4 BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL.

ublished the Last Day of each Month by the —

Lo AS

QO BPLOGLOUGICAL FOURNAL

Vou. I. MAY, 1890. No. 3.

THE POINT LOMA BLIND FISH AND ITS RELATIVES.
With Plate II and III.

BY CARL H. EIGENMANN.

San Diego Bay is in part surrounded by mud flats which are
covered by water at high tide. Where the channel approaches the
shores, sand beaches take the place of mud flats. On the ocean
shores a sandy beach stretches several miles to the southeast from
the mouth of the bay, while on the west rises the point of land
called Point Loma. The entire ocean beach at the base of this prom-
ontory is rocky. In many places all the earth has been removed
by the action of the waves, leaving the bare rock; in other places,
and more especially between the outer point and Ballast Point, large
boulders lie imbedded in the sand. These are all covered at high
tide, while but a few small pools remain about the rocks at low tide.
Many of them are covered with sea weeds, actineans, and especially
~ large chitons. .

All these localities are inhabited by relatives of the Point Loma
blind fish.

The sloughs traversing the mud flats of the bay are inhabited by
Gillichthys mirabilis, the young of which is represented i in fig. 15,
pl. iii.

In every tide-pool as large as a man’s hand, and larger, in the
mud flats are found C/levelandias, fig. 4, pl. ii; nearer low-water _

mark in similar localities are found, but less abundant than Cleve- oe :

landia, the Lepidogobius y-cauda represented in fig. 5, pl. ii.

On digging in the sandy beaches of the bay specimens of another

species of this genus, Lepidogobius gilbert, are sometimes yee. -

_ buried in the sand. Pee
In the crab holes under the rocks about Point tami occurs ithe s
- most remarkable of this family, the Point Loma blind fish C Lee I
a cee alt ee ): figs. 6 and 7, Pe iii,

66 The Point Loma Blind Fish. [ ZOE

In the deep water off Point Loma the Albatross has recently
taken still another goby ( Godius nicholsoni ).

It is thus seen that almost every nook available has been taken
possession of by these diminutive fishes. All of them have the two
ventrals united along the median line, and a thin membrane
stretched across their bases to form a pouch. By appressing the
ventrals and then raising them, a partial vacuum is formed in this
pouch, and the fish is enabled to cling to any substance with which
its ventral happens to be in contact. In confinement the blind fish
frequently utilizes the surface of the water of an aquarium for a sur-
face of attachment.

Most of these have also a peculiarly enlarged maxillary bone in
the adult stage. In Gillichthys this bone becomes quite phenomenal
with age, reaching to the pectoral fins. This fish increases in bulk out
of proportion to its development, so that the young of a size equal to
the adult, Clevelandia or Lepidogobius, have a much shorter max-
illary bone than the latter, although in the adult of Gillichthys this
growth is larger in proportion than in any other goby. The adult
of Lepidogobius gilberti, y-cauda and Clevelandia longipinnis have
until the past year been confounded with the young of Gillichthys.
In collecting about San Diego I soon noticed this fact, but supposed
Lepidogobius y-cauda, on account of its large maxillary, to be the
young of Gillichthys, and described the young of Gillichthys with
short maxillaries as a new species of Godius.*

All the species in the bay have the habit, if disturbed, of hiding
in crab or clam holes. Clevelandia will sit on its tail and pectorals
until the hand is near it. Then with a quickness which would do
honor to a Johnnie Darter, with a flirt of the tail and a stroke of the
pectoral, it disappears in its hole from which it, however, at once
thrusts its head to await developments. Several of them frequently
take refuge in the same hole.

Gillichthys is the largest of these gobies, and is found from San
Francisco to San Diego, or somewhat further south. It then disap-
pears and is found again at the head of the Gulf of Mexico. About
San Diego the young are abundant throughout the year. The adult
can be caught with hook and line in quantities, especially just at the

* We discovered our mistake sometime before the description of the new species
was printed, and hoped to make the necessary corrections in the proof, which never
reached us. C. Ha & R. Suk.

VOL. I. ] The Point Loma Blind Fish. 67

return of tide during summer. Towards their spawning season
they retire to their respective crab holes, and no morsel, be it ever
so tempting, will lure them forth. They first spawn at San Diego
about the end of March. The young, when first observed, have
but a few color cells. They are very active, jumping several times
their own length, if left dry in a watch crystal. Under the micro-
scope a series of slender threads are seen to extend out from the
lateral line (figs. 18 and 19), and similar threads are grouped about
the head. Provided with such delicate tactile organs and well-de-
veloped eyes, the young Gillichthys is well equipped for its early
existence.

As hinted above the young, not larve, of this species but little
resembles the adult. The maxillary does not reach beyond the
eye, the color is in more or less well-defined cross-bars, and the
scales which in the adult are cycloid, have several large teeth, fig.
16, pl. ili. The color under the microscope still resolves itself into
distinct cells, fig. 17. The skull is also quite different from that of
the adult in specimens even more than an inch long. In short, the
young is a Godius, while the adult is a Gillichthys.

The two species of Lepidogobius have but recently been discovered.
The one figured (5, pl. iii) was first described from Guaymas, and
was but the past year recorded from California waters. It was col-
lected by Jordan and Gilbert, as early as 1880, and several speci-
mens have also been in our collection for sometime, having been
taken from the stomach of a larger fish. The ZL. gilberti was dis-
covered while a Chinaman was digging for “craw-fish’’ in the
beaches between Roseville and La Playa. In the little pools formed
in the holes dug by the Chinaman little fishes were soon seen swim-
ming about; all but one of them proved to be this species. Pro-
fessor Gilbert, for whom the species was named, has since found it
in many places along lower California, including the gulf coast. It
is thus seen that both of these species have a wide distribution.

Clevelandia is by far the most abundant of the gobies, and in
fact the most abundant of any fish in the bay of San Diego. They
are found everywhere between high and low-water mark, and
doubtless form an important item of the food of the larger fishes;
they spawn in the early part of May. The young, fig. 1, pl. iii,
rise to the surface at night, and are then sometimes taken.in the
surface dredge. They can, however, be procured more abundantly

68 The Point Loma Blind Fish. [ ZOE

in the latter part of May in the pools left at low tide about the piles
of wharves. They beautifully illustrate the metamorphosis under-
gone by the tail from the lophocercal to the heterocercal and homo-
cercal stages. This fish has until the past year been known from
only four specimens. Three of these were from Los Animas Bay,
and one from San Francisco.
The most remarkable of the gobies is undoubtedly the blind one
_ inhabiting the crab holes under rocks at Point Loma. It has been
found nowhere else about San Diego, but has been taken at Ensen-
ada. Its habitat is, as far as known, quite limited. In its pink
color and general appearance it much resembles the blind fishes in-
habiting the caves of southern Indiana. Its peculiarities are doubt-
less due to its habits. The entire bay region is inhabited by a car-
ideoid crustacean which burrows in the mud. It, like the blind fish,
is pink in color. Its holes in the bay are frequented by Clevelandia,
etc., while at the base of Point Loma, where the waves sometimes
dash with great force, the blind fish is its associate.

On rough days few fish are seen, though ever so many stones are
overturned, a task rendered somewhat laborious and bad for the
fingers by the numerous worn tubes, etc., attached to the rocks. On
mild days, on the contrary, on very low tides quantities are found
and almost invariably in company with one of the crustaceans men-
tioned above. Sometimes the fishes live quite out of water on the
damp gravel and sand under a rock, but more frequently small
pools of water fill all the depressions under the rocks, and the
fishes swim rapidly away in their attempt to hide in the crab holes,
several of which always branch from the cavity in which the rock
has lain.

In the bay the gobies habitually live out of the holes into which
they descend only when they are frightened, while at Point Loma
they never leave their subterranean abode, and to this fact we must
attribute their present condition.

How long these fishes have lived after their present fashion it
would be hard to conjecture. The period which would produce
such decided structural changes cannot be a brief one. The scales.

_have entirely disappeared, the color has been reduced, the spinous
dorsal has been greatly reduced; not only have the eyes become
stunted, but the whole frontal region of the skull and the optic
nerves have been profoundly changed.

