INDES.

PAGE

ABORIGINES of Queensland . ee

Advance of oe in T: . 867

African lake fau - 526

gas - 147

Aga: Lou

A ar ati bot any

Alaska, zoological knowledge of

Eskim

Algæ, de Toni s sylloge algarum caer

Algæ, preservation of . . $32

Allen, J. A. Pocket mouse in con-

me - 58

Amphioxus, eyes o - 447

Angiosperms, primitive . i12

Annelids of Pacific Coast 35

Ants, psychical t iers of . 439

Apogamy in ferns 532

Aquarium plan 962

Arbacia, case o Gon H. 5

P EN and nucleus of £ Big:

nonia .

a ` 369

Arape, “have all a basidi-

omycetous stage a

Astasia, development oF 287

Atkinson, oe _Mycelia and

fungi fro - 98

Azores, bia pian S in. 128

BACILLUS, COR tie otoi . 287

Bacteria, sulp 456

Bangs, O Mammals of Labrador 489

Beal, W. J. Some unique

ples os dispersion of nation san mee

frui :

Bees, pais of a hive of

Bees, ay Sree qualities of .

Bessey, C. A e ag As CN ckets

439

as thermom

Bessey, C: E "Foot: hill vegeta

tion of Nebraska

w E Lifehistories of

kes

ical stations in Ameri rica

Panes Islands : 86

Blepharoplasts and c aei . 100

Boston basin, rocks - 534

Botanical ea 212, 294, 371, 884, 962

Botany at Gene 61

Brassempoi, finds at in 1896 .

. 586

PAGE

Brown rot of cabbage. . . . 99

Brown rot of Crucifera + 290

ryozoa, development o + « 205

Bud Bee ap wee 26

Bum

yak Si Identification of

fish prea hatche

Bunting, as Cork tissue in i roots

of Rosaceze

Bureau of ‘erhinblégy report

- 407

Seg A erie. prehistoric, in Maine 877

Have all Asc viet

gic a aa ei ertog 98

CABBAGE, brown rot of 99

r E E ee TOF

California, eruptive rocks «6330

California, rocks of - 614, 967

Campbell, D. H. Botanical as-

pects of Jamaic ae

Campbell, D. T'S mor-

phology of the Marattiaceæ . . 597

Campbell, D. H. Go "a ——

ographie der Pfi - 606

Canadian botany É x 461

ase, E. gnificance of

changes in the < ever

of primitive Reptil

Caulerpa, mia of the genus 959

Cell, — and ble a.

plast

Cell lineage a ea i P

Cell or corpusélées: o. ccu 4 Gas B48

Cell, plant, new organs 102

entrosomes and blepharoplasts . 100

Centrosomes, origin of 280

Cetacea, stom OF + 449

pipaeag development . 794

Cheese, ing o: 457

Cheirostr 3

robes . 46

Chelonian carapace and plastron,

orphology of

Sra analysis of the plankton, 952

irre cal changes in ?

. 334

Chilopods, development : . B8r

Chriacide and primates . 261

Claspers of elasmobranchs ; - Sor

Cleavage omaha origin of . 280

Clinohedri

Sag ie T. D. A. _ Development

of Man - 513

iv INDEX.

PAGE

Color vision we

Comstock, J. A and Needhash.

J a SoM wings insects

231, 335) 413, 561, = 903

Sgt. bibliographicum . 876, 92 5

Conopholis

Cork tissue in Ro set

Crickets as thermometers . - 263

Cr on dissimilar oo aa 355

Crucifera, brown rot of . <5 200

Cruciferæ; floral plan or. es 363

Cryptogams of the River Elbe . . 962

Crystal an ‘er e538

Cuba, flora of gee |

Suits Manasseh, etch o. 75

Cyclostome, : > | soe

Pietera Pupi a a a G

DaIsy, variationin ... . S9

Date, albamen of 2

Davenport, C. B. The advance of

189

G.C. Aga k

n the embryology of the turtle 187

Dermochelys, systematic position . 929

Determination of sex in plants. . 124

De Toni’s sylloge

- 961

Seong min of chilopods ~ 881

tiond, geresis of = . - - - 6fo

TEE skull of . ooa y y

Dig estion in pitcher plan ts

Dinichthyds, osteolo oe 47

dei of seeds and fruits . . 859

Drosera, buds o a so II4

Dine. ar, R Archesporium

and nucleus of Bignonia 7

EARLE, Ea The Chriacidze™ |

prima

ooo Nour on n fossil mammals ae

ope

Earth worm, regeneration of head 460

Eastman, C. R. Agassiz’s work o

fossil fishes . 177

Dentition i _Ptyctodonts, Ary 545

— N points in dinichth

osteology

Editor-in-chief - 949

Editorials :

“The aim of the American

Naturalist 49

Artificial ss asm - 949

Card bibliographies . - 518

ographicum . 876

pega biblio

Diagnostic characters of birds 430

: 949

-chiel. 3:

An editor found . . . : . 949

Fiftiet

American Association . . 515

Editorials :

The fur-seal problem . . . 199

Georg Bau

Marine biological ‘station for

- 783

120

519

Need of 3 an Anei “ tke

Aù new iological 3 journ nal. ; . i18

et = rk State College of

-8

Can

Saveliens techn nique

Methods in systematic work .

— scientific sser oint-

try

Plea for r systematic zoology

As an

: madd

Scientific 11g

Society for "Plant Morphology 121

Uniform system of cranio;

266

A ae of ‘extermination 429

Zoology in Japan. . < 3 450

Madnaenel daie sien SO

Epiphyllous flowers. : =- 370

Eskimo, graphic art of 3 ; 3

Etiolated leav

Europe, fresh-water fauna of, 789, 793

Europe, r 203

Deane a a halfcentury of. . 623

Eyes of Amphiox + 447

FARLow, W. G. aap of

species sf affected by in Saas

tion ungi . - 075

Fauni, fresh-water, of Ceylon 5 OOO

Fauna of France 594, 957

Faunas = Europe and America

ted .

oS » 525

erns E Nicata agua = 210

Field. G W. Methods in plank-

tonology . 735

Field, e H. Work of the Con-

cilium Bibliographi - 925

Filose pears in eatin eggs . 878

Fins of fishe 524

ae identification of artificially

tched . es

F om port ach . se QO

Fishes, mating of viviparous 305

Fishes to New England - 958

Fishes ot New Yo i oe < 209

Fishes of the Canary Islands . . 881

shes, paired finsof . . . : . 524

Flies of New Men es ee

Flora of Pleistocene . 296

Florida, mammals o; 433

rai vegetation : - 602

Fluid for preservin

ga 532

Forestry, New York Scie College

of .

Fouilles à Brassempouy .

INDEX. Vv

PAGE

Frog biography . . - : 436

Fruits, ripening of . E ae 207

Funafutti, Eoy of 586

Fungi, edible ig re N OOS

Fungi from a coal m a ress

Fungi of Netherlands. Sadia

Fusion of pup uer 879

as APAGOS, birds A 3986

anoids, dain of Eor

Ganon igi ga e of Cuab i N OY

Gar 13

anam m, » phi m in IIO

Generic. characters 218

Gentian, erine of 265

Geological changes ane roS. 623

Gemman under geer sical con-

diti ie

Gerould, J HA viviparous Ho-

lothur ‘

Gneiss o ara Anglesey, England ;

Gneisses, Adirondack . : 7

Granite: nodular ss - 614

tolites

< 892

Grasses, Lodicu les of

Gratacap, L. P. Delon ‘of James

Hall to American geology . 891

Grave, C Psychical qualities of

ants and bees . » 439

Grout, A. J. Adventitious buds i in

x . $14

Growth, réle of water i in . £22

HATIR, distribution of . - 447

Hall, James, his relation to Ameri-

can geology

Hardness of minerals 377

Harper, R. A. Spore imation i in

rangia 10

Harshberger, J. W. ater stor:

age and conduction in Senecio . 108

Hawaiian Islands, eid and sir 537

Hawks, alternation of sex in a

brood of . te

Hay, O. P. Classification of

amioid ie lepidosteoid fishes . 341

On ostega, the systematic

nae ye Dermochelys and

rapace an oooO

Head, segmen ` 58;

Helix nemoralis, variation of . . 913

i piy and hybridization + ~ 10%

Heredity, variation versus . . 821

rian, viviparous . . > «» 272

cree WR ko eaaa BS

Hovey, E. O. Notes on some

_ European museums . ‘ 69

owe, J. L. tion in the

shell of Helix nemoralis in the

Humphrey, J. E. Manasseh Cutler pe

ppt oan gee acid, animals and

plants . 104

Fma budding i in 526

IGNEOUS oe classification of . 465

Indian cere ials 432

Indians, Kwakiutl ‘ es A

In nfusoria, classification of eee

Insect wings, 42, 81, 231, 335 413,

561, 768, 903

Iron woods, East India Nees T

Irritability in climbing plants 530

Italy, basic rocks of . . eT eee

JAMAICA, botanical aspects of . . 34

Johns Hopkins, zoology at . 128

Jordan, D. S. Agassiz on recent

fishes sees

pepsin E F. C. Activity of hive ©

Kofoid, Cc. A. ` Fresh- water bio-

PEN eats" of Am - 391

-e nt faunistic R. in

e 789, 793

Kramer s disease of ‘sugar beets 4.299

Kwakiutl Indian 35

Labrador, mammals of . 489

Lakes classified by temperature WA

Lefevre, oa Origin. of. cleavage

centroso 280

Leguminoseæ, root tubercles of 365

Lemnacea = aN th America . 59

Lepidophlo 2 ae

Lepidos Ss pte ges

Eeucting ten “Montana - 466

Life zones -= thay zones 884

Fose A in ae

Low raoi botany OF =: 60t

FO F. C. Variations in the

dais à 4» 509

Maa M. A Mycorhiza

in the of Philesia . E o)

Mact te aks ae Ser iw. G6

Mammals of Florida . . . 433

mals of Labrador 489

Mammalia, es aa . 309

Mantis, development of ne!

M: i , morphology of . 597

| Maya territory, human remains

E a ee

Mendota, plankton of . ‘ 3

a n a, filose activity . 878

Meteo <n

icc. opin joke of 534

Millepora . as S27

Mineralogy, Dana’s text-book 965

Minerals, catalogue of . oo 379

vi INDEX.

pb ena hace and symmetry of bri

Minerals, hardness o 7

ker development BE oe es

Mounds in Lo

Murdock, Kiima known to

the aeg” s Alaska - 719

Muse rope, notes on. . 697

Mushrooms, Sira upon .

Mycorhiza in the roots of Philesia 97

Mydaidz of New Mexico - 448

NATURAL Scienc - 949

Nebraska, vegetation of foothills. III

Nerve cells, fine - 361

erve termin si - 590

Netherlands, fungi of 462

ea Mexico, 4

of - 4

w York State College of For-

. 8

estry

ret doen ferns ‘ob. 2

Nickerson, W. S. Morphology of of

Does ales :

Nomenclature in horticulture ‘

Noxious animals, w T 7I

Nutting, C. C. seca of Plu-

ergi ridæ pen eae

Uani, new “hardy oe

ODONTOID process i ; go

seta life- histories aE

Os Origin of the

i + 309

Osborn, H. L. "Variatio | in ‘Are

MEMES ce ee as 3

reer a half-century of evolu-

with reference to the effects

of cobtcigionl changes : 623

—— Philos sss mae views of Agas-

? I

Se ours Sa. Sees oes

Paleozoic of Poland 2

Pammel, L. Brown rot of

nae era

Morpho logy ‘and dev Di g

ment of Astasia and Bacillus . 287

a ology, a new journal of. . 800

Patten, W. A is for a theory

of alee vision ~ 8

Peirce, G. J. Living plants and

their propert

i Pfeffer’s Pilanzen h siolo e 450

Phloém in Gelsemium af ie Ho

Phytoplankton, | studies

— i Alternating dry-

ess and moistur re and e mma-

Suge se 106

mber ?

Picker acne digestion in : = 2t

Plankton, chemical a analysis of.

Plankton methods .

PAGE

Plankton methods in pe 789, 793

Plankton of Lake me

Plankton of Puget Sok on

Plankton studies . 125

KAREE flora . ; 296

Plu > sarcostyles er. eee

Pocket mo onfinement . . 583

land, leoia A Sa o

Pollination of Ge 265

zoa, development o 205

Porphyries of Lake Champlain 534

Potamogeton, emaren of 109

Pronephros of cyclosto 526

Proprietary rights in por ae 133

Protoplasm, artificial < O40

Protoplasm, studieson . . . x 271

Protoste + 929

Psychical qualities of of ants ‘and bees 439

Ptyctodon . 473» 545

amas variation ii: 779

Pupe, . 878

Paos, systematic position . 958

QUEENSLAND, Aborigines of . . 269

Races of Euro Pe peo 205

Ranunculus, life- history of

Regeneration in tubulari 123

Regeneration ae arthworm's head 369

Re egressive evo

Regulation in ea of organisms 12 3

oe skull of primitive . 69

Reviews :

Rasa! s Faune de a 594,95 7

Allgemeine Erdkun

Andrews’s The liring Sub-

s 2

Annuaire du Jardin Botanique

de — :

Archiv ads Pirani itol logie ; 3 900

ithe; s Vegetable Physiology 292

Bailey’s Garden Makin 54

Bailey’s Lessons wit nts . 284

Birge’s Plankton of Mendota 282

Britt d Brown’s Flora 02

Bureau of Ethnology, 16th Re-

e Sa

Butler’ ’s Birds of Indiana 880

Carrière’s Development of the

all-Be ee. - 794

Clark’s Laboratory Manual of

Clasen’s Rabbit Anatomy .

Combs’s Cuban Plants. . . 369

Cope’s Lectures on Verte-

ra i BET ae ara

Credner’s Elemente der Geo-

ogie

Crick’s Fossil Cephalopods in in

eum . SII

the British s

Dana’s Text-Book of Geology 375

INDEX. vil

Review PAGE | Reviews: PAGE

Dais Text-Book of Miner- Walker’s ang ta of the

- 965 higan . . 956

ee. sand “Moor’s Plant Weber-Van eae Monogra-

Physiology . 804 phie des Caulerpes 5

De Toni’s Sylloge Algarum . 961 d’s ks on Insects 58, 59

Miss Eastwood’s Stu 130 Wisconsin Geological d

Fairhurst’s Cigale Evoladon atural History Survey 883

Considered a DIO Wocke’s Alpen-Pflanzen 2

Fernald’s Pterophori ridæ „5906. | Rhoads, S. N: OF

Frank’s Agricultural Botany . 883 “beneficial” ? false poa in

Fuch’s Determinative Miner- zoolog ‘ e Ryg

alog EY Rhodolite, a ; new gamet 7 - 613

ore Organographie der Ripening of chee ere hs

. 606 | Ripening z Sechy fruits... 209

Handlivech’ s Phymatidæ ;

Hann’s Klimatologie

Harris’s Australasian Tertiary

Mollu 34

n Cheeks List of Plants 459

enry’s Feeds and Feeding

History of the Smithsonian

nstitution . 200

Hookers F lora of British

nes à 130

Indian any - aul

he Ai s eA of the Cat . 520

Lange’s Handbook of Nature

Lapparent „Leçons ‘de Geo-

graphie Physique

wre ee s debetis Rocks of

Calif 13

Low’s tana: als of Labrador 489

Monkeme ae Sumpf- und

Wasserpflanzen . 962

T mah Botanical ‘Studies . 805

prsia Botanical Garden

ort 28

Oxford Herbari 61

Packard’s Takk Book of Ento-

molo;

Parker and Haswell’s Zoology 787

Pfeffer’s E OPE 450

a s Archiv

Pittonia peti

Porter’ s Translation of the

“ Bonn” Bot

Proceatiabs of “the Indiana

Academy of Scien 2

poy seedy Darwin sae after

[e]

- 273

Scherer’ s ; Vegetation der Elbe 962

Scudder’s Melanopli . - 59

Shimek’s Ferns of Nicaragua 210

_Shufeldt’s oo on Natu-

ral Hi to 278

uess’s La Face de la Terre . 63

gel Pot compe Geo inte « 363

nf Th mpson’s Le 59

Urbina’s Catalogue or Mexi-

can Plan - 605

Sex

Shufeldt, R. W.

Rockery plants . 962

n associated with | iron ores in

Switzerland . 812

Ro ks, ‘basic, in Italy .

: . SII

I , 465, 613

Racks. eruptive of C alifornia

230

Ro a omenclature of contact . 814

asin

Roc ks of California . . 614, 967

Rocks of Castle mountain, Montana 1 37

ie ee of Ee, Re . 365

= W. Lodicules of

pe I

Ruedemann, R. Studies of grapto-

ites

promes E Fouilles à Brassem-

. 586

— = Ethnology of Funafutt 1. oe

— ds of Sata Pe

Tani of 203

—— The import er the totem é i 54

SALPA, anatomy of . - 524

Sargent, F. pa Lange’ s handbook

of eak tud : c Fes

Scale city goe plants of

Schists of Switzerland

Schiveley, A. Tek production in in

Amphicar ary

oe news, 64, 140, 214, 299,

. ari

, 80, 469, 540, 617, my 886, E

Sea o

Seedlings, vari y

Segm £ vertebrate head « 587

Sentate pana of dioctyledons . . 132

, determination of in plants i t24

Alternation of

=~ ina dg of — 567

s 9

Sim

Skull os sept tiles ece 09

Skulls of Hawaiian Isl: ander me

Smith, E. F. Bacterial Eroe ro ot

of cabba

ages À

—— Bailey’s lessons with plants . 284

First meeting of the wt oa &

of Plant Morphology an and Phys

ology .

Vill INDEX.

PAGE PA

Smith, E. F. Kramer’s disease of VARIATION in ambulacral smem

sugar beet of Arbacia 259

-—- Pinsent of c - 457 | Variation in Puccinia . 779

Root event of Legumi- Variation in seedlings . 952

nose . - 365 Variation in the : 509

hu ur bacteria . . 45060 | Variation of Helix — ; 713

Snakes, life-histori ‘ 17 | Variation versus heredity 821

Society for plant morphology > 96 | Vertebrate head, segmentation of 587

Sonoran flora 5 om 88 Volcanics of Michigan 952

Special cre 878

sn conception of 675 | Warp, H. B. Archives de Para-

Spenc 463 pico ; . 80

Snowe formation i in some Sporangia IOI arren, J. A. V ariations i in the

Squawro 108 teleutospores of Puccin - 779

Sterki, v: "Classification of Ciliate Water in bead 122

nfus Skoi fs « $35

Stimulation of- plants and ‘chemical Webb, R. J. Pollination of genti an 265

chan a 354 | Webber ,H.J. Are blepha eae

Sto ech movements 524 | distinct from centrosomes 100

Stomach o 590 | Whales, nomer nE 449

Sugar pea pTi of 99 | Wheeler velopment of

ugar ae ues eles oa the ts one (Chalicode ma) . 94

Salor Dab 456 | Whipple, G. C. Classification of

Sunstroke aint: haton «$33 lakes according to temperature. 25

Swing’ Here redity, o rigin Wiegan . M. Embryology of

of — and Sriep a 16 Po otamogeto eton _ 109

— Two new o: ko of the pen Wilder, B. G. Agassiz at Penikese 189

- . 102 | Williams, H. S. Variation versus

Swiss schis . 81 heredit 21

Switzerland rocks associated with Wilson, L. L. American squaw-

iron o root (Cono holis o8

Wings of insects, 42, ŝi, 231, 335,

AATDOIDS, fossil of France II5 43 sér, zo 903

mporal region of rE skull. 69 | Wisconsin, Forest o . 603

Fodmales of brain Wisconsin - 883

hompson, C. Phloëm in gel- olpi, rT at winter solstice 432

siiig 110 oods, A. T. Variable reactio

mport of To S of plants and Meie to hydr = ;

Trematodes, morphology of - 954 | -~ cyanic acid . 104

Trotting horse 55 | Wright, A. A. Agassiz: and the

Tubereeaon roots of Leguminoseæ Di ice age - 164

Tumors and germ layers zy Tunai flora of . 461

UNIONIDÆ of Michigan . . 956 | ZooLocy at Johns Hopkins 128

VOL. XXXII, NO. 373 4) JANUARY, 1898

THE

AMERICAN

NATURALIST

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES

IN THEIR WIDEST SENSE

CONTENTS

I. Synopsis of Recent Progress in the Study of Graptolites . Dr. R. RUEDEMANN

II. Contributions on the Life Histories of Certain Snakes . GEORGE E. BEYER

III. Classification of Lakes according to Temperature . . GEORGE C. WHIPPLE

IV. Botanical Aspects of Jamaica . . . DOUGLAS HOUGHTON CAMPBELL

V. The Wings of Insects. I. . . . J H. COMSTOCK and J. G. NEEDHAM

VI. Editorial: The Aim of the American Naturalist ;

VIL Reviews of Recent Literature: Anthropology, Report ofthe ie of Ethnology,

The Import of the Totem: by Frank Russell — General Biology, A Studyin

Heredity — Zoology, Weed’s Life Histories of American Insects, Weed’s Stories

of Insect Life: by J. H. C. — Botany, North American Lemnacez: by

The Oxford Herbarium, Botany at Geneva: by T.— -a

Geography, Recent Works

VIII. Scientific News

a = asr U.S.A. ie

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AMERICAN NATURALIST

EDITED BY

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WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF AN EDITORIAL Sora AND THE FOLLOWING

ASSOCIATE EDITORS :

E. A. ANDREWS, PH.D., Johns Fraa = Baltimore.

G. BAUR, PH.D., University of Chicag

WILLIAM S. BAYLEY, Pu.D., Colty eid Waterville.

CHARLES E. BEECHER, PH ie Yale University, New Haven.

DOUGLAS H. CAMPBELL, PH.D., Leland Stanjord Junior University, Cal.

J. H. COMSTOCK, S.B., Cornell University, It Lthac

Agere M. DAVIS, M.E. Harvard Univ, Berii, Cam

. S: JORDAN, LL.D., Leland Stanford Junior Cniversiy, Cali ifornia.

c PALACHE, PH.D., Harvard University, Cambridge.

D. P. PENHALLOW, S.B., F.R.M.S., McGill University, Montreal.

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ralogy and Petrography. The contents each month will consist of

leading original articles containing accounts ane discussions of new

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line; and in addition to these there will be briefer articles on various

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day, critical reviews of recent literature, and a final department for

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tHE

AMERICAN NATURA ISS

VoL. XXXII. January, 1898. NO. 373-

II NOPSIS OF RECENT PROGRESS IN. THE

SIUDY OF GRAPTOLITES.

Dr. R. RUEDEMANN.

THE graptolites have been a puzzling group of fossils to

palzontologists ever since they were discovered. Though on

account of their excessive abundance in certain strata, the

beauty and variety of their delicate forms, and the strange mode

of their vertical and horizontal distribution they have always

received a full share of attention, the knowledge of their mor-

phology has made only little progress, owing to their preserva-

tion as completely flattened carbonaceous films. As a result

of this incomplete knowledge of their structure, the systematic

conscience of palzeontologists acquiesced in their being assigned

to the Hydrozoa, in spite of the difficulty arising from the

formerly commonly accepted presence of the virgula or “ solid

rod ” in the rhabdosome and the supposed floating habit of the

graptolites. The fact that they were found to furnish excellent

data for the detailed division into zones of the Cambrian,

Ordovician, and Silurian strata prevented their neglect, although

so refractory to all attempts at close morphologic investigation,

and the search for them in the field never relaxed. The grati-

2 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

fying result of this persistency is that at last material has been

found which is accessible to modern refined preparative methods

and to microscopic analysis.

Giimbel (78) was the first to isolate stipes imbedded in lime-

stone. Later Tornquist (90, '92) obtained much valuable infor-

mation by grinding pyritized material. The best results,

however, have been obtained by the methods employed lately

by Holm (90,'95) and Wiman (93,’95). For the details of

these preparative methods, the reader is referred to Wiman’s

interesting account in his paper, “ Ueber die Graptoliten ” ('95),

the review (96) of his work in the American Geologist, and to

Wiman’s “ Structure of the Graptolites’’ (96).

Both Holm and Wiman isolated stipes by dissolving the matrix.

Various acids have been used for dissolving, according to the

nature of the rock. Limestone material was found the simplest

to handle, and muriatic acid in different states of solution or

milder solvents, such as acetic acid, gave good results. Espe-

cially interesting to American readers is the description which

Wiman gives of his treatment of highly aluminous clay slates, as

these are almost the only graptolite-bearing rocks found here.

Wiman subjected them to the successive action of acetic and

hydrofluoric acids. J. M. Clarke handled similar material

successfully with acids and caustic potash. These methods,

however, fail with a matrix that does not contain a sufficient

lime-content.to lose its consistence by the dissolution of the

latter, and this appears to be the case with most of the Ameri-

can graptolite-bearing rocks. Wiman had also occasion to isolate

graptolites from chert-masses by successively subjecting the

rock to a treatment with concentrated hydrofluoric acid and

muriatic acid.

The isolated graptolites have been decolored both by Holm

and Wiman in different ways. Wiman used first Schultze’s

maceration medium, which is a solution of calcium chlorate in

nitric acid, but later substituted for it eau de Javelle or potas-

sium hypochlorite, because Schultze’s medium is often too

harsh. The specimens were then cleared with chloroform or

other clearing fluids and mounted in Canada balsam, or, where

this method could not be used on account of the thickness of

No. 373-] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. 3

the periderm, the specimens were prepared for the microtome

according to the methods used by zoologists.

By the application of these preparative methods histological

and morphological discoveries have been made.

The histology of the graptolites has been especially advanced

by the researches of Holm (90), Sollas (94), and Perner (94).

The last two investigators demonstrated the presence of three

different layers in the periderm of Monograptus; vzz., a stronger

middle layer between two thinner ones. Wiman (95) verified

Perner’s observations as to Monograptus priodon and discerned

the two outer layers in Diplograptus. The middle layer in

Diplograptus contains the growth-lines observed repeatedly

before. The histology of the Retioloidea has been studied by

the above-named geologists and by Tullberg (82) and Térnquist

(90, 93). Holm found three layers; vzz., smooth epidermic and

endermic layers, which inclose the latticed network of chiti-

nous threads, from which this group derives its name.

In the Dendroidea Wiman ('95) observed the two outer

layers.

` However interesting the discovery of the differentiation of

the periderm of the graptolites is, especially on account of its

bearing on the question as to the zoological affinities of this

group, it is surpassed in importance by the knowledge which

has been obtained as to the morphology and development of the

graptolites. In reviewing the progress made in these directions

we will separately regard the Graptoloidea, Retioloidea, and

Dendroidea.

As an understanding of the conformation of the rhabdosome

rests with the knowledge of its growth from the sicula, it will

be opportune to review first the fundamental results obtained

by Wiman as to the growth of the initial part of the rhabdo-

somes of Monograptus (93), Diplograptus ('93), and some other

Graptoloidea. The sicula of these consists of a thin-walled

“initial part,” which is prolonged into a process, the “virgula,”

and of the “ apertural part,” which shows distinct growth-lines

and a three-spined symmetrical aperture (Fig. 1, s). From the

sicula sprouts a new individual, the first theca (Holm considers

the apertural part of the sicula already as “first theca”’), which

4 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vov. XXXII.

in Monograptus lies alongside the sicula and grows at once in an

opposite direction (Fig. 1, z). From this theca grows another.

