UNIV. OF
ToRONTO
LIBRARY
0
*
tout
Ae
TRANSACTIONS
OF
THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
OF ST. LOUIS
Vol. XXIV
TITLE PAGE AND INDEX
MARCH, 1920, TO DECEMBER, 1923
PUBLISHED UNDER DIRECTION
OF THE COUNCIL
20
ST. LOUIS
VON HOFFMANN PRESS
2 Jt Ht. >
*
CORRECTIONS.
Vol. XXIV, No. 1.— Bottom of p. 16: Vol. XXIII, No. 9,
should read—Nipher, Francis E., Studies of Properties of In-
tegral Numbers, 9 pp.; New Evidence of a Relation Between
Gravitation and Electrical Action, and of Local Changes in the
Electrical Potential of the Earth, 5 pp.
i
A
v. 2
Academy of Science of St. Louis
LIST OF OFFICERS, 1923
PRESIDENT. G. T. Moore
First Vice-PREsIDENT. F. E. Nipher
Sreconp VICE-PRESIDENT. Leo Loeb
RecorDING SECRETARY A. G. Pohlman
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. J. I. Shannon
TREASURER II. E. Wiedemann
LIBRARIAN R. J. Terry
Dmacrons W. E. Shahan
H. M. Whelpley
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS.
List oF OFFICERS
Papers PusuisHED. March, 1920, to December, 1923:
1. Table of Contents and Price List, Volumes
I-XXIII—Issued August, 1921
2. C. H. Turner.—Ecological Studies of the Ento-
oO
mostraca of the St. Louis District. Part I.
Diaptomus pseudo-sanguineus sp. nov. and a
Preliminary List of the Copepoda and Cla-
docera of the St. Louis District, Plates I-IV.
—Issued November, 1921
C. H. Danrortu.—Bufo Fowleri Putnam in Mis-
souri.—Issued December, 1921
. Leo LogRB.— Cancer, Its Course and Its Causes.—
Issued April, 1922
. Aucustus G. PoHLMAN.— Do We Hear Sound
Issued April, 1922
F. W. FRERICHS.— Development of the Chemical
Industry in the Last Hundred Years.—Issued
April, 1922
. Pam RAU. Ecological and Behavior Notes on
Missouri Insects. — Plates V-VIII. — Issued
June, 1922
. Orro WipMANN.—Extracts from the Diary of Otto
‘Widmann: Nesting Habits of the Purple Mar-
tin; How Young Birds Are Fed; Where the
Martins Roost; The Crows’ Winter Roost at
St. Louis; Our Birds in Winter; Chaetura
Pelagica (Linn.) Chimney Swift; Birds of
the Ozarks; Reminiscences of a Visit to Bran-
son and White River, Spring of 1906.—Issued
December, 1922
C. II. Turner, An Appreciation of, by A. G.
Pohlman; The Scientifie Work of, by Phil
Rau; Posthumous Papers: Tropisms in Insect
Behavior; The Homing of the Hymenoptera;
The Psychology of Playing ’Possum’’.
Edited by Phil Rau.—Plates [X-X.—Issued
December, 1923
PAGE
lv
ili
PP:
16
25
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77
54
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND PRICE LIST
VOLUMES LXXIII
VOLUME I (Nos. 2-4 only)
/ ̃ Üůii.. % Vs cba ade’
Evans, Joux AND B. F. Snuuand, On some new
ies of fossils from the Cretaceous forma-
tion of Nebraska Territory.
Prout, Hiram A., Description of a new species
of Productus, from the Carboniferous limestone
of St. Louis.
ScHIEL, JAMEs, Observations on glycerin.
Hivearp, T. C. Phyllotaxis—its numeric and
divergential law explicable under a simple
organological idea.
Kocu, AlnERT C., Mastodon remains, in the
state of Missouri, together with evidences of the
existence of man cotemporaneously with the
mastodon.
Sreyrrartu, G., Notice of a burnt brick from the
ruins of Nineveh.
Wisiizenus, A., Indian stone graves in Illinois.
Suumarp, B. F., Description of a new fossil
crinoidea from the Palaeozoic rocks of the
western and southern portions of the United
States.
Lirron, A., Belcher & Brother’s artesian well.
Nee eee eee Ä ᷣ ¼ũAWAA’ͤZ!Äůʃ⸗⁊ͤĩ fe ebee
Suumarp, B. F., Descriptions of new fossils
from the Tertiary formation of Oregon and
Washington Territories and the Cretaceous of
Vancouver’s Island, collected by Dr. Jno.
Evans, U. S. Geologist, under instructions from
the Department of the Interior.
Hivearp, T. C., Exposition of a natural series
by immediate catholic affinities in the vegetable
kingdom.
Swallow, G. C., Grape culture in Missouri.
WIs.izenus, A., Was man cotemporaneous with
the mastodon ?
Hawn, F., The trias of Kansas.
SwWalLow, G. C., anp F. Hawn, The rocks of
Kansas.
*Supply exhausted.
be
Vols. I-IV incl. can be supplied by number only and not by
Prices quoted do
nahi tad eee Orders should
;
2
4
g
No.
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
SHumarp, B. F., anp G. C. Swallow, Deserip-
tions of new fossils from the coal measures of
Missouri and Kansas. 5
Prout, Hiram A., Description of new species of
Bryozoa from Texas and New Mexico, collected
by Dr. George C. Shumard, Geologist of the
U. S. expedition for boring artesian wells along
the 32nd parallel, under the direction of Capt.
John Pope, U. S. Corps Top. Eng.
Prout, H. A., First of a series of descriptions
of Carboniferous Bryozoa. Fenestralia.
Shun, B. M., Descriptions of new species of
Blastoidea from the Palaeozoic rocks of the
western states, with some observations on the
structure of the summit of the genus Pentre-
mites.
SeyrrartH, G., A remarkable seal in Dr.
Abbott’s museum at New York.
Prout, H. A., Second series of descriptions of
Bryozoa from the Palaeozoic rocks of the west-
ern states and territories. Coscinium.
Suumarb, G. G., Observations on the geological
formations of the country between the Rio Pecos
and the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, near the
line of the 32nd parallel; being an abstract of
a portion of the geological report of the expedi-
tion under Capt. John Pope, Corps Top. Eng.,
U. S. A., in the year 1855.
Snuuand, B. F., Notice of new fossils from the
Permian strata of New Mexico and Texas, col-
lected by Dr. George G. Shumard.
SmirH, Spencer, An hypothesis concerning the
formation of hail.
II OV e 4:4 seat aR nial
Suumarp, G. G., The geological structure of the
Jornada del Muerto’’, New Mexico, being an
abstract from the geological report of the ex-
pedition under Capt. John Pope.
Seyrrartn, G., An astronomical inscription con-
cerning the year 1722 B. C. Leeds Mummy-
Coffin.
Snumarp, B. F., Notice of fossils from the Per-
mian strata of Texas and New Mexico, obtained
by the U. S. expedition under Capt. John Pope.
Suumarp, B. F., Observations on the geology of
the County of Ste. Genevieve, being an extract
from a report made to the Missouri Geological
Survey in 1859.
Hiaarp, T. C., Notes on comparative organo-
taxis.
Pp.
221
Price
$2.00
No.
Contents and Price List Vols, I-X XIII
ENGELMANN, GEoRGE, Two new dioecious grasses
of the United States.
Prout, H. A., Third series of descriptions of
Bryozoa from the Palaeozoic rocks of the west-
ern states and territories. Semicoscinium.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, Systematic arrangement
of the species of the genus Cuseuta, with critical
remarks on old species and descriptions of new
ones.
%%% ²˙ peewee ae eeeden
SeyrrartH, G., A remarkable papyrus-scroll,
written in the Hieratic character about 1050
B. C.
WorrnHen, A. H., Notice of a new species of
Platycrinus and other fossils, from the mountain
limestone of Illinois and Iowa.
Prout, H. A., Fourth series of descriptions of
Bryozoa from the Palaeozoic rocks of the west-
ern states and territories.
Suumarp, B. F., Observations upon the Cre-
taceous strata of Texas.
Suumarp, B. F., Descriptions of new Creta-
ceous fossils from Texas.
Marcou, Juues, Notes on the geology of Kan-
sas and Nebraska.
Lyon, Sipney S., Remarks on the stratigraphical
arrangement of the rocks of Kentucky from the
Catenipora escharoides horizon of the Upper
Silurian period, in Jefferson County, to the base
of the productive coal measures in the eastern
edge of Hancock County.
Suumarp, B. F., Notice of meteoric iron from
Texas.
Suumarp, B. F., Description of five new species
of Gasteropoda from the coal measures, and a
Brachipod from the Potsdam sandstone of
Texas.
Lyon, Smwney S., Descriptions of four new
species of Blastoidea from the Subcarboniferous
rocks of Kentucky.
Swallow, G. C., Descriptions of new fossils
from the Carboniferous and Devonian rocks of
Missouri.
ENGELMANN, GORE, Notes on the grape-vines
of Missouri.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, Elevation of St. Louis
above the Gulf of Mexico.
VOLUME II
VT Ta whe cicaencanseas
WISLIzxNus, A., Atmospheric electricity.
4 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
pp. Price
WisLzxus, A., Meteorological observations
made in 1861 in St. Louis.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, Difference of temperature
and of relative humidity in city and country.
ENGELMANN, GerorGE, Fall of rain (including
melted snow) in St. Louis from 1839 to 1861.
ENGELMANN, GrorGE, Stage of the Mississippi
River at St. Louis in 1861.
Swa iow, G. C., Descriptions of some new fos-
sils from the Carboniferous and Devonian —
rocks of Missouri.
SHumarD, B. F., Notice of some new and im-
perfectly known fossils from the Primordial
zone of Wisconsin and Missouri.
SHumarp, B. F., Descriptions of new Palae-
ozoic fossils.
ENGELMANN, Henry, Topaz in Utah.
Wis.izenus, A., Additional remarks on atmos-
pherie electricity.
Parry, C. C., Ascent of Pike’s Peak, July 1,
1862.
ENGELMANN, G., Altitude of Pike’s Peak and
other points in Colorado Territory.
!!!.... ¼ ) ̃ ̃ ORE ke es 75 $2.00
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, Additions to the cactus
flora of the territory of the United States.
ENGELMANN, G., On Pinus aristata, a new
species of pine discovered by Dr. C. C. Parry in
the alpine regions of Colorado territory, and on
some other pines of the Rocky Mountains.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, New species of Gentiana,
from the alpine regions of the Rocky Moun-
tains.
%%% % ꝙ P seks win Memb , algae 331 $2.00
Parry, C. C., Notice of some additional observa-
tions on the physiography of the Rocky Moun-
tains, made during the summer of 1864.
Wisiizenus, A., Atmospheric electricity.
ENGELMANN, G., Meteorological table for 1863,
1864, St. Louis, Mo.
WisLzxxus, A., Thoughts on matter and force.
Broapueap, G. C., Coal measures in Missouri.
Suumarp, B. F., A catalogue of the Palaeozoic
fossils of North America.
SwWALLOw, G. C., Some new varieties of Spirifer.
Prout, Hiram A., Descriptions of new species
of Bryozoa.
Wistizenus, A., Atmospheric electricity. —
BANDELAAER, Ap. F., Observations of ozone, made
in Highland, Madison County, III.
No.
No.
Contents and Price List Vols. I-X XIII
SwalLLow, G. C., Notice of remains of the horse
in the altered drift of Kansas.
ENGELMANN, GeorGe, The variations in the
stage of the Mississippi River at St. Louis.
ENGELMANN, GeorGE, A revision of the North
American species of the genus Juncus, with a
description of new or imperfectly known
species.
Parry, C. C., Account of the passage through
the Great Canon of the Colorado of the west,
ete., 1867.
HARRISON, Epwin, Age of the porphyry hills of
southeast Missouri.
SwaLLow, G. C., Mr. Meek’s notes on my pre-
liminary report ‘of the geology of Kansas, as
edited by Dr. Hayden.
Wisiizenus, A., Yearly report of atmospheric
electricity, temperature, and humidity, from ob-
servations made at St. Louis, Mo.
Parry, C. C., On the character of the persistent
snow-accumulations in the Rocky Mountains,
Lat. 40°-41° north, and certain features per-
taining to the alpine flora.
VOLUME III
ENGELMANN, GORE, Notes on the genus Lucca.
RRV, CHARLES V., On a new genus in the
Lepidopterous family Tineidae, with remarks
on the fertilization of Yucea.
Wa.tsu, BENZ. D., Descriptions of North Ameri-
can Hymenoptera.
WisLzxxNus, A., Atmospheric electricity.
on Ricuarp, Catalogue of earthquakes for
Ritey, Cuas. V., Supplementary notes on Pro-
nuba yuecasella.
Gage, Jas. R., On the occurrence of iron ores
in Missouri.
ccc
RIL REV, CHAs. V., Hackberry butterflies; deserip-
tion of the early stages of Apatura Lycaon,
Fabr. and Apatura Herse, Fabr.; with remarks
on their synonymy.
2 Cuas. V., On the oviposition of the yucca
moth.
ENGELMANN, GrorGe, Notes on the genus Yucea.
Ritzy, Cuas. V., Description of two new sub-
terranean mites.
BroapHeaD, G. C., On the well at the insane
asylum, St. Louis County.
$2.00
No.
No.
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
BroaDHEAD, G. C., Occurrence of bitumen in
Missouri.
Gad, Jas. R., Results of investigations of In-
dian mounds.
Ritey, Cuas. V., Descriptions and natural his-
tory of two insects which brave the dangers
of Sarracenia Variolaris.
Ritey, Cuas. V., Descriptions of two new mothe.
HAYEs, RIcHArp, Catalogue of earthquakes for
the years 1872-73.
Scumipt, ApotF, On the forms and origin of
the lead and zine deposits of southwest Missouri.
Marcou, JuLes, On the Terebratula Mormonii.
Sawyer, Amos, On climatic change in Illinois
—its cause.
JJ . . Messin ae
ScHumr, Apolr, Iron manufacture in Missouri;
a general review of the metallurgical distriets
and their resources.
RILEVY, Cuas. V., Remarks on canker-worms
and description of a new genus of Phalaenidae.
RILEx, CHAs. V., Notes on the natural history
of the grape Phylloxera.
NipHer, Francis E., On a new form of lecture
galvanometer.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, Notes on Agave.
Ritey, Cuas. V., Notes on the yucca borer,
Megathymus vuccae (Walk.).
BroapHEaD, G. C., The Rocky Mountain locust
and the season of 1875.
BroapHEaD, G. C., The meteor of December 27,
1875.
Conant, A. J., Archaeology of Missouri.
BROADRHEAD, G. C., Age of our Porphyries.
ENGELMANN, G., Addition to article on Agave.
ENGELMANN, G., Addition to article on Yucca.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, About the oaks of the
United States.
%%% V/ ee nine ee
Seyrrartu, G., Corrections of the present
theory of the moon’s motions, according to the
classic eclipses.
CroswE., C., Mound explorations in southeast-
ern Missouri.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, The oaks of the United
States, cont’d.
Rll xv, Cuas. V., On the larval characters and
habits of the blister-beetles belonging to the
genera Macrobasis Lee. and Epicauta Fabr.;
with remarks on other species of the family
Meloidae.
pp.
Price
140 $2.00
No.
Contents and Price List Vols. I-X XIII
Ritey, Cuas. V., On a remarkable new genus in
Meloidae infesting mason-bee cells in the United
States.
Ritey, CHAS. V., Additional notes on Mega-
thymus yuccae.
Rivey, Cuas. V., On the differences between
Anisopteryx pometaria, Harr. and Anisopteryx
aescularia, ete.
Ritey, CHAS. V., A new oak-gall on acorn cups.
ENGELMANN, Gorse, The flowering of Agave
Shawii.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, The American junipers of
the section Sabina.
ible GeorGe, Synopsis of the American
rs,
HoLuns, NATHANIEL, The geological and geo-
graphical distribution of the human race.
Coruna Y CoLLupo, ANTONIO DE, The Zoque
language.
Scorr, CHas. M., On the improvement of the
western rivers,
SeyrrartH, G., Egyptian theology, according to
a Paris mummy
NIPHER, Francis E., Report on magnetic obser-
vations in Missouri, ‘Summer of 1878.
ene J. L. R., The tornado of April 14,
Nir En, Francis E., Report on magnetic deter-
minations in Missouri, Summer of 1879.
Hamsacn, G., Contribution to the anatomy
of the genus Pentremites, with description of
new species.
ENGELMANN, GeorGE, Revision of the genus
Pinus and description of Pinus Elliottii.
ENGELMANN, GORE, The acorns and their
- germination.
7 TEC 5 5's 500 es ĩè/ . «˙Ü ¹»‚‚e..
SreyrrartH, G., The hieroglyphic tablet of
Pompeium grammatically translated and com-
mented on.
Ritey, Cuas. V., Notes of North American
Microgasters, ete.
RILRV, Cuas. V., Descriptions of some new Tor-
tricidae.
NipHer, Francis E., On certain problems in
refraction.
NipHER, Francis E., Magnetic determinations
in Missouri during the summer of 1880.
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
pp. Price
Topp, CHARLES A., ‘‘Reversion of type’’ in
digastric muscle of the human being.
PritcHett, H. S., Ephemeris of the satellites of
Mars for the opposition of 1881.
ENGELMANN, GrorGE, The genus Isoétes in
North America.
ENGLER, E. A., Auroral phenomena on the
evening of Sept. 12, 1881.
%% w paces SERRA LEO ew en 161 $2.00
SreyFrartH, G., Planetary configurations on
Cyprian antiquities.
NipHER, Francis E., On a property of the isen- «
tropic curve, ete.
SEYFFARTH, G., The original Egyptian names of
the planets, ete.
LEONHARD, ALEXANDER V., Notes on the min-
eralogy of Missouri.
Nrieuer, Francis E., Magnetic survey of Mis- -
souri. Fourth annual report.
BROADHEAD, G. C., Carboniferous rocks of east-
ern Kansas.
LEONHARD, ALEXANDER V., On the occurrence of
millerite in St. Louis.
ENGELMANN, GEORGE, The mean and extreme
daily temperatures in St. Louis during forty-
seven years.
NipHer, Francis E., The evolution of the +
American trotting horse.
NipHer, Francis E., Magnetic survey of Mis-
souri. Fifth annual report.
NrpHer, Francis E., On the expression of elec- =
trical resistance in terms of a velocity.
Hampacn, G., Notes about structure and classi-
fication of the Pentremites.
Hamepacu, G., Description of new Palaeozoic
Echinodermata.
„%%% IVV 126 $2.00
Sanver, ENNo, George Engelmann.
Spencer, J. W., Niagara fossils.
BROADHHAD, G. C., Historical memoir of Mis-
souri geological surveys.
LvuEpEKING, CHARLES, Physico-chemical studies
in fatty acid series.
NAR, Francis E., Isodynamie surfaces of the
compound pendulum.
R Rb, C. J., Relation between valence and
atomic weight.
Wueeuer, H. A. AND C. LurbkRkINd, Iodine in
blowpiping.
—
Contents and Price List Vols. I-X XIII
VOLUME V
Nos. I anp II (Bound together).................
» KINEALx, J. H., A spiral on a torus.
TRELEASE, WLLIAM, A revision of North Ameri-
can Linaceae.
WHEE er, O. B., The secondary base in geodetic
surveys.
LvuEDEKING, Cuas., The post-mortem detection
of chloroform.
Garscuet, ALBert S., Tchikilli’s Kasi’hta Leg-
end in the Creek and Hitchiti
TRELEASE, WILLI, Description of Lycoperdon
Missouriense.
PauuMkL, L. H., On the ination of Phlomis
tuberosa, L., and the oration of flowers.
Einor, W. G. In., Measurements of the trimor-
phie flowers of Oxalis Suksdorfii.
TRELEASE, Wuala, Observations suggested by
the preceding paper. g
Luepekine, C., Anomalous densities of fused
bismuth.
BRENDEL, Emin, Synopsis of the family of
Pselaphidae.
NipHer, Francis E., On the scale value of the
Dellman electrometer used by Dr. A. Wis-
lizenus.
McGer, W. J., Notes on the geology of Macon
County, Missouri.
Nos. III anp IV (Bound together)...............
KIxEALx, J. H., The pressure of wind on roofs
and inclined surfaces.
Wu, Revision of North Ameri-
can Ilieineae and Celastraceae.
TRELEASE, Wau, North American Rham-
naceae.
LvuEpDEKING, C., Contribution to the chemistry
of combustion.
LuEDEKING, C., The hydration of colloids.
Nn, FRANCIS E., Report on Missouri rain-
fall, 1877-’87.
NipHER, Francis E., On the output of non-
condensing steam engine, ete.
LUEDEKING, C., Action of electric discharge on
Ropprtson, CHARLES, Flowers and _ insects—
Umbelliferae.
NipHer, Francis E., Winter temperatures.
ENGELMANN, G. J., Frederick Adolphus Wisliz-
enus, obituary.
10
No.
Trans. Acad Sci. of St. Louis
NipHer, Francis E., Surface integrals in me-
teorology.
LUEDEKING, C., On the analysis of the barium
group.
Hircucock, A. S., Catalogue of the Anthophyta
and Pteridophyta of Ames, Iowa.
Durrey, J. C., Transformations of a Cara-
bid, ete.
PamMMEL, L. H., On the seed-coats of the genus
Euphorbia.
ROBERTSON, CHARLES, Flowers and _ insects,
Asclepiadaceae to Scrophulariaceae.
PritcHert, H. S., A formula for predicting the
population of the United States.
PrircHert, H. S., Observations of the transit
of Mercury, May 9, 1891.
Vobcks, A. W., On some new Sedalia trilobites.
NHER, Francis E., On certain properties of a
field of force due to a single mass.
VOLUME VI
1. Wesser, H. J., Appendix to catalogue of
DOTA OF NOW. io se hee Ki eas Ase
2. ENGLER, Epmunp A., A geometrical con-
struction for finding the foci of the sections
of ‘a Cone Of TEVOINTION): .:...s:> sv niwaicnbinien ms
. WIxSLOw, ArTHuR, The mapping of Missouri
. RoperTsON, CHARLES, Flowers and insects
TiaDintae edie eae 8
Hircucock, A. S., The opening of the buds
of some woody plantn.
. Bay, J. CHRISTIAN, Materials for a mono-
graph on inulne wee 8
Porter, W. TOWNSEND, The physical basis of
precocity and dullness .............0200e%
. Eneauer, Epmunp A., Geometrical construc-
tion for eutting from a cone of revolution
Plaue eesti ß
9. PauuEL, L. H., Sclerotinia Libertiana,
Fuckel, with a bibliography of fungus root
eee dnb ble & Sy eh decree ewinteE es
on GS oOo POO
10. Porter, Wm. TOWNSEN D, The relation be-
tween the growth of children and their devia-
tion from physical type of their sex and age
11. Hurrer, Jutius, Catalogue of reptiles and
batrachians found in vicinity of St. Louis,
D „„ ds siprerei bine aaa
12. Porrer, Wm. Townsenp, The growth of St.
Louis ebildven i «0's.s6t since „„
13. Guarrevrer, N. M., Study of Salix nigra and
S. amygdaloides with hybrids ............
pp. Price
547 $7.00
48 25
9 25 —
45 75
33 50
19 50
12 23
22 50
9 25
43 75
19 25
13 25
165 1.00
9 50
Contents and Price List Vols. I-X XIII
14. Ropertson, CHARLES, Flowers and insects.
15.
16.
17.
Rosaceae and Compositae ................
UpprecraFrr, Miron, Longitude, latitude, and
height of Laws Observatory, University of
Runge, Epwarp C., Merycism regarded in
the light of atavie tendency. Report of new
CusHMAN, ALLERTON S., The post-mortem de-
tection and estimation of strychnine.......
VOLUME VII
CALL, R. ELAswonrn, Study of Unionidae of
— 1 4d Udeekawis beeabace
NipHer, Francis E., On electrical capacity
of bodies, and energy of an electrical charge
Wuee er, H. A., Glacial drift in St. Louis.
Occurrence of blende in
C
Additions to mineralogy of
C
4. NWHER, Francis E., Law of minimum de-
5.
viation of light by prime
GuatTreLTer, N. M., Relations of Salix Mis-
souriensis, Bebb, to S. cordata, Mull.
6. Ropertson, CHARLES, Flowers and _ insects.
Account ecological relations flora and fauna
/// ⁰ Ä
. Nrpuer, Francis E., On rotational motion of
cathode dise in Crookes tube ..............
. Woopwarp, C. M., At what age do pupils
withdraw from public schools? ...........
. Roever, W. H., Geometrical construction of
// ̃œ te se (
. Norton, J. B. S., Study of the Kansas Usti-
. ˙ . ͤ K „„ „
. Upprerarr, Miro, Flexure of telescopes. .
. Rorver, W. H., Geometrical properties of
c kaacs's soken cas
. Prrrcuert, Henry S., Results of double star
// / ĩ ͤ RE
. Rospertson, CHARLES, North American bees.
. Keys, CHARLES R., Relations of the Devo-
ant and Carboniferous in upper Miss. Val-
T... . ae i's csi ae
. Baker, FRANK Couuins, Critical notes on the
MT GBS ha Laon ik ire Sane ds ca tes o>:
. Comss, Ropert, Plants collected in district of
V i a. oe vas stimiale's «a
108
11
Price
50
50
$7.00
1,00
S N
R &
No.
Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
pp
19. Hurter, Junius, Contribution to herpetology
/ aa es KALE Oe Ve A a oe 7
VOLUME VIII 224
1. Nipuer, Francis E., Method of measuring
pressure on structure due to wind......... 24
2. Von SoHRENEK, HERRMANN, Trees of St. Louis
as influenced by tornado of 1896 .......... 19
3. Ropertson, CHARLES, New or little known
North: “Amicricin be sciedine main nie 016 bers 13
4. Hircucock, A. S., Ecological plant geogra-
PUY OF MB. ⅛²ͤ f, tee Merrie nice wee cis 17
5. BAKER, FRANK Couuins, The mollusean fauna
of, westen Nen e . 25
6. Woopwarp, CALVIN M., Efficiency of gearing .
üer halen ies ane miata 13
7. Kinstey, CARL, Dynamo-electrie machines. 31
8. ENGLER, Epmunp A., The normal to the conic
inn > bis aoe Bate teas bce ME 25
9. KircHNER, WALTER C. G., Contribution to
fossil flora of Florissant, Colo. ............ 29
10. Von ScurenK, HERMANN, On mode of dis-
semination of Usnea barbata .............. 11
11. PAuuEL, L. H., Histology of caryopsis and
endosperm of some grassees 23
VOLUME IX 319
1. Hirencock, A. S., Studies of subterranean
organs. I. Compositae of vicinity of Manhat-
/ VVV Aes oe Cae ene 9
2. WeLLER, Stuart, Kinderhook faunal studies.
I. Fauna of vermicular sandstone at North-
VOW, , 0 orca wide: Viele orem maae 45
3. Woopwarp, CALVIN M., Relations of internal
Perus, % ]! 9
4. Nipuer, Francis E., On gravitation in gas-
en d eae 9
5. BALL, CARLETON R., Notes on western willows 23
6. PAMMEL, L. H., Anatomical characters of
seeds of Leguminosae, W., Calkins 175
7. NWIER, Francis E., Temperatures in gas-
, è A RA aes 11
8. Thon, CHARLES, The process of fertilzation
in Aspidium and Adiantuunn 31
VOLUME X 235
1. Sex, T. J. J., On temperature of sun and rela-
tive ages of stars and nebulae 47
2. Roperrson, CHarues, Some Illinois bees.... 11
3. Wetter, Sruart, Kinderhook faunal studies.
II. Fauna of Chonopectus sandstone at Bur-
nn o00o cee oan e nee tends cease Pie
Price
$3.50
$3.50
PP.
4. Hircucock, A. S., Studies of subterranean
organs. II. Dieotyledonous herbaceous
plants of Manhattan, Kass. 13
5. Von SchRENK, HERMANN, A severe sleet
Ps ͤ˖»'c!HP ⅛ RA A223 9
6. NEN, Francis E., Certain properties of
light-struck photographic plates .......... 17
7. Kiem, Mary, The development of Agarico-
MS res . dee oboe de ¼ ». 19
8. Aur, Apotr, Glandular structures appertain-
ne sunv bb be pctue tee 25
9. NipHer, Francis E., Positive photography,
with special reference to eclipse work...... 7
10. N ER, Francis E., Frictional effect of rail-
wey trains upon C 15
VOLUME XI 225
1. Baker, Fnaxk Coluuxs, Revision of Lim-
naeas of northern IIIino is 25
2. Rours, P. H., Florida lichen 17
3. Poats, T. G., Isogonie transformation 11
4. Nipuer, Francis E., Relation of direct to re-
versed photographie pictures ............- 21
5. NIPHER, FRANCIS E., Specific heat of gaseous
nebulae in gravitational contraction 8
6. Lerevre, Georce, Advance of zooology in
%%%! ² ˙¹mim ˙;ʃ 35
7. NipHer, Francis E., Physics during the last
. A aaes ec neohw alee 21
8. TRELEASE, WILLIAM, Progress in botany dur-
% A wins ˙ Ä 19
9. BAKER, FRANK Couuins, Interesting mollus-
%% ͤ»0Z.Z—gT—. . §˙·—ãm2 ee rer eee 5
—
S
Contents and Price List Vols. IAAIII
. WELLER, Stuart, Kinderhook faunal studies.
III. Faunas of beds 3-7 at Burlington, Ia.. 69
11. Harris, J. ArtHur, Normal and teratological
thorns of Gleditschia triacanthos ......... 9
VOLUME XII 111
1. Cuesstn, ALEXANDER S., True potential of
% V ²˙- osc cétane as 11
2. MackRENZ IR, K. K., anp B. F. Bus, Lespe-
ä ß was euseces 11
3. CHES SIN, ALEXANDER S., Motion of gyro-
%%% 15
4. NoRTrON, J. B. S., Notes on plants of S. W.
/ ͤ öũœé. ⅛ĩ% . ĩÜſnmĩ —1˙¼ 4. 9
5. Bak rn, C. F., Revision of Elephantopeae. I. 15
6. Busu, B. F., N. American species of Chaero-
phyllum and GE EID e 23
7. Mackenzigz, K. K., AND B. F. Busu, New
plants from Missouri ee ene 13
RRR EH
R SR 8 &
14
No.
No.
No.
No.
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
pp.
. Norton, J. B. S., Sclerotinia fructigena.... 9
9. CHEssIN, ALEXANDER S., Relation between
Bessel functions ..... ff... 11
VOLUME XIII 214
1. HAuRACE, G., Revision of Blastoideae, ete... 69
2. NipHer, Francis E., On predetermination of
Speed of trotting ore 9
3. Hurter, Juuius, Second contribution to
herpetology of Missouri .................. 11
4. SHELI DON, WALTER L., Literature of ethical
science since Darwin 57
5. NrpHer, Francis E., Law of contraction of
ir O “ é ·˙wmqmmͤaĩ ie Deine es es Oo 23
6. Keiser, Epwarp, AND S. W. FoRDER, New
method for determination of free lime..... 11
7. Busy, B. F., New genus of grasses......... 11
8. Harris, J. ARTHUR, Polygamy and certain
floral abnormalities in Solanum ........... } 27
The germination of Pachira, etc. ..........
VOLUME XIV 197
1. Kiem, Mary J., Revision of Palaeozoic
Palacéehinowgen 4.5.66 eR EAs 99
2. BAKER, FRANK Coins, Molluscan fauna of
%% ᷣͤ ins ²˙ ae eR ee 9
3. BAKER, FRANK CoLiins, Notes on Planorbis
Fenn e aes pc oe o> as sana 5
4. NPHER, Francis E., Primitive conditions in
Solar nebull ggg en 13
5. Casey, THOS. L., Notes on Pleurotomidae,
with description of new genera and species.. 49
6. Bus, B. F., The genus Othake Raf 11
7. Busu, B. F., The Texas Tradescantias..... 15
VOLUME XV 302
1. Wirrmack, L., Our present knowledge of
ancient MOAT a soo . 8
2. Casey, Tuos. L., Revision of American
Aer 0 OR ked. se ew eeee 233
3. Baker, Frank Couurns, Molluscan fauna of
Meder, . ß 11
4. Wetter, Sruart, Paraphorhynchus, new
genus of Kinderhook Brachiopoda ......... 7
5. Kircuner, WALTER C. G., Bacteriological
examination of river water
VOLUME XVI 495
1. Celebration of fiftieth anniversary........
2. BAKER, Frank Coutins, Notes on mollusks,
Apen, Müh... e ͤ pee ee ries 17
Price
45
25
$3.50
1.50
2⁵
$3.50
$3.50
No.
No.
No.
Contents and Price List Vols. I-X XIII
pp. Prire
3. N WER, Francis E., Pressure measure-
ments in a fluid stream 17 25
4. Guarrevrer, N. M., Preliminary list of higher
/// W 5 63 50
5. Terry, Ropert J., Nasal skeleton on Amblys-
en c cavicccccieccscc case 31 25
6. Casey, Tos. L., Staphylinid groups Aleo-
charinae and Xantholinini C 211 1.50
7. WeLLER, Stuart, Kinderhook faunal studies.
IV. Fauna of Glen Park limestone ........ 25
8. Duaear, B. M., The relation of certain ma-
rine algae to various salt solutions ........ 19 25
VOLUME XVII 292 $3.50
1. Wipmann, Orro, Preliminary catalogue of
r 289 3.00
VOLUME XVIII 82 83.50
1. Woopwarp, CALVIN M., Air-ship propeller
DOU dle Sink dy wes ⅛¶ AKA sus éde t0-<6 11 25
2. Hurrer, JuLius, AND JohN K. Srrecker, In.,
The amphibians and reptiles of Arkansas. 19 25
3. TRELEASE, WILLIAM, Mexican agaves known
%%%ͤ́é¾⁵½v«? 11 50
4. Branson, E. B., Fauna of residuary auburn
chert of Lincoln County, Missouri......... 15 50
5. EwINd, H. E., New North American Acarina 27 50
VOLUME XIX 180 83.50
1. NipHER, Francis E., Nature of electrie dis-
SC ) ̃ dala deeb “é . 21 50
2. Rau, Pup, Observations on Samia cecropia
. ̃ͤ . ae at a 29 25
3. Puiuurs, Frank J., Hail injury on forest
%%% ((» 9 50
4. Nipwer, Francis E., Nature of electric dis-
c 17 50
5. STRECKER, JoHN K., IR., Studies in N.
hh 11 25
6. Aur, ApoLPH, Histology of eye of Typhlotri-
ton spelaeus from Marble Cave, Mo. ....... 15 50
7. PauMer, Ernest J., Flora of the Grand
%%% ᷣͤ aus a sinc 00 17 25
8. Ewrne, H. E., New Acarina from India.... 11 25
9. Keyes, CHARLES R., The Guadalupan
ccc 29 2³
Abundance of meteorites on Painted Des-
. r ̃ ˙/.?,l!!l!
10. TURNER, CHARLES H., Ecological notes on
Cladocera and Copepoda, ete. ............ 27 25
pp.
VOLUME XX 327
No. 1. NipHer, Francis E., Nature of the electric
die RAS, a Ge eee eae 17
2. THOMPSON, CHARLES Henry, Four new
plants from: Metin 65 oe ees ae 11
3. DrusHEL, J. ANDREW, Studies in glacial
geology, St. Louis and vicinity............ 11
4. ENGLER, EDMUND A., Figurate numbers.... 23
5. HURTER, Juuius, Sr., Herpetology of Mis-
lf RUR heal enue 216
6. Rau, Pum, Sexual selection experiments
m Sehn e sek ceeen 7
Further observations on samia cecropia
% ⁵ ß ß
VOLUME XXI 97
No. 1. EwI dd, H. E., Origin and significance of
parasitism in Acarinaeasas 70
2. Linpsay, Greorce A., Annual rainfall and
temperature of ,,, i oes 8
3. NipHER, Francis E., Nature of electrical dis-
W ⅛ łPſl!l!l!(!; Lise Cee as ce ee 10
VOLUME XXII 141
No. 1. Rav, Pum, anp Neuus Rav, Biology of
Stagmomantis carolina 59
2. NipHer, Francis E., Local magnetic storms. 9
3. Sampson, F. A., Preliminary list of mollusea
OF PRONE oi Cava cine ati dere 43
4. Nrpuer, Francis E., Variations in the earth’s
magnetic ed, enn cue 17
5. Hume, H. Harowp, The flowers of Diospyros
All ene a cece a ee 13
VOLUME XXIII 372
No. 1. Rav, Pum, AND Neue Rav, Longevity in
Satin e nie ON Ne As 79
2. Kiem, Mary J., The history of science in St.
UU ik «ssn Vn d eee aie ee a eenauass 51
3. TRELEASE, WILLIAM, The agaveae of Guate-
%%% ⁰ff nla bee 25
4. Nrpuer, FRANOIS E., Disturbances on earth’s
ane Wieden sc acehin swine peice 25
5. Nipuer, Francis E., Gravitational repulsion 17
6. Nrpuer, Francis E., Graphical algebra, ete. 13
7. NIR, Francis E., Graphical algebra. 9
8. Harris, Harry, Birds of the Kansas City
%% T ees Ce 160
9. NWR, Francis E., Study of properties of
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
isrtegral MUMDORe so is o/s:ss's des wae amoebae on 16
„Supply exhausted,
$3.50
2.45
$3.50
1.50
1.10
ECOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE ENTOMOS-
TRACA OF THE ST. LOUIS DISTRICT. PART I.
DIAPTOMUS PSEUDOSANGUINEUS SP.
NOV. AND A PRELIMINARY LIST OF
THE COPEPODA AND CLADOCERA
OF THE ST. LOUIS DISTRICT
C. H. Turner
Drapromus Pseuposancurnevus Sp. Nov.
The form is closely related to Diaptomus sanguineus
Forbes and Diaptomus conipedatus Marsh, both of
which it resembles in having a very rudimentary endop-
odite on the fifth foot of the male. If we ignore color,
it is almost impossible to differentiate the females of
this species from those of Diaptomus sanguineus Forbes.
The males, however, are quite.distinct. The fifth foot is
quite different, as is also the armature of the male an-
tenna. The fifth foot of the male of this species is sim-
ilar to that of Diaptomus conipedatus Marsh but the
antipenultimate joint of the right male antenna, in ad-
dition to a hook, similar to but somewhat longer than
that of Diaptomus conipedatus Marsh, also bears a hya-
line flange similar to that of Diaptomus sanguimeus
Forbes.
Description of the female. (pl. 1, fig. 1; pl. 2, fig. 1) —
The female is about 2.00 mm. long and the widest portion
88 of the thorax is about 0.54 mm. wide. The reflexed an-
tennae extend to the distal extremity of the furcal setae.
Viewed from the dorsal aspect, the cephalothorax widens
gradually from the tip of the head to about the third
thoracic somite, from which point it gradually tapers
to the tip of the abdomen. Viewed from the lateral as-
pect the body slopes continuously upwards and back-
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
wards from the tip of the head to the third thoracic
somite. Thence it extends almost horizontally to about
the middle of the last thoracic somite, from there sloping
abruptly to the abdomen. The cervical suture is distinct.
Each latero-caudal margin of the thorax is produced out-
ward and armed with two nipple-like tubercles (pl. 1, fig.
le; pl. 3, fig. 4b). About the middle of the ventral surf-
ace of the first abdominal somite, and located nearer the
sides than the middle line, there is a pair of long curved
spines, somewhat larger than the tubercles (pl. 2, fig.
2f). The outed ramus of the fifth foot is two-jointed (pl.
3, fig. 5). The subrectangular first joint is twice as long
as wide; for two-thirds its length the second joint is al-
most straight on its outer edge, the inner margin taper-
ing gradually from its base to that point; there the foot
abruptly turns inward at an angle of more than 45°,
terminating in a blunt point. On its lower third it bears
three spines. The inner one, which extends to the angle
in the segment, is the longest; the next about half this
long; and the outer one somewhat shorter than the in-
termediate one. The inner ramus of the fifth foot is
straight and about five times as long as wide; at its tip
are two setae which are about half as long as the ramus.
The outer margin, on its distal third, is distinctly hairy.
The specimens so far found are of a dirty white color.
Description of the male. (pl. 1, fig. 2)—The male is
about four-fifths the size of the female; the tubercles on
the laterocaudal margin of the thorax are absent or in-
conspicuous; there is no armature on the first abdominal
somite. The first basal joint of the right fifth foot is
short, about as long as broad (pl. 3, fig. 1); the second
basal joint is about twice as long as wide and fully twice
as long as the preceding joint. The inner ramus (endop-
odite) is missing; the outer (expodite) is composed of
two joints of about equal length. The first of these joints
is about the same length as the second basal segment but
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 3
much more slender and bears at its outer distal margin
a broad tooth-like expanse. The second joint is slightly
curved inwards, its distal extremity somewhat wider
than its proximal. Near the tip of its outer margin it
bears a straight spine which is about two-thirds as long
as the somite. At its tip is a stout curved claw which
is about the same length as the segment. The first seg-
ment of the left fifth foot is about as long as the second
and the whole appendage extends to a little beyond the
tip of the first segment of the expodite of the right foot.
The two segments of the outer ramus (exopodite) are of
about the same length; the second bears at its tip one
long and one short claw-like spine. The inner ramus
(endopodite) is slender and about as long as the outer
ramus; is unsegmented; its distal third pronouncedly
hairy; and the inner margin of its intermediate third
coarsely crenate. The antipenultimate segment of the
right male antenna (pl. 1, fig. 2; pl. 2, fig. 3) bears a
stout almost opaque curved process composed of the
same material as the body of the antenna. This process
is a little shorter than the next segment of the antenna.
Intimately connected with this process and extending
along the whole margin of the antipenultimate segment,
is a hyaline flange similar to that of Diaptomus san-
guineus Forbes.
Like the female, the male is of a dirty white or gray
color. In the prime of life Diaptomus sanguineus
Forbes, so far as my experience goes, is red in color, or
marked with red or blue. However, it is not claimed
that this color difference is of taxonomic value. In other
localities the color scheme may be different for it is well
known that color in Entomostraca sometimes varies with
environment. Nevertheless, the color described is that
of individuals in the prime of life, for numerous speci-
mens were found in copulo (pl. 3, fig. 3) and many more
with spermataphores attached (pl. 1, fig. 3j; pl. 2, fig. 2g).
Habitat—The specimens were found in a spring-fed
4 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
marsh where about two inches of water rested upon
more than two feet of water-soaked silt. Originally this
marsh was a reservoir which had been constructed on a
shelf-like depression between two hills. In addition to
receiving the wash from the surrounding hills, this pond
was fed by a spring which furnished sufficient water to
cause a continuous overflow through the spillway of the
dam. The fine materials washed from the surrounding
hills have gradually transformed this reservoir into a
marsh but the water continues to flow out through the
spillway. It was near this spillway that the specimens
were found. A group of cattails, which has been gradual-
ly increasing in size since the day when it was sur-
rounded by water many inches deep, still flourishes, and
patches of duckweed are scattered over the surface of
the marsh. At the time the specimens were found the
temperature of the water was 25°C., the temperature of
the surrounding atmosphere being over 32°C. The PH
of the water was 7.6.
Associates—The following Entomostracans were
found associated with it: Bosmina longirostris (O. F.
Mueller), Ceriodaphnia rigaudi Richards, Cyclops
leuckarti Claus. In May Cyclops albidus Jurine var.
tenuicornis was found in the same place; also Cyclops
viridis Jurine. A species of Vorticellidae was found as
a commensal, attached to the abdomen, among the eggs
(pl. 2, fig. 1 e).
Prevtiminary List or CoPRPODA AND CLADOCERA OF
Sr. Louis Distrrror
In this communication no attempt is made to give a
complete list of synonyms; such lists will be found in the
references mentioned. For easy reference, the genera
and species are arranged in alphabetical order under
each family.
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 5
Corkrobpa
FAMILY CENTROPAGIDAE
GENUS DIAPTOMUS WESTWOOD
1. DIAPTOMUS ASHLANDI Marsh 1893.
Diaptomus ashlandi, Marsh, 93. p. 198. pl. 3, fig. 11-13.
Diaptomus ashlandi, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 60. pl. 6, fig. 4-6.
Diaptomus ashlandi, Schacht, 97. pp. 167-169. pl. 32, fig. 1-4.
Common. Found in lakes, no-outlet ponds and marshes, through a
temperature range of 15-35°C. Usually abundant.
2. DIAPTOMUS OREGONENSIS, Lilljeborg 1889.
Diaptomus oregonensis, Herrick 4 Turner, 95. pp. 72, 78. pl 4,
fig. 7-12; pl. 9, fig. 8.
Diaptomus oregonensis, Schacht, 97. pp. 151-154, pl. 29, fig. 1, 2.
Found three times in this district in no-outlet ponds; in one case col-
lected from the midst of vegetation; in the other two cases the ponds con-
tained no higher plants. The temperature of the water ranged from 15-
20°C. The PH value ranged from 7.6 to 8.2. Abundant in each case.
8. DIAPTOMUS PALLIDUS Herrick 1879.
Diaptomus pallidus, Herrick & Turner, ‘95. pp. 73, 74. pl 4, fig.
1-6; pl. 5, fig. 10; pl. 13, fig. 17.
Diaptomus pallidus, Schacht, 97. pp. 144-146. pl. 27, fig. 3.
Encountered in this region but once, in June, 1920, when it was abund-
ant in a no-outlet pasture pond.
4. DIAPTOMUS PSEUDOSANGUINEUS, sp. nov. (pl. 1-3).
For description consult the first section of this paper.
5. DIAPTOMUS SANGUINEUS Forbes 1876.
Diaptomus sanguineus, Forbes, 76. pp. 15, 16, 23. fig. 24, 28-30.
Diaptomus sanguineus, Herrick & Turner, '95. p. 71. pl. 13, fig. 12.
Diaptomus sanguineus, Schacht, 97. pp. 133-137. pl. 23-25.
Collected but once in this district, in a no-outlet pond in 1909.
6. DIAPTOMUS SICILIS Forbes 1882.
Diaptomus sicilis, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 60, 61. pl. 5, fig. 1-7;
pl. 13, fig. 18.
Diaptomus sicilis, Schacht, 97. pp. 122-124. pl. 21, fig. 1-3.
Found in April, 1909, in large numbers in the open waters of a large
lake, the temperature of which was 11°C. The water was free from vege-
tation and there were practically no algae. The altitude of the lake
feet. Not found since although frequent collections have been made
Same part of the lake.
7. DIAPTOMUS STAGNALIS Forbes 1882.
Diaptomus stagnalis, Forbes, 82. pp. 15, 16, 23. fig. 24, 28-30.
eb Baa stagnalis, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 71, 72. pl. 13, fig.
Diaptomus stagnalis, Schacht, 97. pp. 138-141. pl. 28, fig. 2.
Found in this district only once, in June, 1920, in a shallow, no-outlet
pond free from vegetation.
FAMILY CYCLOPIDAE
GENUS CYCLOPS O. F. MUELLER
8. CYCLOPS ALBIDUS Jurine 1820, var. tenuicornis Sars 1863.
signatus, var. tenuicornis, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 106,
107. pl. 15, fig. 5-7; pl. 20, fig. 1-7; pl. 33, fig. 1, 2.
Cyclops albidus, E. B. Forbes, 97. pp. 47-49. pl. 13.
A species widely distributed in this district, in marshes, small temporary
ponds, small no-outlet ponds, and lakes. It is found where vegetation does
and does not exist, occurring in water ranging from 10°-25°C. and having
PH values ranging from 7.2 to 8.0. In some specimens the hyaline plate
6 Trams. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
on the antenna is smooth, in others finely serrated. Found in both fetid
water and in water having no perceptible odor. April, May and July.
9. CYCLOPS ALBIDUS Jurine 1820, var. CORONATUS.
Cyclops signatus, var. coronatus, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 106. pl.
15, fig. 1-4.
Found only once in this district, among cattails in a shallow pond, the
temperature of which was 21°C.
10. CYCLOPS BICUSPIDATUS Claus 1857.
Cyclops forbesi, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 104.
Cyclops bicuspidatus, E. B. Forbes, 97. pp. 44-47. pl. 12, fig. 1-4.
Found in this district in four different no-outlet ponds free from vege-
tation, but once only in each place. In one pond the temperature was
17°C.; in another 19°; temperature of the others not recorded. The hydro-
gen ion content of one pond only was measured, the PH value being 7.2.
April and October.
11. CYCLOPS FIMBRIATUS Fischer 1853.
Cyclops fimbriatus, Herrick & Turner, '95. pp. 121, 122. pl. 17, fig.
8, 9; pl. 21, fig. 11; pl. 25, fig. 9-14.
This form is rare here, it having been collected but once, June 1, 1921,
when I obtained a few from a shallow temporary pond with a PH value
of 8.2.
12. CYCLOPS FUSCA Jurine 1820.
Cyclops signatus, var. coronatus, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 106. pl.
16.
I have always considered this a variety of C. albidus and have discussed
it under that head.
13. CYCLOPS PHALERATUS Koch 18653.
Cyclops phaleratus, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 120, 121. pl. 17, fig.
1-7; pl. 18, fig. 2, 2d; pl. 19, fig. 1; pl. 21, fig. 6-10.
Cyclops phaleratus, E. B. Forbes, 97. pp. 59-63. pl. 20, fig. 3.
A few found on one occasion in a no-outlet pond, the temperature of
which was 32°C. Also found in a weedy marsh with PH value of 8.2.
14. CYCLOPS LEUCKARTI, Claus 1857.
Cyclops leuckarti, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 96-98. pl. 16; pl. 18,
fig. 1 a-j; pl. 24, fig. 2-6. ,
Cyclops edaz, Forbes, 97. pp. 33-36. pl. 9, fig. 1-8.
Collected from three different localities in this district. Two were
vegetationless no-outlet ponds, the other a weedy marsh. The temperature
of the water and the hydrogen ion content were determined for only one
locality, the temperature being 25°C. and the PH value 7.8. May, June and
August.
15. CYCLOPS, SERRULATUS Fischer 1860
Cyclops serrulatue, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 111, 112. pl. 18, fig.
8-11.
Cyclops serrulatus, E. B. Forbes, 97. pp. 54-57.pl. 17; pl. 18.
fig. 1-3.
One of the most widely distributed copepods in this district. Found
throughout the season in all types of habitat, at all temperatures and in
waters with hydrogen ion content varying from PH 7.00 to PH 8.2.
16. CYCLOPS VIRIDIS Jurine 1820, var. INSECTUS Forbes 1882.
Cyclops insectus, Forbes, 82. p. 649. pl. 9, fig. 6.
Cyclops viridis, var. americanus, Herrick & Turner, '95. pp. 91,
92. pl. 14, fig. 1-9.
Cyclops viridie var. insectus, E. B. Forbes, 97. pp. 41-44. pl. 11,
fig. 3-6.
Perhaps the most common copepod in this district, occurring in all types
of habitat, at all seasons and temperatures, and in waters with the hydro-
gen ion content ranging from PH 7.0 to PH 8.2. This and certain species
of Vorticellidae and of one-celled green algae are often commensals.
~]
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov.
CLADOCERA
FAMILY BOSMINIDAE
GENUS BOSMINA BAIRD 1845
1. BOSMINA LONGIROSTRIS (O. F. Mueller) 1785.
Bosmina longirostris, Birge, 18. p. 706. fig. 1096.
Common in this district, being abundant in many of the no-outlet ponds
during the warm season. It has been found where vegetation does and
not exist. The hydrogen ion content of the water was determined for
three ponds, varying from PH 7.8 to 8.2.
FAMILY CHYDORIDAE
GENUS ALONA BAIRD 1850
2. ALONA COSTATA Sars 1862.
Alona costata, Herrick & Turner, 96. pp. 245, 246. pl. 60, fig. 8.
Collected in November, 1909, among pond lilies in a small no-outlet pond
having a temperature of 18°C., the only time encountered in this district.
3. ALONA RECTANGULAR Sars 1861.
Alona pulchra, Herrick & Turner, '95. p. 245.
In May, 1921, this species was found in a marsh and in a
pond. The hydrogen ion content in each case was PH 8.2.
ture of the water was 27°C.
GENUS CHYDORUS LEACH 1843
4, CHYDORUS SPHAERICUS (0. F. Mueller) 1783.
Chydorus sphaericus, Birge, 78. pp. 23, 24.
Chydorus sphaericus, Herrick & Turner, 958. p. 261. pl 64, fig. 4,
7, 8, 10.
large
The
it was found varied from 18-31°C. The hydrogen ion content of the water
was determined in only one instance, being 8.2. May to October.
GENUS KURZIA DYBOWSKI AND GROCHOWSKI 1894
6. KURZIA LATISSIMA (Kurz) 1874.
Kurzia latissima Birge, 18. p. 718. fig. 1120.
Alonopsis latissima, Herrick and Turner, 95. pp. 232, 283. pl. 61.
fig. 8; pl. 68. fig. 1, 9.
Collected on two occasions in July, 1920, in large numbers among water
plantain in a shallow lake.
GENUS LEYDIGIA KURZ 1874
6. LEYDIGIA QUADRANGULARIS (Leydig) 1860
Leydigia quadrangularis, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 234. pl. 59,
fig. 8; pl. 60, fig. 4.
Collected twice in this neighborhood, in April, 1910, among water lilies,
in a shallow no-outlet pond, the temperature of which was 20°C.; and in
August, 1921, in a shallow no-outlet pond, the temperature of which was
32°C. and the hydrogen ion content PH 17.4.
7. LEYDIGIA ACANTHROCERCOIDES (Fischer) 1854.
Leydigia acanthocercoides, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 234.
A few specimens of this collected on June 25, 1910, in a no-outlet pond,
the only time it has been encountered.
GENUS OXYURELLA DYBOWSKI AND GROCHOWSKI 1894.
8. OXYURELLA TENUICAUDIS (Sars) 1862.
Alona tenuicaudis, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 242, 243, pl. 62,
fig. 11.
A few collected in June, 1921, in a shallow transitional pond having a
temperature of 24°C.
8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
GENUS PLEUROXUS BAIRD 1843.
9. PLEUROXUS DENTICULATUS, Birge, 1877.
Pleurozus denticulatus, Birge, 76. pp. 20, 21. pl. 1, fig. 21.
Pleuroxus denticulatus, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 256. pl. 45, fig.
8; pl. 63, fig. 10a, 12, 13.
Common in marshes and among vegetation, in no-outlet ponds and lakes
of this district. Collected from water with temperature ranging from
18-31°C. The hydrogen ion content of the water was calculated only once,
when it was found to be PH 8.2.
10. PLEUROXUS HAMULATUS Birge 1910.
Pleurozus hamatus, Birge, 76. pp. 22, 23. pl. 2, fig. 13, 14.
Pleurozus hamatus, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 257. pl. 60, fig. 1.
This species which heretofore has not been found outside of New England
and the Southern States, has been collected from three different no-outlet
ponds of this district. In one case the pond was weedy and this species
seemed to be dominant; in the other cases the water was free from any
vegetation higher than algae. In two cases the water was comparatively
fresh; in the third it had a disagreeable stench. The temperature and
hydrogen ion content of the water were determined in only one case, the
temperature being 32°C, the PH 7.4.
FAMILY DAPHNIDAE
GENUS CERIODAPHNIA DANA 1853
11. CERIODAPHNIA LACUSTRIS Birge 1893.
Ceriodaphnia lacustris, Birge, 18. p. 701. fig. 1083.
Found in this district in a large reservoir furnishing water for the
Wabash railroad. The temperature of the water was 27°C., the hydrogen
ion content PH 8.2.
12. CERIODAPHNIA LATICAUDATA P. E. Mueller 1867.
Ceriodaphnia laticaudata, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 171. pl. 41,
fig. 22.
Ceriodaphnia consors, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 171, 172. pl. 42,
fig. 4; pl. 44, fig. 5, 6.
Collected twice in this district, each time from a temporary pond, once
in June, 1910, when it was abundant, and again in June, 1920, when it was
rare.
13. CERIODAPHNIA PULCHELLA Sars 1862.
Ceriodaphnia pulchella, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 169. pl. 41, fig.
14, 19.
Collected in this district among water plantain in a lake.
14. CERIODAPHNIA RECTICULATA (Jurine) 1820.
Ceriodaphnia reticulata, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 170. pl. 41, fig.
15, 21; pl. 42, fig. 3; pl. 43, fig. 3; pl. 44, fig. 3. 4.
This species was found in a no-outlet pond in March and in November,
1909.
15. CERIODAPHNIA RIGAUDI Richard 1894.
Ceriodaphnia riguadi, Birge, ’18. p. 700, fig. 1078.
Collected July 21, 1921, from a no-outlet pond the temperature of which
was 29°C. and the PH value 7.8. August 1, 1921, it was collected from a
marsh having a temperature of 25°C, and a PH value of 7.8. On each oc-
casion some of the females were carrying winter eggs. To the best of my
knowledge this is the first time this species has been reported from this part
of the country.
GENUS DAPHNIA O. F. MUELLER 1785
16. DAPHNIA LONGISPINA (O. F. Mueller) 1785.
Daphnia longispina, Herrick & Turner, 95, p. 199.
A form which seems to be the typical form of this species, found in a
large reservoir having a temperature of 27°C. and a PH value of 8.2.
Although it was May, some of the females were carrying winter eggs.
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 9
17. DAPHNIA LONGISPINA var. HYALINA Leydig, 1860.
Daphnia hyalina, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 195, 196. pl 22, fig.