VOL. I. | The Point Loma Blind Fish. 69

The skin, and especially that of the head, has become highly
sensitized. The skin of the snout is variously folded and puckered,
and well supplied with nerves; the nares are situated at the end of a
fleshy protuberance which projects well forward, just over the
mouth. At the chin are various short tentacles and a row of pa-
pill, which very probably bear sensory hairs similar to those rep-
resented in 18 and 19, extends along each ramus of the lower jaw,
and along the margin of the lower limb of the preopercle. The eye
is, however, the part most seriously affected. In the young, fig. 7,
it is quite evident, and is apparently functional. Objects thrust in
front of them are always perceived, but the field of vision is quite
limited. With age the skin over the eyes thickens, and they are
scarcely evident externally. As far as I could determine they do
not see at this time, and certainly detect their food chiefly, if not
altogether, by the sense of touch. A hungry individual will swim
over meats, fish or a mussel, etc., intended for its food without per-
ceiving it by sight or smell, but as soon as it comes in contact with
any portion of the skin, especially of the head region, the sluggish
movements are instantaneously transformed, and a stroke of the
fins brings the mouth immediately in position for operations.

I have not been able to raise the fishes from the egg. The
youngest individual ever seen is represented in fig. 7. In this
specimen the membranes of the fins were thin, the color cells were
well formed and arranged not unlike those of the young Gillich-
thys, fig. 15. The movements were similar to those of the other
gobies, and not at all sluggish like those of the adult. Their
favorite position is standing or sitting, one with the broad pectorals
extending out at right angles to the body. In this position the fish
can, with a sudden stroke of its pectorals, move quickly and rap-
idly. In the old the fins are thick and smaller in proportion, and
all the vivacity seems to have disappeared. The color has degen-
erated, or at least not developed in proportion to the growth of the
fish.

The minute structure of the eye was not examined on account
of the entire lack of the proper facilities for sectioning, etc.
The eye and optic nerve have been isolated by treatment
with 20 per cent. nitric acid, and by simple dissection of alcoholic
specimens. The lens is large in proportion to the size of the eye,
which does not materially differ in size in the smallest and largest —

70 The Point Loma Blind Fish. [ ZOE

specimens examined. The optic nerve is very slender and long as
compared with that of any of the other gobies.

All these gobies are tenacious of life, especially the blind one.
Several of the latter have been kept in a half-gallon jar of water for
several weeks without change of water, and others have been kept
several months in confinement in my laboratory. When the water
becomes somewhat stale they frequently rise to the surface and
use the surface of the water as a plane to which they attach them-
selves by means of their ventrals.

It was my intention to study the development of the eyes, etc.,
of this fish, and with this end in view I kept many specimens alive
and made frequent trips to Point Loma to procure fresh individuals
in order that too long confinement might not have impaired the
reproductive function. They spawn in the latter part of May and
June, but I have not found the eggs in nature. Those deposited in
confinement would not develop, and attempts at artificial fertiliza-
tion of freshly-caught individuals were not successful. An absence
from San Diego prevented me from visiting their habitat during July,
and in August the tides were not favorable.

The earliest date at which I procured young was October 2 5th,
the smallest caught at that time is represented in figure 4.

Though I did not secure developing eggs, those procured enable
me to describe the remarkable membranes of the egg, which are
probably similar in many other gobies. *

The covering of the ovarian egg consists first of a finely striate
membrane, the zona radiata of all telostean eggs. Exterior to
this is a network of threads with the meshes coarsest at the ento-
dermic pole and forming almost a continuous membrane at the
ectodermic pole, figs. 4 and 5. The eggs were examined from the
surface only, and I am not able to say how intimate the connection
between the threads and the zona is in the ovary. When the eggs
are deposited the meshwork of threads is stripped off the egg and
remains attached to the zona radiata around the micropyle, figs. 1,
2,3 and 5. In the eggs deposited naturally by the females in con-
finement the threads had been wound together to form a cord at
the micropylar end of the egg, fig. 1. The cords of many of these
eggs were attached to each other, and the eggs thus came to be laid
in bunches like those of grapes. Whether this is usual or not Iam
not able tosay. The bunches of eggs resemble so closely those of the

VOL. I. | The Point Loma Blind Fish. 71

crustacean with which this fish is associated, and which spawns at the
same time, that the idea of a highly specialized mimicry at once sug-
gests itself. The similarity between the eggs is heightened by the
fact that they are both bright yellow. In females with ripe eggs
they can frequently be seen forming a yellow band along the flanks.

The yellow of the blind-fish egg is entirely confined to the yolk
which contains many oil globules. The granular potoplasm is
opaque.

In the eggs deposited naturally the water space remained quite
small, while in those forced from the ovary it soon became enor-
mous, being many times the size of the egg proper; the egg shell
assumes an ovate shape at the same time. Which of these two forms
is the natural one I am not able to say. Hoffman * gives the figure
of the egg of Gobdius minutus, which resembles fig. 3, pl. and
may be the normal condition.

PLATE II.

1. Young Clevelandia or Lepidogobius taken with the surface dredge.

2. Tail of a young Clevelandia.

3. Tail of a more advanced individual.

4, 4a. Clevelandia longipinnis, adult X22.

5, 5a. Gillichthys y-cauda, adult X 3.

PLATE III.

1. Egg of 7yphlogobius californiensis undergoing the first cleavage.

2. Micropylar region of an egg of the same species under pressure, showing the
margin of the attachment of the outer membrane.

3. An egg forced from the ovary. A very large breathing chamber has been
formed. Abnormal (?).

4. A portion of the network of the outer membrane remote from the micropyle
of the egg represented in fig. 3.

5. Micropylar region of the egg represented in fig. 3.

6. Adult 7phlogobius, natural size, in the position usually assumed in the aqua-
rium,

7. Young 7yphlogobius % 43, showing color markings and the eye.

8. Dorsal view of skull of 7yphlogobius x 24.

9. Lateral view of same x 24.

10. Ventral view of same X14.

11. Eye, optic nerves and portion of brain of same, showing the very much elon-
gate slender optic nerves and the comparatively large lens as compared with the
cup of the eye X 24, from nitric acid maceration of a specimen % inch long, Jan-

—uary 29, 1888. ee)

12. An isolated eye after treating with nitric acid showing the film of translu-

cent substance surrounding it.

*Zer Ontogonie der Knochenfische, pl. iii, fig. 9, 1881.

pee Songs of Californian Zonotrichie. [ ZOE

13. The same eye-in a later stage of maceration, the film entirely removed, the
optic nerve torn.

14. Dorsal surface of brain of Zyphlogobius showing cranial nerves, the 2d, 3d
and 4th pairs removed. ‘ .

15. Gillichthys mirabilis x 42.

16. A single scale of same more enlarged.

17. Several scales with color cells from the tail of same.

18. Sense organs of the lateral line of a younger specimen of Gillichthys, from
about the middle of the body.

19. Solitary sense organ of the same from the base of the caudal.

SONGS OF SOME CALIFORNIAN ZONOTRICHIA.
BY CHARLES A. KEELER.

As the distinction between the songs of Gambel’s white-crowned
sparrow (2. leucophrys gambeli) and the golden-crowned sparrow
(Z. coronata) does not seem to be generally recognized by ornithol-
ogists,a few remarks on the subject may not be out of place. Neither
of these birds possess any great powers of song, the notes of both
being high, fine, long-drawn whistles, very similar in the quality
of the tone. There is, however, one distinction. between the songs
which is present, I think, in all their variations, viz., that the song
of Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow begins on an ascending scale,
while the song of the golden-crowned sparrow begins on a descend-

ing scale. The typical song of Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow is
as follows:

The typical song of the golden-crowned sparrow is much simpler,
being represented by the following notes:

VOL. I. ] Songs of C. alifornian Zonotrichiea. — 73

The above songs are by far the most common; in fact, any de-
parture from them is quite the exception. Variations of both songs
are always sufficiently near to these types to be immediately rec-
ognized, and generally consist of a simplification of the above.
Thus the golden-crowned sparrow frequently omits the last note,
and sometimes sings nothing but the first. Occasionally, also, the
final note is not flatted, so that the last two notes are the same. I
have not noted down any of the variations of the songs of Gam-
bel’s sparrow, but these can always be identified from their simi-
larity to the song given. Sometimes on a mild day during the win-
ter or spring, when numbers of these birds are congregated in a
garden, several variations of their usual song will be heard, the
birds seemingly vying with one another in producing changes, but
under other circumstances I have seldom heard any but the song
here recorded.