The continuation of this process and the arranging of the thecze

in one series along the virgula produces the monoprionidian

thabdosome of Monograptus. Also from the sicula of Diplo-

graptus, as Tornquist (93) and Wiman found almost simultane-

ously, there sprouts but one bud, and Diplograptus is, therefore,

also monoprionidian. The first theca, however, grows at first

towards the aperture of the sicula and then bends in the same

———

In Figs. 1-8, s = initial part of sicula ; $1 = apertural part of sicula ; v= virgula; Z= theca.

Fic. 1. — Monograptus dubius Suess : sicula end from sicula side (Wiman).

Fic. 2. — Diplograptus sp.: sicula end from sicula side (Wiman).

Fic. 3. — The same : a later stage from anti-sicula side (Wiman).

Fic. 4. — Climacograptus kuckersianus Holm : sicula side (Wiman),

direction as the thecze in Monograptus (Figs. 2, 3). The theca

are arranged in two series, thus producing the diprionidian

aspect. The supposition that the diprionidian graptolites con-

sist of two coalescing monoprionidian branches, the double

virgula and the double longitudinal septum of the older descrip-

tions, has thus been refuted; the observations of Tullberg,

Tornquist, and Wiman prove that not even a single longitudinal

septum is always present, and that, if one is present, it does not

necessarily extend throughout the entire length of the rhabdo-

some. Fig. 4, representing a rhabdosome of Climacograptus,

No.373-] | THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. 5

demonstrates that a septum is formed, where the theca,

instead of sprouting on the opposite side of the adjacent older

thecze (¢1 ¢2), spring from the same side as the latter did (¢4 Z5).

Holm (95) obtained most valuable information on the internal

structure and development of some other important genera of

the Graptoloidea; vzz., of Didymograptus, Tetragraptus, and

Phyllograptus. The most interesting result of his researches

is the demonstration of the conformity in the first stages of

development of the rhabdosomes in these genera and the Diplo-

graptide. It is probable, therefore, that the earlier develop-

Fie. 5. E eae aint anti- BI side (Wiman).

Fic. 6 s Toérnquist : anti-sicula side (Holm).

Fic. 7. — Tet: a pares Hall: from the proximal end, with the sicula turned

upwards, showing the aperture of the sicula, left and right thecæ, and the thecz of

the

Fic. 8. — Phyllograpius angustifolius Hal: — me perm. mo with the sicula side

turned upwards, showing in th Pres. ed pst of the

sicula, on each side of this th f the lef

ment of all Graptoloidea was the same, and that it consisted in

the formation of only one bud on one side of the sicula.

Fig. 5 (from Wiman, '95) shows the initial part of a Dichograp-

tid, and Fig. 6 (from Holm) of Didymograptus minutus. Both

figures serve to illustrate the diverging growth of the first two

thecæ, which produces the characteristic bifurcation of these

forms. The repetition of this process (Fig. 7) in Tetragraptus

leads to the formation of four branches. The same takes place

in the development of Phyllograptus (Fig. 8), “only that the four

branches are disposed near each other and form a single, cru-

ciform, four-winged, longitudinal septum.”

The conformity of the rhabdosomes of all Gtaptoloides has

been made probable by these investigations (the Leptograp-

6 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

tidæ and Dicranograptide have not yet been isolated). The

morphology of the entire colonial stock, however, is, owing to

the frequent occurrence of only detached rhabdosomes, still

little known. Hall (65) first described stellate groups of Dicho-

graptidz from Canada; Hermann (‘g5) such from Scandinavian

rocks; Moberg ('93) published a description of a Monograptus

with disk; and Gurley (96) figured a Climacograptus with a disk-

like expansion of the virgula. Ruedemann (95, '97) discovered

colonies of two species of Diplograptus in Utica shale which.

have been deposited under such conditions of quietude as to

retain not only all the chitinous appendages of the mature col-

onies, but also the successive growth-stages of the compound

colonies.

It appéars from the material that the rhabdosomes of Diplo-

graptus formed umbrella-shaped colonies, consisting of rhabdo-

somes of various length, which radiate from a central organ,

“a

SSS

ATOI

EN ’

SOK

PPPE,

ANA

4 >

AEE

ie.

sarvigtevtceveuraidedtedeeateaieatarie:

“a ze

: N j I

Fic. _9. — Diplograptus Soliaceus Murch (D. ristis Hall): complete colony (Ruedemann).

Fic. 10.— The same: a, Gonangium filled with sicule; 4, sicula developing into a stipe

(Ruedemann).

the central disk (Fig. 9). The latter, in its turn, is connected

with a larger organ, the basal cyst, that probably served to

secure the stability of the colony in the ooze of its habitat.

The central disk is surrounded by a cycle of vesicles which

No. 373-] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. 7

contain numerous siculz attached by their apical ends (Fig. 10).

The writer compared these vesicles with the gonangia of the

sertularians, considering the sicule as the original chitinous

Fics. 11-20. — The same: devel t of lony (Ruedemann)

coverings of the embryos. (Holm sees in the initial part of

the siculz the covering of the zooid germ.) The development

of the colony is as follows :

1. The sicula is provided with a basal appendage to which

it is attached by means of a little round node (Fig. 11).

2. The node becomes a central disk and funicle. The sicula

produces at first one theca, then a second, a third, etc., as

demonstrated also by Térnquist and Wiman (Figs. 12, 13).

3. The budding of the thecæ along the lengthening hydro-

caulus produces the primary rhabdosomes (Figs. 14, 15).

4. While the latter is formed, gonangia, usually as four small

capsules, arise from the central disk. At last the latter mature

and open. Many, or perhaps all, of the sicula remain con-

nected to the parent colony (Figs. 16, 17).

5. These siculz grow out to rhabdosomes (Fig. 18).

8 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

6. After this first generation of rhabdosomes has reached a

certain age a second generation of gonangia begins to grow

(Fig. 19). “

7. The siculæ formed in these develop into a new verticil

of rhabdosomes.

The result of this mode of development is a colony which

consists of different generations of rhabdosomes, recognizable

by the different lengths of the latter (Fig. 20). An espe-

cially remarkable feature of the colonies is the position of the

sicula at the distal end of the rhabdosome in regard to the

central disk. The explanation of this peculiar position of

the sicula is found in the observation that the first theca turns

away from the aperture of the sicula and grows towards the

apical part of the latter, or towards the central disk, thus forc-

ing the whole rhabdosome to grow backward, so to say, towards

the center of the colony. Wiman’s figure of the initial part

of the rhabdosome of Climacograptus and Gurley’s figure of a

colony indicate a mode of growth similar to the one described,

only that in Climacograptus the colony apparently consisted of

only one (the primary?) rhabdosome, as perhaps all siculæ became

detached and developed colonies of their own. Also in Mono-

graptus the same mode of growth prevailed. In Phyllograptus

the rhabdosome grows also in an opposite direction to the sicula,

but no virgula has been found by Holm, and the mode of fixa-

tion of the rhabdosome is still doubtful.

In the other genera of the Graptoloidea, however, it has been

found that the first theca grows more or less in the direction

of the sicula. As a result, the sicula remains near the central

disk, at the proximal end of the rhabdosome, and the latter

grows distally. In the Dichograptide the whole colony is

formed by dichotomous branching from one sicula, which

remains at the center of the colony.

With the two different directions of growth of the rhabdo-

somes from the siculz the presence of a virgula as rod in the

thabdosome is closely connected ; for, by the observations of

Tullberg, Tornquist, and Holm, the fact has been established

that only the Graptoloidea with inward-growing rhabdosomes

(Diplograptide, Monograptus) have virgulz, while the others

No. 373. ] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES:. 9

have none. The explanation of this is found in the observa-

tion that the initial part of the sicula of probably all Grapto-

loidea is prolonged into a process (the virgula of Wiman,

the hydrocaulus of Ruedemann, the nema of Lapworth), and

that this process in the inward-growing rhabdosomes becomes

incorporated as virgula, while in the outward-growing rhabdo-

somes it remains outside (the nemacaulus of Lapworth). The

virgula was originally hollow. This is indicated by Wiman’s

observations in Monograptus and by the growth of gonangia

from the central disk in Diplograptus, which gives the hydro-

caulus the character of a stolon.

The demonstration that the virgula or “solid axis” of the

older authors is present only in a very restricted number of

Graptoloidea is of great interest, as the presence of this organ

has been considered as one of the principal characters of the

graptolites and has even procured them the name ‘“ Rhabdo-

phora.” The virgula, as identical with the hydrocaulus or

nema of the sicula, is, in reality, present in probably all grap-

tolites, for long filiform processes of the sicula have been

observed in numerous genera (e.g., Mzeandrograptus, Didymo-

graptus, Tetragraptus). Lapworth concludes from the presence

of this process that all rhabdosomes were either fastened to a

central disk, as in the Dichograptidze and Diplograptide, or

directly by the nema to foreign bodies.

We cannot leave the Graptoloidea without mentioning the

important investigations of Tullberg (82), Jækel (90), Perner

(94), and Giirich ('93,'96) on the shape and position of the

thecze, and their apertures in Monograptus, which led to the

division of the genus into the two subgenera Pomatograptus

Jeekel (Monograpti reversi Girich) and Pristiograptus Jækel

(Monograpti erecti), the interesting study of the phylogeny of

the Dichograptidz by Nicholson and Marr (95), based on the

shape of the thecæ, and the work of Miss G. L. Elles (97) on

the relations of the subgenera Petalograptus and Cephalo-

graptus.

The knowledge of the structure and development of the

rhabdosomes of the Retioloidea is still so uncertain that it can

be passed here with the remark that a different number of

”

IO THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

so-called virgulze and an “initial canal ” of the rhabdosome have

been observed.

The most interesting discoveries have apparently been made

in regard to the third group of graptolites, the Dendroidea.

These finely branching, plant-like graptolites, on account of

the absence of a virgula and the occasional presence of a dis-

tinct organ of fixation, which indicated a sessile mode of life,

in opposition to the generally supposed floating habit of the

Graptoloidea and Dendroidea, have been mostly separated from

the other graptolites, and are often unhesitatingly united with

the campanularians (cf. Zittel, 79). Their occurrence only as

flattened films prevented, until recently, all attempts at closer

investigations. The first indication of a more complicate

structure was given by Holm (90) in his description of Déctyo-

nema cervicorne. He found that the branches of the rhabdo-

some in this species consist of vertical rows of thecze, which

end in hayfork-like spines. Situated alternately on two sides

of these spines are peculiar cup-shaped bodies (“ by-thecæ ”),

which he compares to birds’ nests and supposes to have been

gonangia. While Holm first isolated these delicate fossils from

the limestone matrix, Wiman (95, '96) went further, applied

the microtome to them, and obtained a complete series of thin

sections of Dictyonema, Dendrograptus (?), and Ptilograptus.

The important result of his microscopic analysis is the discovery

that the morphological structure of the Dendroidea is much

more complex than was suspected, and that there are not less

than three different forms of thecæ, viz., thecæ proper, or

nourishing individuals, alternating canals (Holm’s by-thecæ),

which Wiman also considers as gonangia, and gemmating

individuals. The following illustrations (Figs. 21—28), selected

from a series of one hundred and twenty-five sections through

a branch of Dictyonema rarum Wiman, show this diversity of

the thecæ quite plainly. The nourishing individuals are de-

noted by ¢, the gonangia by g, and the budding individuals

by & Fig. 22 shows the opening of the gonangium on the

right side ; Fig. 23, the ceasing of the theca ; Fig. 24, the

growth of a new theca. In section 25 the budding individual

' has produced three new individuals, the further growth of

No. 373-] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. II

which is shown in section 26, while in section 28 the opening

of the next gonangium can be seen.

The hayfork-like outgrowths of the thecæ observed by Holm

and Wiman are supposed by the latter to have aided in the

process of propagation. In the writer’s opinion, they also

remind one of the nematocalyces of certain Plumularidz, which

are similar processes provided with a nematophore or altered

individual for the purpose of seizing food. They would then

constitute a fourth kind of individual.

While it becomes apparent from these discoveries that the

three groups of graptolites are more different than had been

21 22 23

pee

P 4

fk, % KN ”

t $

K '

25 26 27 "© 28

FIGS. 21-28. — Dictyonema rarum Wiman: series of transverse sections (Wiman).

supposed, it yet seems allowable to retain them in one class.

The systematic position of this class seems, by the observed

complex structure of the periderm and the high organization of

- the rhabdosome in general, to have become more uncertain than

ever before. As we saw before, the grapolites have, for a long

time, quite generally been united with the campanularians.

Lately, objections against this union have been raised, espe-

cially by Jækel and Neumayr (‘g9). Wiman holds the same

view as Neumayr, namely, that the graptolites cannot be placed

in any of the groups of living animals, while Ruedemann sees

in the gonangia of Diplograptus a new indication of relationship

with the Sertularida. Whatever the relations of the grapto-

12 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

lites may be, it certainly is necessary for the understanding of

the life history of the individuals of the colonies to compare the

graptolites with some class of living animals, and there is

undoubtedly no other class available but the order of Campanu-

lariæ. It also should not be forgotten that the virgula, which

always has been considered as constituting one of the principal

differences between graptolites and campanularians, has been

proved to be comparable to the hydrocaulus of the first theca

of the Campanulariz.

Another difference between graptolites and campanularians

has been supposed to consist in the floating habit of the former.

This leads us to the interesting question as to the mode of

life of the graptolites, which lately has been discussed by an

author (Lapworth, '97) whose lifelong study of these fossils,

both in the laboratory and in the field, gives his views the

greatest moment.

The peculiar mode of occurrence of the graptolites, vzz., in

numberless multitudes of broken rhabdosomes in highly bitumi-

nous shales, which are otherwise poor in fossils, their astonish-

ingly wide horizontal distribution and limited vertical range,

has often been an object of speculation. But it is now to be

hoped that, by the light shed lately on the structure and

development of the colonies, by the exhaustive study of their

distribution, and especially also by the researches which recently

have been carried on so extensively in regard to the conditions

and distribution of life in the ocean, the clue to the understand-

ing of their mode of occurrence will be found. The works of

Walther (93) and Ortmann (96) have done much to make the

results of these bionomic researches known among geologists,

and Walther’s investigation has given the direct instigation to

Lapworth’s valuable discussion.

The common consensus of two generations of geologists,

says Gurley, has been that the true graptolites (Graptoloidea,

Retioloidea) were “ floating.” Jækel and Wiman, on the other

hand, concluded from the heavy chitinous covering of the thecz

and the presence of the virgula as a supporting rod that the

rhabdosomes were not suspended, but that the colonies were

lightly moored to the ground. Ruedemann (97) was forced to

No. 373-] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. 13

believe in the sessile mode of life of at least one species of

Diplograptus by the finding of a slab (cf. of. cit., Pl. V) which

showed a great number of well-preserved colonies spread out

regularly in about equal distances from each other and arranged

in a well-defined area. Giirich (96) and Lapworth (97) have

advanced ideas lately as to the mode of life of the graptolites

which correspond to each other, and which apparently explain

many of the peculiar features in the distribution of these fossils.

Lapworth found in Great Britain that graptolites may occur

in all sediments, but that they are found only in great numbers

in rocks containing a considerable amount of carbonaceous

matter, and that the frequence of the graptolites is directly

proportional to the amount of bitumen present and to the fine-

ness of grain in the matrix. As the least motion in the water

would carry away the light carbonaceous matter, Lapworth

concludes further that the relative frequency of graptolites in

a sediment depends also on the quietude of the water in which

the rock was formed. This view is especially interesting to the

writer in reference to his observation of a parallel arrangement

of the rhabdosomes of graptolites in the Utica shale of the

Mohawk Valley (97). This arrangement indicates the passing,

during the Utica epoch, of a constant current in a northeast to

southwest direction along the southern coast of the Adirondack

crystalline area. As the alternation of graptolite-bearing shale

and coral-line limestone in the lower part of the Utica shale

proves, the current must have been strong enough to bring in

the fine mud forming the shale, but cannot have been strong

enough in the greater depths, where the deposition took place,

to drag the well-preserved, delicate rhabdosomes for a long dis-

tance. The occurrence of numerous perfect colonies in two

localities is proof of the occasional. presence of almost perfect

quietude. The latter, however, was the rare exception, the rule

having been a slight motion, the traces of which can be found

throughout the whole system of shales. The fine sinking mud

undoubtedly assisted greatly in keeping the carbonaceous matter

at the bottom.

Lapworth further opposes the opinion, so often advanced,

that the graptolites furnished the carbonaceous matter in the

I4 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

matrixeon the grounds that they are rarely found in a partly

decomposed state. From the appearance of the colonies and

their fragments, it is concluded that they sank slowly through

quiet water to the bottom. As the carbonaceous matter in the

rocks is a steady companion of the graptolites, it is supposed

to have sunk together with the latter. The source of this car-

bonaceous matter is found by Lapworth in seaweeds, which,

like the living sargassum, were pseudo-planktonic; that is, were

originally sessile, but, being torn off, continued to live and were

carried by the currents into all seas. Just as the richest fauna

of campanularians is still to-day found on the floating seaweeds

of the Gulf Stream, so the graptolites are supposed to have

flourished on the floating masses of palzozoic algæ. To

strengthen this theory, Lapworth calls attention to the fact

that it has been found that the rhabdosomes are either fastened

to a central disk or have at least a nema. Both central disk

and nema indicate that the graptolites were sessile. The

Dendroidea alone, which are never so common as the other

graptolites, fastened themselves to rocks and stones, and

belonged to the “ benthos”’ (lived at the bottom). Originally,

however, all graptolites were benthonic, and become only later

pseudo-planktonic. This change in the habitat necessitated a

change also in the direction of the theca, which is indicated

in the course taken by the first theca of Diplograptus (Fig. 2),

and by the direction of the thecz of Monograptus and of the

branches of Didymograptus, Tetragraptus, and Phyllograptus.

It cannot be denied that the peculiarities of the distribution

of the graptolites and their structure are well explained by

Giirich’s and Lapworth’s theories. It is highly probable that

many graptolites were indeed pseudo-planktonic, while some

may even have gone further and have become free-floating or

planktonic, and others are known to have been sessile at the

bottom.

- 373-] THE STUDY OF GRAPTOLITES. r5

LITERATURE.

CLARKE, JOHN M. Review of Carl Wiman, Ueber die Graptoliten.

Amer. Geol. Vol. xvii, No. 2, p. 115. 1896.

ELLES, G. L. The Subgenera Petalograptus and Cephalograptus.

Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc. Vol. liii, Pt. ii, No. 210. London. 1897.

GÜMBEL, C. W. Einige Bemerkungen über Graptoliten. Neues

Jahr. p: 202: 1978.

GüÜRrICH, G. Ueber die Form der Zellenmündung von Monograptus

priodon und über Silur und Devon des polnischen Mittelgebirges.

Jahresber. schlesisch. Ges. Bd. DX, p. 12. 1893. Zett. der

deutsch. geol. Ges. Bd. xlix, pp. 476, 954. 1896.

GURLEY, R. R. North American Graptolites. Journ. Geol. Vol. iv,

No. I, p. 63; No. 2, p. 291. 1896

HALL, JAMES. Graptolites of the Quebec Group. Figures and De-

scriptions of Canadian Remains. Decade II. Geol. Survey of

Canada. Montreal. 1865.

HERMANN, M. O. Die Graptolithenfamilie Dichograptide Lapw.,

mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung von Arten aus dem norwegischen

Silur; Myt Mag. Naturv. Bd. xxix, p. 124. 1885.

On the Graptolite Family Dichograptide Lapw. Geol. Mag.

Decade III, Vol. iii, p: 13. 1886.

Horm, G. Gotlands Graptoliter. Bihang k. Svenska Vet. Akad.

Han mt Bd. xvi, Afd. iv, No. 7. -18go.

m Didymograptus, Tetragraptus och Phyllograptus. Geol.

sea i Stockholms Forhandl. No. 164 (Bd. xvii, Heft 3),

pP 319. 1895. Trans. by G. L. Elles and E M:

Geol. Mag. Decade IV, Vol. ii, p. 433.

J#KEL, O. Ueber das Alter des sog. Graptolithen-Gesteins mit

besonderer Beriicksichtigung der in demselben enthaltenen Grap-

tolithen. Zeit. der deutsch. geol. Ges. Bd. xli, p. 653. 1890.

LAPWORTH, CH., in WALTHER, J. Ueber die Lebensweise fossiler

Meeresthiere. Zeit. der deutsch. geol. Ges. Bd. xlix, p. 241.

1897.

MOBERG, J. CHR. En Monograptus försedd med ieu. Geol. Fören.

i Stockholms Förhandi. No. 149 (Bd. xv, Heft 2), P. 95. 1893.

Neumayr, M. Die Stämme des Thierreiches. Bd. i. 1889.

NICHOLSON, H. A., and MARR, J. E. Notes on the Phylogeny of the

Graptolites. Geol. Mag. N.S. Decade IV, Vol. ii, p. 529. 1895.

ORTMANN, A. E. Grundzüge der marinen Tiergeographie. Jena.

895.

PERNER, JAROSLAV. Etudes sur les Graptolites de Bohême. _ rére

Partie. Suite de l’Ouvrage Système Silurien du Centre de la

Bohéme, par Joachim Barrande. Prague. 1894.

THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

RUEDEMANN, R. Synopsis of the Mode of Growth and Development

of the Graptolitic Genus Diplograptus. Amer. Journ. Sci. Ser. 3,

Vol. xlix, p. 453. 1895,

Development and Mode of Growth of Diplograptus McCoy.

Fortieth Annual Rep. N. Y. State Geologist for the Year 1894.

p. 217. 1897.

Evidence of Current Action in the Ordovician of New York.

Amer. Geol. Vol. xix, No. 6, p. 367. 1897.

SOLLAS, J. W. On the Minute Structure of the Skeleton of Mono-

graptus priodon. Geol. Mag. N.S. Decade III, Vol. x, p. 551.

1893. Rep. Brit. Assoc. for 1893. p. 781. 1894.

TORNQUIST, S. L. Undersökningar öfver Siljansomradets Graptoliter,

I. Lunds Univ. Arsskrift. Bd. xxvi. 1890.

Observations on the Structure of Some Diprionide. Kongl.

Fysiogr. Sällsk. Handl; N.F. 1892-93, Bd. iv. Lund. 1893.

n the Diplograptide and Heteroprionide of the Scanian

Rastrites Beds. Kongl. Fysiogr. Salisk. Handi. w.¥. Bd. viii,

p. 1. Lund. 1897.

TULLBERG, S. A. Skanes Graptoliter, I. Sven. Geol. Undersokn.

per. ©. Nr. $0: < 7882,

Studier öfver Retiolites. G. F. F. Nr. 63, Bd. v, No. 7,

p. 293. 1881.

WALTHER, J. Einleitung in die Geologie als historische Wissenschaft.

Teil i. Bionomie des Meeres. Jena. 1893.

Wiman, C. Ueber Diplograptidæ Lapw. Bull. Geol. Inst. Vol. i,

No. 2. Upsala. 1893.

Ueber Monograptus Geinitz. Bull. Geol. Inst. Vol. i, No. 2.

Upsala. 1893.

Ueber die Graptoliten. Bull. Geol. Inst. Vol. ii, No. 4,

Pt. ii. Upsala. 1895.

The Structure of the Graptolites. Vat. Sci. Vol. ix, No. 56,

p. 186. 1896.

Ueber Dictyonema cavernosum n. sp. Bull. Geol. Inst.

Vol. iii, No. 5. Upsala. 18096.

ZITTEL, K. A. Handbuch der Palzontologie. Pa/leozoologie.

Bd. i, Abt. i, p. 290. München und Leipzig. 1879.

CONTRIBUTIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF

: CERTAIN SNAKES.

GEORGE E. BEYER,

TuLANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA.

In reading over the magnificently compiled monograph of the

poisonous snakes of North America by Mr. Leonhard Stejneger,

and also an article on the breeding habits of snakes by Dr.

O. P. Hay, in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum

(Vol. 15, 1892), I find many points of character as well as of

the reproduction which appear, according to both writers, very

obscure.

My observations, extending over a period of nearly twenty

years, were made principally on ophidians, occurring in central

Europe, Central America, and our southern states, chiefly

Louisiana, and were conducted both in nature as well as con-

finement, the latter especially with a view to note the extent

of the exceedingly limited mental capacity and the develop-

ment of their sense organs. I have noted the entire period of

gestation of at least three of our venomous snakes from the

time of sexual union to the end of the term, and I dare say

with comparative certainty that the same length of gestation

occurs as well in Watrix rigida and Natrix grahamii.

The term of gestation may vary to a limited number of days,

but all my notes point to five months and a few days.

While searching for reptiles in the vicinity of New Orleans

on the 1oth of March, 1893, I happened to come across a pair

of Agkistrodon piscivorus in coitu, which must have, evidently,

been nearly or quite completed, for the male freed itself so

quickly that I failed to secure it, but the female, an unusually

large one, became my captive.

She proved to be a very aggressive and obstinate individual

for quite a long time, and refused food persistently for fully two

months. The cage in which I kept her was prepared with

some imitation of natural surroundings, and after the expira-

-18 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

tion of about two months the snake commenced to feed on

mice, and before another month passed by she swallowed

pieces of raw beef and fish with avidity. I continued to feed

her at the point of a little stick fairly regularly every two or

three days. About four months from the day I caught her I

noticed an increase in her size, but, of course, I could hardly

credit my surmise at first. On August 17, however, she pro-

duced nine young ones. She killed one by lying on it, but the

other eight were lively, in markings the same as the mother,

but more distinct, and the ground colors much more reddish

and brighter. To test their poisonous qualities I permitted

one of them to bite me on the following day, but outside of

the peculiar penetrating sensation attendant upon all venomous

snake bites, and not unlike a bee sting, I did not feel other

results. The young snakes measured exactly six and three-

eighths inches in length, and in their thickest diameter four-

fifths of an inch. The mother and five of her babies are now

in the collection of Tulane University, all having died the

following winter.

The winter of 1893-94 proved quite severe up to the end of

February, 1894, and reptiles did not appear until then; but

when I came to Avery’s Island, on the last day of March, Mr.

E. McIlhenny had collected for me a number of snakes, among

them a full-grown ground-rattler (Sistrurus miliarius).

As soon as I reached New Orleans again, a few days later,

I prepared a suitable cage for that snake. The first mouse I

offered was killed and swallowed with the greatest promptitude.

The deportment of this little rattler was not at all vicious, and

after a short while would pay but little attention to what was

going on in and about the cage; she even showed no signs of

irritability if I accidently touched her with my hand while

removing her water pan or cleaning out the cage. But I never

succeeded in getting her to eat anything except mice. Toward

the middle of July I noticed a gradual increase in her size,

especially in the posterior portions, and on August 12 she

gave birth to six little ones. They were born during the night,

and I found each one of them curled up in the manner of the

old one in different places in the cage. The newcomers were

No. 373-] LIFE HISTORIES OF CERTAIN SNAKES. 19.

the exact counterpart of their mother in color and markings,

the ground color, however, much lighter, and the head being

much more obtuse. Their length was five and one-half inches

by a trifle less than one-fourth of an inch.

According to the condition of the weather and temperature,

it is hardly possible that the snakes left their winter quarters

before the beginning of March; mating must have taken place

soon after, and, supposing it to have occurred about the middle

of March, it will then determine the term of gestation to five

months, or possibly a trifle over.