7, 8; pl. 27, fig. 6; pl. 35, fig. 16; pl. 49, fig. 3-5; pl. 53, fig. 1-4.
Found in spring and early summer in certain of the no-outlet ponds in
this vicinity. Of the form mendolatae. In the latter part of May some of
the females were carrying winter eggs.
18. DAPHNIA LONGISPINA var. LONGIREMIS Sars 1861.
Daphnia longiremis, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 202.
Found in April, 1909, in great numbers in an ox-bow lake with a tem-
perature of 15°C. Collected in May, 1920, from a small temporary pond the
temperature of which was 18°C.
19. DAPHNIA PULEX (de Geer) 1778.
Daphnia puler, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 193, 194.
The most common daphnid of this district. Frequently encountered in
summer, even in water so fetid as to have a disagreeable stench. Occurs
at temperature ranging from 19-35°C. and in water having a hydrogen ion
content varying from PH 7.2 to 7.6. Winter eggs found in June and July.
20. DAPHNIA RETROCURVA Forbes 1882.
Daphnia kalbergenesis, Herrick & Turner, "95. pp. 203, 204. pl. 27,
fig. 1-3; pl. 53, fig. 5-8.
Collected in spring and early summer from one of our lakes. The
helmet on the head is small and rounded, probably enough so to warrant
calling it var. breviceps Birge. The temperature of the water varied from
24-31°C, and the hydrogen ion content of the water was PH 8.0.
GENUS MOINA BAIRD 1860
21. MOINA BRACHIATA (Jurine) 1820.
Moina brachiata, Herrick & Turner, 838. pp. 162, 163. pl. 39, fig.
5-8; pl. 43, fig. 1, 2.
At times during the summer this species is abundant in some of the
muddy ponds and marshes of this district. Found in water having a hydro-
gen ion content of PH 7.6-8.0. It frequently bears commensal Vorticellidae.
22. MOINA RECTIROSTRIS (Leydig) 1860.
Moina rectirostris, Herrick & Turner, 98. pp. 163, 164. pl. 39, fig
1-4; pl. 41, fig. 2, 5, 8, 10, 11.
Found in certain muddy temporary ponds of this district in May and
June. The temperature of the water varied from 20-35°C., the hydrogen ion
content from PH 7.0 to PH 17.6.
GENUS SCAPHOLEBERIS SCHOEDLER 1858
23. SCAPHOLEBERIS MUCRONATA (O. F. Mueller) 1785.
Scalpholeberis mucronata, Birge 78. pp. 6-9. pl. 2, fig. 8, 9.
Scapholeberis mucronata, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 174, 175. pl.
43, fig. 4-7; pl. 45, fig. 5.
Abundant in weedy marshes and certain ponds in this neighborhood.
Collected in water ranging in temperature from 27-32°C. and having a hy-
drogen ion content between 7.6 and 8.2. The marshes dry up in summer and
the ponds are temporary. April, May, June, and October.
GENUS SIMOCEPHALUS (O. F. MUELLER) 1776
24. SIMOCEPHALUS SERRULATUS (Koch) 1841.
Simocephalus americanus, Birge, 78. pp. 6-8. pl. 1, fig. 6.
Simocephalus serrulatus, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 179.
Simocephalus americanus, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 179. pl. 45,
fig. 9.
In this district frequently found in marshes and among vegetation in
ponds and lakes from March to November, in water varying in tempera-
ture from 14-32°C. Sometimes so numerous in a certain pond as to be the
dominant form and the following year failing to appear in that pond.
10 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louts
FAMILY MACROTHRICIDAE
GENUS ACANTHOLEBERIS LILLJEBORG 1858
25. ACANTHOLEBERIS CURVIROSTRIS (O. F. Mueller) 1776
Acantholeberis curvirostris, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 218. pl. 49,
fig. 1-4.
Rare or accidental in this district, a few having been found in a weedy
pond on one occasion.
GENUS MACROTHRIX BAIRD 1843
26. MACROTHRIX LATICORNIS (Jurine) 1820
Macrothrix laticornis, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 212. pl. 54, fig.
9-12; pl. 56, fig. 8, 9.
Found in four different localities in this district; in a marsh, among
the water plants in a lake, in a no-outlet permanent pond, and in a transi-
tional pond, the bottom of each being mud. The temperature range of the
water was 14-31°C. The hydrogen ion content was determined for only
three of the localities; for two it was PH 8.2 and for the third PH 7.2.
In the marsh and lake only a few specimens were found; in the transitional
pond it was abundant. April, May, June, and August.
FAMILY SIDIDAE
GENUS DIAPHANOSOMA FISCHER 1850
27. DIAPHANOSOMA BRACHYURUS (Lievin) 1848
Daphnella brachyura, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 148, 149. pl. 26,
fig. 11-16.
In July, 1920, this was common in a transitional pond with muddy
bottom, in a St. Louis park. The temperature of the water was 30°C.
28. DIAPHANOSOMA LEUCHTENBERGIANUM FISCHER 1850
Daphnella brandtiana, Herrick & Turner, 95. p. 149. pl. 37, fig. 3-6.
In June, 1920, this species was abundant in a temporary pond near
Koch, Mo. The water was muddy and free from vegetation, with a tem-
perature of 30°C.
GENUS LATONOPSIS SARS 1888
29. LATONOPSIS OCCIDENTALIS Birge 1891.
Latonopsis occidentalis, Birge, 91. pp. 383-388.
Latonopsis occidentalis, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 150-151. pl. 38
Collected in June, 1920, from a small permanent pond near Jefferson
Barracks, Mo. The bottom was muddy and the pond held no vegetation.
the water itself being clear.
GENUS PSEUDOSIDA HERRICK 1884
30. PSEUDOSIDA BIDENTATA Herrick 1884.
Pseudosida tridentata, Herrick & Turner, 95. pp. 147, 148. pl. 36,
fig. 2-6; pl. 50, fig. 9.
In June, 1910, a few specimens were collected from a swamp near Union
Avenue and Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis.
Succession or Lire IN A TRANSITIONAL Ponp
A transitional pond is one which is dry during part of
the year, but which, during periods of high water, is con-
nected to a permanent pond or lake.
It is not the purpose of this section to give an exhaus-
tive treatment of the succession of entomostracan life in
ponds and lakes but, by discussing the succession of clad-
oceran and copepodan life in one transitional pond for
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 11
two successive years, it is hoped to demonstrate the futil-
ity of drawing conclusions as to the nature of and the
reasons for the succession of life in inland waters with-
out spending years in accumulating accurate data.
In one of the parks of St. Louis there is a lagoon-like
pond that is several hundred yards long. About three-
fourths of its length from one end is a strait-like con-
striction, the portion of the pond beyond this constrie-
tion being at times of high water much shallower than
the remainder. During dry weather this portion gradu-
ally dries up. This shallow arm is the transitional pond
that is to be discussed. During the high waters of early
spring large areas of grass are submerged which die
after a certain length of time. From that time until the
pond dries up there is no vegetation higher than algae in
the water. The depth of the water varies from a few
inches to two feet, with mud bottom. The pond is ex-
posed to the sun during most of the day, the temperature
of the water ranging as high as 35°C and the hydro-
gen ion content varying from PH 7.2 to PH 8.2. The
record presented is for the spring and summer of 1920
and the spring and summer of 1921.
Spring and summer 1920.—April 4. Water high; much grass sub-
merged; temperature 15°C.; Simocephalus serrulatus Koch and Cy-
clops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes present in moderate num-
bers.
May 5. Water high; grass growing in water; temperature 16°C.;
Simocephalus serrulatus Koch the dominant form; Cyclops viridis
(Jurine) var. insectus Forbes present in large numbers.
May 20. Water high; grass abundant; temperature 22°C.;
Simocephalus serrulatus Koch the dominant form; Cyclops viridis
(Jurine) var. insectus Forbes and Bosmina longirostris (O. F. Mueller)
present in large numbers.
May 22. Water high; grass dying; temperature 29°C.; Simoce-
phalus serrulatus Kock the dominant form, Bosmina longirostris (0.
F. Mueller) abundant, Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes
and Daphnia puler (de Geer) present in small numbers.
June 20. Water becoming shallow; no grass in pond; pond teem-
ing with animal life; Daphnia puler (de Geer) now the dominant form,
Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes, Bosmina longirostris
(O. F. Mueller) and Ceriodaphnia laticeudata P. E. Mueller abund-
12 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
ant, Simocephalus serrulatus Koch and Oxyurella tenuicaudis (Sars)
present in small numbers.
July 20. Pond drying up rapidly; no vegetation in the water;
temperature 35°C.; animal life very scare, a few specimens of Oy
clops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes and of Diaphanosoma
brachyurum (Lievin) found.
August 17. Pond nearly dry and entomostracan life has almost
disappeared, a few specimens of Cyclops serrulatus Fischer found.
Spring and summer 1921=—April 2. Pond moderately high; no
vegetation in water; temperature 19°C.; hydrogen ion content PH
7.9; Cyclops albidus Jurine the dominant form; Cyclops viridis
Jurine var. insectus Forbes abundant.
April 16. Pond moderately high; temperature 19°C.; hydrogen ion
content PH 7.0 (a heavy rain having fallen the previous night); Cy-
clops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes and Cyclops serrulatus
Fischer abundant, neither dominant, Cyclops albidus Jurine has al-
most entirely disappeared.
April 23. Water high owing to heavy rains; temperature 17°C.;
hydorgen ion content Ph 7.4; Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus
Forbes dominant, Cyclops serrulatus Fischer abundant.
April 30. Conditions about the same as on April 23; Cyclops
viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes the dominant form, Cyclops ser-
rulatus Fischer abundant, Bosmina longirostris (O. F. Mueller) pres-
ent in small numbers.
May 11. Water at greatest height; grass growing in water; tem-
perature 22°C.; hydrogen ion content PH 7.4; distribution of life
about the same as on April 30, although Bosmina longirostris (O. F.
Mueller) Sars may be more abundant.
May 20. Physical features about as on May 11; Cyclops viridis
(Jurine) var. insectus Forbes dominant, Bosmina longirostris (O. F.
Mueller) abundant, Cyclops serrulatus Fischer has disappeared.
June 1. Water falling; hydrogen ion content PH 8.2; Cyclops
viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes dominant, Bosmina longirostris
(O. F. Mueller abundant, Cyclops fimbriatus Fischer, Macrothriz lati-
cornis (Jurine) and Scapholeberis mucronata O. F. Mueller present
in small numbers.
July 5. Water lower, otherwise physical conditions same as on
June 1; Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes dominant and
present in enormous numbers, Moina brachiata (Jurine) abundant; no
other cladocerans nor copepodans.
July 19. Water quite low, otherwise physical conditions same as
on July 5; no perceptable change in life conditions.
July 27. Pond quite shallow; hydrogen ion content PH 7.2;
literally thick with entomostracan life confined to the two species
Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes and Moina brachiata
(Jurine), the former dominant, all other cladocerans and copepodans
absent or so scarce as to escape detection among the myriads of the
two species mentioned; the Moinas bearing summer eggs but the
a
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 13
Cyclops not active sexually; of the countless millions of females
practically none bearing eggs. When one remembers how prolific these
creatures usually are this pronounced sexual impotence furnishes food
for thought.
August 12. Pond almost dry, communicating with the permanent
pond by a very shallow neck of water; the hydrogen ion content PH
8.0; water almost void of cladoceran and copepodan life; repeated
hauls of the dredge discover a few specimens of each of Cyclops ser-
rulatus Fischer, Cyclops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes, Moina
brachiata (Jurine), all bearing eggs or young.
Two weeks ago this pond was literally teeming with
life, today it is almost void of life. The explanation is as
follows: A succession of life appears in the pond. Cy-
clops viridis (Jurine) var. insectus Forbes gradually be-
comes the dominant form. One by one the species asso-
ciated with it die out until only Moina brachiata (Jurine)
survives. Cyclops viridus (Jurine) continues to multiply
until it is present in numbers unbelievably large, but
they are sexually impotent. In a few more days that
immense population disappears almost entirely. What
is the cause? The deaths during the early and inter-
mediate stages of the season may have been due to the
elimination of the vegetation, or to the rise in tempera-
ture, or to the fluctuations in the hydrogen ion content
of the water, but none of these factors accounts for the
catastrophic destruction of this Cyclops in the early part
of August. True the pond contained living grass at the
beginning of the history and no vegetation at the close,
but Cyclops viridis (Jurine) is as much at home in water
free from vegetation as it is in the midst of water plants.
The pond was quite shallow at the time of the climax but
this copepod flourishes in the shallowest ponds as well
as in the deeper lakes. The temperature of the water
varied from 19°C to 17° and up to 35° but this species
of Cyclops thrives throughout that entire range. The
hydrogen ion content of the water descends from PH
7.9 to PH 7.0 and then ascends to PH 8.2 but this ento-
mostracan has been found breeding throughout that
entire range. When the pond contained multitudes of
14 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
these minute crustaceans it must have been highly
charged with the products of organic decay but this
water did not have a disagreeable odor and this creature
has been found flourishing in fetid water. Has not the
marvelous prolificacy of this species, co-operating with
the rapid evaporation of the water, caused the popula-
tion to outgrow its food supply and thus to induce a
famine which caused universal sexual impotency fol-
lowed by death? The few individuals of Cyclops ser-
rulatus Fischer which were found in the pond soon after
the catastrophe were dwarfs of their kind. This is in
harmony with the above conclusion, for excessive reduc-
tion of the food supply means underfed naupli, and
underfed naupli develop into undersize adults.
As stated above, these seasonal life histories are re-
corded for the purpose of showing that a study of the
succession of life in ponds and marshes, for only one or
two seasons, does not furnish sufficient data to warrant
the formation of scientific conclusions concerning the
succession of life in inland waters. These two records
have certain things in common. When winter gives place
to spring there is very little life in the pond. Species
after species appears, each to remain for a longer or
shorter period of time. Some cladoceran or copepod
becomes the dominant form. The living individuals con-
tiuously become more and more numerous until the his-
tory culminates in a catastrophic elimination of almost
the entire population. This is about all the two years
have in common. In April, 1920, the first forms to be-
come conspicuous are Simocephalus serrulatus (Koch)
and Cyclops viridis (Jurine), neither of which is domi-
nant; in April, 1921, the first to appear are Cyclops al-
bidus (Jurine) and Cyclops viridis (Jurine), the former
of which is dominant. In 1920 Simocephalus serrulatus
(Koch) becomes dominant in the early part of May and
retains the dominancy until the latter part of June, when
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 15
it is succeeded by Daphnia pulex (de Greer); in 1921 Cy-
clops viridis (Jurine) achieves the dominancy about the
middle of April and retains it until the elimination, and
neither Simocephalus serrulatus (Koch) nor Daphnia
pulex (de Geer) appears in that pond during the season,
altho they do exist in other ponds of the district. Simo-
cephalus serrulatus (Koch), Daphnia pulex (de Geer),
Ceriodaphnia lacticaudata P. E. Mueller, Oxyurella
tenuicaudis (Sars) and Diaphanosoma brachyurum
(Lievin) are present during a part of 1920 but none of
these appear in 1921. Cyclops albidus (Jurine), Cyclops
fimbriatus Fischer, Scapholeberis mucronata Birge and
Moina brachiata (Jurine) are in evidence during a part
of 1921 but were not encountered at all during 1920.*
Surely such contradictory data do not warrant reliable
generalizations.
Commensalism and Symbiosis——In the small ponds
and marshes, Cyclops viridis (Jurine) almost invariably
forms a symbiotic union with certain one-celled green
algae.
This same species often bears certain Vorticellidae
(Pyxedium sp.? and Vorticella sp.?) as commensals.
On several occasions Daphnia pulex (de Geer) has
been noticed bearing a certain species of Brachionidae
as a commensal. The union was not permanent. The
rotifer attached itself by its toes and was free to leave
when it became necessary. Whenever I have attempted
to secure photographs, the attached commensal has al-
ways escaped.
Moina brachiata (Jurine) occasionally bears certain
Vorticellidae as commensals (Pl. 4, Fif. 3).
A certain species of Vorticellidae has been seen as a
commensal on Diaptimus pseudosanguineus, sp. n. (Pl.
2, Fig. Ie.)
*These forms may not have been entirely absent from the pond but, if
they were present, they were so rare as to escape detection.
16 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lows
Commensal Vorticellidae (Pyxediwm sp., etc.) have
been discovered on Scapholeberis mucronata Birge.
EXPLANATIONS OF TABLES.
The following tables epitomize the results of field ob-
servations. In the tables on seasonal distribution cer-
tain months are omitted, those being months in which
no field work was done.
The tables on seasonal distribution, those on distribu-
tion according to temperature, and those on distribution
according to habitat epitomize the work of four collect-
ing seasons; the table giving the distribution according
to the hydrogen ion content of the water is the result of
only one year’s work. |
The centigrade scale is used for temperature; the
hydrogen ion content is expressed in PH values.
The tables record the results of field observations, and
contain neither inductions nor deductions.
Distrisution oF St. Louis CoPEPODA FROM APRIL 1909
To June 1910
1909 1910
tals
s N
g
LG l aces na Ved a ee Ae ee
2. Cyclops bicuspidatus.............00eeeeee lz p.. . p.. ode ef
GG / ð e VV casaaenes een
4, Cyclops phalest us. ln
5. Cyclops serrulatuͥss . [pp. p.
6. Cyclops viridis insectãaaa .. p pIp [PP. p p
7. Diaptomus palliduuꝶ ss. lz p. D.
8. Diaptomus sanguin eus. p.
9. Diaptomus siciliss . 4, p. . .
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov.
17
Disrripution or st. Louis Cuapocera From Marcu 1909
To June 1910
June
August
Oetober
18 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
DisrRmUTION oF Sr. Lovis CLADOCERA From APRIL 1920
To Avueust 1921
1920 1921
> 2
ee
E ³ Ä TTT eek
2. Bosmina longirostris. . . pP p P| pip
3. Ceriodaphnia lacustris.................... ‘
4. Ceriodaphnia laticau data pip
5. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi..................... pip
6. Chydorus sphaericus..................... PPC. p 8
7. Daphnia longiremis hy alina. p ‘
8. Daphnia longiremis longispina............. 8
RD ee
10. Daphnia retro curves p *
11. Diaphanosoma brachyuru m p 0
12. Diaphanosoma leuchtenbergianum......... p
6-ʒuͤ ²ßÄ— U ] pe p ;
14. Leydigia quadrangularis. . . . . . . . [ee . . p
15. Latonopsis occidentalis . 4 p . . . . . . . . .
16. Macrothrix laticor nis. Ke pepe
eee cece clee ne ofe ofeetoal Diels vests cd DID
18. Moina rectirostris............... p. p. ‘
19. Oxyurella tenuicaudis.............. p. 0
20. Pleuroxus denticulatus............... | pip p
21. Pleuroxus hamulatus......... p. |p
22. Scapholeberis mucronata........ p|.. pp.
23. Simocephalus serrulat us. pIpIPI PI.
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov.
19
Distrisution or Sr. Lovis Copzepopa From Apri 1920
To Aveust 1921
June
July
August
April
July
August
os VV Vw
eo S39. 8
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
TEMPERATURE DistRIBUTION oF St. Louris CLADOCERA
2 8 838 383
I MM ‚Hhgg˖˖ ·ůãQͤãè ²ẽů˙ ð Y e
2. Alona rectangular iss. p
3. Bosmina longirostris....................
4. Ceriodaphnia lacuustris ................
5. Ceriodaphnia laticaudata.............
6. Ceriodaphnia reticulata................. see p
7. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi.................. p
8. Chydorus sphaericus.................... Ne p
9. Daphnia longiremis hyali na. ee
10. Daphnia longiremis longispina........... .
% U e p
12. Daphnia retrocurva...............2.04. Ay sulfa beeen p
13. Diaphanosoma brachyurum............. 1 90 p
14. Diaphanosoma leuchtenbergianuůmmn . . 4
—. ͤ o · mgꝶ Sas eaters p
16. Leydigia acanthoceroides................ e p
17. Leydigia quadrangula riss : p
18. Macrothrix laticornis................... Peng) Bei ie + p
19. Moina brachiata...............0seee00% e p |p
20. Moina rectirostris.................e+06- p
21. Oxyurella tenuicaudis . e
22. Pleuroxus denticulat us. p p
23. Pleuroxus hamulatus.............-+++++ 3
24. Pseudosida bidentata............+-.+++. me NS) EOE EF
25. Scapholeberis mueronataꝛ . 3 p
26. Simocephalus serrulatus................. bys pP|P/]Ppip
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov.
21
Temperature Distrisution or Sr. Louis Copepopa
— 0
EEE
238 [8 [88
p
5
Pip
P| Pp
P| pp o
5 bp pp ip
pp. o
pp. o
Pp |.
P
Pip
5
5 5
22 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
DistrisuTion oF St. Louris CoPRPODA anp CLaporRA Ac-
CORDING TO THE HypROGEN TON CONTENT OF THE WATER
CLADOCERA
1
2. Bosmina longirostris................J....]....
3. Ceriodaphnia lacustris. .. ..
4. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi......
5. Chydorus sphaericus... . . .
6. Daphnia longiremis hyalina.
7. Daphnia longiremis longispina...... . e
2
8
222
8
A
8
v=)
-
co
—
D
00
N
00
G—ͤ— 332 4
— —
G— H 1 4 *
7 cGêéG G
16. Scapholeberis mueronata.
COPEPODA
r mm —Q;æ Qvù̃
2. Cyclops bieuspida tus
3. Cyclops fimbriatus.........
—U 1 949.
4. Cyclops leuckart i.
5. Cyclops serrulatus.............
6. Cyclops viridis insectus.
ee ee ee
7. Diaptomus ashlandi.................|...
8. Diaptomus oregonensis..............|...+|ee-
9. Diaptomus pseudosanguineus
„4 4„„%„%%%„„ „44 „6
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov.
Hasrrat Distrrsution or Sr. Lovis CLapocera
4200
23
9
UO. U.
EEE
p.
p
P|.
p
p
p.. . p.
pp.
pipi
15
-|P
p.
p.
p.
p.
p.. . Ip.
p.
pp.
p.
p.. . Ip.
pi.
p
P
24 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
Hasitat Distripution oF St. Louis CopPRPODA
N. O O
EI a
% 2% [Fond|Pond|Lake
eee a Gal hiya aa eel . pp p|p|. p
2. Cyclops bieuspidatuͤ s eL „e
SOGO‚ Rm / / ˙ O a, e
J AA A 0 v „
eee, 6 eon ee eas Oh <b beh pa
6. Cyclops phaleratus.: .. .... 2.20. set ie. p. p.
U » os bo os ER as p. p.
oo ”ͤ , % , / ‚ðOẽ‚ sees pP Pp.. pP. Ip
9. Cyclops viridis insectuͥʒ s pp pP. Ip.
10. Diaptomus ashlandi...................... p. p.
11. Diaptomus oregonen sis nh Pa) Paley NL) Fr
12. Diaptomus pallidus. ͤaL2ssss SAPD ide ch a ees
13. Diaptomus pseudosanguineus.............. ../p
14. Diaptomus sanguineu: sss. Ade +E edo beads
Dionne W... esha eee
16. Diaptomus stagna lis M
LITERATURE
Birge, E. A. (78). Notes on Cladocera, 1878.
— (19). List of Crustacea Cladocera from Madison, Wisconsin. Trans.
Wis. Acad. Sci. 8:379-398. pl. 13. 1891.
— (18). Key to North American fresh-water Cladocera. Fresh-water
Biology, by Henry B. Ward and George C. Whipple. pp. 689-
740. 1918. }
Forbes, E. B. (97). A contribution to our knowledge of the North
American Fresh-Water Cyclopidae. Bull. Ill. State Lab. of Nat.
Hist. 5:27-82. pl. 8-20. 1897.
Forbes, S. A. (76). List of Illinois Crustacea, with descriptions of
new species. Bull. III. State Lab. of Nat. Hist. 1:3-25, 1876.
— (82). On some Entomostraca of Lake Michigan and Adjacent
Waters. Am. Nat. 16:537-543, 640-650. pl. 8, 9. 1882.
Herrick, C. L. and Turner, C. H. (95). Synopsis of the Entomostraca
of Minnesota. Geol. Nat. Hist. Surv. Minnesota, Zool. Series 2.
pp. 1-524. pl. 1-81. 1895.
Diaptomus Pseudosanguineus Sp. Nov. 25
Marsh, C. Dwight, (18). Copepoda. Fresh-water Biology, by Henry
B. Ward and George C. Whipple. pp. 741-789. 1918.
Schacht, F. W. (97). The North American species of Diaptomus.
Bull. III. State Lab. of Nat. Hist. 5:97-207. pl. 21-35. 1897.
Turner, C. H. (10). Ecological notes on the Copepoda and Cladocera
of Augusta, Ga., with descriptions of new species. Trans. Acad.
Sci. St. Louis 19:151-176. pl. 36-38. 1910.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES
PLATE I,
Fig. 1. Diaptomus pseudosanguineous, sp. nov., ventral view of
female; c, tubercles on the distal margin of the thorax; d, strong
curved spine on the lateroventral portion of the first segment of the
abdomen,
Fig. 2. Diaptomus pseudosanguineous, sp. nov., lateral view of
Fig. 3 Lateral view of the female; j, spermatophore.
Fig. 4. Antenna of the female.
PLATE II.
Fig. 1. Lateral view of female illustrating a case of commensal-
ism between this form and certain Vorticellidae; e, one of the com-
mensal Vorticellidae. By examining that portion of the illustration
labeled e with a magnifying glass the protozoan will be distinct. The
use of the glass will also reveal retracted Vorticellidae among the
eggs.
Fig. 2. Caudal extremity of the thorax and the first abdominal
rom of a female (lateral view); f, stout curved spine; g, sperma-
tophore.
Fig. 3. Antipenultimate segment of the male right antenna; h,
terminal claw; i, hyaline flange.
PLATE III.
Fig. 1. Fifth foot of the male; a, endopodite of the left fifth foot.
Fig. 2. Antennae of the male.
Fig. 3. Pair in copulo.
Fig. 4. Enlarged view showing the tubercles on the caudal mar-
gin of the thorax; b, the tubercles.
Fig. 5. Fifth foot of the female. The terminal setae moved re-
flexly, while the photo was being taken, thus causing the appendage
to appear to have several terminal setae. There are only two long
setae at that place.
PLATE IV.
Fig. 1. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi, shell markings.
Fig. 2. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi, Female. b, antennae c, beak-like
projection from head.
Fig. 3. Moina brachiata, female, showing commensalism; a, Vorti-
Fig. 6. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi, female, showing the escape of a
young specimen from the brood sac. By turning the page sidewise
the details of this photo become more distinct.
TRANS. Acap. Sor. or Sr. LOUIS. Vor. XXIV PLaTeE I
TRANS. Acap. Scr. or Sr. Louis, Vor. XXIV Pirate II
TRANS. Acap. Scr. or Sr. Louis, Vou. XXIV PLArE III
Trans. Acap. Scr. or Sr. Louis, Vou. XXIV PiaTe IV
BUFO FOWLERI PUTNAM IN MISSOURI
C. H. DanrortH
At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural His-
tory on August 2, 1843, Dr. Andrew Nichols exhibited a
toad which had been captured by S. P. Fowler, Esq., of
Danvers, Massachusetts, immediately after it had ut-
tered its strange call. In a letter accompanying the
specimen Dr. Nichols stated that he had long been fa-
miliar with the call of this toad, and from his account,
which is summarized in the report of the meeting, there
can be little doubt that the specimen was a representa-
tive of the form which has subsequently come to be
known as Bufo fowleri. The short paragraph in which
the incident is recorded! is probably the earliest refer-
ence to an individual of the species to be found anywhere
in the literature. However, Dr. D. H. Storer, who was
present at the meeting pronounced the specimen to be
„the Bufo lentiginosus* of Shaw' and the species seems
to have received no further notice from the Society for
nearly forty years.
But Mr. Fowler apparently was not satisfied with
the identification and continued his observations through
many seasons, finally sending a collection of specimens
and field notes to Professor F. W. Putnam who described
the species, in manuscript, conferring upon it the name
fowleri in honor of its first collector. Putnam apparently
never published his description, but in 1875 Cope® listed
Bufo lentiginosus fowleri’’ and in 1882, Mary H. Hink-
ley* described the tadpoles of Bufo americanus Le Conte
1. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, p. 136, 1844.
2. It may be recalled that the northern form, B. americanus Le
2 was not recognized as different from the southern
B. lentiginosus Shaw until some years later than this.
3. Checklist of North American Batrachians and Reptiles, Bull.
U. S. Nat. Museum, No. 1, lige 9 29)
4. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
and Bufo fowleri Putnam. In his ‘‘Batrachia of North
America,’’ published in 1889, Cope’ gave considerable
space to Bufo lentiginosus fowleri. In this publication
he stated (page 279) that it ‘‘is so far known only as a
native of a few ponds in northeastern Massachusetts
near the town of Danvers,’’ and further commented that
such a limited distribution of a land vertebrate is re-
markable, as is also the fact of its having so long re-
mained without an introduction to science.“
Since the publication of Cope’s checklist the range;
or better the recognition, of Bufo fowleri has been con-
siderably extended. Up to 1906 we find ‘‘Bufo fowleri
reported only from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
New York near the coast.“
About 1907 Miss Dickerson identified it as the most
common form about Washington, D. C.,“ and a year later
Allard recorded it as abundant in northern Georgia“. In
1910 Miller and Chapin’ reported it to be the only toad in
southern and eastern New Jersey and on Staten Island,
and also recorded its presence in the mountainous part
of New York. Finally, in the summer of 1916, Dunn”
found the species common in the mountains of North
Carolina but not ascending to an elevation of more than
2700 feet.
It will be apparent from this brief review that by
1917 abundant evidence had accumulated to show that
the range of Bufo fowleri includes a region reaching
from southern New Hampshire to northern Georgia and
extending westward at least as far as the Appalachian
Mountains. It is interesting to find now that the range
Bull. U. S. Nat. Museum, No. 34.
Mary C. Dickerson: The Frog Book, 1906.
According to H. A. Allard: Science N. S. vol. XXVI, pp. 383-384,
1907.
H. A. Allard: Bufo Fowlert (Putnam) in Northern Georgia.
Science, N. S. XXVIII, pp. 655-656, 1908.
W. De W. Miller and James Chapin: The Toads of the North-
eastern United States. Science, N. S. vol. XXXII, pp. 315-316,
1910.
10. Emmett R. Dunn: Bull. Amer. Mussum of Natural History, Octo-
ber 13, 1917.
„ HM
Bufo fowleri Putnam in Missouri 3
is not limited by the mountains but continues far beyond
them, reaching, in at least this one locality, the west side
of the Mississippi.
The writer first found Bufo fowleri in St. Louis
during May, 1920, when large numbers of these toads
were heard singing in Forest Park. He had earlier had
abundant opportunity in Maine and Massachusetts to
become familiar with the habits and calls of typical
Bufo americanus and Bufo fowleri but had not previously
been aware of the latter species in Missouri. This is
probably because no collection of toads had been made
and also because of the din of automobiles in the St.
Louis parks on warm evenings, the only time when Bufo
/fowleri: calls. As soon as the notes were recognized a
number of specimens were captured and found to be typi-
eal examples of Bufo fowleri. One of them was sent to
ithe ‘Agassiz Museum where it was submitted to Mr.
‘Emmett Dunn, who verified the identification.
Since Hurter“ mentions only Bufo americanus, the
question arises as to whether he had never collected
‘Bufo fowleri or had failed to differentiate it. Conse-
quently a letter of inquiry was addressed to the National
Museum, where the Hurter collection is deposited. In
reply Dr. Stejneger stated that he had had the Missouri
specimens examined and found that out of a total of
‘thirty-five, thirty-three were Bufo americanus, but that
one, #15871, had most of the characters of a typical Bufo
‘fowleri while another, #57495, was intermediate. The
latter specimens were both collected by Mr. Hurter at
St. Louis. These data would seem to indicate that the
species is confined in Missouri to the region of St. Louis,
but since they also show that Mr. Hurter was not on the
lookout for Bufo fowleri, the possibility remains that it
may be more or less widely distributed in the state.
Since the literature relating to Bufo fowleri is
11. Julius Hurter, Sr.: Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of
the Academy of Science of St. Louis, vol. 10, No. 5, 1911.
+ Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
rather scattered it may be worth while to review some
of the outstanding characteristics of the species, con-
trasting it with Bufo americanus. It should be borne in
mind that both species are quite variable and that almost
any morphological characteristic of the one may occa-
sionally be met in the other. There seems to be no defi-
nite evidence, however, that the two species hybridize or
intergrade in the strictest sense.
Size. Bufo fowleri is of medium size, with very little
difference between the sexes. A typical mated pair, from
Forest Park, St. Louis, which produced a large number
of fertile eggs when placed in an aquarium were meas-
ured from the tip of the snout to the tip of the urostyle.
The length of the male was found to be 65 mm., that of
the female 68 mm. Bufo americanus on the other hand
is larger and shows a very marked difference in the size
of the two sexes. A male selected as typical of a con-
siderable collection of specimens from Norway, Maine
(which appears to be beyond the northern limit of Bufo
fowlert), had a length of 66 mm., while a female from
the same source and selected in the same way measured
90 mm. in length. The weight of the female was more
than twice that of the male. The contrast in size be-
tween the adult females of the two species is indicated
in the accompany sketches which are drawn to scale.
Surface Anatomy. Shape of the head. Viewed
from above, the head of B. fowleri (fig. 3) appears rather
narrow and pointed in front. The eyes generally form
part of the outline. In B. americanus (fig 1) the head is
very broad and slightly more rounded in front. The eyes,
especially in adult females, do not enter into the outline
of the head when seen in this position (Dunn). In pro-
file (as pointed out by Deckert) the appearance of the
two species is very different (figs. 2 and 4). The head of
B. fowleri is short and thick with a very blunt snout, that
of B. americanus is longer, not so thick, and with a taper-
ing snout. This difference is quite as marked in males
as in females.
Bufo fowleri Putnam in Missouri , 5
AL
Fig. 1. Outline sketch of the head of an adult female Bufo ameri-
canus from Norway, Maine.
Fig. 2. Side view of the same specimen.
Figs. 3 and 4. Similar views of an adult female Bufo fowleri from
St. Louis, Missouri.
e ee ee
x *
The specimens from which the sketches were made, together with
living specimens of both species, collected in the immediate vicinity,
were exhibited at a meeting of the Academy on May 7, 1921.
Bony crests.—In B. fowleri the frontal crests are
rather small and either slightly divergent behind or,
more often, parallel, and even fused in the mid-line
(Dickerson, Deckert**). In B. americanus the crests are
more robust and often parallel, but not fused. In both
species there is almost always a short medially or pos-
teriorly directed prolongation of this crest beyond its
union with the post ocular ridge which runs in a trans-
12. Deckert, Richard: Do the Fowler’s Toad and the American Toad
Interbreed? Science, N. S. vol. XLV. pp. 113-114, 1917.
6 Trans. Acad. Soi. of St. Louis
verse direction (Figs. 1 and 3). In B. americanus the
well developed postocular ridge ends laterally in a bifur-
cation, one branch running forward and downward be-
tween the eye and the tympanic membrane, the other,
short but distinct, extending back to the parotid body.
In B. fowleri the postocular ridge is less pronounced and
the posterior prolongation is lacking.
Parotid bodies. In B. fowleri the parotid bodies
(fig. 3) are rather narrow elongated ovals adnate in
front, at least laterally, to the postocular ridges. In
B. americanus (fig. 1) they are short, generally more or
less reniform in outline, and free from the postocular
ridge proper, being united only to a prolongation from it.
Warts.—The warts of B. fowleri are relatively small
and with only feeble spines or none at all, those of B.
americanus are much larger and often tipped with strong
spines. When comparing the males which are of about
the same size in the two species the difference in the
warts is very noticeable, but in the absence of represen-
tatives of both species it would often be difficult to iden-
tify a specimen on the basis of warts alone. In B. fow-
leri the under parts are finely granular, in B. ameri-
canus they are coarsely granular or even spiny.
Other structural characters. -B. fowlert is in gen-
eral appearance more frog-like with a closer fitting skin
and smaller, more slender feet than B. americanus. It
is a ‘‘much more trim, dapper, active little fellow than its
relative.’’ (Allard.)
Color. Most specimens of B. fowleri show a grayish
background with some greenish tints; only rarely is there
a reddish brown cast. In B. americanus the background
is most often more or less reddish. In B. fowleri the
ground color may change from a light greenish gray to
almost black in the.course of a few hours, The dark
dorsal spots are said (Dickerson) to be more constant in
B. fowleri than in B. americanus, there usually being six
pairs in the former. A mid dorsal longitudinal gray
stripe is more distinct and more constant in B. fowleri
Bufo: fowleri. Putnam in Missouri 7
than in B. americanus: The under parts of the former
are generally unspotted, those of the latter usually are
spotted.
Breeding Habits. B. americanus breeds relatively
early, B. fowlert relatively late, the breeding season of
the former having passed as a rule some time before that
of the latter begins. The data for St. Louis are inade-
quate; but apparently during the past two years B.
americanus has left the breeding sites before the middle
of April, while in 1921 a careful watch for B. fowler did
not result in finding any specimens till April 23 and no
active breeding until May: At. St. Louis the breeding
season extends into June. The egg strings of B. fowleri
have the eggs arranged in several rows while those of B.
americanus are in a single row.
The Call. The call, or song, of the two species is
very different and when both have been heard they are
not likely ever to be confused. The song of B. fowleri is
a harsh unmusical call with a peculiar initial inflection
—an ‘‘unmistakable, weird, wailing, scream“ (Allard).
„There is no sound in bog, pond, fen, forest or air, at all
like it“ (Nichols). The average duration of the call
both at St. Louis and in Massachusetts is slightly over
two seconds, rarely three seconds. The song of B. ameri-
canus on the other hand is a prolonged, uninflected trill
of a rather pleasant droning quality. Its duration may
be for as much as 30 seconds. It is heard only early in the
season and may be uttered in relatively cold water. B.
fowleri calls only when the temperature is comparatively
high.
It is of interest to note that between these two
species, which in some respects are very similar, charac-
ters that might be called fundamentally psychological—
e.g. habits, notes,—are among the most distinctively dif-
ferential. The writer has been impressed with a some-
what similar phenomenon among birds, where local dif-
erences in song or call notes are far more apparent than
8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lows
any physical differences. Perhaps the systematic value
of these characters, and their evolutionary importance
has been underestimated.
The range of Bufo fowerli is very likely more ex-
tended than recorded data would indicate. Since it has
been found in the Carolinas and Georgia, and now in
Missouri, it is probable that it occurs in the intermediate
territory. In his ‘‘Notes on Illinois Reptiles and Am-
phibia’’ Garman™ stated that Bufo americanus is the
common form in Illinois, but described a call which he
suggested might be that of B. lentiginosus. His descrip-
tion, however, fits the call of B. fowleri, and it would
seem not improbable that this was the species which he
really heard. Cope“ remarked in 1889 that a specimen
of the var. Americanus from Nebraska approximates
sufficiently close to the last specimen (Fowleri) to indi-
cate that the Fowleri can not be regarded as under all
circumstances separate, or be accorded full specific
rank.“ When it is recalled that at the time this was
written Cope believed B. fowleri to be confined to north-
eastern Massachusetts, it seems not improbable that he
was misled in his diagnosis, and that his Nebraska speci-
men really was B. fowleri. In any event it is clear that
much remains to be done before the exact range of this
species can be stated with any certainty.
13. Garman, H.: Bull, Ill. State Lab. of Nat. Hist., 1891, pp. 185-190.
14. Loc. Cit., p. 279.
CANCER, ITS COURSE AND ITS CAUSES
By
Leo Logs
Cancer is a disease which differs very markedly in its
character from all other diseases. It is common to man
and to higher animals and in a few cases something analo-
gous to it has been found also in invertebrates. In gener-
al, the character of the disease and its course are the
same, wherever it appears, and in order to bring out this
distinct character we are led to compare it with certain
infectious diseases such as tubereulosis and diphtheria.
In tuberculosis a microscopic organism, the tubercle
bacillus, enters the body usually through the respira-
tory tract or through the intestines. Wherever a few
tubercle bacilli settle, they set up a certain reaction on
the part of the host tissue. The cells nearest to the
invaders undergo peculiar changes and a certain kind of
leucocytes surround them with a wall. Sometimes a con-
nective tissue capsule forms around it all and then the
bacilli may become secluded, incarcerated so to speak,
and innocuous temporarily or forever. Frequently, how-
ever, the tubercle bacilli multiply and produce poisons
which kill the tissue around them; they spread in the
neighboring tissue; they soften the tissue locally through
killing it and may thus break into lymph and blood ves-
sels and are carried to distant parts where they set up
similar processes. They produce substances which are
toxic and which disturb the general condition of the in-
vaded organism, and the latter usually responds with the
production of antagonistic substances which counteract
to a certain extent the toxic substances of the bacteria
and thus may cause either a certain degree of immunity
against the bacillus and its products, or, on the contrary,
hypersusceptibility. Such immunity reactions on the
part of the host are quite common in bacterial infectious
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
diseases. They may lead to the neutralization of the
toxin produced as, for instance, in diphtheria, or they may
be directed mainly against the invading organism as such,
as for instance, in vaccinia, which is a very much miti-
gated, quite innocuous variety of smallpox.
If we compare with this process the changes which take
place in cancer, we find a notable difference. In cancer
certain constituents of the body and its component tis-
sues, namely, the microscopic cells, multiply abnormally
and invade the surrounding tissue; they penetrate far-
ther and farther. They not only multiply, but very often
actually move, migrate and push into the lymph chan-
nels and blood vessels. Once this is accomplished they are
carried away by the blood or lymph stream to various
parts of the body and there set up similar new growths
by again multiplying and migrating into the neighboring
tissue. These secondary growths are called metastases.
They are composed of the same kind of cells which orig-
inally began to grow.
Usually cancer begins as a sharply localized growth
and the multiplication and migration of cells is limited to
one kind of cells. Any kind of tissue may thus become
overactive, cancerous. It may be certain parts of the
skin, mammary gland, stomach, tongue, cheek, intestine,
liver, uterus. If it starts in the skin, skin-like forma-
tions are produced in excess, and in the most varied parts
of the body where they do not occur normally. When
the cancer starts in the mammary gland, breast tissue
grows in excess and is found in internal organs as metas-
tases. Soitis with the stomach. In cancer of the stom-
ach irregular stomach tissue may be found in the stom-
ach itself, but a few cells may be carried to the liver and
elsewhere and start the growth of stomach tissue there.
In the ovary and testes, and occasionally elsewhere, not
only single tissue may be found to grow, but through the
simultaneous growth of various tissues very complex
Cancer Its Course and Its Causes 3
structures can develop which resemble disorganized em-
bryos, And parts of this abnormal formation may again
become invasive and set up secondary growths i in other
parts of the body.
We see then that in cancer parts of our body become
overactive and grow and move in a somewhat hasty, dis-
organized way. This excessive growth of parts of our
body is the essential disease, not, as in tuberculosis, the
destruction and cell death caused by the toxins of bac-
teria.
In cancer no immunity is produced in the diseased or-
ganism such as is found in varying degrees in infectious
diseases, because the essential invader and product of
the disease is part of ourselves, our own body. Now, an
organism defends itself only against something strange,
which carries a chemical element into its economy quite
different from that to which it is aceustomed. A de-
fense can therefore be set up against the strange bacteria
and thus immunity develops; but no such chemical reac-
tion occurs against the own cells of the body which are
very familiar to all the surrounding cells and do not
carry anything essentially new into the host. They pro-
duce nevertheless certain alterations in the metabolism
of the body and may thus cause a certain loss of weight
and other changes. But these are inconstant and of rela-
tively minor importance. The injurious effect of cancer
is essentially of a mechanical and locally destructive
character. The cancer cells destroy important and nec-
essary organs, or they interfere with their function; they
may open the blood vessels and cause bleeding; they may
break through the surface of the body and may give rise
to putrefaction. However, there are great differences in
the activity of different cancers. Some are relatively
inert and may exist for many years without doing seri-
ous harm; but the majority of cancers are quite active and
destructive in a relatively short time.
4 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
It is possible to remove cancer cells which develop in
an animal from the original host and transplant them in-
to other individuals of the same species. We may re-
peat reinoculation indefinitely, carrying the cells from
animal to animal. This has been done in mice and rats.
A swelling develops, which ordinarily is not painful, but
merely weakens the animals. Now such transplanted
cells, which grow in an individual, different from that in
which they originated, are strange to the new organism,
and thus defense processes may be set up and a certain
immunity be produced against these grafted cancers,
But this is an immunity against body cells of a strange
individual and not an immunity against a microorganism,
such as we find it in infectious diseases.
Cancer is then an abnormal growth process. It re-
peats in an exaggerated and irregular and endless way
what may take place normally in a regular and self-lim-
ited manner during the embryonic development or in the
repair of wounds in various organs, or after the grafting
of tissues to different places. Under all those conditions
we find an increased cell multiplication and we may even
find an invasive growth. But under normal conditions
all this is limited and comes to an end as soon as a certain
stage in the process has been reached. It may, however,
occur that processes of a typical embryonic development,
or wound healing, which is kept up over a long period of
time, change into the endless, continuous excess growth
of cancer. We shall refer to that again later.
What are the causes of this excessive multiplication
and invasiveness of a limited number of well defined
cells of our body which in the end succeed in destroying
themselves? As late as ten years ago the majority of
physicians would probably have answered this question
by stating that the causes of cancer are unknown to us;
that the causes of tuberculosis and other infectious dis-
eases, on the other hand, have been fully determined.
ee Cancer Its Course and Its Causes 5
To-day it would come nearer the truth if we would ac-
knowledge that while the external cause of tuberculosis is
known, much has still to be learned about the cause of
tuberculosis. That the external factor does not consti-
tute the only cause of tuberculosis; that many individuals
are equally exposed to or perhaps even invaded by the
tubercle bacillus, but that the result differs very much
in different cases. What part does the character and
constitution of the exposed or invaded organism play in
this infection? Does heredity play any part? Is the shape
of the thorax, the condition of the lymphatic apparatus,
of the circulatory organs of importance in determining
the character of this disease? Does it assume an espe-
cially virulent course in certain populations, because
they lack an acquired or perhaps inherited immunity?
How does the toxin of the tubercle bacillus produce its
specific effect on the organism? There are, then, multi-
ple causes of tuberculosis and the analysis of the inner
causes of tuberculosis still remains a large field for fur-
ther investigation. In the case of cancer, conditions are
somewhat analogous. We can speak very definitely
about some of the principal causes of cancer, but as in the
case of tuberculosis certain aspects of the problem need
still further investigation.
In general, the causes of cancer in animals and man
are the same. In many respects, however, animal can-
cer lends itself much more readily to an analysis than
human cancer. One of the most completely analysed
kinds of cancer is that of mice. The common variety in
mice is cancer of the breast in female individuals. Mam-
mary cancer in mice is essentially caused by two factors:
1) a disposition to cancer which is inherited in certain
families and strains, and 2) a chemical stimulus which
emanates from the ovary and causes the disposition in-
herent in the mammary gland in certain families to as-
sert itself; thus cancer develops. The hereditary dis-
position to mammary cancer varies very greatly in dif-
6 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
ferent strains; in some families almost 100% of all fe-
males become cancerous; in other families almost none
become diseased. This constitutional. characteristic is
transmitted by heredity from generation to generation,
with only slight modifications. Even the age at which
the cancer appears in mice is determined by heredity.
In other kinds of animal cancer, heredity plays a similar
role. And there is much evidence that the same holds
good in the case of man. But in man conditions are
much more complicated through continued interbreed-
ing. This prevents the hereditarily transmitted consti-
tutional factor from being as clearly recognizable as in
the case of animal cancer where it can be followed in
isolated families. But even in man indications are not
lacking that heredity plays the same part as in animal
cancer. This is especially clear whenever interbreeding
has been less prominent; and the recent studies of C. C.
Little, of the Eugenics Record Office of the Carnegie
Institution for the Study of Evolution, show that an
hereditary factor can be shown to exist in human cancer
generally.
As we stated above, the heredity factor is usually ac-
companied by internal or external stimuli; and these
stimuli must cooperate with the hereditary disposition
which in certain cases seems to imply a tendency to a
special kind of cancer, rather than a general tendency to
cancer. These stimuli transform the potential heredi-
tary disposition into an actual cancer. These stimuli
may be chemical or mechanical. The effect exerted by
the ovary, to which we referred above, is an example of
a chemical stimulus. Certain parasitic worms in the
body of the host may likewise stimulate some tissues to
cancerous proliferation. This is probably also due to
a chemical stimulus emanating from the parasite. Long
continued irritation functions as a mechanical stimulus.
Roentgen rays acting on unprotected skin through a long
period of time may also cause a mechanical irritation.
Cancer Its Course and Its Causes 7
Experimentally it has been possible to produce at will
cancer in rats, mice and rabbits through the application
of Roentgen rays, by infecting them with certain para-
sitic worms, or through the application of irritating sub-
stances like tar to their skin. In all of these cases the
stimulus has to act over a relatively long period of time,
and generally the appearance of fully developed cancer
is preceded by increased growth activity of the stimu-
lated areas which leads to the production of what is often
called a precancerous condition. Such a stage often pre-
cedes cancer in man. Through the long continued stim-
ulation the cells are kept in a continuous state of in-
creased multiplication, such as we find in a wound heal-
ing during a short period of time; if this excessive mul-
tiplication continues sufficiently long, the cells change
their character, they keep on multiplying in excess and
invade neighboring tissues even after the direct stim-
ulus has been removed. This effect of stimulation is
very much promoted through the hereditary predisposi-
tion to a certain kind of cancer, but it seems that if the
external stimulus is very strong and long continued, a
deficiency in hereditary predisposition becomes less im-
portant; but an analysis of the quantitative relation be-
tween the strength of the predisposing hereditary fac-
tors and the external or internal stimulating factors has
so far been attempted in only a few cases.
There are some cancers where at present we have no
knowledge of stimulating factors, where, apparently
merely on the basis of some error during the development
of the embryo, cancer develops, or where ova undergo
parthenogenetic development and lead to embryo-like
tumors in the ovary or perhaps elsewhere. From these
abnormal embryo-like structures cancer may develop.
These kinds of cancer frequently appear relatively early
in life, while usually cancer is more frequent in older in-
dividuals.
8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
It seems also that in certain cases a cancer itself may
stimulate neighboring tissues which had been normal
to assume cancerous growth. In this case we have prob-
ably to deal with a chemical stimulus exerted by cancer-
ous cells,
There still remains one kind of cancer to be considered
which differs in some respects very markedly from all
other kinds which have been so far investigated. There
occurs in fowl a cancer of the connective tissue and car-
tilage which behaves in its course not unlike the typical
cancer; it makes metastases, leads to the death of the
animal and can be transplanted into other individuals of
the same kind. It differs, however, very markedly from
other kinds of cancer in three respects: 1) while in other
kinds of cancers, notwithstanding many experiments in
this direction, some of them carried out as early as twen-
ty years ago, it has not been found possible to separate
from the cells an agent which would cause the cancer
when injected into suitable individuals, this attempt
was successful in this particular cancer of fowl. By
filtration through filters so fine that tumor cells cannot
pass, the agent was separated from the cells. The same
result was obtained through drying the tumor and simi-
lar devices which killed the tumor cells without caus-
ing a marked injury to the agent. As stated, the same
means previously used in other kinds of tumors had led
to the result that the inoculability of the tumor had
been lost.
Here then exists an agent distinct from the tumor
cells, which is presumably an ultramicroscopic microor-
ganism. 2) It is possible to produce in birds an immune
serum which protects fowl against the agent, as distinct
from the tumor cells. This has never been possible in
the case of the typical mammalian cancer. Here im-
munization is always directed against the cancer cells
themselves and only succeeds in transplanted, not in
Cancer Its Course and Its Causes 9
spontaneous cancer. 3) Injection of the agent leads ap-
parently not only to the production of the same kind of
tumor, but also to other kinds of tumors; this is due to
the fact that the agents can affect certain other kinds of
cells.
In these respects then this particular kind of tumor
differs from the typical mammalian cancer. We must
assume that in this case the stimulus which calls forth
the transformation of ordinary cells into cancer cells con-
sists in the presence and continuous action of a microor-
ganism which presumably acts through the medium of a
chemical substance which it gives off.
To summarize then briefly what we know about the
causes of cancer, we found an inherited predisposition,
combined with the action of external or inner chemical
or mechanical stimuli, to be responsible for the typical
mammalian cancer. These factors have been analysed
experimentally to such an extent that in certain cancers
it is possible not only to predict, how many cases of can-
cer of a certain kind will originate in a given family or
strain, but also to prevent the appearance of the cancer
or to reduce its frequency at will. It has furthermore
been possible to produce experimentally through the ap-
plication of these stimuli various types of cancer. Con-
ditions which favor cell growth in general favor the or-
igin of cancer. Certain mechanical and chemical stimuli,
an embryonic condition of tissues act in this way and
the inherited factor in cancer acts presumably in a similar
way. In a certain type of avian cancer a filterable virus
causes the cancerous growth of cells. The same may ap-
ply to certain other kinds of atypical cancer. It is, how-
ever, not probable that microorganisms play a part in the
typical mammalian cancer. But even if later it should
be found that here, too, microorganisms are involved, the
latter would have access equally to all individuals of a
certain species; they would therefore not explain, why on-
10 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
ly certain individuals are affected by cancer. This
would be explained through the difference in hereditary
predisposition and the action of stimuli, and these will
remain the important causes of the typical mammalian
cancer independent of the possible, but not probable,
action of microorganisms.
DO WE HEAR SOUND?
Avcustus G. PohLuAN
Almost every individual will admit without argument
that we hear sound. He may also be inclined to arrive at
the off-hand conclusion that the question properly be-
longs to the large category of scientific near-queries.
The theoretically balanced ass between two equally at-
tractive bales of hay and the hypothetical thunder storm
on the theoretical desert island might be listed as repre-
sentatives of this type; near-queries which make for
much discussion but relatively little information. The
question asked however does not belong to this group.
While as has been said almost any individual will admit
that we hear sound, no modern scientific theory of sound
analysis grants this possibility. If the scientific concep-
tion of hearing is correct, then people in general are en-
titled to some explanation of the error in the popular
notion of the problem. If, however, we are to make our
answer an affirmative one, then some explanation must
be made of how an error has crept into the theoretical
considerations. Practically all of the information con-
cerning things which lie outside of self are derived
through the eye and ear. It should therefore be a mat-
ter of some little importance to know what it is we see
and what it is we hear.
Lest someone may infer that our explanation may lead
us farther than it really does, it may be well to bear in
mind certain facts about the operation of the nervous
system. We do not know how a nerve conveys an im-
pulse neither do we know how the code message trans-
mitted to our brain is resolved into terms of conscious-
ness. We have not as yet discovered how a stimulus
affects a nerve ending. This much, however, is fairly well
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
understood. The activating agent which is to be trans-
ferred to the nerve ending in terms of impulse,
must be applied directly to the nerve ending
or to the cells which overlie the nerve ending.
This statement holds for the sensations of touch, of
pressure, of smell and of taste. We also recognize
that heat is transmitted through various substances
which may intervene between the source of the
energy and the part which perceives the sensation.
Therefore when the end organ is affected by the energy
which arises from the object rather than by the object
itself, we are dealing with distance rather than contact
organs. The end organ resolves the energy, not the ob-
ject, in terms of code message. We do not see heat; we
feel it. We do not feel light rays; we see them. It
would therefore follow as a matter of good logic, that
we do not see or feel energy in the form of sound; we
hear it.
Sound, next to heat, is the most difficult form of ener-
gy to deal with satisfactorily. From an experimental
point of view it is the most difficult form of energy to
analyze. The reason for this is easily grasped. In so far
as sense organs are concerned, they are crude physical
instruments when compared with the scales for measur-
ing pressure, the thermometer for measuring tempera-
ture, or the photographic plate for measuring light.
However when it comes to sound the reverse is true.
All physical instruments for registering sound are ex-
tremely crude when compared with the human ear. In
fact no instrument for measuring sound has yet been
devised which does not have a human ear on one end of
it. The phonodeik of Miller presents an instrument of
great delicacy but with a limited range of registration.
We are likely to visualize the working of an ear much
in the same manner as we visualize the operation of an
eye by comparing it with some well-known physical ap-
paratus. Bearing in mind the reservations in the pre-
Do We Hear Sound? 3
vious paragraph, may the ear be compared with the fa-
miliar recording phonograph?
The general picture of the ear apparatus is well known.
The drum membrane lies in the depth of the external
auditory canal. The small ear ossicles, malleus, incus
and stapes, are familiar to every high school student of
physiology. Further we probably remember that the end
organ of hearing, the organ of Corti, lies immersed in the
liquid of the inner ear contained within a cavity of the
temporal bone. The bony container has two openings in
it which are related to the middle ear cavity. The foot-
plate of the stapes occupies the oval window while the
smaller round window is provided with a membranous
diaphragm. The malleus is attached to the drum mem-
brane and is brought into relation with the stapes
through the intermediate ineus. The drum membrane in
this manner comes to have a definite connection to the
liquid of the inner ear.
May the mechanics of hearing be likened to the fa-
miliar lateral-type recording phonograph? The dia-
phragm of the phonograph corresponds to the drum mem-
brane; the hinged stylus may be likened to the hinged
ossicles; the groove on the recording plate may be com-
pared to the liquid of the inner ear. The sound pulses
strike the phonograph membrane and cause it to swing
in-and-out. The stylus membrane acts like a lever—the
long arm from the center of the diaphragm to the ful-
crum; the short arm resting a pointed tip in the wax.