The golden-crowned sparrow sings all winter from the time of its
first appearance in the fall until its departure in April. During the
cold rains of winter, however, its song is generally hushed and its
ordinary ¢szp is its only note. This is most commonly heard when
a flock are started out of the brush. Gambel’s white-crowned spar-
row also utters a call note indistinguishable from that of the prece-
ding species. It has in addition a note heard only at the beginning
of the mating season, generally in March, which is characteristic of
this species. It consists of a low trill or rattle uttered while the
wings are rapidly vibrated. I have never heard this note uttered
when the female was in sight.

The night song of Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow is of great
interest. Late in the night, when all the world is wrapped in slum-
ber, a wild burst of song will rise on the silent air, then subside,
and all is again quiet. Only a single bar is sung, and I have never
heard the strain repeated on the same night. I first heard this
night song on February 26, 1888.. The day had been warm, but a
thick fog came on in the evening which darkened the sky. It was
nearly half past ten when the bird sang, and the effect of this song,
coming through the dark, still night, was very peculiar. On March
7 of the same year, the song was heard at eleven o'clock at
night, and on the r2th inst. it was heard at nine o’clock. In both >
cases the night was dark and foggy. If these night songs were
uttered only on clear, moonlight nights they could be more easily

74 The Economy of Nature. [ZOE

explained, but the fact is they are much more frequently heard on
dark nights. The songs are always heard early in the mating sea-
son, generally in March, and the most reasonable explanation, it
seems to me, is that the birds are unusually excited at this time,
and, awakening in the night, involuntarily break forth into song.
That it is involuntary and unpremeditated, all who have heard this
song will certainly agree.

THE ECONOMY OF NATURE AS EXEMPLIFIED BY
VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PARASITES. II.

BY Es Tis BRMR,

The concatenation of cause and effect which produces the harmony
in nature cannot be interrupted with impunity by interferences of
violent character. The violent destruction of one evil almost always
opens the door to a series of new evils, because the immense net-
work of cause and effect called Nature being once disturbed it is im-
possible to know at what point the given impetus will stop.

It cannot be helped that our own interests interfere with the har-
mony in nature. Neither cultivation of the ground nor raising ot
stock is possible without disturbance of the original forms of or-
ganic life, because the very object of all agricultural pursuits is to
promote the prevalence of certain animals and plants useful to man
to the more or less complete exclusion of the organisms previously
occupying the same ground.

We will first notice the immediate consequences of the interfer-
ence in favor of the more desirable species at the expense of the
original fauna and flora.

Every species, animal and plant, is decimated or Jimited in its
multiplication by other species, or else the variety of organic life
now inhabiting and decorating the surface of this earth would have
disappeared a long time ago, and would have made room to mon-
otony. Each climatic girdle would be covered by a vegetation
closely resembling cultivated grounds, each inhabited by one herb-
ivorous animal, serving as food to one carnivorous animal. There
is no place on this earth where such state of things actually has
taken place, the agencies just mentioned preventing.

Nature favors variety and opposes equality, the only things in
which all organisms are equal, being birth and death. In all other

VOL. 1, 5: The Economy of Nature. 75

respects, organization, conditions of life, relation to each other, they
differ so much that already in ancient time Aristotle arranged them
in classes, and modern science talks in a rather unphilosophical way
about higher and lower animals and plants.

As a general rule the so-called higher forms of life exercise their
influence by individuality, the lower ones chiefly by their numbers—
the one endangers our interests by organs of destruction, the other
by their unlimited powers of multiplying.

Now as to what takes place when the original variety of organ-
isms in an area is superseded by the exclusive cultivation of one or
several organisms introduced by man:

Each species has its antagonists, and these rise and multiply in
proportion to the facilities offered to them. These facilities are of
two kinds; first, an ample supply of food; second, protection against
the species to which they serve as food themselves, and which we
call, by a not quite exact expression, their enemies.

As long as the ground is covered by a varied vegetation, inhab-
ited by different kinds of animals, the enemies of the different spe-
cies lose a great deal of their feeding time by searching and select-
ing the peculiar plant or animal that serves them as food. As soon
as a plant or animal occupies the ground to a more or less complete
exclusion of other plants and animals, its enemies do not lose much
time in the search for food, and will multiply at a more or less
undesirable rate. The enemies of the species that formerly occu-
pied the ground and are now excluded, will disappear at the same
rate as the species disappear that formed their food when the orig-
inal flora and fauna occupied the ground.

In studying the multitude of phenomena developed during and
after the change of a so-called wild state into the state of cultivation
we find some the most striking developed in the insect world.

At the same time it is indispensable to refer frequently to phe-
nomena of a different order, because, with all her variety, nature is
a unit, and it is only in text books that the citizens of the two king-
doms may be studied in isolation.

The first change produced by cultivation is an increase of the en-
emies of the cultivated species. We have seen that nature opposes.
any predominance that would end in monotony, so she has recourse
to the same remedy used against the prevalence of the cultivated
species and corrects her own remedy by raising an enemy to the
enemy. ee

76 : The Economy of Nature. [ ZOE

This enemy of the enemy is the friend of the cultivated species,
and as such our own, because in agriculture as in politics and war-
fare, the enemy of the enemy is an ally.

Some forty years ago financial considerations had gradually in-
fluenced forest culture in northern Germany in such a way that a
predominance of coniferous plantations had developed. The con-
sequence was an increase of such insects as feed on the pine and
spruce. These insect pests developed to such a degree that great
damage was done by the destruction of entire forests, and for a con-
siderable time all remedies proved futile in the afflicted districts.

The first enemy of the enemy was the bird. ’ Insectivorous birds
soon took care of those insect larve not covered with hair, nor
having a disagreeable smell indicating some poisonous substance.
So the naked caterpillars of Sphinx Pinastri and Trachea Piniperda
were speedily reduced to a proportion no more interfering with the
harmony in nature, but the hairy ones of Gastropacha Pini and the
Tenthredo \arve full of irritating substance, remained almost unmo-
lested, as the only European bird feeding on hairy caterpillars is
- the cuckoo.

But then a gradual increase of two classes of insects took place,
the carnivorous and the parasite. The carnivorous was chiefly rep-
resented by the beautiful rainbow-colored Calosoma Sycophanta,
the parasite first by the ubiquitous 7achina, afterwards by whole
hosts of minute parasitic wasps, of the Ichneumon and Ophion
tribes, that laid their eggs on the injurious larvee, and the maggot
developing devoured the insect pest from inside. The sick and
dying larvee offering a wide field for the dissemination of vegetable
parasites, different fungi, especially those of the Saprolegnia and
_Torrubia types, spread from the sick to the healthy and destroyed
whole annual generations by epidemics.

Here is seen clearly the means applied by nature to restore the
disturbed balance of power. Nevertheless it must be cohfessed that
nature did not do the work quite alone. It is true that the com-
bined efforts of whole communities, collecting the caterpillars,
throwing them into ditches and destroying them by fire, did but
little good and considerable evil, because it disturbed the insect-
feeding birds. The system was also soon abandoned. But laws
passed for the protection of insect-feeding birds took good effect,
and finally the gradual change in the system of forest culture, by

VOL. I. ] The Economy of Nature. i Se

which the uniformity of the coniferous plantation was more fre-
quently relieved by interspersed birch, oak, beech, or mixed plan-
tations, produced a favorable change.

The insect pests of course did not become extinct—nature takes as
much care as possible even of her naughty children—but they ceased
to be pests;

Variety of plantation, therefore, prevents to a certain degree in-
sect pests, or at least diminishes their power. It is very probable
that the prevalence of insect pests in this country to some extent is
owing to the uniformity of cultivation, as compared to the variety
in other countries where agriculture and stock-raising are much
more combined on the same farm, and the fields themselves are
cultivated to and grown over by a greater variety of plants.

This is the place te discuss a class of insect pests not created by
the monotonous cultivation of the soil, but owing their origin to an
analogous condition of things without human interference. I refer
to those pests that owe their origin to the monotony of desert
lands. :

There are certain regions where a dead level of the surface, the -
chemical compound of the soil, absence of water, or imperfect
drainage, oppose vegetation in general. Still there are certain or-
ganisms adapted to conditions detrimental to the existence of the
majority of types. The vegetation of such localities in some in-
stances can exist only under the very conditions of the locality; in
other instances it could exist in cultivation, but would be super-
seded by the more powerful organization of other types, so that it
is driven to the desert regions by its inability to stand competition.

