.

But most important of all must be deemed the bibliographical
appendix which is simply a brief extract of the Universal Bibli-
ography of Ornithology, which is now in the author’s hands well
advanced towards completion.

The student must regret, of course, that within the present
covers is not contained a full presentation of all North American
titles, and that the present could not thus be made a monograph
of this part of the subject. But if the line had to be drawn
somewhere, he may congratulate himself that he has here access
to so much as ninety-five per cent. of the whole amount, for so
large a proportion as this, as the author states, is here represented.
The missing five per cent. consist of all monographs, all general
treatises on the birds of larger geographical areas, even if includ-
ing North America, and all general works on ornithology.

We miss a few titles that appear to us should be present, even
under the limitations drawn for himself by the author. Thus we
do not find Grinnell’s List of the Birds of the Yellowstone
National Park in Capt. Ludlow’s Report of the Chief of Engineer's,
1876, and Henshaw’s Report on the Ornithological Specimens of
the Wheeler Expedition for 1872, 73, ’74, both quartos and of
considerable importance, as well as some others. But these must
be looked upon as omissions of but trifling importance when we
consider the admirable fullness of this bibliography within its
prescribed limits.: We should not omit to mention that a most
excellent index, almost, in fact, a bibliography by itself, renders
reference to any desired title an easy and expeditious matter.
The bibliography if finished with the same painstaking care so
evident in this extract, must stand as a monument of critical labor

and as a model for all future work in the same direction.

Glancing at the press-work it is evident that much care has

314 Recent Literature. [ May,

been taken with the proof-reading with the result that very few

.typographical errors appear. The printing of the first eleven
oe a (nearly) upon tinted paper in strong contrast to the white

e remaining pages, from no fault of the printer as we under-
stand, is to be regretted. The critical eye in search of faults
might notice too, upon many pages, traces of old and worn type.
But as a whole, and especially as regards its exterior dress, the
appearance of the volume is neat and pleasing, and leaves little to
be desired.

A government report might be supposed to be the last place to
which one would turn in search of matter to while away an idle
hour, but our author contrives to introduce into his pages many
a bit of pleasant philosophy and many a tale of birds and their
doings that will prove to the appreciative reader anything else
but dry reading. Like the skillful cook whose art.is shown by
his power to serve a juicy dish, be the meat never so tough and
unsavory, so the author's skill as a writer is seen in his. ability to
dress up bird histories, however coe ana the subjects, in a
style that is sure to lease. For a choice example of his pecu-
liar knack, let us refer the reader to yes story of the familiar cat-
bird, where the author appears to us in his happiest vein o
humor.

But space forbids even mention of all the good things that are
brought together within these covers. Let each of our readers

who loves a good book send for a copy, and we predict that few
indeed will turn its leaves without finding something which will
appeal to his or her interest —. W. H.

NSEN’S TURBELLARIAN Worms oF Norway.’)—Our marine
zoologists will be interested in the appearance of this valuable
work on the marine flat-worms of the Norwegian coast. num-
ber of new forms are described in considerable detail, with excel-
lent figures, while the descriptive portion is preceded by quite
full anatomical details. The work is done in the careful, con-
scientious manner characteristic of Scandinavian zodlogists. The
descriptions are both in Latin and Norwegian, so that the work is
_ accessible to students in general.

McCoox’s NATURAL History OF THE AGRICULTURAL ANT OF
As.2— For a number of years Rev. Mr. McCook, has been a
diligent student of the habits of the ants of his own State, Penn-
sylvania, his papers appearing in the Proceedings of the Academy
of Natural Sciences. The present volume is devoted to a single
1 Turbellaria ad Litora Norwegie occidentalia. Turbellarier ved Norges Vest-
kyst. Af OLAF S. JENSEN, Conservator ved Bergens Museum. Mid 8 lith ogra-
foredi tavler. Bergen, 1878. olio, pp. 98.

2 The heres a of the Agricultural Ant of Texas. A Monograph of the
Habits, Archite cture of Pogonomyrmex barbatus. By HENRY CHRISTO-
PHER Mc ae Katee cigs. Academ: Natural Cotes of Philadelphia.
Anno Domini, 1879. 8vo, pp. 310. 24 lithographic plates.

`

1879. | Recent Literature. 315

species, the agricultural ant of Texas, to which the attention of
naturalists had been drawn by the late Dr. Lincecum, of Texas.
This ant is preéminent, as the author states, for its admirable
social organization, its skill as a mason in excavating its vast
and well ordered system of underground chambers ; its extensive
` surface operations in clearing out circular court-yards to its nests,
and road-ways to its foraging grounds; the striking variations in
its surface architecture from cones to flat disks; its highly devel-
oped stinging powers, which place it among the most formidable
of the stinging ants; while it is especially noteworthy from its
harvesting habits. The results of the energy, skill and patience
evinced in the study of this ant are most successful. There is an
honesty of purpose, thoroughness in detail and general accuracy
of statement, together with fullness of illustration in the cuts and
the twenty-four lithographic plates, which will give a lasting
value to the book as a biography of one of the most interesting
of all animals.

We wish the author had given us his impressions as to the
nature of the instinctive and rational acts of the ant, but we have
here a store-house of generally well observed facts, which will
afford material for the future student of animal psychology. The
drawings are mostly by the author, and add greatly to the interest
and attractiveness of the book. |

WarTERTON’s WANDERINGS IN SOUTH America.\—This quaint,
at times somewhat affected narrative, whatever its drawbacks
when judged by the standard works of scientific travelers, has
always had a hold upon general readers. It is the journal of an
English country gentleman possessed with a strong love of nature,
a decided leaning to ornithology, a genius for taxidermy, and
withal a patient and generally accurate observer. There are
Scattered through the volume sketches of animal nature which
give it permanent value. While Waterton’s adventures with the
Cayman are credible, despite his contemporary critics, we have
to thank him for the attractive and truthful pictures of tropical
scenery and life. His sketches of the ant bear, the armadillo, the
vampire, the ai or three-toed sloth, of certain birds, of the natives
among whom he traveled, and his researches on wourali poison
are all as valuable as they are entertaining. In his description of
the sloth, Waterton makes a contribution to the subject of pro-
tective resemblance. “1 observed,” he writes, “when he was
climbing he never used his arms both together, but’ first one and
then the other, and so on alternately. There is a singularity in

,* Wanderings in South America, the north-west of the United States and the An-
tilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820 and 1824. With original instructions for the per-
fect preservation of birds. etc., for cabinets of natural history. By CHARLES WA-
TERTON, Esq. New edition, edited, with biographical introduction and explanatory
index, by the Rev, 4 G. Woop. ith one hundred illustrations. - London, Mac-
millan _& Co., 1878. 8vo, pp. 520.

316 Recent Literature. [ May,

his hair different from that of all other animals, and, I believe,
hitherto unnoticed by naturalists; his hair is thick and coarse at
the extremity, and gradually tapers to the root, where it becomes
fine as a spider’s web. His fur has so much the hue of the moss
which grows on the branches of the trees, that it is very difficult
to make him out when he is at rest.”
The biography of Waterton by Rev. J. G. Wood, with its
attractive illustrations, brings out well the characteristics of the
hero of the narrative. The explanatory index by the editor

u
illustrations. Taken altogether this edition is most attractive, and
is a companion volume to Macmillan’s elegant edition of White’s
Selbourne.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—The Devonian Brachiopoda of the Province of
Para, Brazil, "T Charles Rathbun, late arpian aeoea to the Geological Com-
chief. th

mission of Brazil, Prof. C. F. Hartt, (Fr e Proceedings of the Boston
Society of Natural History, xx, May 15, 1878.) ap p- ae
Evidences of Cannibalism in an early race in Japa ard S. Morse.

(Reprinted from the Tokio Times, Jan. 18, 1879.) Tokia Traa, 1879. 8vo,

Phryganiden-Studien, Von Fritz und Hermann Müller. (Kosmos 11. Jahrg.
Heft 11.) 8vo, pp. 386-396.
A Treatise on the Horse and his diseases, etc. By B. J: Kendall. Claremont,
N. H., 1878. 12mo, pp. 89.
er qumga zd the “ Lightening,” “ EO ay ond and “Valorous ” Expe-
itions A. M. Norman. (From the Annals and Magazine of Natu-
ral rad i Jan, wring ) 8vo, pp. 19.
On Loxosoma and T sg gener of semi-parasitic Polyzoa in the British Sede,
ST the Rev. A. M. Nor (Fr om the Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
-» 1879.) Cia, pp. hg
Rove Survey of New Jersey. enn aoe of the ee ae cre the
—— 8vo, pp. 131, with map, Trenton, N. J., 1878.
eee nth Annual Report of Rutgers Kaida School, the si pei. ea the
bent of, cee and Mec nen s, New Brunswick, N. J., for the year 1878.
p. 89. From the Colle
A Smok of the American Fis (Abies Link). By Dr. George Engelmann.
(Ext. from the Trans. Acad. of Sciences of St. Louis, Vol. 11 No. 4; read Dec.

The Flowering of Agave yha By Dr. George Engelmann. (Ext. from Frans.
Acad. Sciences, Na Louis, Vol. 111, No. 4.) 8vo, pp. 4. with plate. (Nov., 1877.)
From the au

The American n Jamies of the Section Sabina. By Dr. George Engelmann, (Ext.
from Trans. Acad nces, St. Louis, Vol. 111, No. 4.) 8vo, pp. 10. (Nov., 1877.)

The es of Isoetes of the Indian Territory. By Dr. G. Engelmann, St. Louis,
Nov., ioe ak note by G. D. Butler, Almont, Iowa. (Ext. from Botan. Gaz Vol.
ap a 1, 1878.) From the author.
e Oaks of ar United cet A ge 1: By Dr. George Engelmann.
(Ext ‘ia Trans, Acad. Sci s, Vol. 11, No. 4, opm Mee 1877.) 8vo,
pp- ae with separate index. “st peek Nor ' 1878. From

the State Board 1 Hank for the year 1378. F. oy eed is, MDs, pr sig Bio

1879. ] Botany. 317

dior ae 1878. (Ext. Am. Antiqadrii, Vol. 1, No. 3.) 8vo, pp. 139-149.
author.

Note sur le bassin tertiaire de Bahna ( Roumanie). Par M. Stephanesco. (Ext. d
nm, de la Soc. Geol. de France. 3e ae ie, to. V, pp-387-293. Séance du 19 qim

1877.) 8vo, with plate. From the

Jura-Trias eect of South- apie Ta and Western Wyoming. By A. C.
orb M.D. (Ex heed the Bull. of the U.S. Geol. and Geog. Surveys, Vol. W

o. 1.) 8vo, pp. igi 12 hoere Feb. 28, 1879.) From the author

n Clasifietion Sa Coals. By Persifor Frazer, Jr., Philadelphia. (Ext. sit Trans.
$ra Įns ining Engineers, Vol. vi, read at» the Wilkesbarre meeting, May,

1577.) Antes edition, 1879. From the author.

On the Structure of the Gorilla. By Henry. C. Chapman, M.D. (Ext. Proc.
_— Nat. Sciences, Phila., 1878.) 8vo, pp. 385-394, pls. I-vI. From the

uthor

Fossil Tor of the Volcanic Spie) Pape ie! the nee 7 National
Park. By W. H. Holmes. (Ext. from the Bull. of U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur
bf Vol. v, No. 1). 8vo, pp. 125-132. (Washington, ie. 28, 1879. From the

uthor.

On ger of Dwarf i ag (Nannosuchus and Theriosuchus pus
lus, è. e Jw h the Diminutive Mam of the Purbeck Shales. By Prof. Ri ae
Owen "TRS. F.G.S. (Ext: sar Quart. jours. Geol. Soc., London, Feb.,

1879.) on pp- 148-155, with plate. From the author

A Catalogue of Official Reports upon ee Surveys of a eee ec and
Haie. and of British -e PEN By Frederick Prime, Jr., ant Geol-
ogist of Pennsylvania, 8vo, p . (Proof Joa Philadelphia. Leah, I ri hah
From the re

Catalogue of the Bie collected in Martinig by Mr. Fred. A. Ober, for the
Sticisonts pay on. By Geo. N. Lawrence. (Ext. Proc. U. S. National Mu-
seum.) 8vo, pp. pi . From the author
; Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Siieaties of Philadelphia. Part a arpaa

O, pp. 329-475, neg seo "Philadelphia, 1879. And the same, pp. 9-2 A

PE for 1879. From a society,

Richthofen’s Theory of the Loess, i bs bas ee os the Pagg of the Missouri. By
J. E. Todd, of Tabor, raters (Ext. Adv. Faem Vol.
XXVII. St. Louis meeting, Aug., By. pia bs ge Feii the auth

The Engineering and Mining Journal (Miniature copy). 12mo. No. 25 of Vol.
XXVI. AE York, Dec. 21, 1878. From the editor.

Boletin del Ministerio aa! Fomento de la Republica Mexicana. Folio (Daily)
herd Marc 13, to Feb. 20, 1879. From the Director of the Central Meteorogical

iiias of the National “Academy of Sciences for 1878. 8vo, pp. 125-142.
From the Academy.

Chesapeake Zodlogical Laboratory, ane vag oy hyphens ee Md,
a Results of the Session of 1878. (June 24th to rag -) 8vo, pp. 190,
pls, 13. Baltimore, John Murphy & Ch, 1879. From the Unie

i les Reptiles du temps primaires. Par M. Alb. Gaud E om pope

Ren i us de l'Academie des Sciences, 16 — 1878.) "gto, pp. A Fro
au
:0:—
GENERAL NOTES.

; BOTANY. ;

Instinct AND Reason, BY F. C. CrarK.— Wonders of the
vegetable world” never cease. Some of them are brought to
ea nd the pages of the February number of the AMERICAN NATU-
RALIS ves often cites to roots, and roots in favorable

318 General Notes. [ May,

circumstances become leaves.” “The plant * * * for repro-
ductive purposes has nettles, thorns, elastic films, as in the seed
vessels of the squirting cucumber.” “If the well-known sensi-
tive plant be touched never so lightly, its flowers and leaves
close.” “The ‘resurrection plant,’ generally known as the Rose
of Jericho * * * * to all appearance a mass of dry, dead vege-
table fibre * * * when sufficient moisture is applied it revives,
S leaves expand, it is clothed in new verdure, and as its blossoms
old, the reanimated plant is clothed in all its former gag a

3 “When night approaches* flowers close their petals *

some plants, however, only flower at night. The beautiful aioe
a species of wild lily, only blossom when the moon is out.” The
small leaflets of Desmodium gyrans “ move up and down in alter-
nate jerks, at the rate of sixty a minute. * * * This motion is
continued during all the seasons of the year, and during the
whole life-time of the plant.”

For alk but one of chess wonders the authority cited is “ Wor
ders of the Vegetable World, by Schele DeVere.” This book
we believe to be a second edition of one entitled A Salad for the
Solitary, which was noticed in the American Fournal of Science
and the Arts a good many years ago. Tt was then remarked that
“Ignorance is not a sin per se, its heinousness depends on the use
that is made of it.” The following wonders, like that of the
blooming of the Yuccas in moonlight, are more original, or at
least more modern. In Darlingtonia cali tfornica “beautiful red
wattles within the brim of its pitcher offer irresistible attractions
to insects, especially to flies. These alight first upon the ‘ wat-
tles,’ then flying upward strike the pitcher, and owing to the
peculiar twist of its walls falls to the bottom of the receptacle,
where many spores spouses fly has, too late, found its sepul-
chre.” Why too la

“ Mrs. Treat has ‘audi the habits of this plant (bladder wort,
Utricularia neglecta), and learned that it allures rege by
means of its bright flowers and leaves glistening with

ome sentences are wondrous in other ways: e. “For the
removal of obstacles the plant has two courses, to disintegrate
the object opposed to its progress, absorbing it if it be a suitable
nutritive element, as are all animal and vegetable substances, and
some minerals, or pass around it; or still again, as in extreme
cases, to bury it up in its own substance, as are stones, bayonets,
nails and the like.”

Now a popular article, when it touches upon subjects of which
the writer knows little or nothing, should be judged fi orbearingly
when it goes wildly astray. In an_ ordinary magazine it “would
matter little, but in the pages of the AMERICAN NATURALIST
these statements gain an importance and a currency which is not
altogther pleasant. The undersigned does his a in my
= attention to the matter—Asa Gray

1879. ] : Zoblogy. 319

HENSLOW ON THE SELF- FERTILIZATION OF PLants.—The Rev

have gone too far to strengthen ‘the belief that intercrossing is
absolutely necessary for plants; and that if self-fertilization be
continued for lengthened periods the plants tend to degenerate
and thence to ultimate extinction. is I believe to be absolutely
false.” Mr. Henslow arrives at the following conclusions in his
article in the Popular Science Review: “1. The majority of flow-
ering plants can, and possibly do, fertilize themselves ery
few plants are known to be physiologically self-sterile when the
pollen of a flower is placed on the stigma of the same flower. 3.
Several plants are known to be morphologically self-sterile in that
the pollen cannot, without aid, reach the stigma, but is effective
on that of the same flower. 4. Self-sterile plants from both the
above causes can become self-fertile. 5. Highly self-fertile forms

arise under cultivation. 6. Special adaptations occur for
self-fertilization.”

CONTRACTION OF LEAVES OF SENSITIVE PLAnts.—In Sir J.D
Hooker’s recent address as President of the Royal Society, it is
stated that Dr. Burdon Sanderson has for two years past n

excitable parenchyma which causes the eae atte is entirely
different from that of muscular contraction, yet that the corres-
pondence between the exciting process in the ian tissues and
what represents this in the plant tissues appears to be more com-
plete the more carefully the comparison is made; and that whether
the stimulus be mechanical, thermal, or electrical, its effects cor-
respond in each case. Again, the excitation is propagated from
the point of excitation to distant points in the order of their re-
moteness, and the degree to which the structure is excited depends
upon its temperature. Notwithstanding, however, the striking
analogies between the electrical properties of the cells of Dionæa
and of muscle-cylinders, Dr. Burdon Sanderson is wholly unable
to admit with Prof. Munk that these structures are in this respect
comparable.
ZOOLOGY. *

Discovery or MALE EELS. —We are glad to state that finally

the ‘supposed nae were afterward again examined, by Prof.

*The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
Coves, U. S. A.

320 General Notes. [ May,
Packard and Dr. C. S. Minot, who were then led to conclude
that the so-called male eels were immature females, and the mis-
take was corrected by Prof. Packard in the February NATURALIST.
_A large number of living eels were then examined by Messrs.

Packard, Kingsley, Pierce and. Minot without success, until at
Prof. Packard’s request Mr. Kingsley spent a few days at Wood’s
Holl, at the laboratory of the U. S. Fish Commission, in the last
of February, examining living eels supplied by Mr. Vinal N.
Edwards, by favor of Prof. Baird, U. S. Fish Commissioner. One
hundred and ninety-three eels were there examined, and of these,
three were found by Mr. Kingsley to be, in his opinion, males.
His observations made on these living individuals, which were
speared in a pond through the ice, are as follows:

“On February 18, 19 and 20, I examined one hundred and
ninety-three eels, at Wood’s Holl, and found three males, the
testes of which agreed closely with Syrski’s figures as reproduced
in the U. S. Fish Commission Report for 1873-4 and 1874-5, p.
719. Although I made careful examination I could find no
external characters to separate the sexes. The three males were
each about seventeen inches long, while the females examined
varied from about twelve inches to nearly three feet. This average
length of males agrees closely with Syrski’s (430 mm, in length).
The principal criticisms I would make of his figures, or rather
points of difference that I found, are that his enlarged figure
showing the lobulation of the testis has the lobes far more
crowded than they were in the specimens I examined. His draw-
ing of the histological structure was greatly larger than what I
supposed to be the same. His cells measure, according to the
explanation, about zły of an inch on their major axis, while I saw
nothing that could have been over yg Of an inch. The struc-
ture of the testis was similar to that which I have seen in the tes-
tes of the cod, perch, smelt, cat, deer, rooster, monkey; dog and
man. On teasing it out under a Tolles one-fifth, I saw what I am
confident were spermatozoa, although I could not distinguish the
tails. The heads were oval and from one-half to one-third the
size of those of the smelt, or about 9355 of an inch in length;
they had an independent motion, changing their position on the
slide without reference to any current in the water in which the
tissue was placed, and this motion was wholly different in its
character from the vibrations of the Brownian movement.”

Prof. Packard examined independently of and in company with
Mr. Kingsley, preparations made by himself, and found scattered
through the tissues, nucleated and nucleolated testis cells, of the
same appearance as those of the animals above named, which were
kindly obtained by Prof. Pierce. Moreover, Prof. Packard found
two mother-cells, containing several immature nucleated sperma-
tozoa. So that after the examination of about five hundred
female eels and three males, we are glad to be able to affirm

r

1879. | | Zoology. 321

the entire accuracy of Syrski’s observations and figures, he being
the first observer, so far as we are aware, who has discovered the
male sex of the Italian eel. Which species of eel it was that Syrski
examined is not stated. In making these investigations we have
to acknowledge the aid of Prof. John Pierce, of Providence, in
the use of a fine series of mounted histological specimens and
lenses of high powers. He has worked jointly with us and is of
our opinion as to the sex of the three males. Dr. Minot exam-
ined one of the three males, preserved in alcohol, and found as
Freud and Brock had done previously, a folliclular structure, the
follicles being filled with small spherical cells, which Dr. Minot
considered to be probably immature spermatozoa, although the
development could not be traced.—A. S. Packard, Fr., and F. S.
Kingsley.“

Breepinc HABITS oF THE Dace.—lIn the early part of June,
1878, an excellent opportunity offered itself for observing the
breeding habits of the dace (Rhinichthys atronasus). Standing
“one afternoon upon one of the bridges crossing the river in this
city, a nest of this fish was discovered in the stream below, it was
about two feet in diameter, situated in running water from twelve

passed over the eggs, and then both would proceed up the stream
from four to ten feet or more, and taking a small pebble in their
mouths, would quickly return and deposit them on the fecundated
eggs, sometimes but one fish would go for pebbles, the other lin-
gering near, thus layer after layer of impregnated eggs and peb-
bles were deposited one upon the other. These movements were
watched for two days, when the water became muddy from the
Spring rains, and further observation was impossible. The wis-

ner all fresh-water oviparous fish deposit their spawn in (xot upon)
ae pk heaps we call their nests — W. H. Gregg, M.D., Elmira,

322 General Notes. [ May,

LARGE RATTLESNAKES.—Col. T. M. Bryan, of Vincenttown,
N. J., writes us under date of Aug. 16th, that, “ Rattlesnakes are

six feet two inches long, with fourteen rattles and a button.
Within the ensuing five days seven were offered, none, however,
as long as the above mentioned, but one was five feet nine inches,
and had fifteen rattles and a button.”

SOUND=PRODUCING ORGANS OF THE CRICKET.— During some
researches among the order of Orthopters, made by me the past
fall, I made it a point to carefully investigate the means by which
the stridulous calls of the family Saltatoria were produced. La-
treille, in the “ Animal Kingdom ” of Cuvier, says of this family
of leapers: “ The males call their females by making a chirping
noise, which is sometimes produced by rubbing an inner part of
the wing-covers like a talc-like mirror, against each other with
rapidity, and sometimes by a similar alternate motion of the hind
thighs against the wings and wing-covers, the thighs acting the
part of the bow of a violin.” This description may be considered

G. I —Enlarged view of the under side of the wing-case of cricket; a, 4,
ponent tube; 4, dens bearing vibratory flanges; c, slight protuberance ; d, coria-
ceous membrane

as relating more especially to the group in general, but in the case
of the genus Gryllus (Acheta of English authors), of which I pro-
pose to speak, there is a special arrangement, a singular adapta-
tion of means to ends.
It must be evident to all who are familiar with the notes_pro-
duced by the cricket, that the extreme shrillness and penetrating
ower of their call could with difficulty be produced by the sim-
ple frictional movement of one unctuous “talc-like” surface over
another. There are many different species the calls of which can
be heard at the distance of several hundred feet, and one species,
inhabiting Sicily (G. ee) whose call has been distin-
guished at the distance of a
This power to produce a PPAR tone, calls for a special

1879. | Zoology. 323

arrangement for that purpose. This arrangement we find on the
under side of the wing-cases.

From a protuberance on the
under-side of the coriaceous

extremity, and situated on the
inner or sutural edge, there is a
large tracheal tube which ex-
tends out laterally, thence for-
ward and terminates at the junc-
ture of the wing-case with the
thorax. Thistracheal tube forms, Fig. 2—4’, more enlarged view of the vi-
or extends through a ridge on bratory flanges ; d”, scaly leather-like mem-
the inferior surface of the case, brane.

which is in the form of a quadrant or crescent. On the ridge is
situated a series of minute transverse vibratory flanges, resting
upon edge and resembling, to a certain extent, the scales of a fish
when scraped so as to cause them to stand erect. The base of
each flange is thickened, the upper edge slightly blunted and re-
curved. The upper surface of the wing-case is squamous, so that
when either case is drawn over the other, the series of vibratory
flanges on the under side of one is made to pass rapidly over the
scaly upper surface of the underlying case, in this manner pro-
ducing the harsh creaking sound so familiar. By a greater or
less rapidity of motion the insect can produce the variations of
tone which are often observed. As the cases do not unite in the
center of the back but each passes nearly to the opposite side of
the body, the chain of vibratory flanges can be utilized to nearly
its full length, before it becomes necessary to re-commence the

the anterior portion of the cases. The leathery covering of this
Space is slightly elevated, forming a chamber underneath, which
prevents the sound from being smothered in the folds of the second
pair of wings, which lie directly beneath. The insect when
about to produce its call usually assumes a fixed, statue-like posi-
tion, with head lowered and posterior extremities slightly elevated,
the cases forming an angle of twenty or thirty degrees with the
abdomen.

The call is formed during the outward stroke of the cases, they
being slightly separated when returning to the first position. I
abode, stood with the head in the burrow and the extremities of
.the wings protruding from the opening, thus seeming to compre-
hend that their call could be heard to a greater distance if stand-

ing in this position than if in the reve as

324 General Notes. { May,

I have examined the wing-cases of a number of apecies. and
find that they all have alike arrangement to the one
scribed, although the shape of the flanges may vary, toa Faro eo
xtent.—Mewton B. Pierce.

THE LECANIUM OF THE TULIP TREE.—On page 218 of the
“Revised Manual,” in speaking of other sources than flowers
from which bees collect sweets, I remark that I have seen the bees
thick about a large bark-louse, which attacks and often destroys
one of our best honey-trees. This is an undescribed species of
the genus Lecanium.

In the summer of 1870 this louse, which, so far as I know, has
never yet been described, and for which I propose the name
Lecanium tulipifere—the Lecanium of the tulip tree—was very

ommon on the tulip trees about the lawns of the Michican Agri-
cultural College, at Lansing. So destructive were they that some

the trees were killed outright, others were much injured, and
had not the lice, for some unknown reason, ceased to thrive, we
should soon have missed from our grounds one of our most
gran trees.

e the date above given, I have received these insects from
cing “of the States, especially those bordering the Ohio river.
In Tennessee they seem very common, as they are often noticed
in abundance on the fine stately tulip trees of that goodly State.
In the South this tulip tree is called the poplar, which is very —
incorrect, as it is in no way related to the latter. The poplar
belongs to the htt family ; the tulip to the magnolia, which
families are wide a

Wherever the ip -tree lice have been observed, sucking the
sap and vitality from the trees, there the bees have also been seen,
lapping up a sweet juicy exudation which is secreted by the lice.
In 1870 I observed that our tulip trees were alive with bees and
wasps, even as late as August, though the trees are in blossom
only in June. Examination showed that the ppn sweets from
these lice were what attracted the bees. This was observed with
‘some anxiety, as the secretion gives off a very sciiti odor.

The oozing secretions from this and other lice, not only of the
bark-louse family (Coccidæ), but of the plant-louse family
(Aphidæ), are often referred to as honey-dew. Would it not be
better to speak of these as insect secretions, and reserve the name
honey-dew for sweet man from plants, other than those
which come from the flow

The fully developed Hat like all bark lice, is in the form of
a scale (Fig. 1), closely applied to the limb or twig on which it
works. This insect, like most of its genus, is brown, very convex
above (Fig. 1), and concave beneath (Fig. 2). On the under side

which serves to enfold the eggs. Underneath the species in
question are two transverse parallel lines af f this’ white down (Fig.

1879. | Zoology. 325

2). One of them, probably the anterior, is nearly marginal, and
is interrupted in the middle, while the other is nearly central, and
in place of the interruption at the middle, it has a V-shaped pro-
jection back or away from the other line. The form of the scale
is quadrangular, and not unlike that of a turtle (Fig. 1). When
fully developed it is a little more than three-sixteenths of an inch
ong, and a little more than two-thirds as wide.

ere at Lansing, the small, yellow, oval eggs appear late in
August. In Tennessee they would be found under the scales in
- their cotton wrappings many days earlier. The eggs are one-
fortieth of an inch long, and one-sixty-fifth of an inch wide.
These eggs, which are very numerous, hatch in the locality of

2

their development, and the young or larval lice, quite in contrast
with their dried, inert, motionless parents, are spry and active.
They are oval (Figs. 3 and 4), yellow, and one twenty-third of an
inch long, and one-fortieth of an inch wide. The eyes, antennz
(Fig: 5) and legs (Fig. 6) are plainly visible when magnified
thirty or forty diameters. The nine-jointed abdomen is deeply
eMarginate, or cut into posteriorly (Fig. 3), and on each side of —
this slit is a projecting stylet or hair (Figs. 3 and 4), while from
between the eyes, on the under side of the head, extends the long
recurved beak (Fig. 4). The larvæ soon leave the scales, crawl
about the tree, and finally fasten by inserting their long slender
beaks, when they so pump up the sap that they grow with sur-
prising rapidity. In a few weeks their legs and antennz disap-
pear, and the scale-like form is assumed. In the following sum-
“mer the scale is full-formed and the eggs are developed. Soon
the scale, which is but the carcase of the once active louse, drops
from the tree, and the work of destruction is left to the young lice,
a responsibility which they seem quite ready to assume.

n my observations I have detected no males. Judging from
others of the bark-lice, these probably possess wings, and will
never assume the scale form, though Prof. P. R. Uhler writes me

326 General Notes. [ May,

that apterous males are found among the Coccidz, and that in all
cases the males are very important in the determination of

genera.

Remedies—If valued shade or honey trees are attacked by
these insatiate destroyers, they could probably be saved by dis-
crete pruning—cutting off the infected branches before serious
injury was done, or by syringing the trees with a solution of
whale-oil soap—or even common soft-soap would do—just as the
young lice are leaving the scales. It would be still better to have
the solution hot. Whitman’s Fountain Pump is admirable for
making such applications

Fig. 1 is slightly magnified ; the others are largely magnified.
The drawings were made from the objects by W. S. ee
a senior of the Michigan Agricultural College—A. F. Ci

MOoLTING OF THE Hornep Toan (Phrynosoma Scie sth
—This well-known species of horned lizard, or horned toad
as it is more commonly known, is very widely distributed over
the north-western portion of the United States. It appears espe-
cially abundant throughout the Bad Lands, and over the dry
country between the Yellowstone and Musselshell rivers. During

my visit to those regions with the Yellowstone Expedition ofa.

1873, about fifty specimens were collected for the purpose
studying some of their habits. The first were met with in the
Bad Lands during the first week in July, where a number of
young were obtained, having probably been born about the mid-
dle of June, as indicated by their size and condition. After the
main body of the expedition had crossed the Yellowstone river,
a temporary camp was established, when quite a number of adult
specimens were obtained upon which we discovered the first
signs of molting. Those which had been collected a few days
before now began to show similar evidences of shedding the skin.
At first, small dry vesicles made their appearance over the back
and sides, running along the prions rows of pyramidal scales
forming the margins of the abdomen. In a day or two the vesi-
cles would break and seman nite began, which continued over
a period of about eight or ten days, the cephalic spines and the
claws being the last to adhere. Immediately after the old skin
had been removed, the process of which I assisted in several in-
stances as far as possible, the new surface presented quite a bril-
liant appearance when closely viewed. The darker markings upon
the dorsum appeared minutely sprinkled with black and brick red,
while the lighter portions remained a pure olive of various shades.

After ret a the intensity of coloration is gradually lost, as
the skin becomes more ashy or dusky, returning to the natural
hue which the ecuien bore previous to molting.

The specimens as far as observed, went through the process of
molting from three’ to four weeks after the birth of the young.
Mr. H. W. Henshaw (Surveys west of tooth meridian) has

1879.] _ Anthropology. 327

observed the change, but from his observation he thought it
occurred during the breeding season
he specimens found on the prairie region flanking the Yellow-

stone river, were very light in color; those from the Bad Lands
somewhat darker, while those obtained near, and on the Mussel-
shell river were extremely dark, and one specimen was nearly
black. In this individual the abdomen was darker than the backs
of the specimens from the prairie districts. The abdominal
scales were densely covered with black spray, sufficiently so as
to give some of them a uniform color

Dr. Yarrow! and Mr. Henshaw both say the coloration of the
animal depends greatly upon the color of the soil where found,
and this has been the result of my observations in Dakota and
Montana, as well as in Arizona apong other species of the same
genus

Dr. iow: in speaking of the time that these reptiles may be
kept alive without food, says he has never been able tọ keep them
alive over four months. Of the total number collected , in 1873,

times during the winter of 1873-4, I placed them near the heater
to revive them temporarily for the purpose of showing them to
inquisitive visitors ; still this did not apparently affect them. In
May, 1874, I place ed them in the garden, and soon after being
exposed to the sun they showed signs of exhaustion, difficulty of
respiration, and finally died. They were considerably emaciated,
and probably the state of debility, in addition to a humid atmos-
phere and aioe exposure to the hot rays of*the sun was too
much for them.—W. F. Hoffman, M.D.
ANTHROPOLOGY.’

PERFORATED SkKuLts.—Rev. Stephen Bowers, Ph.D., recently
discovered a burial place near Santa Barbara. Cal., which he
"i mea in part. It yielded thirty or forty skeletons, serpentine

wls,a pipe, arrow-head, shell and bone ornaments, beads, etc. But

E

the most singular feature was a nest of six skulls entirely sepa-

made at death. He found pres aaa. skulls in the
cemeteries, but they were in too friable a condition for ibere
vation

-ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNI A—Dr. Bow spent
several months during the year 1878 in-ethnological eaplotatons

1 ye LERH gre and Geog. Survey, IV, 1878, p. 286. *

s * Et whee Prot Oris T. Er ae. College, Washington, D. C.

*

328 General Notes. [ May,

in Southern California. His work era chiefly confined to Santa
Barbara county and portions of San Luis Obispo and Ventura
counties. The regions of the Santa Inez, Santa Maria, Arroyo

rande, Ventura and Santa Clara rivers, and some of their tribu-
taries, were examined, and the sites of old pueblos mapped. In
the collections made, and the study of the remains of the nearly
or quite extinct Santa Barbara stock, much additional light has
been thrown on their hitherto scanty history. A remarkable
feature, of Mr. Bower’s discoveries in the burial places of this
race is that he has found exact duplicates of the stone imple-
ments figured in Dr. Schliemann’s Mycenz. Mr. Bowers is pre-
paring an exhaustive monograph of his interesting soe
which will be published by the Department of the Inter

CRANIA AS CINERARY URNS IN THE MOUNDS OF HB arti-
cle in the NATURALIST for November, 1878, by Mr. Henry Gil-
man, on the utilization of crania as cinerary urns, calls to mind
what is probably a parallel case, which recently came under the
writer's observation in this vicinity.

In this ae the mound, which was opened under the direc-
tion of Dr. Charles L. Metz, of gon sane UE was composed of a
light sandy can like the surrounding soi t had received an
additional layer of yellow clay, ranging oari six to twelve inches
in thickness. Its measurements are, approximately, as follows :
Circumference 200 feet, height 7 feet. It is situated on the “ sec-
ond bottom” or plateau of the Little Miami river, about one
hundred and fifty feet above the water line, and distant about one-
third of a mile from the river. A trench four feet in width and
as deep, apparently, as the original surface, was carried to its cen-
ter from opposit® sides, but without at first finding anything to
indicate the former presence of man. Continuing a little deeper,
however, almost directly in the center, there was found a sma
circumscribed deposit of ashes mixed with fragments of char-
coal and charred bones, about three or four handsful in all; with
these were mingled pieces of a human skull in perfectly ‘sound
condition so far as the action of fire was concerned, but very soft
and friable through decay. They regained their hardness to some
extent after being dried by exposure to the air..— Frank W. Lang-
don, Madisonville, Ohio.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The Yournal of the Anthropologi-
cal Institute, Vol. vim, No. 2, for November, 1878, contains a clus-
ter of very important oo s. Mr. W. Flinders Petrie discusses the
vexed question of Metrology and Geometry in Ancient Remains.
Two P seem to be certain upon this subject: all builders of

historic Monum t e Miami valley,” with C vare Charles L. Metz,
of the Cincinnati Society “ Natural Histo, Vol. 1, No 3,0 > r,
1878. mound he » , Group A, and has been open nce

1879. | Anthropology. 329

permanent works have had a standard, and it is very difficult to
ascertain what that standard was. r. Petrie finds a strong
resemblance between the unit of the North American mound-
builders and some of the old world standards,

next paper on the game of Patolli, in Ancient Mexico,
and its proteble Asiatic origin, by Mr. E. B. Tylor, has already
appeared in the Popular Science Monthly. The paper by Mr.
Francis Galton on Composite Portraits was read last summer
before the British Association, and was fully noticed at the time.
The next communication, on the Origin of the classificatory sys-

poses Mr. Morgan’s hypothesis of the cei ie song and pro-
miscuity as the starting point of his system e affirms that

“the consanguine family has not existed as a sania social
institution,” and that “the Punaluan group can be accounted for
satisfactorily without assuming the eee existence of the con-
sanguine family.” Against Sir John Lubbock’s theory that
“ Children were not in the earliest times regarded as equally
related to their father and their mother, but that the natural pro-
gress of ideas is, first, that a child is related to his tribe generally,
secondly, to his mother and not to his father, thirdly, to his father
and not to his mother, lastly, and lastly only, that he is related to
both,” Mr. Wake offers the opposing statements of Mr. Mor-
gan with reference to our own American tribes. os McLennan’s
system of polyandry is dismissed with a few wo

The number closes with two papers, by Mr. Alfred Simson, on
South American tribes, entitled: “ Notes on the Piojes of the
Putumayo,” and “ Vocabulary of the Zaparo language.

All lovers of excellent work will be delighted ‘with a new serial
whose first number appeared Jan. 31, 1879, bearing the following
title, Judex Medicus, a Monthly classified record of the Current
Medical Literature of the World. Compiled under the super-
vision of Dr. John S. Billings, Surgeon U.S. Army, and Dr. Rob-
ert Fletcher, M.R.C.S., Eng. New York, F. Leypoldt, 37 Park
Row. We take the liberty to quote from page 31 the following
titles

Busch (H.) Grösse, Gewicht und Brustumfang von Soldaten.
Studien über ihre Entwickelung und ihren Einfluss auf die mili-
tarische Tauglichkeit. . Berlin, 1 878, A. Hirschwald. 85 pp., 8vo.

Cassanova (A.) Ibridismo in ispecie fra l'uomo e parecchi
animali, facendo punto sulla transformazione delle razze scimio-
tiche di primo ordine nelle infime selvaggie umane, e€ sui metodi
per ottenere migliori tipi umani, equini, boviné, ovine, ecc.
Milano, 1878. Zanaboni, 228 pp., Svo

Von Lenhossék (Jos.) Des déformations artificielles du crâne
en général, de celles de deux crânes magae trou vés en

330 General Notes. [May,

Hongrie et d’un crane provenant des temps barbares du meme
pays. Avec 11 fig. phototyp. sur 3 planches, 11 fig. xylogr. et 5
fig. zincogr. intercalées dans le texte. Budapest, 1878, Kilian,
134 pp. gr. 4. m

Montano. Btude sur les cranes boughis et dayaks du Museum
@histoire naturelle. Avec projections au diagraphe intercalées
dans le texte. Paris, 1878, G. Masson. 71 pp., 8vo.

Schoebel (C.). L’ame humaine au point de vue de la science
ethnographique; suivi d'une note sur Claude Bernard et son
principe du critérium ethnographique. Paris, 1878, De Rosny.

24 pp., 8vo

Bouchut. (E.). Peso de los recien nacedos. Rev. de med. y
cir. pract., Madrid, 1878, 11, 289-300

Davreux. Un cas remarkable de microcéphalie. Ann. Soc.
Med.—Chir. de Liege 1879, XVII, 329-331.

upouy. De pena et des mariages consanguins. Médecin,
Par., 1878, 1v (No. 40).

Whitley (N.). is “ paleolithic man” a reality of the past, or
a myth of the present? Jour. of Psych. Med., London, 1878,
n. s. Iv, 256-

In addition to the foregoing valuable list from /udex Medicus,
the following brief references are given with the hope that they
may be of service to some of our readers:

A review of non-Biblical Semitic literature for 1878, by A.
Neubauer, in Atheneum, Jan. 11. e Aryan Household: an
Introduction to comparative jurisprudence, by William E. Hearn,
reviewed in Atheneum, Jan. 25——The History of Afghanistan
from the earliest period to the outbreak of the war in 1878, by
Col. G. B. Matteson, reviewed in Academy, Jan. 11.—Russian
and Turk, from a geographical, ethnological and historical point
of view, by. R. G. Latham, reviewed in Academy, Jan. 18th, by
M. Elie Reclus. Discoveries of Antiquities in Italy in 1878, by
F. Barnabei, reviewed in Academy, Jan. 18, 1879. Prehistoric
Copper Implements. An open letter to the Historical Society of
Wisconsin, by Rev. E. F. Slater, Vew England Hist. and Gen.
Ancient Artificial Mounds, B. Shipp,
-Peruvian | Antiquities, Dr. E.
Fairy Lore #2

Š : ; ; pp.——
indian as a coming citizen, by E. B , Lippincott s Kariin,
Jan., 2 pp.
GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.

GEOLOGICAL SuRrvEY oF New ZEALAND.—The following dis-
tricts of New Zealand have been geologized during the season
1877-8: The pie mountains in Southland, by Mr. Cox, from
October to January, assisted by Mr. McKay, who continued the
work of et fossils until ‘the end of February. In January
Mr. Cox visited and reported on the copper lode at Dusky sound,

1879. ] Geology and Paleontology. 331

He was then occupied until March in the examination of the Te
Anau Lake district, after which he made the required inspection
of the various coal mines. Mr. McKay was employed on the
east coast of the bebe dice tied during September, in the
Mount Potts district of Canterbury in October, and in the Wairoa
and Dun Mountain district of Nelson in May. Lastly, the
r brabes island copper lodes were examined by Mr. Cox in
August

During the year twenty-six out of the thirty-two collieries now
in work in the Colony were Lorn tai and surveyed, and all the
working plans brought up to date. The underground surveys
were made in the first asiain > Mr. Denniston, the govern-
ment coal viewer, and afterwards, in most cases, inspected and
passed by Mr. Cox, who holds ee: position of inspector under
the “ Regulation of Mines Act, 18

The following is a list of the collieries, with the date of the last
inspection of = and the yield of each year, for the year end-
ing on 30th Jun

Output for past
District. Date of Inspection. year in tons.
Malvern Hills—
I. Someroon cietis . «4, Ist November, 1877 1,000
2 Wallsend ses ee wet 3d February, 1878. -1,462
Ki S A aat ae A N eee JOD October, 1679.0. cc iss oes poet 1,435
4. Stevenson osha eee 19th October, 1877
5. Homebush fein pd set Toth: October, 1879.4 hawks es Peers 2,235
Oamaru Distric
6. St. sr aia s Coia” inks hob November, 1877 50
7. Prince Alfred 4th November, 1877 2,045
. Awamoko a E ER Pak November, 1877 aie 400
Fe Coal Fielas—
- Real Mackay colliery NE era 11th and 22d January, 1878.........- 306
1o. DE cas o a a .11th and 19th January, 1878......... 1,583
. No. 1 Kaitangata “ ....IOth Dec., 1877, and oth Jan., 1878.. 1,872
te Kaitangata eee een Co:. 5th Dec., 18 77; 4 ye “hag Jan., 1878.. 10,477
13. Shag Point coiliery ....... 2 a Novem ber, 2,622
I4. Ota i adie Vee June, 1877,, 2,941
I5. Freeman’s ot CHP pe igs J une, UT ‘and "th January, 1878.. 5,006
16. Walton Park * ~~.... ..-June, 1877, and 7th eet 1878.... 16,000
I amson AG sing o a 1877, and 7th Jan 1878.... 8,000
s Jorid idy © diji ova Jane 1877) and bth a. 1878.. 4,000
. Law HT Gan SO gree 1878. 2 eget
ancy pw
eid Wa Ria e “olliery a i 25th sat 1878 440
. Coal- Aa Heath colliery sites saoth February, 1878.06... ccc ce ees 6,138
22. oe o Sg OO 22d Haicnary, ET RRE O 21,974
m bisi i
Energetic 6 colliery. .........15th March, #878 ‘We 500
Dare Distri
24. Wellington RIE iiie ct 2a March, 878i ~s s 948
bg ted Distr
25. Parapara clr. derita ara Jit March, 1878, Closed on
PATSY Dist ;
26. Miranda colliery. Labiaceae JANGA, 1077 nek 600
27. Taup ‘a.e... e.. February, 1877 a
28. Ku ipaa upa B e 1877 us 5,200

29. Waikato ae Co ( Ea va yet visited ) r - 600

332 General Notes. [May,

Whangarei—
30. Abel i Nees a Ra ry es roth March, 1877 (estimate) < 2000
31. Kamo PEM are SF FU CO Liv bees hee 1,200
Bay of [slands—
az Kaneka eOUTEr yt oes. April, 1877 36,599
res E r- COLONY. «<6 006 eure lbs 05.66 nri 1454056 eke be 138,984
— Fas. Hi

THE ich TERTIARY Beps.—In Vol. 1 of the Report of the
United States Geological Survey of the Fortieth parallel, page
393, the able author, Mr. King, has described an extensive series
of beds, including many laminated shales, which are found in the
northern part of Nevada, as constituting an extension of the
Green river formation west of the Wasatch mountains, He states
that they contain the same species of fossil fishes as those of the
Green river epoch. I published the first notice of this formation,
which I examined at Osino and at Elko, Nevada, and described
from it two species of fishes, which were referred to genera previous-
ly unknown, viz: Amyzon and Trichophanes. These genera have not
been found represented in the fish fauna preserved in the Green river
shales, which embraces eight genera and twenty-four species. But
they occur in several species and specimens in the South park of the
Rocky mountains of Colorado, associated with the genera RAin-
eastes and Amia, neither of which has yet been found in the
Green river formation. The first named is common in the Bridger,
but in a different form, and the generic identity is not yet fully
established. The Amia is represented in the Bridger by Papp-
icthys, but in the former the characteristic parts have not yet
been seen in the South park specimens, so that here also the
determination of the genus is not final, It, however remains, that
this fish fauna is different from that of the Green river beds, and
the modern aspect of the genera points to an age even later than
the Bridger. It is evident that the pertinence of this series of
rocks to the Green river formation, asserted by King, cannot be
maintained. I have named this epoch that of the Amyzon beds,
from the characteristic genus which it includes, and refer it to the
later Eocene or early Miocene eras. Its fish fauna includes ten
species, distributed as follows: TZrichophanes Cope, 3 sp.; Amy-
Zon nea 4 sp.; Rhineastes Cope, 1 sp.; Amia L., 2 sp.—E. D.
Cope.

GAUDRY ON PERMIAN VERTEBRATA. — Prof. Gaudry recently
brought before the Academy of Science descriptions of severa ral
interesting types of Barchi and Reptilia from the Permian of
the Department of the Saone et — Among these was Actin-
odon Gaudry, whose vertebrae are segmented so as to closely
resemble those of Mickis (this journal, 1878). Another form
allied to Protriton, was probably a terrestrial animal, and possessed

1 L.c. 1, p. 393.
re Amer. Philosophical Soc., 1872, p. 478.

1879.] Geology and Paleontology. 333

a large tail; it was termed Pleuronura pellati. The third type
was represented by a humerus which resembles that of the Dime-
trodon of Texas, and similar forms from the Ural and South Af-
rica, in presenting some Mammalian features. He referred it to
a new genus, under the name of Zuchyrosaurus, which is probably
Pelycosaurian.

A Stine Ray FROM THE GREEN RIVER SHALES OF WYOMING.—
Leslie A. Lee, of Bowdoin College, Me., recently lent me for exam-
ination an interesting fossil from the ‘above formation, from the
locality which has recently furnished such fine specimens of
Mioplosus, Diplomystus, etc. It is a species of sting ray nearly
allied to the genus Z7rygon, but so far different as to be referable
to another genus which I propose to name Aiphotrygon. Its
characters are: teeth with produced triangular crowns as in Raja.
Caudal spines compressed, with a single serrate-edge, which is
dorsal. No caudal fins discoverable. The species has a rather
long acuminate snout without superficial ossification, from whose
apex the pectoral fin borders diverge. The latter do not extend pos-
terior to the ventrals. Tail very long and slender, nearly twice as
long as head and abdomen. Caudal spines (three present in the
Specimen) with a shallow lateral Pete but otherwise smooth.
Pectoral rays 314104 41. Tot tal | ength m 515; width at
middle of abdomen .230; length of head 100; Joti of tail
-351; length of spine .040. The species may = ‘called Aiphotry-
gon acutidens. The Zrygon muricata, of Monte Bolca, has the
typical form of spine, according to Gazzola ae, D. Cope.

AMERICAN ACERATHERIA.—Four species of rhinoceroses have
been found within the limits of the United States, which may be
referred to the above genus. They are, commencing with | the
smallest, A. mite Cope, A. occidentale Leidy, A. pacificum Leidy

s the lar

csi megalodus of the Loup River formation. It is only

known from an incomplete mandible, which supports molar,
canine si incisor teeth. The former have the usual form. The
crowns of the canines are considerably wider than those of the
incisors, but do not project very far beyond them. They are sub-
triangular i in outline, having a prominent shoulder at the base on
the inner side. There is but one incisor on each side, which has
a transverse crown. Diastema long; ascending ramus vertical,
flat in front. Depth of ramus at last molar. 065 ; length of last
molar .045; width of do. .029; length of crown of canine .027;
width do. at base .02

From beds of the Truckee epoch of the White River forma-
tion. This name, introduced by King, has priority of publication
over the term Oregon beds introduced by me, hence the latter
must be abandoned.

334 General Notes. [ May,

I add that the genus Aphelops differs from Aceratherium in the
presence of but three toes on the anterior foot, and from Rhinoce-
vos in the absence of horn.—£. D. Cope.

Tue Lower Jaw oF LoxoLopHopon.—Messrs. Speir and Os-
born contributed to th April number of the American Fournal
of Science and Art, a very interesting account of the mandible of
Loxolophodon cients which has been hitherto unknown. It pre-
sents characters as curious as those of the cranium. The incisors
and canines are similar, and have remarkable bilobate crowns, an
there is a slight expansion of the lower margin of the ramus to
represent the wide phlange of Uintatherium. The authors of the
paper have not ee the literature as carefully as they might
have done, an e thus been led into error in several points.
They think that the iomlatehd of Loxolophodon had been. already
described by me, and that erroneously; whereas the description
to which they refer, is that of another species, shpat of another
genus, found in a different Bridger basin. It was not identified,
and was described only as “resembling that of Uintatherium.”
They confirm my description of the furcate character of the pre-
maxillary bones, while seeming to disapprove of it. They also
appear to suppose that the question of the possession of a pro-
boscis is identical with the question of Proboscidian affinity,
mea are really dissimilar propositions. —Æ. D. Cope.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

AFRICAN EXPLORATION.—Dr. Rohlfs left Tripolis about Christ-
mas. Letters dated January 27, 1879, at Sokna, some 250 miles
south of Tripolis, have been received, from him, at Berlin. They
include a valuable zoological report by Dr. Stocker and a num-
ber of astronomical observations. Sultan Ali of Wadai, who
treated Dr. Nachtigal so hospitably, is dead, but his brother, Jou-
souf, who succeeded him, is said to be equally well disposed
towards foreigners.

Capt. Roudaire reports favorably on the experimental borings
made by him along the neck of land separating the gulf of Gabes
from the Saharan depression. Nothing but sand and soft soil were
encountered down to a depth of one hundred feet. There are no
rocks, and M. de Lesseps expresses himself satisfied that the con-
struction of a canal will meet with no difficulties. The scheme,
however, of converting this portion of the Southern Sahara into
an inland sea is severely criticized; it is said that, if successful, it
would destroy the date-culture, and owing to the prevalence of
northerly winds mone not exercise any favorable influence upon
the climate of Algeri

Mr. Mackenzie, the African traveler, sailed from England
recently for Cape Juby, on the north-west coast of Africa, in a

1 Edited by ELLIs H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

*

1879. | Geography and Travels. 335
specially chartered steamer, for the purpose of opening that
region to commerce.

M. Paul Soleillet, according to the last intelligence received in
Paris, had reached Sego and was proceeding onwards,

One of the most important explorations recently accomplished
is that of the river Ogowé, the largest river in the French colony
of the Gaboon. This expedition, commanded by M. Savorgnan
de Brazza assisted by Dr. Ballay, has now returned after three
years of hardship and danger, having had to struggle against the
ill-will and cupidity, and eventually the open hostility, of the
natives. e Ogowé may be divided into three almost equal
parts, the upper, middle and lower. The middle portion follows
the equator as nearly as possible, and the other two incline about
a degree and a half southwards, the one towards the source and
the other towards the mouth. MM. de Brazza and Ballay started
from Lambaréné, the extreme limit of the European factories, in
August, 1875. They halted first at Lopé, a large village on the
middle course of the river, whence M. de Brazza went by land
into the country of the Fans, who were friendly, and from thence
to Doumé, much higher up the river, where he was rejoined by
Dr. Ballay. Above the Poubara falls the Ogowé becomes an
insignificant stream. Having ascertained that it did not commu-
nicate with the great lakes in the interior, they left the basin of
the stream, which evidently has its source from a high plateau
not very distant from the coast. They now suffered much from
want of food and water, but continuing on reached the N’yambo,
a stream flowing eastward, and which brought them to the Alima,
a large river not indicated upon any map. It was here 165 yards
broad and sixteen feet deep, and is thought to be one of the afflu-
ents of the Congo. They followed it for some distance partly on
foot, partly in canoes, but owing to the attacks of the savages
were finally obliged to abandon the stream, which continued to

,

1878.
march barefooted. About 800 miles of ground were covered,

Some of the other affluents of the Ogowé, which may prove of
§reater importance than the branch now made known. A cor-

-386 General Notes. [May,

respondent of the Atheneum (February 22, 1879) says: “‘ The
experience of M. de Brazza confirms Mr. Stanley’s description of
the warlike character of the tribes on and near the Congo, and
* we may fairly infer that no exploration of these regions can be
successfully carried out except by a strong party, and by the
occasional resort to force, in order to overcome the opposition of
the hostile tribes.” MM. de Brazza and Ballay are now in Paris,
where they have received many honors, including the bestowal
of the great gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society

Herr von Koppenfels has recently been exploring the country
inland from Gerisco bay, in West Africa, a little to the north of
the Gaboon. He ascended the river Muni as far as the rapids of
the Tampuni, and traveled thence by land, apparently following
Du Chaillu’s track. In the Crystal mountains he fell in with
tribes absolutely unknown to Europeans. They are weak, poor
and very inoffensive. Their country abounds in elephants and
gorillas whose depredations are much dreaded, as the people
appear to have no means of protecting plantations or gardens
from their incursions. The tribes dwelling further inland are
described as peacea

Herr Schütt, who a been sent by the German African Society
to explore the interior of West Africa, from Loanda, has been
attacked and robbed by the Bengala tribe on the Quango river,
and been obliged to turn back to M’Banza Muango, on the river
Lui (9° S. lat.). He has prepared a tolerably correct map of the
entire plateau between 8° and 10° S. lat, with all the numerous
streams that flow from it. He was determined to continue his
work, and was, when last heard from (August, 1878) preparing to
cross ‘the Quango and open up the direct way to the north.

Major Serpa Pinto has arrived at Pretoria, in the Transvaal,
with eight followers, the meon of four hundred. In the Jan-

TURALIST we mentioned his intended

departure from Bihé for ibo Upper Zambesi on the o of May,
1878. He telegraphs to the Portuguese government, “In con-
cluding myjourney across Africa, I struggled with hunger, thirst, the
natives, floods and drought. I have saved all m papers—twenty
geographical charts, many topographical maps, meteorological
studies, drawings and a diary of the complete exploration of the
Upper Zambesi, with its seventy-two cataracts.” He says, accord-
ing to the Nature, “he has discovered the secret of the Cubango,
by which he seems to mean the river which under various names
was fora time taken by some to be the upper course of the
Congo.” Major Pinto’s companions, Capello and Ivens, who sep-
arated from their leader at Bihé, have not as yet been heard from.

The (English) Baptist Missionary Society have, according >
the Academy, decided to despatch an expedition under Mr. T. I
Comber, with instructions to make San Salvador, to the south of

Yellala falls, the base of operations, and if possible to occupy

sip eee

Jo

1879. ] Microscopy. 337

17° E. long). It is contemplated to send a
ions for the navigation of the Upper Congo.
San Salvador ditt is much more healthy than the coast, and
the country is very productive. The people are described as very
quiet.

MICROSCOPY .'*

On A STANDARD FOR MIcROMETRY.2—When the subject of a
standard for micrometry came before this society at the sugges-
tion of the late National Microscopical Congress, we found our-
selves unable to vote satisfactorily upon it; not for want of any

efinite desire in respect to it, but because it seemed evident that
a mere affirmative or negative answer to the proposals of the con-
gress would not accomplish any desired result. For a few indi-
viduals or societies to commit themselves positively either for or
against the proposals might even render valuable progress on this
important subject more difficult, The differences of opinion were so
strong and so reasonable, and the other interests involved were so
diverse and wide spread, as to call for a thorough conference
before adopting any definite policy. We therefore proposed a
national committee to investigate the subject, confer with persons
wishing to be heard or likely to give valuable information in
respect to it, and place the data thus obtained at the service of all
parties interested. As yet we have heard of no opposition to the
appointment of the proposed committee. The whole spirit of the
world’s science at the present day calls for the highest possible
precision in determining questions of the form and size of objects.
It is well known that such precision has not yet been attained in
micrometry ; and it is difficult to believe that any one who
desires -to give a respectful hearing. to the wishes of his fellow
students, could seriously object to submitting this manifestly im-

should certainly be willing that all opinions and preferences be
heard before making our final decision.

s to the course which should be adopted by the committee,
or recommended to the country, there is, however, the greatest
room for reasonable differences of opinion. And the same
reasons which make a committee necessary, should require us to
submit our views with candor and plainness, but without demand-
ing or expecting that they shall be adopted as a whole. A fair
hearing and a respectful consideration is all that can be asked by
any one in such a case. And for the same reasons, any action

is department is edited by Dr. R. H. WARD, Troy, N. Y
aiet at the Microscopical Section of the Troy Scientific ‘Association, Decem-
_ ber 2, 1878, by R. H. Ward, PMD.

338 General Notes. % [ May,

taken by.a committee or by any society or group of societies,
should be suggestive or advisory and not positive or dig orial.
here may even be some who believe that_nothing uSeful can
be accomplished in this field; but a second ught may show
that much good can be effected, without doin ything of doubt-
ful expediency. It seems unfortunate that in the suggestions of
the congress more prominence was given to those points in re-
gard to which there is greatest difference of opinion, and most
intelligent doubt as to what ought to be done, than to the more
important want underlying them. What we need is precision,
first, and afterwards uniformity of nomenclature if we can get it.
The essential part, on which all should agree, is that statements
of size and distance should have a definite meaning; that when
an author mentions, for instance, the 1—1000 of an inch, or the
I-100 of a centimetre or of a millimetre, that statement should
mean one and the same thing to him, the writer, and to all intel-
ligent readers. This certainly is not true in regard to the mea-
surements made and recorded with the microscope in the past or
at the present time. The best stage micrometers in use, as a
basis for measurements, are well known to differ among them-
selves by various and easily measurable discrepancies which must
represent errors on one side or both. In comparing micrometers
from different sources, differences of two per cent. have been often
noticed, and sometimes as high as six per cent. Far less errors
than these, and as are quite generally present, must greatly im-
pair the scientific value of all measurements; and it may be safely
said that the exact degree of accuracy of the instruments used,
and therefore of the measurements recorded, by observers with
the microscope, is seldom known to the authors themselves, and
scarcely ever to the readers of their papers. Nor can individual
care and labor overcome this difficulty. A student can reject

1-3600th of the standard yard in London or of our national copy
of that standard in Washington, is a most valuable result which
can be attained only by concerted action, and is well worthy the
labor of any committee or of any society. We need a tangible
inch, whether called a “standard” or not, which should be, as
nearly as can be detected by the modern ee or by any
other known means, the 1-36th part of the sta yard; ora
centimetre corresponding equally well with the 1-10o0th of the
standard metre; or some other equally determined unit, which
should be officially recognized as authority for all who desire the
greatest attainable accuracy. If so accurate a subdivision exists
ong the national standards at Washington, it might be verified
_by the committee, and arrangements sought from those having it-

1879. | Microscopy. 339

in'charge by which it could be made practically useful to the
microscopists of the country. If such a standard does not exist,
one should be made; or if it is not within the power of our pres-
ent art to give results in which the microscope cannot find a fault,
then the end could be attained, measurably well, by selecting a
standard as perfect as era and attaching to it a statement of
its carefully determined erro

his standard, if it be salar to call it a standard at all, should
be selected by, or made for, the committee, should be the e prop-
erty of the nation, and should have no mercaitile relations what-
ever. By means of a limited number of very carefully verified
copies, which could also be used as a means of reconstruction in
case of accidental destruction of the original, it could be rendered
available to all persons who make or use micrometers. The
cheapest commercial scales, even, could without increase of price
be accompanied by a statement as to how closely the work of the
screw which ruled them has been found to correspond with the
standard; and all plates claiming a high degree of accuracy
could be carefully compared, space for space, and accompanied by
a statement of the ascertained error of each individual space.
Persons of really scientific training would gladly incur the extra

some cases, receive additional value by a note, added in later edi-
tions, stating how nearly the apparatus used by the author has
been ‘found to correspond with the standard afterwards adopted.

Of course this standard would deserve the name only in a limi-
ted sense, and not in the same sense as the standard yard in Lon-
don and the standard metre in Paris; but it would be an offi-
cially recognized representative of some unit practicable in micro-
scopy, and it might be made to add greatly to the uniformity and
value of our work.

The ate of which the standard should be made, the form
it should take, the manner in which the spaces should be sete
cated, the temperature at which it should be standard, and t
manner in which it should be made available to the public, at ex in
which its safety could be best secured, could only be determined
after careful consideration of the world’s recent experience in re-
Spect to the care and use of precise ea of length. Te has

controlled, the adoption of a screw, however accurate it might be,
would be ‘likely to result in the ‘dissemination of a number of
tuled plates possessing equal authority as standards, but differing
measurably from each other, Whether the micrometric stand
should be taken from our national standard, at Washington,

340 Scientific News. [ May,

which is itself a copy, or from the world’s standard in Europe,
and whether cooperation with other countries is feasible in this
work, are important questions for consideration.

Whether the standard secured should be a fraction of the

ascertain how generally each system is used by the workers of
the country, and how freely those workers would be willing to
adopt the new system by general agreement. Whichever system
is adopted, many micrascopists would be glad to have a conveni-
ent unit in the other system, verified by comparison; a standard cen-
timetre divided into one hundred parts, for instance, being accom-
panied by an inch similarly divided and having, microscopically,
the same relation to it that it has mathematically. is method,
of possessing a practical standard in each system while technically
improper, would be a convenience, and would give a great im-
provement in our micrometry. or would the objection that it
might hinder the universal adoption of the scientific (metric)
system be a serious difficulty to my mind. The adoption and
rejection of systems is a matter of evolution, not artifice, and the
world will move at a rate that depends upon its average interests,
without being much affected by special efforts to advance or
retard its progress.

:0:
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The President nominated Clarence King for the directorship
of the U. S. Geological Survey recently created by act of Con-
gress, and the newspapers state that the Senate has confirmed the
appointment. Of Mr. King’s merits as a geologist we need not
speak, as the Report of the Survey of the Fortieth parallel is an
enduring monument to his ability. We shall hope that the fullest
measure of success may attend the new Bureau and its distin-
guished director.

cal map of the United States,

— Prof. George B. Wood, president of the American Philo-
sophical Society, and formerly professor of the Institutes of Medi-
cine in the University of Pennsylvania, recently deceased at the
age of eighty-two years. He is well known as the author of
Wood and Bache’s Dispensatory, the standard work on the sub-
ject in this country. He left important legacies to the University

1879. | Scientific News. 341

of Pennsylvania, including an endowment for several chairs in
connection with the medical department ; to the American Philo-
sophical Society, etc.

— Prof. Samuel T. Sadtler ie recently rst elected to the
chair of chemistry in the Department of Arts of the University
of Pennsylvania. Prof. Sadtler is a native of Pennsylvania, and
is well known as an expert in the analyses of mineral oils, etc.

— The Buenos Ayrean collection of vertebrate fossils, exhib-
ited at the Paris Exposition arrived at Philadelphia by the Indiana.
It is to be exhibited in the biological department of the Perma-
nent Exposition.

— B. Waterhouse Hawkins has been lecturing on vertebrate
paleontology, in London, this winter.

— It appears by a paper communicated to the Geographical
Society of Paris, by M. Jules Garnier, that in the island of New
Caledonia the usual vegetable productions of the tropics grow
well on the island, but excepting coffee and tobacco they were
subject to periodical destruction by invasions of grasshoppers.

— We have received the Constitution and Record of Organi-
zation of the State Natural History Society of Illinois, with a list
of original members, which number fifty-two. This i is one of the
most active scientific organizations of the West.

— In the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of London,
lately received Mr. T. J. Parker publishes a note confirmatory of
Prof. Moebius’ account of the stridulating organs of the spiny
lobster (Falinurus vulgaris). The noise or gece is almost
equally audible in water and air. Moebius compared it to the
sound produced by pressing the upper jasht of a boot against
a table leg.

studied from an examination of parasitic and blind animals, as
showing the influence of a SEY in the environment on the
structure of the anim

— Ata recent ee of the London ipl aie
the Rev. A. Eaton exhibited a piece of “ Kun
Lake Nyassa district, where, according to Livingstone ane sae
it is used extensively as food by the natives, who manufacture it
from large quantities of a minute insect, conjectured to be a
species of Ephemeride. From an exhaustive examination, poder:
r. Eaton found it to be a minute representative of the Culici-
dz, or mosquito family, probably belonging to the genus Core-
thra. In connection with the subject of insect-food as on by

342 . Scientific News. [ May,

man, Mr. Distant remarked that he had learned from Mr. Chennell
that Erthesina fullo,a very common eastern hemipterous insect
was largely eaten by the Naga Hill tribes of North-eastern India.
Mr. Meldola remarked that chitine, which comprised the crust of
insects had been shown by analysis to contain about six per cent.
of nitrogen, and as reg gards phosphates, Mr. Wm. Cole had burned
some insects and found phosphoric acid in the ash

— A laborious work, redounding to the credit oF both parties,
is Mr. Samuel Henshaw’s list of the entomological writings of
John L. LeConte. It forms a pamphlet of eleven pages, edited
by George Dimmock, and is No. 1 of Dimmock’s Special Bibli-
ographies. Dr. LeConte has thus far published 250 papers and
works. We hope to record the publication of many more from
his pen. The second number comprises the entomological writings
of George H. Horn, compiled by Samuel Henshaw, edite
George Dimmock. ‘The titles number 80. The third part is in
vate maeaeds giving a list of the writings of Samuel Hubbard
Scudder; compiled and edited by George Dimmock. - Mr. Scud-
der’s pains number over 250 titles. These have, or will appear
in the Advertiser of Psyche, the organ of the Psyche Entomologi-
cal Club, Cambridge. These bibliographies are done with unex-
ampled faithfulness and care, and can be purchased of the editors
of Psyche, Cambridge, Mass. This journal desires and needs
more subscribers. The subscription is $1.00 a year. It is doing
a good work for the progress of entomology in this country, an
contains matter of much general interest; the bibliographical
portion being a valuable feature. We would only make one criti-
cism, 7. e., in the use of lower case initial letters of names of
genera and higher groups; this is an innovation which we should
not desire to see followe

— The fourth volume of the Transactions of the Wisconsin
Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, just received, among a
number of comparatively worthless papers, contains besides Prof.
Birge’s notes on Cladocera, already noticed in this journal, a paper
by Dr. E. Andrews on discoveries illustrating the literature and
religion of the Mound-builders. Dr. P. R. Hoy contributes two
papers entitled, How did the Aborigines of this country fabricate
copper implements ? and Why are there no upper incisors in the
Ruminantia? Dr. J. N. de Hart writes on the antiquities and
age ip sinc of the Mound-builders of Wisconsin, while Prof.

C. Chamberlain publishes an essay on the extent ‘and signifi-
cance of the Wisconsin kettle moraine.

— At its last session Congress appropriated $10,000 for the
completion of the investigation of the Rocky Mountain locust
by the United States Entomological Commission. The wor
during the coming season will be carried on in Colorado and the
Western Territories, particularly Utah and Eastern Idaho, where

the locust abounds each summer, doing í more or less ‘dama mage.

1870. | | Scientific News. | 343

Parties will also be sent into Montana, the main breeding place
of the destructive swarms periodically visiting the Western Mis-
sissippi States. -

— The cryptogamous division of the Herbarium of the Boston
Society of Natural History has been enriched by the discovery
of a valuable collection of lichens. This was formerly the lichen-
herbarium of Dr. Thomas Taylor, an Irish botanist, to whom Sir
W. J. and Sir Joseph Hooker communicated the whole of their

expeditions. Dr. Taylor published descriptions of these plants
in the London Journal of Botany, 1844-46, and many of the speci-
mens are the originals of the descriptions. In 1850, Mr. John A.
Lowell purchased the collection from Dr. Taylor's heirs, and it
formed a part of the herbarium subsequently presented by him
to the Society. The knowledge of the structure of lichens has
been greatly advanced since Dr. Taylor’s day, by the use of the
microscope, and the nomenclature has undergone extensive
changes. This herbarium, though consisting of over a thousand
Species, might have remained comparatively useless to the Ameri-

country could have done, and has given it an authentic value
otherwise unattainable.

— The French Academy of Science has elected M. Marey,
Professor of Animal Mechanics in the College de France, to M.
Claude Bernard’s vacant chair. :

—In a recent report to Parliament, it seems that last year
21,682 fatal cases from the attacks of wild animals had occurred
in ten provinces of India, the largest number being in Bengal,
namely, 10,062. The deaths from snake bites alone in the Pun-
jaub last year, were 828 against 979 in the preceding year.

— As our readers are aware, the three great geological surveys
under Hayden, Powell and Lt. Wheeler are, by Act of Congress, to
be discontinued after the 30th of June, and to be replaced by a new
U. S. Geological Survey in charge of Mr. Clarence King, late
geologist of the Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. It was as far as
we are aware the original understanding when the matter was re-
ferred by Congress to the National Academy of Sciences to sim-
ply consolidate the existing geological surveys, but the report of
the Committee was so worded that these surveys were abolished

VOL. XII1.—NO, Vv. 24

344 Scientific News. [May,

It is greatly to be regretted that the work is in the future appar-
ently to be conducted on so narrow and limited a scale, for which
the scientific world may thank the two or three naturalists who
have been conspicuous in shaping legislation in this whole mat-
ter. It has even been strongly intimated that hereafter no zoölogy
and botany is to. be connected with the future geological work.
This is to be deprecated by biologists throughout the country,
who are probably unaware how much has been done to influence
those in authority at Washington, and to prejudice them against
giving national aid to these sciences. ill this is a new feature in
the history of science in this country, and has been, we are led to
believe, the result of narrow, local private jealousies, rather than
from any generous, catholic, scientific spirit. Since the time of
Lewis and Clark’s Expedition, naturalists have been sent out with
the national scientific expeditions, at little expense to the general
government; with nearly all surveying parties, topographical and
geological; the reports of the naturalists of the U. S. Exploring
Expedition, of the Pacific Railway Surveys, of the naturalists who |
have prepared the botanical and zodlogical reports of Hayden’s
Survey, have added immensely to the prestige of American biologi-
cal science; it has been done at little extra expense, most of the
cost of printing not having been paid for out of the funds appro-
priated for the surveys themselves. No richer results in biology
and paleontology and physical geology combined have been elic-
ited in this country than the researches carried on by Pourtales,

legislators and those in authority at Washington, with singular
inconsistency, by certain of those who have and are even now en-
joying the results of the biological work thus inexpensively
carried on with the U. S. Coast Survey, that no zodlogy or bot-
any should be connected with the geological surveys !
From the very fact that the largest, best known survey in this
country and in Europe, one which more than any other survey in
this country, unless we except the New York State Survey, has
won the warmest sympathy and interest from the leading geol-

Academy, Congress would vote still larger supplies, and have the
= work done in a liberal, broad, comprehensive spirit consistent with

1879. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies, 345

the magnitude of the interests involved, and especially that no
grave injustice would be done in selecting those who should have
charge of the work. There was room for the employment of all

o were engaged in the work now going on, and we firmly
believe that had Prof. Henry, the lamented promoter of Amer-
ican science in its broadest spirit, presided over the councils of the
National Academy, the result would have been far different.

Mr. King has our congratulations and best wishes, and we trust
he will liberally construe the recent Act of Congress, and con-
duct the surveys to be under his charge in the liberal spirit already
shown in the series of elaborate reports of the Fortieth Parallel,
one of the most expensive of which treats of the botany of the
Survey.— A. S. Packard, Fr.

:0:
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 22.—President Ruschenberger in the Chair.
Mr. Meehan called attention to some specimens of Solidago odora,
which was used in some parts of Pennsylvania as tea. Mr. Ash-
burner exhibited some charts intended to illustrate the geological
faults in Jack’s mountain, Pa. Mr. Potts exhibited some silk-
worm cocoons in which the skin cast off from the trachea within
was shown, and also that two worms spun a single cocoon in
co-partnership. Mr. John Ford exhibited an oyster, the shell of
which was almost destroyed by the common boring sponge.

Jan. 28.—The President in the Chair. A paper entitled, Fur-
ther Notes on the Mechanical Genesis of Tooth-forms, by John
A. Ryder. Dr, Leidy exhibited a mass of worms from Cecil
county, Md., supposed to be Gordius robustus, also the liver of a
rat much infested with Cysticercus.

Feb. 4.—The President in the Chair. Dr. Leidy described the
fossil jaws and teeth of a deer from Muscatine, lowa, for which
he proposed the name Cervus muscatinensis. Dr. H. C. Chap-
man made a communication on the chimpanzee which recently
died at the Zodlogical Garden, arriving at the conclusion, and
agreeing with Prof. Owen, that the cerebrum did not fully cover
the cerebellum, as held by Huxley and others. Detailed com-
parisons were also made in regard to the arrangement of the
muscles,

Mıppresex Scientific Fietp Crus, Malden, Mass., organized
March, 1878.—The Club held its first annual meeting March 5,
1879, and elected the following officers: President, Henry L.
Moody ; vice-presidents, Rev. Geo. P. Huntington, Frank S.
Collins, Mrs. P. D. Richards; corresponding secretary, Geo. E.
Davenport ; recording secretary and treasurer, F. W. Morandi ;
custodian, Miss Hattie Silvester; Exec. Com., L. L. Dame, Geo.
E. Davenport, Mrs. Annie U. Moody, Miss Martha Silvester, F.
W. Morandi.

346 Selected Articles in Scientific Serials. [May, 1879.

The Club propose to investigate, and, if possible, establish a
museum illustrating the natural history of Middlesex county.

For this purpose special departments in the different branches
of natural science have been organized, under the direction of the
Executive committee, and the botanical department has been
divided wA atoegs for the better prosecution of that portion
of the Club’s work.

Mr. ‘seat vain by Mr. Huntington and Mr. Roscoe Fro-
hoch, will have charge of the Phanogamous sections, Mr. Daven-
port of the vascular Cryptogams, and Mr. Collins of the Alge.

The entomological department will be in charge of Mr. Moody,
and the ornithological. department conducted by Mr. Wm. B.
Gibbs. Communication with the Club may be had by addressing
the corresponding secretary, at Medford, Mass.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, March 1
Julien gave an account of simple devices in determinative lith-
ology, and Prof. T. Egleston read a paper on pre-historic mining.
at Lake Superior.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, New York, April 8—Mr.
William I. Marshall read a paper on the Yellowstone National
Park, with a description of the wonders of that region

APPALACHIAN MounTAin Civs, Boston, April Gahe Coun-
cillors presented their spring reports, and a paper was read by
Prof. F. W. Clarke, entitled a trip to North Carolina, describing
the mountains of that State.

April 16.—Mr. Justin Winsor delivered an ges ess lecture
on the earliest maps, of the American contine

Boston Society ÓF NATURAL HISTORY, April 2.—Rev.
Wright made a communication on the medial and terminal
moraines of New England. Mr. Warren Pewee read a paper on
the glacial drift in Boston: and vicinity, and Dr. C. S..Minot
remarked on histological differentiation.

10:
SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

SIEBOLD AND KOLLIKER’s ZEITSCHRIFT FUR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE
ZooLoGig.—March 13. The Anatomy of Amblystoma_ weis-
manni, by R. Wiedersheim. On pelagic Annelidans from the
shores of the Ergin panis by R. Greef. The motions of our
land snails, by H. S

AMERICAN ka i OF SCIENCE AND ARrTS.——The Vertebræ of
recent birds, by O. C. Marsh. The lower jaw of Loxolophodon,
by. H. E Osborn and F. Speir, Jr. Notice of recent additions to
the paring fauna of the eastern coast of North America, by A.
E: Verr

THE E NATURALI ist.—March 22. Remarks on recent

~ papers on the geology of Nova Scotia, by J. W. eh Notes

x ‘oe the ED of British Columbia, by G. M. Dawso

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xur. — FUNE, 1879. — No. 6.

PROF. HARTT ON THE BRAZILIAN SANDSTONE

BY RICHARD RATHBUN.

HE sea-coast of Brazil, from the mouth of the Amazonas to
near Victoria, is generally low and of quite uniform character,
being everywhere faced with broad, open beaches of sand that
extend for miles and miles without interruption. A less inviting
region than this to the explorer can scarcely be imagined, and it
stands in marked contrast with the more tempting inland districts,
especially those in the Amazonian valley, which have always
caused Brazil to be considered a sort of naturalists’ paradise. It
was little suspected, until a few years ago, that this unattractive
ceast harbored very extensive and curious coral reefs, and dis-
played, in connection with its beaches, interesting phenomena
whose true character had been entirely misunderstood.

Some of the earlier writers on Brazil endeavored to describe
this region, relying either on their own imperfect observations, or
on what others had seen, and adding, apparently, here and there,
numerous details, the products of their own fertile brains, per-
haps, to smooth over and complete the sketch.

These very inaccurate accounts gave credence to the existence —
of a long bar or reef of stone, bordering the entire-coast from
north of Cape St. Roque to the southward of Bahia. Piso, in
his work published in 1648, described this reef, and he has been
copied over and over again by nearly every author who has
written on. this subject since his time, no one ever having
taken the trouble to test the accuracy of his statements. Even
Staff-Commander Penn, in the “ South American Coast Pilot,”

VOL, XII1.—no, VI. 25

348 Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. — [June,

treats of “the recife, a singular ridge of coral rock,” bordering
the coast, at a distance from it of about half a mile to three miles
or more, and extending from the north-east part of Brazil to south
of Bahia. According to his accounts, the reef is about sixteen
feet broad at the top, forming a natural breakwater, with smooth
and shallow water inside, affording a channel for coasters. “It is
broken occasionally, and forms, by the openings, entrances to the
greater part of the ports, rivers and creeks on the coast.
_ Gardner describes the mythical reef in nearly the same terms,
and there can be no doubting the fact that these two writers have
reproduced Piso’s old description, with many additional details
thrown in gratuitously.

It is needless to state that these accounts of a continuous reef
were without foundation, but they served, more or less, to mould
the world’s ideas of the character of that coast up to the time
when the late Prof. Ch. Fred. Hartt published the results of his
careful and painstaking explorations of that region. Whether
this observer was the first to rightly interpret the structure of the
Central Brazilian coast or not, he, at least, has given the only
extended and intelligible account of it. He has shown that
although stone reefs occur at many localities, they are far from
being universal, or even continuous over any great distance.

Quite distinct from these are a series of coral reefs, often lying
near the shore, but much more developed farther out, rising up-
ward from the surface of the submerged border of the conti-
nent.

As a member of the Thayer Expedition in 1865, Prof. Hartt
examined two quite perfect stone reefs, at Porto Seguro and
Santa Cruz, in the province of Bahia, and at several places in the
province of Espirito Santo he also found traces of the same
structure, lying near the beach, however, and not forming true
reefs. On his second trip, in 1867, he was able to study the
larger and more perfect stone reef of Pernambuco, and to detect
a similar formation on the beaches about Bahia. A full state-
ment of these investigations, and of his theory of the origin of
the reefs, is given in his “Geology and Physical Geography of
Brazil,” published in 1870. Darwin, who touched at Pernambuco
on his memorable voyage, arrived at nearly the same conclusions

regarding the mode of formation of the reef at that place, as did
Prof. Hartt, but his description of it is very brief.

1879.] Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. 349

Immediately upon the organization of the Geological Commis-
sion of Brazil, in 1875, under the leadership of Prof. Hartt, active
field operations were commenced in the province of Pernambuco,
and another opportunity was thus afforded the late chief to exam-
ine that most noted of all these natural breakwaters, With the
larger force and more perfect appliances now at his command, he
proceeded to carefully map out the reef and its surroundings, and
to study in detail every feature connected with it. This extended
investigation did not materially alter his previously-formed ideas
as to the true character and mode of growth of the reef, but there
were added many facts not before observed.

Other stone reefs, at Cape Sto-Agostinho, Parahyba do Norte,
etc., were explored by the Commission, and the conclusions
arrived at, after comparing the results of all these studies, are of
great interest and importance, demonstrating that on the coast of
_ Brazil conditions obtain for the united working of a set of simple
forces which, apparently, are not perfectly combined, at least with
the same results, in any other part of the world. As we can best
understand these phenomena after becoming acquainted with the
structure and appearance of a single reef, we will first describe
the one at Pernambuco, partly in the very words of Prof. Hartt,
and then discuss the subject as a whole.

Just to the south of the city of Pernambuco, a little river
breaks through the land, and would open directly into the sea
were it not that a narrow wall of stone, running in a general way
parallel to the shore, carries its course some distance farther
north, to beyond the limits of the city. Another small river, near
its mouth flowing parallel with the sea, and separated from it by
only a narrow strip of land, runs through the city of Pernam-
buco, and opens also behind the reef.

There is thus formed a small and very shallow bay, which is con-
tinued northward past the city, as a rather narrow channel, having
a width of only a hundred rods or less, and a depth of but a few
fathoms. The outlet to this channel is close to the northern end
of the reef, and is so shallow as to admit only coasting steamers
and vessels of ordinary draught. It is, however, the protecting
reef and not the narrow harbor that interests us now.

Standing upon some prominent point near the shore, in Per-
nambuco, we can plainly trace this narrow strip of stone from
its commencement, about opposite the ancient fortaleza do Brum,

350 Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. June,

situated to the north of the city, to the Ilha dos Pinhos, at the
south. Its course is south, a few degrees west, and it runs in
_ anearly straight and unbroken line to near the latter place, where,
however, it is cut through so as to afford a passage-way for smail
boats and jangadas. From this point to its southern end it is
much broken up and generally irregular.

But to examine it the more closely we must land upon it at
low tide, and walk along its nearly level surface, stopping at times
to investigate any unusual appearance that may attract our
attention.

The reef rock is a sandstone, of a light brownish tint when
wet by the waves, and is formed of siliceous sand and rounded
pebbles, mingled with which are many perfect and broken shells,
all firmly cemented together by carbonate of lime. The most
abundant shell in the sandstone is a species of Venus, still very
common on the neighboring shores, and preserving in the rock
its natural colors. 2

At its northern end the reef is very narrow and has, apparently,
been much undermined and worn by the waves, for it is lower
here than to the south, and the sandstone lies in immense blocks,
inclined toward the sea. To increase its height and better pro-
tect the harbor at this place, an artificial wall, partly of brick and
mortar, partly of reef stone clamped together, has been con-
structed. That the reef formerly extended much farther north-
ward is evident from the existence of an isolated mass of reef
rock just off the northern end, and of a stretch of submerged
reef beyond the channel. Upon the extreme point of the reef
stands the Pernambuco light-house, and a short distance from it
is a little old octagonal fort, called Picao, built of reef stone, and
occupying the entire width of the reef.

Following southward, the reef becomes broader and more level
on top, but is still very irregular at the sides. In front of the
city it has an average width of about two hundred and fifty feet,
and a height equal to about that of high tide, though on account
of the great commotion made by the waves at such times, it is
impossible to exactly determine this fact. As to the thickness of
the reef, it must reach down to below the level of low tide,
because the rock is never entirely uncovered by the water.

The highest part of the reef forms a broad belt of varying —

width, whose axis ‘lies a little to the inside of that of the reef.

1879. | Prof. Harit on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. : 351

From this belt the surface slopes more or less strongly on both
sides, but presents quite different characters, resulting from
differences in exposure. The outer side of the reef has become
very irregular from the constant beating of the surf, and is pierced
with innumerable cavities of sea-urchins and thickly overgrown
with sea-weeds and calcareous incrustations. The inner side,
after a more or less rapid landward slope, breaks down abruptly
and irregularly, and often presents an overhanging edge.

e reef is cut up into large blocks by joints or cracks, which,
though quite variable in their courses, may be reduced to two
general series, one parallel to the axis of the reef, the other trans-
verse to it; but many run obliquely or radiate from a common
center, as though the reef at that point had settled down upon a
hard underlying spot; sometimes. they form a tangled maze.
These joints are vertical or highly inclined, and the angular
masses resulting from them are likely to be detached, on the
outer side of the reef by the force of the waves, and on the inner
side by the undermining action of the currents in the harbor. In
this manner the margins of the reef have been made very jagged,
the outer being the most irregular. On the upper surface of the
reef, where there has been no dislocation, the joints tend to widen
by the action of the surf and by chemical decomposition. There
are thus formed open passages, a foot to a yard or more in width,
and with a considerable depth of water. In these we always find
a rich collection of marine animals, corals and other polyps pre-
dominating.

Now let us inspect more de the character of the surface,
and the many foreign objects living or growing upon it, which
tend either to protect it from wear, or to gradually and surely
effect its destruction. As stated above, sea-urchins are burrowing
into its outer edge. There is only a single species on the Brazilian
Coast that is able to excavate in the solid rock; it is the Achino-
metra subangularis, everywhere abundant, and possessed of stout,
sharply-pointed spines. On abrupt slopes of the reef, this dili-
gent worker forms rounded holes, having only a slight depth, but —
where the slope is gradual, the holes are much longer, running
either directly inwards, or in a more or less winding way, being
Sometimes curved or bent upon themselves. They have often a —

length of four or Ave feet, and a width of three or four inches, the

urchin apparently occupying the lower end of the see
holes.

352 Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. — [June,

Whether the process by which the boring is accomplished, in
this special case, is chemical or mechanical, it is very certain that
this sea-urchin is able to resort to the latter means at times, for
its excavations are common in the trap and gneiss rocks of many
parts of the coast.

The sea-urchin holes, enlarged by the action of the surf, give
rise to cavities and irregular pools on the surface of the reef, and
these are deepened and widened by the dissolving action of the
water left stagnant in them at low tide. But nullipores, barnacles
and tube-building worms also live upon the surface, in immense
numbers, and construct a very hard and durable substance which,
to a certain extent, compensates for the loss of material caused
by the sea-urchins. The barnacles and worms build up little
walls of limestone around the mouths of the holes and between
them, keeping them for a time more or less separated and’ per-
fect; but these walls are being constantly broken away, to-
gether with much of the surrounding material, resulting in the
formation, over most of the outer slope of the surface, of a mul-
titude of irregular, shallow pools, whose edges are protected by
the same growth of barnacles and worm tubes. Many project-
ing masses, also capped with the hard limestone coating, are left
standing in the pools, and wearing most rapidly below, they pro-
duce mushroom-like structures, which are very characteristic of
the outer surface. They reach to the same height as the margins
of the pools.

Ordinary sea-weeds grow luxuriantly on the outer edge of the
reef, but they are of slight importance compared with the calca-"
reous nullipores, which live in the full face of the surf and form,
over large areas, a crust of a foot or more in thickness. Thus
the barnacles, worm-tubes and nullipores combined, aid very
materially in protecting the reef from wear, but the good they
do is more than counterbalanced by the harmful action of the
waves and sea-urchins, and, unless the latter are in some way
exterminated, they will eventually work much mischief to the
harbor of Pernambuco.

The inner slope of the surface of the reef differs from the
outer, in not possessing those features which result from the
actions of the sea-urchins, and also in being without the nullipore
crust. It is generally characterized by a series of shallow basins,
lying one below the other along the slope, the rim of each being

1879.] Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. 353

protected by barnacles or worm-tubes. These basins are some-
times several feet in diameter and a foot or more deep, and are
often very irregular. Prof. Hartt has compared them in appear-
ance to the basins formed by the hot springs of the Yellowstone
valley; but while the latter have been formed by deposition, the
former result from wear.

Having now finished our rather detailed study of the reef
where it is most perfect, we must proceed farther south and see
how it terminates. Nearly opposite the mouth of the river
described in the first part of this paper, we find a small channel
running underneath the sandstone of the reef, and through this
there is a constant movement of water. At the sides large
blocks have been dislodged, and, tumbling down, have reduced
the width of the upper surface to about thirty or thirty-five feet.
It thus becomes evident, as has been otherwise proven, that the
sandstone reef rests on a very insecure foundation of soft mate-
rial, which the water has washed out in places, forming covered
passage-ways through which there is a strong current, varying in
direction according to the time of the tide. Engineers, in boring
through the rock, came to loose sand underneath, demonstrating
that the structure we are dealing with is only the consolidated
capping of a long bar of sand.

To the south of the channel just described, the reef has been
much excavated, not only by the waves but by quarrying; this
unwarranted destruction of the only object that gives to Pernam-
buco its prominence as a commercial city has, however, been
stopped, and a breakwater has been constructed at this point,
but it is now much out of repair. Around the Ilha dos Pinhos
the reef curves slightly outwards, and then, bending westward,
approaches gradually to the shore, which it skirts for some dis-
tance as a narrow line of rocks, almost lying upon the beach.
Another small reef begins to the south, and running obliquely,
finally joins the beach.

This closes our imperfect description of the reef as it appears
at low water; at high tide, on account of the shallow water with-
out, it is played upon by a very heavy surf, which sometimes
‘rolls completely over it, and wave after wave, rising above the
outer edge, bursts high into air on striking the artificial wall at
the north. During spring tides the water is much agitated within
the reef, but not enough to endanger the shipping.

354 Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. — [June,

As a result of his careful study of the Pernambuco reef, and of
many others of similar character, some of which we will men-
tion farther on, Prof. Hartt has given us the following conclu-
sions regarding the mode of formation of this class of structures:

It is very evident that they are not the out-cropping edges of
beds of sandstone, extending out from the shore, as some have
supposed, but only narrow strips of stone of slight thickness,
formed in exactly the same position in which we see them to-
day, that is, just below the level of high tide. They have resulted
from the solidification of beach materials, or sea beaches, by car-
bonate of lime carried into them by the percolating waters. This
action goes on from the level of mean high tide to a variable, but
only slight, distance below low tide mark, and has only -a limited
horizontal extension. By the after encroachment of the sea,
aided by rivers flowing behind them, these consolidated beaches
have often been separated from the main shore as distinct reefs ;
but sometimes this latter action has not taken place, and the har-
dened layer retains its normal position upon the beach,

The agencies concerned in the formation of these hardened
beach deposits are mostly very simple ones, many of which can
be witnessed by any person visiting the sea-shore. The slope of-
a sand-beach varies according to the size and character of the
sand-grains composing it, the exposure of the coast and the
height of the tides. When a wave strikes upon a beach it rushes
up the slope in a sheet of foam, carrying with it a quantity of
sand. As it returns the sand is spread out over the surface ina
thin layer. In this manner a regular lamination, dipping at a -
more or less even angle, is produced in the material composing
the beach. But this regularity is often ‘much disturbed by.
storms, when the beach may be broken into by the waves and
much of its material redeposited at quite different angles.

If the land back of the shore be very low, the beach may form
a simple narrow ridge, over which the waves completely break at
high water, carrying and depositing sand on the inner side of the
beach, where the dip of the laminz will of course be landward.
Ordinarily, however, a ridge of sand is formed behind the sea-
beach, above the reach of the tides, being partly due to the
action of the surf during storms, but mostly to the winds. Suc
a beach-ridge as this accompanies most of the Brazilian beaches,
= which latter, on account of the exposed character of the coast,
=~ are formed of quite clean sand, consisting mainly of rounded

*

[3
1879.) Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. 355

siliceous grains, with broken or perfect shells and finer calcareous
particles, derived from shells, corals, stony sea-weeds, etc.

The action of the tides is not limited to the surface of the
beach, but this, from its porous character, absorbs a certain
amount of the water. At low tide the beach just below high
tide level is wet but not soaked with water; going downwards,
however, we find the beach becoming gradually wetter and wetter
until it is completely saturated, producing little rills which run
down the surface. With the rise of the tide the level of com-
plete saturation also rises, and when the tide is high the upper
part of the beach, for some distance above high tide mark, is com-
pletely charged with water, thrown upon it by the waves. A
constant movement of water is thus produced in the interior of a
beach, but on account of the friction against the grains of sand,
this movement can only extend over a comparatively slight
width, at least in the upper portions of the beach, which are
under the water for only a few hours each day.

Now sea-water, in many parts of the world, and especially
within the tropics, is very highly impregnated with bi-carbonate
of lime, and this solution, from evaporation or other causes may
deposit its lime in the form of a carbonate, which acts as a cement.
Where evaporation goes on over a beach wet with sea-water of
_ this character, the surface materials may become consolidated, as
occurs at the Abrolhos islands, on the coast of Brazil, and else-
where. Not only, however, may the upper sands be soldered to-
gether, but the hardening may even go on below the level of the sea.

On the Brazilian coast, the surfaces of the beaches are seldom
hardened during the ebbing of the tide ; but under the hot tropi-
cal sun and strong prevailing winds, there must be, in the upper
part of the beaches, a concentration of the calcareous solution,
which, on sinking downwards to the level of complete saturation,
tends to deposit its carbonate of lime as a cement, uniting the
grains of sand. The water from rains, percolating through the
beaches, may also bring lime, arising from the dissolving of
shells and corals in the upper layers, and lagoons, which frequently
lie back of the beach ridge, may contribute to the same result.
It is evident, however, that the work is mostly done by the sea-
water, and that this agent, under certain conditions, has the power ~
of solidifying sea-beaches to a variable distance inland, and toa
depth varying from about high tide level to a few feet below low
tide level. oe BS es -

356 Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. [June,

If a beach be growing rapidly, or if it is being rapidly worn
away, solidification cannot take place, because it is only overa
stationary shore, that is neither receiving new accumulations of
sand nor parting with its old, that enough time is granted for the
accomplishment of this result. Therefore, consolidated beaches
must be the exception and not the rule on the Brazilian coast,
where the shore is undergoing much change nearly everywhere,
and as sandstone reefs seem to be confined to that single country,
it must be that there alone are the proper conditions attained for
their formation. The hardening appears to extend from the outer
side of the beach inwards, and from below upwards, as new reefs
usually lie on the lower and outer part of the beach; the younger
reefs are also softer in texture than the older, more-finished ones.

It is probable that many of the ordinary Brazilian beaches are
solidified below the surface, but until something happens to
uncover them, it is impossible to determine the fact. Reefs in
process of formation are to be seen on the coasts of both Per-
nambuco and Bahia, and at Porto Seguro; in the latter province,
there is a double reef, the outer one being the wreck of an‘unfin-
ished structure, the inner still undergoing solidification.

Prof. Hartt was led to believe, from his earlier studies of the
Brazilian stone reefs, that a slight elevation of the land was `
necessary to account for their present position; but his later
studies proved to him that such an hypothesis was wholly
uncalled for, and that none of the reefs reach above high tide
level, or at the most above the level to which a beach is saturated
with water at high tide.

Statements have been published that a certain amount of
upheaval must have occurred to produce the supposed strong
seaward dip of the laminz of the sandstone; but nowhere,
excepting on edges where blocks have been undermined and
tilted up, is the inclination greater than might obtain on a sand-

ach. To suppose an upheaval to have effected these narrow
lines of reef, tilting the strata evenly in one direction, and no part
of the neighboring coast, is a geological absurdity. The reefs
follow the general trend of the shore, and are more or less
curved, but.generally straighter than the beaches immediately
back of them.

Having shown that the curious reef at Pernambuco, which for
many years was a complete puzzle to explorers, has been formed
tee the agency of very Anite forces, in part working upon

1879.] Prof. Hartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. 357

every sand-beach in the world, we will hastily glance at the other
evidences of the same phenomena on the Brazilian coast.

The northern-most consolidated beach examined by the Geo-
logical Commission, is near the mouth of the Rio Parahyba do
Norte, where, to the south of a fringing coral reef, there are traces
of a short and imperfect stone reef lying upon the shore. Stone
reefs have, however, been recorded from north of this point by
other observers, but they have never been described ; one is situ-
ted at the mouth of a small river, about eighteen miles north of
the Parahyba do Norte, and another lies in front of the Rio
Potengy, in the province of Rio Grande do Norte.

Directly to the south of Cape Sto. Agostinho, in Pernambuco,
is the most perfect stone reef discovered; it is almost absolutely
straight, its northern end being separated from the cape. by only
a narrow break or bar, encumbered by loose blocks of reef rock.
The land back of the reef, being very low, has been swept deeply
away, forming a broad and very shallow bay. The inner edge of
the reef is honeycombed and as irregular as that of a coral reef,
while the shallow basins of the median and inner portions of the
surface are much developed, forming regularly terraced plateaux.

At Rio Formoso, in the same province, there is another stone
reef, reaching only about three feet above mean low tide, and not
having a great length. The joints dividing the reef-rock are often
filled in with sand, which has sometimes been solidified. On the
island of Santo Aleixo, not far distant from Rio Formoso, is a
small reef of soft texture, lying alongside the beach, and other
imperfect reefs also occur in this vicinity on the main shore.

‘Nowhere near the city of Bahia do we find perfect sandstone
reefs; but at the mouth of the bay of Bahia, close to the light-
house on the outer shore, and on some of the inner shores of the
bay, layers of consolidated material occur, capping the beaches
and at times covering quite extended areas. They are often com-
posed of very coarse materials and contain many shells, and illus-
trate beautifully, in many cases, the irregularities of beach bedding.

On the western side of the same bay, at Porto Santo, there is
a curious example of consolidated beach structure, the only
instance of the elevation of such material of which we are aware.
At this place we find a cliff back of the beach, having a length
of about 1,100 feet, and a greatest height of about thirteen feet,
and composed almost entirely of sand and gravel, cemented by
lime into a sandstone. The lower part of the cliff is very hard

358 Prof. Flartt on the Brazilian Sandstone Reefs. [June,

in texture, and contains numerous fragments of corals and shells,
the latter being frequently found entire. Many of the species of
both exist in abundance throughout the bay. The upper part of
the cliff is of almost pure sand, and has been so incompletely hard-
ened as to crumble readily between the fingers. The amount of
calcareous material in the lower portion is very great, and it is
said to yield a good quality of lime on burning.

Whether this cliff belongs to the same class of structures as
the reefs or not, it is, at least, composed of the same materials,
and must have been formed in about the same way. Its present
elevated position—for high water reaches only slightly above its
base—indicates that the shore has been raised at this point toa
height nearly equaling that of the cliff What gives an increased
interest to this locality is the presence of a low kitchen-midden,
only two or three. feet thick, which overlies the entire cliff. It is
composed of a dark-colored, sandy earth, packed full of the
shells of the edible mollusks of the bay, with a few scattered
bones, and occasionally a human skeleton.

The stone reefs of the southern part of the province of Bahia,
have been very fully described by Prof. Hartt, in the “ Geology
and Physical Geography of Brazil.” The principal ones are those
of Porto Seguro and Santa Cruz, both being similarly situated
and of about the same character. The former is the larger, and,
beginning in front of a small bay formed at the mouth of a river,
runs southward, skirting the shore for a long distance. In gen-
eral structure it is like the Pernambuco reef; the outer edge has
become very jagged, from the undermining and falling down of
blocks. But below the level of low water, the reef-rock extends
seaward a hundred feet or more, forming a very shallow tract,
_ over which one may wade when the tide is out. The inner edge
is much thinner than the outer, being often overhanging, and it
is flanked by a sloping bank of mud. The surface is of very _
uniform height, but quite rough, and interrupted by cracks and
pools, which teem with marine life. From fractures at the end, it
is apparent that the hardening has taken place to a depth of sev-
eral feet below low tide.

At Gaurapary and Barra Secca, in Espirito Santo, and in their
vicinity, are several imperfect reef formations, similar to many
already described; and at the Abrolhos islands, as before stated,
_ the sand and shingle beaches are often septs consolidated by a

a cement.

1879.] Rob: A Bird Biography. 359
ROB: A BIRD BIOGRAPHY.
BY REV. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D.

N the clearer light of these latter days, a higher value has set-
À tled on the so-called small things of nature. To-day the
student thinks he finds in the lower realms of animate beings a
psychology, perhaps also a morality, and a self consciousness,
which he asserts are the “baby figures” of better things that
were ordained to come. It may be that Mrs. Partington spoke
wiser than she knew when she said; “ Human nature is human
nature, if you do find it ina cow.” And though so lowly, how
educable are these emotional and sensitive creatures! Could one
know all about them, perhaps each would be found to have an
interesting biography. Let us attempt to tell the story of a tame
robin, Turdus migratorious. . ;

Rob, for so we shall call him, was taken from a nest on Long
Island. Though passed the callow stage, he was not fairly
fledged. His pap was meal mixed with fresh milk, a point which
he insisted on ever after. He was turned a year old when he
became one of our pets, and very soon he had established him-
self in our affections. He was very exacting of attention—so
demonstrative and familiar. In the very pertness of its humor
the conduct of the bird seemed paradoxical; for though in its way
almost beseeching your notice, it would, on your approach, assume
a repellant attitude, with wings striking and bill snapping. But
to witness the “ high-jinks” of his fury, it was only necessary to
intrude a hand into the cage, keeping the back upwards, and Rob
would seem wild with savage gladness, for he would settle on it
and peck away with his sharp bill at the knuckles as if he were
picking into a big bonanza. Much sentiment is wasted about
keeping birds in confinement. Does it not generally come from
such as are intolerant of pets? “It is a deprivation of natural
freedom.” So thought the horse in the meadow, as he beheld
the ass roaming in the unfenced sand lots. Even birds may have
“hard times.” Yes, I have known the free wild birds to be
starved to death within the sound of a canary’s song. But per-
haps Rob was unsentimental, for it was plain that prison or not
he liked his cage. In it he was at home, and well to do—away from
it he was a-drift and unsettled. The door of the cage was some-
times left open for a little while, a proceeding which usually called

360 Rob: A Bird Biography. [June,

for large consideration on the part of the occupant. At such
times he would look as quizzical as a knowing young barrister:
“ Want to get me out, hey? Ah, but possession is nine-tenths of
the law!” Still, even wise folks may be inquisitive, and Rob was
not above that weakness. He would stand on the door-sill of the
cage and with those pretty hazel eyes take in the outlook. This
done, with a gravity fitting the act he would step in again, and
resume his uppermost seat—the top perch. Sometimes Rob would
come out for a little while.

As a rule, excess of freedom is pretty sure to cause our pets to
come to grief. The real giant grim of the birdies is Grimalkin ;
and he is everywhere. We had got lengthening Rob’s parole
with bad effect on his circumspection. In fact there was a slack-
ing up of the usual bird prudence. One day found him missing.
So Rob had run his parole! No, he had not. The pear tree was
white with bloom, and he thought to enjoy himself in its
branches. Alas, Grimalkin was hidden there, and the catastrophe
was serious. We found the poor bird half dead, with a gory
laceration of the breast. How he got himself out of the mouth
of the carnivore seemed a mystery. But Rob had gone through
life so far on his cheek, and my belief is that his escape was due
to his plucky impudence. In his case the proverb had been
emphatically true: “ Familiarity breeds contempt.” I had often
taken him pettingly into my hands, when, not from terror but
sheer temper, he would bite and scream like a vixen. He seemed
to fear nothing. As for the cat and the dog they were nobodies
whom he saw every day. Now, I have seen the wild robin when
caught by the cat, and the victim was as resistless as a clod, in
sooth, it was paralyzed with terror. With Rob the case, I think,
stood thus: The cat had a hold on his breast with her mouth,
but owing to the smallness of the branch which supported her,
she had to use all her feet to keep her position although needing
the fore ones to help retain her prey, for Rob, though badly
frightened, kept his senses, and doubtless used his wings and bill
to good purpose on the face and eyes of his grim captor, thus
accomplishing his release. It was a long while before the bird
got over that wound, which left an ugly though not dishonorable
scar.

The bird had its own amusements. Is there not an instinct in
whose manifestations our little girls are strangely like the birds?

1879] Rob: A Bird Biography. 361

In their plays how our children anticipate the cares and ways of
motherhood—the nursing and the dressing of the doll, the make-
believe keeping house, etc. A hundred times have I seen cage
birds go through a “ dumb show ” of mimic nesting, fussing with
laborious concern over a feather, or stick, or straw, or hair. I
have seen Rob running about his cage with a bit of straw in his
mouth, and uttering a conceity twitter, as if he were in live
earnest, and saying to a supposable partner in the business:
“ Here, Mrs. Rob, is just the thing you want.”

If one wanted to get Rob ona string, it was enough to give
him, in technical parlance, the proximal end of a bit of grocer’s
cord, reserving to one’s self a hold on the distal end. How per-
severingly the bird would draw the cord into the cage, and with
system too. Seizing it with its bill an inch or two would be
drawn in, and a foot put on it, then a little more pulled in and
held in place in like manner, and so on until the other end was
reached. Now the fun began. Gently the coil was drawn from
under the bird’s foot; this would bother Rob, for though he was
pretty fair on practical reasoning, he could not take a step in the
abstract. With quickened energy he would go the thing all over
again ; and again he would find his labor slipping from under his
feet. This at last would excite a spurt of temper, and the thing
would be given up in disgust.

Owners of cage pets do not always reflect that birds of the
Passerine group are the most delicately organized ; hence they
are often irritable. Coues has well called them fast livers, they
so freely consume oxygen. Rob hada high temper. A trick,
perhaps unwise but really amusing, was sometimes played on the
bird. A bit of rubber or elastic cord was tied to one of the wires
of the cage. Rob would seize it in his bill and pull, though but
an inch long, the bird’s efforts would stretch it to a number of
inches, when just as he was pulling the hardest, it would fly back
again, and Rob, to his dismay, would be set back too, with a
recoil that fairly lifted him off his legs, and over his tail back-
ward. In the matter of experience the bird never learned at the
first lesson, but would keep on meeting the same mishaps, until
badly beaten with his own petard, he would give it up as a

job.

There may not be much dignity in it, but the boy does find
some enjoyment in running backwards and forwards by a picket

362 - Rob: A Bird Biography. [June,

fence, teasing the testy dog which keeps up with him on the other
side. Often Rob had his disposition tried by some one rasping a
finger along the wires of the cage. He would pursue the
obnoxious digit, snapping his bill furiously, as only a bird can do,
By and by would be heard a sharp involuntary “Oh!” telling
that Rob had got in a good point on his tormentor, and thus
closed the game.

Our robin often afforded matter for study and delight in those
expressive attitudes of which birds only are capable, and which
too effectually elude the artist’s pencil. What high-wrought

excitability and poetic expression appear in these movements.
~ What barbaric defiance in the cresting of the crown feathers of
the head, that queer furring up, or puffiness of the cheeks, indi-

cating that the hearing is keyed to a strain; that jaunty setting
of the head, and saucy cocking of the eye, for a bird never looks
so knowing as when he looks sidewise—all this fills a hiatus —
where speech cannot get in. Even the tail adds to the action.
Now comes a decisive chirp. A conclusion has been reached in
the bird mind. Next is a series of rapid chirps, making a whirr
of sound. This is the call-note of his tribe, for he has detected
a turdite in yonder grove, and hark! the call is answered.

But what does Rob know of his clan? Well, some knowledge
he has of inheritance, for there is both with birds and men a
knowledge which cometh not with observation; some of their
ways have come to him by descent. It is now March, and Rob
has the spring fever badly, that migratory phrenzy which has set
the whole tribe moving north. While the spell lasts he is impa-
tient of home, and is as mad asa March hare. Some robins in
that cherry tree have set him fairly wild; and even when there is
neither sight nor. sound of bird, that migratory impulse, that
mystic call to move and mate, keeps the poor bird uneasy.
Happily it does not last many days. By April he does some-
thing better than chirp, for he gets into a strain like the conjugal
song of the robins. Through several days it is so low, soft and
silvery, so tender and sweet; but this over the melody is set on
a higher key, and becomes a volume of exultant rapture. He has
now taken up an octave flute. In his dumpy moods he has been
talked to pettingly so much, that he knows the words like a book:
“Wake up, pretty boy! Wake up! Wake up!” The boys sing
the words, again, and again, Then they whistle them. The bird |

1879. | Rob: A Bird Biography. 363

catches this little snatch of ‘melody, and executes it in a clear
distinct enunciation. This is Rob’s best role. Pity that sweet-
ness should ever cloy, but Rob did give us too much of a good
thing. Through the summer months, an hour before daylight,
on the highest key possible, came that piccolo strain, “Wake up,
pretty boy! Wake up! Wake up!” Bob’s cage was inside the
window-blinds, and by the time the twilight was breaking up,
generally several robins had visited the cherry tree near the house, ,
attracted by the singer whom they could not see.

The prince of the mimics is the mocking-bird. But to some
degree are not all the thrushes mimics. The cat-bird is really
clever in this direction. However I own to a surprise on hearing
that Rob had gone into the mimic art. Whenever our black-and-
tan, Dick, heard his young master whistle an invitation to take a
walk with him, the affectionate brute would almost lose his head
in yelping gladness. It was a beautiful day in June, and Dick
was seen acting as if half dazed, running up and down the yard
looking for his master but unable to find him. Rob had learned
the dog-call, and from. behind the window-blinds was practicing
his new accomplishment. The dog soon saw the trick and slunk
away not a little abashed. We all felt that though funny, it was
really mean of Rob. Our neighbor’s fine hunter was bothered in
the same way. Rob tried his hand on the call used by Madame
to her poultry at feeding-time. The attempt did him no credit,
perhaps for the reason alleged by one.of my sons, that “the
chickens didn’t know enough to get sold.” But with some folks
failures are simply the preludes to success. Our mimic had
grander things in reserve.

Rob’s successful play upon Dick was not his only attempt at —
imposition. On one occasion the good lady of the house being

“up Stairs came running down in great concern, there was such a
- Cry of distress among the young chickens, “ Peep! peep! peep!”
in rapid plaint smote her gentle ear. To reach them she had to
pass Rob’s cage. Here she stopped short, and gave vent to an
outburst of laughing indignation, for it was Rob, the rascally
mocker, who was doing his best to set all the maternal hens at
ears about their babies. Though somewhat perplexed, these
elderly birds were not very*badly taken in. At another effort
Rob achieved a marked success; he imitated the cry of the
mother-hen when the hawk is dvevheadthat low whirring note

VOL. XIII,.—NO, VI, 26

364 Rob: A Bird Biography. [June,

of danger. All was consternation in the barn-yard. Away sped
each callow brood to their own particular mamma, who, though
unable to see any danger in the air, yet supposing the alarm to
come from some watchful mother that did, instantly took her
own charge under her wings. Rob’s mimicries were generally
perfect. In executing some of them he was so loud-voiced as to
be heard a long way off. Persons at quite a distance have been
„attracted by these notes, and have called to see our “ mocking-
bird,” and been much surprised to learn that it was “only a robin.”

The senses of birds must be very acute. I would instance
in Rob’s case that of scent. He was extravagantly fond of fresh
beef, and though in a different room, could tell the arrival of the
butcher’s boy in the kitchen, when he would scream with impa-
tience. Little strips of raw beef were fed him. If when receiving
one morsel he saw ancther in the fingers of his mistress, he would
drop it on the floor of his cage and wait for the next bit with
nervous impatience; and so would he do until he had secured all
that his sharp eyes saw, which done, he ate these delicacies in a
perfectly orderly way. How unlike a dog which swallows as fast
as he can the meat given it. But Rob was particular, the meat.
so providently put ‘on the floor of his cage was thus rendered
dirty ; the knowing bird would take it piece by piece and wash it
in his water tub. This conduct showed the nearest approach to
abstract reasoning that I ever saw the bird make. Many of the
birds like this condiment of leisure with their food. How often
have I seen a fowl pick up a grain of corn, then drop it and look
at it, then pick it up, drop and inspect again several times, then
swallow it, and all with no other logic in the matter that I could
see, than to make the most of one’s blessings. So with Rob,
having got his store before him, he enjoyed it in a leisurely and
sensible way. He was very fond of the larve which we used to
find in chestnuts. Even these he could smell afar off, and would
go into ecstacies, making a lively chattering talk, as one was
brought to his cage. The presentation of a spider was a grand
event. Butas to earth-worms, he had a sou! above all such. So
far as Rob was concerned, the early bird was entirely welcome to
them.

I think our pet must have been five years old when he had a
hard time molting, and the result, too, was quite notable. When
the large feathers began to come, two white ones appeared in the

1879. | Rob: A Bird Biography. 365

tail. Oh, tell it not among his kith that Rob, the plucky and the
impudent, shews the white feather! But leaving figure and
coming to fact, the truth is, the poor bird was greatly distressed
about it, so much so that he made up his mind he would not
stand it, but would extract the offensive things, and at it he went.
The tail was deflected so as to meet the head, itself turned under
the perch; the bill then seized one of the craven feathers and
pulled desperately. As if the perch were a trapeze, the bird
swung fairly round, going over backwards and falling on the floor
of the cage. But the feather had not come out. At it again he
went in the same way, and with the same result. - And this was
kept up nearly an hour, by which time the tail had become all
dyed with blood. At last the odious feathers were removed, and
the poor bird, weak, bleeding and suffering, put its head under a
wing and took rest. What shall be said to this? Was it pride,
a-certain proper self-respect? We cannot say. But this matter
caused us a good deal of solicitude, for it was kept up some
weeks, as the feathers would come in white. So at length the
bird submitted in sheer despair. When the feathers came to the
full there were two white ones in the tail, and as many in each
wing. At the next molt the number of white’ feathers increased.
When he was eight years old all the primaries of both wings were
of a snowy whiteness, also the retrices, or large tail feathers,
except the central pair which kept their normal dark color in bold
contrast as lying on a bed of white. This certainly wasa strange
costume for a robin; in good sooth, his own mother would never
have known him. In our eyes Rob, though in an eccentric cos-
tume, seemed a gay and elegant fellow.

This partial albinism, we believe, is occasionally found among
the robins. But what is its meaning? Attacking the largest
feathers of the tail and wings, it might indicate inability of the
pigment cells to furnish. color any longer at those parts of the
plumage where the demand was the greatest. It is doubtless due
to an exceptional atrophy of the secreting color-glands.

Our pets were usually divided round in the family. Rob was
claimed by my daughter. It was a tender parting when with her
husband she left for a new home in a great western city. And even
Rob had no small share of our good-byes when taken to the car
with the bridal pair. In his western home he was allowed
enlarged freedom, his ~~ with open door being often set in the

366 On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. [June,

garden. When his cage was hung under a tree by the side-walk,
the pedestrians would stop and wonder what bird that could be
with so strange a plumage and so novel a song. When free in
the garden Rob would have a good time of it, occasionally find-
ing a dainty insect. But the dear fellow was getting old. Nine
years is rather high for Turdus migratorious, and his appetite was
becoming a little unnatural. He found a piece of twine, and by
persevering succeeded in swallowing it. That was the worst
string ever Rob got on. That western investment was the death
of him.

20;

ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE SEMICIRCULAR
CANALS!

BY FRANCIS DERCUM, M.D., PH.D.

N biology we meet, at every step, new and interesting ques-
tions. How this or that structure arose, what this or that fact
means, are the problems which continually present themselves.
The data are few and scattered, yet the attempt to arrange them in
-some logical manner is at least justifiable, and though our success
may be doubtful, we at least take a step in the right direction.
Such an attempt let us make in regard to the semicircular
canals. Under the idea that these structures, like all others, were
formed for a special purpose—were designedly made to meet
certain ends—a great variety of functions have been assigned to
them. Viewed in the light, however, that every organ is the
resultant of certain definite and interacting forces, the mere
question of actual or present use becomes a secondary one. Let
us see what the various facts I have collected seem to point out.
Before we attempt to understand such a complex organ as the
ear, it would be well to look over the field of zoology to see
whether we cannot find other and simpler organs of sense, which
may perhaps give us the right clue. Such organs I believe to be
the so-called mucous canals or lateral lines of fishes and amphib-
ians. These structures, I need hardly say, have been ably demon-
strated by Leydig, F. E. Schulze and others to be sensory. They
- consist essentially of small areas of nerve-epithelium arranged
in linear series along the sides of the head and body, having hair-
cells continuous with nerves and being in every Way comparable
1 Read before the Alumni Association of the- wer iin Department of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, March 28, 1879.

rd

1879.] On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. 367

to the maculz acustice of the ampullz and vestibule. They
have received as yet no specific name. Leydig simply uses the
expression “nerve-buttons” (nervenknopf), and F. E. Schulze

nerve-hills” (nervenhuegel). In the adult forms of almost all
fishes, these structures are inclosed in a continuous canal formed
in the epithelium. To this fact we will return again.

The function of these organs appears to be to appreciate mass
movements of the water, and more particularly vibrations which
have longer periods than those appreciated by the ear.

Besides the similarity in the structure of the maculz of the
lateral lines and the maculz acusticz, the following facts: indicate
a close relation between the two sets of organs. In the first place,
in accordance with the general law of the development of sensory
structures,” both the ear and the mucous canals are developed
from the epithelial layer of the embryo, namely, the epiblast:
Secondly, the side organs of the head are supplied by the fifth
pair of nerves, while those on the body are supplied by the lateral
nerves, which in turn are made up to a greater or less extent of
the fifth. Now, a fact, the significance of which can never be |
over-estimated, is, that in the skate the auditory nerve is a primary
branch of the fifth?

Again, the organ of hearing is surrounded: by bone really
belonging to the ectoskeleton, but usually becoming incorporated
with the bones of the cranium. In the same manner the side
organs of the head are surrounded by bones belonging to the
ectoskeleton, and likewise becoming more or less incorporated
with bones of the skull and face. The supratemporals, suborbitals
and lachrymals are examples of these. Even in the side organs
of the body the same tendency to the persistence of bone is
manifested by the occasional presence of bone corpuscles and
even of cartilaginous or osseous grooves or canals. Now, while —
I recognize in this comparison only a very general fact, I still
think that the parallelism between the bony support of the ear
and the bony supports of the side organs is far greater than
between the petrosal and the sclerotal. :

Let us now turn to the development of the mucous canals,

See Archiv f. Mikroskop. Anat., vi. F. E. Schulze, Ueber die Sinnesorgane der
Seitenlinie bei Fischen u. Amphibien. -

? See Am. Naturalist, Sep. No., 1878. The Sensory Organs, by the writer. Also

Cosmos, 1878, Oct. and Nov.. Die Enstehung des Sinneswerkzeugs, by Professor
Haeckel, ; a

wen, Comp, Anat, of Vertebrates.

368 On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. (June,

and see how much of general application can be gleaned from
the facts. In teleost fishes the side organs first exist as mere cel-
lular elevations! projecting into the water and having the percipient
structures, the hairs, protected (generally, not always) by means of
a delicate hyaline cylinder open at its distal end. In most cases
this stage is transitory. Above and below the elevations, the
epithelium of the surrounding skin becomes raised, forming a
groove which is finally converted into a canal. Thus these eleva-
tions or macula of the side organs become enclosed by a process
somewhat analogous to the involution of the ear.

In Elasmobranch fishes, however, another method is pursued.
The lateral line appears already in the embryo as a fully formed
canal, and, instead of being produced by an inflexion of the
epiblast, is formed directly by being hollowed out in the substance
of the same.” This departure from the general method of the
development of sensory structures is an illustration of an import-
ant fact dwelt on by Herbert Spencer, namely, that the processes
pursued in the development of the embryo are by no means the
exact repetition of those which occurred in the evolution of the
race. In many respects the processes of embryology are short-
ened. The integral parts or molecules of many structures tend
to assume directly the relations which they occupy in the adult
form, without passing through those intermediate stages which
were successively traversed by the ancestors of the races. :

This marked difference between the development of the lateral
lines of Elasmobranchs and Teleosts is in harmony with several
other interesting facts. We would naturally suppose that an or-
ganism in which a comparatively complex structure is produced
by the direct method, is relatively both older and higher than one
in which the same organ is produced by the indirect method. In
the present instance this is the case. The Elasmobranchs consti-
tute an order of fishes of vast antiquity, making their appearance
already in the Upper Silurian, and being, therefore, among the
oldest fishes known. Again, they constitute a very high order
being perhaps, with the exception of the Dipnoi, the highest.
They are even related in some respects to amphibians. The
Teleosts, on the other hand, are ordinarily regarded as the repre-
sentatives of the piscine type ; that is, as presenting preéminently
those characters which constitute a fish. Secondly, the Teleosts

1 The nervehills of F. E. Schulze.
= 2 See Balfour’s Monograph of the Development of Elasmobranch Fishes, 1877-

1879.] On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. 309

are an order which is comparatively very young, not making its
appearance until the Cretaceous period. Observe how these facts
accord with the development of the lateral line. In Teleosts the
involution of the maculz or nervehills of the lateral system and
the consequent formation of a canal, does not take place for days
and even weeks after the young fish has left the egg. In one
instance, Gobius minutus} it does not take place at all. In Elas-
mobranchs, however, as stated, the canal is already formed in the
embryo.

Surely such a harmony of facts must be of significance, and
they must open our eyes very widely with regard to the relation
between embryological and race development, or, to use the words
of Prof. Haeckel, between ontogeny and phylogeny. Doubtless
in the primitive Elasmobranchs, or in their ancestors, the develop-
ment of the mucous canals was similar to that of the Teleosts of
the present day, but, in the countless repetitions during countless
ages, the process was shortened and made, as we find it, imme-
diate and direct.

Now, what bearing have such facts as these on the correct
understanding of the embryology of the ear?. Let us see.

Can we suppose that a structure as old as must be the organ of
hearing, is still formed in the embryo by repeating the various
stages once traversed by our remote ancestors ? Would it not be
more philosophical to expect that this organ is now produced by
a process more or less direct? To this latter view I think we
must, by necessity, incline.

The embryology of the ear may be briefly stated, as follows:

It first makes its appearance as a depression of the epiblast in the
neighborhood of the hind-brain. This depression gradually deepens
until, by the coalescence of its edges, it is converted into a closed
cavity. This cavity then rapidly enlarges and certain dilations
or protrusions of its surface into the surrounding mesoblast take —
place. These protrusions are severally converted into the semi-
circular canals and cochlea. In the case of the semicircular
canals each dilatation becomes flattened, and, by the meeting —
and coalescence of its opposite walls in the middle, its peripheral
portion is converted into a tube, both ends of which remain per-
manently in communication with the primitive vesicle. The

cochlear protrusion undergoes no such transformation but is sim-

ply prolonged, forming the true membranous cochlea or scala
1See F. E. Schulze, loc. cit. fou

370 On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals, (June,

media of mammals; but with this we have at present nothing
to do.

Evidently the first stage of the development of the ear, the
process of inflexion, belongs to the indirect method, but the fact
that this process is still so pronounced, and the fact that the otic
vesicle when once shut off from the epiblast rapidly enlarges, so
that the area of the enclosed surface is relatively very great, would
indicate to my mind that in our remote ancestors, this process of
inflexion was very marked—that it was extensive, involving a
a comparatively large area, and bringing about great modifica-
tions of structure. The tendency in the constant repetition of
this process would be to diminish its relative importance, 2. e., to
make it constantly less and less pronounced, Probably, see
fore, the amount of surface actually inflected in the embryo is
small compared with the area inflected in the process of ancestral
development. To this we will presently return.

The special parts of the labyrinth appear to be formed by a
direct method. ‘This would, of course, as we have seen reason
to believe, not exclude the possibility of an indirect method
having obtained in our remote progenitors.

Having now compared the various methods pursued in the
development of the mucous canals and the ear, let us recall a
fact which has not yet been brought into sufficient prominence,
namely, that the structure of the mucous canals and that of the
semicircular canals is very similar. In 1850 Leydig! already
noticed this fact, for he compares a semicircular canal and its
ampulla with a mucous canal and its “ nervebutton.” Both struc-
tures consist of connective tissue lined with epithelium, and the
“nervebutton ” of one corresponds to the macula acustica of the
other. The analogy seems complete.

Would it now be too hazardous to suggest that two organs
which are so closely related in structure, which present such sig-
nificant facts, as regards nerve supply and embryological develop-
ment, are related genetically? Such a supposition would evi-
dently not be inconsistent. Let us see how it may have been
brought about. In an organism provided with a general apparatus
for the perception of vibrations, evidently the first thing that
would take place would be a specialization of certain portions for
certain classes of vibrations. This is what may have been the
case with the lateral canals and the ear, each being a specialigi
i Mustier’s Archiv.—Schleimkan. d. Knochenfische. -

1879.] On the Morphology of the Semicirceular Canals. 371

tion in its own peculiar direction.! The fact that the involution of
the side organs in Teleosts does not take place until the organism
is already far advanced towards the completion of its develop-
ment, and the fact that the mucous canal in the embryo of Elas-
mobranchs does not appear until the epiblast has been differen-
tiated into its two layers, both imply that the side organs had for
ages existed as mere “ nerve-hills,” or nerve epithelium, projecting
into the water, and this renders our idea not only possible but
probable. In the course of the evolution of the ear the first
differentiation of structure that occurred may have been as fol-
lows: Certain of these areas of nerve-epithelium or sensory
maculz, may, for functional specialization, have become enclosed
in canals, (The great functional advantage of this form of involu-
tion over the closed vesicle, we shall presently see.) Now, for still
greater specialization, the whoie area containing the canals with
perhaps one or two maculz not yet enclosed, may have under-
gone a general process of involution and thus given rise to the
vestibule and semicircular canals.

This view of the evolution of the ear is favored by the fact that
the semicircular canals are constant structures in all vertebrates!
Again, their number is always the same, namely, three, with but
two exceptions, which may be easily explained. I refer to the
Myxines which have but one, and the lampreys which have but
two. Probably no naturalist who accepts the theory of evolution,
looks upon the selachians or any other existing order of fishes
as ancestrally related to the other vertebrates, and even the
structure of the Marsipobranchs indicates that they belong to an
early differentiated and highly aberrant type.

In studying the gradual development of the ear, palæontologi-
cal evidence, unfortunately, cannot come into play. It is too
fragmentary. The very first vertebrates that we find are already
fishes of a high degree of development. ee

Let us now see to what views of the functional value of the
Semicircular canals, the above discussion leads. The first ques-
tion that arises in our minds is, what is gained by the involution —

of the sensory macula? And secondly, why should this process © 2

have resulted in the formation of canals? Why did not each :
macula become enclosed in a separate cavity? Probably the .
benefit derived by a delicate sensory structure from the formation
1 In this category it would be no more than just to inclads cick: a as the
= sensory ampulle of sharks and rays and the Savian vesicles.

372 On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. [June,

of a wall about it, is at first of a protective character, and the final

formation of a cavity is the further attainment of the same end.

This, however, would entail a greater or less modification of func-
tion. The exposed sensory macula would probably perceive

vibrations clearly and distinctly. As soon, however, as enclosure

in a cavity takes place, interference of the vibrations by their con-

tinued reflection from the walls of the cavity must necessarily

occur. Such a condition of affairs is probably present in sensory

structures like the “mucous” ampullz of sharks and rays and

the Savian vesicles. This difficulty is overcome if, instead of
there being a cavity closed on all sides, the macula is situated in

a tube. Then interference would either not result at all, or be -
greatly diminished, for the vibrations would be dispersed in one

or two definite directions. The formation of such a structure

may have been the first step in the evolution of the ear. Indeed,

its parallel is presented to us in the lateral lines. The very same

conditions obtain.

The question now arises, when the area containing’ the struc-
tures about to form the ear became involuted, in what way was
the function of the tubes converted into the semicircular canals
modified? In other words, what is the function of the semicir-
cular canals? The fact that both ends of each canal communicate
with the utriculus, probably lessens their use as dispersing vibra-
tions, but at the same time another and very important condition —
obtains. The utriculus, a comparatively small cavity, has the
area of its enclosed surface materially diminished by the presence
of five openings, three of which are comparatively large. In this
way the capacity of its walls for reflecting vibrations must be con+
siderably lessened, and interference of vibration consequently
much diminished. Thus one function of the semicircular canals
is probably to assist clearness of perception,’ and in this respect
their function would be intrinsically the same as that of the canals
of the side organs. It has at various times been argued that the
semicircular canals prevent interference of vibrations by the sound
waves entering the same canal at opposite ends, and then meeting
in opposite phases, thus mutually destroying each other. How
this could occur I cannot imagine; there is no special contrivance
at either end of a canal by which the vibrations would be retarded
just half of a wave-length, and there is no reason why such an
assumption should be made. On the contrary, I cannot see any-

1 This was the idea of Prof, Jackson, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania.

1879.] Ox the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. 373

thing to prevent the waves from meeting in exactly the same
phases. If so, the effect of the semicircular canals would be to
‘increase the intensity of sounds.

Various other uses have, at times, been assigned to the semi-
circular canals, such as the estimation of the direction of sound,
or even the appreciation of pitch, besides which, conclusions have
been drawn based on vivisection. Theories concerning pitch were
held prior to the understanding of the structure of the cochlea,
and may be dismnissed without discussion. Those concerning the
direction of sound are not borne out by fact. In the first place,
as the contradictory results of investigators show, the power
among animals of distinguishing the direction of sound is not
well marked, and even if it were it would be no proof that this
pewer lies in the semicircular canals. Again, it is self-evident
that the direction of sound cannot be maintained while passing
through the auditory meatus and tympanum, and if we are told
that the semicircular canals appreciate vibrations transmitted by
the skull, the conditions are singularly unfavorable, for just in

_ those animals in which an appreciation of the direction of sound
would seem the most important, @. ¢., birds and mammals, the head
is generally covered by a non-conducting material, feathers or hair.

The power of distinguishing the direction of sound seems to

me rather to be connected with the degree of development of the
auricle and the degree of its movability, or the power the animal
has of quickly adapting the head to various positions, so that it
can determine that position in which the impression is received
the most strongly, and thence infer the direction of the sound.

The theories based on the vivisection of the semicircular canals,
involve a method of reasoning that to me is not logical. To say
that the results of a terrible mutilation of one of the most highly
specialized parts of the body, namely, the head, are due to the
destruction of any one organ or part contained in it, is certainly
reasoning from incorrect premises—is certainly leaving out a
large class of the facts. Secondly, to predicate that the function
of an organ is the inverse of certain phenomena obtaining by its
mutilation, is less logical still. To my mind the experiments of
Flourens, Goltz and others, do not demonstrate that the results

were due only to the mutilation of the semicircular canals, or
that even if this were the case, anything could be predicated con-
cerning their function. To use an apt illustration, let us take a
watch and let us imagine that it was to us a new and strange

374 On the Morphology of the Semicircular Canals. (June,

machine, the various functions of which we wished to determine.
Now, what would we think of a man who would plunge a knife
through crystal, dial, mainspring and all, to find out how the
thing worked. Is the proceeding in the case of an animal any
less absurd? Is it more encouraging to know that the machine
with which we are dealing is infinitely more complex, and of the
fundamental truths of whose construction we can only gain vague
and fragmentary ideas ?

In order to understand a complex organ—if, indeed, the attain-
ment of such an end be possible—I believe that we must cast
about for the most widely scattered facts, and then view these in
the broadest possible light. I believe, therefore, that the only
way to understand an organ for the perception of sound vibra-
tions, is also to study organs for the perception of allied vibra-
tions, and then to compare the various principles involved in the
development, structure and function of each. By the pursuance
of such a method in the present instance, the conclusions which
seem to be pointed out, are, first, that the chief significance of the
semicircular canals is morphological, and secondly, that their
functional importance, though considerable, is secondary. If, in
the above discussion, I have merely raised this view of their
nature to the degree of a probability—which is the most that cir-
cumstances allow—my object is accomplished.