The excursion of the shorter arm is necessarily less than
that of the longer arm and its power is thereby in-
creased. We know that this record when placed on a
reproducing phonograph will yield in a general way the
cause—the voice or the instrument. Just so all modern
theories of hearing assume that the sound pulses cause
an in-and-out swing of the drum membrane. The lateral
motions are transferred to the hinged ossicles; the long
4 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
arm (malleus) attached to the drum membrane. The last
of this chain of bones, the short arm of the lever system,
the stapes, is not pointed like a phonograph needle but is
broad and is applied to the liquid of the inner ear. The
liquid material however obviously cannot respond after
the manner of the wax and therefore it shivers as a mass.
This mass shiver is not sound any more than is the lat-
eral groove in the phonograph record, sound.
If we concede that the end organ embedded in the liquid
is far more sensitive than any phonographic recording
method, then the explanation why we do not hear sound
is beautifully lucid. The answer to our question is cor-
respondingly simple and let us repeat—according to
all modern theories of hearing and their name is legion—
We do not hear sound’’. We hear a mass shiver in the
liquid of the inner ear. It is also the writer’s contention
that this accepted description is not a true statement.
The theory thus far presented, may be called the indirect
activation theory. Briefly, what are the objections to it?
It is not a question whether the ear is built after the
pattern of a phonograph. Some heating devices have
been invented which also resemble the phonograph pat-
tern of construction closely. The question is does the
ear really record sound like a phonograph? Without
going into unnecessary details it can be definitely shown
that the drum membrane of the ear does not go in-and-out
in response to sound vibrations of minimum or even opti-
mum intensity. It can be definitely stated that a hinge op-
eration of the ossicles is impossible under the mechanic
conditions imposed. It can be shown that the amount of
energy applied to the drum membrane under usual op-
timum conditions is insufficient to move the mass, dis-
regarding all friction and attachments. It has been
demonstrated that measurable variations of the drum
membrane position have no effect on the liquid contents
of the inner ear in the living animal. It is known as a
Do We Hear Sound? 5
subjective physiological fact that the ear picks up a
dropped vibration in high frequencies up to 1/250th of a
second. This eliminates any feature which includes the
element of inertia. The phonograph and ear mechanism
therefore become very dissimilar. If we are to agree
that an ear cannot operate under the requirements of
an indirect activation it is not unlikely that all theories
based on this premise are also erroneous. This not only
accounts for the variations in interpretation of the end-
organ function but it also makes their discussion unnec-
essary. ay
The assumption that we do hear sound is much more
satisfactory from a biological view point. It falls in
line with the activating factors which operate other
sense organs. One does not assume that the retinal cells
are indirectly activated by a radiant heat reflected from
the choroid merely because the choroid is black. One
does not construct thermo-sensitive organs out of rods
and cones to explain why they face what appears to be
the wrong way and why they touch the pigment layer.
One regards the eye-ball as a reasonably light-proof
space except to the energies entering the pupil. One
searches, as Parker has done, for an explanation of the
inverted retina and finds it in the comparative anatomy.
We may therefore assume that the inner ear oceupies a
reasonably sound-proof space except for the energies nor-
mally entering through the footplate. We may also
search for the explanation of the refined histology of the
end-organ in the pattern upon which it is developed
rather than in terms of functional requirements.
Over a hundred years ago before the histology of the
end-organ had been reported by Corti, men thought seri-
_ ously on this problem. Carlisle in 1805 made far reach-
ing deductions on the basis of comparative anatomy.
Later in the forties the great anatomist and physiologist
Johannes Mueller performed experiments which formu—
6 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
lated the so-called molecular theory. The conception
that the sound pulse itself activates the end-organ fell in-
to disrepute as a result of the work of von Helmholtz
among the physicists and the modern school of otologists
headed by Politzer.
The mechanics of the direct activation theory has been
gone into in no little detail by the writer. The physics |
is that of the string telephone and the recognition that
sound pulses like light rays behave differently in vari-
ous physical media. The drum membrane according to
this theory affords a sort of catchment area for minute
energies in the air. These energies within the mem-
brane flow for the most part to the most tense area, the
attachment of the ossicles. The ossicles behave like a
solid rod transmitting the energies with longer wave
length to the footplate area. This is widened to fa-
cilitate the discharge of the energy into the liquid of the
inner ear and is insulated from transmitting the energy
into the surrounding bone by an elastic annular ligament.
In this manner a small amount of the energy from the
drum membrane reaches the liquid of the inner ear as a
sound pulse. The sound pulse in the inner ear liquid,
apart from wave length, is identical with the sound pulse
of the air of the external auditory canal. The shiver in
the liquid is therefore dependent on the physical character
of the liquid and not dependent on the elasticity of the
bony container or the membrane of the round window.
In other words no mass shifting of liquid occurs. The
scheme does not involve the element of inertia and ap-
pears to fit the facts of the comparative anatomy.
The entire histological picture of the end-organ may
be reinterpreted on the basis of the direct activation the-
ory. The basilar membrane insulates the end-organ from
sound pulses which might gain the sensitive epithelium
through the bony container. The vestibular membrane
limits the energy entering the cochlear duct through
Do We Hear Sound? 7
the Scala vestibuli. The membranes are, in other words,
damping in effect—just as the iris and choroid are part
of the light-proofing arrangement of the eyeball.
We are at once in a position to argue according
to this theory why individuals with ossicles gone may
hear. We are also able to state why greater energies
are required to hear low pitches than high pitches. We
may explain the failure of the sound-proofing of the end-
organ when sufficient energies of high pitch are applied
to the surface of the individual.
It may be well therefore in our investigation of sound
sources and of subjective sound registration to bear in
mind that we do hear sound itself. We may come to re-
gard the apparently crude apparatus of sound transmis-
sion as one of highly refined function. We may not be so
likely to accept explanations, like the piano-tuners named
in Dr. Wead’s recent article in Science, merely because
these explanations appear clear. If we do hear sound
perhaps something may be done in time for certain
conditions of deafness. One reason why fifty years of
research has contributed nothing to treatment of the un-
fortunate who cannot hear, may be due to an erroneous
conception of the mechanics involved. The writer de-
sires to place himself on record on the side of the popular
rather than the scientific explanation. We do hear
sound!
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS
F. W. Frerichs
It was indeed a pleasure to me when I received from
the Academy of Science an invitation to take part in a
cycle of lectures which had been arranged for the
purpose of discussing before its members the achieve-
ments of scientific research and the development of the
condition of life, which we are witnessing in our period
of time. It is only natural that chemistry should have a
place in this discussion since this branch of knowledge
has come forward in modern times to enter more than
any other science into our daily life.
Chemistry was in its infancy at the beginning of the
19th century. It is true that at an early time men began
to inquire the why and how of things about them, and to
take them apart. It is true that from such analysis,
particularly of inorganic things like rocks and ores, men
began to learn the characteristics of the simple elements
which go to make up our world and how they behave
when brought together in compounds not occurring in
nature. But the scope of chemical work done at that
time was so small and the amount of chemicals pro-
duced was so insignificant that it hardly deserved men-
tion among manufacturing industries.
Berzelius (1779 to 1848) did his experimenting in his
kitchen, his cook his only assistant, and yet in this most
primitive laboratory he discovered a number of elements
and determined their atomic weights. He lived, as
Woehler put it, in those happy days, when every rock
he picked up contained a new element.
E. Mitscherlich (1794-1863), Heinrich Rose (1795-1864),
Leopold Gmelin (1788-1853) and Robert v. Bunsen
(1811-1899), worked steadily on the establishment of
facts about the interaction of elements and tried to co-
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
ordinate them into a system, while Gay Lussae (1778-
1850), Berthollet (1748-1822), Aragadro (1776-1856),
Proust (1754-1826), Stas (1813-1891) and many others
were working on intermolecular relations between the
elements.
While men like these were tirelessly experimenting to
establish facts, there grew up a set of men who were
destined to lead chemistry to its highest development.
Woehler (1800-1882), Liebig (1803-1873) and Hofmann
(1818-1892) were three men whose names for all time
will be indelibly connected with the development of
chemical science and chemical industry. I had the great
privilege of being introduced into chemistry by Frieder-
ich Woehler, to be a student under him for three years,
and to be assistant in his laboratory for a term of five
and a half years, during all of which time I enjoyed
daily intercourse with this illustrious man. When I
entered the University of Gottingen in 1870 the course in
chemistry was carried on quite differently from what it
is now. During the time I was a student I heard one
lecture course on inorganic chemistry by Woehler. The
course, comprising one hundred and twenty hours, was
spread over twenty weeks. I heard a lecture course of
forty hours on organic chemistry by Huebner, and one
course on physics by William Weber (who was one of
the inventors of the telegraph) the course also compris-
ing forty hours, spread over twenty weeks. These two
hundred hours of lectures were all I heard during three
years up to my graduation. But we worked in the lab-
oratory daily from eight to twelve and from two to six,
and work we did. During all these days our teachers
were with us, going from student to student inspecting,
exhorting and criticising our work. It was on these oc-
casions that our teachers would speak to us individually
and collectively, and so we heard by word of mouth many
interesting facts about the early development of chemis-
try.
Development of the Chemical Industry 3
When Woehler was young, chemical research centered
about inorganic bodies and Woehler occupied himself
with the study of minerals and mineral substances. His
first great discovery he made in the field of inorganic
chemistry, when he in 1827 isolated aluminium by fusing
aluminium chloride with sodium, obtaining a metal of
silvery lustre but unusually light. His investigations of
cyanogen compounds in 1828 led him to the greatest dis-
covery of his life. In investigating the properties of
cyanate of ammonium (CNONH,) he studied its insta-
bility in aqueous solutions, effected its transformation
into urea (CO. NH. NH.) and recognized this body by its
reactions and its properities. I well remember the
cluster of urea-crystals, crystals several inches long, and
of the thickness of a pencil, which were made at an early
time, securely enclosed in a liter flask to serve as an
exhibit in lecture courses for many years to come. In
order to understand the importance of this discovery we
must remember that at that time chemists were con-
fining their efforts to the study of inorganic chemical
compounds. They were also interested in organic things,
meaning those resulting from growth of vegetation, or
from living things, all of which contained carbon, but
these bodies were found to be exceedingly complex and
almost without number.
Methods of analysis had been developed by which the
qualitative and quantitative composition of organic com-
pounds could be ascertained, and it was known that in
such compounds carbon was combined with other ele-
ments like nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen in many pro-
portions, but all chemists had failed to build up from
the elements a single one of the many carbon compounds
which occurred in nature. These compounds seemed to
be exceedingly complex, and since all efforts had proven
futile to produce any of them from the elements in the
laboratory, it was generally believed that organic com-
pounds could be produced only through the agency of
vital force“.
4 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
Friederich Woehler, then a teacher at the Gewerbe-
schule in Berlin, broke down this barrier; the first time
in the world’s history a chemist had succeeded in making
an organic material named Urea from inorganic sub-
stances, and recognized the fact. Since that time an
almost inconceivable number of carbon compounds have
been construed and manufactured, part of which were
produced by nature in plants and organisms, and many
more of equal importance, which are not found in nature
but are made in chemical laboratories by men. From
the preparation of artificial Urea the manufacture of
organic chemical compounds has grown to enormous
dimensions, culminating in the development of our pres-
ent dyestuff industry and the manufacture of medicinal
chemicals, of perfumes, flavors and scents.
But the study of organic compounds was taken up by
other and younger men, among whom A. W. v. Hofmann
(1818-1892) became famous as leader in the dyestuff in-
dustry. After splendid discoveries in the field of organic
chemistry, Woehler drifted back to research in the in-
organic field, where he had already been successful by
discovering a way of making metallic aluminium in 1827,
and in 1856 he discovered ‘‘Adamantine Boron'' in ¢o-
operation with St. Claire Deville. Woehler’s life work
was in the field of inorganic chemistry, where he, through
his many followers, exerted great influence up to the end
of his life. Justus v. Liebig (1803-1873) was three years
younger than Woehler, but they met in 1825 and became
friends for life. The continuous interchange of ex-
perience was most fruitful, and is well known from their
published correspondence. But about 1838 Liebig began
to drift into chemistry of plant and animal life, and so
we find about the middle of the 19th century Woehler,
Hofmann, and Liebig as the great leaders in three fields;
inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and agricultural
chemistry. Under the guidance of these illustrious men
and many of their colleagues, the three fields of chemis-
try have been developed by their many followers into
Development of the Chemical Industry 5
chemical industry as we have it today. It is character-
istic that none of the leaders ever actively engaged in the
industries. They worked in their laboratories for the
love of science, leaving the fruits of their work to be
reaped by their followers. But owing to their methods
of teaching, their students became their friends, remain-
ing in contact with them in later life, and it seems this
inter-relation between university and industry has been
largely instrumental in the phenomenal development of
our chemical inorganic and organic industries.
The first branch of chemical manufacture established
on a large scale was an outgrowth of the French revolu-
tion and the Napoleonic wars, when the English block-
aded the continent of Europe, and when the French could
not obtain potash for making soap and glass. It was
known that soda in many cases could be substituted for
potash, and there was an abundance of salt. So the
French Government offered a large reward for a chem-
ical process to make soda from salt, and the LeBlane soda
process was the outcome of it. The LeBlanc soda process
involved the manufacture of sulphuric acid and the
chamber process was highly developed. As a by-product
large quantities of hydrochloric acid were obtained, for
which there was no immediate outlet, and the wasting of
which poisoned the rivers, until it was learned that
chlorine and bleaching powder could be made from it.
Chlorine was made by the aid of manganese peroxide
which was wasted, and the Weldon process was invented
which regenerated this waste. Later hydrochloric acid
was decomposed by the Deacon process, in which a cat-
alyser was used for the first time on a large scale. The
sulphur used in the process was lost and many efforts
were made for its recovery, when the ammonia soda
process superseded the LeBlanc process, putting an end
to a beautiful combination of chemical processes. This
most marvelously developed chemical structure, built up
at the beginning of the 19th century, was superseded by
a cheaper process at the end of the same century. The
6 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
LeBlane soda process had become obsolete when the
chemical industry began to develop in this country and
therefore it has never reached this continent. Instead
we make in this country soda ash by the ammonia soda
process on the largest scale and the details of manufac-
ture are worked out in the best research laboratories
established by the soda factories themselves.
The process was particularly adapted to the require-
ments in the northern part of the United States, where
enormous deposits of salt are underlying the surface near
the Great Lakes. On account of the permeability of the
soil to water these deposits could not be reached by
mining operations, but we have learned to get hold of the
salt by boring wells, letting water into the salt deposits,
and pumping the brine. So abundant is the supply of
salt, and so cheap its recovery, that it has become
profitable to waste half of it in the process and to waste
all of the chloride in order to save cost in the manufac-
ture of soda ash. This is one of the few cases where it
has been found that waste is economy.
The soda industry in the United States is most flour-
ishing and repeatedly I have been asked to help in estab-
lishing the industry in China and Japan. Only recently
an agent called to induce me to come to Bombay, India,
for the purpose of establishing the art. In all instances
I had to decline, knowing that in these countries there is
no rock salt and that salt must be made from the ocean
water by evaporation, the product containing much mag-
nesium chloride and being expensive, costing eight dol-
lars per ton for 85% pure salt, while here we pump the
pure article for fifty cents. From recent reports, how-
ever, I have it that rock salt is found in Manchuria,
which would make it possible to transplant the industry
into that country for the purpose of covering their own
requirements.
But even the ammonia soda process may be limited to
the consumption of local industries. When our own
civilization progresses westward and reaches the great
Development of the Chemical Industry 7
natural deposits in the soda lakes in western States, then
we may have soda for the digging of it.
With the replacement of the LeBlane process by the
ammonia soda process we lost the by-products of the
former, which in time had become valuable and neces-
sary for the purpose of making chlorine. But the elec-
tro-chemical decomposition of brine into sodium, chlo-
rine, and hydrogen has met the emergency, and today
we have large electro-chemical plants near Niagara Falls
which make caustic soda and chlorine in quantities to
satisfy our wants. And I have also heard of a process
for making synthetic hydrochloric acid from chlorine
and hydrogen, this reversing the former mode of manu-
facture. The chamber process for making sulphuric
acid, which first was developed on a large scale in con-
nection with the LeBlanc soda process, has experienced
a similar transformation. The chamber process makes
cheap sulphuric acid of moderate strength. If greater
strength than 60° Be. or 75% acid was required, it was
formerly necessary to concentrate the weak acid in plati-
num vessels at great expense, and fuming sulphuric acid
was obtained by the distillation of sulphate of iron at
great cost. Today we make sulphuric acid by the con-
tact process and the mode of working is reversed. We
make sulphuric acid anhydride first and dilute it with
water to make the weaker grades. To make sulphuric
acid we need sulphur as raw material. This we had to
buy from Sicily, or we used pyrytes, a combination of
sulphur with iron, which we imported from Spain. In
most recent times Hermann Frasch showed us a way to
recover sulphur which we knew to exist in Louisiana
deep down in the earth. He built large steam plants,
blew superheated steam through a double pipe down to
the sulphur deposits, melted the sulphur, and forced the
molten sulphur out through the other pipe to the sur-
face of the earth. The supply seems to be inexhaustible,
and we command the supply of the world. The sul-
phurie acid industry has often been referred to as a
8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
measure for the prosperity of the entire chemical indus-
try, since sulphuric acid is used for many chemical pro-
cesses. The following table gives the production of sul-
phuric acid in the United States in the last ten years.
SULPHURIC ACID 50° Be.*
Date Production in the U. 8. Value
Tons 50° B. Dollars
1911 2,700,000 17,369,872
1912 2,950,000 18,338,019
1913 3,575,000 22,684,526
1914 3,800,000 24,479,927
1915 4,120,000 32,657,151
1916 6,300,000 73,514,126
1917 7,200,000 87,541,181
1918 7,450,000 Not determined
1919 5,500,000 estimated
1920 5,000,000 estimated
*The Mineral Industry, 1920, G. A. Roush, Editor, McGraw-Hill N. Y., 1921.
For many centuries fine porcelain ware was made in
China and Persia. Art collectors search eagerly for
specimens of old manufacture, and praise them as prod-
ucts of a lost art which they represent as flourishing cen-
turies ago, and small vessels and vases are sold for
thousands of dollars. The fact is that kaolin of a cer-
tain composition was used in these goods. Kaolin comes
in pockets and in isolated mines, and if the mine was
exhausted, the art was lost. The chemist of today has
analyzed kaolin and ascertained its composition. By
properly mixing materials he has learned to reproduce
the finest quality of porcelain at will.
We mine in Arkansas bauxite (Al.0, 2H.O), a mineral
containing almost pure alumina. We ship it to St. Louis,
where by the aid of cheap limestone and coal the impur-
ities are removed in one of the largest manufacturing
plants of the country, and pure alumina is made from it.
This we carry to Niagara Falls to produce aluminium
by an electrical process. The great discovery of produc-
ing aluminium, made by Woehler in 1827, has been
improved by Hall, an American chemist. He isolates
the metal by an electrical process, and a large part of the
Development of the Chemical Industry 9
world’s requirements takes its way through St. Louis
and becomes a product of the United States.
‘We turn now to organic industry, particularly to dye-
stuffs, the development of which to a great extent is the
work of A. W. v. Hofmann and his followers. Hofmann
first studied law in Göttingen, but turned to chemistry,
becoming a student and co-worker of Liebig. When
in 1845 the School of Practical Chemistry was started in
London, Hofmann, upon recommendation of Liebig and
largely through the influence of the Prince Consort,
became its director. For about twenty years he
remained in this position, doing much work on coal-tar
products, including aniline, and in 1856 Perkin, one of his
assistants, discovered mauveine, the first aniline dye-
stuff. But the public support extended to the College of
Chemistry was dwindling and Hofmann returned to Ger-
many, first to Bonn in 1864, from where he was called
to Berlin in 1865, to succeed E. Mitscherlich. There he
spent the rest of his life working tirelessly and with
great success on the development of coal-tar chemistry,
on which he spent twenty of his best years in England,
scoring little success for lack of support from the Eng-
lish government.
Fuchsin had been discovered in 1859 by Professor Ver-
guin of Lyons, France, who made the dye but did not
clear up its chemical compositions, which, many years
later, was disclosed by Hofmann and his followers. And
from the fundamental work of his school sprang suc-
cess upon success. The most brilliant colors were found
among the derivatives of aniline, but they generally lacked
permanence under the influence of light. For many cen-
turies beautifully colored rugs and tapestries had been
made in the Orient. The colors were known to be per-
manent and almost indelible. They were derived from
the madder and indigo plants, which were cultivated on
a large scale. It was natural that attempts should be
made to produce these dyestuffs in the laboratory, but
they seemed to be complicated and their composition was
10 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
difficult to establish. After many efforts Graebe and
Liebermann in 1868 recognized that alizarine, which was
then known to be a constituent of Turkey red, the mad-
der dyestuff, was a derivative of anthracene and anthra-
cene was found in coal-tar. In the same year Graebe and
Liebermann succeeded in making artificial alizarine from
anthracene, which was identical with Turkey red. The
invention was quickly taken up by manufacturers and ar-
tificial alizarine superseded Turkey red, thus making
unprofitable the cultivation of the madder plant. In
1875 I had the privilege of meeting Liebermann and also
Hofmann on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary
of Woehler's birth. On that occasion Prof. Liebermann
related to us how they had worked on the synthesis of
alizarine. When success was assured they repeated the
entire process in a single night, to make sure of results
before publication. At that time there was no patent
law in the North German Federation, and patents had to
be secured in three dozen principalities. This made
them of little value, and the inventors gave their work
to the public, securing for themselves only the immor-
tality of their names.
The process of making artificial indigo is largely ered-
ited to Adolph v. Bayer, who recognized its constitution.
But many years of tedious work were required before
the Badische Aniline & Soda Fabrik succeeded in pre-
paring artificial indigo at.a price capable of competing
with the natural article. Since 1897, however, artificial
indigo has been sold and soon afterwards a process was
worked out which made use of naphthalene as a raw
material. Naphthalene was always available in great
quantities and at a low price, and the naphthalene pro-
cess made it possible to drive natural indigo out of the
market. An interesting story is connected with the inven-
tion of the naphthalene process, the first step of which
was to transform naphthalene into phthalic acid. For-
merly phthalic acid was prepared by oxidation of Naph-
thalene with nitric acid or chromic acid at great cost. The
Development of the Chemical Industry _ 11
yield by attempted oxidation of naphthalene by means of
sulphuric acid was too small. It so happened that in one
experiment the mercury thermometer broke, where-
upon it was found that the reaction of the material
became very animated, and the yield of phthalic acid by
heating naphthalene with sulphuric acid in presence of
mercury was almost theoretical. The accidental break-
ing of a mercury thermometer led to a very important
discovery which became the basis of a cheap way of
making indigo. These are only a few instances in which
new chemical manufacturing plants have been established
on a large scale on the basis of laboratory research.
Many other industries followed, among which the manu-
facture of medicinal chemicals has become most impor-
tant.
For the preservation and possible development of many
industries which have sprung up during the war, when
importations of chemicals were impossible, a liberal tar-
iff and a wise patent law are most desirable and almost
imperative. Particularly the dyestuff industry will have
a hard fight for its existence. At a recent meeting of
manufacturers in New York, a petition was formulated
and sent to Congress asking for an embargo on the
importation of dyestuffs, since manufacturers realized
that nothing short of an embargo could save the indus-
try, until a complete and liberal revision of our tariff
law has been enacted. Of equal importance would seem
to be a wise revision of our patent law. Many chemicals,
particularly of the medicinal variety, are now manu-
factured abroad at a much lower price than in the United
States.
The third branch of chemical research and manufac-
ture, agricultural and biological chemistry, is repre-
sented by Justus v. Liebig and his school. Being a part
of organic chemistry, it differs from it in that it does not
attempt to make its products in the chemical laboratory,
but is endeavoring to ascertain the conditions and
requirements under which plants and animals will grow,
12 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
then to provide these conditions and let nature do the
rest. In this manner the greatest chemical industry was
created, an industry which secures food for men for times
to come, by regulating the cultivation of the soil. When
as early as 1838 Liebig directed attention to the fact
that all plants for their growth require carbon, nitro-
gen, and the elements of water, he also proved that cer-
tain mineral substances were necessary for plant life,
among them potash and phosphorus. Carbon and nitro-
gen could come from the air; phosphorus and potash
could come only from the soil, and when these were
exhausted, vegetation necessarily would starve. This
led Liebig to the statement that it was the decrease of
soil fertility, and neither peace nor war, which was fun-
damental in bringing about the decay of nations. In Lie-
big’s opinion old civilizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe
were extinquished by sterilization of the soil, and
undoubtedly the same will occur in America if no fer-
tilizer is supplied to our fields. It is recognized that
phosphates and other mineral fertilizers in some form
must be added to the soil if its fertility is to be main-
tained. Nitrogen may be derived from the air by culti-
vation of clover in a rotation of crops. The early
Roman writers on agriculture knew the value of legumi-
nous crops as restoratives of soil fertility. But the fact
that legumes assimilate nitrogen from the air by a bio-
logical process has only become known within the last
fifty years. If an uninterrupted succession of large
crops is desired, it becomes imperative to supply nitro-
geneous fertilizer in a more concentrated form, such as
Chilean nitre of ammonium salts. Dr. Lipman, Director
of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, was
quoted in the hearings before the Senate Committee on
Agriculture and Forestry (Senate Document 3390) as
having estimated that the total annual loss of nitrogen
from all land under cultivation in the United States,
after allowance for all returns to the soil, was between
three and four million tons. Considering only the lower
Development of the Chemical Industry 13
figure of three million tons, manure, ammonium salts
from coke ovens, and Chilean nitrate will replace less
than ten per cent. The remaining ninety per cent—two
million, seven hundred thousand tons—would have to
come from nitrogen fixation plants, similar to the one
our government attempted to put up at Muscle Shoals
during the war, where one million horse power could be
developed, as J. W. Worthington of the Tennessee River
Improvement Association has testified.
It has been stated that one half of one pound of fixed
nitrogen can be made per horsepower hour by the Haber
process. One million horsepower would make over two
million tons fixed nitrogen per year, which is a large
part of the amount which the United States may require.
The cyanamid process is said to require eight times as
much power, and one million horsepower would only
make two hundred and fifty thousand tons. The Claude
process, which is similar to the Haber process, but is
working under high pressure, requires less power and
makes more fixed nitrogen per horsepower than the Haber
process.
Only the cyanamid plant was in operation at Muscle
Shoals at the time of the armistice, and was reported as
running at the rate of forty thousand tons per year,—
sixty to seventy such plants would be necessary to sup-
ply the nitrogen which is necessary to keep up the fertil-
ity of the soil in the United States. A large part of this
can be made in Muscle Shoals, provided the water power
is developed as Henry Ford proposes to do if he can
lease the plant. His proposition is before Congress and
it would seem desirable for the good of the country that
the plant be utilized for making fertilizing material.
The people of the United States have invested over
one hundred million dollars as a war measure in this
enterprise and it is expected that additional thirty
million to fifty million dollars be spent on the second
and third dam across the river to develop the water
power. The first expenditure was made so that we
14 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
might be independent of Chilean nitre in case we
should be cut off from South America. Nitrates are
necessary for making explosives and are therefore
necessary for our national defense. For this reason
it would seem desirable that the plant be completed.
But it is only fair, that in time of peace the large invest-
ment should be utilized. Mr. Ford is guaranteeing,
according to the first proposition, to pay the United
States government about one million, five hundred thou-
sand dollars a year for a long lease. He also agrees to
keep the Muscle Shoals plant in operation as a fertilizer
plant and ready for the Government in time of war. His
investment in the plant is expected to be relatively small,
which cuts his overhead expenses down to almost nothing
on a plant which cost over one hundred million dollars.
Therefore he could put out fertilizer at low cost. If in
this way the American farmer could obtain materials
which are necessary to uphold the fertility of our soil,
the entire enterprise in time might become a profitable
investment and the entire American people would be
benefited by it. Mr. Ford is recognized as a great organ-
izer and a daring business man. He is no doubt also a fine
engineer, and the work before him is a great engineering
problem. But the best engineer cannot design a plant
if he is not told how the plant is to accomplish its pur-
pose. To design the process in detail is the work of a
chemist, and Mr. Ford must succeed in associating with
himself chemists who are fitted for this special work.
The Haber plant at Muscle Shoals has never worked.
It was erected under the direction of holders of Ameri-
can patents, and these people were naturally desirous
of using their patented process. However, processes on
similar lines have been tried in Germany and abandoned
for cheaper ones. Had the war lasted longer, the Haber
plant at Muscle Shoals might have proven just as great
a failure as the manufacture of airplanes.
In the Treaty of Versailles the Allies stipulated that
a commission of allied engineers be admitted to the Ger-
Development of the Chemical Industry 15
man nitrate plants for the purpose of learning the pro-
cess. The commission went there, was shown the plants
at Oppau and Merseburg, were given every information
they asked for, were given large quantities of the cata-
lyser used by the Germans, and returning to Muscle
Shoals, failed in setting the plant to work. Under these
conditions the War Department acceded to the request
of The American Institute of Chemical Engineers that a
paper be submitted describing the German and United
States synthetic ammonia process, hoping that the Mus-
cle Shoals plant could be put into operation by outside
assistance. The paper was presented and read at the
Detroit meeting in June, and was authorized for publi-
cation by the War Department. Shortly after, the per-
mission to publish was withdrawn upon demand of the
American patentees, and the paper was never published.
Meanwhile the Muscle Shoals plant is at rest, waiting for
the man who is to blow life into it and make it run. If
Mr. Ford obtains the lease it is sincerely to be hoped that
he will associate himself with chemists who will show
him the way. The farming population of our country
is most fortunate in having in the Department of Agri-
culture of the United States a splendid research labora-
tory to guide its work.
It is a well-known fact that the unprecedented develop-
ment of chemical industry in Germany was largely due
to its research laboratories and to their relation to the
universities. At German universities the leading pro-
fessors are not overburdened with work and can devote
a large part of their time to solving questions of general
interest. In the United States the conditions are differ-
ent. Professors of universities are overworked and the
men who are best prepared for research are overbur-
dened with routine work. The consequence is that a
great many manufacturers are operating in the dark,
wasting money and time in their operations.
Professor W. D. Bancroft in a recent article calls par-
ticular attention to the fact that, as far as can be learned,
16 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
in the ceramics, rubber, paint, varnish, leather, dyeing
and printing, cellulose, cellulose nitrates and acetates,
photographic and other industries, the operators of
plants have a vast amount of empirical information as to
what happens and know practically nothing about why it
happens. The silicate industries are avowedly empirical
and so is the dyeing industry. The rubber industry
knows practically nothing about the theory of vuleaniza-
tion. People in the cellulose industries do not seem to
know how many cellulose nitrates there are. The photo-
graphic industry has only empirical knowledge in regard
to emulsions and has no adequate theory in regard to
photographie development Nearly all the tanneries in
the country run on an empirical basis. All these
industries will eventually be put on a sound and
scientific basis, and this work will have to be done
by chemists. Conditions as they are described by
Professor Bancroft were recognized many years ago.
by The American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
This body of men devotes not a small part of its
activities to developing courses for students in Chem-
istry at our universities which ensure efficient prep-
aration for industrial work. Its Committee on
Education, Dr. A. D. Little of Boston, Chairman, has
recently secured with much labor and at great expense
very complete information from many American univers-
ities, and a comprehensive report will be circulated
shortly among the interested institutions. Columbia
University of New York, The Institute of Technology in
Boston, The Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and Cornell University, are co-operating. A number of
universities have already remodeled their courses in
chemical engineering, and it is hoped that others will
follow, for the benefit of our chemists and of our chemi-
cal industry.
ECOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOR NOTES
ON MISSOURI INSECTS.
Pui Rav.
The notes on the ecology and behavior of Missouri
insects, spiders and myriapods here presented were made
in the vicinity of St. Louis during the past few years.
The region comprises an area of about forty miles west
and thirty miles south of St. Louis. There are two ex-
ceptions, however; some dozen notes bear the locality of
Wesco, Mo., which is one hundred miles south-west of
St. Louis, and a few are from Lake View, Kansas. Wher-
ever no location is mentioned, the observation was made
at St. Louis or its immediate environs.
The order in which the species are generally arranged
is as follows: Hymenoptera, according to Hymenoptera
of Conneticut.* Coleoptera, according to Blatchley,
Coleoptera of Indiana, 1910. In the orders of Diptera,
Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, ete., the species observed are
so few that no taxonomic arrangement is followed.
All of the material has been indentified by expert ento-
mologists whose names appear in brackets along with the
specific name of the insect. I wish here to extend to
these gentlemen my thanks for their kindness in naming
the material.
Wasps
Scolia bicincta Fab. [S. A. Rohwer]. This wasp was
seen at Wickes, Mo., feeding on the flowers of smartweed
and buck-brush in late August, and on goldenrod on
September 15.
Scolia dubia Say. We record in Wasp Studies Afield
having found Scolia dubia for two successive seasons,
flying about the manure heaps near a barn, and really
conspicuous by their absence elsewhere in the large field
*State Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. Bull. 22, 1916.
2 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
surrounding this barn. On September 1 of the third year
they appeared without the slightest change in habit or
habitat. The vegetation surrounding the manure-heaps
had meanwhile been supplanted by cinders and the
wasps had no foliage upon which to rest; hence many
paused to rest on the manure-piles. Long and careful
watching, however, revealed none of these entering the
manure for prey or hosts. A few smartweeds in blossom
nearby afforded them food. By seven o0’clock, all had dis-
appeared, and efforts to locate their sleeping abode were
futile. In this the third year also their dissemination
over the field was nil. A visit to the area on October 6
showed that they were not to be found so late in the
season.
Scolia nobilitata Fabr. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken on the
flowers of buck-brush at Wesco, August 1, 1920.
Elis atriventris Gahan. [S. A. Rohwer]. A dead speci-
men of this wasp was lying on the hot sand at Lake View,
Kansas, July 29.
Elis quinquecincta Fabr. [S. A. Rohwer]. While I
have made observations on the gregarious sleeping
habits of the males,* I have found nothing on the habits
of the females excepting on one occasion in a dirt road,
where one made three attempts to get under some clods
of dirt, and under the last one she remained hidden for
some time. Since this species is supposed to sting and
oviposit in the larva of may-beetles, this may indicate
that she was searching for prey. This species was seen
feeding upon the flowers of Melilotus alba. On another
occasion, on July 26, a group of a dozen males and one
female was found sipping the nectar of these flowers.
Elis interrupta Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. This species was
also on the buck-brush flowers at Wesco, August 1, 1920.
Tiphia vulgaris Rob. [S. A. Rohwer]. This medium-
sized wasp was taken from the mouth of a robber-fly,
Proctacanthus milberti Macq. [F. Knab] on August 18.
Ann, Ent. Soc, Amer, 9:227-274, 1916,
Ecological and Behavior Notes 3
Tiphia inornata Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken on the
sidewalk in the city on September 12.
Bruesia sparsiformis Ckll. and Roh. [S. A. Rohwer]. A
pair was discovered just at the conclusion of copulation
on a clay bank at Jerseydale, Mo., July 31.
Bruesia bear Blake [S. A. Rohwer}.
Dasymutilla zella Rohwer [S. A. Rohwer].
Dasymutilla mutata Blake [S. A. Rohwer].
Can it be that wasps, like the rest of us, may sometimes
be gravely misjudged because of the company they keep?
The part of a stubble field bordering the woodlands con-
tained a large number of burrows occupied by Cicin-
dela larvae, and about this particular area an abundance
of the three above-named species of velvet-ants lurked.
The abundance of both larvae and wasps seemed to indi-
cate that there might be some relation between the two,
especially since it is known that certain species of Mutil-
lids are parasitic upon Cicindela larvae. We spent a
good many hours in the field on many days watching the
parasites move about in the vicinity of the beetle burrows,
in the hope of catching them redhanded at something or
other, but all that they did was to slowly walk about
doing nothing that we wanted or expected them to do.
Thinking that in confinement some results would be
obtained, several jelly-glasses were filled with soil and a
Cicindela larva and a Mutillid introduced into each.
The larvae immediately made their burrows, and the
Mutillids dug deep into the soil. The way these Mutillids
bury themselves is quite interesting, and since they are
often seen in the open fields with particles of earth cling-
ing to their velvety bodies one is led to believe that this
behavior is for some reason necessary. The head is the
simple implement which these insects use in digging their
way sometimes for several inches into the soil. They
thrust the head under the earth and pry it up, by manip-
+ Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
ulating the head and thorax in a lever like fashion. With
this exertion they make a great deal of stridulating noise,
similar to the sharp squeak which they emit when they
are held up squirming in the forceps. These Mutillids in
the jelly-glasses seldom came to the top. After four days
had elasped an examination was made; both wasps and
larvae seemed healthy, but there was no evidence of any
parasitism. The beetle larvae were fed on insects, but
nothing was placed in the cages for the Mutillids, yet at
this time they looked none the worse for lack of food.
Since propinquity did not affect them, the experiments
were abandoned.
A dozen or so other Mutillids were kept for later study
in a fish-globe. There was no soil in this glass jar, but
a few grape-leaves were strewen on the bottom for the
comfort of the insects, and in one corner was a cloth kept
moist with sweetened water. During the first two days
they were out and active, and at night they would creep
in between the folds of the leaves for sleep, but later
when they were in a weakened condition they seldom
came from their hiding places. They lived only a week;
just why they were so short-lived I do not understand,
since without food the others lived nearly as long. It
may be that they were more comfortable in the damp cool
earth of the jelly-glasses, or perhaps they found some-
thing of a nutritive nature in the soil. I have spoken
only of the females so far, because in several visits to this
area in early July, no males had been discovered.
Some twelve days later, July 24-25, a thorough search
was made in this same area and then only males were
abundant and only the species Bruesia bexar Blake [S.
A. Rohwer]. They were constantly on the wing in a zig-
zag flight from two to four inches above the ground.
Their stops were few and far between, and they paused
only for toilet-making. I suppose they were seeking
the females. The priority of the emergence of one
sex seems here to be reversed, at least in so far as
- Ecological and Behavior Notes 5
this one species is concerned. Wishing not to judge hast-
ily, I made a thorough search for three hours in this
area; several hundreds of males were found, all in the
same behavior, but the only female discovered was one
Dasymutilla zella. It is possible that the females of B.
bexar taken early may have been unfertilized,—hence
the lack of any positive results in the experiments with
the Cicindela larvae.
The female D. zella and about a dozen males of B.
bexar were placed in a large glass jar with earth in the
bottom. As soon as the thirteen were thrown together,
many of the males showed great eagerness to mate with
this female, even though she was of a different species.
She eventually escaped by climbing a tall stalk of grass
placed in the jar, and later burrowed in the soil.
The males, like the females, often had bits of earth ad-
hering to the thorax and abdomen when they were cap-
tured, which indicates that they had recently been in the
ground. The above insects were placed in the jar with
earth at twilight, and before it was fully dark, three had
dug themselves in for the night, and before nine o’clock
all had disappeared under the earth, which was moder-
ately hard-packed. One is suprised that the winged
males can do this without injury to their delicate wings,
which are not heavily chitinized like those of other
earth inhabiting insects. The next morning at six o’clock
one was already up, and within a half hour all were out.
This is in all probability their sleeping behavior in na-
ture; the performance was repeated exactly night after
night.
Honey was placed on small pieces of paper, and on
an aster flower with a six-inch stem. They often ate
ravenously, climbing up to the flower to feed, or eating
from the edge of the drop of honey on the papers; only
one male was so awkward as to walk into it.
On August 11 the same region was searched; a half-
dozen females of Dasymutilla zella were taken there, and
6 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
an enormous number of males of that species were out
at that time. The larvae of Cicindela were again abun-
dant, but I could see D. zella do naught but walk or fly
about the low stubble.
Pseudomethoca canadinses Blke. [S. A. Rohwer.] This
pair of mutillids was found in copulo on June 28. They
were walking slowly along the clayey margin of a clover
field, the male riding the female. He, being much
smaller, covered only the rear half of her body. The body
of the female, at a point where the abdomen joins the
thorax, is narrowly contracted. At this point the male
grasped her firmly with his jaws in order to hold his
position. The real union lasted for only a very few
seconds. This momentary mating was repeated so many
times that I concluded that this was the normal method.
Many of them were to be seen among the new wheat
stubble in a field skirting the woods, where also Cicin-
dela holes were abundant.
Dasymutilla acrobinata. [S. A. Rohwer]. One female
was taken July 3, on a path in the forest.
Dasymutilla allardi Roh. [S. A. Rohwer]. This cow-
killer was seen on August 29, on a hard-packed baseball
diamond in a city lot. It was prowling about in the im-
mediate vicinity of several burrows of aculeate Hymen-
optera.
Dasymutilla blawana Roh. [S. A. Rowher]. At Lake
View, Kansas, two females were found walking about in
a sandy area by the roadside, and lurking about a hole.
When we inserted a probe into this hole, one of these
wasps jumped out, but upon opening the burrow we
found nothing but a colony of red ants. At Creve Coeur
Lake, Mo., one specimen was taken on a sandy area where
bees and some Pompilid wasps were at work and where
Cicindela beetles abounded.
Dasymutilla ferrugata Fabr. [S. A. Rohwer]. Some
half-dozen of these cow-killers were observed on the
sandy beach of the Kaw River at Lake View, Kansas,
Ecological and Behavior Notes 7
on August 16. One female was feasting upon the remains
of a watermelon left on the river bank by some pienicers.
One specimen was taken on the bald field of the baseball
diamond in a city lot on September 17.
Dasymutilla occidentalis Linn. [S. A. Rohwer]. These
Mutillids were becoming quite abundant on the stubble
field at Wickes by September 4. They occupied the same
area as Bruesia bexar and D. zella, and spent their time
in walking slowly about and entering holes and crevices
indiscriminately. At Wesco, Mo., about the first of
August, I saw on two separate mornings, a dozen or so
males flying about one certain hawthorn shrub which
was less than two feet high. These shrubs were plentiful
thereabouts, but no others attracted these insects. I sus-
pected at once that this was a courtship flight, and that
the wingless females were lurking somewhere unseen, but
careful and continued watching led me to conclude that
this was only play. Or we might borrow a suggestion
from the ways of some other species of wasps, and sus-
pect that these males had emerged prior to the females,
and that they were here around the burrow of a female,
which they could by some sense incomprehensible to us
detect, awaiting her emergence.
Timulla hexagona Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. This velvet
ant was found walking about on the short grass sur-
rounding the baseball diamond in the city in early
August.
Sphaerophthalma pennsylvanica Lep. [S. A. Rohwer].
On June 15 a female was taken, after having been ob-
served for some time poking its head under loose lumps
of earth and tufts of grass on a broken area.
Sphaerophthalma scaeva Blake. [S. A. Rohwer]. We
have never caught S. scaeva in the field busy with any
significant occupation. We have seen them only in the
autumn; on September 12 a male was walking about on
the top of a high bluff at Falling Springs, III., and on
September 23 and October 7 they were flying slowly about
8 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
over the vegetation near Creve Coeur Lake and near the
Meramec River at Moselle. One male specimen of &.
scaeva emerged from a cocoon of Sceliphron caementa-
rium on June 15. It was placed in a vial where, in a few
days, it broke up with its jaws much of the cork stopper.
It was then placed in a cage with sugar-water and fruit,
where it lived for twenty-five days.
Priocnemis nebulosus Dahl. [S. A. Rohwer]. In a road
sparsely covered with grass, this Pompilid was actively
chasing a spider, but the wasp in her chase encountered
a spider’s web in the grass; she paused in her quest and
spent several seconds searching it, and thus lost her
quarry.
Priocnemis nothus Cres. [S. A. Rohwer]. One specimen
was taken on the sunny baseball field on September 17.
Priocnemis mgripes Cres. [S. A. Rohwer]. We have
twice found this wasp out walking about on the ground,
once in an open field in St. Louis and again on the sandy
ground near the river front in Kansas. They moved
nervously, and were poking their heads enquiringly into
every crevice and under sticks and leaves. From this
conduct we judged they were foraging.
Priocnemis pompilus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. Two in-
dividuals were seen foraging on a clay bank in St. Louis
on June 20, 1918. They were eagerly scrambling under
clods and nervously tumbling into crevices. After many
such adventures, one brought a small spider out of a
crevice. She carried it a short distance, explored about
the region for a few minutes, then returned to the spider.
This performance she repeated three times, then she
carried the spider into one of the crevices. Three quar-
ters of an hour elapsed and she did not reappear.
Cryptocheilus wnifasciatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. On
August 31, at Wickes, Mo., this wasp was seen dragging
a large spider by the mandibles across a rough road and
over a grassy area, traveling with ease and rapidity.
The spider was limp and apparently dead.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 9
Cryptocheilus magnus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. One
male taken in sweeping an oats field July 9, 1917.
Cryptocheilus fulvicornis Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
wasp made its appearance on the baseball field after the
rain on July 23, 1918.
Episyron biguttatus Fab. [S. A. Rohwer]. The wasp
with her prey clasped under her body was seen to enter
her hole in the sand; when she emerged, she was cap-
tured for identification. The burrow was three inches
deep, one quarter inch in diameter, and went down at an
angle of 45°. There was no pocket, but at the terminus
lay a spider with an egg fastened to it laterally. On this
occasion the mother remained in the burrow for five
minutes, presumably adjusting the spider and depositing
the egg. The spider was not entirely lifeless, but the
legs could not move. After seven days it still showed
slight traces of life.
A second member of this species was seen the next day,
digging. It would enter its hole head first, and throw the
sand out of the burrow literally in a spurting stream.
With rapid movements of her forefeet she would brush
the sand under the body and out of the hole. Sometimes
she cleaned out in the same manner the sand that aceu-
mulated in her doorway, and every so often she would
come out and work in the same way cleaning the sand
from the area surrounding the hole. At 5:15 p. m. she
left, evidently in quest of prey; up to 6:15 she had not
returned. The next day at 10 o’clock I found the hole
closed, but the friable condition of the sand rendered
futile all attempts to explore the completed nest.
In the sunshine in the dooryard another of these wasps
was spied covering her nest. I could not then watch her,
but after the nest had been filled and she once more re-
turned to the spot, I took her. For more than fifteen
minutes of this time, a parasitic fly was hovering per-
sistently about this spot. The nest was dug up, but the
tunnel could not be traced. The pocket with the spider,
10 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Epeira prompta [J. H. Emerton] was only three-fourths
inch under the surface of the ground. The wasp’s egg
was on its back, but evidently the Dipteron had also been
successful in its quest, for three maggots were around
the egg. The spider was not dead, and for four days
thereafter responded freely to stimuli.
This wasp was also seen feeding on the flowers of buck-
brush at Wesco on August 1.
Episyron quinquenotatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Sev-
eral were seen on the sandy beach at Creve Coeur Lake
when it grew warm between one and three o’clock on
October 13.
Episyron maneei Bks. [S. A. Rohwer]. This wasp
walked across the road and into the dense woods, walk-
ing backwards and dragging a spider, Cylosa conica
[Emerton] at about 6 p. m. on July 7. The spider, when
taken away, seemed dead, but three days later it showed
signs of life, reacting abundantly to stimulus, and by
July 18 it had wholly recovered. May it be that with
certain Pompilids the process is reversed—that instead
of the sting causing slight injury and slow death, the
sting here causes immediate total paralysis and slow re-
covery?
Pompiloides americanus Beauv. [S. A. Rohwer]. Sev-
eral of these were seen in the wheat stubble in early
September, and on October 3 one was carrying away a
spider, Pardosa nigripalpis Emerton [N. Banks].
I also saw this red-banded Pompilid walking about the
sand at Wickes, Mo., on October 3, 1917. Without pre-
liminary warning it plunged into a crevice and soon came
up again with a medium-sized spider, later identified as
Pardosa nigripalpis [Emerton]. This is one of the vag-
abond hunting spiders, some of which, according to War-
burton“, burrow in the loose sand. The wasp, with its
jaws inserted in the ventral portion of the spider’s ab-
*Cambridge Nat. Hist. 4, p. 417.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 11
domen, walked backwards for twenty feet and deposited
its prey under a loose piece of clay. After walking about
for five minutes, probably looking for a desirable hole,
she returned to the spider, grabbed it in the same way,
dropped it for a few seconds while again she looked
about, then returned, picked it up and removed it to a
spot under another clod. There she left it again while
she investigated an opening under another lump of clay
only an inch distant. This at last seemed satisfactory,
for the wasp then fetched the spider, dragged it under
this lump of earth and remained there for fifteen minutes.
Losing patience at last, I lifted the clod and found the
spider in a very neat depression, but I could not tell if
the hole was natural or a wasp-made one. Both spider
and wasp were then taken.
This wasp also seems to abound until late in the season.
At Herculaneum, Mo., on October 18, on the shore of the
Mississippi river, about a dozen were seen in the half-
hour from 10 to 10:30 a.m. One in particular was atop
a spider, Philodromus sp. [J. H. Emerton]. Approach-
ing too near we frightened her away, and she never re-
turned for her prey: The spider was probably more
frightened than injured, for after a few minutes it
seemed to recover its faculties and walked away.
Pompiloides marginatus Say. This wasp was carrying
off a spider, an immature Xysticus sp. [J. H. Emerton],
on October 19 at Hematite, Mo.
Pompiloides subviolaceus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
beautiful wasp was taken while she was foraging about
a lot of piled logs at Creve Coeur Lake on August 30,
1916. She was also seen carrying away an immature
Xysticus [J. H. Emerton] at Hematite on October 19.
Psammochares (Lophopompilus) aethiops Cress. [S.
A. Rohwer]. Several individuals of this species were
seen flying about the bluffs at Clifton Terrace, III., on
October 28, 1916. The days were then warm, but the
nights were so cold that I marveled that they could sur-
12 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
vive. They were also seen on a mid-September day at
Hematite, Mo. The day was dull and gloomy; despite
the fact that wasps of this genus are supposed to be sun-
loving creatures, more than a dozen of these were seen
on the sandy patches along Joachim creek, apparently
foraging, walking nervously about and exploring all
small holes and crevices. They were also out here on
October 19. |
Arachnophoctonus ferrugineus Say. [S. A. Rohwer].
Two specimens of this Pompilid wasp were taken at
Wicks, Mo., on July 17, and one at Moselle, Mo., on Sep-
tember 23. On July 3, 1921, Mr. Ernst Schwarz and I
watched one of these wasps carry an enormous Lycosid
spider, Dolmedes idoneus [J. H. Emerton] crossing the
road amid many passing automobiles. The wasp
grasped the spider’s palpi in its mandibles and was walk-
ing backwards, dragging the spider thus; this was no
easy task, and she was obliged frequently to tug and
strain when the spider became lodged against some ob-
struction. She was compelled repeatedly to leave her
property by the passing machines, but each time she left
it she took an elaborate flight of orientation, just as we
have seen other individuals of this species do when leav-
ing their prey when homeward bound to examine the nest.
Each time she returned to it readily, excepting one
time when for its safety we moved it two feet to place it
out of the track of the passing automobiles; as we ex-
pected, she returned to the exact spot where she had left
it, and after a prolonged search stumbled upon it as if by
accident.
Anoplius hyacinthinus [S. A. Rohwer] was found feed-
ing on the flowers of a wild pea, August 17.
Anoplius luctuosus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer] flew in at
the laboratory window on July 9.
Pepsis elegans Lep. [S. A. Rohwer] was aa feed-
ing on the flowers of a composite on July 17, and on the
blossoms of the Madeira vine on August 11. On August
Ecological and Behavior Notes 13
4, 1917, they were rather abundant in open spaces, road-
sides, ete., bordering on the forest.
Planiceps niger Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. At Meramec
Highlands, Mo., this wasp was walking about on a clay
bank, probably foraging. In the course of its travels it
walked over a heavy spider-web; when in the center, it
bit a hole through the web with its mandibles, and drop-
ped through it to the ground below.
Notiochares philadelphicus Lep. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
wasp was taken at Cedar Bluff, Mo., on July 9, 1916, and
on a mud embankment at Jerseydale, Mo., on October 19.
On August 13, one was seen in the dusty road carrying
a spider, Lycosa scutulata [Emerton]. This prey, when
taken from the wasp, was limp and made only slight re-
sponse to stimulus. Sixteen days later the response was
still slight, and shortly after that date the spider seemed
dead. 7
Our first real acquaintance with this wasp was when
we discovered four holes in a bald and hard-packed area
near the old log smoke-house, and three of these black
wasps (beautiful blue in the sunshine) were loitering
about the area. They walked slowly about, or flew
languidly to near-by plants; they casually nosed about
any holes or irregularities in the surface. The four holes
mentioned had been recently dug, for the fresh earth still
lay in front of each. For about two hours these wasps
lingered about these holes (Pl. VI, fig. 5), but did nothing
constructive that we could see. In their slow walks over
the area, their antennae and wings moved nervously, but
they paid each other no heed. One hole was dug out; it
was seven-sixteenths inch diameter at the mouth, very
crooked, and went down at an irregular slope for two
and one-half inches. It was empty. A second one was
found to be of about the same size and irregular diree-
tion, but it contained a large spider, Lycosa scutulata
[Emerton], with its abdomen almost eaten away by a
large larva.
14 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
My opinion of the wasp’s listlessness was at once
changed when one discovered a spider. This spider was
on her large, spreading web at the base of the smoke-
house wall. I was attracted by the amazing rapidity
with which the wasp traveled over this web without be-
coming ensnared. By a fine trick, like a hare before the
hounds, the spider suddenly ceased the race and stood
stock still in the center of the web, while the wasp in full
pursuit dashed right past her and did not discover the
error, it seemed, until she had reached the edge of the
web. Then she betrayed her agitation, by quivering
wings and antennae, but for some time appeared either
rather stupid or near-sighted in again locating her
quarry. The spider, meanwhile, remained motionless
until it was again discovered, whereupon it dodged for
a time, then leaped to the wall and escaped. Two days
later the burrows had not been closed; they were dug up,
and all were like the first.
A little later in the season, in early September, this
species was frequently seen along the roadside on the
hills near Wickes; they were evidently foraging or feed-
ing. One was even seen so late as October 19, feeding on
the last smart-weed blossoms.
On August 14, at Manchester, Mo., we were attracted
by a commotion at the foot of a sunny clay bank. A wasp
was in a hole, with her face flush with the surface, and
four others were in a fussy wrangle over it. Our first
thoughts were that the ones on top were helping another
in distress, since their manner did not denote anger or
enmity. After five minutes more of this turmoil, the one
below emerged; and then did the excitement break into
perfect furore among them. The new one emerging was
a large, handsome female; the other four were males.
One of these took possession of her at once, while two
others clung to her and struggled to crowd him away.
The fourth, outwitted, walked away and was captured in
a vial. The mating lasted for about a minute, when the
Ecological and Behavior Notes 15
female also was placed in the same vial, where the mating
was repeated.
Agenoideus humulis Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This was
found at Creve Coeur Lake, September 30, in possession
of a spider, Epeira globosa Keys [N. Banks]. The
spider was so helpless that only with a magnifying glass
could its pulsations be detected, and five days later it was
quite dead.
Ancistrocerus capra Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. This was
feeding on goldenrod down by the river at Wicks, Sep-
tember 16, 1919, and one specimen was captured at Hem-
atite, Mo., on October 19.
Ancistrocerus campestris Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. A
specimen of this species was taken on October 27, 1916,
at Clifton Terrace, III., feeding on the nectar of the few
remaining flowers of white aster. This wasp has been
found nidificating in discarded mud nests of Sceliphron
caementarium,
Eumenes fraternus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. We have no
records of the building of the nest of this wasp, but this
note will give one phase of the work. On August 13,
at 4 p. m. we found a nest at the edge of the field, attached
to the stem of an aster plant, about four feet from the
ground. The nest when we found it was complete, but
uncovered, and the tail of the last caterpillar protruded.
This was taken and identified by Mr. S. B. Fracker as
Omphalocera dentosa. The completion of the provision-
ing took some time, for on the next morning and also the
day following, nothing more was done to it, but on the
third day at 5 p. m. we found the little pot had been
filled and sealed. (See Plate V fig. 1.)
A five-potted nest was found in St. Louis in 1917; four
pots were on the upper side of a petiole of a leaf and one
on the under side. The occupants had already emerged.
I believe that these delicate little clay receptacles of the
potter wasps cannot withstand the rigors of the winter,
but that they disintegrate under the severe weather.
16 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Their thin walls would certainly offer little protection
from the elements. The five mentioned above all fell
when I tried ever so gently to move the twig to photo-
graph them. This cluster also suggests that one mother
may be capable of building that number, although of
course we have not absolute proof that they are the work
of one parent. These facts, as well as the fact that these
wasps have been seen late in the autumn, lead me to
suspect that these wasps hibernate as adults.
Monobia quadridens. This wasp was bringing in cater-
pillars at intervals of thirty minutes, at 6 a. m. on June
28. Five days later the nest was examined; the cater-
pillars were still alive, although much shrunken. They
were very dissimilar, and represented probably two
species of the Gelechidae. This wasp uses the old gal-
leries of carpenter bees and one such nest with mud par-
titions is shown in Pl. VII, fig 10; all three young were
parasitized by cuckoo bees. The first of these to emerge
was the lowermost one, the first egg deposited. This
made a hole in its cocoon and a neat hole in the mud plug
above, entered the cell above, crept past its younger
brother and bit a neat round hole in the second plug also.
It was in the antechamber when I discovered and re-
moved it.