The number of types that are original inhabitants or adapted im-
migrants in such localities is naturally a limited one, but the small
number of species is frequently made up by an enormous number
of individuals. The sage-brush vegetation of our alkali plains, the
heath ( Zrica) that covers the plains of northern Europe, the lichen
tundra of the Arctic, the pampas of the Argentine Republic, the
Russian and Siberian steppes, and many other regions, are well
characterized:instances of this state of things.

The small number of species and great number of individuals
produces monotony, and the monotony is the cause of a series of
_ phenomena similar to those produced by exclusive occupation of

cultivated grounds by one or a few species. The differences in the

‘
\

es The Economy of Nature. [ ZOE

phenomena on desert lands and cultivated grounds consists chiefly
in the intensity and rapidity of their development on the former,
and their proportions are quite in keeping with the expanse of
horizon and unrelieved monotony of the surface.

As long as the inordinate multiplication of the species affects only
the desert region it is of the highest biological, but of little prac-
tical interest. Unfortunately in many instances even the immense
extent of the desert cannot hold the swarms of suddenly accumu-
lated beings. Like a cup filled to the brim it foams over and sends
its myriads into distant regions to destroy and to be destroyed, be-
cause enemies in the shape of birds follow the wandering host, and
even in their own bodies the wanderers carry the parasitic germs
of animal as well as fungoid destroyers.

I have had no opportunity to study the wandering grasshoppers
which occasionally, from southern and western deserts, are poured
into California, and so I do not know if they are followed by a
host of birds as are those in the Hungarian puszta, the Russian
steppes or the Sahara. In Europe it is especially a little hawk or
falcon, 7inmnunculus, whose swarms appear almost with the wander-
ing pest when an hour before no bird was visible.

The only enemy of the grasshspper whose acquaintance I have
had an opportunity to make is a beetle of the Cantharid order, a
Tigrodera. \ have always received a certain number of specimens
of this useful insect during a grasshopper year, never at any
other time, and as I am frequently consulted about insects, espec-
ially when they are as showy as the 7zgrodera, I conclude that
under ordinary circumstances the species is rather rare and only
multiplies in proportion to its larva food, the grasshopper. Judging
from analogy the larva of the 7igrodera needs several years before
it turns to a beetle, the only stage in which I have seen it. All the
related insects are carnivorous and parasitic on other insects, de-
vour first eggs, then young larve, and generally in the last stage of
their larval existence are parasitic.

I am inclined to consider this insect also parasitic in its last lar-
val stage, but have not yet had opportunities to collect evidence.
I suspect that the frequent deaths occurring amongst the herds
of turkeys that are led out against the grasshopper are not owing
to indigestion caused by greediness of the bird, but to having
swallowed a grasshopper infested by this parasite which contains,

VOL. I. | The Economy of Nature. 79

like all beetles of this group, a considerable amount of canthara-
dine.

So the phenomenon of the grasshopper swarm demonstrates the
same tendency of nature to destroy the prevalence of a single spe-
cies or a small group of species (in our case the Artemisia or the
Chenopodiacee of the alkali lands), but there is a difference in the
means which nature applies in the destruction of the destroyer, or,
let us say, in the second part of the phenomenon. It is not only
that nature raises a destructive enemy in the parasite, and calls in
the enemy in shape of birds which assemble around the swarms, and
the coyote that follows them. Nature uses besides these remedies
another and a most effective one. She implants in the locust swarm
an irresistible instinct to wander. Millions are drowned in the riv-
ers, others are crushed and mangled in the density and confusion of
the wandering swarm, the bodies of others cover the ground at the
foot of cliffs, walls of cities, and other insurmountable obstacles.

Perhaps I should mention here an incident that to the non-ento-
mologist is scarcely credible, but which is well calculated to give an
idea of the destructive character of the migratory instinct as well as
of the multitudes of the destroyers which perish.

In the year 1844, when, on a voyage to Australia, the vessel
passed the heights of the Cape Verde Islands, we sailed for more
than two days through the bodies of grasshoppers, most of them
dead or dying, but some still sufficiently strong to crawl out of the
bucket which was used to draw the water for washing the deck.

It is easy to understand that in presence of phenomena of such
magnitude man is powerless. The grasshopper, or, as it is called
in the English translation of scripture, the locust, is recorded
as a periodical plague in all countries bordering on desert lands.
Measures against this pest always have proved futile. Prayers have
been ordered by all creeds at all times, by the authorities, and pro-
fanity in all languages has been practiced by the suffering farmer,
with equal success, till the calamity was removed by the remedies
the plague carried along in its own nature.

As far as I know there is no instance on record of a real intense
grasshopper plague having visited the same district in two consec-
utive years, a proof of the efficacy of the remedies applied by na-
ture herself.

These remedies are of four different kinds. First, the individual

80 Migratory Instinct. [ ZOE

destroyer collecting around the swarm, represented by beast and
bird; second, the gregarious destroyer multiplying in the midst of
an ample supply of food, represented by the carnivorous insect;
third, animal and vegetable parasites developed inside the grasshop-
per, and acting in the shape of an epidemic, or, better, epizootic;
fourth, the migratory instinct leading the destroyer to his own per-
dition.

MIGRATORY INSTINCT IN CAGED WILD BIRDS.
BY W. OTTO EMERSON.

I have raised from the nest several pairs of black-headed gros-
beaks ( Habia melanocephaila) during the past three years, that have
shown me how true remains the migratory instinct in birds even
when kept in confinement.

I will attempt to give such notes as I have observed regarding
these birds and their evident desire to migrate twice each year.

Of three fledglings taken in June, 1885, two males grew to be
strong, handsome singing birds. By fall these grosbeaks began to
show a desire to fly, but at night only, between the hours of eight
and nine, sometimes as late as ten o'clock. It was not possible to
quiet them by any means, and for long afterwards it did not occur
to me that this was the premonition of migration showing in these
young birds.

The uneasy flight of these grosbeaks was not caused by the pres-
ence of strange cats, dogs or other animals liable to provoke such
a commotion among them after dark. Again it was not caused by
the troublesome bird-lice which sometimes makes canaries so un-
easy after dark. No amount of cover over their cage or the plac-
ing of it in the darkest part of the house had any effect towards
quieting them.

By the following March, 1886, I had about forgotten this uneasy
disposition of the grosbeaks, when one warm, spring-like evening,
as the cage hung at the east porch, they all at once commenced an
uneasy fluttering of their wings as though suddenly waking up to
the instinct of migration, if I may so express it. They kept moving
_ back and forth in the cage, calling to one another in lonesome notes
such as I have often noted in the migrating wild birds when passing
overhead during the early evenings at my home in Haywards, Cal.

They would continue this restless moving for some time, then

voy: The Instinct of Migration. 8r

after resting for a few minutes off they would start again, as though
migrating from the south to the northern breeding grounds. At
the times of seasonal migration, the grosbeaks were apparently
able to see fully as well at night as in the day time, it making no
difference in their uneasy flight if they were covered up in total
darkness in the house. By the middle of September following they
again showed the disposition to migrate as before, which lasted from
three to four weeks, and at the end of this time they began to settle
down quietly as though the flight southward had ended. Their fore-
heads by this time were bare of all feathers from continual beating
against the cage wires.

On March 3, 1887, the migratory movement set in again; this
season-they would often break forth in short bars of their song as
one may hear the free birds in summer at the first dawning of day.

I find that the desire to migrate is of shorter duration in the
spring with these grosbeaks than in the fall. This fact leads me to
believe that on moving southward in the fall the wild bird is not as
liable to be overtaken by stormy weather as in the spring migration,
and the desire of reaching the winter home is not as strong as that
when coming northward to reach the breeding home.

I lost one of these males in December, 1888, but the lone gros-
beak showed the same inclination to migrate as early as February
28, 1889, and even began to sing; this I accounted for by the warm
open winter of 1888-9. By eight o’clock in the evening he would
begin to wake up as if from a dream; he sang a few notes, then hop-
ped back and forth along the perches, calling pee-éep, pee-écp. If
I whistled in reply to him he would answer back.

I added a female to the grosbeak’s cage in June, 1889, and when
she had completed her fall plumage, September 20, she began to
show the migratory instinct by flying wildly about the cage, from
eight to nine o'clock in the evening only. The female seemed to
show the disposition to start southward much stronger than the male
did. She would sometimes strike the wires so hard that I expected
to find her dead some morning. The whole top of her head soon
became bare of feathers. _

It would seem as though these birds, having been. brought up
from nestlings, would have lost more or less of that wild trait that
we look for and see in the wild birds, but each spring and fall they
_ exhibit the same peculiarities.