While on Avery’s Island I captured, on April 1, two large

water-moccasins. I kept the pair isolated from other snakes,

but exactly thirteen days (August 25) after the birth of the

ground-rattlers I came also in possession of eight young water-

moccasins.

The same conditions as to temperature and the appearance

of the snakes after hibernation prevailed in this case, and we

find the term again to be five months and possibly a few days

more.

In regard to the quotation of the notes on the pairing, etc.,

of Agkistrodon piscivorus, as observed by Effeldt in the Berlin

Zoological Garden,! the period of gestation is considerably over

five months. The dates, however, appear to have been noted

with accuracy, and the excess of days in the period, if compared

with my own notes, may be due to the climatic conditions under

which the occurrence took place; but the statement of the size

of the young at birth, as well as the color and markings, I

believe to be unquestionably wrong. Our largest Crotalidze

never bring forth young of the length of ten and two-fifth

inches, much less a water-moccasin.

On April 12, 1895, a negro came to me with an ordinary

bird trap-cage. In it he had two magnificent copperheads,

which he said he had caught on the previous evening in a cane-

brake in the act of copulation. I purchased them and devoted

considerable time to their care. Both of them accepted food

very readily, and after awhile became gentler and more tractable,

a trait which seems to me very much pronounced in copperheads,

1 Report of U. S. National Museum, 1893, pp. 409, 410.

20 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL XXXII.

as I have found repeatedly illustrated in a number of other indi-

viduals of that species. I did not notice anything unusual

until late in the evening of September 16, when the female

(the larger one of the two snakes) brought forth seven young.

These again were marked and colored like the parents, only

more brilliantly. I have certainly no reason to doubt the

negro’s statement, especially as a later dissection proved the

other snake to have been a male. The term of gestation is in

this case again five months and four days. On May 3 of the

same year some students brought me three specimens of

Natrix grahamii, which they had caught in our university

grounds. Two of the snakes were females. In September

five young were born alive, while a sixth one remained dead in

the membranous eggshell, although it had been expelled from

the parent’s body. I noticed that the food yolk of these little

creatures was much larger and remained attached to them

longer than in the young of the poisonous snakes.

In regard to Eutenia proxima and E. sirtalis, I am confi-

dent that, while, of course, the species are ovoviviparous as

well, the number of young at one time is rarely more than

eight or nine. Twice I have had young ones of that species

born in confinement, at one time only five, at another, eight.

They were five and three-fourths inches in length, and fully

three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness. As to the term of

gestation I am not certain, but pairing occurs in March and

April, for I have had repeated opportunities to observe it in

our swamps and palmetto thickets.

The structure of the membranous eggshell of all ovovivip-

arous snakes seems to be alike; it is very thin and perfectly

transparent, and causes no difficulty to the young snakes to

rupture it. The egg tooth, however, I have been able to find

only in the young of Natrix grahamii. The motion of ruptur-

ing the inclosing membrane I saw very nicely demonstrated by

the young of Agkistrodon piscivorus. The vertex lies close to

the side of the wet and slimy shell; the simple motion of draw-

ing the tip end of the nose upward and backward suffices to

make an opening large enough for the little creature to crawl

forth. All snakes shed skin from three to ten days after

No. 373.] LIFE HISTORIES OF CERTAIN SNAKES. 2i

birth. The food yolk remains attached for some time after

birth, and zs not entirely absorbed before.

There is certainly a grave mistake in Dr. H. C. Bumpus’

account of Eutenia sirtalis (quoted in the Proceedings of the

U. S. National Museum, Vol. 15, p. 388), for the genus Eutzenia,

as stated before, is ovoviviparous, and the young are marked

just like the old ones, only much more brilliantly. Dr. Bumpus

must have found the eggs of Bascanton constrictor.

According to the just-stated observations, the term of gesta-

tion seems to me definitely defined. At the same time we

must also give credit to other statements, and the question

arises, Do snakes copulate twice a year? Observations made

by me in Europe on Pelias berus, Vipera redii, Tropidonotus

natrix, and Coronella levis seem to contradict such an assump-

tion. In all cases, with the exception of Vipera rediz, I have

seen copulation in captivity, and I found the desire for repro-

duction to manifest itself in April and May, the young of

Pelias and Coronella to be born in August and September,

but the eggs of Tropidonotus to be laid in June and July. I

placed freshly laid eggs of Tropidonotus natrix and T. persa in

dunghills, and twenty-three days later I obtained the young

ones. It is remarkable to notice the tenacity and intent with

which the males persist in following up the females during the

time of sexual desire.

How much I was mistaken in rating the toxic qualities of

very young venomous snakes is illustrated by the following

history of the bite of a young Sistrurus miliarius. As stated

before in this article, I tried the effects of the bite of a young

water-moccasin and experienced no results worth while men-

tioning.

During the noonday hour of Aug. 20, 1894, exactly eight

days after the birth of the young ground-rattlers, I picked one

of them up, teased it a little, and presented the first joint of

the little finger of my right hand fora bite. The little snake

bit with a vengeance. The momentary sensation resembled

the sting of a bee; at the same time a lightning-like pain

seemed to shoot up to the shoulder. A few minutes later

actual pain extended to the second joint; a slight discoloration

22 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VOOr: XXXII.

around the wound, which, by the way, was scarcely perceptible,

set in, indicating the destruction of the capillary walls and

consequent extravasation. (Œdema also made its appearance,

and in a short while both swelling and pain increased in vio-

lence, extending gradually to the wrist and forearm, causing a

numb sensation in the elbow joint, which sensation, however,

disappeared again as the pains became more severe, and ex-

tended further up toward the shoulder. In less than an hour

I was hardly able to raise my arm. Up to two hours after

the bite the symptoms seemed to be merely local, but after

that time they became systemic. General oppression and a

slight degree of subjective vertigo commenced to be notice-

able, both sensations increasing and remaining until after

nightfall, and by eight o’clock dyspnoea became very trouble-

some. This feeling lasted until half past eleven, when I went

to bed. The pain, however, which in the meantime increased

in violence and extent, caused me to pass a sleepless night.

By daybreak the swelling had extended well down my right

side and upwards, even involving the same side of my face.

Neither dilatation nor contraction of the pupil was noticeable.

The pectoral region was extremely painful, but no such symp-

toms appeared in the scapular. The little finger was swollen

to double its size, and the wound appeared like two black dots.

The whole hand, as well as part of the forearm, showed upon

pressure an exaggerated degree of resilience and heat. The

temperature rose to one hundred and three degrees during the

night, but by ten o'clock the following morning had subsided

to ninety-nine and three-fifths. From that time on reaction

set in, the symptoms gradually subsided, but an uncomfortable

feeling throughout the entire system remained up to a period

of thirty-six hours. After three days swelling and inflamma-

tion had almost all disappeared. Pains upon pressure, how-

ever, were noticeable as yet in the entire area which had been

involved, and the discoloration in the axilla was very marked.

Suppuration did not take place anywhere. No remedy had

been applied from beginning to end.

The development of the sense organs in snakes leaves one in

doubt at times just how far it extends. Sight is fairly good as

No. 373.] LIFE HISTORIES OF CERTAIN SNAKES. 23

long as the object is moving; but I hardly think there is enough

comprehension to distinguish a rat or frog as long as they will

keep perfectly still. I have noticed that a snake will follow its

victim around and around with its eyes, but, even if it should

stop suddenly right in front of the snake and in convenient

distance to strike, and keep perfectly motionless, the snake

appears to be in doubt of its identity; the slightest muscular

twitching in the victim, however, is then of course sufficient to

overcome the uncertainty and hesitancy of the snake.

Smell is imperfectly developed, but it is amply supplemented

by their exquisite feeling in the ends of the tongue. The

sensitiveness of that organ is so fine that an absolute touch

does not seem to be necessary, but the impression is conveyed

to quite a long distance, sometimes for an inch or two. In

regard to hearing, it is rather difficult to obtain accurate

knowledge. At times it appears very acute, and at others no

attention whatsoever is paid to sounds. If snakes are very alert

and some noise is made, without disturbing the cage in the

least and without making oneself visible, I found that they

would catch up the sound waves very readily, and conveyed the

fact by turning their-head quickly in the direction of the sound

and by their rapid display of the tongue.

The most careful and thorough observations, however, have

so far not brought me to the solution of that bugbear of herpe-

tologists, the use of the pit of the Crotalidz and their next, of

kin, the moccasins. The assumption of the existence of a

sixth sense is certainly easily maintained by the anatomical

structure of the pit and the ramifications of the nerve in its

linings. i

On the life of some of our venomous snakes in captivity a

few remarks may not be out of place. It is generally believed

that they refuse food persistently and finally die of starvation.

I have found, however, that the majority will accept living food.

without hesitation, as long as their receptacle is in any way

arranged like their native haunts. The most interesting of our

venomous ophidians I consider the copperhead, which in cap-

tivity becomes very tame, learning to take food, such as pieces

of meat and fish, from the fingers. I possessed one some time

24 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

ago which would drink water out of a small graduated glass

while I held it in my fingers. This snake learned to know

very well that when I opened its cage door something in the

line of food or drink was forthcoming. Several other copper-

heads that I kept at different times became quickly tame, and I

found them easily satisfied with pieces of fish, which they pre-

ferred to beef. Water-moccasins became very tame also, but

they are much more sluggish, and therefore less interesting.

Of the latter I kept one pair nearly seven years in the cage.

I suppose I would have them still if some one had not killed

them by throwing boiling water on them when I was taken ill.

The greatest enemy of snakes kept in captivity I found to

be a flat worm, shaped and colored almost like a leech, which

penetrates all tissues. I found them at one time in the peri-

cardium of a rattlesnake. Once these parasites manifest them-

selves, it is generally the death warrant to all snakes kept in

confinement at the time. Another very troublesome and

usually fatal affection appears in the shape of brownish-looking

pustules; they are malignant, and the only chance in keeping

the other snakes is isolation of the affected ones. I have seen

a few recover by rupturing the pustules and sprinkling aristol

on them.

In conclusion I may add that some weeks ago I received

seven specimens of Crotalus atrox from San Antonio, Texas.

Six of them are full grown; the other one is a small one of

about eighteen inches in length, which is feeding lustily on

Anolis. The venom of this little snake is evidently of consid-

erable strength, for the death of the lizard ensues almost instan-

taneously after the bite. Three of the other six are evidently

males. Sexual congress took place between one pair on May

_ 14. The males are a little smaller and darker than the females.

All are very excitable at present, any noise about the room

being sufficient to start them to rattle. There seems to be

absolutely no limit to their rattling. So far all of them have

refused food. A young rat, which I put into the box, I had

to remove again after two days, for the snakes never attempted

to kill it.

CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES ACCORDING TO

TEMPERATURE.

GEORGE C. WHIPPLE,

DIRECTOR oF MT. Prospect LABORATORY, BROOKLYN WATER DEPT.

In view of the increasing attention that is being given to the

study of the temperature of the water in lakes and ponds it

seems advisable to establish some system of classification by

which we may group these bodies of water according to their

temperature, thus giving additional value to the data accumu-

lating on the subject. A suggestion for such a classification is

here presented. It may add to a better understanding of the

subject if we refer briefly to the temperature changes which

take place in a body of water and the practical importance of

the physical phenomena which they produce. We cannot do

better, perhaps, than to take Lake Cochituate as an example

and study it by the aid of the diagram in Fig. 1. The curves

in this diagram are based on a seven years’ series of weekly

observations, but certain irregularities have been omitted for

the sake of simplicity. If we trace the line of surface tem-

peratures, we observe that during the winter the water imme-

diately under the ice stands substantially at 32° F., though it

may be added that the ice itself often becomes much colder

than 32° at its upper surface. As soon as the ice breaks up

in the spring the temperature of the water begins to rise.

This increase continues, with some fluctuations, until about

the first of August. Cooling then begins and continues

regularly through the autumn until the lake freezes in Decem-

ber. If this curve of surface temperature were compared with

the mean temperature of the atmosphere for the same period, a

striking agreement would be noticed, and it would be seen that

the water temperature is the higher of the two, — probably

because of the direct heat received from the sun. In shallow

ponds this effect is very marked, but in large, deep lakes,

26 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

where the water circulates to considerable depths, the at-

mospheric temperature is usually higher than the water

temperature.

The temperature at the bottom of Lake Cochituate during

the winter, when the surface is frozen, is not far from that of

maximum density (39.2° F.). The heaviest water, therefore, is

at the bottom and the lightest. at the top, the intermediate

layers being arranged in the order of their density. Repeated

yo N 70

so’ 50°

aoTrrTrow?

#o°

40’ f <<

TEMPERATURE OF LAKME COCHITUATE

30° | | | 30°

JAN. | FEA | MAR | APA | MAY | JUNE | JULY | AUG | SEPT | OCT. | NOV | DEC.

Fic. 1.

observations have shown that the colder water occupies a com-

paratively thin stratum under the ice, and that the temperature

at a depth of ten feet is not much lower than at the bottom.

With these conditions the water is in comparatively stable

equilibrium. There is no tendency for it to circulate vertically.

It is in a condition of “ inverse stratification,” as Forel calls it,

when the colder water is above the warmer. It is the “ period

of winter stagnation.” In the spring when the ice breaks up

the cold surface water becomes mixed to a certain extent with

the warmer water below it, and the bottom temperature drops

No. 373-] CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES. 27

slightly. Soon the surface and bottom layers come to have

substantially the same temperature, and vertical currents extend

from top to bottom. This is the “ period of spring circulation,”

or the “ spring overturning.” It lasts several weeks, but varies

in duration in different years. As the season advances the

surface water becomes warmer than that at the bottom, and

finally the difference becomes so great that the wind is no

longer able to keep up the circulation. Consequently, the

bottom temperature ceases to rise, the water becomes ‘directly

stratified,’ and the lake enters upon the period of ‘summer

stagnation.” During this period, which extends from April to

November, the bottom temperature remains constant and the

water below a depth of about twenty-five feet remains stagnant.

This bottom temperature during the summer varies with differ-

ent years, depending upon the meteorological conditions at the

time when the period begins. In the autumn, as the surface

cools, the water becomes stirred up to greater and greater

depths, until finally the “ great overturning” takes pla¢e, and

all the water is in circulation. At this time there is a slight

increase in the bottom temperature. Then follows the “ period

of autumnal circulation,” during which the surface and bottom

layers have substantially the same temperature. In December

the lake freezes and “ winter stagnation ” begins.

Thus during the year there are two periods of circulation and

two periods of stagnation. These physical changes have an

important effect upon the quality of the water. During the

stagnation periods much of the suspended matter in the water

settles to the bottom, where there is already a large accumula-

tion of organic matter. This decomposes, robbing the lower

layers of water of all the oxygen present. Decomposition then

goes on under the influence of the anzrobic bacteria, and the

water becomes charged with the products of decay. By the

end of the stagnation period the lower layers have a very high

color and a bad odor. At the overturning the foul water is

carried into circulation, and its effect is noticed throughout the

entire body of water. Nor is this all. The circulating water

brings up from the bottom certain micro-organisms which have

been lying dormant, and the products of decay alluded to

28 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vov. XXXII.

become changed into food material suitable for them; conse-

quently, the organisms develop and the quality of the water

suffers.

This matter of stagnation with its unpleasant effects is an

important one for water-works engineers to study. The growth

of organisms is closely connected with the presence of organic

matter at the bottom. Observations have shown that if the

organic matter is absent the organisms do not grow to any great

extent. The best modern practice in the construction of reser-

voirs for water supply, therefore, indorses the removal of the

soil from all areas to be flooded. This, however, is usually a

matter of great expense, and, for that reason, some engineers

do not consider it advisable to remove the soil from very deep

reservoirs. In the opinion of the writer this position is well

taken only in the case of reservoirs so situated and so deep that

there is practically no circulation of the water at the bottom,

and, therefore, no opportunity for any foul matter to be carried

upwards. ;

The requisite depth for the attainment of such a condition

is at present unknown. We know that in some very deep lakes

the water at the bottom remains constantly at the temperature

of maximum density, but we do not know how much this depth

must be diminished in order to have circulation take place.

Moreover, the depth is not the only factor concerned. The size

and shape of the lake, its geographical location, and the nature

of the surrounding country all have their effect upon the

circulation of the water. As the vertical circulation of water

can be studied best by means of its temperature, we see how

valuable it would be to have regular and continued temperature —

observations made at various depths in our deep lakes and

ponds. The observations thus far made are far too few to

enable us to establish the point desired.

According to the classification here suggested, lakes and

ponds are divided into three types, according to their surface

temperatures, and into three orders, according to their bottom

temperatures. The resulting nine classes are shown in Fig. 2.

On these diagrams the boundaries of the shaded areas represent

the limits of the temperature fluctuations at different depths.

No. 373-] CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES. 29

The horizontal divisions represent temperatures ‘in Fahrenheit

degrees increasing towards the right, and the vertical divisions

represent depth. The three types of lakes are designated as

polar, temperate, and tropical. In lakes of the polar type the

surface temperature is never above that of maximum density;

in lakes of the tropical type it is never below that point; in

lakes of the temperate type it is sometimes below and some-

times above it. This division into types corresponds somewhat

closely with geographical location.

The three orders of lakes may be defined as follows: lakes

of the first order have bottom temperatures which are prac-

TAOPICAL TYPE

POLAR TYPE TEMPERATE TYPE SUAPACE

° . . : . .

sE 8 Ys $

FIAST ORDER FIAST OARDER FIAST ORDEA

POLAR TYPE TEMPERATE TYPE TROPICAL TYP, sunrae

FCONO ORDER

POLAR TYPE

SECONO ORDEA

CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES

Fic. 2.

tically constant at or very near the point of maximum density ;

lakes of the second order have bottom temperatures which

undergo annual fluctuations, but which are never very far

from the point of maximum density; lakes of the third order

have bottom temperatures which are seldom very far from the

surface temperatures. The division into orders corresponds in

a general way to the characters of lakes; 7.e., size, contour,

depth, surrounding topography, etc.

This classification is essentially the same as that recently

proposed by Forel. He divides lakes into three types, polar,

30 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VOL: XXXII.

temperate, and tropical, but bases the distinction upon bottom

temperatures instead of surface temperatures, as follows:

1. Tropical Type: Temperature of deep layers varies from

and above maximum density.

2. Temperate Type: Temperature of deep layers varies above

and below maximum density.

3. Polar Type: Temperature of deep layers varies from and

below maximum density.

He subdivides each type into two classes, deep and shallow,

defining deep lakes as those which have a constant bottom

temperature, and shallow lakes as those which have a variable

bottom temperature. This subdivision is not a happy one, as

observation shows that there are many lakes which would

unquestionably be called “deep” which have a variable bottom

temperature. ,

The temperature changes which take place in the nine classes

of lakes according to our system of classification are exhibited

in another manner in Fig. 3. These diagrams show by curves

the surface and bottom temperatures for each season of the

year, the times being plotted as abscissze and the temperatures

as ordinates. The shaded areas show the difference between

the surface and bottom temperatures, the wider the shaded

area, the greater being the difference.

A study of these diagrams brings out some interesting facts |

concerning the phenomena of circulation and stagnation. In

Fig. 2 it will be seen that the circulation periods occur when

the curve showing the temperatures at various depths becomes

a vertical line; that is, when the water all has the same tem-

perature. The stagnation periods are shown by the line being

curved, the top to the right when the warmer layers are above

the colder, and to the left when the colder layers are above the

warmer. In Fig. 3 the circulation periods are indicated by

the surface and bottom temperature curves coinciding, and the

stagnation periods by these lines being apart. The distance

between the lines indicates, to a certain extent, the difference

in density between the top and bottom layers, and we see that

the farther apart the lines become the less likelihood there is

that the water will be stirred up by the wind.

aig

No. 373-] CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES. 31

In lakes of the polar type there is but one opportunity for

vertical circulation (except in the third order), namely, in the

summer season, when the water approaches the temperature of

maximum density. In a lake of the first order, that is, in one

where the bottom temperature remains constantly at 39.2°, the

circulation period would be very short indeed, if not lacking

altogether. In a lake of the second order circulation might and

POLAR TYPE TEMPERATE TYPE TROP/CAL TYPE

FIRST ORDER FIRST ORDEA FIAST ORDER

POLAR TYPE TEMPERATE TYPE TROPICAL TYPE

SECOND ORDER SECOND ORDER

POLAR TYPE TEMPERATE TYPE TROPICAL TYPE

pen 39.2" j JN 3q2°

320° 320°

THIRD ORDER THIRD ORDER THIRO ORDER

CLASSIFICA TION OF LAKES.

Fic. 3.

probably would continue for a longer period. In a lake of the

third order the water would be in circulation nearly all the time

except when frozen. The minimum temperature limit indicated

for this order, z.e., 32° at all depths, would be possible only in

very shallow bodies of water, and would simply indicate that

all the water was frozen; the temperature of the ice would

probably be below 32° at the surface. It is probable that very

few polar lakes exist.

In lakes of the tropical type there is likewise but one period

of circulation each year (except in the third order). This would

32 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

occur not in summer, but in winter. In the first order this cir-

culation period would be brief or entirely wanting; in the second

it would be of longer duration; in the third order the water

would be liable to be in circulation the greater part of the year.

Tropical lakes are quite numerous, but GUSEr VALID ns are lacking

to place them in their proper order.

Most of the lakes of the United States belong to the tem-

perate type. In this type there are two periods of circulation

and two periods of stagnation (except in the third order), as we

have seen illustrated in the case of Lake Cochituate. In lakes

of the first order the circulation periods would be very short or

entirely wanting; in the second order the circulation periods

would be of longer duration; in the third order the water would

be in circulation throughout the year when the surface was not

frozen.

If we recapitulate in tabular form, we have the following:

CIRCULATION PERIODS.

PouLar Types.

TEMPERATE TYPE.

TRropicaL TYPE.

Ist Order.

One circulation

period possible,

in summer, but

generally none.

Two circulation

periods possible,

n spring and

fall, but gener-

ally none.

One circulation

— possible,

n winter, but

generally none.

cai il a Neg a a

2d Order.

One circulation

period, in sum-

mer.

Two circulation

periods, in

spring and

autumn.

One circulation

perio in win

ter

3d Order.

Circulation at all

seasons, except

when surface is

Circulation at e

frozen.

Circulation at all

seasons.

Speaking in very general terms, we may say- that lakes of the first order have

no circulation ; lakes of the third order have no stagnation (except in winter);

and lakes of the second order have both circulation and stagnation.

In view of the comparatively few series of observations of

the temperature of our lakes, the writer refrains from making

any classification of the lakes of the United States, but the

No. 373-] CLASSIFICATION OF LAKES, 33

results thus far obtained seem to indicate that the first order

will include only those lakes more than about two hundred feet

in depth, such, for instance, as the Great Lakes, Lake Cham-

plain, etc.; the second order will include those whose depth is

less than about two hundred feet, but greater than about thirty

feet ; and the third order will include those whose depth is less

than twenty-five feet. These boundaries are only approximate,

and it should be remembered that depth is not the only factor

which influences the bottom temperature.

Instead of citing long tables of figures giving the results

thus far obtained, which would materially lengthen this paper,

the writer prefers to cite a list of references which the reader

may consult.

LITERATURE.

Wm. R. NICHOLS. On the Temperature of Fresh Water Lakes and Ponds.

Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Vol. xxi. 1880. (This paper contains

. a bibliography of the subject to date.)

HAMILTON SMITH. Temperature of Lakes. Trans. Amer. Soc. Civ. Eng.

March, 1884.

FREDERICK P. STEARNS. Temperature of Water. In Special Report of

the Mass. St. Bd. of Health on Examination of Water Supplies.

p-659. 1890.

C. Dwight MarsH. Notes on the Temperature and Depth of Green

ake. Trans. Wis. Acad. of Science, Arts, and Letters. Vol. viii.

F. A. Foret. Le Leman, une Monographie Limnologique.

ISRAEL C. RUSSELL. Lakes of North America. Ginn & Co. 1895.

H. E. WARREN and GEORGE C. WHIPPLE. The Thermophone, a New

Instrument for Determining Temperatures. Technology Quarterly.

Vol. viii, No. 2.

H. E. WARREN and GEORGE C. WHIPPLE. The Thermophone, a New

Instrument for Obtaining the Temperature of a Distant or Inaccessible

Place, and Some Observations on the bch seria of Surface Waters.

Amer. Meteor. Journ. June, 1895.

GEORGE C. WHIPPLE. Some Observations on the Temperature of Surface

Waters, and the Effect of Temperature on the Growth of Micro-

organisms. Journ. N. E. W. W. Assoc. Vol. ix, No. 4.

GEORGE C. WHIPPLE. The Thermophone. Science. Nov. 15, 1895.

DESMOND FITZGERALD. The Temperature of Lakes. Trans. Amer. Soc.

Civ. Eng. Vol. xxxiv. August, 1895.

W. F. GANoNG. Upon Temperature Measurements with the Thermophone

in Clear Lake, Lebreau. Bull. No. 14, New Brunswick Nat. Hist. Soc.

BOTANICAL ASPECTS OF JAMAICA.

DOUGLAS HOUGHTON CAMPBELL.

On May 27, 1897, in company with Prof. D. T. MacDougal,

the writer sailed from Boston for Jamaica to make an inspec-

tion of the island, for the purpose of determining its availability

for the location of a tropical station for botanical research.

The voyage was neither eventful nor, the first part at least,

pleasant, as a cold rain prevailed much of the time, making a

stay on deck impossible, except at the expense of a thorough

drenching. About the fourth day out it grew warmer, and the

bright blue of the water, with great masses of floating gulf

weed, announced our approach to the tropics. On the fifth

day land was sighted, — Watling’s Island, or, as we knew it in

our histories, San Salvador. Gazing at the low shore line,

with its white lighthouse, we tried to imagine the sensations

of Columbus when he first saw this outpost of the American

Continent. The next morning we were rounding the barren

shores of southeastern Cuba, and coasted the southern shores

of that island nearly all day. We had now left the chilly air

and dark waters of the North Atlantic and were enjoying

genuine tropical weather. The vivid blue waters of the Carib-

bean Sea and the hot sunshine spoke eloquently enough of

low latitudes.

The sun set before we came in sight of Jamaica, and it was

past midnight when the light of Port Antonio could be dis-

tinguished. Although it was intensely dark, the land breeze,

bearing indescribable scents of the land, and the chirping and

buzzing of innumerable insects told us we were near zerra firma.

As soon as we could have our baggage passed through the

custom-house we drove at once to the hotel, where the comfort-

able beds and spacious rooms were very welcome after the con-

fined quarters on shipboard. On awakening the next morning

our eyes were greeted with the sight of cocoa palms, breadfruit

trees, bananas, and other evidences of the tropics.

BOTANICAL ASPECTS OF JAMAICA. 35

The warm, humid atmosphere was not especially conducive

to hard work, especially after the chilly air we had left behind

us, and for a few days we contented ourselves with becoming

acquainted with the immediate surroundings of the beautiful

harbor of Port Antonio. This is the principal port of the

northern side of the island, and is most beautifully situated

within sight of the Blue Mountains, the highest range in

Jamaica. The shore formation is largely coral, and the rocks

are covered with luxuriant vegetation to the water’s edge. The

heavy rainfall— about one hundred and fifty inches annually —

induces a marvelously rapid growth of all kinds of plants, and

everything is fairly buried in the rank growth. Along the

coast cocoanut palms abound, and where the shores are muddy

mangrove swamps are a conspicuous feature.