Ancistrocerus near tigris Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
was seen to enter and leave an old beetle burrow in a
fence-post. The hole contained no nest; the purpose of
the visit was not ascertained. In earlier studies we have
learned that this species inhabits the old nests of mud-
daubers, Sceliphron caementarium, Five of these wasps
emerged from sumac stems taken in St. Louis, between
April 3 and 7, 1919.
Stenodynerus quadrisectus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
was captured on the window of a log chicken-house, Sep-
tember 12, 1917.
Stenodynerus zendaloides Robt. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
wasp hatched early in May, 1918 from a sumac twig
Ecological and Behavior Notes 17
brought from Wickes, Mo.
Zethus spinipes Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Found feeding
on the flowers of Melilotus alba July 15.
Nortonia symmorphy Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. Swept
from the low grass at twilight, July 30, 1917.
Odynerus geminus Cress. A turret built by this species
and many fresh pellets of mud were found on the baseball
diamond October 9, 1919. This is two weeks later than
the latest date heretofore recorded.
Odynerus dorsalis Fab. The empty compartment
which regularly occurs in the top of the burrow of 0.
dorsalis (see Wasp Studies Afield, pages 312-331) has
been puzzling in so far as utility is concerned. I called
it the air-chamber, because the only use that I could think
of for its presence was to prevent the extremes of tem-
perature from affecting the immature organism which
spends the winter in a shallow burrow. Another logical
hypothesis for explaining this must be accredited to the
sincere interest of a small boy. Since the parent wasp
is not equipped with jaws sufficiently powerful to dig
out the hard earth, but must carry water to first change
it into soft mud, we cannot expect the young emerging
insect to cut its way out through a solid plug of hard
earth when it can get no water; in fact, under a heavy
plug they would practically be hopelessly entombed.
Iseley records two species of caterpillars used for prey
by this wasp in Kansas. We have recorded, from three
distinct times and localities, only the caterpillars of
Pholisora cattulus used by the St. Louis O. dorsalis. We
here add another record of twelve cells taken September
2, 1918, containing an aggregate of 51 caterpillars, all of
which were of the one species.
Odynerus foraminatus Sauss. [S. A Rohwer]. An
elder twig, taken at Hematite, Mo., on October 18, 1918,
gave forth this adult Eumenid on April 30, 1919. This
twig was hollow, and the lower four inches were filled up
with finely bitten up pith. This indicates that the twig.
18 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
had probably been used previously by a Crabro wasp.
Four inches below the top of the remaining cavity, this
Eumenid mother had laid a mud floor and inserted a mud
ceiling one-half inch above this, thus making only one
large cell in the twig. In lieu of making a cocoon, the
larva had varnished the walls of the room with some
substance which had hardened into a very thin, onion-
skin-like, white tissue. Nothing remained to indicate
what the food supply had been. Another individual
made its nest in the interstices of a corrugated cardboard
box in the laboratory. Others were seen on the flowers
of buck-brush on August 1, 1920.
_ Odynerus (Ancistrocerus) tigris Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer].
Found on the screen door, carrying a caterpillar, at
Wickes, May 29, 1920.
Odynerus (Ancistrocerus) capra Sauss. var. [S. A.
Rohwer]. Taken from blackberry blossoms, May 29,
1920.
Odynerus (Stenodynerus) anormis Say. [S. A. Roh-
wer.] On flowers of buck-brush, August 1, 1920.
Odynerus (Stenodynerus) pedestris Sauss. [S. A. Roh-
wer]. On buck-brush blossoms, Wesco, August 1, 1920.
Alyson melleus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. This was seen
on June 13, 1918, entering a hole in a bank. It was one
among many bee holes, so it might have been the wasp’s
own burrow or that of a bee.
Nysson (Hyponysson) rawi [S. A. Rohwer].* One was
seen on August 5 to enter the bee burrow of Calliopsis
nebrascensis Ofd. [J. C. Crawford].
Nysson sp. [S. A. Rohwer]. The freshly-cut stems of
roadside weeds and bushes, including sumac, afforded at-
tractive places for the building of stem-dwellers. In less
than two hours after the weeds were cut, two wasps of
this species had already dug deep tunnels in the soft
pith.
*Deacribed by 8. A. Rohwer, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus. 53:176, 1917.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 19
Nysson (Zanysson) texanus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer].
Taken at Lake View, Kansas, July 29, 1916. This is
described in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 59:406, 1921 and
through an error the locality given as St. Louis, Mo.
Paramellinus bipunctatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One
spicemen of this wasp was found dead in a shallow hole
in the sand at Creve Coeur Lake, Mo., October 13, 1916.
It had probably sought shelter here and had been over-
come by the cold.
Hoplisoides costalis Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This wasp
had its hole in the ground under a small piece of loose
bark. This was evidently her nest, as she entered it
carrying something green. There was much loose earth
about the hole. In pushing her way in, she left the bur-
row open, and when she left the hole she kicked over
enough dirt to cover it. The burrow and its contents
could not be traced out on account of the looseness of the
soil. Another individual of this species was captured on
a windowpane in a chicken-house. This was an old log
house, and the logs and the mortar in the crevices con-
tained many burrows of insects; hence we were always
curious regarding the business of any insects captured
there. |
Mimesa cressoni Pack. [S. A. Rohwer] was found on
the baseball field in St. Louis, October 13, 1918.
Oxybelus sp. near striatus [S. A. Rohwer]. A hole, one-
eighth inch in diameter, was found in the sand at Moselle,
Mo., July 2, with a neat pile of loose sand about it. This
wasp entered the hole and soon emerged, when it was
taken. The burrow was lost in digging.
Solenius interruptes Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Found
dead on window at St. Louis, June 30, 1920.
Solenius bellus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. Several of
these were found snugly secure in burrows in the up-
right posts of a pagoda at Creve Coeur Lake, June 13,
1918. They sat with their heads in their doorways,
calmly looking into the sunshiny world outside, but would
20 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
drop back into their holes most tantalizingly upon our
approach. These holes proved to be the old burrows of
beetles, tightly packed with sawdust. The wasps were
evidently enlarging their quarters by removing this
packing.
Hypocrabro texanus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This wasp
was found in a hollow stem, together with some larvae
and three pellets of bee-bread. It is probable that this
was really the bee’s home, and the wasp had merely
sought shelter here for the night.
Hypocrabro stirpicolus Pack. [S. A. Rohwer]. The
live wasp was found in a tunnel in an ailanthus twig
taken in the Missouri Botanical Garden. It had evident-
ly only taken temporary refuge there, since there was no
evidence of its nest; the cells below it were filled with
caterpillars, while this species rears its young on flies.
Another stem with soft pith, taken at Wicks, Mo., con-
tained a tunnel which ocillated from side to side of the
pith area. One cell in this burrow was full of flies and
a wasp larva; another cell contained only the debris of
flies, and a partition of pith one-half inch thick sep-
arated the two. Early in May this young wasp emerged
a full-grown H. stirpicolus. Their prey in one nest was
Viviania calosomae Burgess [J. M. Aldrich]. A third
nest was found in a cottonwood sprout, which had been
chopped off exposing the pith. The tunnel was newly
completed, nine inches long and three-sixteenths inch
wide, and the first cell was being stocked when I inter-
rupted the worker. The mother was caught in the burrow
with three flies, all dead: Oxycera maculata Oliv. [C. T.
Greene], Phorbia fuscipes Zett. [C. T. Greene] and Rivellia
pallida Lve. [C. T. Greene]. In still another nest we took
flies of two other species: Chiromeyia sp. [J. F. Aldrich]
and Agromyza parvicornis Loew. [J. F. Aldrich]. All
this prey is an addition to the list already published in
Wasp Studies Afield. Another cocoon of this wasp,
Ecological and Behavior Notes 21
taken from a sumac twig, was found to contain not the
rightful owner but the parasite, Diamorus zabriskiei
Cress. [R. A. Cushman], which was fully developed and
occupied the entire space.
Cerceris clypeata Dahlb. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken at
Kimmswick, Mo., by sweeping the low grass at 5 p. m. on
July 17.
Cerceris raui Roh. [S. A. Rohwer]. A male was found
feeding on buck-brush blossoms at Wesco, about a hun-
dred miles from the point from which it was described.
Philanthus politus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken on
July 2, in an area of white sand at Silica, Mo., in com-
pany with several other Hymenoptera.
Philanthus punctatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken at
Hematite, Mo., as late in autumn as October 19, 1918.
Crossocerus scutellatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One in-
dividual of this species was seen to enter three holes in
a clay bank at Lake View, Kansas, July 27, 1916; then
it returned to the first one where it was captured. Another
was twice seen doing the Higland fling’’ before its hole
in the bank; it would poise before the hole in humming-
bird fashion for many seconds and sometimes move from
side to side, and eventually dart away. I did not ascer-
tain if it was foraging in these holes or actually nesting
there.
Crossocerus incavus Fox. [S. A. Rohwer]. This wasp
was found in the same clay bank as the above species.
One entered a hole in the bank, and despite the fact that
the tunnel went in for several inches it remained near
the entrance kicking out loose dirt, until it was captured.
Xylocelia ater Mickel. [S. A. Rohwer]. At Lake View,
Kansas, on July 27 and 30, two were seen to enter erev-
ices in the dirt bank.
Xylocelia spiniferus Mickel. [S. A. Rohwer]. Taken
at Creve Coeur Lake, Mo., October 7, 1916.
Diodontus corusanigrens Roh. [S. A. Rohwer].* On
This is a new species described from this material in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 57 :270,
1920.
22 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
July 6, 1918, an elder stem was taken with this adult
wasp within; in 1919 five wasps emerged between March
31 and April 14. This indicates but one generation a
year. |
Didineis texanus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. On October
6, 1916, about a dozen of these were seen walking about
on the loose soil at the base of a clay bank, apparently
killing time. .
Trypoxylon rubrocinctum Pack. [S. A. Rohwer]. An
elder twig contained a gallery three inches long and one-
eighth inch in diameter. The lowermost cell of this was
one-half inch long and contained the black cocoon from
which this wasp emerged during the middle of July. A
very thin partition of mud separated this from the next
cell, which was one and three-fourths inches in length.
Next was another partition of mud, and beyond this was
the old case of a cuckoo-bee, Chrysis (trichrysis) parvula
Fab. [S. A. Rohwer]. No explanation has been found
for the enormous size of the second cell.
Trypoxylon johnson Fox. [S. A. Rohwer]. This red-
bodied T'rypoxylon was this time found occupying a hole
in a mass of soil which was clinging to the roots of an
upturned tree. The burrow was only an inch deep and
wide enough to accommodate only the wasp’s body. We
have previously found it in twigs.
Trypoxylon frigidum Sm. [S. A. Rohwer]. A dead
male found in the stem of a sumac.
Trypoxylon clavatum Sm. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
emerged in June 1920 from a Polistes paper nest with
mud plugs taken at Meramec Highlands October 6, 1919.
Chlorion ichnewmonewm Linn. Feeding upon flowers of
Aster multiflora, October 6, 1919, and on buck-brush
blossoms at Wesco, July 30, 1920.
Chlorion cyaneum Dahl. Found on August 14, 1919,
carrying a cricket, Gryllus assimilis Fab. [A. N. Cau-
dell]. The cricket, at first quite helpless, slowly regained
Ecological and Behavior Notes 23
the ability, after several hours, to respond slightly to
stimulus, but died the next day.
Priononyx bifoveolatum Tachenberg. [S. A. Rohwer].
We arrived upon the scene, a mud bank with sparse
vegetation, just in time to see the wasp riding her hopper,
Melanoplus scudderi Uhler [A. N. Caudell] to her door.
She trundled it along in the regulation manner, riding
atop and grasping the hopper’s antennae in her jaws.
She left it, as her sisters P. atratum and P. thomae
usually do, beside the mouth of the burrow while she
went in for a final inspection of the interior, poked her
head out the door and dragged it in, and half a minute
later she emerged and began packing in the soil. The
burrow was only a small, sloping pocket in the earth,
similar to that of P. atratwm but somewhat smaller. The
hopper gave only a slight response to stimulus, and died
the next day. The wasp’s egg was attached exactly in
the place where P. atratwm and P. thomae habitually
fasten theirs, on the right side of the body at the base
of the hind leg.
. Priononyx atratum Lep. [S. A. Rohwer]. A grass-
hopper, Melanoplus femoratus, which was taken from
this wasp lived for four days, August 1 to 5, 1920. Other
wasps of this species were taken on flowers of buck-brush
at Wesco, July 30, and on Aster multiflora as late as
October 19, 1918.
Ammobia pennsylvanica Linn. [S. A. Rohwer]. Cap-
tured in the kitchen at Wickes, Mo., September 4, 1917.
Sphex (Ammophila) pictipennis Walsh. At St. Louis,
in 1918, several of these wasps were seen out on October
12; one was even earnestly trundling a caterpillar home.
This was not the latest date of their appearance, how-
ever, for one was taken at Hematite, Mo. on October 19.
Others were taken in summer from the flowers of sweet
clover and buck-brush. We took possession of a cater-
pillar, Leucania unipuncta [S. B. Fracker] which one
was taking home at Wesco, August 1; it lived six days.
24 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Sphex (Ammophila) abbreviata Fab. [S. A. Rohwer].
Two of these were seen in copulo at Wickes, Mo., on Sep-
tember 4, 1917. They alighted on a leaf nearby, remained
for perhaps three minutes and resumed their flight high
in the air without separating. Another pair was seen
likewise, the male atop his mate, on August 13. They
fiitted about with ease and rested frequently on the vege-
tation. On July 17, a female was seen carrying a green
caterpillar belonging to the Hesperiidae [S. B. Fracker].
It was not dead.
Sphex (Ammophila) procera. These were seen at
Wickes at the end of June, and on July 2, one was starting
to dig her well at Silica. She seemed hard to satisfy,
and abandoned her first two attempts after making a
good beginning. Her method of digging was to stand,
head downward, with her body straight up in the air, bite
out a chunk of earth and fly with it a short ee be-
fore dropping it.
Sphex (Ammophila )argentatus Hort. [S. A. Rohwer].
When first I saw this wasp at work, I thought it was
Sphex pictipennis, on account of the similarity of its
coloring and size, but upon seeing it at work, I at once
saw that its method of proceeding was slightly different
from the fixed habits of S. pictipennis. The difference
in the behavior of the two species lies chiefly in the
method of carrying out the soil when excavating the nest.
S. pictipennis always walks from the burrow and carries
the dirt to a pile at a point about four inches distant. The
two individuals of S. argentata observed at work on a
sandy area in St. Louis on September 1, 1918, would al-
ways, when leaving the burrow with a load of dirt, fly
into the air and drop the sand while they were on the
wing.
At first it appeared, as just stated, that these two fe-
males were at work in a sandy area, but upon excavat-
ing the burrows I found that the sand was only a
thin layer which had been dumped on top of the hard
Ecological and Behavior Notes 25
yellow clay. The nest of S. pictipennis is clearly and in-
variably ‘‘L’’ shaped, but in these two cases the nests
looked more like those of Priononyx atratum. The bot-
tom chamber was three-quarters of an inch below the
surface of the ground; the length was 114 inches, and
the diameter was 3/16 inch. I could not ascertain
whether S. argentatus always makes this type of nest, or
whether these two mothers, when they dug into the sand
and struck the hard clay, sidled along horizontally and
made the nest such as we describe, instead of abandon-
ing the attempt or working through the tough clay to
make an ‘‘L’’ shaped burrow. Besides S. pictipennis,
we know that S. procera make nests of that conventional
form. Both of these nests contained a caterpillar each
of the same species of Geometridae [Fracker], and each
caterpillar had a wasp egg on the left side of the body
a little below the center. Both caterpillars were dead,
but these were dug up four days after the nests had been
sealed.
These wasps were out late in the season. On October
18, 1918, about half a dozen of them were seen at Her-
culaneum, Mo., and the next day three more were ob-
served along the roadside to Hematite, one of which was
trundling her caterpillar home at that unusual date. The
method of carrying the caterpillar is of some interest,
since in Wasp Studies Afield we have stated that the
method of certain Sphex (Ammophila) in carrying the
caterpillar with the dorsal surface toward the ground
was no mere accident, but was a very effectual improved
method. In this specimen of S. argentatus it was clearly
demonstrated to be a fact.
On three separate occasions, when the wasp left her
caterpillar because of my too close proximity, and the
caterpillar in curling up its body rolled on its side, in
each instance she mounted it, marched on with it for a
time with its side to the ground. After pulling it along
in this difficult position for a foot or so, she each time
26 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
stopped and deliberately turned it on her back with her
feet and resumed her march with it with more ease and
speed. The facts that the stops were deliberate, and that
the caterpillar was righted with her feet on all three oc-
casions before she traveled on, show that this is not
merely instinctive or tropismic behavior, but actual use
of judgment or experience to gain her own convenience;
she tried to move it in the position in which she found it,
but after a short pull she found a better way and stopped
to put it into practice. Of course it is clear to anyone
how much more smoothly the rounded dorsal surface will
slide over the ground than any other part of the prey’s
anatomy.
The caterpillar was injured only slightly, wriggled
actively when I took it up, and responded to stimulus for
five days thereafter. Since this wasp was found nidifying
so late in the autumn, one wonders if it does not hiber-
nate as an adult.
Notogonidea argentata Bve. This wasp was seen to fly
into a hole in a clay bank, with its prey under the
abdomen; she was captured as she emerged, and the bur-
row opened. This proved to be only a spider’s hole, one-
half inch across and six inches deep, but at the bottom
was a cricket, Nemobius fasciatus De Geer [A. N. Cau-
dell]. The cricket was very much alive but its powers
of locomotion were dead; however it could cling tightly
to my hand by its tarsi. Anothr wasp was caught in a
trap set for burying-beetles as early as June 12, 1917,
while others were out as late as October 20.
Tachytes peptictus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. In July,
1918, I noticed a species of green-eyed wasp performing
a sun-dance. These were astonishingly fleet of wing, and
could not be captured without a net; so, for lack of iden-
tification, no record was made of this occurrence. The
earth at that place was somewhat sandy and almost bare
of vegetation for an area about six feet square under the
spreading branches of an old cotton-wood tree.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 27
Two years later, July 2, 1920, I revisited the same spot
and was gratified to find the same performance going on
in precisely the same way. The wasps had evidently
emerged from the ground at that place and were in high
spirits in the dance. They were a riotously noisy lot,
emitting almost constantly a bee-like buzz when in flight,
and the greater part of them were in flight all the time.
They danced and cavorted to and fro, in and out, up and
down, over this sparsely-covered spot. Occasionally a
few would rest for a time on the grey earth or on a green
leaf, or on the trunk of the tree. Most of the flight
occurred within six inches of the ground; occasionally
one would dash off for a moment to a higher altitude, but
the swarm in general kept pretty steadily to about that
level, and they never ventured more than a few inches
above that. When in flight, small groups of from two to
four were seen waltzing about one another in circles;
often one chased another for a short distance with great
swiftness. Sometimes a pair would tumble to the ground,
struggle and separate, but I have so far failed to see if
this was actual copulation. There were about fifty wasps
present in this area, and all were participating in the
dance. It appeared that they had recently emerged here;
no evidence of their digging could then be detected. The
dance was observed for about an hour, which was as long
as I could remain at high noon. This species was later
seen on the buck-brush flowers at Wesco, Mo., on August
1
Tachytes obscurus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. Several
were seen on the sandbar at Wickes, Mo., sometimes
entering crevices.
Tachytes mergus Fox. [S. A. Rohwer]. These wasps
were on the river sandbar on September 6, 1919, actively
running about and often entering holes which appeared
to be those of Microbembix monodonta.
Tachytes obductus Fox. [S. A. Rohwer]. Seen enter-
ing holes in the sand at Wesco, August 1.
28 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Bicyrtes fodiens Hdl. [S. A. Rohwer]. Three were
seen to enter holes in the sandy clay by the roadside at
Lake View, Kansas. The burrows were evidently in
course of construction, and went down diagonally for
about four inches. A fourth one entered an abandoned
burrow of Bembiz sp., from which it kicked out some dirt.
Bicyrtes quadrifasciata Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One
was seen to dig in the soil of Chestley Island on Septem-
ber 16, 1919. It commenced burrows in a dozen places,
and often entered ready-made burrows in the sand, which
probably belonged to its kin, Microbembix monodonta.
The latter species, as well as Bembix spinolae, was plen-
tiful at this spot, as were likewise the diptera, Chaeto-
plagia atripennis Coq. [J. M. Aldrich], which probably
were parasitic on all three species of wasps.
Miscophus americanus Fox [S. A. Rohwer]. A num-
ber of wasp cocoons were dug out of the soft sand in the
bluff at Silica, Mo., on July 2, 1920. Some of them later
brought forth this wasp.
Specius speciosus Say. On two mornings I saw per-
haps a half dozen of these formidable wasps flying about
a small clump of hawthorn bushes. Some white faces
showed that a part of the number were males. The
wasps in their flight to and fro often met in collisions
in a manner and frequency that certainly made it appear
far from accidental; hence we concluded that the whole
performance was a flight of courtship of some sort. How-
ever, several hours’ vigil discovered no cases of actual
mating.
On another occasion a day or so later a big cicada-killer
flew wildly in circles near where I was busy. Suddenly
she flew high in a willow tree fifty feet away and I gave
her no further thought. Fifteen minutes later, down she
flew swiftly in a straight, diagonal line and without stop-
ping flew directly into a rodent’s burrow at my feet.
Hence it seems that her circling flight was to make sure
of her burrow, perhaps so there would be no search for
Ecological and Behavior Notes 29
it when she had her prey. I had known that they often
climb trees with their prey in order to be able better to
launch on wing with their heavy burden, but I had not
suspected that they first select a burrow, or that they
may use burrows made by others. She did not reappear,
and an attempt to dig up the rodent’s burrow proved un-
successful.
Microbembix monodonta Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. On a
large, bald area of white sand on a hilltop at Silica, many
of these little wasps were active. They were neither
digging nor dancing; but they flew aimlessly about, drop-
ped to the ground and rested, whereupon a second would
often bump against the first. Although I watched for
about two hours, I could see no actual mating or nest
digging; hence I suspected that these were probably the
males just emerging. They flew near to the ground, and
it was with difficulty that the net could be manipulated to
effect their capture. This was on July 2, 1920.
Bembiæ spinolae. While on September 1 B. nubili-
pennis had entirely disappeared, we saw a female of B.
spinolae on September 16 just commencing her burrow.
In consideration of the fact that it would take her several
weeks to feed her young to maturity, this seemed sur-
prisingly poor physical economy. The site was a small
sandy area on a vacant city lot. On this spot the wasp
seratched some sand out at about eight different places
before she found one satisfactory. She scratched and
kicked the sand under her in much the same manner as
B. nubilipennis. She would go down and push the loose
soil up from below until the channel was full, then push
her way out through it, turn about with her head just
inside the channel and rapidly kick out the sand as she
retreated, (Plate VI fig. 8) repeat this several times, and
then go in again and work up more soil from the bottom.
Bembia nubilipennis. From June 15 we watched daily
for the 1919 population of this species, but they did not
come out until June 29; on the 30, they were there in
30 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
goodly numbers, and by July 1 they were at the height
of their abundance. From that date on, their numbers
did not increase, but with the disappearance of the males
a decrease was soon apparent. The appearance of the
same colony has been previously recorded for June 16 in
1914 and July 4 in 1915 and June 27 in 1918. In 1920
they emerged on July 2, in even greater numbers than
in previous years, and the increased numbers made the
dance seem even more riotous than usual. This cele-
bration was confined strictly to the morning hours, 9 to
11. We were long in doubt whether the young wasps
emerged from their cells deep underground by following
the old channels made by the mother and refilled, or by
cutting new ones straight to the surface above them.
More recent investigation has shown that some follow
one route, some the other, and we have so far been unable
to find any factors which would determine their choice
in this matter.
While these Bembix generally choose their own site
for a new burrow when the time arrives for them to give
serious attention to nidification, yet we have seen several
instances of the newly-emerged insect turning around
and utilizing the old slanting channel of its emergence,
which in turn was the channel dug by its mother and
filled in the previous season.
While this species feed Dipterous insects to her young,
the mothers have been seen a number of times feeding on
the nectar of the iron-weed flowers.
Cerceris fumipennis. Wickes, Mo., July 17, 1918. Roam-
ing at twilight down a little frequented road I chanced
to find in the middle of the path a pretty mound of soil
with an entrance in the center. The burrow was un-
covered. The nest was excavated; a wasp of the above
species was found half way down the burrow, and another
at the very bottom. No prey nor pocket was found;
hence we concluded that the burrow was evidently in
course of construction. Likewise it seemed improbable
Ecological and Behavior Notes 31
that two females were nidificating in the same hole;
rather it would seem more likely that a second one had
merely come in to spend the night. The discovery at this
late hour of the day proves conclusively that these wasps
do not go elsewhere to spend the night.
The burrrow was about eight inches in depth and of
the contour illustrated. (Plate VIII fig. 12, half natural
size). The width varied from about three-eights to one-
half inch. The form of this nest differed considerably
from that of the one described in Wasp Studies Afield,
p. 127.
Cerceris flavofasciata H. S. Sm. [S. A. Rohwer].
Taken on buck-brush flowers at Wesco, August 1, 1920.
Omalus iridescens Norton. [S. A. Rohwer]. A sumac
twig was taken at Meramec Highlands on July 6, 1918.
Early in August a cuckoo-bee emerged. The following
April a second individual of this species emerged, show-
ing an astonishingly wide difference in the time of matur-
ity, or at least of emerging. The remains of chewed-up
pith in this twig pointed to Ceratina calcarata as the
host.
Chrysis (Tetrachrysis) venusta Cress. [S. A. Rohwer].
A dead specimen was found in an elder stem, October
15, 1918.
BEES
Halictus lerouxii Lep. [J. C. Crawford]. A male was
found feeding on the flowers of sweet clover on July 19,
1918, and on buck-brush on August 1, 1920.
Halictus lignatus Say. [J. C. Crawford]. For half an
hour I watched one individual which was sitting motion-
less within its burrow looking out, with its face flush with
the surface of the ground, and fitting the hole like a plug.
When finally it was routed and the burrow explored, a
second one was found within. This was on July 25, 1915.
Halictus parallelus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. A number
of these bees were seen on the flowers of wild aster near
the river at Wickes as late as October 13, 1920. Others
32 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
were on buck-brush blossoms and sweet-clover in July
and August.
Halictus tegularis Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. A female
was seen going into its burrow in the sand at Lake View,
Kansas, July 26, 1916.
Halictus zephyrus Sm. [J. C. Crawford]. A colony of
these bees was seen at Creve Coeur Lake on June 13,
1918. The entrance of each burrow was blocked by the
head of the male occupant. This great number of bright
eyes peering out their dark doorways was quaintly sug-
gestive of a neighborhood of curious gossips. The
females were coming in from time to time laden with
pollen. The orifices of the tunnels were small enough to
admit no intruder when the head of the male closed the
opening, but beyond that point the tunnels were much
wider. They went into the bank horizontally for several
inches.
Augochlora similis Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. A cluster
of seven cells (See Plate VI, fig. 6) was taken from under
the bark of a log at Wickes on August 10, 1917. These
were made of coarsely chewed bits of wood, and held
together by some unknown substance. Adults of this
species emerged from these later. This species also
nests earlier, for on May 10, 1915 at Meramec Highlands,
a similar collection of cells was taken from a like situa-
tion; the occupants were in the larval stage and were
feeding on the pellets of bee-bread provided for them.
Augochlora confusa Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. A female
heavily laden with pollen had fallen prey to a spider,
Phidippus audax Htz. [J. H. Emerton]. The pair was
found on the window-sill at Wickes, July 18, 1917.
Augochlora pura Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. This bee, a
male, was feeding on the wild flowers at Cliff Cave, April
21, 1920.
Augochlora prunus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Dozens of
these bees were seen during the day, April 23, 1920, when
the old bark was peeled from fallen trees. They evi-
Ecological and Behavior Notes 33
dently declined to come out into the drear cold weather;
perhaps they even nidificated under the sheltering bark.
Augochlora persimilis Vier. [S. A. Rohwer]. This
golden bee was very beautiful on the black-berry blos-
soms at Wickes, May 29, 1920.
Paralictus cephalicus Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. These
bees and their burrows were seen in a clay embankment
along the roadside at Falling Springs, III., September 11,
1916. The tunnels went in horizontally at first and then
became tortuous; they could be followed only a few
inches. The width of the tunnel was quite ample, but the
opening was just small enough to be snugly closed by the
head of the watcher. The males sat quietly for long
hours at their doorways. That intruders were effectually
kept out was evidenced by the fact that a persistent
Halictus made six attempts in the course of half an hour
to enter one of the burrows, and was always repelled by
the guard.
Calliopsis nebraskensis Cfd. [J. C. Crawford]. For
several summers, a number of large colonies were seen
on a baseball diamond on a city lot. The openings of the
burrows were completely covered by mounds of fine dust.
One nest which was dug up had two entrances covered
by separate mounds of dust about two inches apart.
These nests were abundantly visited by parasitic bees
Sphecodes sp. [S. A. Rohwer], which spent much of their
time nosing about the hills, poking their heads into the
loose dirt and entering the tunnels below, often scuttling
out again head first a moment later.
Calliopsis andreniformis Sm. [J. C. Crawford]. One
specimen taken from the same area as C. nebraskensis,
July 15, 1915.
Sphecodes ronunculi Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. One
specimen was taken on a window sill in a log house, where
it was evidently parasitic on some of the inhabitants of
the burrows in the logs.
Andrena crataegi Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. This bee
34 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
was dug out of its burrow at Cliff Cave, Mo., on April 7,
1915. The aperture of the burrow was open and sur-
rounded by a very pretty hill of pellets resembling an ant
hill. It went down three inches; it was evidently in
course of construction.
Andrena claytoniae Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. This bee
was found in its tunnel a few inches below the surface of
the ground at Castlewood, Mo., on April 28, 1915.
Nomada luteoloides Roh. [S. A. Rohwer]. One feed-
ing on sunflower, August 30, 1914.
Melissodes confusa Cres. [S. A. Rohwer]. Many of
these bees were gathering pollen from iron-weed at
Wesco, August 1, 1920.
Melissodes agilis Cr. [J. C. Crawford]. <A hill of loose
soil with the opening in the center was found on the
baseball diamond July 24, 1915. The burrow was in
course of construction, and the female bee was at the
bottom. The hole was five inches deep, and went down-
ward quite precipitously. A second bee was taken near
to the above on August 22, 1915. This mother had made
a horizontal burrow in the face of a clay bank.
Melissodes bimaculata Lep. [J. C. Crawford]. One
female taken from a head of red clover July 30, 1917.
Melissodes obliqua Say. [J. C. Crawford]. One speci-
men taken from the flowers of white snakeroot at Lake
View, Kansas on August 30, 1914, and at St. Louis on
August 22, 1919. A female was seen to begin digging
her burrow in the moist clayey soil. On another occasion
a specimen of M. obliqua was taken from the grasp of a
spider, Runcinia aleatoria Htz. [C. R. Shoemaker], to
which it had fallen a victim.
Xenoglossa pruinosa Say. [J. C. Crawford]. A male
specimen was taken from the flower heads of white snake-
root on August 1, 1917, at Wickes, Mo., and on September
4, at the same place, a second male was removed from
the grasp of the spider, Runcinia aleatoria Htz. [C. R.
Shoemaker]. This yellow flower-spider was hidden in the
Ecological and Behavior Notes 35
yellow corolla of a pumpkin blossom where its high de-
gree of protective coloration made it invisible to me; I
captured the bee with the forceps, and was surprised to
pull out the spider clinging to it.
Anthophora abrupta Say. [J. C. Crawford]. A num-
ber of mud cells containing larvae of this species were
unearthed at the base of a tree at Creve Coeur Lake on
Jan. 15,1910. A number of these were parasitized by the
Chalcid wasp, Monodontomerus montivagus [J. C. Craw-
ford] which emerged between the 10th and 15th of the
following May. The great preponderance of female
parasites that emerged led me to tabulate the count of
ten cells. The figures showed a large predominance of
females in every cell; out of the 218 insects in the ten
cells, the males numbered 31 and the females 187. The
number of these parasites supported by a single bee
varied from 13 to 29. Some of these lived up to 22 days
in confinement, probably feeding on the sugar water
in their cage. In another lot of cells, taken from Cliff
Cave during the winter of 1915-16, the adult bees
emerged between May 8th and 12th. None of these were
parasitized by the Chalcids, but by about a dozen speci-
mens of a Dipterous insect, Mycophaga sp. (identified by
C. H. T. Townsend, who writes that ‘‘this genus has not
been recorded for America.’’)
These burrowing, turret-building bees were at work
in the disintegrating mortar of an old stone chimney at
Manchester, Mo. None of the turrets of the last year’s
group had survived the winter weather, but I kept close
and frequent watch on the chimney because of other in-
sects which I was studying there. The chimney was ex-
amined on June 3, 1919, and no A. abrupta were there.
The next visit, June 7, revealed an abundance of these
hees, and since their numbers never increased I concluded
that the entire population emerged simultaneously. By
July 5 they had so decreased in numbers that only about
36 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
a half dozen were at work, and by July 15 all had disap-
peared. This is a water-carrying bee. They came to a
puddle in a wagon-rut about a hundred feet away for
water; when this dried up they readily filled their crops
from a dish of water placed on the ground with floating
sticks in it for them to alight on.
On the first of May 1921 a lot of cells containing matur-
ing Anthophora abrupta bees were brought into the labor-
atory, and the sex and date of emergence noted. The
males emerged over a period of sixteen days, May 10 to
May 25, and the females over a period of only three days,
May 23 to 25, or the time coincident with the last three
days of male emergence. With one male emerging on
May 10, the number on each day following was 1, 2, 4,
1 ,2, 4, 5, 9, 84, 54, 30, 64, 8, 3 and 1, totaling 273 males.
The females first appeared thirteen days later than the
first males, but 28 strong; 53 emerged on the next day,
and 20 on the last, or 101 in all. Hence the priority of
male emergence is here quite unmistakable. This fact is
frequently met in the insect world; it seems to be an
ingenious device of nature to eliminate a waste of the
time of the busy females when every summer day is
precious.
In Saturniids a similar condition exists. In recording
the sex of nearly 3600 giant silk-worm moths as they
emerged from their cocoons, we found the ratio of the
sexes to be 111 males to 100 females, and the mean date
of emergence of the males was from one to five days
earlier than that of the females.
Prosopis pygameus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. Found in
a sumac twig in the park, in winter of 1919.
Prosopis sayi Robt. [J. C. Crawford]. Two males
taken from a tunnel in a sumac stem at 7:30 p. m. on
July 4, 1918. The burrow was only one-half inch deep,
and the insect had evidently crept in there to sleep.
Prosopis cressoni [J. C. Crawford]. An elde®™twig
taken at Wickes, Mo., on June 28, gave forth three adults
Ecological and Behavior Notes | 37
of this species about the middle of July. The interior
of this twig gave every evidence of being, or at one time
having been, the property of a Ceratina bee, but I could
not discover whether or not P. cressoni was a parasite
on Ceratina, or merely an occupant of her abandoned
dwelling.
Colletes compactus Cress. [J. C. Crawford]. We have
described the courtship and mating habits of this species*
on a bright September afternoon. I was so fortunate as
again to meet this species, on September 17 and October
3, 1917, on a sandbar in the Mississippi River at Wickes.
They were abundant on both of these occasions. Identi-
fication by Mr. J. C. Crawford showed that the first lot
collected contained some males of Colletes willistonit.
Associated with the bees in great numbers was the beetle,
Cicindela rapanda De Jean [E. A. Schwarz]. The court-
ship behavior witnessed on October 3 was just as exciting
as the sun-dance observed a few years ago, despite the
fact that the weather was dark and gloomy. Hence it
seems that the courtship is not influenced by the sun-
light, since a more sunless and dreary day could hardly
be imagined than the last. Furthermore, the sandy area
upon which their activities occurred was thoroughly
moist. Hundreds came from their mysterious hiding-
places to dance over an area about three feet in diameter.
All were in a great state of excitement, weaving in and
out in the air, in the limited space and never higher than
two or three inches from the ground. When one of them
stopped to rest, others were soon on top of it. All ap-
peared from their size to be males, and there was no sign
of mating. Once a drowsy Polistes annularis happened
to alight in their midst; at once several male Colletes
alighted on her back, and one actually attempted to mate.
The Cicindela beetles which were watchers on the out-
skirts of the dance area often slowly crept into the ring
„Journ. Animal Behavior 6 :367-370, 1916.
38 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
and very often appropriated a bee for a meal, but more
often the male bees would alight upon their backs with
antics which were very suggestive of attempts at mating.
Strange, that they should fall upon every larger intruder
or stranger which came among them, and even crowded
about one of their own number, when it stopped to rest.
The excitement ran high, but all of the foregoing activity
was as naught when a female Colletes, heavily laden with
pollen, alighted in their midst. (When I saw this
creature, I was sure that all the others were males). A
half dozen males alighted on her back at one time, and
after much tumbling and rolling about one male accom-
plished the mating which lasted for fully two minutes,
while the others showered her with attentions. So many
attempted mating after the successful suitor had left that
she was soon so weakened that she could not fly, and even
as she slowly walked out of the crowd her very appear-
ance so excited the others that they made life so miser-
able for her that I interfered. These bees had undoubt-
edly come from a distance to this area, for all summer up
to a short time previously, the sandbar had been com-
pletely under water.
Colletes inaequalis [J. C. Crawford]. A female of
this species was taken out of her burrow at Cliff Cave
on April 7, 1915. The hole went straight down into the
ground for seven inches; its diameter was about one-
fourth inch, and it had a neat mound of earth around its
entrance. The mother was found alone at the bottom of
the burrow.
Megachile generosa Cress. [J. C. Crawford]. A
female was seen at Moselle on June 30, 1916, carrying
bits of green leaves under a loose clod of earth in a
recently cultivated field. After she had been watched
for several trips, she was captured and the clod removed.
A neatly formed cup, made of bits of leaves cut with her
madibles, (Pl. V, fig. 2) was disclosed. Since the leaf-
cutter bees are known to build in hollow twigs, an oceur-
Ecological and Behavior Notes 39
rence of this sort shows that their behavior is not bound
by iron-clad instincts. On August 21, 1916, I found a
number of these bees going through a sort of courtship
dance on a sandbar in Fox Creek, near Allenton, Mo. All
of the specimens taken were males.
Megachile mendica Cress. [J. C. Crawford]. A nest
of ten cups made of bits of green leaves was dug out of a
rotten log at Creve Coeur Lake. Eight adults emerged
between July 1 and 5, 1916. An adult was taken on a
black-eyed susan flower at Cliff Cave, October 19, 1920.
Megachile sp. In an old stem was found the dainty .
two-celled nest of an unknown species of Megachile. The
cells were made of discs cut from the leaves and yellow
petals of wild mimosa. On April 10, 1919, the parasite
Coelioxys near sayi and octerentati [T. D. A. Cockerell]
emerged.
Megachile brevis Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. In a sumac
stem taken at Cliff Cave on April 21, 1920, a beautiful
nest of this little bee was found. The tunnel was about
two inches deep, and this was completely filled with the
nest made of yellow petals. During the last week of May,
five perfect adults emerged. Pl. V fig. 4, shows the nests
or cells made ‘from portions of leaves in hollow stems by
Megachile bees.
Osmia near pumila Cress. [T. D. A. Cockerell]. Sev-
eral bees were found dead in their cocoons which were cut
out of a sumac twig on November 11, 1919.
Heriades carinatus Cress. [J. C. Crawford]. Three
individuals of this species emerged from sumac twigs on
August 4 and 5, 1916. These twigs had been taken at
Eureka, Mo., on July 12. Two emerged on August 11
and 25 from twigs taken at Meramee Highlands, and a
dead specimen was taken from a hollow twig on July 6,
1918. The tunnel in that case was three-sixteenths inch
in diameter and four inches long, and in the bottom was
a half-pellet of bee-bread. It would be interesting to
know whether or not the nest and provisions were her
40 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
own handiwork.
Ceratina dupla Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Two of these
bees were on the wild flowers at Cliff Cave on April 21,
1920. They carried no pollen.
Bombus wmpatiens Harris. [J. C. Crawford]. These
bees are frequently met in the fields. In midsummer
several of them were visiting the potato-blossoms, and in
September they were abundant on the goldenrod. In
July they were on the flowers of the buck-brush, even
early in the morning on dark, cloudy days, and on the
Aster multiflora in October.
Bombus americanorum Fab. (Frank.) [S. A. Rohwer]
A robber-fly, Proctacanthus milberti Marq. was seen at
rest on a plant inbibing the juices of this bumblebee on
August 14,1919. These bees have often been seen on the
goldenrod flowers.
Bombus auricomus Robt. [S. A. Rohwer]. On Sept
ber 1, 1920, two pairs of these bees were seen in mating
down by the river; one pair was on a leaf, the other on
the wet ground. The great difference in the size of the
sexes made the feat rather difficult for the little male.
After two minutes he flew swiftly away and paid her no
more heed. The day was dark, with occasional showers,
but this did not hinder their activity.
Bombus pennsylvamicus De Geer (Franklin). [J. C.
Crawford]. While bumble-bees normally make nests in
the ground, occasionally they leave the beaten paths of
habit and build in novel situations. One such novelty
was discovered at Eureka, Mo., on July 12, 1916. An old
paint bucket was hanging, seven feet from the floor, on
a barn wall. This bucket, after the paint had dried up,
had been used by wrens for a nesting-place the previous
summer, and this year the bucketful of sticks and straws
was occupied by a thriving swarm of bees. The second
odd nest was discovered in a sack filled with straw, lying
on the floor of an abandoned club-house at Wickes on
August 31, 1918. Bees heavily laden with pollen flew in
Ecological and Behavior Notes 41
by the doorway and entered their nest through a rent in
the sack. The colony was very strong—at least in the
estimation of the small son who complacently sat down
upon the sack. Bees of this species were seen visiting
the few remaining flower heads of sweet clover on August
24, 1916.
Apis mellifera Linn. A white flower spider, Mesumena
vatea Clerck. [C. R. Shoemaker] was inconspicuously at
rest among the flower-heads where it was sucking the
life-blood of a honey-bee. I could not see the spider at
first, but was attracted to the motionless honeybee among
hundreds of active ones, and soon discovered the reason
for the condition.
ANTS
Crematogaster lineolata Say. [W. M. Wheeler]. In
the fall, solitary queens of this species are found in tun-
nels made by the Ceratina bee and Hypocrabro wasp in
sumac and crimson rambler stems. Often the queen
makes for herself a little erypt, and uses bits of pith from
the sides to plug up the opening. A dead queen was
found in such a stem on March 9, 1919; it had probably
died of the cold despite the fact that she had made for
herself a cozy little room by building a partition or plug
of tightly packed pith. During the summer the colonies
become quite large. One such colony was taken in the
stem of a crimson rambler rose on August 14, 1917.
Camponotus herculeanus L. subsp. pennsylvanicus
De G. [M. W. Wheeler]. Several females of this species
were flying about the lights in the house in the evening
of June 18, 1918. Some were smaller than others, and were
probably males. One female flew under the lampshade
containing a sixty-watt lamp, came out fluttering the
wings and fell dead. On June 28, 1918, a worker of this
species was taken from the jaws of a cincindela beetle.
Eciton schmitti Emery. [W. M. Wheeler]. A long file
of workers of these driver ants was seen at Wickes on
42 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
September 10, 1918. They were first seen at twilight, and
they continued their travels after dark. Of this species
Dr. Wheeler writes: The northermost point at which
this species has been taken in the west is Doniphan, Mo.
In the eastern states I have not seen the genus Eciton,
which is nearly neotropical and runs to Argentine, fur-
ther north than North Carolina.’’ This shows that the
species is gradually working its way northward.
PARASITIC AND OTHER HYMENOPTERA
Pteronidea quercus Marl. [S. A. Rohwer]. Found
alive and mature inside a hollow sumac stem at Wickes,
April 23, 1920
Tromatobia rufopectus Cr. [R. A. Cushman]. One
egg-sac of the common green orb-weaving garden spider
gave forth during the summer of 1920 fifteen adults of
this parasite. Of the fifteen specimens, thirteen were
females. None of the spider’s eggs hatched. The para-
sites each had a separate cocoon, and these were closely
massed together within the spider’s sac but surrounding
her eggs, but whether the parasites themselves spun the
material for their cocoons or merely wrapped themselves
snugly in the fluffy spider’s silk already at hand, I could
not tell.
Epistenia osmiae Ash. [J. C. Crawford]. This Chaleid
parasite emerged from an elder twig on May, 21, 1918.
The twig had been taken at Meramec Highlands just the
week before. The tunnel had probably been originally
dug by Ceratina or Hypocrabro,
Grotea anguina Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This parasite
was in a number of sumac twigs gathered for Ceratina
and Hypocrabro specimens, and is probably parasitic
upon one of these two species. The twigs were gathered
at Wickes in October, 1917. The silky white, transparent
cocoons of this parasite measured twenty mm. in length,
and were at the bottom of burrows, about four inches
deep, in the twigs. The adults emerged early in the fol-
Ecological and Behavior Notes 43
lowing May. Another cocoon, which was identical with
the above, was found in a sumac stem taken at Meramec
Highlands on October 4, 1919. This specimen gave evi-
dence of having been parasitic upon Ceratina calcarata;
pellets of bee-bread, identical with those made by this
bee, were found in the chamber. Hyper-parasites which
could not be identified emerged from the cocoon, and the
only evidence that the original parasite was G. anguina
was the striking similarity of the cocoon. One other
specimen, identified as G. anguina by Mr. R. A. Cushman,
gave conclusive proof that the host is Ceratina calcarata.
A sumac stem containing a nest of C. calcarata was
brought home from Meramec Highlands on July 6, 1918.
The bottom cell contained the cocoon of this parasite,
and above this were eight cells with pellets of bee-bread
and larvae of various sizes. It was not until the first day
of May of the following year that the adult of Grotea
anguina emerged, making a period in the immature
stages of at least ten months.
Gasteruption tarsatornis Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One
specimen was obtained from an elder twig taken at Mera-
mee Highlands on May 20, 1918. The date of emergence
was not ascertained. The other twigs in the same lot
contained Hypocrabro stirpicolus; probably this wasp
was its host. These parasites, in an immature condition,
were found in a broken twig on the ground at Cliff Cave
on April 21, 1920. During the last week of May, three
adults emerged.
Ophion bilineatus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. Several adult
specimens were entrapped at the light on May 19, 1915.
Psilomastox vulpinus Grovenhorst. [R. A. Cushman].
On the vegetation at Wickes, May 28, 1920.
Amblyteles malacus Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One speci-
men taken in the city on July 25, 1918.
Amblyteles sp. [S. A. Rohwer]. One adult emerged
from a lepidopterous pupa clinging to a horse-weed stem.
Ptinobius magnificus Ash. [S. A. Rohwer]. A twig con-
44 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
taining a channel three and one-half inches deep was taken
at Wesco, August 2, 1920. The lower portion contained
four cells. The plug and partitions were made of chewed
up vegetation, which indicates an Alcidaema bee as host
The host larvae all died, but the parasite emerged as an
adult May 18, 1921.
Parasierola sp. [S. A. Rohwer]. A sumac twig taken
at Wickes, Mo. on June 30, 1918 gave forth this adult
parasite on the same day. Upon opening the stem, I
found a second and empty cocoon of the same species; the
pith partitions, some pellets of bee-bread and a dried
larvae indicated that the host of this parasite was Cera-
tina calcarata. i
Parisierola cellularis Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One was
found alive inside a hollow sumac stem at Wickes, April
23, 1920, and during the last week in May, a half-dozen
emerged from stems collected on that same day.
Axima zabriskei How. [J. C. Crawford]. The host of
this parasite is unknown to me. Three larvae were
found in a hollow blackberry stem on August 14, and on
May 1, two adults emerged.
Allocota thyridopterygis Riley. [S. A. Rohwer]. These
parasites emerged from cocoons of the bag-worm, Thy-
ridopteryx ephemeraeformis between September 11 and
23,1911. These were kept in confinement, fed on molasses
and water, and their length of life noted. Four males
lived three days, twelve females lived three days, and the
remaining fourteen varied in longevity from four to
twenty-four days.
BHTLIS
Cicindela punctulata Oliv. [E. A. Schwarz] was seen
on June 28, feeding upon a large black ant.
Panagaeus fasciatus Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. These
beetles were often found walking in the barren road at
Wickes, Mo., during the first half of July, 1917. Their
coloration and behavior were so similar to those of the
Ecological and Behavior Notes 45
Mutillids as to lead one at a casual glance to mistake the
beetles for wasps.
Pterostichus lucublandus Say. [E. A. Schwarz] was
abundant in the roads in the lowlands near the river dur-
ing the middle of August. Two of them were feeding upon
a dead moth, Estigmene acraea Dru. [H. G. Dyer].
Brachynus intermedius (1) [E. A. Schwarz]. A
specimen of this ‘‘bombardier beetle“ was observed in
May, 1914, when it was a party to a little drama enacted
with a hop-toad. At about eight o’clock one evening the
toad was at the lights getting his dinner. I observed him
snap at an insect and just as quickly spit it out, where-
upon the prey rapidly ran away. I picked it up to
ascertain what this distasteful one might be. It ex-
ploded three times in rapid succession while in my
fingers. This caused a slight burning sensation of the
skin of the parts touched.
Brachynus minutus Harr, [E. A. Schwarz] and
Braychynus cyanipennis. Several of these were taken
under stones by the roadside near Falling Springs, III.,
April 1, 1916.
Selenophorus pedicularius Dej. [H. S. Barber]. In
a vacant lot in St. Louis, July 14, 1915, this beetle had
its burrow. The hole was just wide enough that the
occupant’s head blocked the entrance neatly. The resi-
dent beetle was kept busy keeping out a little beetle,
Saprinus posthumus Mars. [E. A. Schwarz] which was
making a very persistent effort to get into the hole.
Whenever the large beetle would retire to the bottom of
the hole, the little one would enter. The former had no
trouble in routing it out, since the hole was too narrow
for two, and the owner at the bottom of the hole had
the advantage of being able to push out the intruder.
During the half hour when I watched them, the little one
made about twenty attempts to enter. Then with the
forceps I pulled the larger beetle out and permitted the
little one to enter, then released the larger one and let
46 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
it reenter. It remained in only a little while, however,
came out; went in once more and soon came out, and then
seemed to give up, as if disappointed at being unable
to rout the smaller one. I dug out the hole, and found
it six inches deep, without nest or provisions.
Geopinus incrassatus Dejean. [E. A. Schwarz]. In a
stretch of gravelly bottom along Joachim creek at Hem-
atite, Mo., were a number of small sandy areas. On
three of these places the sand was heaped up, apprising
us of the burrows beneath. The sand had been pushed
out in plugs, as is usual with beetles. The holes were
about eight inches deep, and sheltered this beetle at the
bottom.
Harpalus caliginosus Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]. This
beetle was found on a sunflower head which was almost
completely withered. The beetle had extracted a seed
and was diligently chewing it. It was placed in a vial
with an Epeolus bee; later it was discovered that the
beetle had completely chewed away the abdomen of the
bee. Another individual was found in the top of a small
rag-weed, munching at the seeds. Thus this ground
beetle, essentially carnivorous, sometimes takes the
trouble to climb plants for seeds.
Harpalus erraticus Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. The pres-
ence of the burrow of this beetle was indicated on the
surface of the ground by several piles of loose earth
which still retained slightly the plug-shaped or sausage-
like form in which it had been pushed out. I followed
this burrow, about one-fourth inch in diameter, to a
depth of about thirty-six inches, and was rewarded by
nothing more than to find this beetle sitting complacent-
ly at the bottom. This was on September 12, 1917.
Harpalus pennsylvanicus Dej. [E. A. Schwarz]. Hun-
dreds of these beetles were seen about the roads and
stubble fields, and about a dozen pairs in mating on
September 17, 1917.
Dineutes assimilis Aube. [H. S. Barber]. This
Ecological and Behavior Notes 47
records the fact that this large whirligig beetle was seen
in company with large numbers of the small variety,
Gyrinus aeneolus Lee. [E. A. Schwarz]. In the Mera-
mec river near Moselle, Mo., on September 23, 1916, an
oval area about 12 by 36 inches was so closely studded
with Gyrinus that a pencil could not be inserted between
them without disturbing them. This congregation was
in the water by the side of a fallen log, and looked like
an artifically made piece of bead-work, the whole set
off as with studied carelessness with about a dozen of
the large ones, D. assimilis. A disturbance of the water
would cause them to whirligig away, but one by one
they would glide back, and so the group would become
again intact, and all would be quiet again. The next day
they were in the same place and at 6 p. m., when it was
nearly dark, they were likewise there. I suspect that it
is their habit quietly to spend the night in the water,
for I returned early the next morning and found no
change in their position or behavior. The mass re-
mained intact until noon that day, when I had to leave.
This is the only time I have seen the intimate association
of the two species, and I wonder if it is an accidental or
occasional occurrence, or if there is any mutual benefit
to be derived from the association.
Silpha interrupta Fab. [E. A. Schwarz].
Aleochara lata Groh. [E. A. Schwarz]. These two
species were shaken out of the head of a dead robin at
Cliff Cave, Mo., in May 1916.
Creophilus villosus [E. A. Schwarz]. About twenty
of these beetles, together with other species, were dis-
covered under the body of a dead and decaying chicken.
They all buried themselves immediately in the loose
earth under the hen, the moment the body was lifted up.
In digging them up with the trowel I found them always
in pairs, although not in actual copulo; it appeared as
though they might have just separated. A few minutes
after placing them in a glass jar, I found three pairs in
48 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
mating. They in the mated condition would walk about,
back to back sometimes accomplishing surprising feats
of climbing. The others were burrowing in the ground
and perhaps mating underground, for in two instances
I saw insects that were above ground attempting to
mate with others which were fast disappearing under-
ground and had the tips of the abdomens barely pro-
truding. Food was later let down to them on a piece of
twine and the twine tied about the lid. The beetles
would often climb this twine and sometimes, with diffi-
culty, accomplish mating even 0 but soon both
would fall.
They were kept for some time in a deep glass jar half
filled with earth, and were fed on cooked and raw
meat. Often they would crawl on top of the provender
but seemed very wary; a slight lifting of the lid would
cause them to scamper under cover. When a tiny pool
of juice had accumulated on the side of the dead mouse
which we had served to them, the beetles were seen to
actually drink this up. A small dead garter snake was
at another time inserted. At a bruised spot on the side,
five of these beetles soon gnawed outa hole three-
fourths of an inch in length, and another place twice as
large in the middle of the snake. Cooked beef was only
sparingly nibbled at, but when no raw food was given
they ate enough of the cooked meat to sustain life. They
lived thus from April 24 to about May 18. Whether
their death then was ‘natural, or due to their artificial
environment, I know not.
The beetles themselves had no distinctive odor, but
always when picked up with the forceps (and I suppose
always when defence is needed), a drop of thick brown-
ish-gray fluid was emitted from the anus. This had a
sharp and offensive odor. I made experiments sufficient
to prove to my own mind that it was the drop and not
the insect which exhaled the smell; both insect and con-
tainer remained odorless until the animal was teased.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 49
However they could not constantly or continually per-
form this act, and if the teasing occurred at short inter-
vals they were incapable of giving off this fluid, but in-
stead they would go through abdominal contortions and
squeeze out a drop of clear, odorless liquid. They
seemed to try to aim directly to strike their persecutor
with the substance; when one attempted to pick up a C.
villosus, it would grasp the forceps with the mandibles
and curve the abdomen around ventrally until it touched
the forceps, and spread the offensive material on that
enemy. If at that moment they were suddenly released,
or if they merely missed their aim, they would spread
it on their own faces. They required several hours of
rest to regenerate this substance in its full strength.
While this feat appeared to be a mode of defence, it is
possible that it was only a function to facilitate mating.
Staphylinus maculosus [E. A. Schwarz]. This large
beetle was discovered accidentally while I was digging
out a burrow of a small beetle, Aphodius fimetarius
Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. I suspected that this Staphilid
feeds on these dung-beetles, and this theory was con-
firmed five days later, May 3, when it fed on one in my
presence. It grabbed the victim in its mandibles, at-
tacked the ventral part of the abdomen and ate head-
wards.
Hippodamia convergens Guer. [E. A. Schwarz].
Many were to be seen on a vacant lot in St. Louis dur-
ing July and by the latter part of the month a number
were seen in copulo on the grass and milk-weeds.
Tritoma plaincollis Lacordaire. [E. A. Schwarz].
Several of these beetles were feeding on a fungus on the
sunny side of a tree and six or eight feet above the
ground at Wickes, Mo., on June 11, 1917.
Antherophagus hecate Panz. [E. A. Schwarz].
Shaken out of the head of a dead bird, May 1916.
Hester abbreviatus Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]. Taken
from cow dung April 15, 1915.
50 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Saprmus lungens Erickson. [E. A. Schwarz].
Saprinus assimilis Payk. [E. A. Schwarz.] Shaken
out of head of dead robin, in company with several other
beetles, in May 1916. F
Chalcolepidius viridipilis Say. [E. A. Schwarz].
Alaus oculatus Lem. [E. A. Schwarz]. These two
chick-beetles were taken at St. Louis the first of July,
1915.
Limonius agonus Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. Found on top
of a plant, nestling among the leaves as though asleep,
on June 6, 1915.
Photinus pryalis. [H. S. Barber]. This lightning bug
was being devoured at night by a spider, Lycosa rabida
WIck. [N. Banks], and all the while she was lighting up
the gruesome spectacle.