82 West American Plants. [ ZOE

It was through having these birds caged before me for months, and
having made a close study of bird migration during the last ten
years, that these grosbeaks have given me a closer insight into the
instincts of migratory bird-life, even though they be caged from the
nest.

The fact of their being the offspring of wild parents that had the
habitual desire of migration in the full sense of the word, may have
intensified the instinct of the young when confined, but possibly
it may be susceptible to diminution through successive generations.

Not until as late as March 30, 1890, did I notice a repetition

_of the spring uneasiness described above. On this date at half-past
eight in the evening the pair almost simultaneously were seized with
the desire to migrate. The weather was clear and cool, and the
moon in about the second quarter.

[Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has noted (Auk, vii, 94) a similar incli-
nation ina pair of evening grosbeaks to migrate in spring. He
says: ‘‘When it came round to March a noteworthy change camé
over their night habits, for up to that date the pair invariably roosted
together, with their heads under their wings, all night long. But
during the early part of March the male only kept his perch, sleep-
ing away, while the female bird nearly the entire night incessantly
hopped from perch to perch in a restless, uneasy manner. This she
persisted in for about a week, when she in turn kept quiet, and then

it was the male, who had his week of nights devoted to the same
performance.’’—w. E. B.]

NOTES ON WEST AMERICAN PLANTS. I.
BY KATHARINE BRANDEGEE.

CLEOME INTEGRIFOLIA, T. & G. grows on the northern side
of the Little Sur, a stream which empties into the ocean about
twenty-five miles south of Monterey. It is one of the showy
Capparidaceous plants of the interior basin, not, so far as I am
aware, before reported from California.

FREMONTIA CALIFORNICA is reported by Dr. Behr from the
vicinity of Loma Prieta, in Santa Clara County. No one else
appears to have observed it from that region.

MATRICARIA OCCIDENTALIS Greene, is found about the streets
and vacant lots of San Francisco. Both this species and J. discoidea

VOL. . | Fincelia Farinosa. — 83

have the appearance of being introduced plants, spreading about
cities, country roads and barn-yards, and though found in other
localities, usually in much less abundance.

PALMERELLA DEBILIS var. SERRATA Gray, comes from the same
locality—which is probably nearly its northern limit.

CAMPANULA EXIGUA Rattan, was described from specimens col-
lected by that gentlemen on Mt. Diablo, and has since been found
along the road between the two summits of Tamalpais and along
the trail leading to the summit of Mt. St. Helena.

RHODODENDRON CALIFORNICUM Hook. There is in the Cal-
ifornia Academy of Sciences a painting of this beautiful ‘‘ Rose Bay ”
which bears the inscription, ‘‘ Waddell’s Mills, Santa Cruz County,
May 10, 1869.” It is to be hoped that some enterprising collector
will carefully search that locality, as it is not otherwise known so
far south.

LEDUM GLANDULOSUM Nutt. grows on Point Reyes, a few miles
from Olema, in company with the ‘‘red elder’’ Saméucus racemosa
(which also grows at Sausalito), and Rubus spectabilis, which, in
this region, bears abundant fruit of two colors, amber and dark red.

LEMMONIA CALIFORNICA Gray, inrobust specimens,was brought,
some years ago, from Mt. Hanna, near Kelseyville, in Lake County.

The small A/imudus which was described as MZ. androsaceus, and
reduced by Dr. Gray to a variety of JZ Palmeri, has been found on
sandy hillsides along the railroad between Felton and the village of
Ben Lomond, in Santa Cruz County.

UTRICULARIA VULGARIS L., grows in a pond on the road to Bo-
linas, near the village of Olema, Marin County.

MONARDELLA MACRANTHA var. NANA Gray, grows about the
Little Sur, in Monterey County.

ENCELIA FARINOSA Gray.

This species has received a synonym by the publication of
E. radians in Proc. Cal. Acad., Ser. 2, ii, 176. The synonym was
founded on a low, smooth form, upon which the striking silvery-
white tomentum was lacking. This tall Encelia, often five feet high,
is common in the southern portion of the Peninsula, and is one of
the most*handsome plants of that region. Its local name is “ Inci-
enso,’’ so called because a resinous exudation from it is collected
and burned as an incense in the churches. T.S. B

BOTANICAL GENERIC NAMES IDENTICAL OR
. TOO NEARLY ALIKE.
BY H. W. HARKNESS.
This list in addition to a previous one in Bull. Cal. Acad., i, 176,
deals only with such names as are held valid in Durand’s Index

Phanerog. and in the volumes of Saccardo’s Sylloge Fungorum. Of
course if the synonomical names were included, the list would be a

very long one.

PHANEROGAMS.

Chitonia Mog. & Sesse, DC.
Prod. i, 707.

Cladothrix Nutt. in Herb. Hook
DC. Prod. xiii, ii, 259.

Cryptodiscus Schrenck, Enum. pl.
nov. 65.

Didymia Phil. Engl. Jahrb. xiii,
57-

Dilophia Thom. Hook. Kew Jour.
Vv, 19.

Endodesmia Benth. Gen. P1.i, 166.

Gymnodiscus Less. Syn. Comp.
89.

Flelicostylis Tréc. Ann. Sc. Nat.
Ser. 3, Vili, 134.

Macropodium R. Br. Hort. Kew
iv, 108.

Micrococca Benth. Hook. Niger
Fl. 503.

Microglossa DC. Prod. v, 320.

Syncephalum DC. Prod. vi, 202.

Tipularia Nutt. Gen. N. A. Pl. ii,
195.

Thozetia F. Miill. Fl. Austral. iv.
347-

Trichoscypha H, f, Gen. Pl. i, 423.

FuncI.
Chitonia Fr. Hym. 277.

Cladothrix Cohn, Beitr. i, 3, 204.
Cryptodiscus Cda, Ic. fung. ii, 37.

Didymium Schrad. nov. pl. gen.
i; Rost.. Mon. r1o.
Dilophia Sacc. Syll. ii, 357.

Endodesmia B.& Br. Ann. N.H.
n. 1318

Gymnodiscus Zukal, Ein. Ascom.
8,t. 1. Sacc. Syll. viii, 545.

Flelicostylum Cda. Ic. Fung. v,
17 & 55.

Macropodia F ck|. Symb. 331.

Micrococcus Hall, Cohn, Beitr.
Biol. Pflanz. i, 2, 157.
Microglossum Sacc. Consp. Gen.
Lise. 2.
SyncephalisV an Tiegh. & LeMon-
nier, Ann. Sc. Nat. 1873, 372.
Tipularia Chev. Fl. Par. i, 344.

Thozetia Berk. & F.Miill., Fungi
Austral. 388, No. 304.
Trichoscypha Cooke, Myc. 252.

Convolvulus Occidentalis. 85

The following names and numerous other are very inconveniently
near in sound:

Acrospira Welw., Acrospeira B. & Br.; Chamerops L., C: amarops
Fr.; Camellia L., Camillea Karst.; Coronilla Tourn., Corynella DC.,
Corynelia Fr.; Hyaloseris Gr., Hyaloceras Dur. et Mont.; Lachnea
L., Lachnea Fr.; Omphalea L., Omphalia Fr.

CONVOLVULUS OCCIDENTALIS Gray (C. macrostegius
Greene.)

BY T. S. BRANDEGEE.