Addendum.—After the reading of the above paper, Dr. A. J.
Parker offered a suggestion with regard to the function of the
semicircular canals which makes the parallelism between these
structures even more apparent. His view, which he permitted
me to append, is as follows: 7

He says that the maculz acusticz are very probably situated in
just those parts of the labyrinth on which the sound- waves
impinge with the greatest intensity. This being the case with the
macule of the ampulla, the sound-waves probably enter the
ampullar ends of the canals with much greater force than they
enter the non-specialized ends. Consequently, when interference
takes place, it occurs in or near these non-specialized ends, f. e.,
where there are xo acoustic spots! Dr. Parker looks upon the
semicircular canals as so many conduits to carry off vibrations after
they have impinged on the maculz of the ampulla. This would
make their function exactly analogous to that of the lateral canals.

Dr. Parker’s view also explains why each semicircular canal
has but ove ampulla, and why-this should be situated at the ed,
pa instead of other parts of the tube.

1879.) Teras in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. 375
TEXAS IN ITS GEOGNOSTIC AND AGRICULTURAL
: ASPEGT, ;

BY J. BOLE,

AVING resided for several years in Texas, during which

time I have constantly been engaged in scientific researches,
I shall, in this article, aim not so much at a geological and geog-
nostic .description of the country, as attempt to present results
already made known by others, and to give a slight view of
my own observations in the same field. I shall not undertake a
description of rocks and minerals heretofore found in Texas, nor
enumerate animals already known as extinct or as still existing ;
but rather from the nature of the soil and the constitution of the
mineral kingdom, draw my conclusions as to the fertility and
products of the different parts of the State.

Of the various publications by other persons on the geologic
and geognostic conditions of Texas, the following are known
to me:

1. Texas, with special reference to German emigration and the physical condition of

_ the country, as described after personal inspection by Dr. Ferdinand Roemer,

together with a scientific addendum. Bonn, 1849.
2. The Chalk-formations of Texas, and their organic contents, by Dr. Ferdinand
oemer, Bonn, 1852.
3. Exploration of the Red river, in 1852, by Rand. B. Marcy, in which the north-
western part was geologically described, by Geo. B. Shumard.
4. The Annual Reports of State Geologist Buckley.
5. The Map of Texas, by A. R. Réssler. 1874.

The geographical character of Texas, as Roemer correctly
remarks, divides it into three districts, more or less sharply
defined. These are:

1. The Lowlands, along the whole coast, from the Sabine to.
the Rio Grande. They vary in width from thirty to a hundred
miles, rising from three to a hundred feet above the sea, and are
really only a continuation of the coast-lands of Lousiana, Missis-
sippi and Alabama, and therefore belong to the same diluvial and
alluvial formations, being almost wholly composed of clayey and
Sandy deposits. However, it is not alone the rivers coming from
the interior which collect and bring down this material, for the-
Sea also contributes its part. As proof of this, we find in the
soil, not only the remains of marine animals, but the animal and

vegetable world still extant gives evidence thereof. Here, not

376 = Texas in its Geognostic and A ericultural Aspect. [June,

only on the coast but in the whole region, we find those plants
and insects living near salt-water only. The long narrow islands
lying along the coast of Texas must necessarily, on account of
their situation and physical condition, be considered as parts of
the Lowlands.

2. The Hill country, or Uplands. This consists of the pre-
vailing level and hilly region between the lower coast-range and
the higher and partly rocky highlands beyond. Its width i$ from
a hundred and fifty to three hundred miles, about one hundred to
one thousand feet above the sea. According to its geological
composition, it partakes in equal parts of the tertiary and
secondary formations. * The fertility of its soil is exclusively due
to the composition of these formations, hence within it are embraced
the fairest and most prolific portions of the State. Large, exten-
sive prairies are situated in the west, with strips of timber along
the creeks and rivers, also large and small forests diffused here
and there, but composed wholly of post-oak. The eastern por-
tion is almost entirely covered with forests of a great diversity of.
timber.

3. The Highlands. These arise behind the rolling hill-land,
beginning in the west on the Rio Grande, where, at its confluence
with the San Pedro, it suddenly turns its eastern into a south-
eastern course. Thence the boundary extends due east to the
great sources of the San Antonio; thence north-east to Austin ;
and thence due north it reaches the Red river near the mouth of
the Little Wichita.

From the Rio Grande to Austin, the boundary between the
Hill country and the Highlands is well marked and sharp ; while
from the latter point to Red river the transition is more gradual
and more difficult to define. The highest places in it rise scarcely
2500 feet above the sea, excepting the Guadalupe mountain, west
of the Pecos river. In the north-west part of the State, towards
New Mexico, the elevation slowly increases towards the Rocky
mountains. No higher mountain chains are at all to be seen, and
this region has rather the character of a high table-land. The
inequalities arise more from the excavations of valleys and
ravines, while the elevations generally maintain the same level.
In its geological character it is greatly diversified, belonging, as
it does, to the tertiary, secondary and primary formations. In very
_ many places the soil is very dry, sterile and rocky, especially the

1879.] Teras in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect: 377

valleys in the south, presenting steep and rocky entrances, rarely
widening into fertile plains. All the principal rivers of Texas rise
in this division, which is but sparsely settled and but imperfectly
explored and known.

If now we take under review the formation and composition of
the soil of these different parts of the State, the following will be
the result as to their fertility and products:

In general we distinguish three different kind of soils—sand,
clay and limestone—in the first, sand or silica predominates, in
the second, clay, in the third, carbonate of lime. Neither of these
constituents alone is sufficient to produce a vigorous growth of
plants; that this is the case with sand is proved by the great des-
erts of Asia and. Africa. When sand constitutes more than nine-
tenths of the soil, vegetation cannot flourish ; yet all soils require
a certain proportion of sand, because every plant needs some sand
for its growth; for cereals especially this element is indispen-
sable. The clay soil has also its defect, it is too tenacious, so
that the roots cannot spread out; it retains water too long, and
when it dries it hardens into tough lumps; it has, therefore, pre-
cisely the opposite faults of sand, wherefore a proper intermix-
ture of the two proves advantageous. A soil consisting solely of
lime varies too violently in moisture and dryness; lime is, how-
ever, as indispensable for the nutriment of plants as sand, so
that mixed in proper proportions with sand and clay, it proves
itself highly advantageous in every respect; hence soils com-
posed of sand, clay and lime are, without doubt, the most fertile.

Now, as regards Texas particularly, its sandy soil was mainiy
derived from the sandstone of the tertiary period, whilst its clay
and lime soil deposits came from the tertiary and Mesozoic ages.

The soil of the Lowlands is, through the accumulation of
sand, clay and lime, brought into a mixture very beneficial to
cultivation, but owing to the presence of salt, and still more
to its level surface, which hinders the discharge of water, it is
not adapted to every kind of cultivation, wherefore wheat can-
not be raised, whilst Indian corn,.sugar-cane and cotton suc-
ceed admirably. The entire Lowlands are not yet extensively cul-
tivated, and its more general culture depends upon a thorough sys-
tem of drainage. The condition of the soil is everywhere the
Same, neither stones nor rocks are to be seen.

-In the cscs igs we find the sandstone, ssl the sand ane

-

378 Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. [June,

clay deposits of the tertiary formation in vast extent, and the
peculiarity of it is that these places are, throughout, covered with
forests, indeed we may safely conclude that wherever extensive
forests are found in elevated positions, they arise from a tertiary
foundation. Thus the whole forest-clad parts of Eastern Texas,
from Red river down to the sea-coast, consist of these formations,
the upper and lower cross timbers of North-western Texas, like
the post-oak forests situated in the middle and southern, rest
throughout upon tertiary formations. Since now the soil there,
mainly through the influence of the glacial era, was derived from
sandstone and sandy-clay deposits, it is, therefore, less adapted to
the cultivation of plants, having obtained a large share at the
same time through a considerable proportion of iron, as we
shall see later; yet along creeks and rivers are found here and
there. places fit for cultivation. In the first years of culture,
plants flourish generally quite well; but the strength of the soil
is soon exhausted, which has strikingly exhibited itself in parts
of Louisiana bordering on Texas, this side of Red river. This
region has been for a long time thoroughly cultivated, and at this
time has only two-thirds of its former extent under culture.
Wheat does not succeed in this soil, and cotton is mostly only
one to two feet high; corn.is weak in the stalk and the ears are
small; fruit-trees alone flourish there, viz: peaches and apples,
since these trees are enabled to send their roots deep into the
ground, Pines, which grow best in sandy regions, diffuse them-
selves to a great extent through the forests. Since then, by
means of forests, we can decide the tertiary foundation of the soil,
so in the same way we may state that open prairies and places
covered with mesquite trees, indicate that the soil rests upon
secondary formations, There again the soil is formed of sand,
clay and lime, through the operation of the glacial era, and min-
gled together in so advantageous a manner that it presents all
those conditions on which depends the perfect development of all
cultivated plants. This division embraces that part of Texas
which promises to become so large a source of food such as
no other State of the Union possesses, even such as can be found
in few portions of any continent. Again, in this same division is
that region of peculiar importance in which naked rocks appear
on the surface, neither to a small nor great extent immediately

_ after the tillable ground has been broken up by other causes.

i

1879.] Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. 379

Such a wholly continuous area, more than one hundred and twenty
miles wide, and over two hundred miles long, lies in the northern
part of the Hill-country of Texas. It forms a long rectangle, of
which Dallas county is nearly the center, and this is the reason
why this division, and especially the city of Dallas, have so rap-
idly grown in importance, and this proves at the same time with
what keen foresight railroad minats have stretched their iron
roads through this section.

This division is, however, penetrated in its north-western part
by the so-called Cross Timbers, two strips of forests from eight
to ten miles wide, the soil of which consists of the tertiary -
_ elements, but their intermixture through the physical influences
of the glacial period, since the extent was not very great, became
much superior to that in Eastern Texas. Besides, it constitutes
only a very small part of the division under consideration, and
supplies at the same time, to the adjacent prairies, convenient and
adequate material for fencing and fuel, which only in few places
has to be procured from considerable distances.

In the southern and south-western portion of the Hill-country, -
as fat as the Rio Grande, the soil is also composed of sand, clay
and lime, yet, as in the northern part, it is more frequently inter-
rupted by tertiary clay and sand, but much more, and more
injuriously to agriculture, is the ground filled with hard, reddish
flint stones, from the size of a pigeon-egg to that of the fist.
These originate in the Highlands north of it, on one side of the
primitive mountains arising there, and still more from the exten-
Sive chalk hills. This chalk formation of the Highlands is of a
sandy character, hard, and enclosing a great number of sand and
flint concretions. After the drift period they remained scattered in
every direction, and this readily explains why these concretions
are found not only in river beds but also on those higher localities
surrounding the valleys, and particularly on hills. The soil of
this part of the Hill-country is here and there so filled with these
Stones that it is useless to undertake a thorough culture of it.
Although these places, often interrupt the fertile soil, yet the lat-
ter comprises a considerable area, and it is especially the river-
bottoms which in the southern part of the Hill-country possess
an immense productive power. In the valley of the San Antonio
river, almost the entire bottom of the valley can be irrigated for —

ue a great distance, yet this system of irrigation, constructed by the

VOL, XIII,—No, VI, : 27
i

380 Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. (June,

Spaniards many centuries ago, has already so exhausted the soil
of loose, light mineral material, that a rich crop can no longer be
reckoned upon excepting here and there.

In this connection the following points may be mentioned.
Till now it has always been a problem where the great sources of
the San Antonio river, as also of the Comal and San Marcos, —
have their origin, and why these throughout the whole year con-
tinue to break forth from under the rocks with the same force and
temperature as well as with unvarying clearness.

Roemer, in his work on the chalk formations of Texas, says,
that the chalk of the Highlands is proven by its organic remains
to belong to a somewhat deeper geognostic horizon than that of .
the Hill-country, and is therefore older, although it lies higher.
It is suddenly separated, steep and sharp, from the latter. He
says, furthermore, it is possible that through a fault not appa-
rent on the surface, the chalk of the Highlands near New
Braunfels was forced back to the higher level, and he believes that
such transposition and also the sudden and steep upheaval of the
Highland, explains the remarkable change in the character of
the rocks, and that the abrupt breaking forth of the sources of

the Comal at the foot of the table-land has a close connection
with it.

Northward and located somewhat higher there appears in a
singular manner, almost wholly surrounded by the chalk forma-
tion of the Highlands, an entirely isolated tract of primitive
mountain formation, and it is well to observe that this piece was
lifted up through terrestrial forces after the chalk formations had
already detached themselves. On this granite are found here
and there isolated remains of chalk. Before the glacial era the
entire mass was entirely covered with it, and it was almost com-
pletely destroyed during this long period, and I might therein
discover not only a proof of its later upheaval, but also of the
existence of the glacial era; so also other and not yet solved
problems may here find a solution. Through the upheaval, the
volcanic force extended also to the chalk surrounding the granite.

As already remarked, the chalk of the Highlands is much
harder than that of the Hill-country; as a collective mass it
resisted the upheaval, and was therefore lifted up at once with
the granite: hence the steep declivity at the foot. By the

a upheaval considerable cavities would be formed in and under the _ :

1879.) Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. 381

chalk, for it is everywhere much cleft, and the rain falling on the
ground finds its way slowly, therefore, partly through the rocks,
into the cavities, It can accumulate in large quantities in these
hollows ; the water must necessarily find an outlet again, and thus
it is probable that the above-named rivers come from one or more
subterranean lakes, and hence their uniform force, temperature
and clearness. The water of these springs holds a great deal of
carbonate of lime in solution, which shows that in the course of
time the cavities are more and more enlarged; this view opposes
at the same time the opinion that the water takes its origin in the
Staked Plains of North-western Texas; if this were the case they
must contain not only the carbonate but also the sulphate of lime
in considerable ees since gypsum is extensively diffused
_ there.
Passing now to the Highlands, which embrace the whole re- .
_ Maining part of Texas; it is the largest but the least satisfactorily
known. The tertiary formation is very little diffused, and hence
the soil is mainly derived from primary and secondary deposits.
Nowhere are found extensive tillable and continuous tracts as in
the Hill-country; the good planting-ground is mostly confined to
the river-bottoms and valleys; only in particular counties are
larger tracts of tillable land to be obtained. As already remarked,
this high table-land is mostly rocky, dry, and sterile; but owing
to good meadow-grounds, it is particularly well adapted to cattle-
raising, which therefore is followed in a very extensive manner.
ibis Highlands have, however, for Texas a particular impor-
tance in other respects; it is mainly there that mining will, in
future, be prosecuted.

As regards the evidences of mineral wealth, we need not, for
known reasons, look for them in the surface of the Lowlands.
The whole of the Hill-country encourages no hope of rich mineral
treasures. Throughout this entire division, however, coal has
been discovered in many places; but, according to all scientific
principles and personal observations, I must declare that there has
been found no coal belonging to the genuine coal-formation ; but
only such of the tertiary and secondary periods—the so-called
lignite or brown coal. It is, also, nowhere found in extensive and
vast deposits, rarely easy to work ; although that of the secondary
division, as approaching nearer in age to genuine stone-coal, pos-
sesses in a considerable degree the elements of fuel. In many

382 Texas in tts Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. [June,

parts of the undulating Hill-country are found masses of petrified
wood. As Roemer already correctly concluded, this belongs to
the tertiary formation ; and we can, therefore, by this means de-
cide with certainty upon its presence there. The immense pro-
portion of silex in this formation has petrified the wood, instead
of carbonizing it.

On the bank-slopes of the Red river, near Shreveport, I found
a layer one to two feet thick, which was half carbonized, and half
petrified ; and in the same stratum lay large logs of cypress ina
half carbonized and half petrified state.

The large deposits of iron-ore in the tertiary formation of
Eastern Texas may become of somewhat more importance than
the coal in the Hill-country, but they by no means equal in value
the ore-deposits of older origin. The iron is here found mainly

_as iron sandstone, and in many counties, as in Henderson, Ander-
son, etc., in such quantities that whole ranges of hills are formed
of it; and the region presents many times, by their rocks and the
ravines between, a quite romantic character; this is particularly
the case with the so-called big rocks betwedlh Vanzandt and.Hen-
derson counties. The tertiary formation is also rich in salt de-
posits, and in many places the salt is successfully obtained from
salt-springs. In the iron regions we encounter in some places
very strong mineral springs, especially sulphur-springs. They
hold in combination much carburetted hydrogen gas and sulphu-
ret of iron; when they come to the surface, they liberate blackish
gray and yellowish precipitates of sulphur and sulphuret of iron ;
but they do not come from any considerable depth like thermal
springs, since they have nearly as low a temperature as the ordi-
nary springs of the neighborhood. On the Neches river, as well
as on the Sabine, I found larger deposits of a blackish-iron sand-
stone, which was quite loose and brittle; it holds iron mostly as
sulphuret of iron, Owing to its slight coherency, the latter may,
through several influences, be easily decomposed, and then on
the one side give cause to the sulphur springs, and on the other
to the sulphate of iron produced in that region. There aré also
many beds of clay, which contain alum, or bittersalt, and impart
for this reason a strong taste to water; in particular places, in
summer, there is seen in the bottom of tumblers, after the evapo-
ration of the water, a white crust of this salt. Of eee nih
tance to mining in Texas are the Highlands.

1879.) Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. 383

From the mouth of the Little Wichita into the Red river down
to the Colorado river, where the Pecan bayou empties into the
same, there lies, towards the west, a region about one hundred
miles wide, that belongs to a much older mountain formation, the
so-called coal or transition mountain. In this is found in abund-
ance the copper-schist or the Permian system, as also the Silurian.
Shumard looked already upon this. region as belonging to the
coal-formation; and the organic remains which exist in the rocks
speak most plainly ; such are trilobites, fossil fishes of the families
of Ganoids and sharks, and the imprints of the ferns with Equi-
setaceous and other plants. I have found also in this formation
various Mollusca, chiefly Brachiopoda and Lamellibranchiata,
wholly petrified in the iron-ore, called sphzrosiderite. We
find now and then, on the surface of this coal-formation, copper-
ore, consisting mainly of malachite, which originally penetrated
in veins through sandstone; it is often several inches thick.
There are also found immense masses of iron-ore in very many
different conditions, lying around loose on the slopes, in ravines,
and everywhere; and especially those that appear most numer-
ous, are the hematite and ironspar or spherosiderite; and
which, it seems, have been taken by some persons for copper;
yet I have no doubt but that considerable copper and other
ore deposits may still lie hidden in some deeper stratum. The
different iron-ores tontain, according to my analysis, twenty
to seventy per cent. pure iron, and among them many spars, a
little zinc, and traces of cadmium. If we compare these ores with
those of other countries, it is apparent that they are among the
best, and most easily reduced; they are the same ores out of
which nearly nine-tenths of all the iron in England is produced.

From these geological and paleontological facts, we are per- —
mitted with all certainty to conclude that, although hitherto no `
positive data have existed, there must be throughout this whole
division large, extensive, and genuine coal-beds. In the geologi-
cal State museum at Austin can be seen large pieces of genuine
stone-coal, but without any precise information as to the place of
discovery.

Bismuth and antimony, it is claimed, have already also been
found. Some time ago the newspapers gave information that a
very rich silver mine had been discovered in Montague county ;
but it may well be doubted whether this news is correct, and it may

384 Texas tn its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect, (June,

have been published from interested motives. Gold, silver, lead,
and molybdenum are, however, found in the previously mentioned
primitive mountain formation of the Highlands, where in later
times, in Llano county, a silver mine is said to have been put in
operation. Westward of the coal-formation, particularly along
Red river and in the Staked Plains, lie very large beds of gyp-
sum; but the future must reveal to us how large treasures in
metals lie in the still unknown regions of the west,

If we cast a retrospective look over the whole, we may assert
with ail certainty that Texas is approaching a very promising fu-
ture. It is a country in which, on account of its fine and favor-
able position, not only all the plants of the temperate zone flour-
ish, but also many of those of the tropics. The wine-culture, to
which many a State owes its prosperity, is yet in the germ; but
the results attained on a small scale hitherto, the great number of
excellent wild grapes, as also the above-described constitution
and combination of the soil,—are all speaking evidences of its
adaptation to this noble fruit.

Texas has its own pine-forests in the east, which will be fully
adequate to supply the whole State with lumber, and to fence in
the fields; in the interior it has its own granary; and when once
her own hand has wrought her own iron with her own coal, then

_ will she supply not only her own wants, but many of those of the
outer world.

Nowhere are there extensive swamps which makes residence
unhealthy ; the country has also no sections which suffer from ex-
cessive drouth. Winters have neither the northern cold, nor the
summers the tropical heat; and pleasant breezes throughout the
whole summer keep the air continually, not only in a refreshing
condition, but contribute much to the salubrity of the country.
Though we may not have to point out lofty, romantic mountains,
still there are regions highly favored by nature, particularly those
about San Antonio and New Braunfels, with their mighty springs,
and their ever clear and refreshing water, that are especially note-
worthy ; which places, if they were lying on the sea, would justly
be called the Texan Nice.

1879. | Recent Literature. ` 385
RECENT LITERATURE.

WEBSTER’S ANNELIDS OF THE VIRGINIAN CoAst.—The worms
of the coasts of North America have been sadly neglected by
American naturalists. The annelid fauna of New England has
been pretty thoroughly examined by Prof. A. E. Verrill, but with
this exception, a few scattered descriptions. by Stimpson and

eidy, and one or two others, comprise the whole apg of
the subject. We have in Prof. H. E. Webster’s Annelida Chæto-
poda of the Virginian coast, a valuable contribution as ‘ae litera-
ture of this group.. In this pamphlet of seventy-two pages the
author has enumerated fifty-nine species, representing forty-nine
genera and twenty-three families, of which twenty-seven species
and four genera (Lepidameitria, Aricida, Cabira and Phronia) are
new work is illustrated by eleven lithographic plates in
which the author’s individuality has been preserved.— F. S. K.

Rut.ey’s Stupy oF Rocxks.!—This little work gives a very fair
idea of lithology, as it is taught upon the European continent at
the present time. It is for the English reading student the best
and almost only source from which he can obtain an idea of
modern lithology outside of the very few schools in which the
subject i is taught; Von Cotta’s “ Rocks Classified and Described ”

aving been antiquated long before it was publishe
r. Rutley’s book bears marked evidence that its author
“crammed ” for the occasion, and shows, if anything, less origin-
ality than his published papers. Yet in spite of this “ cramming”
he seems to be ignorant even of the lithological literature of his
own isle. It is to be wee as the work of a tyro, and not
that of a master, like many of our ordinary text-books. The
work is recommended to the American student because it is the
only thing of its kind to be had, and hence is necessary to any
student who cannot read German.
ome of its defects are the lack of any mention of Des
Cloizeaux's method of determining the feldspars, or of Pumpelly’s
ingenious modification of it; of Str reng’s method of distinguish-
ing nephelite from apatite, or of the monoclinic character of the
micas as shown by Tschermak.

On page 179 the remarkable statement is made that the feld-
Spars are the “principal rounded crystals in vitredus rocks.”
His vitreous rocks are removed from the rocks of which they are
the glassy modifications; his trachytes range from sixty to
eighty per cent. of silica, ‘including both the rhyolites and the
greater portion of the andesites; cherzolite and dunite are
removed from their natural position; in fact, his classification is
about as much without form and void as he could well make it.
In describing the e A Baio (167), he, as well as the Ger-

‘The Study of Rocks, An Elementary Text book of Petrology. By FRANK

= RUTLEY. Hi M. Geological Survey. New York, 1879. D. Appleton & Co.

386 Recent Literature. [June,

mans, have utterly confounded, under one name, that which is a
product of a cooling magma, and that which is a secondary altera-
tion product in rocks. On page 274 he states that “ Petrology
becomes the study of an endless cycle of changes from eruptive
to sedimentary, and from sedimentary to eruptive rocks.”

cycle of which the last half is oe sustained by field or

microscopic research, nor by physic

Such errors as picotite for die (p. 141), chrysolite for
chrysotile (p. 271) disfigure the work. Speaking of tridymite, on
page 152, he says, “It has also been mentioned as occurring in
some Irish rock, but the author is unable either to recall the pre-
cise locality or to find the reference.”

Had he looked on the upper part of the same page! on which
his own paper on tachylyte is published, to which he refers so
often, he wouid have found it, as well as in numerous other scien-
oy journals published in eee and on the continent.—

M. E. W.

WRIGHT'S EET TO AMERICAN HELMINTHOLOGY. —

Packard, Minot and Fitz. Thirteen De are enumerated, of
which five are new. One new genus (Sphyranura) is proposed,
while Leidy’s genus C/nostomum is united with Distomum. In
the descriptions of the species are included many anatomical facts;

Minot’s statement that the water vascular system and pa he

spaces are connected in Distomum is confirmed. of the
more interesting habitats recorded are. Polystomum Saloni in
the urinary bladder of the musk-turtle; Sphyranura oslert occurred
in the mouth and gills of Menobranchus ener Tenia dispar in
Rana halecina. The round worm which was so prevalent in the
shad last spring is referred by our e Süthor to Aa adunca Rud.
The two plates which illustrate the article are well drawn and
printed.— F. S. K.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE CHESAPEAKE ZOOLOGICAL LABORA-
TORY.*—The speedy publication and finished nature of the papers
in this youe speaks well for the industry shown by those who
worked at: this hastily equipped laboratory, and shows that
saan constructed laboratories and expensive museums are
not, from new and improved biological methods, essential the
real advance of biology in its widest sense. It ‘will be remem-

perma of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland. New series, Vol. 1v, Part
4,1
f abe ons to American enii No. oe By R. Ramsay WRIGHT.
, No.

(Proc. Canadian Institute. New series, Vol. 1
3 Fohns Hopkins fiep a peta Mi i. i Zoölogical Page

ae _Rerentific Results e Session of 1878. Organized and conducte

(June 24 m pia 19, 1878) Baltimore, 1879. Pe pp- 170, A plates.

1870. | Recent Literature. 387

bered that Cuvier laid the foundations of his fame as a com-
parative anatomist at out-of-the-way spots on different points of
the coast of France; Quatrefages made his most important
researches on the coast in fishermen’s houses, his tables of boards
and his equipments most scanty. Better than ‘elaborate and costly
microscopes and haw apparatus is energy, industry and a
mind well trained in the methods of research. All of these
qualities are evinced in the oublicatign before us, and is the result
of workers trained in this country.

The contents, of what we hope will be the first of a series of
similar biological contributions from the summer workshop of
Johns Hopkins University, is an introductory giving an account
.of the foundation of the laboratory, to which the readers of this
journal have already had their attention drawn. This is followed
by papers on the Land Plants found at Fort Wool, by N. B. Web-
ster; a list of animals found at Fort Wool, by P. R. Uhler;
Development of Lingula, by W. K. Brooks; Lucifer typus, by
Walter Faxon; Development of Gastropods, by W. K. Brooks ;
Development of Squilla, by W. K. Brooks.: The paper on the
early stages of Amphioxus, by H. J. Rice, has been delayed by
the sickness of the author, and will be printed elsewhere at an
early date.

Without disparagement to the other essays, that on Lingula
will excite the most interest from the nature of the subject. The
author, after a careful and fully illustrated study of the early
Sees, of this shelled worm, as all must now re ney it since

from a common vermian stem. “ The three stems appear to be
sufficiently closely related to each other, and sufficiently sharply
distinguished from all other animals, to constitute by themselves
one of the fundamental divisions of the animal kingdom, which ©
might be called, on account of the conspicuous character of the
trochal disc, the Trochifera,”

Report OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE GEOLOGICAL
SURVEYS OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR 1878.—This document of four
pages was printed for the use of the members of the Legislature,
__ and is signed by Governor Hartranft, chairman of the Board. It
conveys the information that twenty-four counties have been com-
pletely surveyed ; thirty-one counties partially, and thirteen coun-
ties not surveyed. Thus a little less than half of the area of the

tate in counties has been surveyed, although actually rather
more than half of the ground has been gone over. The most ex-
tensive continuous tract finished is that west of the Alleghenies
and south of Crawford and Elk counties. The rapidity with which

388 Recent Literature. [ June;

the work has been done is expressed in the statement that “ we
have been able to publish each year reports of the work done the
preceding year, an achievement which is believed to have been
seldom accomplished in the history of Geological Surveys.” The
report states that two additional years will be requisite for the
completion of the Survey, for which an appropriation of $100,000
is asked. On this we remark, that this request is a very modest
one so far as the time required i is concerned, and is probably
made with the view of representing the survey in as economical
a light as possible. The unfinished tract includes the most diffi-

e

region reported as finished, could not Be, further elaborated.
with advantage to all the interests concerned. Again, the impor-
tant department of palæontology has received little attention from
the Survey, the only work so far done relating to the plants of the

coal-measures. There should surely be complete monographs of
the plants of other horizons, of the very numerous invertebrata
and of the important remains of the vertebrata found at several
horizons and various localities within the State.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—Haeckel’s Genesis of Man. By Lester F.
Ward, A.M. 8vo, pp. 64. Philadelphia, 1879.

Our Earliest Ancestors in Britain, By Prof. Boyd Dawkins. 12mo, pp. as IPs:
(Science Lectures for the People, No. 6, ak SET. fe 8-9.) From the author

Pia sui s Saye Fossili del Miocene Medio di Gahard (Ille-e-V ipetra in Fok

r. Bas p. 39. Tav, 1. Padova, 1879. From the au
ig ‘Me esozoic of Virginia. By Wm. M. Fontaine. wait ee Amer.

Fii Sci. od Arts, Vol. xvir, Jan. 1879.) 8vo, pp. 25-55. From the author.

mpe sur Sid Oiseaux Fossiles des Terrains Tertiaires Inférieurs des ono
ones thor Par M. Victor Lemoine. 8vo, pp. 69, pl, 4. . Reims, 1878. Fro

u 9

Range of the Mammoth in Space and Time. By W. Boyd Dawkins.
(From a Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. for at 1879.) 8vo, pp. 138-147. From the
author
Note sur ne Scincoidiens Nisia Par M. T. Bocourt. (From Ann. Sc.
ee ko rig From the author.
Species of Loftusia from British Columbia. By Geo. M. Daw
From ae eat, Journ. Geol, Soc., Feb., 1879.) 8vo, pp. 69-75, pl. 1. From “the

"On he Microscopic Structure of Stromatoporidze, and on Paleozoic Fossils min-
eral ized with Silicates, in illustration of oo aos p Dawson. A
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Feb. 1879.) 8vo, pp- 48-57, pl iiiv, From the author.

es on the Loess, By J. M. Witter. a rom Muscatine 7ribune.) satan
Feb. roth, 1879. 8vo. From the author
rita — i — By F. M. Witter. 8vo. Muscatine, March 24th,

atalogue of Shen i found in the Hudson River, Utica Slate, and Trenton
Groups, as exposed in the south-east part of Indiana, south-west part of Ohio, and
northern part of paion i By S. A. eae (Brom 1 10 > Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. of

Notes on the Glaciation i oe i ya nes . M. Peren (From the
Canadian aa Vol. 1 . 1.) 8vo, pp. 8. From the a
æ Americane. = a aes F. Allen. 4to, pt. 1, i, pis. New
York. Feon the author, t E M E 3

1870.] Recent Literature. 389

A few Last Words iay R Aya Alfred W. Bennett. (Ext. Jour. Bot. March,
1879.) 8vo, pp. 2.

Morphological notes on ane yes a Card ginger as a a Possible Syn-
onymy of the supposed Genera. By John A. Ryder. (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci i.)
an. 9. 8vo, pp. a; Fro

Further Notes on the Mechanical Genesis of Tooth Forms. By John A. Ryder.
(Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.) 8vo, pp. 47-51. Philadelphia, 1879. rai om the author.

tes on the Fishes of Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina. By David S. Jordan

and Charles H. Gilbert. (Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum.) 8vo, pp. 2 388. From the

author

Della Balena di Taranto confrontata iana Della Nuova Zelanda econ Talune
Fossili del Belgio e Della Toscana notizi 1 Prof. Comm. G. Capellini. 4to, pP.
34, pls. 3. Bologna, 1877. From the akan

Sui Cetoterii Bolognesi considerazioni Se Prof, Comm. G. Capellini. 4to, pp.
m on av. 2. Bologna, 1875. From the author.

a Pietra Leccese e di Alcuni nae Fossil bey del pie Nace Giovanni
Capellini 4to, pp. W Tav: 3. Bolo 1878. om the

Balenottere Fossili e Pachyac am “dell fails arim per G. Capellini.
(From Reale Accad. del Lincei, Anno CcCLEXXIV [1876-67].) 4to, pp- 22, Tan. 3.
Rome, 1877. yo rom the author

Sulla Balenottera di Méidini pa de la syp Adriatique memoria del Prof.
Comm. G. Capellini. 4to, pp. 40, Tav Bologna, 1877. From the author.
_rocecding Acad. Nat. niss, aldna, ‘1879: 8vo, pp. 25-56. From
the A

Ma ae ctory address to the Graduating Class of Jefferson Medical et s pe
54th Annual Commencement, March 12, 1879. By J. Aitken Meigs. 8vo,
Philadelphia. From the au si

. I, No. 8. 4to, pp. rë, New York. From the editor.
Euta Scieitific Man. Vol. 1, No. 13. 4to, pp. 97-104. New York, 1879. From
the

Pro idiei of the ate Lees of Natural History. Vol. xx, red 1, May to
November, 1878. 8vo, pp. Boston, 1879. From the soc i

2 Naturaliste, rer Jek A i 1, April, 1879, Paris. 4to, pp. i. oak. the
editor,

Bulletin the American Meteorological Society. Constitation and By-laws, etc.
8vo, pp. I New York, 1879. From the society.

ne sean Leisure Hour. Nos. 4 and 5, 1879. From the edito

ongrés International des sage aroari gc mena session. Bruxelles Pe 23 an 26
Sete, 1879. 8vo om From B. F. DeCos
A Century of Orthopte TS pan, H: ak (From the Proc. of the Bos-
ton Society of Natural History, Vols. 12-20, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 83.

Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. Per T. Thorell 1, Genova, 187%: 8vo,

pp. 31

Traces of an Early Race in Japan. By Edward S. Morse. = from the’
Popular ! Sorsuk Monthly for January, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 10, illustra

“hg of the Kansas oy of Science, 1877 and ae Vol. vi. Te —
peka, Kansas, 1878. 8vo reo

Pelagic recat ipoda. By omas H. Stree USN. (From ag Proc.
of the Academy of Manat ‘Sines of ara a "8vo, pp. 15, 1 pla

Scientific Results of the Exploration of Alaska. Article1v. Report on Tete
pets and ae bis the Alaskan and Arctic regions, with descriptions of piace and
Species believed to be new. By. W. H. Dall. (Bulletin U. S. National Museum 4)
8vo, PP- 64, 5 aris and Hail aes
ae Sepi cu ona Sona ien von Tie und Hermann Müller. From Kosmos 1, Jahrg.
: etl I.) 8vo, pp. 11, illustrated.
: netimmiger and Vilsimmige Uhrsprung. Von Ernst Haeckel. (From

390 General Notes. [June,

Ueber. die Organization und oe der Anthromedusen. Ueber die Organ-
ization und Classification der Lep usen. Von Ernst Haeckel. (Separat-Ab-
druck aus den Sitzungsberichten eat Be oe Gesellschaft fiir Medicin und Nat-
urwissenschaft. Jahrgs 1878-1879.) 8vo, pp.

Note ome agg a from me satire Limestone, and Descrip-
tions re new ene s of Fos C. D. Walco Ext. from the 31st Report on
rae oe York Stare fo ‘of at Hist. PAs March, oe 8vo, pp. 13,

ee of new species of Fossils from the Calciferous formation. <D
Wal he nual Sy hs ate of the N. Y. State Museum of Nat Hist.,
DP. 4

P
mj $
mt
°
a
se
W
N
a5
ze

Mélanges te ae fe Henri de ne vime Fascicules. Gryl-
lides 2me Partie. Genéve 1878. pp. 328, 4 es.

On the SR of is aE oi By Gust si -o (Presented to the Royal
Society of Upsala, the 11 Mai, 1878.) 4to, pp. 12, 2 plates.

The Early Types of Insects: or the Origin and Sequence of Insect Life in Palzo-
zoic Times. By Samuel H. Scudder. (Memoirs of a Boston Society of Natural
History, Vol. 11, Part 1, No. 11, March 6, 1879.) 4to, pp. 9.

Arachnides de France. Par Eugéne wr ae quatrième: Contenant la
famille as Drassidæ. Paris, 1878. 8vo, pp. 336, 5 plates.

Exotische Microlepidoptera. tan a von: Prof. P. C. Zeller i; m- 94
“aa apa 1877. 8vo, pp. eb pie es.

Ueber die Goethe’schen Wor “ Leben ist die Schönste Erfindung der Natur
und der Tod ist ihr Kunstgriff hel Leben zu haben Rede beim Antritt des Rec-
torats an der Kön niglichen Universität zu Kiel e am 5 März, 1879. Von Dr.
Karl Möbius. Kiel, 1879. 4to, pp. 14.

Samuel Butler’s Gedanken über die Rolle der T Pebane in Fai noe
elungsgeschichte. Von Dr. Hermann Miiller, Kosmos 111, Jahrg., Heft 8vo

oe

a
iR

e of Recent Pip tes to the Marine Fauna of the eastern coast of North oo

a, No. 3. E. Verrill. Brief ehetibulttee to zodlogy from the museum

Am
of vale college, ride XL. rom the American ae nal of Science di Arts, Vol.
XVII, March, 1879.) No. 4, April, 1879. 8vo

n the Complete Series of Figs spire Geological Formations z North-eastern
Iowa. By W..G. McGee. (From the Proc. of the Am r the Advance-
ment of Science, Vol. XXVII, St. DeeS iiia kak, i pik 1879. 8vo
PP. 34-

-_
+

:0:
GENERAL NOTES.
BOT. ,

_ Davenport's CATALOGUE oF THE DAVENPORT Hersartum!—
i rth

at present known to inhabit North America, north of Mexico,
consisting of thirty-two genera representing one hundred and
forty-two species. The catalogue isa pyi addition to our
botanical literature, and also timely, as an unusual degree of
interest is now bestowed by colinas to ferns. If all would
pay as much attention tọ the young saan and specific limits of

a aig > of the Davenport Herbarium of North American Ferns north of
Mexico. Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Pati shed by the author, Salem,

Mass., 1879. ss pp. 42. 50 cents. Address the ‘ath, n E. De ae

_ Medford, Mass.

1879. | Botany. 391

these beautiful plants as Mr. Davenport, and should this mode of :
study be extended to the higher plants, botanical science in this
country would take a much higher stand than it now does, as
collecting, cataloguing and the framing of local lists is but pre-
liminary to the genuine study of the life-history, classification,
genealogy and physiology of plants.

GOODALE’S CONCERNING A FEW Common Prants.—This is a
small 16mo of 61 pages, issued as one of the Guides for Science
Teaching, published by the Boston Society of Natural History.
t is used by the teachers of the public schools of Boston, who
to the Knibe of five hundred attend the Teachers’ School of
Science of this popular society. The present little work is a most
successful effort to induce teachers to qualify themselves for
giving to their pupils a series of object lessons in elementary

otany.

ALLEN’s CHARACEÆ AMERICANE.— This is the first part of what
will prove a most useful monograph of our American Charas. It
is published by the author, Dr. Timothy F. Allen, 10 E. 36th
street, New York. A colored plate and a page of text form

art I.

BotanicaAL News.—The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club
for January and February contains a synopsis of discoveries and
by B; l

„researches, in 1878, on fresh-water Algæ, Wolle. In the

March numbet Prof. Eaton describes a new Hawaiian fern, and
Arthur Hollick contributes a few notes on the abnormal absence
of color in plants——In the Botanical Gazette for April, J. D.
Smith records the occurrence of a tropical plant, Ophioglossum
palmatum, on the west coast of Florida; Mr. C. F. Austin de--
scribes a number of new mosses. The number for May contains,
among others, Notes on some rare plants, by W. Canby ; On yel-
on snow, by ITG Porter, and Descriptions of some new mosses,
yG E. Austin. Notes on yae a fungi, by M. C. Cooke,
iak in Grevillea for March. men’s Journal of Botany for
April, contains an article on the sources of Chinese matting, by
H. nce, The relation of forests to rainfall is discussed
by Prof. J. E. Todd in the Iowa Horticultural Report for 1878.
He believes with others that the growth of trees may increase the
rainfall, and does not fear that the future forests of Iowa will ever
seriously suffer from drouth. e have received from Dr. Her-
mann Müller a pamphlet giving farther observations on the fer-
tilization of flowers by insects. (Extracted from the Trans. of
the Natural History Society of Prussian PT and West-
v.)

Aa XXXV, soaks

392 General Notes. [June,

ZOOLOGY:

Synonymous Unios.—The following synonomy is based upon
series of shells received from Prof. Witter, Muscatine, Iowa, and
Dr. J. Schneck, Mt. Carmel, Ill., purporting to be Unio nasutus.
That both series represented the same species was beyond doubt,
but that it was U. nasutus was as plainly to be doubted. From
obvious resemblances they were compared with U. xashvillensis
Lea, and U. mississippiensis Con., and the several series were found
to be identical, and it was further established that none of them
were U. nasutus. The comparison was based upon the position and
form of the cicatrices, the size, position and angulation of the
teeth, crenulation of the lateral teeth, color of the nacre and of
the epidermis (after treatment with oxalic acid to remove ferru-
ginous matter). Then came the query, “which is which?” The
western collectors all call the shell U. nasutus, which is evidently
incorrect. Masutus is a flat, slender shell, and, like U. complan-
atus, belongs to the Atlantic slope, though ‘both Mr, Lea and Mr.
Say assert that “ the species inhabits the western waters.”

r, Lea in his Synopsis of the Unionidae, p. > Er on j 6
himself points out a possible solution. He SAS
nasutus inhabits the western waters, a variety oft that boot ae
ave been described by him (Mr. Say) for subrostratus.’ Here a
thought suggested itself that both Mr. Lea and Mr. Conrad had
described a zew species, varieties of Say’s older suérostratus. In
sh perplexity the — were submitted to my friend Dr. Lewis, -

Moh r further study and correction. We com-
pared them. with Say's description of subrostratus, with typical
series of the other species mentioned above, and they were pro-
nounced by him to be identical. Subsequent to this, after my ar-
rival again East, Dr. Lewis writes (May 17, 1878), “I have got to
the bottom of the synonomy of the shells you had from Dr.
Schneck. He and many of the western collectors call the shell
wrongly U. nasutus Say. It is U. subrostratus Say. Add to it the
synonomy of U. zashvillensis Lea, and of U. mississippiensis Con.,
and you have it all complete.” He further says, “ Mr. Lea makes
subrostratus a synonomy of iris, Lea followed Say, who was i in
error as to what was zis, which it is clear he had not seen.’
Say’s subrostratus, therefore, stands as a good species, and,
because of its era of publication (1831), we must write as its
synonyms U. nashvillensis Lea, and U. mississippiensis

There is a ery diference $ in the outline of the shell in the
sexes of all these species. Nor is this difference without marked

positions of the various organs. Every one, who has dissecte

any great number of Unios, knows full well the differences in rela-
1The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT

Coues, U. S. A.

\

1879. | Zoology. 393

tive position of the various organs. It is more than probable
that these differences result in a modification of function, and o
so marked a nature that the external characters may be sensibly
changed. ;
Notwithstanding the work already done in the direction of
synonomy, when a more complete knowledge of the anatomy of
Unio is attained, and more is known of the modifications due to
range and station, the number of species names will be sensibly
diminished: This work will lie almost wholly in the line of their
comparative anatomy and embryology. Not oneorgan, but all, must
receive their due attention, then the external expression of these
organs will be far more clearly comprehended.—P. Ellsworth Call.

THe WESTWARD PROGRESS OF THE IMPORTED CABBAGE-WORM.—
In 1869, in my second report, in treating of this insect, I remarked,
“There is every reason to fear that it may some day get a foot-
hold in our midst,” after showing that it was then confined to
certain restricted parts of Canada and New England, and had not
spread west of New York. It has been making further progress

dissolved in about six gallons of water, or even strong tar-water
may be used to advantage. The application should be made
several times during the year, as it will be most effectual when
the worms are

PARTHENOGENESIS IN THE Honey-pee.—In the article in the
April American NATURALIST, p. 261, copied from the Comptes
Rendus, we have illustrated the danger of hasty generalization.
The writer of the article suggests. that the “ Dzierzon Theory”
rests on insufficient observation. This is far from the truth. The
__ Closest observation not only by German but also by many Ameri-
= Can apiarists, not only of one queen and her progeny, as was the

394 General Notes. [ une,

case with the author of the article, but of hundreds, has placed .
Dzierzon’s theory on a certain basis. The writer says, referring
to his single hive, “ from this it is evident that the drone eggs,
like those of the females, receive the contact of the semen
deposited by the male in the female organs.’

It is well known that virgin queens will lay eggs that will pro-
duce exclusively male bees. I have seen several such cases. I
have known queens reared late in autumn to pass the winter as
virgins and ever after to produce only male bees. Deformity of
the queen, or clipping her wing while yet a virgin, so that she
may be unable to take the “ marriage flight,” precludes mating,
and as Pia makes a “drone laying queen.” Old queens with
shriveled Fee amare are often drone layers.

ow did the writer know his queen in ‘question was not a
hybrid ? “He could not know. Many hybrid queens are to all
appearance perfectly pure. Again, how did the writer know that
the were hybrids or blacks? Frequently the drones of
our queens imported right from Italy, like the queens, are almost
-as dark as thé drones of the German race, yet the three banded
workers show the queen to be pure. One case alone, however
striking, should not be regarded as fatal to so well established a
theory. The case given, so far as given, is no evidence against
parthenogenesis of the drone. bees.—d. F.

Perez’ paper in the Annales des Sciences Nashi for April,
1878 (only just received), is followed by one published in June,
1878, by A.-Sanson, who thinks that Perez goes too far in quali-
fying the insufficiency of the observations of Dzierzon, and who
has. not given the most exact interpretation to his own (Perez)
observations. The view that the honey bee is parthenogenetic is

the co-existence in this hive of fertile queens and workers.—
Editors Naturalist.

THE ANATOMY OF THE ANTHROPOID ApEs.—This itga has
received some oe contributions from the recent investiga- :

1879. | Zoblogy. 395

tions of Drs. Chapman and Parker of Philadelphia. Dr. Chap-
man dissected a young gorilla which belongs to the Museum of
the Academy of Natural Sciences, and a young chimpanzee
which had been living in the Zodlogical Gardens of that city.
The observations on the gorilla relate chiefly to the muscular and
circulatory systems. Dr. Chapman found in the anterior limb a
distinct extensor primi internodii pollicis muscle, but no trace of
flexor longus pollicis. e also observed an artery not previously
described, which is given off from the femoral from the middle of its
course, and accompanies the long saphenous nerve and vein to the
inner aspect of the foot. While admitting that this vessel may
be anomalous, its size and importance, and presence on both sides,
lead Dr. Chapman to propose for it the name of the long saphen-
ous artery. The same writer, in his observations on the brain of
the chimpanzee, finds that the posterior lobe of the cerebral hem-
isphere does not cover the cerebellum, in accordance with the
view of Professor Owen. Dr. Parker's investigations lead him
on the other hand to the opinion that the posterior lobes do
cover the cerebellum as stated by Prof. Huxley.

On A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE RANA ESCULENTA AND OTHER
SPECIES OF BATRACHIANS.—In July, 1877, while engaged in a
series of experiments on the effect of dry and moist heat on
animals previously subjected to various operations, I found that
not one of my frogs responded to dry heat applied to any portion
of the skin. The application was made with a red or white-hot
metal rod. This was so surprising a result that it seemed very
probable that it depended on some peculiarity of the Batrachians
experimented upon. The observations were made on the Rava
clamitans and its ally, R. pipiens, and were continued unconnectedly
until June, 1878, up to which time I had not found a frog in whom
the heated rod acted as a sensory irritant. Burning the sensory
nerves failed to produce any movements, the motor nerves how-
ever were excitable for this method of irritation.

After my return to Geneva, in July, these experiments were
continued on the Rana esculenta with the same result. In August

remained when the heated rod was applied underneath the skin.
The nerves also were very readily excited by dry heat. At the
Same time the Rana esculenta from the same locality were so
insensible to dry-heat that they would allow themselves, though
ree to move, to be burned to a crisp in the reducing flame. The

these animals jumped away as soon as the heat became uncom-
ttable. These observations were found to hold good of animals

without as well as of those with brain and medulla oblongata ; of

_ those in whom the skin had been dried as well as in those in

_ Which this organ was moist; in females as well as in males.

VOL, XII.—No vi. 28

396 ca General Notes. [June,

Hyla viridis, Bombinator igneus and Bufo calamita were all
sensitive to dry-he at applied to the skin or sensory nerves.

e frogs examined in September gave the same result as
hosei examined previously. In the beginning of October, in sev-
eral R. temporaria the skin was found to be no longer sensitive to
dry heat, the sensory nerves, however, remained sensitive to this
irritant. The Rana esculenta were as in the previous month.

The first week of November the temperature was almost con-
tinually below the freezing point. On examining the sensitive-
ness for heat, I found that the Rana esculenta had become quite
sensitive to impressions of heat. The frogs of the temporaria
species had at the same time their sensibility for this irritant
greatly reduced. At this time I received, through the kindness
of my friend Mr. Richard Lomer, who assisted me in quite a
number of my experiments, a number of frogs from Heidelberg. -
At Heidelberg Mr. Lomer found that the skin of the Rana escu-
lenta could be = nei by dry heat, while that of the Rana tem-
poraria could n

Hihediately o on 0 Whit arrival these frogs were examined, and
both varieties were found to be sensible to heat, though the frogs
of the esculenta species responded much slower than the tempo-
raria. At the moment of writing (Nov. 23d) almost all the Rana
esculenta are insensible to heat. They become sensitive to this
agent when their brain has previously been destroyed. Though
this is true of the terminations of the sensory nerves in the skin,
it is not true of the nerve trunks, these always remaining
insensible.

All the vate of Batrachians that I have thus far examined,
appear to be sensible to moist heat from 35° C. upwards.
eg tt 18 ak for me to continue these observations on

but a very limited number of Batrachians, it would afford me

researches, inclined to assist me in these investigations. It would
be of great interest to know in all these examinations the locality,
the time of the year and the temperature of the era pre
atmosphere in which the experiments are made.—B, F. Lau

bach, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 23, 1878.

ANTHROPOLOGY.:

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The third number of the American
Antiquarian contains the following papers: Native America
Architecture, by E. A. Barber; The phonetic elements in Ameri-
can languages, by Dr. J. A. Farquharson ; The inscribed stone at
Grave Creek mound, by Prof. M. C. Read; Traces of Bible facts
‘in the traditions of all nations, by Rev. Sieben D. Peet; Myth-
ological text in the Klammath language, with comments by B-

—

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

1879. ] Anthropology. 397

S. Gatschet. Nearly one-half of the number is occupied with
correspondence and notes that are. quite as valuable as the
more extended articles, if the authors of the latter will pardon us.
It should be well understood that very few of our special periodi-
cals are paying expenses. In order to keep them alive, therefore,
the friends of that branch of knowledge must make sacrifices to
sustain them. So let it be with the Azteguarian.

We have received from the author, Mr. John Campbell, M. A.,
Montreal, a pamphlet entitled, “ The affiliation of the Algonquin
anguages.” The paper is supplemented with a linguistic chart
showing the supposed affiliation of the Algonquin tongues with
the Malayo-polyenesian, Ural-altaic, Asiatic-hyperborean and
Peninsular languages.

The volume containing the report of the forty-fourth session of
the Congrés Archeologique de France, held at Senlis, in 1877, is
devoted oe to that branch of arclieeology which is out-

side of our area. There are a few interesting illustrated papers
on the prehistoric archeology of France which will pay the
perusal.

The first and the second fasciculus of the Audletins of the
Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, for the year 1878, contain very
valuable matter of general import.

n page 13 Paul Bert speaks of barometric pressure as a fac-
tor in civilization, on the occasion of presenting his book entitled:
La. Pression Barometrique, recherches de physiologie expér-
imen ae

6 is a communication, by M.’Coudereau, upon the
OGRA. of development in relation to nourishment, At the
close of the article is a series of questions which M. Condereau
proposes to be put in the hands of travelers.

The article by Dr. P. Topinard on the insertion of the hair of
hegroes in tufts is as interesting as it is origina make a few
extracts from it, “The fundamental division of the Haman races
into two branches rests, by common consent, upon the character-
istics of the hair; of this classification Bory de Saint-Vincent is
the author. The first branch contains the races with straight
hair, the second, the races with woolly hair.”

ere is a subdivision of the second branch made by M.
Haeckel, and generally accepted. It depends upon the manner
in which the wo olly hair is distributed over the surface of the
body and more ecicaay of the head. In one case their inser-
tion is continuous, like the straws ina field of wheat. In the
other it occurs in bouquets, or isolated tufts, having heroi them
free spaces where the skin is glabrous. M. Haeckel calls ‘the
former eriocomi, the latter lophocomt. The origin of this character,
of such great importance, if it is true, goes back to Barrow, at
_ the commencement of this s century. The Hottentots, said he,
have Pair of a singular nature ; - it does not cover the head totally,

'

398 General Notes. [June,

but is in little tufts a small distance from one another. When
they cut it short it resembles a shoe-brush, with this difference
that the tufts are twisted into little knots the size of a pea he

ut as far as my observation goes, the character according to
which M. Haeckel and others cut into two’subdivisions, the grand
branch of negroes does not exist at all. Among all the negroes
the hair grows uniformly upon the surface of the head and of the
body. Among all there are tufts. But these tufts are not indi-
cated upon the skin. The hair of the negro varies in aspect more
than people ordinarily imagine, as Hombron was one of the first to
remark. It is presented under three principal forms, between
which there are all sorts of intermediary groups.

The first is the typical form, which characterizes most generally
the inferior negro races, to which the Hottentots belong ; ; it is the
arrangement of the hair called “ grains of pepper.” This appear-
ance is produced by the shortness, the turns of the spirals being
very close and giving rise to very narrow coils or rings, perhaps
2-4 millimetres; by the hairs being very numerous; and finally,
by the total abandonment of the hair to itself.

The second is in the form of locks twisted in curls, small or
large, from 6-8 millimetres in diameter; locks which one might
speak of as tufts, but much elongated, at times reaching 25 centi-
metres (Fritsch). heap i Barrow meant this, when speaking
of certain Hottentots, “ when they let their hair grow, it falls on
the neck in twisted tassels, somewhat like fringe,” this form ang
the preceding Bonwick observed among the Tasmanians.

The third form is presented in the shape of a cushion or com-
pact mat, more or less large, elastic, returning to its original curl
when compressed with the hand. Itis a distribution of the hair
in which the spirals are mixed, confounded without the least ap-
pearance of order. It is encountered most frequently in the
negro races with long hairs and at the same time with less savage
races who take some pains with their toilet. It is in this form
that we meet these bizarre coiffures, nsec nes travelers among
the Caffres, Mpongwes, Somalis, Papuans,

These same hairs, sufficiently. shasiacned’ p themselves, return
to the preceding form with more or less facility.

Finally, taking into account my own experience, and after at-
tentively reading the travels describing the Hottentots, Papuans,
and other negroes, I conclude that the division of the woolly-
haired races by M. Haeckel into /ophocomi and eriocomi is without
foundation. On page 94 will be found the report of a committee
consisting of MM. Bordier, Topinard and Bertillon, to examine
a negro in one of the hospitals.

°

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 399
GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

Tue Tertiary Eruptive Rocks.—The trachytic formation is
a most interesting one, but also very complicated.
may be considered as the cradle of our notions respecting it since
the time of Beudant. Richthofen imported the classification to
California as it was established about eighteen years ago, based
chiefly on habitus-characters. The geologists of the Vienna
school have continued the study of it, and about some twelve
years ago they published the geological map of Hungary too,
also showing the considerable progress made since the departure
of Richthofen.

The geologists of the 4oth parallel have accepted as a base the
classification of Richthofen, but with some alterations suggested
by Zirkel; and that is about the classification adopted by Endlich
and the other geologists of Prof. Hayden’s staff, with the only
difference that they have abandoned the propylite. .

Owing to the method employed, the petrographical part, as
regards the feldspars, the true base of classification is incomplete:
firstly, the plagioklastic feldspars are not distinguished specially;
secondly, every glassy feldspar has been taken for (potash) sani-
dine, which is not the case.

In Hungary and some adjacent countries, the trachytes have
been the object of my detailed studies nearly since Richthofen’s
time. I commenced as field-geologist, and have continued as
such, but making the aid of petrography serviceable to my field-
_ work. I came to the conviction that those two branches of inves-

tigation are contributing to the appreciation of the true nature of
the eruptive rocks in a surprising manner; the mineralogical
association also agreeing with the chronology of the eruptive
rocks belonging to the same cyclus of eruption. Sa

If you have no objection I will give a sketch of my classifica-.
tion of the Tertiary eruptive rocks :

I. Basalt, Leucitite.

2. Augite—Anorthite, Trachyte (no quartz, no biotite). This in
its normal state is the porphyre trachytique of Beudant, the
andesite of Buch, the augite of German geologists; in its modi-
fied state it can take up the habitus of greenstone (augite propy-
lite), and in other circumstances it may become basaltic, but it is
never rhyolitic.

3- Biotite—Amphibole-Labradorite Trachyte. Without or with-
quartz, without or with augite.

n its normal state it may belong to the “echter trachyt” of
the Austrian geologist, or to the amphibole-andesite. It can take
up the greenstone (amphibole-propylite), or the basaltic, and very
imperfectly the rhyolitic modification.

In some Hungarian trachytes of this type the garnet occurs in

oh the mineralogical association, apparently replacing the lime-feld-

400 General Notes. [June,

spar. Of two labradorite-trachytes of the same country, e one
being with, the other without garnet, the latter is younge

4. Biotite- Amphibole Andesin (oligoclase) Trachyte. Without or
with quartz, without or with augite.

In its normal state it may belong partly to the “ echter trachyt,”
or to.the amphibole-andesite ; in its modified state it passes in
some cases to greenstone (propylite), rarely to basalt (oligoclase
basalt), but ry taking up a pearlitic and sphzerulitic structure,
often to rhyo

5. Biotite “Ortotas ce amy Trachyte. Without or with
quartz; without or with amphibol

In a normal abate it eee ie ‘ake appearance of syenite or
granite; in its modifications the hyolite| in the highest degree
(pearlite, pitchstone, obsidian) i is often met wit

In Hungary volcanic activity also ended in an outburst of ba-
salt, and it is convenient to give to it a special color on the map,
though its formation may be regarded as an episode accompanying
nearly every one of the four periods, so that not only the augite-
anorthite trachyte has been followed by a basaltic outflow, but
after the close of the biotite labr. trachyte eruption, an outburst of
basalt took place aiso, in which some of the associated minerals
of this trachytic type may be recognized; and so there may have
been basaltic eruptions at the end of the biotite-andesite, and
rarely of the orthoklase trachyte too ; but such distinctions not
being observable in the field, ee custom of uniting them in the
geological map‘is to be maintain

The leucitite is closely allied ‘with the orthoclase-trachyte; i
Italy it is always to be found in the region of PE E te
It is a kind of basic modification of the biotite orth. olig. trachyte.
It can be colored as basalt with some additional mar

The greenstone modification has been produced originally by
solfataric, and subsequently by metamorphic and still existing ac-
tion. The rhyolite is the modification of an older acid-trachyte,
in most cases of the biotite orth. olig. trachyte (with or without
quartz), produced by submarine activity of a newer basic trachyte
breaking up under it. The orthoclase being more easily fusible
than the labradorite or the (nearly) infusible anorthite, and having
the property, of forming very fusible hydrosilicates much more
easily than all the plagioclastic feldspars, is converted into the
glassy hydrated compounds (rhyolites). Every rhyolite indicates
the contact with a younger trachyte of a more basic character, in

the newest meted of the cage eruption.
In such regions, where after the outflow of biotite orth. trachyte
no new eruptions ensued, no rhyolite is to be found ; the biotite

é

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 401
orth, trachyte occurs in its normal porphyritic, syenitic or granitic
state.

On the map the greenstone-trachyte (propylite) and the rhyo-
lite, as important habitus-characters, are to be signalized by a
secondary mark on the respective trachytes.

The chronological order has been established by means of the
sedimentary formations formed wholly or partly by trachytic
ejections, aided by the breaking of younger trachytic masses
through older ones, in which case in the region of contact the
minerals of two different types may be found mingled.

The trachytic types as enumerated according to their order of
basicity, exhibit at the same time also the chronological series of
the eruptions. The limits of time for the trachytic formation in
Hungary are the following:

1. The eruption of the augite-anorthite trachyte took place in the
Upper Miocene (Sarmatische Stufe).

2. The biotite-amphibole labradorite trachyte corresponds to the
Middle Miocene (Mediterranean Stufe).

3. The biotite-andesite (oligoclase) trachyte appeared during the
Lower Miocene.

4. The biotite orthoclase trachyte is the product of the beginning
of the trachytic cyclus'of eruption during the Upper Eocene.

For the field-geologist, who visits a country for the first time,
such a detailed classification is of course impossible; he must be.
contented with a general one, but one which should still be in ac-
cordance with the former. He may arrive at that by means of
some microscopical minerals, some habitus properties, aided in
Many cases even by panoramic characters of the single trachytic
types, all that being taken into consideration not only on the
eruptive rocks themselves, but also on the sediments containing
trachytic fragments. 7

o classes are easily distinguished: the augite-trachyte and
the biotite-amphibole trachyte ; the former is the younger, the lat-
ter the older. Since the time of Beudant, the “trachyte micassé

rhyolite, while in other instances it breaks through it. On the
line of contact the highest degree of rhyolithism is perceptible,
while with the increasing distance the normal state is more and
more preserved.

The general features of these three classes are so prominent,
that once acquainted with them, they are to be discovered every-

402 General Notes. [ June,

where, notwithstanding the varieties, which are indeed number-
less, but which do not exercise any influence on the fixed charac-
ters needed for the above classification.

he order of eruptions is the same not only in Hungary, but
down southward as far as to the region of the active volcanoes of
Italy and Greece. Vélain has found it so on the isle of Reunion;
Professor Heddle Forster informs me, that in the Tertiary volca-
nos of the Hebrides the first out-flow is a granitic rock with ortho-
clase, the second an augitic rock with labradorite, the third amyg-
daloids and basalt with labradorite. . The admirable work just
issued, “Santorin et ses eruptions,” by Fouqué, confirms this
order also for that volcanic island; the amphibol-labradorite, more
acid rocks are older, the augite labradorite-anorthite more basic
rocks younger.

There is no doubt, that the trachytes of the Rocky Mountains
will follow the same law; but as regards the limits of time, the
cyclus of eruption may exhibit a difference in the relative age.
It could have begun sooner in one country, and later in another,
corresponding to distinct volcanic basins, formed in different times.
As regards the cyclus of trachytic eruptions in Hungary, and in
the western part of the United States, there are many indications
that lead me to adopt the opinion that our cyclus antedates yours.

In order to enable us to pursue more extensive comparative
studies, descriptions are not sufficient; the objects must be seen
too, at least samples of rocks should be at our disposal. You are
very generous and liberal, whenever the interests of science are in
question ; may I ask you to let me have some of your duplicates
of typical rocks.

We have in Hungary a beautiful series of pliocene, miocene
and eocene rocks, and so the age of eruptions can be well settled.
Your series seems far from being so clear, and so complete, the
connection between the trachytic series and the sedimentary for-
mations is consequently not so evident.

I should like very much to have samples of your marine clays
and sands of mioceneand eocene also. Professor Hantken, the di-
rector of the Hungarian Geological Institut at Budapest, is the spe-
cialist for the nummulites, orbitoides and Foraminifera generally.

t would be very good for science, if he could have an opportunity
to make comparative investigations; while on the other hand, I
could ascertain whether traces of volcanic sand are contained in
them.—Dr. Foseph Szabo, Prof. of Min. and Geology in the Uni-
versity of Budapest. (Extract from a letter to Prof. Hayden)

a largest neck vertebra of the Camarasaurus supremus, but the
average length is not very different. The proportions are charac-

1879. } Geology and Paleontology. 403

teristic. The centrum is little depressed, the vertical me trans-
verse diameters of the cup being nearly equal. he form is thus
mu ore slender than in the C. supremus, indicating ù neck
sisal esi like that of the 7rionyches or Chelodine
The parapophyses descend backwards and downwards from the
edge of the anterior ball; they are acini shorter than the dia-
pophyses, which are decurved. The side of the centrum and coés-

the parapophysis. Still another divides the posterior base of the
neurapophysis, on each side of the neural arch. The posterior
2.

EXPLANATION OF CUTS.
Cervical vertebra of Camarasaurus leptodirus, one-tenth natural size. 1, right
side; 2, aaas rend; 3, inferior surface. Fig. 1 is taken from one vertebra ; figs.
2an d 3 from another

zygapophyses support a strong superior crest, and their superior
edges converge to meet at an angle without forming a neur
spine at or posterior to the middle of the length of the neural
arch, as is the case in Epanterias amplexus. The external bases
of the zygapophyses are excavated deeply. Length of centrum
Mm, .430; vertical diameter of cup, .140; transverse > .160 ;

404 General Notes. ee

expanse of diapophysis, .380; of posterior zygapophyses, .450;
elevation of do., .250; elevation of do. with crest, .360. T
species is named Camarasaurus leptodirus.

s of an allied species recently received from Colorado, re-
present a most gigantic animal. The transverse diameter of the
ge vertebra is fifty-six inches, and that of the distal end of

e femur, twenty-one inches.

TA species of the carnivorous Dinosaurian genus se dese sic
has lately been received from pamba locality, which adds con
siderably to our knowledge of it. Vertebræ, limb bones apd
teeth found together, confirm the correctness of my supposition
as to the true affinities of the genus.! The animal obtained is
about the size of the Hadrosaurus foulkei. The dorsal vertebræ

display the zygapophysial mass greatly elevated on a stem which

has a quadrate section, with anterior and posterior grooves.
There is no hyposphenal articulation. The diapophyses are wider
than deep, are directed obliquely upwards from the superior mar-
gins of the zygapophyses, and have a prominent anterior superior
border; the neural spine is short and compressed. The centrum.
is amphiplatyan and moderately compressed at the middle. The-
caudal vertebræ are not very elongate, and have a compressed -
hexagonal section. The chevron facets are on produced bases.
Many of the teeth are less compressed than usual with Megalo-
sauroid species, and have two denticulate edges. Length of dor-
sal centrum m. .100; vertical diameter of do., .084; transverse
diameter of do., 073; elevation of postzyg gapophyses from cèn-

trum, .122; elevation of neural spine above centrum, .292; length
of diapophyses below, .130; length of a wong aire .048 ;

depth in front .050; distal width of fem 250. I name this
species in honor of my friend Professor Sealey, Hypsirhoplus see-
leyanus—E. D. Cope.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

AFRICAN EXPLORATION.— To the account given in our last num-
ber of the various PLENE ion sano in explorations on the
western coast of Africa, we have now to add these further details.
M. le Comte de Semellé who sared from Fernando Po in May,
1878, to explore the upper Niger and Benué, returned to that set-
tlement on reg lage 13th, last, and has forwarded an account of
his discoveries to Europe.

M. Soleillet has also been obliged to return to St. Louis, Senegal
from Sego on the Niger, in consequence of the refusal of the |
Sultan of Sego to allow him to pass through his territory.

The Atheneum (April a SA gives the following astronomi-
cal observations taken M. de Brazza, Okanda’s residence
amongst the Bateke, 1° ae 59” S., 11° 59’ 48’ E.; Obemba, an

1 This journal, Feb. 23, 1878 (March number). oe.

_ ® Edited by ELLIs H. Yarnatt, Philadelphia.

ad 879.] Geography and Travels. 405

Apfuru village, 1° 31’ 40” S; deserted spot, 0° 14’ N., 12° 177
30° E; Nghimi, 1° 37/56” S., 11° 23’ E.. The places are in the
basin of the Ogowé with the exception of Obemba which is in
that of the Congo. Four rivers crossed between 1° 30’ S. and o°
30’ N. latitude flow eastward. Obemba is on the Alima, a pow-
erful river which was navigated down to 12° 32’.. The longitudes .
are reckoned from Paris.

Turning now to the eastern coast of the “ Dark Continent,”
we find still more to record in the researches and enterprises
undertaken both by scientific and religious societies. A survey
is being made by the Portuguese for a railroad from the Delagoa
bay to the Transvaal. The opening of the road from Dar-es-Sa-
laam to lake Nyassa is progressing favorably. In December forty
miles of the route had been traced out and no serious difficulties
encountered. The dreaded tsetse-fly does not prevail in this re-
gion and bullocks and donkeys were employed in the work. Mr.
Keith Johnston and his companion Mr. Thomson arrived at Zan-
zibar on the 5th of January. During a short detention at Aden
the latter made an exploratory trip to Somali-land and he has sent

ney to Nyassa. Since the death of his old master, Chuma has
had much experience of travel in the country east of Nyassa.
For recent additions to our knowledge of that lake and its sur-
roundings we are indebted to reports in the London Academy.
It states that at a meeting of the Society of Arts a paper by Mr.
Cotterill “ On the Opening out of the Districts to the North of
Lake Nyassa,” was read, in which this country, walled in by the
great Kondi mountains—believed to be more than 12,000 feet
high—is spoken of as among the most beautiful and fertile tracts
in Africa. Only among the Himalayas is scenery found at all
comparable to that of the Kondi country. Mr. Johnston is espec-
ially instructed to examine this range of mountains thoroughly,
their elevation, extent, the passes through them, etc. It consti-

406 ; General Notes. [June,

from the London docks to the north end of the lake by way of
the Zambesi and Shiré rivers.

Accounts of the progress of the exploration making on the
western side of the Nyassa by the Missionaries from Livingstonia
down to October 30, 1878, have been received in Scotland. The
left Livingstonia on August 12, 1878, and journeying first

a south-westerly direction, reached a mountain plateau some
saat or 5000 feet above the sea-level. They then. traveled
through an open country, well watered, with a soil composed of
disintegrated granite. Turning northwards they struck across
the river Lintippe westwards and traveled for some time through
a deserted but once populous country, Finally they reached

hivere’s country, which is open, well watered and populous, but
entirely devoid of trees. Reaching the coast south of the lake
Chia they proceeded north along the coast and when last heard
from had reached Kuta bay—Bandepe on Livingstone’s map.

The Nature states that the exact position of Blantyre, which
lies to the east of the Murchison Falls on the Shiré, and was
never before accurately ade has been found to be S. lat.
15° 45’ 25” and E. long. 35°

Ill fortune has continued to h i the Bełgian African Expe-
dition. Lieut. Wauthier died of dysentery on the 19th of Decem-
ber last, near lake Chaia, a small body of water some eighty miles
south-east of Tabora in Unyanyenbe. Dr. Dutrieux was with
him at his death, but the remaining chief, M. Cambier, when last
heard from, had passed Tabora on the road to Mcene, M.
Dutalis has arrived at Zanzibar and will hereafter command the
expedition. Mr. H. M. Stanley accompanies him and will act as
At and interpreter. Capt. Popelin will also soon leave Bel-

m to execute the plan of forming a chain of stations across
Cette Africa from Zanzibar to the Loango coast. The means
te important undertaking are supplied by the King of the

elgians.

- Another Missionary es — —— Church Mission to the
Victoria Nyanza, Mr. Penrose, has met with a violent death at the
hands of the natives. Hem was on bis es to the Nyanza and was
attacked and murdered at nearly the same time as the death of
Lieut. Wauthier occurred and near the same ner Chaia. It is

Unyamalzi. He had so far been most successful, having accom-
plished his march with = rapidity, without loss either in men,
supplies, or instruments, was in perfect th. He states
that the power of the be wanes daily, and their place is being
taken by the English. The power of the Sultan of Zanzibar is

4 _ merely nominal. The Sultan reigns but the English Consul goie

b

18709. | Geography and Travels. 407

erns. Two of the French missionaries from Algeria have died,
one of them by illness and the other having been killed by a lion.
Letters down to October 17, 1878 have been received by the
London Missionary Society from their mission at Ujiji on lake
Tanganyika. The death from apoplexy of the leader of the
party, Rev. Mr. Thomson, is announced. The Arabs report the
grass in the Lukuga (Cameron’s supposed outlet: of the lake) as
having been swept away in the last rainy season by the rising of
the lake waters. They say it is now an out-flowing river, and one
of them had gone down it to the Kamolondo ( ?) lake.

We learn from the azure that a German Scientific Expedition
under Herr C. Denhardt has recently explored the course of the
river Dana. They only advanced about sixty miles into the in-
terior. They could hear nothing of Mount Kinea, and it is proba-
ble the stream does not take its rise from its slopes as hitherto
_ supposed,

Mr. Mackay of the English Church Missionary Society reached
the south-eastern shores of the Victoria Nyanza at Kagei in July,
1878. aving received a conciliatory message from Lukongeh,
chief of the Ukerewe, by whom his colleagues, Messrs. Smith and
O'Neill were killed; he visited him. Lukongeh stated he had no
quarrel with white men and that the death of his friends was
caused by their interference in the affairs of an Arab. On his re-
turn to Kagei Mr. Mackay met the Rev. Mr. Wilson, who had
crossed over from Uganda and the two returned together to King
Mtesa’s, after Mr. Mackay had succeeded in putting together the
sections of a small steamer in which he transported across the
lake the stores of machinery, tools and useful articles sent out for
the instruction of the natives. The British Government has been
informed of Mtesa’s intention to send an embassy to the Queén.
He is anxious to open up a direct road from the Nyanza to the
coast through the Masai country. He is ready to welcome Eng-
lishmen, but desires no more dealings with the Arabs, and is very
much afraid of the Egyptians. Rumanika, the old King of Kara-
gwe is dead, and Mtesa has dispatched an army to secure the
throne for one of the deceased king’s sons. - :

The Missionaries sent out by the Society by the Nile route ar-
rived at Regiaf above Gondokoro about November 7

At a conference of telegraph engineers and others held at the
Royal Geographical Society’s rooms in London, on the 6th of
January, last, a report was adopted recommending a route for an
overland telegraph from Khartum to Pretoria. The following are
the sections and distances on this route: |
Geographical Miles.

- 645

I, Khartum to Gondokoro

2. Gondokovo to Mtesa’s capital ..... 300
3: tesa’s to south side of Lake Victoria eeesees 300
4. Lake Victoria to Unyanyembe Elites (430
5. Unyanyembe to Bagomoayo ehi ET s: 370

408 General Notes. [June,

Geographical Miles.
35

5a. Bagomoyo to Zanzibar
6. Bagomoyo to north Of Lake Nyassacicey dx) } fate eA se EAS 290
7. Down cake Nyass Aip I ivingstoni ia 300
8. Livingstonia to Tet ORENA bid bhi 145
9. Tete to oan CUER 820
: 3335
To which must be added for deviations, say about one-fifth, viz:....... 667

S TET PR POCE EE E ERE E nme ak E E A 4002

The practicability of making and keeping open such a line is as-
serted by Capt. Cameron, Mr. H. M. Stanley, Mr. Ziegler, Di:
rector of the London and Red Sea Coast Telegraphs, Sir. F.
Goldsmid, of the overland Indian Telegraph, and others. Mean-
while the British Government has decided to lay a cable from
Aden to Zanzibar, thence to Port Natal via Mozambique and
Delagoa bay. adagascar and the Mauritius may also be con-
nected with this line.

MICROSCOPY. ?

AMERICAN Society oF Microscopists.—This Society, which
was the outgrowth of, the Microscopical Congress at Indianapo-
lis, last summer, is making arrangements to meet at Buffalo on
Tuesday morning, August 19th, with the probability that its ses-

sions will continue until Friday night the 22d. This will leave
ample time for those who wish to attend also the meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Sara-
toga, on the 27th of the same month. The people of Buffalo
have organized a local committee, with sub-committees on finance,
on transportation, on accommodations and rooms, on entertain-
ments, and on microscopical soirée. The place for headquarters
of the Society, and for holding the meetings, has not yet been

S. a few years ago, will need no assurance that the meeting
will be made pleasant as well as profitable.

NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON Micrometry.—This committee, in
the formation of which most of the active microscopical societies
of the country have taken part, has been organized with the fol-
lowing officers and members: F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D., president
of Columbia College, N. Y. city, chairman R. H. “Ward, M.D.,

roy, N.Y., secretary; George E. Fell, C.E., "Buffalo, NY; . Henry
Jameson, M.D., Indianapolis, Indiana ; Prof. S, A. Lattimore,
Rochester, N.Y.; Prof. dward W. Morley, Hudson, Ohio; Jos-
eph G. Richardson, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa.; Prof. Stephen E
Sharples, Bost n, Mass.; Prof. H. L. Smith, Geneva, N.Y.; Prof.

Albert H. Tuttle, Columbus, Ohio ; EF oaia M.D, Wash-
1 This aperea T R. H. WARD, Troy, N. Ne

$

1879. ] Scientific News. 409

ington, D.C.; Lester Curtis, M: D., Chicago, Ill.; the San Fran-
cisco society is represented on the committee, though not yet
by a western man. The committee is already engaged in discus-
sion of the large number of reports and letters that have been re-
ceived on the subject.

Leap CELts.—Cells may be made readily, and at small ex-
pense, from the thin sheets of lead with which tea boxes are
ordinarily lined. This material may be obtained from any grocer,
and is prepared expeditiously by the following method: It should
‘ be smoothed by rubbing and slightly moistened with water, so
that when placed upon a turn table it will adhere sufficiently to
be marked with a lead pencil. Using thin glass covers as patterns

sharp point of a penknife. The rings thus formed may be fixed
upon the slide with cement, and the depth of the cell increased
by placing several of these upon each other, allowing a sufficient
interval for partial drying. Shallow cells in particular are formed
with the greatest ease by this method, and they seem to be dura-
ble.—M. A. Veeder, Lyons, N. Y.

[Cells of paper or cardboard are made with great success in the
same way, on the modern turntables. Tin or lead cells are gen-
erally attached to the slide with Kill’s cement or shellac varnish.
—Ep] .

—:0: —

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The National Academy of Sciences, held its spring session.
in Washington, commencing April 15th. A number of impor-
tant papers were read, and election for officers was held. This re-
sulted in the election of Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, of Boston, as presi-
dent, and Prof. O. C. Marsh as vice-president; Prof. J. H.C. Coffin,
home secretary; Prof. F. A. P. Barnard, foreign secretary; Fair-
man Rogers, treasurer; Professors Baird, Agassiz, Newcomb, W.
‘Gibbs and A. Hall, and General M. C. Meigs, members of council.
The new members of the Academy elected at this meeting are
Prof. Cleveland Abbe, distinguished for his researches in meteor-
ology; Prof. J. W. Farlow, botanist, of Harvard University; Dr.
Horatio C. Wood, of Philadelphia, prominent in biology; and
Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, of New Haven, a student of mathematical
physics. The following are among the papers read : S. H. Scudder,
The Palzozoic cockroaches; S. Weir Mitchell, The relations of
neuralgic pains to storms and to the earth’s magnetism; Joseph
LeConte, On the extinct volcanoes about Lake Mono, and their
relations to the glacial drift; E. D. Cope, On the extinct species
of the rhinoceros and allied forms, of North America; E. W. Hil-
gard, The loess of the Mississippi and the zolian hypothesis; G.
K. Gilbert, On the stability and instability of drainage lines; C. V.
Riley, The hybernations and migrations of Aletia argillacea (the
parent of the cotton worm); A. Agassiz, Report on dredgings in

š

410 Proc. Sci. Soc’s & Selected Articles in Sct. Serials. [June, ’79.

the Carribean sea by the U. S. Coast Survey steamer Blake, Com-

mander John R. Bartlette, U.S. Navy, commanding; G. J. Brush,

On a mineral locality in Fairfield county, Connecticut; J. S. New-

berry, On the great silver deposits recently discovered in Colo-

rado, Utah and Nevada.

:0:
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 11.—The President, Dr. Ruschenberger
read an extract from a letter from Dr. Siegfried, U.S.N., descrip- `
tive of the aborigines of the island of Botel Tobago. vG
McCook gave an account of his studies upon the habits "of leaf-
cutting ants of Texas.

Feb. 18—The President in the Chair. A paper entitled, On the
structure of the Chimpanzee, by Dr. H. C. Chapman was pre-
sented for publication. Dr. Leidy exhibited some specimens of
Bothriocephalus latus which had been obtained from a Swedish
woman, this tape-worm appeared ee be very rare in this country,
being the first he had ever seen. eidy also gave the results
of his examination of the second chimpanoer, which recently died
at the Zoological Garden, stating that in this specimen the cere-
brum fairly covered the cerebellum; longitudinal va/vule conni-
ventes were found in the middle of the small intestine, and forty-
five Peyer’s patches were counted. The development of the
laryngeal pouch was also considered.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, April 7. — Prof.
Newberry read a paper on the occurrence of gold with the silver
ores of Nevada

ril 21. L biot Arnold Guyot presented a paper on the
topography of the Catskills.

April 28 —Prof. J. S. Newberry remarked on the devices em-
ployed in nature for the distribution of the seeds of plants

Boston Socrety or Naturat History, April 16.— Dr. S
Kneeland spoke on the mineralized phosphatic guanos of the
Pacific islands.

o ;
SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.
QUARTERLY JouRNAL oF Microscopicar Scrence.—April. Ob-
servations on the structure of cells and nuclei, by E. Klein. On

| Nematoid Hemoa of man, by T. R. Lewis (confirms oe:
son’s discovery of the migration of a human zoon from

a of a mosquito, and records the iehistory of the
4 Filaria sanguinis-hominis De:

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xur. — FULY, 1879. — No. 7.

FORM OF SEEDS AS A FACTOR IN NATURAL
SELECTION IN PLANTS

BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. ©

i te present aspect of the fields in the immediate neighbor-
hood of the south grounds of the University of California, at
Berkeley, when compared with their general appearance five years
ago, when the flora of the locality was first noticed by me, exhib-
its a marked contrast; and though during this time the vary-
ing character of the vegetation from year to year attracted my
attention, the altered physiognomy of the fields particularly
impressed me this past season, and curiosity has led me to seek
for the causes which have produced what may be regarded as a
most striking change,

The complexity of questions of this kind is increased, not only
through the simpler factors involved, some of which are given
below, but by the sequence of relationship of such factors to each
other, which it is difficult to detect.

The climatology of the seasons during which such changes
have been progressing ;—the tillage of proximate lands, and the
introduction of new plants, or of plants new to a locality, through
this agency or by other artificial means more or less direct, which
follow the settlement of a region;—other changes which follow
through neglect of tillage, as where the cultivation of farm-
ing lands is abandoned, as is generally the case where such lands
are divided and cut into small parcels for village or town plats or
lots ;—these are a few of the more conspicuous agencies which
produce changes of the kind mentioned herein, in the local flora
of such neighborhoods. Again, the time required for the growth-

29

VOL, XIII,—No, VIL

412 Form. of Seeds as a Factor [July,

of a plant, from the sprouting of the seed to maturity, differs
greatly in different plants, and the seeds of some plants germinate
in much less time than the seeds of others. From this cause
the aspect of the fields changes during the same season ; those
plants whose seeds start quickly and attain maturity in the shortest
time, dominate for awhile and give one aspect to the fields in the
first part of the season, and those plants whose seeds sprout slowly
only reach maturity after the earlier have passed their prime or
died, then dominate! and later in the season give to the fields a
a different complexion or appearance.

The occurrence of these changes and the domination of this or -

that plant inside of or within the number of plants which form
the flora of a certain region, may be conspicuously modified, in
one year or season as compared with another, by the character of
the season as previously referred to. As some plants thrive best
with only a moderate supply of moisture, and are dwarfed,
decreased in number of individuals or suppressed: by the “ drown-
ing” of the seeds as the farmers call it, through excess of “ wet”

—so the latter might be highly favorable to the germination of —

the seeds and earlier development of the plants of some other
species, which in normal or ordinary seasons would appear
much later.”

The effect of only one such season oldie extend through
several seasons, and materially modify the landscape features in
its annual plants for a period of many years.

Without further enlarging in this direction on certain points
which have been referred to, as they cannot properly be passed
unnoticed, attention is called to another class of factors, not
generally recognized, but of sufficient importance not to admit
exclusion, wherein ‚natural selection is illustrated as performing
its part in a different wa

The domination of “ the fittest,” the character of a season con-

1 Thus Madia ec popularly or ERT known as “ tar-weed,” and obnox-
ious to pedestrians on account of its gummy exudation which injures clothing, though
inconspicuous in e summer, iv in ais season becomes a prominent ae

In considering this point the PLCS recurring discussion of what may be
entitled “Cheat vs. Wheat,” is brought to mind; some farmers contending that in
seasons of unusual “ wet”? the wheat turns to hei: others that the cheat, which in
ordinary Seasons is kept back, suppressed the wheat (which makes the earliest
start and quickest after growth, therefore maturing first), in unusually wet seasons
gets the start of the wheat and dominates the field for that season. (Cheat is the
local or vulgar name for Lolium temulentum

ey

1870. | | in Natural Selection in Plants. 413

sidered, has been inferentially if not directly shown, where the
effect of an unusually wet season is referred to; so certain plants
which now dominate in my immediate neighborhood illustrate
how natural selection has assisted, to say the least, in producing
the change in the open fields near my residence in Berkeley,
through the advantage which one form of seed has over seeds of
a different form. And this aside from its interest to the scientific
observer, is of special interest to the farmer, for it enters into the
economics of his business, as may be seen further on.

Only a few years ago the entire region hereabout, from the hills
to the shore of the bay, was either farmed or used for pasturage.
Where not tilled, over large portions of this area, the wild mus-
tard (Brassica nigra) abounded, and was regarded by the farmers
as a pest; it grew and thrived nearly everywhere, and often
attained a height sufficient “to hide all of a standing horse but
his head.” During later years the mustard has surrendered a
part of the field to an (introduced?) turnip and radish, plants of
the same order, with smooth seeds, and all three of thesé have
been giving way, gradually yielding to other plants, native and
introduced.

The mustard may, in some localities, regain in part its lost
supremacy, through the assistance of man, as the seed within a few
years has become of economic importance, and is now prepared
for culinary purposes, and is also on the list of products in the
export trade of the State.!

The principal plants within the more limited area first men-
tioned in this paper, to which these smooth-seeded Crucifere have
been gradually yielding, have seeds of a different form. One of
these is the A/fil/arilla, or “ filaree,’ by which name it is more
generally known, a plant which is closely related to the gerani-
ums, if we may judge from analogies of form in leaf and flower,
structure of seed receptacle and shape of seeds. This alfillarilla, :
as it is called by the Spanish Californians, is an Ærodium, and two —
species grow here, namely, £. cicutarium and E. : moschatum?

- UIn 1875, 1013 centals, valued at $4849; 1876, 5458 centals, valued at $18,314;
1877, 5065 centals, valued at $15,412, and in 1878, 7552 centals, valued at $21,689,
were exported to foreign countries, making a total for the four years of 19,088 cen-
tals of the value of $60,264.

? Cattle eat these readily and appear to be fond of them, but the latter ices espe-

cially is nota oo plant for milch cows, as it gives a
taste to the

414 Form of Seeds as a Factor [July,

This genus is a form of “ cranesbill,” and as will be seen by
Fig. 1, and its gynacium, Fig. 2, is somewhat like that ‘of Ger-
anium maculatum, as figured in Gray. oe:

5
Crane’s bill (Erodium) or Alfillarilla. From nature.

The latter figure, with the sepals removed, shows the ovaries
with their slender bearded! styles or awns (Figs. 3 and 4 enlarged)
in situ, cohering to the elongated axis of the receptacle.

It will be observed upon examination that the ovaries are in
fact a barb-shaped sheath enclosing the seed, the surface of which
is covered with short stiff hairs or small bristle-like spines visible to
the unaided eye, but of course more conspicuous through a com-
mon lens. The tip of the barb is also peculiarly pointed and
curved ; produced from the upper end of the ovary (that opposite
to the tip) is a thread-like process or style an inch or more in
length, varying in different specimens, so that the ovary as a

‘whole may be compared to a tiny arrow, which it much
resembles, :

Now if we examine an unripe specimen before the sepals have
separated from it (Fig. 1), we shall find four to five of these minia-
ture arrows (carpels) side by side, closely fitting together, being
snugly packed around the prolonged central axis of the gyn®-
cium, the base of which is sufficiently expanded or swollen to
receive the tips. —

After the blossom has withered and the ripening process

1It is presumable that the Spanish name A/f//aril/a was suggested: by these deli-
cate fismesis; =

1879. | in Natural Selection in Plants. 415

advances, it will be found that the arrows (ovaries) in these little
bundles, or quivers, if it be allowable to so natne them, exhibit a
tendency to separate from the central stalk or axis of the recepta-
cle, first curling upwards and finally falling off, or are blown out
and distributed by the wind.

s soon as the ovaries are detached as above, their styles com-
mence twisting (see Figs. 5, 6 and 7), and the delicate threads, as
seen upon and along the slender shaft or style, are consequently
thrown out at increased angle (sometimes at a nearly right angle),
so that the entire ovary now presents somewhat the appearance
of the skeleton or frame, as it were, of a parachute, which after a
breeze has passed and the air is calm, causes it to descend verti-
cally, barb downward, so that the tip first touches the ground ;-
the end of the tip is also barbed, so that if the soil at the spot
where it alights is at all loose, it holds on. If the weather is dry
the style or awn becomes still dryer, which causes it to twist still
more, and the torsion caused by increased desiccation, turns it
deeper and deeper; while if the atmosphere becomes damp or a
rain occurs sufficient to moisten the slender style, though but
little moisture is required to relax the torsion, the bite or grip
previously made is not lost, because with the softening of the
style the barb or ovary is not twisted out; whatever hold has
been gained is retained, and the torsion renewed with recurring
desiccation, and so the process of planting goes on.

The small bristles on the surface of the ovary or sheath are set
obliquely upwards to the axial length and assist in the process of
planting. It will be seen that every alternation of atmospheric
conditions, characterized by positive moisture or dryness, assists
in the operation?

The luxuriant growth of the cultivated geraniums in California
is well known. In and around Berkeley nearly every yard has
many plants of one or more varieties. On my premises are
numerous vigorous plants of large size and of many varieties,
including Pelargoniums.

1 This is easily illustrated by the following simple experiment: Take a tumbler
and fill it with sand; select specimens of the gynæcia or receptacles which are
beginning to turn brown or approaching ripeness, that is while the seeds complete

its tip is fairly set; it will soon be noticed as the ripening progresses, or as the awn
or shaft begins to dry that it also begins to curl or twist, and that in curling it buries
the barbed ovary deeper and deeper, as turning a corkscrew carries the same deeper
and deeper into a cork.

416 -Form of Seeds as a Factor [July,

The question naturally occurred, why have not these orna-
mental forms which have the great advantage over their wild
relatives of the protection and fostering care of man, spread like
the unprotected Zrodium and divided the field with it or driven it
out? The seeds are not infertile, for under the shade of the
sturdy plants which produce them, protected during the hot dry
summers by the leaves which fall from the parent plant and make
the thin mulch which covers them, with infrequent and slight
sprinkling during the long rainless season, hundreds of young
plants may be seen in the fall which have sprung from the loose
and slightly moistened soil and acquired their second pair of
leaves. The carpels are of the same form as those in Erodium ;
few persons could detect any difference, and the awn or style
twist in the same way. Upon critical examination, however, it
was found that the tip (insertion point) of the carpel was covered
with soft silken hairs instead of rigid bristles, too soft to act as
barbs, and the insertion point is neither as sharp or stiff nor curved
the same as in Erodium.

The seeds of all of these foreign forms which have been exam-
ined by me in this connection, are apparently dependent for dis-
tribution chiefly on the winds, for the delicate filaments along the
style if not longer are more numerous than in Erodium, so that
when the twist or torsion has occurred, they present a form well
adapted for distribution by flight.

Darwin has noticed the advantage which winged seeds have in
this respect, as well as those plants whose seed cups or receptacles
have a rough exterior, which get caught in the hair or fleece of
animals and are thereby transported from place to place. In this
way also the seeds of the geraniums have some advantage, but as
compared with those of Erodium, so far as planting by natural
methods is considered, the advantage is ks eg Se in favor of
the latter.

I do not know how it is with the cultivated varieties referred
to in their native country, neither can I assert how it might be
with our Erodium forms if transplanted to another region; a dif-
ferent environment might induce a gradual modification in those —
peculiarities which in the environment of Berkeley are important
factors in their propagation and the extension of their geographi-
cal domain. It is not difficult for a person who is familiar with
the cultivation of plants, and who has had an experience covering

18709. | in Natural Selection in Plants. 417.

widely separated regions with different soils and climates to con-
ceive of conditions which might give to Erodium a rank succu-
‘lent and tender growth, which, continued for a few years might
differentiate the rigid bristles and barb of its ovaries in the direc-
tion of greater flexibility; or on the other hand to modify the
soft nap or pile on the surface of the ovaries as well as the flexi-
ble tip of the foreign geraniums in the direction of rigidity or
spine-like stiffness. Those influences which induce succulent or
ligneous tendencies in plants are to a great extent the factors in
such variation.

The seeds of geraniums found in the highlands of Uruguay, as
well as the seeds of certain other plants, exhibit the same inter-
esting peculiarities.)

Notwithstanding the browsing of cattle the Erodium gained
upon the previously conspicuous forms. Within the past two
years, however, it has been losing ground, in some places more

1 An exceedingly brief outline of this paper was read by me before the California
Academy of Sciences, June 17th, 1878; subsequently. my friend, Mr. X. Y. Clark,
sent me the following clipping rot Nature of March 1, 1877, which I had not pre-
viously seen:

"Tiy groscopic Seeds.—I have lately received an ooh ie letter from Fritz Miil-
ler, in St. Caterina, Brazil, on the subject bad hygroscopic seeds. He tells me e

in the highlands of the Urugu uay he Se succeeded in discovering more fins a doz
grasses, as well as a ate of geranium, prat awns are capable of h araea
i ma

l
twists on its pm pers when the eet is is dried. These tails sol ote in three directions
ed Fri i

parent pla . Anot] \ because

it illustrates the explanation which "gpl re) rh: torsion of the awn of ‘Stipa, namely,
- that each i ich the is com is capable of t a
their combined action results in the testing of the whole awn. Now in this species

Of Aristida each of the three tails into which the awn is divided i is capable of tor-
sion on its own axis, and as the seed dries as So Be gene fect th GPRS

‘= “Down, Beckenham, February 19. FRANCIS DARWIN.”

The Transactions referred to in Mr. Darwin’s foot-note are not within my reach,
and the article referred to by him, is unknown to me. I am curious to.learn how far
my observations and comments, made quite independently and without knowledge
of anything elsewhere written, may agree with or sustain previous writers, or be
corroborated and sustained by their obseryndioes

418 Form of Seeds as a Factor [July, ©

rapidly than in others, through the conquering advance of another
plant, a form which, being not only worthless as food but repug-
nant to cattle, is not molested by them in its onward march for
supremacy, which over large areas it has already achieved, to the
nearly total exclusion of Erodium.

This latter is what is known as barley-grass, or false barley,
Hordeum maritimum, of which a spikelet is shown in the follow-
ing figure (8).

b

Fic. 8. Spikelet of Darley Grass.

Upon a careful examination it will be seen that the entire
spikelet throughout is closely set either with short rigid bristles
(as on the glumes and palea) or with minute sharply-pointed
barbs as exhibited in the awns throughout their entire length, and
on the edges of the arrow-shaped base or stem (insertion point)
of the spikelet. Upon the long bristle-like awns these barbs are
closely set, but are so very small as not to be at first detected ;
on pulling one of them through the fingers in a direction from
the tip æ towards the extremity of the awn. 4, no difficulty is
encountered, it may be done with ease; but on pulling it in the
opposite direction, namely, from 4 towards a, resistance ensues
from the multitude of minute barbs, and the effort, if pensinto in,
. results i in 1 the ER of the awn.

1879. | in Natural Selection in Plants.” 419

The spikelet as a whole may be regarded as a wonderfully
ingenious, compound and effective barb, having through the
angle of its various parts and the length of the awns, all of the
advantages of the parachute form which Erodium and the culti-
vated geraniums referred to derive from their twisted styles with
fine lateral hairs, for floating in the air and for poise in ultimate
descent.

The principal advantage which Erodium has over this Hordeum
is in the hygroscopic torsion of the styles? or awns; this is more
than balanced by the preponderance of barbs and bristles in Hor-
deum, all of which are set at some angle outward and upward,
while the spoon-shaped basal nib, arrow-head or insertion point,
whichever it may be termed, is perhaps equally well adapted as
the same part in the carpels of Erodium, for biting and holding
on; once inserted, every motion it receives, whether from the
wind or other source only inserts it deeper and deeper, and in
this the nib or insertion point is assisted by the other parts of the
spikelet. Another and probably the chief-advantage which the
barley-grass has over Erodium is in the greater number of seeds
(three in a spikelet) in a single plant; recurring again to the fact
that cattle dislike it on account of its wiry, prickly character,
which gives it almost perfect immunity or protection from their
proweing, it is easy to perceive why it has become nearly if not
quite “ master of the situation.”

To the farmer it is a pest and to the ean a nuisance, as
the spikelets stick into the trowsers around the foot, working in
deeper and deeper with every motion, often crawling upwards as
far as the top of the boot-leg, where if the stocking is long and
extends above, it catches and follows down into the foot, irri-
tating the flesh and compelling a halt in order to remove the
annoyance,

Under a microscope lens the main barb (insertion point or nib)
is an interesting and curious object; the unshaded edges (see
figure) and the ie barbs upon the same are translucent, being

1¢ A wi ei oat * * * * the A. sterilis of botanists, is cpa agg Ar the
hygrometric properties of the seed. Two grains usually grow together, they

have a ines, bent and twisted awn. When the oat is ripe it falls out of its ele
and in warm weather may be seen rolling snd turning about on its long ungainly

emain quiet till the acpi falls, or they are moistened by a shower, when they
rapidly untwist and run about as if anxious to escape from the wet?’ —Baird’s Dict.
Hist. p. 27.

ne

420 ` A Speculation on Protoplasm. [July, °

nearly pure silica; so also are the minute barbs upon the awns;
and the short bristles on the surface of the ovaries in Erodium
resemble, in miniature, the spiny bones in the dorsal fin of a
erch
Other bearded or barbed-seeded or rough-burred plants have
increased in several places within the region referred to in this
paper, among these are the burr-clover (Medicago denticulata) and
the thistles (Centaurea melitensis L., and C. solstialis L.), both
introduced species; the barley-grass, however, has the advantage
over all others and is likely to maintain it.

A SPECULATION ON PROTOPLASM.

BY PERSIFOR FRAZER, JR.

Ape researches of comparative anatomists in late years have
thrown much light upon the mode of development of the
germ or embryo to the adult form of the species from which
it is derived, and by the labors of Haeckel, Huxley, Cope, and
others, much encouragement has been offered to the hope that
man will yet push his knowledge of the processes of the devel-
opment of life at least so far into their infinitesimal begin-
nings that the highest powers of the microscope and the most
delicate appliances of physical science can no longer aid him. In
this gradual triumph over what at- first seemed insurmountable
difficulties, many lines of interesting speculation are opened up,
which, though lacking the permanent value of demonstration, are
not without a certain use.

One of these is connected with the material out of which these oe

wonderful structures are built; a material seeming to form the
common point of intersection of all lines of organisms. For the
latter, though widely separated in their several states of perfect
development, when traced towards their origin, exhibit more and
more striking resemblances and analogies ; and they consist of a
common substance, namely, the ultimately structureless (oF

amorphous as it is sometimes perhaps too ae eral pro-

ERE or PETES

1879] A Speculation on Protoplasm. 421

This wonderful substance which composes the simple cell of
plant and animal, is capable of a distinct and individual life, and `
its methods of growth and multiplication (or rather division) have
been beautifully demonstrated by many eminent naturalists.

nd wherever the phases of this chameleon -may be. observed,
each is the easily recognizable child of all it has passed, and the
common parent of all beyond and above it, howsoever diver-
gent may be the path. But it is the vulgar error to misunder-
stand this analogy (as in the relations of man.and monkey, etc.)
when criticizing the doctrine of evolution. For only on the
trunk do all divergent forms unite. No dough is parent to
another, but they are brothers of the same parent stem.

This ultimate organic matter, or common building material, if
not identical in chemical composition, is at least always compose
in the main of the same few elements.

Robin’s composition of the amniotic fluid of a fecundated
ovum! contains:

Per thousand.
I. Water. SC Rue a cabs weS CEES CEs SSS 991.00 to 975.00
2. Albumen and mucosine. - 0.82 to 10.77
3. Urea baked < He os oa we RES oo, B00 te 9.58
4. Creatine and creatinine .not estimated.
- 5. Sodium lactate trace
6. Fatty matters , 0.13 to 1.25
7. Glucose. ., ee not estimated.
8. Potassium and sodium chlorides Serie A Be Oe OS
9. Calcium chloride trace
10. Sodium carbonate trace
PELs SOG SUIPUALE s cue ressesie ndotet cs se hebene sh NEN trace
12. Potassium sulphate.. ve «trace.
13. Calcium and magnesium cede eee:
14. Phosphates and sulphates 1.14 to 1.72
«s+ 997-49 to 998.18

Sum :
Leaving undetermined, and to be divided between creatine, crea-
~- tinine, sodium lactate, glucose, chlorides, sulphates, etc., and
loss a aSo LR

This analysis does not, it is true, represent protoplasm from the
simplest structures, but that which is used in organic edifices of a
relatively high state of complexity; nevertheless the table is
valuable as showing that despite the very heterogeneous nature

` l See Flint’s Text-book of Physiology, p. 903.

422 A Speculation on Protoplasm. ‘[July,

of this fluid, the number of elements which essentially compose
` it is few, thus:

Water H; O
AIDUMEH e s a C, H, N, O, S, slight variations in composition. Molecule
Mucin C, H, N; O, variable. [not known.
TGR ccs sled asin cba T N H, (CN)
fens AO ae one C, H, N, O,
Creatinine 5
Sodium lactate.........Na, (G, H, O,)
Fatty matters CoO; 0.013 to 0.12 p. c. per thousand.
Glucose a on HH O; ;
Mineral salts KCl NaCl CaCl, Na, CO; Na SO, K, SO, traces.

Magacin an cece (ME (PON) Cay (POD Y ot w 07 P. c

By glancing at the above tables it will be seen that the bulk of
this fluid is made up of the type elements H! O" N™ C”, and
these are essential, while sulphur, sodium, potassium, chlorine,
magnesium, calcium and phosphorus are more or less accidental,
or at least make up but a small part of its substance (z. e., 0.4 to
I p. c. at the highest estimate).

Even here, then, in a highly complex animal fluid, one about
to commence the architecture of the various parts of one of the
most complex animals in nature—man; the bricks, though most
diverse in form, color and durability, are almost altogether com-
posed of the same four simple substances which make the waters,
the atmosphere and the plants, viz: C N O H

But this conformity to rule, which would mal these elements
the only four necessary constituents of organisms, though close,
is not exact. Sulphur always occurs, though in small and vary-
ing quantity. Phosphorus is generally present as an inorganic
compound.
~ Nor is it Sie (1) how greatly this material may vary in
constitution and still subserve the needs of the growing thing
which assimilates it; (2) how greatly the needs themselves of a
race of growing things may alter with gradually changing cir-
cumstances, Has it always been necessary to build living things
out of three combustibles and a diluent? When one attempts to
speculate upon the possible answers to these now unanswerable
questions, the difficulties crowd thick upon him. In the early
history of the universe (or better, of our own planetary family)
was it possible for living beings to exist? What constitutes &
living being? Some physiologists hold nutrition and reproduc- -

1879.]. A Speculation on Protoplasm. 423

tion to be the necessary concomitants of life. Others reject the
latter on the ground that animals, like the working bees and the
sterile ants, not to speak of the hybrids, do not fulfill it.

All seem to agree that life is a manifestation of force, but so is
crystallization. Crystallization, or inorganic life, however, seems
to differ from organic life in this, that the ultimate components of
the structure due to the latter are cells or irregularly-shaped sacs
with or without skin, nucleus and nucleolus, and if this cell is
broken up into parts it does not simply become two smaller but
similar bodies, but either commences to disintegrate and fall to
pieces or remains a broken and dead cell. In the former case the
smallest constituent part yet reached is similar to, or at least con-
nected by, rigid geometrical laws with the largest form in which
it manifests itself.

By inductions based by mineralogical microscopists on the
analogies in the behavior of matter in the magnetic field and in
polarized light, it is rendered probable that each of the constituent
molecules of a crystal is allied to the crystal itself in its form,
and that both forms are due to what might be called stereo-
polarity, or the interplay of several (č. e., more than two) polar
forces acting along different axes,.which holds the molecules of
solids together, and gives the latter their characteristie forms.
The results would necessarily be the repetitions of the same
form or of the crystallographic analogues of that form (i. e.,
different derivations in the same crystal system) and the growth
of monsters which are so often met with.

Supposing this definition then to stand, the difference between
organic growth and crystal growth would be that in the one case
the product is dissimilar, in the other similar to the component
parts.?

But is a fundamental distinction reached here ?

Is it possible that beyond the range of the microscope there
are minute forms composing these cells which are each in itself
geometrically regular, yet constituting in the aggregate an ungeo-
metrical body as the starting point for life-building ?

Considering molecules of matter as inert and acted upon simul-

1 The curious effects produced by the twin structure of crystals, as for example
the production of an apparently hexagonal crystal by the union of several which are
rhombic (chrysoberyl, etc.), offers no exception to the rule since the analogy spoken
of still exists between the rhombic (?) molecule and each twin,

424 A Speculation on Protoplasm. ~ “[July,

taneously, but with different degrees of force in different direc-
tions, then if those similar molecules were distributed evenly in
any menstruum, there would necessarily result such a grouping of
them as to form definite geometrical figures, whether these forces
were those of attraction or repulsion or both together. It is pos-
sible, but not proven, that the different atomicities or atom-satura-
ting powers of different elements may be due to different numbers
and positions of these magneto-polar axes. From the grossest to
the smallest manifestation of growth force; from the long neck of
the giraffe to the segmentation of the ovum, there is observable but
the interaction of polar forces, producing results, however, which
are most dissimilar. In such large masses as we can see, these
are modified by each other, in great measure, so as to produce
curves instead of straight lines, as the pendulum does when
struck sideways during its plane oscillation; but.a multiplicity
of polar forces thus interacting will account for all the phenomena.

There is no ground for supposing that these forces so patent in
masses large enough for us to observe, cease to act upon matter
even when in the state of finest comminution. And if they do, the
result of a concourse of molecules, whether of organic or of
inorganic origin, under the direction of polar forces must produce
geometrical form.

The only means of testing whether this is the case in these
organic cells (since the bodies, if they do exist, must be too small
to be capable of being seen under the most powerful microscope)

is by, the employment of a more delicate test than the recogni-
tion of form, and such a test is the modification of color by
transmission through thin films of them. The waves of light in
passing between the constituent atoms of a body, experience a
retardation proportionate to the density of the medium; which
is only saying proportionate to the mean distance of the atoms
apart, which again is governed by the amount of the attractive
force exerted in a given direction. Bodies in which the density
is equal in all directions retard the passage of light equally in all
directions, whereas if the density be different’ in different direc-
tions the retardation will be different also and a new phenomenon
will result. .

It is known that nearly all organic structures have the prop-
erty of polarizing light, and hence are built up by the interaction
of polar forces of different ne and if the first oe

1879. ] A Speculation on Protoplasm. 425

be correct, the establishment thus of the existence of several differ-
ent independent lines of force renders the existence of a geo-
metrically constructed organic unit at least probable.

Why these smallest organic molecules do not construct the
perfected product on their own model, while the analogous crys-
talline molecules do, is a problem for future solution.

If the sarcode or protoplasm be susceptible of slight chemi-
cal changes, and in fact suffers such changes without losing the
power to fulfill its function of repairing waste tissue, then in the
progress of the decay of worlds, and the changes of external
conditions consequent upon it, Darwin’s law of survival must
inevitably be felt where an accidental alteration of the substance
of the sarcode and the resulting changes impressed: upon the
structure enabled one animal to live where others perished. The
formation of more combustible compounds, and the increase of
the capacity of alimentation, for instance, might balance the ten-
dency of the atmosphere of a cooling earth to depress the tem-
perature of the blood below the living point. But why should it
only exert its recuperative energy in the direction of maintaining
the present condition of things? An amount of plasticity equal to
this need is quite capable of changing the conditions of life them-
selves, and instead of rendering it possible for maz to exist with
blood at 99° Fahr., in an arctic world; to manufacture of man and
his terrestrial companions, beings to whom that temperature
would be normal and salutary.

To a limited extent it seems as though we were justified in
accepting a difference of this kind in our present organic na-
ture. How else than by a sarcode of different chemical consti-
tution are the physical differences of race to be accounted for?
How, indeed, is evolution to be accounted for according to the
Darwinian explanation ?

And if the change to varieties is thus produced, why not to spe-
cies, genera, families, groups, orders, classes, sub-kingdoms ;—
why is it not possible that the very kingdoms of life and the
forms peculiar to them may be altered in this way to suit the
gradually changing external conditions of nature? The prejudice
in our minds against the possibility of any living thing existing
on the surface of the sun is based upon various conditions there,
which in our experience are inconsistent with life. Amongst
others may be mentioned, that to the best of our knowledge, Ist,

.

426 A Speculation on Protoplasm. [July,

the temperature is above the fusing point of platinum; there is no
solid land that we know on which objects could stand, and if there
were the weights of the bodies that we know would be so great
at the surface of the sun that they would be crushed. That
our feet would find no resting place, or if they did, our strength
would be insufficient to bear up the tons which our bodies would
then weigh, and even if this were not so, our C N O H bodies
would be dissipated as gases. The reverse is the case in the cold
cinders called asteroids. There the cold would instantly kill any
living thing that we know.

But what is there to preclude the possibility of living things
colder than frozen mercury, or hotter than molten platinum. In
fact since the only manifestation of vitality we can know is the
action of force upon matter, until these two components are oblit-
erated, how can one predict the extinction of life ?

This has some bearing on the ever recurring questions of im-
mortality or existence after visible disintegration. But up to this
point it has been assumed that the external conditions were being
changed with extreme slowness. If only this obtained, there
would seem to be no positive improbability of life in beings com-
posed wholly of liquids or gases.

Of course it is to ridicule the subject to conceive a being
whose epidermis of platinum resisted successfully the waste of
oxidation even at the prevailing red heat, and whose stomach of
porcelain would melt up the metallic silicates and send them
coursing through wrought iron arteries to be assimilated into me-
tallic or ceramic organs, and to pass through the usual stages of
activity, decay, and re-utilization; while the siliceous brain and
the asbestos nerves quivered with sensations of pleasure for-
ever denied to us combustibles. Yet it is not too much to
claim that no sufficient reason can be given for confining the ma-
terial out of which sentient beings can be constructed to the four
type elements above referred to; nor is there any reason appa-
rent why a gradual change in the organs of assimilation as well
as in the material assimilated should not accompany and com-
pensate all gradual changes in the outside world, thus rendering
the thread of life continuous through beings more diverse than
any that we yet know.

1879.] On the Fertilization of Several Species of Lobelia. 427

ON THE FERTILIZATION OF SEVERAL SPECIES OF
LOBELIA."

BY WILLIAM TRELEASE.

bod our wild flowers few are more conspicuous than the
cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), which, by its racemes of
large, velvety red flowers, attracts many a wanderer into otherwise
very unattractive marshes. The large blue lobelia (Z. syphilitica)
forms also a very conspicuous feature of such places in late sum-
mer and early autumn, while the Indian tobacco of the herb doc-
tors (Z. inflata) is known to everybody. In addition to these,

some twenty other species grow wild in North America, and
lovers of flowers know well the cultivated creeping lobelia (Z.
erinus), with its pretty blue and white flowers. To any observer
not a botanist these are easily known as lobelias by their two-
lipped flowers with the tube of the corolla split nearly or quite to
its base on the upper side, while from the cleft thus formed the
stamens project, their anthers being united to form a tube which
is frequently bent downward at its extremity, while the style
passes through its center. :

To one interested in the devices by whieh nature causes cross-
fertilization to be effected, a closer examination will reveal some
additional facts. Nectar is so abundantly secreted, in sunshine,

within the base of the filaments—which are there split to give
access to it—that the basal part of the flower is often quite filled”
with it. The structure and development of the stamens and
pistil are essentially as Prof. Todd has described them in the Jan-
uary number of the NATURALIST, but in addition to the shaking
of the anthers he mentions, I think that there is sometimes
another reason for the discharge of pollen on the back of an insect
entering the flower. The style is in contact with the stamens only
by its ring of collecting hairs, and a slight upward pressure on the
tip of the anther tube would move the anthers backward without
moving the style, and would thus imitate the action of a pump

1 In the Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1868, Vol. 11, p- o is a very good des-
cription of the mode of fertilization of the “common blue Lobelia. Hildebrand
and H. Müller, in Germany, and Delpino, in Italy, have also described the fertiliza- —
tion of species of this genus; but as their writings are inaccessible to many American
readers, it is thought that the following observations, made in the summer of 1878,
at the Botanical Laboratory of Cornell University, may be of some interest. The
insects were kindly named for me by Dr. Packard and Mr. Cresson.

VOL, XIII.—No. VII 30

428 On the Fertilization of Several Species of Lobelia. (July,

in which the piston remains stationary while the barrel moves—
pollen would be pumped out of the moving anther-tube by the
stationary style with its ring of hairs. Moreover, when the
staminate stage of the flower (lasting about three days in ZL.
erinus) is ended, and’ the style protrudes from the orifice of the
anthers, the hairs on the style become reflexed, thus apparently
serving to prevent such pollen as is not infrequently left in the
anther tube from falling out upon the papillose stigma when this
is unfolded.

In L. erinus, and twelve out of fourteen other species, indigen-
ous and foreign, which I examined, I found essentially the rela-
tions of corolla and stamens described by Prof. Todd; and in all
cases, the lower lip of the corolla is provided at its base with two
longitudinal ridges, including between them a guiding groove
which leads into the tube of the corolla directly beneath the tip of
the anthers (Fig. 1), thus forcing a bee to enter every flower in the
same way. In the thirteen cases mentioned the two lobes of the
upper lip of the corolla are nearly erect, as if to prevent an insect
from creeping back on the tube of the corolla and obtaining nec-
tar surreptitiously through the cleft on its upper side. The
corolla-tube is also comparatively broad, and an open passage is
left between its lower border and the filaments (Fig. 3), thus
giving access to such insects as small bees, which creep bodily
into the corolla in order to reach the nectar within its base.

+ In L. cardinalis (Fig. 4) and the Hawaiian Z. macrostachya the
lower lip Of the corolla is pendant, and there is but a narrow pas-
sage between the corolla-tube and the stamens, which in these
species are greatly elongated, with the tip of the anther-tube at a
considerable distance from the corolla (Fig. 4). The two lobes of
the upper lip of the latter are often horizontal or even deflexed,
appearing to serve their purpose best when in these positions.
The flowers go through the same dichogamy as the others, but
they-are adapted to profit by the visits of large Lepidoptera or-
even of humming birds, since a bee cannot enter’ the narrow and
elongated tube of the corolla, while even if it could it would
encounter the tip of the anthers or the protruded stigma only by |
the merest accident. On the other hand a hawk-moth or hum-
ming-bird could easily poise itself before the flower, and, while
_ removing nectar by its long slender proboscis or bill, this would
come’ in contact with the anthers or stigma, since the guiding-

-

1879.] On the Fertilization of Several Species of Lobelia. 429

groove of the corolla would force it to visit each flower in such a
position as to secure this result.
I have repeatedly watched for hours plants of Z. erinus, L. inflata,

À kalmii (Figs. 1 & 2) and L. syphilitica, growing in abundance

near our laboratory; and on sunny days I have never failed to see
them visited by many bees, though I have often watched isolated
plants in vain. On ZL. erinus I have seen numerous individuals
of Augochlora pura and several species of Ha/ictus, and with the
exception of one individual of the last-named species they always
entered the corolla from the front, creeping in bodily if small
enough, or forcing their heads in if they could not enter. I
always found them well dusted with pollen. The exceptional
individual of Augochlora pura was seen to visit eight or ten flow-

Fic. 1.—Lobelia kaimii from in front, slightly enlarged. Fic, 2—The same from

the side. Fic. 3,—fongitudinal section of the same, enlarged. Fic. 4.—Longitu-
dinal section of LZ, cardinalis (X 2). Fie I pi Sictioà of anther-tube a flower of
L. kalmii in the second or pistillate stage, enlarged. Fic. 6.—Stigma of the same,

arged. Fic. 7.—End of anther-tube of a Somer in the first or staminate state,
showing the hairs closing its mouth, enlarged. Fic, 8.—Section of the same,
enlarged. Fic. 9.—Stigma of the same, enlarged. In all of the figures a indicates
the anthers; ¢, collecting hairs; f, filaments; 2, pollen ; st., stigma.

ers, and it always settled upon the tube of the corolla near its

, and inserted its proboscis through the cleft from which the
‘stamens protrude, thus obtaining the nectar of the flowers without
transferring their pollen. Other individuals of this species were
seen to visit the flowers properly, and, although unable to creep
well into the corolla, they forced their beats in far ‘cape to

*

430 On the Fertilization of Several Species of Lobelia. (July,

reach the nectar with their protruded tongues, and they always
transferred pollen. On several occasions I saw small humble
bees visit flowers of this species, attracted by their color from
neighboring beds of verbenas which they often visited; and one of
them when killed and examined under the microscope was found
to have its proboscis dusted with oval pollen grains, not to be dis-
tinguished from those of this lobelia. For some reason I did not
see a single hive-bee on these plants, although where they are
abundant they are said to frequent these flowers in large num-

ers! Twice I saw yellow butterflies (Colas philodice) visit these
flowers, but though I carefully watched them as, poised on the
corolla lip, they sipped the nectar, I could not see that they
removed any pollen, their proboscides being slender enough to
penetrate the tube without touching the anthers, still, pollen may
be carried by them occasionally. On several occasions I saw
specimens of a fly (Calliphora vomitoria) busily engaged at what
appeared to be eating pollen, and their foreheads always came in
contact with the anthers or stigma, from both of which, as well as
the underlying surface of the corolla, they appeared to gather the
pollen. Specimens of another fly (Syritta pipiens) were seen
repeatedly on the lip of this flower, but I doubt if they were after
pollen, and I never saw them come in contact with the anthers
or stigma.”

On L. inflata I captured only Augochlora pein and a species of
Halictus, but observed many individuals of these species, and
believe that I saw at least two other species of quite similar size
but very different appearance.

On L. kalmii specimens of Augochlora pura and two species of
Halictus were taken.

Very many humble-bees of all sizes, and probably belonging
to several species, were seen to visit flowers of L. syphilitica,
behaving precisely as did the smaller bees on the species pre-
viously spoken of. Numerous small. bees belonging to several
species, chiefly of Osmia and Ceratina, were also seen to visit
these flowers, but they were too small to brush the anthers. On
one occasion I saw several individuals of Ceratina dupla, a small
bee, enter the tube of the corolla, and afterwards retreat. Then,

1 Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilization, American edition, p. 420.

? Hildebrand has described in the Botanische Zeitung, 1870, p. 638, cases in which

~ the stigmas of this species could not escape from the anther- fbh and, mea
there, were self fertilized. ;

1879.] On the Fertilization of Several Species of Lobelia. 431

elevating themselves, they were able to reach the end of the
anther-tube, and from this or the protruded stigma they collected
small quantities of pollen.

On several occasions I watched a few plants of L. cardinalis
till twilight with no success, but as this species is not very plenti-
ful in the swamps about Ithaca this is not to be wondered at.
Once, however, after watching for several hours, I saw a single
ruby-throated humming-bird visit the racemes of six or seven
plants that I had collected and placed together in a pool of water
within a few feet of the place where I sat. When sipping the
nectar the bird balanced itself before the flower, and I could see
that its bill always touched the anthers. Being necessarily at too
great a distance to see whether there was pollen on its beak, I
was obliged to’rely upon the examination of a few stigmas, which,
in anticipation of this difficulty, I had previously examined and
marked. On one of these I found quite a number of pollen
grains where previously I had found none. On others, on which
pollen had previously been seen, there was plainly more. These
cases show that pollen is thus carried, though apparently in
small quantities. Though I saw no Lepidoptera visit this species,
I see no reason why they-should not do so, especially the Sestas,
and if such be the case they will probably transfer pollen from
flower to flower. Where many plants grow together a few ob-
servations early in the morning and in the evening will probably
prove this to be the case.

To prove the almost self-evident fact that extraneous aid is
needed to insure fertilization with the Lobelias, I carefully covered
(with gauze nets supported by light frames) two plants each of
L. inflata and L. syphilitica, on each of which I had artificially fer-
tilized the only flowers then in the pistillate state. These flowers
set fruit well filled with seed. One of the nets collapsed so as to
be in contact with the plant, and several of the flowers of this
plant set fruit; but in the two other cases, one of each species,
none of the flowers not artificially fertilized produced seed, though
their ovaries became more or less swollen. The fourth plant was
not observed after being covered. Plants growing ùncovered
- beside these, and others artificially fertilized from time to time
and covered by similar nets, were fully fertile, showing that situa-
tion or enclosure did not cause this failure to fruit.

Darwin also states, Cross and Self Fertilization, p. 364, that ki ramosa we Z,
Juigens are quite sterile without insect aid,

432 A Contribution to the Zoölogy of Montana. [July,

As a rule, especially in plants like Z. syphilitica, which are of
simple habit, the flowers are visited by bees from the lowest one
of the raceme upward, as has been observed by others to be the ©
case with so many other plants. The humming-bird that I saw
visiting ZL. cardinalis also acted in precisely the same way. As
the lowest flowers are the oldest, and consequently the only ones
in the pistillate stage of development, it is evident that they will
usually be fertilized by pollen from a distinct plant, and after they
are all fertilized, pollen is taken from flowers situated higher on
the raceme for the fertilization of the older flowers of the next
raceme visited. With the creeping Z. erinus I have noticed that
bees visit the flowers indifferently, alighting on almost any flower
which protrudes from the tangle. But after once alighting they
generally adhere to the branch on which this flower is situated,
working upward upon it; though this is not invariably the case.

In many species, perhaps all, the style elongates sufficiently to
cause the mature stigma to stand at a considerable distance with-
out the anther-tube, thus making it still more certain that it will
be brushed by an insect visiting the flower than is the case with
the tip of the anthers, for a superabundance of pollen admits of an
occasional failure to remove: it, but it is imperatively necessary
that each stigma be fertilized.

aoe a eer 8 uaa co

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ZOOLOGY OF MONTANA.
BY E. D. COPE.

j eyi Territory of Montana, taken as a whole, is probably the
most valuable tract of land which has not yet been placed
under control of a State government, within the limits of the
United States. As is well known, the diminished elevation of the
Rocky mountains and adjacent plains, as well as the northward
bend of the isothermal lines, indicate for Montana a milder
climate than that of the Territory of Wyoming on the south, and
that of Dakota on the east. Its agricultural wealth is greater
than that of either of those Territories, and it is superior to bo
in the yield of its mines. Timber abounds on its numerous
mountain ranges, and it is, par excellence, the range of the large
game of North America.

_ My acquaintance with this region was chiefly obtained through-

1879. | A Contribution to the Zoölogy of Montana. 433

an expedition which I undertook in the summer and autumn of
the year 1876. I left Franklin, Utah, by the Helena stage, which
_ Carries its passengers through parts of Idaho and Montana,
reaching Helena in four days from the time of starting. The
route first traverses the rolling country of Bear river, and then
enters the sandy lava desert of Eastern Idaho.’ Passing this
inhospitable region, we cross the main range of the Rocky
mountains and enter Montana by the Red Rock valley, which is
watered by one of the creeks which form the heads of the Mis-
souri. Here commence the beauties of Montana scenery. The
numerous parallel ranges of low mountains are capped by masses
of lava, the remnants of an ancient outflow that once covered the
country. The faces of this rock are vertical, often approaching
columnar, and generally possess a serrate crest. The slopes
below them, and the lower valleys, are beautifully green. Before
reaching Helena a portion of the granite region is passed over.
Here the scenery is of a different character. The more yielding
material of the rock has given the hills more rounded forms, and
huge masses of weathered boulders, piled in the most grotesque
manner, are often seen. The timber is more abundant, and the
hills abound in game, especially grouse (Tetrao obscurus, etc.).
On their sides several species of Sciuride are numerous.

Continuing beyond Helena to the north-east, the Palzozoic
region is reached. The stage route for Fort Benton passes through
the Prickly Pear canyon, a narrow pass of a thousand feet in
depth, between great walls of carboniferous rocks. After issuing
from it and crossing a high mountain, the stage descends to the
plains. Previous to visiting this region, I had not realized the
fact that the same plains with which I had become familiar in
Kansas and Colorado, extended west and north of the Missouri
river, with all their peculiar scenery and products ; the buffalo
grass, the prairie dog and antelope, the yelping coyote, the owls,
the prairie rattlesnake and the herds of bison. At Fort Shaw
the Rocky range towers grandly on the western horizon, and on
the east the Belt mountains rise abruptly in magnificent propor-
tions from the level plain.

The road thence to Fort Benton is varied by ponds and “slews”
whose proportions depend on the quantity of the rains. These
are the homes of numerous Siredons, Speas and toads. eee

From Fort Benton eastward the Missouri flows between high

434 A Contribution to the Zoology of Montana. [July,

and often precipitous banks, and the elevated plain on the north |
side gives uninterrupted views of great beauty. To the north-east
the red granite masses of the Bear’s Paw mountains obstruct the
view, and to the south, mountains of various outlines form the
horizon. These are the Belt, Judith and Snowy ranges, and they
enclose, with the bend of the Missouri river, an extensive plain.
From this plain rise several table-topped masses, evidently rem-
nants of old strata protected by an outflow of lava.

At the mouth of the Judith river the special object of my
exploration began to claim attention, viz: the investigation of the
beds of the Judith River Lignite formation and the extraction of
their fossils. The results of this work are given in the Bulletin
of the U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories, F. V.. Hayden
in charge, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1877. The exploration included the
valleys of the Judith river, Dog creek and Two Calf creek, and
the canyons of the south side of the Missouri as far east as
Amell’s creek, and the corresponding situations on the north side
of the river on the return to Fort Benton. These streams carve
deep canyons through the yielding lacustrine and marine strata
which underlie the plains, which often present scenery of terrible
desolation and grandeur. The bluffs of the Missouri reach the
height of one thousand feet in many places, and in but few locali-
ties are passable by wagons. The labyrinths of their branch
canyons are only passable by pack animals, and the high land
can only be successfully reached by a most careful discrimination
of the main “divides,” or water-sheds, from the innumerable
spurs which diverge from them.

The plains of this region are neutral ground between the Crow
and Sioux Indians, who are ever at war; and they have not been —
regarded as a safe abode for white settlers. The only Americans
in the region are the few wood-choppers on the Missouri bot-
toms, and the freight and other agents of the Missouri river
steamers and shipping houses, who for a few months of every

year are stationed at Cow island. The country is practically left, :

to the game, which is here generally unmolested excepting by

occasional hunting bands of Indians. ;
While geological and palæontological exploration was the

primary object of the expedition, a few zodlogical notes were

* taken, which I here record.

_ Mammals—One of the characteristic iainih of Montana

1879.] A Contribution to the Zoölogy of Montana. 435

is the Haplocerus montanus, or. Rocky mountain goat-antelope.
It is not rare, and is said to be easily domesticated. The most
southern and eastern locality at high I heard of its occurrence
is the Prickly Pear canyon.

The abundance of game on the plains south of the Missouri is
well illustrated by the experience of a day on which I rode from
my camp to some bad lands which lay at a distance of perhaps
ten miles from it. In the course of the ride I passed at least a
dozen antelopes at different points, and the usual population of
prairie marmots and several coyotes. On reaching the summit
of a hill-I came suddenly on four fine buck Cervus macrotis, and
soon after descried a few bison grazing at no great distance.
Passing a stream I surprised three does of the Cervus macrotis,
and afterwards came upon the rather fresh trail of elk. On my
return from the bluffs in the afternoon I encountered four grizzly
bears together. They displayed considerable curiosity, and for
some time seemed undecided as to the proper course to pursue ;
they advanced towards me one step and retreated two, and so
alternately moving forward and backward they reached the edge
of the rising ground upon which they stood; they then quickly
disappeared behind it, and when they next came into view, were
in full retreat some distance away.

Reptiles and Batrachians.— There was nothing noteworthy
observed respecting reptiles. Nota tortoise was seen, and the
only abundant snake was the Crotalus confluentus. This rattle-
snake grows to its largest size in the Upper Missouri region, and
is abundant in localities of different characters. The next most
common reptile is the Phrynosoma douglassi, and after it the
Heterodon simus.

Much more of interest was observed in the department of
Batrachia.

Rana pretiosa Bd: and Gird. I found this species quite common
in the Prickly Pear canyon and valley, associated with perhaps
another and smaller species, which I did not succeed in taking.
This west coast form is apparently confined to the damper moun-
tainous regions, as I never met with it in any other part of the
Rocky mountains, and it disappeared as soon as we entered on .
the plains. I observed a Zutenia in the same localities, but no
Phrynosomas. The Rana pretiosa has shorter legs than the R.
aurora, which with some varieties, can only be regarded as a sub-
Species of R, temporaria, so far as I can see.

436 A Contribution to the Zoblogy of Montana. [July,

Rana halecina berlandievi—This abundant species replaces the
preceding on the plains, and is the characteristic, and indeed the
only Rana of the limited batrachian fauna of that widely extended
district. On leaving the mountains this species immediately
appears, accompanied by Phrynosoma douglassi, Crotalus confiu-
entus, Heterodon simus, etc. The form which inhabits the plains
differs in color and superior size from that found in the tide-water
swamps of the Atlantic coast, on which account I have retained
for it the sub-specific name at the head of the paragraph.

Spea bombifrons Cope.—This species is characteristic of the
northern parts of the Plains and Great Basin: It was éspecially
common in the region north of the Missouri river and eastward
of Fort Benton. Before my arrival there, rain had fallen, and the
ruts of the wagon trails were filled with water. These ditches
contained numerous examples of this species, together with
Chorophilus triseriatus, Bufo dipternus and Amblystoma mavortium.

heir metamorphosis was completed by that time (August 2oth),
although some of the specimens were small.

In Idaho, near latitude 43° 30’, is situated a body of water
known as Market lake. Its extent is variable, for it is said to be `
dependent for its water supply on the_overflows of the Snake
river, which is a few miles distant to the eastward. An old chan-
nel leads from the river to the lake, giving probability to the
statement. At the time of my passage through the region, the
water was unusually high, for a portion of the stage road with
parts of numerous telegraph poles, was submerged. The lake
appeared to be about ten miles long by six in width. The country
surrounding it is arid, and the sand which represents soil, rests
on a basis of lava. The stage halted for a short time to enable me
to examine the shore of the lake. -I found it to be lined witha.
wind-row of grasshoppers (Caloptenus spretus) which had fallen
into the water and been washed up, some living, others dead.
Among them I found numerous large fat larve of Spea bombi-
Jrons, occupying small spaces which they had cleared, quite out
of the reach of the water. Their limbs were nearly fully grown,
while their tails had suffered no absorption, and their jaws were
toothless and cartilaginous ; some. quite larval in forta, others with
wider gape. They were engaged in eating the grasshoppers, and
I detected several specimens with the entire insects in their
mouths. In some instances the grasshoppers’ bodies were too-

1879. ] A Contribution to the Zoology of Montana. 437

large and projected from their mouths. These precocious larve
were evidently air-breathers, and hopped about, presenting a
curious appearance as they dragged their large tails after them.
I found some adult specimens of Amblystoma mavortium also,
along the waters edge. These observations were made on the
11th of August, 1876.

Chorophilus triseriatus Wied—This widely distributed species
I obtained at Franklin, on the Utah-Idaho boundary, and subse-
quently found it very common in the ruts of the wagon trails on
the plains east of Fort Benton. In the latter locality it was
generally of a bright green color.

Bufo dipternus Cope, sp. nov.—This toad I found abundant on
the plains north of the Missouri river east of Fort Benton, in the
wagon ruts of rain-water, in company with Spea bombifrons, etc.
It is of about the same size as the latter species, and resembles it
in various ways; it doubtless has similar fossorial habits, as it
is furnished with a tarsal shovel of the same proportions, and has
in addition a second tarsal bone produced into a digging spur.
The prefonta! bones are thickened in the same way, although not
to the same extent as in Sea bombifrons, a condition, no doubt,
directly connected with the habit of pushing aside the earth
while excavating burrows with the feet. It is easily distinguish-
able from the Spea, by the ordinary collector, by its large dorsal
spots, which are much better defined than are the small ones of
the S. dombifrons. I did not find the Bufo dipternus south of
the Missouri river ; there its place is occupied by a very distinct
species,

This Bufo differs from the B. lentiginosus and all its sub-species
in the presence of two well-developed fossorial tarsal spurs, and
in the large size of the internal one. In this respect it need only
be compared with the B. compactilis Wiegm., from South Texas
and Mexico. It is distinctly related to the latter, but is separable
from it as a distinct species on account of (1) its much smaller
size, reaching only half the dimensions, (2) the smaller size and
obscurity of the tympanic membrane, which is only one-third the
diameter of the eye-slit, while in B. compactilis it is one-half the
Same diameter, and is well defined, (3) the larger and truncate
external tarsal spur, and (4) the coloration, which is quite distinct.
The head in the adult Z. compactilis is also distinctly shorter.