Clerus lunatus Spinola. [E. A. Schwarz]. In the after-
noon of July 22 1917, I saw this beetle walking about on
a leaf of an oak shrub.. Its appearance and movements
were so Mutillid-like that I at first really thought that it
was a female Mutillid which had wandered from its
usual place.
Thanasimus dubius Fabr. [E. A. Schwarz]. Larva was
found in stem of a sumac; the adult beetle emerged May
21.
Lucanus dama Thunb. This stag-beetle was taken at
Moselle, Mo., the female under rotten bark, on July 1,
and the male on the wing at the lights on July 2. Later,
in confinement, they ate of grape leaves and strawberry.
Passalus cornutus Fab. Three of these, kept in con-
finement and fed on disintegrating white oak wood, lived
from March 1 to June 4. Three others taken on April
7 died the middle of August.
Canthon chalcites Hald. [E. A. Schwarz]. Thou-
sands of these dung-rollers were seen about Wesco about
August 1, busying themselves in every available variety
of dung, crowding each other for choice bits and trun-
dling their balls down the rocky roads. There were surely
Ecological and Behavior Notes 51
more than three hundred of these and their sister species,
Canthon laevis, in one eager group in the road. These
bearing the purplish tint predominated in number.
Choeridium histeroides Web. [E. A. Schwartz]. Taken
near St. Louis, in human dung, May 10, 1915.
Copris minuta Drury. [H. S. Barber]. This horned
dung-beetle was found in horse manure at Clifton, III.,
October 27, 1916.
Copris anaglypticus Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. This beetle
was taken at St. Louis in cow-dung, May 15, 1915. Later,
at Wickes, on June 6, 1917, I dug up in a garden three
balls and a beetle of this species from a depth of twelve
inches. The balls were at first spherical, with only a
small prominence on one side making them slightly pear-
shaped. Later, by June 11, I found that on one of the
balls the bump had been much enlarged, having been
pushed out from the inside, leaving cracks in the crust
at that point. I refrained from opening the balls, in the
hope that the occupants would in time emerge, but in
that I was disappointed, for they slowly dried up. The
beetle lived an uneventful life in a can of earth with a
little manure until August 18.
Onthophagus hecate Panzer. [E. A. Schwarz]. This
dung-beetle was found in St. Louis, burrowing under both
human and cow manure. ©
Ataenius abditus Hald. [E. A. Schwarz]. Taken in
cow dung at St. Louis, April 15, 1915.
Aphodius fimetarius Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. Literally
thousands of these dung-beetles were to be seen burrow-
ing in the sand immediately beneath human excrement at
a camp at Castlewood, near St. Louis, on April 28, 1915.
Aphodius granarius Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. Taken in
cow manure at St. Louis, April 15, 1915.
Aphodius inquinatus Herbst. [H. S. Barber]. Very
abundant in and under horse manure October 27, 1916.
Bolboceros farctus Fabr. [E. A. Schwarz]. At Mer-
amec Highlands, Mo., in a space sheltered by a half dozen
52 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
pine trees growing close together were about a dozen
holes in the earth. They were about the size of a lead-
pencil, and each had a neat mound of earth around it.
Thinking perhaps they were bee burrows, I attempted to
dig them out, but failed on account of the entanglement
of roots. One, however, went straight downward for six
inches, and at the terminus was this little yellow and
black beetle. Whether his presence there was rightful or
accidental remains to be determined.
Geotrupes blachburmi Fab. [H. A. Sele These
were taken a number of times in the vicinity of St. Louis,
both on the wing at the lights at night, and in the dung-
piles or in their burrows beneath. These holes were
vertical, and usually had a depth of three or four inches
when found. They were found several times in March
and April, and were again found to be plentiful on
October 27, 1916.
Trox suberosus Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]. At Cliff Cave,
Mo., on May 20, 1916, I opened up a short burrow, only
one inch deep, in the side of a clay bank, and found this
grey beetle within. I do not know whether this was its
temporary or permanent abode.
Cotalpa lanigera Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. While dig-
ging into a sandy soil at Wickes, Mo., September 11, 1917,
I came upon this insect thirty-six inches below the sur-
face, fully developed but still encased in a light cocoon.
Euphoria inda Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. On a westward
slope at Cliff Cave, in early April, hundreds of these
beetles were seen flying low over the ground, often sud-
denly dropping into the dry leaves beneath. Presently
we learned that a number were mating in this seclusion.
When disturbed or picked up, they feigned death.
Chion cinctus Drury. [E. A. Schwarz]. This long-
horned beetle was taken in the city near a lumber pile.
It ate of rotten wood which was offered it, but lived only
ten days in confinement.
Romaleum simplicicalle Handl. [J. F. Abbott]. A
Ecological and Behavior Notes 53
specimen of this large longicorn was taken at the lights
on August 11,1910. It was kept in confinement for some
time, and fed on soft peach and apple, often being found
with its head buried in these fruits. It lived for 20 days.
Elaphidion villosum Fabr. [H. S. Barber]. While
opening up some sumac stems in quest of wasps on Feb-
ruary 12, 1919, I found an adult beetle in the stem, still
moist and soft, and a fresh shedding-skin near by; this
condition indicated that emergence had just taken place.
The most interesting feature was that a plug was just
above the chamber and about two inches from the aper-
ture at the top of the stalk. This plug was about one-
fourth inch in length, and was made not of the pith of the
sumac, but of the tough, woody threads, tightly curled
and matted together, making a very compact plug.
Liopus alpha Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. Taken alive in
a hollow elder stem, May 15, 1918, and emerged from a
sumac twig on May 31, 1920.
Liopus variegatus Hald. [H. S. Barber]. The pupa of
this beetle was taken from under the bark of a dead tree
at Meramec Highlands on May 11, 1916. On May 17 it
became adult, and lived in the jar, containing dead bark,
for twelve days.
Saperda tridentata Oliv. [H. S. Barber]. Several
larvae and pupae and a few adults of this beetle were
found under the loose bark of rotting logs on May 7
and 11, 1916.
Gastroidea cyanea Melsh. [E. A. Schwarz]x Coccinella
9-notata [E. A. Schwarz]. A 2 of C. 9-notata and a ¢
G. cyanea were in actual copulo when kept in confine-
ment on April 29, 1914. This same condition had been
noted in the open field a few days previously.
Melasoma scriptum Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]x Melasoma
interruptum Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]. These two distinct
species of Chrystlomeda were actually seen in copulo on
May 5, 1915 on a willow. Later the female laid eggs in
confinement which hatched.
54 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Babia quadriguttata Oliv. [E. A. Schwarz]. About a
dozen of these beetles were seen on a sumac, some in
copulo, on June 22, 1916.
Gastroidea cyanea Melsh. [E. A. Schwarz]. A large
number of plants of sour-dock, Rumaz, had, on April 4,
1914, a large number of adults of these blue beetles. On
April 14, none were to be seen, and careful scrutiny
proved that the adults had entirely disappeared. On
April 20, both adults and eggs were present again in
abundance. This was probably a new generation. On
that date, many dead adults were found on the ground,
showing that they were even then on the decline. On
April 29, the adult beetles were very scarce indeed, and
the eggs were fewer, but on the thousand or more dock
plants, all seemed infested—fairly alive—with larvae, in
various stages ranging from very small to half-grown.
Most of them were feeding on the under side of the
leaves, leaving the foilage dotted with transparent spots.
While one does not want to call the larvae gregarious, the
fact is that they actually did live in clusters or masses,
but this was probably due to the simple fact that their
food supply was so close at hand that they had little oc-
casion to wander from the place where they hatched from
the clusters of eggs. With very few exceptions, the eggs
as well as the larvae were on the under side of the leaf.
The largest groups of larvae were on the apex of the
plant, where the tender young shoots were being de-
voured. I did not ascertain whether the larvae had
migrated to the top, or whether the eggs had been de-
posited there.
The following year, 1915, I was on the ground earlier,
and gathered more data on the life cycle of this beetle.
On March 27, with the weather quite cool and the sprout-
ing dock just raising its head above the ground, there
were no beetles on the dock in the open field. In a shelt-
ered spot under a large piece of building-paper which
had been thrown in the field, a few dock shoots were
Ecological and Behavior Notes 55
about one inch high. On these, about thirty adult beetles
were found feeding, one pair in copulo. They had prob-
ably just emerged from the ground. On April 15, the
population of adult beetles seemed to be at its height,
and egg-laying was prolific. No larvae were on the leaves,
and by digging in the soil under the plants we unearthed
no pupae. Hence at this date we got the eggs produced
by the first generation. On April 25, the adults had
nearly all disappeared, and eggs were rare, but thou-
sands of small and medium-sized larvae were defoliating
the plants. By May 13, no eggs, no larvae and no adults
were to be seen, but an inch or so beneath the surface of
the soil were found hundreds of pupae. A hundred of
these were removed from the earth under one plant.
They were taken into the larboratory, and on May 16 the
yellow pupae transformed into blue beetles. On May 15,
just the day before the insects in the laboratory matured,
the field was examined and only one adult beetle could
be seen. The date of emergence of the population must
have been determined by its controlling factors with
most wonderful precision, for on May 16, at 3 p. m., enor-
mous numbers of fresh adults were at work on the dock.
None were yet copulating or ovipositing, nor were any
females with distended bodies in evidence. They all
looked alike in regard to size, and I could not tell at a
glance if all were males (due to priority of male emerg-
ence), or if the females had not yet had time to become
distended. In the ground beneath, yellow pupae were
scarce.
The field could not be visited for a month. On June
27, we found the blue adults abundant once more. The
many dock plants were almost defoliated. I have ob-
served this field for a number of years, but this was the
first year that the beetles had wrought such destruction.
Plate V, figure 3 shows a dock plant—the upright mid-
ribs—all that was left of a thriving clump. , This was a
typical plant from the field, and not at all a selected
56 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
exception. With the dock thus gone, the beetles had mi-
grated to the nearby pig-weed, milk-weed and pepper-
grass, but many still clung tenaceously to the mid-ribs of
their favorite, the dock.
A few batches of eggs laid in the laboratory hatched in
six days. The pupae transformed in the earth 11%
inches below the surface, in a little smoothly-lined bur-
row without an opening.
Trirhabda canadensis Kirby. [E. A. Schwarz]. These
beetles were abundant on the resin-weeds at Wickes,
June 16, 1917. The fact that portions had been: eaten
from the weeds in so many places led us to suspect that
the adults fed on this plant.
Diabrotica 12-punctata x D. vittata. Between Sep-
tember 4 and 14, 1912, seven cases of mating between the
two species were observed in the pumpkin-blossoms. In
every case, the male was the striped beetle, D. vittata,
and the female the spotted variety, D. 12-punctata. One
pair was observed in copulo for one-half hour continu-
ously; they were then disturbed when being placed in the
bottle, but later in the day they re-united for another
hour and a quarter.
Haltica bimarginata Say. [E. A. Schwarz]. Feeding
on the leaves of a willow sprout October 3, 1917.
Blepharida rhois Frost. [H. S. Barber]. This beetle
was found dead in a sumac stem in January. From the
position it was evident that it had crept into the hole for
shelter and died.
Synchroa punctata Newm. [H. S. Barber]. These
pupae were taken from under the bark of a rotten log on
May 11. The adults emerged the next day.
Nacerdes inclanura Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. Many
were seen in St. Louis in the first week of June, 1915.
Nemognatha lutea. [H. A. Schwarz]. These were
abundant in July on the blossoms of the sunflower, and
seldom flew from plant to plant. They could easily be
picked up from the flower; they practiced no dropping
Ecological and Behavior Notes 57
reaction, but feigned death, stretching out the legs stiff
and exuding from the joints of the legs a yellowish liquid.
They often spent the night in the heart of the flower.
ORTHOPTERA
Ischnoptera deropeltiformis Brunn. [A. N. Caudell].
On May 10, these were taken during the day from
under the bark of a fallen tree. On June 26, at 4 a. m.,
one was found on a leaf of a roadside plant four feet
above the ground.
Ischnoptera pennsylvanica De G. [A. N. Caudell]. Ob-
served frequently at Wickes in June 1917.
Ischnoptera uhleriana Sauss. [A. N. Caudell]. More
than a dozen of these brown roaches, all males, were seen
on top of leaves of oak bushes by the roadside at 8 p. m.
on June 10.
Periplaneta americana Linn. [A. N. Caudell]. This
southern roach is now thoroughly established in a north
St. Louis planing-mill, having probably been introduced
with lumber shipped from Florida.
Parcoblatta pennsylvanica De G. [A. N. Caudell]. Dur-
ing the first part of June 1919, at Manchester, Mo., the
males of this species were abundant at early twilight,
flying about the outside of an old log house, evidently in
search of females. Ten or twenty of these could be seen
almost any evening, but only once during the season did
T note a female. She was occupied with the most amorous
attention to the nearest male. She dashed about him
with commotion sufficient to attract the attention of the
most naive. Again and again he would turn indifferently
aside as she thrust herself squarely in front of him with
her demonstrations, but each time, undaunted, she
wheeled about and planted herself directly before him
with her ‘‘tail’’ toward him, lifted the posterior part of
the body and her wings high in the air by stretching and
spreading the legs, and nervously vibrated the wings, as
though inviting him to approach. Since he did not re-
58 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
spond, she abandoned allurement, and in the same man-
ner blocked his path and precipitously backed up under
him until the union could be formed. After a moment he
escaped and ran away, rather indifferently, but was re-
captured by precisely the same method.
Melanoplus femur-rubrum. A number of times recent-
ly I have seen the English sparrow pursuing or eating
insects, frequently this grasshopper or butterflies. May
it be that the disappearance of many horses on the streets
is seriously reducing their food supply, and that thus the
automobiles may be a factor in changing the diet of the
English sparrow from vegetable matter to insects?
Schistocerca damnifica Sauss. d [A. N. Caudell]. This
full-grown hopper was found jumping about among the
dead leaves at the surprising date of April 7, 1915.
Whether he had hibernated or migrated remained a
mystery. His coat was all clean and unscarred.
Gryllus pennsylvanicus Burm. [A. N. Caudell]. Crick- |
ets in confinement prove themselves practically omniv-
orous. They eat almost any vegetable material offered
them—crackers, clover leaves, potatoes, etc., and in case
of extremity, they readily devour the dead bodies of their .
companions.
Ceuthophilus uhleri (?) Scud. 2. [A. N. Caudell]. A
large quantity of soil had been thrown out of a hole in
the side of a little knoll in the road. This earth was in
the form of large chips, and their size and form showed
that they had been bitten out by some large-jawed insect.
The hole was three-fourths inch in diameter, and went in
horizontally, quite irregularly, for a distance of 16 inches.
It terminated in a pocket 1% inches long and 1 inch in
diameter, which was 5 inches beneath the surface. The
pocket was empty. Midway in the gallery, the above
cricket met me. It seems hardly possible that a creature
no larger than a grasshopper could have made so large
an excavation. The above burrow was found on July 17.
On June 16, the following year while excavating a wasp
Ecological and Behavior Notes 59
burrow, I accidentally uncovered another containing this
cricket. This burrow was very different from the above
in all but diameter; it sloped downward into the earth
only two inches to the pocket, which was two inches long.
Gryllus domesticus Linn. [A. N. Caudell]. Two speci-
mens, evidently the entire population, captured in a
house; one was adult and the other one third grown,
although the date was December 1.
Camptonotus carolinensis Gest. [A. N. Caudell]. At
twilight I plucked from a shrub a leaf which was curled
up and spun together. Snug within was this female
cricket. I offer no explanation of its presence.
Hapithus agitator Uhler. [A. N. Caudell]. This cricket
was being devoured by a young spider, Phidippus tri-
punctatus [J. H. Emerton].
Paratettix cucullatus Burm. [A. N. Caudell]. This
hopper was abundant on the sandy shore at Wickes, Sep-
tember 6, 1919; many in copulo.
Ceresa bubalus Fabr. [E. H. Gibson]. This tree-hop-
per was evidently a satisfying morsel for an unidentified
spider.
Ormenes venusta Melch. [E. H. Gibson]. Being de-
voured by a spider, Phidippus audax Htz. [J. H. Emer-
ton].
Publicia fulginosa Oliv. [E. H. Gibson]. In early Sep-
tember this tree-hopper was abundant on the stems of
horse-weed and rag-weed. One was being devoured by a
wheel-bug, Arilus cristatus Linn.
Acanalonica conica Say. [W. L. McAtee]. This pro-
teetively colored tree-hopper was being carried off by a
spider. It is of interest because the spider found this
protectively colored creature, and furthermore, because
it carried its prey to a distance before devouring it. The
spider escaped unidentified, but was one of the jumping
kind, small and dark, such as are usually found on the
ground in low places.
60 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
Buds
Tibicina septendecim [W. L. McAtee]. This cicada
can make an astonishing amount of commotion when it is
being carried off alive by a bird. Even so large a bird
as a robin has to pause frequently and pound it on the
ground with its beak to bring it to submission, the
cicada screeching frantically all the while. In early sum-
mer, the latter part of May, when the adults are newly
emerged and the chitin still soft, they often fall prey to
birds. By the middle of June, the population is usually
at its height, but hundreds of dead ones are to be seen
by the roadside and at the edge of the woods; many of
these bodies give evidence of a death by violence.
Phymata erosa Linn. [E. H. Gibson]. This ‘‘ambush-
bug’’ was snugly hidden in the flowers of the goldenrod
while it devoured a fly, Ennyommopsus nigrifrons T. [C.
H. T. Townsend]. Had not the black fly been so con-
spicuous in the yellow flower, I should never have noticed
the episode. Another such bug was caught devouring a
honey-bee in a sweet-clover blossom.
Alydus eurinus Say. [W. L. McAtee]. This bug was
mistaken for a wasp, Pompilus sp., and even picked up
for such as it ran about on a barren area, June 22, 1916.
Not only did its color in the sunshine strongly resemble
that of the wasp, but its manner of walking and of open-
ing and closing its wings were strangely deceiving. One
cannot understand this in looking at a dead, pinned
specimen,
Lygus pratensis [W. L. MeAtee]. On February 10,
1919 a twig was brought indoors, with this adult bug in
the tunnel. It was very lively, despite the time of year,
and flew about the lamp for an hour before it was cap-
tured,
Trichopepla semivittata Say. [W. L. McAtee]. A pair
taken in copulo at St. Louis, July 26, 1915.
Gerris remigis Say. [W. L. MeAtee]. A few years ago
Ecological and Behavior Notes 61
in April I took a water-strider of this species preying
upon a green caterpillar. The caterpillar had evidently
fallen into the water from a tree above; the strider had
its beak inserted into its victim for more than a half hour
before I took it.
Rasahus biguttatus Say. [E. H. Gibson]. Taken among
twigs and leaves at Wickes, June 12, 1917.
Podisus sp. [O. Heideman]. On June 25, 1915, at Cliff
Cave, Mo., a nymph of this Hemipteron was found prey-
ing upon an adult, Reduvius personatus Linn. [O. Heide-
man]. It had its proboscis inserted in the ventral side of
the victim’s abdomen, and held it free in the air. Even
when picked up it did not release its grip, but continued
for half an hour to drain the life-blood of its prey. It
lived in confinement for thirty hours after this feat.
Melanolestes picipes (1) [H. S. Barber]. Our notes
from various times and places contain half a dozen
records of having taken this ‘‘kissing bug’’ in various
houses, by the evening lamp. One made known its pres-
ence on the back of my neck by inflicting a momentary
pain which was so sharp that, in a most unscientific man-
ner, I slapped it without even trying to observe its ways.
Anasa tristis De G. On Aug. 12, 1912, I made notes on
the clusters of eggs laid by this insect. The great major-
ity of them had been deposited on the under or shaded
side of the leaf. Out of 58 lots observed, 49 were on the
under side of the leaves, 2 were on the top of the leaf,
2 were on the stem and 5 were on the board fence nearby.
Although most of the groups contain, as Howard says,
from 20 to 40 eggs, we found many batches comprising
fewer. On September 30, a large number of adults were
found under the loose bark of a dead tree where they
were probably preparing for hibernation.
Podisus (Apeteticus) maculiventris Say. [O. Heide-
man]. At 5:30 one August afternoon this Hemipteron
was observed holding by its legs to the fluffy flower of
the white snake-root, while it held far out in the air, on
62 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
its dainty proboscis, a small caterpillar from which it was
sucking the juices.
Sinea diadema Fabr. [E. H. Gibson]. Feeding on
small beetle, June 22, 1916.
Apiomerus crassipes Fabr. [E. H. Gibson]. Walked
sidewise when uncovered under loose board, June 22,
1916.
Alydus eurinus Say. var. A. ater Dall. [O. Heideman].
In flight and in manner of walking they closely resemble
wasps, October 27, 1916.
Dretera
Morellia micans Macq. [J. M. Aldrich]. Three of these
Diptera were found huddled together under the bark of
a dead tree, on November 26, 1916. They appeared dead
or frozen, but soon revived in the warmth of my pocket,
and became quite active.
Trichiopodo radiata Loew. [C. H. T. Townsend]. Pair
in copulo at Wickes, Mo., on sumac, June 28, 1918.
Pyrgota undata Weid. [F. Knab]. Taken at lights 10
p. m. May 26, 1917.
Tephritis aequalis Loew. [F. Kusb Some wasp, as
yet undiscovered, had used this species of fly exclusively
in provisioning her nest in the hollow of a sumac stem.
The two lower cells, less than an inch in length, con-
tained each six flies, while the topmost cell was evidently
just being filled by the wasp-mother, and contained only
one fly. No wasp egg was found.
Toxophora pellucida Coq. [C. T. Greene]. This Dip-
teron emerged from a bramble where it had evidently
been parasitic on wasps, since between the mud par-
titions were dead and shrunken Lepidopterous larvae,
the provisions stored by the Eumenid wasps for their
young.
Tipula sp. IJ. M. Aldrich]. Crane fly devoured by an
English sparrow, May 15, 1915.
Proctacanthus milberti Macq. [F. Knab.] On several
Ecological and Behavior Notes 63
occasions we have noticed the carnivorous habits of this
robber-fly. Once it was seen devouring a grasshopper,
Melanoplus sp. [A. N. Caudell] nymph; again one was
flying from plant to plant as we pursued it, carrying
lightly a large sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, upon
which it was dining—a pretty sight. Another had sub-
dued and was devouring so formidable an adversary as
Bombus sp. [S. A. Rohwer].
Archytas aterrima R. D. [F. Knab]. In a curled up
leaf, which was spun together with silk threads, were a
Lepidopterous pupa and the puparium which gave forth
this Dipteron, side by side.
Archytas analis Fabr. [C. T. Greene]. Thousands were
seen feeding on the flowers of Melilotus alba at Silica,
July 2, 1920.
Chrysophila velutina Loew. Four of these were found
dead in a tiny streamlet at Wickes, July 12, 1917. Two
of these were parasitized by a tiny red mite.
Helicobia halicis T. [C. H. T. Townsend]. An ant,
Formica pallidifulva Latr. [W. M. Wheeler] female was
seen going off at a galloping pace carrying this fly. The
fly was fresh and limp, but I do not know whether it was
newly killed or had been found dead.
Syrphus americanus Wied. [C. T. Greene]. This fly
had fallen prey to a spider, Morptusa sp. [Emerton].
Era rufibarbis Macq. [C. T. Greene]. Numerous on
the white sand flats at Silica, Mo., July 2, 1920.
Calabata antennipes Say. [C. T. Greene]. Two speci-
mens seen on cottonwood tree where the bark was de-
cayed, July 21, 1920.
Conops brachyrhynchus Mocq. [C. T. Greene]. This
dipteron resembling a wasp was abundant at Silica, July
2, 1920.
Slichopogon trifasciatus Say. [C. T. Greene]. These,
in intimate company with Microbembix monodonta and
Philanthus politus Say, behaved and appeared in flight
64 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
so like M. monodonta as to deceive even an experienced
eye.
Spilomyia quadrifasciata Say. [C. T. Greene]. This
wasp-like fly was taken while at rest in the crevice of a
tree at Wickes, October 13, 1920. It looks so much like
Odynerus foraminatus that one would at once suggest
protective mimicry, excepting for the fact that in all
probability the two species do not appear at the same
time in the season.
Chironomus tentans F. [J. M. Aldrich]. At twilight at
Creve Coeur Lake, many hundreds of these flies were
seen flying from the lake toward the shore. Earlier in
the afternoon a beetle, Cicindela repanda [H. S. Barber].
was found preying upon this fly.
Chironomus sp. [C. T. Greene]. Over a little stream
in Tower Grove Park, three groups of these mosquito-
like flies were seen dancing at dusk, on March 20, 1921.
One swarm was near a foot-bridge, two feet above the
water, and the other two groups were about eight feet
above the ground. Each group comprised a hundred or
more insects. They hovered or poised in the air without
changing their positions, with their heads all pointing
southward for many minutes at a time; then for a time
they would change to another form of maneuvering, danc-
ing in and out, up and down, facing in various directions.
In a short time, however, they always resumed the for-
mer behavior. Out of the group a mated couple would
occasionally dash away and escape, but darkness was
falling so fast that I failed to ascertain from which type
of dance the mating occurred.
The gnats and midges of this family bear great gen-
eral resemblence to the Culicidae. Sharp says,“ They
occur in enormous numbers, and frequently form dancing
swarms in the neighborhood of the waters they live in.“
Tabanus lineola Fabr. [F. Knab]. Found dead in the
*Insects, Pt, II, p. 468.
Ecological and Behavior Notes 65
laboratory window at Wickes, June 12, 1917.
Hylemyia cilicrura Rdi. [J. M. Aldrich]. This was
taken from a milkweed blossom where it was being de-
voured by a flower spider, Miswmena.
Cachliomyia macellaria Fab. [C. H. T. Townsend].
Being devoured by a young spider, Phidippus sp. [J. H.
Emerton].
Phormia regina Meigen [C. H. T. Townsend]. Many
of these flies were in the head of a dead robin, perhaps
ovipositing, May 20, 1916.
Psorophora ciliata Fab. [J. M. Aldrich]. This fly’s
method of alighting on one’s flesh is very similar to that
of the mosquito, but its bite on August 30, seemed more
painful.
Actina viridis Say. [J. M. Aldrich]. Two living speci-
mens were taken in April, and in September a number of
their puparia were found in manure.
Empis sp. [F. Knab].* At 4 p. m. on a September day,
about a hundred of these were doing a sun dance for sev-
eral hours in a small sunny spot in a shady road. They
hovered constantly in one spot, about three feet from the
ground. No others were to be seen that day, but at 10
o’clock the next morning a similar group was performing
in the same manner further down the road, this time in a
shady spot.
Copecrypta ruficauda Wulp. [C.H.T.Townsend]. This
fly was abundant on Fox Creek, at Allenton, August
21.
Ogcodes eugonatus Loew. [F. Knab]. This fly had
been used for provisions by an unknown wasp. One
compartment in the elder stem contained four flies, and
the cell on the other side of the sawdust partition con-
tained only one and was evidently unfinished.
*Later identified by J. M. Aldrich as Empis clausa, Loew.
66 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
TERMITES
Reticulitermes virginicus Bks. [T. E. Snyder]. On
April 25, 1915, my attention fell upon a number of winged
Termites on the wing. They were easily traced to a tiny
hole in the wall of a house, from which they were issuing,
single file, and flew away. Sentinels or soldiers were
standing guard just outside and also inside the hole as
the line filed out. This exodus continued in a practically
unbroken stream for a half hour. The place was watched.
occasinoally for the next two days, but no further emer-
gence was seen. The swarm of sparrows which soon
assembled was enough to attract the attention of the
neighbors, and they continued their merry feast and noisy
chatter as long as the insects come out in the air. A sim-
ilar exodus was observed from other houses, on May 7,
1920 and May 21, 1920. Some of them which were cap-
tured lived less than fifteen hours in vials.
LEPIDOPTERA
Tortricidia palida H. S. [H. G. Dyar]. Being de-
voured by spider, Pardosa nigropalpis 2. [J. H. Emerton].
Pieris protodice was preyed upon by the devil’s-horse,
Stagmomantis carolina.
Plagodis alcoolaria Guen. [H. G. Dyar]. This moth
was found helplessly impaled and dead on a last year’s
cockel-bur on April 24.
Hemerocampa leucostigma S. & A. [H. G. Dyar]. This
moth was found depositing its eggs in a cleft in a maple
tree trunk, October 10, 1917.
Thecla sp. [A. Buseck]. Hundreds of these butterflies
were clustered in little independent groups frisking about
in the sun on a country road, frequently resting with ver-
tical wings on the grey earth. I could see no occasion for
courtship, and suspected that the gregariousness was
only for play. This was on September 8.
Arctia sp. A sparrow, on May 11, was eating a butter-
Ecological and Behavior Notes 67
fly, and left us only a wing for identification.
Papilio phylenor Linn. [Ernst Schwarz]. Actually
feeding on human excrement by the roadside, September
9, 1916.
Thyridopteryx ephemaeformis. During the past few
years, bag-worm cocoons have been taken from the fol-
lowing vegetation: maple, wild sunflower, white snake-
root (Hrigeron canadensis), horse-weed, elm tree, rag-
weed, sour-dock, pokeberry, iron-weed, elderberry, pep-
per-grass, cultivated rose-bush, wisteria vine, rose of
Sharon, tamarack, hop vine, iris, syeamore, willow, peach
_and sweet clover. While they are for the most part found
on trees, yet the list shows that they feel at home on
almost any plant. In a region where the bag-worms were
plentiful, only three were found on a group of eight cedar
trees. It is easy to suspect that cedar is distasteful to
them. Notes were kept on the longevity of 20 males
which emerged in confinement: 18 lived 24 hours; 1 lived
14 and 1 only 12 hours. On October 14, a jumping spider
was found devouring the ¢ bagworm while he was ferti-
lizing the ° within the bag.
One occasionally finds these bags nicely decorated with
seeds (as in Pl. VII fig. 11) instead of the usual hits
of twig and leaves.
Pyrgus tesselata Scud. [H. C. Dyar]. A day on the
highroad showed this butterfly in only one spot; about
a dozen were fluttering around some fresh horse-dung,
evidently refreshing themselves upon it. This was on
October 19, 1920.
Myrrapops
Scutigera forceps. [J. M. Aldrich]. Frequent obser-
vations have led me to conclude that this house centipede
is carnivorous and feeds chiefly at night. One night in
July one was seen clinging to the screen door devouring
a small moth. Another was surprised on the stone wall
of the cellar where it was eating a young spider, Zelotes
68 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
sp. [N. Banks]. On the night of September 9, a moth,
Acronycta sp. [Heinrich] was also taken from a centi-
pede’s mouth. Again, on May 26, one was enjoying a
moth, Diacrisia virginica Fab. [H. G. Dyar] which it had
captured in the darkness. An incision had been made in
the victim’s body wall, at the side, and the soft abdominal
contents devoured. They are even canibalistic. I once
placed two of them in a jar; the next morning, there was
only one, the larger, and a few scraps of legs and skin of
the other.
Polydesmus serratus Say [R. V. Chamberlin]. Under
the bark of a rotten log May 20, 1916 we found the neat
mud nest and eggs of this species, with the mother’s body
coiled carefully around them.
Parajulus venustrus Wood. [R. V. Chamberlin]. This
milliped was found feeding on the flower cluster of some
white-flowered composite by the roadside, October 7,
1916.
Sens
Theridium tepidariorum Koch. IN. Banks]. A large
spider, Phidippus audax Htz. [N. Banks] became en-
tangled in the web of the little spider above. The small
spider quickly threw a web about the larger one and
easily made him his victim—a veritable game of David
and Golioth. My
Miswmena (Runeinia) oleatoria °. [J. H. Emerton].
Feeding on grasshopper, (Pl. VI fig. 7, p=prey) Septem-
ber 10, 1918.
Runcinia aleatoria Htz. [C. R. Shoemaker]. A little
Hymenopteron seemed to be asleep on the flowers of a
goldenrod. When I picked it up, I was surprised to find
that it was held fast by this yellow spider, whose color
afforded him such good protection in his hunting-ground,
the flower, that even my practiced eye did not notice him.
Miswmena asperata. [J. H. Emerton]. One often finds,
in the fields or by the railroad-track, sumac twigs, with
Ecological and Behavior Notes 69
the tops cut away by the mower, the pith removed and
the tunnels plastered with mud. In one large collection
which I made of these sealed twigs, about a dozen were
found upon closer examination to have the tunnel closed
not with mud, but with this little gray spider, motion-
lessly keeping guard at the top of the tunnel. There is
doubtless purpose in this; he probably gets many a meal
through this disguise. Even though the bushes are leaf-
less, the Ceratina bees come to nest in the cut stalks, and
a certain Chrysomelid beetle is frequently found among
them. This spider was seen at Wickes, June 18, 1920,
devouring a fly, Ptilodexia sp. [J. M. Aldrich}.
Dolomedes idoneus. [J. H. Emerton]. Two of these
females were observed for a time in confinement. The
first, after having spent a week in the glass jar with
earth-covered bottom, made a packet of eggs and carried
it beneath her body. During my absence of three days
her egg-case disappeared; I fear that some beetles or a
cricket, which I had placed there for food, had dispatched
it. The most interesting point is that this one seemed
never to eat during the time she carried her egg-case,
although all the while choice viands were before her, and
she became thinner and thinner until her death on July
14, while her contemporary without an egg-case, in the
cage beside her, ate freely and looked well. The other,
after a few days, was found manipulating a bunch of wet,
yellow, fresh eggs. They were in three heaps, but she
seemed to try to get them together while she stood high
on tiptoe and spun a web around them, but in the artifical
surroundings the work was too imperfectly done for the
details to be normal. She, too, died before the eggs
hatched. These two, while imprisoned, refused to eat
honey-bees, Lucanus dania, Carolina locust, cuckoo bee,
ensign fly, larvae of potato beetle, Bercaea haemorrhoi-
dales Fab., and another bug, Acrostrernwm hilaris Say.
[E. H. Gibson], but gladly accepted daddy-long-legs,
spiders, black crickets, meal-bug adults, flies, a half-
70 Trans. Acad. of St. Louis
grown katy-did, and a large brown twig-mimicking cater-
pillar.
Lycosa rabida Walck. In following a suspicious-look-
ing hole I soon uncovered a chamber, two inches below
the surface of the ground; this contained this large spider
with a small wasp larva attached to it which shows that
this spider is the prey of a digger wasp.
Lycosa kochi Kyserling [J. H. Emerton]. This
spider was found in a rubbish pile on May 15, carrying
her egg-case. This she lost while being transferred to
the vial, but she soon regained it and adjusted it as before,
and carried it constantly. A week later I suddenly found
that her body was completely covered with myriads of
little ones. After three days, they disbanded. The
mother was then very very weak and thin and walked
slowly, and died after two more days.
' Phidippus tripunctata [J. H. Emerton]. These spiders’
nests were abundant about the sheds June 13 to 19, 1920.
One unique nest had two openings; when disturbed, the
spider would use either extremity which at the time
seemed the safer.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
K
PP PIMM
Ecological and Behavior Notes 71
Plate V
Nest of the potter wasp, Eumenes fraternus. (Photo by Dr. C.
H. Turner.)
Bits of vegetation from which Megachile generosa makes her
cup-shaped cells.
A sample of the work of defoliation on sour-dock, done by
Gastroidea cyanea,
Nests of Megachile bees in hollow twigs.
Plate VI
Opening to the burrow of Notiochares philadelphicus.
Cells from which Augochlora similis emerged.
Misumena oleatoria feeding upon (p) grasshopper.
Bembiz spinolae digging her burrow.
Plate VII
The cells of the burrowing bee, Anthophora abrupta.
10. Wood burrow of carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, reused by
wasp, Monobia quadridens, which made the mud partitions.
Fig. 11. An unusual decoration of seeds on bag of Thyridopterys
ephemaeformis,
Plate VIII
Fig. 12. Burrow of Cerceris fumipennis.
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PLATE V
PLATE VI
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EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF
OTTO WIDMANN
NESTING HABITS OF THE PURPLE MARTIN
Old Orchard, Mo., January 24, 1890.
There is certainly more to be said about birds than
merely to describe the nests and eggs, and it is a real
fact that the habits of our birds, even the commonest,
are not too well known. For instance, do we not find in
some of our best works that the Martin raises two broods
in a season, or ‘‘that it is said to raise even two or three
broods in the southern states’’? With a better knowl-
edge of the habits of the bird such statements would not
be possible, considering that the Martin does not com-
mence nesting in Louisiana before April, although the
first arrives in February. The time required for a suc-
cessful rearing of a brood of Martins does not vary much
from ten weeks, of which about two weeks are occupied
by nidification and oviposition; two weeks are necessary
for incubation; four weeks are passed in feeding the
nestlings, and the remainder is spent in feeding, leading
and teaching the fledglings. Here in this vicinity the
Martins begin to arrive in the latter part of March, but
of a record of eleven years the earliest date on which
young Martins have left the Martinbox is June 25.
The following list gives the earliest and latest dates of
young Martins leaving the box, i. e., able to fly:
1878 July 16-July 22 1883 July 14-July 31
1879 July 6-July 12 1884 July 1-July 25
1880 June 25-July 21 1885 July 3-Aug. 4
1881 June 25-July 13 1886 July 1-Aug. 8
1882 July 24-Aug. 7 1887 July 3-July 27
1888 June 30-July 27
Whole number of eggs laid during the season of 1888
was 220. Pairs building, 43; pairs laying one set, 33;
2 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
two sets, 6; no eggs, 4; sets laid, 45; sets hatched, 33;
eggs hatched, 128; young brought up to be able to leave
the box, 110. Fifty boxes had been erected. Seven were
not occupied.
The very early and really untimely return of the old
Martin in spring can only be explained by a strong desire
to take possession of a suitable nesting site before others
arrive. He knows that without a desirable home his
chances for getting a spouse are slim. He knows that on
her frail heart his glossy coat makes no impression, if it
is not backed by a comfortable home. His melodious and
rapturous carols will attract her, but before she makes
up her mind to stay she satisfies herself that the house
which he offers suits her ideas of a home and nursery.
That the same individuals return to the same place has
seldom been doubted, but a good proof of it may not be
out of place. A few years ago, when Progne appeared
on the scene a little earlier than I expected and before I
had put up the boxes which were taken down every win-
ter, [ had the satisfaction of seeing an old Martin hover-
ing in the air at exactly the same spot and at the very
same height above the ground where a box used to stand.
This shows that a bird’s memory is much better than it
is generally known.
In possession of a box of his choice the old Martin
sticks to it and awaits the arrival of the females. Some-
times he has to wait for weeks, but whenever the weather
is propitious his eyes scan the firmament, and as soon as
he discovers the coveted object his voice is raised in
ecstacy. A female thus attracted soon alights and the
whole colony is in the greatest excitement, every male
doing his best to invite the sweet newcomer into his
house. After a little rest and meditation she settles
daintily at the side of one of the noisy wooers, whose
entreaties become now still more boisterous. He per-
suades her into his house, but she only looks attentively
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 3
into it at first. She may or she may not enter it. She
reflects, is undecided, and goes off into the air, accom-
panied by an excited outery from the whole colony.
Immediately all males are at her side, and drawing beau-
tiful circles around her bewitching form beseech her in
the most passionate terms. Soon she returns, goes from
one box to the other, comes back again and sits on neu-
tral ground to reconsider the situation. The whole
manoeuver may not take more than half an hour and the
choice is made. The rejected suitors content themselves
immediately and fights are rare among old people who
respect each other’s domain, but after the arrival of
birds of the second year, when both females and vacant
bird boxes become scarcer, quarrels are more numerous.
Occupation of a box and mating do not mean nest-build-
ing yet. A pair may have possession of a box for weeks
before it begins to build, which is generally not before
the middle of April and which is even then sometimes
interrupted by cold spells, when food is scaree for sev-
eral days. On fine, warm spring days nest-building is
done with great zeal all day, not only in the morning, as
before. The female is the one that does most of the
work, but the male accompanies her on the collecting
trips, and his presence is really of value as he stands
guard while she alights on the ground to pick up twigs,
weed-stalks, straws, pieces of string or rags.
These rough materials are laid down, not very artis-
tically, but with a good deal of method to make the strue-
ture fit for its use. The rough material is kept in place
by bits of half-dried cow manure and the wall facing the
door is plastered with mud. In rainy seasons more mud
is used and some boxes facing west have been found to
contain regular walls of mud between the entrance and
the nest, the mud-wall itself weighing as much as eight
ounces.
When the construction of the nest is nearing comple-
4 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lowis
tion the happy couple visits the apple tree to line the
nest with green leaves. The nest is now ready for the
reception of eggs and oviposition begins. In strong con-
trast to the doings of the European House Sparrow,
which continually offends the eyesight by his endless
attempts, the copulations of the Martin are performed
at such an early hour of the morning that they are seldom
seen by human eyes. At this period, when in the dawn
of the morning he greets the approaching day with sweet
music from the door of his home, the voice of the male
Martin has a peculiar softness, and his utterances on
these occasions are entirely different from what he says
at other times.
Before nest-building has made much progress the Mar-
tins do not watch their boxes all day, and especially in
cool, dry weather the procuring of food necessitates their
absence from home for hours at a time, and often when
they return in the evening they find their homes invaded
by the European House Sparrow. In such cases, par-
ticularly when the Sparrow has already begun to fill up
the box with his rubbish, the chances for a recapture of
the box by the Martin are poor, unless a friendly hand
comes to his help.
After the nests are finished the watch is kept close and
often the precaution is taken to cover the newly-laid
eggs with a fresh supply of green leaves.
Besides concealing the eggs from the eyes of intruders
it also serves to keep them cool. But in starvation times
nest and eggs are left alone long enough to give the
Sparrow time to enter the house. The Sparrows, how-
ever, are not the only ones that play havoe with the hid-
den treasures; the House Wren also has been seen to
intrude and to throw the eggs out of the Martin’s box.
The Bluejay, the Grackle, the Robin and the Catbird
have been seen to inspect the inside of the -bird-houses,
and it is a question whether such visits are not danger-
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 5
ous in the absence of the owner. It is therefore not at
all surprising to find that from eggs deposited in early
May none, or few, are hatched. The eggs laid in the
last week of May and first of June prove to have the best
chance for a successful ultimate result. The outcome of:
later broods is uncertain for the reason that the mortal-
ity among nestlings increases with the advancement of
the season. Soon after the first of July the heated, dry
period sets in and with its progress insect food adapted
for nestlings becomes scarcer and scarcer, while the ter-
rible scourge of the poor bird, its parasites, increases
at an enormous rate. The excessive heat in the bird-
houses, the parasites and the want of succulent food
combine to produce a restlessness among the helpless
creatures which early leads to destruction by their fall-
ing out of the lofty cradle. The number of eggs is gen-
erally five; one nest out of five contains six eggs. Four
eggs are laid when a second set is deposited after the
first has been destroyed, or it is the result of some mis-
hap, of which a not unusual one is the accidental brush-
ing out by the bird herself in leaving the nest. When
incubation is under way the male’s business is to watch
while she does the sitting, but several times during the
day he is seen to enter the box with something in his bill,
and a moment later the lady of the house comes out of
the door, stretches her wings and goes off. She stays
away only fifteen to twenty minutes, but when she re-
turns she has hardly passed the threshold when the male
is already on the start and generally leaves in great
haste. His presence seems to be hardly more than a
watch, and when she stays away long he is likely to come
out on the porch, look up to the sky, and even to go off
in search of her.
The time which elapses from the dropping of the last
eggs to the appearance of the young varies considerably,
namely, between thirteen and twenty days. The ordi-
6 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
nary time seems to be fifteen or sixteen days. Harly
broods take longer, late broods a shorter time, so that
the weather, directly or indirectly, seems to be the cause
of these irregularities.
From the appearance of the first young to the hatch-
ing of the last egg in the same nest a difference of two,
three or even four days is rather the rule than the excep-
tion, and this tends to show that incubation may have
set in before the last egg was laid, and it may be the
effect of the high temperature in the boxes during day
time, while the female covers the eggs at night and in
the morning. Oviposition takes place in the morning.
The remarkably large number of addled eggs, reaching
as high as 20 to 25 per cent, may possibly be accounted
for by this spontaneous incubation and subsequent
cooling.
When the young Martin is six days old its eyes begin
to open, and when it is twelve days old it has already
strength enough to crawl out of the nest and take posi-
tion under the door. Here all the inmates, numbering
often four to six, are seen, closely packed, stretching
their necks and greeting every approaching object with
mouths wide open. At this period the parents are kept
busy in appeasing their hunger, and large numbers of
dragon flies, soft grasshoppers and other substantial
morsels disappear in the capacious throats. Sometimes,
however, the insect proves to be too large for one swal-
low, when the parent bites it in two, but otherwise no
dressing of wings or legs is done. In order to facilitate
the work of digestion, possibly also for the sake of their
chemical constituents, small snail shells which they
gather on the sandbars are fed along with the insects,
and some knowing mothers descend into the chicken yard
to pick up egg shells for an extra dish. Pieces of broken
china, found in the stomachs of young Martins, were
probably fed by mistake. But the busy old ones not only
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 7
carry food to their brood, they also remove all their
alvine discharges. By the time the young folk appears
under the door it is already educated to cleanliness, and
a peculiar touch and motion of the parent has the effect
that the thus accosted member of the household turns
around and offers a white little pellet, which the attend-
ing parent seizes cleverly and carefully and carries it off
to a distance. Few young Martins die during the first
two weeks of their life, but the mortality is enormous
during the following two or three weeks, when in a hot,
dry season fully one-half were seen to perish. Exposed
to a merciless July sun, tormented by innumerable para-
sites, half dead with the sting of an empty stomach, des-
peration seizes the poor bird, when it is seen to lose its
hold and half falls, half flutters to the ground below.
Once down it is lost. If not killed outright by the fall,
it is soon found by an animal or, crawling under some
sheltering object, starves to death. The parents were
mever seen to feed one on the ground. They content
themselves with a short endeavor to make it fly up, but
seeing that this is impossible they give it up as lost.
The assistance which man can give in this case is to
restore it to its nest, but the probability is that it will
fall out again. The best prevention of such disasters is
the free and often repeated application of insect powder,
scattered over young and nest. When four weeks old the
pinions are far enough advanced to carry the young bird
a short distance in the air and the parents decide that
the time has come when the offspring should leave the
nursery. This is the most critical moment in the life of
young Progne and bad judgment on the part of the par-
ents has cost many a child’s life. Some young fellows,
unconscious of danger, follow the leading parent with-
out any trouble, but others, afraid of trusting the untried
wings, must be pushed off the platform and, when in the
8 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
air, instead of following the parent flutter aimlessly
about until exhaustion lets them drop where danger
lurks. The Martins themselves know well the importance
of this step, and a young bird’s first appearance on wing
never fails to create general commotion in the colony.
Some of them, taking delight in the chase, follow the
fledgling, and in their endeavor to drive it to a safe place
often harass the poor thing until its strength gives out
and it falls a prey to the ever-present bad boy, who puts
it in a cage and stuffs bread crumbs down its throat until
death comes to the rescue.
After the second day out this danger is over, but the
parents have to feed it for some time yet, and good par-
ents bring their offspring home before an approaching
storm and in the evening to have them under shelter dur-
ing the night, since camping in the treetop on a stormy
night would result fatally. Some have been seen to bring
them home, all of them, for ten consecutive nights, but
such instances are rare. The rule is to bring them a few
nights only and not all of them, either. About one-half
are never seen again after leaving the box. This home-
bringing is a very noisy and amusing affair, since the
parents have a good deal of trouble to collect all the
members of a family into one box and to keep them
there.
The peculiar call note, one which is only used by par-
ents to command their children, comes here to perfection,
and the arrival of every individual is signalized by a
general uproar. Having at last succeeded in getting all
their children into one box it is necessary to watch and
feed them there, lest they be off again. One of the old
birds remains until dusk, when it suddenly disappears in
the direction of the common roost, leaving the young
alone until dawn next morning.
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 9
HOW YOUNG BIRDS ARE FED.*
St. Louis, Mo., July 17, 1884.
It may be interesting to you to know more about the
family cares of our birds. In order to find out how often
young Martins are fed by their parents, and at what time
the principal meals are served, I watched my sixteen
feeding pairs during an entire day, June 24, from 4:00
A. M. till 8:00 P. M., marking every visit of the feeding
parents, males and females separately.
The Martins began hunting at 4:15, but no food was
brought until 4:30.
The accompanying table shows that our young Mar-
tins had to put up with a light breakfast, but the visits
became more and more frequent as the sun and mercury
climbed up, and reached their liveliest time between 9
and 10 A. M., i. e., lunch time. After that a lull was
noticeable, broken only by an approaching storm, which
brought new life into the feeding business, but for a
short time only, and to be reduced to a minimum during
the light rain, 1:25 to 2:46. Even after the rain had
ceased little feeding was done until the sky began to
clear up and the sun reappeared.
From that moment the number of visits swelled with
great rapidity, and kept me hard at work for over an
hour. It was the most substantial meal of the day, and
the young Martins may well call it their dinner.
After this the parents took a well-deserved rest, but
when the sun neared the horizon they were all off again
preparing for supper, which was not so hearty as one
might expect.
As a rule the older the birds in the nest the oftener
they are fed, and from the size of the insect which the
parents bring the age of the young may be judged.
The youngest birds are fed at longer intervals with
*Reprinted from Forest and Stream, Vol. XXII, p. 484, 1884.
10 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
crushed insects, mostly small beetles, from the craw.
About a fortnight old they are fed from the bill with soft
insects of the size of large flies, but insects with stings,
such as bees and wasps, are never brought. When four
weeks old, large dragonflies, grasshoppers and butter-
flies make the principal food.
The young Martins do not leave their box until they
are six weeks old.
The table needs no further explanation except that the
occupants of the sixteen boxes were of all ages, from one
week old in No. 6 to five weeks in Nos. 12, 16, 17.
The number of hungry mouths has something to do
with the frequency of the visits. No. 7, which heads the
list, has four young ones (four weeks old), while most
of the other boxes have three. No. 16 has only two.
|
No. No. No. No. No. . No. . No. No. No. No. No. No.] No. No.
WEATHER CONDITIONS. Time. 7| 12 17 5) 11 i 24| 25 22| 16 36] 1) 14 260 19) 6] T’1.
| |
e os ao opedwee 4to 5A.M.| 11] 1] 9] 4! 4 10 7 5 6] 2) 6 6] 6] 4] 3] 41) 85
CJ TT 5 to 612] 5] 9] 9 12] 12) 8 7] 4] 5] 8] 6] 6) 6 4) 5/ 118
77° to 84°, wind light, S. „ 6 to 7 | 19] 4] 16) 15] 9] 22] 12} 10 7] 7] 8] 9 12) 11) 6] 4/ 171
C0 ͤ ˙ A ˙ SEB ENN pe 2 7 to 8 22 17] 22 18] 1417 9 11] 7 14 14 8! 8] 10] 6] 5] 202
WP%%%%%%%ͤÜOͤ teu 8 to 9 “ [26 18] 16} 19] 18} 21] 9] 14 13] 13] 19 9] 7 10] 11] 9] 232
. 9 to 10 | 28] 25} 22 27 25) 17] 150 15 20 120 14; 11) 7| 6 10] 276
87° to 89°, wind increasing 8 . 10 to 11 “ | 27 32 20 20 27 20 12) 9 13] 17 17 13 6 10] 5] 7 255
EEE 11 to 12 [17 18 23) 14 24 10 16 14] 18] 18] 12} 10 8} 4! 6] 5/217
92°, r a oo 12 to 1 P. M.] 28] 27] 22 22) 17] 23] 15 13} 20] 14} 130 10 11 4] 6] 5) 250
, rain commene . eh ra ere lto 2 160 17| 13) 12 9| 7 5] 7 7 8] 8 7| 3] 5] 2) 132
78°, rain ceases at 2:45 e to 3 “ 7| 5 8| 7] 9| 4] 12} 10) 11] 7 7| 2] 9 12) 3) 61 119
80°, clearing, eln 3to 4 ‘* | 41) 38) 35] 45) 31) 38] 35 40] 32 22| 23] 18] 15] 14 8 459
c 4to 5 [25 32 20) 22 14) 17 14] 130 18} 60 11) 5] 8 11] 8] BI 224
79° to 82°, wind S. W. 5 to 6 7 20 11 15) 12 12) 9] 14] 12] 11] 7 10] 10 3) 7 6} 166
82° to 81°, calm, clear. 6to 7 ‘ | 11) 14] 23) 15 12] 15) 24] 11 10] 14) 12} 8] 4| 9] 7] 5) 195
81° to 80°, calm, clear. 7 to 8 “ | 15] 11] 11 11 17| 4] 15} 10] 100 10} 9 10 16] 15) 6 7| 177
|312]284]280|275 A0 0 2170203203192 185149147134 are le 3277
ee |
|
eer OF Visits DY SINR. hh es 9 5 401280127 92 8211 98 61! 730 39 63) 580 57J 33/1454
Number of visits by female. 15 een 157 134] 84|105/131/112/110| 84/76 460 5701823
|
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 11
WHERE THE MARTINS ROOST.*
St. Louis, Mo., September 19, 1884.
It is generally known that Martins spend the night in
their boxes only during the breeding season. At all
other times they sleep in the open air. By taking posses-
sion of the box in the early spring the Martin shows its
intention to become pater familias. All old males take
boxes on arriving, as soon as they can find any to suit
them. Young males, although several weeks behind in
arriving, do not show so much eagerness to own their
own box, and even young pairs prefer camping out until
nest-building has begun. Bachelors sleep in the open air
all summer, but visit the colony of their brothers and sis-
ters regularly in the morning and evening, meddling
sometimes with their domestic affairs, playing tricks,
and doing real mischief by annoying the young ones.
During the breeding season both parents sleep in their
box until the young ones have left the box. The first few
nights the young Martins are often brought home by
their parents. The weather has much to do with it;
rainy, windy weather brings home most of them, but as
a rule the best parents, those which feed them most reg-
ularly and diligently, bring them home safest and long-
est, even to a whole fortnight. This home-bringing is
attended by much noise-making, and great excitement
prevails until the young are safely lodged. The parents
do not enter the boxes, but one of them watches the en-
trance until quite dark, when it hurries off in the diree-
tion of the common roost.
Where is the roost? This is not so easily found out.
‘When Audubon saw a high old tree covered with Martins
after sunset and again the next morning before sunrise,
he thought he would make no mistake by imagining that
the Martins sleep on those dead trees all night. But they
do not. Those trees are only the meeting place for the
* Reprinted from Forest and Stream, Vol. XXIII, pp. 183-184. 1884.
12 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
Martins of a certain district, from whence they start for
the distant roost in the willow thicket, which they do not
enter until it is quite dark, and which they leave with the
first dawn, from ten to fifteen minutes before the swift
leaves its chimney.
The young join the parents as soon as they are able
to fly the distance, or, as here, to cross the Mississippi.
From that moment the boxes are never entered again,
but their roofs are used for social gathering in the morn-
ing hours during the next few weeks. The regularity of
these visits does not last long; pauses occur; in dry, hot
weather the visits are short, in cool spells they are cut
off entirely, but a sultry, rainy term brings them back
again to spend a few hours in animated chattering
around the old home. In the evening they only pass
without stopping, but they visit often their old hunting
grounds in the neighborhood. During the day they are
seldom seen after the first of August. After this date
they appear late in the evening, but their number
increase rapidly. They collect on treetops, church steeples
and other points of prominence and loftiness, around
which they swarm like bees for about half an hour, when
the air for a mile around is filled with Martins, which
now form a whirling body of many thousand, rolling up
and down at first above the bluffs, then above the Missis-
sippi, going and returning in wide circles, but all this
time drawing surreptitiously toward the willows on the
other side of the river. It has now become dusk and the
descent cannot be seen from this shore, but the moment
can be known by a sudden outery of alarmed Crows and
Blackbirds which had retired into the same willows long
before.
Such vast numbers of Martins cannot be sent forth
from one city nor from a few counties. The Martins of
half of the states of Missouri and Illinois must flock to-
gether to form such an army. But it is not yet migra-
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 13
tion; it is only the prelude to it. Such common roosts
are the starting points for those thousands, and are the
resting stations for many more thousands which pass
through in the last week of August and in September.
Our birds became peculiarly excited and mysteriously
restless after August 12. After an interval of several
weeks, the old birds began at this day to visit their boxes
again, hung around them for half hours, not with merry
carols as in early summer, but for the purpose of giving
a last look at the scenes of former happiness.
August 20 and 21 were stormy, followed by a north
wind period with several cool nights. The tactics of the
great army were now changed. Migration began. After
the 24th the gatherings on this side of the river ceased,
our St. Louis Martins had left, and to the St. Louis man
the Martins had become very scarce. Not so to the
initiated, and if you come along with me across the Mis-
sissippi, I will show you more Martins than one can
otherwise see in a lifetime.
It is August 24,6 P. M. Only a few Martins are seen
on this side of the river going east. We take a skiff and
follow them. After ten minutes’ rowing we approach
the opposite shore. What is that? Hundreds and hun-
dreds of birds sailing low, above the water, hundreds of
silvery splashes flashing up from the now dark waters
of the great river. What a strange sight! The Martins
are taking their bath. Now we are on the sandbar of the
Illinois side, opposite the southern part of St. Louis, just
north of Arsenal Island. It is a large tract of fine river
sand, newly formed, almost quite dry and free from vege-
tation, except a strip along the willow thickets which
border it on the east. It is 6:30. Since we have arrived
the air all around us has filled up with Martins, pouring
in from all directions, high up and low above the water,
all going toward the one place—the outer rim of the sand-
bar, where on a few acres of sand ten thousand Martins
14 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
are sitting already in solemn silence, probably in secret
‘session. Ten thousand Martins sitting close together on
a few acres of sandbar is a sight not often met with, and
we must look at them very sharply. They are not very
shy, many alight a few yards from us and we can watch
every movement. The only movement we can see is a
picking motion as if taking up a grain of sand, but this
is only play work, because we see them also pick at straw
protruding from the sand. They did not come to eat
sand, their only purpose is to meet here and decide if to
go on with their journey southward or to take a rest in
the neighboring roost. It is now 6:45 and getting dusk.