This species was described by Dr. Gray in Proc. Am. Acad. 89,
and is as he writes common in western California on and near the
coast. The form is the onewith large broad bracts, and is described
as having often two and rarely even three flowers from the same pair
of bracts. C. macrostegius was collected by Dr. Palmer on Guada-
lupe Island and published by Dr. Sereno Watson as C. occidentalis
with the following note of Dr. Palmer: ‘‘In crevices of high rocks
hanging down six feet or more; continuing in bloom from March
through the summer. A thousand flowers were seen on a single
plant.” Prof. Greene in Bull. Cal. Acad. i, 208, considers this Guad-
alupe plant a distinct species and in Bull. Cal. Acad. ii, 408, reports
it as growing upon Santa Cruz Island and also credits it to San
Miguel Island. Dr. Gray in Sup. Syn. Flora, 435, gives San Clem-
ente Island as a locality, and Mr. Lyon notes its presence upon
Santa Catalina Island. Specimens from all these localities are in
the herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences and I have
carefully observed the plant growing upon Santa Catalina, Santa
Cruz, Santa Rosa Islands, and have examined C. occidentalis at many
places along the mainland coast. It will be seen that C. macro-
stegius has been considered an insular species closely related to a
mainland species growing upon the adjacent coast. The description
of and notes concerning C. macrostegius all refer to its largest forms.
The two extremes in size are common on Santa Rosa, where all
forms between those with stems nearly half an inch in diameter and
plants less than two feet high bearing a single flower can be found.
A form with the apex of the leaf rounded also grows upon Santa
Rosa. On Santa Catalina, where it is common, this year I carefully
examined many plants and was unable to find any peduncles more

es

86. Escapes in the Coast fange.

than two-flowered. Those on the mainland in the gulches about San
Pedro were either one- or two-flowered; otherwise there was no ap-
preciable difference in size of plants, color of flowers or habit of
twining. On Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands the large robust
plants are not good twiners, but the smaller and less luxuriant ones
twine equally as well as those of the mainland coast. Young plants
about eighteen inches high, from seeds of the mainland form and
seeds brought by Prof. Greene from Santa Cruz Island, growing side
by side in Mrs. R. F. Bingham’s garden at Santa Barbara were ex-
actly alike, and twined up their supporting strings as tightly as pos-
sible.

The most luxuriant mainland form was found common in the moun-
tains near Santa Barbara, where the peduncles were often as many
as five-flowered, each flower enclosed in large broad bracts after the
manner of some of the island forms.

It must be apparent from the above notes that no sufficient grounds
exist for separating specifically the island from the mainland forms.

ESCAPES IN THE COAST RANGE. *
BY FRANK H. VASLIT.

In the moist climate of the Coast Range many garden flowers
very easily escape from cultivation, and some of them promise to
become quite troublesome in time. ;

The “ Sweet Scabious”’ or ‘ Mourning Bride,” Scadiosa atropur-
purea, is becoming naturalized in the mountains north of Pescadero,
also in lowlands along the San Joaquin. It promises to be nearly
as great a nuisance as its relative, the “‘ Fuller’s Teasel,’’ Dipsacus
Sullonum, now so freely dispersed about the Bay of San Francisco:

The “ Periwinkle,” Vinca major, has escaped in numerous places,
and though, like many of the plants of similar growth, it seldom
forms seed, it spreads so freely by its prostrate rooting stems as to
be very difficult of eradication.

Some of the Chrysanthemums, now so much cultivated, escape
from time to time, and are rather troublesome to get rid of. One

of the ‘‘ Pompons”’ has apparently established itself on the heights
between Redwood City and the sea.

THE CURLED LEAF (Ascomyces deformans).
BY H. W. HARKNESS.

This fungus, too well known to most peach - growers, has been
given several generic names, but is, perhaps, best known as As-
comyces. It is now mature, and producing the countless spores
which give a glaucous bloom to the distorted leaves. No remedy
has been found which promises relief from its ravages, and a circum-
stance lately observed leads me to fear that its extirpation will be
attended by an unexpected difficulty.

At several times during the past few years leaves and twigs of
buckeye (Zsculus Californica) have reached me which were
covered with an Ascomyces, practically indistinguishable from
A. deformans, the only difference observed being a perhaps
slightly more regular narrowing of the asci towards the base.
All the specimens sent me, and all that have been observed,
so far as I know, have come from the vicinity of infected peach
trees. The localities noted are Salmon Falls, El Dorado County;
Mormon Island, Sacramento County; San Gregorio Creek, San
Mateo County; Scott Creek, near Santa Cruz; and Wildwood Glen,
near Sausalito.

The fungus affects the buckeye somewhat differently from the
peach. The infected tree usually has one or more rather dense
bunches of small twigs, often one or two feet in diameter, the whole
mass profoundly diseased, the mycelium ramifying to such an extent
that the tender leaves are most frequently killed before the fungus
matures, and the mass looks as if it had been dipped in boiling
water or killed by a sharp frost. The mycelium evidently persists
for years in these twigs and small branches, producing annually a
crop of diseased leaves, and does not penetrate to the harder and
older wood, for in that case it would be generally diffused. There
are usually, besides these diseased bunches, scattered spots of infec-
tion upon the leaves in other parts of the tree. The difference in
the action of the fungus is probably due to the very brief life of the
buckeye leaves. In this State they usually fall in the early summer,
the bare, white stems which form a conspicuous feature in so many
of our hillside landscapes remaining leafless until the following
April. The leaves are thus very apt to fall before the ramifying
mycelium reaches the twig: this fact also lessens the danger of

their infecting other trees.

88 Recent Literature. [ ZOE

The absolute identity of the buckeye Ascomyces with that of the
peach can only be proved by a series of direct infections of healthy
trees. In the meantime we trust our horticultural friends will pay
some attention to their neighboring buckeyes, and furnish us notes.
as to the extent to which it prevails in various localities.

— --

CORNUS SESSILIS Torr. fruits abundantly just below the railroad
embankment at Blue Cafion and grows in Amador a few miles above
Volcano to a much greater height than that given by Mr. Coulter in
Bot. Gaz. xv, 33. The fruit is very dark red. ~ 7 S28.

RECENT LITERATURE. -

From the number of amateur ornithological papers received of
late it would seem that this class of literature is steadily increasing,
Whether these publications are a benefit or an evil to those who
read them is a matter worthy of consideration. There is no doubt
that they exercise considerable influence on the rising generation,
some of whom are to be our future scientists, but is it a good influ-
ence? This question may best be answered by considering three of
these papers of recent date, the Stormy Petrel, the Maine Ornithol-
ogist and Oologist, and the American Osprey.

The initial number of the Stormy Petrel was published in April of
this year at Mendota, Ill. It is a four-page monthly which the ed-
itors (Smith & Co.) promise to enlarge in a short time, and it is their
hope that their readers will help them ‘‘in making the Stormy
Petrel the best ornithological paper published in America.’’ (!)
When we look over this insignificant little paper, this statement
seems positively ludicrous. It would be a waste of time to look for
a single new fact or even an original observation in its columns.
The first page is largely taken up with an extract from ‘Oliver
Davie'’s Book,” while an advertisement of the same occupies the last
page. The other articles are ‘‘ The Largest Egg in the World”
(that of Apyornis maximus ), “The Longevity of Birds” and the
“Rubby-throated Humming Bird.”

The April number of the Maine Ornithologist and Oologist, pub-
lished at Garland, Me., is but a slight improvement on the paper
considered above. It is an eight-page monthly, five pages and a
half of which are devoted to editorials and advertisements, The

VOL. I. | Feecent Literature. 89

first article is on the ‘‘Nesting of Cooper’s Hawk,” the introduction
to which is so novel that it will bear quoting: “ As the habits and
plumage, as also the nests and eggs, of nearly all our birds, has been
laid before us on an elaborate scale by men of science, about all that
remains for we lesser lights, is give our individual experiences, and
they certainly have the merit of originality; therefore, my Oological
friends do not expect to gain much wisdom from this article.’’
Surely the warning is unnecessary! This number however has one
article of slight interest on “ Early Appearances of the Catbird.”

The American Osprey, the April number (Vol. 1, No. 4) of which
is before us, is printed in somewhat neater style, but the class of ar-
ticles which it contains is not much in advance of those in the papers
just considered. The anonymous article on “The Osprey” is the
only thing of any interest in the number, but this contains no more
valuable information than the statement that “ they never eat any-
thing but fish,” and others of like value. The article entitled “Hints
for Oologists”’ sounds like a very brief abstract of Ingersoll’s Birds’
Nesting.

From the preceding illustrations I think it is shown that these
papers, which are typical of a score or more published in America,
possess little of merit or originality. Their defenders may urge that
the papers are useful in inciting the young to an interest in natural
history, but the objection to this is that they they are inaccurate and
misleading, that subscribers are asked to write for them; and conse-
quently the beginner in ornithology is induced to attempt to teach
long before he has learned anything worthy of being imparted.

Go AOR.