There are two faint straight supraorbital ridges, and a postor-
bital but no supratympanic ridge. The supraorbitals are united _

438 A Contribution to the Zoblogy of Montana. [July,

by the enlargement of the posterior part of the prefontal bones,
which forms quite a tuberosity in adults. These bones slope
steeply, truncating the muzzle obliquely in profile to the nares;
the latter then descends vertically to the lip border. The sides
of the muzzle are flat. The length of the head to the line of the
postorbital ridges is just one-fourth of the length to the extremity
of the coccygeal style; it enters the same axis of the B. com-
pactlis five and one-half times. The parotoid glands are wide
ovals and are in contact with the postorbital ridges as in B. com-
pactis. The choanz are rather smaller than the nares. The
skin is roughened with small tubercles above and below, those
of the superior surfaces being larger and more spaced. When
the hinder leg is extended forwards, the end of the astragalus
reaches the tympanic membrane. The posterior digits are shortly
webbed at the base. Their extremities, like the e spurs, are capped
with brown horn, but these sheaths are readily lost in spirits, and
with them some of the characters of the species.

In life the color of this species is ashen, marked with three
pairs of large brown spots on the back. A similar spot crosses
each eyelid, and there is a pair on the end of the muzzle. There
are two or three large longitudinal spots on the sides which may
unite into two bands, one above the other. The spots have
blackish edges and paler centers with yellow or red tips on the
tubercles; the ground is brighter round the spots. The limbs
have similar large spots on their superior surfaces, and the palms
and soles are yellowish. There are two large spots below the
eye, and smaller spots on the tips in Sant Below immaculate.

Length of head and body, m. .040; do. of head, .o10; width
of head behind rictus ovis, .016; length of fore limb, .020; do
of hind limb from vent, 048; do. ‘of hind foot, .022.

This species is one of the handsomest of the nearctic species
of the genus.

Bufo ? sp—I have already alluded to this toad as representing
the B. dipternus on the south side of the Missouri river on the
plains of Northern Montana. I saw numerous specimens on Dog
creek, but was unfortunately unable to preserve them on account

of the want of spirits. The species is small and resembles the

Spea bombifrons i in its color much more nearly than does the 2.
dipternus, since it exhibits numerous small spots without margins.
But it does not have the developed tarsal spurs of the B. dip-
ternus, and resembles much more nearly the B. lentiginosus. I
am under the impression that it should be considered a sub-
species of that widely distributed toad.

Amblystoma mavortium Baird.—I have already mentioned find- __
ing this species in rain pools north of the Missouri, and on the

1879. ] A Contribution to the Zoblogy of Montana. 439

shore of Market lake, Idaho. Twelve miles northward of the latter
is a much smaller body of clear water which is more permanent
in its character, since I was told when there that it had not been
dry since 1871. On the shore I found several specimens of the
Amblystoma mavortium in various stages of transition from the
larval condition. They mostly presented stumps of the branchial
processes, with a greater or less degree of atrophy of the fimbriz.
These animals occupied holes the size and shape of their bodies
excavated vertically in the sand, from which their heads pro-
truded. They were so situated as to be overflowed by every
slight change of level of the water, which also kept their holes
full. This situation is especially adapted to a state of transition
from a branchial to a pulmonary respiration.

This is the only species of salamander I observed in Montana.
Its abundance in the central district of the nearctic region is now
well known, and a full account of its numerous transitional and
color forms will be found’ in my monograph of the genus Amélv-
stoma, published in 18672

Fishes—The food fishes at Fort Benton are the Lucioperca
orea, the Scaphirhynchops platyrhynchus (sturgeon) and the Lota
maculosa (ling). Of these the Lucioperca is easily the superior,
but the sturgeon is not a bad fish. The “chub” of the river at
that point is the Pogonichthys communis, which sometimes grows
_ to a foot in length, and is the usual bait for hooks. Ayodon
tergisus is common there also. In the mountain streams at the
heads of the Missouri and its tributaries the trout and white-fish
(Coregonus villiamsonit), are the universally prized pan fishes, I
heard that the grayling (Thymallus montanus) occurs occasionally
with them, but did not see it myself. The following is a list of the
species which I observed in the Missouri river and its tributaries.
Of course it is a mere contribution to the subject, as I did not
fish extensively at any point. The larger number of species were
taken at the lower part of the course of Battle creek, which
empties into the west side of the Missouri not far north of the
mouth of the Moreau, Dakota. At the season of the year (Octo-
ber) when I visited it, the creek was reduced to a chain of pools,
which occupied hollows in the clay shales of Cretaceous No. 4.
The alkaline substances from these shales saturated the water, but
this did not prove fatal to very numerous specimens of eight
species of fishes.

Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, p. 166.

440 A Contribution to the Zod! ogy of Montana. [July,

Pe bhi.—Lucioperca borea Richdn.—Abundant all along
the river. The specimens agree very nearly with the description
of L. canadensis, given by Jordan, but I find six long pyloric
cœca, two a little shorter than the others. The second dorsal
rays number nineteen in three specimens, the last one split.
Girard gives the number as twenty.

. Lota maculosa Leseur—Common ; Battle riei

Nematognathi—Ichthelurus punctatus Raf—Pools left by the
river near Battle creek.

Plectospondyli—Semotilus corporalis Mitch.—Battle creek.

Pogonichthys communis Gird.—Fort Benton, Judith river.

Rhinichthys maxillosus Cope.—Battle creek.

Phoxinus milnerianus Cope, sp: nov.— Form elongate; chin
. slightly beyond upper lip. Pharyngeal teeth 2.5-4.2. Scales in
fifteen longitudinal rows between the dorsal and ventral fins.
Diametér of orbit equal to length of muzzle, and entering length
of head three and a-half times. The latter enters the length to
the origin of the caudal fin four times. The greatest depth enters
the same five and a-half times. The dorsal fin originates above
a point behind the entire base of the ventral. Radii D. I. 8. A.
L. 8. The mouth is rather large, the extremity of the maxillary
bone extending nearly to the line of the pupil of the eye. The
head is rather flat above and wide, the parietal width being about
one-third the length between the last dorsal ray and the base of
the caudal. The distance to which the lateral line extends is
unknown because the scales of the posterior part of the body
are lost

Color brownish-olive above ; below silvery. A black band, not
well defined on the borders, extends from the end of the muzzle
to the base of the caudal fin, where it terminates in a black pot
A reddish spot.at the base of the anterior dorsal rays, muzzle

ark. ngth, m. 0.065.

This species differs from the P. xeogeus Cope, in its slender
form and small number of rows of scales. It is dedicated to my
friend Jas. W. Milner, of the U. S. Fish Commission.

Chrosomus sp.—Small individuals from Battle creek.

Hybognathus evansi Girard.—This fish was very abundant at
Battle creek. It has the slender suborbital bones of the argyritts
group, with the small eye of the zuchalis group, and is a well
marked species.

Hyborhynchus nigellus Cope—From Battle creek; originally
described from Colorado in the Report of Lieut. G. M. Wheeler. -

1 First Annual Report of the Ohio State Fish Comm., 1877, pp. 69-87.

1879. | A Contribution to the Zoblogy of Montana. 441

I may here mention that the Hydorhynchus siderius Cope, is a
fybognathus ; its enumeration under the former head being the
result of some one’s inadvertence. The Rhinichthys maxillosus
of that report I believe now to be distinct from the species I ©
called by that name, and I propose that it be termed R. /rans-
montanus. It differs from the more eastern species in having the
dorsal fin equidistant between the base of the caudal and the end
of the muzzle, and in having the longitudinal series of scales
below the lateral line more numerous (12-13) and equal to the
number of scales above it. In R. maxillosus, from Battle creek,
they number 19-72,

Lsospondyli. volo tergisus Les. —Juaith river and pools of
the Missouri near Battle creek.

Coregonus villiamsonit Gird—Heads of the tributaries of the
Upper Missouri.

Ginglymodi.—Lepidosteus productus Cope, and L. otarius Cope.—
I found both these species in pools left by the Missouri river near
to Battle creek, maintaining their characters exactly. They differ
in both proportions and color. The L. productus is lead colored
above and white below, the colors gradually commingling on the
sides. There are no spots on the sides nor at the base of the
tail, and there are three spots on the caudal fin. In Z. otarius of
the same small size, the darker lead color of the back is abruptly
separated from the white of the belly by a row of dark spots,
and there is a black spot at the base of the caudal fin. The spots
on the latter are large and more numerous.

The specimens I obtained of both species are young. One of
the Z. productus, of eight and one-half inches in length, exhibits
the persistent caudal chorda dorsalis with dermal margin, which
has been observed by Prof. Wilder. It is nearly absorbed in a
rather larger example.

Chrondrostei.— Scaphirhynchops platyrhynchus Raf—Abundant
in the Missouri. An individual taken at Fort Benton weighed
forty-seven pounds. I secured its head.

1 Proceed. Academy, Philadelphia, 1865, p. 86.

442 Recent Literature. , [July,

RECENT LITERATURE.

A JOURNAL OF A Tour IN MAROCCO AND THE GREAT ATLAŞ.Ż—
Naturalists, and especially botanists, cannot soon forget the
delight with which they perused the volumes of the Himalaya
Journals. Indeed there is a grace of style, a closeness of obser-
vation and an accuracy of statement in Sir Joseph Hooker's
writings which claim the attention and interest even of the general
re is account of his journey to Marocco, in 1871, has
been anticipated with delight by all readers of his former travels,
nor will they be disappointed when they take up the volume
before us.

Owing to Sir Joseph Hooker’s pressing engagements as Direc-
tor of Kew Gardens and President of the Royal Society, there
has been unavoidable delay in the publication of the journal;
indeed, at his own request, Mr. Jolin Ball, who accompanied him —
in the journey, completed the work after the first two chapters.
No one, however, will regret this, for Mr. Ball is certainly a good
writer and close observer, not hesitating to relieve his narrative
now and then by humcrous comments on men and things. Itis
stated by the authors that owing to the peculiar condition of
Marocco (which it will be observed they spell with an a) no great
change has probably occurred in that country since their visit,
and hence the delay in publication is of less consequence than
would usually be the case. i:

“ The narrative now published is mainly founded on the jour-
nals kept by Sir J. Hooker and Mr. Ball, supplemented in some
particulars by that of their fellow traveler, Mr. G. Maw.”

he desire of the distinguished party was to penetrate the
Atlas range and to determine some vexed points of geography
while collecting the plants of this almost unknown region.
Although provided with the order of the Sultan to allow them
all possible privileges, they were constantly thwarted in their
desires by the fanaticism and suspicions of local governors and
petty chiefs. The Sultan’s letter, it is true, did not appear to give
very explicit directions, and to the mind of the reader, at least,
leaves that sovereign open to the suspicion of chicanery: “On
receiving this, you will send the English hakeem and his com-
panions to the care of my slave, El Graoni, to whom I have sent
orders what he is to do.” Judging from after developments, the
slave, who was a powerful chief, read freely between the lines.
The party succeeded, however, on one occasion, in escaping from
the surveillance of the guides and actually reaching the much-
coveted snow. We quote the graphic account of this ascent:

“ Much to our satisfaction the sheik now withdrew, committing

us to the charge of an active but unarmed young Shelluh, with a :

1 Journal of a Tour in Marocco and the Great Atlas. By Sir J. D. HOOKER and,
JoHN Batt. London, Macmillan & Co., 1878. $6.50.

1879.] Recent Literature. 443

strict injunctions to lead us as far as the snow, but not to allow
us to proceed farther. It is hard to say whether the sheik and
his people felt any real uneasiness as to the possibility of a casual
encounter with natives of the Sous valley; but it was pretty clear
that they had succeeded in frightening our attendants, as our
Mogador men, usually so active and attentive, soon dropped
behind and were not again seen till our return in the afternoon.
We took the most direct course in the ascent, following a slight
gully down which flowed a mere trickling rivulet, fed by the
snows on the upper slope of the mountain, and pushed on rather
fast with a view to get as high on the mountain as possible before
the sun reached the meridian.

“ Bearing in mind the great diversity in the vegetable popula-
tion which is seen in Southern Spain (the high mountain region
nearest to the great Atlas), where neighboring peaks of different

`

“mineral structure exhibit numerdps quite distinct species, and
: i a

we confidently reckoned on obtaining still greater evidence of dis-
tinctness in that of the upper region. It was, therefore, with
some surprise that, as we continued the ascent, we met, one after
another, many of the peculiar species that we had first seen in
the ascent from Arround to the Tagherot pass, and comparatively
few not already familiar to us. For once, however, it must be
owned that during part of this day, our emotions as botanists
yielded to the interest that we felt.in the near prospect of a peep
into zerra incognita. If but little had hitherto been known of the.
northern slopes of the Great Atlag from the reports of the few
travelers who had viewed the range from the low country, or
had attained its outer slopes, the southern side of the main chain
remained a sealed book to the geographers, whose reliance on the
vague reports of native informants has led them, like the char-
tographers of the middle ages, to fill up the blank space on their
maps by representations utterly discordant and contradictory. ,
* * Of the physical features of the country we could learn

“ By the time we reached the lower skirts of a long snow slope
that stretched upwards towards the summit of the mountain, the
sun, which had now ascended nearly to the zenith, beat down
upon us with intense rays, that drove some of the party to seek
temporary shelter. The guide probably considering that he had
done his day’s work, and finding a narrow rim of shadow under
an overhanging rock, lay down with his head screened from the

blazing heat. Ball, who was suffering from a violent headache,
also found a spot that gave partial shade. Hooker took advan-
tage of the halt to push on at a steady pace that soon carried him
beyond the reach of interference from the guide. When Ball
felt able to resume the ascent, the guide sprung to his feet, and

VOL, XI11.—No. VII. 31 :

444 Recent Literature. [July,

for the first time became aware that one of the party was already
too far ahead to be easily overtaken. He proceeded, by a series
of unearthly yells and frantic gesticulations, to attempt to attract

ooker’s attention, and urge him to return. When these demon-
strations were found to be useless, and he perceived that Ball
was also about to follow in the ascent, he commenced a fresh
series of exclamations and pantomimic gestures, of which the
‘burden seemed to be that if we went we were certain to be shot;
but the same argument that was used with effect on the Tagherot
pass—the gift of a silver coin—was so far successful that no
attempt was made to arrest Ball’s progress, and after ascending
a few hundred feet higher, the unwilling guide gave up the
attempt, and rested comfortably until he had an opportunity of
rejoining Hooker in his descent. * * *

“ Hooker reached the summit about 2 P. m., and was rejoined
by Ball nearly half an hour later. Excepting some light fleecy
cumuli floating over the low country to the north, at a lower level
than the eye, the sky was cloudless; but in some directions a
thin haze obscured the details of the vast panorama. Our first
glance was inevitably directed towards the unknown region to the

range of Anti-Atlas, showing a wavy outline, with rounded sum-
mits, and no apparent deep depression, rising, as we estimated, to
a height of from 9000 to 10,000 feet above the sea.”

as the work is with graphic pictures, it is to the botanist,
of course, that it will afford the most delight. Not only are
plants described, but their habits and distribution are noted, as
for instance when the authors speak of Feriploca greca and
P. levigata. The latter is the single mainly western species,

The young branches near the root twine round any adjacent sup-

port, but as they grow older they become stiff and straight, and _

oe, S $
PAY B k

18709. | Recent Literature. 445
the taller specimens derive no adventitious support from this
source

copious appendix at the end of the volume, which, by the
way, is neatly illustrated, embodies, together with much other
matter, valuable notes on the flora of Morocco and the Canaries,
together with meteorological and geological information in a con-
densed form. . We take pleasure in commending the work to our
readers, feeling sure that it will meet with their approval.
W. W.B,

THE SERIES oF ANIMAL Forms IN GEOLOGICAL TimE.\—In this
work Prof. Gaudry brings together from his stores of palzon-
tological knowledge the evidences of serial relation in time pre-
sented by various groups of Mammalia. Following in the steps of
Kowalevsky (Palzontographica, 1873) and Cope (Journal Phila-
delphia Academy Sciences, 1874), he takes up the history of each
portion of the skeleton separately, and although he does not
exhaust the subject, he treats it more fully than either of the
authors named. The volume is divided in correspondence to
the orders of Manaialia. and in each division the characters of
the skull and skeleton, of the feet and of the teeth are taken up

alean e does not appear to have been ac ere with
the aech of. Cope on these animals published in 1875? in
which it was shown that they cannot be referred with any proba-
bility to the marsupials. Under the head of Pachydermata an
interesting discussion of the origin of the present dental type of
the Rhinoceride is found, that part relating to the outer crests of
the molars being apparently new. The portion relating to Paleo-
therium and Lophiodon is especially useful. Prof. Gaudry treats
the Améblypoda lightly, the principal expositions of the characters
of the order by American palzontologists not having probably
come into his hands at the time of et his book. The dis-
cussion of the teeth and feet of Ruminantia is especially full, and
good figures of the parts of several genera little apg in Amer-
ica are given. One of the best chapters is that on the Carnivora,
where the gradations in the dental iaa o of the genera
are clearly shown. The extinct Quadrumana of Europe are
very well illustrated, including the genera of Mesodonta, found in
Sel ce. The author admits ge speprstion of Filhol, that the
“Ppresentent, comme les Adapis, des passages entre les

idinurieie et les ean HA ” (p. 230); a position which we-

Les Enchainements du Monde Animal dans les Temps Gevlesraner Mammifers
Tertiaires. Par ALBERT GAupRY. Paris, Savy, 1878.

* Proceedings Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, December.

446 Recent Literature. [July,

think is quite indefensible. In this chapter Prof. Gaudry dis-
cusses the flints found -by the Abbé Bourgeois in the Middle
Miocene (Calcaires de Beauce) of Loir-et-Cher, concerning which
opinions so differ. They are regarded as works of art by many
archeologists, among whom are cited MM. de Vibraye, de Mor-

horizon not much above the Oregon beds of our White river
formation. As Gaudry remarks, no species of Mammal of that
period still exists; and he adds, “ it is not probable that the cut-
ters of those flints remained the same amid universal change.”
His concluding words are as follows: “If then it is to be shown
that the flints of the Calcaire de Beauce, collected by the Abbe
Bourgeois have been cut, the idea which presents itself most
naturally to my mind is, that they were fashioned by the Dryo-
pithecus.”

As a popular and at the same time scientific exposition of the
succession of Mammalian forms, as displayed by their structural
details, this book has no rival. The author has been led, like
most other thorough students, to adopt the doctrine of evolution,
and some of his reasons are here clearly set forth. The work is
distinguished for the excellence of its engravings and typography.

RYDER ON THE MecHanicaL Genesis oF Toora Forms.’—In
the several articles relating to this subject Mr. Ryder has made a
valuable contribution to the doctrine of evolution. He adopts the
classification of teeth proposed by Cope, and endeavors to explain
by mechanical laws the succession or phylogeny of the various
existing dental types pointed out by the same author. The appli-
cation of mechanical theory to this question is ingenious, and
results in some very probable hypotheses. First among these 1S
the supposed effect of lateral pressure in flattening conical cones
or cusps so that their section becomes semicircular or crescentic.
Another is the probable crowding of tubercles on each other by
impact transverse to their direction, producing plicate structure.
- His conclusions may be stated more in detail, and are as follows:
t in Carnivora and Omnivora the jaws were simply

tubercles or cusps composing the teeth do not to any extent og

depart from the short-rooted type with conical tubercles, styled

by odontologists bunodont. That the distance apart of the series : 4
of molars of opposite sides, of both upper and lower series, WaS —

1On the Mechanical Genesis of Tooth Forms. By Jonn A. Ryper. Proceedings
of the Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1878, p. 45. Further notes on do.
Loc. cit., 1879, p: 47. 4 ae

1879. | Recent Literature. 447 ©

ome eee alike; that is, that in closing the jaws the external
usps of the upper series were “brought exactly upon
a line: ee those of the lower, not over them, as is the case in all
Herbivora and to some extent in man. This condition he has
called isognathism.
2d. That in the Herbivora the jaws were opened and closed in
mastication with extensive lateral movement of the mandible ; and
that the teeth were by this greatly modified in respect of ‘their
tubercular constitution, the tubercles being of the type known as
crescentic, giving us the long-rooted selenodont type of tooth.
That in these the width of the jaw, or the distance apart of the
upper series of molars of opposite sides of the head, greatly
exceeds the same measurement in the mandible, which results in
the external or buccal cusps of the upper series closing over and
external to the buccal cusps of the lower series. This condition
he has styled anisognathism
3d. That in some Rodentia and Proboscidea the mandibles were
moved in a backward and forward, or antero-posterior direction,
which he has termed the reciprocating movement, with which
there was also a corresponding tubercular modification, which he
calls trichecodont—three tubercles forming'transverse ridges, fre-
quently obsolete, or greatly flattened transverse lamellae, com-
posed of elongated and united tubercles soldered together by a
thick cementum layer. (Elephas). Isognathism is usually a
characteristic of this subdivision,
n a subdivision including a part of Rodentia and
Proboscidea (mastodon), the movement of the mandible was both
reciprocating and lateral, with a still more complex type of denti-
ion as a result, which he has styled ptychodont—enamel fluted
and folded upon itself ss Seles and transversely. These
jaws are usually anisognathou
These observations, based pele investigations made not only
upon the skulls but also upon the living animals, afford, he thinks,
the key whereby to correctly interpret the morphological history
of the teeth of the higher groups especially when brought to
bear on the interpretation of the teeth of the great number of
herbivorous remains which the rocks ts yielded in recent times
as intermediate or antecedent for
The number of kinds of a made by the mandibular
rami is limited by structural impediments, since a bar fixed at one
en and free at the other, to which the mandible may be com-
pared, is capable of but a few distirict movements. We find these
to be essentially those mentioned in the definition of the four
groups; few others are possible or conceivable. “The first move-
ment is the vibratory one in a vertical plane; the second is the
vibratory movement in both the horizontal and vertical planes ;
the third is the vibration of the rami in an approximately hori-
zontal plane, neither lateral nor vertical, but an antero-posterior

448 Recent Literature. [July,

or reciprocating movement, parallel to the medial axis or line;
the fourth is that which combines to a great extent the second
and third. It is also to be observed that the lines described in
most cases are not straight, but only approximately so, they
being more or less curvilinear. With these four distinct types of
mandibular movement there are as many distinct types of tooth-
modifications, to which almost all the forms of teeth of Mamma-
lia yet known may be referred. e bunodont,type is that char-
acteristic of group 1, and in which the tubercles have not been
modified, because there have been no movements of a proper
kind to produce the modifications in the enamel foldings as
observed in the longitudinally or the transversely folded enamel

crowns of the lophodonts (ridge or hill tooth). To this foregoing - .

group I belong also all the haplodont type (simplest form) as
observed in the toothed whales. :
According to the doctrine of mechanical dental differentiation,
the foldings of the enamcl in the teeth of groups 2, 3 and 4,
whether they be longitudinal or transverse, are due either to the
lateral or reciprocating movement of the jaws. The sub-group,
selenodonts—so called in consequence of the crescent-shaped
foldings of the enamel of which the deer is a familiar example—-
is perhaps the most striking illustration of all. The character-
istic crescent-shaped tubercles, the author thinks, have probably
been evolved by a very slow process of flattening and bending
outwards or inwards of the cornu of the tubercles, due to the
strains exerted in masticating the tough woody food. The move-
ment in this case being constantly in one direction, makes it still
more probable that such has been the history of the process. —

e incisors of many animals having been lost or hypertrophied
either from the assumptions of their functions by other parts,
as the lips, tongue or trunk, or by substitution of another func-
tion, as in the case of the tusks of the Proboscidians, it would
seem that mechanical resistance has much to do with their spẹ-
cial development, as is also seen in Rodents.

A summary of the foregoing views the author has stated as
follows . oe
“1, That the earliest and simplest type of mammalian jaw-
movement was that in which the mouth was simply opened and
closed, without mandibular excursion, and co-existent with the
simple haplodont or bunodont molar. ;
~ “2. That the development of the various kinds of excursive
mandibular movement has apparently been progressive. —— —
“ 3. That as the excursive movements have increased in ine ;
plexity, there has been an apparent increase in the complexity 0! —
the enamel foldings, ridges and crests. :
“4. From the fact that the foldings, etc., have apparently been
modified in conformity to the ways in which the force used in
‘mastication was exerted, it is concluded that the various moces

.
.

1879. ] Recent Literature. 449

of crest and tubercular modification are related as effects to the
diverse modes of mandibular movement.

“s5. It is apparent from the facts presented throughout the con-
text that the mandibular articulations, and correlatively the skull
have probably been modified in shape by the movements made

y the jaws and the forces exerted in executing them

“6, From the fact that the incisor teeth are partially or entre
absent, or relegated to another function, in forms which have long
prehensile tongues, mobile, prehensile lip or roboacides, it is
held to be probable that such disappearance of the incisive den-
tal elements is due to the assumpti on of their function by the

ed.”

In so doing he has found it necessary to avail himself of the
and of “use and

this journal. We think that Mr. Ryder has supplied an im-
portant link in the chain of evidence which connects motion’ as
a cause, with structure as an effect, and we shall anticipate for
him future success in this fertile field of inquiry.

_Recent Books AND Oe Ta de la Sociedad de Geografia y Esta-
distica de la República Mexicana, Tercera época, Tomo Iv, correspondiente al año

1878. Nos. 4 and 5. Mexico, a From the society.

A pee to the Geology of the Lower Amazonas. By Orville A. Derby.
an from Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc.) 8vo, pp. 23. Philadelphia, 1879.
the a

peta d’un Silicate Gélatineux Naturel. Par E. Renevier. (Bull. Soc. Vaud.
-pe Nats evi Si 1.) 8vo, pp. 5. From the author

Partie laia de l Ancienne Jissie Frontal e du Glacier du Rhone sur les
Flancs du — a Par E. Benene (Bull. Soc. Siud Sc. Nat. xvi, 81.) 8vo, pp
S F author.

Description de l’Ovule des Environs z Bruxelles. Ovula hagy Eigenen,
g r Th. Lefévre. 8vo, pp. 35, plates 6. Bruxelles. From ť

eue ae wenig bekannte Reptilien beschrieben von Dr. Ä G. Fee ee
ar Hamburg, 1879. From the au
émoire yine prehistorique dans i lata. Par — Ameghino. (Re-

vue a eit a .) 8vo, pp. 39. Paris. From the author.

Remarks upon Kaskaskia Group and Descriptions pr New Species of Fossils
e iali sarne p pees cky. By S.A. Miller. 8vo, pp. 12, 1 plate. From the
uthor

Eiaa of the Kesi Academy of Science ive 1877 and 1878, Vol. 6. 8vo .
Pp- 94. Topeka, 1878, From the Academy.

ce H Gaston de Saponi s work: The Plants of the World before the Advent
of M Leo Le x. (From ve sil Jour, Sci. and Arts, Vol, xvii, April,
tayo. y Tap pp. 13, 1 ay oo the autho

Le Gypse des Environs de Menaggio ia ‘a Como) Rectification 4 la carte géol-

1 See this journal, January, 1878.

_

450 Recent Literature. [July,

ogique de Phon Par E. Renevier. (Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat.) 8vo, pp. 9,
1879. From the author.

La Musée sols z Lausanne en 1878. (Buli; Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. xvi, 81.)
Par. E. Renevier. 8vo, pp. 15. From the author

On the Structure and a Developmen of the Skull in the Common Snake (Tropi-
donotus natrix). By W. Kitchen Parker. Sen m Phil, Trans. Royal Soc., part 2,
1878.) 4to, pp. 37, pl. 7. From the author

Zur bgt Fauna des Magdalenen-Stromes. Von Dr. Franz Steindachner. 4to,
pp. 62, pl. 15. Wien, 1878. From the author ,

. G. Bronn’s Klassen und Oriant des Thier-Reichs. Fortgesetzt von

Dr. C. G. Giebel. Sechster Band v. Abtheilu ung Säugethiere: Mammalia 21
22. Lieferung, het und Heidelberg, 1879.

A Memoir of Joseph Henry. A Sketch of his scientific work, By William B.
Taylor. (Read Grae a Philos. Soc. of Washington, Oct. 26, 1878.) Philadel-

i 8vo, pp. I

Museum Pests PE in the Entomological Collection at GRR By Dr.
H A. aai : 8vo 0, pp. 7. Some bs isin on White Ants. By Dr. H. A. Hagen
8vo, pp. 4

On Law of caii discharged through the Urethra. By H. A. Hagen.
8vo, pp. 11. (From the Proc. of the Boston Soc. of Natural or est 1879.

e Matter uf certain badly-treated Mollusks. By Robert p © siei (Read
before the California Acad. of Sciences, April 21, 1879.) 8vo

Ituna und Thyridia. Ein merkwiirdiges Beispiel von Varka bei Schmetter-
lingen. Von Fritz Müller. (From Kosmos.) 8vo, pp. 9.

Insects from the Tertia “ie ree of the Nicola ie Similkameen rivers, British
Columbia. By Samuel H. Scudder. orm the Report of Paoken. 1877-78. Geo-
logical Survey of Canada. 7 Bva, pp-

‘Annual Report upon Explorations and abe it in the Department of the Missouri.
By E. H. Ruffner, st Lt. Engineers U.S.A. Washington, 1878. 8vo, pp. 118.

ges present state of our buie i of the Crustacea, Par On
Developm opt y C. Spence Bate, (From the Report of the British yes Ady.
Science for 1378.) 8vo, pp. 1
On the Willemeesia group o Ecommineet. By C. Spence Bate. (From the Annals —
and Magazine of Natural History, Dec., 1878.) 8vo, pp. 6.
Our Rush Light. 8vo. Issued by the Atco (N. J.) Bei Science Society, May,
1879. 2

ow Geological Survey, Appendix P. Coal Flora Atlas. By Leo Les-

wo sur ae a des Ephemeres notamment Palingenia virgo. Par Dr.
W. Joly. Paris, 1876
Contributions a l’histoire naturelle et a anatomie des Ephameriens. Par Dr. N.
Joly et E. Joly. Montpellier, 1876.
Nepeta Recherches sur Prosopistoma, Par Drs. N. et E. Joly. Montpellier,
1876.

Descripcion adak y costumbres s es ‘a Especie Nueva del genero Siredon.
. Por José M. Velasco. Mexico, 1878 (? 18 We:
Les Reptiles de l’Epoque Permienne aux Earn d’Autun, par Albert Gaudry.
(Ext. Soc. Geol. de fae, Dec., 1878. :
Description de deux Solens nouveaux par ere et Watelet. Bruxelles. No
te.
Etude sur le genre Notidanus par E. Delfortrie. Soc. Linn. de Bordeaux, 1878. :
Les Dunes Littoral es de Golfe de Gasc bop Par M. EI Delfortrie. Soe Linn.
z5 Bordeaux, 1879.

1879.] | _ Botany. 451

GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY.

Tue Muruat RELATIONS BETWEEN FLOWERS AND THE INSECTS
WHICH SERVE TO CROSS THEM.\—In 112 well illustrated octavo
pages Dr. Miiller has given us a very pleasantly-written account of
the present state of our knowledge in this department of biology.
Many of the facts and theories are by no means new, but many
others appear in print here for the first time.

The writer shows that botany and zodlogy are more than mere
“ descriptive natural sciences” as they are even yet called, and
that not the least of the good resulting from the theory of natu-
ral selection, advanced by Darwin, is the revival of an interest in

to them. The probable course of development, from the lowest
forms of life of those plants which are merely cellular, as the
Algze, mosses and liverworts, and still further of the vascular
cryptogams and phzenogams is well traced.

As regards their means of fertilization, plants are divided into
two groups:

. Gymnogame, including all plants which possess naked male _
cells capable of independent motion through the water to the
female cell. This group contains all the sexual cryptogams, and
is but slightly discussed by Dr. Müller.

6, Angiogame, including plants whose male cells are enclosed
in a protecting cell wall, and are carried to the female cell by for-
eign agency. With this group, containing all the Phanogams,
the present paper is chiefly concerned.

As agents for transferring the male cells or pollen of the
Angiogamz, we find water, wind, and various animals, as is

1 Die Wechselbexichungen zwischen den Blumen und den ihre Kreuzung vermittelu-—
den Insekten. HH, MULLER in Schenk’s Handbuch der Botanik.

ary, 1879, where the figures by which Mr. Darwin proves the value of cross-fertiliza-
tion, in his book on that subject, are made to show that after the first few generations

ere is a constant tendency towards eq tality between crossed and self-fertilized off-
spring, and where many instances of constant self-fertilization are collected.

452 General Notes. [July,

well expressed in the terms Hydrophile (water-loving), Ane-
mophile (wind-loving), and Zoidiophile (animal-loving), often
applied to the different groups of Phanogams, according to
the agency by which they are fertilized. Of the Hydrophile
cur common Vallisneria spiralis may serve as an example.
The Anemophile may be subdivided into <Archisperme and
Metasperme, represented respectively by the pine and the
oak, the former possessing naked ovules and winged pollen- ©
grains, the latter, ovules enclosed in a pistil and wingless pollen;
and, as indicated by the names, there is much reason to believe
that the former represent an earlier stage in the development of
plants than the latter. The Zoidiophile are divided into three
groups, Malacophile, fertilized by snails, Extomophile, fertilized by
insects, and Ornithophile, fertilized by birds. The first and last
are represented by comparatively few species, by far the greatest
number being entomophilous.

he writer gives a brief but clear account of cleistogamy and
heterogymy, which Mr. Darwin has so well treated in his work
on Different Forms of Flowers in Plants of the same Species,
and gives many illustrations of the adaptation of certain flowers
to the visits of certain groups of insects, as -outlined in the
Naturatist for April, and of the various contrivances by which
insects are enabled to obtain food from flowers of different forms.
One of the most interesting of these is that of a Brazilian species

which the tongue is provided would contaminate the nectar 0
the next flower visited, or at least destroy its proper taste. To
avoid this difficulty the tongue of the higher bees is provided
with a capillary tube in place of the chitinous rod found in that of
the lower bees, and this communicates at its base with the taste
organs, and opens into a spoon-shaped enlargement at the distal
end of the tongue. On visiting a flower the bee thrusts this
spoon-shaped organ into the nectar, and a portion immediately
rises through the tube by capillary attraction, but if not of pleas-
ing taste it is readily expelled before any has become entangled
in the hairs surrounding the tongue. oe
e paper is, throughout, one of exceeding interest, and it 15
to be wished that every student of biology, and especially every

.

young student, might read it— Wm. Trelease.

CAL News.—In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical | a

BOTAN —
_ Club for April, C. F. Austin, in notes on Hepaticology, describes |

1879. | Zoölogy. 453

new or little known ferns of the United States. Trimen’s
Fournal of Botany, for May, contains A. W. Bennett’s Polygalæ

mericanæ novæ vel parum cognitæ. Among other articles
in Caruel’s Mew Jtalian Botanical Fournal, is one by F. Sestini on
the action of the vapor of different substances in the seed during
germination. hree eminent botanists have recently died,
Prof. G. L. Reichenbach, of Dresden, aged 86; Dr. F. M. Ascher-
son, at Berlin, aged 81; also Prof. Griesebach, who died at
Göttingen, May 13th.

ZOOLOGY.?

STRANGE HABITAT oF A BARNACLE ON A Gar PIKE.—I have
recently received a barnacle from Mr. Jos. Wilcox, of Philadelphia,
which he obtained from the scales of a gar in Hernando county,

in the other direction. As nearly as I can make out, it is very
near if not identical with Platylepas decorata Darw», though this
species seems hitherto to have been recorded as coming from the
Pacific only; the Florida locality is of considerable interest,
therefore, as extending the range of the species. The fish from
which the specimens were obtained was found in brackish water,
and therefore agreeing in the nature of its habitat with the prob-
able conditions of the water in the Gambia river, Africa, where
the P. dissexlobata has been found on the manatee. There are no
pores in the parietes, the midribs of the compartments were well
developed, and in one specimen the membranous basis was as
convex as the shell, in the other not quite as convex. The basal
membrane seems to be reflected up over the parietes to near the
aperture and also to extend some way outwards from the attached
margin of the compartments, as if to afford a more extensive
attachment to the fish.

I have been unable to find any record of the occurrence of these
and kindred forms on the gar, but it would be well adapted to
them, as their scales would afford secure attachment.

It would be of interest to know whether the creature’s shell
left a depression in the scales of the fish equal to the convexity
of the basal membrane. Mr. Darwin observes in regard to other
barnacles which attach themselves to turtles, whales and sharks, |
in effect, that the growth of the shell of the parasite into the tis-
sues of its host is due to a force similar to that which impels the
root of a tree through hard compacted soil.— Fohn A. Ryder.

iThe departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
U.S.A.

454 General Notes. [July,
Animat Music (Am. Nar., April, 1879).—The song of the

chickadee is given in but two notes, although the name is derived
from five syllables—chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Mr. Nuttall was a close
observer of the song of birds, but contented himself with noting
only the syllabism. “The music of birds differs in form and pitch,
as in that of the Baltimore oriole or hang-nest, given by me in
the American Naturatist ‘with the note of the bull-frog, Jan.,
che p. 234), as compared with that cited by Mr. Clark (api

879, p. 222). Gardiner gives nine examples of the song of t
English throstle in five keys (Music of Nature, pp. 59, hree
225, 344, 454), fourteen of ee European blackbird in Pine keys
. (pp. 59, 76, 130, 140, 162, 434), = — equally scattered and
difficult to compare.—S. $ Halden

SHEDDING OF THE TRACHEÆ IN THE MOLTING OF INSECTS.—
While dissecting out the spiracles from the last casting of the
larval skin of one of our common silk moths (B. mori), I remarked
that parts of the trachea remained attached to them. To con-
firm this observation, I opened a number of cocoons of the ordi-
nary silk worm, which chanced to be in my possession, and
placing the shriveled cast skins found in them in potash water,
left them for several days to soak and soften. I then succeeded
in spreading them out sufficiently to exhibit, attached to each
spiracle, a great bunch of tracheal vessels of varying sizes lying
parallel, as though they had been drawn out through single open-
ings in the body of the larva. While I cannot be sure that all
the finer branches of this tracheal system were present in these
bunches, the larger tubes certainly were, and the smaller may
readily have been ‘detached and lost in the processes of prepara-
tion or broken off and left as dead matter in the body. The fact
is clear that in the shedding of the last latval skin at least the
tracheal vessels remain attached and are removed with it. When
we think of the trachea as portions of the ectoderm or outer layer
or skin of the insect, this coincident removal seems only natural
and to be expected; but the fact is none the less curious, ‘nor its
. process more easy to comprehend. Are these vessels with all
their ramifications withdrawn from the interior of the larva before
the formation of the pupal skin with its spiracles and trachea?

if so, is there not a pitting during which the insect is with-

out effective respiratory or

When the pupa changes catty the imago, the same fact is ob-
served. Here also the trachea, of much “smaller athe ae than
in the former case, are found within the empty pupa s hen
does the imago as such begin to breathe with its own proper
organs? When it bursts its mummy-like cerements and shakes
out its new found wings in this fourth condition of its existence,
is there a new birth in this respect also, that it Do at pe

moment to breathe in its higher life 2— Edward Potts
es ie of the trachez has been noticed by me in the larva of the humble-

bees. e Proceedings Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., x, 283, 1866.—A. S. P., Fr-

1879. | | Zoology. 455

$ s
Two CHRYSALIDS IN THE SAME Cocoon.—Another fact noticed
in the examination of the cocoons just referred to surprised me.
The first opened, a perforated one, contained two cast larval skins,

perfect. I cut into it and found two cast larval skins and two
perfect pupæ. I could come to no other conclusion than that in

specimens, Desirous to obtain some confirmation of this singular
state of things, I inquired of a very intelligent Spanish gentleman
formerly engaged in silk raising, and learned that while he could
not remember having seen two worms actually engaged in form-
ing the same cocoon, he had frequently observed two climbing
simultaneously into the same twig and was very ready to believe
that when once they had attached their threads to spin, neither
would give way, and they thus became enveloped in the same
toils. It was therefore his idea that it was rivalry in the search
of a favorable location rather than any anticipatory sense of sexual
attraction which had led them into these intimate relations. It
is much to be hoped that the attention of other observers may
during the coming season be directed to a further examination of
the above facts, which, so far, I have been unable to find record-
ed.— Edward Potts.

w Deep-Sea Fisurs—The researches conducted by the
United States Fish Commission under the direction of Professor
Baird, has resulted in the addition of a large number of species
to the fauna of the eastern coast of our country. These: have
been mostly described by Messrs. G. B. Goode and T. H. Bean,
whose full and careful diagnoses are valuable additions to ichthy-
ology. At present we notice only those obtained at great depths,
since these claim especial interest of the presenttime. The earliest
of these discoveries was that of a new Chimera from near the La

, which was named by Professor Gill
C. plumbea. The. Arctic Reinhardtius hippoglossoides has been
found at depths below 200 fathoms in the same latitude with the
acrurus rupestris. A new Macrurus from deep water off Cape
Ann is called M. dairdi. New species of Phycis and Haloporphyrus
also represent the Anacanthint. Several specimens of Alepido-
saurus ferox have been taken off the same coast between lats. 41°
and 44° at depths of from 200 to 400 fathoms.
_ The most important additions to deep-sea ichthyology ever |
made is the collection of the Ciallenger expedition, upon which |
a preliminary report was published about a year ago by Dr. |

456 General Notes. [July,

Günther. As with the American collections, no division receives
greater accessions than the Azacanthin. Not less than six new
genera of this group are described by Günther, four of which he
places in the Uphidude. Ten species are added to the genus
Coryphaenoides. The Scopelide prove to be equally characteristic
of great depths, fifteen species and three genera being reported
as: new., Perhaps the most interesting novelties are five new
species of Alepocephalide, which belong to four genera, of which
threearenew. The total number of species described by Günther
is sixty-one,

To PREVENT GREASE FROM INJURING THE PLUMAGE OF Birps.—
I have received the following letter which speaks for itselfi—Z/+
hott Coues.

Dr. Coues:

Dear Sir:—In your Field Ornithology you speak somewhat
despairingly of preventing the oil from injuring the plumage of
fat birds, and I write to tell you of an experiment that I have
tried, and which I believe is a success. A month since I put up
a goosander whose skin was thick and very oily. Taking off the
leaves of fat, my next thought was of how to prevent the satu-
ration of the feathers, and I hit upon this experiment. Being a
dentist and accustomed to the use of absorbents, I took a piece
of spunk, of which I enclose a sample, cut it of an oval shape
and large enough to reach pretty well up on the side of the tow
body, pinned the edge smoothly to it, and as it is of a uniform
thickness, it made a good surface for the skin to lie against.

This specimen has been in my laboratory all the time during
these weeks, exposed night and day to the ordinary temperature
of a hotse heated by a furnace, and shows not in the slightest
degree any appearance of oil, while another specimen with a very
similar skin is completely saturated beneath.

I take the liberty to write on this subject as it may lead toa
satisfactory solution of the problem, how to keep the oil from
soiling the plumage in fat birds,

Very truly yours,
A. H. Stevens, Clinton, Conn.

CLINTON, CONN., April 12, 1879.

ANOTHER SIREDON.——M. Velasco has recently published in the
Memoirs of the Mexican Society of Natural History for 1878, a
description of a species of Ambdlystoma and its metamorphoses,
under the name of Sivedon tigrinus, which is found in lake Santa `
Isabel, in the valley of Mexico. M. Velasco names the species
as new, but we cannot perceive that it is different from the yellow-
spotted varieties of the Amdlystoma mavortium of Baird. The
metamorphoses of Mexican specimens of this species have been
observed by Duméril, and Sumichrast has sent specimens of the
same from the elevated regions of Vera Cruz. M. Velasco gives

1879. | Anthropology. 457

us the most southern locality yet known, and illustrates its char-

acters with some very good figures. Will not some of the natu-

ralists of Mexico give us an account of the metamorphoses of the

real Siredon, the S. mexicanus, from the city of Mexico? No one
as yet described it, if any there be—Z. D. Cope.

LOTA MACULOSA IN THE SUSQUEHANNA RivER.—About twenty
years ago Mr. J. M. M. Gernerd caught a specimen of this fish in
a net at Muncy, Lycoming county, Penna. He preserved it in
his coilection and recently sent it to Philadelphia. It is about a
foot long. Mr. Gernerd says that he has fished a great deal, but
has never seen another specimen. It has not been previously
recorded from the Susquehanna river—E£. D. Cope.

ANTHROPOLOGY.?

Topinard, in the Bulletin of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris
for 1878, pp 2, is by Dr. Paul Broca, the distinguished anat-
omist, upon the indices of breadth in the scapula of man, the
apes, and the series of mammals. Three tables of indices close
the communication. To M. Broca, perhaps, more than to any
other anatomist living or dead, we are indebted for the applica-
tion of rigorous methods and instruments of precision to various
parts of the skeleton, which are likely to yield precious results in
deciding the exact place of man in nature.

n page 104, M. Gustave Le Bon discusses the inequality
of the corresponding regions of the cranium. The measures
were taken on 300 skulls from different series in the collection
of the Anthropological museum. Long ago students inquired
whether the two hemispheres of the brain was equal, and Bichat
considered that a default of symmetry was accompanied by a lack

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The paper following that of Dr.

foundation we have for such atheory. In man most of the organs
are more developed on the right side than on the left; but taking
into consideration that the left portion of the brain. presides over
the functions of the right side of the body, we might suppose, æ
Priori, that it is the left hemisphere of the brain which should be
the most developed. Upon the 287 skulls that I have measured, in
taking for a starting point the vertical plane passing through the
external occipital protuberance and the prolongation of the median
suture of the nasal bone, the following results obtained :

Skulls where the right side predominates 125
7 n “jet ot Mo II
y o “« different bones are unequal, but whose inequalities are com-
pensatory É :
287

_ 7 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

458 General Notes. [July,

The foregoing observations demonstrate that the cranium, and
therefore probably the brain whose form it reproduces, presents
a lack of symmetry which is not of the same character for each
of its parts. .

n page 121, Dr. Le Bon describes a very simple anthropo-
‘metric instrument, which he calls the pocket cephalometer, or
compass of co-ordinates, designed to obtain very rapidly the
different diameters, angles, and profiles of the head, and to repro-
duce in relief any solid figure whatever. A description of this
instrument without drawings would hardly define it; we must
therefore refer our readers to the paper of Dr. Le Bon.

n page 161, Dr. Thulié gives an account of the autopsy
of Louis Asseline, a member of the Société d’Anthropologie and
of the Société d’Autopsie Mutuelle. Asseline was 49 years old
when he died. In politics, he was a republican; in philosophy, a
materialist. After his education was finished, he came to Paris,
where he contributed more than all others towards propagating
those ideas which resulted in the overturning of the empire.
He was the founder and patron of several radical journals, and
was frequently imprisoned for his writings. He was also in polit-
ical life several times. ,
~ Asseline was a member of the Société d’Autopsie, composed

of individuals who believe that the study of the brain of a man

hom we have known, not only through his works, but in his
character and faculties, would contribute to the advancement
of science. The first subject of mutual autopsy was Jules Asséza,
who, by the way, did not derive much benefit from the mutual
clause in the society’s constitution. The second was M. Asseline,
whose autopsy occurred 39 hours after his decease. The brain
weighed 1.468 grammes, which may be compared with Broca’s
table of means:

From 31 to 40 years 1.404 grammes.

1.403 ac)

From 4I to 50 years

1879.] Anthropology. 459

are so developed and which correspond to eminent intellectual
faculties, if the development of the päis de passage does not cor-
respond with secondary faculties. The cranial calotte is ex-
tremely thin. It is not a senile regression. The cerebral depres-
sions and the vascular furrows are very marked, as if the internal
table had been thinned by the enlarging of the brain. The frontal
suture is not entirely ossified; it is less so than the parieto-occipi-
tal suture which is not entirely closed. There exists a certain
asymmetry in the osseous vault; the frontal eminence on the
right side is more prominent than on the left. A more extended

sents a communication, pp. 260 to 269 upon the frequency of
dental caries among the Galibi Indians and their offsprings of
mixed blood with the blacks,

With regard to the tablets the doctor remarks: “If there are
now any doubters of the authenticity of these ‘precious monu-
ments,’ as M. Lucien Adam is pleased to call them, they are
silent, either from their doubts having been dispelled by the ac-
cumulation of material evidence, or it may be that they deem us
So incorrigible in the continued fabrication of these relics that re-
monstrance would be wasted on us,”

Presidential office for the ensuing year. Dr. Parry in making
the nomination said: “It is quite unnecessary to explain to any
here present that the actual success and present prosperity of the
academy has been coincident with the interest taken in it by
woman. The very ground beneath our feet is the spontaneous
gift of a generous woman.” ?

Edmund Andrews contributes to the Transactions of the
Wisconsin Academy, a paper on the literature and religion of the
mound-builders, in which he takes the ground that they are not
iene as popularly supposed, but still exist among our Indian
ribes. ; !

- In the same volume Dr. C. R. Hoy gives us a discussion upon
VOL. XIIt.—NO, VII. ; 32 a a ;

+

460 General Notes. [July,

the method by which the aborigines manufactured copper imple-
ments: The doctor takes the ground that none of these imple-
ments were cast, since the moulds were too difficult of manage-
ment for the intelligence of American savages. “Copper is a
refractory metal which melts at 2200 to 2600 degrees, a temper-
ature that can be reached only in a furnace, assisted by some
form of coal and an artificial blast. It is, when melted, thick
and pasty, and without the addition of some other metal will not
run in the cavities and sinuosities of the mould. A majority of
the copper implements found have specks or points of pure silver
over their surfaces ; now one single speck of pure silver, visible
even with the microscope, is positive evidence that the specimen |
was never melted.” Dr. Hoy then proceeded to give his views
of the methods of savage metallurgy. The Indians used fire in
their mining operations. The vein rock was made hot by build-
ing a fire on or against it. Then by dashing water on the heated
mass the rock would be fractured and removed, leaving ragged
masses of copper exposed, which would also be softened so that
it could be beaten into shape. When the metal became hard by
pounding, it was again heated and plunged into water; for copper
is, in this respect, the opposite of steel. In this way copper was
fashioned simply by pounding.

In addition to the hammering process, cylindrical articles were
evidently rolled between two flat rocks. Some of those imple-
ments that are supposed to have been cast were probably swedged;
that is, a matrix was excavated in stone, into which the rudely
fashioned copper was placed, and then by repeated blows the
article was made to assume the exact shape of the mould. Be-
‘sides this swedging process, Dr. Hoy is persuaded that in a few
instances a complete mould was wrought out in halves on the
face of two flat stones, so that by placing a suitable piece of cop-
per between them and giving it repeated heavy blows the metal
was made to fill the mould accurately. In order to test the mat-
ter the doctor constructed a mould of this description and was
able to make a beautiful axe. ;

n the same volume of the Transactions, Dr. J. M. de Hart —
discusses the antiquities and platycnemism of the Mound-builders
of Wisconsin. : .

Mr. Lester F. Ward sends us.a pamphlet printed by Edward

Stern & Co., of Philadelphia, containing his papers on Haeckels
‘Genesis of Man, which appeared in the April, May and July num-
bers of the Penn Monthly for 1877. ‘As this celebrated work of a

the author has not yet been translated into English, Mr. Wa
has done a useful thing in presenting the views of Prof. Haeckel
in a clear and succinct manner.

GEOLOGY AND PALZZONTOLOGY.

A Pecutiar Cave in Uran.—The Oquirrh range of mountains,

< A Pece a
in Utah, extends northward as far as Great Salt lake and borders —

1870. | Geology and Paleontology. 461

the lake for a short distance along the south-east shore. Near
Lake Point, as in many other places, old lake beaches or “benches”
can be traced on the side of the mountain, the highest having an
altitude of about goo feet. In some places four distinct ones can
be seen. On one of the benches a cave opens into the carbonif-
erous limestone, of which the mountain is mostly composed.
This cave, known as Clinton’s cave, was first brought into public
notice by Mr. G. K. Gilbert who described it and explained the
probable mode of its formation. Later Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr.,
published an interesting account? of several species of cave
animals which he found living there. He also determined its
geological. age to be most probably the Quaternary. Having
recently visited it and made a discovery which seems to throw
some light on the mode of its formation and its age, I am enabled
to verify their conclusions and to give further particulars.

The strata forming the mountain are here uplifted into nearly
a vertical position. One stratum having a thickness of ten or
twelve feet, seems to have been composed of a softer material
than the adjacent ones. When the water of the lake stood at
about the level of the bench on which the cave is now situated,
the action of the waves in breaking upon the rocky shore gradu-
ally wore away this soft stratum until a long narrow crevice had
been excavated into the side of the mountain. Similar action is
going on to-day on the coast of New England, where dykes of
porphyry are exposed to the direct action of sea-waves, the por-
phyry being worn away faster than the wall-rock.

After thus cutting horizontally to a depth of over 300 feet, and
vertically to the surface of the slope for the whole distance, the
lake evidently subsided sufficiently to allow of an accumulation
of coarse sediment which was washed from the slope above, fill- _
ing the crevice, and which was cemented into a conglomerate by
carbonate of lime. Then the lake rose again to the level of this

more than twenty-five or thirty feet. The width varies from
about twelve feet at the mouth to three feet at the innermost

‘Report on the Geology of Portions of Nevada, Utah, &c. G. K. Gilbert, A.M.
Wheeler’s Report, Vol. 111, p. 98 ee re

? On a New Cave Fauna in Utah, by A. S. Packard, Jr., M.D. Bulletinof U.S. —
Geol. and Geog. Survey, F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist-in-charge. _ Vol nL Note 3

462 General Notes. [July,

of fresh-water shells. Several large masses of the conglomerate
which forms the roof have fallen to the floor. While examining
one which seemed to have fallen very recently, as it was not
imbedded in the earth, I found enclosed in the rock, a land shell
which has kindly been identified by Mr. W. G. Binney as Patula
strigosa var. Haydeni. Further search failed to bring to light
other specimens.

The great thickness of the conglomerate above the position of
the shell precludes the idea that the filling took place at a very
recent period. The same species is now found living in abun-
dance in the vicinity of the lake. Its presence as a fossil

affected by climatic changes.—Leshe A. Lee.

Tue Bauna Bastn.—M. Stephanesco, of Bucharest, has com-
municated to the Geological Society of France a description of
the geology of the region of the Iron Gate of the Danube, on the
extreme west of Roumania. Azoic beds are extensively devel-
oped on this part of the Danube, which are overlaid at one point
by a band of Cambrian, which crosses the river below the gates.
Lower down, a Tertiary formation appears, resting partly on the
Azoic and partly on some secondary beds. Above the gates the
Bahna creek enters from the north, after traversing a valley in
which is situated the town of that name. This valley is excavated
in upper and middle Miocene marine beds, which themselves
form a synclinal series, with the opposing dips of 45° separated
by a central fracture. M.Stephanesco points out that the rela-
tions of these beds, lying as they do directly on the Azoic, 1s
similar to that seen in the basins of Vienna, Bordeaux, Dax an

prominents enamel smooth. The side of the face is concave,
and there is a lachrymal fossa. The anterior border of the orbit

i

1879. Geography and Travels. 463

marks the middle of the last molar tooth. Length of molar
series, .118 m.; of true molars, .050; length anterior to molars,
061 ; width between last molars, .040 ; diameters of crown of sec-
ond true molar, fore and aft, .017, transverse, .022; length of
tibia, .285 ; of metacarpal, 2 i;

GEOGRAPHY AND ESATE 5

it. may be as well said of America as of En pine that “there are
few countries in which a high order of geographical teaching is
so little encouraged,” the importance of such knowledge is recog-

and the Lehigh to this address. is given in full in the “ Pro-

e Council include in the word Geograp hy “a compendious
Hesuncean of all the prominent conditions of a country, such as
its climate, configuration, minerals, plants and animals, as well as
its human inhabitants; the latter in ee not only to their
race, but also to their present and past history, so far as it is
intimately Soupteied Pats the peculiarities of the land they
inhabit. * “Among the many classes of prob-
lems that ei Wide these heads, it is sufficient to specify two.
The one deals with the reciprocal influence of man and his sur-
roundings, showing on the one hand the influence of external
nature on race, commercial development and sociology, and, on
the other, the influence of man on nature, in the clearing of
forests, cultivation and drainage of the soil, introduction of new
plants and domestic animals, and the like. The other problem
deals with the inferences that may be drawn from the present dis-
tribution of plants and animals, in respect to the configuration of
the surface of the earth in ancient times. Thus we see that the
mutual relation of the objects of the different sciences is the sub-
` ject of a science in itself, so that logy geography may be
defined as the study of local correlatio

“ Geography thus defined does not ‘nay in any degree to super-
sede the Special cultivation of the separate sciences, but rather to
intensify the interest already felt in each of them, by Spare gest
connections which would otherwise be unobserved. It is
geography alone that physical, historical and political pe Rae
are seen to be linked closely together; and it is thus that geog-

-l Edited by ELis H. YARNALL, Philadelphia,

464 General Notes. [July,

raphy claims the position of a science distinct from the rest, and
of singular practical importance.”

he Council also mention that in France the State has endowed
seven chairs of geography besides providing instruction of a high
class in the Lycées. Seven of the German universities are also
provided with professors of the science, and there are three chairs
in Switzerland. “The literary results of German travel at the
present day seem to show that the educational advantages which
are attainable in Germany have borne fruit in developing and
directing the powers of observation in German travelers.”

“ A copious collection of maps, models, pictures and ethnologi-
cal illustrations of the various lands which are the theatres of his-
torical study, would gradually accumulate under the charge of a
professor of geography, and would enable him to illustrate their
configuration and scenery as well as the social character of their
inhabitants with a fullness that no ordinary teacher could hope to
rival. Such illustrations, it may be remarked, are consistent with
the general tendency of modern instruction.”

GEOGRAPHICAL News.—The Nature states that a large amount
of material for arriving at some approximately correct notion of
the mean depth of the sea having been accumulated in recent
years, Dr. Kriimmel has lately attémpted this. Soundings were
wanting for the Antarctic and a part of the North Polar sea, 2 @.,
about 475,000 square miles, or seven per cent. of the entire se@
surface, so that he gives his estimate only as a closer approxima-
tion. He estimates then the mean depth of the sea as 1,877
fathoms, or 3,432 metres, or 0.4624 geographical mile. It was
natural to compare the mean height of dry land above the sea-
level. umboldt’s estimate of 308 metres is regarded as quite
out of date. Leipoldt has since estimated the mean height of

Europe as 300 metres. Accepting this number for Europe, 500 ©

for Asia and Africa, 330 for America, and 250 for Australia, Dr.
Kriimmel obtains the mean of 420 metres, or 0.0566 mile. he
surface ratio of land to water being considered 1: 2.75, the vol-
ume of all dry land above the sea-level is inferred to be 140,086
cubic miles, and the volume of the sea 3,138,000 cubic miles.
Thus the ratio of the volumes of land and water is I: 22.4. a
is, the continents, so far as they are above the sea-level, might be
contained 22.4 times over in the sea-basin. Reckoning, however,
the mass of solid land from the level of the sea-bottom the for-
mer would be contained only 2.443 times in the sea space. VI.
Kriimmel also compares the masses (taking recent data) ; he finds
that of the sea 3,229,700 cubic miles, and that of the solid land

ee

+

A) Geography and Travels. - 465

subordinates accompanying him. At Kuldja he will be joined by
the same interpreters as were with him on his last journey, and
at Zaissan by five cossacks. From here the expedition will start
with thirty camels and some horses for Hami and Suh-chau, and
thence proceed to the Kansu mountains. The party will next
make for Lhassa by the usual route, and by February, 1880, hope
to reach the Himalayas by way of the Brahmapootra river.
Returning then to Lhassa he will visit Khotan, Kashgar and
cross the intervening plateau to Russian Khokand. The journey
is to occupy two years. He has been most fully equipped for this
arduous task, the Russian Geographical Society having contribu-
ted 20,000 roubles. If he can but accomplish a third of his pro-
gramme, he will have done a great service to geography.

Friedlander & Son, of Berlin, have recently commenced the
publication, every two weeks, of a journal, Mature Novitates,
which contains a fortnightly bibliographical list of current litera-
ture in all languages in the various departments of science. |

The Royal Geographical Society has undertaken to organize a
uniform system of spelling the names of places throughout the
globe. A commencement has been made with Indian names.
After these are tabulated and revised the society propose to turn
their attention to African names. They hope finally to establish
a universal set of rules applicable to all parts of the world.

We learn from the Academy that a Norwegian captain named
Bjerkan spent the winter of 1876-7 at Möller bay, on the west
side of Novaya Zemlya. His journal, containing observations
from October 4th to June 11th of the temperature of the air and
sea, and the direction of the winds, has been published. These
records show a decided maximum of temperature in January
4°4 F. above the means of either December or February. This
peculiarity is also noticeable, says the Academy, in all the exist-
ing records from Novaya Zemlya and in the Austrian observa-
tions on Franz Joseph Land, and is therefore not confined to the
period of Capt. Bjerkan’s stay. This high temperature was
accompanied by prevalent southerly winds, but the absence of -
barometrical observations makes it impossible to say whether
these winds were.due to the passage of cyclones to the northward
of the station in the month of January.

A small scientific expedition left Denmark in April of this
year to explore portions of the coast of Greenland, their object
being chiefly to examine the fiords between the Danish colonies
of Holsteinborg and Egedesminde. Excursions are also to be
made into the unknown regions of the interior, and scientific
observations of various kinds will be taken. ae

The Church Missionary Society (London) have published two-
large wall maps of Africa for the use of lecturers, One exhibits
the whole continent and the other the equatorial lake district.

_ A new edition of the Library Map of Africa, scale 1 : 5,977,382,

466 General Notes. [July,
prepared by Keith Johnston, F.R.G.S., is published by Stanford
(London).

A new map of Africa by the same editor, on a smaller scale,
1: 8,420,000 has also been phblished by W.& A. K. Johnston
(Edinburgh).

MICROSCOPY .?*

AMERICAN Society oF Microscorists.—The local committee -
at Buffalo have secured the use of the “Central School Building”
for the sessions of this society at its meeting in that city in
August. The headquarters of the officers will be at the Ti
House, and local and general arrangements are being made which
it is believed will be fully adequate and satisfactory. Excursion
fares upon the railways and reduced hotel rates have been prom-
ised, and private hospitality will be tendered when desired. A
soiree will be given under the auspices of the local microscopical
society. The provisional constitution adopted at the Indianapolis
meeting will come up for amendment and adoption, and all micro-
scopists of the country are cordially invited to attend and par-
ticipate in the perfecting of a permanent organization. Circulars
giving full information in regard to the plans for the meeting can
be obtained by addressing the secretary of the society, Dr. Henry
Jameson, of Indianapolis, Indiana, or the secretary of the local
committee, Mr. James W. Ward, of Buffalo, N. Y.

Royat Microscopicat Sociery.—With an evident desire to
share its prosperity with others, this society is renewing and
extending its efforts to make itself a center of influence in the
cultivation of microscopical science ey aw the world. Its

enerous as well as very. an action. The societies in the
United States included in this arrangement are the American
_ Academy of Arts and Sciences, of Boston, the Boston wane a

E son
New York MıcroscoricaL Sociery.—This society has removed
to its new rooms at No. 239 Fourth avenue, near Ni ineteenth
street, where it will meet on the first and third Friday evenings
1 This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y.

1879. ] Scientific News. 467

of each month, except July and August. It is also having excur-
sions during the summer, after the manner of the Queckett
Club.

THE PROPAGATION OF CLUSTER-cUPS.—Dr. M. C. Cooke, in his
“ Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Fungi,” calls attention
to the difficulty of accounting for the appearance of the cluster-
cups (Aecidiacei) bursting through the cuticle of the leaves of the
plants on which they are found. The question is as to the man-
ner in which their spores reach the interior of the leaf where
they germinate. It certainly cannot be by way of the stomata,
for these are too Sialk, nor would this account for the preserva-
tion of the spores until the succeeding year. Equally difficult is
it to imagine a process by which they can gain access to the
interior of the growing leaf through the roots, nor have they
been traced passing through the tissues of the plant. The author
named mentions the fact, however, that Rev. M. J. Berkeley was
able to propagate Cluster-cups by growing plants from seeds
which had been placed in contact with their spores. Following
this hint and noting the fact that the species growing in this
vicinity ripened and discharge their spores at the time when the
plants on which they are found are in blossom, it was easy to
reach the conviction that these = eh would be found along with
the pollen in the interior of the ovary, thus coming into contact
with the oh and depositing the germs of future >. Act-

of several feet from any blossom, indicating Pat ee that it
had been transported by insects. —M. A. Veeder
NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON MICROMETRY. — Prof. Wm. Ash-
burner, of San Francisco, Cal., and Rev. Samuel Lockwood, of
Freehold, N. J., have been added to this committee.
Erratum.—In the last line of “ Microscopy,” in the last num-
ber of me NATURALIST, for “ ape s cement” read Bell’s cement.

SCIEN mene IC NEWS.

— Dr. Elliott Coues contributes to the June number of the
Penn Monthly some interesting isos oan of the ornitholo-
gists, Wilson, Ord and Bonaparte

—A Sphargis coriacea, weighing 765 pounds, was recently
taken in the Delaware river, near Fort Delaware. It was pur-
a. by Prof. Cope for the Permanent Exposition at Phila-

dë

468 Scientific News. [July,

The American Association for the Advancement of Science
will | hold its thirty-eighth meeting at Saratoga, N. Y., opening on
Wednesday, August 27th next. The permanent subsection of
chemistry will be continued at Saratoga under the chairmanship
of Prof. Ira Remsen, of Baltimore. The permanent subsection
of microscopy will be presided over by Prof. E. W. Morley, of
Hudson, Ohio, and the codperation of microscopists is requested.
The permanent subsection of anthropology has united with sec-
tion B at the late meetings, a day having been specially allotted
to anthropological papers. A chairman was not elected for the
Saratoga meeting, but it is understood that this subsection can
reorganize at Saratoga should the anthropologists present con-
sider it desirable. In this connection it is proper to note that there
will probably be a meeting of the American Anthropological
Association during the association week. ‘The attention of ento-
mologists is directed to the annual meeting of the Entomological
Club of the association, which will be held at Saratoga on Tues-
day, August 26th, at which all interested are invited to be present.

gn Lintner, of Albany, is president, and Mr. B. P. Mann,
of Cambridge, secretary of the club. At the St. Louis meeting
the permanent secretary was directed to call special attention to
the desirability of forming a new subsection in the association,
which should be devoted to physiology and anatomy, with the
special object of inducing members interested in human physiol-
ogy to bring their papers before the association and also of

the work of the association. The president of the association is
George F. Barker, of Philadelphia, and the permanent secretary,
F. W. Putnam, whose address is Salem, Mass.

— The following was recently received at the Philadelphia
- Zodlogical eee by the superintendent. On inquiry it proved
to be dona
“Too the Te of the zeoological Garden.

"Phil Fune 2 79.

Sir I have Somethinge wich is without any misstack a Grate
novilty too the public & is no Cost it is a alactrick i wich
lives in Fire as well as in water it proueduce fire & Sm

PROFF ro

— Charles Hallock, Esq., who is the author of several books —
on field sports, and the editor and founder of Forest and Stream,
_ the well-known sportsman’s abe has siunt issued a fifth edition
of his “ Sportsman’s Gazetteer and General Guide,” a most com-
plete encyclopedia of 92r faa This book has become a

1879.] 3 Scientific News. | 469

— Prof. Viand, Grand Marais in Nantes, France, is desirous of
obtaining American lichens in exchange for European.
- — Noteworthy arrivals at the Zodlogical Garden, of Philadel-
phia: 4 undulated grass parrakeets (Melopsittacus undulatus); I
ellow macaw (Ara chloroptera); 1 red-headed duck
(Fuligula Jerina americana); t macaque monkey (Macacus nemes-
trinus), born in the garden; 1 white-fronted parrot (Chrysotis leu-
cocephulus); 1 blue-fronted parrot (Chrysotis cyanorhyncha); 1
pouched rat (Geomys bursarius); 1 whistling swan (Cygnus ameri-
canus); 2 ostriches, I 3, I (Struthio camelus); 1 oryx antelope,
ni (Oryx leucoryx); 1 red monkey (Cercopithecus ruber); 1
monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus); 1 common skunk (Mephitis
mephitica); 2 green lizards (Anolis principalis); 3 prairie wolves
(Canis latrans); 1 red kangaroo (Macropus rufus s) and I great kan-
garoo (Macropus giganteus), all born in the garden; 2 Pennant’s
parrakeets (Platycercus pennanti); 2 Rosehill parrakeets (P. exim-
tus); 2 blood-rumped parrakeets (P. hematonotus); 4 yellow-col-
lared parrakeets (P. semitorquatus); 4 chestnut-eared finches
(Amadina castanotis); 2 spotted-sided niches (A. lathami); 2
chestnut-breasted finches eer eee go eriak v7 eee. j
finches (Munia maja); 2 spotted munias (M. undulatus) : 1 buf-
falo dS (Bison americanus), born in he ies 1 loon EIS N
torquatus); 2 European fallow deer ess vulgaris) Se;
pean badgers (Males. ta aus) 32; 1 gray ichneumon (terpes:
griseus); 3 anubis es C a eala: anubis), 1 emu (Dro-
meus nove-hollandie; i scarlet ibis (Ibis rubra); 3 bar-headed
eese (Anser indicus), India; 1 secretary vulture (Gypageranus
Serpentarius), S. Africa; 4 ‘ring-n necked pheasants (Phasianus
torguatus); 1 darter, or water turkey (lotus ANRA Florida ; 7
white-footed mice (Hesperomys leucopus), born in the garden ;
_ Star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata); 2 Laghion "hers
(Dacelo gigantea), Australia; 4 Swainson’s lorikeets (Zi foi. ie
nove-hollandig); 1 gray parrot ipa tl yitar, Í “Java
chevrotains ( Tragulus jasi ?, Java and Sumat
— We would call attention to Mr. W. N. Enekineion s article
“The Flounders of our Market” [San RoE (Scientific

Satirak There are notes on Hona aie ar Bia
(Girard sp.) Lockington, Uropsetta californica (Ayres sp.) Jordan,
Citharichthys sordidus Gunther, Mypsopsetta g guttulata (Girard sp.)
Lockington (Paropheys ayresii Gunther), Pleuronichtys C@NOSUS
Girard, Parophrys vetula Girard, Lepidopsetta bilineata (Ayres sp.)
Jordan, Z. umbrosa (Girard sp.) nye ei and Platichthys stel-
latus Günther. Two new spec Taroa ERA Jede and
Glyptocephalus pacificus, are descai —FS -
— An observation lately made by M. a in Panama, lends
_ Support to the opinion that the phylloxera is an insect indigenous

470 SREE New: [July,

in North America, not introduced from Europe with cultivated
vines. In the woods of Panama, so far from any center of culti- -
vation of the vine, M. Collot noticed the phylloxera on a wild
native vine, which clings to trees after the manner of tropical
trullweed. |

— The biennial oration in memory of John Hunter was deliv-
ered by Prof. Humphry, of Cambridge, F.R.S., in the lecture-room
of the Royal College of Surgeons, February 14.

— The following from a recent number of the Yuma Sentinel,
is not without interest:

“ A herd of camels was driven here from Nevada nearly two
years ago. Finding no profitable Work for them their owners
turned them loose along the Gila to the eastward of Yuma.
There they have been living and breeding, looking fat and sleek |
all the time. For awhile they were in danger of extermination.

borax and soda. Its mountains are also known to carry exten-
sive deposits of metals. To these camels we look for eventually
- making these treasures accessible and available.’—R. Æ. C.S.

— The doubt as to whether science or high rank should be
represented in the presidency of the Zodlogical Society has been
solved by the unanimous election of Mr. William Henry Flower,
F.R.S., &c., conservator of the Museum and Hunterian Professor
of Comparative Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons.

— The Permanent Exposition of Philadelphia, now occupying
the main building of the Centennial, has adopted some changes
in its organization which will give it a much more specially,
_ educational tone than heretofore. It has been divided into ten

departments, over each of which a competent chief has been

been assigned a space of six acres within the building. he
organization of the executive board is as follows: President,
Edward Shippen; secretary and superintendent, W. T. Seal; vice-
presidents, Ellis A. Apgar, Geo. F. Barker, Geo. Blight, John F-

Hartranft, D. Newlin Fell; chief of the department of inorganic :
_ material, Persifor Frazer, Jr.; chief of the department of organic

1879. ] Scientific News. 471

material, Edward D. Cope; chief of the department of archæ-
ology and ethnology, Edwin A. Barber ; chief of the department
of national pres furniture, costumes and traits, George
ewitt ; chief o e department of model homes, William
S ‘Schofield ; chief ei the department of agriculture, Willis P.
Hazard ; chief of the department of machinery, apparatus and
manufactures, E. Gybbon Spilsbury ; chief of the department of
industrial training, Rudolphus Bingham; chief of the depart-
ment of schools, school-systems and. publications, Edward Ship-
pen; chief of the department of fine arts, George W. Pettit.
The prospectus for 1879 contains a series of announcements

i : n
from each of the chiefs of departments. Those of Profs. Frazer
and Cope, and of Mr. Barber, present plans for the classification
of their respective museums, which indicate a determination to
do their respective charges ample justice. ey commence,
under the favorable conditions of unusually fine collections
already in hand, and it will only depend on the public spirited
citizens of Philadelphia whether she has a museum appropriate to

er population and importance or not. The advantage of having
her museums under one roof is almost unique, and should recom-
mend the new organization to immediate suppor

— The district of Shantong, in China, contains diamond de

a. The following singular artifice (we learn from Annales
Gedustieties | is resorted to by to the Chinese to obtain them. Men
wearing large and thick boots made of straw walk in the sand of
diamantiferous valleys and watercourses. The diamonds, gener-
ally rugose an angular in form, penetrate into the straw, and
remain fixed there. ` Afterwards the boots are collected ex masse
and incinerated, and the precious stones are found among the
ashes.—Engli ish Mechanic.

— We have received the announcement for 1870, of the Appala-
chian Mountain Club, containing the Constitution and By-laws,
list of officers for 1879, and the list of members. The president
for this year is Prof. W. H. Niles, of Cambridge, Mass. —

_ — The report on the condition ~~ progress of the Davenport
Academy of Natural Sciences, shows that this society is one of
the most active in the West, and that this is due largely to two
or three individuals, sustained by an enlightened and progressive
constituenc

mber of the citizens of Atlanta have organized a Scien-
tific Association, with the following list of officers, for the purpose
of having lectures on scientific subjects delivered weekly free to the
public, and to collect a library of scientific works, and to. rovide a
museum of specimens of minerals, rocks, ores, w > Pane

472 Scientific News. [July,

and enon to be kept open to the public on fixed days, and
to workers in science at all times. They. have a commodious
hall, futáished with skelves, and a janitor in charge of the same.
It is near the centre of this growing city of 35,000 : inhabitants
Officers, Geo. Little, 1 thes nae Fred. Bell, vice-president
Kates, secretary ; J. M. Ellis, treasurer; J. S.S Bell, libran (pro
tem). They have already had about 40 lectures by professors in
the State university, and other scientific gentlemen. They would
be glad to receive publications as valuable additions to the library.
Any contribution to the museum will also be gratefully received.

— The Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science for 1877
and 1878, contains a number of short articles of much general
interest. Prof. F. H. Snow contributed a number of lists of Colo-
rado and Kansas insects, Prof. B. F. Mudge contributes an arti-
cle entitled, The connection of the fossil forests of the Dakota
-Groups in Kansas with the fossil forests of Greenland ; and S.
Williston gives a brief popular resumé of existing knowledge of
the Dinosauria

auiiihet (issued March 4, 1879,) of Siebold and Kolliker’s

Zeitschrift gives the names of authors and a detailed index of all
the articles which have eats in volumes 16-30, and the sup-
plementary volumes 25 and 30.

— In Ethopia there is found, in oea cavities (according
to M. Villiers), a honey made without wax by an insect resem-
bling a large mosquito. This honey is called tazma, The natives
use it to cure throat disease. On analysis, M. Villiers finds it to

contain 32 per cent. of mixed fermentable sugars and 28 per cent.

of dextrine. The composition is like that of mannas of Sinai
and Kurdistan, saccharine matter from the leaves of the lime-tree,
and ordinary honey ; but it differs from those substances in the
absence of cane sugar

— The results of the disastrous phenomenon of sudden freezing
of rain in France, lately referred to, are now coming more freely.
to light. Ina paper in Revue des Deux Mondes on the subject,
by M. Lamin, it is stated that the forests affected in the Depart-
ment of Seine-et-Marne have an extent of some 21,0230 hectares.
_ The volume of wood broken is estimated at 200,000 steres, the
Forest of Fontainebleau alone counting for 150,000 steres. For
about fifty years past the Service des Foréts has been seeking to
restore the ruined cantons by plantation of Scotch firs. It had
thus covered 4000 to 5000 hectares, and every year the woods
were carefully thinned for better developme ent. It is now found

at these woods of fir have been destroyed in the proportion of
sixty to seventy per cent. Some parts, indeed, have been ruined —
completely. It will be necessary to raze immense portions and

=~ commence anew. The work of restoration of the Forest of Fom. :
tainebleau has been thrown back thirty iere

1879. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 473

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

New York AcapEmy OF ScIENCES.—Geological Section, April
21st, 1879.—Prof. Arnold Guyot, of Princeton College, presented
a paper upon “The Topography of the Catskills,” embodying
some of the leading points brought out during several years’
summer study of these mountains, and now nearly ready for pub-
lication. It seems extraordinary that a region like this, in the
oldest part of the country as regards settlement, and long cele-
brated as a resort for travelers, hunters, artists, etc., should have
remained so largely an unknown wilderness even to this very
day. It was reserved for Prof. Guyot, within a few summers past,
actually to discover and name an extensive group of mountains,
rising into peaks in some cases over 4000 feet high. This group
—the “Southern Catskills,” or “ Shandakens,” was not laid down
on any map or described in any gazetteer; and when Prof. Guyot
first looked out upon it from a southern height of the main Cat-
skills, he had the surprising experience of a new discovery in the
heart of the State of New York. The gazetteers had mentioned
it as a hilly country, merely; and the fact that it contains moun-
tains higher than the true Catskills, was new to geographical sci-
e he scantiness of our knowledge regarding all this region
--save in the immediate vicinity of the summer resorts—is due
largely to the dense forest with which the slopes and summits are
clothed, which renders it very difficult to gain connected and
extensive views. :

Prof. Guyot divides the whole group into two, as already inti-
mated, the true Catskills and the Shandakens or Southern Cats-
kills, separated by the valley of Esopus Creek. From the former

ow the Catskill creek into the Hudson, Schoharie Creek into
the Mohawk, and numerous affluents of the Upper De aware ;
from the latter flow Esopus Creek and Rondout River, into the
Hudson, and Neversink River into the Delaware. The moun-

Top, on the northernmost range of the true Catskills, Hunter -
mountain, on the southern range, and Slide mountain, in the
Shandakens, all of which are over 4000 feet high. -
PROCEEDINGS oF THE ACADEMY oF NATURAL SCIENCES OF
Puttaperputa, Feb. 2 5.—The President, Dr. Ruschenberger,
in the Chair. Dr. Goldsmith exhibited some specimens of

*

oe made an 1 address on mountain ve

474 Selected Articles in Scientific Serials. | July, 1879.

Asphaltum from the marl of Vincenttown, N. J., and a peculiar
amber from the same source which was considered to be Krant-
site. Dr. Konig exhibited his Chromometer, an apparatus devised
for the purpose of making quantitative analysis of ores by the
effect upon beads made by fusion with borax of their comple-
mentary colors as seen through red or green prisms of very small
divergence,

Microscopical and Biological Section of the Academy, Feb. 3.
—Prof. Wm. Barbeck delivered an illustrated lecture on the
smuts, rusts and molds injurious to cereal grains

Feb. 17.—Dr. J. Gibbons Hunt delivered a ‘lecture on the
mosses and liverworts.

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS:

PsycHE.—March. Pe oh distribution of North Ameri-
can Coleoptera, by E. P.

JENAISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT FUR Naran —April 15.
The comparative anatomy of the digestive system of birds, by
H. Gadow ; part 1, with eight plates. (Contains many figures of the
digestive tract, together with its appendages,of the ratitate and
carinate birds, a very useful work).

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF Sind AND Arts.—May. Experi-
ments in cross-breeding plants of the same variety, by W. J.
a Hudson river age of the Taconic schists, etc., by J. D.
Dan

Tue Ba att? Macazine. — May. Notes on Palzozoic
Crustacea, by H. Woodward. On Prof. Dana’ sclassification of rocks,
by Prof. Bonney. On peg Saad mountains, by C. RR

June 2.—Mr. J. S. Lamson exhibited specimens of the pre-
historic pottery and other antiquities recently procured from
graves in Chiqui, Central America, with some account of the
mode of their occurrence.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB, May 14.—Prof. J. H. Hunting-
= read a paper entitled, From the Forks of the Kennebec to

ke Megantic, and Prof. W. H. Niles explained the use of the
nies zope.
ay 17, there was an excursion to Prospect Hill, Waltham, Mass.

Boston Society or Narurat History, May 7.—Mr: M.
Wadsworth discussed the classification of rocks, and Dr. T. M.
Brewer noticed Bate birds of New England.

M. Brewer continued his notices of New

ay 21.—
piety barks Fae hirda. Gaa Mr. S. H. Scudder remarked on the earliest

coc :
Troy Somia ASSOCIATION, mr D-r R H Ward
vegetati a

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xu. — AUGUST, 1879. — No. 8.

ADJECTIVES OF COLOR IN INDIAN LANGUAGES.
BY ALBERT S. GATSCHET.

QCIENTIFIG inquiry into the cause and frequency of partial

and total color-blindness among civilized nations has prompted
some naturalists to extend their researches on this deficiency and
on the sense of color (the faculty of color perception) over the
rude populations inhabiting foreign lands. Inquiries of this
order may be considerably helped by publishing all the terms
referring to colors found among Asiatic, African, American and
Polynesian nations and tribes, and they have been advanced
already through careful comparisons of the color adjectives in use
among the ancient Greeks and Romans with those of modern
European languages.

Indians possess a large number of color adjectives, and the
great tendency of their languages to specialize every object
observed easily accounts for this. But it often requires a long
familiarity: with individuals of atribe to obtain a series of color
names approaching to completeness; some of these names are
seldom used and therefore not readily remembered even by the

most intelligent natives. I therefore resorted to the expedient of -

composing a scale of colored paper slips insensibly blending into
each other; this series was arranged in several groups—gray,
blue, green, yellow, red, brown, the end colors being white and
black. To prevent confusion by presenting too many color-
shades pasted on the same card-board, I have restricted the num-
ber of slips to twenty, and this seemed to be sufficient for the
Purpose. Simultaneously I inquired for the color-shade of cer-
_ tain objects unalterable in their color, as bark of cinnamon, ripe
VOL, XIII,—No, VIII. 7 33 Fo ae

476 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. [August,

strawberries, cherries, certain flowers, the yolk of egg, the rain-
bow and others.

The color series found in Indian languages and in the classic
tongues of the ancients differ from ours chiefly by their great lack
of artificial terms, though even there they are not entirely want-
ing. The curious and very frequent coincidence of green and
yellow, and of blue and green will be considered below. °

All Indian terms mentioned in this article are written by means
of a scientific alphabet based on European Continental pronuncia-
tion.

Of no Indian language have I obtained a more complete color
series than of the Klamath language of South-western Oregon,
spoken by the Modoc and Klamath Lake (or E-ukshikni) Indi-
ans. I present this to students as a fair specimen of the idea of
color prevailing among such Indian tribes which have but recently
emerged from the nomadic and hunter state.

No abstract noun exists corresponding to our terms color, color-
shade or hue, But there is a word for the substance used in the
dyeing process, which also means dot, stain: shnéluash. It is the
verbal noun of shnélua, to stain, to dye, to colora verb which
forms the participle shnéluatko, colored, dyed, and the substantive _
shnelud’tkish, dye-stuff, coloring matter. Shnélua is etymologi- —
cally connected with shnélza, to burn through something, the
radix being nuta, to burn (v. intr.). Other terms referring to
colors and colored articles are: hushkalyanatko, of diversified
colors ; uydkatko, striped, streaked ; shankakash, collar, beads or .
neckwear of various colors. Three different terms exist for w
put on face, arms or body.

For a full comprehension of the terms given below, it is neces-
sary to remember that all the real adjectives of the Klamath
language, descriptive of surface-quality and color, terminate in
-li, and are formed by iterative reduplication, viz: by redoubling
of the entire radix without vocalic change. The suffix -ptchi,
_ +tchi means alike to, similar, resembling ; it forms adjectives from
substantives, mostly of a concrete, material signification. e
suffix -tko is the sign of a participle, though the verbs, from
which participles and verbal adjectives in -tko are derived, have
sometimes become obsolete.

o No distinction is made between artificial and ital white;
=~ both are palpali, pa’lpali, derived from pala, to dry up, to be exsic-

1879. | Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. 477

cated. Gray is pakpa’kli, a thematic variation from pa’Ipali, and
related to the verb pa’ktgi, “the morning dawns,” and to pa’ka,
a kind of blanket. Various shades of gray are distinguished by
these Indians, as lúashptchi, gray as fog (luash, fog), kailaptchi,
gray as earth, of earthy hue (kaila, ground, dirt, mud); skédshatko,
gray, said of rocks, horses, etc.; spugatko, gray-colored.

The common term for d/ve is matchma’tchli, metsmétsli; this is
a dark blue, for obsidian arrow-heads are called by this adjective,
and it also corresponds to our purple and violet-colored. ` Bluish-
egray is makma’kli, and this word we find also in the generic term
for all water birds, ducks, etc—mda’makli. A certain shade
between blue and purple, applied to a sort of blanket, is tchze-
utchyé-uptchi, a nuance derived from the color of the bluebird,
tchye-utehyé-ush. Another shade of blue is called after a certain
kind of beads, yamnashptchi (yamnash, i-amnash, neckwear) and
it is said also of a blue fire-flame.

The common Klamath term for green is kaka’kli, suggestive of
the light or grassy green. Another green is tolaluptchi, green
like the tolalui-blanket, which is manufactured from the tólyash-
grass,

The light and golden veMow is again kaka’kli. This adjective
combines the meanings of light-green and light-yellow, because
it stands for the color of any grass, weed or plant, and though
the plant passes from the green of spring time and summer into
the faded yellow of autumn, the color-name is not changed. But

. there is another term for the color of the dry leaves in the fall,
spalptchi, derived from pala to become dry, spal, yellow earthy
paint for the face. The light yellow of metallic gold and the

dusky hue of copper are also called kaka’kli, but the rown shade
of cinnamon is ka-ukd-uli, the light-sorrel of horses and the
shade seen on pine-burs. A shade darker than this cinnamon
hue is tchuitchuili, duf or dark sorrel. Tchuitchiga means “ to
be at red or white heat,” and tchúitchiks is “ strawberry,” a fruit
called so from its ruddy color. +
All the different shades of red, as scarlet, incarnate, crimson,
carmine and vermilion, are comprehended in the adjective taktakli,
while donde (hair) is makmakli (lak).

` The generic term for absence of light is pushpishli, d/ack,

which applies also to objects of nature, to complexion, etc. Dim,

obscured, dusky-colored is tiptipli; dark-colored, limlimli, the : : ?

478 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. (August,

latter applying also to complexion of the human skin, while both
originally referred to the dark hue of clouds. When speaking of
night or evening, they use the term tch’muka, “it is dark,
obscure.”

That certain radicals undergo a slight vocalic or consonantic
gradation in many of these color-names to indicate diversity of
shade, is obvious. Such changes we observe in metsmétsli,
makma’kli, makmakli; in pa/Ipali, pa’kpakli; in kaka’kli and
ka-uka-uli.

The idiom of the Wes-Fercés is spoken by the populous Indian,
tribe of this name which inhabits the northern part of Idaho
Territory. This language was adopted during the course of this
century by the Cayuse tribe, on Columbia river, and belongs to the
linguistic family of the so called Sahaptin, a Selish term of unknown
signification. The other dialects. belonging to this family are
those of the Warm Springs, Walawala and Yumatilla, in Oregon,
the Yakima, Klikatat and Palus, in Washington Territory.

In the Nez-Percé, as well as in the Klamath, the true adjectives
of color are formed by reduplication of the monosyllabic radix, in
the Nez-Percé, in some instances, even by redoublement of a dis-
syllabic root. |

The term for whzte is also that for clear, transparent (said of —
water) yaizaiy, while light-gray, light-cream color is puypuz, OF
paypazy. A somewhat darker gray, or darker cream, drab or
light-yellow is .ka-uyka-uz, also pronounced ka-uyka’-uz, ka-
uka-u, and used for the metallic shine of silver. :

The d/we shades are all rendered by yishyush, yúsyus, the
light or sky-blue being ma’ykuts yushyush (ma’ykuts, High, cleat;
the deep-blue, payu yushyush. In the same manner are the
ferent shades of green, tsiztsiz, distinguished from each poe
ma’ykuts tsiytsiz being bluish-green or pale-greenish. Tsiztsiz,
for itself, means the green color of grass, and can stand for grass.

Another light-yellow, drab or cream color is shélu-shélu
wakush (wakush means resembling, alike to), a darker shade of it,
payu shélishélu; du, as said of horses, is pa’tkuiki, a lighter
dun, between the foregoing and ka-uzka’-uy, is tako-wakush.
Dun-grayish, or mouse-colored, is lakélkoli, while mogsmogs,
_ maysmays is auburn, sorrel, and may be said of the yolk of egg,
of the brown bear, of blonde hair. The name of the Indian who
~ lately accompanied Chief Joseph on his trip from the Indian
co he to the Ep is Tchútli móksmoks, “ Yellow Bow.”

1879. ] Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. 479

Lilac is expressed by kishka mitip, “similar to the mitip
berry.” This is a berry of lilac color, which grows ina corolla
or sort of grape. Brown, rusty-brown, deep-brown is shukui-
shukui; red, reddish-brown, ilpilp, and this term also serves to
express the color of the red cherry, the strawberry and the centi-
foil rose. Dark-brown is payu ilpilp, and d/ack, timaytimuy, when
said of black cherries, the black bear, the complexion of the
negro, but hiskétse, when used of the darkness of night.

The Indians of this race do not distinguish more than three
colors in the rainbow, mazsmays, or yellow, ilpilp, or red, and
yushyush, or d/ue.
` The Kalapúya race of Indians are the primordial inhabitants of
the Willamet valley of North-western Oregon, and within the
historical epoch were the masters of about three-quarters of this
vast and fertile domain, the remainder being held by the intruding
Molales. They are subdivided into the Atfalati, Yamhill, Luka-
mayuk and the Kalaptya proper on the western, the Ahantchuyuk
and Sdntiam on the eastern side of Willamet river, while the
Yonkalla or Ayanké’/Id lived on some creeks forming tributaries
to Umpqua river. With the exception of the Yonkalla their
dialects differ but little, and what is given below is taken from the
Atfalati (Tualati, Wapatu lake) dialect. For more than twenty
years hence the Kalapuya tribes have lived in common on Grande
Ronde reservation, Yamhill and Polk counties, Oregon.

In this language adjectives are always connected with some
pronominal or predicative prefix, which I have retrenched in-
these quotations.

White is mó-u; gray, plotim ; due, pé-i ankaf pawé-u; purple,
tulélu ; green, tänkaiyä

Yellow, pé-i antk pawé-u; sorrel, liblo, a term borrowed from
Chinook j jargon; roan-colored, sandéli; drown, pù'dshnank bases

“not quite purple ;” ved, tchal, ichéllim.

Of metallic or golden shine or color, wéltchiamn : multicolored, of
diversified colors, ya’/mtchei; d/ack, méyim.

he real meaning of these names could not be disclosed, since
the intricate phonetics of this linguistic family render etymologi-
cal inquiries singularly difficult: We cannot draw any other
inference from this list, as it stands now, but that the colors seem
as well specified as in English, and that only blue and m
show close resemblance or identity in their me

S

i Sima of clear, oe The terms for gray neas a

480 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. [Aùgust, |

The Michopdo Indians of the Maidu race of Northern Cali-
fornia, east of Sacramento river, live in a small settlement on the
outskirts of the town of Chico. They call themselves Otakimma,
because they dwell on the banks of Otakim shéwi, their name
for Chico creek, a small tributary of Sacramento river. Their
dialect differs but little from that of the Eskenimma, or Indians
on Butte creek, seven miles south of Chico, near Durham town:
The adjectives composing their list of color names begin in e+
and end in -i, and the majority is trisyllabic:
white, ékoko, said of natural and artificial white.
gray, épupi; gray beads, épupi guya.
blue, époti, sky-blue, purple and blue with a yellowish tinge;
épotim papaga, the yolk of egg.

green, ébali; green beads, ébali guya.

yellow, edsishf, edsissi: brown, roan, dark-sorrel, buff, of metallic
‘shine, edshishim peso, gold, gold dollar, lit. “ yel-
low dollar.” :

color of blue-tailed deer, esiwiti; blue-tailed deer, esiwitim buku.

color of black-tailed deer, émuli; black-tailed deer, émulim buku.

black, ekili; also dusky, dark complexioned.

red, épapi; said of flowers, ants, beads, etc.

striped in colors, etii’diiti; animals, etc.

dark, dusky, kaisiki; said of night.

light, clear, yokaki; said of daylight.

In this list we perceive that the term for blue gradually passes
into that of yellow, and that of yellow into brown.

Like other Indians the Dakota race possesses a very complete
scale of color names in its sonorous idioms. The dictionary of
Rev. Stephen R. Riggs has furnished the terms of the subdialect
of the Santee-Sioux, and the language of the other Sioux tribes
differs but very little from it. I have rendered Riggs’ pointedh
by z, and the nasal n, which is heard in the French do”, loit,
reins by ng. All the principal color names possess a reduplicated
form to mark intensity, and form denominative verbs.

No abstract term for our word color exists, though there is one
for žo paint, owa, and others for diig and painting in any of the
principal colors.
© White is rendered by ska, to whiten by skaya, while sang
means whitish, yellowish, brown, and ska also possesses the

1879. | Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. 481

mixture of black upon a white ground, or black mixed with
white, as is visible in the skin of the badger, ya, oya, oyaka ; zota
means not only gray but also brown, like sang (sangyang, to
make brown or whitish). Brown is also expressed by gi, when it
is a dark gray or rusty-looking brown; its reduplicated form,
gigi, meaning rust and drown, rusty; gitka, brownish; gitkadang,
a little brownish; gitkatka, reddish, brownish, yellowish. The
g in ali these Woi is a deep sonant guttural.

To, reduplicated toto, is d/ue and green, and all the interme-
diate shades; to color, dye, blue or green, tóya ; blue and green
beads, tatoan Purple, grape-colored is stang ; purple, stangka;
ha stang, dark comp!exioned (ha meaning skin); shastang, dark

. red, literally.“ red-purple.”

Yellow is zi; to dye or color yellow, ziya; the reddish-gray
squirrel, zitcha. Light red is distinguished in this color by a
separate term, sha, from dark red or scarlet, crimson ; duta, which
can also be rendered by sha yingtcha, or by deep, intensive red,
shasha; to dye red is shaya, shashaya, and vermilion color or
red paint is washé-sha; wasé being “ red eart

Dark is tpaza; darkness, to be dark, okpaza, otpaza. Black is
sápa ; deep black, sapsapa; to blacken, samya; dark or blackish,
samyahan.

The words for whitish, red and black, sang, sha, sapa, seem to
have been formed from the same radix, and this may be said also
of the terms for white and black in the Atfalati-Kalaptya.

The Shawano or Shawnee tribe forms a branch of the wide-
spread Algonkin race of Eastern Indians, which is so intimately
connected with the early history of the Colonies of North
America. As their name indicates, they once belonged to the
southernmost tribes of that family, and are now settled to the
number of about seven hundred individuals in the north-eastern
portion of the Indian Territory.

They have special terms for each kind of oy paint, fi., hu’ laaa.
red paint, which was the war paint, but no abstract terna for color.
I paint myself is netasathú, and the paint, hat’thika.

White is wazkanagia; transparent, sapune. Gray is wipegua,
and this may be modified; like any other color, by the adverbs ,
pkuni wibegua, dark gray, and halawe wipegua, Jight gray. For
blue and green only one term, skipagia, exists, this being used, __ :
for instance, of the color of the Bae Yellow is hutiwa red —

.

482 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. [August,

mskuawi; bronze colored halawi mskuawi (lit. “light red”); drown,
pkuni mskuawi, or dark red, while the red cockscomb is mskua
pelué. No special term exists for buff color. Black is mkatéwa,
and opaque is circumscribed by “ you cannot see through.” Ob-
jects reflecting sunlight are called waséte; multicolored, tsagi
yelatégi, and striped in colors, lalatasate, when the stripes run in
a vertical direction.

The Creek language is one of the dialects of the Maskoki
linguistic family, once the form of speech dominant in the terri-
tories of the Gulf States. The languages forming this stock have,
in course of time, differentiated so much among themselves that
they have become incomprehensible to each other. The principal
dialects, as far as known to us, are Cha’hta with Chikasa; Creek
(upper and lower) with Seminole; Natchez; Hitchiti; Apalache.
Nothing certain is known concerning the Alibamu dialect, which
is still spoken in one of the south-eastern counties of Texas.
Besides a few Indians remaining in Texas and in the Everglades
of Florida, all the natives speaking Maskoki- dialects are now
settled in the Indian Territory.

The phonetic character of all these idioms pleasantly affects
the ear accustomed to European languages. All of them, the
Creek not excepted, possess the lingual s, which could be ren-
dered by ¢h/, a group of sounds approaching closely to its real
articulation.

The term for white and clear is hatgi, and since every adjective
of color forms an attributive verb, he is white is hatgis. From
hatgi is derived supak’hatgi, gray and roan, literally, “ mixed in
with white.”

Blue is holati, ozolati, which may be said of the sky, of water,
of distant mountains; wiwat hulatis, the water is blue. Green is
lani, and when said of plants it means “not in a dry state ;”

pahilanoma, grass-green; pahit lanis, however, means as well, ;
“the grass is green,” as “the grass is faded, yellow;” láni also

means ġe.

The term for ved, tchati, also means “ blood,” and forms the

derivate oktsadi, purple (and sorrel when applied to horses).

Hasti, d/ack, forms the derivate okuldshti, drown ; dark, when —

used for the darkness of night, is yémudshki.

Instead of inventing new terms for metals recently imported, a
_as a few tribes have done, the Creeks will call gold coin, “yellow

1879. | ‘Adbjectiars of Color in Indian Languages. 483

iron beads,” tchatu zónap láni; silver coin, “ white iron beads,”
tchatu zonap hatgi; sulphur or brimstone is to them, “ yellow
gunpowder,” téhdétop láni; copper, brass and bronze, “ yellow.
iron,” tchatu láni; alum, “sour iron,” tchatu kamuksi.

In the present article I have rejected all information that
was not circumstantial and entirely reliable. In six languages I
have relied on oral information. gathered by myself, while for
the Santee-Dakota, the words mentioned were extracted from
Riggs’ Dictionary. To draw general conclusions upon the sub-
ject of color nomenclature and the Indian perception of color from
the few instances given here would certainly be precocious. Indian
tribes show considerable difference from each other in habits, cus-
toms, intellectual power, not less than in their bodily qualities
and in language. Hence very few general ethnological truths
cay be uttered about them that will really apply to them all.

The following conclusions are, therefore, intended to apply only
to the seven idioms referred to:

I. In the lists of colors submitted we find that the Indians in
question distinguish as many, if not more shades of color, as we
do, if we exclude the large number of our artificial color-names, as
ultramarine, isabelle, solferino, etc.

2. No generic term for our word co/or exists, and it seems that
such a term is too abstract for their conception. But they have
terms for coloring matter, dye-stuff, paint, and for our participles
“colored,” “dyed,” “ painted” and “ tinged.

3. Many of their colors, even the most opposite ones, are |
derived from one and the samé radical syllable. Instances were
given under Klamath, Kalapuya, Dakota. The same may be
observed when we compare our blank, blue, black and the Ger-
man bleich (livid, pale); gray and green.

4. In the Indian lists we observe some names of medley or
mixed colors, which impress the eye by being not homogeneous.
Such is the Klamath ma’kmakli, which is the blue mixed with gray,
_ as observed on wild geese and ducks; tchye-utchzé-uptchi, the
mixed color of the bluejay; and gray, in most of the dialects,
means black mixed in with white, or white with black, as
observed in the fur of the racoon, gray fox and other wild beasts.

5. In naming some colors Indians follow another principle than
we do, in qualifying certain objects of nature by their color and |
then calling them by the same attribute, even when their color —

484 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. [August,

has been altered.! This we distinctly observe in kaka’kli, yellow
and green in Klamath, the adjective having been given originally
to the color of grass, trees or other plants. The same is observed
in the Niskualli language of Washington Territory, in which
both colors are called hékwats, and we may assume that this is
the light and not the dark shade of yellow and green.

Most frequently d/ve and green are rendered by one and the
same term, as in Dakota, Shawano and in Maya (ydash). Other
Indian dialects which are reported to have the same name for
both colors are the Chokdéyem, north of San Francisco bay:
sivita; the dialect of the Yakimas and Warm Spring Indians
of Sahaptin family, lomét, la’mt; the Shasti, itchumpazé; the
-= Guarani, tobi ; and the Muyskas near Bogota, chiskuiko, the latter
belonging both to South America. Among the Pai-Uta, the Uta,

Pomo, the Wintún and the Tinné-Apaches, the terms for both:

colors seem to. be identical also. Unfortunately we are not
acquainted with the etymology of all these terms, unless we
would probably be enabled to prove that the real cause of this
curious coincidence is another than color-blindness.

Blue and purple is called by the same name in Klamath and in
the Michépdo dialect of Maidu.

Red and yellow, or yellow and brown, or brown and red are
sometimes expressed by the same term, but only when yellow and
blue are called differently. I have never met with a dialect which
called black and dark blue, or black and dark green by the same
adjective, though this is reported to be the case among the
Niskualli, the Ta’hkali of British Columbia, and several other
tribes.

6. As I have stated above, Indians often follow principles
differing from ours in naming colors. The Klamath language
has two terms for green, one when applied to the color of the
vegetals (kaka’kli), another when applied to garments and dress

(tolaluptchi). Blue when said of beads is again another word

than blue in flowers and blue in. garments. Thus may be ex-
plained the fact that some investigators have found the adjective
black attributed to objects of a dark-blue or dark-green color.
The Dakotas have three terms for brown, gi, sang and zota, each
of them being applied to objects of different classes. Even in

: 1 Thus the name applied to the color of a quadruped emi remain even when the
: be = Prona its color through the change of sea fe

AEA eee

1879. | The Habits of a Tarantula. 485

English we use different terms when speaking of the darkness of
night and the black of a dress; or of the blonde hair and the
yellowish-white corresponding color of other objects striking our
eye-sight. The occasional existence of more than one term for
one color for the reason just alluded to is observed in the languages
of every portion of the globe. Curiously enough the ved color
is not often diversified into different shades in the languages con-
sidered ; in Spanish it is colorado, “ showing color;” this evidently
means that red is the color striking our eye with the greatest in-
tensity.

7. Reduplication of the radix is very often met with in color
names, but the cause of this is not always the same. In Klamath
and the Sahaptin dialects it is distribution and repetition, in Da-
kota it is the idea of intensity that has sedate this synthetic
feature.

` We think the inquiry into the color-sense and that into the
color-blindness among the individuals of a people must be kept
distinct from each other. It is premature to assume that a whole
people can be color-blind, though its color nomenclature may
largely differ from ours, but it is by no means improbable that
color-blindness is more frequent among hunting and nomadic
nations than among individuals of civilized races. This question
can be decided by direct experimental observation only, while in
the inquiry concerning color-sense, the science of linguistics is
entitled to take part in the discussion.

10:
THE HABITS OF A TARANTULA.
BY MRS. MARY TREAT.

E the past year I have been observing a large burrow-
ing spider belonging to the family of Lycosidæ. Its habits
and probably the creature itself, had entirely escaped the atten-
tion of naturalists until recently. Its habitat is in Southern New
Jersey. In the grove which’ surrounds the house where my
_ observations were made, are many burrowing spiders which build
open tubes lined with a web of silk, and a projecting rim of sticks
and leaves are firmly held together with web to keep the sand
and debris from falling into the nest.
_ Last summer (1878), I accidentally found a covered tuha, per-
fectly concealed, which aroused my curiosity subicien ty to keep

486 The Habits of a Tarantula. [August,

close watch of the occupant. I did not pay much attention to
the open-mouthed tubes for some time, as I supposed the occu-
pants to be a distinct species from the one which covered
the tube.

In July of last summer the Rev. Dr. McCook, of Philadelphia,
the distinguished myrmecologist, upon invitation, visited my
colony of slave-making ants (Formica sanguinea), and while on
this visit I called his attention to the burrowing spider with the
open tubes. After his return home he wrote me that he thought
the spider a new species which he had provisionally named Taren- _
žula tigrina} or the tiger spider. But the spider with the covered —
tube was of so much more account that I still paid no attention
to this one which lived in the open burrow! But I am nowcon- —
vinced, after a year’s observation, that what I supposed to be two
distinct species are but one. The young scarcely ever conceal
their tubes. ee

A brief account of one individual spider will, perhaps, give a
clearer idea of this species than any attempt at a learned dis-
quisition. A large female has her home in a bed of moss |
beneath an oak tree, only a few feet from the house. Her :
body is nearly black and quite hairy, the legs are gray and black, |
striped after the fashion of a tiger. When I first observed her
the tube was only partially covered, the cover projecting above it =
like a hood or top of a baby carriage. When not disturbed, she
usually stood at the door of her home waiting for any chance
. insect which she might spring upon.

FARNI ;

:
My visits to her were very frequent, and for several days upon a
my approach she would suddenly disappear within her den, but ,
finally she seemed to become accustomed to these visits and
would allow me to sit near her, keeping her position at the door. :
I supplied her with water, of which she would take long draughts.
I also placed sugar near her door to attract the flies. She would
stand perfectly motionless, watching the eager insects, until she
fixed her eyes upon one that suited her taste when she sprang
upon it like a flash, and disappeared within her den to make her
meal. This kind of life continued for several weeks—simply
watching for prey and eating. But in August another phase in
her life was made manifest. A male was attracted to her cozy
quarters. He does not look at all like the female, is of an entirely :
Wha Procedi of en American Entomological Pi 137%. A

1879.] The Habits of a Tarantula. 487

different color—yellowish with dashes of dark brown—his body
is smaller than hers though his legs are longer.

In August the males are abundant. I often see them bounding
over grass and weeds, making long strides, fairly flying before
me. At such times it is next to an impossibility to capture one.
I have not been able to ascertain whether he has a settled home
like the female, which he leaves to make amorous visits, or
whether he always leads a vagrant kind of life.

He approaches the female with the utmost caution. If she is
within her den he stands at the door, sometimes hours together;
nothing will induce him to venture within, and he is wonderfully
oblivious of my presence. I cannot push him in, he will back
out into my hand rather than be driven into the burrow. Now the
female slowly advances to meet him, and he slowly retreats from
the mouth of the den, moving backward while she moves forward,
just reaching him with the tips of her fore-legs as if caressing
him. She follows him in this way a foot or more, then leaves
him and quickly returns to her den, he follows her to the door,
where he keeps his post until she again comes forth, when the
Same performance is repeated.

I leave them, and on my next visit I find the male on the
back of the female, with their heads both within the burrow and
their long hind-legs sticking out. (This is not the position the
spider assumes when he fertilizes the eggs, which is done by
_ means of the palpal organs, necessitating the opposite direction
- of the head.) They now remain perfectly still, and I pick them
up by their legs and drop them into a wide-mouthed glass bottle.
This displaces the male, and he crouches down in a helpless sort
of way as if paralyzed with fear, not trying to make his escape at
all. For afew moments the female pays no attention to him
but makes vigorous efforts to escape. Soon, however, she
pounces upon him, seizing him on the under side of the head—
literally by the throat. He makes but feeble efforts of resistance,
in fact, acts as if he rather enjoyed being eaten! I shake the
bottle but she will not let go her hold. She soon makes him
into a ball which she holds and sucks, seemingly with great
relish. I now place the open bottle by the mouth of her den
and she quickly disappears, taking with her the remains-of her
lover, In a day or two after this another male was at her door
behaving in a similar manner, I did not interfere with his move-
ments, and do not know his fate. :

488 The Habits of a Tarantula. - [August,

After a few days the female resumed her old habits, watching
for prey, and became so tame that she would take water from my
hand. She made but little change to the partial cover of her
tube until November, then it was cut down and made flat to the:
ground—perfectly concealed with leaves and moss and held firmly
down with a strong web. This cover remained until the follow-
ing April. I was waiting to see what the occupant would do,
when an accident occurred. I was absent when the leaves were
raked up, and the man, not observing my protection, raked all
away: But in a few days thereafter the spider made anothef
cover, entirely unlike the winter one, more like a little room.
The nest is situated in a bed of green moss, and the cover looks
like a little oval mound of moss and leaves. The longest diam-
eter measures five inches over, and the shortest, four and a half
inches. The base of the cover is made of acorn cups and sticks 7
firmly held together with strands of silk, then a canopy of web q
is made, and over this is laid green moss, dry pine needles, bits of =
dry oak leaves and light sticks held fast with web. This makes
a neat little upper room, the walls are smooth on the inside but
rough outside. She leaves a window in the room, the object of
which is apparent. She has a cocoon of eggs attached to the |
spinneret, and she puts herself in position to let the cocoon rest —
against the window where it receives the rays of the sun. For
three weeks this has been her daily occupation—patiently hold-
ing the eggs in the sun. oo

On the 20th of May I took the cover from the tube and after
it was removed it was some hours before I saw her, but toward .
evening she reached out —
with her hind-legs; feel-
ing for material, she first

a
S

Fic. 1.—s, surface
of ground; a dc d, i
silk-lined tunnel. Fic. 2.—Nest of Ti ee ies terina (?).

_ drew in an acorn cup and proceeded to fasten it. How it w

1879] 4 The Formation of Cape Cod. 489

done I cannot tell, for the cocoon of eggs seem to be attached to
the spinneret. On the following morning a broad funnel-shaped
rim was built around the tube but not yet covered; by the 24th
she has made a room lightly covered with moss.

Rev. Dr. McCook kindly furnished cuts of the nest with the
open funnel. I append his description, which was published in
the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
delphia: “The tube is about seven and one-half inches deep, re-
sembling an ear-trumpet (Fig. 1), with the mouth upward. It is
bent at an angle of 60° shortly below the surface; the upper part
is a silk-lined funnel that widens outwardly to the margin which
at the highest point is one and one-eighth inches above the sur-
face of the ground. The silken lining extends but a little way
below the surface. The projecting funnel is composed of blades
of grass (Fig. 2), which are bent down upcn their stalks from all
sides, overlaid, and rudely interwoven, making thus a background
upon which the smooth silken lining is placed. The longest
diameter of the mouth of the tube (Fig. 1), aù, is one and one half
inches, the shorter diameter cd, is one and one-quarter inches.
The diameter of the tunnel below the surface is five-eighths of
an inch,”

——:0.
THE FORMATION OF CAPE COD}
BY WARREN UPHAM,

1 huk peninsula of Cape Cod, called by Thoreau the “bended
“ arm of Massachusetts,” the Elizabeth islands, which are a
continuation from it to the south-west, and Martha's Vineyard
and Nantucket on the south, are recent additions to the territory
of New England. They contain no ledges of solid rock, but are
made up of the ruins and detritus of ledges which have been
broken and pulverized. This has been done by. decomposition
under the influence of frosts and rains, by the excavations of —

‘A previous description of this region, based on observations made in a hasty
journey for comparison of its drift deposits with those found in New Hampshire, was
presented a year ago in the Geological Report of that State, Vol. 111, pp. 300-305.
Since that time the writer has been over this field more leisurely, spending several
months in amateur exploration from Cape Cod and Nantucket westward to New Jer-
sey. This has brought a more correct knowledge of the facts, especially in respect
to the course, in South-eastern Massachusetts, of the series of hills here called ter-
minal moraines; as well as some changes in opinions, one of these being in respect
to the probable height of the sea here when these deposits were accumulated,

490 - The Formation of Cape Cod. . [August,

streams, and at the last by glacial erosion. Materials have been
thus gathered and mixed from sources near and remote. Their
deposition, excepting the Tertiary beds of Martha’s Vineyard,
appears to have taken place during the Quaternary period, partly
before the ice-sheet was extended over this region, partly along
its terminal front in long series of morainic hills bordered on the
south by sloping plains of gravel and sand, and partly by
immense floods poured down from the surface of the melting ice-
fields during their retreat.

Since the glacial theory of the origin of the drift was brought
to the attention of geologists by Agassiz, forty years ago, it has
been closely compared with all the observed facts, and seems to
afford for them an adequate and complete explanation. It has
received the highest kind of testimony ‘to its truth in being
required to explain new discoveries and to answer questions which
were not thought of when the theory was announced. The gla-
ciers of Switzerland were found to furrow, scratch and polish the
bed-rock over which they move, rounding and planing away its
projecting points, just as the ledges of all northern countries are
striated, rounded and worn smooth. This is done by the grating
of boulders and gravel frozen in the bottom of the ice; and the
` sides of these stones are, of course, planed and striated the same
as the underlying rock. In the valleys of the Alps are many
glaciers ten to twenty miles long, and through this whole distance
rock-fragments are dropped on them from bordering cliffs, brought
in by tributaries and wrenched from the ledges beneath ; so that
diverse kinds, some of them derived from its farthest sources,
become mingled both at the top and bottom of the ice. Corres-
ponding to this transportation, grinding and mixture of materials
effected by the glaciers, there was found over the surface of all
regions which had striated ledges a most remarkable deposit of
boulders gathered from distant and diverse sources, indiscrimi-
nately mixed with gravel, sand and clay. Many of these blocks
and pebbles have their sides worn flat and marked with striæ, and
were evidently the agents by which the ledges were similarly
eroded and marked. This deposit, called unmodified drift or till,
differs from any made by rivers, lakes or the sea, in showing no
evidence of the assorting and stratifying action of water. To
account for its formation and for the accompanying stria on the

i he ledges, it was pi spies that a mantle of solid ice was accumulated

Saw

1879. | The Formation of Cape Cod. 491

over these areas, and that it moved slowly in the direction of the
striation, ploughing up, transporting, grinding and mixing to-
gether the materials of the till, and leaving its track and course
clearly marked upon the bed-rock.

Cape Cod is mainly composed of another formation, called
modified drift, because it has been transported, worn and depos-
ited by currents of water. Gravel, sand and clay are separated
in distinct layers and beds, instead of being mingled in one mass.
Most portions are entirely destitute of any large boulders, and
the pebbles of the gravel are rounded, instead of the planed or
else rough and unworn forms which they have in the till. The
modified drift is found in the valleys or upon the nearly level
tracts of glaciated regions, and follows lines of drainage which
reach beyond these limits. Formerly it was the prevailing opin-
ion that this formation was gradually produced from the unmodi-
fied glacial drift by the ordinary action of rains, streams and the
sea. Further observation, however, seems to leave no doubt that
it originated from the ice-sheet, and was rapidly deposited during
its retreat. This had taken up in its lower portion not only
boulders of every size, but also great quantities of decomposed
rock, which covered the hills and plains and had been swept into
thick deposits in the valleys before the glacial period. The riv-
ers formed by its melting gathered such of these materials as they
could transport, turned the blocks and pebbles over and over in
their descent till they were made round and smooth, and depos-

‘ited their freight in these beds of gravel, sand and clay. The
modified drift of South-eastern Massachusetts, here to be described,
appears to add much to our knowledge of these conditions attend-
ing the departure of the ice-sheet.

Another subject of great interest is presented on Cape Cod and
the Elizabeth islands in a series of drift-hills, which appear to
have been formed at the margin of the ice during a pause in its
retreat, when, perhaps after some re-advance, it halted and pre-
Served its termination nearly stationary through a long period.
This series consists of very irregular hills, mounds, ridges and
enclosed hollows, and is composed partly of till, with abundant
boulders and no marks of stratification, and partly of stratified
gravel and sand with boulders few or rare. That it does not
indicate the extreme limit of glacial action is shown by the
Occurrence of a similar belt of hills on Martha’s Vineyard and

VOL. XIII,—NO, VIIIs 34 ; ede es

492 The Formation of Cape Cod. [ August,

Nantucket islands, from five to thirty miles farther south. A
comparison of these with similar ranges of hills in Rhode Island,
Long Island and New Jersey, which seem to be same series con-
tinued farther to the west, will enable us more fully to understand
the meaning of these deposits.
The most noticeable product of a glacier is its terminal moraine,
or the heaps and ridges of detritus which it brings down and
pushes out at its end, when this remains at nearly the same place
through a long succession of years. Slight advances and retreats
often give these deposits a most broken surface of alternating
hillocks and depressions, and in many cases they are partly com-
posed of stratified gravel and sand, brought by streams during
the meltings of summer. The great ice-sheets of the glacial
period acted in the same way, and within a few years geologists
have recognized the terminal moraines of that which overspread
the Northern United States and British America. Across New
Jersey’ and upon Long Island? its outmost border is definitely
‚marked by a continuous series of drift-hills, one hundred and
seventy-five miles in extent. Striz, till and boulders are confined
_ to the region north of this line. From the Narrows to Montauk
point this moraine is commonly known as the “ backbone of Long
Island,” and consists of hills which vary from one hundred and
fifty to three hundred and eighty-four feet in height. The west
_ portion of this range, reaching from Fort Hamilton, by Green-
wood cemetery, Prospect park and Ridgewood reservoir, to Ros-
lyn, a distance of twenty-five miles, is mainly an unstratified
deposit, like the loose, oxidized, angular upper till which forms
the surface generally through New York and New England.
From Roslyn, through the middle and east portions of the island,
nearly all of these hills, including the highest elevations in the
range, are composed of modified drift, being gravel and sand
distinctly stratified and containing few or rare boulders. The ~
part of Long Island south of these hills consists of gently sloping
plains of fine gravel and sand, five to ten miles in width, an
extending a hundred miles in length. The height of their upper
margin at the foot of the hills varies from fifty to one hundred
1 Annual — of the Geological Survey of New Jersey for the year 1877, PP:
9-22, with m
2 This series sol hills on Long Island was well described by Mather in the Geolog-

ical Report of the First District of New York, in 1843, shortly after the theory p oo

_ continental E was pan

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 493

and fifty feet above the sea. Another long series of ‘plains, vary-
ing from one mile to five miles in width, and of similar height
and southward slope with the foregoing, extends on the north
side of these hills from Syosset forty-five miles eastward to River-
head, and thence continues along the north branch of the island
nearly thirty miles more to Orient point. North of these plains,
along the whole extent of shore east from Port Jefferson, is another
series of drift-hills which rise one hundred to two hundred feet
above the sea, by which their northern side has been frequently
washed away. This second moraine is also mainly composed of
stratified gravel and sand with few boulders ; but in the vicinity
of Greenport and Orient its material is changed to a very coarse
unstratified deposit like the upper till. This series is very plainly
continued north-eastward in Plum and Fisher’s islands, which are
made up of hills of glacial drift like those near Greenport, with
small areas of level modified drift at their south side. Thence it
passes into Rhode Island at its south-west corner, and extends
close to the coast seventeen miles from Watch Hill nearly to
Point Judith, being very finely developed in a belt which varies
from one-half mile to one and a-half miles in width, composed of
coarsely rocky drift in hills and ridges one hundred to one hun-
dred and fifty feet high. About two miles north-west from Point
Judith this range sinks to the sea-level, and its further continua-
tion is lost, probably because it turns southward into the ocean.
Twelve miles to the south the continuation of the first range is
lifted into view in Block island, a knot of very irregular drift-hills,
which resemble those of Montauk in being composed of coarse
gravel, sand and clay, distinctly stratified but often enclosing
numerous boulders. We have thus two long parallel series of
drift-hills, the most southern of them at the boundary of the gla-
cial drift. Both appear to be terminal moraines of the ice-sheet,
having been formed along its border, the southern range at its
period of greatest extent, and the northern at some later time
during which it halted in its departure. —

The sea covers the next thirty miles in the line of continuation of
these series of hills, beyond which both of them rise above its waves
again, the northern forming the Elizabeth islands, and bending to
the north-east and north on the peninsula of Cape Cod to near
North Sandwich, where it turns at a right angle, and thence runs
to the east through Barnstable and the other towns to Orleans, —

494 The Formation of Cape Cod. [August,

traversing the west-to-east portion of the cape, and extending
into the ocean at its east shore. The southern moraine, marking
the farthest bound reached by the ice, forms No Man’s Land, the
crest of Gay Head, and prominent ranges of hills in the north-
western part of Martha’s Vineyard, extending north-east nearly
to Vineyard Haven. Here this series apparently bends to the
south-east, somewhat as the northern range turns at North Sand-
wich, but it is concealed beneath plains or the sea for much of
the way beyond this point. It appears unmistakably, however,
on Chappaquiddick and Tuckernuck islands, and in Saul’s hills
and Sankaty Head on Nantucket. The length of the northern
moraine from the east shore of Cape Cod to the west end of the
Elizabeth islands is sixty-seven miles, while its total length to
Port Jefferson, on Long Island, is about one hundred and eighty
miles. That of the southern moraine, in its course from Sankaty
Head to No Man’s Land, is fifty miles, and its whole extent as
yet traced, to the west line of New Jersey, is about three hun-
dred miles.

On the islands south of Cape Cod these hills have the follow-
ing heights in feet above the sea: No Man’s Land about one
hundred and fifty ; Gay Head one hundred to one hundred and
forty-five ; about one mile east, near the church, one hundred and
eighty-five; Prospect hill, the highest on Martha’s Vineyard, two-
hundred and ninety-five; Peaked hill, a mile south from the last,
two hundred and ninety ; other hills, reaching from these five miles
to the north-east, two hundred to two hundred and fifty; Indian hill,
two hundred and forty-five; Sampson’s hill, on Chappaquiddick
island, about one hundred; highest part of Tuckernuck, about
fifty; Macy’s or Pole hill, the highest of Saul’s hills, ninety-one ;
Folger’s hill, a mile east from the last, eighty-eight, and Sankaty
Head, the highest point of Nantucket island, one hundred and
five. The cliffs of Gay Head, at the west end of Martha’s Vine-
yard, expose a section four-fifths of a mile long, composed at the
top of the unstratified terminal moraine five to forty feet thick,
filled with abundant boulders of all sizes, up to twenty feet in
diameter. This rests on fossiliferous Tertiary beds, probably of
Miocene age, which dip from 20° to 50° northerly throughout
the section, and present a most striking succession of brightly-

Desert ibed in Hitchcock's Geology of Massachusetts, 1833 and 1841; and in Ly-
ell’s Travels in North America in 1841-2, Vol. I, pp. 203-206.

1879.] The Formation of Cape Cod. 495

colored clays, sand and gravel, varying from black to red, brown,
gray and white. Gay Head township, reaching three miles to the
east, has a very uneven surface of glacial drift in small elevations
and depressions, strown with frequent boulders but apparently
underlain by Tertiary clay and sand at no great depth. The par-
allel ranges of hills which extend through Chilmark and the
north-west part of Tisbury, occupying a width of one to three
miles, have also a very irregular contour. Their surface is gen-
erally glacial drift with very abundant boulders, but occasionally,
as at the top of Prospect hill, it is modified, consisting mainly of
water-worn gravel and sand. The black, red and white Tertiary
clays underlie these deposits in the hills, and are exposed in the
cliffs along the north-western shore to the east side of Lumbard’s
cove, eleven miles from Gay Head. Upon the south side of
Prospect and Peaked hills they extend to heights two hundred
and twenty-five and two hundred and fifty feet above the sea. .
The south-eastern half of Martha’s Vineyard consists of modi-
fied drift without boulders, lying in extensive level plains twenty-
five to fifty or sixty feet above the sea. Along the south shore
these plains are indented by numerous ponds, which are only
separated from the ocean by a beach, and the shores of the ponds
are again indented by long and narrow arms or coves, from the
head of which dry channels extend across the plains in a north-
erly course. The road from West Tisbury to Edgartown crosses
several of these depressions, one of which, known as Quampachy
hollow, may be taken as an example; this starts from the head
of Oyster pond, a narrow arm of the sea which stretches two miles
north from the beach by which it is now shut in. The dry hol-
low, diminishing from twenty-five to ten feet in depth and from
three hundred to one hundred feet in width, prolongs this valley
at least three miles to the north. Near Vineyard Haven and
Oak Bluffs, north of these plains, and on Chappaquiddick island,
the modified drift, sometimes sprinkled with boulders, is heaped
in gently-sloping hills fifty to one hundred feet high, which
appear to have been formed at the margin of the ice-sheet.
Thence the line of terminal moraine is continued in Muskeget
and Gravelly islands, which, however, are only low banks of gravel .
and sand. On Tuckernuck island it appears again in small hills,
which in part, as seen at North pond and eastward, are unstrati-
fied, with plenty of boulders, the remainder being modified drift.

496 The Formation of Cape Cod. [ August,

Nantucket is almost wholly composed of stratified gravel and
sand. Along the whole south side of the island, from Long pond
to Tom Never’s Head, these lie in nearly level plains, twenty to
sixty feet above the sea. This expanse, reaching more than ten
miles from west to east, with a width varying from one to three
miles, is broken by frequent hollows which extend approximately
from north to south like those already noticed on Martha’s Vine-
yard. Narrow ponds, of the same height as the ocean, fill the
entire course of these depressions, or occupy their lower end
next to the beach. All the ponds along the south shore are of
this class, including Long, Hummock, Miacomet, Weweeder,
Nobadeer, Madequecham, Wigwam and Forked ponds, with sev-
eral others of smaller size. The line at which the ice-sheet
appears to have terminated is marked in the west part of the
island by gently undulating hills, forty to fifty feet high, com-
posed of stratified drift, which, however, differs from that of the
plains in having here and there boulders up to ten feet in diame-
ter embedded in it or lying on the surface. The course of this
line is from Eel point, north of Maddequet harbor, by Trot’s
hills, to the town. Eastward it continues on the same course in
the Shawkemo hills and Saul’s hills to Sankaty Head. The por-
tion of this series called Saul’s hills, two miles long and a half mile
wide, is of very irregular contour, with steep and abruptly-
changing slopes, forming hills, ridges, mounds and small enclosed
basins, some of which contain ponds. The material is stratified
gravel and sand, upon and in which are scattered boulders, vary-
ing up to ten feet in diameter.

Sankaty Head, at the east shore of the island, affords a section
across this range! A quarter of a mile south from the light-
house, the order of deposits, beginning at the base, is as fol-
lows: brown sandy clay to about twenty feet above the sea;
ferruginous sand and gravel, four feet; white sand, four feet;
yellow sand, enclosing masses of biua clay, one foot; ferru:
ginous gravel and sand, with abundant shells, two feet; a bed
of Serpulæ mixed with sand, about two feet; gravel and sand
again, thickly filled with shells, two feet; fine white sand,
about ten feet; the common yellow sand and fine gravel of the
modified drift, about forty-five feet, its top being at ninety feet;

‘The Post-pliocene beds at the base of this section, and their fossils, are fully
z described by Prof. A. E. Verrill and Mr. S. H. Scudder, in the American Journal
is Y Science TE 3d series, Vol. X, pp. 364-375.

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 497

coarse gravel, three feet; ferruginous sand, one foot, changing
above into a former perar soil one pa thick; overlain by
three feet of dune sand, which forms the present surface ninety-
eight feet above the sea. The highest part of the bank is
midway between this point and the light-house. On each side of
the section here noted the shell-beds gradually thin out and dis-
appear at a distance of about forty feet. The bed below the layer
of Serpulz contains about thirty-five species, which make up a
faunal group of distinctly southern character, all of them being
now found living on the southern shores of New England, but
several having their northern limit at Cape Cod. The species of
Serpula is also of southern range, reaching from this limit to
North Carolina. The upper shell-bed has about the same num-
ber of species as the lower, but only thirteen are common to both.
The new species brought in by the upper bed are mostly of
northern range; though all of these are found as far south as
Massachusetts bay, several of them have their southern limit here
or on the south coast of New England. From a comparison of
these groups, Prof. Verrill estimates that the average temperature
of the sea at this place had been lowered 15° between the times
in which they lived. The layer of coarse gravel which occurs
here at the height of ninety feet, is continuous for a half mile
from this point, both to the north and south, varying from three to
eight feet in thickness. About half of its rock-fragments are
rounded, these being of all sizes up to one foot through; the
rest, which are rough and angular, range up to two feet and rarely
to four feet in diameter. This bed has its greatest thickness and
is coarsest at the highest portion of the bluff, where it closely
resembles till. The old surface of black soil and the present sur-
face of dune sand are also continuous along the same distance,

the latter at the light-house and northward being one and a half
feet thick. An eighth of a mile south from the shell-beds the
bluff falls to a hollow about sixty feet above the sea, and in this
depression the blackened layer becomes a bed of peat two feet
thick, containing numerous stumps and roots of trees and cov-
ered by two feet of sand. The rocky stratum, the old surface
soil and the overlying sand cap the bluff for more than a mile, in
which its height falls from one hundred and five feet at the mid-
dle to about thirty-five fect at each end. Below the rocky layer
it consists of fine modified drift and pre-glacial beds. The his- _ :

498 The Formation of Cape Cod. ‘[August,

tory of this section reaches from a period when the sea had about
its present temperature; next it becomes much colder ; sand and
fine gravel are accumulated to a depth of more than fifty feet,
probably brought by rivers from the summer meltings of the ice-
sheet; this finally reached its outmost limit, overspreading the
north half of the island; at its retreat the coarser materials
which it held were dropped; forests sprang up as the climate
became mild again; and lastly, the sea has eaten away the east
portion of these deposits, while the sand of its shore has been
swept by the wind over their top.

Heights of the later terminal moraine, on the Elizabeth islands
and Cape Cod, are as follows; highest portions of Cuttyhunk,
Nashawena, Pasque and Naushon islands, about one hundred and
seventy-five feet above the sea; the Quisset hills, west of Fal-
mouth village, about one hundred and fifty ; station of the U. S.
Coast Survey, one mile east of West Falmouth, one hundred and
ninety-eight; the Ridge hills, extending thence to the angle of
this series near North Sandwich, one of them being called Pine
hill on the State map, one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet ;
south-west from Sandwich village, about two hundred and twenty-
five; Bourne’s hill, a Coast Survey station two miles south-south-
east from Sandwich, the highest point of the whole series, two
hundred and ninety-seven; the Discovery hills, including the
last and extending eastward, two hundred and fifty to one hun-
dred and fifty ; Shoot Flying hill, one-half mile north-west from
Great pond in Barnstable, about two hundred; German’s hill, in
Yarmouth, one hundred and thirty-eight ; Scargo hill, in Dennis,
one hundred and sixty-six ; railroad summit at Brewster station,
one hundred and twenty-five, and Mill hill, in Orleans, about —
one hundred and fifty.

This moraine forms the entire chain of the Elizabeth islands,
fifteen miles long with an average width of one mile. Their con-
‘tour throughout is very irregular, with no well-marked trend of
the elevations, which are roughly outlined hills and ridges of
variable height, enclosing many crooked and bowl-shaped hol-
lows which often hold small ponds. Their material is glacial
drift with abundant angular boulders of all sizes up to twenty or
thirty feet in diameter. In a few places this unmodified till was
seen enclosing or passing into stratified gravel and sand. The

Me _ surface exhibits all the characteristic features of the upper till,

18709. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 499

being loose, yellowish in the color of its detritus, and with its
boulders almost invariably angular except as they have been
rounded by exposure to the weather. This deposit also appears to
form the greater part of the cliffs upon the shores of these islands.
At the north-east end of Naushon, however, in deepening an old
well, from forty-five to sixty-seven feet, only the dark and com-
pact lower till, or ground moraine, was found.

The trend of this chain of islands is about east-north-east, but
on the peninsula of Cape Cod the same belt of hills, continuing
with its width, contour and material unchanged, bends within a
few miles to a course nearly due north. A railroad cutting thirty
feet deep in these deposits, near Wood’s Holl, and shallower
sections on the Quisset hills, show two or three feet of yellowish
till at top, succeeded below by light gray till, equally coarse but
apparently more compact, with some of its fragments planed and
striated. The latter was probably accumulated beneath the ice-
margin, while the former was dropped by its meltings.