The smoke of the city, driven by a northeast wind, has
enveloped the western horizon and all will be dark in a
few minutes. Do they sleep on that sand? They have
been sitting here now for half an hour. Look here, four
birds coming toward the willows; they are scouts! Is
this not a strange call, a call never heard around their
breeding boxes? They are now all four above us, circling
over the willows and returning to the sand. Presently
the ranks of the Martins thin out, and in less than a min-
ute all have left the sand, fiying out on the river, down
toward the island, rising above the willows, and in a few
minutes all is quiet, dark. The Martins have gone to
rest, and we will not disturb them. It would be difficult
work to penetrate these willow thickets at night.
The willows are about twenty feet high and stand very
close together. The ground is swampy in some places
and it is covered all over with debris left by last year’s
inundation. We shall try to see them leave the willows
tomorrow morning.
It is 5 A. M., the stars have disappeared, with the ex-
ception of a few bright ones. We are on the bluffs oppo-
site the sandbar. The first break of day stands in the
eastern horizon, but night still reigns west of us. This
is the moment when the Martin leaves its roost. They
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 15
are already coming over the river; a few voices only,
then more and more, and now the whole air is filled with
the short calls of Progne. They seem to be all around
us, below and above, but we may strain our eyes in all
directions, not a single bird can be discovered; it is too
dark and the birds are too high above us. A few minutes
later the bulk has passed, but it is getting lighter and we
are able to see a few loiterers, mere dots passing the
zenith, following the others in a northwesterly or west-
erly direction. A few minutes more the last will be gone
and no Martin will be seen at this place before 5 P. M.
After migration has thus begun it will be good for
us to visit the scene of rendezvous every day. The Mar-
tins begin to arrive at 5 P. M.; they arrive mostly low
above the water, comparatively few are coming at some
height. As soon as a few hundred are together they
begin to sit down on the sand. In the beginning they are
pretty restless, changing their places every few minutes,
sometimes flying up in a cloud to settle down at or near
the same spot again. If we are watching them now from
a place south of the bar we notice that not all settle down
again. After swinging a few circles, part of the flock
detaches itself from the rest, and, heading south, soon
disappears in that direction. Although the number re-
mains about the same for two weeks, we soon find that
a change has been going on from the beginning. As early
as September 1 we become aware that we have almost
entirely to do with birds of the year. The old birds, the
old males, at least, have mostly left.
The most imposing sight may be had by disturbing the
army at the moment when all have settled on the sand.
The whole mass goes up in a body, turning right and left,
forms two mighty streams which unite above the water
in a great whirlpool, rushes up and down, sweeping
along the river to a distant point, then coming back again
like a huge cloud, which moves hither and thither until
16 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
the neutral tint of night allows the safe retreat. On Sep-
tember 7 and 8 the number of Martins present was still
as large, or larger, than ever. After the sultry, stormy
weather of September 9 and 10 a cold northwest wind
- reduced the temperature to 66 degrees on the 11th, and
on this evening the Martins assembled on the sandbar
for the last time. The number was much smaller than
usual, and when the cloud rose from the bank at 6 P. M.
comparatively few returned. On the 12th no Martin was
sitting on the bar, but about a hundred flocked together
low above the water near the bar and disappeared soon,
moving slowly in a southerly direction. The same took
place on all the following days. Small flocks began to
collect at 5:30 and disappeared after staying about the
neighborhood until a little after 6 P. M. The last were
seen on the 18th, but only a few, and none today.
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 17
THE CROWS’ WINTER ROOST AT ST. LOUIS.*
St. Louis has many sights worth seeing, all more or
less known and appreciated, but one of its greatest
natural curiosities, the big roost of wintering Crows on
Arsenal Island, where thousands and perhaps a hundred
thousand Crows congregate, is never mentioned.
The Crow is a common summer resident in this part of
the country. Every grove has its pair nesting, and
around their favorite feeding grounds a dozen Crows
may be seen together any day during the breeding sea-
son. To these places the young resort when able to fly,
and parties of thirty or so are nothing unusual in sum-
mer, oftener or sooner heard than seen, especially when
the presence of a Hawk excites their hatred.
In the neighborhood of their winter roost they are not
seen in any unusual numbers before the middle of Sep-
tember. The river front of St. Louis is sixteen miles
long. The center of the city with the courthouse is about
half way of this long line. Four miles south of the court-
house, down the river, is the head of an island called
Arsenal Island (formerly Smallpox Island, because dur-
ing the Civil War the smallpox hospital was situated on
this island).
At that time the head of the island was opposite the
St. Louis Arsenal, and for that reason the name ‘Arsenal
Island was given. At the present day the island begins
one mile south of the Arsenal, having been washed off
continually at its head until about five years ago, when
it was fixed by strong embankments erected by the gov-
ernment. At the same time, in order to force the cur-
rent to the Missouri side, the island was connected with
the Illinois shore by a dam which obstructed the flow of
water so much that the old channel east of the island
is nearly dry now in summer, and willows begin to grow
_ *Reprinted from the “Ornithologist and Otologist,” Feb., 1888.
Vol. XIII. No. 2.
18 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
in many places. The island is therefore steadily grow-
ing; it is two miles long, one-fourth mile wide, mostly
grown up with willows and cottonwoods, from twenty-
five years old at its present head, where the flora is
already more varied by admixture of shrubs and climb-
ers, to one year old and entirely new growth at its recent
additions. The foot of the island is a sandbank, change-
able in size according to the stage of water, at the present
low water about half a mile long, and reaching to the
Illinois shore in the vicinity of the Bessemer Steel
Works.
The island is not inhabited except by a single old man,
who keeps a few cows in summer and tries to raise a
little crop of corn for their feed. He does not molest
any of its feathered visitors, but the island is a much
frequented shooting ground for boy hunters, who make
it very unsafe on Sundays.
This island has been chosen by the Crows for their
winter roost, and during the fifteen years in which I
lived in the neighborhood, I have seen them regularly
every winter.
The reason why the Crows selected this island seems to
be the convenient position in regard to food supply
coupled with comparative safety from nightly raids.
The food supply is twofold: On the land, the environs
of a large city surrounded by gardens and dairies and
pastures, etc.
On the water, the rich harvest provided by the dump-
ing places of the city, which throws its garbage into the
river to carry it off.
The Crow is the typical scavenger, and the choice of
its winter roost proves it. If it could live on corn and
mice, it would spend the winter hawk-fashion in solitude
near some out-of-the-way cornfield, but it is no mice
destroyer. Neither is it a grain eater. I have examined
thousands of pellets (the indigestible parts of food
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 19
thrown up), which are lying under the trees where they
roost and on the sand where they gather. These pellets
show that very few mice enter the bill of fare of the
Crow. But they also prove that the Crow has no stomach
for grain. Large pieces of maize and entire kernels of
oats and wheat are thrown out undigested, and even
the acorn, which must often appease their hunger, is
found intact in the pellets.
The Crow eats anything and everything, when pressed
by hunger, but it prefers animal matter, and it makes
no difference whether it is fresh or old. It turns over
the old droppings of cattle to see if there is anything
eatable underneath. It devours a rotten apple for a
change of diet, and eats the chicken without asking how
long it has been dead or with what disease it died.
When they are so lucky as to find the dead body of a
horse, they return to it every day until the bones are
perfectly clean. I have even heard of the remarkable
sight, when the cadaver of a man was seen driving down
on an ice field, surrounded and torn to pieces by hordes
of Crows.
The Crows like our climate, because we have, as a rule,
very little snow. The snow which precedes our cold
spells comes with a high wind and is, therefore, drifted.
Snow which falls heavily later in the season does not
stay long. After a fresh snowfall, or during a sudden
cold snap, the Crow’s resource is the river. For miles
and miles along its shores Crows abound, watching at
the water’s edge, visiting the sandbars and hovering over
the river, fishing from its surface choice morsels with
which they make hastily for a safe place to eat in peace.
The most animated picture is to be had in times when
the river is full of floating ice. At such times it is fairly
alive with Crows all day. Sitting on the edge of floating
ice fields, they drift down for miles, watching the agitated
waves until they bring to light the eagerly sought for
20 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
dainty in the shape of a rosy lung or similar succulency.
When such an article has been found, it is accompanied
for many miles by troops of hungry Crows, and the
crowning event takes place when the Bald Eagle joins
the revelers and gets the lion’s share.
In former years, Herring Gulls were not uncommon.
at such feasts, but of late they seem to be quite scarce
around here.
In very hard winters, when the river remains solidly
frozen for some time, the Crows are very much less
numerous, but as soon as the snow begins to go they
return, and when the ice breaks up they are back in
full force.
From the middle of September, when they first appear
at the roost, until the middle of October, the increase is
slow. The last decade of October and the first of
November is the time when the bulk of Crows arrive
at the roost.
Cool, still days, with gloomy skies and misty air, bring
them from the North in loose, straggling flights, from
different directions, but falling into line north of the
city, they pass around its western bounds near Shaw’s
Garden, and thence in a straight line towards the foot
of the Island, where they arrive in a regular stream
which pours in some days from 1 or 2 p. m. until dark.
On arriving above the river the Crow ceases beating
the air and, instead of flapping heavily along as usual,
it spreads its wings and floats down majestically towards
the island, where it first goes for water and then for
a perch in the trees. This perch is often changed before
the final selection is made. Cottonwoods and willows,
twenty to thirty feet high are chosen, and a dozen or
more find a place in a single tree.
When the November sun has set, the trees on the
lower part of the Island are black with Crows, and the
noise they make and which they keep up until quite
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 21
dark is heard for miles around. Before the sun is up
in the morning the Crows leave the roost, but the noise
may be heard long before daybreak, and does not cease
until they have left. In open weather in fall, hardly a
Crow is seen at the roost all the forenoon. The place
looks deserted. The Crows have gone, and the first rays
of the sun find them scattered over hundreds of square
miles. We may go out any direction within twenty miles
of St. Louis, but we see Crows winging their way to
some distant feeding ground, scattering as they proceed,
spreading over fields and woods, but enlivening the
scenery wherever they appear.
They seem to do most of their feeding in the morning.
In the early afternoon they begin to collect into flocks,
and large congregations may be seen in many places,
passing the time playfully until ready to go home, when
flock joins flock, trying to keep track if wind and weather
permit. On clear, still days they fly at great heights. A
gale throws them far out of their beaten path and they fly
as low as possible, seeking shelter from the wind behind
woods and buildings, and following as much as possible
the lowest depressions of the ground.
They first appear at the roost soon after midday, but
the majority arrive within an hour before sunset; com-
paratively few come later.
It is not unusual to see them carry food in their bills to
the roost, and different kinds of nuts and acorns, pieces
of meat and even bones may be found on the sandbank.
As long as the weather remains mild the Crow sleeps
in the trees, but when the sharp north wind strips the
trees of their leaves the trees lose much of their attrac-
tion for the Crows, and they begin to spend the nights
on the sand which girdles the island.
In November comparatively few Crows resort to the
sand, but when in December zero weather sweeps over
the island, most of them remain on the ground, covering
22 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
the vast sandbar at the foot of the island with innumer-
able black dots, and as many more again stay on the large
ice field which stretches now along the shallow eastern
shore like a continuation of the sandbar.
Here they are on the bare ice from 4 p. m. till 7 a. m.,
fifteen long hours, with temperature near zero, exposed
to the fierce wind without any shelter at all. How they
can stand it is more than I know, and although I have
found frozen Crows, and Crows with stumped toes as
reminiscences of former experiences, I still believe, as a
rule, they stand the rigors of our winter quite well. The
first sunny mild day, and immediately after the coldest
spells, the Crow thinks of courting, and shows all signs
of an amorous Crow whose love is not by our tempera-
tures refrigerated.
This courting is done openly, in broad daylight, so-
cially, gracefully. The Crows gather on a sunny hillside
or some similarly favorable place, and talk to each other
in the softest crow language; one flies straight up into the
air, soars for a moment, floats gracefully down, cheered
by the rest, amidst which he alights to see others do what
he did.
‘As soon as the weather becomes mild and the ground
free from snow and ice, the Crows begin to disperse. This
is generally not before February, and sometimes quite
late in that month, but by the middle of March their
ranks are thinned out very much, and few are left after
the first of April. Generally, their departure is not par-
ticularly noticed, it being a continuation of their daily
flight, failing to return to the roost in the evening.
But sometimes I have seen two birds flying together in
a northerly direction, even in the afternoon, and right
against the incoming stream of Crows. These I take for
abseonders, ready to dispense with sociability, the two
being enough company by themselves. With the begin-
ning of the breeding season the history of the common
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 23
roost ends. We do not now follow them into the sylvan
retreats where they raise a big family. Let us hope that
all will return to us in the fall, bringing with them-
selves a great army of jolly young Crows. Interesting
would it be to learn if other cities on the lower Missouri
River and Mississippi have similar roosts. Omaha, Kan-
sas City, Cairo, Louisville, Memphis are probably like
favored.
24 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lows
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER.
Illustrated by Life-Size Colored Pictures.
(St. Louis Naturalists’ Club, February 28, 1920.)
Forty members of the St. Louis Bird Club counted
twenty-seven species of birds in taking a Christmas cen-
sus for ‘‘Bird Lore,’’ covering four square miles in the
vicinity of Creve Coeur Lake on December 27, 1919. The
same number of species was reported by the St. Louis
Bird Club on December 22, 1918, but Dent Jokerst and
Paul Dent, by making twelve miles on foot in seven hours
on the same day, enumerated forty-four species. This is
all one party can be expected to see in one day, but if
a few days of observation could have been added and dif-
ferent localities visited, the number might have been in-
creased to fifty-six, as has been done once by me. And
even this number is possible of a farther increase by
some of the casual species that may be met with only by
a rare chance and of which there are about ten.
The three Audubon Charts, though made in Massachu-
setts, can be used to advantage for our purpose, since the
bird fauna of the United States east of the 100th merid-
ian, or about the middle of Kansas, is practically the
same. The only drawback is that they do not contain all
the species mentioned.
Beginning at the upper left corner of Chart No. 3, the
Northern Shrike or Butcherbird, Lanius borealis, comes
to us in November and leaves us in March. It breeds in
Canada and Alaska and winters in the northern United
States and as far to the south as North Carolina, Ken-
tucky, Arkansas, Texas and Central California. It is a
larger bird than the Shrike which is with us in the sum-
mer, formerly called Loggerhead, now Migrant Shrike,
one of the several subspecies of the Loggerhead. The
typical Loggerhead, at home only in the southern states,
differs from the Migrant in having the wings slightly
shorter and the general coloration darker. In western
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 25
Missouri the Migrant intergrades into the paler sub-
species, the White-rumped Shrike, with much more white
in its dress. All the different subspecies of the Logger-
head are much smaller than the Northern Shrike, the dif-
ference amounting to one and one-third inch in total
length, and are of less robust build. The general color-
ation is the same in both species. One of the character-
istic, distinguishing markings, the white under eyelid, has
escaped the painter of the charts, but the difference in
the black stripe through the eye is plainly visible, for in
the Loggerhead the black extends over the forehead.
‘Another character is the wavy, darkish lines on the un-
derparts of the Northern Shrike in distinction from the
plain white of the Loggerhead. While in the United
States in the winter the Northern Shrikes live mostly on
mice, but lacking this favorite food they kill small birds
and are said to play havoc in some places with the Eng-
lish Sparrows. They are courageous birds; one has been
seen to attack a Hairy Woodpecker, a bird as large and
strong as the Shrike itself. I myself have witnessed the
attack by one of our Migrant Shrikes upon a Downy
Woodpecker, which he held on the ground and would
have killed if I had not been attracted to the scene by
the pitiful cries of the Downy.
There are numerous species of Shrikes, inhabiting
most parts of the world. All have the habit of impaling
their prey on thorns or barbed wire, or fixing the mice
or small birds in forks of twigs in order to get at them
more easily, or to preserve them for the future, if they
have captured more than they can dispose of at once. In
Germany, where there are four species, they are, for this
reason, called Neuntéter or Dorndreher. Our summer
Shrikes spend the winter in the southern states, but re-
turn to us very early and are among the first birds to
build nests, often having fully fledged young in May.
Young ones taken out of the nest and reared by hand
26 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
make interesting, charming pets, for the Shrikes are
intelligent birds with a comparatively large brain. How-
ever, they are quarrelsome and envious, and when two
are kept in one cage it will not be long before one of them
is killed by the other. Shrikes require much food, and
it is for this reason that they are not sociable, prefer a
solitary life and drive intruders from their chosen
domain. Although belonging to the Oscine Passerine
birds, Shrikes are generally not classed among singing
birds, but they have a melodious song, though not loud
and only given when they believe themselves not heard
by man. It was only when I was entirely out of his sight
that my pet indulged in his vocal practices, soft and
really pleasing performances. Much can be learned from
birds kept in confinement.
One grand dominating impulse of migration in spring
is breeding, to insure the perpetuation of the species.
Migratory birds come north to breed, to rear their young
in a climate where the temperature is best suited to their
requirements. Another physiological process tells them
when to leave their summer homes. The failure of food
supply is undoubtedly the most important impulse, but
this southern flight has been performed so often and so
regularly that the impulse has become hereditary as is
demonstrated by many facts. My pet Shrike was in a
dark room where no noise such as the calls of migrants
passing over could reach him, the room was warm and
the food plentiful, but when October came along every
evening about nine o’clock he began to flutter in his cage
and thrust himself against the wires until quite ex-
hausted. This migratory instinct forces most birds to
leave their breeding grounds long before real want of
food is felt, often at a time when nothing indicates the
approach of winter. Many insect-eating birds leave in
August and September when insects are most abundant;
seed and fruit eaters depart when there is still an
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 27
abundance of food for them. Few insectivorous birds
winter in the United States, but many species go deep
into South America to Brazil and Peru. Some nesting
in the northern United States winter in the Gulf States,
and many Canadian birds find our climate not too severe
for their winter quarters. Birds that have the longest
journey to travel start earliest. Some birds born in high
altitudes arrive in the United States as early as July.
Nineteen species of shore birds breed north of the Arctic
Circle, and everyone of them visits South ‘America in
winter; six of them go to Patagonia, a route of 3,000
miles. But the Arctic Tern beats them all; it nests as
far north as the bird can find land to make its nest. When
the young are grown the family leaves the Arctic and a
few months later they are found skirting the edge of the
Antarctic Continent, 11,000 miles away. Of land birds
the Nighthawk has the largest route, 7,000 miles from
Yukon to Argentina.
While it has been proved that regular migrants, the
real birds of passage, have their fixed winter quarters,
to which they return every year, there is another kind of
migration which we may call nomadic migration. This is
most prevalent in cold regions, but is found over most of
North America. To this class of migrants with no set-
tled or definite winter home belong the Pine Grosbeaks,
the Crossbills, Redpolls, Snow Buntings, Shore Larks
and many others.
As the nomad wanders to and fro, pitching his camp
here one day, miles away the next, so do these vagrant
birds pass the non-breeding season in quest of food. All
of these species are gregarious, are fond of each other’s
company, some wandering in troops, others in large
flocks. It is this sociability which forces them to move
constantly from one place to another to find all the food
they need. So long as food can be obtained in sufficient
quantity some species show a reluctance to leave their
28 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
home, unmindful of temperature. Even in the Aretic
regions some birds may be found all winter, where food
can be had, species whose food consists of buds, twigs,
seeds, berries, or of carrion or refuse; or those that prey
upon other birds. Ptarmigans, Ravens, Gyrfaleons and
Owls belong to this class.
Of avian nomads several are shown on the chart. The
Purple Finches, the Pine Siskins, the Gold Finches may
be called nomads, for their stay in any place is of short
duration. Few birds are more erratic than the Wax-
wings, the Cedar Waxwing of the United States, and the
Bohemian Waxwing of the Boreal Zone of both hemis-
pheres.
Many of the nomadic wanderers have a circumpolar
distribution. Either the species themselves or nearly
related species or subspecies occur in Boreal regions of
‘America and Eurasia. One hundred and twenty-eight
genera of birds are found in both hemispheres, and of
the 31 boreal genera of the North American mammals 25
are common to Boreal America and Eurasia. As similar
facts exist in reference to insects, reptiles and plants,
faunal geographers have combined the Palaearctic and
Nearctic regions into one grand division under the name
of Holaretie Realm.
A fine example of a bird with cireumpolar distribution
and nomadic habit is the Pine Grosbeak. In summer it
lives in the forests of the Boreal region. In winter it
wanders in flocks far and wide, according to circum-
stances, extending its movements irregularly into the
northern United States, exceptionally as far south as
Missouri, where it has been recorded once from
La Grange by Susan Johnson, December 3, 1903.
Other southern records are Kentucky and District of
Columbia. They live on the seeds of trees, coniferous
and deciduous, their buds, and are particularly fond of
the berries of the Red Cedar and of the seeds of the
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 29
White Ash. The males have a pleasing song and are
favorite cage birds in the north of Europe, where the
bird is common.
The Crossbills are of cireumpolar distribution, inhab-
iting in nearly related species the coniferous belt of both
hemispheres. The White-winged Crossbill is purely
American, breeding chiefly in the Northwest, but occurs
often in the company of the Common Crossbill, with
which it shares the same habits.
Crossbills are peculiar in structure; the head is large,
the jaw stout, the bill long and compressed, the tips of
the mandibles abruptly bent, so that their sharp points
cross each other at an angle. This curious tool is a spe-
cial adaptation to its food and the manner of securing it.
The sharply pointed curves serve as the most convenient
hooks for getting the seeds of the pines, spruces and hem-
locks out of the cones. The bill is also used as a tool for
climbing after the manner of the parrots. Crossbills are
true nomads. They have not even fixed places nor regu-
lar times for nesting. They may occur by thousands
some years and be quite absent during others. Nests
have been found from February to October. They seem
to breed only in places where they are sure of enough of
their favorite food trees, spruces and balsams, loaded
with ripening cones. They rove widely in search of food
and their wanderings in winter extend irregularly south-
ward, exceptionally as far as South Carolina and
Louisiana.
When feeding in trees no sound escapes their throats,
and they would easily be overlooked if it were not for
the noise made by the falling scales detached from the
cones by the birds in securing the seed. When disturbed
in their work they all start at once with a peculiar note,
and fly far, but may be back again after a short time. On
the wing they look like female Cowbirds or overgrown
House Sparrows, especially the young birds and females
in their dusky dress.
30 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lowis
A great wanderer is the Snow Bunting. It makes its
nest in the Arctic and Subaretie Region, and is the first
passerine bird to penetrate into those regions with the
return of spring, before the snow is melted. In winter
they come south, usually in large flocks, to the northern
United States, sometimes as far south as Indiana, Mis-
souri, Kansas, Colorado and Oregon. They are decidedly
gregarious and delight to fly in the stormiest weather.
Their appearances is often considered the harbinger of
snow, and they return northward with the disappearance
of snow. All are gone from the United States by the end
of April. They are said to be much less numerous than
formerly in the regions which they visit regularly in win-
ter. One of the reasons for the decrease is that they have
been slaughtered by hundreds for food and for millinery
purposes, the beauty of the bird in its spring plumage of
black, white and brown rendering it particularly attrac-
tive as a Chat bird.“ It is also said that thousands of
heads of Snow Buntings were palmed off on county
clerks as those of English Sparrows, when bounties were
paid on them. It may be said that bounty laws under the
best conditions are expensive and unsatisfactory, and as
far as the English Sparrow is concerned have proved to
be extremely unwise and ineffective, as many of our val-
uable birds have been destroyed and bounties illegally
paid.
Better acquainted than with the Snow Bunting are we
Missourians with its cousin, the Lapland Longspur, be-
cause we have it as a regular winter visitant, appearing
from the north in November and remaining till March,
exceptionally as in the cold spring of 1907 till the middle
of April. They are similar in general appearance to the
Snow Bunting, but with a large black patch on the breast
and a chestnut collar on the back of the neck. In early
winter the black is obscured by white tips of the feathers.
It breeds in the northern part of both hemispheres and
comes south to the United States, chiefly the middle
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 31
states, abundantly to Kansas and Colorado. Near St.
Louis we meet with it in most unlikely places, on wind-
swept hillsides, often in company of Horned Larks, feed-
ing on grass seeds, probably also on grasshopper eggs
and dead grasshoppers. It is a great sight to watch a flock
of a few hundred hungry Longspurs alight on a tract of
untilled land. They do not scatter over it promiscuously
as some other birds would do, but start all together at
one end of the tract and go at once to work picking up
whatever there is for them to eat, advancing like an army
in one direction. After a very short time those in the
rear of the advancing column fly low over the heads of
the flock and alight at the head of the army, but are at
the head only a few moments when another party leaves
the rear and goes to the head. This goes on until the
whole tract has been gone over, and is certainly a good
way of gathering everything desirable with the least
possible loss. When disturbed the whole flock goes up
to a great height and is soon lost out of sight, for they
are great flyers and are among the longest-winged mem-
bers of the Sparrow family.
‘A rover, but a 100 per cent American rover, not a
hyphenated intruder from the Old World, is the Evening
Grosbeak. He is at home in the mountainous West from
Canada to Guatemala, but visits with irregular frequency,
sometimes in large flocks, as far east as New York and
New England. The species has repeatedly been encoun-
tered in Missouri and may be looked for at any time be-
tween October 1 and April 1.
I had the pleasure of making its acquaintance in Strat-
ton Park, near Colorado Springs, June 6, 1903, where a
male and female were hopping unconcernedly on the
walks of that very much frequented pleasure resort. It
is a bird of distinguished appearance and not easily over-
looked or forgotten. It would be something to be thank-
ful for if the species would become more plentiful and
would extend its breeding range into the middle states.
32 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
There is no reason why it should not find food in culti-
vated, settled regions, as it does not live mainly on the
seeds of conifers, but eats all kinds of seeds, high and
low, and feeds its young on insects like its congener, the
Hawfinch of the Old World. This bird, the Kirschkern-
beisser of Germany, is an ornament to any landscape,
admired by the nature lover, but less popular with the
grower of cherries, which the bird likes more for the ker-
nel than for its meat.
When speaking of the avian rovers likely to be met
with by St. Louisans in their winter walks, it would be
amiss to omit the Waxwings, of which there are two well-
defined species, one a rare winter visitant, the other a
common resident. The rare guest, the larger of the two spe-
cies, is the renowned Bohemian Waxwing, citizen of two
worlds, equally well known in the Old World and in the
New, because of circumpolar distribution. The smaller
species is the Cedar or Cherrybird, a 100 per cent Amer-
ican with no brothers or sisters in the Old World. For
the larger part of the year the Bohemian deserves its
name, for it leads the life of a gypsy, a man without a
country. In breeding time it retires to parts of Alaska
and the Canadian Northwest, but, wishing to live in com-
pany and feeding chiefly on wild berries, it has taken to
a habit of wandering, which carries it far away from its
nests in search of sufficient food. They may appear in
a particular locality one winter and not be seen again at
the same place for many years. It is probable that they
come to Missouri much oftener than we are aware of, for
it is by mere chance that we come across a troop of birds
of such erratic behavior. They must not be confounded
with our Cedarbird, which they resemble very much in
color, shape and habit, but which are about an inch
smaller, have no white on the wings, and white instead
of chestnut under tail feathers.
Although a troop of Cedarbirds may be met with on
our walks in any month of the year, as a rule the bulk of
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 33
the species spends the coldest time south of our state,
when they feed largely on the berries of the Red Cedar,
Haw, Sumac, Bittersweet, Chokeberry, Black Alder (Ilex
verticillata), Smilax and Hackberry. Restless fruit eaters,
like these Cedarbirds, are nature’s best agents in the dis-
tribution of the seeds of many trees and shrubs. I may
state here that I had the good fortune last summer of
watching a pair of these birds at their nest. This is con-
sidered a rare chance, not only because the birds them-
selves are uncommon in summer, but because they are
the most secretive of breeders. The nest was fifty feet
from the ground in the top of an Elm tree, and luck
willed it that one of the owners slipped into it at the very
second when my glass was fixed upon it. Unlike most
other birds the Cedarbirds are very seldom seen in the
vicinity of their nest, but arriving from a distance alight
directly at the nest and disappear within. When leaving
they take wing immediately at the nest and fly over the
tree tops, disappearing in the distance. As soon as the
young are able to fly the family joins others and is never
seen at the breeding stand again.
One of the best treats we can have in the bird line is
when our winter walk leads us upon a troop of Redpoll
Linnets, as the Redpolls are often called. These beauti-
ful, sprightly little birdies with a red crown and pink
breast belong to the rovers, who restlessly go from place
to place in flocks containing from 6 or 8 to more than a
hundred birds each. Like Crossbills and other rovers
they are irregular in respect to their visits in the United
States. Sometimes absent in a locality for several years,
they may again appear in small numbers or perhaps only
late in winter. In Missouri the earliest ever reported
was on November 4 and the latest April 8. Redpolls have
one of the greatest ranges of passerine birds, and the
very same species is found in Europe and Asia from
England to Japan and in America from Alaska to
Labrador.
34 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
Their near relationship to the Goldfinches and Siskins
is at once noticed in their behavior, the same affectionate
and confiding disposition, allowing a near approach when
occupied in feeding on the seeds of herbs and grasses,
in the pursuit of which they come into our towns and
suburbs.
One of the best-known birds with a cireumpolar dis-
tribution is the Horned or Shore Lark. It is known in
Europe and Asia, in northern South America, northern
Africa, and received its specific name Alpestris because
found as a breeder in the Alps.
The type species, the one upon which the genus has
been based, breeds in northeastern North America and
in Europe and comes to the United States only in winter,
occasionally as far south as Missouri. At least it appears
that flocks of Horned Larks seen on the sandbars in the
Mississippi River opposite St. Louis belonged to this
subspecies, a geographic race that may be distinguished
from our resident subspecies praticola by its large size,
darker color and yellow instead of white head-and-throat
markings. As the difference in size amounts to half an
inch it is quite obvious to a practiced eye, but the fact
that our Prairie Horned Lark is not known to frequent
sandbars at any season, but that the type species habit-
ually prefers large flat tracts along the seacoast or inland
waters in the winter wanderings, seems to confirm our
identification. It is, however, true that in cases of sub-
species real proof is desirable and scientists are not to
be blamed for rejecting reports of unusual occurrences
not attested by specimens. As the West and Northwest
of North America are inhabited by other subspecies,
there is a probability or possibility that some of our win-
ter visitants belong to one of those. The study of Horned
Larks is made still more complex because our breeding
subspecies is largely a resident bird and does not leave
us until driven away by deep snow. Even snow has no
horror for some of them who know where to find sus-
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 35
tenance in pastures and farmyards or follow roads into
towns in quest of a favorite bird food, horse droppings.
With the replacement of horses by the auto this supply
has greatly diminished, a circumstance which our House
Sparrows have especial reason to deplore.
The Larks, though having a general resemblance to
many members of the Sparrow family, have anatomical
characters that separate them into a family of their own.
It has its center of distribution in the Old World, where
about one hundred species are recognized, among them
the celebrated Sky Lark, while America has only one
species, but this is so well scattered over the whole con-
tinent that the last edition of the A. O. U. Check List
enumerates fourteen subspecies. While the song of the
Horned Lark cannot be compared to that of the Sky
Lark, it still has some merit, and is so much more inter-
esting because given by the bird while on wing high in air.
When speaking of the birds of a cireumpolar distribu-
tion, we must not forget to mention the Snowy Owl.
Everybody has seen mounted specimens of it, for it is a
favorite object of the curio shops, especially those at
Niagara, a region in which the bird sometimes appears
in large flights. Old males are nearly pure white, younger
birds and females are more or less barred by transverse
spots of brownish. In its summer home the Snowy Owl
lives mostly on lemmings, and it is not every winter that
it leaves its boreal home, but in some years large flights
have reached the United States, when as many as 500
have been reported from New England alone. Excep-
tional wanderings have carried some of them into central
and even southern states to South Carolina and Louis-
iana, and flights have been observed far out at sea. The
species is more diurnal than nocturnal, and when away
from home takes what food can be obtained, chiefly mam-
mals, but also birds, fish and even offal. The breeding
range extends from the limit of trees north to the Arctic
Ocean. The flesh of the bird is said to resemble that of
36 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
chicken in appearance and is very much relished by the
Eskimos. The bird is capable of rapid flight and is able
to catch ducks and pigeons on the wing, striking them
down after the manner of the Duck Hawk.
Siskins, as we generally call them, although the name
belongs to, a different species of the Old World, are
counted among the winter residents of Missouri, but we
better call them winter visitants, for they are, like the
Purple Finches, highly erratic. They may stay a few
days at a place, but when gone may not be seen for a
whole year. They breed in the northern coniferous for-
ests and in the western mountains down to the Mexican
border, but are great wanderers for one-half of the year.
In appearance they resemble much our Goldfinches in
their winter dress, but are easily known by the spotted
underparts and yellow areas on wings and tail. Having
the feeding habits of the Goldfinches, the two species are
often found together on their feeding grounds and at the
water pools, but when disturbed the Siskins go off their
own way, keeping together in troops, which sometimes
amount to real flocks. Before their departure in spring
the males become very musical, but their song is not as
melodious as that of the Goldfinches or that of the Pur-
ple Finches.
The latter are great musicians, in fact they are one
of our best songsters, their song resembling that of the
Warbling Vireo, undisputedly an artist among songsters.
Purple Finches are more regular in their visits to us and
might be classed among our winter residents if they would
only remain longer in one place, but they like to rove
from one feeding ground to another in search of favorite
food, the seeds of trees, shrubs, weeds and grasses. Like
other birds they have sometimes a hard task to get at
their food. During one of those dreaded periods, when
everything was covered by snow and frozen rain, when
boys were skating in the streets of St. Louis, I came upon
a troop of Purple Finches in a sinkhole near Carondelet.
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 37
They were feeding on the berries of the Coral Berry,
Indian Currant or Buck Vine, as the shrub is variously
called. They had probably been feeding there all day, for
the frozen ground was covered with the pulp of the ber-
ries, discarded by the birds in the attempt to get at the
kernels, which served them as food for the time being.
Most of the Purple Finches seen in winter are in the
brown dress of the female or young male, but there are
always a few more or less crimson colored old males
among them. Brown birds seen in the act of singing are
probably all young males, though it is possible that
females try to sing, as we know that female Cardinals
and female Pine Grosbeaks are doing.
The Yellow-rumped Warbler or Myrtle Bird is not
really a winter resident with us. When we see it late in
December, as we see it often, we can label it a delayed
transient, rather than winter resident, because records
of their occurrence in January and February to the mid-
dle of March are rare. Some observers insist on calling
all birds seen in the month of December winter residents.
This is a mistake. A bird may be kept back by an abun-
dance of its favorite food, as, for instance, in this case the
drupes of Poison Ivy or Red Cedar berries, but when
these are all gone the birds will leave and not return
until spring migration sets in. In the Atlantic states it
is the Myrtle Berry or Bay Berry, the fruit of Myrica
Carolinensis, which grows in large numbers along the
coast, that keeps the bird lingering through a part of
winter and has given it the name of Myrtle Bird. To us
Yellow-rump seems to be a more appropriate name. Late
in fall as well as in early spring Chipping Sparrows and
Bluebirds are often their companions. Bluebirds may
also be mentioned among our winter birds, for though
the real winter home of the species is south of the Ozarks,
there are always a few remaining with us in sheltered
bottoms and are liable to appear at their breeding stands
any warm day, even in January. This year the first were
38 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
seen at Webster Groves on February 2, when a sudden
warm spell induced them to visit their old haunts, not to
stay, but simply to see how matters stand. On such
inspection tours they remain only a short time, announce
their presence by a few carols and retire to their feeding
grounds in the creek or river bottom. It is hard te
explain how they find nourishment enough to bridge them
over the snowy and icy periods, since their main sus-
tenance must be taken from the insect world, but for
warm quarters to spend the nights old woodpeckers’
holes serve them well, and I have myself witnessed how
three or four entered the same hole, certainly a good way
to keep warm. All birds accumulate a layer of fat in
autumn, and it may be taken for granted that this store
is drawn upon in times of want.
The Missouri River, flowing from west to east and cut-
ting our state into two parts, North Missouri and South
Missouri, forms in winter the dividing line of two faunal
zones for many species of birds, absent or rare in North
Missouri, but becoming more and more regular or numer-
ous as we proceed from the river southward.
As belonging to this class we may name the Migrant
Shrikes, Mockingbirds, Bewicks and Winter Wrens,
Meadowlarks, Doves, Prairie Horned Larks, Rusty
Blackbirds, Cowbirds, Grackles, Sapsuckers, Flickers,
Turkey Vultures, several kinds of Sparrows, Purple and
Goldfinches, Siskins, Kinglets, Kingfishers, several kinds
of Hawks and Ducks, Robins and Bluebirds.
The Robin is no stranger to our winter fauna. We
meet him in flocks in the heavy timber in Christmas time,
hear even his song and cheerful call when we least expect
him. I have seen him as early as the first day of Feb-
ruary in Shaw’s Garden, but ordinarily it is a month
later when he mounts his favorite perch at his summer
home for his first song within the city of St. Louis.
At Old Orchard I have seen one once when the mercury
was below zero, but the intelligent bird was not freezing
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 39
to death, for he was hugging a pile of fresh stable manure
that kept him warm and may have fed him at the same
time.
Birds which do not breed with us but come to us reg:
ularly to spend the winter we call winter residents, dis-
tinguishing them from winter visitants, those species that
appear only for a short time and are more or less irregu-
lar in their visits to the same locality.
Of our true winter residents we have to name at first
the Junco or Snowbird, as it is commonly called. Ours
and the adjoining states are the winter homes of millions
of these lovely, sprightly creatures, to whom no cold
seems to be too severe as long as they find something to
eat. In former times they found food and shelter in the
virgin forests with their fallen trees and impenetrable
brush, but since these have given way to farm land, the
Junco resorts to the pasture and farmyard for its food
supply. With the first awaking of spring the Junco
becomes restless and excited and gathers into flocks to
begin the flight toward its summer home, which is chiefly
north of the United States and extends to the Arctic
Coast. Subspecies inhabit the western mountains, one
the Alleghanies.
The Canada Tree Sparrow occurs through the greater
portion of British America in summer and winters from
the northern United States southward to Virginia,
Tennessee and Oklahoma. In general appearance it
reminds us of the Chipping Sparrow, which is with us in
the summer, but leaves us at the time when its northern
cousin comes. Besides being a little larger, the Tree
Sparrow differs from the Chippy by having broad white
wing bands and a dark spot on the breast. It always
occurs in troops, sometimes in large flocks, and is pro-
vided throughout the winter with an unfailing supply of
seeds from the dried flower clusters of goldenrod and
other withered weeds that reach above the snow. The
40 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
number of wild plants and trees which keep their seed
through the winter is greater than the casual observer
would believe. Many of them are widespread species
well suited to form winter staples for granivorous birds.
Like most visitors from the north the Tree Sparrows are
very active, lively birds. Even when feeding they utter
a low note with a musical sound, and given by many indi-
viduals at the same time produce a conversational chirp-
ing, so pleasantly modulated as to sound like the expres-
sion of contented companionship. This habit is so much
like that of the European Tree Sparrow that it caused
the early European settlers to give the bird the name of
Tree Sparrow, otherwise a misnomer, since the bird from
Canada does not frequent trees at all, but seeks the
thickets for a retreat and protection from weather and
enemies and makes its nest on or near the ground. To the
winter residents of the vicinity of St. Louis we must
add several more members of the Sparrow family,
though they occur in much smaller numbers than the Tree
Sparrows and Juncos. The more common of them is the
Song Sparrow, to be found chiefly along the ‘‘wet
weather branches’’ running through fields and pastures
and usually bearing a fringe of tangled weeds and
grasses, thus forming an excellent retreat and feeding
ground in all kinds of weather. Among them are some-
times a few Swamp Sparrows, but their true winter home
is from southern Missouri to the Gulf. A particular
pleasure is derived from a meeting with a party of Fox
Sparrows in the bottoms of the rivers. They are likely to
greet you with a few musical notes even in January, and
you will see the musician on top of a low tree only a short
distance away. They are usually in company of other
Sparrows, among which they appear like big brothers.
White-throated Sparrows are not rare, but they stick
to their seclusion in the heavy underbrush of the forest,
while the White-crowned Sparrow is to be looked for
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 41
along the hedges in the fields or with other sparrows at
the border of forests.
Other Sparrows, but belonging to the class of perma-
nent’’ residents, because here in winter and summer, are
the Cardinal and the Towhee. Like the other Ground
Sparrows, with which they are often associated, the
Towhees are great hiders, and when keeping silent, as it
is their habit in winter, it is not easy to get a sight of
them, although they may be present in the same locality
all winter. Even the Cardinals of striking coloration
and large size know how to keep out of view in the heavy
shrubbery, but it is a fine sight to see one of the beautiful
birds emerge from its seclusion and, if the sun shines
brightly, give you one of its cheering songs even in the
depth of winter. In sheltered places where corn is
shocked or left standing on the stalk in the field we may
have the good luck of coming upon a whole flock of them
when other food is scarce.
On such an occasion we may discover that Nuthatches
don’t starve when corn is to be had and we may be aston-
ished to see them extract the nucleus only, the sweetheart
of the kernel and reject the rest. Nuthatches, of which
we have four good species with seven subspecies in North
America, belong to a family which is like the nearly
related Creepers and Titmice of circumpolar distribu-
tion. In Missouri two species are of regular occurrence
and a third of local range in the pine region of the
Ozarks. Of the two commonly found around St. Louis
one is a permanent resident, the other a transient and
occasional winter visitant. The first is the White-
breasted or Carolina Nuthatch, the other the Red-
breasted or Canadian Nuthatch. Both have the same
habit of hopping up and down the trunks and branches of
trees in a manner which distinguishes them easily from
other birds. While other woodland birds like the Wood
Thrush and Pewee have learned to accommodate them-
selves to the new conditions connected with civilization
42 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
and are building their nests near human habitations, the
Nuthatches stick to the woods and avoid man as much
as they can in nesting time. But in winter they lose this
shyness, join roving troops of Titmice and come to our
fruit trees in the orchard and to our shade trees around
the dwellings, doing much good as insect destroyers.
Chickadees and Tufted Tits belong to that small
coterie of permanent residents who try and mostly suc-
ceed in braving our winters. That they sometimes suc-
cumb to the cold, I have seen myself. After a cold night
a Chickadee fell lifeless from a tree in front of me and
a Nuthatch was found frozen stiff in the spout of a gutter
on our house in Old Orchard. The poor bird had crawled
in it, taking it for a safe place, not knowing that metal
is a good conductor of heat, becoming very cold at night
and taking off the warmth of the little body. But as a
rule we may assume that birds which take refuge in tree
holes can withstand very low temperatures and our
Chickadees and Titmice are happy and frolicking even in
the cold weather. Their food supply is always accessible,
insects and seeds serving them equally well for nourish-
ment. In search of these they wander in little troops,
never alone, but often accompanied by other birds, usually
Downies and Nuthatches, sometimes Creepers or King-
lets, a lively assemblage, welcome wherever they go, be it
forest or park, farm or city, never doing any harm, but
always lots of good. The Downy and the Hairy Wood-
pecker are permanent residents, often seen in pairs in
winter and therefore believed to remain mated the whole
year. It stands to reason that many other species could
furnish examples of permanent mates, but it is not easy
to prove in species where male and female are not as
easily distinguished as in most of the Woodpeckers. Red-
birds, the sexes of which are easily told, are also found
keeping together in winter, as if mated for another year.
While our Woodpeckers are very quiet in winter, they
are among the first to feel the impulse of love and are
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 43
with their companions, the Tufted Tits and Chickadees,
the most prominent wooers in early spring, announcing
their intentions in no mistakable manner, and notifying
others of their kind by drumming to keep out of their
chosen domain.
An unique visitor of our wintry woods is the Brown
Creeper. It is invariably found hugging the trunks of
trees and easily overlooked, because of its colors of
various shades of brown and white. It is the busiest lit-
tle body in the woods, always on the move, diligently fol-
lowing its useful occupation of gleaning insects and their
eggs from cracks in the bark, holding to its support by its
sharp claws and rigid tail feathers. On seeing an ob-
server it goes to the opposite side of the tree, but by wait-
ing and watching we may get a glimpse of it again higher
up on the tree. It starts usually near the base of a tree
and ascends by little jerks in a spiral way, uttering an
occasional soft chirp, leaving the tree before ascending
very high in order to begin the ascent at the base of
another tree, It is a conscientious worker, but its labor
becomes monotonous, because it is an endless repetition
without variation. When you have watched it a few min-
utes you have seen it a year, and seeing one is seeing a
thousand. To us the species is of particular interest, be-
cause Missouri is the only state in which it has been
found breeding south of the coniferous forests of the
North, except in mountainous regions. Nests have been
found in the Bald Cypress swamps of the Southeast and
on dead elm trees in the Duckpond in St. Louis County.
The nests are usually built behind the loose bark of de-
caying trees, but with the disappearance of these oppor-
tunities for nesting sites our Creepers will be forced to
do as the Old World cousins have been doing for a long
time and put up with any kinds of holes in trees and even
crevices on buildings in the woods.
One of the birds most difficult to find is the Winter
Wren. It has to be looked for chiefly along creeks in the
44 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
woods, where it loves to hide under the exposed roots of
trees. In migration it has visited wood piles and brush
heaps in populated places, but as a rule it seeks the re-
tirement of the forest.
The Bewick’s Wren, whose summer home is chiefly
south of the Missouri River, while that of the Winter
Wren is in the north, is sometimes found in winter in the
suburbs of St. Louis. The Carolina Wren used to be one
of our conspicuous birds in winter. Its loud whistle was
one of the first sounds we heard on entering its haunts.
The species was known as a most faithful permanent resi-
dent, being found at its breeding stand all the year round.
It is only since the unusually severe winter of 1917-18
that Carolina Wrens have become scarce, and in fact in
most places where it was known to occur for many years
it is totally absent since then.
A really dainty little bird to be met with in our woods
in winter is the Golden-crested Kinglet. It is a hardier
species than its cousin, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which
is with us in spring and fall. The Golden-crested has two
black stripes on the head enclosing a yellow stripe, which
in the old male has a scarlet center. It is not always easy
to get a good view of these markings, as the little fellow
is in almost perpetual motion. In migration they occur
in small troops by themselves, but in winter we find them
usually in company of Titmice. Their soft ‘‘see, see, see’’
and sprightly actions show they are always in the best of
spirits. Their summer home is mainly north of the
United States, but we find them breeding in the moun-
tains of the Atlantic States and in the West. In Europe,
which has nothing like our Hummingbird, two species of
Kinglets are the smallest birds known.
Bluejays are not as plentiful in winter in our neighbor-
hood as some seem to think. They are rather few in
number, but by many people oftener seen in winter than
in summer, because they come into our very yards in the
city to gather food from the garbage pail and chicken
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 45
coop. They have found out that the immediate vicinity
of dwellings is not only the best place for finding food,
but also the safest from their winged enemies, the Hawks
and Owls. Very few Bluejays remain in our woods in
winter; even such places as cemeteries are forsaken,
though these are favorites in nesting time. It is the
omnivorous nature of the Jays and Crows that helps
them over the hardest times. Crows were formerly the
most conspicuous birds in winter in the city of St. Louis,
when all the garbage collected in the city was dumped
into the river. In the eighties they had an immense roost
on Arsenal Island, opposite Carondelet, and later on
Gabaret Island, opposite North St. Louis. In going to
and coming from their feeding grounds in the county
they had to fly over the city. While the flight from the
roost in the early morning was but little noticed, the
flight to the roost in the afternoon was a grand spectacle.
‘As early as four o’clock, in cloudy weather even much
earlier, troops of Crows began to come from the west,
flying at great heights in clear, calm weather, but low
over the roofs of houses on windy or cloudy days, cross-
ing the city at certain points, troop following troop until
the passage became a continuous stream of birds, denser
and denser, until the sun had sunk down in the west.
From points of vantage one could follow the birds to the
island and see them alight on the sandbar that separated
the willow-covered interior from the water. There the
thousands and thousands of Crows alighted, went to the
water’s edge to get a drink and took a good long rest
before flying up to find a perch in the willows, which
were then forming an almost impenetrable thicket, 15 to
30 feet high. On these willows they spent the long win-
ter nights, poorly sheltered from the cold northerly and
westerly winds blowing over the river.
A crow can withstand severe cold much better when the
feet, the most tender spot, are protected, and when too
cold for them in the willows they remained all night on
46 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
the sand, and when snow was on the ground, on the snow.
After they had left in the morning one could see every
spot where a Crow had spent the night; a round depres-
sion of about six inches in diameter, flanked on the lee
side by a few droppings of excreta and on the wind side
by a few holes in the snow made by the bird’s bill. When
Illinois began paying a bounty for Crows their number
dwindled down rapidly, and in the past ten years there
were no crows flying over the city and one has to go to
the Missouri River region to see flocks of crows in winter.
The most interesting winter roost in the vicinity of St.
Louis is that of the Red-winged Blackbird, a place where
thousands of them come together every evening to spend
the night in company, while they scatter far and wide in
search of food during the day. The roost is on sandy
land between the Creve Coeur Lake and St. Charles
bridge. The place is overgrown with scouring rushes,
Equisetum hiemale, which during the summer reaches a
height of two to three feet. In the fall the stems break,
and in leaning over in all directions form a matted mass
under which small animals find the best possible resting
place in winter. The ground being sandy absorbs rain
quickly, snow remains mostly on the matted mass and a
freezing rain makes the shelter even more secure.
Under these rushes the Redwings spend the coldest,
windiest nights in perfect comfort, and it is only lack of
food that reduces their number when deep snow covers
their feeding grounds, fields and pastures, where animals
are kept or cornfields where corn is left in shocks or on
the stem. During the day not a bird is seen about this
roost, the birds crossing over the river to spread over
St. Charles and neighboring counties, but in the evening
before sunset they come in long streams, pouring into the
adjoining timber before going to the rushes, which is
done only when dusk is settling over the region. Most
of these Redwings belong to that subspecies or geo-
graphie race that breeds in the United States, but in the
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 47
depth of winter they are joined by a northern, larger
subspecies which comes down from Canada to spend the
coldest time with us.
When we watch the incoming flocks closely, as they fly
over or alight in trees to rest, we see sometimes a troop
of Bronzed Grackles in their company, and once in a
while we meet with a few Rusty Blackbirds or a Cowbird
on our rambles through the county in winter, but as a
rule these species are less hardy than the Redwings,
especially the males. We may assume that the Redwings
we have here in winter, though of the same subspecies
as the ones that breed here, are from the northern United
States, and some of them seem to be intermediates be-
tween ours and the Canada subspecies, ostralegus, which
is nearly an inch larger than ours.
There are always a few of our Flickers and Redheads
left behind when the great army of their kind has gone
to more genial winter homes. These abandoned indi-
viduals lead a recluse life and are therefore easily over-
looked. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is of a decided
sedentary habit and we count it among our true perma-
nent residents. Another truly permanent resident is our
Bobwhite. It can stand well our ordinary winters, can
go without food a few days, but extraordinarily cold and
snowy winters have proved destructive and have
decimated their numbers badly.
The Grouse, Partridge or Pheasant, as the Ruffed
Grouse is called by different people, is still found, though
rarely, in our state. Old settlers claim the species was
once plentiful, but this must have been before the state
became settled by the white man with his shotgun and
hunting dogs. There are several theories trying to
explain the deplorable scarcity of this valuable game
bird. One is that a disease killed them; another that the
spread of the jigger was destructive to the young or sit-
ting hen; one said the extension of the range of the Red
Fox into Missouri was the cause, the Red Fox being much
48 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
more dangerous to birds than the Grey Fox, but I think
it is mainly the farmer’s hog that prevents the rearing
of all kinds of birds nesting on the ground in the timber.
Towhees, Ovenbirds and several other species nesting on
the ground are exterminated in woodlands where hogs are
kept, and most of our Missouri woods are overrun by
hogs. They are as destructive to eggs as to young birds,
and where no young are reared the species must soon
disappear.
Besides the birds already mentioned there are several
kinds of Hawks and Owls to be found here in winter. The
Screech, Barred and Great Horned Owls are true perma-
nent residents, while the Short-eared, Long-eared and
Saw-whet Owls may be counted among the winter visit-
ants. The Sparrowhawk is a real permanent resident in
St. Louis, but has only become so since the English Spar-
row has multiplied so wonderfully, affording the Hawk a
never-failing provision at all times. Of the large Mouse-
hawks, the Red-tailed is with us all the year, the Red-
shouldered being a less hardy bird, while the Marsh
Hawk and Rough-legged Hawk are regular winter
visitants.
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 49
CHAETURA PELAGICA (Linnaeus) CHIMNEY SWIFT.
(St. Louis Naturalists’ Club, Feb. 26, 1921.)
The great Linnaeus took our Chimney Swift for a
Swallow and called it Hirundo Pelagica in his Systema
Naturae of 1758, and changed the orthography of the
specific name in a later edition in 1766 to Pelasgia. It is
not clear why he employed these words, since the mean-
ing of pelagic relates to the high seas, like marine; it can
only be understood that he took it figuratively to mean
nomadic, migratory, in allusion to the nomadic Pelasgi,
an ancient, prehistoric race of the Mediterranean region.
Even Wilson described it in his American Ornithology in
1812 as Hirundo Pelasgia, Chimney Swallow. Bonaparte
in his Synopsis, Birds of the United States, 1828, took it
from the Swallows and placed it in the same genus with
the European Swifts and called it Cypselus Pelasgius.
He was followed by Nuttall in his Manual in 1832, and
by Audubon in his Ornithological Biography in 1834, but
in Audubon’s Synopsis of 1839 and in his ‘‘Birds of
America“ in 1840 the bird appears under its new name,
Chaetura Pelasgia, which was corrected by Baird in 1858
to Pelagica, on account of its priority, being used by
Linnaeus in 1758.
The genus name Chaetura has been bestowed on the
bird by Stephens in Shaw’s General Zoology in 1826, The
word is made from the Greek xai, a bristle, and ,
tail, in allusion to the spines, which project from the ends
of the tailfeathers. Although Swifts have much in com-
mon with the Swallows in appearance and habits and
were formerly counted among them, not only by the peo-
ple generally, but, as we have seen, also by systematists,
they are now widely separated from them in classifica-
tion.
While the Swallows belong to the Suborder Oscines of
the Order Passeres, the Swifts form together with the
Nighthawks and Hummingbirds the Order Macrochires,
50 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
from macro, long, and chir, hand, established by Nitzsch
in 1829, an order well defined by anatomical characters.
It is remarkable that, though so much like Swallows in
many respects externally, the Swifts have scarcely any
part of the structure which is not formed on a different
plan. The Swallow family is a good member of the
Oscines or Song Birds, a suborder of the order Passeres
or Perching Birds. There is only one other suborder of
the Passeres, the Clamatores or Songless Perching Birds,
to which belong in North America only the Flycatcher
family, Tyrannidae, while the Oscimes comprise all
the rest of the small land birds with the excep-
tion of the Woodpeckers, Cuckoos and Kingfishers,
which form orders by themselves. The order Passeres
exceeds by far all other orders in number of species, of
which there are over 9,000, as many as of all other orders
put together.
The Macrochires of the United States are divided into
three suborders: Caprimulgi, Goatsuckers; Cypseli,
Swifts, and Trochili, Hummingbirds; the first two are
fissirostral or birds with deeply cleft gapes, and the lat-
ter tennirostral or birds with slender bill. Cypseli is
taken from the Greek word ene, Swift, from their rapid-
ity of flight. The suborder Cypseli is again divided into
families and subfamilies. Our Chimney Swift belongs
to the subfamily Chaetwrinae or Spine-tailed Swifts of
the family Micropodidae, also called Cypselidae, of which
there are nine genera and seventy-eight species. The
four species of Swifts of the United States belong to
three genera, two of which are only found in the western
United States, the Black Swift and the White-throated
Swift; the third genus, to which our Swift belongs, is
represented on the Pacific Coast by the Vaux’s Swift, a
much smaller bird, but of similar habits.
The Swifts are found all over the globe and are well
represented in America, but some genera are exclusively
East Indian and Polynesian. All have the salivary
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 51
glands developed to secrete a mucus which serves to glue
together the material to build the nest. Species of the
Old World Collocalia make the edible bird’s nests, so
much sought after in China and Japan. There are many
interesting peculiarities connected with the nidification
of Swifts. A Panyptila, a cousin of our White-throated
Swift, living in Guatemala, attaches a tube a foot or more
in length to the underside of an overhanging rock, con-
structed of the pappus of plants, caught flying in the air.
Entrance is from below and the eggs are laid on a shelf
near the top. A near relative of our Swift in Brazil
makes a similar tube nest out of seeds of a certain plant,
suspends it to a horizontal branch and covers the outside
with feathers of various colors. As there is no shelf to
receive the eggs, it is believed that these are cemented
against the sides of the tube and brooded on by the bird
while in an upright position. A Dendrochelidon, a Swift
of Java, builds, on a horizontal branch, a narrow plat-
form of feathers and moss, cemented together, and lays
in it a single egg. The nest is so small that the bird sits
on the branch and covers the egg with the end of her
belly.