American Spiders and their Spinning Work. By Henry C.
McCook, D. D. In the first volume of this work Dr. McCook has
given special attention to the snares and nests of spiders. He has
treated of the Pacific Coast species as fully as he could with the ma-
terial sent him, not having been able to carry out his desire to visit
California and study them in the field. Dr. McCook succeeded in
hatching some spiderlings from cocoons sent him from San Diego, —
and studied several California species from living specimens. Three
hundred and fifty-four figures embellish this volume. Some of the
illustrations, although original with the author, have appeared with
his magazine articles, or with Dr. McCook’s contributions to the
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. R. S. E.

go Recent Literature. [ ZOE

Description of Two New Species of Snakes from California. By
LEONHARD STEJNEGER. Smithsonian Inst. Issued Feb. 5, 1890.
Dr. Stejneger states that ‘“‘the genus Lichanura, the only North
American genus of the family Borde, has hitherto not been recorded
from the United States. It was, therefore, very interesting to receive
* * a Lichanura from San Diego, and from Mr. C. R. Orcutt an-
other from the same locality, as well as a third one collected in the
Colorado Desert.”’ Ri 3. Ee

Notes on the Occurrence of Gillichthys y-cauda at San Diego, Cal
ifornia. By CHaRLES H. GILBERT. Smithsonian Inst. Issued
March 4, 18go.

Notes on Fishes collected at Cozumel, Yucatan. By TARLETON
H. BEAN. Washington: Gov’t Printing Office, 1890. Dr. Bean
enumerates sixty species, three of which are new species of Ladride.

Myriopoda extranea Musei Hungarici, Tab. iv,v. Dr. E. Daday
in Journal of Hung. Nat. Museum, describes two new genera of myr-
iopods, 7rachydesmus and Paradoxosoma, and thirty-six new spe-
cies, six of them, Sfirostreptus trisulcatus, Spirobolus ferrugineus,
Spirobolus Hegedusii, Euryurus flavocarinatus, Lithobius carinipes
and Lithobius Californicus, belonging to western North America.

Transactions Am. Entom. Soc. xvii, 1. The Species of Hetero-
cerus of Boreal America, by George H. Horn, with descriptions and
figures of all the species (11) of which two, gemmatus from Washing-
ton to Arizona and Nevada, and Schwarzi, from Texas, the Lake
Superior region and near Alleghany, Pa., are new. Notes on the
species of Ochthebius of Boreal America, by George H. Horn, gives
full descriptions, with figure of thorax of 13 species. Notes on the
species of Dendroctonus of Boreal America, by W. G. Dietz. De-
scriptions and notes of six species, one of which, D. approximatus, is
new. The author is unable to separate D. punctatus Lec. from D.
rufipennis Kirby, and considers D. frontalis Zimm. and D. brevicor-
nis Lec. identical. Notes on some North American Odonata, by
- Philip P. Calvert, with notes, descriptions and figures of six species,
three of which, Lepthemis gravida Hagen MS., from Florida and
Texas, Leucorhinia Hageni Calvert from Pictou, Nova Scotia, and
Leucorhinia proxima Hagen MS., from British America, Vancouver's
Island,White Mountains and Mass., are described as new. Descrip-
tions of some new species of Agvotis by John B. Smith. Describes

VOL. I. ] Recent Literature. gI

new species A. abnormts, erratica, Planifrons, congrua, inelegans,
clemens satiens, insertans, cogitans, atomaris, remota, annulipes mur-
docki, quinguelinea incallida, lutulenta, alticola, basiflava, rena, spec-
tanda nostra, furtivus, infelix, and notes on volubilis Harv., and
tessellata Harv. collected from British Columbia to California, prin-
cipally in the latter. The larve seem not to be known in any case
and it is to be hoped tbat the life history of some of these numerous
species may soon be made known. New Species of North American
Cynipide, by H. F. Bassett, describes as new Rhodites lenticularis,
tumidus, vartabilis, Utahensis, nebulosus; flolcaspis duricoria, coral-
linus, canescens, Sileri, perniciosus; Dryophanta Clarket, pumiliven-
tris, eburneus, similis, corrugis, pedunculata; Andricus pulchra, pusu-
latoides, reticulata, ruginosus,saccularius,seminosus, pilula, Mexicana,
Clarket, cicatricula, spectosus, indistinctus, flowertoni, Maxwelli;
Acraspis macrocarpe, politus; Amphibolips Carolinensis, Palmeri;
Neuroterus favosus, pallidus, pallipes, politus, Howertoni; Aulax
podagre, tumidus.

American Naturalist, April. History of Garden Vegetables by
E. L. Sturtevant continued from previous number. The Knees of
Taxodium distichum, by Robert H. Lamborn.

Cryptogamic Laboratory of Harvard University, Contribution xii.
The Structure and Development of 7uomeva fluviatilis Harv. with
plate. (Proc. Am. Acad. xxv, 53-68.) The microscopic structure
of the plant and its relation to Lemanea and Batrachospermum are
well brought out. In a foot note concerning the name Dr. Farlow
gives his reasons for preferring Harvey’s to the earlier printed one of
Kuetzing. It seems to us that doubt should not be thrown without
good evidence on the date of a scientific publication. This evidence
may be in existence but it is not made plain. H. W. H.

Insect Life, Vol. ii, Nos. 7 and 8. C. V. Riley and L. O. How-
ard. Full of interesting and well-observed facts and useful advice;
in regard to 7inea pellionella and its congeners we would however as
a remedy prefer naphthaline to benzine, because the dry substance
is easier to handle, and the slower evaporation extends its beneficial
influence over a longer period. In regard to the influence supposed
to be exercised by irrigation on arid lands, a close observation has
convinced me that the difference is more apparent than real. Before
irrigation was practiced there were hardly any inhabitants in these

92 Recent Literature. [ ZOE

districts and the grasshopper invasions, like the electric storms oD
the plains, having no relation to human interests, passed unnoticed:
Mr. Riley’s notes on that entomological paradox, the Platyphyllus,
are of the highest interest. The dipterous parasite on Déabvotica
soror, described by D. W. Coquillet, from Los Angeles, is not only
of agricultural importance, but it is a most interesting biological fact
and rather isolated in the history of parasitism. Whether the author
is justified in erecting a new genus containing only this newly dis-
covered species, may be questioned by others than ourselves.
We may expect a long series of connecting links in that yet very im-
perfectly explored ocean of parasitic life, where the microscope re-
veals every year new and mysterious types. In the meantime we
admire the author’s courage. H. H. B.

Psyche, No. 166-169. The Synopsis of the Odonata discussing
the genus Azazx is of the usual accurate and conscientious character
which we are accustomed to find in the works of Dr. Hagen. A dis-
cussion of the Argynnides of North America by H. J. Elwes and W.
H. Edwards, is of unusual interest. The matter isa very complicated
one. Mr. Edwards having studied the life history of most of the types,
and raised many of the species from the eggs, appears to be in pos-
session of the more reliable material, while Mr. Elwes by his enor-
mous collection from all parts of the globe commands a wider hori-
zon, that gives him the advantage in drawing conclusions from an-
alogies. J. J. Rivers adds some valuable observations, but is some-
what reserved in generalizing from the material in his possession.

H. H. B.

Entomologica Americana, Vol. vi, Nos. 4, 5. Descriptions of New
or Imperfectly Known Lepidoptera, by B. Neumogen; Synopsis of
Cerambycide by C. W. Leng; Description of a New Carabide of the
genus Cychrus, by J.J. Rivers; Biological Notes on Arachnis picta
from Los Angeles, by H.G. Dyar; on Edema albifrons by W. Beu-
tenmuller; a series of descriptions of new Californian Homoptera by
E. P. Van Duzee; Remarks on some Western Tenebrionidz by H.
F. Wickham, and a new species of Botis, by John B. Smith. This
journal is an unmistakable proof of the growing interest and value
of entomological studies, and we notice with pleasure in the publi-
cations before us an advance along the wholene. 2 BOR. 2,

VOL. I. | Recent Literature. : 93

California State Mining Bureau—Ninth Report of the State Min-
eralogist, pps. 1-352, 1889. This volume is largely made up of
“ Special Articles,’’ of most interest being The Auriferous Gravels ’
of California, by J. H. Hammond,with a series of geological sections
and photographs of mining operations; San Nicolas Island, by
Stephen J. Bowers; River Mining, by R. L. Dunn; The Value of
Fossils as Indications of Important Mineral Products, by Dr. J. G.
Cooper; and the papers on pottery and clays, by Linna Irelan and
W. D. Johnston.