Although most of the country about Port Antonio is under

cultivation, cocoanut and banana plantations predominating,

still the native vegetation quickly takes possession of the neg-

lected lands, and roadsides and hills furnish abundant and

interesting material for the botanical collector. Among the

most unfamiliar plants to Northern eyes are the climbing aroids,

Philodendron and Syngonium, which, with their terrestrial rela-

tives, Alocasia, Dieffenbachia, and other less common forms,

contribute much to. the tropical aspect of the prevailing

vegetation. The sensitive plant is a common weed, and showy

Thunbergias and other creepers abound. Of the ferns the

most noticeable forms were a very common Anemia, and at

slight elevations Gleichenia and a very beautiful Lygodium.

Various Alsophilas and other tree ferns were not uncommon,

but not nearly so fine as those at higher altitudes. A climbing

Davallia, with prickly stems, was also conspicuous.

A railroad now connects Port Antonio with Kingston, which

lies upon the southern shore of the island. The trip over this

road is a most enjoyable one, as it traverses some of the most

picturesque parts of the island and gives an excellent idea of

its general topography and vegetation. For about thirty miles

the road skirts the seashore, showing in places sandy beaches,

but more commonly coral rock coming down to the water,

carved into fantastic shapes by the action of the waves.

36 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

Along the sandy beaches /pomoca pes-caprae abounds, and

with this the curious “shore grape,” Coccoloba, and other

characteristic forms are common. In many places are de-

pressions just back of the shore, and these form swampy

jungles, with the trees laden with a perfect tangle of lianas

and other epiphytic growths. Here and there in the more

open places are groups of prickly stemmed “ groo-groo ”

palms (Acrocomia), — the first indigenous palms we had

seen.

Leaving the shore, the road passes over the mountains and

part of the time is in sight of the forest, although for the most

part the land along the route of the railroad is under cultiva-

tion. As we ascend the tree ferns become common, and a

number of beautiful palms are noticed, among them the superb

cabbage palm, Oveodoxa oleracea, with its slender, straight shaft

shooting up sometimes a hundred feet and more. Gigantic

bamboos cover the hillsides and grow in great masses along

the streams, their exquisite green plumes being among the

most beautiful of vegetable growths. This magnificent plant

has been introduced probably from India, but is now thoroughly

naturalized all over Jamaica.

As the summit is passed and the descent toward the southern

side of the island begins, a difference in the character of the

vegetation soon becomes apparent, and the very much diminished

rainfall on this side of the island is at once indicated by the

very different plants met with. This becomes more and more

marked as Kingston is approached. Leguminous trees, Proso-

pis, logwood (Hzematoxylon), Pithecolobium, characteristic of a

drier region, are common, and several Cacti, Opuntias, and

species of Cereus give a very distinct stamp to the landscape.

The contrast between the semi-arid country about Kingston

and the rank luxuriance of the vegetation at Port Antonio 1s

most striking.

At Kingston we were met by Mr. Fawcett, the director of

the public gardens of the island, who throughout our stay did

everything possible to aid us in our work. Had it not been

for his kindness it would have been quite impossible for us tO

have made our trip as successful as it was.

No. 373.] BOTANICAL ASPECTS OF JAMAICA. 37

While in Kingston we were entertained at Mr. Fawcett’s

charming home in the Hope Gardens, about six miles from the

town. This garden is comparatively new, but is becoming

rapidly a most beautiful and interesting experimental station.

Extensive plantings are being made which will add greatly to

its attractiveness and usefulness.

The first trip made by us was to Castleton, the seat of the

most interesting of the botanical gardens of Jamaica. We

drove from Kingston, about nineteen miles, over a most pictur-

esque road, the vegetation becoming more and more luxuriant

as we approached the garden, where there is an average rain-

fall of about one hundred inches. A few hours only were

spent at this time at Castleton, but later Professor MacDougal

and myself returned for a stay of several days, during which

we became better acquainted with the many attractions of this

most beautiful garden. It is situated at an elevation of about

six hundred feet, and contains a remarkable collection of palms -

and other tropical plants. Of the former there are about one

hundred and fifty species, and among the other notable plants

was a fine collection of cycads, comprising many magnificent

specimens, which appear to thrive to perfection; screw pines,

tree ferns, and many pretty epiphytic orchids, as well as innu-

merable showy flowering trees and shrubs, made the finest

display we encountered anywhere. Of the flowering trees

Amherstia nobilis, with its hanging clusters of gorgeous scarlet

flowers, was, perhaps, the most beautiful ; but among other

showy trees were noticed a Lagerstroemia, with big, lilac-

colored flowers, and a Spathodea, whose flame-colored cups and

deep green leaves formed a magnificent spectacle.

The country all about is very mountainous, and a trip to the

higher regions yielded a number of most interesting ferns and

liverworts, as well as many flowering plants not found on the

lower levels. |

A trip was made later to Blue Mountain Peak, the highest

point in the island, rising over seven thousand feet above sea

level. This excursion, which was taken in company with Mr.

Fawcett, was in all respects a most enjoyable one. The trip

was made from Kingston, and after the first nine miles was

38 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VOL: XXXII.

done on horseback, as the mountain roads are not available

for vehicles. The native ponies are very sure-footed, however,

and the trip offers no hardships, and more than repays one,

both scenically and botanically, for the trouble. The scenery

is of the most magnificent character, with fine views in all

directions. This is the principal coffee-growing district, and

on all sides were extensive plantations, many of them very old.

Here and there were the works for storing and curing the

berry, great heaps of which could be seen in places spread out

upon the concrete platforms, “ barbecues,” to dry in the sun.

We visited the Hill gardens, “ Cinchona,” where there are

plantations of cinchona trees, whose cultivation, however, no

longer is profitable. Most of the plantation lies about five

thousand feet high, and here the conditions are favorable for

the growth of many subtropical and temperate plants, as the

temperature is never extreme.

In the neighborhood of Cinchona were found the finest col-

lecting grounds for ferns met with anywhere. In the shady,

moist ravines there was a profusion of fern growths far exceed-

ing anything I have ever seen. The tree ferns, various species

of Alsophila and Cyathea, were magnificent; some of them could

scarcely have been less than forty feet in height, their graceful,

slender trunks crowned with the exquisitely cut leaves looking

like the finest lace overhead against the sky. The undergrowth

was largely composed of a bewildering variety of ferns, from big

Marattias and Alsophilas, with leaves ten or fifteen feet long,

to tiny Hymenophyllums, looking more like delicate mosses than

ferns. Other interesting plants were Danza, several species of

Gleichenia and Davallia, and many fine liverworts and mosses.

A rather unexpected find was a Sphagnum, which occurred in

large beds along the roadside in one place. The occurrence of

Sphagnum, as well as other Northern plants, such as Lycopodium

clavatum, L. complanatum, Fragaria vesca, blackberries, and

buttercups, mixed with beautiful pink begonias, Gleichenia,

and other tropical types, showed the meeting of the Alpine and

lowland floras.

The ride from Cinchona to the summit, about two thousand

feet above it, did not reveal any very marked differences in the

No. 373.] BOTANICAL ASPECTS OF. JAMAICA. 39

plants encountered, although at the summit itself the trees

were somewhat dwarfed. Among the most characteristic trees

_of the higher altitudes was a Vaccinium, V. meridionale Sw.,

and Podocarpus coriaceus Rich. Tree ferns abounded, but were

not so fine as those somewhat lower down.

From the peak fine views may be had in clear weather in

both directions. On the north is the harbor of Port Antonio,

and on the south that of Kingston. We did not enjoy the fine

view very long, as a shower of rain came up which obliged us

to descend sooner than we had expected, but not before we

had time to get a good idea of the vegetation.

A most enjoyable trip was one made by the writer in com-

pany with the late Dr. Humphrey, in whose untimely death in

Jamaica, shortly after our departure, botany has suffered so

severe a loss. This trip was over the mountains from Port

Antonio to Bath, the site of the first botanic garden established

in Jamaica some hundred years ago, but now reduced to a frac-

tion of its original area. It still contains some fine specimen

trees, especially palms and Pandanus, but there are a number

of other fine trees still remaining. The road over the moun-

tains is a rough bridle path, which at the Cuna-Cuna pass

reaches an altitude of about three thousand feet. It is pro-

posed to make a carriage road, which will be, when complete,

one of the most beautiful in Jamaica, as it passes through a

most picturesque region, including the finest forests we saw

anywhere. The whole district is one of very heavy rainfall

and the vegetation wonderfully varied and beautiful. The

road over the pass is through virgin forest of the most luxuri-

ant description. Ferns in great variety abound, and in some

places thickets of beautiful palms, Euterpe oleracea, formed a

striking feature of the forest. These palms, with the tree

ferns, large aroids, and epiphytic Bromeliads and orchids gave

a thoroughly tropical aspect to the vegetation. There were

numerous epiphytic orchids, but only a few in flower. Of

these a yellow and brown Oncidium was most conspicuous,

the great hanging panicles of flowers looking like a swarm of

small butterflies. A great variety of showy Scitaminez, Heli-

conia, Hedychium, Canna, and others were common, and among

40 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

the lower plants were several tropical liverworts, among them

Dendroceros, Symphyogyna, and Monoclea.

The little town of Bath lies close to the base of the moun-

tains, and, besides its ancient garden, is famed for its hot mineral

baths. The town was formerly much more important than at

present, and there are still some of the fine old trees left,

planted by a former generation. Among these are grand

specimens of the stately Oveodoxa oleracea, the finest of all the

Jamaica palms. This tree, with its smooth, slender shaft a

hundred feet in height and its crown of green plumes, is

indeed one of the most beautiful of plants.

As may be gathered from the foregoing sketch, the flora of

Jamaica is extraordinarily rich and varied. The presence of

high, abrupt mountains results in extremely different condi-

tions both of temperature and moisture, and this is evident

in the very divergent character of the plants of the different

sections of the island. As we have seen, the prevailing vege-

tation is distinctly tropical, and, as might be expected, related

to that of the Central and South American mainland. Con-

sidering the size of Jamaica the number of indigenous palms

is surprising. Of the strictly American types of plants the

Bromeliads are the most noticeable, although the Cacti, Agaves,

and Yuccas are represented. The Bromeliads occur in nearly

all parts of the island, and form an important factor in the rich

epiphytic flora. One of the most characteristic sights is a large

cotton tree (Eriodendron) with its great horizontal branches

covered with a mass of epiphytes, conspicuous among which are

many Tillandsias and other bromeliaceous forms.

Of orchids the island has about sixty species, many of them

epiphytes, most of which are not especially showy. Besides

the Oncidium already mentioned, there are pretty Epidendrums,

and an exceedingly brilliant little crimson species, Broughtonia

sanguinea, Was common in several localities. Of the terrestrial

orchids in flower the finest were two species of Bletia, recalling

our own Calopogon, and a magnificent Phajus, which is said

to have been introduced from Asia.

The aroids are among the noticeable plants, many striking

species being common. Several species of Philodendron are

No. 373:] BOTANICAL ASPECTS OF JAMAICA. 4I

exceedingly abundant, climbing high up the trunks of trees or

clambering over rocks; Syngonium, closely resembling Philoden-

dron, is also abundant, and species of Anthurium, Dieffenbachia,

and other genera abound in the more moist localities. The

floating Pzstza stratiotes is a common inhabitant of ponds and

quiet rivers.

Several species of Cacti are common, especially in the drier

parts, where one columnar Cereus is often used for fences.

One great night-blooming species, C. tszangularis, almost

covered the trees in places. Two species of Rhipsalis were

common at various places visited.

Other striking plants were the innumerable lianas, draping

and almost smothering the trees. Some of these were legumi-

nous climbers, others Convolvulacez, Vitacez, Thunbergias,

Allamandas, and a great many which there was not time to

identify. Some of the showiest flowers seen belonged to these

creepers. Many other interesting plants were noted, but those

cited are enough to give some idea of the tropical character of

the flora. 7 5

All the ordinary cultivated plants-of the tropics grow with

very little care, and many have become practically spontaneous.

Fruit-growing has assumed great importance of late, and is

becoming yearly more and more important.

Except the ferns and liverworts no very careful studies were

made on the lower plants. Probably no region of equal extent

in the world is richer in ferns than Jamaica. About five hundred

species have already been described, and there are probably

many more to be discovered, as very little collecting has been

done in the more inaccessible parts of the island. The ferns

comprise all the tropical types, the Hymenophyllacez alone

being represented by some fifty species. The Cyatheacez

include the tree ferns, Cyathea, Alsophila, Hemitelia, which

are numerous and of very large size and wonderful beauty.

Of the Marattiaceze, J/arattia alata and several Danzeas are

not uncommon in the higher mountains, and the Schizzeacez

comprise species of Schizza, Lygodium, and Anemia. Glei-

chenias of several species are common and conspicuous ferns.

The Ophioglossaceze are scarce and none were encountered,

42 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

although several species belong to the island. Of the hetero-

sporous ferns the only one met with was Marsilia polycarpa.

Several species of Selaginella and Lycopodium were com-

mon, and Psilotum triquetrum was encountered once, but is

evidently rare.

The liverworts are comparatively scarce at the lower levels,

but amazingly abundant and varied in the higher altitudes,

where the ferns also reach their maximum development.

Algze were less abundant than had been expected, and lack

of time did not permit a careful study of this group. Owing

to the very slight tide — only about one foot — very little col-

lecting can be done from the shore, and we were not provided

with apparatus for collecting in deep water. The most interest-

ing forms noted were the marine Siphonez, Caulerpa, Halimeda,

and others. Probably this group is well represented and would

repay careful study. Fungialso were less abundant than might

have been anticipated.

In considering the localities best fitted for the establishment

of a laboratory, there is little question that the eastern part of

the island offers much the best conditions, as here there is the

maximum rainfall with the resulting luxuriant vegetation. Port

Antonio, lying on the coast and being very accessible, as well

as offering excellent living accommodations, is in many respects

a favorable locality, but is rather too far from the higher alti-

tudes and virgin forest. Bath is nearer to the latter and is

fairly easy of access, but is seven miles inland.

The writer cannot close this sketch without acknowledging

the many kindnesses shown us on our trip by every one with

whom we came in contact. Through the courtesy of the

director of the island railways, Mr. McKinnon, we were pro- —

vided with passes over all the lines, and were also offered

other help which lack of time prevented our accepting. The

governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Blake, and the authorities of

the Institute of Jamaica also showed great interest in our

plans and helped us in many ways. It is to Mr. W. Fawcett,

however, that we are especially indebted, and to whom much :

of the success of our trip is due. a

THE WINGS OF INSECTS.

J. H. COMSTOCK anD J. G. NEEDHAM.

CHAPTER I,

An Introduction to the Study of the Homologies of the Wing-

; Veins.

It is the purpose of this series of papers to present a sum-

mary of what is known regarding the structure and development

of the wings of insects, to give the results of some investigations

in these fields made by the writers, and to indicate the value in

taxonomic work of the characters presented by the wings.

As the growth of our knowledge naturally proceeds from a

study of the obvious facts of nature to those that are more

deeply hidden, it seems best to discuss first the structure of

the wings of adult insects and to postpone for a time the study

of the beginnings of wings. It will be necessary, however, to

take up early in the discussion a study of the structure of the

wings in those stages that immediately precede the adult stage,

the -pupz of insects with a complete metamorphosis, and the

nymphs of insects with an incomplete metamorphosis. It is

in this field that we have the most to offer that is new.

Several writers have appreciated the fact that much light

can be thrown on the problem of determining the homologies

of the wing-veins by a study of the trachez that precede them

in the wings of immature insects. The more important of the

contributions that have been made to this phase of the question

are those of Brauer and Redtenbacher! and of Spuler.? Still,

comparatively little has been done in this direction.

This is doubtless due to the difficulties that have stood in

the way of work of this kind. The trachez of the wings of

pupæ and nymphs are often very delicate, and when filled with

1 Brauer und Redtenbacher, Ein Beitrag zur Entwickelung des Fliigelgeaders

der Insecten. Zool. Anz., 1888, pp. 443-447.

2 A. Spuler, Zur Phylogenie und Ontogenie des Fliigelgeiders der Schmetter-

linge. Zeit. f. wiss. Zool., Bd. liii, 1892, pp. 597-646.

44 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

the medium in which a wing is mounted for microscopic study.

they are usually invisible. It is not strange, therefore, that

they have been studied so little. But in the course of our

investigations we have devised a method of study of the wings

of immature insects which renders the observation of the

tracheze in them a simple matter.

If a living pupa or nymph be placed in formol (4%) the

tissues of the wings will be rendered translucent in a short

time. In the case of very delicate insects only a few hours

Fic. 1.— Part of a wing of a pupa of Corydalis cornuta.

are required for this, but with larger ones with more opaque

wings it is necessary to leave them in the formol for several

days, or even for several weeks. While the formol renders the

tissues translucent, it does not soon penetrate the trachex,

which are, therefore, left filled with air, and appear as dark

lines when the wing is examined with transmitted light. Just

after molting some wings are translucent, but there are few S0

clear that a short stay in formol will not make them clearer.

In order to study wings prepared in this way, they are.

removed from the body and mounted in glycerine jelly, care

being taken to cool the mount quickly so that the jelly will not

No. 373:-] THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 45

penetrate the trachez. In this way most beautiful objects

can be prepared, which will show the minutest ramifications of

the trachez.! Fig. 1 is a half-tone reproduction of a photo-

graph of an object prepared inthis way. This figure represents

a small portion of a wing of a pupa of Corydalis cornuta.

Not only can the trachez that precede the wing-veins be

studied in this manner, but, if the wing be taken at the right

stage, the cuticular thickenings destined to form the wing-

veins, as well as their corresponding trachez, if there be any,

can be seen. Figs. 2 and 3 are half-tone reproductions of

photographs of wings taken at this stage.

There is, however, one undesirable feature of preparations

made in this manner; it is that after a time the cuticular

thickenings become indistinct, and the glycerine jelly will

penetrate the trachez, rendering all except the larger ones

invisible. But as it is a very easy. matter to photograph

such preparations, and as a series of photo-micrographs are

much more easily compared than a series of microscopic slides,

this feature does not materially impede an investigation of this

kind. Usually the cuticular thickenings show best as soon as

a mount is made, while the trachez stand out more sharply

twenty-four hours after mounting, because of the clearing effect

of the glycerine jelly upon the cuticular parts. It is, therefore,

frequently desirable to make, at different times, two or more

photographs of the same specimen.

1 In making mounts of this kind our usual procedure was to spread a drop of

melted glycerine jelly on a slide and allow it to cool; then to dissect off the wings

(generally under water), taking with them just enough of the thorax to include

the basal attachments of the trachez; then to place these wings upon the solidi-

fied glycerine jelly on the slide; then to lower upon the wings a heated cover

glass, causing the jelly to melt enough to envelope the wings; and then to cool

the mount speedily on a cake of ice, a marble slab, or in a draught of cold air.

Rapid cooling is imperative, for in melted glycerine jelly the trachez soon becom

filled, and the smaller ones are then invisible.

It is imperative, also, that the wings be handled with care. Being simple sac-

like structures, the trachez are almost free within them, and a slight pinch with

forceps in the middle of the wing may throw all of its trachez out of place. It

is better to lift the wing by its thoracic attachments or upon a section lifter.

Not every pupal wing is fitted for this study. Just before molting, and espe-

cially just before the last molting, the wing becomes so crumpled within its old

sheath that the course of its trachez can be followed only with difficulty. Much

time can be saved by the selection of the paler individuals for study.

46 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

It is obvious that one who has learned the homologies of the

principal trachez of wings can easily determine the homologies

of the wing-veins of the adult by the study of wings taken in

the stage of development shown by Figs. 2 and 3. It should-

be remembered, however, that the determining of the homolo-

gies of these trachez necessitates the study of a large series

of well-selected types. One is not warranted in arriving at

conclusions in this matter from the study of a few representa-

tives of a single order of insects.

During the past year we have studied in the manner indi-

cated the wings of representatives of nearly all of the more

important groups of winged insects, and have made several

Fic, 2.— Fore wing of a nymph of Nemoura.

hundred photo-micrographs of them. We feel, therefore, that

we have at hand sufficient data to warrant the conclusions

regarding the homologies of the wing-veins that we purpose

to offer.?

Although Figs. 2 and 3 will be discussed in detail in a sub-

sequent chapter, we will give a few words of explanation here.

These figures represent the wings of one side of a nearly

mature nymph of a Nemoura, one of the genera of stone flies

(Plecoptera). In making the preparations it was impracticable

to remove all of the dirt adhering to the wings without danger

of injuring them; this is often the case in preparing mounts of

1 The most important gap in our series of observations is due to the fact that

as yet we have been unable to procure pupz of any of the Mecoptera. We would,

therefore, be under great i fri to any one who would send us living pup®

of either Panorpa or Bittacu

No. 373-] THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 47

the wings of aquatic nymphs. The irregular blotches of dark

color in the figures are due to this cause. The dark lines

traversing the disk of the wing represent the trachez, and the

pale bands the cuticular thickenings destined to form the wing-

veins.

It will be observed that the principal veins are formed along

the courses of trachez, while in most cases the cross-veins

have fio tracheze within them. It will also be observed that

the tracheze extend in straight lines or in gentle curves, while

in some cases the corresponding veins are much more angular.

It is evident from this that in the perfecting of a wing as an

organ of flight the position of a vein in the adult may become

Fic. 3. — Hind wing of a nymph of Nemoura.

quite different from that of the corresponding trachea of the

immature form. In other words, although there is no doubt

that the courses of the principal wing-veins of primitive insects

were determined by the position of the principal trachez of

the wings, the wing-veins have been more or less modified to

meet the needs of adult life; while at the same time the tracheze

of the immature wing, serving the purpose of respiration, and

lying more or less free within the wing-sac, have not been

forced to follow closely the changes in the cuticular thicken-

ings of that sac.

The operation of this principle is shown only to a slight

extent in the wings figured here. But when we study more

highly specialized forms, it is seen that the divergence of these

48 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

two sets of structures is sometimes very wide, and must be

taken into account in an interpretation of the characters pre-

sented by a wing.

While this increases the difficulty of determining the homolo-

gies of the wing-veins, it is often of great aid in taxonomic

work, for it may. afford an indication of the degree of diver-

gence from a primitive type in the structure of a wing; and

when a series of forms is studied the course of this divergence

is often clearly indicated.

The figures also show that in some cases what appears as a

single vein is formed about two closely parallel trachez. This

is shown in the case of the bases of the second and third prin-

cipal trachez, counting from the costal margin of the wing,

the radial and medial tracheze. This illustrates a fact of

frequent occurrence, — that what appears to be a single vein

may be formed by the coalescence of two primitive veins.

In these figures the tracheze just mentioned, except one of

them in the fore wing, appear not to extend to the base of the

wing. This is due to the fact that in the preparations photo-

graphed the mounting medium had penetrated these tracheæ

for a distance, rendering the basal portion of them invisible.

The figure of the hind wing illustrates also another way in

which specimens may be injured during their preparation, and

which may lead to a misinterpretation of them. In this wing

the first branch of the first main trachea, the subcostal tra-

chea, has been broken and moved out of place within the

wing-sac. The normal position of this branch is well shown

in the figure of the fore wing.

We will not go farther into the discussion of the technique

of this method of study. Enough has been said to show that

we have at hand a comparatively simple method of determining

those questions of homologies of wing-veins that have sorely

puzzled all investigators that have attempted to deal with them,

and to indicate the nature of the material upon which we have

based the conclusions that we purpose to offer in succeeding

chapters of this paper.

ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY,

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, November, 1897.

EDITORIAL.

The Aim of the American Naturalist. — The thirty-second volume

of the American Naturalist, which commences with the present num-

ber, will be the first entire volume to appear under the new manage-

ment. It may not, therefore, be inappropriate at this time to state

once more the motive which has induced us to assume control of the

magazine,

Every enterprise that hopes to be successful must be conducted

with some one definite aim in view. From the range of subjects

covered by the Naturalist it may be supposed by many that the

magazine is to be a kind of scrap basket for a miscellaneous lot of

articles which, for one reason or another, have failed to find space in

the journals of the special sciences to which they rightly belong.

This is just what we most earnestly desire to avoid. We wish to

select our articles so that the magazine shall have a definite charac-

ter, with each department working in harmony with all the rest.

What, then, is to be the basis of selection? What common point of

view shall cement its diverse departments into a harmonious whole?

There was a time, hardly antedating the foundation of this journal,

when one man might be equally eminent as a zoologist, a botanist,

and a geologist. Many of the most distinguished names in science

are borne by men whose activities ranged over all of these broad

fields. But the conditions have been so changed by the rapid accu-

mulation of knowledge during the last half-century that in order to

attain any success a man must devote his attention to a narrow

field; and, instead of becoming naturalists in the broad sense of the

term, we see men becoming lepidopterists, coleopterists, ornitholo-

gists, embryologists, and the like, devoting their entire attention to

one small group of animals or plants, to a narrow line of investiga-

tion in morphology or physiology, or studying exclusively some small

class of phenomena in geology or mineralogy. Instead of the general

scientific journals and societies of natural history of former times,

these conditions have called into life and elevated to the highest

prominence societies and journals dealing with the special problems

-of restricted lines of research. Such conditions obtain to-day, and

must continue to influence the course of investigation so long as

unknown facts remain to be discovered.

50 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

But can we not see already the dawn of a new era in natural

science, brought about by this very multiplicity of independent re-

searches and vast accumulation of material? Generally speaking,

the obvious facts of natural science have been discovered, and inves-

tigation is trending away from them toward the deeper, more remote,

and more fundamental phenomena. Students following these deeper

lines of research sooner or later find themselves on the border where

their scientific field touches their neighbor’s. The morphologist who

seeks to explain the causes of development soon finds himself in-

volved in questions of physiology. Physiologists, on the other hand,

in studying the functions of the nervous system, for example, have

found it possible to draw important conclusions from data furnished

by morphology. The geologist supplies the biologist with informa-

tion concerning the conditions that have influenced the geographical

distribution of organisms, and learns from him in turn what organ-

isms have to teach as to the nature of the environment in which

strata have been deposited. And so it is throughout all the related

sciences. A good example of this tendency is furnished by the pro-

gram of the American Morphological Society, which is holding its

meeting as we go to press. We notice such titles as the following:

“Grafting Experiments upon Lepidoptera,” “ The Effect of Salt Solu-

tions on Unfertilized Eggs of Arbacea,” “ Some Activities of the Polar

Bodies of Cerebratulus,” “ The Reaction of Amæba to Light of Differ-

ent Colors and to Reentgen Rays.” Surely we may expect these

papers to contain as much physiology as morphology.

A movement seems to be well under way toward a closer union of

the natural sciences based not upon superficial observations and

poorly grounded speculations, but upon a deeper insight into the

real facts. It is the purpose of the American Naturalist to aid

and encourage this movement. We desire that our pages afford a

common meeting-ground where the morphologist, the physiologist,

the zoologist, the botanist, the anthropologist, the palzontologist, the

geologist, and the mineralogist may meet to discuss the problems in

which they have a common interest. But it is not merely articles

dealing in broad generalities that we want. Accounts of the most

minute investigations will be cordially welcomed, if only the results

are shown to have some significance from our point of view.