When this country was first settled Swifts were breed-
ing and roosting in hollow trunks of forest trees, but the
change from trees to chimneys must have been early, for
the first writers on birds connect them with their habit
of using chimneys for nesting and roosting. At present
the change is nearly complete, as comparatively few cases
become known where hollow trees are used for nesting.
In Missouri it is mainly the water tupelo, Nyssa uniflora,
which may still offer them retreats, because apparently
healthy trees are entirely hollow, resembling flues and
affording entrance by broken-off branches. We found a
nest with eggs in such a tupelo in the St. Francis River
in Dunklin Co., fastened to the wall of the shaft only two
feet above the water in which the tree was standing. As
the opening was fifteen feet from the water, the nest was
52 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
in the safest place possible, no enemy being able to reach
it and it was hard work for an axe to get at it from the
skiff in which we were.
It is a remarkable coincidence in their domestic affairs
that in spite of the great difference in anatomical] struc-
ture and therefore distant relationship, the Chimney
Swift has one important trait with the Swallows and that
is the readiness with which it modifies its way of nesting
according to circumstances. Of the seven species of
Swallows which we have in North America six have
almost completely changed their modes of nidification,
breeding now in convenient places offered by buildings,
or in houses expressly provided for their use. It may be
presumed, that in consequence of this change of nidifica-
tion Swallows have increased in numbers of individuals
with the settlement of the country or civilization, as we
are pleased to call it, but it is a positively known and
easily explained fact that the Swifts have not only be-
come much more numerous in all populous parts of the
Eastern United States, but have extended and are still
extending their breeding range into the treeless regions
of the West, following the building of human habitations
on the Great Plains which formerly had to be avoided
for want of nesting sites. The present distribution of the
Chimney Swifts is a large one; it breeds in all the Eastern
United States, from the ‘Atlantic to the Great Plains
and from about 50° latitude in the southern provinces of
Canada to southern Florida and southeastern Texas.
Reports of its occurrence in this large area are so evenly
and thickly spread that we cannot help to assume that in
numbers of individuals the Swift surpasses the six spe-
cies of Swallows of the Eastern United States put
together, but, strange to say, its winter home is not
known. A few Chimney Swifts have been taken in migra-
tion at Vera Cruz and in Yucatan (Cozumel Island), but
it is a known fact that when the last Swift has left the
United States at the end of October the species has
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 53
entirely vanished until the first ones reappear in the
Southern States in March, five months after their dis-
appearance, This is such an unique occurrence in bird-
dom, for we know by this time the winter habitat of
nearly all North American birds, that it is not strange to
find people who think the Swifts must hibernate in some
unknown, inaccessible retreats in Central or South
‘America, spending the five months in a lethargic or tor-
pid state like the bats and many reptiles and batrachians.
About half a dozen species of Chaetura, resembling our
Chimney Swift, have been found in different parts of
Central and South America and the Antilles, but no one
‘has ever told us where the millions and millions of Chim-
ney Swifts of the United States spend the winter. That
such enormous numbers of birds of one species could
escape the vigilance of scores of collectors working for
generations in all parts of the Western Continent is
really mysterious. If the species had a restricted dis-
tribution and were therefore little numerous, as, for in-
stance, the Kirtland Warbler, which is breeding in only
three counties in central Michigan, it would not astonish
anybody to be told that its winter quarters are not known.
But in the search by ornithologists the winter home of
even this rare Warbler has been found in the Bahama
Islands.
This chapter of possible hibernation of a bird is so
interesting that I cannot refrain from reading to you
what Dr. E. Coues, the most talented writer in bird lit-
erature and one of the most distinguished promoters of
American ornithology had to say on the subject.*
The Chimney Swift is a wonderful bird. Besides its
mysterious disappearance in fall there are three features
in the economy of its life which stand out prominently:
Its marvelous powers of flight, its peculiar nest building,
and its unique roosting. Few birds spend such a large.
part of their life on the wing as the Swift does; it never
*Birds of the Colorado Valley, by Dr. Elliott Coues, pages 372-378.
54 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
perches on trees or wires as Swallows do; it alights only
on perpendicular walls in holes. On account of its almost
incredible rapidity of flight a Swift is of all land birds
the most difficult to procure. There is little doubt that a
Swift flies usually at the rate of a mile a minute, and
since it is on the wing, when with us in summer, at least
ten hours, it covers daily a distance of 600 miles, equal
to a straight line from St. Louis to New Orleans or to
Duluth. Since the distance from New Orleans to Yuca-
tan is only 600 miles, a Swift could cross the Gulf of Mex-
ico in one night, from 7 p. m. to 5 a. m.
The bird is only five and one-half inches long, but has
a wing spread of twelve and one-half inches. Its color is
a sooty brown, darkest on the head and back; the throat
is pale. In flight the tail is folded to a point until a
change is made in the direction of the flight, when the ten
tail feathers are spread far apart to check the force of
motion. In spite of the general resemblance the flight is
more steady and free from jerks than that of a Swallow,
the wings are used with extremely fast fluttering motion,
alternating with only short moments of soaring, and all
movements are performed with an abruptness, dis-
tinguished from the easy, elegant evolutions of the Swal-
low. It is astonishing to see two creatures so little
related as Swift and Swallow resemble each other so
much, and it shows ‘‘how nature attains the same end in
different ways, furnishing similitudes in diversity no less
easily than she produces a wealth of diversity from essen-
tial unity.’’
A bird student can soon tell a Swift from a Swallow in
flight at any distance, as he can learn to identify other
birds on the wing. This study is interesting and gives
much amusement, for we see how different birds move in
different ways through the air. Hawks and Vultures
spread out their broad wings and sail gracefully and
apparently without any effort in straight lines as well
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 55
as in beautiful gyrations. Most other birds have to keep
their wings in constant motion, some with long, measured
wing-strokes, others beating the air as fast as they can.
The members of whole families are easily recognized by
their flight, as, for instance, the Woodpeckers, which alter-
nately close and open their wings and thereby fall and
rise at intervals. The flight of the Bluejay seems to cost
the bird much effort and the bird knows he is not a fast
flier ; when going great distances as in migration he keeps
as much as possible over tree tops in order to take ready
refuge in case of danger. The Robin is a swift flyer,
more rapid than the Blackbirds, from which it is easily
distinguished when they are flying together to a common
roost. The Song Sparrow can easily be known from
other ground Sparrows in its flight from one thicket to
another, as can the Goldfinch be recognized by its
undulatory flight accompanied by a sweet note with every
bound through the air.
Good flyers have the advantage of being able to indulge
in the pleasure of aggregating in large masses, impossi-
ble to their lesser agile fellow creatures. Thousands of
Swifts, Swallows, Robins, Blackbirds, Crows and others
of equal flying power can spend the nights together and
find sufficient food the next day by spreading over hun-
dreds of square miles, if necessary. All birds have the
social instinct well developed, even Hawks and Owls flock
in migration and roost together, but the comparatively
feebly winged Sparrows and Warblers may hold together
only a few dozens of their kind without endangering their
food supply.
When not in the air the Swift is found clinging to the
wall of a hollow tree, a chimney flue or a rough board in
the attic of a house, in a barn or shed or deserted build-
ing, and we must admire the courage of the little bird in
risking its life by entering and descending into dark
places to depths to which no other bird, not even an Owl,
would dare to penetrate.
56 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
While the high keel of the Swift’s breastbone, able to
support large pectoral muscles, corresponds to the untir-
ing power of flight, the long tibiae, short tarsi and strong
claws are most ably adapted to the purpose of which they
are intended, that of clinging in upright position to per-
pendicular surfaces, in which the stiff, bristly tail feath-
ers serve as a brace. It is in these places that the Swift
not only finds rest and spends its nights, but also builds
its nest, a semi-circular, half-saucer-shaped basket, a
curious and unique structure of short bits of twigs glued
together by the saliva of the bird. Male and female are
both provided with glands situated below the tongue pro-
ducing this glutinous substance, but only during the time
of nest building and in small daily quantities. It is a
colorless liquid, which soon hardens to a yellowish var-
nish, a strong cement in a dry place, but soluble in water.
As this glue is the only means by which the nest is fas-
tened to the wall, long spells of rain loosen its hold, caus-
ing the destruction of its contents. If this happens early
in the season, a second attempt is made, and this explains
why late broods are found, giving rise to the mistaken
belief that two successful broods are reared. By actual
observation it has been established that to raise a brood
of Swifts takes much longer than formerly supposed. It
takes the Swift longer to build a nest than other birds,
because the glue put down one day has to harden before a
new layer can be added. While it dries in one day of warm,
dry weather, it takes longer in wet and cool weather.
Starting the construction of a nest a good layer of glue
is smeared against the wall and a few short bits of twigs
are stuck to it while yet wet. These twigs are broken
from dry branches of trees by the bird flying repeatedly
against them and taken hold of and carried to the nest
with their feet. The whole process of nest building, egg
laying and raising of young to the state when they can
feed themselves is a slow one and requires fully two
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 57
months. As the Swifts live entirely on small winged
insects and have to catch them on the wing, weather con-
ditions influence all their functions, not only the building
of their nests, but even the deposition of their eggs, of
which 4 to 6 are laid. Like most eggs deposited in dark
places their color is white, but while a Canary hatches its
eggs in 13 days, it takes the Swift 17 to 19 days. Both
parents not only help in nest building, but also in incu-
bating and feeding the young. The incubating parent
spreads its breast protectingly over the base of the nest
and, when necessary, spreads its wings over its contents.
The young ones, too, lie with heads to the base and the
anal region protruding over the rim to keep the nest
clean. Several nests may be found in one chimney, but
never one below the other. The young make a strong
hissing noise when the feeding parent appears, and when
three weeks old fly with the same hiss against the face of
an intruder of their home. They are at least four weeks
old when able to try their wings for a first flight, but are
brought back to and fed in the chimney for some time
afterward. When nest building is completed, the salivary
glands beneath the tongue shrink and when feeding young
this space is used as a pouch to store the insects for the
young. In feeding the parent thrusts its head deep into
the wide open mouth of the young, ejecting the contents
of its pouches with jerky motions. That these consist
partly of living insects is seen when the parent’s head is
retracted and minute insects appear trying to escape
from its bill. This explains the peculiar cleaning of the
bill after feeding. That the Swift, like most other birds,
returns to its former home to breed has again been dem-
onstrated by Mr. Baynes who banded one in 1911 and
caught the banded bird the following year when it came
again down into the same room.
Swifts are very devoted to their young and instances
are known when they have risked and sacrificed their
lives in the attempt to reach them in burning buildings.
58 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
In some cases they give offense by making noise in the
early morning or by the shrill twitter of the young when
being fed and cause people to close their chimneys
against these lovable birds, whose services in the destruc-
tion of disagreeable and obnoxious insects are so very
beneficial to mankind. Fortunately there are many chim-
neys not used in summer to be found in populous districts,
and where all other suitable places such as garrets, barns,
ete., are absent, instances have been reported where the
daring bird has built its nest several feet below the
ground to the side of deserted wells.
The occasion of the first flight of young Swifts is made
a holiday affair for all the Swifts of the neighborhood
and is attended by much merry noise-making.
After the young are strong on the wing the whole fam-
ily betakes itself in the evening to the community roost
and these places are used for rest until migration from
the north sets in, when all resort to the great roost where
hundreds and thousands can spend the nights together.
These are the places that cause so much comment and
admiration, because they offer a spectacle which even the
most unobserving and disinterested passer-by cannot
overlook. The first settlers of the country were struck
with the novelty of seeing a cloud of small birds revolv-
ing above an old hollow tree and at last disappearing
within it. They called these trees ‘‘Swallow trees,’’ be-
cause they took the birds for Swallows, though England
has a bird which is called Swift, a cousin of ours, but of
another genus, a Cypselus, a spineless Swift of similar
appearance, but different habits.
Swallow trees may still exist in remote regions, but all
over their United States range Swifts are now known to
oceupy large chimneys for this purpose and, if not dis-
turbed, return to them year after year in ever-increasing
numbers.
We St. Louisans have always had excellent opportu-
nity for watching such Swift chimneys. From the south-
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 59
ern part of Carondelet to the Chain of Rocks, and in the
suburbs, there have been and still are a number of chim-
neys used for the purpose, some harboring hundreds,
some thousands of transients in their passage through
the state. To the student of bird migration the visit to
such chimneys is of great interest, for it is the only place
where he can get early dates for the appearance of the
first Swift in spring and for the very last, present in fall.
It was thus possible for me to get dates much in advance
of others in spring and the latest in fall as long ago as in
the year 1885, the report of which has been published by
the Department of Agriculture in ‘‘ Bird Migration in the
Mississippi.“ The whole record of the movements of
the species in that spring from March 31 to May 16, and
in fall from ‘August 17 to October 17 is given in dry fig-
ures, but the exquisite pleasure these visits and observa-
tions gave me and my family who helped me has not been
told and cannot be adequately told, one has to witness the
sight one’s self.
Many times since then have I watched Swift chimneys
in different parts of the city, but the grand spectacle has
never ceased to imbue me with the same feeling of won-
der and admiration as it did on the first day. It was last
fall that we had the good luck of discovering the roost
which in size and accessibility and ease of observation
surpasses all others, the chimney of the greenhouse in
Tower Grove Park. It was in the late afternoon of Sep-
tember 17 that we noticed an unusually large number of
Swifts hunting over Shaw’s Garden, and following them
to the park we came just in time to see the first individual
of an enormous mass of highly excited, twittering birds,
revolving in a large circle over the greenhouse, drop into
the mouth of the chimney. After a few more had fol-
lowed a continuous stream poured into the chimney for
the next ten minutes without the least interruption. Since
each bird balances itself with highly elevated wings and
a side to side movement to prevent a too rapid descent,
60 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
we are permitted to judge the number of birds by count-
ing how many enter in one second and multiplying this
with the number of minutes. In this manner we arrived
at the prodigious number of 3,000. One of our surprises
was to see that after the birds had poured in for five min-
utes the number of wheeling, rushing, twittering birds
was the same as at the beginning, their ranks being con-
stantly filled by new arrivals and there was no let-up in
the rate of the influx until the last had dropped out of
sight at 6:25 and darkness had fallen over the park.
The chimney was built of brick in 1885, and according
to employes of the park has been used by the birds for
twenty years. It is 60 feet high, square and tapering
from six feet at the bottom to five feet at the top. Im-
mense as this structure is, it is sometimes not sufficiently
spacious to accommodate all the Swifts that come to roost,
and for such occasions an overfiow roost has been estab-
lished in the chimney of the florist opposite the park on
Magnolia Avenue. Between 500 and 600 entered this
roost on October 14, but it had been given up on October
17. Between September 17 and October 15 we paid sev-
eral visits to the roost and found little change in behavior
and numbers except that on October 15 the first entered
at 5:46, half an hour earlier than on September 17.
October 15 was a fine day, partly cloudy with a temper-
ature of 73° and very light wind. When we arrived at
the roost at 4:35 only about 50 Swifts were dotting the
sky above the park disappearing for short times, appear-
ing again, but without any increase for an hour, and we
feared the bulk of the species had left us for good. But
during all this time the sight of a most beautiful illumina-
tion of the evening sky was enjoyed with utmost gratifi-
cation. As the clouds drifted slowly from west to east
they were colored by the setting sun, producing the most
delicate tints of rose upon the bluish gray and blackish
gray background, deepening to fiery red from 5:20 to
5:25, fading rapidly. At 5:40 an increase in the number
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 61
of Swifts was noticeable, and at 5:45 two separate bodies
had formed, one over the florist’s, the other over the park
chimneys. At 5:46 the first entered the park chimney
and it was now evident that the wild, whirling flock of
excited, twittering birds was thickening fast, but the
descent was slow compared with former entries for the
next five minutes, though continuous. At 5:51 an enor-
mous crowd of birds was in the air and the crowd above
the florist’s went over in a body to the main army, which
now poured in a thick stream for over five minutes, while
new flocks arrived and circled in clouds hardly visible on
account of the darkness which had set in. Only sharp
eyes could see them enter and I had to use my fieldglass
to see the large numbers lately arrived go in during the
last four minutes, until at 6 p. m. the last disappeared.
October 15 had always been considered a late date for
Swifts, but there were fully as many birds present as
before; it took them fourteen minutes instead of eight
to enter and the descent commenced when almost dark,
the birds arriving later than usual and in real flocks. In
many years October 14 to 19 were the dates for the very
last Swift on my records, but the extraordinary beauty of
last autumn retained our Swift long enough to break all
records for the state of Missouri, namely October 26, the
previous latest being October 24. Though the weather
after the 15th continued with maximum temperatures
above 80° until October 23, the number of roosting Swifts
became smaller and irregular; only 800 were counted on
rainy, dark October 18th, 1,200 on the 19th, and 600 on
the 21st. When cooler weather set in on October 23rd we
thought migration would be over and were astonished to
see, on October 24th, that the roost was not entirely de-
serted, as two birds came when almost dark and went
directly into the chimney without any preliminary osten-
tation.
Mr. Christie visited the roost in a drizzling rain on
October 26 and reported that within 18 minutes, from
62 Trans. Acad. Sei. of St. Louis
5:05 to 5:23, forty-four Swifts went in. They arrived in
troops of ten, four, five, twenty-one and four. The cold
weather of October 27, with snow flurries on the 28th,
made farther visits unnecessary.
Mr. Frank Rand, the gentleman who saved our King-
fishers in Forest Park from destruction, gave me the
result of a visit to the roost to see the Swifts leave the
chimney in the early morning. He arrived before six
o’clock on the morning of October 21, when it was still
dark. At 6:12 the Swifts began to come out, one or two
at a time, but continuously following each other for thir-
teen minutes until 6:25, when the last appeared and left.
At the rate of one in a second, he thought 780 left the
roost. After flying a few times around the greenhouse
they disappeared, mostly southward.
The exit in the morning is not such a spectacular affair
as the entry in the evening, but it is worth mentioning
that I have seen the Swifts go back into their chimney,
when after flying around a short time they found the
weather cold, with a misty rain and no prospect of a
breakfast for the moment. I have also repeatedly seen
them go into the chimney and remain there during the
hottest hours of the day, an observation which explains
their sudden commonness toward evening where few or
none were seen in the afternoon.
If the weather be ordinarily favorable we may expect
to welcome our first Swift about the first of April, but
whether this will be at the Tower Grove Park greenhouse
or not will depend on the condition of the furnace. ‘As
many fires are still burning under their favorite autumn
retreats, the early Swifts have to look for unused chim- .
neys elsewhere or go directly to the nesting chimneys for
rest and shelter,
While the first Swift arrives at New Orleans between
March 18 and 25 (earliest date March 13), the earliest
for southern Missouri is March 28 and for St. Louis
March 31, 1885. Let us hope that with an unusually early
spring we can beat this date in 1921.
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 63
BIRDS OF THE OZARKS.
(St. Louis Naturalists’ Club, February, 1906.)
For the bird lover a trip through the Ozarks is one of
real delight. A great variety of his feathered friends
greet him from all sides, on the high ridges as well as
on the hillsides, on the rich flood plains of the valleys and
in the picturesque ravines. He has the pleasure of not
only finding the different kinds of birds common to the
rest of the state, but also some southern species which
have in the Ozarks the northern limit of their breeding
range. Others are so numerous in comparison with adja-
cent regions of their occurrence that we may regard the
Ozarks as the center of their geographic distribution.
The best known among the latter is the Bewick’s or
Long-tailed Wren, which in the Ozark region entirely re-
places the ordinary House Wren of northern Missouri
and the Eastern States generally. The Bewick’s Wren,
a name given the bird of Audubon in honor of one of his
friends in Edinburgh and adopted by all ornithologists,
differs from the House Wren in color, size and shape, but
it is mainly its long tail and entirely different song by
which it is easily distinguished. While the House Wren
has only a monotonous, though sprightly, ditty, the
Bewick’s Wren has a real, modulated song that reminds
one very much of the well-known song of the Song Spar-
row, but is superior to it in harmony and strength. Any-
one who hears the song for the first time stops to listen
to the loud, melodious notes, uttered generally from a
post or the roof of a building. When hopping about in
search of food it holds the long tail up almost perpen-
dicularly, but when singing it throws its head backward,
pointing its bill straight up and drooping its tail in a
pendent position. It likes the proximity of man; we sel-
dom find it far away from human habitation. In the
Ozarks, if not driven away, every farm has its pair; they
are familiar objects about the barn, stable and wood
64 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
sheds, frequent the wood pile and brush heaps and may
be approached within a few steps. But it is not only the
farms which enjoy this familiarity—in the village and
even in the large towns are they at home, and there are
probably very few houses in the Ozarks from which their
song cannot be heard during a large part of the year.
Most of them leave Missouri in the fall and spend the
coldest months in the more southern states, but some are
permanent residents, remaining with us all the year
round, spending the cold winter nights in some sheltered
nook about the outhouses and seeking their insect food
among the piles of wood, the crannies in the walls and
trees wherever insects hide themselves or their eggs. It
is one of the most useful birds on a farm, working nearly
the whole year in the interest of the farmer, since those
that winter farther south return to us early in March.
Like the common House Wren our Bewick’s Wren makes
its nest in holes, selecting any cavity out of reach of the
house cat for a nesting site. Being a welcome visitor
everywhere it often builds in some nook about the house
or stable and, where such are provided for them, in bird
boxes. Where suitable sites are not to be had it selects
sometimes queer places such as the pocket of a coat hang-
ing on the wall, the board over a door, shelves in rooms,
or in any kind of vessel accessible to them. It is now
very seldom that it goes back to its original nesting sites,
the natural cavity of a tree or old woodpeckers’ holes.
For ordinary use it has a soft, low call note, but when
surprised or on the approach of an enemy it utters angry
scolding notes and defends its young by bold swoops
upon the intruder. Two broods are usually made, but if
one should come to naught they try it for a third time.
While feeding their broods of five or six young they de-
stroy an enormous number of noxious insects in the gar-
den and orchard, thereby becoming great benefactors to
the horticulturist.
Another bird characteristic of the Ozarks, having there
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 65
its center of distribution, is the Prairie Warbler. This
name was given the bird by Wilson in the early part of
the last century and was given on very slight acquaint-
ance. The bird is hardly ever seen on the prairie. A
more appropriate name would be Hillside Warbler; the
hillside is its real home, where its song is heard from the
time of its arrival about the middle of April through May
to the end of June. It has a peculiar song, strangely
resembling the notes of a young Quail when calling for
its mother. It consists of five notes, begins low and
grows louder with a strongly rising intonation. Its pecu-
liarity is such that it never fails to attract the attention
of everyone who has an ear for the voices of nature.
Though not loud, the song has a far-reaching quality
and it is often not easy to detect the source of the
sprightly strain even if the singer is not concealed, gen-
erally being perched on some eminence as the top of a
low tree or the highest branch of a shrub. Its home is
not in the forest, not among high trees, but in those
stretches of scrub oaks, so common in the Ozarks. It is
a neighbor of the Cardinal Redbird, the Yellow breasted
Chat, the Indigobird and Field Sparrow. It makes only
one brood in a year and places its neat little nest in a
bush or sapling, generally between two and five feet from
the ground. It leaves us in the latter part of September
and winters from southern Florida and the Bahamas
through the West Indies to Honduras. Above yellowish
green with a patch of chestnut in the middle of the back,
it might be called the Chestnut-backed Warbler. The
color of the lower parts, most often seen when singing, is
bright yellow with dark streaks along the sides of the
neck and body. Male and female differ but little, the yel-
low of the female being paler and the markings generally
duller,
Another bird of special interest to the bird lover who
visits the Ozarks is the Blue Grosbeak, a southern bird
which finds its northern-most habitat in southern Mis-
66 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lowis
souri, where it takes the place of the Rose-breasted Gros-
beak so common in the central and northern portions of
the state. As large as a female Cowbird, the male Blue
Grosbeak looks like an overgrown Indigobird, being deep
blue except parts of the wings, which are brown. The
female is light brown with very little blue, and that only
on the tail. It is not a woodland bird, being rather found
along the edge of the woods, and preferring cultivated
land. It is a common resident of the orchard, where it
likes to make its nest. This is sometimes found in close
proximity to occupied houses, where the bird is a great
favorite, since its song is one of the sweetest we hear
throughout the southern and western Ozark region. It
is oftenest heard in the early morning and toward eve-
ning and reminds one rather of the song of the Purple
Finch than of that of its nearest relative, the Rose-
breasted Grosbeak. Although a bird of more northern
distribution in the breeding time the Rose-breasted Gros-
beak, this beautiful and gifted songster, is by no means
a total stranger in the Ozarks, as it is fairly well repre-
sented along the northern slope and in the border region,
a. C., the region which joins the Ozarks with the western
and northern prairie region of the state.
There is hardly any one of our feathered songsters of
a more general distribution through the Ozarks than the
Orchard Oriole. Somewhat smaller and of less striking
coloration than its cousin, the Baltimore Oriole, it is a
much more voluble singer. No orchard, no cluster of
shade trees is without a pair and their remarkably lively
song is heard all the day long through May and June.
They prefer cultivated land to unsettled regions and come
into the larger towns where their wonderful grass-woven
semi-pendulous nests are built in shade trees of the most
frequented streets. While with us their diet consists
chiefly in the obnoxious insects which infest our shrubs,
and in doing so pay fully for the little fruit which they
take from our trees. Like ourselves, birds need some
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 67
fruit for a change of diet, especially on hot summer days,
and there was formerly no lack of wild fruit in our woods,
but by cutting down these trees we deprived the wild
creatures of their possessions and ought therefore be
willing to share with them what grows in our orchard, or
else plant some of their favorite fruit trees, such as Red
Mulberry and Wild Cherry for their exclusive use. The
georgeous Baltimore Oriole, such a common denizen of
central and northern Missouri, is much less common than
its congener, but not entirely unknown in the bottoms of
the larger streams as a summer sojourner from May till
August.
Still another bird which finds in the Ozarks its center
of distribution is the Summer Tanager, also called Sum-
mer Redbird, a true woodland bird which is nowhere so
much at home as on our Ozark hills. The bird is a beauty,
bright vermilion all over, no black wings like its north-
ern relative, the Scarlet Tanager, and its song is one of
the best bird songs we have, and that means much. Its
notes are a clear whistle somewhat in the style of the
Robins, but much more fluent and melodious. It is given
with great constancy all through summer, often in the
heat of noonday when most other songsters are resting.
Much oftener heard than seen because hidden by the
dense foliage of our forest trees, the bird is nevertheless
not shy, visits frequently our gardens and orchards and
builds its nest often by the roadside, sometimes so low in
branches hanging over the road that their contents can be
inspected by simply standing on the seat of the wagon
passing under it. It is not easy to decide which one of our
two Tanagers is the more beautiful, the southern Summer
Tanager or the more northern Scarlet Tanager with its
deep black wings and tail in sharp contrast with its scar-
let body. In song the former is decidedly superior to its
cousin, for in spite of a general resemblance the mellow-
ness of the one distinguishes it at once from the other,
but both are true woodland songs, charming wherever
68 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
they are heard. While the domain of the Summer Tana-
ger comprises the hills and higher elevations, the Scarlet
Tanager sticks to the rich and varied sylva which fol-
lows the streams high up into the valleys and ravines,
affording us thereby the opportunity to hear both species
sing at the same time.
Many people have noticed that in Missouri, from Perry
County southwestward along the southern slope of the
Ozarks, we have two kinds of Whippoorwill. They have
heard, alone or together with the well known common
call, another different call, but given under similar con-
ditions at night after dark and again in the early morn-
ing before daybreak. Very few know that the originator
of the strange doleful notes is the Chuck-wills-widow, a
larger southern relative of the more northern and better
known Whippoorwill. In general habits they resemble
each other very much, are never seen in daytime except
when accidentally driven from their nests or hiding
places in the shady retreats of the forest, preferably on
hillsides overgrown with much underbrush. Their call,
which has given rise to its queer name is uttered in rapid
succession for several minutes and often resumed again
for hours after short breathing spells. They are loudest
and most excited during the mating and nesting time in
May and June and are occasionally heard throughout
summer. Though they are with us from latter part of
April to the end of September, very few people, in the
region where they are plentiful, get a chance to see one,
so well do they understand to evade detection by remain-
ing in their hiding places among the dry leaves and logs
or rocks on the ground until almost trodden upon.
Such is the abundance of bird life in the Ozarks that
the trained observer may with little effort identify sixty
to seventy species during the nesting time in any one of
its valleys.
We may yet mention a few other species frequently met
with in the southern slope of the Ozarks, but not at all, or
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 69
rarely, seen along the northern slope, namely the Black
Vulture and Mississippi Kite. The former is a cousin
of the better known Turkey Buzzard, sharing the same
tastes and living the same lazy kind of life, but easily dis-
tinguished by its different shape and black head and
neck. The contour of the bird on wing soaring above us,
often in company of its cousins, is especially marked by
broader wings with whitish stripes and a stumpy tail.
Its flight differs from that of the Turkey Buzzard by
much less soaring and by often repeated flapping of the
wings. While a common bird in the southern states, its
first acquaintance is a remarkable incident to the visitor
from the northern states and contributes to the joy of
the newness of experiences. Another surprise to most of
us is the Mississippi Kite. It is not unknown along the
northern slope of the Ozarks and was even a breeder in
the woods of the city of St. Louis thirty-five years ago,
but its real home is farther south. It is a great delight
to see the handsome bird draw its circles high over our
heads when we stand on one of the prominent look-out
points so common in the Ozarks with the view of the
rows upon rows of long-stretched hills, so characteristic
of the region.
70 . Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
REMINISCENCES OF A VISIT TO BRANSON AND WHITE RIVER
IN TANEY COUNTY, MO., IN THE SPRING OF 1906.
When the naturalist visits a new locality he is full of
eagerness to learn what is in store for him in general
and in his favorite hobby in particular.
It was therefore with great expectations that Mrs.
Widmann and I began our ornithological reconnaissance
of Branson, the new town so happily situated where the
new branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad, the so-called
White River Division, crosses the White River on a long
and high bridge. To call Branson a new place would not
be correct, since the post office Branson has been on the
map for perhaps fifty years, but what we saw of the town
in 1906 was all new and everything built on a large scale,
the hotels, drug stores, general and furniture stores, liv-
ery, barns, post office building and a bright new bank.
There seemed to be no doubt that Branson would in
course of time become an important place for the distri-
bution of everything people need for comfort and luxury.
But this push and boom is not what the nature lover
admires most; it is the surroundings of the town,
especially the magnificent curves of the beautiful White
River walled in by steep cliffs and high bluffs.
A short walk over an excellent road through a forest
leads to Branson Height and Table Rock, points com-
manding extensive views up and down the river for sev-
eral miles from the new railroad bridge on the left to far
beyond the new Maine Club House on the right. The
foreground comprised the newly plowed fields in the bot-
tom land on the opposite side of the curve with men and
teams still working, and 200, feet below us the swift
stream carrying at this moment a long raft of cedar poles
guided by two men to its destination, the loading incline
at the foot of the bridge, where a truck and wire rope
were busy lifting the poles from the water onto the cars.
A little stream with the promising name Turkey Creek
opens its romantie valley just opposite Branson, and on
1
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 71
our way to the clubhouse we followed it for a short dis-
tance. For the convenience of the members the railroad
station Hollister has been erected a mile south of Bran-
son on the opposite side of the river, doing away with,
the trouble and delay of crossing the river on a ferry, and
thereby greatly facilitating access to the clubhouse at all
seasons.
While the view over the White River Valley from the
Branson side was grand, that from the cliff in front of
the clubhouse was more imposing and surprisingly pic-
turesque. The sides of the bluff being almost perpen-
dicular, a point projecting beyond the rest seemed won-
derfully adapted for the erection of an observation
tower, standing out like a bastion 288 feet above the
water of the swift stream which describes here a wide
semicircle, with nothing to obstruct the view over many
miles of the river’s course and over the bluffs and cliffs
on both sides. Flanked and backed by rows of wooded
hills as far as the eye can reach, the sight is so grand that
it is not easily forgotten.
It was near noon of May 7 when my wife and I stepped
from the train at Branson under the finest Ozark sky
imaginable, bright and clear, with a light refreshing
breeze which kept the temperature at a lovely point all
afternoon and enabled us to identify fifty-two species of
birds before nightfall and without going beyond the con-
fines of the town.
The next two days were spent in the environs of the
town, varied by a drive to the Maine Clubhouse on the
afternoon of the 9th, and before we boarded the car again
on the 10th our list of birds had swelled to the number
of eighty-four, only fourteen of which were transients,
seventy being recognized regular summer sojourners and
breeders in the locality.
‘As the water in the river was pretty high and rapid,
few waders could be expected in our search for bird
specimens, and we saw only a Green Heron and a few
72 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
Spotted Sandpipers frequenting the pebbly islands. Of
gallinaceous birds the Bobwhite was repeatedly flushed,
but being already paired they were rather quiet. The
Doves were much more in evidence, and often seen and
heard. One of the common sights were the Turkey Buz-
zards, several of which were drawing their circles over
distant hills all day long. A rare sight, because seldom
met with so far north as Missouri, was the appearance of
two Black Vultures, or Carrion Crows, among a party of
Turkey Buzzards on the afternoon of the 9th at the club-
house. Of Hawks only two species were noticed, the
harmless red-shouldered Hawk, which lives chiefly on
snakes and frogs, and the Sparrow Hawk, a pair of which
had their home in a stump by the river. The Owl fam-
ily was represented only by the Sereech Owl, whose soft
notes were heard at dusk down by the ferry at the edge
of the town. The weatherwise Cuckoo, or Raincrow, was
one of the birds often heard, but its wisdom did not prove
true. At the White River at the foot of town a King-
fisher had its home.
Of the Woodpeckers five species were observed, the
ubiquitous downy, the gaudy redhead, the red-bellied
and the Flicker, all rather quiet because occupied with
family cares. Strange enough, a belated Sapsucker, who
spends the winter here, but whose summer home is in the
northern states, gave us a surprise, because not expected
here so late in the season.
The true Whippoorwill, being a more northern sum-
mer sojourner, was not heard, but the Chuck-wills-widow,
the southern representative of the family, extends its
range into Southern Missouri, and several could be heard
every evening, coming even into town under cover of
night. About sunset the Nighthawks began to go in
search of food, gnats, mosquitoes and similar quarry,
which they sometimes find at great heights, at others over
fields or river. The Chimney Swifts, omnipresent com-
panions of civilization, had their noisy time of love and
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 73
happiness chasing in pairs wildly through unmeasured
space, or sailing with wings held aloft in close proximity,
and with such harmony that it is plain to see two little
souls are animated by one thought. Humming birds were
repeatedly seen visiting the flowers, and seem to be quite
numerous along the bluffs, the home of many a wild
flower seldom or never seen in other localities.
The Flycatcher family was well represented by six
members, the Kingbird on open ground, the Great-
crested everywhere in the woods, the Phoebe, whose nest
with eggs was on the veranda of the clubhouse, the Pewee
and Acadian Flycatcher, common inhabitants of the for-
est, and as a rare guest on its way from Central America
to the northern states the least Flycatcher, or Chebec.
Blue Jays were much in evidence all the time, the home
birds having nests were rather quiet, but there were yet
small troops of transients present, and these were noisily
flying about, headed northward.
Crows were rather rare in Taney and neighboring
counties, for the reason, as we were told, that farmers
lay poison for them in the fields which they visit, believ-
ing to thereby increase the product of their farms, while
the result will be quite the other way by giving many
pests a better chance to propagate.
The Cowbird, the faithful companion of the cattle, was
present wherever animals were grazing, but of other
Blackbirds none were noticed, though they may locally
occur in small numbers.
The Meadow Lark also distinguished itself through
absence. So much more conspicuous was the Orchard
Oriole, then in its full song period, mating, courting, and
nest building. It seems-to thrive best in the immediate
vicinity of human habitation and frequents the shade
trees of the town. The Baltimore being a more northern
breeder but not entirely missing in the valleys of the
Ozarks was represented by only a few which had appar-
ently come to stay in addition to a troop of 6-8 transients,
74 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
which showed by their action that they were only on a
short visit, probably checked in progress by the pre-
ceding cold spell of May 5-6-7 when the frost nipped
many a tender young oakleaf on the Ozark hills without
doing any appreciable damage to fruit trees which can
stand well a little frost after the blooming season is
passed.
Of the Sparrow family ten species were noted, six
breeding and four transient. The summer resident
species were the Goldfinch, the Larkfinch, the Chippy,
Field Sparrow, Cardinal and Indigo Bird. The tran-
sients, present in small numbers, were the white-crowned,
white-throated and Lincoln’s Sparrows, and the rose-
breasted Grosbeak, the latter possibly staying in small
numbers. The Tanagers were both there, the summer
Tanager being heard in the forest everywhere, and the
scarlet Tanager, a fine old male, met but once. More
gregarious than any others were the members of the
Swallow family. All our eastern species, six in number,
were well represented and played a prominent part in the
enlivening of the valley. Whole droves of them, com-
posed of three, four or more species, were constantly
flying up and down the river in search of food, which in
cold weather they find over water easier than elsewhere.
Martins, Rough Wings, Barns, Bank and Have Swal-
lows were probably all at home in the vicinity, but the
number of Tree Swallows seemed too large for summer
residents, the species being rather rare in summer in
southern Missouri, and must therefore be regarded as in
part transient. Four species of Vireos were prominent
among the musicians in the great concert performed
every morning and, belonging to our most industrious
and persevering singers, were often heard during the day
when most other birds are silent. The red-eyed, the
warbling, the yellow-throated and the white-eyed Vireos
were all more or less common in their favorite haunts.
The splendid prothonotary Warbler was at home on the
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 75
willow-covered islands, and the modest blue-winged yel-
low Warbler in the scrubby growth of the hillside. Its
cousin, the Tennessee Warbler, one of the latest of north-
ern migrants, an indefatigable musician, though of low
ability, betrayed its loitering in the tree tops many times
every day. The Parula Warbler, though probably not
rare in the trees of the river bottoms, escaped notice with
the exception of one singing male. The Yellow Warbler
is by far the most common of its tribe and, being in the
height of its mating period, was one of the birds oftenest
seen and heard during these days. Lingering far behind
its brothers and sisters, the majority of whom had by
this time reached their northern breeding ground, was a
solitary Yellow-rumped or Myrtle Warbler. Cerulean
Warblers, rightful citizens of all southern woodlands,
were rather common, and not sparing with their sprightly
musical efforts, therefore much oftener heard than seen.
The Black-poll Warbler is of all its relatives the last to
leave the state on its vernal travel from South America
to the coniferous wood of the North and quite a few were
detected among the Tennessee and other Warblers popu-
lating the lately verdured oaks and hickories with which
these hills are mostly covered.
Down in the elms and sycamores along the banks of
the river rang out from time to time the clear and pecu-
liar songs of the Sycamore Warbler, indicating where the
pair had settled for the summer. An entirely different
locality is chosen for that purpose by the Prairie
Warbler, which betakes itself to the second growth of the
hillside. The ringing song of the Oven Bird is one of the
ordinary sounds of the region, while the small-billed
Waterthrush, repeatedly startled from the water’s edge,
must be classed among the guests, present only for a
short term of rest and shelter from a winter home in
South America to breeding grounds in Canada.
Small differences in size and coloration distinguish the
northern small-billed, from the Louisiana Waterthrush,
76 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis
but their songs differ widely, and it was a great satis-
faction to enjoy the opportunity to listen to both songs
at the same time. But while the northern species was
yet hundreds of miles from its nesting grounds, the
Louisiana Waterthrush was quietly feeding half-grown
young in their cozy nook under roots protruding from
the banks of a creek. While the Kentucky Warbler seems
to prefer the lower levels of a valley or ravine, the Mary-
land Yellow-throat, its congener, finds a home wherever
there is a thicket to its taste, and is therefore much more
often heard along the hills than the other, but both are
plentiful.
One of the most common sights and sounds met with
on our strolls, high and low, was the ‘‘Chat’’ and its
almost human whistle. Being in the height of the love
season the execution of its flight song was a more common
occurrence. Wilson’s Black Cap, a small, easily over-
looked, transient, but by no means rare in migration, was
several times the object of attention. Numerically strong
and generally distributed, was the Redstart, a breeder
in the region, but probably reinforced by the transient
individuals northward bound. Catbirds were not com-
mon, the Carolina Wren was noticed a few times, and
Bewick’s Wren several times in town and about farms,
never away from human habitation. As true and not
uncommon denizens of the woods, we have to mention the
Carolina Nuthatch, the Tufted Tit, and Carolina Chicka-
dee. Rather unexpected, because late in the season, was
the appearance of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, travelling
leisurely in company of our late Warblers, the Black-cap
and Tennessee.
One of the most interesting woodland birds is the Gnat-
catcher, or Polioptila; though nowhere common, it is so
well distributed through the state that we find its curious
nest in a bald cypress over the water of the St. Francis,
as likely as in a post oak on a ridge of the Ozarks.
Though already with family cares, and not at leisure to
Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 77
sing, their tiny forms were detected in a few places in the
deep forest.
The Thrush family was represented by three species:
The Wood Thrush in full song near the Table Rock; the
Alice’s and Swainson’s Thrushes, transients on their
way to far northern breeding grounds, were well scat-
tered and met with every day. The absence of the Robin
can be explained by the nearness of Branson to the south-
ern limit of its breeding range, Robins being very rare
in summer south of Missouri. One pair of Bluebirds was
all that was met with, though the species is not rare in
summer in Southern Missouri.
*
a
ey Mh
4
Trans. Acab. Sci. or St. Louis, VoL. XXIV PLVTE IX
CHARLES HENRY TURNER.
CHARLES HENRY TURNER.
Charles Henry Turner, Ph.D., Professor of Biology at
Sumner Teachers College, Saint Louis, died at Chicago,
February 14, 1923.
Dr. Turner was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on February
3, 1867. From the Cincinnati University he received the
degrees of B. S. and M. S. in 1891 and 1892. In 1907 the
University of Chicago conferred upon him the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, magna cum laude.
While Dr. Turner held various teaching positions, such
as the Chair of Biology, Clark University, 1892-1905;
Principal of High School, Cleveland, Tenn., 1905-1906;
Chair of Biology, Haynes Normal School, 1907-1908;
Teacher of Biology and Psychology, Sumner Teachers Col-
lege, 1908 until his death, yet he is best known among
scientists for his research work.
CORRECTIONS.
Vol. XXIV, No. 1—Bottom of p. 16: Vol. XXIII, No. 9,
should read—Nipher, Francis E., Studies of Properties of In-
tegral Numbers, 9 pp.; New Evidence of a Relation Between
Gravitation and Electrical Action, and of Local Changes in the
Electrical Potential of the Earth, 5 pp.
CHARLES HENRY TURNER*
AN APPRECIATION.
It has been said that the size of a man may be meas-
ured in terms of his influence for good and for the better-
ment of his fellow man. But just as the striving to attain
is more important to us than the desired thing itself, so
we tend to look abroad for a truly great man when,
forsooth, he walks in our very midst. We are very likely
to think of the great man as one who has acquired a vast
amount of money; as one who has achieved a political
distinction; as one who has gained a social prominence;
as one whose opinion on public questions is eagerly
sought. Many people mistake notoriety for fame; con-
fuse the word politician and statesman; take for granted
that well-known is the equivalent of great. Were
not the historians so overcome with the pomp and the
splendor of a Pilate that they quite forgot to mention
the humble Carpenter of Nazareth? It may be well to
consider some of the features which go to make up the
truly great man, that those of us who have sought afar
shall recognize a brother who perhaps at this moment is
touching elbows with us.
The first essential in the great man is a devotion to
work. Some of us envy the well-known man who toils
but little and therein we cater to our own ambitions of
lassitude. But no man is great unless he rises above the
petty inconveniences of his surroundings. No man is
strong unless he meets the competition about him. Devo-
tion to work means exactly what it says. It does not
»Read at the memorial to Dr. Charles H. Turner, at Sumner High
School, May 25, 1923.
8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
mean devotion to methods. It does not imply a certain
number of hours a day. It does not suggest a content-
ment with the doing of a daily stint in a manner which
calls for neither commendation nor criticism. Devotion
to work means work because one must work, and, faced
by such a spirit, seemingly insurmountable obstacles are
swept away along with other trivial factors of birth and
race and station.
But work itself is not enough. The second ingredient
in our strength of character is unselfishness: the desire
to share the joys and the sorrows of life with others; the
accomplishment of the friendly act for its own sake; the
appreciation of a bond of proper sympathy of man for
man. The man who works with an unselfish devotion
ever searches for that which shall bring his neighbor to
a higher level of doing and thinking and living. A great
man must indeed be unselfish and take a pride in the
merit which his talent may lend to others.
And in the search for truth, even in the little things of
life, our great man interprets that which he finds and is
ever threading the beads of fact into some pattern of a
worldly philosophy. Faithfulness to truth is after all
but a faithfulness to the little things and our great man
achieves merit in his respect for that which is known and
that which is unknown. Because of his consciousness of
his own limitations and because of his respect for truth,
the great man is humble.
We have been misinformed in our ideas of great men.
We have been misled into looking for magnificence and
for vain-glorious trappings in which our fancy would
clothe an important person. Indeed the humble sim-
plicity of the truly great man disarms us quite com-
pletely and we crane the neck to overlook exactly that
which we seek. 7
Charles Henry Turner, an Appreciation 9
It is for you who knew Doctor Turner to satisfy your-
selves that here indeed was a great man. It is for you
to determine in your own hearts if this man possessed
the strength of character, the devotion to work, the faith-
fulness to ideals, the respect for truth, and the unselfish-
ness in sharing that which he possessed. Was he indeed
the humble man of science who might well be taken into
the fold of the most highly esteemed?
You have answered this question yourselves. It will
not be given to many of us that men and women and little
children shall gather together after we are gone to pay
tribute to our memory. It is a privilege to appear before
you as a representative of the Academy of Science, an
organization of which Doctor Turner was not only a
member, but also a councillor. Let each one of you
cherish the memory of Doctor Turner who left behind
him the priceless heritage of devoted service that those
who knew him and worked with him cannot help but have
been the better and the stronger through this contact.
Permit me, in the name of the Academy of Science, to
pay our respect not only to Turner the Scientist, but also
to Turner the Man.
A. G. POHLMAN.
THE SCIENTIFIC WORK OF DR. CHARLES
HENRY TURNER*
During his lifetime, Dr. Turner published about fifty
treatises on Neurology, Invertebrate Ecology, and Ani-
mal Behavior. In addition to these, he wrote, for a num-
ber of years, reviews of the literature on Comparative
Psychology in the Psychological Bulletin and in The
Journal of Animal Behavior. This alone is an index of
the esteem in which scientists in his own line regarded
his work.
His first work was published in 1892 in the Journal of
Comparative Neurology. A few years later an impor-
tant volume on The Entomostrica of Minnesota was pub-
lished jointly with Herrick. In this 500-page treatise,
with eighty-one plates, many new species were described
and much attention was paid to the ecology of these
creatures.
Then, suddenly, his attention was turned from the
microtome, and he produced a most interesting series of
experimental investigations on the behavior of insects.
His researches on homing, on reaction to light, on death-
feigning, on tropisms, have cleared up some of the most
perplexing problems of comparative psychology and have
thrown new light on the subjects of the interrelations of
tropisms, instinct, and what may, to a certain extent, be
called intelligence.
But most interesting of all was his technique of experi-
menting. Dr. Turner spent much thought on his method
of work before he ever went into the field, and there with
ingenious devices, some simple, some intricate, he solved
*Paper read at the memorial to Dr, Charles H. Turner, at Sumner
High School, May 25, 1923.
Scientific Work of Dr. C. H. Turner 11
some of the big problems of animal behavior. For in-
stance, he discovered, by ingenious experiments, that
ants are not guided home by odors, but that light-rays
as landmarks are a larger factor than has heretofore
been supposed in their orientation. Again, by adjusting
the window shades on three windows in the room where
mud-daubers were nesting, thereby alternating the light
and darkness, Dr. Turner proved that wasps find their
way home, not by some mysterious sense, but by means
of landmarks.
In his work on the homing of the burrowing bees, he
devoted from five to ten hours a day during the
month of August to studying the insects in the field. He
found that any change made in the topography is sure to
confuse the insect upon its return, in finding the entrance
to its home. Many other details were brought to light
which militate against the old idea of a ‘‘homing in-
stinct’’ and against Bethe’s contention that bees are
guided home by an unknown force which acts reflexly.
He concludes from his work that the burrowing bees are
guided by memory in finding the way home, and that they
examine carefully the neighborhood of the nest for the
purpose of forming memory pictures of the topographi-
cal environment of the burrow.
Whether insects can or cannot distinguish colors is a
matter of much theoretical importance, for the correct
interpretation of the relation of insects to flowers de-
pends upon this answer. Most students of natural selee-
tion believed at one time that forms and colors of flowers
were adaptations to attract insect visitors. Dr. Turner
solved this problem in 1910 by experiments carried on
in O’Fallon Park. By his ever ingenious methods he
contrived tests with certain colored disks of paper and
certain colored boxes which were filled with honey. After
12 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
long weeks of experimenting he discovered and has con-
clusively shown that odors alone do not lead bees to
flowers, but that bees do respond to colors, and not only
that, but also that they are capable of recognizing them
at a distance.
Not content with discovering that bees are capable of
recognizing colors, a year later he carried out in great
detail a series of experiments which proved that bees
can distinguish between patterns. Here, too, he used
ingeniously devised paper boxes with various color
markings. His method was to permit a few bees to learn
that they could collect honey more easily from artifacts
of a certain color pattern, than they could from fiowers,
and after they had thoroughly learned this, to see if these
bees could select artifacts of this particular color pat-
tern from a number of different color patterns. The
result of this investigation was the discovery that bees
can distinguish color patterns, and there is much in their
behavior to indicate that in their ability to distinguish
details they are near-sighted. This ability is of value
to them in recognizing plants that yield honey; and since
insects can distinguish colors and the fine details of color
patterns, there remains nothing in the visual powers of
bees to militate against the theory that the colors and
markings of flowers are adaptations which attract insect
visitors.
In a work on the behavior of that marvel of the insect
world, the pit-making ant-lion (larva), Dr. Turner de-
seribes in detail its method of excavating the pit, which,
when completed, is a trap for insect prey. He explains
the method of the creature in capturing prey, which it
sucks dry with its hollow jaws; he tells of its various
reactions, which are probably tropisms; how it is impos-
sible for the insect to move forward, but in its backward
Scientific Work of Dr. C. H. Turner 13
movements it can move in straight lines or curves, and
can scale vertical surfaces. He tells us further the de-
tails of its cocoon, and then with painstaking experiments
he works out the details of the insect’s ability to ‘‘play
possum.’’ Here he concludes that death-feigning poses
are not death attitudes, and that death feigning is not
instinctive, but an exaggerated prolongation of the pause
made by most animals when they are startled, and he
endorses James when he says, ‘‘It is really no feigning
of death at all, and requires no self command. It is
simply terror paralysis which has become so useful as
to become hereditary.’’
In 1922 Dr. Turner published a paper entitled ‘‘A
Week With a Mining Eumenid.’’ He tells how the water-
carrying mining wasp digs her nest, paralyzes the cater-
pillars for her young, attaches her egg to the roof of the
chamber by a silken thread; how she is guided to and
from the nest by visual landmarks, and how, when he
made slight changes about the nests, the wasps returning
home with caterpillars had great difficulty in finding their
nests.
Important work was also done on the common roach.
In a paper entitled ‘‘ Behavior of the Common Roach on
an Open Maze,’’ he finds that a roach may be taught
within a day to run the maze. It learns by trial and
error method, yet in so doing it utilizes sense stimuli.
At times the insect acts as though experiencing the emo-
tion psychologists call will; in its toilet-making activities
the roach very much resembles the cat, and in their be-
havior on the maze, roaches display marked individuality.
In another roach paper entitled ‘‘An Experimental In-
vestigation of an Apparent Reversal of the Responses to
Light in the Roach,’’ he takes roaches, which are noc-
turnal animals and habitually shun the light, and trains
14 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
them to reverse their lifelong habit, and avoid the dark
instead. This he does by teaching them to avoid certain
dark places because of disagreeable experiences asso-
ciated with them. The disagreeable experiences were
slight electric shocks from an instrument contrived by
him. By means of this precise apparatus, he finds that
male roaches learn more quickly than the females, and the
young ones are more apt than adults.
Up to a short time ago, most naturalists believed that
insects can hear, not because it has been experimentally
demonstrated, but for morphological reasons, and be-
cause many kinds of insects can produce sounds; they
believed that insects would not be endowed with the
power of producing sounds unless other members of the
species could hear them. In a joint paper by Dr. Turner
and Mr. Ernst Schwarz, it was experimentally proven
that the Catocalas not only hear sounds, but that they
can hear sounds of certain pitch, as the authors demon-
strated by use of an organ pipe and Galton whistle.
Moreover, it was discovered that a species which re-
sponds only to a high pitch on the Galton whistle can be
taught to respond to low tones also when low tones are
of life significance, or in the popular language, when
they mean danger.
And so on throughout his work, such alluring titles
appear as ‘‘Behavior of a Parasitic Bee,’’ ‘‘Do Ants
Form Practical Judgment?’’ Psychological Notes on
the Gallery Spider,“ ‘‘Habits of Mound-Building Ants,“
Hunting Habits of an American Ammophila, „An
Orphan Colony of Polistes pallipes, „The Reactions of
the Mason Wasp,’’ through a list of fifty-odd titles that
came from his pen.
Nature lovers and scientists cannot but feel grateful
for Dr. Turner’s admirable contributions. In making
Scientific Work of Dr. C. H. Turner 15
his studies he did not venture on lengthy and costly voy-
ages to far-away countries teeming with fascinating
allurements. In his scientific work, as in his other inter-
ests, he had the ability to take the material that was
near at hand and make the most of it.
Among Dr. Turner’s notes were three completed
papers of a less technical nature, which will be published
by The Academy of Science of St. Louis. The titles are:
‘‘Tropisms in Insect Behavior, The Homing of the
Hymenoptera,’’ and ‘‘The Psychology of ‘Playing ’Pos-
sum’.’? Another paper, The Hydrotropism of Marine
Invertebrates, was accepted for publication in the Bio-
logical Bulletin just before his death.
Dr. Turner’s works have been very favorably quoted
both here in America and in Europe. Dozens of quota-
tions from his treatises are to be found in such works as
Wheeler’s Ant Book, Washburn’s The Animal Mind,
Smith’s Mind in Animals, Holmes’ Evolution of An-
imal Intelligence, and Bouvier’s The Psychic Life of
Insects. In fact, in the behavior literature of France,
they have named a certain type of orientation after this
discoverer. This is best described in Bouvier’s book,
The Psychic Life of Insects, translated from the French
by Dr. L. O. Howard, where it is ‘‘called Turner’s
circling, using the name of the learned American who
best studied this phenomenon.”’
Dr. Turner’s interests were not solely scientific. Often
his time and strength were severely taxed by his faithful
devotion to various sociological works among his people.
Among his unfinished papers were found several chap-
ters of a novel, a number of chapters of a book of nature
stories for children, and the manuscript of a book of
thirty-two poems. Not alone has science lost one of its
most thorough students, but also the colored race has
16 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
lost one of its most efficient workers for race betterment,
in its various and intricate phases.
The handicaps under which Dr. Turner’s work was
accomplished were many, and were modestly and bravely
met. Only one of these was the limitations of a small
salary, out of which he was compelled to purchase his
own tools and library for research, since he did not enjoy
the access to laboratories and institutions where equip-
ment is supplied.
And when at last one considers the quantity and the
quality of his scientific research work, accomplished
under handicaps, and in addition to a full life of other
activities and unusual efficiency in the class-room, one
can only say—well done!
PHIL RAU.
1892
1893
1894
1895
“A LIST OF PAPERS PUBLISHED BY
C. H. TURNER
Psychological notes on the gallery spider. Journal of Compara-
tive Neurology, pp. 95-110. 1892.
Preliminary note on the nervous system of the genus Cypris.
Journ. Comp. Neurol. 3:35-40, pls. 3, 4.
Notes on the Cladocera of Georgia, Bull. Sci. Lab., Denison Univ.,
8:22-25. pl. 7.
Synopsis of the Entomostraca of Minnesota. (With C. L. Herrick).
Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. Minn. 1895, p. 552, 81 pl.
Morphology of the nervous system of Cypris. Journ. Comp.
Neurol. 6:20-44. 8 pl.
Notes on the mushroom bodies of the invertebrates. Zool. Bull.,
2:155-166, 6 fig.
Synopses K. North American invertebrates. Amer. Nat, pp. 877-
888. 1
The mushroom bodies of the crayfish and their histological en-
vironment. Journ. Comp. Neurol. 11:321-368. pls. 21-24.
A preliminary note on ant behavior. Biol. Bull., 12:31-36.
The homing of ants. Journ. Comp. Neurol. and Psychol.,
17:367-434. 3 pls.
Do ants form practical judgments? Biol. Bull. 13:333-343.
The homing of the mud-dauber. Biol. Bull., 15:215-225.
The homing of the burrowing bees. Biol. Bull., 15:247-258.
The workers of Vespa corolina Dr. resemble in coloration the
moles. Psyche., 1908. 1-3.
The mound of Pogonomyrmex badius and its relation to the
breeding habits of the species. Biol. Bull., 17:161-169.
Ecological notes on the Cladocera and Copepoda of Augusta, Ga.,
with descriptions of little known species. Trans. Acad. Sci., St.
Louis, 19:151-176. pls. 36-38.
Experiments on color-vision of the honey bee. Biol. Bull.,
19:257-279.
A note on the hunting habits of an American Ammophila.
Psyche, 18:13-14.