After holding its way northward ten or twelve miles, reaching
to a point about a mile south of North Sandwich, the range turns
at a right angle to a course a few degrees south of east. Some
portions of it in this vicinity are strown with boulders; but
mainly, as shown on the roads which cross these hills south-west
and south from Sandwich village, at the highest portion of the
entire series, they consist of stratified gravel and sand with
boulders rare or entirely wanting. There is also a change to a
more simple contour with fewer irregular hills and hollows.

From its angle the range extends about thirty-five miles to the
east shore of the Cape. Through Sandwich and Barnstable it
lies about a mile south of the railroad, consisting in the latter
town of hills one hundred to two hundred feet high, apparently
formed of modified drift, with frequent boulders embedded in it
and scattered upon its surface. In Yarmouth the series is some-
what broken, and the railroad crosses it upon a sand plain a lit-
tle west of German’s hill. South of Dennis pond and for one
and a half miles north-east from German’s hill to Follin’s pond,
it is very well shown in exceedingly rocky low hills. Next it
appears to suffer an offset of about two miles to the north, being
represented by Scargo hill in Dennis, which is modified drift with
only few boulders.’ Thence it runs a little north of east six miles
to ore station, where it is again crossed by the railroad.

500 The Formation of Cape Cod. [ August,

Through most of this distance it is very rocky, some of its blocks
being twenty to thirty feet or more in diameter. Its further
course is mostly modified drift with occasional boulders, passing
east-north-east to Mill hill, Orleans village, and the south-east side
of Town cove, beyond which it is concealed beneath the ocean.

The conclusion of Mr. Clarence King,! that Naushon island
which he examined, forms part of a terminal moraine of the con-
tinental ice-sheet, seems to explain the accumulation of this
remarkable series of hills. The border of the ice, after falling
back from its farthest limit, stopped at this line or re-advanced to
it, and afterwards remained nearly stationary through a long
period, in which the materials that it contained were being con-
tinually brought forward and deposited. In many places these
would be pushed into very irregular heaps and ridges by slight
retreats and advances of the ice margin. At the same time we
should also expect that thick beds of ground moraine would be
gathered beneath the ice near its termination. The withdrawal of
the ice-sheet would then leave these deposits as upper and lower
till, one overlying the other in a long but broken and undulating
range.

The angle of this range at North Sandwich shows that the
portion of the ice-sheet on the west and that on the east pushed
against each other here, the motion and slope of each being
directed toward its line of frontal moraine. The medial moraine
produced where their slope came together north from the angle
of their terminal line, is presented in Rocky, Manonet and Pine
hills, which form a gigantic ridge in the east part of Plymouth,
four miles long from north to south, with a continuous height
three hundred to four hundred feet above the sea. Abundant
angular boulders of all sizes up to twenty feet in diameter strew
its surface. At the north end of this ridge the sea has under-
mined its base, forming a steep slope sixty feet in height. A sec-
tion here showed twenty feet of upper till, yellowish, with abun-
dant large and small boulders, nearly all of them angular, under-
lain by lower till, dark bluish gray, with small glaciated stones,
exposed for twenty feet vertically but concealed below. The bed
of boulders which forms the shore at this point came mostly from
the upper stratum, and their sharp corners and edges have since

been worn away by the waves.

oc oe: 1 Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. xix, p. 62.

1870. | The Formation of Cape Cod. 501

Besides the till, or boulder-drift, it has been stated that strati-
fied gravel and sand, nearly or quite free from boulders, make up
a large part of these series of morainic hills, including their
highest portions on Long Island and Cape Cod. We thus see
that the ice was aided in the accumulation of its terminal deposits
by streams laden with vast quantities of modified drift. These
streams appear to have been formed during the meltings of sum-
mer upon the surface of the ice-fields, especially at the period
when they yielded and were driven back by a warmer climate.

To understand how such rivers could get their freight of gravel,
sand and silt, we must consider what the ice-sheet was. The
interior of Greenland is now covered by a similar field of ice,
which rises steeply at its edge, but after a few miles changes to a
gently inclined plateau, elevated above the highest peaks of the
land on which it lies, and apparently of immeasurable extent.
Dr. Hayes found the angle of ascent on this plain to decrease
from six to two degrees in thirty miles, at which distance he
reached an altitude of about five thousand feet. The ice of the
glacial period had a similar, but probably less steep, ascent from
its terminal front northward. The temperature of its area was
changed so that the snows of autumn, winter and spring were
not entirely removed in summer, but very slowly increased in
depth, their lower portion being changed to solid ice. This con-
tinued through so long a period that the surface of this ice-sheet
was lifted above the highest mountains of New England. At the
White mountains, two hundred miles north from its border, it
rose to a height at least 6300 feet above our present sea-level.
Its greatest thickness was far to the north, from which region the
vast pressure of its own weight caused it to flow slowly outward.
Even its lower portion, which rested on the uneven surface of the
land was thus pushed forward over all our hills and mountains,
transporting boulders and marking its course on the ledges. Over
British America, as far north as the surface geology has been ex-
plored, and to the most southern limit reached by the ice-sheet,
which coincides nearly with the course of the Columbia, Missouri
and Ohio rivers and the south coast of New England, the direction
of its motion, as shown by the strize, was generally southward, being
nearly due south in British Columbia, south-west in the region of
the great lakes, and south-east between Hudson river and the _
Gulf of ‘St. Lawrence. The loose materials which covered the —

502 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, | August,

land were ploughed up, and as the ice moved forward over the
irregular surface, it became more or less filled with boulders,
gravel and sand, at least to the height of the peaks and ridges
which it crossed. Differences in the slope of the surface of ice
above, like those which made an angle in the terminal moraine,
due apparently to inequalities in the amount of snowfall and of
melting upon adjacent regions, must also produce downward and
upward currents by which these materials would be distributed
- throughout the lower part of the ice, probably to the height of
several hundred feet, even while crossing a nearly level area.

By the melting of the ice-sheet at and near its terminal front,
this detritus was exposed, through every summer, to the washing
of many rills and small streams; but before its retreat under a
change of climate, this melting was extended over a very wide
area. The surface of the ice was then hollowed into basins of
drainage and channelled by rivers, which became heavily freighted
with the gravel, sand and clay that had been held in its mass. A
large portion of this gravel and sand was heaped at the edge of
the ice-sheet, where these glacial rivers descended to the lower
open area beyond. When the ice behind them disappeared these
deposits were left in the massive hills and ridges of stratified
drift which form so prominent a part of these series of terminal
moraines. [To be Continued. ]

:0:
THE GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF THE SCHOOL OF
MINES, COLUMBIA COLLEGE.

BY ISRAEL C, RUSSELL.

S it is impossible for every one to visit distant lands, or even
at all seasons to go forth into the fields and among the
mountains in quest of geological knowledge, we desire to call the
attention of our readers to a collection in our country which in
a great measure will supply these wants. We refer to the Geo-
logical Museum under the direction of Prof. J. S. Newberry, at
the School of Mines, Columbia College, New York city. Here
the visitor will find a most interesting display of the remains of
the ancient inhabitants of the globe, gathered not only from the
rocks of our own country, but also from the most distant me +
and each arranged in its proper place in the long series. me
“the geological museum occupies the entire third story of the

1870. | Columbia College. 503

eastern wing of the School of Mines building, and consists of
four collections, all of which, however, have an intimate connec-
tion with each other. The first and most interesting of these is
the geological and paleontological collection, which will be the
subject of our present sketch. This is supplemented (firstly) by a
lithological collection consisting of three thousand specimens of
rocks and the minerals which compose rocks ; (secondly) by a col-
lection in economic geology, containing nine thousand specimens
of coal, ores, marbles, fertilizers, etc., illustrating the mineral
wealth of our country, and containing also suites of ores and
associated rocks from many of the most important mines in foreign
lands; (thirdly) as an aid to the study of the fossil remains of
animals and plants, which constitute the most attractive branch
of geological knowledge, a zodlogical and botanical collection has
been added, composed of well-selected specimens which in some
peculiar manner serve to explain the fossil forms. This collection
in some departments, as in that of fishes, contains many remark- °
able and interesting and valuable specimens.

The portion of the museum to which we wish to introduce the
reader is the first we have mentioned, that of geology and palaon-
tology. This collection occupies the wall and table cases on the
eastern side of the hall; many large specimens, however, as the
skeleton of the Irish elk, a cast of the Megatherium, etc., are
arranged in various parts of the museum.

The cases, commencing at the northern end of the hall and
extending throughout its entire length, present the geological
records from the earliest dawn of life on our planet down to the
last chapter in its history—the introduction of man.

These sibyl’s pages, gathered from the ends of the earth, pre-
sent an epitome of the world’s ancient history written by the
unprejudiced hand of nature. These fragments of stone with the
curious forms of animals and plants engraved upon them, are to
the geologist—the interpreter of the earth’s history—what the
hieroglyphics of Egypt or the picture-writings of Mexico are to
the archeologist—the translator of human history.

Before we enter into an examination of the remains of animals
and plants which once lived upon the earth, but are now extinct,
we should clearly understand that fossils are the records which
these ancient organisms have left of their existence. In some
instances, as with the Irish elk and the moa of New Zealand, -

504 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, [ August,

we find the bones themselves but little altered from their original
condition. At other times the organic matter of the speci-
men, a piece of wood, a bone, a shell it may be, have been
replaced by silica so as not only to retain the general form, but
even the most minute structure of the original substance. Such
a replacement is called petrifaction. Wood is frequently thus
petrified so as to preserve its microscopical structure as perfect as
it was when the plant was yet in leaf. Again we may find but
the impression of a fern or of a fish, made in soft mud or sand,
which has been hardened into rock and has faithfully preserved
the form of the frail body that perished ages ago. The plastic
mud along the shores of bays and rivers is frequently trodden by
animals or pitted by falling rain-drops ; such a surface by becom-
ing covered by a layer of sand or mud may retain for indefinite
ages the inscriptions thus impressed upon it. In these and many
other ways, the life-history of distant ages has been written on

' the rocks and preserved to our own day, with an accuracy and
fidelity which cannot be too highly appreciated.

The great interest connected with the first appearance of life
on the globe is indicated by the prolonged discussion that took
place in reference to the organic nature of the eozodn, which, as
far as at present known, is truly the “dawn animal” of the world.
Specimens of this interesting fossil are contained in the first case
at the northern end of the geological hall. Now that we have
made the first step in our journey through the geological ages as
here arranged, we will pass slowly down the long row of cases,
and in doing so, review hastily the life-history of the earth.

The Eozoön belongs to the lowest sub-kingdom of animal life,
the Protozoa, which also embraces our familiar sponges, the struc-
tureless amoeba, etc. The case containing the Eozodn shows us
also the forms of life that followed this humble beginning. These
are the fossils of the Silurian age, or the age of mollusks, as it is
sometimes called in reference to the great abundance of the
remains of “ shell-fish,” which far outnumber all the other fossils
of this formation. The collection contains six thousand speci-
mens of this ancient fauna, which were all embraced in the first
four sub-kingdoms of animal life. The Protozoa are represented
by the Eozoon, sponges, receptaculites, etc.:—the Radiates by

| corals, crinoids, and star-fishes. The Mollusks, as we have men-
=» tioned, were in great force, as the fossil shells testify. The

1879. | Columbia College. 505

numerous trilobites, with the Eurypterus, Pterygotus, etc., show
us that the Crustaceans were the highest form of life on our
continent during the Silurian age. But while the Crustaceans
were the highest in point of structure, yet they were far in-
ferior in size and strength to the Cephalopods, the highest
of the Mollusks, which lived in the same seas. These were re-
presented by huge Orthoceratites. As we stand beside the cases
containing these beautifully preserved remains, it is not difficult to
restore them once more in fancy to the ancient waters in which
they lived, and to picture to ourselves the appearance of the earth
in that distant age. All the remains of animal life which these cases
contain are those of marine forms. All the remains of plants,
too, discovered in the rocks of this age have been classed with
the Algæ (or sea-weeds). Judging from the fossil records, which,
however, we feel are incomplete, we conclude that no plants grew
upon the Silurian land areas! There was then but the broad
ocean and the wild desolate shores, uninhabited by beast, or bird,
or plant—even more dreary and silent than are now the barrenest
islands of the southern oceans. Along these primeval shores the
waves rolled in and ground away the rocks as they do on the
Coast to-day, and retreating left the sands with a ripple-marked
Surface or covered with the trails of worms and crustaceans,
Many of the shell-fish and trilobites lived along the shore, per-
haps sheltered by clumps of sea-weed and clinging brachiopods,
others inhabited deeper waters and contributed their remains to
the formation of the limestone in which we now find them.

With this imperfect glimpse of our country in the Silurian
times, we must pass on to the fauna and flora of the next succeed-
ing, Devonian, age. Again naming the era from the ruling
forms of life, we call this the age of fishes. Although in: Europe
the first fishes made their appearance in the preceding age, yet in
Our country we find their earliest remains in the Devonian rocks,
throughout which time they continued to be the highest forms of
life on the globe. What at once strikes the observer upon
glancing over the splendid display of Devonian fossils here
brought together, is the almost total absence of the forms with
which we have already become familiar in the Silurian. Here
begins a new chapter in the ancient archives. The few inches

1 Since this was written a number of species of land plants have been described

from the Silurian rocks of our country by Mr. Leo Lesquereux.

nat
y
Sr

506 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, [August,

that separate the Silurian from the Devonian fossils represent in
reality an immense lapse of time, during which the fauna of the
world underwent great changes. We will not say that all the old
forms of life were exterminated and new beings created to take
their places, nor can we prove that during these unknown ages
the laws of development were slowly changing the plastic organ-
isms into new forms better adapted to meet the altered conditions
under which they were forced to live. We can only say that the
record is broken: to-morrow the missing chapters may-be discov-
ered and new light thrown upon the enigma, but to-day we must
pass it by. But while most of the fossils of the Devonian differ
in genera and species from those of the older fauna, yet they
belong to the same families and orders, with the exception, of
course, of the fishes, which are new to the life of the world. The
corals, mollusks, and crustaceans are present in great numbers,
and in a general way resemble their representatives in the Silu-
rian, but on the whole they present greater diversity and indicate
more advanced conditions. The presence of corals in the rocks
of this age in what are now the Arctic regions indicates that there
was little diversity of climate at the time these animals were alive.

The fossils which particularly attract the attention in these
cases, and which will always be a center of interest to the student
of the Devonian, are the remains of fishes, of which this collec-
tion contains a grand display that is unrivaled by any other
museum in this country. Many of these fossils are unique, and
in some instances are the only specimens of their kind known;
many of them being the types figured by Prof. Newberry in the
Geological Reports of Ohio, Among the first objects to attract
the attention are the great sword-shaped spines which are the
type-specimens of the genus Macheracanthus; these highly-
polished spines, some of which are twenty inches in length,
are samples of the weapons worn by the old Devonian sharks.
These ancient fish-spines illustrate the economy that is shown in
so many of nature’s works, in gaining great strength with the use
of the smallest possible amount of material. Here also are the type-
specimens of the genera Acanthaspis and Acantholepis, which show
a strange combination of plate and spine that is unknown in mod-
ern fishes. Another slab of limestone shows the head of an old
Devonian fish that measures seven or eight inches in length. The
head of this fish was Agee encased with solid bony plates t that —

1879. | Columbia College. 507

were strongly united by sutures and highly ornamented on the ex-
posed surfaces. This fish, which has received the long name of
Macropetalichthys, seems to have had many features in common
with the structure of the living sturgeon. One of the strangest
fishes that ever swam in the Devonian seas, and which surpasses in
interest even the Prerichthys and Coccosteus of the old world, is the
Onychodus. Among the most unique specimens in the museum
is a slab of limestone from the Corniferous rocks of Ohio, con-
taining a nearly perfect mandible of this fish, which is fourteen
inches in length and set with sharp conical teeth. At the junc-
tion of the two rami of the lower jaw, there occurs a crest of seven
large curved teeth which seem to have projected beyond the mas-
sive jaws, thus forming a terrible weapon, whose use seems to
have been analogous to that of the sword in the living sword-fish.
Far more wonderful than any of these, and one of the strangest
monsters ever exhumed from the cemeteries of the primeval
world, is the Dinichihys, described by Prof. Newberry from the
Huron shales of Ohio. The nearly perfect bony casing of this “ ter-
rible fish,” which is exhibited, shows it to have been upwards of
twenty feet in length; and judging from its formidable armament,
it was by far the most destructive creature yet known from the
© Devonian rocks. The jaws are massive plates of dense bone,
each two feet in length, and provided with sharp-cutting and ser-
rated edges. The anterior ends of the mandibles are upturned
and united so as to form one immense tusk-like tooth, which
shuts in between two equally massive premaxillaries on the upper
jaw. The jaws of Dinichthys may be well represented by the
arms of a man extended to their full length with the hands
turned up and pressed together to represent the great tooth at
the junction of the mandibles. One of the most curious and
interesting features connected,with this discovery is the striking
analogy that exists between the structure of the Dinichthys and
the mud-fish (Lepidosiren) now living in the rivers of Africa
and South America. The number of these Devonian fishes is so
great that we can but glance at a few of the more interesting ones
that remain. Beside the dorsal shield of Coccosteus from the Old
Red Sandstone of Scotland, is placed the only similar specimen
known of Coccosteus from this country. Here too is the type-
Specimen of the genus Heliodus, one of the most ancient of the
Dipnoi. Specimens of Rhynchodus show us that the modern |
Chimzra belongs to a very ancient family.
VOL. XIII,—no, VIII, “oo

508 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, [August,

We cannot linger over these ancient relics, which are but wait-
ing the pen of a Hugh Miller to make them familiar to every
reader in our land, but must pass on to other features of the
Devonian, which are well exhibited in these cases. Our readers
will remember that the shores of the Silurian ocean were barren
solitudes. Not so was it in the Devonian. We have here before us
the remains of a strange and luxuriant flora that shaded the land.
Ferns grew luxuriantly; above these flourished the strange Zepi-
dodendrons, with which we shall become more familiar in the age
that follows. We have here the first appearance of the most
beautiful of land-plants, the tree-ferns, which at the present day
form such an attractive feature in the scenery of the tropics and
of the islands of the South Pacific.

The next series of cases contains the remains of the fauna and
flora that flourished in the Carboniferous times—the age which
witnessed the formation of the great coal-fields of America.
Here the scene again changes. The mollusks and crustaceans,
the huge ganoids and the strange flora, of the Devonian age, have
disappeared never to return again. Another cycle in the world’s
history has been completed. The fossils which we have now to
examine are, as before, the remains of shells, fishes, plants, etc.,
but all very different from those of the Devonian. Fishes appear
again in great numbers, but not the huge Placoganoids that we
saw before, but the elegantly-formed Lepidoganoids, covered with
little plates of enameled bone. The most beautiful of these fos-
sil fishes are from the cannel coal deposits of Linton, Ohio. The
fossilization in these specimens is peculiar. Each little plate of
mail and each delicately-penciled fin seem wrought in gold-leaf
ona black ground. In reality, the substance which represents
the fish is iron-pyrites, on a surface of impure coal. These little
fishes have received the generic title of Zurylepis, in reference to

the breadth of their scales, and such specific names as corrugata,
insculpta, lineata, ornatissima, etc., suggested by their delicate
ornamentation. Specimens of Celacanthus, which occur with the

Eurylepis, are even more highly ornamented, and have their scales
and head-plates so elegantly chased that the most skillful gem-
engraver could scarcely imitate their delicate tracery. The great
fin-spines which these cases contain, show that the sharks were

strongly represented in the Carboniferous waters. Here too are —

oe ae teeth of the most Bynt ray ever discovered E

1879. | Columbia College. 509

some of the flat crushing teeth of which were six inches in length,
four inches wide, and an inch and a half thick.

Some of the slabs of stone from Linton, Ohio, upon being
split open, showed the heads, limbs, scales, etc., of Amphibians,
represented at the present time by the frogs and salamanders. It
is at once apparent that this is the heading of a new chapter. In
all the stony pages that we have glanced over, we have not seen
characters like these. If we should follow out the records here
begun, through all the following ages, we would find, indeed, that
it is a chapter of wonders, containing the lives and struggles of
the hugest and strangest monsters that have ever lived. We can-
not pass on, however, without glancing at the flora of the Car-
boniferous, the relics of which these cases contain to overflowing.
These forms, that are traced so delicately on the stones, were once
living plants that millions of years ago bowed to the passing
winds and drank in the sunshine as our most familiar trees and
ferns do to-day. These fragments of trunks, branches, leaves
and cones give us a faint glimpse into the dark moist forests that
clothed our land in the coal period. Many of the fossil plants
we at once recognize as ferns, so nearly do they approach in
form these beautiful plants which we meet in all our rambles.
Others, after considerable study, have been shown to be closely -
related to the little ground-pines or club mosses, which are also
quite common in our woods. These ancient Lycopods, however,
instead of being only a few inches in height, with cones an inch
long, were gigantic trees sometimes upwards of seventy or eighty
feet in length, with elegantly scarred trunks, and bearing large
cones upon their gracefully pendant boughs. Another of our
common plants, the Equisetum, also had giant representatives in
that ancient flora. These, together with the Sigillarias, with their
beautifully fluted columnar trunks, furnished the material from
which our great stores of coal were formed. What at once appears
as a remarkable fact upon looking over these fossils, is that they
all belong to the lowest grade of vegetation, the cryptogamous or
flowerless plants. Among all the hundreds of coal plants here
assembled, we look in vain for so much as a single leaf of a
broad-leaved plant like our maples and oaks. It was long sup-
posed that there was a total lack of flowers in the Carboniferous
forests, but a specimen in this collection shows a branch of some

nown plant with the remains of flowers — distin-
guishable.

510 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, (August,

As we pass on to the records of the next succeeding (Mesozoic)
eras, the medizval age of geology, we find no mention made of
the luxuriant forests and the abundant animal life that passed
before. Nearly all remembrance of these seems lost in antiquity.
This age, in reference to the predominating forms of life, is called
the reptilian age. The first indications that we have of these new
rulers of the land and sea, are their foot-prints, left along the
muddy shores. Some of these from New Jersey and the Con-
necticut valley are shown in the case of Triassic fossils. These
wonderful impressions are so well known through the writings of
Prof. Hitchcock and others, that we need do no more than men-
tion them. The rocks in which these foot-prints were found have
also furnished great numbers of fossil fishes. Among hundreds
of specimens of these Triassic fishes here assembled, there is one
called /tycholepis, with highly ornamented head-plates and plicated
scales, which is the only American specimen known of this
genus, which occurs in the Lias of Europe; here too is the only
specimen yet discovered of Diplurus; this was lately obtained
from the Triassic rocks at Boonton, N. J. The rocks of this
age have also yielded the oldest remains known of the Mam-
malia. This sub-kingdom makes its appearance in one of its
humblest orders, the Marsupials, represented at the present day
by the opossum and the kangaroo.

In the flora of the earlier portion of this age we find ferns,
calamites, and conifers, with the addition of a new feature, the
Cycads. As we pass on to the cases containing the fossil plants
from the latest period of this age, the Cretaceous, we come sud-
denly to a splendid display of fossil leaves which have a wonder-
fully familiar appearance; they are the leaves of oaks, willows,
maples, beeches, sycamores, etc., which the most casual observer
would refer to the same genera that are living at the present day.
There are differences which show that all these fossil leaves are
specifically distinct from their modern representatives.

Among the most striking forms of animal life in the Mesozoic,
were the Cephalopod shells, related to the living Nautilus. Of
these, the ammonites which were foreshadowed by goniatites in
the Devonian and Carboniferous, and began to assume their char-
acteristic elegance of outline in the Triassic, in the Cretaceous
attain a degree of variety and beauty that could with difficulty

- be excelled. It is interesting to observe that after these mollusks

1879. ] Columbia College. SII

had slowly attained this surpassing degree of elegance and orna-
mentation, the whole family became extinct. The collection
contains many of these chambered shells from the Cretaceous of
the Upper Missouri, which still retain their nacreous walls, that
after the lapse of ages are as beautifully iridescent as any living
shell. Here also are the bones of some of the great reptiles of
the Cretaceous, the teeth of fishes, and a great variety of shells
and plants from the same rocks. Many of these specimens are
of great scientific value, as they are the type-specimens upon
which many of the genera and species of Cretaceous fossils were
founded.

The last case at the southern end of the geological hall con-
tains the fossils of the Tertiary period, the last period but one be-
fore the age of man. A glance at the contents of this case shows
us that all the grand divisions of animals and plants which are
living at the present day, are represented. The shells of this
period exhibit a very modern aspect, especially when compared
with the older ones we have been studying; although many cf
them belong to living genera, yet nearly all the species are
extinct. The tertiary plants, which are shown in great abundance,
prove that the flora was not very different in its general character
from that clothing the Middle States at the present day. The
higher vertebrates at this time appeared in such numbers and
variety that this age is known as the age of mammals.

While lingering over the cases of Silurian fossils, we attempted
briefly to retrace the picture of that age, with its small and barren
land areas and its great oceans tenanted by the lowest forms of
animals and plants. Let us contrast with the silent barren aspect
of our continent in those primeval days, its appearance in Tertiary
times. North America had then attained nearly its present out-
line, althot extensive regions along the Atlantic and Gulf

et beneath the ocean, and great lakes occupied the

borders we y
western interior. A flora of temperate or sub-tropical growth
clothed the area of the United States, and the climate of Virginia
reached as farnorthward as Greenland. The splendid collection of
Tertiary plants from the region of the Upper Missouri, the Yel-
lowstone, and other portions of the West, shows that the banks of
the Tertiary lakes, which then existed at these localities but have

since been filled, were fringed with a varied and beautiful vegeta- __

tion. We find among these fossil plants the leaves of the maple, — —

t

512 The Geological Museum of the School of Mines, Etc. [August,

oak, hickory, conifers, etc., together with others that now grow far
to the southward, as the palm, magnolia, cinnamon, and fig. Many
of these fossil leaves are of double value, as they are the type-
specimens from which Prof. Newberry has described and figured
this wonderful flora, rich both in species and individuals. When
we inquire what animals lived in these luxuriant forests, a vast
menagerie of strange forms passes before us. We can do no more
than call a hasty muster-roll of names. Our country was then
inhabited by great numbers of animals more or less related
to our modern horse, tapir, wolf, panther, stag, musk, rhinoce-
ros, camel, llama, etc. Besides these there were a large num-
ber whose modern representatives are not so well known,—as
the Oreodon, Menodus, Uintatherium, Hyenodon, and many others.
This is but a meager list of the great number of Tertiary ani-
mals that have been discovered, but sufficient to show that
a far richer and more wonderful assemblage of animals inhabited
our land at that time than can now be found living on any
continent ; not even the jungles of India can produce such an
array of gigantic pachyderms and carnivores as then lived in
this country.

Again we are obliged to add, as with all the preceding ages,
that both the luxuriant forests and these thousands of strange
animals have become extinct, never again to appear on the earth.
Dana remarks that “all the fishes, birds, reptiles and mammals
of the Tertiary are extinct species.”

As we are writing sober facts and not attempting to trace an
Arabian tale, we should hesitate to speak of the times that follow
the Tertiary, so strange and wonderful are they, did we not have
in the collection before us the unquestionable facts engraved upon
tables of stone. As the climate of the Middle States in former
ages extended to Greenland, so, on the other hand, tacie came a
time, after all the fair picture of Tertiary days was
when the present climate of Greenland, with vast snow-fields and
continental glaciers, reached as far southward as New York and
Cincinnati ;—a time when glaciers many thousands of feet in
thickness moved southward over our Northern States, grinding
down the country and exterminating nearly every form of life that
before had found there a congenial home. This collection con-
tains a large number of specimens of the boulders, the boulder-
clay, and the polished and scratched surfaces, that the glaciers

o i behind them.

1879. | Recent Literature. 513

After the snow and ice of this great geological winter had
passed away, and a climate very similar to that which we now
enjoy had covered the land with its present flora and fauna, we
find the first clearly acceptable evidence of the presence of man.
The geological records before us are brought down to our own
time by many relics of the stone-age of Europe and America,
besides a collection illustrating the arts of the Egyptians and:
Etruscans. Here, too, is a cast of the celebrated fossil-man of
Guadaloupe, the original of which is in the British Museum.

One of the most interesting truths illustrated by the geo-
logical collections at the School of Mines, is the fact of the
humble beginning of both plant and animal life on our globe, and
their constant increase both in variety and specialization, as we
follow their progress through the geological ages. Every one
who is interested in the great question of our time—evolution—
should make himself familiar with a collection of fossils arranged
geologically, in order that he may see with his own eyes the facts
written in the great stone book of the geologist, on which the
man of science bases his theories and conclusions.

:0:
RECENT LITERATURE.

Brenm’s ANIMAL Lire, Birps.1—Lovers of birds, even if they
are not those of the United States, will be interested in this excel-
lent work of Dr. Brehm, of which the first two volumes lie before
us. The first volume begins with an account of the skeleton, and
anatomy of the soft parts, while their physiology is briefly dis-
cussed, also the motions of birds, their songs and powers of speech,
sense-faculties, psychology, distribution, development, their every-
day life, their courtships, pairing, nesting and breeding habits, early
life and migrations. Dr. Brehm’s classification is as follows: The

prey. The second volume completes the account of the Acczpi-
tres; these are succeeded by the Passerine birds, the second vol-
ume ending with the Gyraéores, or pigeons, and the dodo. It
will be seen from this enumeration that the classification adopted
by the author, a distinguished German ornithologist, is somewhat
unlike that of Lilljeborg, a Swedish naturalist, adopted by most
merican authors, as the Passeres are, at the present day, placed
' Brehm’s Thierleben. Allegemeine Kunde des Thierreichs. Grosse Ausgabe.
Zweite Abtheilung. Die Vogel. Von Dr. A. E. BREHM. Band1, 2. Leipzig,
1878. 8vo. New York, B. Westermann & Co. 40 cents a part. «

514 Recent Literature. [ August,

at the head of the class. It is also unfortunate that the “ orders”
of birds are perpetuated, even in a popular work, since it is
doubtful whether they should rank higher than sub- order

The singing birds (Passeres) are treated with great fallos of
detail, and as these form the larger proportion of our native birds,

‘while the illustrations are abundant and beautiful, the two vol-
umes containing 346 woodcuts, many of them of life size, and
thirty-seven full-page engravings, mostly drawn by Mitzel,
Kretschmer and others.. They are fully up to the standard of
those in the earlier volumes of the series, to which we have
called attention.

The birds will be completed in a third volume. Two additional
volumes will be devoted to fishes, finishing the series of ten vol-
umes announced by the publisher, and which will, without doubt,
be issued during the coming year.

SMITH’s STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA OF THE ATLANTIC Coast.
—This paper is based on the collections of the U. S. Fish Com-
mission, and is of great value. In it are enumerated seventy-nine
species of decapod Crustacea, which are or have been found in
the limits named. Many so-called species are here for the first
time united, a feature which agrees perfectly with the reviewer's
convictions, These seventy-nine species have been described under
126 specific names. In relation te the geographical distribution
of Carcinus moenas we would say that we have found it in the
collection of Union College, kot ‘Northhanipton county, Eastern

shore, Atlantic side, Virginia. This is the farthest south that the
species has been observed on this coast. A new species of Ger-
yon (G. quinquedens) is described and figured, as is the only other
known species (G. évidens). It differs from Kroyer's species in
having the antero-lateral margin five toothed. Cancer borealis is
figured for the first time. C/ionecetes behringianus Stm., is shown
to be synonymous with C. o pee (O. Fabr. at The name

Paguroids. We po ave observed a similar structure in the genus
arcinus. ond species of the genus Sabinea (S. sarsii) is-
described and ‘heared, Hippolyte securifrons Norman, is new to
our coast. Pandalus annulicornis has to give way to the name |
P. montagui. In regard to Palemonetes vulgaris we would say
that besides the specimens from Salem Mill-pond (C. Cooke) we
have seen specimens in the museum of the Peabody Academy at
1 The Stal k-eyed Crustaceans of the Atlantic Coast of North America, north © of
oe Cod. By S. I. SmirH. (Trans. of the ey Academy of Arts and Sci-
mon, y ol. e Pp. 7 pls. Teen; May, 18

1879. ] Recent Literature. 518

Salem, from Lynn, Mass. (collector’s name not given) and Massa-
chusetts bay (Capt. W. H. A. Putnam). Meterythrops, a new
genus of Schizopoda is characterized and figured. It has the
cephalothoracic appendages of Farerythrops with the abdominal
feet in the female rudimentary, and in the male as in Evythrops.
Sar’s Chiromysis microps is shown to be congeneric with Heter-
omysis formosa Smith. Following this list, which we have thus

riefly noticed, is a valuable account of the geographical distri-
bution of these species. We would, however, note that contrary

represented in Europe by two species, P. nasutus of the Mediter-
ranean, and P., /atipes, with a larger distribution. It is shown
that contrary to the opinion of European zodlogists, the fauna
of Greenland is as closely allied to that of North America as to
that of Europe, “ or in other words, it is only part of the great
arctic, circumpolar fauna.” — F. S. Kingsley.

INGERSOLL’s Nests AND Eces or AmeRIcCaN Brrps.!—Our notice
of this important accession to the literature of American orni-
thology has been too long delayed. It is a work for which there
is room, and one which bids fair to take and fill acceptably a
place of its own. No work has yet been provided for the special
needs of American odlogists, the one attempted many years ago

Dr. Brewer having failed of accomplishment after the issue of
the first fascicle. There are very many persons in this country,
especially among the rising generation, who will be glad to have
an egg-book “all to themselves ”—one that will teach them the
distinctive breeding habits of birds, enable them thus to find
nests and eggs, and when found to make a collection of them.
Such a work Mr. Ingersoll proposes to furnish, and the first
installment of his undertaking gives promise that he will discharge
his self-imposed obligation faithfully.

_ To judge from the portion already issued, this treatise will win
its distinctive position and secure a name among numerous com-
petitors in the field ornithological, by conforming to the implica-
tion of its title. Mr. Ingersoll does wisely, we take it, in restricting
himself rigorously to his theme, even at the expense of a certain
appearance of incompleteness which may strike some unfavorably;
for it would be of no special use to undertake the systematic
treatment of North America ornithology. Evidently believing
that good style may be serviceable even in statement of fact, the
author would combine literary excellence with scientific merit.
Recognizing, furthermore, how much has already been done in
his. chosen field, he seems to prefer to quote a satisfactory descrip-
tion of nest or egg rather than to produce a duplicate, the con-
_ cern being rather for the quality than the source of the informa-

| Nests and Eggs of American Birds. By ERNEST INGERSOLL. S.E. Cassino, —
Naturalists’ Agency, Salem, Mass, Part 1, PP- 24, pls. 11. (Pub. March, 1879.)

516 Recent Literature. [ August,

tion he has to offer. These are all such desirable points that their
faithful observance throughout the work cannot fail of good
result.

The present Part treats of about a dozen species of Turdide.
We doubt that it is a fair sample of what the whole work will be,
as we presume the author will improve as he settles more closely
to his task; yet the standard here attained is high, fully warrant-

ing what we have already said. The appearance of the work is —

attractive, and the mechanical execution good, with one excep-
tion: the references to the plates are insufficiently explicit, or
rather not prominent enough. It is impossible to number or let-
ter plates too plainly, or make the textual references too conspicu-
ous. We venture to suggest to the author, that, at the risk of
typographical difformity in succeeding parts, the full reference to
the plate and figure be made a conspicuous part of each species-
heading; and to the publisher we further recommend that the
lettering of the plates be bolder. As Allen recently said, in sub-
stance, in the Nuttall Bulletin, the names of the species the eggs
of which are figured, might be advantageously substituted for the
legend now usurping a place at the bottom of the plates; and
this running title be transferred to the right hand top corner.

There is one grave defect of the work that we cannot suffer to
pass unrebuked. There is nothing to show whether Part I was
published in March, 1879, as happens to be the case, or in some
other month of some other year. In giving no date, both author
and publisher, they and their book, run their chances of being
mentally consigned by some irate bibliographer of the future to
a less desirable place than a niche in the temple of posthumous
ame. e are personally cognizant of various persons who have
already, in fact, met with a fate so deplorable, on this very
account.

It remains to speak of the execution of the plates, briefly, for
the less said the better, unless it should stimulate the artist and
publisher to renewed exertion to bring the drawing, shading and
coloring of the figures nearer the standard of excellence required
for the fit illustration of so admirable a treatise as the “ Nests an
Eggs of American Birds ” aspires and promises to be.— £. C.

Texan ORNITHOLOGY.—After lying fallow for some years, the

field of ornithology along our south-western frontier has been —

worked over with energy and success by several competent
observers, whose labor has resulted in adding some ¢hirty species
to the recognized fauna of the United States, besides greatly
enlarging the bounds of our knowledge of the life-histories ©
these and numerous other birds with which we were none too
familiar. The name of Mr. H. W. Henshaw will instantly recur
to one in this connection; if we remember rightly, not having

_ the exact figures at pen-point, about half of these acquisitions | -

ae

1870. ] Recent Literature. 517

have been made through his exertions, and fully elaborated in the
reports of the surveys to which he has been so long and so use-
fully attached, either by himself alone or in connection with Dr.
H His operations having been mainly in New
Mexico, Arizona and California, it has remained for others to do
the like good service in Texas, and especially in the fruitful val-
ley of the Lower Rio Grande, where so many Mexican birds
intrude upon our own territory. The three prominent workers
in this field of late, are Mr. George B. Sennett, late of Erie, Pa.,
Dr, James C. Merrill, U.S. Army, and Lieut. C. A. H. McCauley,
3d U. S. Artillery.

When, in 1841, the late J. P. Giraud published his sixteen new
species of birds from “ Texas,” the decidedly sub-tropical cast of
the fauna of some parts of Texas was not fully recognized, and
much doubt was felt that all these birds really came from their
accredited locality. They have, however, been mostly rediscov-
ered over our present border, and the true character of the bird-

worked farther north and west, in a region which, though not
well known ornithologically, was not to be expected to yield
Mexican novelties. His paper, however, gave precision if not

ments Dr. S. W. Woodhouse’s observations, published in 1853,
with fresh and more extended notes on the habits and distri-
bution of various species.

Mr. Sennett spent two months in the early spring of 1877 on
the southern border of Texas, from the mouth of the great river
to about a hundred miles inland; working with an assiduity that
merited the large measure of success achieved, Mr. Sennett made
an extensive collection, backed by copious field notes, and pub-
lished? his results the following year. Containing a great store
of fresh observations well worked up, this paper attracted muc

‘Notes on the Ornithology of the Region about the Source of the Red River of
Texas, etc. Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., Vol. 111, No. 3, May 15, 1877,
PP. 655-695.

? Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande of Texas, etc. Bull. U. S.
Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., Vol. rv, No. 1, Feb. 5, 1878, pp. 1-66.

: * Leptoptila albifrons, a Pigeon new to the United States Fauna. Bull. Nutt.
Ornith. Club, Vol. 11, No. 2, July, 1877, pp. 82, 83. ~“ ;

518 Recent Literature. [ August,

still more important discoveries. Some of his results of 1878
have already been published, including the announcement of five
Species new to our fauna, and the full account of that season’s
ae is now in press. Having had the pleasure of seeing

MS., we are confident that the forthcoming paper will rival its
EELO in importance and interest of contents; nor is it too
much to add that Mr. Sennett shares equally with Mr. Henshaw
and Dr. Merrill in the credit to be given for the development of
the ornithology of our south-western border.

Meanwhile, however, a member of the medical staff of the
army, as we are happy to say, had been showing that zeal in the
cause of science whick does honor to our corps, by his protracted
and diligent researches in the same field. We have before had
advices from Dr. Merrill on different occasions, and have lately
been favored with the full results of his observations, under Mr.
Ridgway’s able editorship, in a paper? which it is more particularly
our present purpose to notice. According to an editorial note,
Dr. Merrill’s additions to the United States fauna are twelve in
number, including two also taken by Mr. Sennett and first pub-
lished by us as such, namely, the Mexican Myiarchus and Buteo
albocaudatus, as well as the Podiceps phe ape which raised such

grave question in the mind of Dr. Brewer. Four of them, the
two Amazilie, Parra gymnostoma and Nyctidromus albicollis rep-
resent three genera not before recognized as North American.

‘Later Notes on Texan Birds.—1 [-v]. Science News, Vol. 1, No. 4, Dec. 15,
1878, pp. 57-39; No. 7, Feb. 1, 1879, pp. 106, 107; No. 8, Bai si 1879, pP- 120,
121; No. 9, March 1, 1879, pp. 132-134. No. 10, March 15, 1879, pp. has

New Birds for the United States td The = eo July 13, 1878, p. 1
top of firat column, uteo albicaudatus, Scops e , Crotop aga sulcirostris,
Pitangus derbyanus, Ornithion incanescens [by error pa 0. im saat

? Notes on Texan Birds. Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. 1, No. 4, Nov., 1876, PP.
88, 89. (Molothrus qad, Arema albicollis, pola riefferi, Parra
ee, Podiceps domin

A Humming Bird New to Aie Fauna of the United o Bull. Nutt. Ornith.
Club, kag il, No. 1, Jan., 1877, p. 26. (Amazilia cerviniventris.)

eon Podiceps ‘diminicus By Elliott Coues. Ibid.

r. coheed takes exceptions to the substance of our note in this case, much
as usual of late. The point raises dem Pn se settled if either of us knew
goal the channel of the o Gra nearer the right or the ss bank at

es on k Mobira neus. Tom. cit. No. 4, Oct., 1877, pp. 85-87.

Occurrence of the resten Nonpareil and Berlandier’s Wren at Fort Brown,
Texas. Ibid Awa

Occurrence of Myia Aus t crinilus var. erythrocercus Sclat,, at Fort Brown, Texas.
Op. cit., Vol. m1, Re n April, 1878, 00. :

A new North American Buteo (albocaudatus). The Country, July 13, 1878, P.
184, ayal ao of column.

= iy e Birds new to the Fauna of. North America. Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club,
u, No. 4 Jairi 1878, p. 152. (Vireo flavoviridis, Sturnella mexicana.) ioe
: se ge Ornifiilogy ol of corsa Texas, being a list of birds srr mo

; rom Apelor 1876, to June, 1878. Proc. Y. S. :
» Val. $ Oct., 18 1878, p PP: a8 93,3 f poo

1870. | - Recent Literature. 519

Besides including these interesting novelties, Dr. Merrill’s paper,
like Mr. Sennett’s, gives copious field notes of habits gathered in
the course of the author's long experience with the subjects of
his communication. The list of species reaches the large num-

ber of 252; and yet we understand that none are included which
did not come under Dr. Merrill’s personal observation. This is
certainly a good showing, though doubtless no one knows better
than the author himself that still further additions remain to be
made to it. The large collections upon which the list is based
were sent to the Smithsonian from time to time, and there care-
fully examined by Mr. Ridgway, upon whose authority the
identifications rest. The same s Samy eng has added much

The evident care with which he has made his determinations
causes us to regret the more our difference of opinion respecting
the identification of the Mexican Myiarchus, which we had before
Satisfied ourselves to be erythrocercus of Sclater and Salvin, and a
geographical race of crinitus. It seems to us useless to attempt
to do anything with so ieee a bird as cooperi of Kaup; and
we must adhere to our previous decision. The hummers before
announced as Amazilia pialane and Pyrrhophena riefferi are
renamed respectively A. yucatanensis and A. fuscicaudata. The
paper is further enriched by various odlogical notes contributed
by Dr. Brewer, who appears to have examined the very large
number of eggs collected by Dr. Merrill, and who has also given
that slight sketch of the geographical ‘distribution of Podic ceps
dominicus, to which we have already alluded. It is accompanied
also by three of Mr. Ridgway’s plates, so excellent in details of
external form, representing Parra gymnostoma, <Echmoptila albi-
Jrons, Nyctidromus albicollis and several species of Caprimulgus.
Under such circumstances, both of authorship and editorship, it
is not surprising that the paper forms one of the most notable
contributions ever made to Texan ornithology, being, as such,
quite worthy to rank with those of Sennett and Henshaw ?— Æ. i

RECENT P AND PAMPHLETS.—On the apin and oral Systems of the Echin-
odermata. P. Herbert Carpenter. Part (Reprinted from the Quarterly
Journal of C pisa Science, XIX, new kes

The Geology of the Diamantiferous Region of the Province of Parana, Brazil.
By Orville A. Derby. (English gegn ? (Read before the American Philosophi-
cal Society, May 16, 1879.) 8vo, pp.
inci ania

so Mr. Brewster’s review of the same paper, in the Nuttall aia for
January, or Pp- 50-52. A private noe from Dr. Merrill informs us of a

pe ag oversights which may be h p Page 128 Æmbern rain gh ave
gata; 138 Mitarchus erythr co ae “ Be 34 Sturnella mexicana should all be aster-
isked, a d p. 133 Sturnella magn a should not bei ‘thus marked. Page 131 insert

initials * R, R? after “ habitat; sg 156 ditto after “ measurements.” Page 164
under Herodias egretta, the re eference to “the preceding species” means Plegadis
s“arauna not Ardea herodias.

520 Recent Literature. : [August,

A of the Fishes of Essex County, including apo of Massachusets Bay,
according to the me ge of the work of the U. S. Fish Co ommission. By
Brown Goode and Tarleton N. Bean. (From the Bulletin of the Essex Institute,
Vol. e 8vo, pp. 8.

Notice of Recent Boge) Publications in Brazil. O. A. Derby on the Geology
of the Lower rengem By Richard Rathbun. Phas the American Journal of
Science and Arts, Vol. xon, June, 1879.) 8vo, p

ypres oN of Jersey County. By Hon. Willa McAdams, Otterville,
Ill.

Ist po Eos on ein Versteinerter Werzeffüsster oder ein Mineral gemenge? Von
Dr. Karl Möbius. (Separatabdruck aus der Zeitschr Hi “ Die Natur,” Jahrgang,
1879, Ur. 7, 8, 10, Nalle.) 8vo, pp. 29, 21 illustration

Notes on Pacific coast Ctathices. By W. N. Gckathlflen: Sae the Bulletin of
the ati bila Vol. x, Nos. 10, 11, 12, 1878.) 8vo, pp. 7
ription of a new species of Chirocephalus. y John A. Ryder. Cu

Des
Foia of the Academy of Natural Sciences of h ) Arep

Boletin del Ministerio de Fomento de la República Mexicana, (Daily wrest
Report.) Folio, April 17th to May 8th, 1879. Mexico. From the Director of the
rvatory.

pei Medicus: A monthly bo oen het of = prei medical literature of
the world. Compiled under the sion of Dr. J. S. Billings, surgeon U.S.A.,
and ps Robert Fletcher, MRCS, Bae Vol. 1, No. 4, April, 1879. 8vo, pp.
169-220. New York, F. Le ypoldt. "From the editors

m of the serenog Plants, Ferns and Fun e growing in the “iein 2
Cincin By Jos. ge Pid pe. 27. (Abst. from the Jour. Cin. Soc
His hres, aye qe) From th

A Revised List of Birds of Seine i Ne ew York. Based on the observations of
Frank R. Rathbun, H. Gilbert pala Frank A. Wright, Samuel F, Rathbun. Col-
lated and prepared by Frank R. Rathbun. 8vo, pp. 47. Auburn, N, Y. (April 17th),

Fr ompiler.

Beskrivelse af Hovedskallen af et eo ee PE og herium soyeen ii, fra

ata-Landenes plejstocene grossa Af. J. Reinhardt. Avec u résumé en

Francaise. (Abst. Videnskab. Selsk. Skr 5 Rackke È atar videnikibelig og

mathematisk Afd. xu, 4.) 4to, n 353-380, Taf. 1 and 11 Kjöbenhavn, 1879.
m the author

Gracer Aei kamane and — one Red Aare! F. Allen, re M. a a

Part 11.—Chara crinita Wallr. var. Am 4to, text and one
Pubtished by the author, No. me E. 36th pases New Yo ok, me the au
Aberrant dentition of Felis tigris. By R. Lydekker, B.A. (From me Asiat.
Soc. ot i Vol. XLVII, pt. 1, 1878. Read Feb. 6, 1878.) 8vo, pp. 3, pl. 1. From
the author
Further notices of Siwalik Mammalia. By R. Lydekker, B.A. Geol. Survey of
India, (From Records Indian Geol. Surv., No. 1, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 33-52) with a

Geology of Kashmar (gd notice). By R. Lydekker, B. A. — Geol. Surv.
of ag No. L sera} 8vo, pp. 15-32, and map. From the author

tologia Indica. (Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India.) Ser. IV. —

India Pretertiary a eng Vol. 1, part 3.—Fossil Reptilia and Batra chia. By
R. Lydekker, B.A., of the Survey. 4to, pp. 36, and six plates. Calcutta, 1879:
From the author
Anales del T Manis Nacional de Mexico. Tomo 1, Entrega 6a. 4to, pp. 237-278
3 plates. ee 1879. From the director of the Mus

erly Age of the eclegical Society, man xxxv, No, 138, May I,

The Qua
1879. “angh PP- 359, pls. 4. London, Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer.
the Society.

rom the society,

Bulletin of the American Metrological Society. Officers, Committees, — A
o tion, E New oE ie te

1879] Botany. 521

GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY.

THe Root oF OXALIs vioLacEa.—The violet wood-sorrel is an
abundant plant in this locality, growing commonly on gravelly
hillsides. On comparing it with descriptions it seems to agree
in all essential points noted by authors; but there is one
striking peculiarity of the root which appears to have been
overlooked—at least I have not been able to find the slightest
reference to it in any work that I have examined. This is the
usual occurrence of a white, carrot-shaped root beneath the ordi-
nary scaly bulb. When there is a bunch of plants a cluster of
the tap-roots may be formed. They are only lightly attached to
the under surface of the bulbs, so that when broken off the scar
left is almost imperceptible. They consist for the most part of a
watery fluid, which can be easily squeezed out, leaving but little
solid substance. A thin, clear skin, together with the large
quantity of water present, renders them somewhat translucent.

he size varies, but from two to three inches appears to be the
usual length. I have found them an inch or two long the first
week in May, which shows that they are early developed. A not
unpleasant sweet taste recommends them to children as suitable
for eating ; no injurious effects are noticeable.

During the past two years I have dug up many plants of this
species in order to determine the presence or absence of such
bottom roots. In most cases they were present, but in many

Botanica, News.—The first volumes of the sixth edition of Dr.
Asa Gray’s Botanical Text Book, to be issued in four volumes, has
just appeared under the title of “ Structural Botany; or Organog-
raphy on the Basis of Morphology,” to which is added the princi-
ples of taxonomy and phytography, and a glossary of botanical
terms. Three other volumes are contemplated as parts of this
great work, one on physiological botany, by Prof. Goodale ; one on
cryptogamous botany, by Prof. Farlow, and one on the normal
orders of phenogamous plants, by Prof. Gray. The collection
of plants made by Prejevalsky in his second journey to Central
Asia, together with that of Potanin, is being worked up by the
eminent botanist, Maximovitch and Regel, and the results will be
published in a fine work on the flora of Mongolia and Kan-su.

——Mr. Lesquereux, the authority on the fossil plants of North —

America has just issued an “Atlas to the Coal Flora of Pennsyl-

-

-

522 General Notes. [ August,

vania, and of the Carboniferous Formation throughout the United
States. It will be invaluable to all those who wish to identify
coal plants, as 260 species are figured. The Botanical Gazette
contains a note on the influence of the scion on the stock, by T.
Meehan, with a number of other notices. Trimen’s Yournal of
Botany prints a note on the morphology of the Characez, by S.
H. Vines

ZOOLOGY. !

HABITS OF THE RED-HEADED WoopPECKER.— During the past
three or four years much has been written in regard to t
changes which are taking place in the habits of the red-headed
woodpecker—“ a versatile bird,” to quote the apt characterization
of Dr. Elliott Coues. This bird is quite common here, though
am of the opinion that it is not seen in as large numbers as it was
when the country was first settled, some twenty-two years ago. I
have often seen them about my barn- -yard industriously picking >
up corn which had been shelled for the swine. Generally the ~
bird alights and secures a single grain, and then flies off to the
nearest tree-top to peck it into pieces and devour it at his leisure,
returning for others at frequent intervals. I have often watched
them while they were making a score of these little journeys. In
1877 this region was overrun with grasshoppers, upon which the
red-headed woodpeckers feasted royally while they lasted. I saw.
the birds out on the prairie, a mile or two from the timber, so
intent upon catching the ‘hoppers that they scarcely noticed one
in passing. Sometimes they would catch a hopper on the wing,
dodging around in a very lively manner to secure the insect, and
again they would hunt for their prey on the ground. The insect
secured, the bird would alight on a fence-post and devour it. I
have occasionally seen them, attended by their progeny, in the
open fields, where the old birds were engaged in catching insects
for the clamorous younglings, which had not yet learned to pro-
vide for themselves. It would seem that, at the time the young
birds require so much food, the old ones would need some readier
means of supply than would be afforded by pecking for grubs in
decayed timber, or searching for insects on the outside of trees—
whether the “creepers” had intruded upon their domain or not. So
far as I have been able to observe, the red-headed woodpecker is
fee a Biot “versatile bird,” evincing a readiness of resource ©

anda y adaptation to his environment that are truly won- —
erful: Shad. Aldrich, Webster city, Towa.

Fisu NOTES FROM THE Paciric Coast.—Several fine carp were ;

caught recently in Sonoma creek, one of which weighed nearly,

eight pounds. They are said to bite like a trout and to make a
good fight. Young catfish which were placed in Clear lake,

1The ce gra of ey and e EEP RA are conducted by Dr. Eeer B =

iw KU. S.A

1879. ] Zoology. 523

Lake county, last fall, and which at that time measured from one
to three inches in length, are found to have grown rapidly; some
have been caught within a few weeks that measured ten inches.

frequent occurrence to capture specimens weighing from fifty to
one hundred pounds.

The young trout with which the streams of Santa Cruz county
have been stocked are natives, coming from the McCloud river.
This species is regarded as the most vigorous, and frequently
attains the weight of five pounds. It is said to have a growth o
ten inches in one year. It is reported that the osiris miersi in
charge of the Yo Semite valley have decided to plant the McCloud
river trout in the streams of the Yo Semite reservation. e
experiments with the brook trout of the Atlantic States in the
streams of the coast range, have not been satisfactory; this is
owing, quitely likely, to two causes: first, too high a mean tem-
perature in the waters of said streams; and second, through the
impurities they contain, which must be especially obnoxious to
so dainty a fish during the fall months when the streams are low,
muddy and warm, and the water flavored more or less. by thè
bituminous shales through or over which they frequently flow,
and out of which ooze numerous small springs, often covered with
an oily slime or scum. Experiments with eastern trout are much
more likely to meet with success in the loftier regions of the
Sierra Nevada, in the clear cold waters of a granitic formation,
nearer the line of almost perpetual snow.

Santa Cruz fishermen sometimes ee a few mackerel and
shad in the neighboring waters of the . The former are a
native, the latter an introduced fish, but Ge scarce. For some
reason the mackerel do not strike in toward the shore to any
considerable extent. In consequence of this, the few that are
sent to the San Francisco market are sold at fancy prices

Salmon commenced Spm in Puget Sound about the 25th
of March.—Rodt. E. C. Stearn

NOTES on THE APPLE-WORM.—Mr. J. Savage, of Lawrence,
Kan., in a recent aa of Colman’ s Rural World remarks upon

ma of Ne
` York, and it doubtless obtained elsewhere. It will be well for us
to endeavor to arrive at the reasons. To my mind the following,
first stated by me in the New York Tribune, may very pro roperly
be urged: rst. The very general failure of the a pple crop in
1877, as exemplified in the reports for that year, wii we find
both in the Proceedings of the Michigan Pomological Society
and in those of the American Pomological Society. This failure
36

VOL, XNI.—No, VII,

524 General Notes. [ August,

was in many localities so nearly total that scarcely any apples
were grown, and it follows, as a consequence, that very few cod-
ling moths were produced to perpetuate the species the following
year. A second reason, so far as Michigan is concerned, may be
found in the fact that in no State in the Union have more intelli-
gent and persevering efforts been made to prevent its ravages.
Through the columns of the agricultural and horticultural jour-
nals as well as in the pages of their pomological transactions, the
simple methods of fighting this pest that have been reported and
recommended in the Missouri reports have been persistently kept
before the people, while Prof. Beal, of the Agricultural College,
has, perhaps, done more good than any one else by showing that _
it cost him no more than four cents per tree to keep the bands
around the trunks, changing them every nine days in the warm
months, from the first appearance of the worms until the end of
August, in an orchard of two hundred and fifty trees. I agree
with him when he asserts that “ if a man will not take the trouble
to keep his fruit from the worms, he deserves to eat wormy
apples.”

Missouri apple growers should take courage from these facts.
Since my connection with the Department of Agriculture there
have been sent to me four different kinds of patent bandages to
be used as traps for this apple-worm, but I can find no advantage
in any of them over the simple paper bandages first recommended
by me in 1872, and since very generally employed —Pvof. C. V.
Riley before the Mo. State Hort. Soc., 1879.

Dors THE Snowy OwL BREED IN THE Unitep States ?—The
snowy owl (Nyctea nivea) is a common winter visitant, near
Chicago. It frequents the haunts of rabbits and various mem-
bers of the grouse tribe. On the borders of Lake Ontario, 1n
the great wooded marshes, these birds find thousands of rabbits
roaming in night time in the frozen tracts. They are caught here
in large numbers, and the author recalls the capture of fifteen of
these during the winter of 1875, near Mexico, New York. The
manner in which they are captured is of no little interest. During
the day they take to the open lots adjoining the marshes, but 1n
the night ravage the woods. They are seldom known to leave
the small area selected for their depredations, unless driven away:
In the day area they have but three or four places on which they

alight, and when they are disturbed are sure to fly to one OF — ;

other of these places, often moving in a circuit for hours. A high
stake being placed in the center of the open lot, and a small steel-
trap placed thereon they will speedily take to the stake in prefer- _
ence to other resorts, and are consequently caught. No bait 1S —
placed in the trap, the bird being caught by making simple us¢
of the peculiarity of their habits. Their white plumage gives _
~ them the appearance of the snow beneath them, so that they may _

1879. ]. Zoology. 525

dart swiftly on their prey, almost unperceived. There is a matter
regarding the snowy owl in which ignorance of their habits or
scientific assumption must predominate. The assumption is that
they are strictly boreal, or Arctic, in their breeding habits. Many
farmers, however, along Lake Ontario assert they are seen there
during the entire year, and there is consequently a belief among
them that they breed there. In the “ North Woods” of New York
the author once saw a young snowy owl—not nearly full fledged
—shot by a hunter in early spring. The hunter eee that
the bird was one of several young seen by him in proximity to
each other. I am not yet prepared to believe that they breed in
that latitude, but record the current opinions for the use of any
one who may investigate the matter fully—W. H. Ballou.

DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKES.—In the Am. NATURALIST (Oct., 1878,
p. 694), the essay on the Natural History of Guiana (1769) should
have been credited to Edward Bancroft whose name stands at the
end of the dedication. The monstrous snake of Lake Champlain
with two heads side by side seems to be of an unknown species,
judging from the doubtful checker-board spots, although it is
compared with “the rattle-snake.” Here ‘‘amphisbcena”’ is a
misnomer, as the name implies the ability to go in both direc-
tions (forward and backward), a power possessed by these lacer-
tians, both ends having nearly the same shape.— S. S. Haldeman.

AMIA CALVA.—We have received a letter from Jacob Stauffer,
of Lancaster, Pa., in which he states that a specimen of Amia
calva has recently been taken in the Susquehanna river, below
Safe Harbor, and is now preserved in the Linnean Society of
Lancaster. This is the first definite account of the existence of
this species in the Susquehanna, though as pointed out by Mr.
Stauffer, DeKay had suspected it. Mr. Stauffer calls attention
to the pouch enclosed between the sub-lingual bone and the
throat of this fish, which has been little or not at all noticed by
writers.

Hasits or Ants.—lIn the sixth part of Sir John Lubbock’s
Observations on the habits of Ants, Bees and Wasps, the author
shows that the hairs of plants keep insects from climbing up the
stalks, as he believes, to prevent them from obtaining access to
the flowers, and from robbing-them of their honey. He also con-
firms Denny and Lespes’ statement that workers ants are capabile
of laying eggs, and Forel and Dewitz’s discovery that the eggs pro-
duce males, stating that he has bred in his nests “a large number
of males;” thus, as in bees, the fertile workers can produce males
only. That ants may live three or four years, and that in some nests
100,000 individuals may be by no means an unusual number, is
also stated. Many facts regarding the recognition of friends are

Stated, indicating that “ ants of the same nest do not recognize one |

526 General Notes. [ August,

another by any password. On the other hand, if ants are removed
from a nest in the pupa state, tended by strangers and then re-
stored, some at least of their relatives are certainly puzzled, and
in many cases doubt their claim to consanguinity. I say some,
because while strangers, under the circumstances, would have
been immediately attacked, these ants were in every case amicably
received by the majority of the colony, and it was sometimes
several hours before they came across one who did not recognize
them.” Lubbock believes that ants produce sounds, and alludes
to a letter in Mature for December, from Mr. T. S. Tait, who
writing from Baroda, says that by means of the microphone “ we
have been able to hear the roar [sic] of a black ant when attacked
by its companion.” Lubbock adds that “Prof. Bell most kindly
set up for me an extremely sensitive microphone ; it was attached
to the under side of one of my nests, and though we could dis-
tinctly hear the ants walking about, we could not distinguish any
other sound. It is, however, far from improbable that ants may
produce sounds entirely beyond our range of hearing ; indeed it
is not impossible that insects may possess senses, or rather sensa-
tions, of which we can no more form an idea than we should
have been able to conceive red or green if the human race had
been blind. The human ear is sensitive to vibrations reaching
to 38,000 ina second. The sensation of red is produced when
470 millions of millions of vibrations enter the eye in a similar
time; but between these two numbers vibrations produce on us
only the sensation of heat; we have no special organs of sense
adapted to them. But there is no reason in the nature of things
why this should be the case with other animals; and the prob-
lematical organs possessed by many of the lower forms favor the
suggestion. If any apparatus could be devised by which the
number of vibrations produced by any given cause could be
lowered so as to be brought within the range of our ears, it 15
probable that the result would be most interesting.”

He also relates an anecdote of the kind treatment, by its fel-
lows, of an ant born without antennæ, adding, “It would have
been difficult for any one who witnessed this scene to have denied
to this ant the possession of human feelings.” On the other

i ; :

”

matter, and do not even stop to look on.
Rev. Mr. McCook, of Philadelphia, author of a recent work on
the agricultural ant of Texas, states that the mandibles of ants
are worn off and become blunted by the labor which they per-
form. His observations have been confirmed by Mr. E. P. Aus-
tin from the examination of the mandibles of nearly hundred
specimens of a ground beetle (Pasimachus). Mr. McCook early
rpose of

in July went to Colorado and New Mexico for the pu

1879. | A nthropology. 527

ele A the habits of the mound ant, ee ee
a common and characteristic ant of the Western pla

A Polsonous CENTIPEDE—Last winter ss eared a living
Cermatia forceps in wrapping paper in my house in Providence,
R.I. It is possible that it came in a bundle eee Princeton, N. J.,
and was not a native Rhode Islander. The Cermatia is the most
highly developed of all Myriopods; has long sprawling legs, and
is greenish-brown in color. It has not before been known to
exist north of Philadelphia, and has been found there to be use-
ful in destroying insects and spiders.—A. S. Packard, Fr.

ANTHROPOLOGY.*

Mastopon, MamMmMotH AND MaAn.—The Rev. J. P. Maclean is
the author of a small work published in Cincinnati, and entitled
“Mastodon, Mammoth and Man.” The interest in the public
mind concerning the contemporaneity of man with the mastodon
and mammoth, and the inaccessibility of reliable information on
the subject, induced the author to compile this work. The sub-
ject of the great antiquity of these animals is not treated here,
having been discussed more fully in the author’s work entitled “A
Manual of the Antiquity of Man.” Part first of the volume now
before us relates to the mastodon ; part second to the mammoth,
and part third to man. In the last chapter are brought together
all the instances in which human bones or implements are alleged
to have been found in conjunction with remains of the mastodon
or the mammoth.

RCHAOLOGY AT St. Louis AND PHILADELPHIA.—In the St.
Louis loan exhibition the department of archeology was well
represented from the collections of Dr. George Engelmann,
Messrs. F. M. Perrine, M. S. Mepham, John H. Henderson,
J- T. ‘Snyder, F. F. Hilde er, C. Croswell, A: J. Conant, Dr.
Patrick, J. C. Zimmer and the collection of the St. Louis Academy
of Sciences. Those who had the ape of enjoying the
hospitality of these gentlemen at St. Louis, last summer, will
remember the great beauty and value of some of these private
collections. It makes one shudder to think how much ious
material may be sported away at the mercy of a single friction

match. Cannot some plan be devised by which a gentleman of
taste and means may indulge in the luxury of a private collec-
tion in a fire-proof building, so arranged that the public ma
enjoy the sight of it without trenching on private hospitality ?

n the heels of the foregoing announcement comes a pamphlet
from our friend, Mr. E. A. Barber, number five of the Official
Bulletin of the International Exhibition, Fairmount Park, Phila-

delphia, giving a full description of the department of archeology :
and ethnology, under his charge. “It is proposed also to estab- _
_ 1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. —

528 General Notes. [August,

lish a library of anthropological works which shall be free to all
students in this department of science. At an early day classes
wil] be formed which will be instructed in the various branches of
the subject by means of a course of lectures, to be delivered by
competent teachers and illustrated by means of the collections at
hand.”

CHUNGKEE STONES AND Quolts seem to occur on the Sus-
quehanna, in South-eastern Pennsylvania, the former with a
shallow concavity on each side, deepening toward the center ; the
latter roughly lenticular, margin chipped to an edge; in a speci-
men before me (three and a-half inches in diameter) one side has
a fovea for the thumb. Dr. Abbott’s figure 210 may represent a
quoit.—S. S. Haldeman, Chickies, Pa.

Iron Axes like figure 31 (AMERICAN NATURALIST, Dec., 1878,
p. 785) are regarded as French. They occur in Pennsylvania on
the Susquehanna, and are without steel. One before me has on
each side the three impressed circlets thus ,*,, their interior
shaped like a rude star, and not as in figure 31, which may be
erroneous, See American Antiquarian, Jan., 1879, p. 170-2.—
A Hey

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—In the Magazine of American His-

tory for April, Dr. Charles Rau gives a letter from Mr. Worsaae,
director of the Museum of Northern Antiquities, at Copenhagen,
upon the transfer of the Dighton rock to the Society of Northern
Antiquaries by Mr. Niels Amzen, and its re-transfer to the Boston
committee upon a monument to commemorate the landing of
the Northmen in North America.
_ Dr. Frank L. James, of Osceola, Arkansas, writes to the Smith-
sonian Institution describing vases with the orifice on the side of
the neck, and bearing upon the bottom unmistakable evidence of
having been moulded upon a gourd which was subsequently
burned out.

Prof. Cleveland Abbe draws attention to an article in the Mew
England Historical and Genealogical Register, Jan.. 1879, by the
Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, on pre-historic copper implements. The
communication is in the form of an open letter to the Historical
Society of Wisconsin. Mr. Slafter seeks, at first, to show from
the cultivation of the savages in other directions that it does not
seem to be an act of credulity to believe that the Indians of the
early settlers were capable of manufacturing these copper imple-
menti, by shaping them under the hammer or by casting them in
moulds.

The second part of the article consists of testimony drawn
from the journals of early European explorers or colonists show-
— ing that implements of copper were in use among, or were made

~ by the Indians then inhabiting the country. Jacques Cartier, in

1879. | Anthropology. 529

1535, 0n his second voyage, was informed by his two Indians who
were with him that red copper came from Saguenay, meaning the
Lake Superior region. He says, “ The savages that we had with
us told us that here was the beginning of Saguenay, and that the
country was inhabited, and that from thence came the red copper
which they called caignetdaze.” Other references to this same
caignetdaze are given from Cartier, and an extract from Champlain
on copper implements. Prof. Abbe asks whether this word
caigneétdaze may have any connection with the origin of the word
Canada. We have been under the impression that the Iroquois
Kanata gave rise to the word Canada ; flag perhaps some of the
readers of the NATURALIST can shed some light upon the subject.
umbers 2, 3 and 4 of IPER A tly contain a few
papers of general interest. In number 2 we have a communica-
tion by Dr. von Christ before the Anthropological Society of
Munich, upon Schliemann’s excavations at Mycene, and a pros-
pectus of the T bigs eae ta exhibition at Moscow.
In number 3, Prof. H. er, of Freiburg, gives some further
information upon the diffusion of hatchets of nephrite, jadeite and
chloromelanite, especially in Europe. Dr. Korbin, of Berlin,
contributes to number 4 a paper on new anthropological meas- —
uring apparatus and methods. In the same number Mr. In agy vald

numbers 10-12 of 1878, and 1-3 of 1879, also furnish original
papers of general interest. It will be impossible to give more
than the titles of the articles: Prahistorische Eisenschmeltz und
Schmiedestatten in Mähren, by Dr. H. Wankel, Vol. vi, 289;
Ueber die Kosmogonie und Anthropogenie des germanischen
Mythus, by Dr. M. Much, id., 324; Ueber die angeblich trepanir-
ten Cranien des Beinhauses zu Sedlec in Bohmen, by Dr. Hein-
rich Wankel, id., 352; Archäologische Beiträge aus dem Osten
Europas, by A. Teplouchoff, id., 360; Ueber die Wahl der
kraniometrischen Ebenen, by Prof. "Moriz Benedikt, Vol. 1x, 1;
Offener Brief an Herrn Prof. Benedikt von Paul Broca, id., 16: ;
Die Ursitze der Gothen, by Dr. Fligier, id, 15; Künstliche
Höhlen in Niederösterreich, by Dr. M. Much, id., 18; German-
ische ana des oberen Waagthales in Ungarn, \ von Julius
Neudeck, id., 29.

Archiv für senate rg er xI, part 3, Jan, 1879. Die
communale “ Zeiteh e Ueberreste, von M. Kulischer ;
Das Urnenfeld von Beg oo von Graf Gundaker Wurmbrand,
Pp. 231-280, with tables, 1x—x111; Ueber gewisse Ueberbleibsel
embryonaler Formen in der Steissbeingegend beim ne ae
neugebornen, und erwachsenen Menschen, von A. Ec ker
281-284.

Mittheilungen aus der russischen Literatur über fuchropaees ie
und Archäologie, von Dr. Ludwig Stieda. Thi irty titles exam-

530 General Notes. [August,

ined, pp. 287-353 (best thing in the number, and first rate). Ueber
einige neuere Arbeiten über das Gehirn, Prof. Dr. Pansch, in
Kiel, 354-365; A review of Poesche’s “ Die Arier,’ A. Ecker;
Ethnographisches aus der neueren Reiseliteratur, von F. Ralzel;
A review of the transactions of learned societies and associations ;
The Fourth Russian Archzological Congress at Kasan; The
British Association ; International Congress; American Associa-
tion. In this number we have the second of the series of cata-
logues of anthropological museums of Germany in the list of the
Anthroplogical Collection of the University of Gottingen, founded
by Blumenbach, by Dr. J. W. Spengel; and Catalogue of the
Anthropological Collection of the Universi ity of Freiburg, by
Alexander Ecker. Everything is nicely done in these lands.

M. Emile Cartailhac, the editor of Matériaux pour I Histoire
de l Homme, sends us a pamphlet of 103 pages, entitled “ L’Age
de Pierre dans Les Souvenirs et Superstitions bs aii: par M.
Emile Cartailhac, avec 68 gravures et 2 planches dans le texte,
Paris. C. Reinwald, 1878. The author has teed engaged upon
this study for some time past and has contributed several papers
bearing thereupon to the Matériaux. We give the contents of
the seven chapters
La pierre de foudre, le coin du tonnerre,

. Des haches de pierre transformées en amulettes,
III. Pointes de fleches en si ex montées en argent et e
1V. Les bijoux = sie charmes sous forme de pointes de flèches
et de hachet
V. Le röle des am taillés dans les cérémonies religieuses en
Orient et en Occident.
VI. De la transition de rage de pierre a l’âge de bronze.
VII. L’age de pierre et les auteurs classiques de l'antiquité.

The following papers have come to notice since our last issue:
The Practice of Medicine and Surgery by the Aboriginal races
of the South-west, by Dr. W. J. Hoffman, Philadelphia Reporter,
Feb. 22d, 3 pp. The Ancient Cities of Cibola, Rev. S. Jack-
son, Rocky Mountain News, Jan——The Failures and Fallacies

bd
Aa

of Prehistoric Archæolo ogy, Rev. J. A. Waddell, Southern Pres-

byterian Review, Oct.
GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.
A Decane or Docs.—The Truckee beds of the White river
formation in Oregon have yielded a larger number of species Of
Camde than any other American horizon, while representatives
of other families of Carnivora are much less common. Ten spe-

sme Land.;. J, CRS AG, s Gams L; G geismarianus ; n

- Ve C. See ` C gregarius; Amphicyon ae

a in vetus

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 531

THE CLASSIFICATION OF Rocks.—Mr. M. E. Wadsworth pub-
lishes in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy of

ambridge! an abstract of a thesis on the classification of rocks,
from which we extract the following: “No natural distinction
can be drawn between rocks of the Tertiary and Pre-Tertiary ages,
since the glass and fluidal inclusions, ia ait texture, and the
various other characters fail, exactly where they are most needed,
to divide the rocks into older and nosis as is done by the
majority of lithologists,

“The writer believes that rocks should be studied, by begin-
ning with their most compact or glassy state, and by then tracing
them through to the most orystallige form, following every altera-
tion, whether it be chemical or mechanical. Every | rock that can
be traced in this way forms a distinct species, whatever may be
its state,—whether amorphous, glassy, crystalline, fragmental,
tufaceous, or otherwise,—and whatever may be its age. The
modifications, if of sufficient importance, form varieties simply,
which should be included under the specific name. A natural
classification of rocks must be empirical, and must be based on
the rock as a whole, while a natural mineralogical classification is
an impossibility, as it is based on part of the ‘characters on

“If we except the veinstones and the majority of those keks
that are composed of one mineral, the species of rock forming the
crust of the globe are very few. Believing that this earth is a
cooling globe, all manifestations of internal heat giving rise to

forms came primarily from volcanic ones, volcanic energy having
been more active than now in the past ages of the globe. This
derivation is consonant with that which we see taking place at
the present time, and agrees with the law of dissipation of energy;
while the reverse view, at present popular,—that eruptive rocks
were derived from sedimentary ones,—is contrary to the positive
testimony of the rocks themselves, to the facts that are observed
in nature, and to physical laws.

“ Taking the aerate of any rock as its initial point, the
minerals and rock fi ents contained therein fall naturally
sp three classes : 1. Miben and fragments of prior origin ;

he Poh se tiat consolidation ; 3. The products of altera-
tion and infiltrat

“These three prie are most marked in the volcanic rocks, as
is natural; the first two predominating in the younger and least
altered, the latter in the older and more altered ones, while the
first and third classes predominate in sedimentary rocks, These
alterations apparently take place through the agency of the ordi-

1 Vol. V., No. 13, 1879.

532 General Notes. [ August,

nary percolating waters, which are not necessarily hot. The
minerals and fragments of the first class, I find, fall into two divi-
sions in the volcanic rocks: 1. Those that are characteristic of
the rock species, and which were probably derived from the re-
fusion of this species, that had crystallized at the depth at which
it was prior to the eruption; 2. Those that are accidental, proba-
bly caught in the passage upward or during the outflow. ‘Similar
divisions are found, to a greater or less extent, in the sedimentary
rocks, according as they were derived from one or more rocks,
and also according to the preponderance of different rock frag-
ments and minerals in them. Details of these occurrences will
be given in the final publication.

“ Believing that new names should not be employed, except in
cases of absolute necessity for filling gaps in the classification,
the effort has been made to retain all the old names that are nec-
essary, in their most es use, and to reject all needless ones,
that can be so dealt wi

“Starting with the Banc rocks, I shall pass from the glassy
states to the most crystalline, from the least altered to the most
altered, and from the massive to the clastic, keeping on a similar
range of chemical composition, and tracing the various gradations.
step by step. I shall also, in like manner, trace the gradations

necessities of the case, both in the use of these observations in a
thesis and in giving a post-graduate course in lithology in this
Museum, my work was made public before it was entirely com-
pleted, it has been deemed necessary to publish this abstract in
advance. Several matters of detail yet remain to be worked out,
which may modify some of the general views. All that is liable
to be so modified must, therefore, be withheld for the present.”

GEOLOGICAL AND PALHONTOLOGICAL News.—M. Mariano Bar-
- cena continues his researches on the geology and paleontology of
Mexico in the Anales del useo Nacion al de Me xico. —Dr.

nodon, Titanosaurus indicus, Plesiosaurus, etc. Dr. Lydekker in
another paper describes an extinct Quadrumane from the Sewaliks
of enian, of rather larger size than the orang outang, which he
names Palæopithecus sivalensis. r. C. D. Walcott of Albany,
tt Y., continues his researches on the structure of the Moss ar
us an account of the metamorphoses of Triarthru.
becki of the Trenton limestone. He also discusses the Utica stole
and its fossils ——The Rev. W. H. Barris publishes in the proceed-
ings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences an account of the
, local geology of el ie Iowa, and describes some new Cor-
a niferous fossils.

1879. | Geography and Travels. 533

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

THE SLAVE TRADE IN CENTRAL AFRICA.—While the transpor-
tation of slaves from the coast to Zanzibar has been almost
entirely stopped by the exertions of the British navy, slaves in
arge numbers are still brought to the coast mostly from the tribes
living to the east of Lake Nyassa. Huge caravans are reported
passing north along the coast, and probably these slaves are
embarked from points far to the north in the Somali country.
Others are smuggled into dhows by twos and threes at the coast
towns, and so escape detection. The presence of Europeans even
singly and unarmed in the interior has done much to discourage
the kidnapping of the natives. A missionary in East Africa,
writing to the London Times, quotes a chief as saying: “We
don’t want to sell slaves if we can get our wants supplied by other
means. You have come here with cloth, and beads, and brass
wire, things which we formerly bought with slaves, but now we
can sell our grain, our rice, our beans, our eggs, our fowls for
them, and we are well satisfied. As to gunpowder, you won't
bring that and sell it to us, but we are safe now that you live
here, people won’t come to sell us into slavery ; we are, like you,
living in peace, and so we no longer want gunpowder.”

e trade is also being stealthily carried on in the Red sea.
An interesting letter to the Zimes, from Alexandria, gives an
account of Col. Gordon’s successful efforts to destroy this traffic

Nile to the equatorial lakes, from the western frontier of Darfur to
Cape Gardafui and the towns of Berbera and Zyla on the Indian
cean. .
Having succeeded in the first two years of his government in
establishing order throughout his dominions, he next turned his
attention to breaking up the trade in slaves, prevailing chiefly
between tenth and fifth degrees of north latitude, and especially in
` the region described by Schweinfurth as forming the water-shed of
the Bahr Gazel—a vast alluvial land formerly rich in population,
corn and cattle, but now turned into “ barren wildernesses.” In
1871 Dr. Schweinfurth estimated that 2000 traders were annually
obtaining 15,000 slaves from one set of tribes alone. In the last
half of 1878, Col. Gordon arrested forty-two caravans and liber-
ated the slaves. Finally he despatched Capt. Gessi with 3000
men against Suleyman, the principal slave dealer, who had broken
out into open rebellion.
In an attack made by Suleyman, with 11,000 men, on Capt. |
Gessi’s entrenched position on the 27th of December last, the
rebels were totally defeated, leaving 1087 dead on the field, and
on the following day 5000 deserters came over to Gessi’s camp. _
“The enemy retired but Gessi followed them up and killed ten

chiefs and over 2000 of his men, and is still in pursuit.. ie

l Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia. _

$34 General Notes. [August,

capture of all the positions which at present serve as so many
slave trade centers is considered now certain. The root of all the-
nefarious traffic will thus be destroyed, and the destruction of
these merchants means the end of the trade.

Owing to the many natural impediments, Col. Gordon is con-
vinced that the commercial highway of Europe to the rich equa-
torial districts of Africa does not lie along the Nile but by way
of the Indian ocean.

MICROSCOPY.!

Purity oF Lake Warer.—In a Report on Microscopical Ex-
aminations of the water from Lake Michigan, as delivered from
the city hydrants in Chicago, by Mr. B. W. Thomas, in the Third
Annual Report of the Board of Public Works of that city, it is
argued that the water for supplying the hydrants is taken from
too near the shore, although pumped from cribs which are two
miles out in the lake. After describing the method of obtaining
organisms by filtering the water through a piece of cotton cloth
tied in the form of a bag over the end of a faucet, and enume-
rating the harmless vegetable and animal forms that constitute

and when once taken into the tunnels and mains they continue to
multiply, and a few of them can be found in the water supply at
almost all seasons of the year.

ti
supply es
_ ` This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y.

1870. | Scientific News. 535

“ Evidence in corroboration of statements like this is so abun-
dant and easily obtained that it cannot be successfully refuted,
and the only conclusion that I can arrive at is, that the purity of
the hydrant water can only be maintained by preventing the dis-
charge of all impurities into the lake, or by extending the tunnels
a sufficient distance from the shore to be beyond their influence.”

MicroMetric Ruiinc.—Several observers now claim to have
resolved the bands of lines 120,000 to the inch, by both Rogers
and Fasoldt. Prof. Rogers’ recent work has been devoted to the
methods and instruments for obtaining aliquot parts of the stand-
ard yard and metre with great precision, rather than to the pro-
duction of extremely close rulings. Mr. Fasoldt is now ruling
twelve-band plates, with bands claiming from 12,500 to 150,000
lines to the inch,

3:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Congress, at the recent session, transferred the cotton worm
investigation from the Department of Agriculture to the Depart-
ment of the Interior, adding it to the work of the U. S. Entomol-
ogical Commission, Prof. C. V. Riley, the chairman of the Com-
mission, having resigned his position as Entomologist to the
Agricultural Department, owing to the inability of the present
Commissioner to appreciate scientific energy and methods, and
to give due credit for them, in a department where they are needed
just at present more than in any other. Prof. Riley, who has the
investigation of the cotton worm in special charge, is now in
Texas, with the agent of the Commission, Mr. Schwartz, and has
already determined that the cotton worm hybernates in the moth
state in the Cotton States; that the worms in Texas appear as
early as the middle of May of nearly full size, nearly six weeks
before they had ever been seen by the planter; experiments will
also be made as to the best means of destroying the worm, on a
large scale. Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr., is spending the summer in Col-
orado, Wyoming, Utah and Eastern Idaho, investigating the present
Status in the permanent breeding places of the Rocky Mountain
locust, and Prof. Cyrus Thomas is to make a trip to Dakota for
the same purpose. A number of agents are also at work in the
West, The Commission also designs, incidentally to this investi-
gation, working up the Chinch bug, Hessian fly and Canker
worms, and has sent out circulars asking for local information as
to the habits and statistics of losses. Entomologists are desired
to cooperate in the work this season.

— Mr. King, director of the U. S. National Geological Survey,
has secured the passage of a bill through Congress authorizing
the extension of the operations of the survey over the several

States of the Union. It is said that he proposes doing some

536 Scientific News. [ August,

work in Tennessee the present year. This plan of Director King
appears to us to be of doubtful propriety, and in fact only defen-
sible on the supposition that Congress will treble its usual appro-
priation for the survey. Moreover, the people and legislatures of
the several States should by no means be relieved of the respon-
sibility of conducting their own geological surveys at their own
expense. Mr. King also announces that the work of the survey
will be restricted, at present, to mining and petrographic geology.
This is in the line of contraction already anticipated by this
Journal.

-— have received the announcement and description of the
zoological laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of the Catholic
University of Lyons extracted from The Contemporain of March.
It includes laboratories of anatomy, physiology, microscopy,
drawing ; also museum, aquarium, lecture room, etc. The appli-
ances appear to be excellent.

— Prof. Harrison Allen has been elected to the chair of physi-
ology in the University of Pennsylvania, and has resigned the
professorship of zoology of the summer course. To this posi-
tion Dr. A. J. Parker has been elected.

— Prof. H. C. Wood, of the University of cases Bon: is now
engaged in physiological studies in Vienna, and Prof. Frances
Emily White, of the Women’s Medical College, of Philadelphia,
is in London on a similar erran

— Prof. W. M. Fontaine has sae elected to the chair of nat-
ural history and botany in the University of Virginia.

— The Penn Monthly publishes in its July number an interest-
ing article, by Edward oan en © on the ariek of animals.

able to science.

"he Report of the Fruit Growers’ Association of the Province
of Ontario, for 1878, has just been received. It contains the An-
nual Report of the Entomological Society of the Province of On-
tario, and papers relating to injurious insects, of considerable

local interest.

— A general work on the Natural History of the ape eee
by Dr. Friedr. Knauer, of Vienna, is announced. It will be in
octavo, with 120 illustrations, 4 maps and 2 plates.

— H. Holt & Co., New York, a. in press a Zoology for Col-
pe and Hi Schools, by A. S. Packard, Jr., to be published

1879. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 537

— The Massachusetts Board of Health have undertaken to
make an investigation into the laws of the hereditary transmis-
sion of disease, and have issued a circular with a blank, which
has been prepared for the collection of statistics, upon which can .
be based an investigation of the laws governing the inheritance
of pathological conditions, abnormal characteristics of all kinds,
and any family characteristics or peculiarities sufficiently marked
to have been made the subject of observation. Those who may
be interested in helping in the matter should apply to Prof. Al-
pheus Hyatt, Boston Society of Natural History, Boston, Mass.,
for the circular and blank, and return them when answered to the
same address,

— The Summer School of the Johns Hopkins University will
be located, the present summer, near the mouth of Chesapeake
b Prof. Baird, of the Fish Commission, has given it the use
of a steamer for dredging purposes, and the students will board
on barges anchored in the bay. We have received, from time to
time, Directions for Laboratory Work of the Teachers’ Class in
Elementary Zoology at the University. They are prepared by
Prof. W. K. Brooks, on the general plan of Huxley and Martin’s
Biology, and seem to serve the purpose of giving the student a
thorough, well-grounded knowledge of structural zodlogy, and
we doubt if any other college would show more care and thor-
oughness in teaching. A few copies are for sale at the Univer-
sity

— The great work of G. W. Tryon, Jr., on the Mollusca, has
reached the third part of the Cephalopoda.

——— 0m

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, May 19.—Papers were read
by Dr. R. P. Stevens on the corrugation of peat-marsh by pres-
rete and by S. W. Ford on the composition of the primordial

una.

MIDDLESEX ScrentiFic FIELD CLuB, MALDEN, Mass., June 4.—
Frank S. Collins read a paper on the best methods of gathering-
and preserving seaweeds. L. L. Dame mentioned the occurrence

of Clematis (Atragene) verticillaris in Medford. This plant has _
not before been recorded from Middlesex county. Miss Martha _

Silvester made some remarks on the genus Viola. A paper oo
the importance of visiting the large museums was presented by

538 Selected Articles in Scientific Serials. [ August, ’79.

M. A. Hardaker. She advocated the use of these museums, as
the members would there learn by illustration the system used in
Zoology, etc. H. L. Moody presented a list of eighteen species
and one variety of Solidago found in Malden and vicinity, and
made some remarks on doubtful species. Mr. Moody also men-
tioned that he had bred Capnochroa fuliginosa from the larva.
The larva does not differ from the usual Cistelidous type.

had attempted to breed Capnia ps8 gmara and a species of Gordius
from eggs. The young Capnia were destroyed by other larvæ
when of an age to be doe s seen by the unaided eye. The
Gordius larvæ are still alive.

-O%

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND Arts—June. The forests
of Central Nevada, with some remarks on those of the adjacent
regions, by C. S. Sargent. Notice of recent additions to the ma-
rine fauna of North America, No. 5, by A. E. Verrill. Polydac-
tyle horses, recent and extinct, by O. C. Marsh.

THE JOURNAL oF ConcHotocy—May. Notes on the habits and
distribution of certain West Indian Pulmonifera, by J.S. Gibbons.

ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, VIII, Nos. 2, 3.—1878.
Organization and eatin of some endoparasitic marine
rhea y M. Villot. Migrations and metamorphoses of the

nie of moles (horde), by M. Villot. Dredgings off Marseilles,
ie M. Marion.

SIEBOLD UND KÖLLIKER’S ZEITSCHRIFT FUR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE
ZoOLoGiE.—May 26. Studies on the cided gure of Fae
by E. Metschnikoff. On the means by which mammals adhere

wards by atmospheric pressure on more or less per-
pendicular surfaces, by O. Monike. Contribution to a knowledge
of the reproductive organs of free-living Copepoda, by A. Gruber,
Researches on the finer structure of the digestive a of Emys
europea, by J. Machate

PsycHE.—May, Sones) The anatomy of Amdlychila sapere
by C. F. Gissler.

20?

ERRATA.— — Page 141, in third line of second pa ragraph, before the word “ during ” and after the
word ‘' well,’’ in the ninth hme. insert " nana, she marks.”
Page 142, strth line from bottom of f page, read “ Se wer br mri * instead of ‘‘ though more,”
bottom
h

ad raph fourth line, ord south shou he og word “ neighborhood” :
‘paragraph /, sae Beals bottom, for“ twist ” read “ twists. Sieg
second paragraph A A ine from bottom, after ‘the word “ spikelet” in the parenthesis,
heen tb thir eei pia E fy

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xiii. — SEPTEMBER, 1879. — No. 9.

BRAZILIAN CORALS AND CORAL REEFS.
BY RICHARD RATHBUN.

g- first accurate information regarding the character and

extent of the Brazilian coral reefs, as well as of the sandstone
reefs, dates from the earlier explorations of the late Prof. Hartt
in Brazil. Prior to the publication of his general work, referred
to in the June number of this journal, there existed only a few
imperfect notices of corals and coral banks on the Brazilian
coast. Spix and Von Martius, during their South American
travels in the early part of this century, discovered patches of
living and dead corals at several localities along the sea coast of
Buhin: but they did not stop to fully investigate them or extend
their observations, and the corals they collected were erroneously
referred to old Lamarckian species.

Darwin, who touched at the Abrolhos isfands, saw corals grow-
ing upon the shore, but overlooked the vast and curious reefs
that occupy so much of the surrounding region. On the author-
ity of others, however, he states that around these islands “the
bottom of the sea is entirely coated by irregular masses of corals,
which, although often of large size, do not reach the surface and
form proper reefs.” In this he was partly right, but very largely
wrong, as we shall see farther on. Darwin also refers to coral
reefs at Maceio and Pernambuco, and Prof. Dana mentions a reef
near the latter place. Other observers had increased the number
of localities where coral reefs occur, so that when Prof. Hartt
began his studies of these structures, we were already acquainted,
in a general way, with a line of scattered, and often widely sepa-

rated, coral reefs and banks extending from the Abrolhos islands
northward to Maranhão. Our information respecting them was, o os

VOL, XIII.—wNo. 1X. 37

540 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. | (September,

however, very meagre, and usually unreliable. Only a very few
species of Brazilian corals were known, and these were mostly
Gorgonians from the bays of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

The sandstone reef and coral reef regions of Brazil are nearly
coéxtensive, but while the stone reefs are always confined to the
immediate neighborhood of the shore, coral reefs frequently lie
some distance out, at times forty or fifty miles. It was while
investigating the stone reef at Porto Seguro, in 1866, that Hartt’s
attention was first attracted to the coral reefs, one of which stretches
across the mouth of the bay of Porto Seguro, in front of the
sandstone structure. This reef was carefully studied, and grow-
ing upon it were discovered all the commoner Brazilian corals.
A year later Prof. Hartt visited the Abrolhos islands, for the pur-
pose of examining the many reefs that cluster about that little
group of Continental islets. The trip was a very successful one,
resulting in the discovery of new and interesting phenomena in
connection with the formation of coral reefs. Many corals were
obtained, including all the species previously found at Porto Seguro,
and these constituted the first large collection of Brazilian corals to
be properly studied and described. The work of classifying this
material was entrusted to Prof. Verrill, of Yale College, who de-
cided that nearly all the forms were new to science.

Prof. Hartt’s studies on the Brazilian coast have proved that
Madreporian corals grow abundantly on or near the shore, from
Maranhão southward to Cape Frio; south of which only a few
Astrangians have been collected. Coral reefs are, however, more
restricted in their range, as they do not pass to the southward of
the Abrolhos region. Just to the east of the Abrolhos islands,
between these islands and the mainland, and thence northward to
near the city of Bahia, coral reefs are very numerous, often
fringing the shores, but more commonly growing in large and
irregular patches in the deeper water. From Bahia to Maranhao
coral reefs are much less abundant, being confined to certain
localities near the shore. The Roccas, between Fernando de
Noronha and the coast, are, however, entirely of coral. The
Brazilian coral fauna is very poor in species, but, as far as it goes,
closely resembles that of the West Indies, many of its species
being representatives ones. A large number of the commoner 3
West Indian genera, such as Madrepora, Meeandrina, Dipl a

ees are = Brazil.

1879.] Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 541

Having thus briefly defined our present knowledge of Brazilian
corals and coral reefs, let us proceed to study them more in detail,
as they appear to one ie through the regions in which
they are contained.

Rocky shores, although usually of a tame character, are not
uncommon in the coral region of Brazil, and they afford a proper
footing for the growth of corals, both as scattered masses and in
the form of reefs. The Bay of Bahia has quite a rich coral
fauna, and presenting a varied shore enables us to study well the
several littoral and shallow water species. As we enter the bay
through its broad mouth, high cliffs of gneiss stand up before us
on the right, but they soon give way to a low, and often nearly
level shore of Cretaceous shales, sandstones and conglomerates,
which, interspersed with beaches of sand, border almost the entire
bay. Long stretches of rock lie under the influence of the tides,
being entirely covered during flood, and exposed at low water.
In addition to these, countless ledges exist everywhere off the
shore, and being always submerged are better suited for coral life.

In the many tide pools of the rocky surfaces, and just below
the level of low tide, live in abundance two of the most common
of the Brazilian corals, Siderastrea stellata and Favia gravida.
These two species are almost always associated together, and they
range throughout the entire coral region above defined. The for-
mer is, however, the more abundant, and attains the larger size;
it is also the more hardy species, and at low tide may be exposed
to a burning sun for an hour or more without sustaining injury.
The size and shape of these coral masses, as well as the general
structure of their cells, often vary greatly, according to the kind
of rock on which they grow.

If the shore be formed of shales, presenting a level surface but
affording only an insecure attachment, the corallum will spread
outwards rather than upwards, giving rise to a thin flattened mass
which may be over a foot and a half across and less than an inch
thick. A smooth sandstone surface gives a firmer foundation,
and permits, as it were, a thicker growth, although the tendency
is still toward lateral spreading. Shores of gneiss and conglom-
erate are, however, generally rough and jagged, pierced with
irregular holes and beset with multitudes of rounded or angular
projections, On such a surface the growth of flat and level cor- __
alla is impossible ; they tend to rise in hemispherical or globular

542 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. (September,

masses, conforming more or less in size and shape to the projec-
tions from which they spring. This law of variation seems to
hold good for the entire coast. A small species of Porites occurs
at times, associated with the two species above named.

A little deeper down, where they can seldom, if ever, be uncov-
ered by even the lowest tides, come in other and more showy
corals. Mussas grow profusely at many localities, seeming to
prefer the abrupt outer edges of the submerged rocks. They
belong to two species, one with separated cells not now living in
the Bay of Bahia, the other having the cells closely joined nearly
to their summits. Occasionally we find small heads of Orbicella
and Acanthastrza in similar situations, but these more commonly
inhabit deeper water. The same may also be said of Millepora,
the hydroid coral, of which there are two common and one rare
species on the Brazilian coast ; in very shallow water it is stunted
in growth and usually bears only short branches. Living on the
under sides of stones, in company with encrusting bryozoans, is

a very small Astrangian, consisting of many widely separated
cells united by thin creeping stolons.

An Agaricia, very rare in the Bay of Bahia but more common
elsewhere, generally grows attached to some other coral, as, for
instance, to the dead base of Mussa. On the coast of Pernam-
buco there is also a small Stylaster attaching itself in the same
way. Pectinia braziliensis is seldom found adhering to a rocky
surface, but is very abundant at times in sheltered situations,
partly buried in the mud. There remains only a single other
Madreporian coral to mention here; it is the Porites solida, which
‘seems to live nearly everywhere excepting in the Bay of Bahia.

This closes the list, with one or two exceptions of rare species,
of the shallow water Madreporian corals of Brazil. The most of
the species enumerated are very widely distributed, ranging along
the entire coast north of Cape Frio. But they are not confined
to the shore, for the majority also occur on the outer reefs, which
are, so far as we know, entirely built up of a few of these same
species. From depths ranging from twenty-seven to forty fath-
oms were procured several small corals; but these forms can, at
‘the most, play only a very insignificant part in reef-building.

Let us return, however, to our studies in the bay. Five or six
‘species of Gorgonians are abundant nearly everywhere, growing _
~ as commonly from small stones and dead corals imbedded in the

1879. | Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 543

sandy and muddy bottoms, as from the rocky surfaces which
afford them a more secure foundation. Two or three additional
forms have been found along the coast; but the soft nature of
these corals does not permit of their entering into the structure of
a reef, excepting as their minute spicules may be added to the cal-
careous sand or mud, a very important element in the formation
of coral reefs.

We pass now from the corals proper to other organisms, that
give rise to quite as durable a substance of the same chemical
composition. These are among animals the Serpule and Barna-
cles, and among plants the Nullipores. They grow abundantly on
the shore, forming encrusting layers or thickened masses; but we
have treated very fully of these forms on page 352 of this journal,
in connection with the sandstone reefs. The thin encrusting
nullipores, with nearly smooth or slightly mammillate surface,
which cover so much of the Pernambuco reef, inhabit also many
of the rocky shores, but are more abundant over several of the
coral reefs that have reached too high a level for the growth of
true corals, There is another common nullipore, composed of
many intermingling and closely placed branches, which project
outwards in all directions as numerous digitations. This form
grows to an immense size at times, and is associated with the
corals in reef-building. A coarsely jointed coralline forms large
and dense clusters on the coast of Pernambuco, and its detached
segments sometimes form quite a thick deposit, especially on the
surfaces of reefs.

The limestone-producing fauna and flora we have thus hastily
reviewed, may not differ in their essential features from those of
all the other coral regions in the world, but it has seemed best to
treat of them as fully as we have, in order to show more clearly
how few are the species of Brazilian corals, particularly those that-
can aid materially in the building up of reefs. Up to this time
but thirteen species of Madreporian corals, representing ten
genera, have been found on or about the Brazilian reefs, and of
these only three or four ever attain to any considerable size.
Millepores have also contributed largely to the coral re :

We have now to trace the gradual variation in coral growth as
we proceed outward from the shore toward the reef grounds.
_ Here is a rocky ledge, reaching to within about a fathom of the oe
Surface at low tide. It is of small size, only a dozen feet each et

544 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. (September,

way, but it affords a good base for corals to grow upon, and the
ebbing and flooding of the tides produce about it a constant cur-
rent of the purest sea water. No locality could be more favor-
' able for marine life. As we approach in our canoe, the first
objects that appear are the millepores, sending upward from their
shapeless bases the most irregular and fanciful forms, generally
in the shape of broad leaves or of ramifying branches ending in
finger points. So wild and luxuriant is their growth at times that
they partly cover up and obscure the lower-lying heads of more
solid corals. But scattered everywhere between them, and over
the edges of the ledge, are huge heads of Orbicella, Acanthas-
trea and Siderastrea, while Mussas and Porites also occur.
Other of the shore corals are there too, but from their small size
escape our notice in this hasty examination. We see only those
larger forms that stand prominently forward, and thus proclaim
their great importance in the building of durable structures that
may last for all eternity.

This little group of corals, surmounting the rocky ledge, forms
a miniature reef; it has only to build upward as far as the water
will allow, and fill in the open spaces either with additional
growths or with hardened coral sands to possess a true reef struc-
ture. Now prolong the ledge with its living top; let it stretch
away for several miles and be broadened out to as many yards,
and we have a reef such as occurs at times on the Brazilian coast.
Unless the coast is sinking the reef soon attains its height and
ceases to grow on top, but it may still continue to increase in
width. Several of the Brazilian reefs are exactly of this charac-
ter, having very little height, but from the surface looking like
very massive structures. A broad area, presenting favorable con-
ditions for growth, sometimes results in the formation of a wide
and irregular coral bank, but such are not common near the
shore.

We might now enter into a discussion of the many fringing
and other reefs that lie along the coast; but they are all more or
less repetitions of one another, are ened in similar ways, and
composed of the same corals we have been describing. They are
very many in number, occurring in all favorable localities, espe-
cially on the coast of Bahia, south of the capital. There is one
reef, however, that derives a special interest from the accurate
= of it we are able to give, and having been partially raised

Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 545

1879. ]

Coral Reef of Bay of Bahia.

546 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. [September,

above the water its growth is nearly finished, so we can trace its
entire history from the beginning to the close.

The long island of Itaparica, often called the garden of Bahia,
fills up almost the entire south-western quarter of the large Bay
of Bahia, and contracts its entrance to a width of about five miles.
Its outer coast, running obliquely, facés for the most part the open
sea, and is at the mercy of its boisterous waves. Skirting the
central portion of this coast for a distance of nearly nine miles,
is a slightly elevated coral reef, long siice abandoned by true
living corals and given over to another class of workers, who are
putting on the finishing touches and coating it with a hard and
durable substance.

This reef begins directly opposite the city of Bahia, in front of
a little rocky point named Jaburú, and stretches away southward,
in the general trend of the shore, enclosing behind it a narrow
and shallow channel which, at the most, is scarcely one-fourth of
a mile in breadth, and generally less. It is most perfect toward
the northern end, and has, at irregular intervals, numerous breaks
or openings which admit the smaller boats that ply along the
shore. Approaching close to Peña, another rocky point about
three miles from Jaburú, it ends abruptly; but commencing again
just to the south, it runs onward to the Ponte da Cruz, terminating
for good on the rocky shore. The study of the geology of the
island has shown that the reef follows the submerged, outcropping
edges of a series of heavy beds of sandstone, which, at times,
bring up on the shore in the form of rocky points. On this solid
base the reef appears to have been built, and where, finally, at
the south, the sandstone leaves the sea and lies upon the beach,
the coral reef ceases to exist.

The reef is slightly zigzag in its course, and both edges are
very jagged, deeply indented and bordered by projecting or out-
lying masses; but so irregular is every part that it would be quite
useless for us to try and describe it accurately. At the northern

end it is generally elevated on the outer side and low and level
onthe inner. The higher portion varies greatly in width and
height, and is never flattened on top; it rises rapidly, often
abruptly, from the water, but descends more gradually on the
inner side to a level of about one foot above ordinary low tide..
a From here there extends inward a very flat surface, which is gen-

3 ji $
aves quite b oo Caste” AI down or even nearly disappear.

1879. | Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 547

Almost everywhere along the inner edge, but more commonly at
the ends of the reef and about the openings through it, we find
many outlying masses which are often partly continuous with the
low, inner surface, but more frequently quite detached. They
attain all heights up to that of the lower surface, but never reach
above it; the average depth of water around them is between
three and four feet. The outliers on the outside of the reef are
merely low, ragged, angular projections from the reef itself, and
are never much exposed, even at low tide.

Between the two divisions of the reef, the elevated outer por-
tion and the flat inner one, there is the most marked contrast.
While the latter has been completely smoothed and rounded off,
so that scarcely any angles remain upon it, the former retains all
the possible roughness that could be brought together on so nar-
row an area. The entire raised mass of rock is full of holes of
every imaginable size and shape, the margins of which are always
acutely angulated. Every little surface that is not pointed in
itself is surmounted by a large and strong barnacle with sharply-
edged valves, and large clusters of digitate projections stand up
at frequent intervals. This combination of surface is a very unin-
viting one to look upon, but it is far less pléasant to climb over
it or walk along its upper part. The outer slope is by far the
most irregular, as the waves, aided by an army of sea-urchins,
have broken into it and hollowed out thousands of ragged holes,
which, lying concealed beneath the seaweeds, might lead to many
accidents were the reef more frequented.

The outer portion of the reef is of a dark and rather rich
brown color when wet by the waves, but nevertheless has quite a
dead appearance. Examining carefully this brown rock, it is seen
to consist generally of an accumulation of very small worm tubes,
closely packed together and forming a very hard mass. The sur- —
face of the low inner level is of a much lighter color, a rather
faded brown, and looks even more lifeless than the part we have
been describing; no barnacles or other large animals grow
upon it.

What forms of life occur about the reef? On the outer side,
reaching to a height of a foot or slightly more above ordinary
low tide, is a luxuriant growth of seaweeds. Over the same zone,
but not so apparent, spread encrusting nullipores, which, though
resembling lichens in form, are so highly charged with lime as to

548 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. (September,

produce a hard coral-like substance. This is one of the most
important organisms living on the reef at present, and while aid-
ing to protect it from wear is also building it up. The barnacles
and worm tubes of the upper portion we have already referred
to, and we have also stated that over the inner surface there
seems to be nothing alive. As we enter the many open pools
and passage ways of the inner margin there is scarcely more to
be seen. ‘Only here and there does a small mass of coral grow,
usually a Siderastrazea or a Favia. Seaweeds and delicate tufted
hydroids and bryozoans hang from the sides of the pools, and a
few shell-fish and star-fish lie on the sandy bottom. Small, bril-
liantly-colored fish dart hither and thither, but the life is not what
we are taught to expect about a coral reef.

The features we have so far been giving are those of the
northern section of the reef. Going southward a short distance,
the elevated outer mass gradually diminishes in size, until it is
reduced to a slightly raised border along the seaward margin of
a broad and flat reef. Still farther south the entire lower surface,
without the raised margin, seems lifted bodily upwards to form a
high massive wall, like that of an immense fort, flat above and
perfectly square at the sides.

Between the points of Pefia and Cruz we find a varied struc-
ture, generally, however, only a repetition of the forms already
described. The reef is often two or three times as broad as at
Jaburú, but near its southern end it becomes very irregular and
much broken up, existing as,a line of detached reef masses. The
passage ways through the reef are sometimes mere simple breaks,
cut as squarely and neatly as though the work of man; at other
times, however, the edges of the reef bordering them are carried
obliquely inwards some distance toward the beach, enclosing a
narrow entrance channel. These inner prolongations, although
generally low and level, have the same structure as the main reef.

Within the reef the water is always shallow; frequently the
bottom lies so high as to be quite exposed at low tide, and it is
covered nearly everywhere by a thick deposit of coral fragments,
cemented together by carbonate of lime. The corals are not in
place but lie heaped together in every conceivable way, as though
they had been violently broken from the reef at some former

i e time and thrown inside by the waves. All the commoner forms

are there, Pa Siderastræa, Orbicella and Mussa being the

1879. ] Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 549

most conspicuous, and they are sometimes nearly perfect, but
most often broken into irregular masses, large and small. The
majority are also coated over with a thin nullipore crust, as
though they had been dead a long time before they were swept
from their proper dwelling places. This coral deposit has con-
siderable thickness near the middle of the channel and thins out
gradually toward the beach.

The extreme southern end of the reef is very low, and near to
the beach. It breaks down abruptly on the outer side, but on the
inner is bordered by a thick, consolidated layer, which reaches so
nearly its own level that it is often difficult to make out the
dividing line between the two. A close examination, however,
discloses the upright corals in the one and the prostrate fragments
in the other.

A great difficulty stands in the way of our determining the
intimate structure of this nearly extinct reef, whose outward
appearance and surroundings we have so fully discussed. It has
evidently not been formed entirely by those agents at present
occupying its upper and outer surfaces; but the remains of the
real builders, whatever they were, are now entirely covered up
and hidden from view, excepting at the one point at the southern
end just mentioned. We must resort to artificial sections, no
easy undertaking in a coral reef.

Breaking with hammer and chisel into the higher part of the
reef, we obtain specimens of a very hard, compact limestone,
partly of a nearly homogeneous structure, partly marked by
Straight or wavy lines of lighter and darker coloring; these two
kinds of structure are intermingled with one another without
order, sometimes one, sometimes the other predominating. The
ormer has resulted from the masses of serpula tubes—by the com-
plete filling in of their winding cavities and the spaces between
them by carbonate of lime, until no trace of the original structure
remains. The latter is due to the growth of incrusting nullipores,
one thin layer upon another, until quite a thickness of rock has
been the result.

It is evident that serpule and nullipores were at one time liv-
ing together over the surface of the reef, and by their combined
action has been formed most, if not all, of its outer raised por-
tion, which is sometimes over four feet high and twenty-five feet
across. The barnacles are generally broken from the reef when

550 Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. [September,

dad, but are sometimes overgrown by worm tubes and thus
become imbedded.

Here and there, the slaves in procuring limestone, have quar-
ried into the low inner part of the reef, and, even into the high
wall-like portion. Good sections for study are thus formed, and
they tell us of what the reef consists. Many large heads of
Orbicella, Acanthastrzea and Siderastrzea stand there exposed in
their original positions, and when cut through show their struc-
ture to be as open and perfect as though they were still living.
With them are many large millepores and nullipores, and all the in-
terveniny spaces are filled in with a compact calcareous substance.

Our structure began as a true coral reef, stretching along the
submerged rocky ledge. The water was very shallow, however,
and the reef soon reached a level above which its corals could
not live. Over them nullipores began to grow, but probably
while the reef was being raised by other causes than those of
growth, large numbers of these dead and partly entombed corals
were swept inward by the waves. Nullipores continued to thrive
and serpulz came in to aid them, but with these forms we are
already familiar.

Under certain conditions corals begin to grow in scattered
patches over the sea bottom, and build up columnar masses which ©
may eventually reach the surface. These columns vary in diam-
eter from two or three feet up to several yards; they are very
irregular on top, and covered with living corals. Such structures
frequently occur near the shore, generally along the margin of a
fringing reef; but their true habitats—where they are best devel-
oped—are in the deeper waters of the Abrolhos region, and
between there and the city of Bahia. They have also been
recorded from Florida and other parts of the world, but on the
Brazilian coast they are a much more prominent feature, com-
posing nearly all the larger reef patches.

As one of these coral pillars approaches the surface of the sea,
the tendency to upward growth is necessarily destroyed, and the
corals living only at the sides build out a rim about it. A mush-
room or umbrella-shaped structure, called by the Brazilians
chapeiroes, or big hats, is thus produced. If many such chapei-
rões occur near together, their ever enlarging rims finally meet,
resulting in the formation of a connected reef surface, supported
by many upright pillars underneath. a

Prof. Hartt, in his “Geology of Brazil,” already quoted, has

18709. | Brazilian Corals and Coral Reefs. 551

very fully described the various Brazilian reefs formed by chapei-
roes, and there is little new to add; but we will take a hasty
glance at them in order to complete our sketch. The Abrolhos
islands lie some forty miles from the coast, near the middle of the
submerged continental plateau, in about latitude 18° south. Sur-
rounding them is a very extended area of constantly warm and
pure water, everywhere less than a hundred feet deep. Just to
the eastward of these islands is a region, nine or ten miles long
and about four broad, over which the pillar-shaped structures are
thickly scattered, forming the well-known Parcel dos Abrolhos.
The chapeirdes occur here of all heights and sizes, but never
reach the surface, or coalesce to form a continuous reef.

To the north-west of the Abrolhos, and reaching much nearer
to the mainland, is the largest reef region of the Brazilian coast,
called the Parcel dos Paredes, or Shoal of the Walls. It is irregu-
lar in outline, being about seventeen miles long from north to
south, by about nine miles broad in the widest place. Within
this area are extensive connected reefs, as well as multitudes of
scattered chapeirdes. The northern part of the Parcel forms one
immense reef, reaching slightly above the level of low tide and
formed by the growth of large coral patches and by the coales-
cing and filling in of chapeirdes. This latter feature in reef
building has been noticed only on the coast of Brazil. The edges
of the reef are very irregular, but the upper surface, laid bare at
low tide, is of quite uniform height, although marked by many
scattered shallow pools. Running along the margin of this level
portion, and separating it from that which is constantly submerged,
is a slightly raised border, a foot or less in height, formed by the
growth of nullipores, serpula tubes and barnacles. At low water
the waves beat against this hard rim, which thus helps to protect
the upper part of the reef from wear. The submerged border of
the reef dips gently for a certain distance, and then breaks down
abruptly to a depth of three to ten feet, meeting a bottom of soft,
bluish, calcareous mud which slopes rapidly away, soon attain-
ing a depth of seventy to eighty feet. Chapeirdes surround much
of this large reef, and extending off southward from it, form two
other reefs, the Recife de Leste and Recife da Pedra Grande, com-
prising the rest of the Parcel.
~ Several other reef patches, resulting from the growth of cha-
_Peirdes, occur between the Abrolhos islands and the mainland,
and also farther north along the coast of Bahia.

552 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,
THE FORMATION OF CAPE COD.
BY WARREN UPHAM.
[Continued from August Number]

N Cape Cod, as on Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nan-
tucket, we find, south of the line of morainic hills, an area of
modified drift in extensive plains which slope very gently south-
ward. These are fully ten miles wide from north to south in
Sandwich, Falmouth and Mashpee, and thence to the east they
have an average width of five miles. From the south-west limit
of this area at Falmouth village, the traveler who follows the
road along the south side of the cape through Waquoit, Cotuit,
Hyannis and the south villages of Yarmouth, Dennis and Har-
wich, sees only level plains twenty-five to forty feet above the sea,
with occasional hollows and valleys, most of which are occupied
by ponds and brooks. No boulders are seen in this distance of
more than thirty miles. They occur, however, in the small hills
west of Hyannis harbor, the highest of which is eighty-one feet
above the sea, and in lower mounds and ridges two and a half
miles south-east at Point Gammon. Shoals of boulders, known
as Collier's Ledge and the Bishop and Clerks, lie three miles off
shore opposite to these points. Chatham and Orleans, at the east
end of this area, are also modified drift, but its surface is very
irregularly moulded into hills, ridges and enclosed hollows, the
highest elevations being about one hundred and twenty-five feet
above the sea. The north edge of this area, next to the terminal
moraine, consists of more elevated plateaus, fifty or seventy-five
to two-hundred feet in height. From this line there is a con-
tinuous slope southward, scarcely perceptible but declining in the
five to ten miles of its extent to within twenty-five to forty feet
above the sea. This north portion of the plains is marked by
frequent hollows of large extent, which contain ponds fifty to one
hundred feet below the general surface. :
A fine idea of the slope of this deposit of modified drift 1s
obtained in a journey from Sandwich to Greenville, Ashunet pond
and Falmouth. -The ascent of two hundred feet or more from
sea-level to the highest point of the road is accomplished. in two
miles, bringing us to a point on the road where Bourne’s hill, the
highest on Cape Cod, is within a half mile to the east, while close
-~ at the west is the Great Hollow, about one hundred feet deep and

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 553

perhaps a half mile wide, and twice as long from north to south.
This is enclosed on all sides by the hills and high plains, but
contains no water, showing that the plane of saturation is very
deep ; while copious springs at the north foot of the hills indicate
that it falls in that direction. Without descending more than
twenty feet below its highest point, the road next enters upon a
plain of gravel and sand, and thence extends seven miles before
crossing the first hollow, which is at Ashunet pond. Beyond this
point it crosses numerous depressions that are or have been
water courses; but there is no break in the continuity of the
plains, which in about twelve miles descend by a gradual slope
from the height of two hundred feet to sea-level.

These plains of Cape Cod are further like those of Long Island,
Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in being indented by narrow
arms of the sea, which reach one to two miles inland, filling the
lower end of long depressions that continue across the plains
to the north, being either dry or occupied by small streams. The
plains and valleys which thus generally border the terminal mo-
raines on their south side appear to have been formed by the same
floods which deposited the large amounts of modified drift along
the edge of the ice-sheet. Much of their finer gravel and sand
was carried forward by the descending currents, and spread in
these gently sloping plains, while the valleys of drainage seem to

ave been made by the same waters at their lower stages.

The continuation of these valleys below our present sea-level
calls up one of the most complex but at the same time most
important and interesting questions connected with glacial geol-
ogy. This feature shows plainly that when these valleys were
formed the sea did not reach so high upon the land as now; and
if we extend our inquiries we find that everywhere around the
world the glacial period was marked by most extraordinary
changes in the relative heights of land and sea. These remark-
able oscillations, which had one extreme at the equator and the
other at the poles, appear to have been changes in the level of the
ocean. It seems not unlikely that an eighth part of the earth's
Surface had become covered with ice, and if we consider a slope
of one-half a degree to be needed to give it motion, an estimate
of four miles for its average depth does not seem to be too great.

! These valleys on Long Island have been described by Mr. Elias Lewis, Jr., in
American Fournal of Science and Arts, 34 series, Vol. XII, pp. 142-146 an 215.

554 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

The removal of the water thus taken from the sea and stored up
in accumulations of ice would lower the surface of the ocean
more than a half mile. At the same time this vast accumulation
of ice in high latitudes must draw the sea by gravitation away
from the equator toward the poles. This cause appears to have
retained the sea-level at about its present height near the lower
limit of the ice-sheet, while in arctic regions it rose much higher
than now. Marine shells in the modified drift show that the sea
thus stood fifty to two hundred feet above its present height on
the coast of New Hampshire and Maine; five hundred feet in the
valley of the St. Lawrence, and one thousand to two thousand feet
higher than now along the west coast of Greenland. Everywhere
in high latitudes, both in the northern and southern hemispheres,
we have proof of such a submergence of the land when the drift
was accumulated, increasing in amount the nearer we go to the
poles. On the other hand, the coral islands of the tropics are
witnesses of the depression of the sea in this period, amounting
to three thousand feet, or perhaps more, at the equator, while
different evidence shows that at the mouths of the Mississippi,
Ganges and Po rivers it was at least four hundred feet lower than
now. If we reflect upon these widespread changes of sea-level
that marked the glacial period, occurring only where they would
be produced by taking water from the sea to form ice-sheets and
by gravitation through their influence, and if we compare these
recent simultaneous changes with the general stability of the con-
tinents, we seem compelled to attribute them to movements of the
sea rather than of the land.

Because of the attraction of accumulations of ice that still
remain about the poles, where probably little or none existed in
Tertiary times and at the epoch immediately preceding the glacial
period, the sea along the eastern coast of the United States
appears to be lower now than during those periods, uncovering
the Tertiary border of the Southern States and leaving pre-glacial
deposits with marine shells, apparently Post-pliocene, fifty to two
hundred feet above our present sea-level, under the terminal
moraine and modified drift of Long Island. The entirely unstrati-
fied character which marks many portions of the terminal deposits
of the ice-sheet, reaching quite to the sea-shore, and the still
lower extension of the channels which appear to have been cut
_ by the floods formed at its melting, indicate that at the south

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 555

coast of New England the sea was depressed in the glacial period
below its present height. The submarine channel of Hudson
river shows that after this time it sank five or six hundred feet
lower than now, apparently because the south part of the glacial
sheet had been melted, greatly diminishing its attractive force at
this latitude. With the more complete departure of the ice the
sea-level has been restored to approximately the same condition
as before the glacial period, being still rising on the eastern coast
of the United States at the rate of about a foot, or less, in a hun-
dred years.

The channels which we ive described as occurring on the
plains that slope southward from the series of hills, are best
shown on Cape Cod, in Falmouth and eastward to Cotuit harbor,
which is the region directly south from the angle of the terminal
moraine and from its highest hills, which in this portion of its
course are composed mainly of modified drift; in other words,
they occur most abundantly where the drainage from the melting
ice-sheet must have been greatest, including all the floods poured
down from the ice-fields along the line between Falmouth village
and North Sandwich, those that converged toward the angle of
the ice-margin, and those which brought down its vast frontal
hills of gravel and sand along several miles eastward. Some of
the hollows containing ponds, which are found frequently on these
plains, may have been left unfilled because masses of ice remained
there while gravel and sand were rapidly deposited about them;
but probably in most cases they are due to unequal deposition,
though with unobstructed drainage.

North and north-north-west from the angle of the moraine, a
most irregular belt of kame-like modified drift in ridges, hills, pla-
teaus and hollows of every shape, but generally with a north-to-
south trend, reaches to Kingston, a distance of nearly twenty miles.
These deposits are finely seen along the road from North Sand-
wich by Great and Little Herring, Bloody and Long ponds. The
elevations are fifty to one hundred feet above the depressions, and
one hundred to two hundred feet above the sea. The material is
obliquely bedded sand and coarse gravel, with pebbles up to one
foot in diameter. Boulders are rare or entirely wanting for some
-eight miles, till we reach Pine and Manomet hills, already described,
which seem to constitute a medial moraine of coarsely rocky ~
unmodified drift, ET by ice-currents without the agency

VOL. XIII,—No, IX,

556 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

of running water. The descending slopes and consequently the
currents of the ice on the east and on the west appear to have
met here ; and when the period of melting came, it was along
this belt, extending from North Sandwich to Kingston, that the
largest and most heavily loaded rivers flowed down from the
departing ice-fields. A great part of their deposits of gravel and
sand appear to have been laid down in channels and upon open
areas which still remained walled by ice, but when this disappeared
they remained in kames or ridges, hills and plateaus, with many
enclosed hollows. Telegraph hill, about two hundred and seventy-
five feet in height above the sea, and others seventy-five to one
hundred feet lower, lying within two or three miles west from the ~
south end of the Pine hills, are probably mostly modified drift,
though overspread with frequent boulders up to ten feet in diam-
eter. These are short parallel ridges, with a north-to-south trend,
separated by hollows fifty to seventy-five feet below the crests.
About Plymouth village the modified drift forms kame-like hil-
locks and small plains, which are separated by very irregular
hollows and valleys. The tops of these deposits have a nearly
uniform height, which varies from one hundred to one hundred
and twenty-five feet above the sea. Two miles to the west is an
irregular series of hills, resembling a terminal moraine, which
reaches some three miles westward, varying in height from one
hundred and seventy-five or two hundred feet to three hundred
and thirteen feet at Monk’s hill, in Kingston. Most of these
appear to be unstratified boulder-drift, but the top and north side
of Monk’s hill are waterworn gravel and sand with only few
boulders.

In the west part of Plymouth level plateaus and plains of modi-
fied drift prevail, broken by frequent hollows of small area with
steep sides, containing ponds. These are so numerous that this
township is said to have a pond for each day in the year. To the
west and north the greater part of Plymouth county consists of
similar nearly level or moderately undulating deposits of modified
drift fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above the sea. These beds-
of sand and gravel cover the townships of Wareham, Carver, Mid-
dleborough, Plympton, Halifax, Duxbury, Pembroke, Hanson,
Hanover, the west part of South Scituate and much of Hingham,
_ reaching continuously from the angle of the terminal moraine of —
Cape Cod more than thirty-five miles north-north-westward to the

1879. | The Formation of Cape Cod. 557

south shore of Massachusetts bay. None of the streams of this
region can be supposed to have aided in the accumulation of
these materials, instead of which they are evidently carrying
away small portions as they gradually deepen and extend their
channels. The origin of these plains seems to be due, like the
kames of Plymouth, to floods and detritus supplied by the melt-
ing ice-sheet which sloped from both sides toward this area. The
deposits made in the lower part of the channels of these glacial
rivers, between walls of ice, remain as kames, or ridges and hills,
composed mainly of coarse gravel, while the portion carried for-
ward and spread beyond the retreating ice-margin forms the
nearly level plains.

The only fossils found upon this area are within about a mile
south-west from South Marshfield, and were encountered many
years ago in digging wells at the houses of Messrs. Kent,
Chandler, Wadsworth and Sprague, which succeed each other
along a distance of one-third of a mile, the last being in the edge
of Duxbury. All these wells showed a surface of modified drift
ten to twenty feet deep, enclosing occasional boulders, underlain
by a hard ferruginous stratum, six inches to a foot thick, below
which were muddy silt, sand and fine gravel, containing succes-
Sive fossiliferous layers, those at Mr. Chandler’s well being four
in number, twenty to thirty-five feet below the surface, at heights
twenty-five to forty feet above the sea. The fossils include casts
of the quohog, long and razor clams (Venus mercenaria, Mya
arenaria and Ensatella americana), and numerous fragments of
lignite. The iron-rusted stratum, varying in height from thirty
to fifty feet above the sea, and extending continuously at least a
third of a mile, seems to represent the depth to which the pre-
glacial deposits were eroded by the ice-sheet, and the lower beds
were probably contemporaneous with those at the base of Sankaty
Head.

The extreme portion of Cape Cod, north from Orleans to High
Head, consists entirely of modified drift. Boulders are very
rare, but in two places seem worthy of notice; one of these is,
about a mile south-west from Nausett Lights, in Eastham, where
an enormous boulder, called Enoch’s or Great Rock, lies appa-
rently half buried in the sand. The portion in sight is thirty-
three feet long, twenty-five feet wide and fifteen feet high. Only
two or three other boulders were seen here, none of them exceed-

558 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

ing five feet in diameter. The other locality is about a sixth of a
mile west from Highland Light, where one block fifteen feet long
and several others five feet long occur. In the north part of
Eastham the modified drift forms extensive level plains about fifty
feet above the sea. From South Wellfleet to High Head, in the
north part of Truro, the contour on the west side of the cape is
in very irregular small plateaus, ridges and hills, nearly uniform
in their height, which varies from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty feet above the sea, increasing from south to north.
These enclose depressions from twenty to one hundred feet deep,
many of which contain ponds. They are also intersected from
east to west by broad valleys with steep sides, which have their
bottom nearly at sea-level or below it. Examples of these are
the hollow which extends from North Truro toward Highland
Light, and that of Pamet river, which varies from a third of a
mile to one mile in width, and cuts the cape quite across, its bot-
tom, until recently dyked, being marsh overflowed by high tides.

The east side of the cape, through Wellfleet and Truro, is
a nearly continuous bluff, one hundred to one hundred and sixty
feet high, horizontally stratified, being evidently a remnant of a
nearly level plain, the east part of which has been washed away
by the sea. This process is still going forward, exposing fine
sections of these deposits along most of this distance. The
material is mainly sand and fine gravel, with coarse gravel in some
portions, containing pebbles and fragments up to one foot or
rarely two feet in diameter. Less than a half dozen larger blocks,
none of them, however, so large as four feet through, were seen
in this whole line of cliffs more than fifteen miles in extent. At
the base of these bluffs banks of darkish sandy clay occur in
several places, rising ten to forty feet above the shore and extend-
ing one hundred to five hundred feet in length. These beds
enclose occasional pebbles up to one foot in diameter. At the
Clay Pounds, close north of Highland Light, is a massive bed of
somewhat similar sandy clay, bluish-gray in color, forty to fifty
feet thick, extending a quarter of a mile to the west, as shown by
wells, and the same distance along the cliffs to the north, where
it gradually thins out. This deposit is finely laminated, level in
stratification and free from pebbles. Its base is clearly seen in
many places for an eighth of a mile holding a nearly constant
Eh: of forty feet above sea-level, and is marked by a hard fer-

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 559

ruginous layer one to three inches thick. It rests, by abrupt
change, upon gravelly sand containing pebbles up to one inch
through, and within ten feet below they occur up to six or éight
inches in diameter. The thickest portion of the clay is at the
south edge of a gully some thirty rods north of the lighthouse,
where the section is gravelly sand to forty feet above the sea ;
clay fifty feet thick, and sand at top twenty-five feet. The upper
part of the clay here and generally, is more sandy than its base,
but it is still quite distinctly separated from the overlying sand.
A quarter of a mile north the clay becomes narrower, and its
base is higher, the section being sand and gravel to sixty-five feet
above the sea, clay ten feet, and sand at top fifteen feet. Heights
along this portion of the cape are as follows: in Eastham, fifty to
seventy-five feet; Lombard’s Head, in Wellfleet, about one hun-
dred and twenty-five; highest portion of bluff in south part of
Truro, one mile south of Pamet river, about one hundred and
fifty; Small’s hill, one mile north-east from Truro village, highest
point beyond Barnstable on the cape, about one hundred and
seventy-five ; bluff one mile south of Highland Light, one hun-
dred and sixty; base and focal plane of this lighthouse, one
hundred and thirty and one hundred and eighty-five ; High Head,
about seventy-five.

As in Plymouth county the accumulation of these thick and
extensive beds of modified drift, remote from any large river and
here bordered on each side by the sea, seems capable of explana-
tion only by supposing the material to have been held in the ice-
sheet and deposited by the floods produced at its retreat. When
the return of a warmer climate drove back the front of these ice-
fields from their terminal moraine upon Cape Cod, the rivers
which flowed down from their melting surface were discharged
upon these areas, those at the south-west converging upon Ply-
mouth county, while those which descended from the glacial
Sheet over the west part of the Gulf of Maine had their mouth
in Wellfleet and Truro.

The only fossils that have been found on Cape Cod occur in
the bluffs on the east shore of Truro, as follows: One mile
south from the head of Pamet river the section shows gray sandy
clay at base to about thirty feet above the sea; ferruginous gravel,
containing broken and worn shells, and with its largest pebbles
-four inches through, five feet; overlain by more than one hun-

560 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

dred feet of sand with occasional gravelly layers. Four to eight
rods farther south the clay rises ten feet higher, but at four hun-
dred-feet south and at one hundred feet north its top is only
twenty feet above the sea. The bed of shelly gravel thins out at
three or four rods on each side. Species found here are a Bal-
anus, Neptunea pygm@a Adams, Tritia trivittata Adams, Lunatia
heros Adams, Turritella erosa Couthouy, a Mya hinge, Ceronia
deaurata Gould, Mactra solidissima Chem., Cardium islandicum
L., Cyclocardia borealis Conrad, Astarte undata Gould, and Pecten
islandicus Chem. A peaty or lignitic layer, about a half inch
thick and extending five feet, was noticed at one place in white
sand, three inches above this shelly gravel. A third of a mile
north from the head of Pamet river, the bank is about one hun-
dred and twenty-five feet high, consisting of sand with occasional
thin layers of gravel, and containing fragments of shells to a
height at least sixty feet above the sea. Among these Ceronia
deaurata and Pecten islandicus were recognized. About a mile
and a half farther north, or one mile south from Highland Light,
the bluffs reach their greatest height, and here worn shell frag-
ments were again found at two localities, a third of a mile apart,
occurring in gravelly sand from near sea-level to at least one
hundred feet above it. These include Balanus species, Neptunea
pygmea, Aporrhais occidentalis Sowerby, Acmæa testudinalis
-Forbes and Hanley, Ceronia deaurata, Cardium islandicum, Cy-
clocardia borealis, Astarte undata and A. castanea Say, Pecten
tslandicus and an Anomia. Lignite was observed at the most
northern of these localities thirty to forty feet above the sea, in
several layers an inch or less in thickness and at least four or five
feet in extent. At about the same height the sand and fine gravel
here contains clay boulders' or pieces of dark sandy clay of
irregular shape, and varying in size from three or four inches to
two feet long. These are changed to a brown color for a depth
of a half inch from the outside, due to oxidation of their iron.
We have already seen that the unstratified character of por-
tions of the terminal moraines, and the channels upon the plains
that lie south of them, indicate that in this latitude, during the
period when these beds were deposited, the sea stood somewhat

1 Also found in the modified drift of Long Island, as described by Mr. Elias

Lewis, Jr., in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 11, p. 634, and in North-western Ohio,
ae bv according to Prof. N. H, Winchell, did, Vol. 111, p. 202.

1879. | The Formation of Cape Cod. 561

lower than now. The occurrence of these recent marine shells up
to one hundred feet above the sea, would disprove this conclusion
if they lay in an undisturbed condition so as to show that they
lived where they now are found ; instead of this, they are always
more or less broken and worn, no two corresponding valves being
found together; and their origin, as well as that of the lignite,
clay boulders, and the much older fossiliferous pebbles, next to be
described, seems to have been from pre-glacial beds which were
formed on the floor of Massachusetts bay. These appear to have
been eroded by the ice-sheet, lifted into its mass, and at its melt-
ing deposited anew by the glacial rivers, their marine shells being
thus embedded in modified drift which was accumulated above
the sea-level The species are of northern range, such as would
have been found living in the ocean when it was invaded by the
onflowing ice.

A third of a mile north from the last locality, and one half mile
south from Highland Light, the bluff rises to a height of one
hundred and fifty feet, and consists of sand and gravel, much
coarser than usual, having pebbles of all sizes up to one foot in
diameter, mostly rounded by water wearing, but a part of them
angular, especially the larger pieces, some of which may be two
feet long. The foot of the cliffs here is guarded from the waves
by several rods of sea-sand covered by beach grass, so that the
gravel and sand have fallen down in a steep slope strown with
pebbles. Among these are occasional fragments of a whitish
calcareous sandstone, thickly filled with shells, which were brought
to my notice by Mr. David F. Loring, keeper of the Highland
Light. They occur rarely for twenty or thirty rods along the
face of the cliff at all heights up to one hundred and twenty-five
feet, being most abundant between seventy-five and one hundred
feet above the sea. Like the other pebbles, most of these pieces
are more or less water worn, some of them being rounded on all
sides, indicating that their mode of transportation and deposition
were the same; but the stratification is obscured by falling down,
so that we do not here find these fossiliferous pebbles actually
embedded in the drift. Before seeing any of these specimens,

1 Marine shells occurring in the till of Scotland are similarly attributed by os
Geikie and others, to erosion by the ice-sheet of previously existing marine
their transportation to higher levels, so that they cannot be accepted as proof that ve
sea stood at the height where they are now found, Geikie’s “ Great Ice Age,” 2d

= edition, pp. 179=181.