Of course, ultimately, all human knowledge is a unit, and no fact

lacks significance; but we have no ambition to cover such a field.

How, then, shall we define our province?

No. 373-] EDITORIAL. 51

May it not be possible to regard the earth and its inhabitants as

a unit? Then the problem would be to describe the various parts

of this unit and to explain their relations to one another. While

the solution of this problem is too vast an undertaking for any one

man or any generation of men, may it not be legitimate to adopt it

as the final purpose of a journal which is intended to represent the

great body of naturalists in this country? It seems to us that this is

a legitimate ideal of attainment, and one which, if kept steadily in

view by editors and contributors, will afford that unity of purpose

which is essential to success.

But in order to be truly representative and to attain the highest

success, we need the cooperation of every naturalist in America.

We are glad of your subscriptions, but we especially desire your

contributions. To every one who has anything interesting to say

we extend a cordial invitation to use our columns. If the editors

are allowed to choose from the best that is produced, they will find

no difficulty in issuing a magazine that Americans may be proud to

call the American Naturalist.

REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.’

administrative report Major Powell outlines more definitely than in

the preceding volume his classification of ethnological activities.

“The great science of demonomy,” or the science of humanity, is

_ divided into five categories: (1) esthetology, (2) technology, (3)

sociology, in the sense of the science of government, (4) philology,

with enlarged definition, (5) sophiology, the science of opinions.

It is believed that the Bureau has organized and defined “the

demotic sciences in such manner as to yield a definite basis for a

scientific classification of the races and peoples of the earth.”

The director announces that the vast collection of information

obtained from personal research, manuscripts, and published litera-

ture concerning the Indians is to be published in a series of bulletins

corresponding with the aboriginal stocks, under the designation

“Cyclopedia of the American Indians.” The subjects of the four

accompanying papers are found in the pueblo region of the South-

west, in Yucatan, and in Peru.

The first of the two memoirs upon “ extra-limital ” subjects is not

only of general, but also of comparative interest, since it aids in

demonstrating the unity of aboriginal American culture. The con-

clusion is reached by Professor McGee that the operations of tre-

phining were performed by persons of the same culture grade as the

well-known “ medicine men” of this continent, though but one case

of trephining is thus far known in North America. In a collection

of about one thousand crania two per cent were found to have been

trephined, several more than once. Dr. Muñiz states that all the

specimens pertain to a period at least two hundred years anterior tO

the discovery ; they are from various and widely separated pueblos.

No trephined crania have thus far been discovered at the necropolis

of Ancon. Post-mortem trephining was not practiced, and no amu-

lets of human bones have been found in Peru. The origin and

development of this dangerous practice is discussed, and the methods

1 Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secre-

tary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, by J. W. Powell, Director. Wash

ington, Government Printing Office, 1897.

REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 53

classed according to culture grades. Comparison is made with the

customs of the South Sea Islanders and the Kabyles, among whom

trephining has long been practiced with a heroic exhibition of forti-

tude and an even greater recklessness of consequences than among

the Peruvians. The South Sea Islanders hacked and scraped the

skull with stone and shell, and covered the wound with plates of

cocoanut. The operation was performed in some cases for the relief

of simple headache. The Muniz series contains but six crania which

indicate a therapeutic motive; these operations were performed to

relieve traumatic lesions, and all resulted fatally.

The second paper, “The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Ari-

zona,” is accompanied by a map which shows the extent of the

pueblo region within the limits of the United States. The Canyon

de Chelly is located near the center of an area which embraces nearly

all of Arizona, eastern and central Utah, western New Mexico, and

a small portion of southwestern Colorado.

Mr. Mindeleff’s observations show that the cliff dwellers were

Indians, and not a race distinct from the neighboring tribes. The

cliff houses were erected in easily defended situations, where ledges

afforded foundations and roofs, and where suitable blocks of stone

for the walls were abundant. The same people also possessed

pueblos near their unprotected agricultural lands. Gradations are

found from the cliff to the pueblo type of domicile.

Dr. Cyrus Thomas, in a publication entitled Zhe Maya Year,

has shown that the year recorded in the Dresden codex consisted of

eighteen months of twenty days each. The origin and signification

of the symbols in the Maya, Tzewtal, Quiche-Cakchiquel, Zapotic,

and Nahuatl, representing each of these twenty days, form the sub-

ject of the paper entitled “ Day Symbols of the Maya Year.” The

Maya scribes had not reached that advanced stage where they could

indicate each letter sound by a glyph or symbol; yet the characters

used were to a certain extent phonetic. The symbols were not true

alphabetic signs, but syllabic, in some cases ideographic, or in others

simply abbreviated pictorial representations.

The memoir by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes on “Tusayan Snake Cere-

monies ” deals with a modification, produced by peculiar environ-

mental conditions, of the serpent cultus which extended from the

St. Lawrence to Peru. The ceremonies observed at the Hopi villages

of Oraibi, Cipaulovi, and Cufiopavi are described in detail, and the

conclusion is reached that “ the worship of a great snake plays no

part, but the dance is simply the revival of the worship of the Snake

54 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

people, as legends declare it to have been practiced when the Tiyo

was initiated into its mysteries in the world which he visited.” “I

am inclined to believe that the snake dance has two main purposes,

the making of rain and the growth of corn, and renewed research

confirms my belief, elsewhere expressed, that ophiolatry has little or

nothing to do with it.”

The Import of the Totem.! — Miss Fletcher’s studies have been

aptly characterized as “ sympathetic and thorough,” and the present

paper fully demonstrates the truth of the observation. Within the

limits of a few pages is given a remarkably clear and concise account

of the idea of the totem, one of the most obscure and perplexing

subjects with which the student of American ethnology has to deal.

The totem is based upon the Indian’s belief concerning nature and

life, and it is only through an explanation of his customs and prac-

tices, a knowledge of his rites and ceremonies, that we may come to

know what this belief is.

There are two classes of totems among the Omahas: (1) personal,

belonging to the individual, and (2) social, that of societies and

gentes. The personal totem is obtained by means of a puberty rite

in which the youth fasts until he sees or hears in a dream or vision

some animal or other form. This thing becomes the special medium

through which he can obtain supernatural aid. It is his duty to

seek and slay the animal seen in his vision (‘in cases where the

vision has been of no concrete form, symbols are taken to represent

it’) and preserve some part of it. This amulet represented the

power of the whole class to which it belonged, a conception growing

out of the anthropomorphic projection of man’s characteristics upon

all nature and the belief in the continuity of life, “making it impos-

sible for the part and the entirety to be disassociated.”

“ The totem’s simplest form of social action was in the religious

societies, whose structure was based upon the grouping together of

men who had seen similar visions, . . . blood relationship was

ignored.” “In the early struggle for existence, the advantages

accruing from a permanent kinship group, both in resisting aggres-

sion and in securing a food supply, could not fail to have been per-

1 The Import of the Totem: A Study from the Omaha Tribe. By Alice C.

Fletcher, Thaw Fellow and Assistant in Ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard

University. A paper read before the Section of Anthropology of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science at the Detroit meeting, August, 1897-

Salem, The Salem Press, 1897.

No. 373.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATCORE. 55

ceived ; and, if the people were to become homogeneous and the

practice of exogamy continue, some expedient must have been

devised by which the permanent groups could be maintained and

kinship lines be defined. The common belief of the people, kept

virile by the universal practice of the rite of the vision, furnished this

expedient.” “Social growth depended upon the establishment of

distinct groups, and the one power adequate for the purpose was that

which was believed to be capable of enforcing the union of the

people by supernaturally inflicted penalties.”

There were ten gentes in the Omaha tribe; exogamy prevailed, and

descent was traced only through the father. ‘“ Each gens had its

particular name, which referred directly or symbolically to its totem,

which was kept in mind by the practice of tabu.” The office of the

totem in the religious societies, in the gentes, and the tribe is

described, and the paper closes with a discussion of the linguistic

evidence as to the import of the totem. Peavey Russert

GENERAL BIOLOGY.

A Study in Heredity.’ — For the student of heredity no domestic

animal is of greater interest than the American trotting horse and his

brother, the pacer. The two are closely related; their development

has been rapid and has taken place mainly during the latter half of

the present century, and the records of ancestry and of speed, which

have been kept accurately, give a measure of the inheritance of vari-

ations in a large number of correlated parts. It is, therefore, a real

service to biologists, as well, no doubt, to breeders, that Mr. A. J.

Meston is doing in bringing together in one work the main facts

concerning the ancestry of the best trotters and pacers.

The first part of this work, dealing with the descendants of the

horse known as Rysdyk’s Hambletonian ro, is what we have now

under review. That the remaining parts will not be long forth-

coming is to be hoped, for each part will gain in value in proportion

to the completeness of the whole.

The pamphlet before us opens with a list of the common sources

of 2:10 speed arranged chronologically. Then follows an introduc-

1 A. J. Meston, The Common Sources or Main Taproots of 2:10 Trotting and

Pacing Speed. Rysdyk’s Hambletonian ro (Complete). Pittsfield, Mass. Pub-

lished by the author, 1897. 32 pp.

56 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST, [Vou. XXXII.

tory chapter, containing, among other things, a very complete

description of Hambletonian, with measurements and his pedigree.~

The main body of the work is a list of all the descendants of Ham-

bletonian that have trotted or paced in 2:10 or lower. The date of

birth, best record, and the date when it was made are given for each

horse, and also the name of each ancestor in the Hambletonian line

with dates and records. The whole is cleverly arranged, so that, with

the aid of the index, the entire pedigree of each horse can be traced

easily as far as this particular line of descent is concerned. Follow-

ing the list are a note on the transmission of acquired speed, remarks

on the dual inheritance of the capacities for trotting and pacing, and

several interesting tables.

Hambletonian was the sire of 1287 colts. The American Trotting

has gathered a large part of his facts, credits Hambletonian with

being the sire of 40 trotters (records 2:1714 to 2:30), 148 stallions

that have sired 1398 trotters and 155 pacers, and 80 mares that have

foaled 104 trotters and 8 pacers. `% At the close of 1896 the Year

Books have listed altogether 12,945 trotters that have made records

in 2:30 or lower and 4302 standard pacers, —a grand total of 16,207

trotters and pacers with standard records.”

“It is safe to say,” the author remarks, “that somewhere between

80 and go per cent of the whole number ‘carry the blood’ of

Hambletonian ro.” :

In view of these facts, the ancestry of Hambletonian is of great

interest. His descent is traced through three lines, one paternal

and two maternal, back three and four generations, to Messenger, an

English thoroughbred imported to Philadelphia in 1788. This horse

is remarkable because of the trotting instinct which almost invariably

appeared in his half-bred foals, and which was strongly transmitted

by his thoroughbred sons. Moreover, the paternal grandam an

maternal grandsire of Hambletonian were natural trotters, not related

to Messenger nor to one another. It is not surprising, therefore,

that Hambletonian should be the founder of a race of trotters.

There are also a large number of pacers among his descendants, and

it is a significant fact that there were a few pacers among the foals

of his sire, Abdallah 1.

The intensity with which the instincts for trotting and pacing and

the capacity for speed have been transmitted through the descend-

ants of Hambletonian is shown by the fact that of the 54 trotters and

146 pacers of all breeds who have made records of 2:10 or lower, 5°

No. 373.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 57

trotters and 122 pacers trace their descent in one or more lines from

this horse. The preponderance of pacers is accounted for by the

greater swiftness of their gait. Because of the inherently greater

speed of the pace over the trot, it will be necessary, in order to com-

pare the speed attained by a pacer with the speed of his trotting

ancestors or brothers, to establish some ratio by which a trotting

record may be transmuted to its equivalent pacing record, in the

same way that Galton has transmuted female stature into its male

- equivalent in his discussions of the statistics of human measurements.

This will require the comparison of a large number of individuals.

In the meantime, wishing to gain some idea of what this ratio may

be, we have compared the 54 best pacers with the 54 2:10 trotters.

Comparing each horse of one class with the horse of the corresponding

grade in the other, there is found to be an average difference of 2%

seconds, the maximum being 334 seconds and the minimum 134 sec-

onds. It is interesting to note in this connection that in the case of °

one horse in our list that has made fast records in both classes the

difference is not more than the above maximum, the pacing record

of Jay-Eye-See being 2:06, and his trotting record 2:10. If this

difference represents the gain in speed which a horse equally gifted

in both gaits would make in pacing, then all horses who can trot

within 2:1214 should be classed with the 2:10 pacers. At any rate,

it is unfair to compare 2:10 trotters with 2:10 pacers, and for this

reason the tables on pages 27 and 28 are misleading.

The author points out another source of error which arises from

the introduction of the bicycle sulky with pneumatic tires in 1892.

But, allowing for errors due to bicycle sulkies, improved tracks, and

more experienced trainers, we can see a gradual increase of trotting

and pacing speed in successive generations. How much of this

improvement is due to the inherited effects of training, and how

much to selection and combination of favorable variations in breed-

ing? The list shows that a number of stallions and mares, after

having been trained to fast records, have got foals that have made

fast records. But there is no evidence that a line of trained ances-

tors is more successful in producing speed than a line of untrained

ancestors, or a line of mixed trained and untrained ancestors. For

example, of the 122 pacers in the list only 8 have a parent or grand-

parent that has paced in 2:10 or trotted in 2:13. None of the 50

trotters has a parent with a 2:10 record. In the list of trotters both

parents are given in 22 cases. Both parents have a record in only 2

cases; in 13 Cases one parent only has a record; and in 7 cases neither

58 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

parent has a record. This list of 7 fast trotters whose parents have

no record is headed by Alix (2:0334), and if extended would include

Maud S., St. Julien, and Goldsmith Maid.

With only the lines of descent that happen to be traceable to

Hambletonian, we have not sufficient data for any very extensive

generalizations. But what we have indicates that variations in speed

and their inheritance follow the same laws that Galton’ has shown

to apply to stature, color, and other fortuitous variations in man and

other organisms. A horse in the 2:10 class is, as a rule, the single

exceptional son or daughter of comparatively mediocre parents of

good family. The largest number from any one parent is six, foals

of Altamont, who has a wagon record of 2:2634. But Altamont is

a grandson of Abdallah 15, who was the sire of Goldsmith Maid

(2:14), and who counts among his descendants Alix (2:0334), Flying

Jib (2:04), and John R. Gentry (2:0014). The importance of

heredity in the production of speed is indicated very clearly by an

examination of the pedigrees. Thus, Alix (2:0334) is descended

not only from Abdallah 15, but also by two lines from Harold, a son

of Hambletonian, who is the sire of Maud S. (2:0834). John R

Gentry (2:00%) and Joe Patchen, who paced this season in 2:01 34,

have a common ancestor by separate lines in George Wilkes; and

Nancy Hanks is a granddaughter of Dictator, the sire of Jay-Eye-See,

who has paced in 2:061% and trotted in 2:10. The author expresses

very strongly the opinion, which seems to be borne out by the facts,

that the capacities for pacing and for trotting are heritages which,

like the light and dark colors of the eye,” are, as a rule, mutually exclu-

sive, and that the development of either of these, as well as the

capacity for speed, is dependent more upon selection of parents by

the breeder than upon the education received by the foal from the

trainer.

ZOOLOGY.

Weed’s Life Histories of American Insects.*— This little work is

evidently intended to meet in part the need of popular handbooks

of nature study, and it does it in an admirable manner. It consists

1 Francis Galton, Natural Inheritance.

2 Galton, Joc. cit. :

$ Life Histories of American Insects, by Clarence Moores Weed. New York,

The Macmillan Company. 8vo, 272 pp., with illustrations. $1.50.

No. 373] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 59

of a series of short essays on the life history of a number of our

more common insects. The matter is handled in a simple and

straightforward manner, and is well illustrated by figures in the text

and by several full-page plates. Although largely a compilation, it

is written by one who has done much original work in this field;

hence the accuracy of its statements can be depended upon. While

the entomologist will find in its pages comparatively little that is

new, the amateur and the teacher who is trying to interest young

people in what is going on around them will be able to gain much

help from it. Lio

Weed’s Stories of Insect Life. — This book is similar in its

purpose to the preceding, and resembles it in its method of treat-

ment of the subject; but it is intended to be used by those who

teach very young pupils. Such teachers will find it a helpful book.

FEC

BOTANY.

North American Lemnaceæ.? — It cannot be doubted that the

high character of the late Dr. George Engelmann’s contributions to

botany is largely due to the judicious concentration of his energies.

No other American botanist of such wide general experience has so

carefully restricted his published researches to the intensive exami-

nation of a few very difficult families and genera. Thus it was that

Dr. Engelmann laid a sure foundation for a satisfactory classification

of groups like Cactaceæ, Cuscuta, Juncus, Agave, Yucca, Lemnaceæ,

and Alismaceæ. In consideration of this fact, the present director

of the Missouri Botanical Garden could not have acted more wisely

than in devoting so large a part of the present energies of his insti-

tution to the completion of work so well begun by his illustrious

predecessor. Thus the recent reports of the Garden contain a series

of valuable papers upon Yucca, Agave, Alismaceæ, etc., which,

although based in part upon the collections and previous work of

Engelmann, lose none of their originality on that account, but only

1 Stories of Insect Life, by Clarence Moores Weed. Boston, Ginn and Com-

peA 8vo, 54 pp., with illustrations.

“A Revision of the American Lemnaceæ Occurring North of Mexico,” by

cas Henry Thompson. Advance separate from the Ninth Annual Report of

the Missouri Botanical Garden, issued Nov. 1, 1897. 8vo, 22 pp., 4 pll.

60 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

gain in worth in proportion as their originality begins at a higher

plane and is built upon a surer foundation than could have been the

case in other groups.

To this suite of useful papers Mr.C. H. Thompson has just added a

revision of the North American Lemnaceæ. These diminutive aqua-

tics, popularly called duck meats, include the most minute flowering

plants. While from their peculiar structure they have long been

familiar examples of such morphological phenomena as _ phylloidal

stem, vegetative reproduction, reduction of floral structures, etc., their

systematic interrelationship and geographic distribution have been,

notwithstanding the critical treatises of Hegelmaier and Engelmann,

but imperfectly understood. Mr. Thompson’s paper is the first upon

its peculiar field, since no previous monograph has at once covered

and been restricted to North America.

While Engler in the Matirlichen Pflanzenfamilien reduces Wolffi-

ella to a subgenus of Wolffia, Mr. Thompson follows Hegelmaier in

recognizing four genera in the family, namely, Spirodela, Lemna,

Wolffia, and Wolffiella, but rearranges them so that Wolffiella may

stand next Lemna. No change is made in the North American

Spirodela (represented by the common S. polyrrhiza), but a new

South American species of somewhat doubtful identity and remark-

ably dissevered range is added to the genus. In Lemna the recog-

nized North American species are Z. gibba, minor, trisulca, perpusilla

(with var. ¢rinervis), cyclostasa, and minima. By the name ZL. cyclostasa

(Ell.) Chev. is designated the plant which has for some years been

known as Z. valdiviana Phil., since the latter species, as the author

believes, is identical with the Z. minor var.? cyclostasa of Elliott’s

Botany of South Carolina and Georgia. It is a pleasure to see that

the range of this species, unaccountably incomplete in Britton and

Brown’s Zora, is duly extended to the three southern New England

states. In Wolffiella three North American species are recognized ;

namely, W. floridana (Wolfia gladiata, var. floridana J. D. Smith),

W. oblonga, and W. lingulata. Of Wolffa there are also three species

credited to the continent, — W. papulifera (a new species from Mis-

souri, discovered by Bush), W. punctata, and W. columbiana.

Mr. Thompson’s descriptions are clear and ample, and the copious

outline illustrations, which are of his own drawing, are satisfactory.

His observations upon the “resting stages” (Hegelmaier’s Winter-

sprosse) are worthy of mention, and above all the careful citation of

synonymy and enumeration of exsiccati make the paper a very

welcome contribution to American systematic botany. B. L. R.

No. 373-] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 61

The Oxford Herbarium. — A little pamphlet of twenty pages,?

prepared by Mr. Druce, the curator of the Fielding herbarium,

gives some interesting statistics of the important collections of

Oxford, which commence with a set of 300 specimens collected by

the Italian, Gregory of Reggio, in 1606, and contain such historic

herbaria as that of the Bobarts, Morison, Du Bois, Sherard, Shaw,

and Sibthorp of the last century, and a host of more modern collec-

tions. While in an introduction to the pamphlet Professor Vines

states that it cannot be hoped to accumulate at Oxford collections to

rival those of Kew or of the British Museum, those already brought

together are seen to number hundreds of thousands of sheets, and

the aim is stated to be to render the Oxford herbarium as complete

as possible in plants representing the flora of Europe and the

adjacent Mediterranean region.

Botany at Geneva.— To the numerous publications devoted

wholly or in part to botany which have clustered about the long-time

home of the De Candolles is now*added another, the Annuaire du

conservatoire et du jardin botanique de Genève, edited by Dr. John

Briquet, who also edits the excellent Bulletin du laboratoire de bota-

nigue générale de l'université de Genève. The new Annuaire, which

appears as the official organ of the two botanical institutions of the

city of Geneva, is intended to constitute each year a volume of from

130 to 250 pages, giving information as to the condition of the gar-

den, progress made, and the growth and scientific utilization of the

collections, as well as original articles based wholly or in part on the

material of the conservatory and garden.

The first volume,’ which has recently appeared, contains an inter-

esting report on the garden and the Delessert herbarium for the year

1896, two seed lists, and the following scientific papers: Crépin, a

revision of the roses of some old Swiss herbaria; Arvet-Touret, a

revision of the Hieracia of the herbarium of the younger Haller ; an

account of new or little-known species of the same genus, chiefly of

the Delessert herbarium ; and a description and plate of Crepidopsis,

a new genus of Mexican composites related to Hieracium (based on

Pringle’s No. 1654, of the year 1888); and Kranzlin, a description

of two new species of Habenaria, respectively from Java and the

Philippines.

Account of the Herbarium = the University of Oxford. Oxford, The

Clarendon Press, 1897. Price, sixpenc

2 Annuaire du conservatoire et du jardin botanique de Geneve. te année.

Genève, Georg et Cie., 1897. 143 pp. I pl. 5 francs.

62 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

Recent Works.

Pokorny’s Allgemeine Erdkunde is in preparation; Part I, Die Erde

als Ganzes, thre Atmosphäre und Hydrosphare, by J. Hann, of Vienna,

having been issued last winter ; Part II, Die feste Erdrinde und thre

Formen, by E. Brückner, of Berne, being just received ; and Part III,

Phlanzen- und Tierverbreitung, by A. Kirchhoff, being in preparation

(Tempsky, Prag). The two parts now issued are distinct enlarge-

ments of the original work. They may be characterized as concise,

thorough, and correct. There is, unfortunately, no work in English

that can be compared to them in these respects. A teacher or

student wishing a trustworthy book of reference cannot do better

than place this work by his side.

The Library of Geographical Handbooks, edited by Professor

Ratzel, includes no volume more noteworthy than the Kilimatologie

by Dr. Hann, the first edition having appeared in 1883, and then at

once taking the position of a standard work of reference. A second

edition is now issued in three volumes (Stuttgart, Engelhorn), the

liberal increase in size permitting the addition of new data and the

introduction of footnote references, which were wanting and greatly |

missed before. An earlier volume in the series was the Morphologie

der Erdoberfläche, in two volumes, by Prof. A. Penck, of Vienna,

which may be fairly characterized as the most important geographt-

cal handbook of recent years. It is particularly valuable in its brief

historical reviews of the development of various topics and in its rich

references to sources.

A. de Lapparent’s Legons de Géographie Physique (Paris, Masson,

1896) deserves mention, even if somewhat belated. It is written in

a more readable style than the books above mentioned, and should

not be measured by comparison with them, but rather on its own

standard of attractive presentation.» It is also notable as marking 4

distinct advance towards a rational, genetic treatment of land forms.

The intending scientific visitor to Europe will find it of much value-

as a companion.

American teachers interested in the position of general geology in

Europe will find a thorough presentation of the science in Prof. H.

Credner’s Elemente der Geologie which now appears in an eighth edi-

tion, twenty-five years after its first publication (Leipzig, Engelmann).

It is a stout volume of 797 pages, of which the last 45 are devoted

A fifth edition of Hann, Hochstetter, and l

No. 373.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 63

to an index. ‘The chief headings are petrographical, dynamic, struc-

tural, and historical geology, over half the volume being given to the

last. Each chapter opens with a brief list of references to sources.

Illustrations are numerous, those of fossils being the most elaborate.

The first volume of Za Face de la Terre, a translation under the

competent direction of E. de Margerie of Suess’ famous Antlitz der

Lrde, is just received. (Colin, Paris. 835 pp., many figures.) There

is no other book to which the advanced student can turn for so many

applications of what he has learned in geology, for here is given

a broad geological view of all explored lands. The asymmetrical

structure of mountain ranges is the chief theme of this volume. The

translators have added numerous supplementary paragraphs, indi-

cated by brackets, and have brought the references to geological

sources down to the present year. Any one wishing to strengthen

his geological library in the direction of the structural geology of the

world can hardly do better than order all the works here referred to.

Tarr’s Airst Book of Physical Geography (Macmillan, 1897) follows

his Elementary Physical Geography (1895). The second volume was

prepared because many teachers who wish to give instruction in the

“ new physical geography” are unable to use the first volume; this

statement revealing the peculiarly insufficient understanding of the

subject that the teachers gained when they were scholars. The

first Book attempts rather too much in its astronomical and geo-

logical chapters, and goes further into physics than is necessary in

the pages on the atmosphere. It is at its best when presenting the

features of the land; but here, as is often the case, it gives relatively

greater prominence to process than to form, and asa result with-

draws the chief attention of the student from the prime object of

geographical study. It is, nevertheless, a valuable addition to our

school literature, and might easily have been more valuable if a

carelessness of style and statement here and there had been

avoided,

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

The German Society of Naturalists and Physicians will hold its

meeting next year at Dusseldorf. Professor Waldeyer, of Berlin, will

occupy the presidential chair.

Many readers may be interested to learn that the Journal of the

Boston Society of Medical Sciences has been enlarged and is now the

medium for the publication of the abstracts of work carried on in

Harvard Medical School, the Biological Laboratories of the Massa-

chusetts Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts General and

the Boston City Hospitals. The journal is issued ten times a year,

and the subscription price is $2.00.

The British Museum has just acquired the collection of vertebrate

fossils from the pliocene forest-beds of Norfolk, made by Mr. A. C.

Savin. It contains about 1900 specimens, embracing many of the

types of Newton, Adams, and Lankester.

Among the most interesting of recent items of news are the items

concerning the expedition of the Sydney Geographical Society to the

Ellice Islands to study the structure of a coral reef. The drill was

sent down to 557 feet. Down to 487 feet the results were inconclu-

sive, but beyond that point they strongly favor Darwin’s theory; but

the matter cannot be settled until a microscopic examination of the

cores is made. The boring is being continued, and may be carried

down to 1000 feet.

The Albany Museum at Grahamston, South Africa, is to have 4

new building two stories high, measuring 150 feet in length by 60 in

breadth.

Professor Gundelfinger, of the Technical High School at Darm-

stadt, receives the gold medal for merit from the Academy of Sciences

at Munich for his botanical researches.

At the session of the Académie des Sciences held at Paris, Dec.

13, 1897, the Cuvier Prize of 1500 francs was awarded to Prof. O. C.