Recent literature on the behavior of the higher invertebrates.
Psycholog. Bull., 8:277-286.
Experiments on the pattern vision of the honey bee. Biol. Bull.,
21 2249-264.
Literature for 1910 on the behavior of spiders and insects, Journ.
Animal Behavior, 1:401-412.
Notes on the behavior of a parasitic bee of the family Stelidae.
Journ. Animal Behavior, 1:374-392.
An experimental investigation of an apparent reversal of the
responses to light of the roach (Periplaneta orientales L.).
Biol. Bull., 23:371-386.
An orphan colony of Polistes pallipes. Psyche, 19:184-190.
The copulation of Ammophila abbreviata. Psyche, 19:137.
Reactions of the mason wasp, Trypoxylon albatarsus, to light.
Journ. Animal Behavior, 2:253-362.
Sphex overcoming obstacles. Psyche, 19:100-102.
Recent literature on the behavior of the higher vertebrates.
Psychological Bulletin, 9:290-300.
18
1912
1913
1913
1913
1914
1914
1914
1914
1915
1915
1915
1916
1916
1917
1918
1921
1922
1923
Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
Literature from 1911 on the behavior of spiders and insects.
Journ. Animal Behavior, 2:380-397.
Behavior of the common roach, Periplaneta orientales on an
open maze. Biol. Bull., 25:348-365.
Recent literature on the behavior of the higher invertebrates.
Psychological Bulletin, 10:307-317.
Literature for 1912 on the behavior of spiders and insects. Journ.
Animal Behavior, 3:401-428.
Auditory powers of the Catocala moth; an experimental field
study. (With Ernst Schwarz.) Biol. Bull., 27:275-293.
An experimental study of the auditory powers of the giant silk
worm moths, Saturniidae. Biol. Bull., 27:325-332.
Recent literature on tropisms and instrinctive activities. Psy-
chological Bulletin, 11:278-285.
Literature for 1913 on the behavior of spiders and insects. Journ.
Animal Behavior, 4:394-413.
Notes on the behavior of the ant-lion with emphasis on the
feeding activities and letisimulation. Biol. Bull., 29:277-307.
Literature for 1914 on the behavior of spiders and insects. Journ.
Animal Behavior, 5:415-445.
The mating of Lasius niger, L. Journ. Animal Behavior, 5:337-
340.
Literature for 1915 on the behavior of spiders and insects. Journ.
Animal Behavior, 6:383-399.
Notes on the feeding behavior and oviposition of a captive false
spider. Journ. Animal Behavior, 6:160-168.
Literature for 1916 on the behavior of spiders and insects. Journ.
Animal Behavior, 7:405-419.
The locomotion of surface-feeding caterpillars are not tropisms.
Biol. Bull., 34:137-148.
Ecological studies of Entomostraca of the St. Louis district.
Trans. Acad. Sci., St. Louis, 24:1-25. pls. 1-4.
A week with a mining Eumenid; an ecologico-behavior study of
the nesting habits of Odynerus dorsalis. Biol. Bull., 42:153-172.
The hydrotropism of marine invertebrates. (To appear later.)
TROPISMS IN INSECT BEHAVIOR
By C. H. TURNER
Dr. Jacques Loeb’s experiments demonstrating that
certain invertebrates exhibit a form of activity identical
with what students of plant life call tropisms gave a new
impetus to the study of animal behavior and stimulated
numerous investigators to add a large amount of mate-
rial to our scientific literature. Unfortunately some of
this material will not stand critical analysis. So elated
were some of these men over the discovery of what
seemed a simple mechanical interpretation of animal be-
havior, so certain were they of its universal application,
that almost any simple kind of behavior was called a
tropism. No wonder Claperade exclaimed: ‘‘ A physiolo-
gist of another world, knowing nothing of our language,
coming here might well, on noticing the numerous points
of attraction which, in the shape of taverns, draw the
human crowd, invent ethylotropism, which would cer-
tainly be one of the most universal after heliotropism. He
might ascribe, also, a negative heliotropism among bak-
ers, actresses and other persons who turn day into night,
a nostropism for physicians, a necrotropism for under-
takers, a phytotropism for gardeners, a geotropism for
field laborers.’’ This is humorous and, at first blush,
may sound ridiculous; but, is it not warranted by the
loose manner in which the word tropism is used?
So varied are the ways in which the term is used that
the standard dictionary defines a tropism as The inher-
ent tendency of living matter to respond definitely to an
external stimulus.’’ Any reflex action is a definite
response to an external stimulus and is an inherent tend-
ency of living matter. If a tropism is not something
different from reflex action, differential sensibility, trial
20 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
and error, practical judgment, etc., then the term is
superfluous. When Dr. Loeb first used the term he had
in mind a characteristic type of behavior. He asserted,
unequivocally, that it was identical with what the
botanists call tropisms. The best way to avoid misun-
derstandings is to use the word as Dr. Leob intended and
in no other way. The following is thought to epitomise
that conception: Tropism is a form of externally
induced behavior in which the organism automatically
so adjusts itself as to have morphologically symmetrical
portions equally stimulated. After orientation it may
advance, retreat, or remain stationary. In the light of
this definition let us critically examine examples of what
appear to be typical tropisms.
On first noticing foraging ants one is almost certain
to conclude that they are guided by tropisms. There is
the long sinuous double line of ants; one file going
toward the nest and the other in the opposite direction.
Draw your finger across the line. Almost immediately
the ants on each side of the finger-print rush to and fro
along its edges. Is not that a case of chemotropism?
Are not the two sides of each ant equally stimulated by
the odor trail and is not the confusion caused by the
obliteration of that trail? By means of a simple experi-
ment let us analyze that behavior.’
About a foot or more from the ground arrange a plat-
form eight to twelve inches square. To its left edge
attach a cardboard incline leading from it to territory
that is familiar to the ants. On the platform place some
ants with their larvae and eggs. In a short time the ants
will be carrying the larvae and eggs down the incline to
their nest. After the procession is well established,
Turner, C. H.; The Homing of Ants. Journ, of Comp. Neur. and
Psy., 1907, Vol. XVII, pp. 367-435, Pl. II-IV.
Tropisms in Insect Behavior 21
attach to the right edge of the platform an incline leading
to territory that is unfamiliar to the ants. This will
cause no change in the behavior. Allow a few moments
to be certain that the manipulation has not influenced
the actions of the ants and then interchange the two in-
clines. On the right you now have an incline that is well
scented with the odor of ants; on the left one that is en-
tirely free from such odors. If the behavior of the ants
is a chemotropism, the substitution of an unscented for
the scented trail should disturb the movements and make
it necessary for them to relearn the way home. Such
will not be the result. Without a moment’s hesitation
the ants will continue down and up the incline, although
there is no ant odor on it. Evidently that behavior is
not a chemotropism.
Moreover, a careful study of ants shows that in most,
if not all, cases the path by which ants leave a nest is not
identical with the one by which they return. This is
especially true of those ants that have eyes.’
In that case the trails are often widely separated. It
is not intended to ignore the fact that certain species of
blind ants deliberately deposit an odor trail which assists
in guiding them home.’ In that case it is next to impos-
sible to determine the exact width of the odor trail; but,
even then, the incoming and outgoing ants travel along
parallel rather than identical trails. It seems highly
probable that the scented pathway was to one side of the
ant that led the others back to the nest. If that is so then
the odor trail must funetion as a reference point and not
as an inducer of tropisms.
Enter a dark cellar at night. Turn on the electric
2 Turner, C. H. Op. cit. Cornetz, V.; Trajet de Fourmis et Retours
du Nid. Inst. Gen. Psychologique, Mem. No. 2, 1910, pp. 1-167.
8 Santschi, F.; Comment s'Orientent des Fourmis. Revue Suisse
de Zoologie, Vol. XXI, 1913, pp. 349-426.
22 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
light. A keen eye will detect roaches rushing in all
directions to the cracks and crannies. Undoubtedly they
are rushing away from the light. Is that behavior a
negative phototropism? Let us analyze it experimentally.
Arrange a floorless rectangular glass pen. Have the
walls and ceiling of one-half of this enclosure opaque and
of the other transparent. Place this pen on an opaque
floor so constructed that, on the touching of a key, an
electric shock may be given to any creature standing on
it. Thus we have a run-way, one-half of which is in dark-
ness and the floor of which is an electric shocking board.
Place a roach in the lighted portion of the run-way. Im-
mediately it rushes into the darkness. Turn on the cur-
rent. It dashes into the light. Turn off the current and
it will soon re-enter the darkened portion of the run.
Every time it enters the darkness switch on the current;
as soon as it leaves the darkened portion turn the cur-
rent off. Shortly it will approach the entrance to the
darkened run-way very cautiously; later it will halt at
the dividing line and refuse to enter the darkness and
will often retreat to the other end of the run-way.“ Per-
haps you think we have simply reversed the tropism;
what was a negative phototropism has become a positive
heliotropism. Let us examine this behavior a little
more. As soon as the roach has thoroughly formed the
habit of refusing to enter the darkness, remove the run-
way from the shocking board and place it in a piece of
ordinary board or cardboard. Place the roach in the
runway. Immediately it enters the darkened portion.
Restore the run to the shocking board and place the roach
therein. It now refuses to enter the darkness. Evi-
4Turner, C. H.; An Experimental Investigation of an apparent Re-
versal of the Responses to Light of the Roach (Pertplaneta orientalis).
Biol. Bull., 1912, Vol. XXIII, pp. 371-386.
Tropisms in Insect Behavior 23
dently it was not darkness as such that it refused to en-
ter, but darkness associated with a peculiar kind of floor.
It was responding to a darkness that had acquired a
meaning; it was responding to darkness, not as a con-
troller of tropism, but to darkness as a perception, If
you have any doubts as to the soundness of your analysis
place the roach on an open maze so arranged that to fall
from the runways means a plunge into cold water. Ina
reasonably short time the roach will learn to run the
maze, although in doing so it crosses the rays of light at
several different angles.“
Several kinds of insects—bees, wasps, ants, flies—have
the habit of hovering in great swarms and performing
what looks like a sun dance. In the case of certain flies,
at least, all seem to be facing the wind and the behavior
has been interpreted as an anaemotropism. Examine the
hovering swarm carefully—be it composed of bees,
wasps, ants or flies—and you will find that the partici-
pants are males. Occasionally a female corkscrews
through the group or approaches its outskirts. Im-
mediately a few males dart in pursuit and the rest go on
with the dance.“ Evidently this is a prenuptial dance
and is probably no more of an anaemotropism than is the
soaring of a vulture. When we remember that the hover-
ing of some flies consists in hovering before a wall or
other opaque body this point of view is strengthened be-
cause such a fly cannot be facing the wind, since the wind
5 Turner, C. H.; Behavior of the Common Roach (Periplaneta ori-
entalis) on an Open Maze. Biol. Bull., Vol. XXV, 1913, pp. 348-365.
Turner, C. H.; The Sun-Dance of Mellissodes, Psyche, 1909.
Turner, C. H.; The Mating of Lasius. Jour. of Animal Behavior,
Vol. V, 1915, pp. 337-340.
Rau, Phil and Nellie; Wasp Studies Afield, 1918, pp. 9-17.
Pérez, J.—Sur Quelques Particularités Curieuses du Rapproache-
ment des Sexes chez Certains Deptéres. Bull. Scientifique de la France
et la Belgique, 1911, 7th series, T. XLV, pp. 1-14.
24 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
always moves parallel to a wall and not at right angles
to it.
Watch the behavior of tent caterpillars. They move
upward and outward, feeding when they find the proper
materials. Later, satiated, they return to the tent.
Negative geotropism when hungry, positive geotropism
when satiated’’, some say. Or, take the recessional cater-
pillars. They move along in a procession with the head
of one in contact with the larva just in front of it. Lead
them to the rim of a bucket and start the procession
around the rim. When the circuit has been completed,
knock aside the superfluous caterpillars and permit the
head of the leader to come in contact with the tip of the
abdomen of the last member of the procession. They
will continue to march around the rim hour after hour.“
Positive thigmotropism’’, you say. Let us analyze the
behavior of such caterpillars. Arrange a vertical maze
consisting of an upright about one-inch in diameter to
which are attached a number of jointed arms. Let the
arms be so articulated that they can be bent in a variety
of ways. Such a maze contains no succulent buds nor
tender leaves for the larvae to nibble; hence there can
be no reversal of tropism due to satiety. A caterpillar,
when placed at the foot of such a maze will explore it. It
may continue up to the center support to,the top or it
may explore one or more of the arms. After a time it is
almost certain to descend the maze to the ground. This
behavior may be repeated several times. The apparatus
may be so manipulated that the caterpillar crosses the
light at several different angles, so that it moves toward
the wind, from the wind, and at angles to it, and so that it
moves at times toward the earth and at other times away
7 Fabre, J. H.; The Life of the Caterpillar, Translated by Alexander
Teixeira de Mattos. Dodd, Mead & Co., 1916, pp. 58-88.
Tropisms in Insect Behavior. 25
from it; but the manipulation will have no appreciable
effect upon the behavior of the insect.“ The above be-
havior will be true of practically any species of surface-
feeding caterpillar provided the larva has not just
hatched from the egg or just emerged from hibernating,
or is about to pupate or to hibernate. If a horizontal
maze is substituted for the vertical one the behavior will
be essentially the same. Since these caterpillars cross
the rays of light, the wind and the vertical line at every
possible angle, the behavior is neither a phototropism
nor an anaemotropism nor a geotropism.
Secure a piece of glass tubing large enough to allow
free movements but too narrow to permit the larva to
turn around in it. By such a device it is possible to in-
troduce the caterpillar to the maze with its head pointing
in any desired direction. Under such conditions the
caterpillar, when introduced to the maze, always starts
off in the direction in which its head happens to be turned
at the time. Irrespective of the direction of either the
light or of the wind or of the pull of gravitation, it con-
tinues in that direction until some new stimulus is
reached. There is no automatic adjusting of the body so
as to have symmetrical portions equally stimulated. Evi-
dently, except perhaps just after emerging from the egg
or a state of hibernation, or immediately before pupating
or hibernating, there is nothing about the behavior of
surface-feeding caterpillars to warrant the assumption
that these locomotions are tropisms. The movements
made in locomotion are identical with those executed by
animals that learn by the trial and error method. In-
stinctively thecaterpillars are physiologically attuned to
a certain environment. Outside that environment there
8 Turner, C. H.; The Locomotions of Surface-Feeding Caterpillars
are not Tropisms. Biological Bulletin, Vol. XXXIV, 1918, pp. 137-148.
26 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
is physiological unrest. To escape the unpleasantness
of this environment, the creature makes random move-
ments. There is no automatic adjusting the body so as
to have it symmetrically stimulated by the excitant.
Some internal stimulus causes forward movement until
some sensation factor induces it to change its course. If
physiological satisfaction is not obtained, it continues its
rambling until fatigue causes it to rest.
For the purposes of this paper, several cases of what
appear to be typical tropisms have been selected and it
has been shown how experimental analyses demonstrate
that none of these are tropisms. It is thought that these
results constitute an unanswerable argument against the
careless manner in which the word tropism is now used.
It is not contended that there are no such things as insect
tropisms. In the light of our present knowledge, that
would be claiming too much, for the scientific literature
contains records of a few cases of what appear to be real
tropisms.“ It may be that at certain critical periods in
the life of the insect, such as birth, emergence from hiber-
nation, just before pupation or hibernation, ete.—tlie
insect may be more or less under the control of tropisms,
but the behavior of normal insects under ordinary condi-
tions cannot be called tropisms. That is the message of
this paper. It insists that the term tropism be so defined
as to make it an easily recognized type of behavior, and
that nothing be called a tropism that does not stand the
test of critical experimental analysis.
Loeb, Jacques; Studies in General Physiology, 1905, pp. 24-37.
THE HOMING OF THE HYMENOPTERA
By C. H. TURNER
INTRODUCTION
Hymenoptera is the name of a group of insects which
includes ants, wasps, bees and their near kin. With the
exception of those forms which in their babyhood are
parasites, all construct homes to be occupied by their
young. These homes may be subterranean, terrestrial
or aerial; solitary or communal; constructed of clay,
wood or paper; but, in all cases, in order to supply the
young with food, the adults make frequent visits to these
nurseries. By some species all of the food is stored in
the nest before the eggs hatch; by others a portion is
deposited before birth and the remainder is added as
the young need it; yet others, which store no food be-
fore the larvae appear, are kept busy supplying the daily
bread of their offspring. Their numerous periodic visits
to the home make the adults excellent subjects for inves-
tigations of the methods by which insects find their way
home. At first blush it may seem that the subject would
have been exhausted long before now; but, by coining new
psychological concepts and by insisting upon more exact-
ing methods of experimentation, this age has stimulated
a number of scholars to reinvestigate the subject.
The creeping ant leaves its burrow, meanders to its
distant foraging ground and returns, without error, to
its nest. Likewise the wasp and the bee repeatedly fly
away to their hunting grounds and return. From time
to time, four different factors have been proposed to ac-
count for this behavior; a homing instinct, tropisms,
muscular memory and recognition of landmarks.
28 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
The advocates of the homing instinct claim that there
is a peculiar inner power which guides insects home by
the shortest route. Recognition and memory play no
part whatsoever in this form of behavior. The insect
leaves home and forages here and there. When ready
to return, it instinctively knows in which direction and
how far to go.
According to believers in the tropism theory, there is
some external stimulus or stimuli which forces an insect
homeward in the same manner that iron filings are
impelled to orient themselves and move toward a strong
magnet. This process is purely mechanical; it differs
from the above in the stimulus being external instead of
internal.
The advocates of muscular memory insist that all the
time an insect is wandering away from home the move-
ments of the muscles and the stresses and strains of the
tendons are inducing in the nervous system a certain
form of tension. When the insect is ready to return
home, this tension is gradually released and induces the
insect to right-about-face and retrace its steps.
Those who contend that there is a recognition of land-
marks insist that insects and men find the way home in
essentially the same manner; namely, by an associative
memory enabling the possessor to recognize landmarks.
This hypothesis differs from all the others in predicating
an intellectual factor. It presupposes that insects are
capable of learning by experience and profiting there-
from.
ANTS
Have you ever watched long lines of ants move to and
fro between foraging grounds and nest? Have you ever
wondered what enables them to find their way? Have
you ever speculated upon the psychology of their be-
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 29
havior? Not many years ago, it was almost universally
believed that there is a mysterious impulse which guides
insects and other animals. Even today there are a few
who believe in this homing instinct. Watson’s recent
experiments’ which seem to demonstrate that terns are
guided by a homing instinct will, no doubt, cause some to
feel that this same interpretation may be made of the
homing of insects. This is not the place to discuss the
validity of Watson’s experiments but birds and insects
are morphologically so unlike that what is true in one
case is not necessarily so in the other.
EE N
Fig. 1. Experiment on
the homing of ants. P P
porch, L leaf, N opening to
nest. The arrows point in
the direction the ant
moved.
| |
1
In the south many frame houses are supported on nar-
row brick pillars. Within the base-board of the porch of
such a building a species of wood-boring ant had estab-
lished its home. The entrance of this nest was within
a foot of one of those supporting pillars. To the ants
that brick pillar was an unexplored territory; weeks of
watchful waiting failed to detect a single ant upon it.“
Watson, John B. The Behavior of the Noddy and Sooty Terns.
Publication 103, Carnegie Institution of Washington; pp. 187-225.
2Turner, C. H. The Homing of Ants. Jour. of Comp. Neur. and
Psychology, 1907, pp. 381-382.
30 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louts
The porch was shaded with vines that furnished pas-
turage to innumerable herds of ‘‘ant cows’’. At almost
any hour of the day ants could be seen milking aphids, or
moving to and from the pasture. Much patient waiting
and careful searching finally revealed a leaf upon which
a single ant was sipping food from plant lice. This leaf
was gently removed and inserted in a hole previously
made in the brick pillar (Fig.1). This was accomplished
without interrupting the ant’s meal. Presently the ant
finished its dinner and was ready to go home. Being
within two feet of its nest, if in possession of a homing
instinct, it should have gone directly home. What really
happened is as illuminating as it was unexpected. In a
meandering line it descended the pillar until almost to the
ground, then turned and zigzaged slowly upward until
it had reached the leaf. After exploring the leaf it twice
more meandered over the pillar and back, each time in a
different direction. On its fourth sinuous journey, it
reached the base-board of the porch and then rushed
directly to the nest. Evidently, transporting the leaf
had caused the ant to become lost.
It is an easy matter to cause ants to lose their way.
After a hard rain, if a number of ants are transported a
few yards from a nest and deposited on the ground,
almost none of them will be able to find the way home.
After numerous profitless random movements, they will
usually take refuge under stones or chips. Unless dis-
covered by workers from the nest, they are apt to remain
in such situations a long time. Would it be possible to
do this if ants were in possession of a homing instinct?
You may think Miss Fielde' entirely wrong when she
claims to have demonstrated that each joint of the anten-
*Fielde; A. M. Proc. Acad. Sci, Philadelphia, 1908.
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 31
na is the organ of a special kind of odor; you may not be
able to decide whether to agree with those who claim that
the sense of smell is located in the antenna or with those
who claim that it is located elsewhere“: but in the light
of the following experiments, there is no escaping the
conviction that ants possess a well developed sense akin
to the olfactory sense of man.
Paint a narrow odoriferous band across the pathway
of homegoing ants, or even draw your finger across the
trail of certain species; immediately the procession halts
and those nearest the offending streak move hither and
thither as though lost. The confusion will not be perma-
nent. Presently the procession will move along as be-
fore.
As a rule ants will attack any strange worker ant that
attempts to enter the nest but members of the household
will be received with open arms even after an absence of
several days. Take some ants from a nest, wash the nest
odor from their bodies, bathe them in the blood of an
alien colony of ants and then return them to their own
nest. They will be attacked, as least temporarily, as
strangers. On the other hand, take some ants from a
nest, wash the nest odor from their bodies, bathe them in
the blood of ants of an alien colony and then place them
in that colony and they will be welcomed, at least tempo-
rarily, as members of the household.
However, the admission that ants have a well developed
olfactory or topochemical sense is no justification for the
conclusion that odors, by arousing chemotropisms, guide
them home. There are a few species of ants that do seem
4Forel, August. The Senses of Insects. Translated by Macleod
Yearsley. Methuen & Co., London, 1908, pp. 73-100.
McIndoo, N. E. The Olfactory Sense of Insects. Smith. Misc. Col.,
63, number 9, pp. 1-63. 1914.
The Olfactory Sense of the Hymenoptera. Proc. Acad.
Sci., Philadelphia, 1914, pp. 294-341.
32 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
to rely almost entirely upon odors for guidance; ants
which on their outward journey deposit odors on the trail
to make it more conspicuous. This, however, is not true
of the majority of ants for it is now well known that the
individuals of many species do not return home along the
identical trail by which they departed.’ The two path-
ways are near together and roughly parallel but not coin-
cident. Then, too, the following easily repeated experi-
ments militate against such a conclusion:
By means of a pin through its center, attach a rectangu-
lar piece of cardboard, eight inches square to the cork of
a bottle six or more inches high. By means of a narrow
cardboard inclined plane, connect this stage with the run-
way of a nest of ants with well developed eyes. On the
cardboard platform place a number of ants with their
eggs and pupae. At first the ants will rush about at
random as though lost. After a number of fruitless ef-
forts, they will finally find the way to the nest. Soon
there will be a procession of ants moving to and fro be-
tween the nest and the stage. When the trail has been
well established, replace the inclined plane with a new
one and attach it to the opposite side of the platform. If
ants are guided home solely by odors stimulating trop-
isms, those ants should act as though confused and spend
much time learning the way home. Such will not be the
case. Without a moments hesitation the ants will jour-
ney homeward along the unscented pathway.“
Arrange the card-board stage as above with the in-
clined plane upon the right. Near to the right and to the
left sides of the stage and separated from it by heat fil-
Turner, C. H. The Homing of Ants. Jour. of Comp. Neur. and
Psy., Vol. 17, pp. 370-378.
Cornetz, Victor. Trajets de Fourmis et Retours au Nid. Institut
Général Psychologique, Mémoires, No. 2, pp. 1-167.
Turner, C. H. Homing of Ants, ibid. pp. 399-401.
Trans. Acab. Sci. or Sr. Louis, Vor. XXIV Pl. ATE X
Apparatus used to demonstrate that certain species of
ants use light as a landmark. In the series represented
by this photograph the light was shifted from side to
side. Later lights were placed permanently on both sides;
but these were so connected that when one was lighted
the other was automatically extinguished. A, heat filter.
B, electric light. C, mirror for viewing the lower side of
the inclined plane. O, Janet nest,
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 33
ters, arrange electric lights so connected that when the
light on one side is burning the other is automatically
extinguished (Pl. X). Place a number of ants with
their eggs, larvae and pupae upon the stage, and switch
on the light on the right side of the stage. Soon there will
be a continuous procession of busy ants passing to and
fro between the nest and the stage. When the procession
is so thoroughly established that no ants are straggling
about on the stage, attach a second incline plane to the
left side of the platform. You will now have one incline
on the side where the light is shining and another on the
opposite side. You may watch for hours and the ants
will continue to travel along the pathway on the right.
Switch off the light on the right; turn on the light on
the left. Immediately a remarkable change occurs. The
ants act as though they were in a panic. As you watch
them darting to and fro there is no escaping the convic-
tion that they are lost. Presently order will be re-estab-
lished and the procession will be moving to and fro be-
tween the nest and the stage, but not along the inclined
plane on the right. The approach on the left is now the
means by which the ants enter and leave the stage! Evi-
dently light is a factor in guiding those ants home. Since,
on their homeward journey, the ants moved toward the
light, across the light, and away from the light, it was
light as a landmark and not as an inducer of photo-
tropisms that guided those ants.
Or, as Sancti‘ has done, select a place in the open where
there is a nest of ants with well developed eyes, and
choose a time of day when the home-going ants are facing
the sun. By means of a mirror flash the sunlight upon a
7 Sancti, F. Observations et Remarques Critiques sur le Mécanisme
de l’Orientation chez les Formis. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, Vol 19,
Pp. 316-332.
34 Trans. Acad, Sci. of St. Louis
home-going ant. Immediately it will depart from the
trail and move toward the mirror. Could that happen
if the insect were slavishly following the odor trail?
To jump to the conclusion that light is the sole factor
guiding these ants would be as great a fallacy as that
made by those who claim that odors are. It is well known
that ants sometimes pass under shelters and out on the
other side, that they traverse shadows and that they
often forage after sundown. Admitting that the high
sensitivity of ants to the ultra violet rays indicates that
they are stimulated by light in situations where we can
detect only darkness, yet, recalling that there is experi-
mental evidence that ants are affected by the olfactory
and tactile peculiarities of their trails, one is forced to
conclude that light is not the only factor which influences
the homing of ants.
Any serious student of the behavior of ants is sure to
be impressed with the fact that they have an awareness
of distance in both a horizontal and a vertical direction,
and that this awareness is something which has been ac-
quired by the ant on its outward journey. Just after a
rain, if some ants are taken from a nest and transported
to a distance, they will wander about without finding the
way home. Even a casual observer would know that they
were lost. Let those same ants make that journey on
foot and each would easily find the way home. The fol-
lowing experiment, which was first performed by Pieron,®
has convinced some students that this awareness of
distance is a function of the muscular sense.
Select a place where the surface of the ground around
the nest is practically uniform. Watch for a home-com-
*Pieron, M. Du Role du Sens Musculaire dans l'Orientation de
Quelques Especes de Fourmis. Bull. Inst. Gen. Psych., Paris, Vol. IV,
168-187.
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 35
ing ant. In its path place a flat piece of cardboard.
When the ant has mounted this, in as gentle a manner
as possible, transport the whole to the ground on the op-
posite side of the nest. The ant will leave the cardboard
and continue on in the direction it was going until it has
gone as far as the distance from the nest to the original
position of the card-board. There it will describe that
series of short complex curves, frequently made by ants
when in the vicinity of the nest, which Cornetz has called
‘‘tournoiement de Turner.’’ As stated above, Pieron
thinks that the movements of the muscles of the ant on
its outward journey induced a certain tension in the nerv-
ous system. As a result of this tension the home-going
ant is automatically warned when it has gone far enough.
Without passing judgement upon Pieron’s theory as
to how ants determine distance, it is the contention of
this article that the awareness of direction is a function
of the perceptual peculiarities of the environment of the
outgoing ant. In other words, on its outward journey
the ant notices certain characteristics of its surround-
ings; on its return trip it recognizes these and uses them
as landmarks. The use of the expression perceptual
peculiarities implies that that which guides the ants is a
fusion-product of more than one sense. In those ants
with poorly developed eyes, the olfactory (topochemical)
sense is basal; where the visual organs are well devel-
oped, sight is the sense about the recepts of which the
contributions of the other senses are fused. The con-
tention of some that we should seek a simpler explana-
tion is offset by the fact that there is experimental evi-
dence that ants possess associative memory.
It is thought that the following description of how an
ant was taught to use an elevator on going to and from
a stage a few inches high is proof that ants possess asso-
36 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
ciative memory. Two marked worker ants, A and B,
were being experimented upon at the same time. The
one I have called A readily learned the way down and up
the incline; but to B this was an insoluble problem.“ It
continued for a long time to move at random over the
stage, reaching down over first one edge and then over
another as though it was reaching for a support that was
not to be found, but nothing prompted it to pass down the
incline. Prompted by another thought, I shoved the sec-
tion lifter under the ant and transferred it to the island.
The ant then stepped off and carried the pupa to the nest.
As soon as B returned to the island, I shoved the section-
lifter under it and transferred it to the stage. B stepped
off and picked up another pupa. With the section-lifter
I again transferred it to the island. After this was re-
peated several times, the moment I presented the section-
lifter, whether on the island or on the stage, the ant im-
mediately mounted it and rested quietly thereon until it
had been removed to the stage or to the island; then it
stepped off and picked up a pupa or else went into the
nest. I usually held the section-lifter from two to four
millimeters above the surface of the island or stage. In
this manner the industrious creature passed to and from
the stage about fifty times in something less than two
hours.“
At least two other investigators” have succeeded in
teaching ants to do unexpected things. Since ants
possess associative memory and since they are easily dis-
concerted by changes made in the environment, it is not
® Turner, C. H. The Homing of Ants, pp. 386-387.
10 Ernst, C. Einige Beobachtungen and künstlichen Ameisennest-
ern Biol. Centrib., vol 25, pp. 47-51; vol. 26, pp. 210-220.
Wasmann. Die psychischen Fahigkeiten der Ameisen. Zoologica,
vol, 26.
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 37
claiming too much to insist that they are guided by land-
marks.
WASPS AND BEES
Tarry upon a busy corner of either a small town or a
metropolitan city. Stop each pedestrian and inquire how
wasps and bees find the way home. Nine out of ten will
say they are guided, in a straight line, by some myste-
rious inner force. This is so ingrained in the folk-
consciousness that the expression ‘‘bee line’’ is used to
designate the most direct route. Some scientists must
be included in that number; for Bethe” insists that up to
three kilometers bees are guided home by a mysterious
power. He bases his conclusions upon such experiments
as the following:
If a hive is removed a short distance the returning
bees at first fail to find it.
_ Bees were taken into the town of Strasburg, a place
which Bethe claims the bees did not visit, and turned
loose in the streets. They went home directly. Bethe
claims that the majority of them started in the right
direction before they reached the housetops.
A yellow hive was placed on a table. Near the hive
was placed a folding screen. On the screen were hung
colored handkerchiefs. The table and hive were covered
with green branches and blue paper was glued to the yel-
low face of the hive. The bees on returning hesitated a
moment, forming a slight swarm. Thereafter, they flew
without hesitation to the door of the hive.
Bethe cites several other experiments but none are
more conclusive than these. Bethe’s preconceived no-
tions caused him to ignore those facts in his experiments
that do not serve his purpose. His experiments show
11 Bethe, A. Die Heimkerh fähigkeit der Ameisen und Bienen zum
Theil nach neuen Versuchen. Biol. Centrib., Bd. 22, s. 193-215, 234-238.
38 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
conclusively that when the position of the entrance of the
hive is gradually changed, either in a straight line or in
a circle, the bees are not disconcerted. In Strasburg, ac-
cording to Forel, the streets are narrow and straight. In
narrow straight streets, how would it be possible for bees
to start directly toward the hive, before reaching the
house-tops, unless the experimenter. had selected streets
that pointed in the right direction? In his hive experi-
ment he counts as insignificant the hesitation of the bees
mentioned above. He noticed that flashing light by
means of mirrors and placing fresh paper around hives
caused bees to hesitate and accumulate in swarms before
entering, but he attributed the disturbance to the keen
sense of smell of bees.
One of Bethe’s own experiments militates against his
contention. He conveyed a hive a long distance from
home and turned the bees out. The old bees returned to
the place from which the hive had been removed but the
young bees re-entered the hive in its new location. When
we remember that old bees on leaving a hive depart im-
mediately and that young bees describe circles of orienta-
tion, does not this indicate that the old bees followed well-
known landmarks to their former home and that the
young bees, being unfamiliar with such landmarks, were
guided back to the hive by newly acquired data? Then,
too, how can Bethe harmonize his view with the fact that
bees caught afield after dark remain out all night? The
weakness of Bethe’s contention becomes even more ap-
parent when we consider the experimental work of those
whose conclusions are unlike his.
In a school building in the city of Augusta, Georgia,
there was a schoolroom with windows on three sides.
On the north there were four adjacent windows, with a
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 39
space of about eight inches between each two.“ Each
window was provided with two shades, one extending
from the top to the middle, and one covering the lower
sash. On the west there were two widely separated
windows. One of these was kept open night and day.
For convenience, the windows on the north were num-
bered three, four, five and six. They were kept closed
at all times but the shades were manipulated in a variety
of ways. At the beginning of the experiment all shades
were down except the top shade of window four, which
was raised to the fullest extent. A mud-dauber wasp be-
gan a nest a little to the west of the upper left-hand cor-
ner of window four. After one cell had been about
completed, while the wasp was afield, the upper shade
of window four was lowered and the corresponding
shade of window five raised. This shifted a broad beam
of white light one window to the east. No other change
was made in the surroundings. If wasps are guided
home by the mysterious force for which Bethe contends,
no change should have been made in the behavior of this
wasp. Presently the insect returned and flew directly,
not to the nest, but a little to the west of the upper left-
hand corner of window five. She searched and searched,
but on that trip did not find the nest until the shades
were restored to their former position. To make a long
story short, for several days, the shades were manipu-
lated in a variety of ways. Each time a change was made
the wasp acted as though it was confused. Evidently
that Hymenopteron was using landmarks, of which the
beam of light was one.
„Several of the walks of the Haines Normal School,
Augusta, Georgia, are separated from the adjacent flower
12 Turner, C. H. The Homing of the Mud-Dauber. Biol. Bull., vol.
15, pp. 215-225.
40 Trans. Acad, Sci. of St. Louis
beds by bricks inclined in such a manner as to form a
serrated border of wedges of bricks, each wedge being
about two inches high and something over four inches
wide at the base.“ One of these flower beds, which was
quite sandy, contained in its center a patch of nastur-
tiums. * * * Ina barren spot in this bed, adjacent to an
inverted tin cap of a Coca-Cola bottle, and within an inch
of the northern face of one of the bricks that formed the
serrated border, a burrowing-bee excavated a burrow.
The nest was discovered at nine a. m., August 8, 1908.
The sun was shining brightly at the time but the nest,
which was situated a little to the west of the southern
wall of a large three-story brick building, was in the
shadow. A. gentle breeze was blowing from the south.
At the time mentioned, the bee was busy collecting pollen
and storing it in its burrow. The flowers from which
it obtained its supply must have been quite remote, for
it required about thirty minutes to make the trip.
„For convenience, the brick before which the burrow
was located was designated zero and bricks to the west
of it Wi, We, We, etc., in regular succession. Likewise
the bricks to the east were named E,, Ea, Es, ete.
„The field from which the bee obtained its pollen was
situated to the south of the school, and the burrow of the
bee was located to the north of the brick border. On
arriving from its forage, the bee would reach the brick
border at or near brick W,. It then would turn about
so as to face the northern surface of the brick border.
Then hovering at about an inch and a half from the
ground and at about the same distance from the bricks,
the bee would sidle along. Usually its movement was
toward the east but occasionally it would retrograde
Turner, C. H. The Homing of Burrowing Bees. Biol. Bulletin,
vol. 15, pp. 247-268.
~
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 41
westward a short distance and then resume its eastward
progress. On reaching the brick before which the nest
was located, it would drop immediately into the burrow.
After remaining in the burrow a few minutes, the bee
would depart, without stopping to explore the surround-
ings. Several trips were observed carefully and, in each
case, the behavior was essentially the same. In its flight,
neither the orientation of its body, nor the direction of
its movements, bore any constant relation either to the
direction of the wind or to the rays of the sun.“
While the bee was afield a hole of the same diameter as
the burrow was made in front of bricks W, and E,; and
the bottle top was placed adjacent to the hole made be-
fore brick W,. Presently the bee returned and after the
usual preliminary movements, dropped quickly into the
hole before brick W,. Discovering her error, she backed
out and searched about for her home until it was found.
By making additional holes and by altering the condi-
tions around the original burrow, the bee was caused to
make numerous errors.
‘These and experiments similar in results but unlike in
detail, which have been described by several investiga-
tors“, warrant the conclusion that wasps and bees are
guided home by utilizing landmarks.
It is evident that the behavior exhibited in the above
experiments cannot be classed as either an anemotropism
or as a phototropism, for neither the orientation of the
14 Buttel-Reepen. Sind die Bienen Reflexmaschinen? Leipzig, 1900.
Die Sinne der Biene. 1914.
Forel, Auguste. The Senses of Insects. Trans. by Macleod Years-
ley. London, 1908.
Lubbock, Sir John. Ants, Bees and Wasps. 1881.
On the Senses, Instincts and Intelligence of Ani-
mals. London, 1888.
Peckham, G. W. Some Observations on the Special Senses of
Wasps. Proc. of the Nat. Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin, April, 1887.
Peckham, Geo. W. and Elizabeth G. On the Instincts and Habits
of the Solitary Wasps. Madison, Wis., 1898.
42 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
body nor the direction of flight bore any constant rela-
tion either to the direction of the wind or the rays of the
sun. It would be erroneous to claim that these wasps
and bees find their way home by the method of ‘‘trial
and error,“ for there is no gradual ‘‘stamping in’’ of the
appropriate response. _When the returning insect finds
the environment markedly changed, it searches until the
opening to its nest is found. On its next departure a
careful examination of the vicinity of the nest is made.
On its next return, unless the environment has been
changed in the meanwhile, the wasp or bee flies directly
to its burrow in the minimum amount of time; there is
none of that blundering into solution which the method
of ‘‘trial and error’’ demands.
The contention that wasps and bees use landmarks to
guide them home predicates to them the ability to recog-
nize things by sight. This predication is justified by the
following experiments which demonstrate that these in-
sects possess both color-vision and pattern-vision.
A large number of cardboard artifacts were made.”
Some were circular dises, some pill-boxes and others cor-
nucopias. Each cornucopia had a semi-circular flange
projecting beyond its mouth. The bottom of the outer
case of each pill-box projected a short distance beyond
the front, and the drawer of each box was shorter than
the case and contained an opening in its front end.
Some of these artifacts were colored red, some
blue, some marked with alternating red and green longi-
tudinal stripes, some with alternating red and green
transverse stripes; some marked with alternating black
and white longitudinal stripes, some with alternating
1 Turner, C. H. Experiments on Color-Vision of the Honey Bee.
Biol. Bull., vol. 19, 257-279.
Experiments on the Pattern Vision of the Honey
Bee. Biol. Bull., vol. 21, pp. 249-264.
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 43
black and white transverse stripes; and some speckled
with red and green. These colors were not optically
pure, but were such as could be procured in the market.
The place selected for the experiments was a large
field of white, sweet clover, which was visited by count-
less numbers of bees. The experiments occupied a part
of two summers. The bees were trained to visit an arti-
fact of a certain color by placing honey on.or in an arti-
fact of that color and leaving the others empty. The
first season they were trained to visit a plain artifact;
the second, to visit a striped one. Much time and patience
was required to induce a single bee to visit one of these
artifacts. Soon after one of the bees had discovered the
richness of these artifacts in honey, a large number of
bees began to make regular visits to them. After the
bees had been foraging upon these artifacts for several
days and had practically neglected the melilot for them,
new artifacts were constructed and the following exam-
ination was held:
The tests covered a number of days and were arranged
in series. In one series no honey was placed in any of
the artifacts; in another, honey was placed in some of
the artifacts, but none in those of the color and pattern
from which the bees had been trained to expect honey; in
a third series honey was placed in some of the artifacts
of each color pattern used. The number of varieties of
color patterns used at one time varied from two to seven
and the total number of artifacts used at one time varied
from two to twenty. Almost invariably the bees flew
into the artifacts of the color and pattern from which
they had been trained to collect honey; but paid no atten-
tion to artifacts of any other color and pattern. The
manner in which the bees passed by most artifacts, even
when they contained honey, and the eagerness with which
44 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
they rushed into the empty artifacts of the color and
pattern from which they had been trained to expect
honey would have convinced any unbiased spectator that
to those bees certain artifacts had acquired a meaning
and that those insects were exercising the faculty of
recognition. .
Less than two per cent of mistakes were made, and in
the light of subsequent experiments, these were instruc-
tive. Two consisted in selecting a box mottled red and
green for one painted with alternating red and green
longitudinal stripes; two in selecting a box with black
and white longitudinal stripes for one with red and
green longitudinal stripes; the other six consisted in
“selecting a box marked with alternating red and green
transverse stripes for one marked with red and green
longitudinal stripes. Remembering that these colors
were not optically pure, and recalling the experiments
by which Frisch” claims to have demonstrated that bees
are red-green color blind, these are just the kind of mis-
takes we would expect bees to make if they are guided
by landmarks.
Further experimental confirmation that recognition is
one of the mental traits of bees and wasps may be found
in the published works of Foreel (I. c.), Lubbock (I. c.),
the Peckhams (I. c.), Lovell“, and others.“
16 Frisch, Karl v. Ueber den Farbensinn der Bienen und die Blumen-
farben. Muenchener medizinischen Wochenschrift, 1913, pp. 1-10.
17 Lovell, John H. The Color Sense of the Honey Bee. The Amer.
Nat., vol. 46, pp. 83-107.
The Color Sense of the Honey Bee: Can Bees Dis-
tinguish Colors? Amer. Nat., vol. 44, pp. 673-692.
1 In a series of papers extending over a decade [“Comment les
fleurs attirent les insects.” “Un filet empeche-t-il le passage des in-
sectes.” “Nouvelles recherches sur les rapports entre les insectes et
les fleurs.” “Recherches experimentales sur la vision chez les arthro-
podes,” ete.] Platean describes a number of experiments which he
thinks demonstrate that these insects do not make visual discrimina-
tions. Forel and Lovell have pointed out so conclusively the defects
of his experiments and the fallacies of his conclusions that it was not
thought necessary to discuss them in the body of this article.
The Homing of the Hymenoptera 45
CONCLUSION
After studying the subject from all possible angles, the
conviction has been reached that neither the creeping ant,
nor the flying bee, nor the hunting wasp is guided home
either by a mysterious homing instinct, or a combination
of tropisms, or solely by muscular memory, but by some-
thing which each acquires by experience. As these in-
sects journey outward, one or more senses contribute
recepts which, functioning as percepts, enable the home-
bound insects to recognize certain landmarks and be
guided by them.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF “PLAYING POSSUM“'
By C. H. TURNER
Playing possum, feigning death, letisimulation—to
use in succession the language of the southerner, the
Bostonian and the behaviorist—are terms for a form of
behavior which is as widespread as it is remarkable.
Any one who has hunted opossums in the south has
observed an interesting exhibition of it. When an opos-
sum is attacked, usually it falls to the ground, draws
back its lips and looks as though dead. You may toss it
about, kick it, pinch it, do what you may, but not a sign
of life will you get. Individual specimens have been
known to remain as though dead for hours. This pecu- |
liar method of protecting itself from danger is found
throughout the animal kingdom. Not all animals, nor yet
all species, practice it, but from the protozoa upward,
almost all groups of active invertebrates contain certain
species that practice it, and among the vertebrates some
members of all groups letisimulate. So widespread is
this phenomenon that Weir, in his Dawn of Reason,
thought it wise to coin a scientific name for it. He called
it letisimulation (from letum, death, and simulare, to
feign).
All students of one-celled animals have noticed Vorti-
cella fold in its cilia, coil its flexible stalk and retreat
against a support when approached by a larger inverte-
brate. Weir noticed that the approach of certain water
fleas caused a species of rhizopods to drop to the bottom
and to remain quiet until the larger creatures had dis-
appeared.
There is an annelid worm about one-eighth of an inch
The Psychology of Playing ’Possum’’ 47
long, which swims gracefully. As soon as a water beetle
appears, it hangs in the water as limp as a cotton thread.
Most students of vertebrate behavior are familiar with
the behavior of the black viper, which Weir considers the
greatest letisimulator of all animals. When it is threat-
ened and a mode of escape is not apparent, the snake
writhes and twists in apparent agony, then turns over on
its back and seems to be in rigor mortis. You seem to
see the reptile pass through its death throes and expire.
Turn your back a few moments and the snake disappears.
The opossum and the black viper seem to have made a
lasting impression on Weir, for, while citing examples
from the protozoa, worms, insects, reptiles, birds and
mammals, he leaves the impression that the most remark-
able examples of death-feigning are to be found in the
reptiles and certain mammals. Since that time much
attention has been given to the study of the letisimula-
tion of insects. Barret (Porto Rico Agri. Exp. Sta. Bull.,
1902) has studied it in the mole-cricket; Gee and Lathrop
(Ann. Ent. Soc. of Amer., 1912, Vol. V., pp. 391-399) and
Johnson and Girault (Cire., Bull. of Entom., U. S. Dept.
of Agri.), in the plum cuculio; Girault (Entom. News,
1913, Vol. XXIV, pp. 338-344), in trox; Holmes (Jour.
of Comp. Neur. & Psy., 1906, Vol. XV, pp. 305-349), in
the water scorpions; Newell (Jour. of Ec. Ent., 1913, Vol.
VI, pp. 55-61), and Weiss (Canad. Entom., 1913, Vol.
XLV, pp. 135-137) in the rice weevil; Riley (Ann. Ent.
Soc. of Amer., 1912, Vol. V, pp. 273-292) in dragon fly
nymphs; the Severins (Jour. N. Y. Entom. Soc., 1911,
Vol. XTX, pp. 99-108), in the giant water bugs, and Wod-
sedalek (Ann. Entom. Soc. of Amer., 1912, Vol V, pp.
31-40, 367-381), in May-fly nymphs and dermestid larvae.
In the light of the remarkable traits revealed by these
investigators, were he writing his article today, Weir,
48 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lowis
no doubt, would agree with Holmes that ‘‘it is among the
insects that the death-feigning instinct reaches its highest
development, occurring, in a greater or less extent, in
most of the orders. It is especially common in beetles
and not unusual among bugs, but it is quite rare in the
highest orders such as the Diptera, or flies, and the
Hymenoptera, or ants, bees and their allies. It occurs in
a few cases among the butterflies and moths, both in the
imago as well as the larval state. The instinct is ex-
hibited in different species in all stages of development
from a momentary feint to the condition of intense rigor
lasting for over an hour. ‘‘Some insects may be severely
mutilated,’’ according to De Geer, ‘‘even roasted over a
fire before they cease feigning.“
At the planning of this paper it was intended to give
an epitome of the researches of all recent investigators
of letisimulating insects; but later it was decided to limit
this part of the paper to recent investigations of mine
upon our common ant-lion. Although the ant-lion is con-
sidered such a marvel that all popular treatments of
insects and practically all textbooks on entomology dis-
cuss it, hitherto almost no attention has been paid to its
death feigning. Emerton (Amer. Nat., 1871, Vol. IV, pp.
705-708) and MacLachlan (Ent. Mag., 1865, Vol. II, pp.
73-75) are the only ones that mention it and each devotes
only a short sentence to the matter.
One hundred ant-lions, isolated in numbered jelly
glasses of suitable soil formed the subjects of these inves-
tigations. These were kept in an out-of-doors insectary,
the whole north wall of which is exposed to the weather.
Although any kind of rough treatment will cause an ant-
lion to letisimulate, in these experiments letisimulation
was induced either by roughly turning the creature upon
its back, or else by dropping it from a slight elevation.
The Psychology of Playing ’Possum’’ 49
Several investigators have thought it important to
determine if the poses assumed by letisimulating indi-
viduals are death attitudes. Darwin was convinced
death-feigning attitudes are not identical with those
caused by death. Based on consideration of seventeen
species of invertebrates, Holmes (Pop. Sci. Monthly,
1908, Vol. LX XII, pp. 179-185) concludes that the poses
assumed were usually quite different from death atti-
tudes, although there were some species in which they
were always identical. I find that the ant-lion has not one,
but several, death attitudes; likewise it possesses a num-
ber of death-feigning postures, some of which resemble
death poses and some of which do not. The insect be-
comes rigidly immobile in whatever attitude it may be
when it receives the shock. Absolute immobility is the
character that is common to all cases. When the feint
follows a long period of fasting, this inactivity often sim-
ulates death. The rigidity, however, is not so great as
that described for certain insects. In some species of in-
sects the rigidity of parts during a death feint is so great
that the insect may be picked up by the tarsus and held
out at right angles without the leg bending in the least.
That is not the case with the ant-lion. When an attempt
is made to lift it by a tarsus, the leg bends and the insect
awakes from its feint.
With a pair of sharp scissors one may cut off the legs
and the tips of the mandibles of a letisimulating ant-lion
without arousing the slightest response. Attempt to eut
the legs with a pair of dull scissors and the insect awakes
at once,
The duration of the death feint varies. Fabre, in his
study of a certain beetle (Souvenirs Entomologiques, 7th
series, pp. 14-27), found that the duration of the feints
gradually increased from the first to the fifth feint. To
50 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
test this matter, I selected one hundred ant-lions and, by
proper manipulations, made it possible for each to have
an opportunity to make twenty successive letisimulations.
These experiments revealed marked individual varia-
tions. The longest feint occurred anywhere from the
first to the sixteenth feint; although it usually occurred
near the beginning of the series. This irregularity in the
location of the longest feint is in accord with the work of
the Severins (Jour. N. Y. Entom. Soc., 1911, Vol. XIX,
pp. 99-108) and of Gee and Lathrop (Ann. Ent. Soc. of
Amer., 1912, Vol. V, pp. 391-399) on the giant water bugs
and the plum cuculio.
To see if the duration and location of the maximum
feint and the total time consumed in the series of leti-
simulations mentioned were factors of external stimuli,
experiments were devised to test the effects of tempera-
ture, strength of the inducing stimulus and hunger.
There did not seem to be any relation between these
stimuli and the results. These phenomena seem to de-
pend upon the individuality of the ant-lion; f. e., upon
internal physiological states which vary in different indi-
viduals and in the same individual at different times.
It seems to me that even a layman cannot listen to a
recital of such peculiar behavior as that mentioned above
without asking, ‘‘ What does it indicate as to the psycho-
logical status of the individuals?’’ Weir (Dawn of Rea-
son, 1889, p. 202) considers the letisimulation of animals
‘fone of the greatest evidences of intellectual action on
their part.“ Hamilton (Canad. Entom., 1888, p. 179),
Webster (Canad. Entom., 1888, Vol. XX, p. 199) and a
few others feel that the creatures consciously fear death
and take this means of avoiding it. Dr. Lindsley, in
„Mind in Animals,“ thinks this must require great com-
mand in those that practice it.“ However, the majority
The Psychology of Playing ’Possum’’ 51
of modern students of the subject look upon it as merely
a remarkable instinct.
Surely no one who is acquainted with how slowly the
ant-lion recovers from injuries could, for a moment, con-
sider anything intellectual which induces it to passively
submit to portions of its legs and of its mandibles being
amputated. Its letisimulation may be an emotional re-
sponse, but it certainly is not intellectual. The tonic con-
traction of the muscles and the diminished reflex irrita-
bility suggest hypnotic phenomena and lead one to agree
with Holmes (Pop. Sci. Mon., 1908, Vol. LXXII, pp.
179-185) that ‘‘the instinct of feigning death is doubtless
connected with much of what has been called hypnotism
in the lower animals.’’ It is well known that most ani-
mals pause momentarily when confronted with an unex-
pected or violent stimulus. The letisimulation of the
ant-lion seems such a pause prolonged and exaggerated.
The more I ponder over the results of my experiments
with death-feigning ant-lions, the more I am inclined to
exclaim with James: ‘‘It really is no feigning of death at
all and requires no self command. It is simply terror
paralysis which has been so useful as to become heredi-
tary.“
I am fully convinced that a careful examination of the
writings of recent experimenters upon letisimulating in-
sects will convince any unbiased person that the above
explanation is valid for all members of that group. Can
this same interpretation be given to the numerous appar-
ently authentic anecdotes about death-feigning mammals?
Let us consider three typical ones selected from Romanes
Mental Evolution in Animals“:
It so happened that, while puss was reclining at ease,
seemingly inattentive to all the world around her, a
weasel came unexpected up, was seized in a moment, and
52 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
dangling from her teeth as if dead, was carried to the
house at no great distance. The door being shut, puss,
deceived by its apparent lifelessness, laid her victim on
the step while she gave her usual mewing cry for admit-
tance. By this time the active little creature had recov-
ered its recollection and in a moment struck its teeth into
its enemy’s nose.“
Listen to the description of a death feigning Brahmin
bull which Surgeon Bidie describes as follows: Some
years ago, while living in Western Mysore, I occupied a
house surrounded by several acres of fine pasture land.
The superior grass in this preserve was a great tempta-
tion to the village cattle, and whenever the gates were
open trespass was common. My servants did their best
to drive off intruders, but one day they came to me
rather troubled, stating that a Brahmin bull, which they
had beaten, had fallen down dead. It may be remarked
that these bulls are sacred and privileged animals, being
allowed to roam at large and eat whatever they may fancy
in the open shops of the bazaar men. On hearing that the
trespasser was dead, I immediately went to view the
body, and there sure enough it was lying exactly as if
life were extinct. Being rather vexed about the occur-
rence in case of getting into trouble with the natives, I
did not stay to make any minute examination, but at once
returned to the house with the view of reporting the
affair to the district authorities. I had only just gone for
a short time, when a man with joy in his face came run-
ning to tell me that the bull was high on his legs again
and quietly grazing. Suffice to say the brute had
acquired the trick of feigning death which practically ren-
dered its expulsion impossible, when it found itself in a
desirable situation. The ruse was practiced frequently
with the object of enjoying our excellent grass, and
The Psychology of Playing ’Possum’’ 53
although for a time amusing, it at length became trouble-
some, and resolving to get rid of it the sooner, I, one day,
when he had fallen down, sent to the kitchen for a supply
of hot coals which we placed on his rump. At first he did
not seem to mind this much, but as the application waxed
hot he gradually raised his head, took a steady look at
the site of the cinders, and finally getting on his legs
went off at a racing pace and took the fence like a deer.
This was the last occasion on which we were favored with
a visit from our friend.“
Foxes, when surprised in a hen house, have acted as
though dead and permitted themselves to be carried out
of the house without displaying any sign of life. As
soon, however, as they have been thrown upon the dump
heap they have scampered away at great speed.
At first blush these examples seem to be on a higher
plane than the death-feigning of insects but, until the
letisimulation of mammals has been investigated by
means of carefully controlled experiments, it is best to
suspend judgment.
Ingersoll's discussion of the origin of the death-feign-
ing instinct of the opossum is illuminating. He mentions
the well-known fact that the same stimulus does not
always cause an opossum to letisimulate. When threat-
ened, sometimes it fights, some times it attempts to run
away, at others it feigns death. As far as keen investi-
gators have been able to determine, the external stimulus
is identical. He also calls attention to his belief that, at
the present day, the death-feigning behavior of the
opossum is baneful rather than beneficial. To illustrate,
in Texas there is a species of buzzard that threatens
the opossum by flapping its wings; then, as soon as
the animal letisimulates, proceeds to pluck out its eyes
and to gouge chunks of flesh out of its body. Since
54 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis
this instinct is now detrimental to the opossum, Inger-
sol thinks it a survival of a time when it was of value.
He reminds us that the opossums rank among the most
primitive mammals, and that when they appeared none
of the higher mammals had been evolved. The reptiles
were then the monarch of land, air and water. Many
of them were gigantic beings but, judging from the
size of their skulls, they must have been of a very low
order of intelligence, probably lower than our present
alligators. The indications are that these ancient rep-
tiles fed exclusively upon live prey. Small objects would
not have attracted the attention of such stupid creatures
unless they moved. It is easy to see how this death-
feigning behavior would be of value to an opossum under
those conditions. Ingersoll thinks that the instinct ap-
peared and was perpetuated at that time. When one
recalls the gigantic size of many of those reptiles and the
small size of the opossum, although Ingersoll does not
say so, the death-feigning of these marsupials might have
arisen as a case of terror paralysis.
If Ingersoll’s interpretation of the origin of the leti-
simulation of the opossum is correct, we seem justified in
saying that in both the opossum and in insects death-
feigning is but an exaggerated prolongation of the pause
made by most animals when startled. Although, until
other experiments are forthcoming, we must suspend
judgment about the nature of the letisimulation of many
of the higher mammals, so far as the insects and the
opossum are concerned, we can exclaim with James: ‘‘It
really is no feigning of death at all and requires no self-
command. It is simply terror paralysis which has been
so useful as to become hereditary.’’
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