+

562 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

however, I had found a fragment of the same shelly rock in the
fossiliferous layer of gravel first described, one mile south from
the head of Pamet river; and subsequently I found two other
bits of it at the most northern locality of shelly gravel and sand.
last mentioned. These pieces were enclosed in stratified beds, in
each case some thirty feet above the sea, evidently occupying
their original position in the thick deposits of modified drift which
form this part of Cape Cod. The fossiliferous pebbles are thus
shown to have been brought to their present place by the same
agencies which accumulated these beds of gravel and sand. As
no similar formation is known on the land to the north from
which they could be derived, it seems quite certain that they rep-
resent beds that were in place at the bottom of Massachusetts f
bay, whence they were ploughed up by the ice-sheet and carried
forward and upward in it, till at its final melting they were depos-
ited here.

The scarcity of these fragments is such, that a search of six or
seven hours was required, where the whole bank, one hundred
and fifty feet high, was plentifully strown with pebbles, to find a
dozen of them. These, to the amount in all of perhaps twenty
pounds’ weight, were presented to the Boston Society of Natural
History, and their fossils have been examined by Mr. W. O.
Crosby, who regards them as satisfactory proof that the rock is
Eocene Tertiary. The species which he has identified are Camp-
tonectes calvatus Conrad, found in the Middle Eocene of South

arolina; Venericardia planicostata Lamarck, found in the
Lower Bocede of Virginia; probably V. parva Lea, found in —
the Eocene of Alabama; and another similar to the common
V. alticostata Conrad, occurring with the last; probably Ostrea
divaricata Lea, of Middle Eocene in Alabama, though per-
haps young of O. selleformis Conrad, a characteristic species
of the Lower Eocene from that State to Virginia ; another, prin-
cipally in fragments, is similar to the recent O. virginiana Lister;
another species of this genus is represented by fragments of shell
fully one and a half inches thick, not enclosed in the matrix of
calacreous sandstone like the rest, but found with these shelly
pebbles on the cliff a half mile south of the lighthouse, and also
in the shelly gravel south of Pamet river ; an Anomia similar to
A. tellinoides Morton, of the Cretaceous in New Jersey, Alabama 7

-o 1 Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. xx.

1879. ] The Formation of Cape Cod. 563

and Mississippi ; a Plicatula similar to P. filamentosa Conrad, and
an Axinea, closely like A. staminea Conrad, both of the Alabama
Eocene ; also probably Striarca centenaria Conrad, found in the
Miocene of the Southern States. Other molluscan genera that
were recognized are Corbula, Cardium, two species of Yoldia or
Nuculana, several small Turritella-like species, and a small Natica.
Echinoderms are represented by spines of a Cidaris, and ccelen-
terates by a simple cylindrical Ga/axea-like coral.

In this connection it is interesting to notice that fragments of
fossiliferous rock,! apparently of Miocene age, are brought up
from the sea-bottom on George’s Bank, Banquereau and the
Grand Bank, by the coralline growths attached to them becoming
entangled with fishermen’s lines. These, with the Eocene peb-
bles of Cape Cod, show that the coast of New England, Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland, one thousand miles in extent, is bor-
dered by submerged Tertiary formations similar to those which
occur above sea-level in the Southern States, as had been already
suggested by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock? before these discoveries. It
was a theory of Agassiz that the fishing banks, from which these
Tertiary rocks are drawn up, represent the terminal deposits
of drift accumulated at the front of the ice sheet. Both this and
the theory of Prof. Hitchcock appear to be true, for besides the
fossiliferous fragments many of granites and schists are also
obtained by the fishermen. Furthermore the course of the
extreme terminal moraine that crosses New Jersey, Long Island,
Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket has its line of
continuation in these remarkable submarine banks, which prob-
ably consist, somewhat like Gay Head, of Tertiary strata covered
with their own and foreign detritus brought by the ice-sheet.

The moraine of Cape Cod, the Elizabeth islands, Southern
Rhode Island and the north shore of Long Island, was formed
after the ice had retreated from its farthest limit, but while it still
terminated eastward beyond the present coast line. This halt in
its departure was extended along the entire margin of these ice-
fields to the west, for a distance of more than two thousand miles.
Although in the interior of the United States the extreme limit
of glacial action has not yet been found to be generally marked.
by extraordinary deposits, a most notable series of terminal mo-

_ __* Described by Prof. Verrill in American Yournal of Science and Arts, 3d series,

Vol, xvr, p. 323. :

* Appalachia, Vol. 1, p. 13, and Geology of New Hampshire, Vol. 11, p. 21.

564 The Formation of Cape Cod. [September,

raines north of this line and probably contemporaneous with
that of Cape Cod is found, as recently shown by Prof. Chamber-
lin,’ stretching across Ohio, and represented in Southern Michi-
gan, in the Kettle moraine of Wisconsin, and the Leaf hills of
Minnesota; while its farther continuation seems to be in the
Coteau des Prairies and the Coteau de Missouri of Dakota and
British America, reaching north-westward, according to Mr. G.
M. Dawson% to the North Saskatchewan river, three hundred and
fifty miles west of Winnipeg lake. These deposits, like the
moraines of Southern New England, are made up entirely of
drift materials, partly unstratified, with abundant boulders, and
partly stratified gravel and sand, in hills one hundred to
three hundred feet high, of very irregular contour, with many
enclosed hollows and occupying a width of from one to thirty
miles. They lie upon the uneven surface of the rocky strata,
being continuous across valleys and ranges of highland, which
in Wisconsin undulate eight hundred feet- in vertical height
while the elevation of this entire series varies from sea-level at
Cape Cod, to two thousand feet above it at the north line of
Dakota. In the Western States the front of the ice-sheet is shown
by Prof. Chamberlin to have been lobed, producing acute angles
in its terminal moraine, with medial moraines extending north-
ward from them; corresponding to which we find a deflection of
ninety degrees in this series of hills on Cape Cod at North Sand-
wich with the massive medial range of Pine and Manomet hills
a few miles farther north, in Plymouth. The same lobed charac-
ter appears also to have marked the ice-sheet at its greatest
extent, leaving a large driftless area in Wisconsin, and making
angles similar to those of a later period in its frontal line, as
indicated by the drift-hills of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The north end of the modified drift of Cape Cod is at High
Head ; and the whole of Provincetown, at the extremity of the
peninsula, consists of sea sand with no pebbles. This sand. has
come from the erosion by the sea of the east shore of the cape;
has been swept north and west by tidal currents to its present
place in the lee of this breakwater; lifted by the waves into beach-
ridges and further raised by the wind into hills a hundred feet in
1 « On the Extent and Significance of the Menara Kettle Moraine,” in Trans-
actions of Wisconsin Academy of Science, 1878, with maps.
— *In Quarterly Journal of Geological Society, oer XXXI, pp. 614-623, with map.

1879.] Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. 565-

height. From Nausett Lights to High Head much of the cape,
as it originally was, has been demolished, and the process is still
going forward; but the sea restores a part of what it takes, form-
ing this curved bank of sand, five miles long and one to three
miles wide, which encloses the deep and commodious harbor of
Provincetown. The section here, to a depth of one hundred and
eighty-two feet, was shown by a boring made some twenty years
ago at the end of Central wharf. Sand extended from low tide
line for thirty-five feet, below which interstratified sand and fine
gravel continued to one hundred and seventy feet, where the first
clay was encountered. This was dark-colored and very compact,
extending twelve feet, at which depth it was not penetrated.
Shells of Scapharca transversa, Ostrea virginiana (at one hundred
and twenty feet), Lunatia heros and others were found to the
depth of at least one hundred and forty feet. Successive genera-
tions of these inhabitants of the sea have been buried during this
accumulation of its detritus, and at the same time its waters have
probably been gradually rising upon the land.

The height of the principal hills of this town, as determined by
Major Graham of the Coast Survey, are as follows: Mt. Ararat,
one hundred feet above mean low tide; Mt. Gilboa, one hun-
dred and six; Oak Head, one hundred and four; Miller’s hill,
eighty-nine; High Pole hiil, one hundred; Telegraph hill, ninety-
eight; Creek hill, eighty-four. These are dunes on the harbor
side which have mostly become covered with bushes and trees.
Others of nearly equal height, occupying the side next to the
ocean, are drifted by every passing wind, allowing no foothold to
vegetation ; and clouds of sand, seen at the Highland Light, are
lifted from this tract by gales to the height of three or four hun-
dred feet.

—_——O.——
THE HILLOCKS OR MOUND-FORMATIONS OF SAN
DIEGO, CALIFORNIA!
BY G. W. BARNES, M.D.

aoe surface geology of many sections of the Pacific slope is

characterized by innumerable hillocks or small mound-like
formations, either sparsely distributed or occupying quite densely
areas of considerable extent. These formations, variable in size

_ Read before the San Diego Society of Natural History, April 5, 1879.

566 Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. [September,

and structure in accordance with local conditions concerned in
their production, exist in many parts of California and on the
coast north of it, and are especially abundant and well defined in
Southern California.

The following conclusions are based upon observations of them
chiefly in the vicinity of San Diego:

In their most common type the mounds may be described as
rounded eminences, or knolls, rising from one to four feet above
the surrounding surface or the depressions between them, and
ranging from ten to fifty feet in diameter. They are generally
nearly circular and distinct, but are, in some instances, confluent
or elongated. They are separated by wide and irregular areas or
by narrow intervening depressions, the latter containing, in stony
places, accumulations of cobblestones. They are confined to no
geological structure or quality of soil, and are found on sloping
lands, on the higher mesas and lower levels.

Any attempt at an explanation of their origin and the mode of -
their formation must be based upon the assumption that they are
modern modifications of the earth’s surface and are due to natural
agencies; and evidences abound on every hand that the causes
concerned in their production are still active in the formation of
new and in the maintenance of the old ones; and hence in this
vicinity they may be seen in all the stages of their growth, from
small rudimentary cones to the fully developed knolls.

Several: agencies acting successively or simultaneously have
been concerned in these formations. ch mound marks a spot
where formerly grew a shrub or cluster of shrubbery, which
served to fix its location and which exercised an important influ-
ence in the successive stages of its development. The shrubs
which seem to have been chiefly instrumental in these results are
the Rhus laurina, the Simmondsia californica and the /someris
arborea; the former undoubtedly having been principally instru-
mental in the creation of the more recent as well, perhaps, as the
most ancient ones in this vicinity. These plants are fitted for the
office they perform by the nature of their growth, which is in
compact groups or clusters, with many stems starting from the
earth near together, the branches and foliage forming a dense
mass resting closely upon the ground, and with beds of massive

roots; while the distribution of the groups is strikingly similar
_ to that of the mounds in their typical form and arrangement.

1879.] Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. 567

“M Í
‘lh A
A \
\ A ;
i f
i e
Mim "My h | À
m pS
SE | 3 :
a END
i | |
3 d
= N | i `
d iy, ii p '
a N |
5 .
a \
= | y Mio, W »
5 | À ly 4 i oi
È | ; i, "h "|
9 wl ay i)
$ Oy
|
; ooo
wit will)
Fa a" ay
i Fr )
al J

568 Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. [September,

Dust set in motion and borne along by the winds is arrested
by the shrub and, together with its fallen leaves, accumulate
within and around it, and, as is seen in thousands of instances in
this vicinity, an elevation of many inches is produced in this
manner alone, in many cases covering the lower branches, and in
case of the Simmondsia especially, nearly enveloping the whole
plant. The gopher, subsisting upon roots and preferring for its
operations the loose soil about them, is, in exceptional cases, an
adjunct of the wind in heaping up material about the plant. Of
the thousands of these clusters of shrubbery which have come
under my observation, a very large proportion show unquestion-
able evidences of these agencies in elevations more or less marked
about them, the surface portions of them at least being generally
composed of a light loam of dust and decaying leaves. While
the loose earth of which the deposit is composed is protected by
the branches and foliage of the plant, the more solid earth
beneath is also protected from the wash of rain by its massive
roots, while all around erosion goes slowly on, facilitated by the
peculiar susceptibility of the soil to wash, a quality familiar to the
casual observer.

Instances doubtless exist in which the mounds have been more
or less fully developed without the aid of those forces which ele-
vate the earth above its original level, but the shrub and the rain
wash have been constant factors. ;

In the course of time the plant dies—is smothered by the drift
which nearly covers it, or is destroyed by the fires which annually
sweep over extensive tracts of country. Thus deprived of its
protection, the winds in turn, and the rains which fall upon it wear
down the top of the loose deposit, and to some extent widen its
base. While this is going on the surrounding earth, or inter-
spaces, are being continually lowered by the action of water.
The wash always being greater at the base than at its summit, its
tendency is to perpetually maintain or increase the prominences.

The presence of beds of roots, well preserved as well as in the
different stages of decay, within many of the more modern fully
formed structures, upon the surfaces of which it is known from
observation that no vegetation has grown for many years, 18
strongly suggestive of a relation between them of cause and
effect. In the oldest ones all traces of the original roots have
long since disappeared. ne

_ A well known effect of timber and shrubbery everywhere isto

1879.] Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. 569

impede the drainage of water which falls among it, and so these
groups of plants serve to diffuse the currents—which would
otherwise be concentrated into gulleys—whose meanderings may
be traced in all directions among the mounds, thus conducing to
the symmetry of their form and arrangement.

The influence of wash in these results is the most marked on
moderate slopes, though sometimes seen on quite steep ones and
on comparatively level places, but if upon levels, the latter are so
situated as to receive the gathered waters from neighboring
slopes. Ina situation of this character near at hand the water,
after traversing a surface of considerable extent among fully
developed mounds, converges into a gully and a surplus flows off
to the sea.

Evidences of the potent agency of the winds in results of
greater magnitude than these need not be adduced. We need
only refer to the sand dunes of Scotland and the shores of the
American lakes. It is a matter of common observation here
that during the prevalence of one of the “sand storms” of a few
hours duration, which visits us once or twice annually, several
inches of dust is deposited in places suited for its lodgment, yet
the work here ascribed to the wind is mainly carried on by pre-
vailing breezes from the ocean, In situations exposed to concen-

ý Fic. 2. aap areas with earth heaped about them as in first stage of formation.

rom nai

trated wind currents or their sweep over loose earth or traveled

roads, the cones are the most sharply defined, showing that in’

such circumstances the work goes more rapidly on. .
_ Asa minor and exceptional agency I may mention that in i the —

570 Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. [September,

later stages of the formations large excavations are sometimes
made by the burrowing of animals, which are afterwards filled
with débris, while the matter thus brought to the surface remains
to augment the elevation. Hills formed in open spaces by ani-
mals do not constitute nuclei for mound-formation ; composed as
they are of a substratum in which no grass or other vegetable
takes root and protects them from dissolution, they crumble away
leaving but a bare and level spot.

To recapitulate; in the incipiency of the formation the eleva-

The dotted lines represent the orig-

Fic, 3.—Ideal profiles of successive stages of the formations.

nal surface of the earth.

tion is composed entirely of a deposit heaped often abruptly »
about the plant (Fig. 2, Fig. 3 2), but pretty soon the influence of oe
erosion is manifest in the subsidence of the base. T

1879.| Hillocks or Mound-Formations of San Diego, Cal. 571

Next the plant perishes, and, deprived of its protection, the
summit is reduced and the base widened as it is lowered (Fig. 3 4)
till finally a remnant of the deposit has become so assimilated
and compact as to constitute a more permanent summit (Fig. 3 ¢),
or it has totally disappeared, leaving the summit at or below its
original base (Fig. 3 d).

Reasons for the appearance of these phenomena so exclu-
sively on the Pacific slope and the arid plains of the West, are
that the combination of causes resulting in their production there
are seldom found elesewhere, to wit: the growth of shrubbery in
compact clusters suitably distributed, with low and dense foliage,
the presence of burrowing animals, the great susceptibility of the
soil to wash and, I may add, the steady prevalence of winds from
a single quarter, and the absence of forests which would other-
wise influence winds and surface drainage.

Note.—Since the foregoing was written it has been suggested
to me by a gentleman whose opinions have much weight, that the
wind exercises an influence in excavating the earth around and
between the shrubs of which the mounds are a sequence. While
there is no evidence of such action in this vicinity, the explana-
tion doubtless holds good in sections of the country in which a
loose or sandy soil prevails. The mounds of this vicinity are
found almost exclusively on the upland which, when dry, is quite
firm and is not perceptibly acted on by the wind, yet sweeping
Over a considerable surface it gathers enough of soil, in time, to
make large deposits about the shrubbery. Sandy soil is excep-
tional, and is found usually only in the valleys which are com-
paratively small in extent. In such situations the suitable vege-
tation does not so commonly exist, there is more protection from
the winds, and the rains, generally light, are so readily absorbed
that no surface-wash takes place.

It has also been suggested that pebbles and rocks form nuclei
around which accumulations of soil remain and conduce to the

VOL, XNI.—NO, IX. 39

572 Insect Powder. [September,
INSECT POWDER.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

HE insect powders of commerce are the powdered flowers of
different species of Pyrethrum. Those of Pyrethrum carneum
and roseum were introduced some thirty years ago under the
name of Persian Insect Powder, and subsequently those of Pyre-
thrum cinerarie folium, a native of Dalmatia, Austria, as Dalma-
tian Insect Powder. Both the Persian and Dalmatian powders
are good insecticides, but the latter is much the more energetic
in its action and hence commands a higher price ; indeed, it is so
much preferred that it is gradually driving the so-called Persian
powder out of the market. The fact of the flowers of P. roseum
being less active than those of P. ctheranie folium, has been
accounted for on the ground that the single flowers are much
more powerful than the double ones, and that the double flowers
occur in P. roseum in much larger proportion than in the other
species. The flowers, either whole or powdered, preserve their
activity for a long period. A recent European experimenter
states that he could not perceive any particular loss of activity in
samples which had been kept six years. The fresh (undried)
flowers act very slowly as compared with the same dried and
powdered, and the plant itself powdered is quite inactive. It is
singular that while there are many other composite plants closely
related to the genus Pyrethrum, as yet this peculiar property has
been found only in plants belonging to this genus, and even
within this limit there are several species whose value as insecti-
cides is very slight. A large number of Composite indigenous
to Austria have been tested and found to be of no value in this
respect. The flowers of Tansy (Tanacetum papere) are said to
have a slight stupefying effect.

The Pyrethrums are hardy plants which bloom abundantly the
šecond year from seed. The powder is prepared from the half-
opened flowers gathered during dry weather and dried in the
shade under cover, but the process of gathering, drying and pre-
paring involves so much time that their culture can only be made
profitable where labor is cheap. ;

Insect powders have not attracted general attention as insecti-
=- cides until within the last three or four years, during which time
= they have been introduced in various forms in packages an

1870. ] Insect Powder. 573

boxes, accompanied by suitable blowers or insect guns for the
purpose of properly distributing the powder, and recommended
for the destruction of flies, cockroaches, fleas, bugs, &c. Some-
times these prepared articles have been artificially colored so as
to disguise their source, but all have owed their activity solely to
the presence of the powdered flowers of one or other of these
Pyrethrums.

House flies are very sensitive to the effects of these powders.
A few puffs of the dust from an insect gun, blown into the air of
aroom with the doors closed, the discharges directed towards
those parts where flies are congregated, will stupify and kill them
within a very short time. The powder is somewhat pungent, and
to breathe an atmosphere charged with it will frequently cause a
slight sneezing, but beyond this the operator need not anticipate
any annoyance. Frequently during the past summer, when flies
have been troublesome, we have pretty thoroughly charged the
air in our dining-room and kitchen at night, closing the doors,
and in the morning found all, or nearly all, the flies lying dead
on the floors. A few minutes after its use they begin to drop on
their backs, and after a very short time die; if a room be closed
for half an hour after using the powder, few, if any, will escape.
By some this energetic action has been attributed to the presence
of a volatile oil in the flowers, by other and later investigators to
a peculiar crystalline principle believed to be an alkaloid; but
this point does not as yet seem to be fully settled.

More recently we have been experimenting with this powder
on the green Aphis which troubles our green-house plants. The
usual plan of smoking with tobacco is an unpleasant remedy, and
is also very injurious to many plants of delicate constitution,
whereas the insect powder, used to any extent, is perfectly harm- —
less to plant-life. After freely charging the air of a green-house
with the powder, blowing it in fine clouds of dust among the plants,
the tiny tormentors who are busily engaged in sucking the life
out of the leaves and tender shoots, soon manifest symptoms of
uneasiness and begin to drop from the plants to the ground, and
in the course of an hour or two the larger portion of the enemy’s
forces will be found lying sprawling on the earth in the pots or
on the shelves and floor of the house, where, probably partly
from the stupefying effects of the powder and partly from their
Natural inability to find their way to any given point, they fail to —

574 Insect Powder. — [ September,

reach the plants again and hence perish. By applying the pow-
der freely in the evening and giving the plants a thorough
syringing in the morning, they may in the worst cases be almost
freed from Aphides by a single application ; it is better, however,
to repeat its use the next evening, so.as to make sure work.
The powder does not appear to kill this Aphis as it does the flies,
For the purpose of testing this point we placed a number of
them in an open glass cell of a microscope slide and powdered
them thoroughly, and found some of them alive after two days of
such severe exposure to its influence. Having recently found a
plant literally swarming with the green Aphis, so that the sight
of it was almost disgusting, we submitted it to the action of this
powder one afternoon, having previously spread a large piece of
white paper under the plant, so that the effect of the powder on
the insects might be distinctly seen. Almost immediately they
began to fall on the paper, and in less than ten minutes a
hundred or more of them were lying on their backs or crawling
sluggishly about. In the course of half an hour some four or
five hundred had fallen on the paper, and when the plant was
examined again the following morning, there remained but very
few on it, and most of these were removed by a slight syringing.
We have had the powder used in green-houses by some of our
friends, who also report its success. This matter is well worthy
the attention of all those who indulge in window gardening or
who grow plants in small conservatories attached to dwellings,
since if this proves an efficient and economical substitute for
tobacco smoke, it will save much annoyance and some loss.
Success will necesarily depend on the quality of the material
used, but after the experiments we have tried, we feel confident
that with good Dalmatian powder there need be no failure. It
will be interesting to learn, as opportunity offers, how moths and
other insects will be affected by the use of insect powders. If
the beautiful specimens which sometimes fly into our rooms at
night can be drugged in this way and captured without a strug-
gle, we may add many a perfect specimen to our collections
which would otherwise be more or less defaced. There is quite
_ a field for experiment here.— Canadian Entomologist.

1879. | Recent Literature. 575

RECENT LITERATURE.

Miers’ CRUSTACEA OF COREA AND JAPAN.'—In this paper are
enumerated sixty-four species of Decapods, of which twenty-six
are new. Five new genera, Pleistacantha, Pseudophilyra, Para-
tymolus, Pornatocheles and Heterocuma are indicated. Portunus
strigilis Stm., is shown to be P. corrugatus Leach, which was well
known from the shores of Europe and the Miditerranean, P. sub-
corrugatus A. M. Edw., from the Red sea, is regarded as but a
variety of this species, and specimens are reported from Naples.
Paracrangon echinatus, which previously was only known from
Puget sound, is reported from Yedo island. Before beginning
the descriptive portion of his article, Mr. Miers has a paragraph
on the geographical distribution of the species, in which he
notices the affinity between the Japanese Crustacea and those
found in the Mediterranean, a similarity which was commented
upon by Dana in his chapter on the Geographical Distribution of
the Crustacea, in the volumes of the U. S. Exploring Expedition. -
A similar resemblance is also pointed out between the west coast
of North America and Japan. It would seem, however, to the
writer, that the true Japanese fauna, as well as that of China, is
the most closely allied to that of the Southern United States, and
that the resemblances of Japan to Western North America is by

nent and the Pacific isles, and also all which are found on both
coasts, and we have left forty-six genera with which to show the
affinities of the Japanese fauna. In the following table these
genera are given with a rough approximation as to their geo-

created, and it is not always easy to assign the species described
by the older authors to their proper position. This course of
genus making and genus splitting has been severely criticised,
but one can easily see how in a study of the geographical distri-
bution it aids in showing analogous forms on the various coasts.
! On a Collection of Crustacea made in the Corean and nese Seas. By ED-

WARD J. Miers. (Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of London, 1879, pp.
18-61, pls. 1-111.)

576 Recent Literature. [September,

| EE F
al ; 4) g
=| 2 HEE 4/8
GENERA. S| dalag Sl By
v Bis O] arl ola we
flail jel sl 1a) a ais] ol 4 ad
3) 2| a| 2) 8] o ES S 8) 4/8] LS
gl alel §| #8) 2/8) SOSS eo! 2/9)
s| S| S| Sl | Si Sis] Bl eo] 6151 Zi 8] a! B
| E| 21S! S/o) 8] 5) 8| 8) 3| S| 3) 3) 8) 8) S
SÖ S| LE) haa S S| 6) a) <) aS
cheeus oo epee o| ojo o
Oregonia o|
Chorilia al o
ita oo o o
- Se o o fe)
A et o| olo o
Cryptopodia .... o o ojo
Xanthodes . o o °
Ozius olo olo! o
Achelous ? | ojo ojojo o|?
Goniosoma 0/0) 27/0/0/0/0
ortunus ol 0/0ojojo
Prvhoearvein as jose Sse gi 2 62% o| |o
Telmessus o| re)
Heterograpsus o | ojojo o
elice olo fo}
Pinta bo. saves Sree ca o o o o
Thelph o| o oo
hilyra [o o o
balia lo = Fo
Ethusa .. [o] o
romia ojo o
Latreillia . Jo o
Pachycheles lo 0l tO 00o
Polyon ei lo o
Ceryptolithodes.¢ disc reriru oss o| ojo
Hapalogaster oj jojo
Dioge lo o ojo o o
Aniculus lo! o olo
iropagurus . lo] P o
Ccenobita [o ojo ojo ojo
- Galatheat olo oo oo o
Munida o oo
Scyllarus o ojojoj tofo
Ibacus o o SEE a ;
Panulirus ... ojo ojo o oo
acus to (0) (e)
‘aracrangon Sh 2 l o
Hippolyamata Ol jo; jojo
-Tozeu |o o
Eou 5 o| o
Rhynthocpclust litte ojo o o
ris : olo +
Urocaris , o|
Solenocera . | o
Totals weveeeeel38i1819 1915 aAa 7l4lio9|7l3l1l3
E a :
` ISchizophrys dichotomus Mithrax dichotom White in the
Crustacea of the Vo eta. the seach i Pipe slau: it "iris 2 wall known art
pare Sag bow anp he teig gener positions doubt btful. L aa sh ei Baw» rom Chl Pee
e Bate, Proc

longs t0 the grows, Plew poten he grp i in trun=
tifoons $ aie, bap ment i ha peel als ae

1879. | Recent Literature. 577

From this table it will be seen that of the forty-five genera
`- noticed, ten are common to the east coast of the Eastern conti-
nent and the east coast of America only, four additional have the
same distribution, including Australia and the Pacific isles, three
are found on both coasts of the Eastern continent an

eastern coast of America, seven exist only on the shores of
the Pacific, eleven belong to the Eastern continent and the
Pacific isles alone, four are found on both shores of America but
not on the coasts of Europe or the western coast of Africa, three

seventeen are found on the Pacific coast of America, twenty-five
on the eastern side, seventeen on the western coast of the Eastern
gontinent and in the Mediterranean. The cases of the Pacific
genera which are cemmon to both coasts, e.g., Oregonia, Tel/mes-
sus, Haplogaster, &c., are in several cases to be explained by the
fact that they are boreal genera, and analogous cases will at once
suggest themselves in regard to the fauna of the coasts of the
North Atlantic. The cases of Liomera luta, which has been
reported from China, the Pacific islands and C. St. Lucas, Cæno-
bita rugosa from the Indian ocean, Australia, the Pacific, and of
which there are specimens in the Museum of the Peabody Acad-
emy of Science from Panama, and of Platyonichus bipustulatus
from New Zealand, Japan, India and Chili, are paralleled by simi-
lar facts in the distribution of Leptopodia siggitaria, Litinia dubia,
Xantho vermiculatus, &c., which are found on the eastern shores
of the Atlantic. Another fact to be noticed in comparing the
fauna of Japan and the eastern seas with that of the Atlantic
coasts of America is, that certain genera which are peculiar to
one region are represented in the other by allied forms, for exam-
ple, Leptopisa, Panopeus and Eucratopsis of the American waters
are represented on the Asiatic coasts by Ziarinia, Heteropanope
and Lucratt.

An examination of Gunther’s Fishes shows a similar identity
in the genera of the eastern coasts of the two continents, but in
Edmund Perrier’s article on the Geographical Distribution of the
Asteridæ no such similarity can be noted. It is my desire to
Carry out the investigation of this resemblance further, and any
facts or references bearing on the geographical distribution of
marine forms will be very acceptable, and due credit will be given
therefor.— 7. S. Kingsley, Norwich, N. Y.

Bronn’s CLASSES AND ORDERS OF THE ANIMAL KinGcpomM.—
This famous series of six volumes is now drawing to a close, the

H. G. Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs, wissenschaftlich
dargestellt in Wort und Bild. Fortgesetz von Dr. A.GERSTACKER. Fünfter Band.
Gliederfiissler, Arthropoda Lieferung 1-27. Leipzig und Heidelberg, 1879. 8vo,
with many lithographic plates. eee

+

y

578 Recent Literature. [September,

volumes on birds and Crustacea being apparently nearly com-

pleted, the Molluscs and Radiates having been published several
years ago. The work is a compilation from numerous memoirs
and papers, being encyclopædic in its nature, and the most
authoritative, complete general account of the different classes
and orders of the animal kingdom to be found. The plates are
filled with figures, chiefly anatomical and developmental, from
the memoirs and works of the leading authors, and are, in gen-
eral, excellent copies. The present work on Crustacea is done
in Dr. Gerstaecker’s best style. The last part is taken up with the

Trilobites, which are treated of with great thoroughness and
sa peg of illustration. Though a somewhat expensive

, it is invaluable as a work of reference, and we call atten-
tion to it because of its ei usefulness to any one living out of
reach of extended libraries. '

BAIRD’S ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND*INDustRy.1—This is
ne of a series of eight yearly volumes which fills a place in pop-
lät scientific literature not occupied, and will prove to be a very
useful compendium of annual progress in science in Europe and
this country. Reference to the index, which by the way is an
admirable one, will show how many items are inserted in this
well packed book, and just how fruitful the year 1878 was in
scientific discoveries, whether of pure or applied science. The
number who have assisted the editor are thirteen. This volume
is of the same nature as the one issued for 1877, having a less
number of pages than "those from 1871 to 1876, owing to the
omission of abstracts of scientific papers, for which it was impos-
sible to find epig space. We have noticed the series in for-
mer years, and now recommend it as reliable, condensed, most
useful and, in hort indispensable to teachers and editors as well

as to the general reader.,
NT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—Notice of Recent BALE. to gee Marine

Pinks of the Eastern Coast < North America, No. 5. Verrill. (Brief
Contributions to Zodlogy from the Museum of Yale Ele, No. xii.) (From
, Vo 18

the American Journal of Sciatied and Arts, Vol. xvit, June, 1879.) 8vo, pp- 3-

Notice of Kesti oe to the Marine Fauna of the Eastern Coast of North
America, No. 6. a . E. Verrill. (Brief Conieritsations to Zodlogy from the
seum of Yale College, No. A 1m.) (From the American Journal of Science and
Aris, Vol. XVII, pra 79-) 8vo, pp. 3.

Loc gee! a heck-list of the Marine Sige aes of the Atlantic Coast, from

od to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. By A. E. Verrill. (Prepared for the U.S.
Commission of Fish and Fisheries.) (Author’ s sl June, reg ott 8vo, pp. 32-
Report of Work of ty Bigg tana Experiment Station, Middletown, Conn.,
1877-8. By W.O. Atwa Taken, in part, from the Report of he Secretary of
the Conn. Board of Apic for 1878, ) es
The North American Entomologist. No. 1, Vol. 1, July, 1879. Editor, A. me

Grote. Publishers, Reinedse, seins Baltz, 500 Maia ‘sireet, Buffalo, N. Y. 879
pp. 8, 1 plate.

We nee
‘Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1878. Edited by SPENCER ae
_ BAIRD, with the assistance of eminent men of science. New York, Harper r &
Brothers, 1 tame, Pp. 715.

1879. ] Recent Literature. 579

Mollusca of H. M. S. Challenger Expedition, Parts 1, 11 and 111. By the Rev. R.
og Watson. (Ext. from the Linnean Society’s Journal—Zodlogy, Vol. XLv.)
London, 1879. 8vo, pp. 39.

Outlines of Field-Geology. By Archibald Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. 2d edition,
revised and enlarged, illustrated. 12mo, pp. 216. Macmillan h Co. 1879. From
the author

Archæ icy and Ethnology. (Schedule of plans for the arrangement of material
in the International glee i Raney) in Philadelphia.) By E. A. Barber. pp.
3. 1879. From thea

Drainage Go ee a ‘ poaise of Wee Idaho and Utah. Primary trian-
gulation, by A. D. Wilson. ‘Topography, by Hen tt Gannett, a B. Chittenden, G.

; Beier: and F. A. Clark. Arye of the Interior, U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur-
vey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden, U.S. reeniri charge. j From the Depart-

Catalogue of a collection w ses ape in gaoa for the mor
SA Institution, by Mr. Fred. A. Ober. By George N. Lawrence. (Ext. Proc. U. S.
Nat vg, Museum, April 22, 876) fm B. nme ot Washington. Frai the

A ‘Gest Cosslogue: of the birds noted from the islands of the Lesser greens
thos

visited by Mr. Fred, A. Ober, with a table orang their OET and
found in the United p es By Geo. N. Law (Ext POLN ational
us., fea eii di? Re Washington. From ‘ie author.

Colonial Mus and Geological Survey of New Zealand. gE pieis al
Report < on the Colonial Museum and Laboratory, together with a list of t na-
tions and deposits during 1877- ery Jas. Hector, M.D., F.R.S., director. yi vo,

40. Wellington, New Zealand, 1878. Fr Oni the dire ctors.

The Utica Slate and been erage tl Fossils of the Utica Slate and Meta-
morphosis of Triarthrus Becki. By C. Walcott. (Printed in advance of Vol.
he shor Albany perar Fai, 1879.) ph pp. 38, pls. 11. Albany, 1879. From

e aut

cal Geology of Davenport [Iowa]. By Rev. W. H. Barris. 8vo, pp.
261-288, pi xX, XI. (Ext. Dav. Acad. Nat. Sai, Vol. st Sept., 1878.) From the

wae f the on yee History. Lecture delivered in the Hall of
Washington University, St. Louis, April 2, 1879. By R. S. Elliott. 8vo, pp. 16.
St. Louis, 1879. Fr sty the au i

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Posh I.—Jan-
uary, February and March, 1879. 8vo, pp. 136, pls. x11. From the ety.

ee ons of Soph new species of Calceolidæ from the Upper. Si tue rian rocks
Kentucky. By Victor W. Lyon. (Ext. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, i879.)
8vo, pp. 43-46. From the =

roc o American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for peo:
moting useful knowledge, Vol No. 102, January to June, 1879. 8vo, pp. 120
Philadelphia, 1879. From the society.

The Naturalists’ Leisure Hour and Monthly bg von gp a A. E. Foote.
Vol. 3, Nos. 6 and 7 (June and po 1879). 8vo. Fro diti
pigs ee Fishery Exhibition to be held at Berlin in Seas I 880. Prospectus.
4to erlin, 1879. From the honorary president, Dr. Friedenthal, Prussian
minister Be ag riculturé.
The Oslogist: a A asad journal devoted to the study of pedia and their Eggs.
8vo. Vol. Iv, No. 9, April, 1879. Utica, N. Y. From the e
syr List ‘of iklhas in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Dy Geoffroy Teds
C.M.Z Part 1. Gastropoda Pulmonata a ranchia—Neuro
Sva a, pp. — Mecham > ENS Printed by order p the pecan “Fr rom aage wae.
intendent of the
Bolletino Scientifico 1e reat dai dottori de Giovanni Achille, Maggi Leopoldo e
iovanni, hs ersita di Pavia. Anno I1, Num. 1. 8vo, cae 16.
_ Milan, 1879. From the e the edita

580 General Notes. [September,

GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY.

On THE FERTILIZATION OF SYMPLOCARPUS FŒTIDUS.— Belong-
ing to the Aroidz, and possessing df Once an odor unpleasant to

an, and a spathe of a brownish or reddish-purple color, the
“skunk cabbage” would probably be taken at first sight asa
good example of what Miiller calls a loathsome flower—a flower
which by its color and odor repels all insects save carrion-loving
flies and beetles, and whose, fertilization, if dependent upon insects
at all, must depend upon those of this kind. From the partly
closed spathe it might be further inferred that this is a good
example of a plant in process of transition from the state of a
completely open loathsome flower, like Calla palustris, to that of
one in which the spathe has been so modified by natural selection
as to be converted into what Müller would call a kettle trap, as

another spadix. In the course of a week or two, for the rapidity
of development depends in large part on the warmth of the sea-
son, the aspect of our spadix will have entirely changed, for the
stigmas of the upper flowers will be withered and the stamens of
these same flowers will now protrude from their envelopes and
shed their pollen. Meantime the stigmas of the lower flowers
have matured, and some can evidently be fertilized by the mere
falling of pollen from the upper flowers without any extraneous
aid, for pollen is shed in such quantities that it covers the bottom
of the spathe.
On the first warm and sunny day we repair to a sheltered
lace where we find our plant, and proceed to look for
the little flies that wè expect to find in the spathes, whither they
should be attracted by the color and odor, and by the shelter
offered; but no flies appear. While we are looking a hive-bee
alights on a spathe and enters it. Approaching, we see her busily
engaged in collecting pollen, meantime creeping back and forth
over the surface of the spadix, which, as well as her body, 'S
~ thoroughly covered with the yellow dust. Other observations
_ show that each spathe is daily visited by scores of hive-bees, —

1870. } Botany. 581

some of which are unable to escape from the spathes and die
there. A little later in the season a small bug (Hemipter) may
be found in small numbers on the spadices, and they are ysually
well dusted with pollen. Occasionally a slug or the slimy trail of
one is found within a spathe, and usually they pass over the spa-
dix. A couple of weeks after finding the first bee the spathes
will be found swarming with the minute black flies that were
sought in vain earlier in the season, and their number is attested
not only by the hundreds of them which can be seen, but also by
the many small but very fat spiders whose webs bar the entrance
to three-fourths of the spathes. During the present spring a few
specimens of a small scavenger-beetle (7ps fasciatus) have been
captured within the spathes of this plant. What they were after
I can scarcely say, but they may have been visiting spathe after
spathe in search of one with a decaying spadix, for the prolonged
cold and wet weather caused many to decay, or they may have
been in search of flower-food.

Considering these facts, it appears that with us hive-bees are
not deterred by the odor of the flowers from visiting them and
collecting their pollen, and that their visits are so frequent as to
render them the chief agents in securing the cross-fertilization of
the flowers, at least very early in the season. Later a few bugs
and beetles may be of some use in transferring pollen, as-also in
a slight degree the spiders which take up their abode within or at
the entrance of the spathes. Slugs and snails enter as agents for
the transfer of pollen in a few cases, as might be expected from
what Delpino has shown with regard to their habits in visiting
plants related to this. Finally, other'and more attractive flowers
opening, the bees appear to cease visiting those of this species,
and countless small flies take their place, compensating for their
small size by their great numbers.— William Trelease, À

-BoranicaL News.—To the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical
Club, Mr. N. L. Britton -contributes notes on the relative age and
dimensions of a number of different trees. Dr. G. Engelmann

in portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico
and Arizona, during the years 1871-75,” by Dr. J. T. Rothrock,
who has been aided by Messrs. Engelmann, Porter, Watson,

Bebb, Vasey, Boott, Eaton, James and Tuckerman. Fift

New Mexican district, and on Economic Botany. Prof.
report on the Ferns of the South-west relates to all the ferns
hitherto discovered in the regions of the United States lying

582 General Notes. [ September,

west of the 105th degree of west longitude, and south of the goth
parallel. In the Botanical Gazette for July, Mary C. Reynolds
notices at length certain Floridian ferns. E. T. Smith notices a
new form of Trillium grandiflorum from Michigan. A writer
over the initials C. R. B. calls attention to the neglected botany
of West Virginia. Fritz Müller questions, in Nature, whether ~
many of the varieties of bananas have not been produced by bud-
variation, In the Mzttheilungen of the Natural History Society
of Bern, Herr Frankhauser contributes a paper on the most
important conditions of shape in the leaf of phanerogamic plants,
and a second one on the principal laws of growth in Floridee,
and Dr. Pertz notices some luminous bacteria. In an important
memoir on the ovule of plants, Prof. Warming discusses the early
development of the leaf or “ ovular mamelon,” the genesis of the
nucleus and the formation of the integuments of the mamelon.
According to a reviewer in Nature he demonstrates that the
theory of Brogniart as to the morphological significance of the
ovule is the true and solely admissible one, and he reasons very
conclusively against the views of Bronn, Eichler and Strasburger,
who would regard the ovule as a bud, while in reality, as he says,
“the ovule is the homologue of a sporangium.” r. Le Let
quereux contributes an article on Cordaites bearing fruit (with a
plate) to the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.

ZOOLOGY.!

Dogs THE Fox SNAKE “Mimic” THE RATTLESNAKE? — On
May 24th a fact came under my observation which until then
was unknown to me; it may, however, not be new to other
readers of the NATURALIST.

_4The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
Cove, USA- tad aed

1879. | Zoology. 583

side over an arc of about three-fourths of an inch, moving so
rapidly as to appear like a dull fan-like glimmer. In every
instance observed the tail was raised but little above the horizon-
tal, and the buzzing sound was continuous through a few seconds
nly.

Is this to be called an example of“ mimicry”? May it be
said that far back in the past some sagacious ancestor witnessing
that act of intimidation on the part of the rattlesnake, and
observing how successful it was, resolved to adopt the practice
itself; and thus, through inheritance, the practice became en-
grafted upon this species? If so, that ancestor, it would seem,
must have possessed a keenness of perception, an accuracy of
judgment and a depth of reasoning human-like in a high degree,
and far above what is usually recognized among the members o

its class. :

If the fact under consideration is not an example of “ mimicry,”
may it be said that some ancestor in one of its battles accidentally
moved its tail from side to side so rapidly as to produce a strange
buzzing sound that frightened its antagonist away; that that
snake possessed the sagacity to connect the flight of its enemy
and the buzzing sound with the rapid motions of its tail; and
that by continued repetition of this feat in subsequent battles,
there were wrought structural and mental changes sufficiently
fixed to be inherited ?

If all this be granted, and it is very unsatisfactory reasoning to
me, we have possibly a clew to the beginning of differentiation in
the tail of the rattlesnake.

There can be but little doubt but that the specimen under con-
sideration is the fox snake, Coluber vulpinus, although I have at
hand only the abbreviated description found in Jordan’s “ Manual
T Vertebrate Animals.” —F. H. King, River Falls, Wis., May 26,
1679.

Of-season, and it would seem as if it but needed the concurrence
of retardation in the two sexes, and their coming together, in
order to change the breeding habits of the species. What is
curious, if a general fact, the instinct of propagation in these

habits of life. Normally, during the breeding season, these sal-
mon seek the rapid streams, but these spring fish, filled with
Spawn, are found in the waters of the lake along with others of
their species. In order to give directness to this statement we
would state that, for one instance, on June 2d we took from the

584 General Notes. [September,

lake a large healthy fish which extruded into the boat apparently
healthy eggs as large as peas, and more were afterwards forced
out in abundance by gentle pressure. In the young fry from last
year’s hatching, the yolk sac was scarcely absorbed at this time.—
E. Lewis Sturtevant, M. D., S. Framingham, Mass.

NOTES ON AMERICAN CRUSTACEA.—Having recently been study-
ing the Crustaceans belonging to Union College, kindly loaned
me by Prof. H. E. Webster, I have thought best to place on
record some of the more noticeable features of the collections.
I hope, however, at an early day to publish a more extended
notice. Enough specimens were found to show the identity of
Othonia anisodon with O. aculiata (Gibbes) Stm. A new species
of Actea (A. spinifera) occurred from Plantation Key, Fla. This
species closely resembles A. /ursutissima (Rüppell) Dana, from
the Indian ocean and the Red sea, and differs from all other
American species in the character of the antero-lateral teeth,
which closely resembles those of A. hirsutissima. Prof. Webster
collected specimens of Panopeus of the two forms described as
sayi and texanus, but I can find no constant character to separate
them; the coloration of the hand and presence or absence of the
sub-hepatic tubercle certainly are not sufficient characters. A
comparison of the young of Hepatus decorus with H. tuberculatus
Saussure, as suggested by Stimpson, reveals the fact that the two
species are distinct. A new species of Lithadia (L. lacunosa),
allied to Z. cariosa, was found at Sarasota bay, Florida.. It differs,
however, from that species in the ornamentation of the carapace,
which is covered with circular depressions like those on a lady's
thimble. Among the Anomura were specimens from North
Carolina and Florida of the curious Euceramus prelongus Stm.,
which resembles a Hippa in form, but is allied by its structure to
the porcelain crabs. A new species of Pisosoma (P. glabra) comes
from Key West. It differs from P. riisez in the simple not bimar-
ginate front. Polyonyx macrochelis and Lepidops venusta were
found at Fort Macon, N. C., adding two species to the fauna of
that locality in addition to those mentioned in my list (Proceed-

one, O. orientalis, in having a rostrum like that of Alpheus heter-
ochelis, and the absence of a dorsal carina on the carapace. e
eyes are slender and elongate, strikingly like those of Hippa. A
peculiar interest attaches to this and certain other genera of
Crustacea (Toseuma, Urocaris, Rhynchocyclus and Limulus) from
the fact that the known species inhabit the eastern coasts 0 ‘the
two continents, while the western shores have no representatives —

of these genera. A similar fact in geographical distribution has

been noticed in the flora. Specimens of Alpheus minus,

1879. | Zoology. 585

Florida, were the largest I have ever seen, one measuring forty-
five millemetres in length—F¥% S. Kingsley.

THE BELOSTOMA piscivorus.—Having some, stickle-backs in a
jar of water I was surprised at finding one or two of them dead,
though hardy. Soon afterwards, however, I saw a large water-
bug paa seize one of these fish, pierce it with ‘its strong
al and apparently suck the fish’s blood. — Henry Turner, Tth-

a, N. Y.

n STAGES OF THE OysTER.—Certain of the early stages of
the oyster have been studied in Europe, but a complete history is
much needed. Prof. W. K. Brooks is now engaged on this sub-
ject at Crisfield, Maryland, where he has established the Summer
Zoological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University in con-
nection with the U. S. Fish Commission. He had succeeded
May 2oth in artificially fertilizing the eggs, ascertaining that the
process of segmentation occupied two hours, and that in six
hours free-swimming ciliated embryos are produced,

Marop Crass.—Mr. Miers has given in this paper a
revision of the families, sub-families and genera of this interesting
group of Crustacea. The genera enumerated number 106, and

pensable to the student. The pages of the ‘NATURALIST are not
the place for an extended examination of this system of classifi-
cation, but b may not be out of e to notice a few of the

rüsei, hypoglypha and. ea ae The genus hopes s DeHaa
for which Dana established a separate group, is assigned to the
neighborhood of Irachus. The placing of Cloris and Macro-
cheira in the same section hardly seems proper, nor does the
separation of Schizophrys and Cyclax from the neighborhood of
ithrax and Mithraculus. The placing of Libinia and Cceloce-
rus in different families is, we think, hardly right. A character
Separating Mithrax and Mithrachulus which is not noticed in this
paper is that in Mithrax the anterior sora Si of the meral joint of
the external maxilliped is notched for the reception of the suc-
See joints, while in Mithraculus it is entire. The generic
he Classification of the Maiod Crustacea. By EDWARD J. Miers. (Jour
nal of ‘Se Linnean Society of ae ees Vol. xiv, 1879.) Pages 634-673,
pls. xu and XIII.

+

586 General Notes. [ September,

name Microrhyncus is preoccupied, and Alphonse Milne Edwards
has proposed in its stead the name Weorhyncus.

Tue Rocky Mountain Locust ın New Mexico.—During a
recent trip to New Mexico to investigate the southern limits of
the distribution of Caloptenus spretus, I was enabled to ascertain
a number of new facts regarding the extreme southern limits of
this species. According to Ex-governor W. F. Arny, of Santa
Fé, small swarms of destructive locusts, supposed to be this spe-
cies, have appeared at a point 140 miles south of Santa Fé.
Heretofore the U. S. Entomological Commission had been unable
to trace it south of Taos, N. M., where it was known to have
been destructive in 1877. From Ex-governor Arny and several
Mexicans and Pueblo Indians we obtained the following facts,
which are of general interest. In 1868 the counties of Valentia

the same Pueblo was visited late in the season. In 1871 Santa
Fé, and in 1874 Santa Fé and Rio Ariba counties, including
several Pueblo Indian towns, were invaded. In 1873 Colfax county

came from the west or south-west, in July, and passed up into
Rio-Ariba and Taos counties, crossing into Costilla county, Col-
orado. From these facts it seems that the northern half o New
Mexico, and probably Northern Arizona, are occasionally subject
to invasions of locusts from Southern Colorado ; but the flights
are sporadic and local, and occur after the wheat crop has been
mostly harvested: Whether on account of droughts or locusts,
or from both causes, the Pueblo Indians have, like the Egyptians
of old, been in the habit of laying up stores of wheat and corn
two and three years in advance.—A. S. Packard, Fr.

ZodLocicaL Nores.—We take the following notes from late
numbers of Nature: Dr. Fritz Müller has sent from Brazil a
trichopterous insect belonging to the Leptoceride, remarkable on
account of its showing, very distinctly, branchia such as have
lately been discovered in the imago state of this group by De 2
Palmén. M. Jourdain has read a paper before the F rench
Academy on the respiratory apparatus of Ampullaria, a fresh-
water mollusk.——The muscles of crayfish have been studi
from a physiological point of view by M. Richet, the muscles of
the clam have a high degree of contractibility. ..sorensen, =
in his studies on the apparatus of sound in various South Ameri-
can fishes, finds that vibrations are communicated to the air of the

1879. ] Anthropology. 587
swimming bladder.——The fauna of the Solomon islands has
been discussed by Mr. E. P. Ramsay, several new birds being
described ; 120 mammals and about fifty species of insects were
collected for the Australian Museum, of which Mr. Ramsay is
the collector. The fossil head of a Rhinoceros ticorhinus has
been found in Siberia in a good state of preservation ——A nother
fossil mammoth has been found at Newburgh, N. Y. The
metamorphoses of the cantharides (Lytta vesicatoria) from the
„egg has been worked out by M. Lichtenstein, of Paris ———The
body-cavity of sedentary Annelids has been studied by M. Cos-
morici, and the anatomy of an Actinia, Cerianthus membranaceus,
has been investigated by Von Heider——The genus Squilla is
now know to date as far back as the London clay, and Mr. Wood-
ward,.the discoverer of the fact, describes Mecroscilla wilsoni, a
supposed stomapod Crustacean from the middle coal measures,
and a fossil king crab (Zizmu/us) from the cretaceous formation of .
the Lebanon. Collections of birds have lately been examined
by London ornithologists, from the Argentine Republic and the
United States of Columbia, the latter collection comprising 3500
specimens, representing 469 species. A collection of land
shells, of which ten or twelve are supposed to be new, collected
by the late Dr. W. M. Gabb, in Costa Rica, has been reported
on by Mr. G. F. Angas. A. young hippopotamus has lately
died in captivity of trichinosis. Immense swarms of butterflies
ave been witnessed at Le Mail and in Alsace, June 8th and
oth, and June 7th in Zurich.

ANTHROPOLOGY .! :

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The first number of Matériaux for
1879 is one of unusual interest to the general reader. n page
22 is a report of a discussion before the Geological Society of
London, on the mammoth in space and time. On page 31 is
given a series of stone implements from Japan. On page 33 M.
Maret presents the results of diggings in the grotto of Placard,
Charent, Figure 18 represents a cresent-shaped implement from
the horn of the reindeer, use ‘undetermined. We beg to suggest
that the object is drawn upside down, and that it resembles ve
closely the bone deadeyes used on Eskimo Kyaks for running
lines; in other words it is the parent-of our- modern block for
tackle. On page 46 we have the announcement of the meeting
of the Congrés international d’Anthropologie et d’Archedlogie
préhistorique at Lisbon, in 1880, and the programme of M.
Daly’s Course of Ethnology for 1880, at the School of Anthro-
pology in Paris, as follows:

I. Les sciences anthropologiques. Définitions. L’ethnologie
et l’ethnographie. Eléments statiques et dynamiques.

Sources de l’ethnologie. Anatomie et physiologie individuelle

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

VOL. XIII,—No, IX, 40 = .

588 General Notes. [ September,

et comparative. Caractéres tirés de la coloration de la peau, des
cheveux, et des _ du crane et du squelette. La taille.
Langage et langue

2. Sources de Ukan a e (suite). Les voyages. L'histoire.
Les traditions. Mythes et légendes. L’architecture. Les pro-
duits industriels.

éfinitions relatives à l'espèce, à la race, aux variétés, aux
familles, aux nationalités. Herédité, Atavism

F Distribution des races humaines. Elements des classifica-
tions. Chap. x de la Genèse. Essais de classifications: Bernier,
Linée, Buffon, Blumenbach, Virey, Cuvier, Lesson, Bory Saint-
Vincent, Desmoulins, Latham, Isidore Geoffroy, Nott et Gliddon,
g’ ae d’ Halloy, de Quatrefages, Huxley, Heckel.

. Classifications récentes: Triciologie. Cranialogie. Les
nee anthropologiques abstraits.

5. Et hnographie — Type éthiopique et ses dérivés. Races
africaines. Kaces océaniennes.

6. Les. négres d’Afrique. Sénégambie. Guinée. Gabon.
Angola. Benguela.

7. Le Soudan. La Nubie. Le Haut-Nil. Les lacs. Resul-
tats ethnologiques des récentes explorations de l'Afrique centrale,
Ugandi, Niams-Niams et M’bouttous.—Akkas. Zulus.

ace bantou ou cafre. Bechuanas. Bassoutos. Makalolos —
Mozambique. Zanzibar. Somali, Gallas. ap Koi-Koin et
Hottentots. Avenir de la colonisation africaine

g. Les colonies de nègres esclaves. Etatinis d'Amérique.
Les Antilles. Le Brésil. Libéria. Inaptitude collective des”
négres. Croisements des races noires cage

10. Races noires de l'Océanie. -- Negri Papous. Austra-
liens. sunet noires de l'Inde et de Pincie-Chine Les Weddahs.
Les Minco

re LE aa mongolique et ses dérivés. Branche turco-mon-
gole. Les Mongols, Les Turcs. Les races boréales. Samoy-
èdes. Ostiaks. Kamtschadales. Aléoutien

s sinique et thibétaine. Bai de la Chine et de
l'Indo- Chine, du Thibet et de la Birmanie. Civilisation chinoise.

13. Branche malaisienne. ‘Les Malais es y as. Les
mee Ainos. Carolins. Aptitudes civilisatric

. Les Polynésiens—Origine. Migration. Civilisation. Ex-
eet prochaine :

15. Branche américaine. A. du Sud. Race ando-péruvienne.

r

'- Fuegiens. Race pampéenne. Les Patagons. Les Charruas.

Race brazilio-guaranienne. Botocudos. Tupis, Mocovis. Mue

durucus. a
16. Races préhistorique de l'Amérique du Sud. Civilisation o
des Incas. Races indigènes de l'Amérique centrale et du Mex-
ique. Civilisation oe Les Antilles. Etat présent des
races de sn fa latin

1879. | Anthropology. 589

17, Amérique du Nord. Creeks et Cherokees. Comanches.
Dacotahs et Sioux. Algonquins, Hurons. Iroquois. Califor-
niens. Apaches. Yakis. Papagos. Athapascans, Chinooks.
[ogee ema Répartition et condition — des indig-

nes de l'Amérique du Nord. Territoires indiens.

18. Les races frangaises du Canada. les races européennes
aux Etats-Unis. Acclimatement. Feécondité respective. Effet
général des croisements européens, nègres et indigènes. Les
Chinois en Amérique.

19. Esquimaux et Kolosches. l

20. Le type caucasique. Les Iraniens. Les Hindous. La
légende aryenne. Populations dravidiennes de l’'Inde. Les
Castes. Brahmanisme, Mazdéisme et Bouddhisme. Afghans,

ans.

1. Races syro-arabes. is Sémitisme. Les teats Les
Juifs. Les Chaldéens. Les Arabes. Les. Abyssi

22. Races caucasiennes. Géorgiens. Mi eos Armé-
niens.

23. Races méditeranéennes. Les Egyptiens. Civilisation nil-
otique. Pélasges et Hellénes. Etrusques. Races indigènes de
TAfrique septentrionale. Berbéres. Touaregs. Ka

24. Ethnologie de l’Algérie. Acclimatement respectif des
immigrants. L’Algérie, la Sénégambie et le Gabon.

25. Races préhistoriques et proto-historiques de 1|’Euro
Races de Caustatt et de Cro-Magnou. Les Ibéres. Les Ligures.
Les Basques. Les Italiotes.

26. Les Goths. Les Cimbres. Les marae Invasions
idk phi Celtes et foams Slave

Etat actuel de la domination sap Colonisation. Pop-
ulation: Aptitude militaire

thnologie. —Récapitalation. Tableaux comparatifs de la

distribution des races humaines a diverses périodes. Les origines.

Unité ou pluralité primitive du genre humain. Hypothése dun’
cantonnement primitif. Influence des milieux ; altitude, tem-
pérature, ebay etc.

29. ories diverses sur le transformisme et le spécifisme, de
Maillet, hem: Wallace, Darwin. Extinction des races infe-
rieures

30. Des croisements ethniques. Races croisées. Races mêlées.
Leur valeur comparative. Résultats généraux et spéciaux du
metissage. ariages consanguins.

- 31. De la civilisation: Le langage. Geste et mimique. Chant.
Langage articulé. La nourriture: plantes comestibles arope
La culture. Le feu. Préparation des aliments. Le sel. L’
thropophagie. Les armes. Les outils. Le développement de h
civilisation est lié au perfectionnement des armes et des outils.
omestication des animaux. Le vêtement. Funérailles.

32. Transmission des idées. Le nombre. Lialphabet. L'écri-

590 General Notes. [ September,

ture. Le dessin. La gravure et la peinture. L’imprimetie. La
sténographie. La musique. L’harmonie.

3. L'organisation sociale. La famille. Le mariage. Poly-
andrie. Polygamie. Position des femmes dans la société. Les
Castes. La hiérarchie. La guerre. L’esclavage.

34. Mythologies et légendes. Religions. Philosophies. Con-
ceptions diverses du Cosmos. Le fétichisme. Culte des pierres,
des arbres, des animaux. Astrolatrie. Chamanisme. Sacrifices
humains. Polythéisme. Monothéisme. Rationalisme. Athéisme.
Positivisme. Répartition ethnique des croyances religieuses,
Atavisme religieux. .

35. Mutilations et déformations ethniques. Déformations du
crane, du pied, des oreilles, du nez, de la bouche. Eunuchisme.
Ovariotomie esthétique. La circoncision. Colorations Orna-
mentation, ;

36. Les migrations. Lois générales de laccroissement et du
décroissement de la population. Epidémies. Pathologie com-
parative des races. Famines. Alimentation comparée des races.
Rendement musculaire,

37. Causes générales des migrations. La conquête. La chasse
La pêche. L’épuisement du sol. La navigation. Phéniciens.
Grecs. Arabes. Commerce des esclaves. Métaux précieux.
Excédant de population. Evénements politiques. Colonies
pénitentiaires. i

38. Aptitude ou inaptitude des races à la civilisation. Rela-
tions du milieu géographique avec le développement. Fertilite
du sol. Rivières, îles et continents. Civilisations interrompues.
Civilisations disparues. Emprunts réciproques.

Théorie physiologie.

40. Portée utilitaire de l'ethnologie. Conflits modernes des
races. Colonisation. Migrations futures. Prévisions ethnol-
ogiques. Ao

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.
A REMARKABLE New Genus oF Giant SLorns.—This memoir

,

-~ _ “Beskrivelse af Hovedskallen af et Kempedovendyr, Grypotherium darwinii, AS
~~ Laplata-Landenes plejstocene D.innelser, Af-J. REINHARDT. (Ext. Videns. j :
_ Skr. 5te Raekke, Naturvidens, og Math. Afd. XU, 4. gto, pls, 11.) Kjébenhavn, 1879-

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 59I

The skull is that of an old animal, as the sutures are almost
entirely obliterated. Its length is .610 m. (a little more than two
feet), which would make the creature, when alive, intermediate in
size between Megatherium americanum and Mylodon robustus, and
therefore belonged to one of the largest forms of the family yet
discovered. The most remarkable feature of the cranium, and
one which is without a parallel in the family, and hence at once
distinguishing it from all allied forms, is the singular structure of
the muzzle. The intermaxillary bones are completely coossified
(owing, perhaps, partly to the age of the animal), and rise verti-
cally upon the median line in the form of a buttressed bony arc
to unite above with the anterior extremity of the nasal bones,

parts in Rhinoceros tichorinus, and in the absence of an osseous
nasal septum, more notably that of R. merckit, in which the bony
nasal partition is oy partially ossified. There is abundant
evidence to show that this arch is not a part of the nasals pro-
longed forward, since there is a suture separating the latter from
the intermaxillaries proper. The structure, however, in this

erat of—

a. Aphelorhine ; with unspecialized intermaxillaries.

b. Diarhine; with intermaxillaries vertically produced and
joined by suture to the anterior meer! of the nasals, and
dividing the external nares as in Grypotherium.

The intermaxillary arch dividing he external nares, but with-

Out an osseous nareal septum, recalls the arrangement of the
bones of the muzzle of certain lizards, more particularly those of

_ Lguana,

The tooth formulz of some of the extinct genera may be com-
pared as follows:

5—5

Scelidotherium and Mylodon E a ues tas molars pence
: 4—4

nd ee a
Grypotherium . ay 4—4
4—4

Celodon On oc ireerseter

592 General Notes. [ September,

forming a series which exhibits very nicely a process of gradual
reduction in the number of teeth —F¥ A. Ryder.

A New Species oF Ca:topon.—Prof. Reinhardt’s contributions
to our knowledge of the poorly known genus Ca@/odon estab-
lished in 1839 by Dr. Lund for the reception of a Megatheroid,
the remains of which were obtained by the latter author in the
bone caves of Brazil, are also noteworthy. The memoir’ deals
with the remains brought by Dr. Lund to Copenhagen, but not
fully described and figured by him. The skull in the present
paper is well represented, and valuable figures are given of the
feet of Cælodon escrivanensis, based on the remains of the young
individual found in the last cavern, la Lapa de Escrivania, which
Dr. Lund explored in 1844, whilst the name C. maguinensis Lund,
is retained for the species represented by teeth found in la Lapa
nova Maquiné by that explorer in 1835. The C. eserivanensis
was about the size of the large South American ant-eater ( Myr-
mecophaga jubata), and in the opinion of Dr. Reinhardt was most
nearly allied to Mylodon, and in some respects to the existing
arboreal Cholepus. Its habits, the same authority thinks, were
arboreal, and he looks forward with much interest to the discovery
of an extinct type which seems to us dimly shadowed forth in
Calodon, and which will connect the fossil Megatheroids with the
existing species of sloths. To us there is much evidence to show
that the histcry of these animals—their succession in time and
their descent—will yet be as completely worked out as that of the
horse, dog and camel.— F. A. Ryder.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

AFRICAN Exptoration.—Dr. Rohlfs writes from Djalo (south-
east of the Sella or Zeila oasis), on the 8th of April last, that he
left Sokna on the 11th of March. Up to that point the traveler
passed over a new route, partly through a desert country, an
also through two hitherto unknown oases, Abu-Nain and Djeb-
bena. This region abounds in fossils of every kind, Ammonites,
Echinidz and others. “There is probably no other district in the
world which is equally rich in its extinct marine fauna.” Dr.
Stocker has sent home an accurate topographical survey of the
Djofra oases on the scale of 1: 100,000. These three oases,
Sokna, Hon and Uadan, are bounded by ranges of hills to the
north and south—the highest peak is Gannassa, 2000 feet above .
‘the sea-level. Owing to the fanaticism of the natives, Dr. Rohl
was badly received at Djalo, and has been unable to procure 4
guide on account of the unfriendliness of the Bengasine govern-
ment. Dr. Stécker has returned to Bengasi to try to favorably

1 Kempedovend: n Í ; > j 0, p: 257-349: pls.
ae Ext, Videns, ag He RAe Sais aces oe Bent Ala. xt, 3)
Copenhagen, 1878. heme ani
-2 Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

1879. | Geography and Travels. 593

influence the rulers of the country and enable the expedition to
proceed to Kufra, the next oasis in their j journey to Wadai.

Mr. Donald Mackenzie. has established a station at Cape Juby
on the north-west coast of the continent, and made a treaty with
a powerful native chief, ‘by means of which it is hoped a large
and important trade with North-central Africa will be opened up.

e Semellé has now returned to France, and states that he
followed the course of the Niger from Omtcha as far as Boussa,
a distance of 300 miles, and the Benué as far as Oku (?). He
has collected much information on the products of the country,
and concerning the history and traditions of the people. Daily
meterological observations were taken.

M. Soleillet has also returned home, and ina recent address
speaks highly of the intelligence and euieeabsts character of the
Sultan and population of Sego. The Niger at Sego, 2000 miles
from s mouth, is 300 yards wide.

ev. S. 1. Co mber, of the Baptist Missionary Society
(English), has left England to found a station at San Salvador,
situated about 100 miles south of the Congo and 200 from the
coast. He hopes trim to reach Stanley Pool above the falls
of the Congo, and launch there a small steamer which is to be
taken up in renal "The Royal Geographical Society has sup-
Pea 9 with instruments.

Buchner, one of the German African Society explorers, has
hag ‘detained by the rainy season at Cassange, on the Quango,
before going on to the capital of Muata Yanvo’s kingdom

echow, another member of this expedition, will attempt
to descend the Quan o river from Cassange until it joins the
ongo, where Stanley identifies it with the Ibari Nkutu.
aj. Serpa Pinto, on his arrival in Lisbon, delivered a lecture
on his recent journey from Benguela to Natal. This address has
been fully reported in the daily press of England and America,
but being unfortunately very vague and rambling in character,
Wwe are glad to quote from the London Atheneum uly 19, 1879)
the following notice of his work as explained by him very recently
to a company gathered at the house of the president of the
R. G. S., in London: “The new ground traversed by Maj. Pinto
is comprised between Bihé, in the interior of er anda
place called Lialué, in the ‘ Barotse yo passed by Living-
one on his journey northward along t mbesi towards St.
Paulo de Loanda. Thus defined, the new eae which the Portu-
_ guese explorer has opened up, is about five hundred miles broad
from north-west to south-east. The blank space is traversed on
Livingstone’s map by a number of rivers set down from native
report, and the names have turned out generally to be correct,
although the courses of the rivers are wrongly given. - The great
merit of Maj. Pinto’s exploration lies in the accurate ‘definition of
these rivers, and the fixi ing of all important points by astronomi-

594 _ General Notes. [September,

cal observation. Arrived on the Upper Zambesi, his route led

him along regions previously made known by Livingstone and |

other travelers. Maj. Pinto, however, made excursions near the
confluence of the Chobé to ascertain the true hydrology of the
region before striking south-eastward. He then made for Sos-

materially to an accurate knowledge of the geography of the less

known districts.”

“As geographical results of the highest importance must be
mentioned first his longitudes. j. Serpa Pinto performed the
feat of carrying three chronometers, one of which, by Dent, kept
excellent time across the continent. Their indications were
checked by astronomical observations, including the transit of
Mercury, eclipses and occultations, which have been proved
exact ; and thus there are no grounds for doubting the remarkable
conclusion which he draws, that Soshong is placed on our maps
more than a degree west of its true position—a conclusion which
necessitates the shifting of the Limpopo a degree to the east and
narrowing our territory in the Transvaal to a corresponding
amount.”

“Next in importance is the light he has thrown on the topog-
raphy and physical geography of the region along the southern
border of the Benguela highlands. Lieut. Cameron, who tra-
versed these highlands on his journey from east to west, estab-
lished the fact that the succession of terrace formed coast ranges
of Western Africa here broadens out into a lofty plateau. Pinto
devoted much of his time and attention to this interesting region.
He visited the sources of many of the rivers rising on this water
shed, traced and mapped them; and afterwards, part of the courses
of two of them, which flow south and south-west towards the
lower lying region bordering the Kalahari desert. On the Ben-
guela plateau, at an elevation of 5800 feet, is situated the central
native town of Bihé, peopled by a race of Boer traders and trav-

elers, parties of whom annually traverse the whole western inte-

rior. A little west of this, within the space of a few yards, rise
four great streams which flow respectively north-west and south-
west to the Indian ocean, east to the Zambesi and south to Lake
Ngami. Pinto’s journey southward and eastward from Bihe led
him to the upper waters of the Cubango and its tributaries, and the

uando. The Cubango (visited in its lower course by Andersson

and called by him the Okavango) he satisfied himself has no,

connection with any other stream, and discharges its waters 1
the inland basin of Lake Ngami. But the Quando, a much less
known and far more important stream, after gathering the drain-
age of numerous large tributaries, flows for several hundred miles
as a navigable river and enters the Zambesi, its lower. course

+

Lai

1879.] ` Microscopy. *. 965

being the stream — known by RAE under the errone-
ous name of Chob

“ Maj. Pinto did aek descend these rivers for any great distance,
but struck across their upper waters. He had by that time
exhausted his means and was reduced to the verge of starvation
in a district of swamps inhabited by a light-colored race of sav-
ages allied to the Bushmen. He consequently made for the
Zambesi by the nearest route, and eventually suċceeded in strug-
gling through to the less barbarous settlements further south. He
has submitted all his maps and astronomical observations, and his
well kept ae register to the inspection:of competent
judges in Lon

The other division of the Portuguese Expedition, under Messrs.
Capello and Ivens, arrived at Cassange in December, 1878.
Since leaving Bihé in November, 1877, they have explored a part
of the river Quango. When last heard from (April 5, 1879) they
were on the margin of the river Lucala, examining the country
traversed by the Cubango. They had already explored that
river from its source to 8° S. lat.

MICROSCOPY.'*

CONTAGION AND THE GERM THEORY.—One of the best of the
“American Health Primers,” now in course of publication by —
Lindsay & Blakiston, of Philadelphia, is the little treatise upon
“Long Life and How to Reach it,” by Dr. J. G. Richardson. As
might be expected, from the name of the author, those parts of
the subject which have been fields for microscopical work, are
treated with marked interest ns ability. The germ theory of
disease, in which the author seems to have become an earnest
believer, is explained in a very Sinple and plausible manner, and
is made the text for much sensible advice as to the means of
avoiding contagious diseases, including those which are commu-
nicated by public drinking cups and toys, such as whistles and toy
balloons, which are touched to the lips after having been similarly
used by other people. Very valuable, too, are the conclusions in

Tue Microscope in Entomoiocy.—tThe illustrated paper on
the anatomy of Amblychila cylindriformis, by Mr. Carl F. Grissler,
of Brooklyn, published in recent numbers of Psyche, is so full of
philosophical spirit and of fine microscopical work, that it will
interest many who are not entomologists and to whom the Cicin-
delidz would be new acquaintances. This thorough and ee

_} This department is edited by Dr. R. H. WARD, Troy, N. Y.

596 Scientific News. [ September,

atic study, with its fine plate drawn on stone by the author him-
self, is a good example of how the microscope ought to be used.
Microscopists will be similarly interested in the study of the
structure of the tongue of the honey bee, by Prof. J. D. Hyatt, in
the last, July, number of the Amer. Quar. Mic. Fournal.

MANDIBLES OF ANTS WORN BLUNT BY USE.—“ Much interest has
lately been developed, in the Cambridge Entomological Club and
in the Entomological Section of the Boston Society of Natural
History, by discussions which owe their origin to the statement
published by Rev. H. C. McCook, that the mandibles of ants are
worn off and become blunted by the labor which they perform.

It has been thought that Mr. McCook was mistaken, that the

chitin of the mouth parts of insects remained as it had been upon
emergence from the chrysalis, and that the forms of mandibles
observed by Mr. McCook: were monstrosities. In confirmation
of the wearing away of mandibles, Mr. E. P. Austin exhibited,
at the last meeting of the Entomological Section of the Boston
Society of Natural History, nearly a hundred specimens of Pasi-
machus, in which all the fresh, bright-looking specimens had per-
fectly-shaped sharp mandibles, while those specimens which were
old and worn in general appearance presented every gradation of
bluntness of the mandibles. ommunications on this subject,
based on observation, would be acceptable to the Cambridge
Entomological Club.”—Psyche.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY MicroscopicaL JourNAL.—For the first

time we are inclined to find fault with this new journal. The
July number contains several good natural history articles and a
variety of interesting notes on aperture, illumination, &c. The
portion with which everybody will be disappointed is the
announcement that its publication will cease with the present
number. This will leave us once more without an American
periodical devoted to the publication of elaborate memoirs upon
microscopical subjects. The journal has already acquired a char-
acter and name too valuable to be lost, and it is to be hoped that
the editor and publishers will be induced to reconsider their
decision to abandon the enterprise.

“ERED LPR ORIE A

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— We take pride and pleasure in drawing attention to the
appreciative manner in which British naturalists testify to i
nature of work recently done in this country in ornithologie:

_ bibliography, and trust that the desired results may be brought a .

.

1879. ] Scientific News. 597

Memorial to Elliott Coues, Esquire, Assistant Surgeon
United States Army.

We, the undersigned, beg leave to express our high apprecia-
tion of the “ Bibliographical Appendix” to your work, “ Birds o
the Colorado Valley,” being No. 11 of the Miscellaneous Publi-
cations of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories,
under the charge of Dr. Hayden. And at the same time we wis
to place on record our gratitude to that gentleman and to the
authorities of the department to which you are attached, for the
liberality they have shown in granting you permission to stay at
Washington for the completion of this and other important works
upon which you have now been so long and so usefully engaged.

The want of indexes to the ever increasing mass of zoological
literature has long been felt by all workers in every department
of that science; but the enormous labor of compilation has hith-
erto deterred many from undertaking a task so appalling. It is
with no small satisfaction that we recognize your readiness to
devote yourself to work of this nature. Moreover, we feel justi-
fied in hoping that should the installment now published in the
volume above named be enlarged in a similar manner so as to
include a complete bibliography of ornithology, this branch of
science will possess an index to its writings, perhaps more com-
plete as to its scope and contents than any kindred subject of
similar extent.

n undertaking of this sort is beset with formidable difficul-
ties; not only is its extent enormous and the works relating to
the subject are widely scattered through many libraries, public
and private, but the qualifications of a good bibliographer are not
easily to be found united in one person. His application and
industry must be untiring, and he must be thoroughly conversant
with the art of bibliography. In addition to these requirements,
in a case like the present, an equally thorough knowledge of the
subject under consideration is indispensable. You happily com-
bine all these qualifications; your industry has long been ap-
proved, your knowledge of books is evident from what you have
now put before us, your knowledge of ornithology has long been
known to us. We can well believe that the libraries of your own
country are better stored than any others with works relating to
the ornithology of North America, and that, therefore, the “ List
of Faunal Publications relating to North American Ornithology ”
could be nowhere better prepared than in Washington; but
when the ornithological literature of the whole world has to be
examined, it seems to us almost indispensable that the older
libraries of Europe, and especially of England, France, Italy,

rmany and Holland should be consulted if one of the chief
merits of your work is to be maintained, viz: The consultation at
first hand by yourself of every work mentioned therein.

This brings us to one of the chief objects of this memorial, —

598 — Scientific News. ; [September,

which is to express our sincere hope that time and means will be
found you to prosecute in Europe the great undertaking you have
commenced so well, and bring it to a successful conclusion.
Should the authorities who preside over the department to which

gist, but also to render you every assistance in our power.
[Signed.]

W. H. Flower, F.R.S., etc., President of the Zoological
Society of London.

T. H: Huxley, Sec. KS:

Charles Darwin, F.R.S.

St. Geo. Mivart, FRS., Sec. L.S:

Alfred R. Wallace.

A. Günther, F.R.S., Keeper of the Department of
Zoology, British Museum.

Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A., Ph.Dr., F.R.S., Secretary to
he Zoological Society of London.

Alfred Newton, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., Prof. of Zodlogy in the
University of Cambridge.

H. B. Tristram; E.R.S.

Osbert Salvin, M.A., F.R.S., Editor of The ozs. ;

F. Du Cane Godman, Secretary of the British Ornithol-
ogists’ Union; and twenty-six others.

1879. | Scientific News. 599

virginiana), born in the garden; 2 collared peccaries (Dicotyles
torquatus), born in the garden; 1 common gannet (Sw/a bassana);
I pine snake (Pityophis melanoleucus). ?

— Phosphorescence appears in the flesh of marine animals
along with a gelatinous substance which is formed. With the
microscope (according to MM. Bancel and Husson) one finds two
kinds of germs; at the surface-cells which no doubt produce this
mucous fermentation, and in the mucus very small bacteria. The
cells are thought to act like plants, decomposing carbonic acid of
the air by day, fixing the carbon and liberating the oxygen in the
liquid. By night they liberate carbonic acid, and the germ then
lives and causes destruction of the matters round it , condensing

cause the phosphorescence. The author considers the phospho-
rescence ra the lobster due to a fermentation of the kind
referred t

iA of phosphorescence, M. Nuesch records in a recent

regarding luminous bacteria in fresh meat. Some pork cutlets
he found illuminated his kitchen so that he could read the time
on his watch. The butcher who sent the meat told him the
phosphorescence was first observed in a cellar where he kept
scraps for making sausages. By degrees all his meat became
phosphorescent, and fresh meat from distant towns got into the
same state. On scratching the surface or wiping it vigorously,
the phosphorescence -disappears for a time; and the butcher
wiped carefully the meat he sent out. All parts of the animal,
except the ea acquired the phenomenon over their whole sur-
face. The meat must be fresh; when it ceases to be so, the
Biore ceases, and Bacterium termo appear. None of
the customers had been incommoded. It was remarked that if
a small trace of the phosphorescent matter were put at any point
on the flesh, of cats, rabbits, &c., the phosphorescence gradually
spread out from the center, and in three or four days covered the
piece ; it disappeared generally on the sixth or seventh day.
Cooked meat did not present the phenomenon, but it could be
had in a weak manner from cooked albumen or potatoes. No
other butcher shop in the place was affected. The author is
uncertain whether to attribute the complete disappearance of the
phenomenon to the higher temperature of the season,
phenic acid, or to fumigation with chlorine. ENIA Mechanic.

— In “Notes on Pterygocera annarice,” by Carl Bovallius (Kel.
Svenska Vet. Akademien Handlingar, Bd. 4, No. 8, 1878), we ha

a very full account of this interesting form of Amphipod, a
Which the author bases a new sub-family. The author also gives —

600 Scientific News. [ September,

in a foot-note a short account of Martinus Slabber, the original
describer of the species, which we copy:

“ Martinus Slabber was born in 1741, probably at Middleburg.
In 1767 we find him elected a member of the Hollandische-
Maatschappye der Wetenschappen. He was then called ‘ Bailleuw
en Secretaris te Baarland en Bakendorp, en Secretaris te Oude-
land. Int he was a member of ‘ Zeeuwsch Genootschap der
Wetenschappen te Vliessingen. In 1793 keeping the above,
named charge, he seems to have removed to the town Goés,
where we find him in 1807 as ‘Raad der Stadt.’ He died in
Gravenpolden in 1835, aged 94 years. All these places are situ-
ated on the isle of Walcheren.”

A list of his published works, six in number, is also given.
Slabber, we would here note, was the first to figure the zoea of
Crustacea—- 7. S. K.

— Locusts are reported as doing much damage in Southern
Russia in June; also swarms of locusts appeared in North-west
India,, by advices received in London, in April. Swarms of
locusts have likewise recently appeared in Armenia; news from
Elizabethpol states that both the banks of the river Kur were com-
pletely covered with the insects as far as Terter on the one bank,
and as far as Akstafa on the other. All vegetation is devastated.

— Ina posthumous paper by Frederic Smith it is stated that
the general aspect of the Hymenopterous fauna of the Hawaiian
islands is North American, with admixture of a few South Ameri-
can forms. The ants are most diverse in character, some being
cosmopolitan in range. The house ant of Madeira is common,
and the little European ant (Ponera contracta) also occurs there.

—The well known British entomologist, Frederick Smith,
assistant keeper of the Zodlogical Department, British Museum,
London, died Frebuary 16, aged 72.

— Prof. Lawrence Smith has been elected by the French
Academy, correspondent in mineralogy, in room of the late Sir
Charles Lyell. |

— Dr. Page, Prof. of Geology at Durham, died at his resi-
dence, Newcastle-on-Tyne, lately. Prof. Page was a voluminous
writer on geology and the physical sciences. He was long con-
nected with Messrs, Chambers, of Edinburgh, and many years
ago his name was a good deal associated with the scientific basis

1879.] Scientific News. 601

be one of the causes of putrefaction, but this was not quite true,
and it would be more correct to say that life was the cause of putre-
faction. If they took proper precautions to keep away from any
dead body the organisms he had mentioned, it would not putrefy,
and the sole cause of that most disagreeable change called putre-
faction was the introduction of a particular form of life more
analogous to the fungi than anything else, known as Bacteria. It
was only lately that they had known much about them. The
Bacterium termo was not more than a 30,000th part of an inch.
If they took a small portion of fluid of putrefying matter they
would find millions of them in every drop, darting about as if
they were fishes. They multiplied with enormous rapidity, and
after a certain period of activity passed into a period of rest, and
afterwards the protoplasmic substance broke up, and each spore
gave rise to a Bacillus subtilis again. Their rate of multiplication
was so excessively rapid that it needed only one of these Bacilli
to get into a liquid, and in the course ofa couple of days the
whole of that liquid would be visibly turbid in consequence of the
multiplicity of the Bacteria to an extent which no arithmetic could
express. The importance of these bodies was that they exerted
a fermentative influence, and they did for the fluid what yeast and
barm did. It was this fermentative product which gave rise to
putrefaction, and if they took such precautions as would keep
out the bacteria, a dead body would remain intact for an indefinite
period. It was on this principle that meats were preserved for
an indefinite period by being partly boiled and then hermetically
sealed in tins so as to preclude the air getting in. If they con-
sidered what would happen if all the animals that died remained
where they died until they dried up, they would see what an
important part these Bacteria played, and if they could all be
gathered together they would make more than all the rest of the
animal and vegetable kingdom. But they had a great significance
which it was important they should all understand. In France
there was an enormous silk industry, but it sometimes was almost
annihilated through the death of the silk-worms, and that was
almost always indisputably caused by a fungus. A disease which
had all the characteristics of an infectious epidemic resulted in
consequence of the germs of the fungi being introduced into the

Bacillus. In vaccine lymph and smallpox there were small minute —
bodies, and it was found that in these the infection resided, so
that they were coming to this conclusion, that the whole of our —

602 Proc. Sci. Societies & Selected Articles in Scien. Serials, [ Sept.

great epidemics were of the same nature, and if that were cor-
rect there could be few forms of life of more importance than
those in the limits of the visible, which he had been describing.”

10:
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLuB, June 11.—Mr. C. W. Folsom
read a paper entitled Notes on elementary surveying for amateurs.
Mr. J. B. Henck, Jr., exhibited and described several forms of
pedometer, including the five dollar American pedometer.

July 9.—The seventh field meeting convened at the Crawford
House, N. H. The meeting was called to order by Prof. William
H. Niles, Cambridge, Mass., president of the club. A paper was
read by Prof. Charles E. Fay, of Boston, on Mount Carrigan, to
the summit of which a path had just been completed by the
club. (Members of the club conducted a party from the Institute
of Instruction to the summit of Mount Carrigan July roth.)
Prof. Hitchcock, of Dartmouth College, spoke on the geology of
the White Mountain Notch. F. V. Hayden, U. S. geologist,
spoke on the White and Rocky mountains, and Prof. F. W.
Clark, of Cincinnati, on North Carolina and Tennessee mountains
and scenery.

-O

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. -

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND Arts.— July. Silurian

formations in Central Virginia, by J. L. Campbell. Extinct vol-
canoes about Lake Mono and their relations to the glacial drift,
by J. LeConte. (These volcanoes were active since and probably
before the glacial period.) Recent additions to the marine fauna ,
of the eastern coast of North America, by A. E. Verrill. Notice
of a new Jurassic mammal, by O. C. Marsh. On the Hudson
river age of the Taconic schists, by J. D. Dana.

PsvcuE. — July. Pupation of the Nymphalide, by W. H.
Patton. :

ZOOLOGISCHER ANZEIGER.—June 9. Keller on the embryology — >
of the sponges (Chalina). Benecke on the maturation and fertili-
zation of the eggs of the bats.

Tue GeoLocicaL MacGazine.—June, On recently discovered
teeth of the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) at Craybow, Kent, by
W. Davies. The Glacial period in Eastern America, by C. H.
Hitchcock. The Till in New England, by W. Upham.

CANADIAN NaturRAList.—June 23. A Canadian Pterygotus, by
= J-W. Dawson. Meebius on Zozodn canadense, by J. W: Dan oe

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vor. xi. — OCTOBER, 1879. — No. 10.

AN ACCOUNT OF A NEW GENUS OF MINUTE
PAUROPOD MYRIAPODS.

BY JOHN A. RYDER.

N 1866 Sir John Lubbock first called attention to the remark-
able little myriapod which he named Pauropus in reference to
the fewness of its feet. He discovered the animal in considerable
numbers under decaying leaves; he did not consider it exactly
social in its habits; not noticing each other’s presence, they did
not exhibit the extreme ferocity toward each other which charac-
terize some of the large carnivorous myriapods. In specimens
of the same genus, however, which I found in Fairmount Park,
Phiiadelphia, in the nests of Termes flavipes, upon two occasions,
I noticed that when the point of a dissecting needle was carefully
brought into contact with them so as to not injure their delicate
little bodies, they would throw their heads around towards the
offending needle point and “show fight” like the species of the car-
` nivorous genus Lithobius. This was not noticed in the specimens of
Seurshasropeis which I am about to describe, and which I kept in
confinement for about three months ; in fact, the “ bustling, active,
neat and cleanly ” little Pauropus ie in strong:contrast with the
former in the two first particulars. The habitat of the new
American form is much the same as that of Pauropus, being
found in moist situations under sticks and decaying vegetable
matter, and like it appearing to respire through the skin, so that if
placed in a dry atmosphere it soon dies. None of the members
of this group attain a large size, P. huxleyi being about »'5 of an
inch long, which is about the size of the new form, whilst P.
pedunculatus and lubbockii are both smaller.
- Upon the occasion when Sir John Lubbock first exhibited his

VOL. XITI.—No, X. 41

604 A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. (October,

then new species at the meeting of the Entomological Society of
London, “ Mr. Westwood remarked that, with the exception of
the genus Fapyx, described by Mr. Halliday, Pauropus was the
most interesting addition to the Articulata which had been made
for many years.” This high degree of interest attaches to the
discovery of Pauropus on account of the remarkable characters
which it presents, and which constitutes it one of those types
known to systematists as synthetic or comprehensive, that is, it
embodies characters found in several forms widely removed from
each other in the system. In the form of the body and legs the
creature recalls the large carnivorous myriapods or centipedes,
whilst in the possession of a pulvillus or pad, and a claw on the
feet, they resemble in a measure true insects; in their branched
antennz they resemble crustaceans, and in their herbivorous hab-
its they resemble the herbivorous, and in the distribution of the
legs they combine characters of both the herbivorous and the
carnivorous myriapods.

Sir John believes, after reviewing the opinions of the most dis-
tinguished naturalists, that the group must be considered a class
having the same systematic value as that of similar subdivisions
of the animal kingdom, and in view of the singular assemblage
of characters presented by Pauropus, he thinks it necessary to
erect a new order under the name of Pauropoda with a family
Paurepodide ; this arrangement would then cause the class to fall
into three apparently natural groups.

To the three known species of the order Pauropoda, it gives us
pleasure to add a fourth, so widely different from all others
hitherto described as to leave no doubt as to the propriety of
erecting a new genus for its reception. This singular form was
discovered by myself in the month of April of the present year,
in East Fairmount Park, in company with my friend, Mr. D. S.
Holman. Upon that occasion five specimens were obtained, which 3
formed the basis of the description of the genus publi.shed in the
- Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
shortly afterwards. Not long after, in an excursion with the same
- gentleman, I found five more specimens in West Fairmount Park,
on the west side of the Schuylkill river, perhaps a mile from the
first locality, which I succeeded, as stated before, in keeping alive
until the middle of July last; having produced young whilst m

fi t under such ci t as to leave no doubt that

1879] A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. 605

EURYPAUROPUS SPINOSUS, Ryper.

606 A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. | [ October,

the, were the parents and consequently that they were sam
having undergone no change meanwhile.

The new form, which in several respects differs in a remarkable
degree from Pauropus, I have called Lurypauropus in reference to
its great relative width. The antennæ are five-jointed as in Pau-
ropus, but the proportions of the terminal many-jointed filaments
are different. These filaments in minute ‘structure are very simi-
lar to those of the old genus, being composed of saucer-like
disks, which are superimposed in a linear series and united at
their centers to each other by delicate but very short pedicels.
These like the similar filamentous organs of Pauropus, I found
could be studied very well with a power of 1000 diameters, as
they measure little over ,1, of a millimeter in thickness or about
7800 Of an inch. The antennz are inserted close together at
the front of the head with a very narrow bridge of chitin inter-
vening between them as shown in Fig. 1. The outer branch
bears two of the many-jointed filaments, between the bases of
which arises a pedicel surmounted by a globular or ovoid semi-
transparent body with linear sepaliform processes clasping it
(but which are not shown in the figure), much as in Pauropus
pedunculatus.

The body is composed, apparently, of six segments ; there isa
possibility that the head is composed of two, in which case there
would be seven in all, but the most careful focusing failed to
reveal more segments than the number stated above. The first
or head segment is wide and broadly rounded at its anterior mar-
gin, and overhangs the head like a hood or shield with descending
bouders, from beneath which the ends of the antennz project for-
ward in a remarkable manner. The head is partly free, a large
vacant space appearing on either side and in front of it between
it and the free hood-like head shield or segment, the surface of
which, as well as that of all the others, is covered with small
tubercles and spines, as shown much enlarged in Figs. vi and vill,
whilst its margins, as well as that of all the others are fringed
with hooks or spines directed backwards, as shown in Figs. 1 and
1v. There are no other appendages belonging to the head seg-
ment except the first pair of legs, which seem a little shorter than
those following. Between the first segment and the second there
arises on each side a simple hair, which appears to be attached p
the second segment, which is more than twice as wide as long,

1879.) A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. 607

and is overlapped in a peculiar way by the first, as seen in the
diagrammatic side view of the animal in Fig. v, where the other
segments are seen to overlap each other in succession in a simi-
lar manner. The third segment, of nearly similar proportions,
has a notch in each lateral margin from which a simple hair arises
as in the preceding segment. The fourth segment is very similar
to the preceding in proportions, and is notched laterally in the
same way, but from the notches on either side there arises a hair
ending in a bulbous extremity. The fifth’segment is somewhat
like the first in form, but has a notch at either side from which
there arises a simple hair, and it is truncate behind, the truncated
part exceeding very slightly in width the diminutive sixth seg-
ment, which is nearly hidden beneath the fifth. On either side of
the sixth segment, from a depression, there arises a short hair
about half as long as the hair preceding.

I am led to surmise that the notches at the sides of the third,
fourth and fifth segments of the adult possibly indicate that these
were primitively compound, and in reality represent two seg-
ments fused together, which would make nine in all, counting the

others as single; this view, though, evidently is not without |

objection, as there is quite as much ground for a belief that the
others are equally as compound. From this point of view the
structure of Eurypauropus becomes of the highest interest to the
morphologist as representing the most extreme point in the reduc-
tion of the number of segments in myriapods. It is in fact Pau-
ropus with the number of legs characteristic of that genus, but with
a number of its segments obliterated by becoming apparently
fused together and otherwise modified.

Two pairs of legs are attached to each of the second, dink
fourth and fifth segments, which, with the single pair in the first
segment, make nine in all. The legs are completely concealed
from above, in life, by the lateral expansion of the body segments
as in Pauropus, but the expansions are not composed simply of
chitinous pleural pieces as in the latter, but the thin yielding
whitish ventral body wall extends almost to the very margins of
the segments. The joints of the legs are composed of thicker
rings of chitin than in Pauropus, and the only portion of the
creature where a thin chitinous body wall is apparent, as in the

old genus, is about the head and belly. There is also no evi-

dence of segmentation to be found here, the covering seeming to

-

608 A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. (October,

be continuous from the head to the anal extremity, except at the
points where the mouth and vent are situated. The mouth parts
seem to be very similar to those of Pauropus, though in view of
the fact that it has been very difficult to get a satisfactory view of
the head portion of the animal, I will not be too explicit in my
remarks on this head. The anal opening is guarded below and
anteriorly by a semicircular plate of chitin, shown in Fig. 1, on
the under side of the posterior extremity of the fifth body seg-
ment. No evidence of tracheal openings has been observed,
Eyes seem to be wanting, indeed the manner in which the first
segment overhangs the head, would lead one to suppose that
vision would be obstructed, rendering eyes useless; then the ~
remarkable antennary structure may, in a great measure, replace
the eyes; and it is difficult to understand the use of the peduncu-
late hyaline body unless it be auditory. May it not be that the
Pauropoda as well as some Diplopods are blind ? Polyxenes, I
am convinced, is provided with very delicate tractile organs at the
extremity of the antennæ, and Bode figures minute auditory
organs on the head behind its glossy black eyes, It seems to me,
therefore, probable, that the multi-articulate, terminal filaments of
the antennz of Pauropods are probably for the most part tactile,
whilst the hyaline bodies are wholly or in part auditory in
function.

The /arve, of which I possess two specimens, yield no better
evidence as to the composite nature of the head segment than the
adults; the total number of visible segments in the young seems
to be three with uncertain indications of a fourth. The evidence
that these larva are the offspring of the adults which I had kept
in captivity, is complete, having been taken from a chink in a bit
of decayed wood into which the adults were repeatedly seen to
crawl during the three months of their confinement. Moreover,
the chitinous shells of the ova from which the young had escaped,
were found in the same cranny. The larval Ewrypauropus, Fig- 1,
is exceedingly depressed, more so relatively than the adult, and
appearing on this account very much like a young Czme-, or bed-
bug, and having much the same relative proportions, viz: gs of
an inch long by of an inch wide, but altogether smaller. It
presents the same peculiar features in the sculpture of the upper
surface of its body segments as the adult, but the tubercles and
spines are not as strongly developed, but the marginal serratures

1879.] A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. 609

are well marked. The thickness of the dorsal chitinous pieces of
the segments is much less than in the adult, and hence the ani-
mal is much more transparerit. From each side, and where the
head segment joins the succeeding one, there arises a simple hair
as in the adult, and from each side posteriorly at the points where
the third and the fourth segments join there arises a clubbed
hair. The legs are six in number, as is usual in larval myriapods,
and appear to be confined entirely te the second segment, and
have the same number of joints as those of the adults. The
antennz are of the same form and proportion as in the adult, and
have similar terminal appendages. The mouth parts are likewise
similar, and the wide free border of the head segment extends
forwards and downwards anteriorly beyond the head, the same as
in the full grown ones. The young, as would naturally be
inferred, are very much paler in color than the old ones, and are
of a pale reddish-white or lilac tint, whilst the adults are of an
isabeline or pale rusty-red color, the closely set appressed spines
on the back giving them a perceptible silky lustre when observed
with reflected light; they are much paler below. Their color
when viewed with transmitted light, is pale brown, due to the
chitin of the body walls. It will be readily seen that the con-
trast in color between the new form and Pauropus, which is
almost white, is very great, and sufficient to constitute, with its
other features, a very important distinction.

The internal anatomy of the new genus I have not yet been
able to work out satisfactorily, owing mainly to the want of an
abundance of material wherewith to prosecute the investigation,
and also not less on account of the want of proper methods.
These latter I think I will soon be able to apply. The entire
bulk of the animal is perhaps three times that of Pawropus, and is
therefore better adapted for anatomical study than the latter.
~ In habit Aurypauropus is much more sluggish than Pauropus,
and does not scamper away into the nearest crevice like the lat-
ter when its haunts are exposed to the light. The specimens
which I kept in confinement were placed in a wide-mouthed
ounce vial, half filled with moist earth and corked up, into which
I had placed some fragments of rotten wood, under which the
animals could retreat; in this close place the animals lived for the
time I have before stated. In physiognomy they much resemble
diminutive sow-bugs, and they also resemble these in the choice

610 A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. (October,

of habitat they make, but all of the specimens I have yet col-
lected were taken from the under side of fallen limbs in damp,
shady situations on the ground, not under the bark of trees.

Eurypauropus in some respects is a good deal like Polyxenes' in
the shape and superficial ornamentation of its segments, but the
dorsal serrate plumes and caudal fascicles of hooked bristles are
deciduous in the latter, and may be readily brushed off, which is
not the case with the tubercles and spines of the former.

In view of the fact that Evrypauropus differs from Pauropus in
the same way that Polydesmus differs from ulus, in having the
legs concealed by the lateral
expansion of the body seg-
ments, as shown in the accom-
panying cut, where Fig. I rep-
resents a diagrammatic cross-
section of Aurypauropus and
Fig. 11 the same of Pauropus,
as well as in having the head
overhung by the anterior, lat-
eral and downward production

II of the chitinous shield-like
first segment, and that it has
fewer segments than any other

species of Myriapod, I venture to consider it a family under the
name of Eurypauropodidæ. The following revision of the order
becomes accordingly necessary.

PAUROPODA, Lubbock, Trans. Linn. Soc., XXVI, p. 181.

Body composed of 6-10 segments, convex or depressed, with
scattered hairs or tubercles and spines. Antennæ five-jointed,
bifid, bearing three long, jointed appendages. Nine pairs of legs;
feet with a claw and pulvillus. Herbivorous.

I. Pauropopip#, Lubbock, 1. c.
Segments ten, the chitinous annuli of which are circular

1 Adverting to Polyxenes, I find that its eggs are usually more or less entangled in.
a felt composed of the caudal bristles, which is, no doubt, a protection against the
ravages of the long-snouted mites, and I also find that the singular barbed hooks of
these bristles in P. fasciculatus Say, ere different in form from those of P. lagurus
of ee according to the recent figures of Bode.

f. Leidy has recently informed me that he has lately found P. fasciculatus at

it Pa., which is the fourth locality known to me for this species, making its

present distribution extend from Massachusetts to Georgia.

1879.) A New Genus of Minute Pauropod Myriapods. 611

in section with very thin walls and without superficial sculp-
ture. Head not concealed by the forward and lateral pro-
duction of an anterior segment. Legs not concealed. White.
With eyes.

1. Pauropus huxleyi, Lubbock, 1. c.

Hyaline body of the outer ramus of the antennz sessile.

Length s4 inch. Hab. England and E. Penna.

2. P. lubbocktii, Packard, Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. His., XIII, p. 409.

‘Hyaline body pedunculate but shorter than in the next.

Length, .o3 inch. Hab. Salem (Packard) and Chelsea

(Walker), Mass.

3. P. pedunculatus, Lubbock, |. c.

Hyaline body on a long peduncle. Length +% inch.

Hab. England. .
II. EuRYPAUROPODID&.
Segments six, composed dorsally of a thick plate of light-
brown chitin, greatly depressed, three times as wide as high,
spinose, tuberculate and reticulate on their upper surfaces ;
margins serrate. Head concealed by the hood-like anterior
production of the first body segment. Legs hidden beneath
the lateral expansions of the body segments. Reddish.
Without eyes.

1. Eurypauropus spinosus Ryder, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.

Phila., 1879, p. 139, and ibid. p. 164. Length yy inch’

Hab. in Fairmount Park, E. Penna.

The discovery of additional species may now be awaited with
some confidence, since the distribution of those already known
has been so considerably extended by Dr. Packard and myself.
Sharp eyes and patient search in quest of these and kindred
minute forms will now reward the student with striking new and
little known species much more quickly than by collecting the
showy and conspicuous insect fauna of his neighborhood. It
was probably the keen-sightedness developed by the experience
of Sir John Lubbock in patiently collecting the Thysanura that
led him to detect and scrutinize Pauropus, leading to its recogni-
tion as an important new type. }

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.

Fic. 1—Larva of Eurypauropus spinosus, enlarged fifty times.

Fic. 1.—Antenna of adult, enlarged two hundred and fifty times.

Fic, 111.—Adult from below, enlarged fifty times.

612 Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cereals. (October;

Fic. 1v.—Same from above, the sculpture represented only on the first segment,
Ter me times.

Fic. v.—Same from the side, enlarged forty-eight times.

Fic. v1.—Tubercles on the — surface of the segments near their junction, en-
dii two o husideed and fifty tim

Fic. vil.—Leg, enlarged fifty

Fic, VIII RE 8 and ite a the back, enlarged two hundred and fifty
times.

:0:
MICROSCOPICAL FUNGI INFESTING OUR CEREALS.
BY WM. BARBECK.

I. Ergot—In examining a rye-field about harvest time we may
be pretty sure to find some plants in which, although the ears
with their bracts or glumes are apparently developed in a normal
way, some of the grains have attained an abnormal size and are
of a somewhat blackish color. We have here what is generally
known as “ Ergot” (botanically Claviceps purpurea Tul.), a fungus
which is to be found almost exclusively on rye, and which,
because of its poisonous effects on animal organisms, is dreaded,
particularly in those parts of Northern cae where rye bread
forms the staple daily food.

his fungus shows three distinct stages of development, two of
which were well known to former botanists, but were described
as separate species belonging to entirely different genera. It is
to Tulasne that we owe the discovery of their immediate connec-
tion and succession.

Towards June, when the sexual parts have been differentiated,
we see a mucous, honey-like substance flowing from out of the
bracts of the ear. In examining this “honey-dew” (as it is
called by farmers) under a microscope of high power, we behold
it swarming with millions of minute oval spores, or conidia,
which upon further examination we find to issue from a delicate
but complicated mycelium which penetrates the ovary, gradually
transforming it into a soft whitish body of an oblong shape with
shriveled surface. In this form our fungus was described and
recorded by Leveillé as Spacelia segetum.

In the course of a few weeks the gelatinous membranes of the
mycelium-threads harden and assume a brownish color. Thus
the originally soft tissue is transformed into a body of a corky or
1 Read before the Biological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila-

_ delphia. ' . ‘

1879. Microscopical Fungi [nfesting our Cereals, 613

horny consistence. We now have the so-called “ Ergot-grain,”
or the second stage of development of our fungus, formerly
described as Sclerotium clavus Tode, and recognized as a good
species among the Dermatomycetes. At the top of the “ Ergot-
grain” we behold the dried and shriveled remains of the Spacelia
as a sort of hood of a dark-yellowish or brownish color.

In this form of Sclerotium, the “ Ergot-grains,’ most of which,
of course, fall out of the ears when the corn is taken from
the field, remain on the ground unchanged through the winter.

In April of the next year the third and very interesting form,
which by its discoverer, Tulasne, has been termed Claviceps pur-
purea, is developed. We behold a number of purplish carpophores,
each ending in a yellowish head growing out of the Sclerotium.
Each*of these little heads shows in longitudinal sections a row of
regularly shaped and arranged peridia. These peridia are filled
with a number of asci containing the very minute and thread-like
spores. Direct experiments made by Prof. Kuehn, of Halle, and
other mycologists, have proved beyond doubt that when these
spores are sown into healthy young blossoms of rye, they will in
a short time produce the mycelium of Sphacelia, The same
result is sure to be obtained by means of the conidia of the
honey-dew, which in a comparatively short time will infect other
perfectly healthy ears, and will even carry the disease over to
other surrounding plants, such as several species of grass, etc.

Thus we have to regard the C/aviceps spores as originating the
disease in spring; the Sphacelia as propagating it during the
period of fructification, and the Sc/erotiuim as preserving the con-
tagion through the winter.

It is generally known that the ergot when brought into the hu-
man organism operates as a narcotic poison. In certain years which
were particularly favorable to its development, numerous cases of
poisoning have been observed in Europe, and so we learn of a
series of ergot epidemics recorded in official European statistics.
In 1771, for instance, the disease was so acute in Westphalia and
Hanover that in certain villages more than ninety per cent. of the
cases proved fatal.

The parasite has acquired its German name “ Mutterkorn,”
because of its contracting effects upon the uterus, owing to
which it has become an efficient aid in obstetrics, well known
under the old name of Secale cornutum.

614 Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cereals, (October,

The ergot in its Sphacelia form is, as mentioned before, not
confined exclusively to rye, but its conidia infect several species
of grass, such as Lolium, Bromus, Dactylis and others. Thus-a
number of diseases befalling our domestic animals are most
probably to be ascribed to the “ honey-dew” which the animals
have eaten with such infected grasses. Of course the farmer
ought to remove the infected plants growing in the neighborhood
of his rye fields. He ought to pick out the ergot grains as
much as possible before the corn is mown, and as they are only
formed during the short period of fructification, he has to apply
such methods of cultivating his ground (particularly the drilling)
as tend to produce a simultaneous development of the fruits, thus
reducing the dangerous period to a comparatively short time.

II. Smuts—The Ustilaginee, or smuts, are parasitic “fungi
whose fine-threaded, wide-spreading mycelium grows through
large portions of the infected plants. They fructify, however,
only in certain parts of these plants and at certain periods. In
such proper places the threads of the mycelium increase rapidly,
resorbing the surrounding tissue. Their free ends become di-
vided into cells; the latter, after being separated, are surrounded
by a second membrane and thus transformed into spores. These
spores occupy as a brownish dust or powder the place of the
destroyed tissue, and are set free in a measure as the infected
parts decay.

The organs of the plant in which these fungi are fructifying,
- vary according to the species of smut. So we see the whole
panicle of oat infected by Ustilago carbo, or “ oat-smut;” the
interior of the wheat grains by Tietia caries, or “ bunt;” the
anthers of several Silenee by’ Ustilago antherarum, and the female
cobs of our maize by Ustilago maydis, or maize-smut. When in
any of these Ustilaginez the spores are being formed, the threads
of the mycelium become dissolved and disappear; consequently
when the smut is fully developed we shall find nothing but the
afore-mentioned spores.

-~ Numerous experiments have shown that these spores maintain
their power of germination for several years. When brought on
a moist substratum they produce, within a few days, a germ tube
or promycelium on which minute sporidia of various shapes,
according to the various species of smut, are formed. Accord-
ing to the observations of Hoffmann, Kühn and other eminent

1879. | Microscopical Fungi Lnfesting our Cereals. 615

botanists, these sporidia penetrate the epidermis of young and
tender corn-stalks, mostly in the region between the root and the
first joint of the stem. The mycelium grows in am upward
direction, following the course of the longitudinal cells. How-
ever, the growth of the plant seems not to be injured; on the
contrary, the infected plants are apparently of a more fresh and
bluish green, and it is not before the time of fructification that the
devastation becomes visible.

The process of germinating is very nearly the same in the oat
and maize smut, whereas the “bunt,” or Tilletia caries shows
some interesting peculiarities. In this parasite, which is to be
found exclusively within wheat grains, the sporidia are produced
_ in a verticillate manner fromthe germ tube. They repeatedly
anastomose, and this anastomosis, or conjunction, is considered
as an act of fructification, for immediately afterwards we see that
odspores are formed, from which very minute threads are sent
forth which become free and carry the disease over to other
wheat plants.

It requires an experienced eye to discover the bunt in any
wheat field, for the infected ears are not distinguished in their
outer appearance from the healthy ones. The diseased grains,
however, when rubbed between the fingers, burst at the slightest
pressure, and we see that instead of the white meal they are filled
with a dark smutty mass, which is distinguished by a nauseous
smell resembling herring brine, produced by a volatile oil, the
trimethylamine, which is also to be found in herrings.

However destructive all these smuts may be, it is within the
power of any farmer, if not to prevent at least to limit their
excessive increase. The spores have been found adhering in
large numbers to the grains which are harvested, and which, of
course, when sown in spring, will transmit the contagion to the
next crop. Now a solution of copper-vitriol, which is not hurtful
to the seeds, is sure to kill the dangerous spores, and so we have
an efficacious and at the same time cheap preventive remedy on

d

ITI. Rusts and Brands.—The parasites of the hitherto described
Species we have found to be destructive to the several organs of
fructification. The following fungi belong to an entirely different
genus. They infest and destroy the stem as well as the leaves
and vagine of our graminez and other cultivated plants, and

yo

616 Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cercals. [October,

are generally known under the name of rusts and brands, or
Uredinee.

In examining our corn-fields in the beginning of summer we
shall most likely find a number of plants covered all over with
bright rusty, later in the year with dark brownish spots and lines.
These pustules are produced by parasitic fungi which have their
seat under the epidermis of the infected plants, and after being
developed, burst through the epidermis in order to disseminate
their spores. The very interesting development of these Ure-
dinez is a comparatively recent discovery, the more interesting
as the originators of the disease are to be found on plants belong-
ing to families entirely different from those in which the parasites
are developed.

If in May or June we examine the leaves of some Berberide@, .
Rhamnacee or Asperifoliacee growing in the neighborhood of
our corn-fields (particularly those in damp localities), we may be
pretty sure to find the under surface of such leaves covered all

over with little cup- or jar-like bodies of a bright-rusty color.

These little cups are what have long since been known as cluster-

cups, or Æcidium. They present an elegant object under the mi- ,
croscope, and delicate sections will show that the interior of the

cups is crowded with basidia, from which regular rows of bright-

colored spores proceed. (These cluster-cups are generally

attended by numbers of those strange little bodies known as

spermogonia, growing mostly from out of the opposite side of

the leaf, and sending forth thread-like spermatia, the real nature

of which has as yet not been ascertained.)

Prof. de Bary, of Strasburg, has been the first to show that
when these Æcidium spores are brought on certain species of
corn, for instance those of Berberis, or Barberry, on rye, they
immediately begin to germinate. The tender germ tubes force
their way through the stomata and rapidly develop within the
infected leaf a’'mycelium from which the afore-mentioned spores
are produced on basidia beneath the epidermis. Prof. de Bary
was led to the investigation by the pertinacious and often ridiculed
assertion of old farmers, that the shrubs of Barberry were inju-
rious to rye and oats; and indeed, his repeated direct experiments,
as well as those of a number of other botanists, have proved
beyond doubt that a very dangerous form of rust, the Uredo
linearis, is produced only by the spores of Barberry cluster-cups —

18709. | Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cereals. 617

In the same way it has been shown that other rust diseases, for
instance, such as are produced by Uredo rubigo vera, which also
destroys our cereal plants, are originated by certain cluster-cups
growing on other plants in the neighborhood of corn-fields.

If we examine the rust-pustules more closely, either by open-
ing them with a needle or by making thin sections, we shall find
beneath the epidermis and growing on short peduncles, numerous
yellowish spores. They represent simple oval cells, the proto-
plasm of which contains little drops of an orange-colored oil.
The hyaline episporium is granulated.and shows several translu-
cefit spots, the places from which the germ tubes will proceed.
These germ tubes are rapidly developed, often within a few hours.
They penetrate the stomata of other leaves and repeat the pro-
duction, first of a mycelium, then of numerous spores, which again
pierce with their germs through the epidermis of other plants.
In this way the the process is continued through the course of
summer, and it is easily explainable that under favorable circum-
stances the disease may be propagated from field to field, over
vast tracts of land, assuming quite an epidemic character.

Towards the close of the hot season we see our fungi entering
a new stage of their development. Repeated examinations of the
rusty pustules will show that the latter are gradually transformed
into bodies of a dark-brownish color. Let us examine these dark
bodies a little closer. We shall find that from the former mycelium
spores of a quite different shape and color have been produced.
The Uredo or summer spores have disappeared and in their
place we behold numerous dark-brownish two-celled spores with
thick or perfectly smooth membranes growing on long pedicles.
They are what is known as brand (Puccinia), and were formerly —
described as an autonomous species of fungi. In reality they are
the winter or Teleuto spores of the rust. The spores remain
with their peduncles attached to their stroma during the winter,
and do not begin their germination before the following spring.
Then one or several germ tubes are formed, which at their upper
extremities become segmented into several cells. From each of
these cells we see growing out a very fine thread, producing a
sporidium. These sporidia are set free and are scattered by the
wind, and when brought on the leaves of barberry are sure to
produce the cluster-cups first described. (The latter fact has
again been proved by numerous direct experiments.

618 Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cereals. [October, |

Thus we see the Æcidium producing Uredo, the Uredo Puc-
cinia, and the Puccinia again Æcidium, and we have the inter-
esting fact, that fungi of an apparently unlike structure, which
have been hitherto described as belonging to different genera, and
which are actually to be found on entirely different plants, are in
reality but sucessive forms of development of the same parasite.

By this discovery of De Bary, the attention of a number -of
mycologists was directed to other species of rusts. Numerous
experiments have been made, and thus the connection of a num-
ber of hitherto separated forms has been found out. We know,
for instance, that one species of Uredo, U. straminis, which
destroys the glumes and attacks the ovaries of wheat-ears, and
which in 1862, in Denmark, caused a damage of nearly a million
of dollars, has its Æcidium form on the several Boraginee ; that
a disease on pear trees, destructive to the young leaves and
ovaries, and known as Restelia cancellata, is the Atcidium form
of a Uredo growing in early spring on Juniperus and hitherto
described as Gymunosporangium.

In some rusts the winter spores present a form at the same
time very elegant and quite different from Fuccinia. So we see
towards autumn the under surface of blackberry and rose leaves
spotted all over with little blackish powdery tufts of the so-called
blackberry brand or Phragmidium. These tufts are composed of
four or five-celled elegantly granulated spores, produced on long
hyaline peduncles. In the same places where we find them now
we would have met a month ago the one-celled Uredo spores,
and it is quite interesting to observe under a lens from day tO
day how (beginning at the circumference and moving towards the
center) the dark winter spores are gradually superseding those of
Uredo. This connection has also been discovered but recently.

In the same way the dimorphism of several other rusts and
brands has been defined. However, we are as yet.ignorant as to
the development of a good many other species, and there is con-
sequently a vast and at the same time highly interesting field left
for further investigation. |

IV. Mildew.—* Mildew,” says M. C. Cooke in his Parasitic
Fungi, “is one of those loose terms which represent no definite
idea, or a different one to different individuals.” It may be so In
_ England; American farmers, however, as well as horticulturists of

_ my acquaintance, unanimously apply the term to the several spectes-

1879. ] Microscopical Fungi Infesting our Cereals. 619

of Erysiphe, and so I understand under. the name of “ mildew T
the mycelium of a parasitic fungus which, sometimes very thin
and cobweb-like, sometimes in a thick, felty layer, disturbs the
development of the infected plant, particularly by ọbstructing the
stomata, perhaps also by drawing its nourishment from out of the
infected organs by means of little wart-like processes, through
which the mycelium is attached to the plant on which it feeds.

Among the great many varieties of Exysiphe, which are to be
found on the leaves of different trees as well as on a great many `
ornamental and useful plants, we have to deal here with one
species, Æ. graminis, which in certain years is to be found in
abundance, covering the leaves of the several cereals.

The real nature of this parasite has likewise but recently been
discovered, and it requires a good microscope to discern the
minute organs of fructification.

Soon after the formation of the “ mildew ” has commenced, we
see some of the mycelium-threads growing upwards in a vertical
direction. These threads become segmented into several cells ;
each of these oval cells is separated in the same way as we have
seen in Sphacelia, is transformed into a conidium, and by means
of these conidia, the mycelium is propagated during the summer
months, with incredible rapidity under favorable conditions.

Towards the close of the period of the growth of vegetation
we see in a very interesting way that peridia are formed by means
of a sexual process. ;

At the crossing point of two mycelium-threads two cells of a
somewhat unlike shape are differentiated. The larger one, issuing
from the inferior hypha, is club-shaped. It is (according to De
Bary, to whom we are indebted for very careful investigations
of this subject) the female “ascogonium,” as he terms it, against
which thesmuch thinner “ pollinarium” (growing up from the
inferior hypha) leans. closely. The contents of the pollinarium
being absorbed by the female organ, the latter begins to swell or
enlarge as the pollinarium disappears. In the mean time a num-
ber of secondary threads are developed at the basis of the asco-
gonium. These threads surround and enclose the ascogonium,
' producing numerous lateral as well as inward growing ramifica-
tions. The lateral threads weave themselves into a compact tis-
sue which afterwards hardens, becomes brownish and forms the
outer coat of a peridium, while the space between this coat and

VOL. XIII.-—-NO. X.

620 - Fresh-Water Entomostraca. - [October,

the ascogonium is filled up by the loose tissue of the inner rami-
fications. 7 l

The ascogonium is divided by repeated partition into a number
of asci, each of which in our species contains eight spores.
According to the observations of several botanists, these spores
are not developed before the next spring, so that the parasite is
preserved through the winter by means of the peridia. In most
species of Arysiphe these peridia are provided with hyaline
appendages, some of which are of wonderful regularity and
elegance of form, when seen under the microscope.

:0:
FRESH-WATER ENTOMOSTRACA.
BY C. L. HERRICK.

HE collector of fresh-water specimens is constantly meeting
4 unexpected forms, especially among the smaller organisms,
and of these no order of animals furnishes a wider variety or
more curious adaptations than the fresh-water Crustaceans em-
braced in the old group Entomostraca, which is by many authors
at the present day subdivided into several orders of Crustacea,
the name being retained for a single order. To the microscopist
particularly they are available as a never-failing field for study,
since a cup of water from almost any source will contain abun-

dant material for a day’s work. | .
The Entomostraca have specialized jaws, but the gnathites nove”
exceed three pairs. The segments of the abdomen are devoid of
appendages. The name was derived from two words, meaning
insect and shell, by Otho F. Miiller, and applied by him in his
“ Entomostraca” (1785) to the animals which had hitherto been
all comprised in Linnzeus’ genus Monoculus, named from the sup-
position that they possess but one eye. This order has, gener-
ally speaking, been much neglected, and in America particularly
it seems to have escaped attention. The members of this order
are never large, and many are so small as to be with the er
difficulty detected by the unassisted eye, yet from their gree
variety, wide range and immense number they assume a position
of considerable importance in the animal kingdom. .
~ Recent investigations instituted by Mr. S. A. Forbes, of the
Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, have emphasized
the fact that the lowly animals play important parts in the econ=

— : Sceans enter
= omy of nature, he having found that these Crustaceans ent |

1879 ] Fresh-Water Entomostraca. 621

largely into the diet of fish, even of the larger varieties. The
larger portion, of the Entomostraca, numerically at least, are
vegetable feeders and live on the minute particles of matter float-
ing in the water, which otherwise would tend to render our waters
impure. The snails wipe clean the stones and water-plants, and
the scavenger fishes remove the carrion, but it remains for minuter
forms to search carefully each drop and remove the particles,
microscopic even to the thousand eyes of the dragon-fly larva.
Thus the Séda (Plate 111) in swimming uses the branchial feet
within the shell-valves, not only in taking the necessary air from
the water, but, by creating a counter current between the bases of
the feet, particles of food are constantly brought within reach of
the jaws. In common with low forms of animals in general, the
processes of reproduction are often curiously anomalous. Con-
gress of the sexes is in many cases unnecessary for many genera-
tions, and some forms, especially the Artemia, or “ brine shrimp,”
seem unusually susceptible to changes in their environment.
Males are often produced only in certain seasons of the year or
under certain climatic conditions.

In the Daphnia the females produce young by simple budding
from the ovary, but in the winter the ovum is enclosed between
the valves of the carapace, which is removed at each molt, and it
is thus enabled to resist the severity of the cold season. Speaking
of the molt it is interesting to note that every hair, even to the
finest filament, throws off a sheath, so that the cast-off integu-
ment is a perfect copy of the animal from which it came. In the
higher forms the eggs are carried during the later stages of em-
bryonic existence in double or single sacs extending beneath or
on either side of the abdomen. In the Daphnia and other forms
enclosed in a carapace the animal is oviparous, and the young
can be seen within the shell in a cavity above the abdomen for
some time before they are sent out to paddle their own crystal
canoe. They may be removed from the parent without inconve-
nience. In the larger sub-division, the Lophyropoda, the chief
organs of locomotion are one or both pairs of antennz, though —
natatorial feet are never wanting. The antennz also serve as pre-
hensile organs in the Cyclopoidea, while the feet throughout the
whole legion have branchial filaments.

Every one who has used the microscope has met with some of
these animals, and we will mention a few forms. If water, taken —
from the clear surface of a lake ona sunny day, be carefully ob-

622 Fresh-Water Entomostraca. [ October,

served, often a delicate, transparent animal may be seen darting
about in the vessel like a flash of light, or if the lake be shal-
low and abounds in water plants the related form represented
in Plate 1 may be seen. As it springs from side to side of the
jar it seems a living jewel, for the antennze and abdomen are
tipped with varying purple, and the body glows yellow and
scarlet, and if the bright-red egg-mass be present it is a con-
spicuous object. Place it under the microscope with a low power
and we can see the long flexible antennz, and if it is a male the
thickened basal joints can be seen terminating in a spine at the
thirteenth, where the geniculating joint is situated. The anten-
nules on either side of the head segment, which is distinct from the
thorax in this species, and the stylets on the last joint of the
abdomen, with their seta, are noted—when the antennules begin
to rotate like the paddles of a steamer, and bending the abdomen
and immediately launching a powerful “kick” with the caudal
sete spread out, at the same time that the antenna beat the
water like oars in the hands of an expert, the animal springs out
of sight. One instinctively looks for the fellow some yards
away, but remembering that the whole animal is little over .06
of an inch long, we again adjust the slide and bring him into view.

More abundant than the Diaptomus and better known, is the
Cyclops. Plate 11 represents a large species in which the hairs
are greatly elongated, especially on the caudal sete, the longest
pair of which resemble feather dusters. The Cyclops has received
more than its share of names, owing to the great difference

between different stages of its existence. If we place a female

Cyclops in a vial, in a few- days little specks will be seen swim-
ming about in the water, and the eggs will have disappeared.
These specks prove to be the young of Cyclops, but so little like
the parent that it requires much faith to believe they will ever
assume its likeness. Instead of five pairs of feet there are but
three, and as we watch the growth of the animal, these prove to
be elementary antennæ and jaws, while the true feet bud out of
segments not yet formed. Almost every pool furnishes another
example of the Cyclopoidea in the Canthocamptus which resembles
the Cyclops greatly, and goes through the same transformations.
The body tapers gradually with no marked distinction between
thorax and abdomen ; the egg-sac too is under the abdomen, and
has in connection with it a colorless tube.
Perhaps the next animal to attract our attention will be a crea-

1879. |’ Eresh-Water Entomostraca. 623

ture clothed in defensive armor of crystal, with an ovoid helmet
on the head, from beneath which protrude the secondary antenne,
which in this family are always the larger, and the chief organs of
locomotion. On the back is a small shield-like plate from which
are suspended the two plates enclosing the body. Under the
scuta of the back the heart can be seen pulsating regularly, while
just below it is the intestinal canal, usually green from the vege-
table matter contained therein. The jaws are suspended from the
upper part of the head and meet below, where their toothed,
grinding edges are placed in opposition, so that all the food must
necessarily pass between them to be comminuted. The existence
of a median dorsal plate in Daphnia seems to have been over-
looked, it will be readily found however in this species (D. vetula)
by placing a specimen on a slide and allowing it to dry and then
tilting it up.

The genus Daphnia is quite well represented ‘in our waters,
both in variety of species and abundance of specimens. The
section of the genus separated by Dana and called Ceriodaphnia
includes those members which have a cellularly reticulated shell,
but this character does not seem constant in the closely allied
smaller forms which it evidently ought to include, if indeed the
same species may not embrace forms with both reticulate and
non-reticulate shells.

ne of the most interesting of all Daphnia-like species is Sida,
Plate 11. A species of Sida and also a new species of the allied
genus Daphnella occurs in Minnesota waters. The body of Sida
is highly transparent, rendering the study of the inner parts less
difficult than in most of these animals. The movement of blood
corpuscles in the head and the currents caused by the branchial .
feet (indicated by arrows in the drawing) can be readily traced.

The curious Polyphemus also is represented, an animal in which
the body is much curved upon itself, and the last joint of the
abdomen is greatly elongated and bears two long flagella. The
single staring eye, occupying the whole of the head, is the most
conspicuous organ, while the apparently undeveloped branchial
feet at first suggest the young of some other species.

But the most curious of all these minute, shelled forms, is the
single species of, Bosmina (Plate 1v), which constitutes the family
Bosminidz of Dana. The idea at once suggested is a strange bur-
lesque on the elephant, though the animal is not by any means
_ of elephantine proportions, being not two hundredths of an inch |

624 Fresh-Watcr Entomostraca. [ October,

in length. The superior antenne, usually very small or nearly ob-.
solete in the Daphnoidz, are the longer, but they agree with those.

of other members of the tribe in having little motion or play. These
many-jointed appendages constitute the trunk of our elephant,

lying as they do in so close juxtaposition as to seem a single or-.
gan. The shell of Brosmina is tuberculate and partly, at least,

reticulated with hexagonal cells.

A group of smaller animals than any of the above is the old
family Lynceidæ which is now included in the Daphnide. Many
genera have been formed, but only one or two are founded on
reliable generic characters. Aurycercus contains an animal nearly
as large as Daphnia, but the remaining animals are small and they
all agree in moving by a steady progressive motion rather than

by successive bounds, which peculiarity is due to the shortness of

the antennz. The head is sharper in front and a little black spot
beneath the eye, which is common to all Daphnide becomes in
Lynceus and its allies as conspicuous as the eye itself. This spot is
of unknown use but seems connected with the base of the antenne.
_ There are representatives of two genera of the family Cyprid@
to be found in every pool. These animals are enclosed in a shell
which covers not only the body but the head also, so that the
animal can withdraw entirely from view and close his shell about
him like the mussel, which the shell much resembles in shape.
The Cypris scurries about with an uncertain running motion,
reminding one of the haste of an excited man,while the Candona
loves the bottom. The inability to swim freely is due in Candona
to the absence of the many sete on the antenne (the principal
motary organs), which broaden these paddles in Cypris. In this
sketch only a very few forms have been glanced at, and the legion
Phyllopoda containing Branchipus and the “brine shrimp,” has
not been noticed, but objects enough to employ many a leisure
day have been seen, any one of which might well repay weeks
of study.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.!

PLATE AR yi. me longicornis Herrick, back view of female and side view of
male; a, Si agg rtion of male antennz showing enlarged segments preceding gen-
iculating j joi

PLATE I. onli ops ~~ ? > last pair of feet; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, feet of Cyclops quadri-
cornis; 6, inferior anten

PLATE HI.— Sida Spsiatiind Straus. a, 4, c, feet of first, second and last pairs ; d,
jaw : e, extremity of a pn J, superior antennee.

PLATE Iv.—1, Bosm siren dbo a, portion of shell with superior antenn®;

4, anterior antenna ; 2, ppa S Sp. ?
sed seeder kindness of Prof. N. H. Winchell, Director of AMinnesots Geological sti

072 neta me

PLATE. I.

Cheancxibe, |

PLATE III.

rors Ewe. Ca NY

rsa

a are RNa nn RE

1879.] Notes on the Thrushes of Washington Territory. 629

NOTES ON THE THRUSHES OF WASHINGTON TER-
RIT

BY 5. K. LUM.

o rane the number of species and varieties of the Tur-

didæ of the north-west coast is few, yet the number of indi-
viduals is great. The genus Turdus is here well represented by
four species and varieties, viz: T. migratorius, T. nevius, T. pal-
lasi var. nanus and T. swainsoni var. ustulatus. These, with Town-
send’s flycatching thrush (Mytadestes townsendi), comprise the list
that I have observed in Western Washington Territory during a
residence of twenty-five years, never having met with even a
straggler of the genera Mimus or Harporhynchus. I am aware
that the cat-bird (M. carolinensis) has been accredited a place in
our avifauna (See Coues’ Key to N. A. Birds, and Birds of the
Colorado valley). Cooper speaks of it as found in the Cœur
d’Alene mountains, and others as observed in Eastern Wash-
ington.

I have traveled extensively in Eastern Oregon and Washington
without having met with a single specimen of this bird. There
is a bird here, the towhee bunting (Pipilo erythrophthalmus var.
oregonus) that utters a cry similar to that of the cat-bird, and, from
the sound, might easily be mistaken for the latter bird. If found in
Western Washington at all, it is as the veriest straggler, or I
should certainly ere this have recognized my old acquaintance.

Townsend’s flycatching thrush arrives here in March and
remains until June. Their general appearance and habits are
more those of a flycatcher than of a thrush. They may be seen
perched upon the dry limb of a tree like the flycatchers, watch-
ing for insects, making sallies out after them and then returning
to the perch.

During these times they now and then utter a loud, clear note,

_ resembling the word “ brevier,” the accent on the last syllable. I

have never heard the song spoken of by others, and so far as I
know, they do not breed in this section. I have seen the young
birds in their spotted plumage in the Sierra Nevada mountains of
California.

The robin is extremely abundant, a few remaining during the
winter, the majority passing further south; they breed here in
great numbers, the nest being not unlike that of their eastern

~~ relatives,

630 Notes on the Thrushes of Washington Territory. [October,

The varied thrush will bear a more extended notice. Like his
near relative, the robin, he is migratory, having a more northerly
range. In numbers they nearly equal the robin. By the first of
May they have all left for their northern homes to engage, as we
are told, in the great work of reproduction—the shores of Alaska
and the valley of the Yukon river furnishing them all that is
necessary. About the first of October, when the first frosts have
crimsoned the leaves of the vine maple, and the detached leaves
of the large maple are slowly settling with their zig-zag motion
to the earth, the ground already covered by the yellow forms, then
may be heard the exquisitely sweet and musical notes of the
varied thrush—not ina variety and succession of notes, but in
one prolonged strain of a few seconds in a minor key; this is
repeated at short intervals. Frequently there are several birds in
company, varying in the pitch, thus giving a concert of voices
succeeding each other, so tender, so plaintive, that the rude
woodsman pauses to listen to the charming melody and asks,
what bird is that ?

The song of this bird, spoken of by Drs. Cooper and Suckley,
I have never heard. This may be accounted for by the fact that
I have never known them to remain here during the summer,
which is their breeding time, and at other times than this they
seldom utter these notes or I should have have observed it. They
spend most of their time on the ground scratching for insects,
and when flushed alight on the lower limbs, uttering a sharp
“ chuck!” “ chuck!” then ascending higher and higher until out
of danger. They are more vigilant than the robin and more dis-
posed to scratch and turn over leaves after the manner of the
“ chewink.”

Last winter I caught one alive and placed it in a cage; ina
few hours it became reconciled to me, and took food from my
hands. It would cram itself with rotten apples and bits of fresh
meat until it could hold no more, and then look at me as much
as to say, “I am sorry I can accept your generosity no more.
In the course of a few days I secured another, which I placed in
the cage with the first.

I soon discovered that the first one, so far from being pleased
with his company, was quite the reverse, for the second being the
older and stronger bird, pounced upon him in the most deter-
- mined manner to kill him. I separated them, but no sooner was

1879.| Notes on the Thrushes of Washington Territory. 631

my back turned than he renewed the attack, and would have
killed him in a short time. I then removed the second one and
introduced him in a cage with a sly, thieving, quarrelsome Stel-
ler’s jay (Cyanurus stellerii). Now let the oppressor be oppressed;
we will see the result. Thrush number two recognized an old
acquaintance, and with that deference which consciousness of
another’s superiority inspires, quietly laid aside all hostilities ; the
two lived together peaceably, so far as I could discover, the jay
being the more magnanimous of the two.

Three of our thrushes are found here during the entire winter,
in greater or less numbers, viz: the two already treated of and
a third, the dwarf or hermit thrush (7. pallasi var. nanus)> Al-
though most of the latter thrush pass further south, a few remain
all winter. I have myself observed them in considerable num-
bers in the coast region north of San Francisco, Cal., in January.
Their habits are shy and retiring, being found oftenest on the
ground among the thick bushes.

In March and April they pass here on their way to their breed-
ing grounds further north. I have never seen a solitary bird here
during the summer. About the last of September they make
their appearance from the north. Judging from the accounts of
authors, of the powers of song of the near allied eastern hermit,
we would suppose T. nanus to be possessed of musical powers of a
high order. Perhaps this might be so could we observe him in
his chosen breeding grounds accompanied by his mate and ten-
der nestlings. However this may be, with us he is entirely
silent, so far as I can say. If his presence is detected it must be
from sight alone. .