In the article on Santa Cruz Island W. A. Goodyear discusses
the origin of this and neighboring islands, and denies that they were
ever connected to the mainland, or, as Mr. Greene suggested, that
“* Our little archipelago may actually have been connected with some
other continent than ours.” The author discredits the statement
that ‘‘any ‘elephant’ or ‘mammoth’ bones were ever found on
Santa Rosa Island.’’ It will be a relief to the friends of those
gentlemen that he does not accuse Dr. Joseph Le Conte or Mr.
R. E. C. Stearns of falsehood in this connection, but lays, by im-
plication, the blame upon the collector. The argument of the “ vast
difference between the flora of these islands and the flora of the
mainland,”’ which is used by the author to strengthen his theory, is
a remarkably weak one. As a matter of fact there are in all these
islands only three genuine types not yet found on the adjacent
mainland. One of these (Hazardia) is, according to Dr. Gray, not
to be separated from the South American genus Diplostephium ;
the second is Lyonothamnus, said by Mr. Greene to be “ rather too
near Vauquelinia [a mainland genus], really a section of it.’ The
remaining one, Lavatera, is a tender perennial, rapidly becoming
extinct on the islands, and possibly may formerly have existed un-
der less favorable conditions on the mainland. Most of the numerous
species ‘‘ peculiar’ to the islands are found to be either identical
with, or closely related to species found on the mainland, and nearly
all the statements made about the great difference in relative abund-
ance or distribution have been shown by later investigations to be
founded in error.

Insular Floras, by Lorenzo G. Yates, is a list of the species of
_ plants collected on the islands of Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel
and Anacapa, by E. L. Greene, T. S. Brandegee, H. C. Ford and
himself. The author confers the title of ‘“ Prof.” upon all these

94 Pecent Literature. [ ZOE

gentlemen, whereat they need not, however, feel undue elation,
having in this land of republican simplicity to share the honor with
a large number of fellow-citizens, including ‘‘ astrologers,” “ ton-
sorial artists,’’ etc. The tabulated list is chiefly remarkable for the
number of errors contained. Many of the species occur under two
different names, and no notice has been taken of reductions even
when made by the authors of the species. The errors in the spell-
ing of names are much beyond the average of official publications—
the short list of lichens being almost a model in this respect. - We
doubt whether even so eminent an authority as Dr. Farlow, who is
credited with their identification, would know what was meant by
“ Rawalina howalea,’” if taken out of its connection.

Botanical Gazette April. Flowers and Insects iv, by Charles
Robertson. Mycologic Observations i, by A. P. Morgan. Gland-
ular Pubescence in Aster patens, by A. A. Hitchcock. Revision of
North American Cornacez, by John M. Coulter and Walter H.
Evans, concluded from February number. The authors describe as
new Cornus Baileyiand C. Greenti, founded principally on difference
in pubescence and seed characters, which have, perhaps, been too
much relied upon, as the authors themselves hint in a parenthesis,
to the description of C. pubescens. Six species of Garrya are rec-
ognized, G. Lindheimeri being, we think, very properly reduced to
a variety of the Mexican G. ovata, and G. flavescens to var. flaves-
cens of G. Veatchii Kell. This last species, as well as G. buxifolia,
will probably be found to be too closely related to G. Fremontit.

Torrey Botanical Club, Bull., April. Contributions to Canadian
Bryology 2, by John Macoun, the following mosses described as
new by Dr. Kindberg: Andrea Macounii, Gymnostomum platy-
phyllum, Dicranum angustifolium, D. Canadense, D. sulcatum, and
D. subulifolium. Enumeration of the plants collected by Dr. H. H.
Rusby in South America 1885-1886,—xii, by Dr. N. L. Britton,
with the following new species by A. Cogniaux: Miconia elongata,
M. Brittonii, M. polygama, M. Rusbyana, M. flavescens, Clidemia
Boliviensis. A New Entyloma (£. Ellisii on Spinach), by Byron
Halsted. The New Edition of Gray’s Manual, by Sereno Watson.
A New Moss of the Genus Bruchia (2. longicollis), with pl. ci, by

D. C. Eaton. Notes on some of the Plants found in Muskoka ©
Lake, K. B. Claypole. ©

VOL. 1. ] Proceedings of Societies. 95
‘

Garden and Forest, No. 113.—Native Shrubs of California, iii, by
E. L. Greene; Catileya Skinneri, with fig. No. 114.—New, or
Little Known Plants (Ligustrum Sinense), illustrated. No. 115.—
New, or Little Known Plants (Paulownia Fortunei), copied from
Gardener’s Chronicle ; Notes on American Plants, by F. H. Hors-
ford. No. 116.—The Mandioca, by Thomas Morong; The Red-
wood Forest, by Carl Purdy ; New, or Little Known Plants ( Buck-
leya distichophylla) with fig. No. 117.—New, or Little Known
Plants ( Berberis Sieboldit), with fig.

Notes on New Remedies, ii, No. 12. The Active Principle of
Loco Weed, by Prof. L. E. Sayre, State University, Kansas. The
author remarks upon a previous analysis made of Astragalus mo/-
lissimus by Dr. Mary G. Day, considering the crystals obtained by
her as of inorganic origin. In subsequent experiments made by him-
self he obtained a crystalline substance supposed to be organic,
but not yet completely investigated. Further experiments and in-
vestigations are promised. The people of this Coast should have
much interest in these studies, several of our species of Astragalus
(rattleweed) having also a reputation for poisonous effects.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Jay 5, 2890. Vice-President Behr in
the chair.

Carl H. Eigenmann and Charles Fuchs were elected resident members.

May 19, 1890. President Harkness in the chair,

Chas. A. Keeler was proposed for membership.

Mr. F. Gutzkow communicated that he had lately occasion to examine the de-
posits of so-called pyrolusite or manganese ore found in many places within the
city limits of San Francisco. He reported that they consisted principally of psilo-
melane, or ‘‘ hard” ore of manganese, containing a notable quantity of barya and
about 57 per cent. of peroxide of manganese. As the maximum percentage of
psilomelane rarely exceeds 60 per cent., while the German pyrolusite assays up into
the nineties, it will be easily understood why shipments made to England about
twenty years ago had to be discontinued.

Examination of specimens from other Californian localities seems to show that
most, if not all, deposits of pyrolusite mentioned in various geological publications
ought to be properly called deposits of psilomelane.

Mr. C. H. Eigenmann spoke on the development of the membranes in the eggs
of fishes. He said that the simplest form of an egg membrane is a thin membrane
traversed by fine canals. This membrane, the zona radiata, which is present in all
fish eggs, is the only covering of those eggs, which are lighter than water, and

96 Proceedings of Societies.

’

therefore, pelagic. Those eggs which are heavier than water and would fall to the
bottom and, in many cases, die in the mud, are provided with various contrivances
to attach them to foreign substances as soon as deposited. In the herring, this
consists of a membrane overlying the zona, which becomes extremely viscid when
it is deposited, and causes the eggs to adhere to any substance with which they may
come in contact. In thesmelt (Osmerus), an outer membrane exists, which is at-
tached to the zona only around the micropyle. At the time of spawning this mem-
brane is stripped off and attaches itself to foreign substances, thus suspending the
egg by the micropylar region. In the gobies, a network of threads similarly at-
tached to the zona takes the place of the outer membrane in the smelt. In the
sticklebacks a number of mushroom-shaped processes, attached to an outer mem-
brane, are viscid.

There are in many eggs long threads attached to the zona, which twine about
sea-weeds, etc., and suspend the eggs. These threads vary greatly in different eggs.
In /sesthes they are massed on one-half of the zona, and form a cushion by which
the egg is attached. In the mud minnow (/2ndu/us) the threads are numerous, and
mere prolongations of an outer thin membrane. In Atherinopsis they are fewer (10),
with hollow bases which fit into projections of the zona. In the flying fish and gar
fish they fit into pockets of the zona radiata.

All the membranes and processes were shown to be the product of the egg itself,
and in those eggs provided with processes these are usually developed before ans
zona makes its appearance,

In the yellow perch a thick covering overlies the zona. This differs from all
other structures in the fish eggs. It is the product of the granulosa cells overlying
the zona, and is not formed until the latter has almost attained its full thickness.

It was further shown that the granulosa cells are modified in the region of the
micropyle, and one large cell usually acts as a plug to the micropyle in ovarian
eggs.

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