Marsh, of Yale University. This prize is “awarded every three

years for the most remarkable work either on the Animal Kingdom

- or on Geology.” The Cuvier Prize hitherto has been given to only

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 65

two persons in this country, Agassiz and Leidy. The former, how-

ever, was a native of Switzerland, where the special work was done

for which his prize was awarded.

The collection of fossils made by Mr. W. E. Gurley, late state

geologist of Illinois, is for sale. Besides duplicates and unclassified

material, it contains over 14,000 specimens duly labeled. `

René Sand has an interesting review of the marine zoological

laboratories of the world in the October number of the Revue de

l’ Université de Bruxelles. He enumerates those of Ostend, Concar-

neau, Arcachon, Sebastopol, Naples, Roscoff, Wimereux, Penikese,

Luc-sur-Mer, Trieste, Helder, Kristineberg, Villefranche, Solovetsky,

Banyuls, St. Andrews, Granton, Tarbert, Puffin Island, Woods Holl,

Misaki, Marseilles, Dunbar, le Portel, Plymouth, Copenhagen, Ta-

maris, Rovigno, Tatihou, Port Erin, Helgoland, Bergen, Jersey, False

Bay, Tromsö, Drobak, Kiel, Flöderig, Millport, Liverpool, Bologna,

Dieppe, les Sables d’Olonne, Santander, Cette, Messina, Alger,

Newport, Palo Alto, and Cold Spring Harbor. The list includes

those in operation as well as those abandoned, but fails to include

the laboratories at Annisquam, Fort Wool, Beaufort, and the stations

of the Johns Hopkins University in the West Indies.

During the past summer there have been a number of scientific

expeditions sent out by various institutions. We have already alluded

in these pages to the misfortunes of the zoological expedition sent by

Columbia University to Puget Sound and Alaska, and the more dis-

astrous Jamaica laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University. Colum-

bia University also sent out an expedition for fossils to Colorado and

Wyoming, under the direction of Prof. Henry F. Osborn, while a

Princeton University party, under Prof. William Libby, visited New

Mexico. New York University students, directed by Prof. Charles

L. Bristol, made large collections in the Bermudas. The University

of California sent an archzological expedition to the Santa Catalona

Island, off the coast of southern California, while the ethnological

party of the American Museum of New York, under the direction of

Dr. Franz Boas, made large collections among the tribes of British

Columbia. Cornell University had two parties in the field. One

studied the geology of the Catskills, while another visited Colorado.

A party of Stanford University students accompanied President Jor-

dan to the Pribilov Islands and made large collections there, while

others continued the work at Monterey. Prof. Frederick Starr, as a

66 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

representative of the University of Chicago, made ethnological studies

and collections in Mexico, while the University of Pennsylvania had

collectors at work in Peru. The Princeton expedition, under the

charge of Mr. J. B. Thatcher, returned, after several years’ stay in

Patagonia, with abundant collections, and almost immediately Mr.

Thatcher returned with another party to continue the explorations.

The British Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science, the organ of

the Postal Microscopical Society, has been discontinued, after an

existence of sixteen years, because of inadequate financial support.

Prof. Wesley Mills, of McGill University, has been granted leave of

absence for a year, which he will spend abroad.

The Reale Accademia dei Lincei of Rome has elected Profs. B.

Grassi and G. Fano to the section of zoology and morphology; Profs.

H. Kronecker and O. Schmiedeberg, foreign associates in physiology;

and Prof. A. Gaudry, foreign associate in geology and palzontology.

The thirteenth annual meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science

was held October 27—29 at Baldwin, Kan., in the building of Baker

University. Thirty-five communications were presented. Professor

Williston, as president, gave an address on Science and Education.

The International Congress of Zoology meets in Cambridge,

England, Aug. 23, 1898, under the presidency of Sir William Flower.

All communications, requests for circulars, etc., should be addressed

to the Local Secretaries, International Congress of Zoology, The

Museums, Cambridge, England.

Dr. Rudolf Heidenhain, professor of physiology in the University

of Breslau, died October 13, at the age of sixty-three. He was born

in Marieneverder Jan. 29, 1834, studied at Berlin, Königsberg, and

Halle, and was called in 1859 to the chair, which he held until his

death. His work extended over all aspects of chemical and histo-

logical physiology, and was especially brilliant in its discourses relat-

ing to the action of glands, the effects of drugs, and upon lymp

formation.

Dr. Andreas Petr. von Semenow has resigned his position as

conservator of the zoological collections of the Academy of Sciences

of St. Petersburg.

Adalbert Geheeb, the student.of mosses, has removed to Freiburg,

i. B. His address is 39, Gothestrasse.

No. 373-] SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 67

Prof. A. de Lapparent, the mineralogist, has been elected a

member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris.

Dr. O. F. von Mollendorf, the conchologist, has removed from

Manila to Kowno, Russia.

Sir Frederick McCoy, professor of natural history in the University

of Melbourne, has resigned.

Prof. Hans Molisch, of Pe has gone to Buitenzorg, Java, for

the winter.

Dr. Hugo de Vries has decided not to accept the call to the chair

of botany at Wiirzburg left vacant by the death of Sachs.

Dr. O. Loew, of the botanical department of the University of

Tokyo, has resigned on account of ill health.

We notice the following appointments and advancements of natu-

ralists: Dr. Nikolaus von Adelung, of Geneva, conservator of the

zoological collections of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

— Raphael Blanchard, professor of medical natural history in the

medical faculty of Paris. — Dr. A. Borgert, privat docent in zoology

in the University of Bonn.— Dr. William S. Carter, professor of

physiology in the University of Texas. — Dr. Anton Collin, custodian

of the zoological collections in the Natural History Museum in Berlin.

— Dr. W. Detmer, full professor of botany in the University of Jena.

— Karl Diener, extraordinary professor of geology in the University

of Vienna. — Dr. Erwin von Esmarch, professor of hygiene and

bacteriology in the University of Königsberg. — Dr. Max von Frey,

of Leipzig, professor of physiology in the University of Ziirich.— Dr.

John Y. Graham, of Princeton, professor of biology in the University

of Alabama. — Dr. H. F. Harris, professor of bacteriology in Jefferson

Medical College. — Dr. B. Hatschek, of Prague, professor of zoology

in the University of Vienna. — Dr. Robert Hegler, privat docent in

botany in the University of Rostock. — Joaquin Gonzalez Hidalgo,

professor of mineralogy in the University of Madrid. — Mr. H. Hig-

gins, demonstrator of anatomy in the University of Cambridge. —

Dr. Kaiser, privat docent in mineralogy in the University of Bonn, —

J. Graham Kerr, demonstrator in animal morphology in the Bniver-

sity of Cambridge, vice E. W. McBride. — Dr. Georg Kraus, professor

of botany in the University of Halle. — Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, of

Czernowitz, professor of zoology in the German University of Prague.

— Dr. Felix Ritter von Luschan, assistant in the Natural History

68 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Museum in Berlin. — Dr. S. C. Mahalanobis, demonstrator in physi-

ology in University College of South Wales. — Dr. Heinrich Matiegka,

privat docent in anthropology in the Bohemian University in Prague.

— Dr. Hermann Munk, full professor of physiology in the University

of Berlin.— Prof. Wladimir Iwanowitsch Palladin, director of the

Botanical Gardens at Warsaw. — Louis V. Pirsson, of New Haven,

professor of physical geology in Harvard University. — Dr. W. A.

Rothert, of Kazan, professor extraordinarius of botany in the Univer-

sity of Charkoff. — Dr. Schéndorf, privat docent in physiology in the

University of Bonn. — Dr. A. W. Shern, demonstrator in anatomy in

University College of South Wales. — Dr. Spiro, privat docent in

physiological chemistry in the University of Strasburg. — A. E

Walden, lecturer on natural science in New College, Oxford. —

Prof. A. Fischer von Waldheim goes to St. Petersburg as director of

the Botanical Gardens. — Dr. P. Zwaardemaker, professor of physi-

ology in the University of Utrecht.

Recent deaths: William Archer, of Dublin, well known for his

researches on Protozoa and the lower plants. — Dr. Leopold Auer-

bach, professor extraordinary of physiology in the University of

Breslau. — Prof. Oskar Boer, bacteriologist, in Berlin, July 11, aged

54. — Samuel Brassai, naturalist, of Klausenburg, June 24, aged 100.

— Dr. M. Euchler, editor of the Æntomologischer Zeitschrift, in Guben,

Prussia, in August. — Emil Fiek, author of the lora of Schleswick, in

Kunersdorf, June 21. — Nikolaus Golowkinsky, formerly professor

of geology and mineralogy in the Universities of Kasan and Odessa,

June 9, in the Crimea. —Georg Lieder, geologist, in Bogota, July

1, aged 35. — Rev. Andrew Matthews, English student of the

microcoleoptera. — Sir Peter Le Page Renouf, archeologist and for

several years a keeper in the British Museum, in October, aged 75:

— Charles Stewart Roy, professor of pathology in the University of

Cambridge, well known as a physiologist, Oct. 4, 1897, aged 43: — `

Dr. Emil Schmidt, teacher of zoology in the Berlin Gymnasia. —

W. Wache, director of the Zoological Gardens in Liibeck, by suicide,

July 19. — Dr. Hermann Welcker, formerly professor of anatomy -

the University of Halle. -— Charles Bygrave Wharton, ornithologist,

in Totten, England.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

JANUARY, 1898.

ABBOTT. Selected Letters of ict pee: with Introduction and Notes,

by Frank FROST ABBOTT, Professor of Latin in the University of Chicago.

College Series of Latin Authors. aise. Cloth. DERF 315 pages. Mailing

price, $1.35; for Trae ieiti , $1.25. Text Edition. 12mo. Paper. Mailing

price, 45 cents; for introduction, 40 cents

ALG A Tale. T FREDERICK, Baron de yh pai Fouqué.

Translated into English by A L. ALGER. Classics for C. mz. 12m0

xii + 106 pages. Mailing price, "doth, i cents; boards, 30 des rg introduc-

tion, ae 35 cents; boards, 25 cen

ANDREWS. The Living Substance as Such, and as Organism. By

GWENDOLEN FOULKE ANDREWS. Large 8vo. iv + 176 pages. Price, cloth,

$1.50; paper, $1.25.

BACON. A Number Primer. For ree eee Pupils. By Mary A.

Bacon, Author of Four Years in Num Cloth. iii + sy pat

Illustrated. Mailing price, 25 cents; for anota d 20 cents.

BATES. TN A a N Being rar deal Er des seman History A

England. Edited, with Notes, by AR BAT mo. Paper. 158 page

cm EN 30 ċents; for ikoko 25 cents

BE D SMITH. Famous Problems of Elementary Geometry.

Cee iE PIA of F. Klein’s oo age über ew Fragen der FA

mentargeometrie, ausgearbeitet von F. Tägert. By WOOSTER WOODRUFF BEMAN,

Professor of Mathematics in the University of iichhban, at and Davip EUGENE

SMITH, apie og of Mathematics in the Michigan State Normal College. 12mo.

Cloth. ix+ 80 pages. Mailing price, 55 cents; for introduction, 50 cents.

ere AND SMITH. Higher Arithmetic. By WoostER WOODRUFF

BEMAN, Professor of Mathematics in the Uni iversity of Michigan, and Davip

EUGENE SMITH, Professor of Mathematics in the Michigan State Normal

ollege. 1t2mo. Half leather. xvii+193 pages. Mailing price, 90 cents; for

introduction, 80o cents.

BLAISDELL. A Practical Physiology. A Text-Book for Higher Schools.

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agai eee ye goers Course. By LUTHER WHITING MAson, formerly Super-

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THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST

Vou. XXXII. February, 1898. No. 374.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CERTAIN CHANGES IN

THE TEMPORAL REGION OF THE

PRIMITIVE REPTILIA.

E. C.-CASE.

CERTAIN “mutations ” or lines of definite evolution seem at

the present time to be well established in the various mamma-

lian phyla. Typical of such lines are the changes involved in

the development of the Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla from

the pentadactyl forms of the Eocene; the development of the

complicated carnivorous and herbivorous molar teeth from the

simple tritubercular type and the gradual assumption of

the molariform condition by the premolars of the herbivorous

forms. Around such persistent lines of development have

gathered the minor changes or “variations ” determining the

various genera and species.

As yet there has been no recognition of such a line of defi-

nite evolution among the Reptilia, but it is the belief of the

author that such a line can be demonstrated. The series

of changes alluded to are those involved in the development of

the temporal region of certain of the Permian Reptilia. Closely

connected with this series are other changes, such as the

gradual*assumption of the tuberculate condition of the teeth

and the introduction among the tarsal bones of a calcaneum.

70 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

The Pareiasauria Seeley (Cotylosauria Cope) are undoubtedly

the most ancient of known Reptilia. The resemblance of these

forms to the Amphibia demand that they be removed from union

with the remaining Permian Reptilia in the group Anomodontia

and considered as the ancestral form from which the Progano-

sauria have been derived, not the reverse, as suggested by

Haeckel. The most perfect form of this group known is Pareta-

saurus bombidens O. The cranial characters in which this form

resembles the Labyrinthodonta arethus summed up by Seeley (1).

‘The head shows five Labyrinthodont characters: (1) the form;

(2) the sculpture of the cranial bones; (3) the arrangement of

the bones that cover the head; (4) the presence of mucous

canals between the orbits and nares; (5) the absence of the

lachrymal bone from the anterior corner of the orbit of the eye.”

To this evidence may be added the presence of a cleithrum,

figured by Seeley as an epiclavicle (2). The presence of a

cleithrum in the Pareiasauria is confirmed by the evidence of

an isolated scapula belonging to this group from the Texas

Permian, now in the museum of the University of Chicago. To

the upper end of this scapula is attached the distal end of an

element that can only be a cleithrum.

From the Pareiasauria arose the Proganosauria by a series of

changes involving the appearance of two fossz in the temporal

region. The first appeared between the squamosal-parietal and

the prosquamosal-postorbital, the second and lower between the

prosquamosal-postorbital and the quadratojugal-jugal. This

resulted in the formation of two temporal arches, an upper, the

postorbital, and a lower, the jugal.

In describing the quadrate of Pareiasaurus, Seeley says (2),

page 325, “the quadrate bones are vertical, compressed, oblique

plates, which extend outward and backward. They are five and

one-half inches high, and in contact throughout with the external

temporal shield.” A figure of a quadrate is given by the same

author (3), which he refers “ to Pareiasaurus or a near ally ” ; this

figure shows the characters mentioned above. The American

forms of this group show the same form of elongated quadrate.

In Paleohatteria, one of the earliest of the Proganosauria, We

find the same elongate quadrate. Changes in other regions of

No. 374.] THE PRIMITIVE REPTILIA. 71

the body, the tarsus, abdominal ossicles, and distal end of the

humerus, gave rise to the Rhyncocephalia. The temporal regions

of Proganosauria and Rhynco-

cephalia are very similar, the

only difference being that in

the first order the squamosal

and prosquamosal are separ-

ate, while in Sphenodon, a typi-

cal rhyncocephalian, they are

united. The condition of this

region in the two forms is in-

dicated in Fig. I. Fic. 1. — TEMPORAL REGION OF THE

Before the development of a io et epi

the Rhyncocephalia, however, ~’ citi ©, oMa oy AEA

there appeared among the early s ‘squamo zig

Permian reptiles forms which

exhibited the first steps in one

of the most profound mutations

of the reptilian line. These

forms show a flattened form

of quadrate instead of the

elongated form of previous

orders. It has been shown

FIG, 2. hanged RAL REGION OF THE

by Baur and the author (4) that SKULL oF DIMETRODON.

the Pelycosauria of Cope are Ą frontal; of, postfrontal. Other lettering

very similar in structure to Se. ae

the Rhyncocephalia, differing chiefly in the flattened quadrate.

The difference in the temporal region of these forms from that

of the Rhyncocephalia can be readily seen by comparing Fig. 2

with Fig. 1.

In the paper just cited, page 113, the authors stated that they

considered the Pelycosauria “a specialized side branch of a line

leading from the Proganosauria to the Rhyncocephalia.” The

author is now inclined to attach much greater importance to

the appearance of the flattened quadrate at this point. The

Pelycosauria and many of the:Permian forms from South

Africa and Russia all show this character of a depressed

quadrate more or less completely surrounded by the supporting

72 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL XXXII.

bones. They seem to form a definite group, with this feature

as the common point in their structure. The quadrate is not

equally depressed in all forms, nor equally surrounded by the

bones of the temporal region. Thus the ancestors of the

Pelycosauria were in all probability forms lacking the elongate

neural spines characteristic of this group, with the quadrate

distinct from the surrounding elements and not so much

depressed. These forms are as yet unknown. The Pelycosauria

are no longer considered as a side branch of the main reptilian

line, but as one member or branch of an equally divided line

leading from the Proganosauria.

From this point onward the Reptilia are divided into two

groups, one with an elongate quadrate which includes all

modern and most extinct Reptilia, and one with a depressed

quadrate reaching its highest development in the Permian, and

in all probability losing its identity by almost imperceptible

stages in the direct ancestors of the Mammalia.

Haeckel, in his Systematische Phylogenie (Vertebrata), page

299, has grouped the Permian forms under two orders, the

Theriodontia (Jastocephale theromoren) and the Anomodontia

(Chelycephale theromoren). In the first order he places the

suborders Pareiasauria, Pelycosauria, and Palatosauria; in sec-

ond the Dicynodontia and Udenodontia. If it be true that

the Pareiasauria are a distinct order they must be dropped

from this group. Then the remaining suborders, as defined by

Haeckel, comprise the forms possessed of the depressed quad-

rate. It has been shown by Baur and Case (4) that the group

Theromora does not exist, and it is now suggested that the forms

with the depressed quadrate be referred to as the mastocepha-

lous Reptilia, because of their evident culmination in the Mam-

malia, while the remaining Reptilia may be described as sauro-

cephalous. In no known form, so far as I am aware, is there a

tendency for a member of one of these groups to assume the form

and condition of the quadrate characteristic of the other.

Leaving out of consideration the aberrant Dicynodontia

and Udenodontia, a steady progress can be traced from the

primitive pelycosaurian forms to the mammal-like forms. The

quadrate of the early forms, while flattened and covered to a

No. 374.] THE PRIMITIVE REPTILIA: 73

considerable extent by the squamosal and prosquamosal bones,

still shows to a considerable extent on the side of the skull; in

the succeeding forms the quadrate is more and more reduced

and the squamosal approaches more and more to an articulation

with the lower jaw. Accompanying these changes are certain

others, indicated below:

Pelycosauria: Quadrate depressed, appearing on side of

skull. Teeth simple. Two well-developed arches.

Procolophonia: Quadrate depressed, nearly covered by the

greatly enlarged quadratojugal (?). Teeth simple, reduced in

number. Arches approximated only, a small foramen existing

between the upper and lower.

Cynodontia : Quadrate covered by supporting bones. Teeth

showing small lateral tubercles. Arches more closely approxi-

mated than in Procolophonia.

Lycosauria: Quadrate small, covered by supporting bones. Skull

depressed. Teeth with well-developed tubercles. Arches united.

Gomphodontia: Quadrate very small, and inclosed in squa-

mosal. Teeth tuberculate. Palate mammalian. Arches united.

The author was at one time undecided as to the nature of the

arch in the Lycosauria and Cynodontia; in connection with

Baur he said (4) that the mode of formation of the arch was

uncertain. A specimen of Cynognathus crateronotus, figured by

Seeley, shows an opening between the upper and lower arches

which was uncertain in origin, there being some reason to

suppose it to be the result of an injury to the specimen, but a

study of the figure of Procolophon, given by Seeley, shows the

same condition. The enormous quadratojugal (called squamosal

_ by Leydekker) joins the jugal in front, which in turn joins a

slender element by its anterior superior corner; this element

runs backward, forming the lower and back portion of the orbit,

and is undoubtedly the postorbital. Behind this element is

another bone, the squamosal, or squamosal + prosquamosal,

which rests upon the quadratojugal below; between all these

elements is a small cavity, exactly as in Cynognathus. It is

hardly probable that a break would occur in the same place in

the two specimens, and so they are considered as showing the

final stages of the union of the two arches to form the mam-

74 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

malian zygoma. This fact is further borne out by the very

evident union of the two arches in Placodus and Cyamodus.

If this is true, the Theriodonta (Cynodonta + Lycosauria

+ Gomphodonta) cannot be the ancestors of the Squamata

and Sauropterygia, as suggested by Cope (5). In these forms

the history of the arches is very different. The Squamata

possess only the superior temporal arch. |

It is readily seen that the scheme here offered differs very

little from that suggested by Baur in 1887 (6). The chief

differences are the placing of the Pareiasauria as the most

primitive group of the Reptilia, and the position of the masto-

cephalous Reptilia in opposition to all the remaining Reptilia,

the changes in the quadrate region being the determinate

feature in both groups. The following Er will serve to

make clear the ideas here expressed.

Mammalia

Theriodontia

Dicynodontia,

Sauromammalia

Udenodontia Pelycosauria Rhyncocephalia

(Mastocephalous group) (Saurocephalous group)

SEELEY, H. G. On Pareiasaurus bombidens (Owen) and the Signifi-

cance of its Affinities to Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals.

Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Vol. clxxix, p. 97.

SEELEY, H. G. Further Observations on Pareiasaurus. PAz/. Trans.

Roy. Soc. Vol. clxxxiii, Pl. XVII, é. c. 1892.

SEELEY, H. G. On the Anomodont Reptilia and their Allies. Loc. cit.

Vol. clxxx, Pl. X, Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Q.

4. BAUR AND CASE. On the Morphology of the Skull of the Pelycosauria

and the Origin of the Mammals. Anat. Anz. Bad. xiii, Nr. 4 and

5. 1897.

5. Cope, E. D. Primary Factors of Organic Evolution. p. 115.

6. Baur, G. On the Phylogenetic Arrangement of the Sauropsida.

Journ. of Morph. Vol. 1, No.1. 1897

coe

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, MILWAUKEE, WIs.

MANASSEH CUTLER.

JAMES ELLIS HUMPHREY.

A MAN who clearly deserves a distinguished place among

American pioneers in science is the subject of this sketch.

Without advantages of birth, and through life dependent on

the meager stipend of a New England country minister, he yet

contributed much useful work to the development of science

and to the extension of civilization in the United States. Two

volumes of extracts from his letters and journals, of the great-

est interest and value, were published by some of his descendants

at Cincinnati in 1888. These give a striking impression of his

progressive spirit and tireless activity, and furnish the chief

available facts concerning his life.

Manasseh Cutler was born May 3, 1742, the son of a farmer

of Killingly, Conn. His home was evidently one in which the

Puritan love of learning prevailed, for he was graduated at Yale

in 1765. He then obtained a position as a teacher in Dedham,

Mass., a somewhat unusual thing at the time when the towns

about Boston were accustomed to look to Harvard for their

teachers. Here he became acquainted with Miss Mary Balch,

daughter of Rev. Thomas Balch, the minister at Dedham, and she

became his wife in 1767. In that year he went to Edgartown,

on Marthas Vineyard, to take charge of and close up the busi-

ness of a relative of his wife, just deceased. While there he was

admitted to the bar, having devoted his time since his gradua-

tion to reading law. But his first experiences in legal practice

gave him a distaste for it, and he determined to enter the

ministry.

Accordingly, he returned to Dedham and began a regular

course of study with his father-in-law. The glimpses of his

experiences and deliberations while preaching as a candidate in

several Massachusetts parishes, afforded by his journal, show

the shrewd and cautious man, with keen zest for amusing situa-

tions and with clear understanding of and sympathy with human

76 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vov. XXXII.

nature beneath the preacher’s coat. Finally, in 1771, he accepted

a call to Ipswich Hamlet, on Cape Ann, which was set off in

1793 as the new town of Hamilton. Here he remained fifty-

two years, until his death, increasingly loved and respected, and

the most influential man of the region. In his time the nearest

place of importance was Salem, then at the height of her pros-

perity as a great shipping port. Mr. Cutler soon acquired a

reputation there as a teacher, and received important additions

to his slender salary for fitting the sons of many distinguished

families for college, as well as for training in the theory of navi-

gation many a young man who became a famous shipmaster in

the East India trade. He never received from his parish more

than four hundred and fifty dollars a year — then relatively a

much larger sum than now, it is true.

During the Revolution the great need of army surgeons at

the front called away the village doctor from Ipswich Hamlet,

and the minister took it upon himself to study medicine, that

his people might not be without help in sickness. At another

time he served several months as a regimental chaplain in the

Continental Army. It seems very likely that his medical studies

first developed his interest in natural science; for we know that

this branch of knowledge played no important part in eollege

curricula in his day, and the first evidences of his attention to

it date from this time. His interest in botany seems always

to have predominated, and his chief publication was upon this

subject. Yet he corresponded with many of the most dis-

tinguished scientific men of his time in both Europe and

America on a great variety of the subjects then most discussed.

Among these were the aurora borealis and other meteorological

matters, physical problems, the habits and migrations of

animals, as well as the plants of his own and other regions.

In June, 1780, he records having read Hales’ Vegetable

Staticks and his wish to follow out some lines of experimenta-

tion suggested to him by the reading. He evidently caught

from it the inductive spirit, of which Hales’ work was the first

fruit in its field of research. The difficulties under which he

labored may be understood from a letter written at this time to

his friend, Professor Williams, of Harvard. He says: ‘I have

No. 374.] MANASSEH CUTLER. 77

thought of several experiments which I fancy may be well

worth making, but cannot well proceed without a barometer. I

have a prospect of getting a tube soon, which you have been so

kind as to offer to fill with the mercury. The scale I can get

made in Salem if I could procure a barometer for a pattern; but

_ there is none in that town. ... If there is any gentleman of

your acquaintance in Boston who has a barometer and makes

little use of it, and would be so kind as to favor me with it

until I can get one completed, I shall consider it as a very

particular favor.” A few months later he wrote to the Corpora-

tion of Harvard College for permission to take from the college

library certain books which he had failed to procure in Europe,

and which he had needed for the study of plants.

On January 31, 1781, the American Academy of Arts and

Sciences held its first meeting for the transaction of business.

It then elected officers and chose some new members, among

them Mr. Cutler. Two years later he was made a member of

the Committee on Communications in Natural Philosophy and

Natural History, his associates being Theophilus Parsons and

Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. He was one of the first party which

visited the White Mountains for scientific observations, in July,

1784, and especially studied the plants of the region. Twenty

years later he repeated the journey. In 1785 appeared the first

volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy, which con-

tains his chief published writing, “ An Account of Some of the

Vegetable Productions Naturally Growing in this Part of Amer-

ica, Botanically Arranged.” This was the first connected account

of any part of the flora of any American region by a native

writer. The plants were arranged, of course, according to the

Linnzan system, and there were many discriminating notes

concerning the uses and peculiarities of various species. In

the same year he was elected a member of the American Philo-

sophical Society of Philadelphia. In the third volume of the

Memoirs of the American Academy is a figure with brief

“Remarks on a Vegetable and Animal Insect.” This is an

account of the larva of a stag beetle attacked by the C/avaria

militaris of Linnzeus, a fungus now known as Cordyceps milt-

taris. It shows a clear understanding of the relations between

78 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

host and parasite quite free from that air of marvelousness

which still pervades popular accounts of similar phenomena.