But if xevius and nanus withhold from us their song and
desert us for more congenial northern homes, their place is well
filled by another member of the family ( T. swainsoni var. ustulatus).
About the first of May, when the thick tangled, deciduous under-
growth of the tall sombre fir forests is decked in green, their
blossoms on every hand exhaling perfume, will be heard the sig-
nal note of this bird announcing his presence among us. The
lover of bird music now knows that the time for his enjoyment is
at hand. The first note, loud and clear, is only a foretaste of
what is to follow. The male has arrived first and is taking a sur-
vey of his old familiar haunts to see that all is right and the way
clear before his mate joins him, For several days after his arri-

632 Notes on the Thrushes of Washington Territory. [October,

val no song is heard, then a low succession of notes comes from
the thicket copse, as if he were trying his organs and training
them for the grand concert to come. As time passes, these notes
increase in strength, and by the first of June, when his mate has
joined him and the site for their summer’s nest is chosen, he
seems enraptured by his own powers, as with quivering wings he
pours forth a volume of song that seems to vibrate the green
leaves of his surroundings.

You may hear him; but will seldom see him, so shy is he.
Once, when this thrush was so absorbed in his own performance
that he scarce seemed to notice me, I succeeded in getting directly
under him, He sat ona limb about ten feet above me; first
stretching himself up, he would utter a loud note similar to the
last syllable of the bob-white quail, the “ white” ending with the
rising inflection ; this was the prelude ; then would follow a suc-
cession of notes impossible to describe, and which I can only
compare to the vibrations of a wire or bell when struck, the undu-
lations of sound gradually decreasing in volume and rapidity to
the end. It seemed coming from a direction I could not deter-
mine, and as if broken in a thousand fragments on the surround-
ing shrubbery.

During the month of June the nest is constructed. It is
oftenest found in low grounds, where the water stands during the
winter, but at this season is dried up. Sometimes it is placed on
the horizontal branch of a fallen tree, at other times in a small
bush, and generally from three to six feet from the ground. It is
‘simple in construction, being composed almost entirely of moss,
about three inches in its inner diameter by two inches in depth.
‘The eggs, four or five in number, are 44 of an inch in length by
41 of an inch in breadth, with a pale blue ground spotted all over
„with light reddish-brown. This I suppose to be the main breed-
ing grounds of this thrush; their nests are found everywhere in
the thickets of the lowlands, while during the early morning and
the evening, from the dense forest and the thickest copse, and
every sequestered grove, come the strains of this prince of the
birds of song; who, as if loth to desist, often prolongs his song
until after sunset, when the shades of night have thrown a weird
gloom over the depths of the forest.

1879. | The Leather Turtle. 633

THE LEATHER TURTLE.
BY JOHN FORD.

N all the realm of nature few avenues are more attractive to

the student than those which lead into the ocean, for though
trodden from time immemorial, a peculiar glamor still haunts
the almost impenetrable veil beyond which they end. Such
a mysterious charm might of itself awaken an interest in the
minds of men. But an incentive far more potent is found in
the hope that behind this shadowy veil thousands of unknown
forms of life are hidden, awaiting only the coming of some mod-
ern Aladdin at whose touch the doors of their habitations shall
fly open and their strange and weird beauty be revealed.

That myriads of living creatures do people these wondrous
depths is shown by the appearance, at intervals, of the more
venturesome ones on our shores, inciting the careful observer to
renewed efforts in the study of their forms, their habits, and their
previous surroundings.

It is true that many problems regarding the latter must of
necessity remain unsolved, yet much may be studied and much
be learned by patient and persistent endeavor.

With this purpose in view I have collected a few Gin respect-
ing the recent advent of specimens of Sphargis coriacea, a species
as little known to the general reader, perhaps, as any other of
like dimensions found in the Atlantic. The animal has indeed
been referred to by a number of writers, but in all probability
their stock of information has, in most cases, been derived from
hearsay rather than from direct examination of specimens. In
an English work on general zodlogy, published by Dr. George
Shaw in 1802, we are informed that the coriaceous tortoise is a
native of the Mediterranean, albeit specimens had been taken
now and then on the coast of England; and of one captured in
1729 near the river Loire, in France, the author remarks: “ It is
Said to have uttered a hideous noise when taken; its mouth at
the same time foaming with rage and exhaling a noisome vapor.”
He also adds, that according to Lacepede, “the Coriaceus tor-
toise is one of those with which the Greeks were well acquainted,
and he supposes it to have been the species particularly used in
the construction of the ancient lyre or harp, which was at first

634 The Leather Turtle. [ October,

composed by attaching strings to the shell of some marine
tortoise.”

The first specimen seen in this latitude, of which I can find any
record, was captured in Chesapeake bay in the year 1840. This
was measured by Dr. E. Hallowell, an eminent herpetologist, but
his figures differ so slightly from others made more recently, it is
unnecessary to repeat them. As, however, the description given
in the second volume of North American Herpetology, a work
published in 1842 by Dr. John Edwards Holbrook, was the result
of an examination of this specimen, it is reproduced here in a
somewhat condensed form, as follows:

“ Characters.—Head large, jaws strong, superior having three
deep triangular notches, inferior hooked; body covered with
a coriaceous skin, tuberculated in the young, smooth in adult ani-
mals; extremities without nails.

“ Description —The carapace is sub-cordiform, largest before and
deeply concave on the neck; it is narrow and pointed behind and
above, and is marked with seven longitudinal carinæ, one of
which runs along the entire vertebral line. On either side of this
are three others, the external ones following the margin of the
carapace from its anterior to its posterior extremity, where they

meet in a point above the tail. The nostrils are anterior and near .

together. The neck is short, very thick and covered with a
coriaceous skin. The anterior extremities are twice the length of
the posterior ones. The tail is short and extends but little
beyond the carapace. The whole superior surface of the animal
is of a dark brown color with exception of the carinæ, which are
tinged in different places with obscure dirty white.”

A very fair portrait of Sphargis coriacea accompanies this
description.

So far as I can learn no later evidence has been given of the
presence of Sphargis on our shores prior to the summer of 1878,
when four specimens were stranded upon the coast of New Jer-
sey. Of these two were doubtless first discovered near Atlantic
City by the writer and a friend, Mr. Chas. Morris, one of them,
in fact, being observed for some time before it was borne by the
waves to our feet. They were both dead, though otherwise 17
good condition.

The two others mentioned were landed at a later period near
Beach. Haven, Ocean county. Ina reference to them Isaac Hall,
an old sea captain, remarked, that “he had seen turtles of all

1879. | The Leather Turtle. 635

kinds, but these were the largest he had met in any quarter of
the globe.”

In the early part of the present year (1879) a fine specimen
was shot off the coast near Wilmington, North Carolina, by Capt.
Chadwick of that city; and still later another was caught at
Gloucester, Virginia, by Mr. W. H. Ash, the wharf agent at the
point, who struck it a powerful blow on the head with an oar,
stunning it and making it an easy prey.

The former of these, which is said to have measured seven feet
in length by three and a half feet in width, appears to have puz-
zled the good people thereabouts in regard to its true character,
some calling it a turtle and others a devil-fish, while the captain
held to the opinion that it was Old Nick himself. Unfortunately,
however, for their future prospects, it proved to belong to the
species under consideration ; “ more’s the pity,” perhaps.

The specimen taken at Gloucester Point, though smaller than
the last mentioned, was none the less surprising to its captor and
others who saw it, many of them being of the same opinion
regarding the fate of “Old Nick” as their more southern
brother.

‘With the exception of one taken alive in Delaware bay, June
I, 1879, the above half dozen specimens comprise, so far as any
records appear, the whole number found on our coast since 1840,
a fact which seems to corroborate the opinion of Dr. Holbrook,
who assumed that they were quite rare in American waters.
Nevertheless, Dr. Leidy, Mr. John A. Ryder and others, who
have given the subject much attention, believe them to be more
plentiful than has been supposed.

As a proof at least of their wide distribution, it may be men-
tioned that in addition to those referred to by Dr. Gray, two
specimens were cast up on the coast of France in 1872; one of

1 An account of this turtle was given by Dr.-D. H. Storer in his Report on the
Reptiles of Massachusetts, 1839. The specimen there described was figured on an
micellen plate by Dr. Jeffreys Wyman; it “ was taken asleep on the surface of the

Massachusetts bay, in the year 1824.” A specimen weighing about 1000
Ibs, was captured in Narragansett bay in the summer of 1878, and was presented to
the Museum of the Brown University. Providence, R. I., where it was stuffed by the
Curator, Prof. J. W: P. Jenks. Zditor.

? Since the above was written I have learned from Mr. John H. Dusenbury, a
Philadelphia dealer, that he received a dead specimen of Sphargis coriacea from
Delaware bay, in 1872, which weighed 916 pounds; the skeleton of which was

erwards placed in the collection belonging to Mr. O’Brien, the showman. i

VOL. XHI.—NO. X. 43

636 The Leather Turtle. [ October,

which was obtained by Prof. Paul Gervais, and the skeleton pre-
served by him for the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.

The great age of the genus in Europe is also shown by the dis-
covery of Sphargis pseudostracion Gervais, in the Miocene, near
Montpelier. Protostega gigas Cope, from the Cretaceous of Kan-
sas is closely allied to Sphargis coriacea, though a much larger
species, the length being 12.8 feet and the width from tip to tip
of the anterior flippers, 11.3 feet.

Two other species, P. neptunia and P. tuberosa, the former from
the Cretaceous of New Jersey and the latter from the same forma-
tion in Mississippi, have also been described by Prof. Cope, which
seems to prove that the genus Protostega was quite as preva-
lent in Cretaceous seas as is Sphargis in those of the present.

Unfortunately the specimen captured in Delaware bay and
brought to Philadelphia, lived but a short time afterward; its
death having been hastened by an injury received from a boat
hook or other weapon during the struggle to capture it.

The chance of seeing such a huge denizen of the ocean was
a rare one, however, and very many citizens, including some
eminent naturalists, took advantage of it. As a precautionary
measure, the animal was kept upon its back; nevertheless, the
muscular power displayed by the creature when trying to regain
its normal position was something remarkable. Especially was
_ this the case just previous to dying, when, according to its owner's
statement, the united efforts of four men were required to keep it
in place.

During a quiet interval the subjoined measurements were
taken by the writer, kindly assisted by that careful naturalist, Mr.
John A. Ryder:

Feet, Inches.
Entire length of animal 6 7
Kengi ol earapaee 50. e605 os oo5 os go
Greatest width of same Brot
From tip to tip of anterior jae. By age
Greatest width of anterior flippers I o
From point of SRE to edge of carapace I 3
Diameter of neck I o
Elevation .. I 4
Width of breast R 3 o
Length of tail o $

As a subsequent measurement suggested no alteration of the
figures given they may therefore be accepted as approximately

1879. Were they Mound-Builders ? 637

correct.. The weight of the animal, taken soon after its death,
was 765 pounds; as much, perhaps, as the half dozen specimens
I have alluded to would average.

It follows, therefore, that these were but a little more than half
grown, or that 1200 pounds, the estimated weight of an adult, as
given by Dr. Holbrook, is much too large. A further examina-
tion of the specimen, which was fortunately secured by Prof.
Cope, will, doubtless, decide the matter. In the meantime, a few
of the more prominent characters pertaining to the animal may
be profitably referred to. For. instance, the mode of respiration
in Sphargis is peculiarly marked. This is apparently effected by
inflating the throat with air until it is much enlarged, and then by
closing the nostrils and contracting the throat, suddenly forcing
the air back into the lungs. That this pumping process is com-
mon to all the Testudinata is known, but that it effects respira-
tion is denied by Drs. Mitchell and Morehouse, who ascribe this
function to the axillary and inguinal muscles,

A much wider difference is found in the skeleton. Thus, in
Sphargis the vertebral column is entirely independent of the car-
apace, while in other genera it is co-ossified. It differs also in
having the carapace disconnected with all the other parts of the
skeleton. Another peculiarity consists in the carapace being com-
posed of a vast number of small bony irregular tesserz joined
by minute suture. The plastron is also more rudimentary than
that of other turtles, being represented by a mere oblong ring of
bones. Of course these embrace the more prominent features.
It is not improbable, however, that a careful study of the animal
will develop other points of equal interest, in which event the
Cause of science will be profited.

—
WERE THEY MOUND-BUILDERS?

BY S. L. FREY.
HE question as to whether the mound-builders extended their
occupation as far east as Eastern New York is an open one;
and while some relics recently discovered have led some writers?
to the conclusion that they had, I think that we need much
Stronger proof before we are warranted in drawing this inference.
It is but fair to conclude, however, judging from analogy, that

‘Wm. L. Stone, Magazine of American History, September, 1878; Prof. Geo. W
Perkins, Portland Meeting of the American Association ; Smithsonian Contributions,
Il, p. 58.

638 Were they Mound-Builders ? [ October,

some people occupied this section of country before the advent
of the Iroquois, for we cannot think that previously to that time,
this fertile land, abounding in fish and game, was entirely without
inhabitants. Who these tribes were, Hurons, Shawanoes, or some
more advanced people, is but a matter of conjecture. It is an
interesting subject for investigation, and it may be the good for-
tune of some one yet to discover relics that will lead to an eluci-
dation of the mystery.

In this paper I wish to call attention to and describe some
ancient graves, and their contained relics, which I have recently
opened and examined, leaving it for others to conclude from the
premises which I shall furnish, whether these were simply Indian
graves of an old date or those of another people.

I have known of the place, examined for many years, and had,
with others, previously done some superficial digging, finding at
one time, in a grave, thirty arrow-heads and a small copper awl.
The latter, of which Fig. 1 is a drawing, might have been used
for piercing holes in buckskin garments, but as implernents for

Fic. 1.—Full size.

this purpose were usually made of bone with the point rounded
and sharpened in a similar manner, and as these were obtained
with comparative ease and were equally serviceable for sewing
purposes, I think that possibly this copper implement had a dif-
ferent, or at any rate an additional use. According to many early
writers the natives at the time of the discovery, were found in
possession of ornaments, necklaces, &c., of pearls, the perforating
of which was done with a heated copper spindle. The square
shape of this implement indicates that it has been set in a handle,
and the point being very smooth, shows use of some kind. That
it was intended for a drill of this description seems not improb-
able, when viewed in connection with certain shell relics subse-
quently found, and which are described in this article.

Aside from the above, as far as I have been able to learn, little
had been found by others digging at this place. It is known as
an “Indian burying-ground,” and was originally an extensive
knoll of sand and gravel with an upper stratum of loamy soil
about four feet in thickness, mixed with angular fragments of sand
rock. It has a southern exposure, and is abutted on the north
by a precipitous rocky hillside. Unfortunately, however, the
most of this old graveyard was removed years ago to make an

1879. } Were they Mound-Builders ? 639

embankment for a railroad, and tradition says that many skeletons
and relics were unearthed at this time, the bones being buried
under the roadway, and that the relics, through the customary
ignorance of the workmen, were destroyed and lost.

In Fig. 2 I have given a section of the place which shows the
original form and what remains of the graveyard sufficiently well;

ye
pa je 74 os hy
cry ere tt (tpn ole, Zt pat,

\
i
`
\
aa fla the

the point between a and å is ner the graves which I opened
were found ; its conformation and the character of the soil sug-
gested that it might have been somewhat artificially altered.

So much digging had been done previously to little purpose,
that I had little faith that any graves remained undisturbed, but
a friend of mine accidentally hearing that a curious pipe had
recently been found, we visited the place one afternoon in Novem-
ber, too late, however, to do more than a little hasty and super-
ficial digging. Examinations of places of this kind, containing
graves of an ancient date, should of course be made with care,
else will most of the bones and interesting relics be destroyed, or
at any rate no satisfactory conclusion can be arrived at in regard
to the manner of burial, probable age, &c.

Although our digging at this time was hasty, and done a little
recklessly, I was fortunate in finding one grave, from which we
obtained several relics of interest ; the most curious being a tube,
the shape and general appearance of which is represented by
Fig. 3. This tube case, being covered with a dark earthy deposit,
we were led at first to think was made of clay, but upon closer
examination with a powerful magnifier, I am inclined to think
that it is of stone, steatite perhaps. Under the glass there is none
of that appearance of pounded shell or stone so generally
observed in all early fictile fabrics. The rings and marks made
by the boring tool are also plainly seen in all of them.

640 Were they Mound-Builders ? [ October,

Fic. 3.—One-half natural size.

This tube is four and a quarter inches long, the perforation has
at one end a diameter of one-quarter of an inch, gradually
enlarging until it reaches at the other end a diameter of three-
quarters of an inch.

Besides the tube, we found at this time a sea shell, somewhat
modified for a drinking vessel, its longest diameter being four
: inches, a beaver’s tooth, several
bone awls, three arrowheads, a
number of flint flakes, pieces of
a tortoise shell, some fragments
of deer horn implements, the
bone gouge, Fig. 4, and a large
wing bone of a bird.

A few days after this I again
visited the place with a couple
of workmen, and prepared to
give it a pretty thorough exam-
ination. I commenced digging
at the grave we had previously
found, and cleared off a space sev-
eral feet wide immediately below
it, so as to be able to determine
the manner of burial. I found
that there had been two bodies
buried in this grave, side by
side, in a sitting posture, facing
the east, a pit having been dug

ee j +} Al

1 T me

aboutt p
with flat stones previously to
the interment. This manner of
lining the grave I have not
Fic. 4.—Bone Gouge, full size. before seen, but all the graves
~ examined were of this kind. Large boulders and angular pieces

1879. | Were they Mound-Builders ? 641

of sand rock had, however, in some instances been rolled into
or on top of the grave, a pro-
tection, perhaps, against wild
beasts. The bones were very

much decayed, so that it was im-
\

possible tə save even the skulls. ANAT 2 /
In addition to the relics NYA DA C \

A

previously described I found }
another tube; it appears to be
of the same material as the one
already figured, but differs from
it in shape and length. It is
eight and one-half inches long
and one inch in diameter, hav-
ing a bore of five-eighths of an {Ñ
inch at one end and two-eighths A
of an inch at the other. It is §
smoothly made but has no pol-
ish at present, being covered

NWN

Yj

MY
hi WY”
iy

Md

LAJ

=
ct
-y
seb)
5
O
re)
a.
<
iz]
E
fasl
=
O.
5
Pom
ty on ` f,

lime and sand. With this tuke §
were found lying side by side, ©
three hornstone implements ;
they are respectively five and
one-half, six and one-quarter
and six and one-half inches long, (i
and about one-quarter of an inch

gml
thick in the center, beautifully \Q aR J

\
W VA AIA
chipped and of perfect propor- G
KAN
v

WN

ET TY
KORUAREN S
tions, the material approaching R dii ANY y
nearer to flint than any other A
Specimens found here, the con- ee l
choidal fracture being even and ae
perfect, and the edges semi-
transparent.

The mineral seems to have
been selected out of regard to
its beauty, the points of all of Fic. 5—Hornstone Implement, full size.
them being lighter colored than the rest of the implement. In
the largest one, Fig. 5, appears a small nucleus, around which

642 Were they Mound-Builders ? [ October,

the mineral formed in concentric circles, shading off from the
center to the circumference, and very much resembling some of
the hornstone disks made from the material at Flint Ridge, in
Ohio. The upper side of these implements was partially cov-
ered with the same kind of concrete which adhered to the
tube. I have endeavored to show this in the engraving.

Proceeding into the side hill about six feet I came to another
grave, the first indication of which was the red color of the sur-
rounding earth; the body was at the same depth as the last, and
the grave lined with stones in a like manner. Although the
bones were too badly decayed to judge with certainty, I believe
this to have been an extended burial, as the skull seemed to be
in place, and on the same level as the pelvic and leg bones. The
body had been buried with the head toward the west. The
first object found was a piece of “slaty graphite” about five inches
long, four inches broad and two inches thick, the surfaces of which
are deeply grooved and furrowed, apparently with sharp flint-flakes
or other stone tools. For what purpose these irregular grooves
had been made it is difficult to say; they resemble those in the
so-called sharpening stones, but as this material is soft it could
not have been used for such a purpose. I think it probable they
were made to obtain the powdered black lead for purposes of
decoration, or in the manufacture of a pigment of some kind.
This piece of ore and the ground for some distance around was
covered with a red earthy deposit several inches in thickness,
which had colored the earth and stones, as I first observed, as
well as the bones and contained relics. In none of the other
graves was so much of this red substance found, and none at all
in'some of them. Tt is without doubt red hematite, placed in the
grave for some purpose.

Imbedded in this red ore I found two tubes, similar to those
before described but longer, the perforation large at one end and
small at the other, and’the striz and drill marks, showing plainly
on the inside, indicate that the material is stone ; they were nearly
ten inches long and an inch in diameter. If the uses of these
tubes were known, we might be able to conjecture why two so
similar should have been buried in one grave.

Near the tubes, and also imbedded in the hematite, I found
what had apparently been a necklace or head-dress, composed of
= Copper and shell beads ; the former were badly oxydized, and had

1879. | Were they Mound-Builders ? 643

been made of thin sheets of copper rolled into tubes. That they
had been worn around the head or neck was evident, for one side
of the skull and the lower jaw-bone were stained a dark copper
color. Many of the shell beads were also stained by the copper;
those so colored retaining their original polish, being hard and
glassy, like ivory, while those not so stained were brittle, many
of them falling into a white laminated powder. The shell beads
were fifty-nine in number, ‘besides those that were too badly
decayed to handle, and were from half an inch to one and three-
quarter inches in length, and averaged about half an inch in
diameter. They were of that kind so fully described by the
early writers, made from the columellz of large sea shells and
rubbed and ground smooth with great labor, and afterwards drilled
through their longest diameter with greater labor still. They
were known by the names of “roancke,” “ peak” and “wampum,”
and were worn by the southern Indians as nose and ear jewels,
necklaces, etc. The drilling of these hard shells when iron tools
were unknown, must have required patience and industry, and we
may well look at them with wonder, and as evidences of the pos-
session of these virtues by their unknown makers. The drilling
had been done in most cases from each end, the holes meeting in
the center. In some of the shorter ones, however, the perfora-
tions were made from one end, being of uniform size throughout.
The spiral grooves where the whorls of the shell wound round
the hard central column, can be seen in all of them. In addition
to the beads and probably forming a central pendant to the neck-
lace, there was found an elk’s tooth. It is stained a beautiful
copper color and highly polished. !

On the same level as the last grave, and about six feet to the
west of it, I came to another, similar in all respects, lined with
flat stones. The body was apparently extended, with the head
toward the south; the bones were nearly all decomposed. The
relics found were the remains of a necklace of shell beads, little
copper tubes and small sea shells about half an inch long, with a
hole drilled in the large end. The only way that these latter can
be strung is with a “waxed end” tipped with a bristle, such as
shoemakers use. This follows the whorls of the shell, and it is
the only way, apparently, in which they can be utilized as beads.
Their makers may have had some other way, but I have not been
able to discover it.

644 Recent Literature. | October,

In addition to what has already been described, the workmen
found two graves further to the east and lower down on the hill-
side. The first contained merely a skull and a few large leg
bones, the interment being unlike the others. The skull rested
face down on the other bones, the ends of which had apparently
been gnawed by some carnivorous animal, the tooth marks being
plainly visible. From these circumstances I think the bones may
have been collected on the surface and buried as I found them.
The skull, although too much decayed to be taken out except in
small pieces, was fully twice as thick as the others, with the ridges
largely developed. The marked anatomical differences and the
burial, so unlike the others, there being no relics found, would
indicate that this man belonged to another people. At any rate
little respect seem to have been paid to his remains.

The second grave contained nothing but the moldering skele-
ton of an individual who had been buried facing the west.

A few days after this I made another examination of this place,
accompanied by a friend. At this time we found but one grave.
It was a short distance west of the others, and similar to those
already described, with the same lining of flat stones. The bones
were at a depth of four feet, that being the deepest grave of any
found. It was apparently an extended burial, the skull rested on
a stone a little above the level of the body and faced the west.
In this grave I found two shell beads and one hundred and
eighty-nine arrow-heads; the latter were all of one type, leaf-
shaped with truncated bases. They vary from one inch to two
inches in length ; the material is chert or hornstone; and they are
sharp and chisel-like at the base, with serrated edges and sharp
points. These one hundred and eighty-nine arrow-points to a
savage people meant far more than we are qualified to appreciate.
It was so much wealth, so much food-producing material ren-
dered unavailable. What a vivid picture this old grave and the
decaying bones of its occupant give us of the poverty of these
stone-age people.

——:0: ——
RECENT LITERATURE.

GEOLOGICAL Survey oF Inp1ANA.1— These reports embrace

oeaan of the geology of Wayne, Crawford and Harrison

Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Annual Reports of the Geological Survey of Indian
made during rae years 1876,'77,’78. By E. T. Cox, State Geologist, assisted ‘by
Prof. Joun CoLLETT and Dr. G. M. Leverrr. Indianapolis, 1879. 8v0, pp- 54"

1879. } Recent Literature. 645

counties, with a general survey of the geology of the State, and
special reports on the economic geology. Considerable space is
given to palzontology, Mr. S. A. Miller contributing a catalogue
of fossils found in the Hudson river, Utica slate and Trenton
groups, as exposed in the south-east part of Indiana, south-west
part of Ohio and the northern part of Kentucky; while Prof. J.
S. Newberry supplies a list of certain sub-carboniferous fishes,
with descriptions of several new species; among them teeth
much like those of the living rays, especially Myliobatis, the writer
expressing “little doubt that they represent the oldest and most
gigantic members yet known of the ray family.” A good deal
of space is devoted to the archeology of the State, but the chief
interest of the report lies in the full account of the famous Wy-
andotte cave, illustrated by alarge map. The geology and topog-
raphy of the cavern, with adjoining caves, is given in detail, and
for the first time we have mapped out one of the largest and most
beautiful grottoes in the world. On one of the maps illustrating
the reports is laid down the position of the numerous caves
occurring in the subcarboniferous limestone called the St. Louis
or cavernous limestone. Appended are Prof. Cope’s observations
on Wyandotte cave and its fauna, revised for this report.

Hyartt’s Common Hynprorps, CORALS AND EcHINODERMS.!—This
is the fifth brochure of the series of Guides for teachers of sci-
ence in schools. It is intended to supply such information as
they need in teaching and are not likely to get from other
sources. The style is clear and attractive, and the illustrations
fresh and good enough for the purpose, and some of them drawn
by Mr. Van Vleck for the book. In this connection we may
draw attention to what was done the past winter by the Boston
Society of Natural History, through its custodian, Prof. Hyatt.
t was found in October that the assistance of the society was

was resolved to institute appropriate courses of lessons for the
teachers, if the means of paying expenses could raised by
donations. The necessary funds were secured by two ladies who
are members of the society, which may congratulate itself upon
such evidence of the activity and usefulness of this new class of
its members. Fortunately for their success, these ladies met with
appreciation from Mrs. Augustus Hemenway, without whose
assurances of support and interest the society would not have
dared to begin these courses at an estimated cost of three thou-
sand dollars. Many of the schools contributed, in varying sums,
to the amount of seven hundred and twenty-six dollars. The

1! Boston Society of Natural History. Guites for Science Teaching. No. v, Com-
mon Hydroids, Corals and Echinoderms. By ALeneus Hyatt. Boston, Ginn &
Heath, 1879. 12mo, pp- 32. ; ;

646 Recent Literature. [ October,

rest of the subscription was made up by ladies, many of whom
have been long known as patrons of similar undertakings or
interested in public education

otwithstanding this generous assistance, it would not have
been possible to carry on the several courses without the friendly
aid of other institutions and individuals. The Institute of Tech-
nology very generously placed Huntington hall at the service of
the society, upon the payment of a mere nominal sum for the

Zoology gave hundreds of duplicate specimens ; ; and severa
oe and dey ban of the eA and institute gave material
assistance. The er House and Young's Hotel gave freely
such te of a ie as were ilécited to illustrate one lecture. All
the teachers attending these lectures have. been sayin: with
sets of specimens, amounting sometimes to ten or more, which
they have studied under the direction of the Jecturer, nad taken
away with them to use subsequently in their own instruction. In
this way about one hundred thousand specimens have been dis-
tributed, and it is known that they have already materially assisted
many teachers. Since this sort of lecturing was first inst tituted
in the fall of 1871, under the patronage of Mr. John Cummings,
there have been studied and distributed to teachers of the public
schools about seventy-five thousand specimens of minerals, rocks,
plants and animals. The applications for tickets rose during these
years from fifty-five to one hundred and sixty-six, and during the
present course to six hundred and sixteen, with an average attend-
ance of about five hundred.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.—Oversigt öfer de af sven-ka Expeditionerna
till neh Semlja pon es 1875 och 1876 A Hafs-Mollusker. Af Wil-
hełm Leche. 4to, pp. 86, pl. 2. (Extr. Kongl. Suenck, Veten-Akad. Handl.,
Bandet 16, No. 2.) Stockholm, 1878. From the author

ber die Entwickelung des Unterarms und Unterschenchels bei ai Von
Wilhelm Leche. 8vo, pp. 16, 1 pl. (Ex oe Bihang till aea Sve Acad.
Handlingar, Bd. 5, No. 15.) Stockholm, From uthor.
ojo hy Medical Herald. 8vo, Vol. 1, No. 3, July, 1879. pee Ky. From
the e

The A s Monthly, Vol. xxi, No. 247, July, 1879. Phila, From the editor.

The Sanitarian, Vol. vit, No. LXXV, June, 1879. New York. pie m mei rigs:

The Odlogist, Vol. tv, No. 10, May, 1879. Utica, N. Y. From
bia edie and Surgical Reporter, Vol. xL, No. 26, June 28, aig pares

ia, 1879

Journal of the Cincinnati Society of f dey History, Vol 1, No. 4. 8vo, pP-

po . Cincinnati, 1879. From the
The Journal of the eee rare Ni cvit, No. 642, June, 1879. Phila-
delphia. From the In ;

The Meteorologist, Vol., 1, No. 5, July, 1879. Greensburg, Pa. From the editor.

evetia iccotli and its glucoside. By David Cerna, M.D. 8vo, pp. 6. Phila-
delphis, Pa., 1879. From the author

Estudio del Terremoto del 17 de Mayo de 1879. Por Mariano Barcena. 12m0,

pp. 8. “Mexico, 1879. From the author.

1879. | Botany. 647

yma a of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1879, pp.
137-1§2.

From is society.
On the Old R OSEAS of. Western Europe. By Arcia Geikie, LL.D.,
F.R.S., etc. Teg O, pp. IV—345-4 saphi (Extr. ‘Trans. Roy. Soe . Edit.

burgh.) Edinburgh, 4878. From the author
Monograph of the Fossil Reptilia of the ‘Wealden and Purbeck Formations.
Tee No. eh agg SP PE KONE SERPEN yned
P

suchus and Nuthetes). By C.B ARS 4t
(alontographia cate y P ea Wa "From the author.

escription of ie octet indications of a huge kind of nee ca REF
CPnanosuchus fer d from Beaufort, West Goug gh Tract, Cape of Good
By Pr en, CB., FRS, pots 8vo, pp. 189-199, pli (Ext: Aol Sour: Geol,
Soc. ea ) From the author

he Fossils called “ Granicones ” being a contribution to the Histology

of the Exe aktoa in “ Reptilia.” By Prof. Owen, C.B., F.R.S., F.R.M.S. . 8v6,
Pp. 733-230, pls. 2. (Exit. koik Trans. Roy. Mic. Soc., Vol. E, 1878.) From the

uthor,
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Annual Reports of the Peren Survey of Indiana,
ring ibe weet 1876, 77, ’78. By E. T. Cox, State Geologist, panes by
Jone Collet r. G. M. Levette. 8vo, pp. 541, with four maps. Indian
anes 1879. vite ae State geologist

arira pa Verein z datureieskuichalfitiche moria zu Hamburg,
1876. Band. III, pp. 277, pls. Hamburg, 1878. Fro ety.

Pr receptia of tè „Royal BRERA Sosio and Monthly PS of Geogra-
phy, Vol. 8vo, Nos. § and 6, May and June, 1879. London. From the Deaky.

sidicdina de la Société g Anthropolog de Paris Tome tere (tlle Série). 8vo,
Paris, 1878. G. M m the society.

Verhandlungen au Kerichen BUAR Zoologisch-botanischen Ton
in Wien, Bd, xxviii. 8vo, pp. 694, pls, 10, for 1878. Vienna, 1879. From the
society.

Parasites; a tiene on the Entozoa of Man and Pee: including some account
of the Ectoz By T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D.. F.R.S., etc. 8vo, pp. 508. Lon
ap J- 53 A. “Churchill, 1879. From the author.

of cede sag ee arp eee: guv notes on rg Fp etc. By
Richard i Ra t , Assistant of the U. 5. Fish Commiss (Fr e Trans. of
the Coshenicnt® jo d. of Arts r poe Vol. v, 1878.) 8vo.

The North lot dete Entomologist, Vol. 1, No. 23. Editor, A. k P ke Buffalo.
te pe 8, 1 plate

af Ohikaakbitbe: Eine ethnologische Studie. Von Dr. Gustav Brühl. New

vor, 1878. vo, pp. I
e Morphology of the Vertebrate Olfactory Orgs: By A. Milnes Marshall.
(Reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.) Svo, pp. 43, 2

ae Canadian Entomologist, x1, No. 7, July, ple er pp. 4.

The Mollusca al the Fiords near Bergen, Norwa y the Rev’ A. M. Norm
M. A. (Ext. from the Journal of SETERS for "Sanam. February and Mans,
1879.) 8vo, pp. an

O
GENERAL NOTES.
BOTANY.

Precocious FLOWERING OF THE CITRUS POMONA.—On Decem-
ber 14, 1877, I sowed, at my place at Santa Fe lake, Florida, 289
seeds of the grape-fruit (Citrus pomona). This tree appears to be
Closely related to the shaddock (C. decumana), but the fruit is
much smaller, being only a quarter to a third larger than a acid)

648 General Notes. | October,

sized orange; the bitter rind is smooth and of a dirty pale yel-
low. The seeds were slow in germinating, not appearing above
ground for about eight weeks. When scarcely two inches high
a blossom appeared at the top of one of the little seedlings. The
flower, of fair size, was perfect in every respect, even to having
the rich odor similar to that of the orange blossom, and was fully
expanded on April 16, 1878, or when the little tree was only
about two months old. I watched anxiously for the forming of
the fruit, but this seems to have been too much to expect, for the
flower fell away without exhibiting any evidence of having been
fertilized. This progressive individual was, in other respects, not
different from its fellow seedlings, nor did it seem to be injured
by its premature efforts to produce its kind.

I have already sent the Naruracist (see Vol. x1, p.. 489,
August, 1877) some notes ona similar precocity in the orange
(C. aurantium), and now add an instance of this curious feature
in another species of the same genus.—Heury Gillman, Detroit,
Michigan.

Bees GATHERING HONEY FROM THE CaTALpA.—At a recent
meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences I called
attention to the fact that there existed large patches of nectarifer-
ous glands on the under side of the leaves, in the axils of the
veins, of Catalpa bignonoides. Up to the present time the proof
that the glands in question were nectariferous, rested only on the
evidence of the taste of the secreted fluid and the presence of ants
of both red and black species, apparently feasting upon the nec-
tar. Since then I have found the common honey-bee gathering
the nectar from the foliar glands with as much industry as from
the flowers, the latter of which at the time the observation was
made having fallen, so that there was positive evidence that the
glands alone attracted the bees. Furthermore, the bees were seen
to introduce their tongues into the axils of the leaves where the
secretion was present in a visible quantity on the gland, and lap it
up as when getting the nectar from flowers. The bees engaged
at this work carried no pollen at the time, and were apparently
devoted to getting the honey only.

These observations place the question of the saccharine nature
of the secretion beyond any doubt, and make it probable that the

a is valuable as a honey plant, and deserves a place in
lawns, parks and pleasure grounds, on account not only of its
beauty, but also from its economic value to the bee culturist.—
Fohn A, Ryder.

Tue FERTILIZATION OF THE WistartA.—In front of my study
windows grows.a beautiful American Wistaria; the great purple
racemes hanging in the open window fill the room with their
delicate perfume. During the day the blossoms are usually vis-
ited by two or three brilliant little humming-birds, and by many

1879. j Botany. 649

flies and bees, all attracted by the color, fragrance and nectar of
the flowers. I have been interested in noticing the manner in
which the insects, particularly the large humble bees, aided in
securing the cross-fertilization of the blossoms.
_ As is well known the Wistaria bears papilionaceous flowers,
like the pea, bean, etc., the wings of which clasp the closely
appressed and somewhat coherent petals forming the keel, the lat-
ter inclosing the stamens and pistils. In the newly expanded
flower, which has not been visited by insects, the stamens and
pistils cannot be seen without parting the petals forming the keel;
we then find the stamens united throughout the greater portion
of their length, and then, together with the pistil, bent upwards
at nearly a right angle; the reason of this abrupt bend will be
seen farther on. |
hen a bee alights on the blossom it clings to the petals form-
ing the wings, and thrusts its proboscis upwards under the base of
the banner where the nectar is secreted ; in doing this the weight
of the insect presses down the wings and keel of the blossom
and forces upwards the stamens and pistils and presses their
extremities with considerable force against the thorax and abdo-
men of the bee. In this manner the insect becomes dusted with
pollen from many flowers, some of which cannot fail to find its
way to the sticky stigma which is ripe to receive it. When the
bee has secured the sweets that it loves, and departs, the petals
usually resume their former position with the stamens and pistils
concealed. It is interesting to watch the workings of this curious
plan for securing cross-fertilization in the Wistaria, as this plant,
from the structure of its blossoms, seems to offer great obstacles
to its accomplishment.—/srac/ C. Russell, Plainfield, N. F.

HUMBLE BEES AND THE GERARDIA FLAVA.—Some years ago I
sent a note to the NaTurAList Stating how the humble bees per-
forated the corolla of Gerardia pedicularia. 1 have, within a few
days, noticed that they acfin-the same way, to a less degree, with
Gerardia flava when growing in quantity. I came upon an unu-
sually fine lot of this in Providence on the 3d of August, a very
hot day. The bees were numerous, and in many cases directed
their flight at once to the holes made by previous visitors on the
upper sides of the corollas, near the base. Some flowers, how-
ever, were approached in the usual way. It is said that this bur-
glarious proceeding is only noticed in the case of such plants as-

loom profusely. The consequence might be in time a perceptible
diminution of individuals, when, owing to less competition, the
insects would act in a legitimate way, that is, approaching by the
open tube.— W. W. Bailey, Providence, R. I.

Prunus pumMiILa.—Growing on the sand ridges by the shore of
Lake Michigan, at Pine and Millers, Indiana, are very large
Plants of this species. Most authorities state that the stems are

650 General Notes. [ October,

from six inches to two feet high, and trailing, a description that
accords very well with the character of the plant where I have
seen it away from the shore of the lake. On receding from the
lake the size diminishes, and one does not have to go far to find
the typical form. But here, stems four or five feet long and half
an inch or more in diameter, are common; some attain the length
of seven feet. Two that were measured had a girth, near the
ground, of four and a half inches and five and a quarter inches,
respectively. This gives a diameter of 1.43 and 1.67 inches.
The stems trail but little, several spreading from the same root,
much as in the common juniper, but of a more erect habit. They
are decumbent, ascending or sub-erect. The fruit, when ripe, is
about the size and color of the Morello cherry, and but slightly
ovoid in form. In remarkable contrast with this sand cherry is
the necklace poplar (Populus monilifera Ait.), generally a good-
sized tree, fruiting abundantly in the same situation at the height
of from five to ten feet. The conditions that favor the growth of
the cherry, dwarf the poplar, and the former has the advantage in
the struggle for existence on the sand dunes of the lake shore.—
E. F. Hill, Englewood, Il.

BotanicaL News.—To the New Italian Botanical Fournal for
July, F. von Müller contributes an article on the systematic post-
tion of the genus Donatia. L. Mecchiati records certain experi-
ments on the emission of carbonic acid from the roots of plants.
Liibken and Warming’s Danish Yournal of Popular Science,
third number, contains a well-illustrated article on Schwendener’s |
lichen theory. In Trimen’s London Yournal of Botany for

ul

,

new species are described.
August, among other notes, prints one on Salix balsamifera, by
M. S. Bebb; while J. M. Coulter contributes notes on parallel
chorisis in the petals of Campanula media; on a 4-merous Lilu
philadelphicum, and on two-parted cotyledons in Eschscholtzia.

ge
evenly, covering them with wet moss, and on the top spread
another sheet of paper. In this bed the plants should remain over
night. The next morning the plants should be potted and kept
out of direct sunlight for a few days. The plants should be
watered very sparingly with camphor water. The Tenth An-
nual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana contains a cata-

18709. | Zoology. 651

logue and check list of the trees and woody shrubs of America,
north of Mexico, by John W. Byrkit. It occupies fifteen pages
of the report. Mrs. Haines also contributes a list of the ferns,
mosses, hepaticze and lichens o ayne county, Indiana.
Grevillea for March and June contains an article by Dr. M. C.
Cooke, strongly opposing the “ dual lichen hypothesis,” proposed
by Schwendener. The death of the following botanists has
recently been announced: Elisabetha, Contessa Fiorini-Mazzanti,
author of many papers on Algæ, etc.; of Thilo Irmisch, well
known for his memoirs on the morphology of Phanerogams; of
E. Spach, a voluminous author of systematic works and papers;
of Prof. Karl Koch, of Berlin, best known as a horticultural bot-
anist, as was David Moore, the well-known director of the Glas-
nevin Botanic Gardens, Dublin, who died June goth at the age of
seventy-two years; Tilbury Fox, M.D., who had given attention
to the part played by minute fungi in producing skin and hair
diseases, died at Paris, June 7th. We may add to the list Wm.
Schimper, who, according to Gray, was the schoolmate of Agassiz,
and one of the first investigators of phyllotaxy; he spent most of
his life in Abyssinia.

ZOOLOGY. !

Tue SpapeE-Foot Toan 1x New Haven, Conn.—For more than
two years I have been looking for the “ spade-foot”’ (Scaphiopus
holbrookit) in and about New Haven, confident that it occurred
here and that careful search would reveal it; but my efforts have
been vain until very lately. Thursday, April 24th, I saw some
_ children gathered around an object on the pavement of Prospect
Street, and I asked them what they had. They replied that they
had dug up a toad in the next yard. You can imagine my sur-
prise and delight to behold a real live “spade-foot,” the first I

ad ever seen alive. They willingly gave it to me, and I carefully
took it home with me and kept it alive in a large box with plenty
of earth and a tub of water.

Tuesday morning (the 29th) I was shooting small birds near
Fair Haven, when I heard a most peculiar bellowing from a pond
near by. I am more or less familiar with all the ordinary sounds
that come from a pond, and I jumped at the conclusion that I
heard the “ spade-foot.” On reaching the pond I saw a sight I

ceding days, and swimming all over the surface, and at times
uttering their peculiar bellow, were forty or fifty of my long-
Sought friends. They would float or swim awkwardly along
until they wished to favor me with a song, and then the accommo-
dating soloist would suddenly assume a perpendicular position as
if a plummet had been attached to his tail, his head alone show-
_ ‘The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
Cours, U. S: A '
VOL, XNL—NO. X. 44

.

652 General Notes. [ October,

ing above the water, his white throat dilated till it was three
times the size of the head, his mouth closed tight, he would sing
his brief song and reassume his horizontal position. The pond
was quite deep in the middle, but I secured some specimens
to prove my statements on my return home.

When I passed the pond again in the afternoen the same pro-
gramme was being carried out, but I could secure no more speci-
mens. On my return home I put my toad with the one I found
Thursday, and in a few moments the male (the last caught) had
clasped the female very tightly and I was expecting to raise some
tadpoles, but they buried themselves in the earth the next day
without laying any eggs.

In the afternoon of Tuesday a friend of mine, Mr. W. H. Fox,
found the Scaphiopus in a pond out on Prospect street, and
secured quite a number of specimens together with some spawn
which he thinks belongs to this toad.

The next day (Wednesday, April 30th) I visited my pond
again with net and pails, but the birds had flown without leaving
a sign. Nota toad was to be seen or heard, and no spawn but
frog spawn could be found ; but they may have dropped it in the
deeper water in the middle of the pond, out of my reach and sight.
Mr. Fox visited his pond also Wednesday, but could not find a
toad except the common one (Bufo americanus).

When I brought my first specimen home she buried herself in
the earth, but when I returned from Fair Haven she was swim-
ming around in her tub of water like the rest of them, and when
I put the male in they stayed in the water together. Wednesday
morning when the toads in the two ponds had disappeared, my
pair had also buried themselves again in the earth in their box.
So I think I can judge of the movements of the free toads by
watching the movements of my captives—Fred. Sumner Smith.

THE SHEDDING OF THE TRACHEZ AND DousLE Cocoons.—lt IS
a physiological rule in insect growth that the lining of the tra-
chez, and of such other parts as are more or less subject to the
action of the air, is shed with the external skin. This is the case
even with those ramifications of the tracheze where the lining 15
not so fine as to be absorbed. I was somewhat surprised, there-
fore, to find Mr. Edward Potts, in a late number of the NATU-
RALIST, recording the fact as something interesting and new.

The same remarks apply to his observations about finding two
chrysalids in a single cocoon of Bombyx mori. These so-calle
double cocoons are of very common occurrence, mentioned cen-
turies since in works on silk culture, and noticed by every On¢
who has had much to do with the rearing of silkworms.—C. V.
Riley,
RELATIONS OF THE CTENOPHORA TO TRE JELLY FisHES.—

_ Heckel has recently published a paper in the Jena Zeitschrift, m

= which he describes and figures Clenaria ctenophora, a medusa ©

Pay,
1379. | Zoology. 653

the family C/adonemide, which has an oval body with two long
ciliated tentacles, causing it to strangely resemble the Ctenophore
Cydippe or Pleurobrachia. ‘ Ctenaria inhabits the Pacific ocean,
and is regarded by Heckel as an immediate transitional form
from Gemmaria-like Anthomeduse to Cydippe-like Ctenophora.
A full description and drawings will be published in a work soon
to appear entitled “ System der Medusen,” to be illustrated with
forty plates. He considers that the Ctenophora have originated
from the order of Anthomeduse and family Cladonenide, an
adds a table showing the homologies between the Ctenophores
and the Craspedote Acalephs. ©

many of them, and its nature, sometimes quite transparent, some-
times more or less blue, were in keeping with this kind of life.
Exceptions to the rule, however, are now known to occur, In
1875, when the broken Atlantic cable was being recovered, living
polype-like creatures were brought up from a depth of 1780
fathoms. Dr. W. Siemens presented them to the Zodlogical
Museum in Berlin. More recently Prof. Studer, on board the
German ship Gasel/e, obtained several specimens, complete and
fragmentary, from the deep water, and was able to examine some
of the animals while still alive. Twenty-four such cases he |
records. The depth of sounding line at which these siphon-
ophora were attached were more than 300 fathoms; eleven were
(ele)

d comparatively small

water, else it will be in danger of bursting. This, indeed, seems
to have occurred with Siemens’ Bathyphysa.—Anglish Mechanic.

654 General Notes. [ October,

CAPTURE OF A SAw-FISH.—When riding on the beach at Gal-
veston, Texas, on the Ist of April last, I noticed some Mexican
fishermen drawing a seine to shore to which was attached a large
saw-fish (Pristis antiquorum). The animal was not enclosed
within the net, but some of the meshes had become engaged
with the teeth of the saw, and by this attachment it was drawn
several hundred feet towards the shore, the large dorsal fin alone
showing above the water suggesting that a shark was entangled
in the net, but if a shark it must have been a dead one, for not
the least effort at resistance was made, nor even signs of life, for
the object drifted in as lifeless as a log till it touched the bottom;
then indeed it made a few spasmodic efforts showing terrific
power, in which the head and saw were thrown high into the air
and swung around ina fearful way, while the tail was lashed
about, showing that a bullock could not have withstood the
blows.

This demonstration did not last five seconds, but it had brought
the monster considerably nearer the shore and into about one foot
of water where she lay perfectly quiet. The Mexicans then
cautiously approached and slipped a noose over the tail, which
was very broad, though the body just above it was but afew
inches in diameter. When an attempt was made to pull her to
shore, she made one more effort though but for an instant, when
she quickly resigned herself to her fate. After she was nearly
clear of the water eight men could not pull her more than one
foot at a time, but she was finally landed well up on the beach. I
did not venture near enough to measure her, but judged her body
was eleven feet and her saw four feet long. At the shoulders I
judged she was eighteen inches broad; thence it gradually
tapered to the tail. ;

The extraordinary feature was the immobility of the animal
under the circumstances; she was drawn in several hundred feet
by a twine not larger than a knitting-needle, and she suffered her-
self to be dragged through the sand, tail foremost, without the
least effort at resistance, or the least motion to show that she was
suffering. I would like to know if this is usual with this fish
when captured ? ;

I learned that three well-grown foetal saw-fish were found in
her.— 7. D. Caton. ;

INTELLIGENCE IN CAnTHON.—The observation of Mr. Powell je
your May number (page 124) on earth-worms reminded me ©
a similar display of reason in a Canthon volvens, which I think 1S
worthy to be noted. One summer day I took a walk in r
woods and met a beetle of the above kind singly pushing forwar
its ball in a straight direction, when it arrived at a certain pom
there was a slight declivity and the ball rolled sideways down
about a yard ; the beetle followed, and reaching the ball mounted

= and looked around. Then it descended and went to work again, : a

1879. | Zoblogy. 655

moving the ball at a large angle to a point about one and a half
yards forward of the point, where it deviated and then proceeded
in the original direction to a heap of dry leaves ; it stopped push-
ing, entered the heap and commenced to pull the ball in. Evi-
dently the beetle mounted the ball as a lookout for the right way.
I was astonished, and if told should hardly have believed it, but
I saw it— Fred. Brendel, Peoria, Ll.

THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE.—A schooner load of bones of
this species, gathered in Scammon’s Lagoon, Lower California,

fertilizers. Having examined a large number of the bones I can
complete the characters of the genus KAachianectes, which have
been but imperfectly known. The cervical vertebræ are all dis-
tinct, and the second and third at least enclose a vertebral canal.
A first rib (the only one not broken up) has two heads; two
other short ribs, perhaps first and second, are united distally into
a broad sheet of bone. It is uncertain how far the union of these
ribs is constant. The scapula has both coracoid and acromion.
The orbital process of the frontal is of medium width, somewhat
as in some species of Megaptera.—E. D. Cope.

ford, presents the following dental formula: 1.3; C.4; Erem. $;
M. 3 e animal is young, as the exterior: cusps only of the
second superior tuberculars protrude through the gum. There
is no internal tubercle of the inferior sectorial. The first superior
premolar is a rudimental cusp; the second is very small, while
the third is subtransverse in position. The dog is said not to be
of pure race, which, perhaps, accounts for the presence of an addi-
tional premolar i in each j jaw. There are still one less below than
in Canis, and will probably be early shed.

A second specimen, in possession of Mrs. Sargent, has the
typical dentition : I. 3; C}; Prem. 3; M. a It is also

lar only is exposed. Curiously enough there is an inner tubercle
of the inferior sectorial. This dog came from Yokohama, and is
said to be pure. Its age is said to be three years and three
months ; ; it has been in possession of Mrs. Sargent two years.

e third specimen is of ae size, and is said to be ten years
old. rts dental formula is I. 2; C. 4; Pre-m. }; M. }; no inner
tubercle of inferior sectorial. The last true molar above has been
shed, but the alveolus remains; this and the loss of the inferior
incisors are characters plainly due to o age.

The above examples all maintain the characters of the genus

656 General Notes. [ October,

Dysodus. The hair of this species is rather long and is not
curled, and is neither very coarse nor fine. Ears pendant. The
colors in the three specimens are black and white, the former
predominating in one, the latter in another.

The extra copies of the paper in which this species was de-
scribed were issued during my absence from home, so that their
date of publication was unfortunately omitted; this is August
23, 1879.—£. D. Cope,

ZooLoGcicaAL News.— The Rural Press, August 2d, contains de- ,
scriptions read before the Californian Academy of Sciences. It is
unfortunate that these descriptions should appear in this hetero-
dox manner, and we would urge the author to send his descrip-
tions to some recognized scientific publication, where they ma
meet the notice of ichthyologists. The new forms are Glyptoceph-
alus zachiras, Chitonotus megacephalus and Caulolatilus princeps,
all from the Pacific coast. A zoological station has been estab-
lished in Scotland at Cowie, near Stonehaven, the work to be
carried on under the direction of Mr. G. J. Romanes, in connection
with Aberdeen University——Dr. J. F. Brandt, the veteran Rus-
sian naturalist of St. Petersburg, died August 7th, aged 77. es
left valuable manuscripts which will be published —Prof. All-
man’s address as president of the British Association, began at
Sheffield, August 20th, was on protoplasm. Cobbold’s Para-
sites: a treatise on the Entozoa of man and animals, will prove
useful to: students and medical men.——A reply to Principal
Dawson’s criticism of Moebius’ work on Eozoön by Meebius him-
self appears in the American Yournal of Science for September.
Lubbock’s scientific lectures just published by Macmillan &
Co., will interest zoological students. Mr. Moseley’s Croonian
lecture for 1878 was on the Stylasteride, a family of Hydroid
stony corals.

ANTHROPOLOGY .!

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The second number of Revue d'An-
thropologie for 1879 contains several papers of great importance.
The first one is that by M. Florentino Ameghino upon pre-historic
man in La Plata. The article is based upen an anthropological
exhibit ir the late Paris Exposition from the Argentine Republic.
The author prefaces his discussion of the antiquity of man in La
Plata with a chapter upon the American Aborigines, their antiquity
and origin, in which he has brought together with rare diligence,
from many literary sources, theories and statements concerning his
subject. While many of these unproved opinions are stated only to
be repudiated, others are retained and used as the bases of argu-
ments which have no value whatever. The following story will
suffice as an example: The Scandinavians were preceded by the

Irish. An Irishman named Ari was driven by a tempest to
ee 1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

1879. | Anthropology. 657

Huitramanaland, or later, in 999, he was seen by Biorn Asbrand-
son, a person who figures in the history of Scandinavia. And

from Washington, the burial place of Syasi, a woman that an
ancient Irish manuscript, anterior to the year 1057, speaks of as
having been killed by the Skrellings (Esquimaux) in an expedi-
tion to Huitramanaland. The grave was indicated by the follow-
äng inscription: “ Here rests Syasi, the blonde, from the eastern
Island, widow of Kjoldr, sister of Thorgr by his father, aged 25
years. God be gracious to her. 1051.

It would be exceedingly unfair to judge of M. Ameghino’s
second and third chapters by the first, though the strong tendency
is to believe that if he is so unreliable with reference to those

ground unfamiliar to us. In fact, M. Ameghino is at home in
La Plata, and speaks ex cathedra, while in the former chapter he
quotes from others. The following is the author’s classification
of the archeological epochs:

Geological epochs. | Geological periods. neo me Sub-periods.

Mesolithic | Mesolithic times

{ ‘Neolithic Modern ‘ond ancient times
Ea of the great lakes

Post-pampean
Post-tertiary
Modern pampean times
Ancient pampean times

| Pampean Paleolithic

worthless stories in the first we of the communication, the
author’s researches are to be highly commended
€ paper on the ancient inhabitants of the Canaries, by Dr.
Verneau, and that on the series of the crania of assassins deserve
careful stud
he able reviews by the most distinguished anthropologists of
France, the miscellaneous notes and the bibliography. make the
Revue a’ Anthropologie an indispensable auxiliary to the student of
our favorite science
The American Antijuatias has reached its fourth number atid
completed its ñrst year. The contents of the present number =
as follows: The emblematical mounds of Wisconsin, by J.
Hart, M.D.; Shell beds of Clatsop beach, by H. B. Clarke ; A
comparison ‘between the the archeology of Europe and America,
by the editor; The Utes of Colorado, by N. C. Meeker; Early
Indian migrations in tte by C. C. Baldwin; An exhibition of
Indian character, by W. L. Coffinbury; The discourse of Dr.
Broca at the opening of the. International Congress of aoe
pological Science in connection with the Universal Expositi
Paris, August 16, 1878; Indian music, by Rev. M. Eells; a

658 General Notes, [ October,

historic manufacturing village in the Miami valley, by I. H. Benk-
ley. The usual amount of current notes closes the volume.

The editor, in his letter to contributors, says that in the edito-
rial department the Azt:qguarian has succeeded beyond his expec-
tations. Of course magazines cannot be run without money, and in
this regard the friends of anthropology must stand by the magazine.

The editor of these notes in the NATURALIST, under the kind

_a dictionary of North American Indians. For the purpose of
encouraging the former the Smithsonian Institution has issued a
pamphlet of directions to observers, which can be obtained in any
number by writing to the Smithsonian Institution. The work on
the latter, or the dictionary of tribes, has reached the astounding
number of ten thousand names. Of course there were never
that many tribes in North America, but some tribes have
nearly a hundred names. These names are of two kinds, auto-
nyms and heteronyms. The former may be tribal or con-
sanguineous, the latter may be Indian or Aryan, and either may
be contemptuous or descriptive. The Aryan names have the
further embarrassment of being written in English, French, Span-
ish and Dutch, and not always on the same phonetic system at
that. Such papers as that of Mr. C. C. Baldwin in the Antiqua-
rian, are of incalculable value to the summarist, and we take this
method of expressing our thanks and calling for more.

Mr. . Barber, in charge of the archzological department,
Permanent Exhibition, Philadelphia, has gone to work in earnest
to make his portion of the exhibition a success, It is the inten-
tion of the Council to establish a permanent loan exhibition of
prehistoric relics; by which is meant that the exhibition and not
the loan is to permanent. Every guarantee of safe return of
specimens is promised, and the exhibition will, no doubt, be suc-
cessful.

The Appletons have brought out in good style, Hackel’s Evo-
lution of Man, a review of which by Mr. Lester F. Ward was
noticed in the July number of the Naturaisr. It is impossible
in a short notice to review a work of such magnitude. No doubt
it is a most exhaustive treatise on the biolegy of the human
race, and the scientific reputation of the author must give it a
wide circulation. The author’s opinion “that a really scientific
study of nature can no more dispense with philosophic reflection
than can healthy philosophy ignore the results of natural scien-
tific experience,” leads him to apply his theory to all phenomena,
material and spiritual. Furthermore, the political influence 0
the clergy in Germany has brought them into sharp conflict with
men of science and politicians. The work of Prof. Haeckel is
filled with bitter invective, which is little appreciated in a land o

free thought, free speech and free religion.

1879. | Geology and Paleontology. 659

Nn
°
3
om
om
wn
ot
Wn
=
n
w
O
a
un
=I
T
©
"t
7)
ay
zA
(e;
5
n
3
va
0
e
53
va
=
a
oo
ON
oO
F
<
S
D

Latham; Notes on folk tales, by W. R. S. Ralston; The
folk lore of France, by A. Lang; Some Japan folk tales, by C.
Pfoundes; A folk tale and various superstitions of the Hidatsa
Indians, by E. B. Tylor; Chaucer’s night spell, by William
J oms; Plant lore notes to Mrs. Latham’s West Sussex
superstitions, by James Britten; Yorkshire local rhymes and say-
ings; Divination by the blade-bone, by William J. Thoms ; Index
to the folk lore in the first series of Hardwick’s Science Gossip,
by James Britten; Some Italian folk lore, by Henry Charles
Coote; Wart and wen cures, by James Hardy; Fairies at Ilkley
Wells, by Charles G. Smith; Notes; Queries; Notices and News.

ur readers will be pleased to hear that Maj. Powell, Col. Gar-
rick Mallery and Mrs. A. R. Marvine are rummaging the entire
literature of North American Aborigines with a view to publish-
ing an exhaustive work on American Indian mythology.

The February number of Materiaux pour l Histoire de l Homme
contains a very good résumé of the meeting of German anthro-
pologists in 1878. The rest of the number is occupied with local
European archeology.

In No. 5 of Correspondenz-Blatt Prof. Stieda reviews a work
entitled Materialen zur Vorgeschichte des Menschen im östlichen
Europa. Nach polnischen und russischen Quellen, bearbeitet und
herausgegeben, von Albin Kohn und Dr. C. Mehlis. Jena, Cos-
tenoble, 1879.

GEOLOGY AND PALASONTOLOGY.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRILOBITES.—The Utica Slate and related
formations. Fossils of the Utica Slate and metamorphoses of Tri-

660 General Notes. [ October,

plete ; thorax distinct, incomplete ; pygidium distinct, incomplete.
4th. Head and thorax complete ; pygidium distinct, incomplete.
With regard to 7riarthrus our author says: “ We find Triar-
thrus becki placed doubtfully at the end of the third order on the
description given by Prof. Hall. We cannot remove it from that
position, as the youngest stage we have shows one segment in the
thorax, but from the changes that occur in its development we
cannot avoid the conclusion that with more complete material it
will be removed to the second order, as the smallest individual is
one millimetre in length, and the head and pygidium are strongly
lobed and well developed.” Two beautiful plates illustrate the
new species and the various stages of the trilobite—F. S. K.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

AFRICAN ExpLoratTion.—The Portuguese are about sending out
another expedition, under Capt. Paiva d’Andrada. This party
is to continue the exploration of the Zambesi river, and to form
commercial and agricultural colonies in the neighborhood of Tete
and the abandoned station of Zumba, which was once the fur-
thest point occupied by the Portuguese on the river.

The party sent out from Livingstonia in August, 1878, to
explore the western shore of lake Nyassa, after reaching Kuta

ay, as mentioned in the NATURALIST for June, 1879, returned
home, part of the way by another route, reaching Livingstonia
on November oth. Another attempt is soon to be made by the
missionaries to obtain a better site for their station than the pres-
ent one. They hope to find it between the Nyassa and the Tan-
ganyika.

The East African Expedition of the R. G. S., under Mr. Keith
Johnston, left the coast for the interior on the 19th of May. The
natives in his employ numbered 138. He communicated to the
society the route which he intended to take,? and upon which he
was to proceed south-westwardly from Dar-es-Salaam, and would
be likely to obtain abundant supplies of food. He had previously
made a short trip to Usambara. “This journey,” he remarks, “fur-
nishes an excellent specimen of the sort of traveling we shall have,
and took us through a country which may be taken as an epitome
of all Africa. There was a little bit of arid, level, uninhabited
desert, a bit of undulating, cultivated and populous country, and
beyond that a tract of mountain forest and stiff climbing. The
magnitude of the trees and the density of the forest exceeded
anything I had imagined in Africa, and reminded me of Northern
Paraguay, only here there is much less variety in the tree forms.

But this expedition, starting under such favorable auspices, has
already been deprived of its young and most capable leader.

1 Edited by ELtts H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.
Bs. l'roceedings of Royal Geographical Society, July, 1879.

1879. | Geography and Travels. 661

Mr. Johnston died from dysentery, at Berobero in Khutu, 130
miles from Dar-es-Salaam, on the 28th of June.

We have also to record the death, on the 1oth of July last, of
the Rev. Dr: Mullens, who left England in April of this year to
reorganize the Tanganyika Mission of the London Missionary
Society.

The Academy states that the Universities’ Mission in Eastern
Africa have recently established a new station at Newala on the
river Ruvuma, forty miles nearer lake Nyassa than their original
settlement at Masari.

he Abbé Debaize arrived at Ujiji on April 2d. He intends to
establish a depot in the Uzighé country at the north end of lake
Tanganyika. He then expects to be able to establish another
station at the mouth of the Aruwimi, on the Congo—a very bold
and hazardous undertaking. He will then explore the countries
between the southern end of the Albert Nyanza and lake Tan-
ganyika. It is much to be desired that the very. good fortune
that has so far attended him will continue to be enjoyed by this
intrepid and skillful leader of the French Scientific Expedition.

The Belgian Expedition was, at last accounts, concentrated at
Tabora, where they expected to remain until the end of the rainy
season in May, Anentomological collection has been forwarded
by Dr. Dutrieux. The Belgian Society have chartered a steamer
to take out supplies for the expedition to the mouth of the
Congo. A small steamer in sections, three steam launches and
three flat bottomed boats, none of which will draw more than a
foot of water, are also sent. This little flotilla is commanded by
Capt. Loesewitz, who has a crew of forty seamen accustomed to
a tropical climate and engaged for three years. It is hoped thus
to reach a point where M. Cambier and his party can communi-
cate with them. It is further reported that Mr. H. M. Stanley,
after having made rapid surveys of the streams emptying on the
east coast near Zanzibar, and engaging a large number of his old
followers has left Zanzibar,and is expected to take command of
this section of the Belgian expedition..

The French Algerian Missionary parties have each reached
their respective destinations on the Victoria Nyanza and the Tan-
ganyika lake. The Victoria party are reported to be very desti-
tute. They have heard of the arrival of the Church Missionary
Society’s reinforcements at Uganda from Egypt and the Nile.
Another band of priests is to leave Algeria shortly to join their
companions.

The Church Missionary Society has established a permanent
Station at Mpwapwa, where they have twenty-five acres of land
under cultivation. This is topographically the most important
place between the coast and Unyanyembe, as all the caravan roads
converge to it. Its elevation above the sea is 860 metres. Two
more of the agents of this society have reached the southern

662 General Notes. [ October,

extremity of the Victoria Nyanza. A recent number of the
Church Missionary Intelligencer gives an account by the Rev. C.
T. Wilson of his voyage across the great lake from Uganda to
Kagei. South of the Kagera or Kitangule river the low forest-
covered shore gives place to high downs ending in abrupt preci-
pices 300 or 400 feet high. North of the Kagera the rocks are
mostly a hard conglomerate, the matrix being a clay iron ore, in
which quartzite pebbles were imbedded, but on the south they
are clay slate with red sandstone, the strata being inclined ina
westerly direction at an angle of about fifteen degrees.

The American Board of Foreign Missions having recently
received a large bequest, is desirous of establishing a mission in
Africa, but finds nearly every portion of the coast occupied or at
least prospected! They will probably choose a site in the interior
where certainly there can be no difficulty in finding an unoccu-
pied field.

The King of the Belgians has presented the International
African Association with four Indian elephants. They have
arrived safely at Zanzibar from Bombay, and have been landed
near Dar-es-Salaam. An elephant will convey fifteen ordinary
porters’ loads of sixty pounds each, so that seven elephants would
be able to carry as much as one hundred porters.

Osrruary.—The following appeared in the London Atheneum
of August 9, 1879: ‘Mr. Keith Johnston is no more. A son o
the eminent geographer, Alexander Keith Johnston, the deceased
gave early promise of fulfilling to the utmost the expectations of
his friends. Carefully trained under the eye of his father and at
Perthes’s Geographical Institute under Dr. Petermann, he exhib-
ited equal skill as a compiler of maps and a writer on geographi-
cal subjects. Amongst his latest works are a volume on ‘Africa,
recently published by Mr. Stanford, and a ‘ Book of Physical

a preliminary trip to Usambara gave promise of an exhaustive
and trustworthy account of his further researches, such as 1s but
rarely furnished by African ‘pathfinders.’ It was not to be. ` Still
a young man, not yet thirty, he has joined that band of noble
‘men who have laid down their lives in the cause of African
exploration.”

MICROSCOPY.’

American Society oF Microscopists.—This society assembled
in Buffalo on Tuesday morning, August 19th, and adjourned on
_ Friday noon, the 22d. About sixty members were in attendance.
~ 1 This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y.

1879. | Microscopy. 663

Important amendments were agreed upon to the proposed Con-
stitution, and it was then adopted without opposition. At the
suggestion of the National Committee on Micrometry, last year's
resolution favoring the one-hundredth millimetre as the unit for
micrometry was reconsidered, and the whole subject was then
referred to the committee for further action. Mr. E. H. Griffith
offered a silver medal as a prize, to be awarded at the next annual
meeting, for the best two slides illustrating the adulteration of
some common article of food. On Thursday evening a soirée
was held in St. James Hall, which was well attended by the citi-
zens of Buffalo. The elomine ee were elected for next
year’s meeting: President, Pro L. Smith, of Geneva, N. Y.;
vice-presidents, Dr. W. W. Baieri of Indianapolis, and Mr.
C. C. Merriman, of Rochéster; secretary, Prof.. A. H. Tuttle, of
Columbus, O. ; treasurer, Mr. George A. Fell, of Buffalo. The
day and place for the next meeting were left to be selected and
announced by the Executive Committee. The president’s address
was ies on Tuesday evening by Dr. R. H. Ward, in St.
Jame During the week the following papers were read:
On Diente cruciata, and also on certain crustaceous para-
sites on fish, by Prof. DES: Kellicott; on the structure of the
spinal cord in the marsipobranch fishes, by Prof. . Tuttle;
on the embryonic growth of the eustachian tube and ‘middle ear,
by Dr. Lucien Howe; on photography as an aid to microscopi-
nf investigations, by Dr. Carl Seiler; on mourn object glasses,
and on a universal microscope stand, by Prof. J. E. Smith; on
the adie examination of objectives for the microscope, by
r. G. E. Blackham; on the Preparation and mounting of double
stainings, by Mr. C. c Merriman; on the Microscopical exami-
nation of the nerve centres, by Dr. Theo. Deecke ; onethe Micro-

W. B. Rezner. After OTAR the few members who were
able to remain for that purpose, enjoyed a most agreeable excur-
sion to Niagara Falls as the guests of the citizens of Buffalo, of
whom many of the most cultivated and accomplished accom-
panied the party.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.—

Saratoga Springs during the week commencing August 27th,
under the presidency of Prof. Geo. F. Barker. More than one
hundred and fifty papers were presented, many of them being of
exceptional value. Among those pertaining to microscopy may
be mentioned those on the Physics of microscope objectives, by
Romyn Hitchcock; on the Histology of insec Chas.

Minot: on a Standard meter and its subdivisions into sg D

664 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [| October,

and on First results from a new diffraction ruling engine, by Prof.
Wm. A. Rogers; on Crystallization of Canada Balsam, by Prof.
Geo. F. Barker; on the Occurrence of microscopic crystals in the
vertebra of the toad, by Prof. H. Carrington Bolton. Prof. S. A.
Lattimore was elected chairman, an Rev. A: ervey, secre-
tary of the sub-section of microscopy for the next ‘meeting, which
is to be held in Boston, commencing on the last Wednesday i in
August next, and which can hardly fail to be a large and enthu-
siastic assemblage.

10:
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE,
Twenty-eighth meeting, Saratoga, Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, 1879.—
Owing to the favorable place of meeting, the gathering of mem-
bers was larger than for several years, nearly 260 members being
present, and 154 papers, some of unusual interest, having been

P

read an address as retiring president, on the History and Met

of Palæontology. Prof. George F. Barker, as president, cates

brief introductory speech at the opening of the session. The

following papers on biology, geology and anthropology were
resente d:

e succession of glacial Gepost in New England........ Warren Upham
On as ois ng ou Fen absenc ola Upper $ sharia and De-
n formations in Tenn On a remarkable crin-
oidal ea recently Seed in Tennessee, with exhi- Bea
biton OF BDECHNERE:. -sejrin edie so a,4 tap te viens J. M. Safford
Recently discovered cupraous veins at Blue Hill, Me. The
ce ountain anticlin hs Cre ee aaa Ge ce C. H. Hitchcock
Conso ae expression of emotion..... Casha Ji Blake

On ki feniliaation of Yucca. sesh of sex and of odor in
flow Thomas Meehan

Philosophy of the hoya of a aan „particularly o of
mphalid The the Uni
a ex papei of its nk, pey roudan ints in a i
alate dand t Wes TE Ea a C. V. Riley
On the conditions to be fulfilled zi a theory of life. On the
histology of insects. On the anatomy of Plathelminthes.. Chas. Te a Minot
ography of Kailon oode

Tana illustration of the use of some new or little known
tomical an sbyatological instruments and apparatus.
Note n the anatomy of the Te in On a cats =
brain with the corpus callosum absent...4,....--+++ B. G. Wilder

On the occurrence of microscopic faih in the vertebra of
ir toad (Bufo americanus), [With a note by A.
n Caransa Bolton.

eee eee eee

The ata influences of physical geography........++++ l.. Wilson
The development f the neuration in the Pie at ‘fheects, as j

illustrated in the history of cockroaches. ........-+++. S. H. Scudder
On graphite from the pp one (ere. RW aess W. L. Dudley
On the e geolo gy of -Bermuda Wm. North Rice
Sexual differentiation in Den repens.. Homologies in the

E aa Ber the movement s the stamens of
>. Sabbatia zlari:
o Oo the Tri rassic rocks of New jersey

Lester F. Wer!
Geo. H. C o:

1879. | Procecdings of Scientific Societies. 665

An a. for seb gel ae natural history ig aa ina
horizontal positi nter-articular ligaments of t
head of one ribs i "e ia je A method of eak En
cicarch in animalik, isssa nres arrn + base me S. H, Gage
The a liigh inse e Some interesting ee habits and
their developm -A successful moth trap..........- W. S. Barnard
On the Prent Onion of the work upon the paleontology
of New York. Notes upon t r genera Fenestella
Hemitrypa, etc. The fauna of the Lower Helderber rg
group in relation to the corals, Byak and Echinoder-

James Hall

Ce ee

the sore nasil pede in the Gulf of Mexico and
vicinity by the U. S. Coast Survey steamer Blake

O
=

1877-9. On the genus Pleurotomaria....... RE E AR Wm. H. Dall
Gypsum sand ak A. P. S Stuart
The geological scion as the acid of Humus: I. On uncon-

solidated deposits; 1 apa Solid TOGES ie. Soe fers aes s Alexis A. Julien
“On er Slog ambrian = Anica and tern On

T. Sterry Hunt

exnaustion....... ro.
ass newly d discant red cave in Luray, Page county, Va...... “Jno. W. Chickering, Jr.
stb rm of unpolarizable electrodes for physiological
sia H. P. Bowditch

On ike species of Bornean Praon, with notes on their habits ;
illus

trated by specimens. .......000-- sss eeeeeeeeeees Wm. F. Hornaday
The rth ceanic Can al p Edward P. Lull
On the progre ess of the Eat Gaslagieal Survey of Penn- |
sylvania . 6. ees es resipi sogel aita eee J. P. Lesley
' Notice of pe occurrence of rocks ES a ‘the Marcel-
lus shales of New York in Central Ohio. .......... vats R. P. Whitfield
The sign gorr oe of " North reise cag A brih Mallery
Lake Erie and the Eri Superstitions of the ancient inhab-
iariisippi valley relative ret "the rabbit.
ons among the ancient inhabitants of 1 is-
sissippi valley relative to serpents. Superstitions among
the ancient pr mene of the Mississippi valley relative
y the owl. Superstitions among the ancient inhabitants
the e Mississippi geist man to (NUNE 00s 5 J. G. Henderson
Exhi bition of archeeologica abe objects. a. S. S. Haldeman
Archæology of are valley, sist a general account of
recent discoveries...... ere H. Perkins
Archeology of Missouri...........---- ae . H. H, r ssell
Notice of some Pata of alkaline salts in. [dalia:....... Mey D on
Archeological notes from Japan,........ i Edward S moe

EART ie a polished: stone implement found in Monk-

: John M. Currier
The saben cos of amber and jade, illustrated by remarkable

Mrs. E. A. Smith

speci imens
On the explanation = hereditary transmission Louis Elsberg
The ethnology of the islands of the ae and Pacific
oceans ; Micniated by a large soles ed m Albert S. Bickmore
On some arge a and remarkable stone iape s of the
southern so i rs On the pottery of the southern
mond pajoe Syada a F. W. Putnam
The genesis of he U ntine of Reichenstein, etc. ....... R. B. Hare

On the surface sin its of thickness of the Continental glacier
New E: Smock

. s.s.s.»

— ee =e = emey ary, Jo a een cof St

666 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, (October, 1879.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHIL-
ADELPHIA, March 11.—The following papers were read: On the
nudibranchiate gastropod Mollusca of the North Pacific ocean,
by Dr. R. Bergh, and On the variability of Spheria quercuum
Schw., by J. B Ellis.

rch 15.—Dr. H. C. Chapman presented a paper for publica-
tion entitled, Notes on Amphiuma.

April 25.—Papers entitled, Placenta of A/acacus cynomolgus,
by H. C. Chapman, and Description of new species of Chiro-
cephalus, by John A. Ryder, were presented for publication.

il 22—Mr. Ryder described a new Pauropod from Jair-
mount Park, which he named Lurypauropus spinosus.

April 29.—Prof. Cope discussed the ancestry of the Rhinoceros
family in the light of new material recently obtained from the
western Tertiary.

May 6.—Prof. Cope described a new Saurian under the name
of Camarasaurus leptodcirus.

May 13.—Dr. Francis Dercum made acommunication on the mu-
ciferous system of fishes, in which he sought to show their relation
to the sensory system, as well as some new points in their structure.

May 20.—Prof. Kcenig made a communication regarding plastic
clays in reference to their microscopic features.

ay 27.—Dr. Dercum presented some farther results of his
study of the muciferous canals.

June 3d.—Mr. Martindale recorded the fact of the abundance
of Volvax globator in the hydrant water of Camden, N. J. Prof.
Cope discussed the geological position of the White river fresh-
water beds, assigning them to the same position as the Oligocene
of Europe. He also offered some observations on the genus Ax-
chitherium, and characterized a new species as A, prestans.

June 17.—Dr. Leidy exhibited the plates of his new work on
rhizopods from the report of the Hayden Survey, for the inspection
of the members, and described a new form under the name of
Nebela retorta. Prof. Cope exhibited a skull of the new fossil cat,
Nimravus brachyops.

June 24.—Mr. Meehan called attention to a remarkable instance
of variation in the ray-petals of the flower of Lexas, from none a
all to a form as well-marked as in the ox-eye daisy. Mr. Ryder
described the larva of his recently described Eurypauropus. ;

July 1.—Prof. Cope presented a paper on the genera of cats, 1n
which a re-arrangement of the species was proposed on the char-
acters presented by the form of the pupil of the eye and the spe-
cialization of the dentition.

July 8.—Dr. Leidy described and named a new fossil foot-track
from the Pennsylvania anthracite coal shale. Prof. Cope discussed
the principal characters of the genera of Canidæ, new generic

| by one species which Prof. Cope believed had the same gonent oS
ancestry as other domesticated dogs. _ -S

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. x11. — MOVEMBER, 1879. — No. 11.

HOW OUR ANCESTORS IN THE STONE AGE MADE
THEIR IMPLEMENTS.

BY B. B. REDDING.

LINT, obsidian, chert and other hard stones having a con-
choidal fracture, manufactured into forms to be used as axes,
chisels, knives, scrapers, spear and arrowheads, are found in nearly
all parts of the world. They are almost the only remains of a
race of people who inhabited the earth at a period so remote that
they were contemporaneous with the wooly elephant, the cave
bear, the Irish elk and other animals now extinct. These imple-
ments are often found in connection with the remains of these and
other fossil animals. In one instance in Denmark a stone arrow-
head was found imbedded in the bone of a deer which has been
so long extinct that the species is only now known from its fos-
sil remains. The people who made these stone implements lived
in Palestine, ages before Tubal Cain, and in Egypt long before the
first Pharaoh; their flint knives, axes and arrowheads have been
found in Europe from Greece to Norway, and from France to the
steppes of Russia; in Asia from India and the Malay archipelago
to Japan and Kamtchatka; in America from Greenland and
Alaska south through the United States, the West Indies, the val-
ley of the Amazon and Peru to Terra del Fuego. They seem to
' prove that man was originally a savage, that he lived by fishing
and the chase, and that civilization has been a long, slow and
tedious process of evolution.

There is great similarity in these stone weapons and imple-
ments wherever found throughout the world. A spearhead or
Scraper, an arrowhead or celt from England, could not by its
_ Shape or peculiarity of manufacture be distinguished from similar

VOL, XIII.—NO. XI. 45

668 How our Ancestors in the Stone Age [November,

implements found in Denmark, Palestine, Japan or South Amer-
ica. The stones used might differ, but the mode of manufacture
and general shape are nearly always the same. How our pre-
historic ancestors could have made these stone implements ages
before the discovery of the use of bronze or iron, has been the
subject of many speculations among archzologists, and many
theories have been advanced in support of these speculations.
The general conclusion has been that they were chipped into the
shapes we find them by blows from small stone hammers. It is,
however, proper to state that Mr. John Evans, Sir John Lubbock,
Mr. A. Morlot and other writers on prehistoric remains, have
suggested that the observations of travelers, as to the modes pur-
sued by savage nations in similar work, might afford a correct
solution.

The theory that they were manufactured into the shapes we
find them by blows from stone hammers, was generally received
until after the publication, in the Overland Monthly, of the obser-
vations of Mr. E. G. Waite and the late B. P. Avery, and in the
Smithsonian reports of a letter of Gen. George Crook, all of
whom had had an opportunity to observe Pacific Coast Indians
manufacture stone implements and chip them into perfect shapes
without the aid of stone hammers. As, however, these Indians
used iron or steel in their work, obtained from white men, it was
thought they might have changed the processes pursued by their
ancestors. From a late newspaper paragraph I see that Mr. F
H. Cushing, who is connected with the Smithsonian Institution,
by independent observation has arrived at the conclusion that the
stone implements were not chipped into shapes by blows, but
that the small flakes were broken out by pressure, and that to
prove his theory he made a flint chisel, chipping it into shape by
pressure with the aid only of a piece of hard wood.

Having had an opportunity to see a stone arrowhead made by
a man, practically stiil living in the stone age, without the aid of
any implement other than those found in a state of nature about
him, and taking notes at the time of each act of manipulation
and every process, I have thought that a record of what I saw,
added to those made by other observers, might have some value

in determining the processes used in similar work by our re-
_ mote savage ancestors.
n. Prior to the close of the Modoc war, the Wintoons or Cloud-

.

18709. | Made their Implements. 669

River Indians were without firearms. Up to that time the few
settlers who reside about the base of Mount Shasta made it a
rule to permit no Wintoon to carryagun. As there are no
agricultural lands and no mines on the Cloud river, the Wintoons
were left in almost undisputed possession of their prolific hunting
grounds and to the inexhaustible supplies of salmon and trout
with which that river abounds, The Wintoons had but little con-
tact with Americans until after Mr. Livingston Stone established
a station on the river for the taking of salmon eggs for distribu-
tion by the U. S. Government. Very few of these Indians as yet
have guns, their principal reliance in the chase being upon their
primitive but powerful bow and arrows. The arrow maker is still
aman of great importance in the tribe.

While visiting the United States Fishery a few days since I
expressed a wish to Deputy U. S. Fish Commissioner Livingston
Stone, who has acquired a knowledge of the Wintoon language,
that one of the best arrowhead makers of the tribe should make,
in my presence, a stone arrowhead, using only such tools and
implements for the purpose as were in use by the Indians before
their contact with white men. These people are only now
emerging from the stone age, and a record of their manufacture
of stone implements may give an illustration of the methods pur-
sued by our ancestors in the palzolithic age, ten or twelve or
more thousand of years ago, when they lived upon the products of
the chase of the fossil deer, the aurochs and the cave bear.

- Promptly at 3 o’clock came Consolulu, an old man between
sixty-eight and seventy-two years of age, gray haired but erect
and vigorous. He had been for many years chief of the tribe,
and was elected chief when a young man, because alone and
unaided he had killed a grizzly bear with his bow. He brought,
tied up in a deer skin, a piece of obsidian weighing about a
pound, a fragment of a deer horn split from a prong lengthwise,
about four inches in length and half an inch in diameter, and
ground off squarely at the ends—this left each end a semicircle,
besides two deer prongs (Cariacus columbianus) with the points
ground down into the shape of a square sharp-pointed file, one of
these being much smaller than the other. He had also some pieces
of iron wire tied to wooden handles and ground into the same
shapes, These, he explained, he used in preference to the deer |
-~ prongs, since white men came to the country, because they were

670 How our Ancestors in the Stone Age [November,

harder and did not require sharpening so frequently. When asked
where he obtained the obsidian, he answered from a place on the
north side of Mount Shasta, about sixty miles distant; that in
former days the land where it is found was claimed by the Yreka
Indians, and as this stone was wanted by the Trinity Indians, the
Yrekas and the Modocs, as well as the Wintoons, it was rarely
obtained without a battle. The piece he had was a light-blue in
color, and he valued it at twenty dollars; he stated that if it were
white it would be worth forty or fifty dollars. I could not learn
that white obsidian is harder or is worked with greater ease; its
increased value is probably based on its greater rarity. After
stating that in battle he had been twice wounded with arrows,
once in the shoulder and once through the calf of the right leg,
and showing the scars above the ankle where the arrow had
passed through, missing the bone, and been drawn out at the
other side, and further stating, with evident gratification at the
recollection, that while the arrow was still in his leg he sent one
of his own into the throat of his opponent, from the wound of
which he had bled to death in a few minutes, he commenced the
operation of making a stone arrowhead. Holding the piece of
obsidian in the hollow of the left hand, he placed between the
first and second fingers of the same hand the split piece of deer
horn first described, the straight edge of the split deer horn rest-
ing against about one-fourth of an inch of the edge of the obsid-
ian—this being about the thickness of the flake he desired to
split off; then with a small round water-worn stone which he had
selected, weighing perhaps a pound, he with his right hand struck
the other end of the split deer horn a sharp blow. The first
- attempt resulted in failure. A flake was split off but the blow
also shattered the flake at the same time into small fragments.
He then repeated the operation, apparently holding the split deer
horn more carefully and firmly against the edge of the large piece
of obsidian. The next blow was successful. A perfect flake was
obtained showing the conchoidal fracture peculiar to obsidian.
This I purchased, and instructed him to split off another from
which to make the arrowhead. He repeated the operation and
was again successful, and I have no doubt he could, with only an
occasional failure, have split up the whole piece in a few minutes
-into shapes for spearheads, knives and scrapers. The shape nat-
~- urally taken by the obsidian when split off in this manner is that a

1879. ] Made their Implements. 671

of a spearhead, and it could be put to use, for this purpose, with
but slight alteration. The thickness of the flake to be split off
depends upon the nearness or distance from the edge of the
obsidian on which the straight edge of the split deer horn is held
at the time the blow is struck.

The flake having been obtained, I watched with much interest
and attention the process of working it into an arrowhead.

He now squatted on the ground, sitting on his left foot, his
right leg extended in a position often assumed by tailors at work,
He then placed in the palm of his left hand a piece of thick well-
tanned buckskin, evidently made from the skin of the neck of a

Fic. 1.—-Obsidian Flake. Fic. 2—Arrowhead of Obsidian.

deer. It was thick but soft and pliable. On this he laid the
flake of obsidian, which he held firmly in its place by the first
three fingers of the same hand. He then rested the elbow on
the left knee, which gave the left arm and hand holding the flake,
firm and steady support. He then took in his right hand the
larger of the two deer prongs, which, as has been stated, had its
point sharpened in the form of a square file, and holding it as an
engraver of wood holds his cutting instrument, he commenced
reducing one edge of the circular form of the flake to a straight
line. With the thumb of the right hand resting on the edge of
the left palm as a fulcrum, the point of the deer prong would be
made to rest on about an eighth of an inch or less of the edge of

Qr How our Ancestors in the Stone Age [November,

the flake, then with a firm downward pressure of the point, a con-
choidal fragment would be broken out almost always of the size
desired. The point of the deer prong would then be advanced a
short distance and the same operation repeated, until in a few
minutes the flake was reduced to a straight line on one edge. As
this operation broke all the chips from the under side of the flake,
if left in this condition the arrowhead would be unequally pro-
portioned, that is, the two cutting edges would not be in the cen-
ter. He therefore with the side of the deer horn firmly rubbed
back and forth the straight edge he had made on the flake until
the sharp edge had been broken and worn down. The flake was
now turned end for end in the palm of his hand and the chipping
renewed. When completed an equal amount was taken from
each side of the edge of the flake and the cutting edge was left
in the center. It was now plain that the straight edge thus made
was to be one side of the long isosceles triangle, the form of the
arrowheads which is used by his tribe.

With the flake of obsidian firmly held in the cushion of the
left palm and the point of deer horn strongly pressed on the edge
of the flake, the effect was the same as the blow which split the
flake from the larger piece. While, however, he was not always
sure of the effect of the blow in splitting off the large flakes out
of which to make the arrowheads, he in no instance appeared to
fail in breaking out with the point of deer-prong the exact piece
desired. The soft thick pliable piece of tanned deer skin on which
the flake in his left palm was held, may have added to the cushion,
but seemed to serve no other purpose than to save his hand from
being cut by the countless sharp chips as they were broken off.
One of the long sides of the arrowhead having been thus formed,
the flake was turned over and the other side formed in the same
manner. As, however, very much more of the obsidian had to
be chipped away, he brought more pressure upon the point and
broke out larger chips until the flake began to assume the shape
desired, when the same care was exercised as when the first
-straight edge was made. In breaking out large or small chips
the process was always the same. The pressure of the point of
deer horn on the upper edge of the flake never appeared to break
out a piece, which, on the upper side, reached beyond where the:

point rested, while on the under side the chip broken out might
leave a space of twice the distance. Invariably when a line of ©

1879. | Made their Implements. 673

these chips had been broken out the sharp edge was rubbed
down, the flake turned end for end and the chipping renewed on
the other side. By this process the cutting edges of the arrow-
head were kept in the same line. The base was formed in the
same manner. No lines were drawn but he would occasionally
look at his work as it progressed and chip on one side or the
other to keep their proportions equal. The base of the arrow-
head—opposite the point—when finished, is inserted in a slot
made in the end of the wooden shaft, and is firmly tied to it by
the tendons of a deer. To hold the arrowhead firmly to the
shaft and to prevent the thread of deer tendon from interfering
with the penetrating power of the arrow, a slot about one-fourth
of an inch deep is chipped into both cutting edges of the arrow-
head about one-fourth of an inch above the base. This causes
the arrowhead to look as if it were barbed, but the object seems
only to be to provide means by which the arrowhead may be
firmly fastened to the shaft, at the same time avoiding the making
of any obstruction to the penetrating or cutting power of the
arrowhead. The chipping out of these slots was the last opera-
tion to be performed. It seemed to me more difficult than any
other part of the work, and I thought that in this would be the
danger of the loss of all the patient labor that had been expended.
In practical operation it was the simplest, safest and most rapid of
all his work. He now held the point of the well-shaped arrow-
head between the thumb and first finger of his left hand with the
edge of the arrowhead upwards, the base resting edgewise on the
deer-skin cushion in the palm. He then used the smaller deer
prong, which had been sharpened in the same form as the larger
one, but all its proportions, in every respect, were very much ~
smaller ; its point could not have been larger than one-sixteenth
of an inch square. He rested this point on the edge of the arrow-
head where he desired to make the slot, and commenced sawing
back and forth with a rocking motion, the fine chips flew from
each side, the point of the deer horn descended, and in less than —
a minute the slot was cut. The arrowhead was turned over and
the same operation repeated on the other edge. It seemed that
by this process, if he desired, the arrowhead could have been cut
in two in a very few minutes. He now examined his work in the
strong sunlight and, being satisfied, handed me the completed
arrowhead. It had taken him forty minutes to split the two

674 How our Ancestors in the Stone Age, Etc. (November,

flakes from the large piece of obsidian and chip one of them into
the arrowhead. A younger man, equally expert, would probably
have done the work in half an hour. When I came to the pur-
chase of the arrowhead and flake, I found they would cost seventy-
five cents, payable in shells, Dentalium entalis, which he esteemed
more highly than their value in money. The worth of the flake
and arrowhead was not based upon the time or labor employed,
but upon the value of the obsidian, as he offered for a dollar’s
worth of shells to give me ten arrowheads of the same shape and
size made from the bottoms of glass ale bottles.

The celts, knives, chisels and scrapers of the stone age are all
much simpler and more easy of manufacture than these semi-
barbed arrowheads.

I doubt if stone hammers were used in their manufacture other
than to split off the flakes from a large piece of flint or obsidian,
and when thus used the blow was communicated through the
split deer horn or a piece of hard wood in the manner I have
described. The blow from a stone hammer direct on the flint or
obsidian would be very uncertain in its results even in the most
skillful and practiced hands. With the split deer horn the thick-
ness of the flake and probable length could be determined with
tolerable accuracy. Probably large chips could be broken from
the edge of a flake by a slot in the end of a deer horn as is now
practiced by the natives of Alaska with a walrus tusk, used as I
have seen window glass broken with a key, but an aroun is
too small and delicate for either operation.

I cannot but believe that our prehistoric ancestors in ilie stone
age used the same processes as were followed by Consolulu, and
that in describing what he did I have told how the remote ances-
tor of

“ The ancient arrow maker

Made his arrowheads of sandstone
Arrowheads of chalcedony
Arrowheads of flint and jasper
Smooth and sharpened at the edges
Hard and polished keen and costly.”

&
1879. | Colorado Plants. 675
COLORADO PLANTS.
BY ISAAC C. MARTINDALE,

EALIZING the fact that all discoveries or observations, unless

brought to the attention of the people in some way, cannot

be expected to be of much advantage to them, I have prepared

this article in the belief that some lover of flowers, who has been

or may be traveling over the same route taken by myself, may

find in it a help or an assistance in the prosecution of the study
of botany, or in naming the specimens collected by the way.

The list of plants hereto appended is of the specimens collected
while on an excursion of the members of the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science after the adjournment of
the St. Louis meeting in 1878, and during the time of the meet-
ing at St. Louis on the excursions around the city, chiefly near
Cahokia, Illinois. The route taken from St. Louis was westward
to Kansas city, thence by the Kansas Pacific R. R. to Denver,
thence southward to Colorado Springs, Manitou, Garden of the
Gods, Queens Cañon, Glen Eyrie and Pike’s Peak, making the
ascent by way of Engelmann’s Cañon ; continuing the journey
from Colorado Springs southward to Alamosa and returning to
Denver ; thence by way of Clear Creek Cañon to Idaho Springs,
Georgetown, Central city and Blackhawk, also visiting Boulder
Cañon as far as the Falls.

The rapidity of travel and consequent difficulty in taking
Proper care of the specimens prevented a larger collection being
made, yet it is believed it embraces the greater part of the plants
that may be found on the line of the route traveled. About forty
persons participated in the excursion, several of whom were
interested in the botany of the region and made collections of
plants; I have been favored with an examination of these, and
think the list includes all or nearly all that were obtained. Mr.
Thomas Meehan, of Germantown, State Botanist of Pennsylvania,
was one of the excursion party, and having visited Colorado on
two former occasions, was well informed about the plants, and
tendered valuable service. Prof. Gray and Sereno Watson; of
Cambridge, Mass., Dr. Vasey, of Washington, and others assisted
in the naming of some of the more difficult species.

In the closing number of Vol. 111 of Field and Forest, published

at Washington, D. C., may be found an article, by Lester F.

4
676 Colorado Plants. [ November,

Ward, on “St. Louis and Botany,” to which the reader is referred
for a more minute account of the botanical features noticed there ;
it embraces some species not included in this article, as they were
collected before I reached St. Louis. During the fall and early
winter a series of articles appeared in the West Fersey Press, of
Camden, New Jérsey, descriptive of the entire journey, and giv-
ing a detailed account of the places visited. Lester F. Ward,
who accompanied the excursion to Texas after the adjournment
of the Nashville meeting in 1877, published a list of the botanical
collections made on that occasion in the Buletin of the Essex
Institute, and it seems to me that if the results of the collections
made on these annual excursions could be brought in some way
before the people, it would be of great service to students and
others engaged in scientific work.

The species collected in Colorado and not mentioned in Porter
and Coulter’s Flora are printed in zfalics, those collected in the
vicinity of St. Louis are marked *, those collected on the line of
the railroad before reaching Colorado are marked f.

Clematis Pitcheri T. & G.

“ ligusticifolia Nutt.
Thalictrum Fendleri Eng.
Anemone multifida D. C.
Ranunculus affinis R. Br.

a adoneus Gray.
Delphinium Erina Gr.
Argemone hispida Gra
Corydalis curvisiliqua Eng.
Physaria didymocarpa Gray.
*Sisymbrium incisum Eng.
Erysimum asperum D. C., var, Arkan-

um Nutt.

CLET Ser Gray.
m um Nutt.
Cleome Temer TEG,
Polanisia trachysperma T. & G.
t ravæolens Raf.

g
Silene acaulis Linn.

p

ĦVitis indivisa Willd

Ampelopsis quinquefolium Mx.

Acer glabrum Torr

Rhus aromatica Ait. var. trilobata Gr.

* Æsculus glabra

*Baptisia Ek . & G;

Lupinus argenteus Pursh, var. decumbens

Watson.
Trifolium involucratum Willd.
Psofalea tenuiflora Purs
— violaceus Mx.
andidus Mx.
oan mollissimus Torr. (?)
rs

ie agg Dai
Phe nictitans Lin
chameecrista o nn.
a Neo- Mexicana Gray.

Neillia Torreyi Watson.
Spiræa discolor Pursh, var. dumosa Wat-
son.
Rubus deliciosus Torr.
strigosus Mx.

1879. | Colorado Plants. 677

Cercocarpus parvifolius Nutt. Townsendia eximia Gray.

*Boltonia glastifolia DHer.

" Shai K

we fruticosa Linn.

2% Anserina Linn,
page setigera Mich.

anda, Aiton, var. rt E Crépin.

tegus coccinéa L, v
eda bronchialis aie
5 ; :

stenopetalum Pursh.,
gata, anr aioi i Linn.
paniculatum Linn
TEA m ramosissimum T. & G.
tŒnothera coronopifolia T. & G.
Gaura parviflora Dougl.
“ biennis Linn.
*Ludwigia polycarpa S. & P.
*Ammania latifolia Linn.
Mentzelia nuda T. & G
multiflora Nutt.
ocactus rage Eng.
Cereus viridiflorus Eng.
vats Rafinesquii Eng.
Missouriensis D. C.
“ arborescens Eng.
curbita perennis Gray.
FNS lobata T. & G.

? " vul
Galium asperrimum Gray.
+ “ trifidum Linn

uhnia eupatorioid
SOEN Wrightii Gray.
grandiflora Nutt.

. R g serotinum Mx.

“« tanacetifolia H.
«“ Pattersonii Gray.

See Euthamiæ T. & G.
SEG a aurea L.
var. multiradiata T.
&G.
Solidago nemoralis Aiton, var. mollis

en
idago iiis Linn.
Bigelovia graveolens Gray.
oe spinulosus D. C.
pygmæus Gray.
" i Gray.
z atus.
Grindelia squarrosa Dunal.
pania poet Nutt.
ar. hispida.
Pericome caudata Guy:
illd.

* « xanthiifolia Nutt.
ears a I C.

tata.
eae ESD Michx.
+ Heliopsis levis Pursh., var. scabra.
udbeckia hirta Linn.
+Lepachys columnaris T. & G.
Helianthus lenticularis Dougl.
“4 igidus Desf.

milis Nutt.
s Maximilliana Schrad.
Ssu multiflora Nutt.
aristosa Mx., var. mutica.
Ximenesa encelioides
P te

Gaillardia aristata Pursh.

Actinella grandiflora T. & G.

678

Artemisia borealis Pall.

Canadensis Mx

* filifolia, Torr

“ tridentata Pur

sas Ludoviciana fe utt.

x a var. gnaphalodes
EEG

sm sl ee Willd.

ot scopulorum Gr.

$e ‘6 var. monocephala,

p retica Less.

*Gnaphalium uliginosum Linn.
Antennaria dioica Gau.
Arnica P%

és

an Hook.
Senecip eremophilus Rich.

oe

“ spartioides.
“ rapiifolius Nutt.

Lygodesmia juncea Don.
SEL TE uniflora Linn.
Scheuchzeri Vill.
“ rotando ie Linn.
Arctostaphylos eR ursi Spreng.

Androsace chamæjasme

s septentrionalis Fina:
Asclepias Jamesii Torrey.

+6 erticillata Linn.

entiana Amarella Linn.
# var. stricta Watson.
« frigida Hænke.
= “Pary Engel
“ erw Griseb,
Frasera osa Dougl.
Collomia linearis Nutt.
longiflora Gray.
Gilia aggregata Spreng.
ax pinnati la Nu
Phacelia circinata Jacq. f ;
landulosa

Colorado Plants.

[ November,

epee cae: Virginicum Lehm.
Red

dowskii Lehm. var.
ccidentale Watson.

Eritrichium crassisepalum T. & G.

Jamesii Torr.

z glomeratum D. C., var. vir-
gatum Porter.

Z alpina Don.

modium carolinianum D. C.

ATENE triflorum Nutt.
Carolinense Linn.

“ rostratum Dunal.
S igrum Linn.
iea ain Bu (?)
T

= 2 ata E
per? EEE Benth.
amr Graham, var. steno-

sepalus Gray.
Chionophila ee Benth.
Mimulus floribundus Dougl.
*Conobea multifida Benth.
ie a rotundifolia Pursh.
is Houghtoniana Benth.
inn.

*Gerardia purpurea Linn.

Orthocarpus luteus Nutt.
perau rÈ Gray.
ra Gray.
*Ruellia TRR Bask.
+ ~“ strepens Linn.
*Verbena stricta Vent.
“ bracteosa Michx.

Hedera Sixmaiedl Benth.

Lam., var grandiflora Benth.

" BPS Willd.
Monarda fistu aE
ae oon ine ie
iad ‘Benth.

Sencar arse fá rviflorum Nutt.
Plantago patagonica gnaph-
alioides Gray.

1879. | Colorado Plants. 679

Plantago patagonica var. aristata Gray. capt contorta Dougl.

Mirabilis multiflora Gray. ponderosa Dougl. z
“« — oxybaphoides. « flexilis James.
T AE ZER nyctagineus Sw “ aristata Engelm.
angustifolius ua es Engelmanni Parry.
Abronia fragrans Nutt. Dou z sii Lindl.
Chenopodium Fremontii Watson. “concolor Lindl.
Blitum capitatum Linn. -Juniperus virginiana L.
Obione argentea Moq. > dentalis Hook.
Eurotia lanata Mog. Typha latifolia Lin
RATRE lanuginosa Torr. Iris Missourien
nychia Jamesii T. & G. Sisyrinchium Bermudiana L.
Eriogomum alatum Torr Smilax herbacea
Jamssii Benth. Streptopus amplexifolius D. C.
x umbellatum Torr. Calochortus Gunnisonii Watson.
5 microthecum Nutt., var. effu- rE cern oth
sum T. & G. . iia Fraser.
n annuum Nutt. Yucca pide Pursh.
Oxyria digyna Camp. Juncus Balticus Deth., var. montanus
Rumex salicifolius Weinm. Eng.
Polygonum ramosissimum Mx. Tradescantia Virginica Linn.
. tenue Cyperus Schweinitzii Torr.
re Pennsylvanica Linn. Carex atrata Linn
sy is i rus phleoides H. B.
I” Persicaria Linn. . Sporobolus cryptandrus Gray.
T” Hydropiper Linn. Vilfa tricholepis Torr
T acre H, B. K. SETTES APE Trin:
Arceuthobium americanum Nutt. lomerata Trin.
TRON Saa Nutt. " aani Torr.
arginata, Pursh. Calamagrostis sylvatica D. C.
f montana Engelm Stipa viridula Trin ‘
1 * pipen var. A Tum oipota Torr. ”
AT tae dentata Mx. hirsuta Lag.
Toe humistrata REE “ curtipendula Gray.
Croton Texensis Miil Munroa squarrosa Torr.
“ capitatum o *Tricuspis purpurea Nutt.
Urtica gracilis Aiton. Poa tenuifolia Nutt.
Parietaria ee Muhl, “ andina Nutt.
Humulus Lupulus Lin *E Sapia reptans Nees
Quercus undulata Tots var. Gunnisonii.Festuca ovina L., var. brevifolia Watson.
Betula occidentalis Hook. Bromus Kalmii Gray.
}Celtis occidentalis Lin Lepturus paniculatus Nutt.

Salix pees Muhl., var. argyrophylla — Canadensis Linn.
Nut Si

" nie M Cenchrus tribuloides Linn
* desertorum Rich. dropogon furcatus Muhl
“ flavescens Nutt. (?) Cheilanthes lanuginosa Nutt,
Populus tremuloides Mx. Woodsia scopulina Eaton.
3 angustifolia James. oe Notholena Fendleri Kunze.

ia J
monilifera Aiton. Selaginella rupestris Spring., var tropica. —

680 Colorado Plants. [ November,

The following notes refer mostly to the species not mentioned
im Porter and Coulter’s Flora:

Argemone hispida Gray, is quite frequent along the base of the
foot-hills below Denver with A. mexicana, but the stem is more
hispid.

Polanisia graveolens Raf., by the roadside at the entrance to
Boulder Cañon. i

Ampelopsis quinquefolia Mx., collected in Queens Cañon, dif-
fers from the eastern form in the flowers being more persistent,
the petals strongly reflexed, the leaves with larger and more
acuminate teeth, and with remarkably falcate tips; the pedicels are
more slender and drooping in fruit.

Psoralea tenuiflora Pursh, on the plains, not common.

Robinia Neo-Mexicana Gray, several clumps of trees on the side
of the railroad in Southern Colorado.

Crategus coccinea L., var. by the roadside at the entrance to
Boulder Cafion: very conspicuous on account of the profusion
of red fruit, the leaves are larger, the thorns stronger and often
with rudimentary ones from their side.

Saxifraga chrysantha Gray. Pike’s Peak, very scarce.

Townsendia eximia Gray. Veta Pass, Southern Colorado, not
common.

Aster Pattersonii Gray. By the side of the railroad near Forks’
Creek station.

Erigeron ursinum Eaton. Near Georgetown.

Pericome caudata Gray. Dr. Gray in examining this plant
detected one or two delicate awns, the presence of which is
likely to affect the genus; he says: “ Pericome caudata has some-
times in its fullest development one or two slender, sparsely hir-
sute, rather deciduous awns surmounting the margins of the
akene.” Hence this plant collected in Queens Cafion becomes
variety, or rather forma, aristata. _

Helianthus Maximiliana Schrad. This plant is moving west-
ward along the sides of the railroad.

Artemisia arctica Less. Pike’s Peak.

Arnica alpina, Collected by T. Meehan near Pueblo.

Senecio Fendleri, Pike’s Peak trail.

Senecio spartioides. Near Manitou Springs.

Senecio rapiifolius Nutt. Clear Creek Cañon and Garden of

the Gods.

18709. | Mold as an Insect Destroyer. 681

Cnicus edulus Nutt.(?). A single plant collected near Veta
Pass; whilst agreeing tolerably well with the description of this
species, the specimen is not in a condition to be satisfactorily de-
termined. T. Meehan, who collected it, says he has not seen
this plant from Colorado before.

Troximon glaucum. On the roadside between Bellevue moun-
tain and Central City ; quite scarce.

Phacelia glandulosa Nutt. Southern Colorado.

Physalis hederefolia Gray (?). On the plains before reaching
Denver; plant prostrate and very viscid, leaves small and short
petioled.

Mimulus floribundus Dougl. The specimens collected at Boul-
der Falls have all the pedicels shorter than the leaves.

Herpestis rotundifolia Pursh. Collected at Cahokia, Illinois;
with the leaves having punctate dots.

Salix flavescens Nutt. (?) On the trail to Pike’s Peak through
Engelmann’s Cañon. M. S. Bebb says: “It has been frequently
collected and is most likely allied to S. flavescens Nutt. of the
Pacific coast, somewhat as S. Fendleriana is allied to S. /asiandra,
that is, it may prove a hybrid between that and S. discolor.”

Populus monilifera Aiton. On the low lands near Pueblo.

Abies concolor Lindley and Funiperus occidentalis Hook. In
Engelmann’s Cañon and Queens Cañon.

Smilax herbacea Linn. Plant more robust than the eastern
form, leaves larger, more rounded ; one specimen, only, collected
in Glen Eyrie, with no evidence of the odor that usually accom-
panies the plant.

Lycurus phleoides H. & B. Collected in the Garden of the Gods,
probably introduced from Mexico by traveling teamsters.

Muhlenbergia glomerata Trin. A form of this species near
Manitou, not common. |

——.0;

MOLD AS AN INSECT DESTROYER.
BY C. G. SIEWERS.

T perplexing problem: How shall we check the excessive
increase of noxious insects that imperil our crops ? has been
put in a fair way of solution by the researches of Dr. Bain, a
Prussian savant, as recorded by Dr. Hagen, of Cambridge, Mass.,

in the June number of the Canadian Entomologist.

682 Mold as an Insect Destroyer. [ November,

When Pasteur, employed by the French government to inves-
tigate the fatal malady that had attacked the silk-worm, made the
discovery that the disease was caused by a fungus growth which
he styled muscardine, that it could be imparted to healthy larve’
simply by crushing infected ones on their food, and that the dis-
ease could be detected, by means of a lens, in the egg itself, and
thus the good eggs separated from the bad, he saved from utter
ruin thousands of French families whose main support depended
on this industry. But he did more. Though he carried his
researches no farther, others took up the investigation where he
abandoned it, and the result of Dr. Bain’s experiments, continued
for twelve years, seem to have established the fellowing facts:

That the mold of the mash tub, known as yeast, the mold that
infects flies and fastens them to our walls and windows, the com-
mon mold of cellars and damp places, and the mold that attacks
certain water plants are but different developments of allied spe-
cies of fungi, and alike fatal to certain species of insects that are
brought into contact with it ; and that the disease was developed in
France by moist food, lack of ventilation and cleanliness, is prob-
able, and though many were able to pass through all stages, their
infected eggs spread the disease through the land, and in this
way became epidemic.

I have just had an unpleasant experience of the effect of mold
in the loss of a full-grown imperial walnut larva that I had reared
from its first molt. Its food was inserted in wet sand in a Cov-
ered tub, and before I was aware, its droppings and food were
covered with mold. Fresh food, a sun bath and change of quar-
ters was of no avail; it refused food for four days, then dropped
from its perch a moist discolored mass. In an article in the
Canadian Entomologist (1877), 1 gave an account of a large colony
of Callimorpha larvæ, a species by no means common generally,
and of my failure to bring one larva in two hundred to the pupa
state. They were all taken at maturity, like the French silk-
worms, with a purging of whitish serum. The weeds on which
they fed in the woods were also covered with their dried skins.
The next year they were as rare as ever. In the spring of 1874,
the shade trees of our town, Newport, Ky., were attacked by
legions of small gray caterpillars, spinning up and destroying the
foliage, and invading doorways in such multitudes that the house
_ broom was in constant requisition. Fine shade trees were hewn

18 79.] Mold as an Insect Destroyer. 683

down, or fearfully lopped of their branches to abate the nuisance.
They attacked the silver poplar in preference to all others, a tree
singularly free from caterpillars heretofore. I found a small tree
in my yard badly infested, and promised two smail boys one cent
a nest for all they got down with not less than twenty-five in a
brood, and burning them as they were brought me, paid them
ninety-seven cents for their hour’s work. What was to be
expected the next year but the total ruin of every shade tree;
but my payment to the same boys was but forty cents, and the
next year not one was to be found, and they have never returned
to vex us. Continuous wet and cloudy weather may be sufficient
to infect with fungus the food these caterpillars eat, but wherever
we turn our eyes we find the provisions of nature ample to repress
surplus life on this globe, and in no case more so than in our
own species, where the half that survive infancy are winnowed
out by sword, pestilence and famine, till but a corporal’s guard
can be rallied at our allotted term of three score years and ten.
The cases I have described are by internal poisoning ; I will add
one where the poison fungus acted externally. My first attempt
to carry through the winter that hybernating larva, the black
bear (Expantherea), proved a total failure, as I put them away in
the cellar where they were attacked and covered with mold, and
though I washed and brushed them apparently clean, dried them
in the sun and kept them out of doors the rest of the winter,
they all died in the spring, refusing all food. Put away the next
winter in leaves and brush, in the open air, I lost but one in ten.

e, . :
various insects that sport in the sun and enliven the face of nature.
The bugs and the worms that annoy us can easily be kept in
check as I have shown, by paid handpickers.

VOL. XIIl.—wo, XI. 46

684 Notes on Pacific Coast Fishes and Fisheries. [November, |

NOTES ON PACIFIC COAST FISHES AND FISHERIES.
BY W. N. LOCKINGTON.

N the market of San Francisco there was recently a specimen

of Poronotus simillimus (the pompino of this coast) that had two
mouths, one below the other, both furnished with teeth, and in
size and external appearance the exact counterparts of each
other. The lower mouth was situated somewhat behind the
upper or normal mouth, directly beneath the eye and in front of
the interoperculum. I much regret that I was unable to obtain
possession of the fish, which is now, I believe, preserved in
alcohol by the watchman of the market. I cannot, therefore, say
anything about the bony structure of the extra mouth, or about
the peculiarities of the digestive canal.

Anarrhichthys felis Grd., has, during the summer months, been
frequently brought to the market of San Francisco, where it is
sold as “ eel,” a name which is here applied to all the Blennioid
fishes, as well as to Leurynnis paucidens and Ophidium taylori.
Some of the dealers and fishermen, however, have given it the
more appropriate name of “ wolf-eel.” The individuals brought
to market are usually from four to five feet in length, but the
species attains much larger dimensions. A specimen sent to the
California Academy of Sciences, by Capt. Lawson, of the Coast
Survey, and unfortunately lost through the lack of means to pre-
serve it, measured eight feet in length; and one seven feet in
length was noticed in the daily papers about three years since as
an “infant sea-serpent.” One large individual that lay upon the
stall recently, showed the effects of a battle in the want of all that
portion of the body situated posterior to the anus. The stomach
of a very stout-looking example, five feet long, was opened, and was
found to be filled with the tests of Echinarachnius excentricus, the
common cake-urchin of the coast, broken into large fragments,
many of them considerably more than an inch across; this
Echinoderm is extremely abundant on the bar of San Francisco
harbor at a depth of about seven fathoms, and the denuded tests
are among the common objects of the seashore at the Cliff
House.

The shark described by Ayres under the name of Notorhyn-
chus maculatus, included by Günther under Notidanus indicus, and
called by Gill (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Phila., 1864, 159)
_ Notorhynchus borealis, attains considerable dimensions. An indi-

1879. | Notes on Pacific Coast Fishes and Fisheries. 685

vidual taken at Long wharf, inside the harbor of San Francisco,
about five years since, measures seven feet nine inches in total
length.

The chimera, Hydrolagus colliei, is tolerably common on the
more northern parts of the Pacific coast of North America. Mr.
Ivan Petroff, editor of the Alaska Appeal, asserts that a Chimera
which he saw and of which he made a rough sketch (which he
showed me), was without the long caudal filament of Æ. colliet,
and had a simple forked tail. Is it possible that there are two
species of Chimæra in the North Pacific? The specimen just
mentioned was taken while fishing for halibut and cod, and its
stomach was filled with broken shells. I do not believe that any-
thing is on record which tends to prove the use, in,the economy
of the Chimera, of the curious projection upon the nose, armed
at the end with a close-set array of hooked teeth set upon a ter-
minal button of cartilage. The action of the individual in ques-
tion, which saluted the cabin-boy who hauled it up by taking a
piece out of his finger with this appendage, tends to prove that it
is a weapon of offence.

The sea-basse (Atractoscion nobilis Gill) is one of the most
highly prized of the fishes of our markets, so much so that its
name is given to the flesh of other species. Thus sturgeon is
usually sold in the restaurants under the name of “ sea-basse,”
and that curious dish called “tenderloin of sole” is sturgeon
again. The sea-basse is unfortunately not sufficiently abundant
to supply the demand for it, and is sometimes „absent from the
markets for months together. It attains a considerable size,
examples of from fifty to sixty pounds occur not infrequently, and
individuals weighing seventy-five or even ninety-eight pounds have
been brought to market. This species and Genyanemus lineatus
are the only Sciænidæ sufficiently abundant in our markets to be
of importance as articles of food.

I have not yet been able to prove whether the cod of the
Pacific Coast Cod-fishery is Gadus auratus Cope, or G. macro-
cephalus, as at present I have only seen the dried and beheaded
examples prepared for market. Appleton’s Cyclopzdia gives the
quantity of cod-fish taken in 1870, in Alaskan waters, at 94,750
quintals; whereas the total catch of last year amounted only to
about 1500 tons, or less than one-third of the former amount.
This would appear to indicate a great falling off in the quantity

686 Notes on Pacific Coast Fishes and Fisheries. { November,

of fish taken, but I can scarcely believe that this offers a sufficient
explanation, as, although it appears that the trade was scarcely as
extensive last year as in previous years, the dealers do not speak
of any considerable diminution. It appears more probable that,
as all the species of Sebastes (Sebastichthys, Sebastomus, Sebasto-
_ somus, and Sebastodes of Gill) are commonly called rock-cod, and
the large green Ophiodon elongatus is known as “cod,” that the
quantities of these fishes brought fresh to market are, in the fig-
ures given in the Cyclopedia, included along with that of the
true Gadus. The dried fish has about fourteen rays in the first,
fourteen in the second and seventeen in the third dorsal; with
nineteen in the first, and the same number in the second anal.
The first dorsal is highest, the third shortest, and the base of
the second anal is shorter than that of the first. The fishery is
conducted in much the same manner as that of the Atlantic; the
fish are taken by trawls in shallow water, by angle-lines in deep
water, and are headed, split, cleaned and salted on board ship. The
drying, however, is not done on the spot but is deferred until
after arrival at San Francisco. Two large establishments for
drying the fish are situated within ten miles of that city, and at
one of them, at least, the fish are not dried in piles, but are kept
in strong red-wood tanks framed together without nails, and dried
as required by the market, which is principally local. A few of
the fish are, however, exported to the Pacific shore of South
America and to Australia.

The angle-line. is almost exclusively used in the Sea of
Okkotsk, where rather the larger part of the fish are taken,
partly on account of the depth of the water, but partly because of
the abundance, on the sand-banks, of a small Crustacean, called
by the fishermen a “ sand-flea,’” which attacks and devours the
fish upon the trawl-line before it can be drawn. The species of
Orchestia and its allied genera, as well as those of Hippa, are
commonly called sand-fleas on this coast.

As has been remarked on the Atlantic coast, the fish are of
better quality in deep water than on the more accessible banks,
but as yet the fishery is entirely carried on in what would be
called shallow water in the Atlantic. In the Sea of Okkotsk
forty to fifty fathoms is about the usual depth, while at the Sheu-
é magin islands, the principal fishing locality on the Alaskan coast,
= ten to fifteen fathoms is the usual depth. The trawls used in the

1879. | Notes on Pacific Coast Fishes and Fisheries. 687

Alaska cod-fishery are often six hundred fathoms or three thou-
sand feet long, and bear on each side a row of hooks at every
half fathom, or thereabouts. The dried fish are sorted into three
sizes, the largest are put up in wooden cases, the next size in
bundles, while the small fishes are divested of their skin, vertebra
and fins, cut in halves, and packed in cases under the name of
“boneless cod-fish.” The fishery is about fifteen years old, and
at this time about thirteen vessels are engaged in it; the smaller
fore-and-aft rigged vessels are principally used in Alaskan waters,
while the larger square-rigged vessels run to the Sea of Okkotsk.
The schooners employed at the Sheumagin islands often make two
or three trips in the season. About two hundred and fifty hands
are usually employed by this industry. The fishermen are paid
a fixed sum per thousand fish. At Kadak natives are engaged
to head, split and salt the fish, earning from seventy-five cents to
one dollar per day. A few years ago the dried fish were worth
nine cents per pound, but at the present time the best quality is
worth only four cents.

The Alaska cod-fish is first met with in Puget sound and its
vicinity, but becomes more abundant farther north. Although
the principal fishing grounds are the Sea of Okkotsk and the
Sheumagin islands, extensive banks exist elsewhere, and local
fisheries are carried on at various points in Vancouver island,
British Columbia, and along the coast of Alaska, as, for example,
at Wrangel. Neither the oil from the livers, the sounds or the
tongues are at present utilized. In the stomachs of those opened,
various kinds of small fish and squids are stated to have been

found. The fishery is at present only in its infancy, its limited.

extent is not in any way due to the scarcity of the fish but to the
struggle that has to be maintained with the eastern article, which
has so far successfully excluded the Pacific fish from the regions
east of the Sierras.

The same may be said of the halibut fishery. The fish is
abundant in the northern ‘waters and attains a large size, but
though small quantities have been smoked and canned, the article
cannot successfully compete, even in California, with that from
the Atlantic.

x

688 The Fertilization of Clitoria and Centrosema. [ November,

THE FERTILIZATION OF OUR NATIVE SPECIES OF
CLITORIA AND CENTROSEMA.

BY WILLIAM TRELEASE,

VISITOR to the Southern States in the early summer will

notice among the most conspicuous flowers of dry, open
wood-borders and fields, the two related leguminous species
known to botanists as Ciitorta mariana and Centrosema virginiana;
the former a low vine, sometimes twining for a few feet up some
supporting shrub; the latter a strong, slender twiner, not infre-
quently ascending to the height of ten or more feet. In accord-
ance with its small size, the former has, as a rule, but one or two
flowers expanded at a time, and they are of a pale purple, so that
it is far outshone by its relative, whose entire length is often cov-
ered by bright purple flowers—not quite so large, to be sure, as
those of Clitoria, but compensating for diminished size by
increased number and depth of color—hence a shrub covered by
this vine in full bloom is often an object of great beauty.

If we examine a flower of either species we find that its vex-
illum or standard (s, Fig. 1) is the lowest petal, while in most
leguminous plants it is the uppermost when the flower is in the
position which it naturally occupies on the plant; and this posi-
tion allows it to serve in the species under consideration as an
alighting place for insects.

An examination of the flower of Clitoria will show that the
lateral borders of the horizontal standard are folded upwards to
form a trough, this structure forcing insects to enter the flower
on the median line and leading them directly beneath the keel
(4). The uniform pale-purple color of the rest of the corolla is
deviated from in this trough by the production of special guiding
marks, which combine with the curvature of the standard to lead
all insects into the flower in a constant direction. These marks
consist of a yellowish spot near the apex of the standard, which
narrows into a line following the middle line of the petal. From
the base of this line radiate dark-purple lines on each side, their
widest divergence being just below the widest part of the yellow
line. The wing petals (w) are coherent with the keel at the point
p, and beyond this point they diverge somewhat, thus aiding ina

: _ slight degree the upturned borders of the standard. The keel is .

2 split on its lower border, but when undisturbed the edges are

1879. | The Fertilization of Clitoria and Centrosema. 689

closely applied to each other. The filaments (f) are united,
excepting on the side next the vexillum. Within the base of the
filaments is a large nectar gland (z), broken on the side next the
standard, and slightly five-lobed on its free surface, suggesting its
homology with a whorl of five stamens. Through the break
on its lower side and the breaks in the tube formed by the fila-
ments, the abundantly-secreted nectar flows into the basal part of
the standard, and it is to this that the guiding marks of this petal
lead. The pistil-consists of an elongated, stalked ovary (o) and a
slender style terminated by an enlarged stigma (s¢), which usually
protrudes slightly from the tip of the keel when the flower is
expanded.

From its structure it may be predicted that this flower is
designed to be fertilized by bees, but though I have often care-
fully watched dozens of plants growing together, for a long time,
I have never seen a bee visit one of them, though I have some-
times noticed a swiftly-flying black bee (Melissodes nigra) flying
nervously among the flowers, and I have no doubt that this
species, at least, visits them for their honey. Once I saw a but-
terfly (Cadidryas eubule) standing on the keel and having its pro-
boscis inserted between the bases of the keel and the wing petals,
thus reaching the nectar at the base of the standard. To show
what would happen if a bee entered the flower, we may insert the
end of a small pencil between the vexillum and the tip of the
keel. First of all this comes in contact with the stigma, and this
would take up any pollen on its upper surface. Differently from
what occurs in the majority of leguminous flowers, the rigid keel
and standard do not readily move apart by a wedging action
between them, but as we insert the pencil a little farther it
encounters the wings on either hand and forces these apart lat-
erally. In doing this the sides of the keel are slightly pulled
apart, owing to their union with the wings, and the pollen col-
lected in the keel is allowed to fall upon the pencil. That this is
what occurs in nature when a bee visits the flower, I think there
can be little doubt; though a set of collecting hairs (Fig. 1v, 4)
on the inner side of the style makes it appear probable that the
keel is forced somewhat upward, so as to cause these to pump
out a quantity of pollen. In Central Alabama, where these ob-
servations were made, a fair percentage of the flowers set fruit,
but I am unable to say whether the plant is self-fertile or not.

690 The Fertilization of Clitoria and Centrosema. [ November,

In Centrosema the standard is either horizontal or considerably
inclined, being nearly vertical in some cases; it is more nearly
flat than in Clitoria, and its lateral margins are usually more or
less noticeably bent downward. Near its base, on the middle

Fic. 1—Flower of Clitoria mariana, with nearer half of vexillum removed, nat-
ural siz

Fic. Tone same with the nearer wing and= the nearer keel petal removed, as
well as a part of the staminal tube and the nearer pe of the calyx

Fic. 111.—Cross section (diagrammatic) of Fig. 1

Fic. 1v.—Tip of the keel with the stamens a pe unnaturally protruded,

d.
Fic. v.—Flower of Centrosema virginiana seen from the side, natural size. The
keel is bent so as to expose the anthers and stigma.

Fic. vi.—The same from in front

Fic. vit.—Vexillum of Fig. v1 in longitudinal pap natural siz

Fic. vit1.—Keel after removal of the wings and standard, aie size, The
dotted line pee the position of the stamen and pist

In all figures æ indicates the anthers; c, the nee f the filaments; $, the

guiding rela A, the collecting hairs; 4, the keel; #, the nectar-gland; , the

_ point of union of keel and wings; 7, the nectar reservoir; s, the standard or vexil-

lum; s¢, the stigma; x, part of the spring for retaining the keel in its normal posi-

tion; v, the pouch for the stigma and anthers; zw, the wings; xy, the point at which
: section, T, 11, is taken.

1879. | The Fertilization of Clitoria and Centrosema. 691

line, this petal has a guiding groove (g) of considerable depth,
which connects with a slight cup (7) at the very base, this cup
serving as a receptacle for nectar. On its lower surface, just in
front of this receptacle, the vexillum is provided with a solid spur
(sf, Fig. vir), which forms one character by which this genus is
distinguished from Clitoria, but which seems to perform no func-
tion now. On the upper surface of the standard a white line, bor-
dered on each side by fine lines of dark purple, runs from the
basal guiding groove nearly to the apex of the petal, while others
radiate from it on either hand, following the general direction of
the veins of the standard. These marks, like those of the gpecies
last discussed, serve as guides to the nectar, which is poured into
its receptacle, from a vaguely nine to ten-lobed annular gland,
through the split in the staminal tube. The wings are coherent
with the keel, are laterally inflated, and are so arranged as to pre-
vent anything larger than the proboscis of a butterfly from reach-
ing the nectar of the flower excepting by way of the guiding
groove. The keel petals. are grown together along both edges
with the exception of a small space at their base and another at
their apex. On the border next the vexillum, at about one-third
the distance from its base to its apex, each keel-petal bulges out-
ward to form an egg-shaped, thin-walled protuberance (Fig. vill,
u), the two being approximated on the median line. Half way
between this and the tip, another common inflation (v) forms a
closed pouch in which the stigma and anthers commonly lie, the
style and stamens being strongly curved.

In reaching its head under the keel for the purpose of pro-
truding its tongue into the nectar receptacle, through the guiding
groove, a bee encounters the first-mentioned protrusion, which,
with the inflated sides of the keel and the wings, acts as a spring,
keeping the keel in its normal position, with the stigma and
anthers concealed within it, in their pouch. But when this pro-
truding pouch is pressed from below it bends the keel on its
back and forces it slightly backward at its base, so that the stigma
‘and anthers—which move but little—are protruded from the split
apex of the keel and come in contact with the back of the bee.
After the pressure is removed the elasticity of the parts returns
them to their former position.

In spite of the guiding marks some insects fail to find the nec-
tar. For example, one day in August an ichneumon-fly was seen

692 Recent Literature. [ November,

to try anxiously to find access to the honey of several flowers,
but in every case it tried to enter at the side of the wings, and
always failed. One large butterfly was seen to insert its proboscis
at the side of the wings, and as it remained quietly standing for
some time it probably obtained nectar. Several small butterflies
alighted on the vexillum and ran their proboscides down the
guiding groove, but necessarily failed to fertilize the flowers as
they exerted no pressure on the keel. Many humble bees were
seen to enter the flowers. Catching their anterior tarsi on the
sides of the standard, they pulled themselves between this and
the keel by sheer force, and then relaxing their hold, they pro-
truded their tongues and feasted upon the nectar. In every case
they caused the stigma and anthers to be exserted, and these
always came in contact with their backs. Where flowers had
been visited many times by these bees the sides of the vexillum,
and especially near its base, were greatly scratched, and in some
cases cut through by their sharp tarsal claws. When the bee
left the flower the keel invariably returned to its former position
so as to enclose the organs of fertilization. Hive bees were also
seen to visit flowers of this species several times, and they acted
precisely as the humble bees did, and with a similar result.

Quite a number of flowers were seen with large perforations
(Fig. vit) through both wing and keel, just back of the position
commonly occupied by the anthers and stigma. As these
did not allow access to the nectar, but did expose the pollen,
I am inclined to think that they were made by some pollen
collecting insect—probably humble bees—though I was unable
to see the openings made or used by any insect. In Alabama,
where these observations were made, the flowers of this plant are
largely fertile, but it was not determined whether they are self-
fertile or not.

——,0:—_—
0:

RECENT LITERATURE.

CLARK'S ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE LUCERNARIÆ —
American zoological science has, from the beginning, been espe-
cially lacking in histological investigations. The lamented author
of the beautiful memoir before us, did far more than any one

_ lLucernarie and their Allies. A memoir on the anatomy and physiology 1
Salicipstus oe and other Lucernarians, with a discussion of mer rela on

| o Beroids and Polypi. By HENRY JAMES CLAR

- Smithsonian Contributions to Poa Washington, September, T88. si pp-
M) II I plat

1879. ] Recent Literature. 693

else to remove this reproach upon American biology. He was
admirably adapted by nature for doing histological work, being
cautious, careful, thorough and honest, and skillful in the techni-
cal and mechanical part of the work. But the present memoir,
as well as many of Clark’s other writings, evinces a thoughtful-
ness and grasp of the subject which characterizes observers of a
high order, though he failed at times to record his observations in
a style as terse and simple as that of some other writers.

Though this monograph bears as its date of publication, Sep-
tember, 1878, five years after the author’s death, we received it in
July of the present year. If we are to judge by the quality of
the memoir, it is the most important zoological work (because
involving so much hard labor and done with so much care) which
has appeared in this country for several years, and we say this
without disparagement to others.

e Lucernaria is a creature, not often met with, living attached
by its tail or peduncle to eel grass or sea weeds just beyond low-
water mark. The differences of opinion regarding its true posi-
tion in nature, whether to be reckoned a jelly-fish or a type of a
distinct order, led the author, who had paid so much attention to
the Polyps and Acalephs, to devote time extending over several
years to the full elaboration of its general and minute anatomy,
its mode of development and relations to neighboring types of
life. This has led to the preparation of an elaborate monograph,
most carefully prepared, and illustrated by drawings which are
not inferior in faithfulness, finish and artistic effect to those of any
American, and few European delineators of the invertebrate.ani-
mals. The text is divided into seven chapters; in the first, on
individuality, the author discusses the subject of animal individ-
uality, illustrating his points by reference mainly to the polyps
and acalephs. The subject is sufficiently simple when the verte-
brates are involved, but among the polyps, jelly-fishes, Polyzoa
and Ascidians, where many forms are social, compound and often
many-headed, it is difficult to say where the organ ends and the
individual begins. The author clearly distinguishes between
organs like those of the Tubularians and Siphonophores which
have a high degree of individuality, and the individual joints (pro-
glottides) of the tape worms; and does not fall into the error o
regarding the former as truly individuals. The sexual and sexless
organs of the polycephalic Acalephs, such as the Tubularians,
‘are necessary to make up a complete organism, 2. e., vegetative
and reproductive, the one a complement of the other, neither
alone can represent the individual unit, or whole cycle of life.” We
infer from the statement made that Clark regarded the so-called
polymorphic individuals as “ organs under various disguises ;” a
view which seems to us most reasonable. Clark ascribes a high
degree of individuality to the jelly-fish, Pelagia, and only a less
_ amount to Lucernaria.

694 Recent Literature. [ November,

The author in a third chapter attempts to point out an antero-
posterior repetition of parts in the strobila of the Acalephs. In
the fourth and fifth chapters a detailed account of the anatomy
and physiology of Lucernaria is given. A number of new terms
are adopted; among them ofsophragma for the face-wall of Lu-

ture of these animals; and the
adhesive bodies (Colletocystophores) or anchors, is elaborated, and
these bodies judged to be modified tentacles; certain other bodies
(digituli) are carefully discussed and compared with similar bodies
in the Acalephs. The digestive, nervous and reproductive sys-
tems are described, and then follows Chapter vi on embryology,
comprising a description of the smallest specimen of /adyclystus
auricula yet met with, which was one-sixteenth of an inch in
diameter; but the development within the egg is not given. In
the chapter on histology a discussion as to the nature of cells is
introduced in a lengthy foot-note. Clark believed with other
advanced histologists that “ ced/s so called (no matter whether
constituted according to the older histologists or according to the
most recent theory), are, after all, of secondary importance, ane
that the cy/oblastema (which we do not distinguish from inter-
cellular substance) is in the main an essential element, the poten-
tial progenitor of all tissues, and that it projects itself into the
utmost future of the living body by a process of self-prolifera-
tion.” This cytoblastema, as Schwann (not Schwa, as printed in
this memoir) called it, corresponds to the sarcode of Dujardin or
protoplasm of recent authors, as he remarks incidentally poe
“all Rhizopods are moving, sentient masses of Cytodastema, an
that alone.” ieee
It is now generally believed, and has especially been insiste
on by Heckel that cilia are prolongations or extensions ma
protoplasmic substance of the cells from which they arise. i
discovery was first made by Clark and published by him as, "n
as 1863. He then stated that “all vibratile cilia originate ın t r
amorphous intercellular substance.”! He then adds in the dea
memoir,-which was written in 1869 and 1870, judging by t
context: “This has particular, reference to those cilia that pist
cells which are fully developed, and have a distinct cell-mem--
brane. It would be true,as a matter of course, in the oe
of those who hold that Infusoria are composed of sarcode, |
1 See Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, September, 1863, P-
2835; avd Annals and Magazine of Natural History, December, 1864. ;

18709. | | Recent Literature. 695

apparently untenable if we admit with Kolliker, which we ‘do not,
that they are unicellular, while we deny that these cilia are direct
prolongations of the cells which they seem to be so closely
related to, we do not assert that they are always disconnected
with some form of cell in the modern acceptance of the ideal cell.
We do, however, believe that they are never the filiform prolifera-
tions of a distinct cell-membrane, however much they may
appear to be so, but that in such cases they arise from the cyto-
blastema which overlies the cells.”

That vibratile cilia are “ individualistic in their movements at
times, just as an arm or aleg is individualized” is claimed by our
author, who remarks as follows: “Cilia are commonly treated

trolling the actions of any one separately. s well might one
claim that the numerous legs of a centipede are not capable of
individual control.” The beautiful figure given indicates the indi-
viduality of the cilia, and that they are “individually con-
trollable.”
he memoir ends abruptly with an account of the lasso cells
or prehensile cysts (nematocysts and colletocysts), by which, as in
most other Ccelenterates, the prey is benumbed and thus rendered
more easy of capture. In 1863 Clark published the opinion that
the nematocysts “have an intercellular origin, and do not develop
within the cells which form the layer in which they are imbedded,
ut commence their career, de novo, by free-cell formation in the
cytoblastema.” the latter term referring, as we understand it, to
the protoplasm or parenchym of the body. Description is also

assume that, as in all the other four grand divisions of animals,
the mouth is at the cephalic or anterior extremity of the body,
and that all the rest of the organism is virtually, if not really,
topographically behind it, and that whatever extends from the
oral end of the body dves not radiate from that end in two, three,
four or five or more directions, but trends posteriorly in so many

plane which divides the body into a bilateral figure. To give the
idea a reality, we have but to point to the mouth of an Actinia

1 Mind in Natnre, or the Origin of Life and the Mode of Development of Ani-
mals, By H. J. Clark. D. Appleton & Co. 1865. ?

696 Recent Literature. | November,

as the cephalic end of our bilateral figure, and looking inwardly
we shall see the flat stomach forming the sectant plane, which,
extended in imagination in two opposite directions, would strike
the periphery of the body along two dorsal and ventral lines one

undred and eighty degrees from each other, and then, projected
still further away from the mouth, would terminate finally in the
posterior, adherent discoid end. Parallel-wise with this plane all of
the partitions of the digestive cavity trend, like a series of super-
posed shelves or galleries, in direct lines from the region lying
right and left of the mouth, and of the flattened parallel sides of
the stomach, backward along the inner face of the cylindrical
periphery, so as to subdivide the included space into as many
longitudinal corridors. It is these partitions which, by their mul-
tiplied sameness, constitute, among others, the elements that
embody the dorso-ventrally repetitive type; the true ideal, as we
firmly believe, upon which this grand division is founded.

“ We think we shall be understood now when we say that the
multitudinous chymiferous canals of the disciform Atquorea and
the quadruple channels of the cylindrical bell of Sarsia are two
widely separated extremes of dorso-ventrally repetitive fae ee

the

or that the numerous ambulacea of Solaster and ve of
Asterias represent two extremes of dorso-ventral repetition,
hrown d, ‘into rank,’ to the same line with the m uth ;

ficial feature, not always constant in Cuvier’s Radiata, though
h

tiful memoir was evidently designed to cover at least fifteen por

as reference is made to several chapters composing Part xv, On y

two parts having an actual existence. A broken s i
represent both the author’s life and this posthumous work, rig

symmetrical and thoroughly finished to the point where they

suddenly broke off. :

Recent Books AND PAMPHLETS.—Appunti Ittiologica sulle collezioni Ber"

Civico di Genova. Per D. Vinciguerra. 1. Enumerazione di alcune specie ole

ii O. Beccari, 1879. (Ext. from Ann. del Mus. ©! T

io, 9 Giugno, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 14- „1i ask

(Tay. 1.) (Ext. from the same J urnal,

_ Vol. x1v, Agosto, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 19. From the author. ;

1879. | Recent Literature. 697

aihe Extinct Birds of Rodrigues. By Dr. A. Günther, F.R.S., and Edward New-
M MAs ELS. 4to, pp- 15, pls. XLI-XLIII. London, no date. From
Es author:
[Zoölogy at seg age Lee vig Dr. a Günther, F.R.S. Fishes.
By the same author. London, no dat
i ap ve iE v abe By Dr. dines Günther. 4to, pp. 5. Lon-
on, no dat
of Pe Mammals, Reptiles pen regs a sent by Mr. mas Ba from the
Pippin islands. By Dr. A. Günther, F.R.S. 8vo, pp. 74-79, pl. 1 (From
c. Zodl. Soc. of London, Jan. 14, I
Dea Reptiles from Midian, collected by Major Burton. By Dr. Albert Günther,
Te 8vo, pp. 977, 978, pl. LXII. (From Proc. Zoöl. Soc. of London, Dec. 3,
1879
Notice of a Collection of Reptiles from the Islands of Torres Straits. By D
Albert ps annie F.R.S. 8vo, pp. 84-87. (From Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., tp
1879.) London.
On two new species of Fishes from the cognate By Dr. A. Günther. 8vo, pp.
2. (From Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Feb., 1879.) London
feria notices of D eep-sea Fishes ote Sa the voyage of H.M.S.
Challenger. By Dr. Albert Günther. 8vo, pp. 2 (From Ann. and Mag. Nat.
Hist., July, 1878.) London
Description of four new species of Chameleon from Madagascar. By Dr. A.
Günther, F.R.S. 8vo, pp. 148-150, pls. x1-xul. (Fr na td c. Zoél. Soc. London,
Feb. 18, 1879. i This and 8 preceding from the same aut
The oe terly eee of the Geological Society, Vol. XXXV, aig 139 part 3. 8vo,
Aug. 1, 1879. From the Society.
ru Jo ournal a my Franklin Institute, Vol. cvii, No. 644, Aug., 1879. Phila-
delphia. From the Institu
Annual Report upon Sab bee and Surveys in the Department of the Mis-

souri. By E. H. Ruffner, Lieut. Eng. U.S.A. Being Appendix SS of the Annual
Report of > See of Engineers for 1878. ao pp- 1749-1867, pls. 8. Washing-
ton, 1878. m the Department of the Inter

Proceedings of the jon gs a Natural Asit of Philadelphia. 8vo, pp. 153-
184, mede pia so

U araar e der Ctenophoren. [Verbal communication d
By Prof. “Haeckel 8vo, pp. 10. (Ext. from Sitzungsberichten = a aischen Gesell;
f. Me Naturwissenschaft. 16 Mai, 18 79.) From the aut

Bra aks es ventricosus fe schudi) est Gjeni de Herodia walttii (Mich.).
Par Fernand Lataste. 8vo (Ext. des Actes de la Soc. Linnéenne de Bor-
deaux, 2 Mai, 1879.) rom the author.

Ichthyagrafiske Bidrag. vil Tillægsbemærkninger om Sugefiske og a
Af Dr. Chr, Lütken. (Ext. from Vidensk. Medd. fra den Naturhist. Foren
Kjdbenhavn, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 2. From the author.

Smaa Bidrag til Selachiernes Naturhistorie. (Om —— Rokkeformer ; om
Havkalens Forplantning, om de, gion tidligere Forekomst ved Island og foregivne
Forekomst ved Grénland ; samt om den paa, esae Ferskva nds- Haj.) :
Dr. Chr. Lütken. (Ext. from Vidensk. Medd. fra den "Nain rhist. Foren. i i Kjöben-

Ueber pen neue und poan Fischarten und den K. K. pee i aoge a
Wien, Stuttgart und Wars Von Dr. Franz Steindachner. (Ext.
schriften d. Math share pe Classe . Kaiser Akad. d. Wienia)
4to, pp. 52, 97 af, Wien, 1879. From the a
Scientific Lectures. By Sir John Lubbock, Dak MP „etc. Svo, cloth, pp. 187,
rp pee nen 30 figures on wood. Macmillan & Ca. "London, 1879. From the pub-
Piloviéa Record for 1877; being volume fourteenth of the Record of Zodlogi-
~ Literature. Edited by Edward Caldwell Rye, F.R.S., etc. 8vo. London, 1879.
rom the editor.

698 General Notes. [ November,

Palzeontographica. Beiträge zur tapii ores der Vorzeit. Sechsundzwanz-
T Band oder dritte Folge. Zweiter Band. Erste und zweite apes Edited

y Wilh. Dunker and Karl A. Zittel, assisted by Hens ie, Beyrich and others, 4to,
a 50, pls. x11. Theodor F ischer, Cassel, gue, 1879. oe am publisher.

The Peduncular Sept of the Anthropoid A By Edward C. Spitzka, M.D.
(Ext. from the Jou mo em and Mental ‘Uiacues: pet 1879.) 8vo, pp. 27.
New York. From the au

The Outer ear of Blarina pie By Dr. Elliott pre U.S.A. (Ext. from
American yaen of Otology, Vol. 1, July 18, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 2. New York,

Wm. Wood & Co. From the author

Catalogue of Scientific Serials in the iu of Harvard University. Samuel H.
Scudder, Cambridge, 1879. 8vo, pp. 3

Resources and Attr actions of Utah. eapared by the Utah Board of Trade.

Omaha Republican Publishing House, 1879. 8vo, pp. 74.
Ne ame of Samuel Hubbard Scudder. Published by the editor, George Dim-
ock. Cambridge, inne si si if es
le Breyeria Borine Proudhomme (Extrait des

pen sur
Compa seats de la Société Eotdea de Belgique. Sones es 7 Juin, 1879,
Bruxelles.) - 8vo, pp. 6.

Principal J. W. Dawson’s Criticism of my Memoir on the Structure of Eoz06'
Canadense compared with that of Foraminifera. (From the American ernie of
Science and Arts, Vol. xviir, September, 1879.) By K. Möbius. 8vo, pp.

Report of the Entomologist, obi of Agriculture, Charles V. Riley. Wash-
ington Government Printing Office, 1879. 8vo, pp. 52.

De la Meilleure e on a nisi aux Cais isses et Cartons des Collections
d’Insects, Par A. Proudhomme de Borre. (Extrait t des Annales a . Société En-
tomologique de Boletus Séance du 5 Avril, 1879, Bruxelles.) 8vo,

Naturgeschichte Cubanischer Pasa pe Nach Besahangen des
Dr. Gundlach bearbeitel. Von H. Dewitz. Zeitschr. f. d. . Naturwis.
Lil, 1879. 8vo, pp, 20

Herrn
Bd.

:0:
mae eae NOTES.

rectify their frontiers. Some ae PESAH threw their seeds,
some were trans orted by the ret and many were prov

z the agency of animals. This means was divided into two
ses, where seeds adhered to animals by hoo wa
ame purpose was effected by sticky glands. The next poin
tidched upon was, that seeds found themselves in s
growth. Most seeds germinated on the ground,
instances, as the mistletoe, where they were parasitic on trees:
Such seeds were AERE in a viscid substance, so that if d dope
a Wod ona wooh they adhered to it. In some cases pian.

1879. } Botany. 699

buried their own seeds, and in other instances the seeds buried
themselves, the means by which these processes were effected
being fully explained by Sir John, who, in conclusion, called
attention to mimicking seeds, such as the Scorpiurus, the pods of
which did not open, but looked so exactly Tike worms that birds
were induced to peck at them and thus free the seeds. That this
was the purpose of the resemblance he would not assert, but he
threw it out as a matter for consideration.

Tuer FRUIT OF SUEPHERDIA CANADENSIS.—In the same locality
as Prunus pumila (p. 649) is found Shepherdia Canadensis Nutt.,
whose fruit differs from the description commonly given. Gray’s
Manual states that it is “ yellowish-red, insipid ;” Wood’s Class
Book, “ Berries oval, scaly, sweetish to the taste;” Nuttall, who
originally described it, “ Berries squamose, sweetish but scarcely
edible.” The berries are pleasantly acid, followed, however, by a
slightly bitter taste if the skin be retained in the mouth. he
color is scarlet, in this respect, as well as in the globular form and
the size, closely resembling the common red currant. A dish of
them would at first sight be taken for currants by almost any
one. The bushes bore abundance of fruit this year, which is
rather uncommon, and except in leaves, strikingly simulated
well-loaded currant bushes. Bringing some home in fruit, and
showing them to some children before allowing them to be tasted,
they were at once said to be currants, and were eaten with a rel-
ish, showing that the children do not agree with the botanists, if
these are typical berries. They are sparsely covered with scales
in the form of the brown radiating hairs so abundant on the
under side of the leaf, that form such pretty objects under the mi-
croscope. The description of the fruit of the buffalo berry of
Upper Missouri (S. argentea Nutt), “edible, acid, scarlet,” really
answers more correctly for this. The plant does not seem to
vary otherwise from the ordinary descriptiom—E£. J. Hill.

700 General Notes. [ November,

THE HOUSTONIA ROTUNDIFOLIA PRODUCING DOUBLE FLOWERS.—
Though Chapman limits the Houstonia rotundifolia Michx., to
“sandy soil near the coast,” I found it quite common in the cen-
tral or lake region of Florida. At Santa Fe lake, Fla., on Janu-
ary 14, 1878, I met an instance of this plant producing double
flowers. Each beautiful little snow-white blossom was so crowded
with petals as to form a perfect tiny rosette ; the other parts varied
in there being three pistils having exserted styles, while there
were five included stamens. Several of the inner petals also were
tipped with anthers, resembling the same feature in the water-lily.
The plant grew under an old fence, the rails of which were par-
tially decayed; but there were otherwise no artificial surround-
ings to which the peculiarity might be ascribed. The dimorphous
character of the flowers in the genus Houstonia is worth recalling
in this connection, and it is further noteworthy that the species
under consideration bears apetalous fruiting flowers throughout
the year—AHenry Gillman, Detroit, Michigan.

A Succestion.—To mark the relative frequency of species in
a local flora the botanists always use the terms, common, abundant,
frequent, scarce, rare, very rare, etc. This is not sufficient when

divided into ten equal parts of ten square miles each. We would
mark a species which occurs in each of those parts with the
Roman figure x, when only in five with v, when only in one with
1, etc. This would show the distribution of a plant over the
whole area in question. Of course when a plant grows only in
swamps, or on prairies, or in woods, these figures would indicate
only the occurrence in so many parts of swamp land, prairie
land, or wood land, and it would be necessary that the flora be

“each species in each lacality could be marked by an Arabic fig-
ure from 1 to 10. So 1.1 would mean only a single specimen
found on a single locality, 1. 2 a few specimens, 1.3 4 1

Ag
| nother
marked 11. 2 neither, when those marked with x. 10, X. 9, EE AO

ould be of a decided influence, giving the view 4.

1879. | Botany. 701

prominent stamp. Small gg aa ge plants, for instance,
Eleocharis avicularis, act upon the sight only in large masses (be
it by millions), when a much smaller number (thousands) of
woody species, for instance Quercus alba or Corylus americana,
may have the same effect. Both the former and the

viduals but the manner in which they strike the sight. For the
intention of this method is not only to give the relative frequency
of each species, but at the same time to show what part the spe-
cies does play in the whole vegetation of a certain district as pre-
senting itself to our view.
esides these designations the goie character of a locality

could be marked by the letters

This simple method, which requires AR als: space in a book,

would be a valuable improvement in our floral catalogues.—
Fred. Brendel.

Botanicat Nores.— There has lately been on exhibition in the
window of the office of the Providence Journal, a magnificent
fasciated specimen of the golden-banded lily of cultivation, bear-
ing one hundred and thirty-seven blossoms. The stem is flat-
tened in the usual way when this teratological Sa E is

A usual RAAEN care and discrimination of its author, and
will be welcome to the many students who have wandered through
the chaos hitherto existing in this family. Many radical changes
are made, but none, we believe, which will not be found ae the
better ; certainly none for which good reasons could not be
given. To instance two of these, the genus Uvularia seit the
species perfoliata and grandi iflora, while sessi As and puberula
are brought under a genus Oakesta. The genus Mila mostly
ie Sappears in ETET A second portion of the rie pamphlet

mber of new species of various orders, the whole
lowed by 3 a ey prepared index—W. W. bailey, Provi-

£;

Thè SEA-WEEDS ( OF SALT Lake.—The attention of the visitor
to the shores of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, is sometimes attracted
by the small masses of Algz which are seen to be suspended in the
brine, and to be cast ashore in little windrows on the sandy
shores. Four years ago, while connected with Hayden's U. S.
Geological Survey of the Territories, I made an investigation. A

a. the: life of the Great Salt Lake, especially of Artemia fertilis an

hydra A Sse and took pains to collect in alcohol, and
dey ci of these Alga, as they had been unnoticed by
collectors so far as I am aware. ki is po ble that

2 _ Saline re

702 General Notes. [ November,

these Algz are almost the only source of food for the brine-
shrimp, as they are diffused through the water in nearly equal
abundance with the Crustaceans themselves, and in no case that I
could see, grow attached to any objects in the lake or on the
shore. The most common form is a rounded mass which lives
suspended in the water.

Specimens of the Algæ collected were sent to Prof. W. G. Far-
low, of Harvard University, from whom the following preliminary
report has been received :

“The Algz which you collected in Salt Lake are very inter-
esting and, as far as I know, are the first which have ever been
collected in that locality. Mr. Sereno Watson, the distinguished
botanist of the King Survey, tells me that he examined a portion
of Salt Lake for Algæ but without success, and thinks it probable
that very few plants will be found in the lake. The specimens
you sent comprise two small packages of dried material and a
small bottle of alcoholic specimens. The alcoholic material is
scarcely determinable, as the specific characters of Algze, such as
would be expected to occur in Salt Lake, are generally lost by
immersion in alcohol. The dried material I have soaked out
and examined :

“It consists largely of grains of sand and remains of small ani-
mals, mixed with which are three species of Algae. The most abun-

the oblong shape of its cells, which are smaller than in any of t

d, and the
ich
they are imbedded. Besides the Polycystis is a species of Ulva,
using the word in the extended sense adopted by Le Jolis, which
is in fragments, so that one can form no very accurate id
habit. The microscopic characters, however, show th

with scarcely any doubt, Ulva marginata Ag., found on the coast

Jolis to be the species described by Agardh. The third Alga

from Salt Lake is much less abundant than the others in the — o

a com-
Europe
nd

il

approaches R. kochianum, a species also marine and found 1

1 The color in life is an olive green.—A. S. P,

1879. | Zoblogy. 703

“You will see then that two of the three species are recogniza-
ble as marine forms, while the third, in my opinion now, is at
least not to be referred to a known marine form. As a rule, the
Alga: found in saline regions belong to species found in brackish
waters on the coast. One might expect to find a large variety of
Ulveze and Confervez in Salt Lake, and it would be of interest to
see how closely these inland forms approximate to the littoral
forms of the eastern and western coasts.” —A. S. Packard, Fr.

Botanica, News —The Botanical Gazette for September prints
an article by Prof. J. T. Rothrock on the staining and double
staining of vegetable tissue. Grevillea for September contains
an account, by W. L. Lindsay, of experiments on the colorific
properties of lichens. In Trimen’s Journal of Botany for Sep-
tember, Mr. S. LeM. Moore discusses in an interesting way the
mimicry of seeds and fruits, and the functions of seminal append-
ages, pointing out the resemblance of certain seeds to insects,
spiders and shells. He concludes that “the insect-mimicing
fruit or seed may escape from its seminivorous enemies by being
passed over as an insect; moreover, insectivorous ones seizing it
and finding out their mistake would be almost certain to fling it
some distance away, by which means the species would stand a
better chance of dispersion.”

ZOOLOGY. !
SUCCESSIVE APPEARANCE OF CHIROCEPHALUS AND STREPTO-
CEPHALUS IN THE SAME Ponp.—The pond at Woodbury, N. J.,

from which the types of a new species of the first-named genus
were obtained, and which I called C. Aolmanti, has recently yielded
Specimens of a large species of Streptocephalus, which I have
named S. sealii. Mr. W. P. Seal, who collected for me specimens

feet and body.— Fohn A. Ryder. |
Tuirp Locatity For Eurypauropus.—On the 2oth of Sep-
tember last, I found specimens of the above-mentioned genus
Under sticks and leaves, in considerable abundance, at a place on
the west side of the Schuylkill river, about a mile north of the
„`The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
Sate. US AL a a

704 General Notes. [ November,

most northern locality first discovered. Neither larve nor adults
differed in any way from those found earlier in the year.— Fohn
A. Ryder.

A PROBABLE NEW SPECIES OF PHYTOPTUS oR GALL-MITE.— Prof.
Wm. Barbeck recently handed me a slide containing specimens
of a very small mite found by him on the leaves of a maple.
Upon examining the slide carefully with a power of 550 diameters,
I was enabled to make a pretty fair camera sketch, which I have
compared with all of the figures of the other species to which I
had access, and I am led to infer therefrom that it is a new spe-
cies, but shall not name it on account of the fact that those
hitherto known and described, have, for the
most part, been very poorly characterized.
The accompanying figure of this creature
will give a good idea of its appearance. It
measures not quite the ;}, of an inch in
length, and is almost perfectly transparent.
It is found in vast numbers on the leaves

HM
° O
w Ah
pa (ana
Hera
ef 3
Fo 8
Qin
UY?
nw c
an j $
auae
f ae -t
ag 78 g
Q hj
TF
PS
O ©
tem g Lae |
0
moO.
a. 2, 2
gag
aN et
mga 2

belonging to a very singular family known
since the time of Dujardin as Phytoptide.

nce of —

~ the homoplasy spoken of by E. Ray Lankester. That 1s, peel ot
become similar in structure through the prolonged influence cd :

rsd

1879. | Zoölogy. o

The principal characters which seem to distinguish the form
here figured from others, are the robust basal joints of the legs
and the long tenant hairs of what are probably the first tarsal
joints; though I am not sure that these are specific characters,
and it will be impossible to decide until the group has been spe-
cially studied. Meanwhile, the figure of the above-described
Phytoptus, observed by me, may be of use to some specialist
interested in revising the group. — Sohn A. Ryder.

Tue ExGLISH Sparrow (Passer domesticus)—Every fact touch-
ing the relations of the English sparrow to our native birds
should be put upon record, to the end that a just conclusion may
be reached in regard to its character. During the present month
(June, 1879) Hon. Wm. H. Upson, of Akron, called my attention
to the fact that a box erected for birds in his yard had, in the
Spring, been occupied by the sparrows; that the house-martins
had taken forcible possession, driven out the sparrows and were
then occupying the box, which the sparrows were constantly
endeavoring to regain. Going to his grounds I found one of the
Martins sitting as a sentinel at the door of the box, and in a few
minutes the sparrow appeared with materials for nest-building in
its bill, hanging around apparently waiting for an opportunity to
enter the box ; it never tried to enter while the martin was sitting
in sight at the door, but as soon as the passage seemed clear,
made the attempt; it was every time driven away by the martin.
I watched the controversy for an hour, during which many
attempts were made to gain possession. The sparrow never
called for re-inforcements, but twice the martin gave a sharp call
which brought several others to his assistance. It was very
evident that the martin was able co hold the fort.

Mr. Upson has many trees and much thick shrubbery in his
yard, and although his grounds are in the city of Akron, they
are filled with a large variety of our native birds, and he reports
that they are all fully able to take care of themselves in the pres-
€nce of the sparrow, but suggests that in large numbers the spar-
rows may induce a bird famine, and in that way alone tend to

diminish the number of our native birds.

Prof. Elizur Wright, of Mass., was the guest of Mr. Upson at
the time of my visit, and was much interested in the controversy
betweentthe sparrow and the martin. He stated that in his
grounds at Medford, near Boston, the sparrows from the city
attempted to take possession of boxes erected for the blue birds
and the white-breasted swallow, but were driven away from the

s and off from the grounds by these native birds. He

- opinion was expressed by old residents of the place, that

706 General Notes. | November,

towhee bunting, Baltimore oriole, orchard oriole, white-eyed vireo,
red-eyed vireo, fly catchers, king bird, cuckoo, etc. e also
states that in his grounds the red squirrel is a great plunderer of
the eggs of the birds.

July 8—The sparrows in Mr. Upson’s grounds have finally
regained possession of their box. Mr. Upson informs me ‘that
they never made a direct attack upon the martins, but watched
the box continuously for many weeks, and at every possible oppor-
tunity carried nest-building materials into it, until the patience of
the martins was exhausted, their associates were called together in
consultation, and the box abandoned.—M. C. Read, Budson, O.

-= DESTRUCTIVENESS OF ENGLISH SPARROWS.—I am informed by
Mr. John M. Shorten, of Cincinnati, Ohio, of a humming-bird
brought to him to be mounted, which had been killed by English
sparrows. A friend of Mr. Shorten witnessed the attempts of
the pests to destroy the little hummer, but unfortunately did
not succeed in rescuing it until life was nearly extinct—L/hott
Coues, Washington.

Curious HABIT oF THE ENGLISH SPARROW.—I have recently
noticed what seemed to me a curious habit of our English spar-
row. On several occasions whilst walking through the city, I
have seen them take potato bugs and other insects when on the
wing, after the fashion of swallows.

I have also repeatedly noticed these sparrows climbing tree
trunks in spirals exactly like a creeper, stopping at intervals to
pick up insects and the nests of our common yellow caterpillar
from the interstices of the bark. Sometimes the bird would flut-
ter to the ground and reascend, sometimes go from the ground
to the lower branches and then try another tree.—f. R. Ti ay-
lor, MD.

SwaLtows FEEDING on BayBerries.—During a visit at Beach
Haven, N. J., I noticed, September 10, 1878, great flocks of
swallows, which I took to be Cotyle riparia. a!

I saw them alighting by millions on the bare sand flats, whole
acres being covered at once; some coming, others going, and
all as they sat, facing the wind. . :

The ground from which they had just flown was, of course,
dotted with their freshly dropped excrement, and I was astonished
to find therein the hard seeds of the bayberry (Myrica cerifera).
I at first refused to believe the obvious inference, supposing it to
be a settled fact in natural history that swallows were wholly
insectivorous, But from further observation the conclusion
seemed inevitable that they had fed upon the bayberries. *
learned, moreover, that they had been seen to alight upon the
bushes, which were afterwards found to be stripped; an k :

to
wallows were attracted there by the berries. I was anxious wo

1879.) _ - Loblogy. 707

pursue the subject further but was obliged to leave next morning.
Some of my friends, however, endeavored to procure me speci-
mens for identification, but faiied to find them. The birds were
probably on the eve of migration, and arranging therefor. Per-
haps their ordinary pabulum is too quickly digested to support
them on their flight, and they therefore instinctively lay up a
store of more durable food.— Fames Allinson.

NOTES on THE SLAVE-MAKING Ant.—For the past three years
I have been observing a large colony of slave-making ants (For-
mica sanguinea). The formicary is in the grove which surrounds
the house, thus affording me an excellent opportunity to see the
battles and raids upon other species, and to note their curious
proceedings in many other respects.

On August 1st and 2d I witnessed the greatest battle I ever
Saw between the slave-makers (/’. sanguinea) and the black ants
(F. fusca). The distance between the two colonies was one
hundred and twenty feet. The immense number of individuals
composing the colony of slave-makers may be partly estimated
by seeing them on the war path, which was about one foot in
width and one hundred and twenty feet in length—not thinly
scattered but a vast moving phalanx.

The battle-field was about twenty-five or thirty feet in circum-
ference. The blacks were a grand army that would not flee, and
the ground was soon literally covered with the combatants.

It is stated in the August number of the AMERICAN NATURAL-
` IST, page 526, that by means of the microphone Mr. T. S. Tait
has been able to hear the roar of a black ant when attacked by
its companion. When the ants were first attacked in this great
battle, I certainly heard a roar without the aid of a microphone!
Was it the busy tramping feet that I heard? The roar—I do not
know what else to call it—lasted only a few moments, whereas
the battle lasted four or five hours before the reds gained posses-
sion of the vast nurseries of the blacks. It took them nearly two
days (they cease work at night) to transport the pupz and the
mature prisoners to their own dominions,

It is a singular fact, that in all the battles which I have wit-
nessed during the past three years the reds have never been

See as many as three black heads hanging to the legs of one of
the reds, while the headless trunks of the blacks are strewn
thickly over the ground. Very few reds are killed compared —
with the blacks. | He n

=~ The blacks are not the only species which the slave-makers
_ attack. The brown ant (F. schaufussit), and the yellow variety —

708 General Notes. [ November,

(F. schaufussi var. americana), both fall victims to their insatiate
rapacity. Large numbers of these brown and yellow ants are
reared in the slave-making colony, and they make excellent
nurses for their masters. They also make raids upon two species
of Aphenogaster, but these do not remain long with their captors.
But I am happy to state that there are two species of ants in the
grove which the red marauders dare not attack— Camponotus
meleus and Polyergus lucidus they*never attack, however small or
b

7

weak the colony.— Mary Trea

Nores on Paciric Coast Mammats.—The curious case of a
breed of one-toed hogs, mentioned by Dr. Coues, is paralleled, at
least in an individual instance, by that of a one-toed deer, the
four feet of which were presented recently to the California
Academy of Science. Unfortunately the only parts sent were the
metatarsals and toes, so that it would be difficult to be certain of
the species further than that it was a Cariacus. The deer was
killed in Mendocino county, Cal., but no information as to the
existence or non-existence of others resembling it has yet been
obtained. In all cases the third toe was the only one utilized for
progression, but the extent of the development of the fourth toe
differed in the respective feet.

Mr. Chapman, a taxidermist of San Francisco, has a deer horn
which is eighteen inches long, has an external basal prong five
and a-half inches long and an internal posterior prong four and
a-half inches long, branching off six and a-quarter inches from
the slightly re-curved tip of the main antler.

In the collection of Mr. Lorquin, another taxidermist of San
Francisco, there was, not long since, a very large pair of horns of
Cervus canadensis, full grown yet with the velvet still perfect.
The left horn measured four feet eleven inches along the curve,
the right, about an inch less. The right had four branches near
the base, and divided into four prongs at the crown; while the
left had but three basal prongs and three coronal branches. The
distance between the horns at their greatest outward curvature
was three feet eight inches, and the tips were two feet six inches
apart. Will some reader of the Naruratisr kindly inform me
whether similar differences between the two horns of this species
are the rule or the exception; and also whether the large palmated
anterior basal prong of the male reindeer’s horn usually occurs
on one horn only or on bot i

The lynx of Alaska, which I suppose is Lynx canadensis,
appears to attain very large dimensions, since the largest among
several large ones in the possession of Mr. Blunt measured our
feet one inch from the tip of the nose to that of the tail. This
= gentleman had also an albino gopher of a dirty white tint. By
the term “gopher” I do not mean the Spermophilus, which is

often miscalled by

that name, but the true gopher (Thomomys
ockington. a

1

1379. ] Zoblogy. 709

HABITS OF SPERMOPHILUS RICHARDSONI.—I have received the
following interesting communication, which gives some new light
upon the hibernation of this species—A//ot Coues, Washing-
FOR DOC.

Fort ELIIS, MONTANA, Sept 8th, 1879.
Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C

SIR :—So little has been written in regard to the so-called
“gopher” (Spermophilus richardsoni), at least that I have seen,
that a few facts which have come under my own observation
may be welcome to you.

I have always supposed that the gopher hibernated, but during.
the winter of 1878-79, while stationed at Fort Custer, Montana,
I often saw them in December, January and February, playing
about on the snow, which had been trodden down for a few feet
around the entrance of the burrows. Small zig-zag paths led.
from hole to hole, showing that their sociability was continued
during the winter. Some of the holes noticed had no foot-marks
around them, being clean, circular openings in the snow, as if the
gophers had burrowed up to the surface from below, and then
found it too cold to come out. Those observed were seen when
the day was bright and warm, usually about noon. When a new
snow fell and covered the holes, the gophers remained inactive
for some days, at least until the storm was over, and then came
out to sun themselves. From some of the holes no gophers
were seen during the winter, while from others they were noticed
almost every pleasant day during that season. I have seen no
young ones except in June and early in July; the smallest ever
seen were noticed about the middle of last June, while I was
walking a short distance from this post. I then saw them only a
few yards off, a female with three young, gamboling in the sun,
very much like young kittens. One was noticed running around
after its own tail, as I have seen kittens doing. At my approach
the old one disappeared in the burrow with the usual squeak and
Suggestive flirt of the tail; the young ones stopped their play and
regarded me with much interest, yet manifested no disposition to

ever seen which showed no fear of man or dog. From their

Size, not longer than four or five inches, I judged them to be
about a month old.

Regarding the distribution of the gopher, I may add that I

_ have seen the animal in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Montana, ,

from the Platte to the Marias river. Very Respectfully, Pek

2 - S.M Swicert, 1st Lieut. 2d Cavalry, —

710 General Notes. [ November,

OVIPAROUS SNAKEs.—In his article “On the question ‘Do
snakes swallow their young ?’” (Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. for
1873) Mr. Goode states that certain species of snakes, with which
he includes Heterodon platyrhinos and Tropidonotus sipedon, are
ovo-viviparous.

I have in my possession two eggs of H. platyrhinos from a set
of twenty-two ploughed out of the sand at East Hampton, L. L.,
on the roth of September, 1877.

The fact that these eggs had been buried and left in the sand,
and that of the two in my possession one did not hatch till the
fourth day after its discovery (the other being then put in alcohol
to prevent its hatching) shows conclusively that this species is
sometimes, at least, oviparous.

Can it be true of this species: and of T. sipedon, which a com-
munication from Prof. Cope states to be oviparous, that they are
oviparous in some cases and ovo-viviparous in others, as is sup-
posed are some of the Eutznias ?>—/. W. Cragin.

STRATAGEM OF A Wasp.—One day. when in Southern New
Jersey, wearied with the heat, I was resting under a large oak,
when my attention was drawn to what at first seemed a
strangely variegated insect on the trunk of the tree; closer
examination showed the apparently single insect to be really two
insects, one a wasp the other a roach. My approach frightened
the wasp off, but the roach did not move, at Jeast very far. Wish-
ing to understand why the wasp had been so near the roach, I
quietly watched till the wasp returned. It had no sooner alighted,
than going to the roach it seized it by the base of one of its
antennz and proceeded to back up the tree, dragging the roach
after it. I soon perceived that the probable reason the roach did
not escape when the wasp had been frightened off was, that it
had been stung. It is well known that wasps frequently sting
spiders and larva just sufficiently to paralyze them, so that they
may not decay before the young, for whom they are destined, are
in condition to feed upon them. But it seems in the instance
above cited, as if the wasp had only so far injured the roach as
to render it incapable of escape, but not incapable of walking.
By which stratagem it was thus saved the labor of bodily carry-
ing its victim to its nest. Where its nest was, and whether the
roach was destined to be food for the young to be, I could net
ascertain, for unwittingly I frightened the wasp off again, and it
did not return while I remained by the spot—Henry Turner.

BELEOSTOMA Piscivorous—In the spring of 1878, at Ithaca,
N. Y., I had confined, in a jar of water with stickle-backs (Gas-
terosteus) and other fishes, a large specimen of a water-bug

(Beleostoma), At different times I found dead fishes in the jar,

~ and surmised, from the appearance of a wound on each of them,
_ that the water-bug had been the cause of their death. This sup+ —

1879. | Zoology. 711

position was afterwards corroborated by seeing a fish vainly

struggling to free itself from the Beleostoma that had pierced it

with its beak and was, to all appearance, pumping out its blood.

This particular specimen of Beleostoma was in great need of

nourishment, for it provided for over a hundred plump little red

mites that were attached to different portions of its body.— Henry
urner.

NORTHERN RANGE OF CERMATIA FoRCEPS.—Mr. Samuel Hen-
_ Shaw writes us that of this Myriopod the museum of the Boston
Society of Natural History contains six specimens taken in
Massachusetts, and that he knows of three others found in the
same State. Mr. F. G. Sanborn tells him that it has been taken
in Milford, N. H. Mr. J. H. Emerton states that it has also oc-
curred in Essex County, Mass. _

_ Tue Bran oF Insects.—An interesting paper, by E. T. New-

ton, on this subject appears in the Quarterly Fournal of Micro-
Scopical Science for July. The author refers to the complicated inter-
nal structure of the brain of insects as first pointed out by Dujardin.

aive has shown that the power of coordinating the movements
of the body is lodged in the infra-cesophageal ganglia ; this being
the case, Newton thinks that both the upper and lower pairs of
ganglia ought to be regarded as forming parts of the insect’s
brain. Brandt, in a paper read September Ist before the French
Academy, states, zzter alia, that it is untrue that all insects have
a subcesophageal ganglion separate from the others (Rhizotrogus,
Stylops and Hydrometra have not). The circumvolutions of the
brain are found in a insects, in various developments, and the devel-
opment differs in individuals of the same species. In general, the
development of the hemispheres, but not of the whole brain, is
related to instincts and habits. In some insects having two

of ganglia, in others by an opposite process.
_ AGency OF InFusorRIA IN FERTILIZING SEA-WEEDS.—It appears
from the studies of Prof. Dodel-Port, the eminent Zurich botanist,
says Nature, that certain infusoria harbored by the red sea-weeds,
return the favor by fertilizing the sea-weeds on which they live.
Thus the currents formed in the water by the bell-shaped animal-
cules (Vorticella) situated on the shrub-like branches of a Poly-
siphonia, bear the otherwise immovable spores (antherozoids) of
this Alga to the female plants, which are thus fertilized, just as
pollen-collecting insects fertilize willow blossoms or other flowers ;
as many insects feed on pollen, so the animalcules or infu-
Sorians feed on the spores of the sea-weeds. — -= :
= Miarcry in a Snake.—In 1879, while out with the Hayden
| ‘Survey, l was detained about a week, by high water, on the south |

gia General Notes. [ November,

bank of the San Juan river, near the line between New Mexico
and Colorado. While out one day with my guide, we came
across a very large bull-snake (Pityophis sp.?). The reptile
was suspended on some small dead oak trees about two feet from
the ground. These little trees were about as thick through as the
snake, and the bark was ringed and spotted much as he appeared.
We went close to the snake, but he did not stir, remaining appar-
ently stiff and rigid like the sticks upon which he lay. We
viewed him for some moments, commenting upon his singular _
position and appearance, when “ Frank ” finally shot his head off.
As this snake closely resembled, in size and color, the little slen-
der oaks which abound in that region, and which are often found
bent to the ground, dead, it occured tu me that he was practicing
deception, either to enable him to capture a bird or other prey, or
to conceal himself from his enemies.—Chas. Aldrich, Webster city,
Towa.

VIBRATIONS OF THE TAIL IN SNAKES.—I had occasionally seen
this manifestation in some of our common, harmless snakes, in
years past, but my attention was specially directed to it last year,
while making collections for the National Museum and the Zoo-
logical Garden, Philadelphia. Among my captures were some
large specimens of a species of wolf-snake (Coluber obsoletus
confinis) Whenever these reptiles were disturbed or annoyed,
they would vibrate their tails precisely like our rattlesnakes, and
with a very similar sound, snapping at any movable object within
reach. They had a general resemblance in color to our rattle-
snakes, and if met unawares in the dry grass, one might well
believe on the instant that he had encountered a genuine massa-
sauga !— Chas. Aldrich, Webster city, Lowa,

Tue Hasits oF THE Oranc.—lIn an interesting paper on the
orang, read by Mr. W. F. Hornaday at the Saratoga meeting of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he
records the following facts and impressions from’ personal obser-
vations in Borneo:

“Each individual of the Bornean orangs differs from his fel-
lows, and has as many facial peculiarities belonging to himself
alone as can be found in the individuals of any unmixed race of
human beings. According. to my experience,’ Mr. Hornaday
said, “ orangs differ from each other fully as much as either
Chinese or Japanese, if not more. The faces of the more intelli- |
gent orangs are capable of a great variety of expression, and in
some the exhibition of the various passions which are popularly
supposed to belong to human beings alone, is truly remarkable.
I had: in my possession, in Borneo, four young living orangs.—
= Three were dull and intractable, but the fourth was a perpetua

= wonder both to Europeans and the natives themselves. For

weeks it lived in the same room with me so that I watched it-

1879. | Zoology. 713

almost constantly. The expression of its face was highly intelli-
gent, while the intellectual development of its forehead and entire
cranium would have been quite alarming to any enemy of the
theory of evolution. This specimen was a fine healthy male
infant about seven or eight months old, twenty-two and a-quarter
inches in height, thirty-seven inches in extent of arms and fifteen
and a-half pounds in weight. He exhibited fully as much intelli-

ennui. When teased beyond endurance he would first whine fit-
fully, but if the teasing were continued, he would throw himself
upon the floor, kicking and screaming and catching his breath
as loudly and naturally as a big spoiled child. He was afraid o

strangers as a rule, but decidedly attached to my Chinese servant

would shuffle up to me and climb with all haste into my arms.
When a cat came near him he would grab it by the tail with the
very same action and bright, mischievous expression of face that
we have all seen in human children.

“ Last year while on a collecting expedition for Prof. H. A.
Ward, I had ample opportunities to study the habits of the orang
outang in its native forests. visited Borneo in August, 1878,
for the sole purpose of obtaining specimens of the Bornean Simia
and to study the different species. I visited the territory of
Sarawak and for two and a-half months devoted my entire time

vicinity of the rivers. I soon found that the only way to reach
them would be to paddle up and down the rivers and watch for
them in the tree tops. Near the source of the Simujan river, and
far beyond the last Dyak village, we found great numbers of old
orang nests and some which were quite new. The nest consists
of a quantity of leafy branches broken off and piled loosely into
the fork of a tree. The orang usually selects a sapling and builds
his nest in its top, even though his weight causes it to sway
alarmingly. He often builds his nest within twenty-five feet of
the ground and seldom higher than forty feet. . Sometimes it is
fully three feet in diameter, but usually not more than two, and
quite flat on the top. There is no weaving together of branches.
In short the orang builds a nest precisely as a man would build
one for himself were he obliged to pass a night in a tree top and

.

714 General Notes. [ November,

had nothing to cut branches with. I have seen one or two such
nests of men in the forest, where the builder had only his bare
hands to work with, and they were just as rudely constructed, of
just such materials, and in about the same position as the average
orang nest. Upon this leafy platform the orang lies prone upon
his back, with his long arms and short thick legs thrust outward
and upward, firmly grasping, while he sleeps, the nearest large
branches within his reach. n several occasions I surprised
these animals upon their nests, and once I had an opportunity to
watch an orang while it constructed its resting place. He never
uses a nest after the leaves become withered and dry, no doubt
because the bare branches are not comfortable to lie upon. I
never saw or heard of any house-building by orang outangs.

“We found the animals most numerous along the Simujan
river, near its source. Our manner of hunting was to make trips
up and down the river in our boat, paddling slowly and silently
along, keeping a careful lookout. Sometimes in rounding a bend
in the river we would come full upon a huge, black-faced, red-
haired animal reposing quietly or feeding. I aimed to shoot
them through the chest, and thus either kill them at once or dis-
able them so that they would be unable to get away. On several
occasions I succeeded in killing a large specimen with a single
bullet. It would at all times have been an easy matter to have
shot them through the head, but this would have ruined the
skulls. As soon as an orang was fired at, if not killed at once,
he would begin climbing away with all haste.

“I think we may fairly consider the orangs the most helpless
of all quadrumana. Owing to the great weight of their bodies
and the peculiar structure of their hands they cannot run nimbly
along even the largest branches, and never dare to spring from
one tree to the next. The weight of the adult male ranges from
120 to 160 pounds. Owing to the disproportionate shortness of
his legs, his progress depends mainly upon his long, sinewy arms,
and very often he goes swinging through a tree top by their aid
alone. Upon the ground orangs are a picture of the most abject
helplessness, and in their native forest they are very seldom
known to descend to the earth. They are utterly incapable of
standing fully erect without touching the ground with their hands,
and for them to be represented in drawings and museums aS _
standing erect, is contrary to nature.” Be Lo,

In conclusion, Mr. Hornaday remarked: “ We will not say
anything about the part of orangs in the long chain of evolution,
for we feel that no one present will wish to admit his or her rela-
tionship. But while abstract argument leads hither and thither,
according as this or that writer is most ably gifted for argument,
there is still one influence to which every true naturalist is amenable,
and which no one will ignore who has studied from nature apy
group of natural forms. Let such an one (if indeed such an Onè —

1879. | Anthropology. 715

exists to-day), who is prejudiced against Darwinian views, go to
the forests of Borneo. Let him there watch from day to o day this
strangely human form in all its various phases of existence. Let
him see it climb, walk, build its nest, eat and drink, and fight like
human ‘roughs.’ Let him see the female suckle her young and
carry it astride her hip precisely as do the Coolie women of Hin-
doostan. Let him witness their human-like emotions of affec-
tion, satisfaction, pain and childish rage—let him see all this and
then he may feel how much more patent has been this lesson
than all he has read in pages of abstract ratiocination

ZoOLocicaL News.—In his presidential address “before the
British Association, Prof. Allman takes the ground that the deep-
sea Bathybius may be an organism, as he thinks it not easy to
believe that the very elaborate investigations of Huxley and
Haeckel can be easily set aside. uxle ey, at the close of the
address, stated that his mind, at present, was in a state of suspense
about it, though within a short time he had disowned it. Haeckel,
himself, has, in recent papers, urged its recognition as an organ-
ism, while we may add that Dr. Bessels, in a letter to us, thinks
that under the circumstances it is best to wait for more light as to
the organic nature of the Protobathybius which he examined in
the high Arctic regions———-The pamphlet of Prof. Moebius has
made a strong impression on some minds previously in doubt,
that Eozoon is of mineral rather than organic origin. In the
Proceedings of the Natural Science Association of Christiania,
Norway, Prof. G. O. Sars ee excellent drawings of three whales,
Balenoptera rostrata, B. musculus and B. sibbaldit. One can form

Some idea how these whales look from such admirable and

evidently life-like sketches. The Zodlogy of the Fiords near
Bergen, Norway, by the Rev. A. M. Norman. (Journal of Con-
chology, ii, 1879. Eadie, pp. 77-) This paper contains a list

of 261 species of Mollusca collected at Bergen, Norway, by the
author, and a supplemental list of ninety-two more which have
been quoted from that region. No ne w species are described, but
the notes on the synonymy of the species and their geographical

distribution make the article both valuable and interesting.

PREHISTORIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE Rivers COYOTE AND GUADA-
LOUPE, SANTA CLARA ppa e three years ago my
interest was awakened rning | rehisto oric implements by
finding what were, without doubt, “stone and flint celts, though
of rude workman

re this time then had been und’ in various places through-
out the valley, while plowing fields and digging away river banks
in bridge building, mortars in different stages of preservation.

= * Edited by Prof, Oris T T talabi College, Washington, PE

VOL. XIT,—NO. XI, o

716 General Notes. [ November,

Not much heed was paid to the occurrences, as they were accepted
as the matter of fact details of a land whose commonplace things
were accounted unusual and wonderful by people living in other
States. A few winters ago, when the river Coyote endangered
the city by an overflow, about forty acres were washed out on the
west bank. About two miles below this washout were found two
curious mortars or bowls, one fitting into the other. Farther
search brought to light small implements plainly bearing marks
of flaking tools. But as foreign countries seemed most likely to
contain all the evidences of prehistoric man, on account of their
greater geological age, the idea that they were the implements of
any but a recent and degraded race, was set aside. Soon, how-
ever, a perfect arrow-head was found, which threw a flood of
light on future research, which was prosecuted with earnestness,
resulting in the discovery of many and some of them beautiful
implements of flint, jasper, chalcedony, agate, &c., as well as
some made from granite, gneiss, &c.

These implements consist of knives, scrapers, arrows, drills,
polishers, hammers, flakers, saws, axes, war-clubs, sling-stones,
sinkers, charms or amulets, &c. They were found scattered along
the river-bed below the washed-out field. The supposition 15,
that this locality was either a favorite camping ground or place
of burial.

The scarcity of tools of the better class would indicate
that this was only used as a place of sojournment for stated
periods of hunting and fishing, or that some noted persons were
buried here with the necessary utensils for their welfare in the
happy hunting grounds. The number of knives, hammers and
coarser implements seems to show that the encampment was for
the purpose of obtaining supplies to last through a season spent
elsewhere; while the fineness of material and finish of some
would indicate their being used in burial. ;

A few implements have been found in the Guadaloupe river
banks, in excavations made in widening the river. They are of
ruder workmanship and material than those from the Coyote. In
a gravel pit on the Lick Homestead were found knives, flint cores,
flakers, some small pieces of chalcedony in symmetrical shape,
probably ornaments. The appearance of the Guadaloupe imple-
ments compared with those from the Coyote shows the work of-
a different tribe, with narrower grounds of operation and perhaps
of more recent date. I have called them prehistoric because
many of them are polished. They are also of the materials which
ethnologists have found were used earlier than the obsidian imple-

sh.

ments of recent times —Snmie R. Bush

1879. | Anthropology. 717

Uxmal. A long sojourn in the interior of the peninsula enabled
him to study the inland dialects. The words taken from these
form an important part of the dictionary, and are quitenew. The
coast dialects, mostly of the northern part of Yucatan, form the
groundwork of the compilation, and additions were made to it
from several ancient manuscript lexicons. The illustrious author
had just terminated the letter U when, in 1859, death put an end
to his labors. Subsequently, in 1870, Don Carlos Peon prevailed
` upon Dr. C. H. Berendt to digest from the materials on hand the
remaining four letters of the alphabet. The work is a good-sized
quarto of 437 pages, with two prefaces, and bears the title,
“ Diccionario de la lengua Maya, por D. Juan Pio Perez” (Merida
de Yucatan, 1866-1877). Its publication was superintended by
Eligio Ancona, a friend of the deceased author, and Dr. Fabian
Carillo Suaste has added a biographical notice of Perez in twenty
pages. The number of vocables explained amounts to 22,000
their meanings are given in concise items, worded with great pre-
cision. Syntactic examples are’ not often added as illustrations
of words, though terms of archeological import are provided
with longer explanations. Maya possesses considerable facilities
for word composition, and we often find words counting from five
to seven syllables ; this is partly due to the circumstance that this
idiom is simultaneously a prefix and a suffix language, partly
also to the frequent use of syllabic reduplication. 2
The International Anthropological Exhibition at Moscow,
which opened there on the 15th of April last, is reported in the
papers to have been a great success. lt took place in an immense
building which is used in winter for drilling troops. The
exposition was divided into several sections, among which those
of archæology, craniology and ethnography played the chief
part. There was also a department in which was shown, partly
by pictures and partly by objects, the different methods of rear- -
ing children, swaddling, cradling, etc. The section of craniology
embraced from 1200 to 1500 crania from various provinces, among
which the Russian skulls are naturally in the majority. The
archæological was also especially interesting. The exposition was
completed by a congress, held from the 16th to the 25th of April,

in the Polytechnic Museum, the meeting piace of the Society of
the Friends of the Natural Sciences. A second session took
place from the 8th to the 17th of August, at which delegates from
the various European states were present

The third number of the Revue d’ Anthropologie for the current
year opens with a paper of seventy pages, by Dr. Paul Broca

718 General Notes. [ November,

respective functions of the different olfactory centers. 5. Con-
clusions relative to the olfactory centers of man. Of this last-
named section we give a translation in full: “It is man who
forms the objective point of our study; the facts of compara-
tive anatomy which we have just set forth would not have
deserved so much discussion if they did not converge toward this
point. It will not, therefore, be profitless to review, in conclu-
sion, the notions which comparative anatomy permits us to add
to the anatomy and the physiology of the brain of man.

1. The external olfactory root (racine) traverses the Silvian fis-
sure and extends to the upper part of the hippocampus. It really
originates in the cortex of this lobe.

2. The internal olfactory root proceeds to the intersection of
the hemisphere and loses itself in the origin of the convolution of

gray layer of the perforated space, but it is made up, like the
two other roots, of white fibres, which, after an extremely short
passage (/rajet), returns to the posterior edge of the two first
orbital convolutions.
ere exists in the mantle of the hemisphere three distinct

olfactory centers, corresponding to the three olfactory roots. _
_ 5. The anterior olfactory center embraces the posterior portion

of the two first orbital convolutions. It commences posteriorly
upon the anterior edge of the perforated space, and extends, from
rear to front, over the second orbital convolution to the level of
the fissure in the hippocampus. Upon the first orbital convolution
its anterior limit is not indicated anatomically ; but it is probable
that it corresponds tothe same horizon. From the mean position
of the fissure in hippocampus, or of the depression which repre-
sents it, we may say that the orbital olfactory center comprises,
on an average, the posterior third of the two first orbital con-
volutions, i

6. The posterior olfactory center occupies the lobe of the hippo-
campus, which forms about the anterior third of the convolution
of the hippocampus: a transverse line carried through the ex-

face of the hemisphere. It embraces the intersection (carrefour)

corporis callosi, the position of this pli de passage when it is
‘ofound,” on a l

_187ọ.] Geology and Paleontology. 719

It is impossible to give any conception of the vast amount of
research in this valuable essay in a short review, and, therefore,
our readers are referred to the paper itself.

In the same number of the Revue will be found a report upon
the Ethnographic chart of France, by Dr. Gustav Lagneau, and a
criticism of several works upon circumcision as practiced in
various parts of the world, by M. Zaborowski.

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

GrotocicaL Notes.—At the Saratoga meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science Prof. J. P.
State Geologist of Pennsylvania, read a very long paper on the
progress of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. The
very valuable results accomplished by this survey, both for scien-
tific and economic purposes, were fully set forth, and the impor-
tance of completing it was dwelt upon.

Prof. R. P. Whitfield gave notice of the occurrence of rocks in
Central Ohio, representing the Marcellus shales of New York.
A brief dissertation on the geology of Port Henry, New York,

worked are imported yearly, principally from Brazil, and sold at
public auction, the owners of the wheels buying each the amount
he can work up during the year. Many of these mills date back
to the middle ages. After the secret of coloring was discovered
from the Romans, it was found that the Brazilian agates were

720 General Notes. | November,

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Asta.—Col. Prejevalsky, after being detained at Zaisan on the
Chinese frontier by deep snows, left there on the 21st of March
last, and passing over a barren desert and along the river Urungu
had reached, when last heard from, the river Buguluk in the
Southern Altai mountains. The climate is characterized by frost

start shortly for Lhassa by way of the Koko-Nor.

M. Woéikof has sent to the French Geographical Society a
memoir on the Oxus question. After having studied the prob-
lem on the spot, the Russian geographer feels certain that the
suppression of the Caspian mouth was produced not by a gradual
elevation of the country, but by an accumulation of deposits 1n

development of irrigation in the Khivan oasis. He feels certain —
that the restoration of the former state of things would be a very —
easy work. The restoration of the Caspian, he believes, would
reduce the area of the Aral to one-third of its present extent, nor
would the change be altogether detrimental to the prosperity ©

the surrounding countries. When the countries situated between

the Caspian and Aral basins shall have become civilized and have
utilized for agricultural purposes the waters of all the rivers
which feed the interior seas, the Aral ,will exist no longer, and —
the Caspian will be reduced to two lakes of nearly elliptical form. .
The Volga will be joined to the Oxus by a straight canal passing
by the eastern side of the Caspian, and its vessels will reach,
without transhipment, the northern part of Afghanistan. a
_ In the discussion that followed the reading of this paper, M.
1 Edited by Extis H. YARNALL, Philadelphia. oo

1879. | Geography and Travels. 721

D’Abaddie, speaking of the determination of altitudes by the
species of plants growing at various heights, alluded to by M.
Woéikoff, said that during his travels in Abyssinia, after having
made known to several botanists the fact that vegetation was dis-
tributed with great regularity on the mountains, he was invited.
by some botanists to verify the height of a mountain that he had
indicated from native information as lower than a neighboring
peak. The trees which had been indicated as growing on the
summits of the two mountains showed that the lower one ought
to have been the higher. The two mountains were surveyed
hypsometrically, and the results showed that the botanists were
right and the natives wrong.

In the annual address on the progress of geography at the
anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr. C.

. Markham stated that “an important advance towards the solu-
tion of one of the chief Asiatic geographical problems has been
made this year, namely, the discovery of another section of the
unexplored course of the Brahmapootra. One of Col. Walker’s
indefatigable native explorer’s has traced and surveyed the
Sanpu, the great river of Thibet, for two hundred miles beyond
Chetang, the most eastern point to which it had hitherto been
followed. Here the river turned southwards into the hills and
between this point and that reached by Capt. Wilcox on the
Dihong, in his journey from the Assam plain, in 1825, there is a
comparatively short gap. But in that interval there is a fall of
8000 feet and upwards, so that the complete discovery of the still
unknown portion will probably disclose a scene of wonderful sub-
limity—one of the last and perhaps the grandest of nature’s
secrets.

Lieut. WHEELER'S SURVEY WorK IN Orecon, 1878.—Mr. J.
W. Goad, one of the survey party, sends the following account of
Lieut. Wheeler’s operations in Oregon during the past year, to
the Royal Geographical Society :

“On the road northwards from Reno, in Nevada, along the

Californian eastern boundary, Pyramid lake, which receives

One of its objects (approved by Gen. Humphreys) being to make
a complete reconnaissance of the Cascade mountains and a sur-

722 | General Notes. [ November,

vey of the area between them and the 11ọth meridian. After
crossing the arid and volcanic Oregon desert to the alkaline lake
Albert (where the party narrowly escaped Indian attack) a pecu-
liar difference was observed between the valleys of the Chewan-
can and Summer lakes, the latter though only 300 feet lower, and
but a few miles distant, having a considerably higher temperature.
Its waters were strongly impregnated with borax, etc.
Klamath lakes were also visited and found to present the same
typical features as Pyramid lake, undoubtedly belonging to the
Great Basin plateau. At Klamath Lieut. Wheeler divided the
party, himself exploring the Cascade range parallel to the Pacific
coast, and Lieut. Symons, Mr. Goad and others carrying the
triangulation to the north. Mount Pitt, 4000 feet above the
country level and 10,000 feet above the sea, was scaled with great
difficulty on account of lava, fallen timber and rock-slides ; the
latter are accumulations of débris held in position by some slight
and unseen projection, and only requiring the weight of a man or
removal of a stone to set them in motion.

“ From another peak, Crater lake came in sight—a vast body
of water confined in vertical cliffs 2000 feet in height; its area 1s
about fifty miles and the geological evidence indicated compara-
tively recent volcanic action. Proceeding northwards many huge
piles of rock, deep snow banks and innumerable small lakes were
found, the party, on one occasion, passing through a frozen snow
tunnel seventy to eighty feet thick. This work on the mountain
crest was at last stopped by the dense forests and tangled under-
growth, thousands of acres of which are often set on fire by the
Indians when driving the game, the entire consumption of oxy-
gen in the woods causing the flame to rise and form a sheet miles
in length and from one hundred to five hundred feet high.

“ Leaving the mountains for the Deschutes valley, it was found
that the turbulent river of that name, after apparently emptying
itself into a lake with no outlet, percolated through piled up
masses of lava on its shores, and reappeared ten miles further
north. It can never be navigable on account of its numerous

cascades and rapids. Mount Jefferson was visited but found
the road

substance. Interesting data concerning Mount Hood
feet) were obtained from Mr. Walker, of the Warm Spring agency,
_ who had ascended it. Far above the snow line, hot steam issues
from craters on its side; five hundred feet from the top is a largë
basin with the main crater giving out sulphurous steam. Other
craters and huge glaciers exist also on its south-east side. The

= White river, which rises in Mount Hood, owes its name to 4

sediment of pulverized pumice which is washed far down the

1879. | Geography and Travels. 723

Columbia river in quantities sufficient to form white dunes on its
shores by the action of the winds. Its falls were some 180 feet

igh.
`“ At Dalles a base line was measured and a series of triangles
carried into Washington Territory. In summing up the capabili-
ties of Oregon, which, west of the Cascades, are well known to
be very great, it is observed that although to the east of that
range the rain-fall is not great, the land is very fertile in the
Deschutes basin, and the supply of water for irrigation abundant.”

Arctic Expioration.—In 1880 Lieut. Weyprecht of the last
Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition, intends starting for Novaya
Zemlya, to remain at least one year, to take meteorological, hydro-
graphical and other observations. The expenses are to be de-
irayed by Count Wilczek, who may himself accompany the
lieutenant.

On June 3, 1879, the Dutch North Polar Expedition again
sailed from Amsterdam on board the schooner Willem Barents.
They will first visit Barentz’s Ice-haven and erect a suitable monu-
ment to his memory. A voyage into the Kara sea will be
attempted. Meteorological, zodlogical and other observations and
deep-sea soundings will be made as on her previous voyage last
season

Capt. A. H. Markham left England early in May last for
Tromsö, whence he sailed in the little yacht Zsġjörn to undertake
an examination of the ice between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zem-
lya, and ascertain the practicability of reaching the west side of
Franz Josef Land and advancing further north along its coast.

The steamer Jeannette sailed from San Francisco on July 8th
for Behring strait. This vessel was formerly H. M. S. Pandora,
and under Capt. Allen Young made two voyages to the Arctic
regions. She is 420 tons burden, and has been most liberally
equipped and supplied for her present voyage by her owner, Mr.
James Gordon Bennett, at an expense of $300,000. By an act of
Congress she has been enrolled as a vessel of the U. S. Navy, and
the officers and crew are subject, therefore, to naval discipline.
They are thirty-two in number. Lieut. George W. De Long is
in command; he was, in 1873, the navigator of the Juniata that,
with the Z7igress, went in search of the Polaris. Among the offi-
cers are a meteorologist and a naturalist. The crew are picked
men, and several of them have had experience in Arctic naviga-
tion. The Jeannette arrived at Ounalashka in the Aleutian”
islands on August 2d. After coaling there, she would proceed to
St. Michael’s, Alaska, where dogs and sledges were to be shipped.
_ The Franklin Search party landed from the ship Zoten on the
north shore of Hudsons bay, near Depot island, on August 9,
1878. During the following months careful surveys were made of
the adjacent coast from Cape Fullerton to Marble island, and
journeys taken into the interior. On April 1, 1879, the party

724 General Notes. [ November, —

_with four additional Esquimaux and their families, making in all
sixteen souls with four sledges and about sixty dogs, started for
King William Land.

GEOGRAPHICAL News.—The long sojourn of the Russian troops
in Bulgaria and Roumelia has been fruitful of results to geograph-
ical knowledge. A series of astronomical and geodetic observa-
tions have fairly completed a network of triangulation and maps,
based on the data thus obtained, which will soon appear. The
council of the Royal Geographical Society have determined to
provide instruction in surveying and mapping, including the fixing
of positions by astronomical observations, for those of their
countrymen about to visit the less known portions of the globe.
Commander V. L. Cameron, the well known African explorer,
the Academy states, has made an interesting journey throug
Syria and along the Tigris to Bagdad, in order to ascertain the
practicability of a railroad from the Mediterranean to the Persian

ulf. He found that there were no physical difficulties in the
way, and that the local traffic alone would prove remunerative.
The committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund (English)
will issue a subscriptional large paper edition of their survey of
Western Palestine. The number of copies will be limited to 250.
The work will comprise six or more quarto volumes and the
great map in twenty-six sheets. The price will be twelve guineas.
No cheaper edition is to be published. The American Survey
map of Eastern Palestine is to appear in the same form a little
later——H. M. S. Alert, Sir George Nares commander, on her
voyage to Magellan straits, in the autumn of 1878, took sound-
ings over the Hotspur and Victoria banks. These singular iso-
lated shoal banks, lying between the parallels of 18° and 21° S.,
and distant fifty to sixty leagues from the South American con-
tinent, average in their depths from twenty-five to thirty and
thirty-five fathoms, and so far as explored are composed of dead
coral worn down to a level surface and smoothed with a very thin
incrustation of fine Polyzoa. The observations of Sir George
Nares lead him to infer that these banks were once reefs of living
coral with shallow water over them which have subsided to their
present depth, but that the subsidence was too rapid for the reef-
building coral animals to keep pace therewith, and the banks are
now at too great a depth for the coral to exist. `

; MICROSCOPY.!

Tue Posrat Microscoprcat Crus.—This club, whose work
was: suspended last winter on account of postal difficulties, has
resumed its operations again. It was presumed by many t at
the effect of the new postal law which went into effect last spring -
would be to permit the mailing of slides as heretofore. It was
found, how , that the singl odent} which hadalwaysbeen

-1 This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y.

1879. | Scientific News. 725

used were not at present satisfactory to the Post-office Department.
For the purpose of absolute safety a double security was required,
and the wooden box must be itself enclosed in a metal case. A

secretary, Rev. A. B. Hervey, of Taunton, Mass.; assistant sec-
retary and treasurer, Joseph McKay, 24 Liberty street, Troy,
N. Y.; managers, R. H. Ward, M.D., Troy, N. Y., and C. M.
Vorce, Cleveland, O.

being chairman of the meeting. The new club was well repre-
sented at the Buffalo meeting of the American Society of Micro-
scopists. It is proposed to hold weekly meetings for study and
work, beginning October Ist, at a private office.

West CHESTER PHILOSOPHICAL Society.—This society is taking
a place among the most active and successful microscopical socie-
ties. At the September meeting an excellent note on the fertili-
zation of plants, with special relation to the question of insect
fertilization, was read by Dr. J. R. McClurg, chairman of the
Microscopical Section. In opposition to the theory of Darwin,

ubbock and others, that the sweets (and colors?) of flowers
exist expressly for insects, in order to attract their visits and thus
secure cross-fertilization, he states with much prominence, if not
formal approval, the theory of Rev. Geo. Henslow, that the sweets
existed before insects used them, though they have been subse-

intercourse were dwelt upon with equal vigor and effect.

10%
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Some interesting suggestions as to the evolution of the Ver-

tebrata appear in Prof. Parker's Hunterian Lectures, recently

reported in Mature. He recognizes “ how thoroughly interme-

= diate between the true reptiles and birds, the extinct birds of the

~ chalk and the odlite were.” As regards the mammals he says :

726 Scientific News. [ November,

“Such a hypothesis as that nature had either all her birds or all
her mammals from one stock is at once upset by the facts pre-
sented by the structure of the lowest mammals, the duck-billed
Platypus and the Echidna. Between the mammals and the types
which foreshadow them, viz: the Selachians and the Batrachians,
there is unfortunately a large chasm , and, moreover, the Platypus
and Echidna refuse to lie fairly in the direction indicated at the
top of this chasm, or they confusingly partake of the characters
of the reptile and bird; as well as those which are peculiarly
mammalian * * * as already mentioned, the forecast of the
mammalian type, which is very plain in the cartilaginous fishes,
becomes much more plain, definite and indubitable in the frog
and toad. In fact, the building materials are passed from hand
to hand, as it were, in this way: the batrachian forefathers brought
down all things meet for the work, borrowing and taking carti-
lages from the Selachians and bones from the Ganoids, and noise-
lessly forming them, after due selection, into a new, more com-
pounded and noble structure. The rude ancestors of the tribes
that give suck began to build on this higher level ‘ until the con-
summation was effected of vertebrate form.’ But the consumma-
tion of all, the election and selection that has been going on since
the beginning of the ages, is seen in man, who alone gives mean-
ing to, and reads the meaning of, the whole mystery of organic
He.”

— From his recent studies on the habits of the cotton-worm
moth, Prof. C. V. Riley concludes, in a paper lately read before
the National Academy of Sciences, that the species is not repre-
sented by the egg, larva or chrysalis in the winter, but that the
moth hibernates. His paper ends as follows: “ My own belief
now is that the moth really survives the winter in the more
southern portions of the cotton belt, as on the Sea islands of
Georgia and in parts of Florida and Texas, and that it 1s from
this more southern portion that it spreads this year.

“ This belief, which yet lacks full confirmation, does not pre-
clude the occasional coming of the moth from foreign, more
tropical countries, or the possibility of its being brought by favor-
able winds from such exterior regions; though the fact is estab-
lished that it could not have come from the Bahamas since 1866.

“The question has an important practical bearing, for, on the
theory of the insect’s ability to remain with us, much important
fall and winter work of a preventive nature may be done 1n
destroying the moths; whereas on the theory of its annual per-
ishing and necessarilly coming from foreign countries, no such pre-
_ ventive measures are left to the planter. The time employed in
baiting and destroying the last brood of moths in autumn will he.

-~ wasted, and he must helplessly await the coming of the parent ae

the ensuing spring, and deal as best he can with the progeny. ——

1879. | Scientific News. 727

_ — The papers read before the British Association at its last meet-
ing, so far as reports in Nature and elsewhere show, comprised
nothing especially noteworthy. The address of Prof. St. George
Mivart before the Biological Section was on Buffon; that of Prof.
Lankester was on Degeneration, an extension of some specula-
tions made by Dr. Dohrn, while in anthropology the address of

r. Tylor was interesting and useful. The meeting of the French
Association was not characterized by any papers of a high degree
of interest. The sixty-second meeting of Swiss Naturalists at
St. Gall, was well attended, and Prof. Vogt, in a brilliant lecture,
exhibited very good photographs of the second more perfect
Specimen of Archeopteryx found at Solenhofen, which, according
to the report in ature, “ proves undoubtedly that we have to do
with a bird-like reptile of the size of a pigeon, which had both
seales and feathers, a beak provided with teeth, armed wings,
bird-like feet with nails and a reptile tail consisting of twenty
vertebre.” On the whole the Saratoga meeting of the American
Association was characterized by apparently quite as able papers
as those read at Sheffield, or Montpellier, or St. Gall. The Brit-
ish and French Associations made large grants for scientific re-
search, an example which might be followed to better advantage
to science by our association, than by printing a volumne of trans-
actions for gratuitous distribution, and maintaining a library, and
paying office rent, and clerical assistance.

— Prof. Archibald Geikie is now delivering, in Boston, a course
of Lowell lectures on earth-sculpture. He is well known in this

of the Geological Survey of Scotland in 1867, and in December,
1870, to the new chair of mineralogy and geology in the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh, established by Sir Roderick Murchison and
the Crown. He has written many important memoirs on geology
and kindred subjects. He published the Story of a Boulder in
1858, and the Life of Edward Forbes in 1861; the Phenomena
of Glacial Drift in Scotland in 1863; Scenery of Scotland, &c., in
1865; Memoirs of Sir Roderick Murchison, in two volumes, in
1874, with several elementary text books on geology and physi-
cal geography; articles in Quarterly Journal of Geological
Society of London and other societies; in the Quarterly and
North British Reviews. He has recently received a gold medal
from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, for his memoirs on the
Old: Red Sandstone of Western Europe. He arrived in New
York and started for the West August 12th, visiting the Yellow-
stone Park, Salt Lake, Wasatch and Uinta mountains, to study
the glacial phenomena of those regions, returning East, Oct. Ist.
— The U. S. Geological and Topographical Survey, under the
direction of Clarence King, has been fully organized, and has been —

728 Scientific News. [ November,

in the field of its proposed operations. It was the intention of Mr.
King to devote the summer mainly to practical economic work,
making as thorough an examination as possible of western min-
eral lands, and determining as far as practicable the nature, origin,

California. He is assisted by Arnold Hague, late imperial minister
expert for China; Mr. J. K. Gilbert, and Prof. F. V. Hayden. The
specialists of the expedition in mining geology are Prof. Raphael

umpelly, late of Harvard College, Prof. George F. Becker, pro-
fessor of mining geology in the University of California, and
Arthur Foot. The fields especially worked are, first, the metallic
region of Colorado, centering at Leadville, in charge of S. F.
Emmons, geologist, with A. D. Wilson as topographer ; second,
the lead-silver region centering at Eureka, Nevada, in charge of
Prof. Becker, with F. A. Clark as topographer, and third, the 4
Comstock lode and central gold fields of California, in charge of
Mr. King, with the assistants previously mentioned.

— Dr. John B. Trask, at one time State Geologist of Califor-
nia, and who afterwards held a similar position in the State of —
Nevada, died in San Francisco on the 3d of July, at the age of
55. Dr. Trask was one of the founders of the California Acad-
emy of Sciences, and contributed many papers to the earlier vol-
umes of its publications. Of late years he has followed his pro-
fession as a skillful medical practitioner, and will be remembered
as a sympathetic and kind hearted man as well as a public spirited
and useful citizen.

— The Visitors’ Catalogue of the Museum of the Peabody
Academy of Science, at Salem, Mass., is noteworthy not only
from its neat appearance, but from its educational features, as the
references to the specimens in the cases is preceded by a brief
popular account of the different classes of animals, and with a
sufficiently full list of articles and books contained in the libra-
ries of Salem, referring to the animals, especially of Essex county.
It is also provided with an index.

— The Seventh Annual Report of the Zodlogical Society of
Philadelphia indicates the prosperity of this very successful pro-
ject. The total excess of visitors over the attendance of last
year was 76,966. On the 4th of July, 1878, 6,389 visitors were
admitted. The floating debt of the society was reduced to from
$20,500 to $9,000. There were at the time the report was made
826 vertebrates in the collection.

— A popular résumé of Prof. Mcebius’ late work on Eozoon,
a memoir in quarto with eighteen colored plates in the Palæonto-
graphica, has been published in Die Natur for 1879, Nos. 7, 8, 10,
under the title of, Is Eozodn a fossil Rhizopod? Itis illustrated

1879. } Scientific News. 729

by twenty-one woodcuts, and is an interesting and, to some
minds, will be a conclusive argument against the idea that Eozoon
is of a ri nature.

The second part of Whiteave’s volume on the Mesozoic
fossils of the Geological Survey of Canada has lately been issued.
It is devoted to a description of the fossils of the Cretaceous
rocks of Vancouver and adjacent islands in the straits of Georgia,
pats Columbia. It is illustrated by excellent figures on ten
Pia

he Congrés international des Américanistes opened at Brus-
sels Aaa ae. 23d. The object of the congress is to contribute
to the progress of ethnological, linguistic and historical studies
relative to the two Americas, especially before the time of Chris-
topher Columbus

e Royal Soili has issued a thick extra volume of the
al Transactions (Vol. 168) containing a full account
of the collections, botanical and zoological, made during the
Transit jf Venus Expedition of 1374-5, in Kerguelen island and
Rodrigu

Aaa cae annual Report of the American Museum of Nat-
ural History shows progress in the increase of its collection, and
especially in the deposits made of large and useful scientific libra-
ries, which will tend to make the museum useful in advancing
science.

— The Swedish Government intends to purchase the house
and estate of Hammarby, near Upsala, which was the residence
of Linnzeus during the latter part of his a and has appropri-
ated for the purpose the sum of 80,000 crowns.

— There has been established at Wea a laboratory of mari-
time zodlogy similar to those already formed at Naples and
Trieste, on the Mediterranean, and at Concarneau, Roscoff and
Wimereaux, on the Atlantic.

recent paper states that smoke has lately been seen to
issue see Mount Hood, Oregon. Is this statement correct; if
So, will some of our Pacific coast subscribers send us information
in regard to the matter ?

— The director of the Central Park Menagerie, of New York
a reports 486 additions to the collection during 1878, the total ©

r of animals exhibited being 1,0

— The eminent coleopterist, Dr. J. L. te Conte, of Philadelphia,
has been elected an honorary member of the Societé Entomolo-
gique de France.

e Sponges of the Gulf of Mexico have been elaborated
by O Oar Schmidt in a work published in Jena. :

Erratum.—In my notice of Prof. Smith’s Stalk-eyed Crustacea —
of the Atlantic coast, p. 514 line forty, of the a number of
this journal, tor Carcinus read — ome

730 Proc. of Sci. Socs. and Selected Articles in Sci. Serials. [ Nov.’79.
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB, August 27.—A field meeting
was held at Rev. Mr. Worcester’s study, near the Intervale station,
North Conway, August 27, when the following papers were read:
Three days’ walk upon the Great Range, by W. H. Pickering;
The changes in the Saco meadow caused by freshets, by Rev.
Henry A. Parker; Notes upon local names of the mountains, by
Rev. Worcester ; Report upon some new paths, by Dr. W.
B. Parke

Boston Society oF NATURAL History, October 1.—Mr. M. E.
Wadsworth remarked on Danalite, Picrolite and Picrosmine.

70:

SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

QUARTERLY JOURNAL oF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. Whi The
morphology of the vertebrate olfactory organ, by A. Milnes Mar-
shall. On the brain of the cockroach (Blatta orientalis), by E.
T. Newton. The microphytes which have been found in the
blood, and their relations to disease, by T. R. Lewis. On the
early development of the Lacertilia, etc., by F. M. Balfour. On cer-
tain points in the anatomy of Peripatus capensis, by F. M. Balfour
(shows that the nervous cords are minutely ganglionated).

Tue GeoLocicaL Macazine.—July. How the appearance of
a fault may be produced without fracture, by W. O. Crosby. The
slow secular rise or fall of continental masses, by K. Petterson.

August.—A cruise among the volcanoes of the Kurile islands,
by J ohn Milne. The surface geology of a part of the Mississippi
san (Iowa), by W. J. McGe

Tue CANADIAN NATURALIST.— July 30. To e of the past
and present condition of the Indians of Canada, by G. M. Dawson.
Some observations on the Menobranchus seas by H. Mont-
gomery. Address on disputed points in Canadian geology, by
J-W. Daw

JENAISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR NATURWISSENSCHAFT.— July 16.
W. Haacke on blastology of corals (bears on the general mor-
phology, the radial and bilateral symmetry of corals).

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARTS AND Scrences.—August. Terminal
moraines of the North American ice-sheets, by W. Upham. The

-~ loess of the Mississippi valley and the Aolian hypothesis, by E.

W. Hilgard. Discovery of a new group of Carbpaiierony n rocks A

; în South-eastern wes n E. B. Andrews.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xut.— DECEMBER, 1879. — No. 12.

ARCHAOLOGY OF THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY.
BY PROF. GEO. H. PERKINS. :

HE region which surrounds Lake Champlain presents a very
great variety in its surface features. As the tourist sails
through the lake he may see, here lowlands, there mountains; on
the one hand rocky hillsides, on the other meadows or marshes ;
here boundless forests, there wide and sparsely timbered plains,
the whole intersected by numerous large streams and in the midst
the lake itself, its northern portion filled with large islands, while
south of these is open water. Such a territory must, if we can
judge, have offered very great attractions to those savage tribes
of red men who, in the early days before the white men began to
encroach upon the lands they called their own, roamed through
the forests or glided in their canoes over the water, for here they
would find hunting grounds occupied by a great variety of game,
surrounding fishing grounds of equal richness, fertile fields for —
the cultivation of the few vegetables which they used, and many
a wild retreat in which they could conceal themselves from any
powerful foe who should attack and defeat them. In such a
region we should expect to discover many a site of an ancient

village and great numbers of those stone implements which indi-

` cate the former presence of those who made and used them.
We do not, however, find these expectations fully realized, for
remains of ancient settlements are very rare, and no sure evidence
exists of any long continued occupation of any locality in the
immediate vicinity of the lake, and if a considerable population,
with fixed settlements, ever lived there, it was long before the

VOL, XIN.—NO. XII. ; 49

advent of the early explorers. In the writings of Champlain and
others, we find intimations, in the quoted: statements of fate sav- ce

732 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. | December,

ages, that at one time the shores, especially the eastern, and the
large islands of the lake to which he gave his name, were inhab-
ited, but the savage allies of Champlain, who early in the summer
of 1609 sailed through it, told him that because of hostilities
between the tribes they were not then peopled, and this explorer
did not, apparently, see any of the Iroquois who held the region
until he reached a place which must, judging from his brief
description, have been near what is now Crown Point. At this
place, in May 1609, he joined his Algonquin allies in a battle with
the Iroquois, and thus inaugurated the long series of conflicts
which have made the place historic. Probably, further investiga-
tion will disclose some new facts, but at present we know of only
two localities very near the lake shore where there are any sure
evidences of continued occupation. One of these is on the shore,
or very near it, at Plattsburgh, N. Y., the other is further from the
lake, on the banks of the Missisquoi, one of the rivers emptying
into the lake, near Swanton. Here and there on the large islands,
and near the shore, large quantities of flint chips, or an unusual
abundance of specimens, arouse a suspicion that there was located
at one time a village, but the proof is wanting in all cases, though
the probability may be strong.’ As we should expect from what
we know of the condition of the tribes when first visited by white
men, we find relics—and of many kinds, and in all a considerable
quantity—not often in large numbers in a limited area, but scat-
tered here and there over the country. Near the mouths of some
of the larger streams, and along their banks, more are found than
elsewhere, and there are some favored localities where diligent
collectors have been rewarded with more than ordinary success,
but after all, at least so far as Vermont is concerned, the above
statement holds true. One of the most interesting localities, and
one that probably affords us some of the most ancient specimens,
is that already mentioned near Swanton. As a full account of
this locality has been published in the Portland Volume of
Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, where some of the specimens are figured, I need only
give here a brief statement of the leading facts respecting r
_ When Swanton was settled by white men a village of St. Francis —
Indians was located near the place, and many stone implements
-used by them have since been found. Probably most of the
objects of this sort found on or near the surface should be referred

1879. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 733

to this people. But another and more ancient people had also
had a settlement near the same place, whose only relics, so far as
we know, are such as they buried with their dead. Ona sandy
ridge near the Missisquoi, about fifteen years ago, an extensive
pine forest was partially cut away. The trees, some of which had
been growing perhaps for centuries, had hitherto protected the
mobile soil from the prevailing winds, but after the clearing the
sand was blown away until stone objects and fragments of bone
were disclosed. My friend, Mr. H. H. Dean, of Swanton,
together with others, thereupon examined the locality and dis- |
covered that where the old pine forest had stood, some unknown
race had buried their dead, placing in their graves such objects as
custom or affection indicated.

Between twenty and thirty graves in all have been discov-
ered. A variety of objects have been taken from them, some of
which were found directly beneath the stumps of large trees.
These objects differ materially from those which belonged to the
Algonquins, being of finer material and more excellent workman-
ship, and most of them closely resemble similar specimens from
the mounds of the Mississippi valley, many being identical. In
all cases except two the sand about the bodies was colored a dark
red, probably by some mixture of red hematite and water, and
some of the stone implements are stained with this same sub-
stance. The skeletons in the graves were mostly decomposed, so
that only few and fragmentary bones have been preserved. A few
objects made of native copper beaten into shape were found, such
as chisels, small bars, and beads made of sheet copper rolled into
tubes, Shell beads almost precisely like some of those figured
by Mr. C. C. Jones in “ Antiquities of Southern Indians,” have
been found in considerable number. Of stone implements and
ornaments a much greater number were found; of these, perhaps
the most interesting are stone tubes, of which about a dozen
have been obtained. These are all of similar form, being cylin-

-drical, the perforation, at one end about half an inch in diam-
eter, enlarges to nearly an inch in diameter at the other end. —
hey are of smooth, hard stone, of a drab color in some speci-

mens, brown in others. They are very nicely formed and
finished, the surface being smooth and almost polished. The
small end of the bore was stopped somewhat imperfectly by a -
‘stone plug ground into shape. The length of the tubes varies

734 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. |December,

from seven inches to thirteen inches. Similar tubes have been
found on one of the islands in Lake Champlain and near Bur-
lington, and Mr. S. L. Frey, of Palatine Bridge, N. Y., has
described! very similar ones from graves at that locality. And in
most respects the graves which Mr. Frey has discovered resemble
those found in Swanton to a very remarkable degree. Several
gorgets, or two-hole stones, some of them made with great skill,
have been found in the graves, and other objects which may
properly be classed with them, viz: boat-shaped stones and two
carved bird-like heads. All of these are made from ornamental
stone, and are carefully finished and perforated, at each end of the
base in the heads, and each side of the middle in the boat-stones.
It is worthy of note how large a proportion of the objects which
were buried in these graves are ornamental in their character,
or at least of a higher grade than the ordinary axes, spear,
arrowpoints and the like. Although specimens of these have
been found, they do not occur in large quantities, and they do
not, as is usually the case, make up the greater part of the col-
lection.

In North-eastern Vermont there were settlements, formerly
of the Coosuck Indians, a branch of the Abenaqui, and near
what is now called Wells river, remains of a village and fort
were visible not many years ago. So far as my observation
extends, that portion of Vermont west of the Green mountains
was more thickly settled, or perhaps it would be more correct to
say more frequently visited than the eastern portion. As all
the specimens are obtained in such a manner as to preclude the .
possibility of fixing even their relative age, this cannot be defi-
nitely determined, but I am clearly of the opinion that, while
probably a large part of the objects found are to be considered
as having been made and used by the Iroquois or Algonquin
tribes, there are others of a more elaborate pattern, showing
greater skill and taste, which are to be referred to a more ancient
and unknown people. I wish to give a general account, neces-
sarily brief and imperfect, of the several kinds of objects found in
that part of Vermont and New York which may be properly
included in the Champlain valley. Copper articles are rare and
all are of, presumably, Lake Superior native copper beaten into —

~ the required form. More copper specimens have been found in

_ T AMERICAN NATURALIST, Val. XIII, p. 637,

735

Archeology of the Champlain Valley.

1879. |

PLATE I. Perkins on the Archzology of Vermont.

736 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. (December,

the Swanton graves, as incidentally noticed above, than in any
other locality, but other articles, one here and another there, have
been found in various places. A very fine copper gouge was
found near Milton and is in the collection of Mr. P. C. Deming
of that place, who has a very fine local collection. This is
shown one-half full size in Fig. 5. Spearpoints, occasionally
with notched stems or with the sides of the stem turned over to
form a socket, also occur sparingly. These, together with the
articles already mentioned in connection with the Swanton graves,
complete the list of copper articles. No objects made from shell
except the shell beads from Swanton have been found.
Specimens of earthenware occur all over the State, chiefly in
the form of fragments. The only entire specimens of jars now
in existence, are two in the college collection at Burlington. Sev-
eral others have been found but have been destroyed. Both of
the entire jars are figured in Vol v, pp. 14, 15, of the NATURALIST,
though Fig. 2 is not entirely correct in its representation of the
rim. As I have given a detailed account of some of the more
prominent kinds of Vermont pottery elsewhere,! it must suffice to
give here only general statements. All of the earthenware was
ornamented somewhat, some but little, some more, the decora-
tion consisting of impressed figures of a great variety of form, as
squares, circles, triangles, crescents, key-shaped figures, etc., with
lines of greater or less width running either horizontally,
obliquely or vertically. These are combined to form a great
diversity of patterns. Some of them, as may be seen by a refer-
ence to the figures mentioned above, are very elaborate. No
decoration by the application of paint or any coloring material
occurs. In most cases the ornamentation is confined to a nar-
row band around the rim, and I believe in all cases the lower
portion, which was globular, was smooth. The mouth of the
jars was usually circular, but sometimes rectangular, becoming
circular at the contracted portion, or neck. In no case was there
any attempt at imitation of animal forms. The material of which
the jars was made is essentially like that found elsewhere. In
some cases it appears to have been gravel mixed with clay, as the
fragments of quartz and feldspar are rounded, in other cases the
fragments are angular, and were obtained by pounding; fine san
_ seems to have been used in some cases. In color there is as great: a

4 Proc. A. A. A. S., Vol. xxv.

1879. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 737

a variety as in texture, some pieces being light stone color, others
black and others of intermediate shades. The smallest jars are
only known by fragments. From these, so far as we are able to
reconstruct the jars, we judge that they held about a pint. The
largest jar is one mentioned in Thompson's “ Vermont.” This
was found in Middlebury, and held twenty quarts, but I can not
discover what has become of it. The two jars in the museum at
Burlington hold, respectively, nine and twenty-four pints. A few
fragments of pipes have been found made of terra-cotta. Mr. Dem-
ing has, in his collection, a perfect specimen of very fine material
of the form which resembles a trumpet, much like some figured
by Schoolcraft! The Milton pipe, Fig. 3, is of very fine form, of
a reddish-brown color, smooth and polished on the surface. It is
about four and a-half inches long, nearly straight except at the
smaller end, which is abruptly bent down, and at this point the
bore is but an eighth of an inch in diameter, though it is twice as
large throughout most of the length, and at the large end, which
is two inches in diameter, it expands to nearly the same size,
Across the middle portion of this pipe are five transverse grooves,
which extend about half way around the body. Dr. Kellogg of
Plattsburgh has a fragment of what appears to have been a very
similar pipe from the New York shore of the lake, and some of
those figured by Schoolcraft were found in that State. In the ab-
stract of a paper read at the St. Louis meeting of the A. A. A. S.,
and published in Vol. 27 of the “ Proceedings,” I stated that no
agricultural implements had been found in Vermont. Very soon
after making this statement I found undoubted implements of that
character, and while they are by no means abundant, they are-
certainly not absent, for I have seen quite a number, nearly all of
them spades, although one or two may have been used as hoes.
None of the specimens exhibit the regular oval form of western spe-
cimens, but all are more or less narrowed at one end, and are gen-
erally lanceolate or leaf-shaped. Nor do they equal the best western
specimens in regularity of outline and elegance of finish. They
are all of flint or hornstone, flaked, and are usually strong though
all are not clumsy. The largest are about ten inches long and
four inches wide, while the smallest may not be half so large. It
is not unlikely that agricultural operations may have been carried
on by the aid of other implements than those usually assigned to

1 History, &c., of Indian Tribes, Part 1, pls. 8 and 10.

738 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. (December,

that use, and many specimens of celts, ungrooved axes and the
like may have served a good purpose as spades or hoes. Some
of the specimens found in Vermont, which from their form would
be classed as celts, are of soft material and of a character such as
to render it very probable that they were used for digging rather
than cutting. If this be so, agricultural implements may be more
abundant than has been supposed. All the ordinary varieties of
axes and hatchets have been found about Lake Champlain, by far
the most abundant being celts, or ungrooved axes, and because
of their great diversity in size and form, I am led to believe that
these implements may have served many different purposes.
Indeed it would not seem very improbable that the same imple-
ment may have served at one time as a tomahawk, at another as
an axe or chisel; or, with a different handle, even as a spade or hoe.
Forming a sort of connecting link between the celt and the grooved
axe is the notched axe. Most of the specimens of this class are
small, but a few quite large ones have been found; most of them
are rather rude and of coarse material. Grooved axes are not
common, though some few very fine specimens have been found,
but I have seen none that would compare favorably with the
finest Western specimens either in size or elegance of form. The
largest which I have seen is nine inches long and four and
a-half inches wide, but most of the grooved axes are much
smaller. Such specimens of axes as have been collected have
been obtained, one here and one there, singly, nowhere in such
groups as some collectors describe. I presume that all the
grooved axes ever found in the Champlain valley, unless many
were destroyed before collectors began to save them, would
not amount to so large a number as Dr. Abbott mentions from
a single small excavation made in digging a cellar in Trenton, N.J.
Hatchets, chiefly of flint, are found, some of them with very
sharp edges and regular form. One very unique specimen of
axe, if such it is, should be mentioned here. It is in the posses-
sion of Mr. W. W. Culver, of White River Junction, and was found
near that place ; its form is that of a letter L, somewhat like one
figured by Evans! which was found in England, but the Vermont
specimen is much larger. It is shown about one-fourth natural
size in Fig. 6. The longer arm is seven and a-half inches and
_ the shorter four and three-quarters inches long, and both are

1 Rude Stone Implements, p. 124, figure 82.

1870. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 739

about two and a-half inches wide ; it is made from basaltic rock ;
one surface is flat, the other convex. The edges are rounded,
well made and sharp.

Specimens of “ pestles” are often found, though whether all of
them were used as implements for pounding grain seems more
than doubtful. In our collection we have three which I should
hesitate to call pestles. One of these, especially, seems unfitted
for such use, but rather seems to have been made for a baton of
office, or a club. It is shown about one-half natural size in Fig.
1 and is twenty-seven inches long, quite slender, and uniformly
cylindrical, its average diameter being about two inches. Its
weight is six pounds. The diameter is nearly equal through-
out; one end is somewhat contracted, and the opposite more
so to form a neck for the carved head which terminates it.
This carving, though not elaborate, yet distinctly and strongly
indicates a head, somewhat dog-like and somewhat fish-like, in
some features resembling one animal, in others the other. There
are no ears, but the eyes are large and prominent. The muzzle
is much elongated, the whole length being over three. inches.
The mouth is represented by a deep groove extending back on
each side as far as the eyes. From the lower lip a raised ridge runs
back and over the top of the head, which resembles somewhat
the gill-cover of a fish. The material is a gray schist well finished,
and where the surface is not weathered it is smooth. This speci-
men was found near the lake shore not far from St. Albans.
Another very similar specimen, but without the carving, has
recently been found on the New York shore. Another specimen
of this sort, with a somewhat similar carving, though shorter and
thicker, is made of hard red sandrock, such as occurs abundantly
in this region. This specimen, though of about the same diame-
ter as the preceding, is only half as long, and the diameter is not
so uniform, but increases from the carved end to the opposite,
which is rounded unevenly. A third and still different specimen
was found near Highgate, Vt. This is a little less than twenty
inches long and made of fine-grained gneiss. It is not cylindrical,
but oval in cross section, the surface being well smoothed, and it
appears to have been at first rectangular in cross section and
made oval by rounding the corners. The surface was first picked
and then ground so that most of the marks of the pick are ~
Temoved. The carved end represents, rather rudely but yet

740 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. (December,

plainly, the head of a squirrel or some similar animal. All of the
above carvings are somewhat oblique with reference to the main
shaft of the specimens. I have heard of a similar “ pestle” with
carved end in the State collection at Albany, but I have not seen
it. May it not be that these articles were either clubs or for
some similar use, the carving indicating the totem of the owner?

Of the more common forms of “ pestles,” we have found in Ver-
mont, I believe, all varieties. Some are fusiform, used, evidently, as
rollers, since both ends are in some cases polished by the friction
with the hands, others as obviously used for pounding, as the
more or less rectangular form precludes the possibility of rolling
them; one of these is three inches square and nearly a foot and
a-half long, flat on all sides ; other specimens are flat on two sides
and rounded on the other two; others are club-shaped, and so on.

Pipes are rarely found; in all I know of no more than six per-
fect specimens, though others may be in existence, and probably
others have been found and destroyed. All of those which I
have seen are well made, and polished, and while, as compared
with the elaborately carved specimens from the mounds, our Ver-
mont specimens appear very plain, yet they are not of inferior
workmanship though simpler in form. Only one specimen
exhibits any attempt at imitation of animal form, and this not to
a very high degree. It is prolonged on one side of the rim to
form what appears to be the beak of a bird. The form of this
pipe, Fig. 4, is cylindrical, with an aperture for the stem about half
way between the rim of the bowl and the base, and transversely to
this there is another hole through the base as if for suspension
when not in use. It is over two and a-half inches long, and
rather moré than one inch in its longest diameter, the cross se¢-
tion being oval. It is made of a compact, gray, mottled lime-
stone, well polished over the outside and on the inside of the bowl.

Another pipe of somewhat different form, made of black lime-
stone, was found on an island in the lake. This is well polished,
the upper part cylindrical, or rather urn-shaped ; below this there
is a narrow rectangular space, and below this it is contracted and

wedge-shaped. The lower end is deeply notched. It is larger ‘ z
than the preceding, being three and a-half inches long. The 28

bowl is very well made and, as in the former specimen, the stem
enters at the side near the middle. Another pipe of dark clouded
gypsum, highly polished, is in general form like that of a modern —
=~ clay pipe. This is described in Vol. v, page 13, of the NAN

= RALIST. Others I will not take space to describe. oe

1879. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 741

=
N
\\

a anean aaea ean
cong: pi
ee

(ut

Mii

PLATE II. Perkins on the Archzology of Vermont.

742 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. [December,

Gorgets, with one hole or two, are found all over the region we
are considering. As is the case elsewhere, these are usually
made of some compact, fine-grained stone that is capable of
taking a smooth polish. Slate is the most common material in
those that I have seen, sometimes red roofing slate, often a dark-
greenish talcose slate veined with black. The gorgets with one
hole are less common and less elegantly made than those with
two, and the material seems less carefully selected. Of the two-
hole stones, those of rectangular outline are most abundant, not
that all these are rectangular, but with some modification of this
form, as with corners cut off making an octagonal figure, or rounded
more or less. In these, as in the banner stones, we find, in Ver-
mont, many specimens closely resembling those found in the
Mississippi valley. A greater range was possibie in the choice of
material of which to make “banner stones” for, as they are often
thick, a material which would readily cleave into thin flat pieces
was not essential, as it was in case of the manufacture of gorgets.
Accordingly we find the banner stones made not only of slate,
like that of which the gorgets were most often made, but also of
limestone, greenstone, syenite, &c. With one exception, and
perhaps that was for a different purpose, all the banner stones are
perforated, sometimes by a hole of considerable size, and the
regularity which we find in the perforation of very hard stones is
often very remarkable, as is also the finish of the entire specimen.

The “boat stones” alluded to in speaking of the Swanton
graves are also found in other places, though nowhere common.
Some of these are deeply excavated on the upper or flat side,
others but very slightly or not at all. In the selection of material
for the manufacture of the different classes of what are consid-
ered ornamental articles, some principle was adopted which we
cannot understand, for while stone that was attractive in color was
used, much that could easily have been obtained and that would
have made, so far as our judgment goes, much more beautiful coe
objects, was neglected. For example, in many places on the
shore of Lake Champlain, a fine black slate conspicuously veined
and clouded with pure white satin spar abounds, and everyone bid
familiar with the fact that a great variety of marble is abundant in
Vermont, and much of this crops out on the surface and could |
_ have been easily obtained, but when we search in collections of
archeological objects for specimens made of these materials, We

1879. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 743

search almost in vain. With the exception of one of the carved
heads mentioned above, which is of white marble, I know of no
Specimen made from any of the kinds of stones mentioned. As
a general rule, I think that the stone implements found in the
Champlain valley are made of less beautiful material than those
from the Mississippi valley, so that if we could see collections of
similar objects from each locality side by side, there would be a
noticeable difference in brightness and variety of color. This is
especially true when we consider only those objects made of the
different varieties of siliceous stone. It is not altogether owing,
it may be, to any lack of taste in the selection of material for
making arrow and spearheads, but to the fact that the kinds of
stone conveniently accessible to the New England tribes, which
were suitable for flaking, were fewer and less beautiful than those
found in the West. Occasionally jasper or agate, or some
attractive bit of stone was brought from Lake Superior or the
Mississippi, and specimens made from such imported material are
at once conspicuous in a collection on account of their greater
beauty, but ordinarily the less brightly-colored materials, the gray
quartzites, dull brown or black hornstones, and bluish or milky
quartz, such as could be taken from ledyes near at hand, furnished
the staple for flaked articles, while pebbles from the drift somewhat
increased the variety. Fine grained flint, prettily veined jaspers
and agates are not wanting, but quartzites were largely used, and
our collections lack much of the beauty which we see in those
from other localities. Nevertheless some of the milk-white
quartz specimens are very pretty, and one of the most commonly
used materials, a translucent, bluish quartz, is, in fine specimens,
by no means destitute of beauty.

So called “ gouges,” though not among our most abundant
specimens, are yet relatively quite common, and of an almost
endless variety of form, That all of these grooved implements |
were used as gouges is very doubtful. Of some of the speci-
mens I have found it impossible to do more than conjecture the
use. None of the objects found are more carefully formed or
finely finished than some of these “ gouges,’ and most of them
are far more carefully made than the “ chisels” or celts. Some
of the larger specimens are a foot in length, of basalt or other
hard stone, but yet are made with a degree of skill, as exhibited

a _ in the symmetry of form and smoothness of surface, that excites s -

744 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. (December,

great admiration. In some the groove is wide and deep, and
reaches from end to end, each end, in some cases, being ground
to an edge, in others it is short. Some are flat on both sides,
others on one, others convex on both. Some have one end
finished like a gouge and the opposite like a chisel, and in these
the gouge end is flatter than usual and the excavated portion
but little concave. Some are of such soft material, as steatite,
that it is difficult to see how they could have been of much ser-
vice as implements, but most are of hard stone. Several long
“ gouges ” have been found which are somewhat peculiar in form.
All of these are very finely made; in cross. section they are
shaped like a narrow Gothic arch, the point coming opposite the
groove, or, in such as have only a short groove, the portion
above this may be nearly cylindrical. Fig. 2 shows a very fine
specimen of this sort which is over a foot in length. It is made
of a rather hard greenish stone and is elegantly formed and pol-
ished. It is in the collection of Hon. A. B. Holbert of Essex, Vt.
One of the largest of these specimens is in the collection of Dr.
Kellogg, of Plattsburgh, and is eighteen inches long, with the
end opposite the edge broken off, so that its entire length was
probably considerably more. The groove extends through the
entire length, and presents the unusual feature of being larger
above the edge than just at it; the material is basalt. Another
specimen, found not far from Burlington, less elegantly made and
more clumsy but yet a very fine specimen, is nineteen inches
long.

The different classes of chipped or flaked articles, as scrapers,
rimers, knives, hatchets, spear, lance and arrow points, are found
in greater or less abundance on the shores of Lake Champlain.
Scrapers, similar to those found elsewhere, occur, though rather
sparingly. The smaller ones are oblong, oval or nearly circular,
while the larger are more triangular or lanceolate. Some of the
discoid scrapers are very small, but the abruptly beveled edge 15
carefully chipped, and their use can scarcely be doubted, although
similar disks of flint or quartz, half or three-quarters of an inch in
diameter, are found, which have no such edge. Sometimes chance
flakes, chipped off in making some other and larger object, have
been by a little labor converted into scrapers. Some large spec

mens occur which have a less decided scraper edge, and may
_ have been skin dressers. 5

Niece S EnA ty. Sane 1a Re eee

1879. | Archeology of the Champlain Valley. 745

Of knives we find many interesting specimens, exhibiting, I
think, more than the usual variety of form. All that have been
found on the eastern shore of the lake are chipped or flaked, but,
as will be seen hereafter, ground knives have been found on the
western shore. In the examination of our specimens I have
often found it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to decide
whether a given specimen was to be considered a knife or a lance,
or a spearhead, for the “knives” pass, by indistinguishable gra-
dations, into several other classes of implements. Moreover, I
cannot doubt that often the same implement was used at one time
without a handle as a knife or skin dresser, and at another fas-
tened to a shaft as a spear or lance. Some of our Vermont
knives are quite rude, others are more elegantly formed and
finished, but none of them present so finished an appearance as
some of the ground knives from other localities. The common oval
knife with a sharp edge all around it is often found, and of various
sizes, some being less than an inch in diameter, others several
inches; other knives are ovate, triangular, lanceolate, linear, and
Many more or less irregular modifications of these forms. All of
these are without stems, and most of them undoubtedly knives,
used for no other purpose than cutting. Some are edged on all
sides, others on only one; some are several inches long and not
more than one wide, making dirk-shaped implements.

It is interesting to notice that on both shores of Lake Cham-
plain we find the same quadrangular forms, broken across one end,
as those figured by Dr. Abbott in his “Stone Age in New Jersey,”?
and from the appearance of our specimens I am inclined to agree
with him in believing that the break was not accidental, or rather,
I should think it more probable that the broken end is simply
the original surface of the block of flint or quartz from which the
knife was flaked, and while all the other sides were chipped, this
was left, perhaps for insertion in some sort of a handle of wood
or bone. Stemmed or hafted knives of many forms occur
abundantly all over this region, some of them shaped much like
a modern knife, others more like lance or spear points, and I do
not think that any definite line can be drawn between these classes
of implements. In Vol. v of this magazine, p. 16, Fig. 5, a very
peculiar form of what I then called a spear point, is shown about
half natural size. At the time the article was written, this speci-
men was the only one I had ever seen, but since then several

' Smithsonian Report, 1875, p. 301, figs. 111, 112.

746 Archeology of the Champlain Valley. {December,

others have been found of similar character. If these specimens
are to be considered as implements at all, they are better fitted for
use as knives than as spear points, and on this account I will
mention them here. So far as I can ascertain, no specimens of
this sort have been found elsewhere, but they occur on both the
Vermont and New York shores of the lake, though none have
been found far from it. Of the dozen specimens which have been
found, no two are alike in form or size, but they all resemble each
other in being made of slate, usually red roofing slate, ground,
not chipped, and with the stem notched on each side by a series
of semicircular depressions. In some specimens the notches are
small, in others large; one specimen having but two deep and
wide notches on each side of the rather short stem, while another
has five smaller ones. As has been said all are of slate, those
not made from roofing slate are of drab talcose slate, except one
which is of a compact mica slate. In some the surfaces are flat,
beveled only near the edges, which are straight and sharp in all,
while in others the whole surface is beveled from a median line.
All are very regularly and finely formed; some are smooth, others
show marks of grinding. Most are more or less ovate-triangular
in outline, but one or two have nearly straight and parallel sides,
except near to the point. Two of these specimens are shown full
size in Fig. 7, but the figure does not fully represent the regular-
ity of form of the original. One or two are so long and narrow
that they seem wholly unfit for any use as implements, one espe-
cially, made of talcose slate, is nearly nine inches long and one
and a-half inches in width at the base, the average width being
much less. Such an implement would break with very little
rough usage. The other specimens are smaller and stronger, but
none would long remain intact if subjected to much hard treat-
ment. Most of the specimens are from two and a-half to three
inches long, some being a little less, some more than this. The
width varies less, most of the specimens being very near ly an
inch and a-half at the widest part. One or two specimens have
been found which were precisely similar to those described except
that the stem was without notches. None of the specimens
show decided indications of having been used, and most are as
fresh in appearance as when first made; this fact, added to the

great weakness of some, and lack of strength in the material
~ of all, leads me to conjecture that they may have been badges of :

office or something of the sort, rather than for any definite use

1879. | The Origin of the Domestic Animals. | 747

Rimers and drills of the usual forms are found, though not in
great numbers. Most of the perforations found in various speci-
mens, as banner stones and tubes, were not made by means of
flint drills, but by sticks of wood, or perhaps hollow reeds and
sand, or some such process.

Spear, lance and arrow points are of course more abundant than
any other class of specimens, and all the varieties figured by Col.
Foster are found, with others differing from these. Some very
singular inequilateral forms occur, like those figured by Prof.
Haldeman in a recent number of the NATURALIST, and many
others. Indeed a close examination of any large collection of
flint points, will show that entirely symmetrical forms were rarely
attained; by far the larger part are more or less unequal, both
as regards curvature or straightness of the edge and convexity
of the surfaces. One edge is usually more strongly curved than
the other, and one surface more convex than the other. Often
the blade is not in the same plane with the stem, but seems
twisted upon it, due, as I think, less to the intention of the

maker than to the fracture of the stone. From these slightly,
often almost imperceptibly, unequal points, we have every
gradation to those which are nearly as unsymmetrical as pos-
sible, and of these latter, some are so well chipped that I can-
not regard them as “failures,” but for some unknown reason in-
tentionally of the form we find them. In comparing the specimens
from the Champlain valley with those from Georgia, figured by
Mr. Jones, I have been struck with the close resemblance between
them; there are comparatively few of the objects described in
“ Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” which cannot be dupli-
cated, often exactly, in Vermont specimens. This resemblance is
more noticeable because among Dr. Abbott’s New Jersey speci-

mens I find many unlike those which we have with us.

eee.
THE ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
' BY G. DE MORTILLET!

WE know that the men who lived in our region during the
long quaternary, or paleolithic period, were autochthones.
We have seen that they developed slowly, regularly, in a pro-
gressive, continuous manner, both from a physical as well as an
1 Translated from Materiaux pour |’ Histoire primitive et naturelle de Homme, —
1879. 4e et 5e livraisons, *

VOL. XIII.—NO, XII. 50

v

748 The Origin of the Domestic Animals. (December,

industrial point of view, from the beginning of the quaternary
up to the present (actuelle), or neolithic epoch. During all this
vast lapse of time nothing happened to interrupt the two-fold,
ascending, progressive movement; nothing has seemed to disturb
it. No new element has been suddenly added. This movement
has, then, operated in the local, autochthonous population with-
out intrusion and mixture of foreign populations,

At the beginning of the present epoch, on the contrary, we see
all at once a new civilization introduced without transitional steps.
The neolithic, or polished-stone, industry, to which I have given
the name of Rodenhausienne, appeared all at once without the least
gradation, and at the same time we find a new human type, the
brachycephalic type. There was here an invasion. A popula-
tion from abroad brought here all at once not only the polished
hatchet, which is only a single fact, but also, and what is espe-
cially noteworthy, pottery, domestic animals, the cereals, monu-
ments, dolmens and menhirs, and finally, religious ideas, the wor-
ship of the dead. All this was completely unknown to the
autochthonous population of geological times, to the paleolithic
people. We see that with the polished hatchet appeared six
domestic animals, the dog, goat, sheep, ox, horse and pig; three
cereals, wheat, barley and rye, accompanied by a textile plant, the
flax. It is evident that there took place an industrial revolution
which corresponds to that produced in America by the arrival of
the Europeans. It is incontestably the fact that here was a great
invasion—great at least from the point of view of the results pro-
duced. It was the first which took place in Western Europe. —

Whence did this invasion come? The study of the domestic
animals may tell us. We need not urge the case of the dog,
which may have preceded the arrival of the invaders. Indeed,
it is the animal the most anciently and completely domesticated.
Of all the domestic animals, it is the only one which man has not
been obliged to care for and watch. We may say, on the con-
trary, that he watches man. Very valuable from the two-fold
point of view of personal necessity and of the chase, it was hel
in high esteem by the savage and nomadic peoples who were
always on the gui vive and lived only by the products of the
chase. In fact, the dog is, in our day, quite what he was among

the people who had no other domestic animals, We may OW —

say some words as to his origin,

1879. | The Origin of the Domestic Animals, 749

Some authors have derived the dog from the fox. This view
is not probable, because there exists in the fox a particular dis-
position which is not found in dogs.

It is said also that the dog has descended from the wolf or
jackal. This is possible, but is not probable; wolves and jackals
do not voluntarily breed with dogs.

We meet in the quaternary beds and deposits of France with
the remains of a species of Canidae more nearly allied to the
domestic dog than to the wolf or fox. But these remains are
rare, wholly exceptional in our region. If this canid has given
origin to some one of our domestic dogs, which is possible, this
could not have occurred in our country. This event happened
when the quaternary canid was in its own country, where it
abounded and lived in continual contact with man.

Among savage animals which may have given origin to the
domestic dog are found the colson and buansu, veritable wild
dogs. They actually inhabit the regions of India situated
between the Lower Himalaya and the coast of Coromandel.
They are perhaps the emigrated descendants of the quaternary
canid of which I shall speak presently, and indeed they have
close osteological resemhJances.

Our actual races of dogs are so numerous, so varied in form,
so different that very probably they have had different origins.
Certainly there is one which has come from the cadéru, the wild
dog of Abyssinia, which has been found as far as the center of
Africa. Certainly one of the oldest races of dogs in Egypt is the
domesticated cabéru. Indeed, on the Egyptian pictures which go
back to the remotest periods, to the fourth and even to the third
dynasty, that is to say from 3000 to 4000 years before our era,
we have seen certain large greyhounds. Indeed, the cadbéru is
extremely near the greyhound. a —

But we will not speak farther of the dog. The five other
domestic animals which we have seen to have appeared in West-
ern Europe contemporaneously with the polished hatchet and with
pottery are, the horse, ox, goat, sheep and pig.

Since all the animals have had quaternary ancestors in our
region, they have therefore been supposed to have been domesti-
cated by us. Certain naturalists, indeed, assume that this has
been the case. An attentive study of facts contradicts this asser-

tion. The domestic animals appeared all together, contempora- : : -

750 The Origin of the Domestic Animals. [December,

neously, associated with a totally new civilization which arrived
simultaneously. They were, then, imported, like the civilization
which they accompanied. They were not, therefore, domesticated
there as indigenous products, but foreign products introduced
into the country by new arrivals, by invaders.

This general proof of the non-indigenous domestication is cor-
roborated by the study of details. If, at the quaternary epoch,
the horse, the ox, the goat were ancestral representatives in all
France, it was not so with the sheep. In our quaternary deposits
it has only occurred on the Mediterranean shore. It has been
found in Hérault; it is abundant at Menton. This is evidently
the northern limit of its habitat, and consequently this cannot be
its place of domestication.

The fact is still more explicit as regards the pig. In the
Robenhausian, or polished-stone epoch. we have recognized two
species of domestic pigs in France, in Switzerland and in Italy.
To the ordinary pig which originated from the wild boar, an
animal abundant in our quaternary deposits, may be added the
turf pig, very different, which has no other ancestor in the
countries which I have just named. To learn where the domestic
animals have come from, we should take into account the geo-
graphical area of their savage ancestral types. At the quaternary
epoch the wild horse, identical with the domestic horse, was
extremely abundant, not only in Western Europe but also in
Asia Minor, on both slopes of the Caucasus and over all the
basin of the Caspian sea. It extends still farther to the east.
Its area of habitation traversed Europe and Asia.

The wild quaternary ox had a habitat a little less extended
than the horse; nevertheless, like the latter, it extended from our
region very far into Western Asia. Without speaking of the
species with the hump, like the aurochs, there were two types of
true oxen, the urus, of very great size, and another ox of much
less size. Our domestic oxen certainly originated from one of
these two types, perhaps from both.

The domestic goat may likewise have been derived from the
bouquetin of the Alps and of Spain, as also from the égagve, the
bouquetin of Crete, of Southern Caucasus, of Armenia and of
Persia. Bouquetins and égagres breed spontaneously with the |
goat and produce very readily fertile hybrids, which proves that
_ there exists between them strong bonds of parentage. :

1870. | The Origin of the Domestic Animals. 751

The sheep is a transformation of the mouflon of Corsica, of
Sardinia, of Cyprus, which joins in the east, by Asia Minor, the
argali sheep (mouflon) of Grand Tartary.

Finally, the ordinary pig is evidently a modified wild boar.
Indeed, our pig set at liberty assumes the characters of the wild
boar, and the latter, raised like our pigs, end by resembling them.
Like the horse, or the ox, the wild boar ranges from Europe to
Asia. Moreover, it is only in Asia that we find wild another
swine, which is allied to the turf pig.

The only country containing all the ancestral types of domestic
animals introduced into Western Europe at the Robenhausian
epoch is that part of Asia which extends between the Mediterra-
nean, the Grecian archipelago, the Black sea, Caucasus, the Cas-
pian sea, the limits of Afghanistan, the north of Persia and
Assyria. We should conclude that it is from that region that has
proceeded the great wave of migration which has brought us,
with the civilization of the polished stone epoch, our first domes-
tic animals.

The study of cultivated plants confirms the facts deduced from
the study of the animals. The invaders of the west of Europe,
which at the Robenhausian epoch brought us the domestic
animals, also introduced to us the three cereals, wheat, barley and
rye. It is an agriculture transferred, transplanted all at once, and
which consequently has not taken birth in our regions. The
three cereals which I have just cited have had no ancestors
among us. Among all the wild grasses, which have been well
studied and are perfectly known, none approach the wheat, barley
or rye. We are ignorant, it is true, of the ancestral forms of
these three cereals, nevertheless, botanists are quite generally
agreed that they came from the Caucasian regions. A certain
fact, which militates in favor of this opinion, is, that the cereals
named, whenever they have been cultivated in our fields, some-
times leave sporadic or spont isd lants ; but they soon dis-
appear at the end of two or three years and are no more to be seen.
In the Caucasus, on the contrary, these sporadic and spontaneous
individuals, escaped from cultivation, perpetuate themselves for a
series of several years, besides that, they are generally more
frequent. This proves that there they are nearer the place of
origin, if that be not the place of origin itself.

With the wheat, barley and rye the Robenhausian invaders —

»

752 The Origin of the Domestic Animals. [December,

brought. us a textile plant, of which they made great use, 2. e.,

ax. is plant is most useful in determining with precision the
point of departure of the Robenhausian civilization, This civili-
zation did not come from North-eastern Asia; for in China they
have the hemp, a textile plant much more useful than flax ; but
the hemp was completely unknown in Western Europe during
the entire polished stone epoch.

Flax also was very widely spread in ancient Egypt, to the
exclusion of hemp. It can perhaps be inferred from this that the
civilization which we have studied has come from Egypt, or at
least from South-western Asia. To recognize the slight founda-
tion of this assertion it suffices to return to the domestic animals.
We have seen that the great migration of the Robenhausian or
polished stone epoch brought us the domestic horse. However,
the domestic horse, far from having originated in Egypt, was not
introduced into that country until after the time of the pastoral
kings, at the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty, in the eighteenth
century before our era. The first domestic equid of Egypt was
the ass, an animal of African origin. But the ass did not occur
at all in Europe during the stone age. This absence of the ass,
a very useful animal which lives very well in our climate, is also
a proof that the civilization of the first great European migration
did not come from South-western Asia, which has wild horses
allied to the ass, such as the onager, which inhabits the shores of
the Indus and eaten to Southern Persia; or the hemione of
Upper Asia and Mongolia. Everything in the study of the
domestic animals and cultivated plants concurs, then, to prove
that the first great migration which entered the south-west of
Europe, at the Robenhausian epoch, came from Asia Minor,
Armenia and the Caucasus. From our actual knowledge, we —
cannot establish whether this migration has followed the route of
the land or even the course of the sea; but this much is certain,
that in either case it reached us by the ‘Mediterranean basin. If,
without pastoral and agricultural facts, we seek proofs of this
fact, we shall find in it the retrograde artistic movernent, and in
_ the introduction of architecture or the appearance of a monu-

ment, the dolmen. :
= The last populations of the geological periods, that of the

nounced artistic sentiment. We have SS in France, in aver :

_ Magdalenian epoch which terminated this period, had a very pro- 2

1879. ] The Origin of the Domestic Animals. 753

land, in Belgium and in England, in the deposits of this epoch,
true works of art. These are engravings and sculptures repre-
senting in a very natural manner, but very true and well studied,
representations of animals.

But with the Robenhausian invasion this first start in art com-
pletely disappeared. We see no more ornamentation, or only
rudiments exist, as in certain dolmens of the Mcebihan. These con-
sist simply of fantastic combinations of different lines represent-
ing no living object. In the region whence the Robenhausian
migration proceeded, we see certain peoples, as in Persia, who in
decoration, still in our time, make only combinations of lines.

_ The first monuments, dolmens and menhirs, were brought to

us by the Robenhausian migration. We find these monuments
at the north and south of the region whence has started this
migration. We have discovered dolmens in Palestine, especially
among the Moabites; we have found them still more to the north
of Asia Minor. On the other hand, it is well known that dol-
mens are found in the Caucasus, and that they pass into the
Crimea..

Finally, at what date has the migration which we have just
studied, taken place? Certainly it is very rash to seek the date,
even approximate, of events so distant. However, it seems to
me well to divert our researches in this direction; so with-
out according them much importance, I proceed, finally, to
present some considerations in this respect. It seems to me
that we can affirm that the Rebenhausian migration was ante-
rior to the great Egyptian civilization. Indeed, the men com-
prising this migration did not know, for a long time, indeed a
very long time, anything more than the use of stone. The
Egyptian civilization, from the first dynasty, was in possession of
metals. We submit that there were no relations between the

Egyptians and the countries whence the emigrants departed, but

it was not long before this relation was to be established, since
from the fifth and the sixth dynasty Egypt had borrowed much
from Asia, notably that which relates to the working of metals.
The populations which invaded Europe had, therefore, already
quitted Asia at this epoch.

754 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany (December,

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE SCIENCE OF BOTANY
IN NORTH AMERICA FROM 1635 TO 1840.

BY FREDERICK BRENDEL,

HISTORY of the science of botany in North America
means not in this sketch a history of that science in all its
branches, but rather the history of traveling and local collectors,
and of descriptive botany so far as it concerns American plants.
For until Prof. A. Gray’s popular book, “How Plants Grow”
appeared in 1858, not a single work of any importance was pub-
lished in this country, either on anatomy or on the physiology of
plants, not even a single one of the many systems ever proposed
had its origin in America. And yet the labors of American and
foreign scientists in America contributed their large share to the
advancement of science. They furnished the material for the
work in all the other branches of botany, and particularly in the
geography of plants. Most of them did a toilsome work, exposed
in the wilderness to manifold fatigues and perils; many died far
from home on the glorious battlefield of science, as it were, sword
in hand; some a violent death, others swept away by a pernicious
climate.
1635-1800.—It was in 1635 that the first book on North
American plants ever written, was published by Jacques Philippe
Cornut, a French physician. He described Canadian plants
brought over to Europe, in a book entitled: Canadensium Plantar-
um Historia. It is illustrated by good drawings, most of the
species being recognizable at first sight, though the names given
are quite different from those now in use. But the work does
not contain, as might be inferred from the title, Canadian plants
only, but also some others from Spain and the Orient. Not until
thirty-seven years afterward, in 1672, was another account of
American plants given by John Josselyn, in a book entitled
Rariora Nove Anglie, and in 1674, in an account of two voyages
in New England.
At the same time, in 1672, Wm. Hughes published in London, |
The American Physician, or a Treatise of the Roots, Plants, ete.
-~ In Ray’s Historia Plantarum, 1688, second volume, we find a

Virginia, where he made his collections. The same catalogue

“Catalogus plantarum in Virginia observatarum,” by John Ban- =
ister, an English missionary and botanist, who came, in 1680, to

1870. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 755

was republished, in 1707, in Petiver’s Memoirs for the Curious.
About the same time an Englishman, Wm. Vernon, and a Ger-
man, David Krieg, collected, in Maryland, several hundred new
Species, which they sent to Ray, Petiver, Sir Hans Sloane and
others,

James Petiver, a London apothecary, described, in 1706, in
“Pterigraphia Americana,” some North American ferns, and
Leonard Pluckenet, a London physician who lived from 1642 to
1706, figured many North American plants in “ Almagestum
Botanicum,” 1696, and “ Almatheum Botanicum,” 1705.

The same year came the English naturalist, John Clayton,
(1685 -1 773), to Virginia, where he made his collections, after-
wards described by Gronovius, a distinguished Dutch botanist at
the University of Leyden, in Holland. His “Flora Virginica
Exhibens Plantas, quas J. Clayton in Virginia collegit,” was pub-
lished in 1743, and a second edition by Gronovius, the son, 1762,
augmented by observations of Clayton, Colden, Mitchell and
Kalm.

From 1712 to 1719, Mark Catesby, another English naturalist,
collected in Virginia. A second time he started from England
and arrived, in 1722, in South Carolina. He traveled three years
in that State, in Georgia and Florida, visited the Bahamas and
came back to England in 1726, where he published from 1731 to
1743, the valuable work, “The Natural History of Carolina,
Florida and the Bahama islands,” two volumes in folio and a sup-
plement with two hundred and twenty colored plates. The des-
criptions are in English and French; a German edition was pub-
lished in 1750. After his death (1749) was published his Hortus
Britano-Americanus, in which he described the trees and shrubs
of the British colonies in North America adapted to the soil and
climate of England. London, 1763.

Here may be mentioned a natural history of North Carolina, :
by Brickell, in Dublin, 1737.

The Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, explored the eastern part |
of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Canada during the
years 1748 to 1751. He was sent by the Swedish government at —
the proposal of Linnaeus, whose pupil he was. The original
motive was the American mulberry (Morus rubra), which was
known to grow as far north as Canada, in a climate similar to

that of Sweden. It was intended to acclimatize the tree and to

756 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

introduce the culture of the silkworm in Sweden. The extensive
botanical collections were worked up by Linnaeus and embodied
in his herbarium, where they exist yet.

Linnzeus published, 1753, the first edition of his “ Species
Plantarum,” in which he described 5938 species, all that was
known at that time, and of which 5323 were phenogamous. In
all his writings the number of species he was acquainted with
was 8551 (7728 phenogamous and 825 cryptogamous). Amongst
these are 1075 species either common to the eastern and western
continents or only North American, inclusive of the Arctic re-
gions and exclusive of Mexico.

Another contributor to the herbarium of Linnzeus was Cad-
‘wallader Colden, Lt. Governor of New York, who was born in
Scotland, 1688, and died in New York, 1776. The catalogue of
his collection is published in “ Acta Societatis Scientiarum Up-
salensis, 1743-1744. His daughter, Miss Jenny Colden, wrote a
Flora of New York, with drawings, the manuscript of which she
transferred, before her death, to Wangenheim ; afterwards it was
incorporated into the Banksian Library, but never published.

Some Canadian plants were described by the French mission-
ary, Xavier de Charlevoix, in his “ Histoire et description générale
de la nouvelle France, 1744.” About the same time, John Bar-
tram (born 1701, died 1777 in Philadelphia) traveled to Lake
Ontario, and published his valuable observations in 1751. His
son, Wm. Bartram (1739-1823), was the first to extend his botan-
ical excursions to the Southern Alleghanies. He left Philadel-
phia in 1773, traveled through Florida and Georgia to the Chero-
kee country, and went through Alabama to Mobile in 1776. He
published his voyage in Philadelphia, 1791. This valuable work
was afterwards translated into the German, in 1794, and in French,
in 1799. :
John Mitchell, an American physician in Virginia, published
additions to Linnzeus’ first edition of Genera Plantarum in his
“ Dissertatio de Principiis Botanicorum.”

Reinhold Forster, naturalist to Cook’s second expedition, com-
piled a catalogue of the plants of North America, in 1771, with-
out descriptions.

A number of species, common to the Southern States and the
_ West Indies, were made known by the important discoveries of ee
Chas. Plumier (1690-1695), of Nic. Jos. de Jacquin (17 54-1759) oe

1870. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 757

and of Olaf Swartz (1785-1789). Only the latter spent a year on
the North American continent before he went to the West Indies,
where he alone discovered and described 850 new species. The
first came from France, > me second from Germany, the last from
Sweden.

At that time Humphrey Marshall made the woody plants his
special study. He published his “ Arboretum Americanum,”
containing 276 species, in Philadelphia, 1785, which in 1788 was
republished in Germany. The German foresters took a special
interest in the matter, as many American woody plants had
already found their way into the German nurseries, and by some
experiments made it was known that for many purposes some
sorts of American timber were superior to the indigenous, and as
the greater demand for fuel in some industrial districts resulted in
a final scarcity of wood, they thought that the cultivation of
American timber in the German forests would be, by its more’
rapid growth, of great advantage.

Captain’ Wangenheim, of the Hessian troops, afterwards Prus-
sian forest-officer, studied, during his eight years service in
America, the timber of this country with regard to its usefulness
and practicability of culture. In 1781 he published descriptions
of some North American trees, and after his return to Germany
a larger work with drawings, 1787. There are many good obser-
vations on the soil and climate and their influence upon the cul-
ture of the different species, but the drawings are inferior, and in
one there is a great error which is worthy of notice. On plate
18 is figured the leaf of Carya oliveformis and what is intended
to represent its fruit, but looks rather like a pea nut. Probably
he had never seen the nut, which he described as “kidney
shaped,” though he examined, in Wm. Prince’s nursery at Flush-
ing, on Long Island, the young tree not yet bearing. As he was
eager to obtain the fruit, somebody by mistake, or perhaps for
jest, may have given to him a pea nut for a pecan nut, which he
drew. He gives a short history of the tree, which was unknown
in the English colonies until the peace of 1762, when by chance
some fur-traders brought a small number of the nuts to New
York. Wm. Prince planted (1772) thirty nuts and raised ten

plants, which (except two retained for propagation) he sold to
England at ten guineas a piece.
1 Here may be corrected an error in the preface of Torrey’s Flora of New York,
Wangenheim was not a surgeon nor an M.

758 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

In 1783, was sent over to America from Vienna, a scientific
expedition under the charge of Prof. Marter, assisted by Dr.
Stupicz, two gardeners and one designer. From Philadelphia
they made excursions in Pennsylvania, to Virginia and Carolina.
In the latter State, Marter met Dr. Schoepf, surgeon in the service
of the Margrave of Ansbach, another German petit-tyrant who
sold his poor subjects to the English. Both made together an
excursion to Florida and the Bahamas. Marter brought large
collections to Vienna, and Dr. Schoepf afterwards published a
“ Materia Medica Americana,” Erlangen, 1787, and his “ Travels
Through the North American States,” Erlangen, 1788.

An Italian nobleman, Luigi Castiglioni, traveled from 1785 to
1787 in the Eastern States, and published, 1790, his “ Viaggio negli
Stati Uniti del America Settentrionale,” in two volumes. The latter
half of the second volume contains observations on the useful
plants. Like Wangenheim he gives to his countrymen some
hints in regard to acclimatation. He describes most of the east-
ern and southern woody plants and gives a few good drawings
(Franklinia alatamaha of Marshall, now Gordonia pubescens,
Quercus banisteriand Rhus venenata). He made himself acquainted
with the scientific men of the country, and in a passage (p. 163
second volume) where he objects to the assertion of Raynal
(Histoire Philosophique et Politique), that America has never pro-
duced a single prominent man, be it in science, art or any other
branch, he names, after mentioning a number of military, politi-
cal and scientific men, the botanists, John Bartram and sons,
Humphrey Marshall, Manasseh Cutler and Dr. James Greenway
of Virginia, who made valuable collections.

Thomas Walter, the author of the Flora Caroliniana, published
in London, 1787, was born, 1740, in Hampshire in England. He
made his collections on a small area of scarcely more than twenty-
five square miles on the Santee river, in South Carolina, but
though he declares his collection very incomplete, it contains
over a thousand species. He is a most modest man and not an
over hasty species-maker. Whenever he is in doubt about a
species he does not name it, but calls it “anonymous,” for only
few, he says in the preface, are allowed to name, and so he con-
cedes to those who are the leaders in science, the right to name

those plants now first described. To his name on the title —

he appends “agricola” (farmer), a learned farmer indeed, as the

1879. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 759

whole book is written in Latin. In front of the book is a copper-
plate (representing Magnolia frazeri Walt.) with the inscription:
“To Thomas Walter, Esq., this plate of the new auriculated
Magnolia is presented as a testimony of gratitude and esteem by
his much obliged humble servant, John Fraser.”

This man, John Fraser, was a Scotch botanist who collected
from 1780 to 1784 in New Foundland, and from 1785 to 1796 in :
the United States. After a voyage in Russia he came again to
America with his eldest son, John, in 1799. He visited the Alle-
ghanies, where before, in 1789, he had traveled with Michaux,
and on the summit of the Great Roan it was that he discovered
the beautiful Rhododendron catawbiense, now cultivated in many
varieties. After a visit on the island of Cuba, where he met
Humboldt and Bonpland, father and son returned to England
in 1802. Once more, 1807, both came to North America. The
elder Fraser died, 1811, in Glasgow, but his son returned to
America, where he continued his excursions up to 1817.

Palisot de Beauvais (1755-1820) came from St. Domingo to
Philadelphia in 1791. He extended his excursions to the Chero-
kee country in the Southern Alleghanies. Of his collections, a
large part was lost by shipwreck.

L. A. G. Bosc (1759-1828), a friend of Michaux, came from
France to Charleston, in 1798, made some excursions in the
vicinity of that city, traveled northward to Wilmington, N. C.,
and westward to the line of Tennessee. With a collection of
1600 species, chiefly grasses and cryptogamous plants, he returned
in 1800, to France. Parts of his collection are found in the her-
baria of Ventenat, Martius, Moretti and De Candolle.

Another Frenchman ought to be mentioned here not as a
botanist, but because the matter he treated of is in near relation
to botany. The Count Volney came to North America as an
exile in 1795, and lived there till 1798. He had traveled pre-
viously in the Orient and had written the famous work, “ The
Ruins.’ In America he studied the soil and the climate. His
“ Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats Unis d’Amerique,” was
published in Paris, 1822. Though we cannot agree with all he
said, particularly not with the statement that the ancient and
annual fires of the Indians caused the prairies, the book contains
much interesting matter, In the second chapter he describes, in

_ general, the appearance of the country, particularly the extensive

760 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

woodlands, which he brings into three categories, as the south-
ern, the middle and the northern, each characterized by its pecu-
liar trees. Very interesting to Western men is his article on the
colony at Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the early French life
in Illinois.