In July, 1787, Cutler went to New York to visit the expiring

Continental Congress, and succeeded, largely by his personal

influence, in securing favorable action on the proposed grant of

land beyond the Alleghanies for settlement to a company in

which he was interested. The evidence seems conclusive that

his ‘hand drafted at least that clause of the “Ordinance of

1787,” for the government of the Northwest Territory, which

forever excluded slavery from its limits, and which has been

regarded as, in its effects, the most far-reaching single piece of

legislation in the history of the country. Thence he went on

to Philadelphia, where the constitutional convention was in

session. While there he visited Dr. Franklin, then eighty-one

years old. His embarrassment on meeting so famous a man

and the way in which he was put at ease by Franklin’s sim-

plicity and cordiality, as well as the ill behavior of the great

man’s grandchildren, are all delightfully described in his

journals. His accounts of this visit and of that to Carpenter’s

Hall mention especially the botanical books he saw. One

morning he went with friends out to see Bartram’s garden, on

the Schuylkill, already falling into neglect. On the return

journey to his home he stopped at Bordentown, N. J., to call

on Michaux at his nursery there. He failed to find the owner,

but saw his garden and recorded his impressions thus: ‘“ What

could induce Mechard to fix down in this awful, gloomy, lonely,

miserable spot is beyond my power to conceive. I was never

more disappointed, and regretted the pains I had taken to see

the ill taste and judgment of this botanical Frenchman.”

In December of the same year a party left Mr. Cutler’s

house in Ipswich Hamlet with an ox-wagon bound for “ Mari-

etta on the Muskingum,”—the first settlers of the Northwest

Territory. In the party were two of Mr. Cutler's sons. They

arrived at their destination in the following April, and a few

months later were visited by their father, who may fairly be

called the father of the settlement. He had driven across the

country in a chaise from his home, and returned in the same

way after a stay of a few months. He prepared the charter of

No. 374.] MANASSEH CUTLER. 79

Marietta College, and, while on the ground, made the first

studies of the earthworks of the Ohio valley, computing their

minimum age from the trees and remains of trees found grow-

ing onthem. Some partly decayed stumps were found, between

eight and nine feet across, on which it was impossible to count

the annual rings. But he estimated a tulip tree, five feet and

eleven inches in diameter within the bark, to be from four

hundred and forty-one to four hundred and forty-five years

old.

In 1789 his alma mater conferred on Mr. Cutler the degree

of LL.D. Besides the societies already mentioned, he became

a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American

Antiquarian Society, the New England Linnzan Society, and

the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture; and he

was made an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical

Society for his attainments in the healing art. He served as a

member of Congress during two terms, from 1801 to 1805, as

an uncompromising Federalist. His journals give a vivid idea

of the intensity of political feeling in this first period of

Democratic supremacy.

He had evidently planned an extended botanical work, and

for many years collected notes and drawings with this in mind.

They finally filled more than a dozen large volumes, which

suffered much injury from a slight fire in his study during his

temporary absence from the room. This occurred in the latter

part of his life, and seems to have disheartened him. A part of

these volumes were at one time in the possession of the late

Prof. Edward Tuckerman, of Amherst College, who has said,

that the publication of the results of his studies would have

given Dr. Cutler high rank as a botanist. In these manuscript

volumes he recorded conclusions which were only given to the

world when again reached by Bigelow, Nuttall, Gray, and

others. For example, he recognized that the hickories are

generically distinct from the walnuts, and indicated many new

species first published by the authors already named. He was

a great lover of plants from every point of view. His large

garden contained a great variety, especially of trees and shrubs.

He is said to have introduced into eastern Massachusetts the

80 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

buckthorn from England, the pawpaw, the persimmon, the tulip

tree, the trumpet vine, and many more from farther west and

south.

Dr. Cutler died July 28, 1823, and lies buried beneath a

marble slab, on which, without fulsomeness of eulogy, a long

epitaph recounts his many virtues and accomplishments. The

writer made in 1896 a pious pilgrimage to the scene of his

labors, still a sleepy little village, as he left it. There, all

within a stone’s throw, may still be seen the house where he

lived, now enlarged and transformed, the church where he

preached, remodeled since then, but still bare and uninviting,

-as in his day, and the old cemetery where he rests. Such an

occasion makes one realize, as we do far too seldom, how much

our modern science owes to men like Dr. Cutler. He has not

left a great scientific reputation, it is true, though doubtless he

might have done so under less adverse circumstances. But he

did what he could. He was a pioneer in a new country, not

merely a pioneer in science, but a pioneer for truth and civili-

zation in every form, trying always to push back the limits of

the intellectual and physical wildernesses of his time, and to

clear the ground, not alone for cities and material gain, but with:

a view also to the upbuilding of sound learning and the enrich-

ment of the world’s knowledge, which material prosperity makes

possible and ought to make certain.

THE WINGS OF INSECTS.

J. H. COMSTOCK anp J. G. NEEDHAM.

CHAPTER II.

The Venation of a Typical Insect Wing.

THERE are certain features of the venation of the wings of

insects which occur in the more generalized forms of so large a

proportion of the orders of this class that we are warranted in

regarding them as typical of winged insects as a whole, and we

are able to present a hypothetical type to which the wings of

all orders may be referred.

This of course implies, what we believe to be the case, that

all of the orders of winged insects have descended from a com-

mon winged ancestor. For it is not probable that had wings

arisen more than once in this class that they should agree

closely in their structural characteristics.

The recognition of the features of the wing venation that are

common to the various orders of insects has been a matter of

slow growth. Most writers on the subject have only attempted

to work out the homologies of the principal veins within the

limits of a single order; and thus have arisen the various

systems of nomenclature of the wing-veins, which have done

much to delay an appreciation of the uniformity of structure

which really exists.

We will not take the space to trace out in detail the develop-

ment of the idea that a uniform nomenclature of the wing-veins,

based on homologies and, therefore, applicable to all orders, is

possible. In 1870 Hagen attacked the problem in a paper,

entitled “Ueber rationelle Benennung des Geäders in den

Flügeln der Insekten.”! But this essay apparently had little

influence beyond calling attention to the importance of the

subject. It was not till the appearance of the classic contribu-

1 Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, Bd. xxxi, pp. 316-320.

82 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. Vot. XXXII.

tion of Redtenbacher! that any great progress was made. This

paper, with its numerous illustrations drawn from nearly all

orders of winged insects, is really the starting point in the

actual solution of the problem.

Unfortunately, however, Redtenbacher was misled by the

erroneous theory of alternating convex and concave veins elabo-

rated by Adolph.? The result was that, although Redtenbacher

recognized the homologies of the main stems of the principal

veins, he, in his efforts to apply this theory, was led into many

serious errors.

Then Spuler? followed, and, basing his conclusions on a

study of the trachez that precede the wing-veins, worked out

the type of the lepidopterous wings. Unfortunately, Spuler

overlooked the trachea that precedes the first of the principal

veins, and began his numbering with the second principal vein,

which he designated as vein I.

The next step in advance was made by the senior writer of

the present series of articles. In a text-book of entomology *

he worked out the homologies of the wing-veins in the Lepi-

doptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera. In the preface of that

book he said:

The principal features of the method of notation of wing-veins,

proposed by Josef Redtenbacher, have been adopted. But as the

writer’s views regarding the structure of the wings of primitive

insects are very different from those of Redtenbacher, the nomencla-

ture proposed in this book is to a great extent original. The chief

point of difference arises from the belief by the present writer that

veins IV and VI do not exist in the Lepidoptera, Diptera, and

Hymenoptera; and that, in those orders where they do exist, they

are secondary developments.

But again, unfortunately, the work was not carried far

enough. While the non-existence of the concave veins IV

1 Josef Redtenbacher, Vergleichende Studien über das Fliigelgeader der

Insecten. Ann. des. k. k. naturhist. Hofmuseums, Bd. i, 1886, pp. 153-232.

2 G. Ernst Adolph, Ueber Insectenflügel, 1879.

3 A Spuler, Zur Phylogenie und Ontogenie des Flügelgeäders der Schmetter-

linge. Zeit. f. wiss. Zool., Bd. liii, 1892, pp. 597-646.

* J. H.and A. B. Comstock, 4 Manual Jor the Study of Insects. Ithaca, N. Y.,

1895.

No. 374.] THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 83

and VI of the Redtenbacher system was demonstrated for the

orders named, no use was made of the wing venation in the

other orders of insects; and his lack of definite knowledge on

the subject made him willing to admit that these veins might

exist as secondary developments in those orders with fan-like

wings.

At last the time has come when we believe that we under-

stand the homologies of the wing-veins in so large a proportion

of the orders of insects that we are able to present a hypotheti-

cal type to which the wings of all orders may be referred. And

this type includes not only the principal veins, but also the

chief branches of these veins.

It should be borne in mind that our main object at this time

is merely to trace the homologies of the wing-veins, to the end

that a uniform nomenclature for all orders can be adopted, and

also to enable us to make intelligent use in taxonomic work of

the characters presented by them. We do not presume to say

that we have definitely determined the peculiarities of the vena-

tion of the wings of the stem form from which winged insects

-have descended. We feel, however, that we have reached a

sufficiently near approximation to this desired end to warrant

our conclusions regarding the homologies of the wing-veins,

and to enable us to commend a nomenclature for them which

we believe can be accepted as final.

In designating the wing-veins they may be either named or

numbered. The simplest method is, doubtfess, to number

them; and had the system which was proposed by Redtenbacher

been based on a correct understanding of the primitive type,

nothing better could be desired. But it was not; and, as several

modifications of the Redtenbacher system are already in use, it

seems doubtful if uniformity in numbering them could be soon

brought about.

From the great mass of names that had been proposed for

the principal wing-veins, Redtenbacher selected a set of terms,

to the acceptance of which no objection has been urged. It

seems, therefore, that the surest way to bring about uniformity

of nomenclature is to give up the attempt to apply a set of

numbers to the wing-veins, and to use the names adopted by

84 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

Redtenbacher. These names and the abbreviations of them,

which we shall use in our text as well as in the figures illus-

trating it, are as follows:

Costa, C. Media, M.

Subcosta, Sc. Cubitus, Cz.

Radius, Æ. Anal veins, 4.

In designating the branches of the forked veins we have

adopted the principle of numbering them proposed by Redten-

bacher and combine the numbers with the abbreviations of the

names of the veins. Thus, the first branch of radius is desig-

nated as radius-one; and for this term the abbreviation A: is

used.

In numbering the branches of the forked veins, the same

number ts applied to homologous branches throughout the series

of orders. It is only in this way that the greatest use can be

made of the characters presented by the wings in working out

the phylogeny of groups.

But, in carrying out this plan, we have found that in certain

orders, as, for example, the Neuroptera, there is a marked ten-

dency towards the multiplication of the branches of some of the

principal veins. It results from this that we find, in each of

these orders, branches that have no true homologues in other

orders, although in some cases analogous branches exist. As

these supernumerary veins do not concern us while we are dis-

cussing the venation of the typical wing, we will postpone the

consideration of them.

It frequently happens that the branches of a forked vein are

reduced in number by the coalescing of two or more branches.

In numbering such a compound branch the coalescence is

indicated by the term applied to it. Thus, in very many

insects, the second and third branches of radius coalesce

throughout their entire extent, forming a single branch; this we

designate as radius-two-plus-three, writing the term thus, R2+3.

We will postpone for a time the discussion of the nomencla-

ture of the cross-veins and of the cells of the wing, and proceed

to a consideration of the.hypothetical type to which we have

referred.

No. 374] THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 85

There can be no doubt that the veins of the fore wings and

of the hind wings are homodynamous. Any one that studies the

subject much is impressed by this fact. A single diagram will

be sufficient, therefore, to represent the venation of both pairs

of wings of this type. Fig. 4 is such a diagram.

te Se, Se,

Fic. 4. — Hypothetical tracheation of a wing of the primitive nymph.

As the wing of a nymph is much more instructive than a

wing of an adult for the purpose of determining homologies, we

represent this ideal wing in that stage of development in which

the forming veins appear as light-colored bands and the trachez

as dark lines. This stage in the wings of an actual nymph

is well shown by the half-tone reproductions of photographs of

the wings of a nymph of Nemoura, given in Chapter I (Figs.

2, 3).!_ In our hypothetical type we have represented only the

trachez, which precede the forming veins.

By representing the wing of a nymph we are able to repre-

sent the basal connections of the trachez that precede the

veins, and thus show which are principal veins and which are

branches of them. This point has received very careful attention,

a large number of nymphs and pup, representing nearly all of

the orders of insects, having been examined especially for this

purpose. Fortunately, this evidence confirms the conclusions

reached by various writers who have studied only the wing-

veins of the adult, and merely serves to remove any doubt there

might have been regarding these conclusions.

Another point which can be brought out in this way is the

1 American Naturalist, January, 1898, vol. xxxii, pp. 46, 47-

86 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vow. XXXII.

distinction between principal veins and cross-veins. For, al-

though in certain highly specialized wings, as, for example, those

of the Odonata, every cross-vein is preceded by a trachea, we

have found that, as a rule, the secondarily developed cross-

veins are not preceded by trachez. The figures of Nemoura

in Chapter I illustrate this.

In the adult the front, or costal margin, of the wing is usually

strengthened by a vein or a vein-like structure; this is desig-

nated as the costa. A study of immature wings shows that,

although the costa usually extends more or less nearly to the

apex of the wing, the costal trachea is, as a rule, greatly reduced.

This reduction of the costal trachea has led to its being over-

looked by previous writers, and to a denial of its existence by

Brauer and Redtenbacher.! It is true that Brongniart figures

what he believed to be the costal trachea in the nymph of a

dragon fly;? but the structure which he represents is

evidently the edge of the wing within the wing sheath of the

nymph. 2

We have succeeded in finding the costal trachea in nearly all

of the orders of winged insects, and have found that in widely

separated forms, as in many Hemiptera and in the more gen-

eralized Hymenoptera, it extends nearly or quite to the apex

of the wing. Further details regarding it will be given in the

treatment of the separate orders. It is only necessary to state

here that we have abundant evidence to support the view that

the costa of the primitive insect wing resembled the other wing-

veins in being preceded by a trachea, and that the origin and

course of this trachea was probably very nearly as represented

by Cin Fig. 4. In the photographs of the wings of a nymph

of Nemoura, reproduced in Chapter I, the costal trachea is not

evident; but figures will be given of other Plecoptera in which

this trachea is as distinct as any and extends to the middle of

the wing.

The second of the principal veins of the wing is designated

as the subcosta. This extends more or less nearly parallel with

the costa and but a short distance from it. In those orders

1 Zool. Anz., Bd. xi, 1888, pp. 443-447.

2 Rech. sur les Insectes Fossiles, Pl. viii, Fig. 1, a.

No. 374.] THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 87

where there are many wing-veins it gives off numerous small

branches to the costa; in the orders where there are few wing-

veins it appears in the adult to be an unbranched vein. But a

study of the subcostal trachea in nymphs and in pupz shows

that it is forked in at least several widely separated orders; we

have, therefore, represented it so in our type (Fig. 4, Sc, and

Sez). In adult wings the branches of the subcosta are usually

either wanting or appear as cross-veins, In those orders in

which the wing is corrugated the subcosta lies at the bottom of

a furrow, which stiffens the costal edge of the wing.

The third vein is the radius. This is the most prominent

vein in the wing; and it is the one which, from the great variety

of its modifications, offers more often than any other vein

‘obvious characters of use in taxonomic work. In spite of the

wide differences of form of this vein in the different orders, it

is now clear to us that these various forms have all been

derived from a type which still exists, but slightly modified, in

the more generalized Trichoptera, Mecaptera, Diptera, and

Lepidoptera, and in certain genera of several other orders. In

its typical form this vein is five-branched (Fig. 4, Ri—Rs). The

main stem of the vein separates into two divisions; the first of

these is simple and is more or less nearly a direct continuation

of the main stem — this is radzus-one (R1); the second of the

principal divisions of radius is typically four-branched, and on

account of the frequency of the necessity of making reference

to it a special name has been applied to it, the radial sector

(R,). The radial sector separates into two divisions (42+; and

R4+5); and each of these again separates into two divisions, the

former into radius-two(Rz) and radius-three (R3), and the latter

into vadius-four (R4) and radius-five (Rs).

_ The vein occupying the center of the wing is the media (M).

In those orders in which it retains most nearly its primitive

form it is usually three-branched; but the fact that in the more

generalized members of several widely separated orders it is

four-branched leads us to believe that it was four-branched in

the stem form of winged insects. The branches are designated

as media-one (Mı), media-two (Mz), media-three (M3) and media-

Sour (M4), respectively.

88 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

The fifth principal vein is the cudztus (Cu); this vein separates

into two branches, — cubitus-one (Cui) and cubttus-two (Cuz).

Between the cubitus and the anal margin of the wing there

are typically three veins; these are commonly termed the anal

veins. We will distinguish them as the frst anal (IstA), the

second anal (2dA), and the third anal (3?dA), respectively, the

first anal being the one nearest to the cubitus.

The first anal vein is generally simple; but in those orders

where the anal area of the wing is expanded the second and

third anal veins become separated into many branches, which

form the supports of the fan-like portion of the wing.

Before leaving the discussion of this hypothetical type it

seems necessary to say a little regarding the basal connections

of the trachez that precede the wing-veins. In what appears

` to us to be the most generalized type, the tracheze that supply

the wing with air arise from two distinct trunks, as shown in

Fig. 4. The first of these trunks is a branch of the dorsal

longitudinal trachea of the thorax; the second, of the ventral

longitudinal trachea. This type exists in all Plecoptera that

we have examined and in certain cockroaches; we have not

found it elsewhere. .

The two groups of wing-trachez thus formed may be desig-

nated as the costo-radial group and the cubito-anal group, re-

spectively. When the two groups are distinct, the trachea that

precedes the media is a member of the the costo-radial group.

In most insects there has been developed a transverse

trachea connecting these two groups of trachez; the position

of this transverse basal trachea of the wing is indicated in the

figure by dotted lines. Frequently the transverse basal trachea

is indistinguishable from the two main trunks which it connects,

the three forming a single, continuous, transverse trachea, from

which arise all of the wing trachez. All of the stages of this

development have been found by us within the Orthoptera.

When a transverse basal trachea is formed, the medial

trachea (z.e., the trachea that precedes media) tends to migrate

along it towards the cubito-anal group of trachez, and often

becomes united with that group. This is well shown in certain

Orthoptera and in the Hemiptera. In some cases the base of

No. 374.] . THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 89

the radial trachea tends to follow the base of the medial in its

migration along the transverse basal trachea towards the cubito-

anal group (Acrididz).

We have found no indication that the formation of a trans-

verse basal trachea and the subsequent migration along it of

the base of the medial trachea is influenced at all by the flight

function of the wing, as the arrangement of the wing-veins does

not appear to be modified by it. It should be remembered that

the transverse basal trachea and the bases of the wing tracheze

are within the thorax of the adult insect, and are thus beyond

the influence of the migrations of the wing-veins.

It is probable that these changes have to do with improving

the air supply of the wing; but we have not sufficient data, as

yet, to warrant a definite statement on this point. The impor-

tant thing for the purposes of the present discussion is that

one must know of this tendency on the part of the medial

trachea to migrate along the transverse basal trachea in order

to be able to recognize it in its various positions.

ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY,

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, December, 1897.

THE DAILY AND SEASONAL ACTIVITY OF A

HIVE OF BEES.

F. C. KENYON,

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Nort long ago there was performed a series of experiments

with a hive of bees by a French bee keeper, M. Leon Dufour,

and published in one of the French apicultural journals, which is

of considerable biological interest, showing, as it does, the rela-

tion of the activities of bees to the various conditions of honey

flow, number of bees, season, etc. Although hives have been

frequently weighed to show the daily increment of honey, this

was the first attempt to find out what more might be learned by

weighing. An hourly record of the weight of the hive used in’

the experiments was kept each day through the whole season.

From the data obtained it was possible to plot daily and sea-

sonal curves, some of which are here reproduced. Although

the most was not made of the facts learned in making compari-

sons, enough was done to bring out the relations between the

activity of the bees and the flow of nectar during the day, and

the season, as well as the relation between the daily amount of

nectar collected and the number of bees in the hive, and between

the number of bees and the different seasons. The series of

hourly weights also shows the rate at which the bees leave the

hive, and when the number returning exceeds those departing.

The facts learned by the experimenter might be carried further

and comparisons made with hourly, daily, or seasonal changes

of weather, and with the floral calendar of any particular local-

ity, and it is with the hope that further experiments may be

performed and carried out with greater detail that the account

of Dufour’s experiments is given here.

In these experiments the first morning weight was taken as

the zero point for the day. As is evident in the curves repro-

duced in the figures, this weight was made sometimes at 5 A.M.

and sometimes at 5.30, and sometimes later. The general

ACTIVITY OF A HIVE OF BEES. QI

results, however, remain essentially the same. On May 8 this

weight was taken at 5 A.M., and, as shown by the curve (Fig.

1), the weight of the hive slightly decreased during the next

hour, or, in other words, the bees left it for their field labors i in

small numbers, but at 6 2300 .

o'clock large numbers ofpe J

the bees left, for during 3. 2000

the succeeding hour the a

weight of the hive de- |

creased by about 300 1600

gm. From 7 o'clook |

1320

Lora,

ar Bp

until 8 the number of 1300} z

outgoing bees seemed to 79° | /

decrease, for the line of oo F

descent, as shown in the %f[ d.

s i 800 /

figure, is not quite sO z% | sf s

precipitous. : This & AAE

oe [| Wels

change, however, might- ana IE

and probably was due 3} f /

to returning bees. This $l |, ; A h é

brings out the crudity œ & va 4 a Ra T | RTT

of the method of ex- “i NY Bites A À

peri tation ; for the -300 \\\ 380 / A

curves, without an ac- jan nea A |

tual counting of bees, -6o > Wi J

can show only relative 7° f | A \

. - 800 800

numbers. This, how- _,o| 880

ever, is sufficient for -100 4

practical purposes: At s., > ihe herioa kasi chile te wel he

, : d below the zero line (= the first morning

8 o'clock the hive was above Py clad a a tae:

over 500 gm. lighter than ; l

in the morning, and from this time until ọ it decreased in weight

but little, reaching then the minimum forenoon weight of— 5 50

gm. From ọ o'clock until 10 the hive very slowly increased in

weight, and then more rapidly, until at the end of the next hour

the weight had risen to 380 gm. below the zero weight. Then

it as rapidly decreased until noon, after which it slowly sank to

620 gm. below the morning weight, —the second minimum and |

92 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

the lowest for the day. From this time on the bees returned

in large numbers evidently, and the hive consequently rose in

weight, so that it passed the zero line at 7 o’clock, and reached

150 gm. above the morning weight one hour later, when the

weighing was discontinued. This 150 gm. of course represents

the amount of stores secured during the day.

The most remarkable feature of this curve is the sharp rise

just before noon, thus making two points of minimum weight

for the day. Several suggestions might be made to explain

this peculiarity. Directly, it is certainly due to a large number

of bees returning at about the same time. The small amount

of honey gathered and stored during the day seems to indicate

some relation with the nectar flow, which evidently was not

great. Dufour, basing his remarks on experiments by Bonnier,

explains the matter by pointing out that the flow of nectar

varies during the day, and has a forenoon and an afternoon

maximum flow, with an intervening period of small flow.

According to these experiments, the nectar flows freely during

the cooler portions of the day and much less so during the

period of greatest heat, which ordinarily comes somewhat after

midday. Of this change in the nectar flow the bees take

advantage, and the peculiar curve which has been described is

aresult. This explanation is not, however, sufficient to account

for the rise in this particular curve at 11 o'clock, for the reason

that, as noted above, the hottest part of the day does not

ordinarily occur in the forenoon. It seems, however, to explain

the curve of July 20, where the intermediate rise reaches its

maximum at 2.30. The difference between the two curves in

respect to this rise may doubtless be explained by the difference

in the total flow of nectar, which a comparison of the two

curves shows to have been very much greater on July 20. The

flow being small on May 8, it would consequently soon be

exhausted, causing the bees to return earlier than they would

have done had it been more abundant.

By May 18 conditions had evidently very materially changed.

During the first one and one-half hours the bees left the hive

slowly, although somewhat more rapidly than during the corre-

sponding time on May 8. From a little after 7 o’clock they left

No. 374.] ACTIVITY OF A HIVE OF BEES. 93

in large numbers, so that the weight of the hive sank rapidly

to 880 gm. below the morning weight. From this time (10.30)

the weight of the hive rose with almost as great rapidity as it

had decreased, and passed the zero mark a little before 4 o'clock.

It continued to rise until 8 P.M., when the record shows that

1320 gm. of stores had been added during the day.

The striking feature of this curve is the absence of the inter-

mediate rise forming so strong a feature in the curve of May 8.

But the difference seems explainable by the greater flow of

nectar, evidently close at hand, which enabled the bees to

quickly secure and return with their loads. The short flow of

the middle of the day must certainly have been relatively very

much more abundant than the aggregate power of the small

laborers to dispose of it.

In the other curves there is shown some slowness in starting

to work in the morning. On June 4 (Fig. 1) the decrease in

weight was comparatively rapid and continued at the same rate

at which it began. At 7 o'clock, or two hours from the first

weight, the hive began to increase somewhat slowly in weight

until a little past 9. Then it increased rapidly and crossed the

zero line about half an hour later. By 8 P.M. 4550 gm. had

been added to the morning weight of the hive.

The curve for July 20 is remarkable for the great decrease

in weight, 1030 gm., and for the rapidity of the decrease, reach-

ing, as it did, the limit at 9 a.m. Unlike the first minimum of

May 8, this is the lowest of the two for the day. The reason

for the difference is doubtless to be found in the greater flow

of nectar on the latter day, as shown by the 990 gm. of stores

added forthe day. Finally, the very precipitous rise in weight,

from about 700 gm. at 5 to about 60 below the morning weight,

-= during the next 20 minutes seems somewhat remarkable.

If, now, the amount of stores be poor, it is evident that the

different periods of strong honey flow for the season may be

contrasted readily with the seasons of poor honey flow and

` with the blooming time of different species of nectar-bearing

plants. In connection with what Dufour tells his readers, the

curves here reproduced show two periods of good honey flow

and two of poor honey flow. The first of the latter periods

94 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. — (VOL. XXXII.

began the season. It was followed by a period of good honey

flow, extending from the latter part of May through June, and

was due mostly to the blooming of acacias, which were evi-

dently close at hand. The greater part of the summer was

occupied by the second of the two periods of relatively poor

honey flow, and was succeeded by the second of the other

periods, beginning in the latter part of August and continuing

into September. This, Dufour informs us, was mostly due to

heather bloom.

A further comparison is to be made which brings out the

relation of the number of bees in the hive to the different

portions of the season.

To make this comparison

400

27 | 2° | somewhat more accurate,

ZL ,

aig 7 ZL curves are chosen (Fig.

es Be lee s/h 2) that show almost the

same amount of added

E | stores for the day. On

May 11 the workers were

evidently numerous, since

-600

uy 640 the hive decreased in

aa | weight by 730 gm., and

A if 10 bees be allowed to`

a gram there must have

been more than 7300

—= 4) —

SAME May TN

? 2

Pie n te, z

-1400 bees at work. By July

1510 18 they had increased

Fic. 2.— Th pared to show the differ- greatly, so that, as shown

ences in the number of bees in the hive. >ei °

by the minimum weight

of 1510 gm. for the day, there were evidently more than

15,100 workers that left the hive, which is more than twice as

many as on May 11. In August, as shown by the curve for

August 21 and that for August 30 (Fig. 1), there were very

few bees — on the former date only about 2000 that went to

work. At first glance the curve for June 4 seems to show the

same dearth of workers, but on May 18 they were relatively

numerous, and, since it is scarcely possible that the workers

had died off in great numbers between the two dates, the

No. 374.] ACTIVITY OF A HIVE OF BEES. 95

small decrease in weight on June 4 seems to be more correctly

attributed to the fact that the bees secured their stores so near

by and returned so frequently and in such numbers that a very

small (210 gm.) instead of a great decrease in weight resulted.