The most important collections of this period were made by
André Michaux, born in France, 1746. Before Michaux came to
this country, he had traveled in Persia, 1782 to 1785. Then, in
September, 1785, he embarked for New York, where he arrived
in November of the same year. Heestablished two gardens, one
in New Jersey, the other near Charleston, S. C., for he was sent
by the French government to collect living plants, to be trans-
ported to France. His excursions extended from Canada to
Florida, and, in the west, to the Mississippi; farther than any
collector before him had traveled. From Charleston he started
for his first tour to the southern Alleghanies, in April, 1787, and
returned the rst of July; went to Philadelphia and New York,
and returned to Charleston in August. Then, in February, 1788,
he embarked for St. Augustine, Florida; returned to Charleston,
and started again for the Alleghanies. During the following win-
ter he was on the Bahama islands, and brought back to Charles-
ton eight hundred and sixty young trees and shrubs. Then he
made several excursions to the Alleghanies of North Carolina,
through the valley of Virginia to Maryland and Pennsylvania.
From New York he returned to South Carolina, via Baltimore,
Richmond and Wilmington, and went again to the mountains.
He returned to his nursery with twenty-five hundred young
trees, besides many shrubs and other plants. In March, 1792, he
sold his nursery near Charleston, and went to Philadelphia, col-
lected in New Jersey and around New York; traveled via Albany
and the Champlain lake to Montreal and Quebec, and came back
from there to Philadelphia in December.

In July, 1793, he undertook his great journey to the far west;
he crossed the Alleghanies of Pennsylvania, descended the Ohio
to Louisville; crossed Kentucky and Virginia, back to Philadel-
phia. In 1794 he visited again the Southern States; in May,
3 1795, he was in East Tennessee, crossed the Cumberland moun-

oe tains, arrived, in July, at Louisville, traveled the Wabash up a
= Vincennes, crossed Illinois, descended the Mississippi in a little

: boat to the mouth of the Ohio, followed the Cumber land p iver up - : 2

1879. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 761

to Clarksville, and arrived, via Louisville and North Carolina, at
Charleston in August, 1796.

His travels in the Alleghanies are more particularly spoken of
by Prof. Asa Gray, in his “Notes of a botanical excursion to the
mountains of North Carolina.” He had already sent to France
more than sixty thousand living woody plants, and forty boxes with
seeds, when he returned in 1796. Unfortunately, he suffered ship-
wreck off the coast of Holland, but he, and the collections which
he brought, were saved, though the latter were damaged. He
arrived at Paris in December, 1796, and published, in 1801, his
great work on the American oaks, with excellent engravings.
He then prepared the material for his Flora Boreali-Americana,
but did not live to see it published.

Though he had desired to return to America, he accepted a prop-
osition of Captain Baudin, to take part in an expedition to New
Holland, and embarked on the 18th of October, 1801. Arrived
in Isle de France, he left the expedition for Madagascar, where
a malignant fever caused his death, on the 13th of November,
1802.

Louis Claude Richard arranged the material of his Flora, and,
in 1803, it was published by François André Michaux, the son.
In this work are described 596 genera (555 vascular and 41 cellu-
lar) and 1740 species (1641 vascular and gg cellular). Though
many changes and reductions have been made in the course of
time, 17 of the genera, proposed by him as new, are valid yet,
and about 350 species.

Considering the vast area he traveled over, often without com-
pany, the poor facilities for traveling at that time, the troubles he
had to undergo in transporting so many living trees and shrubs,
the dangers he had to fear, risking his scalp at every step in the
Western wilderness, we must admire that indefatigable traveler.
His name stands as a prominent landmark at the dividing line of
two periods, from which the labors of working botanists in this
country took a new departure.

1800—1840.—TIill then, at the close of the sichieenth century,
as we have seen, most of the work was done by foreigners, partly
engaged by European institutions or by private men. The few
Americans did the work at their own expense, for there was no
subvention by the Government at that time. Michaux, after his

return from Canada, had, in 1792, entered into negotiation with — a

762 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

the Government about an expedition across the continent, but
without any result. Indeed, the Union, with her four millions of
inhabitants, was not a rich country at that time; she could not
support scientific pursuits with the same liberality as she, in our
times, does with her forty millions. And yet, ten years after-
wards, an expedition was sent out under the command of Meri-
wether Lewis and Daniel Clark, the first that ever crossed the
continent.

Before this expedition, only two botanists had visited the
Pacific coast, Haenke and Menzies.

Thaddaeus Haenke (1761-1817), botanist with the Spanish ex-
pedition under Malaspina, collected about nine thousand species, of
which a small part were from Northern California, in 1789. The
herbarium is in the National Museum of Bohemia. Haenke did
not return to Europe, but settled at Cochabamba, in Bolivia,
where he died, 1817. Presl published the description of a part
of his collections, under the title: Reliquia Haenkeane; 2 vols.,
with 72 plates. Here, by-the-by, may be corrected a geographi-
cal error, such as may often be found in learned writings. In
Kunth’s Enumeratio, vol 111, page 361, under Juncus falcatus, we
read: a Haenke lectus prope Monte Real (Canada), But Haenke
was never in Canada, and it is meant Monterey, in California.

Archibald Menzies (1754-1842), a Scotchman, surgeon in the
British marine, came first, 1786, to the North-west coast, and
made there some collections. Afterwards, he took part in the
famous expedition under the command of Vancouver (1 791-95);
and visited, several times, San Francisco, Monterey and Nutka
Sound, on Vancouver Island. His collections are incorporated in
the herbarium of the Edinburg Botanical Society, and, ane in
Hooker’s herbarium.

This was all that was known of the botany of the jorike
Pacific coast, when the first American exploring expedition
started from St. Louis, on the 14th of May, 1804. The party
ascended the Missouri in keel-boats, cordeled by hand; wintered
at Fort Mandan; crossed, in the next season, the Rocky moun-
tains (at the Bitit mountains), and descended the Lewis fork
and the Columbia river. The botanical collection from the
Rocky mountains was, unfortunately, lost; only one hundred and :
=- fifty species, collected during the rapid return-march, were nr. o

o E were described nd Frederick Pursh. Sie igi

1879 ] Zn North America from 1635 to 1840. 763

The German botanist, Frederick Pursh, came to North America
in 1799, a young man then, but not as young as he is made in
Pritzel’s Thesaurus, which, on account ofso many errors in print-
ing, is, in regard to dates, unreliable. According to Pritzel, he
was born in 1794! What a young botanist, crossing the Atlan-
tic, five years old! He was born in 1774.

“My first object after my arrival in America,” he says in the
preface to his Flora, “ was to form an acquaintance with all those
interested in the study of botany. Among these I had the pleas-
ure to account one of the earliest, and, ever after, the most valu-
able, the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, of Lankaster, Pa., a gentleman
whose industry and zeal for the science can only be surpassed by
the accuracy and acuteness of his observations.

Heinrich Ludwig Mihlenberg, born 1756, was a Lutheran
preacher in Lancaster, Pa., where he died, 1817. He published a
catalogue of North American plants, 1813 (second edition 1818),
and a “ Description of North American Grasses,” 1817.

Then Pursh visited Mr. Humphrey Marshall, already men-
tioned, the younger John Bartram and his brother William Bar-
tram; Mr. John Lyon, who had the management of Mr. William
Hamilton's gardens, and whose successor he was from 1802 to
1805, and Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, Professor of Botany in the
University of Pennsylvania, who lived from 1766 to 1815, the
= author of “ Collections for an Essay toward a Materia Medica of
the United States,” 1798 (second edition 1812-1814); of a “Flora
Virginica,” first part, 1812, but not continued, and of “ Geographi-
cal view of trees and shrubs,” 1809.

In 1805, Pursh set out for the Alleghanies of Virginia and
Maryland ; in 1806 he went to the Northern States, as far as New
_ Hampshire ; in 1807 he took charge of Professor Hosack’s botani-
cal garden of New York; in 1810 he visited the West Indian —
islands, and returning in 181 1, landed in Maine, and embarked
the same year in New York for England, where he published his
Flora Americe Septentrionalis, London, 1814, in 2 vols., with
24 engravings. This Flora contains about 740 genera and Reavis
3000 species.

It will be easily understood that Pursh’s F lora, which was pub-
lished eleven years after Michaux’s, must be richer in genera and
Species, when we consider that Michaux described only such spe-
cies as he collected himself, and that Pursh received contribu-

VOL, X11I,—NO, XII. 51

764 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

tions from many parties. Except the small collection of Lewis
and Clark, he used the herbaria of J. Lyon and Barton in Phila-
delphia, of Hosack in New York, of Le Conte in Georgia, of
Peck in Massachusetts, and a number of species received from
Alois Enslen, an Austrian gardener, who made large collections

in the Southern States and Western territories, which are now in

the Imperial Museum of Natural History in Vienna.

Then, in England, Pursh examined the herbaria of Clayton,
Pallas, Plukenet, Catesby and Walter. In Bank’s herbarium he
found a number of the plants collected by Archibald Menzies on
the North-west coast.

Pursh returned to America with the intention to explore
Canada, where he died in 1820. :

C. C. Robin} a Frenchman, traveled, 1802-1806, in Louisiana
and West Florida, which at that time included the southern parts
of the States of Mississippi and Alabama. The incidents of his
voyages he published in 1807, and in an appendix he described
the plants, found on his tour, very vaguely, as he indeed was not
a botanist. It is not known that he ever brought to France the
specimens of those plants. From this written material was fab-
ricated, by Rafinesque, a fancy work called Florula Ludoviciana,
published in New York, 1817.

Constantin Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz is his full name.. He
was a Sicilian, and came to America in 1802, where he remained
three years, and then again in 1815, and never returned, for he died
in 1840, in this country. A. Gray published, in the American Jour-
nal of Science and Arts, a paper on his numerous botanical writ-
ings. Gray calls him an eccentric but certainly gifted man. It
is true, some of his observations are really good, some of his me
genera and species are acknowledged now and will be in the ee
future, but the greater part are trash; most of his numerous
species can never be found, for they have no real existence in
nature. He was a polygrapher—he wrote on everything; even

try, the worst of all, he committed. At last he made a perfect

fool of himself; he had such a mania for classification and regis-

- tration, that he once proposed—twelve new species of thunder

and lightning! His travels extended, in 1802-4, over the States of

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia; 1n _

a 1 Not the godfather of the genus Robinia. That was Jean Robin, who lived from
to 1629, in Paris, . hae

>

1879. } In North America from 1635 to 1840. 765

1815 and 1816, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania; 1818 to the West (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois).
To enumerate all his publications would be a waste of time and

paper.

Francois André Michaux (1770-1855) had already traveled with
his father. In 1801 he started again for America, to explore the
Western States. In June, 1892, he crossed the Alleghanies of
Pennsylvania, on foot, descended the Ohio in a boat from Wheel-
ing to Limestone; crossed Kentucky in a south-westerly direc-
tion, and Tennessee as far as Nashville, and returned via Knox-
ville in East Tennessee, to Charleston, S. C., where he arrived on
the 18th of October, 1802.

After his return to France in 1803, he published his “ Voyage a
l'Ouest des monts Alleghanys,” Paris, 1804. The book contains
many valuable observations on vegetation, wild as well as culti-
vated. 1805, he published a work on the naturalization of North
American forest-trees, and 1810-1813, his great work, “ Histoire
des arbres foréstiéres de l'Amerique septentrionale.” There is an
English translation, published in Philadelphia, 1859; The North
American Sylva, three volumes, with 145 plates, uniform with
Thomas Nuttall’s work with the same title, published 1842-1854,
which contains, in three volumes with 121 plates, those trees
which are not described in Michaux’s Sylva, mostly trees from
the Rocky mountains, California and Florida, not known before.

Thomas Nuttall, a-native of Yorkshire in England, and a
printer by trade, came to America about the year 1808. He was,
like Michaux, an indefatigable traveler. In company with John
Bradbury, who had already explored the vicinity of St. Louis
during the year 1810, he traveled, 1811, the Missouri upward to
Fort Mandan; 1816, he was in the Alleghanies, in Kentucky and
Ohio. On the 2d of October, 1818, he started from Philadelphia _
for Pittsburg, descended the Ohio to its mouth, then the Missis-

sippi to the Arkansas river; this river upward to the Fort Smith;

from there in a south-westerly direction to the Red river. After
his return to Fort Smith, he followed the Arkansas farther up to

the mouth of Verdegris river, and Grand river, and northward to
the Osage saltworks. This latter excursion was full of hard-
ships, disease, Indian pillaging and peril of life. Returning, he
descended the Mississippi to New Orleans, where he arrived on

2 the 18th of February, 1820.

766 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

From the manner of writing, we may often perceive the char-
acter of aman. Whoever may read his “ Journal of travels into
the Arkansas territory,’ published in Philadelphia, 1821, will be
delighted at the plain, unpretending style, the ‘‘ unvarnished tale,”
as he expresses himself in the preface, and will divine in Thomas
Nuttall an amiable man.

In the years 1834 and 1835, Nuttall crossed the Rocky moun-
tains to the Pacific coast, explored Oregon and California, made
an excursion to the Sandwich islands, and returned around
Cape Horn to the Atlantic coast. Besides the above-mentioned
books, he published his “Genera of North American plants,” in
two volumes, Philadelphia, 1818; an “Introduction to systematic
and physiological botany,’ Cambridge, 1827, and numerous de-
scriptions of new plants, mostly in the Proceedings of the Acad-
emy of Natural Science, in Philadelphia. He died at the ripe
age of seventy-three, on the roth of September, 1859, in Lan-
cashire in England.

Nuttall and Bradbury are mentioned by W. Irving in his As-
toria, in which he describes the voyages of the parties sent out
to Oregon by Mr. Astor. As both gentlemen left the expedition
on the upper Missouri, these voyages had no further relation to
botany.

Several other foreign botanists collected at that time in North
America. Alire Raffenau Delile, professor of botany at the Uni-
versity of Montpellier, in France, after his return from the F rench
Scientific Expedition in Egypt, a prominent member of which he
was, came over to America and collected during three years, in
the vicinity of Wilmington, N.

José Francisco Correa de Serra, secretary of the Royal Acad-
emy of Lisbon, came in the year 1813 to New York and Phila-
delphia, from where he made several excursions.

From 1817 to 1823 Mr. Milbert collected for the Museum of
Natural History at Paris. He lived in New York and extended
his excursions to the Ohio, Mississippi, Lake Superior and
Cana

Active American botanists of that time were Amos Eaton,
professor in Albany, N. Y. He lived from 1776 to 1842, and

~ published the first edition of his Manual of Botany, 1817, and of
-eight editions the last in 1841.

James a was ned of botany i in Boston. His first a :

1879. | Ln North America from 1635 to 1840. 767

tion of Florula Bostoniensis appeared in 1814, the third in 1840,
and his American Medical Botany, 1817—1821, in three volumes
with sixty colored plates.

William Baldwin, born in Pennsylvania 1779, collected in 1811,_
in Delaware, then in Georgia and Florida, and went, 1817, to
Buenos Ayres, in South America. He died on the 31st of Au-
gust, 1819, as a member of Major Long’s first expedition, in
Missouri. Darlington published, 1843, Reliquiæ Baldwiniane.
This expedition, by order of the Government, under the command
of Major Long, started from Pittsburg in April, 1819, and pro-
ceeded the same year up the Missouri to Council Bluffs, where
they wintered. Dr. Baldwin, the botanist of the expedition, sick
already when the party set out from Pittsburg, died in Franklin,
Mo., and Edwin James took his place, who compiled the account
of the expedition in two volumes, 1823; the same year it was
published in London in three volumes.. The party started again
on the 6th of June, 1820, from Council Bluffs, moved up the
Platte river and examined the mountains from the South fork of
the Platte to the Arkansas. Dr. James ascended the grand peak
described by Major Pike in an account of his expedition in the
years 1805-1807, which furnished no botanical matter. This
peak is, in the narrative, calied James’ Peak; Fremont after-
wards changed it to Pike’s Peak, although Pike had only seen it
and James was the first that ascended it. In returning, one part
of the command followed the Arkansas river, the other the Cana-
dian river. The catalogue of the collected plants, 500 to 600
species, was published by James, in 1825, in the Transactions of 4
the American Philosophical Society, 11, 172-190. James died
1861, near Burlington, in Iowa; he was born in Vermont, 1797.

In the period from 1820 to 1830 several Florz of more or less
limited parts of the United States were published. The best
known are: Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, 1821-1824, in —
two volumes, with twelve plates, by Stephen. Elliot, professor in
Charleston, where he died 1830; the Flora of the Northern and —
Middle States, by John Torrey, 1824, and the Flora Cestrica (of
Chester county, Pa.), 1826, by William Darlington, who lived
from 1782 to 1863, and published the third edition of his Flora
in 1853.

- Lewis David v. Schweinits, born in 1780 at Bethlehem, Pa, .
where he lived to 1834, published, in 1821, “ Specimen Flore os

Gr Tereg mit Aon. Se. WY, Ep: Mn i

768 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany |December,

Americe Septentrionalis Cryptogamicz,” containing the liver-
worts, and 1825, a Monograph of the genus Carex. He col-
lected the fungi of Carolina, a catalogue of which, containing
1373 species, was published by Schwaegrichen, the well known
cryptogamist, in Leipzig, 1822.

The catalogue of plants collected in the North-western terri-
tory during Major Long’s second expedition, is written by
Schweinitz. This expedition was described by Wm. H. Keating,
the geologist of the party, and published in London in 1825, in
two volumes, entitled, “ Narrative of an Expedition to the Source
of St. Peter’s river, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, etc.,
performed in the year 1823.” The party left Philadelphia on the
30th of April, and the route of the expedition was the following:
Wheeling, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Fort Crawford, Fort St. Aa-
thony, up the St. Peter’s river to its source, down the Red
river to Lake Winnipeg, Rainy lake, Fort Williams on Lake

Superior and return on the lakes. Edwin James was appointed
botanist, but he missed the place of meeting, so Mr. Thomas Say, ©
the zoologist of the expedition, undertook to collect the plants.
As several boxes containing collections, and dispatched during
the expedition, were lost, the botanical collection was very poor,
only 130 species. As poor as the collection was, the description
of the species called new by Schweinitz, are mostly riddles not
yet solved. So the expedition, otherwise interesting, was unim-
portant as to botany.

Dr. Douglass Houghton, who met, in 1845, a sad end by
drowning in Lake Superior, was a member of Schoolcraft’s Ex-
pedition to the sources of the Mississippi river in 1832, the nar-
rative of which was published in 1855. He collected about 250
species of plants, only a few of which were new.

Up to this time a number of botanists were at work on the
Pacific coast.

Adelbert Chamisso de Boncourt (1781-1838) and Frederik
Eschscholtz (1793-1831) were commissioned by the Russian
government, the one as naturalist, the other as physician, to
the Russian Exploring Expedition in the Pacific and Behring
straits, under the command of Kotzebue, 1815-1818, and explored

The plants collected by Lay and Collie, of the expedition oo y

_ Alaska and a part of the coast of California. The collections are .
__ partly in the royal herbarium at Berlin, partly in St. Petersburg. _

1879. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 769

Capt. Beechey to the Pacific, 1825-1828, were described by Sir
Wm. Jackson Hooker and G. A. Walker-Arnott, and published
in London, 1841, a quarto volume with ninety-four plates. A
part of these plants were collected in California.

Carl Heinrich Mertens, born in Bremen, 1796, took part in the
Russian expedition under the command of Capt. Lütke, 1826-1829.
Amongst his collections was a number of plants from the Island
of Sitka, which, as Mertens not long after his return died in St.
Petersburg, were described by Bongard in the memoirs of the
Academy of Science of St. Petersburg, 1832. His account of
the vegetation of Sitka was already published, 1827, in Berlin, by
A. Chamisso, with observations of the same.

A member of the same expedition was F. H. v. Kittlitz, who
published twenty-four fine landscape views of the Pacific islands
and coasts, amongst which are four that give a good idea of the
vegetative character of Alaska. Three of them are rather roughly
copied in the U. S. Agricultural Report for 1868.

David Douglas, born in Scotland, 1790, traveled for the Hor-
ticultural Society of London. He arrived in July, 1823, in New
York, made excursions through New York State to Canada, and
returned to London 1824. The society was so well pleased with
his collection that he was sent the same year to Oregon, where
he arrived in February, 1825, on the same ship with Dr. John
Scouler, another Scotchman, who was afterwards professor in
Dublin, and died, seventy-two years old, in 1874, in Glasgow, his
birthplace. Douglas took up his residence in Fort Vancouver,
and made from there excursions into the interior of Oregon Ter-
ritory, and to Northern California, then he crossed the Rocky
mountains to the Athabasca river, and to York Factory on the shore
of Hudson's bay. In October, 1827, he returned to England. In
1830 he undertook his second voyage to Oregon and Upper Cali-
fornia, and in 1833 he crossed the Pacific to the Sandwich islands,
where he lost his life in a horrible manner. It was on the 12th —
of July, 1834, that on an excursion he fell into a deep excavation
made for the purpose of capturing wild beasts ; a wild ox, plung-
ing soon after him into the same hole, killed him. This was
a time of disaster for traveling botanists. A year before Douglas,
in February, 1833, Thomas Drummond died in Havana; two
months only after Douglas, was Carl Beyrich taken away by the
cholera at Fort Gibson, the next year Joseph Frank died in New

Pa

770 Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany [December,

Orleans, and in 1837 H. B. Croom lost his life by shipwreck on
the coast of North Carolina.

H. B. Croom was born in North Carolina, 1799; his catalogue
of plants of Newbern, N. C., was, after his death, published by
Torrey.

Joseph Frank came to America, 1835, and collected for a
botanical society in Germany (the Unio Itineraria). He traveled
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Louisiana.

Carl Beyrich, another German, was sent by the Prussian gov-
ernment. He collected, 1833, in North and South Carolina and
Georgia 1300 species in one season. The next year he went with
a military expedition (probably that of Col. Dodge) from St
Louis to the Indian Territory, to leave it no more.

Thomas Drummond, brother of the well known Australian
traveler, James Drummond, took part in Franklin's second expe-
dition as an assistant of Dr. Richardson, in 1825. At Cumberland
House he left the party to explore the Rocky mountains of the
British Territory. In 1831 he collected in the Alleghanies, and
then in the vicinity of St. Louis and New Orleans, where he
embarked for Texas. He explored the country around Austin,
Brazoria and Galveston, went to Apalachicola, in Florida, and
started from there in February, 1833, for Havana, where he died
in the month of March.

Already before Drummond, in 1827-1830 Texas was, in its more
western parts, explored by Jean Louis Berlandier, from Geneva.
He also, though later in 1851, died far from home in Matamoras,
on the Rio Grande. :

Maximilian, prince of Wied, traveled in the Western Territo-

ries in the years 1832-1834, and brought back to Germany a small `

on of about two hundred species, which were published
Nees v. Esenbeck, professor of botany in Breslau. There

ZT was nothing new except the genus Sarcobatus, proposed by Nees

and afterwards described again by Torrey wader the name cal
Fremontia.

Many American botanists were at work in this period, collect-
ing the plants about their homes or exploring the vegetation of
larger districts. The most prominent ought to be named here :

oe Massachusetts, Bigelow, Tuckerman, Uakes,’Dewey ; in Con-

| _Recticut, Barratt; in New York, Sartwell, Carey, Beck, Bailey;

ee ei a Durand and Darlington; in North bs ‘

1879. | In North America from 163 5 to 1840. 771

Carolina, M. ay Curtis; in Georgia, Boykin and Le Conte; in
Florida, Chapman, Leavenworth and Blodgett; in Alabama,
Gates; in Louisiana, Hale, Carpenter and Riddell, who, in 1835,
published a Flora of the Western States, and afterward a Flora
Ludoviciana. Other catalogues of local floras were compiled of
the plants in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., by Bachman, 1834;
of the plants of Columbia, S. C., by Gibbes, 1835; of the plants
near Baltimore, by Aikin, 1836. Dr. Pitcher collected in Arkan-
sas, afterwards in Michigan; in Kentucky Dr. Peter and Prof.
Short; in Illinois the same and Buckley; in Ohio, Lea and Sulli-
vant; in Michigan, Wright; in Wisconsin, Lapham ; in Missouri,
Engelmann.

In the botany of the Californian survey, the first of which
volume is now published, we find often the quotation of Plantz
Hartwegiane.

Theodor Hartweg, a German gardener, was sent by the English
horticultural society to Mexico and California, where he collected
during the years 1838-1839. Many of the plants described and
published by G. Bentham, under the above-mentioned title, in
1839-1848, occur in what was formerly the northern Mexican
countries.

J. N. Nicollet, a Frenchman, employed under the Bureau of To-
pographical Engineers (since 1838), explored the basin of the
upper Mississippi during the years 1836-1840. To his party was
attached the German botanist, Carl Geyer, the large collections of
whom were sent to Drs. Torrey and Gray. These two bright
stars had already risen above the horizon of the botanical firma-
ment, and commenced, at the close of the fourth decennium, their
great work, the Flora of North America, opening a new epoch in
the history of American botany.

The interest in the science of botany was now wide awake
amongst the American public, and the Government bore its rich
share of it, spending large sums for scientific purposes, by attach-
ing scientific men to the nearly unbroken series of expeditions
-~ and surveys which were now undertaken.

771a Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. [ December,

ON THE EXTINCT AMERICAN RHINOCEROSES AND
THEIR ALLIES?

BY. E: D.. COPE;

WELVE species of mammals which may be called rhinoc-

eroses, have been defined from materials obtained from the
Tertiary formations of North America; and five additional spe-
cies have been distinguished, which may be regarded as more or
less nearly allied to that family. A few additional names have
been proposed for supposed species whose characters are not yet
established. In the corresponding formations of Europe and
Asia, the fossil remains indicate a still larger number of species.
The forms included in the family, first appear in both continents
in the Lowest Miocene or Oligocene epochs ; that is, in North
America in the White River formation. The family still exists in
Asia and Africa, but in Europe it disappeared during the glacial
epoch. In North America it became extinct at a still earlier
period, no remains of rhinoceroses having been found in beds of
later age than the Loup Fork, or Upper Miocene period.

The genus Hyracedon (Leidy) which has a full series of incisor
teeth, was formerly included in this family, and it agrees with the
various genera in the structure of the molar teeth of both jaws.
But I have ascertained that it differs so widely from them in some
other respects, that it became necessary to regard it as the type
of another family, the Hyracodontide. The mastoid bone forms
part of the external wall of the skull as in tapirs, and the neck is
quite elongate. It fact the Myracodon arcidens must have had
the proportions of some of the horses in this respect. There is
also no posterior tuberosity of the mandibular condyle, so con-
spicuous in the rhinoceroses.

The following table explains the relations of the two families:
IV. Anterior exterior crescent of superior molars much reduced; inferior molars with
cross-crests; superior molars and premolars alike, with cross-crests.

6. Mastoid bone forming part of the external Ssi of the skull; no PAE
of the mandible; neck elon racodontide

7. Mastoid bone excluded from the walls of the skull by the penr of the
occipital and squamosal; a postcotyloid tuberosity of the mandible; neck
short .._ Rhinoceride,

ee eee ener

The genera of Riinoceride differ from each other as foilon :

I. Four anterior digits. e
ee canine 2; no horn; posttympanic bone distinct.....4ceratherium.

ted oe pope eee in the Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. Surv. Tere
ai

187).] Extinct American Rhinocercses and their Allies. 7716

II. ? Digits.

Incisors ? ; canine 2; posttympanic bone distinct; an osseous tuberosity on each
si tiara Vindale Ue eaeee cass 6 Diceratherium.

III. Three anterior digits.
Incisors “$1; canines 2; no horn; posttympanic bone distinct....._ Aphelops
Incisors 4; canines 9; a dermal eis poniymparie distinct... Ceratorhinus.
Incisors $; canines 2; a dermal horn; posttympanic alabis
Incisors +; canines 2; a dermal horn; posttympanic process coössified with
postglenoid "n NO Marea Septal... ineo c subisis imocerus.
Incisors 2; canines ?; a dermal hom; PERE process not united with
postglenoid; no nareal osseous septu Atelodus
Incisors %2; canines ®; a dermal horn; ye ne coéssified with post-
id; an osseous septum dart Caelodonta
My catalogue of species of the ab enera contai ty-eight

names, of which six belong to living species: The latter are Cera-
torhinus sumatranus Cuv., C. lasiotis Scl; Rhinocerus unicornis L. ;
and R. sondaicus Cuv., all from Asia and Malaysia; and Azelodus
bicornis L. and A. simus Burch., of Africa. It is possible that a spe-
cies of Aphelops still exists in some of the Indian islands, in the
Rhinocerus inermis Less. There are probably several distinct fos-
sil species not in the list; but their characters have not yet been
sufficiently made known to enable me to refer them to their
proper places. It will be observed that eight species have been
found in North American formations, ten in European, and three
in those of Hindostan. It appears also that no extinct species of
the true genus of Rhinocerus has yet been found in North Amer-
ica or Europe, and that no extinct rhinoceros of North America
which is known, possessed a median dermal horn.

It can readily be seen that the genera above defined form a grad-
uated series, the steps of which are measured principally by suc-
cessive modifications of four different parts of the skeleton.
These are, first, the reduction of the number of the toes of the
anterior foot; second, the reduction in the number and develop-
ment of the canine and incisor teeth; third, the degree of closure of
the meatus auditorius externus below ; and fourth, in the develop-
ment of the dermal horns of the nose and its supports. While
these characters have the tangible and measurable quantities which
render them available for generic diagnosis, there are others which
possess a similar significance, and which I now notice, so far as
they are observable in the extinct species of North America.

I premise by observing that the Aceratheria and Diceratheria of
this continent have only | been found in the eastern and western
divisions of the White River formation, while the species of

Aphelops are confined, so far as is known, to the Upper Miopa

ae Loup River formation. 3

771c Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. [December,

The posttympanic process is, it is well known, well separated
from the postglenoid process in the tapir, so as to leave the
auditory meatus widely open below. The arrangement is similar
in Hyracodon. In Rhinocerus,as shown by Flower, the meatus is
closed below by the codssification of the two processes. In the
oldest genus of the family Aceratherium, the relations of the parts
are as in Hyracodon, In Aphelops the two processes approach
cach other, but do not come in close contact as in the genus
Ceratorhinus.

Fic. 1.—Aphelops megalodus Cope, one-sixth natural size. Loup Fork
beds, Colorado.

The postglenoid process is low and transverse in the tapirs ; in
Rhinocerus it is long and has a triangular section. In some spe-
cies of American Aceratheria its form is much like that of the
tapirs (A. mite, A. occidentale); while in Diceratherium pacificum
and in the species of Aphelops, the form of this process is as in
Rhinocerus,

In the tapirs, the foramina sphenoorbitale and rotundum are dis-
tinct. They are also distinct in Aceratherium mite. In D. pacifi-
cum they are confluent, but the walls of their orifice present two
opposite projections, which are the rudiments of a dividing sep-
tum. In Aphelops these foramina are one as in R/inocerus. At
the same time, the external wall of the alisphenoid canal is

| a shorter and thinner in the Aceratheria than in the Aphelopes.

In the older types of Perissodactyla, e. g., Symborodon, the
foramen ovale i is | situated well in advance of the foramen lacerum-
é ated from it by a considerable spare of the
me structure i is seen in Hy and in-

1879.) Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. 771d

Aceratherium. In Aphelops, the foramen ovale approaches near
to the f. lacerum, so as to be separated by a narrow bridge only
in A, megalodus, which is wanting on one side in a specimen of
A, malacorhinus. In the genus Rhinocerus, these foramina are
not divided. |

In the structure of the teeth, the same serial order is to be
observed. Commencing with the incisors 3 in the tapiroid types
and Hyracodon, and canine }, we find 2 $ in Zaladis ; 2 ¢ in Acera-
therium ; 2 { in Aphelops ; + $ in Ceratorhinus and Rhinocerus,
to 5°; $ in Atelodus and Calodonta. As to the molars, in those
of the upper jaw the series of modifications consists of succes-
sive complication of the transverse crests. In /yracodon, as in
the tapiroid genera, the external wall of the posterior molar is

Fic, 2.—Aphelops MR Cope, bane view of cranium rep-
nted in
continued beyond the posterior cross-crest; in the Rhinoceridæe,
generally the external wall is not continued beyond this crest,
but is in line with the posterior cross-crest. In a specimen of
Aceratherium occidentale, the posterior superior molar of one side —
is like that of Hyracodon, while that of the other side is like that

of Rhinocerus. The cross-crests in Aceratherium are quite simple, —

having slight bulges into the median valley. In the species of —
Aphelops these bulges are more prominent, especially that of the
posterior crest, which is more externally situated than that of the

anterior cross-crest, so that the fundus of the valley is turned

abruptly backwards. In several of the existing species, this
bulge becomes an antero-posterior crest, and the fundus is fur-
ther divided by other crests from the outer wall and elsewhere.
_ The cingula become so elevated as to cause an isolation of the —
male as fossæ at-a gamete early ge of wear, This

771e Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. [December,

state of things commences in the extinct species of Kansas, the
Aphelops fossiger.

Fic. 3.—Aphelops weer Cope, skull from hi one-sixth natural size.

oup Fork beds of Kans

In the bones of the skeleton, modifications o iecteccinc those
of the cranium and dentition may be observed. The femur of the
species of the earlier formations may be readily distinguished
from that of those of the later Tertiaries by the forms of both
the extremities. In the Aceratheria this bone resembles that of
the tapirs in the form of the great trochanter, This process is

` produced at its external border, has a recurved apex, and encloses
a deep trochanteric fossa. In Aphelops it is precisely as in Rhi-
nocerus, obliquely truncate externally, without prominent apex or
well marked fossa. In the Aceratheria the inner crest of the
rotular groove is but moderately prominent; in Aphelops and
Khinocerus it is greatly developed.

The succession of development of the line of the Rhinoceride
is now not difficult to trace, and I give the following diagram in
explanation of it.

Celodonta
/

Rhinocerus. Atelodus. ə
i 7
Ceratorhinus.
Aphelops.
|

Zalabis, Aceratherium. Diceratherium.

| Iti is evident that the descent diverged at a comparatively late _
d of geological time into two lines, which are represented at
rese it day by th he > African and Indian species reapepsinely

Le Nene Nat. Sciences x Ply 1874, PP, 1$-14:

1879.] Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. 77f

The earliest species of the toothless or African series is the
Atelodus pachvgnathus of Wagner, whose characters have been so
well worked out by Gaudry in his great work on the Fossil Fauna
of Attica. That species sometimes presents a single small incisor
or canine tooth in the mandible! From what has preceded it is
also apparent that the generally most specialized type of rhinoc-
eros, the genus Cv/odonta, has become entirely extinct. Its three
species yet known, were confined to Europe and Northern Asia,
and the most formidable of them extended its range with the
hairy mammoth within the Arctic circle. The Celodonta anti-
quitatis (the wooly rhinoceros) was evidently the most effectively
armed of the family, as it had two horns, which, judging from the
character of the surface of the skull to which they were attached,
must have been of unusual size. To provide further against the
shocks incident to their use in combat, the nareal septum was
ossified, thus becoming a solid support to the nasal bones, etc., on
which they stood.

It remains to look backwards, and to discover, if possible, the
probable origin of the family in that of its earliest known genus,
Aceratherium. A late survivor of this ancestral type is seen in
the genus Zalabis Cope, of which one species, the Z. sévalensis,
has been discovered by Cautley and Falconer in the late Tertiary
of Hindostan. In this form, according to Falconer, there are 3
incisors and l canines. The early type, which corresponds most
nearly with this genus, and which preceded the Aceratheria in
time, is the genus Amynodon Marsh, which has left a species in
the Uinta or Upper Eocene of Utah. Here the incisors are ¢ and
the canines 4. This formula is intermediate between that of Acer-
atherium and that of the Eocene tapirs, where the normal num-
bers 3 } prevail. According to Marsh, Amynodon further differs
in the primitive condition of the premolars above, which, as in the
Lophiodontide, differ from the molars in their greater simplicity.
Thus it is probable that tapiroid animals, probably Lophiodontide,
gave origin to the Rhinoceride, as Marsh has suggested. And it is
further altogether probable that the general type of dentition pre- —
sented by the Rhinoceride, Lophiodontide, etc., which I have
named the palaotheriodont, took its origin from the type which
is intermediate between it and the bunodont, viz: the ee
dont, as I have pointed out in an essay on this ea :

1 The large tooth ~ rai mrandeule described by the older authors as an incisor, om Set
been ne by Gervais, Subsequently Marsh adopted the same view. |
Journal

2 The Homologies add Origin a the Molar Teeth of Mammalia, etc.

7718 Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies, [December,

The first appearance of dermal horns was apparently in a pair
placed transversely on the nasal bones, in species of Eocene
Lophiodontide, of the genus Colonoceras. The same character
has been observed by Duvernoy in species of the Lower Mio-
cene, which belong to the true Rhinoceride, and which Marsh has
called Diceratherium, This genus appears to have terminated
the line exhibiting this structure, and the family in North Amer-
ica remained without horn. As we have seen, the types possess-
ing the median horn arose in Europe, in the Ceratorhinus schleter-
machert of the Middle Miocene, and still survives.

It may be observed in conclusion, that a successive increase of
size in the species of this line has taken place in North America
with the advance of geologic time. Thus, their probable ances-
tors of the genus Hyrachyus were the least of all. The Acera-

Fic. 4. E nz arvi aor Son ae above (same as FIG. 1),
xth natu

theria of the White River enion were larger, the oldest, A.
mite, being the smallest. The Diceratheria of Oregon were larger
still. The species of the Loup River or Upper Miocene forma-
tion were`larger, and nearly equal to the large existing species.
Aceratherium Kaup. is characteristic of the Miocene or Middle
Tertiary formations of Europe, and is the primitive form of the
true rhinoceroses. Its four anterior digits relate it to the lower
or more generalized perissodactylous types of the same and of
older geological horizons, which are equally allied to the tapirs.
The dentition differs from that of the genus Rhinocerus in the
presence of two superior incisors, but agrees with it in the exist-
ence of one incisor and one canine on each side below, and in the
forms of nolar teeth. The species display great simplicity
‘ ‘character of the or rests of t the molars. They also possess

1879.) Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. 7714

the tapiroid feature of the non-closure of the auditory meatus
below by the posttympanic process; and the postglenoid process
is generally more like that of the-tapirs than are those of the
later genera Aphelops and Rhinocerus. The form of the femur is
also quite characteristic, presenting tapiroid characters again in
the shape of the great trochanter. This process is not flat and
obliquely truncated as in the genera above named, but is horizon-
tal proximally, and with a produced recurved apex and posterior
crest, which bound a large fossa. The species are the smallest of
the family, the A. mite having the dimensions of the Malayan
tapir.

In the species of Diceratherium (Marsh) the cranium and limb
bones present the characters above ascribed to the Aceratheria,
In size they are intermediate between the latter and the Aphe/opes.
The two American species are known from the beds of the
Truckee epoch of Oregon; a third species, D. pleurocerus (Duv.)
has been found in France.

Aphelops (Cope) occupies a position intermediate between Acera-
therium Kaup and Rhinocerus Linn.
agrees with the former in the presence
of incisor and canine teeth, and in the
absence of indication of a nasal horn,
but differs from it in lacking the fifth
digit of the anterior foot. In the last
respect it is identical with the genus
XRhinocerus, differing from it in characters
already mentioned, in which it agrees
with Aceratherium. From Atelodus Pom.
it differs still more widely, as that genus
wants incisor and canine teeth.

The evidence on which this genus
rests is furnished by two species, the
Aphelops megalodus, and the A. fossiger. f
In both of these animals, the number of A
anterior digits is known to be only three ~
and in the former the inferior canines
and alveoli for incisors can be seenin p, iis E aie Gan
the specimens. In two other species above, posterior view of skull.

Fic. 6,—A. fossiger, skull fig-
provisionally referred to the same genus, ured i in Figg one-sixth natural -
the A. crassus and A. malacorhinus, the siz
digits and incisor teeth are unknown but ae last named species
was certainly hornless, and it is supposed that the first named was _

7711. Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. [December,

so also. Of the many mandibular symphyses from the Loup Fork
formation which I have seen, none lack the canines and incisor
teeth, so that it is probable that this character belonged to the
two species above mentioned. A fifth species, the A. meridianus
Leidy, I have provisionally referred here, on account of the
similar character of the mandibular dentition; but its nasal bones
and feet are unknown. Still another species, the A. jemezanus
Cope, has been referred here, but on no other ground than that it is
found in the same formation as the others.

Specific characters —The species above named all present well-
marked cranial or dental characters, or both. But it is important
to take into consideration the general structure of the skeleton.
- I am in position to do this with three of the species named, the

N

Fic. 7.—Aphelops RE kines Cope, skull one-sixth natural size, restored
behind from another craniu

A. megalodus, the A. fossiger (of this Tern and the A. malacor-
hinus and find distinctive characters present in nearly all their
bones which I have observed. The A. malacorhinus is a com-
_ paratively long-limbed animal, and its apparent elevation was in-
creased by the shortness of the body, and especially of the neck.
There was probably a great development of the upper lip, or
snout, and the face was concave in profile. The A. megalodus was
somewhat intermediate in proportions between this species and the
A. fossiger Its limbs were shorter than in the A. malacorhinus, and
the neck was longer. The feet were more slender. The A. Sossiger
had still shorter legs, and the length of the neck was about as in

. malacorhinus, In its form it must have been like a ad >
‘Its limbs, and especially the feet, were very robust.

1879.) Extinct American Rhinoceroses and their Allies. 7717

Position.—The longest known species, the A. crassus, was found
by Dr. Hayden on the Niobrara River, Nebraska. Teeth pre-
senting the same characters have been found in Northern Kansas
and Eastern Colorado. The other species are more restricted
geographically. A considerable exploration in the Loup Fork
beds of North-eastern Colorado, conducted by myself in 1873,
yielded four individuals of A. megalodus, but no fragments refer-
able to the other species. Explorations in Northern Kansas by
Russell S. Hill, of Philadelphia, produced five individuals of A.
Sossiger and five of A. malacorhinus, but not a fragment of A.
megalodus.

fiistory—In my original definition of this genus, I relied on

aain

Fic. 8.—A. malacorhinus skull, represented in Fig. 7 from above,
one-sixth natural size.

the number of premolars in distinguishing it from RAinocerus,
as well as on the absence of the horn. These teeth are generally
Š in Aphelops, and are said to be $ in Rhinocerus, in most works
on the subject. These numbers are not constant; on one side of
both jaws in Aphelops from Colorado, I have observed a first pre-
molar, and on one side of the upper jaw of A. malacorhinus there
‘are four premolars; the other side is injured. In several species
of Rhinocerus, three premolars only are usually found in the
mandible. I may add that Lesson and Peters’ have described a
Rhinocerus inermis Less., which is found living on some of the
islands at the mouth of the Ganges. The only known specimens

These are hornless, and in general structure allied to the &. soz-
daicus, yet presenting some important differences.’ Should the
characters of this form prove to be specific, and the male be
found to lack the horn, it must be regarded as a species of
Aphelops. ; e
-1 Monatsberichte Berlin. Akademie, 1877, p. 68, pl. 1-2.
2 Peters represents the posttympanic as not codssified below
laicus. a a

the meatus as in 2.
_ sondaicus oi: a

772 ` Recent Literature. | [ December,
RECENT LITERATURE.

PAGENSTECHER’S GENERAL ZoGLocy.'—The third part of this
work was only received during the past summer, and though the
fourth part is promised for the present year, we will not wait for
its appearance before calling the attention of our readers to what
appears to us a most valuable work of reference. It is planned
somwhat differently from other zodlogical manuals, being writ-
ten mainly from the side of comparative anatomy. The first part
is divided into three books, the first being introductory, the
second treating of the nature of animal bodies in general, this
caption including a discussion of individuality and pleomorphism ;
while the third book treats of the subdivisions of the animal
kingdom, with a free discussion of the doctrine of species. The
second part appeared in 1877, and treats of the organization and
functions of animals, the entire part being devoted to the organs

-of digestion and nutrition, and of circulation. The third part

the part of the author.

HARVARD LIBRARY CATALOGUE OF SERIALS.2—This most useful
publication grew out of the efforts of the author to bring about
some degree of coöperation between the different libraries in and
about Boston, by which valuable and costly works should not be
duplicated, but that each library should aim to complete their
series of works in separate departments. As the first step 1n
this important reform was the preparation of a bibliographical
list of all scientific serials, whether those now in course of publi-
cation or not, the labor was entrusted to Mr. Scudder, who has
brought a special aptness and zeal to such work, together with an
exactness and care in treatment characteristic of all his writings.
As it stands, the volume will be in constant use by the naturalist,

os aR Pt $ icati of

e catalogue’ comprises a list of the serial publications f
each country, the towns or places of publication being arrange

1 Allgemeine Zoölogie ater Grundgesetze des thierischen Baus una Lebens. Von =
ALEXANDER PAGENSTECHER. il 1-3. Berlin, Verlag von Wiegandt, Hempe

& Parey, 1875-1878. 8vo, with 433 woodcuts. :

2 Library of Harvard University. Special Publications. I. Catalogue of agra

tries, including the Transactions of Learned Societies 1n ! an

tical Sciences. 1633-1876. By SAMUEL H. SCUD- —

Harvard College, 1879. 8vo, pp. 358. oe

1870. | Recent Literature. | 799

Seabee cay under each country. The index is subdivided into

ex of towns, of titles and of minor subjects, such as ona
a. anthropology, botany, entomology, geology, &c.,
considerable amount of bibliographical information is given ai
the different titles, of much importance in treating of $ synonom
The work will hereafter stand on the shelves of the naturalist’s
library side by side with Agassiz’s Bibliographia Zodlogie, Engel-
mann’s Bibliotheca Historico-Naturalis, Carus and Engelmann’s
Bibliotheca Zodlogica, Hagen’s Bibliotheca Entomologica, sup-
plementing these valuable works. It is gratifying to notice the
appearance of such works as this and Coues’ Bibliography of
Ornithology i in this country, as evincing the riehness of American
libraries in scientific works, and the number of those who use
them with discernment.

We have no criticisms to make on the volume, as the arrange-
ment seems to be all that could be desiréd. Doubtless, errors
will be found upon using it, and the compiler invites criticism
and the communication of errors, that they may be corrected
hereafter. This is the first instance, so far as we now recollect,
of the issue of such important and generally useful works by any
library, and due credit should be given to the university whose
librarian had the public spirit and enterprise to undertake the
publication of such an expensive work without a special fund for
such purposes.

ZITTEL’S HANDBOOK OF PALÆoNTOLOGY.!— This will, when com-
pleted, be without doubt a most useful compendium ‘of the sub-
ject, though to be authoritative a work on palzontology should,
we think, be written by one who has been more active asa zoologist
than the talented author. The first part begins with a general
history of the rise of palzontology and a statement of the sub-
ject in general, and the second “ieferung carries us as far as th
Echinodermata, 2. e., through the Ccelenterata, the latter including
the sponges.

We notice that in the first Zeferung, which was published in
1876, Bathybius is admitted to be an organism, as is the Eozoon.

In the second volume, of which the first “eferung has appeared,
Prof Schimper treats of the fossil plants, beginning with the
Diatoms and nearly completing the account of the ferns. sae
_ authors treat their respective kingdoms alike, z. e., in an alm
purely systematic way, diagnoses of the classes, orders rat
genera being given, often with descriptions of the species.

The illustrations are numerous and usually excellent, but often
on too small a scale, a fault of Pagenstecker's work, and of
many German books, the woodcuts of Gegenbaur’s Elements of

\Handbuch der Paleontologie. Unter — PIRE von. W. PH. seen a
rausgegeben von Karl A. Zittel. Band 1. Lief. 1,7. Band im. Lief. Miin
chen, 1876-79. :

774 Recent Literature. [ December,

Comparative Anatomy being a notable exception. This palæon-
tology will consist of two volumes, and will, when completed, be
a valuable work of reference, though almost entirely based on
European forms.

Miss Batrarp’s Insect Lives.'—This attractive little book
deserves commendation from the fact that the authoress has
evidently the zeal of a genuine naturalist, has studied insects in
the field and closet, and describes what she has seen in a clear
and admirable manner. The first and best lesson in the study of
insects is the rearing of a butterfly from the egg; one learns
more of entomology in this than by any other method. This book
will, we feel sure, induce boys and, we hope. girls to gather cater-
pillars and rear butterflies just for the fun of the thing, while
unconsciously they will be learning valuable lessons in observing
natural objects. We have no fault to find with the illustrations,
which are beautiful, and generally, when original, accurately, as
well as artistically drawn, while those which are copied from the
best entomological artists, are faithfully done; some, however,
are evidently electrotypes from Harris, Riley, etc. We notice
an error on page 11. The spinneret, in caterpillars, is situated
on the wuder not the upper lip, the silk glands passing into the
floor of the mouth and opening through the labium. We heartily
endorse the advice to those beginning the study of insects that
“we should not begin with statistics—studying how many thou-
sands of moths and butterflies there are supposed to be, or how
many species of insects have been classified and named, Take
‘one to begin,’ as children say, and study it thoroughly.”

GRABER’s Insects.2—We have already drawn attention to the
first two parts of this admirable work, and the commendations
then bestowed upon it will apply to the present part. The biology
of insects is concluded by chapters relating to the reproductive
habits of insects, parthenogenesis and certain anomalous modes
of reproduction, and to their powers of destruction. The author
evidently belongs to the German ultra-Darwinian materialistic
school, and claims, to use his own words, that: “It is the grand,
free idea of the present age, which acknowledges the existence
outside of and above nature of no power and in general no being,
that all existing, all physical and psychical phenomena may be
explained by the active causes in nature, and that the individual
is not necessary for the preservation and harmonious develop-

1Insect Lives, or Born in Prison, By Jutta P. BALLARD. Cincinnati, Robert
$1.00. i TA

Sor
Clarke & Co., 1879. Sq. 12mo, pp. 97. fee
2 Die Naturkrafte. Eine naturwissenschaftliche Volksbibliothek. XXII Band, 2 i
Hälfte. Die Insekten. Von Dr. Virus GRABER. I Theil, 2 Hälfte: vag
chendes Lebens und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Insekten. Mit 127 original holz-
schnitten. Mûnchen, Druck und Verlag von R, Oldenbourg. 1879. 3 marks. ©

1870. | Recent Literature. 775

ment of the whole, but all unitedly produced as the resultant of
the codperation of the individual powers of nature.”

t is easy for the Austrian professor to give utterance to this
dogma, but in the present state of our knowledge we doubt
whether such a broad generalization (or narrow conclusion) can
be supported by demonstrable facts, and we would urge that, as
in human history so in that of the lower animal world, individual
effort is all important; the success of certain favored individuals
effecting and insuring a progress that ultimately dominates the
whole mass of organized beings.

The instances which the author gives of the losses from insect
depredations are of a mild order compared with those sustained
in the United States, but on the whole the subject is treated ina
comprehensive and interesting way. The illustrations of this
part, though sometimes too diminutive and not always carefully
engraved, are perhaps sufficiently clear for a popular work.

The last part is devoted to the embryology and metamorphoses
of insects, and forms a fresh, well illustrated and most convenient
treatise on the subject. The works of Weismann, Kowalevaky

the work a standard one for some years to come. Among the
illustrations of hitherto unpublished embryological facts are cross
sections of the embryo of the flesh fly, of the Zina populi beetle,
the two diagrammatic drawings of the germ and its embryona
layers ; of the embryo of Mantis, and the eggs of the swarm-moth
(Liparis dispar). The author has attempted to combine the

s
reader, but the matter, some of which is new, and the valuable
and original figures of the longitudinal section of the puparium
and enclosed pupa of a muscid fly, the section through the thorax
of a Polistes wasp, through the head of a caterpillar, and through
the thorax of the cabbage-butterfly are original and valuable. —

(Note x.iv of the Leyden Museum. Svo, pp. 193-232.) Fromthe author, >
<2 Darei d other Essays. By John Fiske, M.A., LL.B., etc. 8vo, cloth, pp.
-~ 283. Macmillan & Co., London and New York, 1879. ee ee

776 Recent Literature. [ December, |

Verlaufige fea a fortgesetzter Nemertinen-Untersuchungen. Von Dr. A. A
W. Hubrecht. 8v vo, pp. 3. (Ext. from Zoologischer Anzeiger, August, 1879.)
From the au and or.

On the ae Species of appe dye of North America and their allies. By

U.S. Geol.

E: D. Co 0, PR Teele 237. (Ext. from the Bulletin of the Geol. and
Geog. Surv., Vol. v, No. 2.) Walai Sept. 6, 1879. From the author.
Notices Geo! oibie et nec at panes sur les Alpes Vaudoises et les régions
arre Par E. Renevier, Professeur. "bee o, pp. 395 stg (Ext. from Bull.
Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat., XVI, 82. ) Sept., +899: From the author
L’ Arehopte erty un intermédiaire entre les oiseaux et les reptiles. Par
C. Vogt. 5 pp- 248. (Ext. Rev. Scientifique, 13 Septembre, 1879.)

-248. (Ex
(An address rsi the: Cihea of Swiss Naturalists at Saint Gall.) From the

me Ties and New Noctuide. By A. R. Grote. 8vo, pp. 201-208. (Ex
from Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv!, vas v, No. 2.) Washington, Sept. 6, is.
From the author

Geological Satie) of Hakkaido—Geological Maps: (1.) Of a rough Survey of
h i B

and assistants. May, I (2.) Map o of Faen Asia, t mercial
tah: of the productive Coal Fields of Yes o, Japan, compres Goat vario ware?
May, 1876. (3.) A Ge eological and Topographic a cay sah rough

vals of aah t of the Nuppaomayai Coal Field in kirak Jepen y the a
1876. (4.) A Geological and biip Vs eet Map rough aE al part of the
Bilal Coal Field in Yesso, Japa y the same. ek 1876. From the author

Palzontological Papers, No, fora upon certain Carboniferous Fossils
from Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Ut th and Wyoming, and aperar Cretaceous Corals
from Colorado, together with descriptions of new forms. By C. A. White, r: z
8vo, pp. 209-221 . (Ext. from Bull. U. S. Geol. and Gie Surv., Vol. v,
Washington, Sept. 6, 1879. From the author.

Description de quelques poissons d’espéces nouvelles de la collection du Museu
d'histoire Naturelle. Par M. H. E. Sauvage. 8vo, pp. 9. (Ext. du Bull. de la
Soc. Philomathique de Paris, séance du 12 Juillet, 1879. : aoe the author.

na s on oa = of the Great Northern Shrike. . M. Marshall. (In the
Jou eet Science, N. Ser., Vol. 11, No. 6, August, + ang “Toledo, O. From the
A

Autopsy of an Elephant. By. A. J. Howe, M. D. ead nore the Cin-
cinnati Soc. of Nat. History, May 6, 1879.) 8vo, pp. 8. From th deers

On Certain Remarkable Groups in the Lower Spectrum. By Pr of $ p, Lan gley.
ia pp- -o pls. 3. (Ext. from Proc. Amer. Acad. Presented oi 73 1578.)

m the
the pte of the Sun. By Prof. S. 3 Langley. 8vo, pp. memes
(Ext from Proc. Amer. Acad. Presented Oct. 9, 1878.) From the author

Foot-prints of Vanished Races in the cates a SS being an account of
_ some of the monu chicas and relics of eros. — tered over its surface, with Be
suggestions as to their origin and uses Ad: ‘obi re A-N. Large 8vo, pp. 122.

- Chancy R. Barns, St. Louis, Mo. aee Ton the publishe
The Gard eee eta and Horticulturist, Vol. XXI, 248. August, 1u
Eom the publish TER
o Mon hly Weather akeni July, 1 ee a i Weather Service of the United Sug
Meng _4to, pp. 8, 4 meteorological m he War De ent.
Bulletin of the Sate Teste Vol. x1, eat i zh 3. 8vo, pp. 52. Salem, Mass.,
: > From the Ins
The Naturalist's aikas Hour and Monthly Bulletin, August, 1879. From the

a Kod the En ntomologist, Charles V. Riley, M.A., Ph.D., Aug. 22, 1879. 8 vo
` pp. 52,1 Sa e ae R om the Ann. Report of the Dep. of or 1878)

cago Feld ol. 51t, No. 8, Oet. 4 1879. -e

1879. ] Botany. 777

n the Structure and Affinities of the “ Tabulate Corals ” of the Paleozoic Period,
with critical seer prions of illustrative sperit By H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D.,

LF: R.SE., 8vo, clo oP p- 342, pls. I-xv. W. Blackwood & Sons, Edin-
re ere and Eendus. MDCCCLXXIX.

Suggestions on the Maintenance, Creation and Enrichment of pb tank as applica-
ble to the particular requirements of the colony of Victoria. By Baron Ferd.
Mueller, F.R.S., pes +, government botanist for Victoria. I2mo, pp. 31. Meitiouthe,

1879. From the author.

The Geological a of the Fortieth Parallel. By Prof. J. S. Newberry. 8vo,
pp. 16. (Repr. from Pop. Sci. Monthly, July, 1879.) From the author.

:0!
GENERAL NOTES.

BOTANY.

On THE HABITAT OF RHODODENDRON CATAWBIENSE.—In the
spring of 1878 I was informed that “laurel” grew in abundance
a few miles from the State prani at Chapel Hill. As I was

village. Much to my surprise I beheld a dense growth, not of
Kalmia, but of Rhododendron. The shrubs were from eight to
fifteen feet in height and among the smooth green leaves were
clusters of the most beautiful purple blossoms. Could it be
Rhododendron catawbiense growing so luxuriantly at an altitude
of only five hundred feet? I sent specimens to my friend, Prof.
W. R. Dudley, of Cornell University, together with a description
of the locality. In reply to my letter, he says: “I recognized
them at first sight as this (R. catawbiense). * * They are
indigenous om on the higher summits of the Alleghanies. We >
found them on the Black mountains last summer, but only above
6000 feet.” Up to this time, I must confess, I had been some-
what in doubt as to the species, Eeppi as the plant occurred
in such an unusual situation, but after submitting specimens to so
competent a botanist as my friend, wh had studied the Rhodo-
dendron in its mountain home, all doubts were removed. Last
spring a member the university chancing to meet t Prof. Gray, _
who was on a botanical excursion in Western Carolina, mentioned =
to him the fact er the laurel grew near Chapel Hill. Dr. Gray —
was evidently much astonished, and, having been informed of
this, I immediately sent him a dried specimen and a description
of the loc ocality. He replied as follows: “The laurel (which I
had heard of from one of your pupils whom I met in June) I
am delighted to see. It is certainly, as you say, R. catawébtense, :
and most remarkable for occurring at so low a level, where it —
a flowers seueige It comes down somewhat as s R. AEE does i w

778 General Notes. [ December,

Georgia. But this is more remarkable”! It seems strange that
the growth of this plant in the middle region of the State “should
have escaped the notice of that acute observer, the Rev. M. A.
Curtis. That it did will be seen from the following, taken from
his catalogue :?

“ Oval-leafed Laurel (R. catawbiense Michx.).—This splendid
laurel is chiefly confined to the highest summits of our moun-
tains, but is said to extend somewhat into Virginia. It is often
confounded with the preceding [R. maximum Linn.], but besides
its different locality, growing only on the tops of such mountains
as the Roan, in Yancey, and Negro Mt., in Ash, it blossoms
earlier than the other, though ata higher elevation, has larger

leaves. T * * * It stands cultivation pretty well in the
middle district.”
Since the above correspondence I have been informed that this
plant grows luxuriantly on the north side of the Oconechee
mountains (hills from two hundred to three hundred feet high),
near Hillsboro, the home of the late Dr. Curtis, at an altitude of
from seven hundred to eight hundred feet. Not only does it
stand cultivation in the middle district where it ts indigenous, but
it seems to thrive in the lowland of the eastern part of the State.

they were planted many yea o by my friend, the Rev. Dr.
Cheshire.—Prof. F. W. ai, Dena of North Carolina.

THE TWINING OF THE STEMS OF THE HEDGE BINDWEED, ETC.’ —
Several plants of Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed) were faith-
fully studied, for some weeks, by S. W. Beaumont. It is generally
stated that the stems of this ‘plant ascend by coiling met the
sun, or from right to left, as viewed from the outside. a stalk of
nettle were observed two vines twining in opposite dieiis

__ By tracing these two vines, they were found to preserve their . :
opposite directions for their entire length. Another plant had 2
two branches starting near the root. Each of these branches,
and every branch on these divisions throughout, preserved the
same course. This was also found to be the case in a vine twin-
ing in an opposite direction. Experiments to induce vines to
reverse their course proved of no avail. Straight stakes were
placed in the ground for the vines to twine about. After arriving

at the top, the vines fell or lopped over; some drooping slightly,

some ascending. If the top of a plant is weak, the vine often
leaves it before reaching the top. Sometimes the vine becomes

'Dr. Gray has kindiy added a note on this point to an article in the Bulletin s
the Torrey Botanical Club for July and August, 1879. 36.

2 The Woody Plants of North Carolina, Raleigh, 1860, p. 97- e
- 3 Abstracts from mpm of students of Michiganu Agricultural College, made me
Professor W. J. Beal,

1879. | Botany. 779

twisted, but not always. The vines are quite slender, and often
reach off from their support to a great length. One branch
reached four feet and six inches, nearly in a horizontal position ;

which reached out twenty inches, passed over a sixth of the cir-
cumference in three-quarters of an hour. Sometimes the vines
can almost be seen to move. They appear to move most rapidly
in the hottest part of the hottest days.

Mr. T. F. Millspaugh experimented with wild cucumber (Zchi-
nocystis lobata). He trained a plant on a straight upright stake.
The vine grew erect until it was about fifteen inches above the
stake, and then bent over at about an angle of 45 degrees. It see:
ually ‘dropped to a horizontal position and grew four feet and nine
inches beyond the stake. Then it turned, and began to grow
back on itself down to the stake. Here it neither went up nor
down, as we should suppose, but grew right on the other side of
the tip of the stake, till, at the time of writing, it had gone twenty
inches. Before the vine doubled back on itself it described a
complete circle in one hour and forty-five minutes. It went fast-
est on one hot day, between one and three o’clock. Tendrils
were made to coil by irritation of various objects. He examined
fifty specimens of tendrils which had made coils. It is well

they turn in one direction for a part of their course, and then turn
in the opposite direction. In one tendril there were seven of these
changes in direction; in two there were six changes; in six
there were five; in eleven there were four; in twenty-three there
were three; in five there were two, and in two there was one
change

BoranicaL News.—The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club,
for July and August, contains interesting notes of a botanical ex-
cursion into North Carolina, by J. H. Redfield, to which Prof.
Gray contributes foot-notes. The discovery of Epipactis hellebor-
ine, var. viridans Sim., in the vicinity of Syracuse, N. Y., by Mrs.
Church, a member of the Syracuse Botanical Club, is recorded.
To the September number Mr. C. F. Austin contributes some
bryological notes. In the Botanical Gazette for October, Prof.
Gray draws attention to Poisson’s account of the beheading of
flies by Mentzelia ornata, the victims being caught in the barbs o
this plant. The flies, attracted by the viscid matter in certain of
the bristles, “thrust in their proboscis between the thickly set
glochidiate bristles to feed upon the secretion of the glands be-
_ tween and below. The retrorse barbs interpose no obstacle to
this; but when the proboscis is withdrawn, its dilated and cush- |
ion-like tip catches in the barbs, and holds all fast. The harder —

VOL. XHI.—NO. XII 52

780 General Notes. | December,

the backward pull, the firmer and the more extensive the attach-
ment to the sharp barbs; the wounded and impaled organ be-
comes congested and swollen, and the insect is seldom able to
disengage it. Especially is this the case with the larger flies.
Some perish by exhaustion, but more of them, passing round
and round in a circle and in one and the same direction, come to
an end by twisting off their heads!” Trimen’s Yournal of
Botany for October, gives us a note on borage, by H. F. Hance,
of interest to American botanists. Prof. P. von Tieghem has
succeeded Brongniart as Professor of Botany at the Museum at
Paris——In Caruel’s Mew Italian Botanical Journal, is an article
on the morphology and biology of freshwater algz allied to Nos-
toc, etc., by A. Borzi.

ZOOLOGY.!

NOTES ON SOME REPTILES AND BATRACHIA OF THE PACIFIC
Coast.—The large frog (Rana temporaria var. aurora), sometimes
called “ bull-frog,” of this coast is eaten in considerable quantity
in San Francisco. Its consumption is not confined to French-
men, at whom some rude people are apt to scoff as “ frog-eaters,”
but extends to some individuals of the beef-eating nation, as well
as to Americans and those of other nationalities.

The real bull-frog is much larger than our species, yet a large
specimen of the latter reaches the very respectable length of five
and a-half inches from the nose to where the tail of his tadpole
days commenced. Such large frogs are by no means cheap deli-
cacies, since they are retailed at four dollars per dozen. The
smallest I have yet seen in the market were worth one dollar and
- seventy-five cents per dozen. And there is reason for the high

rice.
r Ponds and brooks margined or partly overgrown with water-
weeds, such as frogs love, are scarce in the vicinity of San Fran-
cisco, and most of those which occur have been to a great extent
depopulated of their croaking inhabitants long ago. :

Those brought to market are caught in Marin county, in brooks
and boggy places beyond San Rafael ; in San Mateo county ; even
as far away as. Visalia, which, from its position in what is known
as the “ Four Creek Country,” would seem to be especially fitted
for their production. :

Two or three Frenchmen are the only people who systemati-
cally make it their business to catch these batrachian delicacies;
and when we consider the long and toilsome journeys across
rough country that these men have to perform, we cease to won-
der that they are not cheap. ‘

Chelopus marmoratus Baird and Girard, Out of about thirty-
eight species of fresh-water turtles or terrapins found in the United |
ihe dep ts of Orni {ammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT
sales AL i Vag athe od and Mammalogy are con y :

1879. ] Zoology. 781

States, one only, known to zodlogists as Chelopus marmoratus, is,
so far as Iam aware, found in California, and is the terrapin o of
our markets.

Terrapins were once common in the creeks and ponds around
the bay, but the constant demand for their flesh has made them
scarce, so that the present supply comes from the region around
SEES EPR from Knight’s Ferry, from Tuolumne county, and

the southern part of the San Joaquin valley generally; as well as
from the neighborhood of Visalia.

The dealers say that those from Visalia and from the San
Joaquin are far superior to those from Sacramento. In the latter
the under side is almost white, while in the former it is dark,
approaching black; the latter will often die by the dozen soon
after they are brought in for sale, while the former will keep alive
for months.

A terrapin thus kept and not fed, gradually BENRA =: in
weight, but is not injured in any other way. During its confine-
ment it is really feeding on its own fat, and adal aa as is the range
of its activities, and gradual the vag oe from them, the
results are obvious after a month or two; that a terrapin kept
six or seven months without food, TAT “still alive, is little but
shell, bone and skin.

Terrapin are abundant in the reservoir of the San Rafael water
works, where, however, fishing is not allowed without permission.
There are some in the basin of the fountain at Woodward’s Gar-
dens, and of these, iea discovered that small lumps of dirt
thrown at it while sunning itself on a rock do not hurt it, declines
any more to dive under these provocations, and simply cranes its
long neck to see what is the matter.

Heloderma suspectum Cope. Several specimens of this large
lizard have been presented to the California Academy of Sciences
or to Woodward’s Gardens during the past year. "It attains a
length of about eighteen inches, has a thick stout body of a bright
yellow color mingled with brown, and it is of a most unattractive
aspect, which doubtless accounts for its title of “ Gila monster.

as the unenviable reputation of being a poisonous lizard, and
R e it has been proved not to be poisonous by cy. IS
as there is not in nature, so far as is known, such a thing as
poisonous lizard, yet the idea is based on a better foundation than
that of most popular beliefs, for, as I am informed by Prof. Cope,
the front teeth are grooved and there is a gland at the base. lor |
this reason Prof. Cope named it suspectum, and he oe to
think that after all he would prefer to be bitten by some other
kind of lizard.

The Gila monster is slow in its motions, and when pursued
will stop and show fight in a feeble sort of way—peculiarities
which, together with the large size and conspicuous color, gna

- it sy to “be captured, and it is not unlikely that it wil ere

782 General Notes. [December, `

become extinct, as it is killed wherever found. It would be inter-
esting to know what this large, slow-moving lizard finds to live
upon in the arid wastes of Arizona.

Chirotes. The curious “ hand-eared lizard,” which, lizard though
it is in structure, would look exactly like a snake were it not for
two curious little limbs placed close to the head, has been found
in Lower California, a district which, as regards its reptilian fauna,
is more properly included in the Nearctic or North American |
region than in the Neotropical or South American.

No mention is made of this species in the check-list of Nearctic
reptiles drawn up by Prof. Cope, and published by the Smith-
sonian Institution, but two specimens were obtained at La Paz by
Mr. Turner, U. S. Consul at that place, and presented to W. I.
Fisher, of San Francisco; and Prof. Cope informs me that a
European herpetclogist has also obtained some from Lower
California,

Chirotes belongs to the Amphisbznia, which are character-
ized by a thick short tail, inconspicuous rudimentary eyes, and a
body surrounded (as is also the tail) with numerous rings of small
square plates. All the genera except Chirotes are destitute of
limbs, and as they have the power of moving backwards, are
popularly regarded as poisonous snakes, possessed of a head at
each end of the body. The two little legs, each furnished with
five toes ending in pointed claws, save Chirotes from this impu-
tation.

The hand-eared lizard is about eight inches long with about
two hundred half-rings of small, square plates on the back and a
smaller number of half rings of similar but larger scales on the
belly. Along the side, where the rings of back and belly meet,
are some small triangular scales filling in the interstices.

The mouth is very small, the few plates on the top of the head
not conspicuous, the eyes scarcely discernible, and the neck of
the same thickness as the body, which is about the calibre of a
lead pencil. ;

Aniella pulchra Gray. This little snake-like creature is entirely
destitute of limbs, and is, therefore, usually regarded as a snake,
but the structure of the head is lacertian, and it is classed among
the Lacertilia. It is the only species of its family, the Typhlopide,
found in North America, and is probably confined to the southern
part of the Pacific region. The Typhlopida are burrowers, with
very small eyes and a blunt tail, in these respects resembling the
Amphisbenide, but they differ from that family in the character
of their covering, which is formed of small diamond-shaped
scales instead of regular rings of square or oblong scales. aS
Aniella pulchra appears to be dug up with tolerable frequeucy
in the southern parts of California, but is not found around San ~
Francisco. It is about eight inches long, slender, of a bright
y color above and light blue underneath, with a band of yel- _

1879. | Zoblogy. 78 3

low along the center line of the back. A living example, domi-
ciled in a cigar box partly filled with dirt, did not appear to be
very active or very timid, as it would rest quietly upon the palm
of the hand, and scarcely attempted to move away when touched.
When placed upon the dirt in the box, however, it burrowed very
deftly —W. N. Lockington.

ANECDOTE OF THE GREAT HorNED OwL_.—Many years ago I
observed a singular habit of the owl, a notice of which I have
never seen published. In the “funny column” of our local
newspaper, a paragraph appeared headed “ How to kill an Owl,”
the substance of which was: after finding an owl ona post or
tree, you were to have him fix his eyes upon you, and then walk
rapidly around him; closing with the statement that he will keep
his eyes so intently upon you, turning his head with your move-
ments but forgetting to turn his body, that he will thus wring his
own head off.

Nothing is too absurd for a boy to attempt if it promises fun
or novelty ; and shortly afterward a fine live specimen of a nearly
adult Budo virginianus falling into my hands, I proceeded to test
the matter by experiment. I placed Bubo on the top of one of
my mother’s clothes line posts, where he remained motionless
and entirely unconscious of the attempt about to be made upon
his life. It was not difficult to secure his attention, for he never,
while I had him, diverted his gaze’from me while I was in his
presence. I began walking rapidly around the post, a few feet
from it, keeping my eyes fixed upon him all the while. His body
remained motionless but his head turned exactly with my move-
ment. Half way round, and his face was directly behind. Three-
quarters of the circle, and still the same twist of the neck, and
the same stare following me. One entire circle, and no change.
On I went, twice round and still that watchful stare and steady
turn of the head. I had all this time kept uninterrupted watch
of the bird. His talons grasped the top of the post, and his
body was perfectly stationary. On I went, three times round,
and I began really to wonder why the head did not drop off,
when all at once I discovered what I had failed to notice before.

movement of the readjustment of his gaze

cise was this movement that I failed several times to detect it,
even when I was looking expressly for it, and at the proper mo-
— ment—C. A. W. : Bn oS

*

784 General Notes. [ December,

NOTE ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF HESPEROMYS AMERICANUS
CovEs AND YARRow.—A note recently published in the Annals
Mag. Nat. Hist., by Oldfield Thomas, Esq., ‘ a io one Kerr’s
Translation of the ‘Systema Nature’ of Lin ” gives some
important information respecting that rare aia’ eral book. It
appears that, among the Mammalia, the species described in Pen-
nant’s History of Quadrupeds (1781), and Phillips’s Voyage t
Botany Bay (1789), here receive Latin names, forestalling those
in Shaw’s General Zodlogy (1800-1804).

Among such names are a number affecting North American
species. Thus, Lutra canadensis, Mustela americana and Didel-
hys virginiana must be accredited to Kerr, 1792, not to Shaw or
Turton, as we have usually done.

rom a private note, kindly addressed to me by Mr. ae ae
it appears, among other things, that americanus Kerr, must
used instead of /ewcopus Raf., for the common American Pn
footed mouse, there being i in Kerr, on p. 231, a certain Mus agra-
rius americanus, which is based on Pennant, Hist. Quad., No. 302
b. In their article on Mammals, in Vol. v. of the Wheeler quarto
Report of the Survey west of the rooth meridian, Drs. Coues
and Yarrow called the species H. americanus (Kerr) ; but after-
wards, having meanwhile no opportunity of verifying the refer-
ence, Dr. Coues reverted to the use of H. leucopus eo in Monog.
Rodentia, Muride, p. 50 (see also note (2) on p

Unless, therefore, some still earlier name be Sithicbeataes this
mouse must bear that at the head of this article, and its sub-

canus sonoriensis, H. americanus eremicus, H. aihevicániis ossy-
pinus, etc.—FElliott Coues, Wasket, D. C

Tue FISHES or KLAMATH Lake, Orecon.—A collection made
at various points on the Upper Klamath lake yielded eight spe-
cies of fishes, as follows : 1. Salmo iridea Gibb. This trout is

n
and with its congener below named, of no little interest, as ex-
tending the range and characters of Jordan’s little-known genus
Chasmistes. Form elongate, head long, flat above, and with a
robe fontanelle. Mouth terminal, the spines of the premaxillary

bones projecting so as to form a hump on the top of the snout.

~ Lower lip a very thin dermal fold, extending entirely around the
chin. Scales 12-80-9; radii D. 11, A.9. Color clouded above with _
_ black eo below paler, with red shades in some speci-

get ee

1879. | Zovlogy. 785

mens; fins uncolored. It attains a length of nearly three feet. It
ascends the streams in thousands in the spring, and is taken and
dried in great numbers by the Klamath and Modoc Indians. The
former call it Tswam. 4. Chasmistes brevirostris sp. nov. This fish
does not exceed 14-16 inches in length, and has a differently formed
head and muzzle from the C. Zzxatus. They are shorter, especially
the muzzle, and the latter is without the hump produced by the
protuberant premaxillary spines. Parietal fontanelle small. The
lower lip-fold is only present at the sides of the mandible. Body
nearly cylindric. Scales 12-74-11; radii, D. 11, A. 9. Color
dusky above, silvery below; fins colorless. This fish is abundant
in the lake, but I was informed by a Klamath Chief, that it does
not ascend Williamson’s river in spring with the C. Zuxatus and
Catostomus. Klamath name Xooptu. 4. Catostomus labiatus
Gird. Very abundant; ehani ofthe Klamaths. 5. ? Mylophar-
odon sp. Not certainly of this genus, and resembling the genus
Anchybopsis, found fossil in the Idaho and Oregon Pliocenes. I
was interested to find this species quite abundant. I am not yet
able to ascertain whether the present species is one of those
already named or not. 6. Gila. A species of medium or small
size, and rather robust proportions. 8. Uvranidea. Undeter-
mined ; a stout species, and very abundant.—Z£. D. Cope.

New CLASSIFICATION OF THE CRUSTACEA.—The recent studies
on the embryology of the king crab (Limulus polyphemus) has
shown that there are some unexpected resemblances to Miem ode
of development of the Arachnida, and while in our essay? on the
development of this Crustacean we attempted to show that the
arachnidan features were also to be found in certain crabs and
shrimps whose development was exceptional, one or two natu-
ralists, as E. Van Beneden and Dohrn, claim that Limulus is not
a true Crustacean, but belongs next to or with the Arachnida.
This seems to us an extreme view. Then followed the beautiful
anatomical researches of Alphonse Milne-Edwards on Limulus
polyphemus, in which he showed the singular relation between the
vascular and nervous systems; the latter being enveloped by
a ventral system of the arteries. The differences between the

rvous system of the king crab and Arachnida has been already
indicatacs It has not been, we think, sufficiently taken into
account that a att isa generalized or synthetic type, combining
with features of its own, certain resemblances to the Arachnida
and to the normal acne, In its mode of paige its
external gills, and in its circulatory organs it is, as we have pre-
viously stated?. essentially a Crustacean, but should placed

1 The Deepan Limulus polyphemus. By A. S. Packard, Jr. (Memoirs of
the Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist.) Published March, 1 1872.

2 AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. 9, p. 422, 423. July, 1875.

3 Farther Observations on the Embryology of Limulus, with notes on its affinities
2 AMERICAN NATOKALDT, À Nov., 1873, Vol. 7, p. 675-

786 General Notes. | December,

apart from the normal Crustacea, and form the living representa-
tive of a subclass, equivalent to all the other living haaba
To Limulus are closely allied the fossil Merostomata; and w
regard, for reasons already stated, the Trilobites as daisi allied
to the Merostomata.

For this subclass we have proposed the name Pa/eocarida, and
for the normal Crustacea we have proposed the term Neocarida.

In order to express the relations of the two subclasses of Crus-
tacea, we have published! the following table showing the mode
of grouping of the different orders of the two subclasses of the
class of Crustacea :

CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUBCLASSES AND ORDERS OF CRUSTACEA.

“™
$ ; 8 3
Fia g
S S£ M 7
oi: o a ag K
% S = S
BS N S oY a0
s] S Ss a aS
` N W, ~< e Se 255
N ` 7 X x SM
T i = pee ey

A à 3 $ N

. è $ S$

x = yy X S

7 Pa S

ee: ee:

v J N — sitesi
NEOCARIDA. PALAOCARIDA.

CRUSTACEA.

-ganglio:
to the tetas oe racic e apod dages sent off from an œsophageal
ring; nervous system ensheathed by a ventral system of arteries;
metamorphosis slight. Sexes distinct.

rder 1. Merostomata—No distinct thoracic segments and ap-
pendares, cere Eurypterus, etc.) Order 2. Trilobita—

extinct.
A farther elaboration of this E See with full references —

a ` 1Zoölo for Students and General Rea American Science Series. By A. S.
Packard, Jr. H. =——— New Yorks published in Dec., 1879. 8vo, pP- ee

1879. } Anthropology. 787

to the labors of others, is to be given in a second memoir on the
»anatomy and development of Limulus siren in course of
preparation.—d. S. Packard, Fr.

ZOoOLocicaAL News.—A number of papers on he Hymenop-
tera and Coleoptera of the United States, by Messrs. E. Norton
C. A. Blake and Dr. Horn, are in course of publication in the
Transactions of the American Entomological Society of Phila-
delphia. A detailed and fully illustrated account of the develop-
ment of Palemonetes vulgaris, by Mr. Walter Faxon, appears in
the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy ——Mr. 5.
H. Scudder, of Harvard University Library, Cambridge, has
nearly ready for publication by the Smithsonian Institution an
index to all genera hitherto proposed in zoölogy, whether for
recent or fossil animals. It is to be based upon the “ Nomen-
clators”” of Agassiz and Marschall, and the indexes to the
Zoological Record. Prof. Allen Thompson, in Mature, con-

rms the statement that the scorpion commits suicide by stinging
itself in the middle of the top of its head. The early stages
of the Ccecilians, or blind snakes, have recently been discussed
by Peters, according to Mature. An observer in Cayenne saw,
according to Herr Wrzensniowski, of Warsaw, a female Cecilia
compressicauda give birth, in water, to two young onesalive. The
Russian observer, on receipt of the alcoholic specimens, found in

=

the oviduct five more young ones. The young had no trace o

lateral gill openings like those discovered in Zpicrium glutinosum
of Ceylon, but it has external bladder-like gills, like those of
Notodelphys ovifera. ‘Hence these blind amphibia should, when
young, be looked for in water. Cwcilia oxyura has branchial clefts
but no external gills, while C. rostrata of the Seychelles has
neither branchial clefts or a swimming tail, or any scars showing
the former presence of external gills.

ANTHROPOLOGY. g
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NEWS. — The pea | emka of the

It was jego as the Father tribe.

Among the Smithsonian Copi Vocabularies, now in
charge of Major J. W. Powell, is a e one of the Caddo, No.
444, by Dr. D. J. Macgowan, taken in

All that remains of this once ai ‘tribe are gathered on-

the Witchita agency, in the Indian Territory. The agent, Mr. A.

C. Williams, reports their numbers at 467 persons, Scion :

_1Edited by Prof. Orts T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C.

788 General Notes. [ December,

engaged as farmers and stock-raisers. They are a quiet and
inoffensive people, most of whom have adopted the habits of
civilized life.

Dr. Sibley’s vocabulary was taken in 1804, when the Caddos
were located on Red river, from Alexandria to Natchitoches, and
follows the French orthography :

ares hs Face, pantia er
Wat Eye ¢
Bah paS dqa ppc 3
Air, yanour Cheek, pane
Wind, havetour Chin,
Sky, quarchator Mouth, lip, ouar
Sun, faquor Tooth
oon, nis Tongue, adetour
Star, suoquas Ear, bis
Light, binaquor Neck, nachée
Darkness, dasquoee
Da ñon Wrist, a
Night, naba Hand, cenour
Heat, atedot Finger, ste
Cold, acourdot Belly,
Smoke, cousour Back, ahs Sin
Cloud, carchavesa Side, q e
8; cou sour at cmon | ubby, dantour
n, qua ipple, dante echanqua
Sacer w, ijna our
Hail, tarsour Leg, casosce
Ice, ng vain ton Foot, nasour
Fros vchea Toe, senbitour
Tea Sole Skin, nousches
Rain-bow, pete Nails, ceonour
Thunder, adeni Bone, narquo
Lightning, avoid yuna Blood,
Y day, niesc Life, quay
To-day, , Death pa
T rrow, cearia Food, deace nouyour
A day, ouiche deschar Meat, quaout
A month, he nis Fat,
A as ouiche adavyour Lean, nargou
ring, Bread, dasquat
mmer, yaar caades Indian-corn, quaces
Autumn, Milk,
Winter, chei Egg, noaeo
< Man, chonve House, sa
Woman, nateg Mammoth, "atrial
iarches Buffalo, tana
Girl, “nategches Elk,

pete
F pT detes,

1879. | Anthropology. 789

Ground- rao ig chiouva aquared Four,
Mole, c Five, de cequan
Bird Six, danqui
Eagle, ioy Seven, bi cequan
Hawk, souit Eight, daauo cequa
Owl, ouous Nine, a i a
‘Turkey, nou Ten, ‘ben
Swan, sar Blevenmiwenty,he numerals double
oe goa quinar Twenty, ben
Duc Thirty, eevee! dieu
iko buzzard, souquates. Forty, benaar i
R Fifty, benaar decequan
Crow, ca uail Sixty, benaar danq
Black-bird, quacha Seventy, benaar bicequa

j Eighty, benaar davuecequa
Pigeon, ouáas Ni benaar ivuicequa
Pheasant, ponen Hundred, ouische aa sou
Partridge, colat Two hundre aes "iy eRe TEN
Mocking-bird, quah quatou Horse, deta
Red-bird, laodoucé Dog, a
Snake, quiqua White, aquayou
ty taquon Black, adegu

erfly, banous Green, barnou sar
Fly, quouni Blue, a sarquour
Fish, bat iiag s quo
Frog, quidau Red, a
Gold, sounar aquayguo Good, hanhal
Silver, sounar aquayou Bad, avo
Copper, dedot noustor Large, quarquavevour
Stone, siguor Small, ayortetes

od, youcour High, ayou

Gum, guaruoadat Low, naver,
Mouniain, oidi] iniquo Narrow, sidites
Hill, chuquaet Old, anistes
Valley, Bejeedala Young, siarte
Sea, eiquot aicmaie, New, souroun
Lake, Hard, aiequai
Pond, quanmachar Soft, achounou
River, baat Sweet, te ei
Creek, a hee bias sar Sour
Spring, qua Bitter, gumon
Grass, ad RO Hot, atedos
Tree, quardacha i Cold, naga
Pine, devoas Dry, ’adaqu
Cedar, betes n Wet aquarquo
Sycamore, quiour Strong, adasquar
Ash, ipui Weak, aicquaie quoiace
Elm, ge Pretty, hanhat
Beech, aligonqua danquone - Ugly, aouna
Birch, saibato a es irapa

Bra
Cowardly, "che in inij
Wise, ou

Foolish, possen quourdetaut
I, quarches

To eat,
To dink ‘naquarqua

790

To sleep, yogis

To laugh, saqua

be cry, nasaquaqua
sing, yourneiyoeu

To whistle, youdanou

To sit, dataue

General Notes. [ December,

To lie down, darsa
To smoke PEs ST

To dan e, yourechan

Toj tatit i
To fail, navvania
To break, .yoniouva
To iAy a JarauYeR
Yes,

No, aounna

Mr. James E. Rhoads, of Germantown, Philadelphia, also sends
us a translation of the Lord's Prayer in e, made
years since by Frank ede an hea at Kiowa and Coman-
che agency, near Fort Sill, I

THE LORD'S PRAYER.
MATT. VI. 9-13.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Tih Afpé, Sie a
Hallowed be Thy name,
Mohoits stticut Uh aban:
Thy kingdom come,
Pun'iht péirné/miandrk tém’ ret go
Thy will be done on earth, as it is ve
Täh so’kondk Uh pee pres tihe hin’ Pn; "Uh pérkine hidowite,
Give us this day our daily bread,
Leistse täbä néméemahk ahkio,

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
Tähn hicbuihe memes Un pEi aa tähsuti’ne,
us not in mptation, but deliver us from evil,

Ti reaper 2 p” tania bink, kăsůä tahn wēärö,

r Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen

Un cles ag: pun pak hin nämähcõcüt, ter hin hanit, érte noniavt, hanac-
k

The Fifteenth Bulletin of the United States National Museum
contains the report of several naturalists upon the scientific
results of the Howgate Expedition. Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, nat-
-uralist of the PETER eh gay e a paper consisting of frag-
mentary notes on the of Cumberland sound. There will
be found eaied. of mpegs ioe linguistics in the contribution
tor rusal.

Ta a on the ancient races of America are advertised .
under the following titles: “ Footprints of Vanished Races in the
Mississippi Valley ; being an account of some of the Monuments
and Relics of Prehistoric Races scattered over its surface, wit
pg, Saag as to their origin and uses. By A. J. Conant, A.M.

. ACR. Bars, St Louis, Mo. $1.50.” “The l North Americans of ©
F Antiquity j ; ‘their Origin, Mitaani and Type of Civilization
consid „ By y Joha d A Short. ane 530. Harper & —

1879. | Geography and Travels. 791

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.

Tue CAvE BEAR OF CALIFORNIA.—In exploring a cavern in the
Carboniferous limestone of Shasta county, Cal., James D. Rich-
ardson discovered the skull of a bear beneath several inches of
cave earth and stalagmite. The specimen is in a good state of
preservation, and demonstrates that the cave bear of that region
was a species distinct alike from the cave bear of the East (Ursus
pristinus), and from any of the existing species. In dimensions
the skull equals that of the grizzly bear, but it is very differently

proportioned. The muzzle is much shorter, and is wide, and
descends ny, downwards from the very convex frontal
region. It wants the large postorbital processes of the grizzly,

but has the caherosities of the polar bear (U. maritimus), which
it also resembles in the peices of the front. Sagittal crest
well developed. Three (one median and tigi are incisive
foramina: three external infraorbital foramina. The teeth are
large, and the series presents the peculiarity of being Tpithout
diastema. The crowns of the premolars are not preserved, but if
there were not three premolars, the second tooth has two well
developed roots. First true molar with but two external and one
internal tubercle. The absence of diastema renders it necessary to
separate this bear from the true Ursi, and I propose to regard it,
provisionally, as a species of grea Gerv. The canine teeth

are large and compressed at t ase. Length of cranium along
base from below apex of union un premaxillary border, m. 0.38
length to posterior nares, .202; elevation of forehead vertically
above the posterior extremity ‘of the last molar, .141; width
between inner border of posterior molars, .076. The species may
be called Arctotherium simum—E, D . Cope.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

THE SWEDISH Arctic EXPEDITION.—An account of the voyage
of the Vega up to August 27, 1878, at the mouth of the Lena
river was given in our number for February last. After separating
from the Leza they steered north-east toward the most southern
of the New Siberian islands. These islands are remarkable for

coeval animal forms, which are found on them more abundantly
than in the Tundra of the continent. A really thorough scientific
examination of these islands has yet to be made.

Continuing on their course in the ice-free channel along the
coast they reached the Baranov islands on the 3d of September.

Koljutschin bay 67° 6’ N. and 173° 15’ W., where they passed
the winter. From letters from Prof. Nordenskiöld and from the
1 Edited by ELis H. YARNALL, Philadelphia.

792 General Notes. | December,

correspondence of the New York Herald, we learn that the win-
ter was a severe one; intense cold with constant north-west
winds, with only rare intervals of mild weather, was experienced.
Snow-storms were of almost continual occurrence. Three camps
of Tschuktschi were on the shore near their anchorage. These
Savages possess many excellent traits. They are amiable, obliging
and peaceable, both among themselves and towards strangers.
Their complexion is a brownish-yellow, hair and eyes generally
black. The features are less Mongolian in type than are those of
the Esquimaux, or the other indigenous tribes of Siberia. The
men are tall and the young women often of perfect symmetry and
fine proportions. They trade frequently with the American shore,
which is accessible in winter and summer over ice or the open sea.
They live in tents, dress in skins and subsist on seals, reindeer,
bears, fish and vegetables. The women are tattooed on the face.
The language spoken by this tribe is peculiar, and so far shows
no affinity to others. A lexicon of 300 words has been made by
Lieut. Nordqvist.
During the whole period that the Vega remained at Koljuts-
chin bay, hourly meteorological and magnetic observations were
taken. The months of March, April and May were very cold.
In June the temperature became more supportable. From the
very slight rise and fall of the tide, Prof. Nordenskiöld believes
the sea north of Behring strait must be small, and is probably
circumscribed by islands between Wrangel land and the archi-
pelago of which Prince Patrick’s island is the most western now
known. No sickness occurred on board, owing, doubtless, to an
abundance of good provisions, including a little fresh meat even
in the severest months, good discipline and the superior physique
of the members of the expedition. The advancing spring
brought large flocks of birds; many of these are supposed to
winter in Japan and others in North America. Dr. Stuxberg
has sent to the Academy of Science in Stockholm, a preparatory
memoir regarding the numerous specimens collected by the
dredge, during the voyage, of Crustacea, Echinodermata and
Crinoida. Some are of extraordinary size and not previously
known. This portion of the Arctic sea, though comparatively
poor in Algæ, afforded many specimens corresponding in the
western portion to the European and in the eastern to the Pacific
varieties. Large collections of mosses and lichens were also
made. The northern lights never attained the brilliancy observa-
ble in Scandinavia. :
Nordenskiöld calls attention to the difference in the coast east
to that west of the Lena: “On the western side the country
rises northward almost to the 78°, or to a latitude exceedea in-
very few places on the Polar sea, and where we may generally —
fear to encounter impenetrable masses of ice.- On the eastern

side the coast slopes gradually southward, and the sound which

1879.] Geography and Travels. 793

unites the waters of the Arctic sea with those of the Pacific
ocean is situated south of the Polar circle, or in about the same
latitude as Haparanda On the western side the coast stretches
out in a wide, treeless Tundra, while on the other side the forest
boundary between the Lena and Behring strait extends in many
places nearly to the coast. On the western side the coast lines
are very incorrectly represented on the charts, so that we have
sailed over a surface of nearly five hundred kilometres laid out as
land on the latest maps of Siberia. But we have not been able
to discover any considerable errors in the charts of the eastern

coast.”

On July 18th they were at last set free and entered Behring
strait, and after stopping at Saint Lawrence bay, Port Clarence
and Saint Lawrence island, they visited Behring island, where

sufficient to constitute several almost perfect skeletons were
obtained. On the 2d of September, 1879, the Vega arrived safely
at Yokohama, Japan.

While the north-east passage has thus been made successfully,
it is doubtful whether the commercial results will be
important. The time during which the channel thus shown to
exist, remains open, it is to be feared is too brief, and the risks of
navigation too great, to afford much encouragement to the mer-
chants of San Francisco to open trade with Siberia, as suggested
by M. Siberiakoff in a letter to the New York Herald,

The commerce that was springing up on the western side from
Europe, through the Sea of Kara to the Obi and Yenisei, has
received a serious check this summer, as none of the six steamers
attempting the voyage have been able to penetrate the ice which
has obstructed the approaches to the Kara sea.

Not the least remarkable incident in the voyage of the Vega was
tne audience given the explorers by the Mikado of Japan and the
honors paid them by the Tokio Geographical Society, the Asiatic
Society of Japan and the General Asiatic Society ata banquet, at
which the President of the Geographical Society, a prince of the
imperial blood, presided.

Petermann’s Mittheilungen for May, 1879, contains a valuable
article, by M. Lindeman, on the north coast of Siberia, from the
mouth of the Lena to Behring strait and is accompanied by
an excellent and very detailed map in two sheets. An account of
the authorities relied on, and the sources of information regard-
ing this region used in preparing this map is given by the author,
B. ” Hasentine, in the number for June.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SECTION OF THE BRITISH
-AssociaTion.—The British Association for the Advancement of
Science held its forty-ninth meeting at Sheffield, from the 20th to

> At the head of the Gulf of Bothnia.—Zaitfor.

794 General Notes. [December,

the 27th of August. While the general attendance was much
smaller than usual, the Geographical Section, under the presi-
dency of Mr. Clements R. Markham, and favored with the pres-
ence of several distinguished travelers from abroad, had large
assemblages at all its sessions. Mr. Markham, in his opening
address, treated of the objects and aims of geographers and the
position which the science holds, relatively, with reference to
other sciences, and positively as a distinct body of knowledge
with definite limits.

“We are still very far indeed,” he said, “from an accurate
‘scientific geographical knowledge of even the most civilized
countries, while by far the largest portion of the earth’s surface is
inadequately surveyed, and a smaller, though far from inconsider-
able, part is unsurveyed or entirely unknown. In the division of
labor, the geodetist produces the accurate large-scale maps which
are necessary in thickly populated countries, the topographical
surveyor furnishes less exact maps of more thinly peopled and
less civilized regions, while the trained explorer forces his way
into the unknown parts of the earth.

Accurate maps are the basis of all inquiry conducted on scien-
tific principles. Without them a geological survey is impossible;
nor can botany, zodlogy or ethnology be viewed in their broader
aspects unless considerations of locality, altitude and latitude are
kept in view. :

The sufveying and mapping of the ocean is only second in
importance to that of the land; and this work also divides itself
into three sections, namely: the coast surveyed, the coasts par-
tially surveyed and the unsurveyed coasts. Hydrography will
net be completed until all the coasts in the world are included in
the first section, which is now very far indeed from being the case.
He had spoken of the measurement of the surface of land and
sea, and of their heights and depths; to the mapping of the world
and to the innumerable uses of maps and charts. But this only
forms the skeleton of our science, which is endued with flesh and
blood, with life and motion by those who study the causes and
nature of the changes that have taken place and are now taking
place upon the earth ; by comparative and physical geographers,
by those who study and classify natural phenomena, and demon-
strate their connection with each other and their places in the
great scheme of nature. The importance of the study of history
and of early narratives for the elucidation of points in physical

eography will appear from the consideration of a few instances.
Take, for example, the great and fertile basin of the River Ganges,
in India. The Sanscrit historian finds reason for the belief that
in 3000 B. C. the only habitable part of the alluvial plain of India
was the water-parting or ridge between the Sutlej and the Jumna. —
he rest was a great estuary or arm of the sea. It has only been
t for man’s occupation within the historical period, and hundreds

1879. | Geeography and Travels. 705

of square miles of the delta have become habitable since the
days of Lord Clive. The wonderful history of these changes
can be traced by the student, who thus enables the geographer to
explain the phenomena which he observes. gain, to pass to
another part of the world. The student of history reads-of the
great sea fight which King Edward III fought with the French
off Sluys; how in those days the merchant vessels came up to
the walls of that flourishing seaport by every tide; and how, a
century later, a Portuguese fleet conveyed Isabella from Lisbon,
and an English fleet brought Margaret of York from the
Thames to marry successive Dukes of Burgundy at the port
of Sluys. In our own time if a modern traveler drives twelve
“miles out of Bruges across the Dutch frontier he will

small agricultural town surrounded by cornfields, and meadows,
and clumps of trees, whence the sea is not in sight from the top
of the town-hall steeple. This is Sluys. A physical geographer
will seek out the causes which have brought about this surprising
change. They are most interesting, and most conducive to an
intelligent comprehension of his science, and he will find them
recorded in history. Thus the historian and the geographer work
jar in hand, each aiding and furthering the researches of the
ot

The second day’s session was devoted to African exploration
and papers by Maj. Serpa Pinto and Lieut. Savorgnan de Brazza
on their recent journeys, were read. Of Maj. Pinto’s journey,

om. Cameron remarked that it was one of the greatest ever
made, his positions were accurately laid down and his observa-
tions were carried out in such a way as had never been done on
any previous expedition, and when his book was published they
would have a mass of scientific knowledge such as had rarely, if
ever, been acquired in the same space of time and with the same
limited amount of means at command.

Several important papers on Afghanistan were on which had
been prepared by officers and others with t nglish army
during the war. Many explorations have et made in the
unknown portions of this country, and the most important result
is the destruction of the belief ee held that there were
only three entrances into India on the north- spines and that a
these passes were blocked up ae was yrs It now appears
stated by the president, that the whole country, om ‘Jellalabad E

boundary,” therefore, has no existence, and there must be a con-

-tinuous frontier frorn north to south with lateral communications

along it.
_ A paper on Arctic research, by Com. L. A. Beaumont, RN, of
z recent "British Arctic expedition, advocated the ecqcouaeel of

voL. XII.—NO. XII. 53

tends to keep a full supply of goods by Zentmayer, Beck an

796 General Notes. [ December,

the work by way of Smith’s sound to the land around Cape Bri-
tannia. This involves the discovery of the northern side of
Greenland. He prefers this route to an attempt along the eastern
side because a higher latitude can be reached by Smith’s sound,
and he believed that a vessel might winter on the eastern shore
of Robeson strait and advance depots to Repulse harbor in the
autumn. Com. Beaumont, who has seen Cape Brittannia, the
most northern known point of Greenland, believes that to stand
on its highest peak would alone throw much light on Greenland
geography.

A paper, by H. Rink, on “ The Interior of Greenland” was
read. This paper pointed out the principal feature, ice, in the
interior of Greenland, and gave an account of the proceedings of
recent expeditions for its exploration. The center of the country
was stated to be a mass of movable ice. On this paper Com.
Beaumont described a small tribe of people in the north of Green-
land, cut off from all other peoples by glaciers. They hunted the
seal, and would sit over a hole for three days in cold that would
kill any other person. They were well disposed to Arctic
explorers, but were dying out, two hundred only remaining of a
once large tribe. The wonder of this people at seeing a ship
was beyond all description.

A paper, by Lieut. Com. Wyse, on “The Exploration of the
American Isthmus and the Inter-oceanic Canal” gave an account
of the route selected by the recent International Congress at
Paris. Adverse opinions to the scheme were expressed by Com.
Cameron and other members.

MICROSCOPY .'

MicroscopicaL LABoRATORY.—Dr. Carl Seiler, of Philadelphia,
has opened a laboratory for the instruction of students in histol-
ogy, pathology, and microscopical technology. A fee of $15
is charged for a course of twelve lessons. Microscopical exam-
inations of pathological and other specimens wil! be made to
order, and a large variety of histological and pathological speci-
mens will be prepared for sale.
error SPIRALIS.—Dr. Jas. A. Close, of Summerfield, St.
Clair Co. is mounting specimens of this parasite in its differ-
ent stages H development, by a modification of Beale’s method,
with considerable success. These difficult objects can be ob-
tained from him by mail.

RemĮmovar.—Wm. Wales has removed from Fort Lee, N. J., to
No. 361 West 34th St., New York City. At this address he in-

2 ie makers, for the accommodation of those who may wikt too
This denia is edited by Dr. ReH: Wazo, Troy; N. Y.

apt A Tmn

1879. | Microscopy. 797

examine and ne at leisure, and with the quiet and comfort of
a private residen e will continue to supply his own lenses,
unless other mace are x referred.

Ernst GunpLacH.—This well-known optician announces
another business eine by which he will devote his time ex
clusively to manufacturing, and L. R. Sexton, of Rochester N. Y,
will attend exclusively to the a of business correspond-
ence, selling goods, etc. He clai o have recently made great
improvem ments in objectives and oculars, and t o have invented an

second composed of two triplets, and ranging from a 2 inch of
24 Era requiring a microscope body with internal screw one
inch wide, to a 14 inch of 36 degrees ; these triplets can be sepa-
rated, Se half of the same powers. Class C, aplanatic object-
ives, three system lenses, the front being a triplet, having large
at field, and chemical and visual foci nearly together, specially

aes i Ment aoe and greng from a I inch o egrees
nch of 80 degre Class D, resolvin as

A varying from a % inch of 100 degrees, requiring
ernal screw of one inch to a % in 130 degrees, and
the latter from a inch of 115 degrees water angle, to a I-
inch es water le. cedar oil immer
sions, four systems, with long working focus and high resolv-
ing qualities, varying A O degrees water

ang ž requiring an internal screw of 1 inch, toa 1-25 inch o
150 degrees water angle. Mr. Gundlach introduced at the meet-
ing of the Rochester Microscopical Society, on the 13th of Oc-
tober, last, a “ globe lens, o o)
lass, made in ha S, SE a solid sphere of Crown
correc

ens is t
obtained, having long working focus in 1 addition to the well-known
advantages of the ea form, As yet they have only been
made as pocket magnifiers,

798 Scientific News. [December,

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The council of the Entomological Society of London are
authorized by Lord Walsingham and other gentlemen interested
n pa diseases of British game-birds, to offer to public competi-

n the following prizes: £50 for thé best and most complete
if history of Sclerostoma syngamus Dies., supposed to produce
so called “ i

©

cilis Cob., supposed to cau grouse disease. No life oe
will be considered seer unless the igi stages of ee
opment are observed and recorded. The competition is open t
naturalists of all nationalities. The same ph ee may anne
for both sre ben says in English, French, or German to be
sent in on o D 15, 1882, addressed to the secretary
of the v T a: street, Cavendish Square
— At the Sheffield meeting of the British Associ ation, Dr.

Crichton etl delivered an address on influence of domestica-
tion on brain growth. He had found by y experiments that domes-
tication had Bene reduced the brains of the „and he argued
that men, like ducks, might be fed and housed, Bence about, and
E E from participation in the life struggle until, like the

t as tru ever t
E to ila nd conflict, and it was not through sien an
comfort that genuine civilization was attained, It was the civili-
zation, not merely the domestication of mankind, that must be
aimed at.
— Next to the name of Dr. T. W. Harris that of Dr. Asa
Fitch will be held in especial remembrance for his HEA and

and to those of the present generation he was almost ney

unknown. A biographical. sketch with a likeness,

Thurston, a in the Popular Science Monthly for November.
— W. unders, who died Sept. 13th, was one of the lead-

ing English S of botany and entomology, being une-

qualed:as a patron of natural science. He will be remembered

ugium B
number of papers on entomology, botany and horticulture,

— We have neglected to record the death, in April last, of Dr.
Hermann Loew, who has been so voluminous and painstaking a
a writer on Dipterous insects, and has described and monographed
so many American flies, chiefly in the publications of the Smith-

_sonian Institution. His collections are in the Cambridge Museum,

1879. | Scientific News. l 798a

rof. Cope has recently returned from an extended trip to the
Pacific coast. Going and returning he made excursions into
Clade to the fields explored by him in 1873, and to the Juras-
sic beds of the Rocky mountains which have yielded the remains
of the most gigantic of Jand vertebrata, the Opistho cela. Desi-
rous of ascertaining whether, after an interval of six years, a once

n twic
since his Scien of 1873, hence a short stay was thought to

hem nearly complete skeletons. Such were found of species of
ee Dabbpobherivn Oreodon, Hoplophoneus ; there were
merous jaws a Temnocyon, Amphi hicyon, Dinictis, Meso-

a Sus many Rodentia. After a further successful search in
p Fo T horizon, which yielded, among other things,
Pindahna EA the outfit returned. The weather was
l ead had to be cut with a hatchet, and water thawed out

At the Jurassic beds, measures were taken for the n
exhumation of Camarasaurus. Some fine specimens of a ca
nivorous Dinosaur of the genus Aypsivophus were obtained, fa
the greater part of the skeleton of Amphicelias altus was secured,
o

ope visited the Lower Miocen John Day
region of Oregon, the of y recent exp ions
pa had pene SUCCESS, a arly ae ie the
locality. A other interesting specimens, the obtained

M. strigidens Cope, of small size; and others of older type and
arger size, which are described below. The skull of the pe
phoneus platycopis was observed Pye the members of the
under J. L. Wortman) perched on a pinnacle of an almost i fae
sible ela and several fruitless attempts to reach it were
n Leander Davis, an experienced ae
secured the prize, which is, so far as known, unique in Prof. Cope
collectio
The mos remarkable species of fossil cat is the Archelurus
i

debilis Cope, gen. et sp. nov. eneric characters: Dentition,

4, M. 3; m l ith the anterior: face
of the symphysis separated from the lateral face by le
which is no duced dow ior sectorial without

anterior lobe ; inferior sectorial with heel. The characters place
Archelurus at the base of the Fede, showing that it is the most
generalized form yet known, and about equally related to the ©
feline and Machzrodont series. Char. specif.: General structure
of the jaws, weak; superior canine, small, little compressed, with

7986 Scientific News. [ December,

an acute posterior edge which is not serrulate ; first premolar in .
cach jaw, one rooted; second inferior premolar, large; sectorials

callus which has a free inferior and posterior margin, the latter
rising into the base of the coronoid processes; zygomata slen-
der; postorbital processes little prominent; front, wide, convex
transversely. Length of cranium, m. .200; superciliary width,
052; zygomatic width, 1245 length from orbit to superior incis-
ors, 066; length of superior ares .023; do of inferior molar

series, .064 ; oe eter of super nine, ae out the size
of the panther, or of the eee AVUS a rachyo
Hoplophoneus Maiyag Cope, sp. nov. This is the largest

sabre-tooth discovered in North “America. It is twice the bulk

rowns. The syn ve cep in co uence

development of the inferior flares for the canines. Sagittal crest
making a very steep angle with the front. Total length of cran-
ium, m. .280; zygomatic width, .192; length from orbit to supe-
rior incisors, oe length of superior sectorial, .025; of inferior
do, .022 ; do of inferior molar series, .055; length of crown of
supe rior canine, .060; width of do. at base, .026. This skull is
one-sixth smaller than that of the Bengal tiger (Uncia tigris).

— The P EURA oe Pane te ss received a
temporary set-back sequence of the ng of an order for
the removal of its Badia by aie Park E E This
extraordinary proceeding was the work of a majority of a mere

orum of that body, who met during the summer months while
the remaining members of the commission were a from the
city. The action of these men reminds us of that of Judge Hil-
ton, of the New York Central Park, who pie Waterhouse
restorations z extinct animals, and razed the buildin
that was to contain them. The press of Philadelphia have unani-
mously condem Bee the commission, and demanded the continu-
nce of the exposi
— Thos. G. ee is engaged on a work on the fertilization of
plants ay ee based on observations made in Pennsylvania
and New Jerse
— = a S: neat is preparing awork on the fishes of North
ESIGN ca.
. O. B. Johnson, of Salem, Oregon, can furnish vol si
pared specimens of the fauna of Oregon at reasonable rate

1870. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 799

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Tue NATIONAL ACADEMY oF Scrences.—The academy held its
mi-annual meeting in New York, Oct. 28-30, 1879, in the new
; j : : P

rs. rof.
the following references n the recent discoveries in s Ce

“Tn all branches of discovery we seem to be catc ching the clews
of far-r a tN that stretch out where, as yet, no man’s
foot has trodden. As among some of the most recent of these
may be instanced the evidence, amounting almost to proved assur-
ance, by which Prof. Whitney places the ean of man at

least as far back as the Plio e have the a of
r yer, almost demonstrating that substances hitherto
regarded ments can egarded as compounds, and indi-

o

cating that all matter may be ultimately resolvable into simpl

forms. There are the marvelous displays of what has been called

the ‘radiant force’ of matter, as shown in the experiments of

Prof. Crookes with new varieties a the radiometer. New ranges

of profound inquiry are opening before us in the directions indi-
cated by electrical inventions, such as the microphone and the

iene ne
The follo owing papers were read on aaa connected with
biology and geology and anthropology: inal researches

e topogr hat o the
PESE regions of the App ares siete y A. Guyot; On
the glycogenic Jaon of the liver, and On old river-beds o
California, by Joseph Le Conte; Oa some new and remarkable
forms of Ga from the lower Helderburg formation, and
Notes on the Lycoperdites vanuxemi and allied forms, by James
Hall; On the vegetation of ae cee coast of North America
in the Cretaceous age, and ome interesting deposits of gold
and silver ores in Utah and Se yJ.

bers especially interested. His object was to call attention to the
geological problems exhibited by the Catskill plateau. He did
not regard the carving of the mountains as glacial work, though
the evidence of glacial scratches was not wanting. e process

y
squeezed as it r The mountains which now occupy the place
of that E were left by erosion, their valleys being carved

800 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [ December,

out by rivers. Prof. James Hall, in the discussion that followed,

its strata were horizontal from bottom to top; but the surround-
ing region was full of the evidences of disturbance.

EAN Mountain CLUB, October 8.—Mr. W. Wells

.; Prof.-C. E.

Fay gave ae ae of the connection of the Portland White
r

h
mountain a of the late Violet-le-Duc; Prof. A. Geikie, of
Edinburgh, was present, and addressed. the meeting.

poston a oF NaruraAt History, October 15.—Prof. E.
a Mors a some archzeological notes on Japan, and Mr. W. O.
osby Pea on distorted pebbles in Coreen from the
Ea district of Bost

PROCEEDINGS OF MIDDLESEX SCIENTIFIC FIELD CLUB, MALDEN,
Mass., November §.—Frank S. Collins read notes on the marine
Algæ of Middlesex county, Mass, in oie twenty-nine species
and one variety were enumerated. Among those new or rare in
this locality were Ralfsia clavata Cronan, Enteromorpha clathrata

var. prosirata, Cladophora expansa Kutz., Rhizoclonium
The ‘co

utz.
has no coast line, and a collections were made in a small stream
flowing into Mystic c riv H. ody read notes on the Asters,
enumerating twenty eee and ey varieties collected in the
county.— Geo. E. Davenport, Cor, Sec

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF a November 3.—The regular
R N meeting was he Nov. 3d. B. B. Redding CDa
the chair. F rro
Locke were elected members of the ass ciation, In the absence
o wa
Prof. Cope, who was present was invited T eo The invita-

several points in the paleontology and Booey of California. He
first exhibited the skull of a large bear, found by J. A. Richard-
ae ; :

xi be
make it necessary to refer it to a distinct genus, which is prob-
ably the same as that to which the hee bear belongs. Prof.
Cope named it Arctotherium simus. It was as large as the grizzly

18709. | Selected Articles in Scientific Serials, 801

bear, and is peculiar in its short muzzle and bull-dog face. The
speaker next exhibited a specimen of a lizard from the museum at
the university at Berkeley, which was collected by Dr. J. G.
Cooper, of the Geological Survey of this State. He stated that
it was a new species of a little-known genus (named Xantusia by
Baird), and formed an interesting addition to the herpetology of
California. He named it Xantusia riversiana, in compliment to
Mr. Rivers, of the University of California. Prof. Cope next
called attention to a pair of feet of a deer belonging to the Acad-
emy, which were sent from Mendocino county. Each of these
possessed but one central toe and hoof, instead of the usual pair.
The speaker stated that the toes of the hinder feet were united
throughout, and were so far developed beyond the usual point
attained by the ordinary ruminant. The toes of the fore limb
were different, one only being continued to the hoof, all the others
being rudimental. “On the Hog-wallow Land of the San Joa-
quin valley,” a very interesting paper, was read by Judge Hastings,
and gave rise to considerable discussion. The title refers to the
mound-lands common on the Pacific coast, such as occur at San
Diego, on the Sacramento, Columbia, etc.

:0:
SELECTED, ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

BULLETIN OF THE U.S. sahara AND GEOGRAPHICAL SuR-
VEY OF THE TERRITORIES, VOL. v, No. 2.—September 6. th

Coatis, by J. A. Allen. On the "paesent status of Passer domesti-
cus in ‘America, with especial reference to the Western States and
Territories, by Dr. Elliott Coues. The Laramie group of Western
Wyoming and adjacent regions, by A. C. Peale. On Lithophane
and new Noctuidæ, by A. R. Grote. Palæontological Papers,
No. 11.—Remarks upon certain Carboniferous fossils from Colo-
rado, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, and certain Cretaceous
corals from Colorado, together with descriptions of new forms, by
C. A. White; The so-called Two-ocean pass, by F. V. Hayden ;
On the extinct species of byes ory of North America and
their allies, by E. D. Cope. Second installment of American
Ornithological Boga. by Elliott Coues.

QUARTERLY JOURNAL oF MıcroscorIcaL ScIeNcE.—October.
On some points in the development of the common newt, by W.
B. Scott and H. F. Osborn. The structure of Matiphysema
tumanowiczi, by E. R. Lankester (is not a sponge but a Protozoön).
Lithameba discus, one of the Gymnomyxa, by E. R. Lankester.
_ On the structure of the vertebrate Spermatozooén, by H. Gibbes..

HE GEOLOGICAL MaGazinE.—October. On the classification :
of De yae Pre-cambrian rocks, by H. Hi icks. Origin of pipe —
esley. oo

on ore, by Reb

THe FOURTEENTH YEAR

OF os

THE AMERICAN NATURALIST:

A POPULAR ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF NATURAL
HISTORY AND TRAVEL.

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 1880.

THIs journal of popular Natural Science is pannes by Messrs. MCCALLA & STAVELY, Phila-
delphia, Pa., under the avien l shores e nent of Dr. A. S. PACKARD, fr., an F rof: E. D. Cope,
with the assistance of emine t of science. The aides hical dress and illustrations which:
have heretofore given ipao 1 io this magazine will be sustained, and it will be of.a thoroughly
popular nature, so as to interest the general r a as well as the young naturalist. It will continue
to bea journal of Tee ee sane nd for mse of science-teachers

a ALIST inne opie written artic'es on various scientific subjects,
ad dit de inikhioaki s kof k t Litera aut: passa ny, Zoölogy, Anthropology, Geology and
Paleontology, ieee graphy and Ex, patis and Microscopy. The e department of Birds and Mam.

(VOLUME XIV.)

mals is edited by Dr. EtLIorT Coues, U. S. A., att i icroscopy, », of
Troy, N. Y. e Department of Geography and Travels is edited by ELLIS H. Ya L, Esq
Prof. O. T. Mason will continue his ly summaries of geass ent che. and will edit

Department of Anthropology. Arrangements e ve been made to re e Proceedings of

the mad
Scientific Societies with great promptness. of the Contents of jaa Faa alific Four
nals and Je oo will also be given each sait together with the ZLaéest ‘Home and Foreign
Scientific Me

ention Som of HERRA and teachers is called to. critical notices of scientific books, to which

especial be eggs will be giv

A new feature and one whid h will render THE NATURALIST most useful to American scientists
and stadens of science, are summaries of progress made during y preceding year COR in goe
ent departments of science.. Reviews of progress in Cerir 1 be furnished by Prof. T. STE

To tany i y of Mammal rah ‘Bird by Dr. Eo ,

s, U. T : $ 4
x Motlus y Dr. H. DALL, and of ot mee by the aches: ee C. a.
report on se Be ‘Paleontology ; Prof. Oris T. Mas in will prepare a report on progress in
American Anthropology qoring 1879. American Geography and E Rp tenia will be reported
upon by ELLIS H. YARN „ BS sq., ws American Mieri y by Dr.
Original articles or er by over fifty of. our ailing naturalists ra pakai in the volumes
for 1878 and 1879, among which occur the following nam
Dr. J. M. ANDERS,

PROF. PERSIFOR FRAZER, Pror. C. V. RILEY,

ue seg E. BROWN, Mr. A. S. GATSCHET, MR. J. A. RYDER,
W. PR PROF. G. L. GOODALE, MR: R. E. C: STEARNS,

Pkr, W. J.B Pror. G. Brown Goope, Prot S.S DORN
PROF. Mae BENNETT, Mr. HENRY GILLMAN, Dr. T. H. STREETS,
Mr. W. O. CROSBY, ProF. F. YDEN, “tiok ek A Tara
Dr. ELLIOTT Cours, Ry ES: SSLEY, Fr. J. E.
Hon. J, D. Cox, PROF. JOSEPH LEIDY S LESTER F. ee

cr Dr. W. H. Dart, Mr. J. A. LINTNER . C.A. WHITE,

| MsvG: E. cab Mesal eg REV. SAMUEL Lock woop, Dr. H. C. YAR
ProF. O. A. DERBY, Rev. Henry C. McCook, Mr. M. E. WADSWORTH,
DR. lace ae R. RICHARD RATHRBUN, Pror. A. G. WEATHERBY,
‘Mr. F; LICHE 7 DR. C. SEDGEWICK MINOT, Mr. WARREN UPHAM

- SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, $4.00 PER ANNUM IN ADVANGE.

Ao CLUB RATES.
2Copies - - = = net ie 5 Copies
o e 4

- Remittances by mail should be sent by a money-order, draft on Philadelphia or New York, or registered letter to
McCA LLA & STAVE! L%

237-9 Dock Street, :
PHILADELPHIA, PENN!

p JUG- Td 0 weet `

INDEX.

Niere 333:
tions, 51, 334, 404, 533, 592, 660.
Ata Ft 308.
Aldrich, C., = mimicry in a snak
n red-h wire. woodpecker, 522.
n vibratio tail of snakes,

ag and sag bee moth, 262.
Alepidosaurus ferox, 455
err, 413.
f Great Salt lake, 701.

i vate J., onthe s Syre 706.
\mbloplites interruptus
a er cylindriformis, 595-

438.

\mia cas a,
\mnicola a longing, ar

> PP > > >

680.

\nimals, domestic, origin of, 747.
Annelida, 385.

gente imag californiensis, sr
ajau a fimbri. =

Ants, yeee of, 52

mandibles “of, worn by use, 596.

eee ae 45 j Fs.

oA anatomy of, 394.
708.

retotherium sim

ster 41
\rtemia pon Bo of, 701.
Teh oes ae ii

Ba basin
Bailey, W. we on humble bees and Gerardia,

Balznoptera, 715.

ou, W. H., th l breed in the
United Stat
Pini ae on a gh infesting cereals, 612.
g
sag Spee 418. t
ivi on « a gar pike, 453.
pe ` We, Sead scents in California,

Batrachians, tae ng dry and moist heat on, 89 95.

Beau pens pee on twining of hedge
Ree Ehehe ho from Catalpa, 648.
Bees ae mble, and Gerardia, a Hig

ot
Belostoma, 710
Benn KAS e: = absorption of water by leaves

Bilateral symmetry, 41.

Birds, grease on plumage of, 456.

fa T Rog of Trinidad, 229.
Blood corpuse! les, human, care of Teras, 3

i, J., apen and agricul of exas, 375.

i his of Aine vi
i Sae latus » Hrg 410.

Cluster cups, 467.
Cod, cape, forma

PS peltata, a
Brassica nigra, 41
Brazilian artificial m ounds, 224.
rals and parm al Sag 539.
sip ote reefs, 34 347
Brendel, E on intelligence in s, 655-
Historical ske = f N. A. Botany,
1035-1540, i
on nomenclatu:
on — nae Sal Saoi in a given

Bufo dipternus, 437.

abbage worm, imported, 393
Caddie oe with branchiaey 586
California of Southern, 327.

TE in, 565.
Callidium artiste
Cal ,on adia S, Unios, 392.
Calystegia sepium, 778.
Cam sepa, i 403.
Cam ig Mado in Yuma, 470.
Camptolæmus labradorius, 128,

a

rested See

Canth

Cardinal Dae 427.

Caribou, , protective pororaa of, 140.
arifivo eeth cae

Carpo ai oom

Caton, J. D., = red pen tae 46.
w fish, 654.

Catskills, topography of, 473, 799-

Cave in Utah

C lead,

Celts, turtle back, 138.
Centipede, a. 527.
Centrosema, bt sarang vg 688,
Cereals, fungi infesting, 6
Cermatia D 527, egy
Cervus c st

=

Chaniplan Valley, ‘Archeology of, 731.
Characeze, America:
“hea at, a

Chelopus oa a 780.

Chimane, í 173.
brain of, alad a

Ciera, fe R rtilization of, 688.
tion of, 489, 552.
green roc

Codfish of the Pacific coast, y

Centa. usin

Ceelodo: @

Color, adjectives of, in Indian laceneaes i 475»
Colora -s fossil shells from, 141.

Compressoriam, SW cohen 3
k, A. J,

n Lecanium ot tulip tree, 324.
— bee, 3936

804
Cope, E. D, m New Jurassic Dinosaurians, 402.
n Siredon, 456.
pert of sha, eases teeth of
Carnivora
on fossil ms amm: EA 197,
of Loxolophodon,

on the ‘necks of the Sauropterygia,

132.
on a sting pd? from the ty river

i ena Wyoming, 3
of Montana, fg
Copper ie Indan 6o, 528.
Corals and cora! ral re e Ta zilian, 5 539-

Coues, E., n Colorado pes arr.
e En gli sh s row, 706.

on ow P ures! a Hesperomys
americanus, 784.
Cragin, F. W., on oviparous snakes, 710.
Cee s mon "E
Craniome
Chian. pA of, 4
Cricket, sound producing organs of, 322.
Crosby W. ©., on pitch lake of Trinidad, 229.
Crustacea, 45, ah, rey 575, 584, 58 > 599
po e of, ne

al di istribusion i 575, 584.

Scuatiad, 128

stalk -eyed, 514.
Ctenophora, 652
Cueumber, wild, 77y-
Cyclops, 622

= ime habits of, 321.
t, G. we an one boottii, 186.
abaa ies ‘her!
Deer, one-toed,
Derby, O. A., on Brazilian oo mounds, 224.
n rphology of semicircular

Echinocystis lob:
Eel, Nae a Pe 25,125, 3
Elrod, M. L. —* projectiles, 95.
Enhydrocyon asiha
pnts iie

Entomological "Commission, 60, 535.
Saon mostraca, fresh water,

Eozoén, 197, 270, se
ak le 12.

Se cranoides
Eur a spinosus, ses 703.

Faiy si s
W.G , on sea weeds of Great Salt lake,

me asaini homi

sanguin nis,

Fish Commission, 61. “i
ishes.

i of 41.
I Sia
Pa, Kenh rca, t55.

EEE ne
y insects, 4

Index.

Formica, schaufussi, 707.
Fox snake, does $ mimic the rattlesnake ? 582.
ra of the

-. r. »

x tlantic slope, 284.

on protoplasm, 420
d-butiders (?) in New York.

Frey, S L.,
pl ae

Fungi infesting cereals, 612.

Gadus auratus,

685
mac rochai, 685.
Gall inhabiting ant 12
tsc

Ga et, n adjectives of color in Indian
languages, «
a le,
ne woe ht

r~ eration, sp on

Genyanemus intel us,
Geological sieas of Columbia College, 502.

a s. U. S., 181, 343, 535, 727.
s sive o ee AR orms in, 445-
eS = ‘Cap e Cod, 489, ery
Geraniu Gone 415.

Germ theory. of disease, 595, sse
Gillman, H.,

on double flowers of T 700.
Gladiolus, 4.
Goat igm ng Ph

arley, 418

igre notice of Clark’s Instinct and Rea-
mS n, i

Gregg, W H. ,on the pe of dace, 321.

Guatemalan sculptures, we

Hair,
Hair i is negroes, insertion of, 39
Haldeman, S. S., per on ie music, 454-
n double headed snakes, 525.
‘i iron axes, 528.
on unsymmetric arrow-heads,
292.
Haplocerus montanus, 435-
Hartt, C. F., on “agen of pottery among
razilian ‘sandstone reefs, 347+
Hedge hindwoud, ws
Helmin thology, American; 386.

Hene Ocko bahona Entomostraca,

Toas americanus
Heterodon ng aes.
Hil, E. J.. cere

on A papeis niagarensis, 699.

e Shepherdia, 699.
ica We e e ‘fn back celts

man, iscovery of turtle-bac
J in Dist. umbia, 108.

, 784.
oviparous, 71
oe uae te Brasenia

ing of

Honey bee, srthenegeness of, 260,

Hooker, J. D 5 oye ee ibution ee he North
Ame we ors, 1

oplo

phoneus, 197.
Hordern pont baa
PATR = habits ofc orang
Hors of domestic, :
Houstonia yon fifelie with oai flowers, 700»

anus, 404.
India, extinct ge of, 532.
Indian arrow-heads, a
: facture of, 657.
vania, 294.
tor color tayan a75:

amg y T riren
: zA t

Index.

Infus ,7t
art gg 33, 3
br: ce of 711, 730.
as unconscious selectors of flowers, 257.
food.
fossil, or
icing els and fruits, 703.
po sarite 572.
Instinct and reason, 96.

ti an, ar go of, 575.
illson, B.C.,ona riy ee 256.
Jurassic Dinosauri

King, F. H., mimicry of the rattlesnake by the
fx snake, 582

Kingsley, J. S., on breeding rey of eel, 319.

notices ot wo n Crustacea,
45, 127, shay $73, i sea, 599-
L Leaves, absorption of water by, 20, 188.
Lecanium of aes mes, Ei
Lee L. A., tah, 460.

T
d

productus, 441.

les of Nek Koal o
L mulus, fossil 587.
Lindahl, gi goh of woodpecker, 43.
peang 44.3
ntner, J. Ase on soie seed fly, 190.
s em apes
385.

E

Lobo fertilization of, 427.
hiliti

i
EEGA, W. Ne, yon Californian: pet 299, 684.
acific mammals,

on Pacific coast reptiles and
atrachians, 780.

: Lockwood, S hos ry pra robin, 359-
\ Locust, in flan
rset in New Mexico, 586.
Lophocomi, 397.
Lota maculosa, 4
Loxolophodon, lower j jaw of, 334.

tobiasi (271 ycopotamicus, 131.
Lycosa, habits of, 485, t
Lynx canadensis, 708.

Macrurus bairdii, 455. 5;
Mammalia, extinct, of Oregon, 131.
Mammals, ne 3
Man, plioc
Martindale, E Pi on Colorado plants, 675.
gape oe “Tr. on anthropology, 48, 129, 191, 265,
8. 396, 457, 527, 656, 716, 787.
Mencecitx orm 179:

si pe
Hreaecesvaah dd standard i for, 3:

'icroscope, measu desgi idl ss
Sicrescen moval a. air eon Er er
Mills = x.

Pg third, 130,
Mold as an insect de estroyer, 681,

a
Mort llet, De, on ori mot domestic hnimals A
Sound kadis si ke
in New York? 637.
not secsllies, 459.
pounds, Sepse in ot 565.

penn rs f, 398.
egroes air 39
Neocarida, 786
New Zealand, 65.
geological survey of, 330.
Norway, mollusks of, 3

Oat, wild, 4
Ohio, archactony om e

Orne.

Ornit
‘exan,

seg ng 307.

Owl, 2

seat "sa
Ox, anaue origin of, 750.
Oxalis, Bove bo ‘of, as Ne aoa 95.
521

oara 197.

t h

Packard, A. r% pr oe “Cermatia forceps, 527,

on male eel, 25, 125, 319.
on nebaliad Cru stacea,128.

on a new classification of
the Crustacea, 783.

on Rocky m ust
in New Mexico 0, 586.

on sea weeds of Great dalt
lake, 701.

Pal oe 786.
Pangenesis, 14.
Parthenogenesis inh
Passer do menin; jinin y
W. H., on a gall- inhabiting ant, 126.

y bee, 260, 393.

Pericome cau
Perkins, G. rg on laatii of the Champlain
valley, 731.
Permian vertebrata, 332.
Phosphorescence in marine animals, 599.
Phoxinus m SNe ANUA, 440.
Phrynoso a douglassii, 3 326, 435.
Phy maid
Physa aan i 142.
Physarum cinereum, 257.
Poytopte; 704s
» 43
Pig, o origin a 1%.
Sa on sound-producing organs of

puyophis coe
Plants on of water by leaves of, 20.
Colorado, 675

os origin of, 751.

dimo

livin; Freceived by pa how to treat, 650.

rtilization of, 3
sensitive, COANE rot leaves of, 319.
taking gi census of, in a given area. or,

Plastidule. 1
Podiceps dcattalced; 518.
Poébrotherium a pe 131.

cystis packardi
Peys. nE Sta
Pompino

otam on aid — £99:
Pottery at ta savage ra ranged ge
Potts, E., pn anger tracheæ, 454.
o chrysalids in one cocoon, 455.

Pristis, 26

avg
Protolabia | transmontanus, 131:
Protoplasm F
Prins pas

Rachianec
Rainfall ary
Rana berlandieri, r 436.

pegas

| Rathbun, yee a cal i coi reefs,

Sore ge the Becton

Prof. Č: F.

£06

Rattlesnake, 322, 435.

Read, M. Se —_— sparrow, 190, 795.

Redding, B nufacture of Indian arrow-
eads,

Rhini ASUS, 32T.

chthys at
aR sae o fossil 333-

Rh ododendron catawbiense, Jtt:
ee
ry, Ce v on nape worms, 523.
— ing of trachez of insects,

ip a S., on i root of oxalis, 521.
oc olen eruptive,
Wadswortb on classification of, 531.
Rogers, W. A., on of accuracy
measurements oe ie partie pe, 59-
Pes ey oe ae 7 835+

.

in

Russell, I pe fertilization of biaa 648.
ogical m of Colum-
ia College, 502.
ii on ealand, 65.
R; wi - on bein nge, 279
ee J. Chiroesphais and Strepto-
‘ on Phys Os
on Eurypatop us, 603.
on the gem vs. the plastidule

as the sont ae physical unit

origin of bil bilateral symmetry in

Rye, origin of, 751.

Salex flav s, 681,
Salmon, breeding of ing locked, 583.
acific coast, 522.
Salt lak e Great. = athe of, 70r.
Sarda a oria 36 j
-Saun ne Tie Sa inact Bowder, 572.
Sauranodon 271.
Fe ag a vss.
Sealops i brewer
ScAphirhyn tyrhynchus, 439.
-Sc ay ba rma ac gos

i Scomber, colias,
Sco hthys paa
Sea-weeds fertilized by. infuses yrr.
ipaa: Salt lal

Sebastes
Seeds ged ins rity xa of, a insects, 703.
,

as a factor i in natural selection, 411.

a

CS ae

he plo ts |

Index.

Spermophilus richardsoni, 709.
Sphargis coriacea, 467, 633-

S , boring,
Squilla, a fossil, 587
Squirrel, red, 46.
Stearns, R. E. C,, on se pep rsa from the Colo-
141.
Berd as a factor i in natural
selection, 411
Stenamma ee ae
Stevens, A. n preventien of grease from
rnd pluinage of of birds, 456.
Sting ray, tertiary, 333-
Stromateus simillimus, on salmon,
Sturtevant, E. L., ai. i
Stylasteridæ, -
Swallow, 706.

Swigert, g-a M., on habits of Spermophilus rich-
Symplocarpus fecsidus, fertilization of, 589.

3909.

Szabó, J., on tertiary erupti ks,

Tarantula, habits o

— be, J. R, pis

eeth, » genesis vi Ryder
arniv

e English = 706.
n, 44

200.

T etan in ornithology, 5x6.
of, 2

Texas, birds
” geolog
Thrushes of hee Terrtory, 629.
Toad, horne pogo -of, 336.
aa e- y
Todd, J. E ili f flowers, I.
n the on ar trees, 123.

Tooth, third kereng
Tr. achem, shedding aita molting of insects, 454,

Trachyte, 401.
Treat, M., = slave-making ants, 707.
n the tarantula, 485.
Tree, paren of, 123. ;
Trelease, W., on the fertilization of Clitoria and

* on fertilization of. several species

of Lobelia, e
on ip eer Symplocarpus

e of M Müller on cross-fertiliza-
on of flowers by insects, 452.

45

od

Trinidad, pitch fae of, 229,
dacs , 387:
Tryon
EE s
Turner, ig on Beara 719-
stratagem

m of a wasp, 710.
paie leather, pom

ia pro otea, 142.

—- 702.
m, PW. on of Cape Cod, 489, 552.
ue cave in, co

at.
Ww. , on a lost race of America, 9.
re

Wasp, 710.
wee — in Utah, 397.

n of, 648.
| , red- headed, gece of, 522.
Worms, A tone

T eae