The same explanation, also, may account for the curve crossing

the zero line during the forenoon.

From the data that have been given one may conclude

1. That for the particular locality, Fontainebleau, where the

weights were taken, there are four periods of honey flow, two

characterized by an abundant and two by a poor flow, and that

the activity of the bees through the abundant flow and that

during the poor. flow is characteristic in each case. During the

poor flow there is a period of comparative inactivity during the

middle of the day, corresponding apparently to a period of small

flow of nectar, but during the abundant flow the activity of the

bees is more or less constant through the whole day.

2. Aside from this midday activity the bees go and come

steadily, and the hive, after the minimum weight is passed,

increases in weight progressively and with comparative steadi-

ness.

3. When the flow of nectar is poor, or comparatively so, the

bees during the first hour or so leave the hive slowly. At the

end of this time the rate of departure changes to a very rapid

one, which continues with slight variation until the minimum

weight is reached.

4. When the flow of nectar is abundant the rate of departure

continues, as at the start, to be practically the same until the

minimum is reached ; but this feature of the curve may be due

also to the greater number of bees returning to the hive and

the unloading of heavy loads more than to the bees maintaining

a constant rate of departure.

5. When the flow is very abundant the outgoing bees do not

reduce the weight of the hive to so great an extent as when the

flow is relatively poor.

THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

SOCIETY FOR PLANT MORPHOLOGY

, AND PHYSIOLOGY.

ERWIN F. SMITH.

For some years a move has been on foot to organize in the

eastern United States a society for the study of the living

plant, z.e., to include all who are actively engaged in botanical

studies not purely floristic. The plan was outlined at the meet-

ing of the American Society of Naturalists in Philadelphia in

1895, but not enough botanists were present at that meeting

to warrant any attempt at organization. A committee was,

however, appointed, with Dr. James E. Humphrey as chairman.

This committee reported at the Boston meeting of the Ameri-

can Society of Naturalists, whereupon the botanists present

resolved to continue the agitation, and Dr. W. F. Ganong was

authorized to see what could be done in 1897 at the Ithaca

meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, with which

body it was considered best to affiliate. After considerable

correspondence, it was decided to call a preliminary meeting

and determine wholly by its success or failure whether or not

a society should be organized. A meeting was therefore

called at Ithaca, N.Y., December 28 and 29. About thirty

botanists were present, and much interest was manifested

in the proposed new society. Thirty papers were listed on

the program, and many of them were of unusual interest.

It was therefore decided to complete the organization, which

was done by the adoption of by-laws and the election of

officers for the ensuing year. It was decided not to meet

farther west than Buffalo or south than Washington; and, while

it is believed that the bulk of the membership will naturally be

drawn from the territory wherein the sessions are held, no

geographical réstriction was placed on membership. It was

also decided that the society has no raison d’étre unless it

actually stands for what its title expresses, the purely floristic

PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 97

work of the country having already ample outlet for its

energies. Two standing committees were appointed, one on

admissions and the other on programs. Abstracts of papers

designed to be read before the society must be in the hands of

the program committee, of which the Secretary-Treasurer is

chairman, on or before December 1. No one shall be admitted

to the society who has not published valuable papers or given

satisfactory evidence of ability to do original work. For the

present, at least, the society will meet with the American

Society of Naturalists. Dr. W. G. Farlow was made President

for 1898, and Prof. W. F. Ganong, Secretary-Treasurer. No

proceedings will be published. The following new members

were elected: Spalding, Webber, Swingle, Rowlee, Harshberger,

Fairchild, Harper, Holm, Woods, Hicks, Pieters, Merrow, Por-

ter. The old members, z.e., the original committee, and such

persons as were subsequently invited to become members of it,

include Farlow, Goodale, Bailey, Atkinson, Smith, Galloway,

Burt, Wilson, Sturgis, Richards, Cummings, Macfarlane, Thax-

ter, Penhallow, Robinson, Greenman, Stone, and Ganong. It

is hoped that the end of the year will see the membership of

the society increased to at least forty, and it is confidently be-

lieved that the ensuing meetings will be even more successful

than the pleasant one which has just closed.

The following is a synopsis of the proceedings. In most

cases the abstracts were made at my request by the authors

themselves :

Pror. Joun M. MACFARLANE: A Mycorhiza in the Roots of the Lili-

aceous Genus Philesia. “This was the second recorded case of symbiosis

between a liliaceous plant and a fungus. The genus Philesia grows in

the damp humus soil of West Patagonia, and forms coralloid root

masses. The fungus was sparingly present outside the roots, also in

the epidermis and exocortex, but formed an abundant growth in the

mesocortex, the cells of which rapidly became filled with coiled

fungous hyphe. The large spherical starch grains of these cells were

acted on by the hyphæ, and were dissolved by solution rather than

corrosion. A large amount of proteid material then appeared in the

hyphe. With growth of the root extremity the fungus steadily pene-

trated the mesocortex cells of the growing point, numerous hyphz

98 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.. (VoL. XXXII.

being observed in the tenth to twelfth zone of cells behind the

apex. Invariably the crystal cells were left untouched.

The close similarity of the above to cases recorded by Groom for

Thismia, and by other authors, was referred to, but the conclusion

was reached that, while the fungus might for many generations aid

the host in the elaboration of protein compounds that were absorbed

by the latter, ultimately, though very gradually, the fungus would prove

a destructive agent.

Pror. Geo. F. ATKINSON: Studies on Some Mycelium and Fungi

Jrom a Coal Mine. On the 14th of September the speaker explored

abandoned portions of the Algonquin coal mine near Wilkesbarre,

Pa., for the purpose of studying the mycelial formations on the

doors in the gangways and on the wood props which are used to

support weak places in the roof above. Several flashlight photographs

were made of the remarkable displays of the mycelium, some four

hundred feet below the surface, and of some of the fruit forms.

Mature fruit collected has been determined as follows: Polyporus

versicolor, P. annosus, Coprinus micaceus, Stropharia sp., Hymenochete

sp., Merulius sp., etc. The paper was illustrated with lantern views.

Some of the mycelial growths entirely covered areas one to two

meters square, and were astonishingly luxuriant.

E. A. Burt: Zs there a Basidiomycetous Stage in the Life History of

Some Ascomycetes? The author described cases of close association

of Graphium giganteum (Pk.), also known as Dacryopsis ellisiana

(Berk.) Massee, with the discomycete Zecanidion leptospermum (Pk.),

also known as Holwaya tiliacea, E. and E., and believes them to be

different stages of the same plant. Dacryopsis ellisiana was described

as a basidiomycete, and its hymenium and basidia figured by Massee

in Journal of Mycology, 6: 181. The present study is being carried

on, therefore, to decide whether D. ed/isiana is a basidiomycetous

stage of the ascomycete already named. If it is such a stage, the

fact will have great significance in determining the relationship to each

other of the great classes of fungi, basidiomycetes and ascomycetes.

Specimens of the Dacryopsis collected in August, October, Novem-

ber, and December show only conidial condition, and no true basidia

and basidiospores. The conclusion is reached that, until further

study demonstrates the presence of basidia, Graphium giganteum

(Pk.), or Dacryopsis ellisiana (Berk.) Massee, should be regarded as

a conidial rather than a basidiomycetous stage of the ascomycete

Lecanidion leptospermum (Pk.).

No. 374] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 99

Davip G. FAIRCHILD: Basidiobolus, a Fungus Derivative of the

Conjugate. Read by title.

Dr. G. E. Stone: Zhe Conjugation of Spirogyra. Read by title.

Dr. G. E. STONE: Chemotropism in the Peronosporee. Read by

title.

Dr. Erwin F. SMITH: Additional Notes on the Bacterial Brown Rot

of Cabbages. Field studies of this disease were made in Michigan,

Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York in August, September, and October

of 1897. These served to confirm the earlier published statements

of the writer’ respecting the manner of infection and the usual.

symptoms. A number of new facts which appear to have an impor-

tant economic bearing were also brought to light. Some of these

discoveries are as follows: (1) this disease is serious in many parts

of the United States; (2) the greater part of the infections take place

through natural openings of the plant, że., through water pores

located on the serratures of the leaves; (3) the disease is frequently

disseminated by insects; (4) the wild mustard, Brassica sinapistrum,

is one of the common host plants; (5) the disease is very frequently

disseminated by man, ż.e., by making seed beds on infected soil, and

transplanting the germs in infected seedlings to land previously free

from it; (6) when a soil has once become infected, there is reason to

believe that the germs are capable of living in it for a series of years

and will attack cabbages which are planted on it; (7) the disease may

be restricted by planting seed beds on healthy soil; by transplanting,

as far as possible, to sod land, or at least to land not previously occu-

pied by crucifers; by destroying wild mustards and parasitic insects;

by removing badly affected plants bodily; and, in early stages .of the

disease, że., when the disease has only recently passed out of the

water-pore stage of infection, by removing affected leaves. A full

“account of the economic aspects of this disease has been published

by the Department of Agriculture in the shape of a Farmers’ Bulletin,

which may be had on application. Cultures of the parasite and dried

leaves and stems of cabbage showing the characteristic symptoms

were passed around.

Dr. Erwin F. SMITH: Occurrence of Kramer's Bacterial Disease on

Sugar Beets in the United States. Attention was called to the exist-

ence in parts of the United States (Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.) of a

disease of sugar beets much resembling, if not identical with, that

1 Science, June 18, 1897, p. 963, and Centralb. f. Bakt., 2 Abt., July 7, 1897,

p. 284.

IOO THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

described by Kramer and Sorauer in 1891-92, and more recently by

Busse.? The root shrivels in places, becomes very black, and finally

breaks down here and there with the formation of a sticky exudate

composed of bacteria. Cultures from the interior of blackened roots

remained sterile. Cultures from the syrupy exudate yielded an

organism resembling, so far as tested, that described by Busse as the

cause of the disease. It is yet too early, however, to say whether

the organism isolated is identical with Bacz//us bete Busse, or whether

it is in any sense a true parasite. It appears worth mentioning in as

much as it seems to be rather common, and destroys cane sugar and

grape sugar with the formation of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and an

acid. Possibly this is one of the organisms which has given trouble

to the chemists in sugar diffusion work, inverting the cane sugar and

liberating gases (see Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind., vol. xiv, p. 876). Cuk

tures on steamed and raw beets, on steamed potato, and in fermenta-

tion tubes were exhibited. On steamed slices of sugar beet there is

a copious production of gas, which, owing to the viscidity of the bac-

terial layer, remains for a considerable time imprisoned in little

blisters.

Dr. W. C. Sturcis: On Some Aspects of Vegetable Pathology and

the Conditions which Influence the Spread of Plant Diseases. Paper

withdrawn.

O. F. Cook and Davip G. FAIRCHILD: Fungus Gardening as

Practiced by the Termites. Read by title.

Dr. W. P. Wilson: On the Possibility of Securing Botanical and

Other Material for Original Research through the Philadelphia

Museums. Read by title.

H. J. WEBBER: Are Blepharoplasts Distinct from Centrosomes?

After discussing our present understanding of the structure and

functions of the centrosome, the speaker pointed out that blepharo-

plasts are special organs of the spermatic cells of Zamia and Ginkgo,

which, in certain stages of their development, somewhat resemble

centrosomes. The presence of similar organs in the spermatic cells

of certain Filicinez and Equisetinee have also been recently de-

scribed by Belajeff. In Zamia and Ginkgo the blepharoplasts arise

de novo in the cytoplasm of the generative cells and are located on

opposite sides of the nucleus, about midway between the nuclear

membrane and cell wall. They increase rapidly in size and are at

1 Zeit. f. Phlanzenkr., Ba. vii, p. 65.

No. 374.] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 101

first surrounded by very numerous radiating filaments of kinoplasm.

The division of the generative cell results in the formation of two

antherozoid cells, one blepharoplast being contained in each. During

this division the blepharoplasts, which have previously lost their

radiating filaments of kinoplasm, burst, and the outer membrane of

each becomes gradually extended into a narrow helicoid spiral band,

from which the motile cilia of the antherozoids are developed. In

fecundation this ciliiferous band, formed from the blepharoplast, is

left intact at the apex of the archegonium, the nucleus alone taking

part. No bodies resembling centrosomes have yet been found in the

divisions resulting in the formation of the pollen grain or in the

divisions of the egg nucleus after fecundation.

In conclusion it was stated that the blepharoplasts resemble cen-

trosomes: (1) in position, being located on opposite sides of the

nucleus near the poles of the future spindle; (2) in having the kino-

plasmic filaments focused upon them during the prophases of the

division of the generative cell. They differ from typical centrosomes,

however: (1) in arising de novo. in the cytoplasm; (2) in growing to

comparatively enormous size; (3) in not forming the center of an

aster at the poles of the spindle during karyokinesis; (4) in having a

differentiated external membrane and contents; (5) in bursting and

growing into a greatly extended cilia-bearing band, the formation of

which is evidently their primary function; (6) in their non-continuity

from cell to cell. The conclusion reached by the speaker was that

in our present understanding of centrosomes the blepharoplasts must

be considered as distinct organs.

Dr. ROBERT A. Harper: Spore Formation in Some Sporangia.

Protoplasmic cleavage and spore formation in types from the genera

Synchitrium, Pilobolus, and Sporodinia were described. The division

of the multinucleated. sporeplasm is neither simultaneous nor by

repeated bipartitions, but is accomplished by the progressive growth

of narrow cleavage furrows from the surface inwards. In Syachitrium

decipiens this results in the formation of uninucleated spores, which,

by subsequent division of their nuclei, become the resting zoösporangia

of this species. In Pilobolus crystallinus a similar progressive cleavage

produces oval or sausage-shaped masses, which have one or several

nuclei. These nuclei now divide, and the plasma masses in which

they are also divide by constriction, thus forming ultimately the

definitive binucleated spores. In Sporodinia the process is much

abbreviated, the primary cleavage furrows simply dividing the proto-

plasm into relatively few and very unequal multinucleated masses,

102 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL XXXII.

which round themselves up and are set free at once as spores. In

Pilobolus the so-called collar is composed of a slime which is readily

distinguished from protoplasm, both by its structure and staining

reactions. Cleavage consists in the ingrowth of the plasma mem-

brane. The whole process of spore formation in these sporanges is

fundamentally different from that in the ascus, and is strong evidence

that ascus and sporangium are not homologous structures. y

WALTER T. SWINGLE: Two New Organs of the Plant Cell, The

author announced the finding of two new organs or organoids; the

one, vibrioid, being abundant in the superficial layer of the cytoplasm

of some Saprolegniaceæ and some Florideæ, the other being a central

body in the developing egg of Albugo candidus. The vibrioids are

slender, cylindric, sharply delimited bodies about the size of many

common bacilli, but exhibiting rather slow bending or undulatory

proper motions in addition to transitory movements, which are prob-

ably passive and due to the streaming of the cytoplasm in which they

are imbedded. They are fixed well by ordinary killing agents, and

when stained are very sharply differentiated from the surrounding

cytoplasm. They can also be seen in the living cell. Their appear-

ance suggests that they may be minute entoparasites, but their

constant occurrence in plants in all stages of development and from

widely separated localities militates against this view. Their function

is unknown.

The other new organoid is a nearly spherical body, located at one

end of the egg nucleus of A/bugo candidus. It is often a little flattened

on the side adjoining the nucleus, is not very sharply delimited from

the cytoplasm, but stains differentially. It seems to be more or less

granular in structure ; it appears just before delimitation of the egg

within the odgonium, and disappears after fusion of the male and

female nuclei; it probably plays some part in these two phenomena.

Both of the organoids have been observed before, but were not

correctly described by previous writers.

B. M. DuGGar: Notes upon the Archesporium and Nucleus of

Bignonia. In the microsporangium the archesporium occupies a single

boat-shaped layer. The primitive archesporium is differentiated by

periclinal division in certain regions of the hypodermal layer, the next

divisions in the latter giving rise to the tapetum on the outer side,

and the final division of the succeeding hypodermal layer developing

that layer often becoming the fibrillar endothecium of authors. In

Bignonia there is no fibrillar structure, and, in general, no further

No. 374.] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 103

periclinal divisions in the regions mentioned. The definitive arche-

sporium is formed by not more than a single anticlinal division of

the primitive archesporial cells. :

The macrosporic archesporium apparently develops no primary

tapetum, divides simultaneously from the two-celled stage, and the

third or fourth cell becomes the definitive embryo sac mother cell.

The archesporial nucleus, especially, is peculiar in the large

nucleolar-like structure, which is evidently not homogeneous in

structure, a portion of it taking the gentian in the Flemming

combination,

WALTER T. SWINGLE: Some Theories of Heredity and of the Origin

of Species Considered in Relation to the Phenomena of Hybridization.

Owing to limited time, the speaker treated only the first portion of

his theme, zz., the bearing of the facts of hybridization on some

theories of heredity. It was pointed out that Weismann’s theory of

reduction of chromosomes, though giving a plausible explanation

of the differences observed between the first (uniform) and second

(polymorphic) generations of most hybrids, is not in accord with the

observed phenomena of spore and pollen formation in higher plants,

and, moreover, fails to account for the extreme polymorphism often

observed in the first generation of hybrids of races of cultivated

plants or closely related species, as, for example, some racial hybrids

of maize and some specific hybrids of Lychnis and Digitalis. Mr.

Swingle considered it necessary to assume in some such cases, at

least, a predetermination of the characters of the hybrid at the time

of fusion of the male and female nuclei.

Since the male and female chromosomes probably persist side by

side unchanged in number, and possibly unchanged in quality during

the whole of the ontogeny of the hybrid (reduction not occurring

until the close of the first generation), it is therefore necessary to

assume, in order to explain the observed fact of divergence of char-

acter in the first generation of some hybrids, that the influence

exerted during ontogeny of the hybrid by the material bearers of

heredity is, at least in some cases, a function of their relative posi-

tions, and, further, that in most cases the relative positions of these

bearers of heredity, as determined at the moment of fusion of the

male and female nuclei, would persist unchanged throughout ontogeny

of the offspring. Some exceptional cases, such as reversions to the

one or the other parent form of a larger or smaller part of the hybrid,

would be explained by assuming some change in the disposition of

the units of hereditary substance, whereby they assumed a new posi-

104 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

tion of partial or complete stability. It was suggested that possibly

the difference between uniform and polymorphic hybrids of thẹ first

generation is due to a more complete intermingling of the hereditary

particles in case of polymorphic hybrids (offspring of closely related

organisms), whereby many differing combinations would be possible,

and, in case of uniform hybrids (mostly offspring of distinct species

or very different races of the same species), to greater or less aversion

to commingling between the two more diverse sorts of particles,

whereby but one uniform and stable configuration would result,

allowing both sorts of hereditary substance to act equally.

Xenia, or the communication of the paternal characters to parts of

the mother plant in the immediate neighborhood of the developing

embryo, was held to be well established in case of some races of

maize by the work of Dudley, Savi, de Vilmorin, Hildebrand,

Kornicke, Sturtevant, Burrill, Kellerman and Swingle, McCluer,

Tracy, Hays, and others, and in case of some races of peas by the

work of Wiegmann, Gartner, Berkeley, Laxton, and Darwin. The

converse phenomena of the mother plant influencing the characters

of the developing embryo is occasionally reported; for instance, in

hybrids of Digitalis, by Gartner, and in hybrids of Nymphza, by

Caspary. E sE

These phenomena are inexplicable by the current theories of

heredity, and perhaps in consequence have been neglected. They

necessitate the assumption that hereditary influences can be trans-

ported from cell to cell for some distance. It was suggested that this

transport may occur either along the intercellular filaments which

pass through the walls, or by means of diffusible substances capable

of acting on the hereditary particles of distant cells. Townsend’s

proof of the conduction of the stimulus which results in wall forma-

tion over long, slender threads of protoplasm in plasmolyzed cells

may be considered as hinting the possibility of the former explana-

tion, while Beijerinck’s claim that the developing larvæ of some gall

insects secrete substances which diffuse into and control the ontogeny

of neighboring meristematic or partially developed tissue cells of the

host plant foreshadows the latter hypothesis.

Dr. G. E. Stone: Jnfluence of Electricity on Plants. Read by

title.

ALBERT F. Woops: Variable Reaction of Plants and Animals to

Hydrocyanic Acid. Experiments cover a period of three years. The

plants and animals were exposed in air-tight chambers of known cubic

No. 374.] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 105

contents for a given period to a definite amount of gas obtained from a

solution of 98% (i.e.,c. p.) potassic cyanide in 50% sulphuric acid, KCN

+H.SO,+ aq. Plants of the Coleus group which we have tried will

stand in all stages of growth the gas produced from 45% of a gram of

98% cyanide of potassium per each cubic foot of space for 25 minutes.

A longer exposure, even for so short a time as 5 or 10 minutes, results

in more or less injury, and exposure to the gas from ,%°5 gram per

cubic foot for 25 minutes also results in injury. In the latter case,

if the time is cut down to ro minutes the plants may stand the

increased dose without injury. The ratio between the doses and the

time is not constant. The plants can endure strong doses for a very

short time much better than they can a weak dose for a long time.

Under conditions where the stomata of the plant are closed, it can

resist the gas for a much longer period than it can where they are

open. The temperature of the chamber also has an important effect.

If it is high, it increases the diffusibility of the gas and decreases

the time which the plant can be exposed without injury. If the

temperature is low, the time may be lengthened. :

Ferns, eg., Davallias and Adiantums, are able to withstand a

slightly longer treatment than Coleus. Even the very youngest

developing fronds are not injured at the upper limit of the treatment

which would injure the young leaves of Coleus. There are a large

number of plants of different families which seem to be able to endure

exposure, as indicated for Coleus and Adiantum, without injury.

Tomatoes, on the contrary, are very sensitive. All the young growth

is killed by an exposure of 15 minutes to the gas from 7% of a gram

of 98% KCN per cubic foot of space. In fact, it is hardly possible

to give these plants any dose so small that it will not injure some of

the young growth. The young growth of roses is also remarkably

sensitive, it being almost impossible to treat them without injury.

Different varieties of roses, however, seem to differ in this respect.

The older leaves of tomatoes and roses are much less susceptible. A

curious effect of the poison was noted on tobacco, on Lilium candidum, `

and on tomatoes, where the dose was not great enough to kill the

plants, but simply to injure them slightly; all the affected cells lost

their chlorophyll, and, although they continued to divide and grow,

they were colorless, producing yellowish white blotches in the leaves,

especially along the veins. In case of woody stems the cells imme-

diately under the cambium, 77z., the youngest wood cells, were most

sensitive. In many cases these were killed, much as if by frost, but

the stems continued their growth.

106 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

Variations of a similar nature were noted also in insects, and some

of these are well known to entomologists who use cyanide bottles.

Spiders and all of that group seem to be particularly resistant to the

poison. The mites are the most resistant organisms thus far studied,

but even among species of aphides some are much more sensitive

than others. The red mite (Tetranychus telarius) is very resistant.

In cases where complete paralysis is produced and there are no

signs of life for several hours mites frequently recover. Some of the

higher animals also behave in the same way.

GILBERT H. Hicks: Effect of Light on the Germination of Seeds.

Read by title.

A. J. PIETERS: Efect of Alternating Dryness and Moisture on the

Germination of Some Seeds. ‘The species experimented with were

Chenopodium album, Daucus careta, Anthemis cotula, Arctium lappa,

Cichorium intybus, Dianthus armeria, Echium vulgare, Datura tatula,

Malva rotundifolia, and Verbascum blattaria. Two pots were devoted

to each species. After the seeds were sown the pots were under

uniform and like conditions, the soil being kept continuously moist.

After a long period, during which germination had practically ceased,

the soil in one of the two pots was allowed to become thoroughly dry,

and remained so for two weeks. It was then moistened regularly,

whereupon many seeds germinated. This was true of all the species

mentioned. Two examples are selected at random from the list.

Daucus carota: During the first 39 days pot A germinated 14%, and

pot B 15%. No further germinations for 98 days. A was then kept

dry for 14 days; Z moist as usual. Germination began in 4 2 days

after watering, and in 4 days 4 germinated 15 %, while in the previous

18 days B had germinated o. Both pots were subsequently left dry

from August 7 to September 8, and then moistened. Germination in

both pots began September 11, and in 17 days 4 germinated 9%;

B, 30%. Dianthus armeria: In first 111 days A germinated 32%;

B, 42%. A was then dried 14 days, while Æ was continued moist.

Beginning July 27, 4 was moistened regularly. On July 30, germi-

nation began in 4, and in 10 days A germinated 52%. During the

previous 24 days Z germinated o. Both pots were dry from August

7 to September 8, then both were regularly moistened. Germination

began September 13. In 15 days 4 germinated 2%, and B 40%.

Equally striking results were obtained with other species. In many

cases germination began in the dried-out pots within 48 hours, and

in some cases within 24 hours after the watering. A few other

No. 374.] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 107

species which had shown no germinations in the moist soil were not

affected by this treatment. ‘These experiments will be repeated and

extended before final publication.

Pror. Gro. F. ATKINSON: Experiments on the Morphology of

Arisema triphyllum. Female, male, and neuter plants, the history

of which was known by growing them in pots for one season, were

potted, some in rich soil and others in poor soil, the object being to

change them from male to female, etc., by varying amounts of nutri-

ment. Male plants in rich soil were in one year changed to female,

and large neuter plants in rich soil were changed to female.

In a second series, large two-leaved female plants with large corms

were selected at the time the rudiment of the flowers was formed.

The corms were cut so as to remove all but a small portion in con-

nection with the bud and then set out. By removal in this manner

of the larger part of the stored food, the plants were changed to male.

A collection of these plants was exhibited.

Dr. W. F. Ganonc: Upon FPolyembryony and its Morphology in

Opuntia vulgaris Mili. The author has found this species markedly

polyembryonic, the polyembryony having a double morphological

basis. One set of embryos comes from a mass of tissue which appears

to develop from the fertilized egg cell, and others spring from the

wall of the embryo sac and seem to arise from endosperm cells. If

this be true, it is a mode of origin hitherto unknown. The literature

of the subject was summarized, and some remarks given upon the

significance of polyembryony. Many species of cactus were worked

over (eighty or ninety), and no other cases observed.

Dr. W. F. Ganonc: Contributions to the Morphology and Biology of

the Cactacee. Part Il, The Comparative Morphology of the Embryos

and Seedlings. The paper is a continuation of the author’s earlier

studies upon this family. It describes and figures germinated

embryos of most of the genera and the more important species, dis-

cusses the germination and growth of the embryos, their form, size,

and color factors, and the features they show of importance for the

determination of the phylogeny of the genera, the development of the

seedlings, and the unfolding of the peculiar morphological features

of the adult plants. Contrary to Pfeifer, the morphology of the group

is of systematic importance. A tree of descent was exhibited. Anha-

lonium and some other genera were shown to belong with genera

from which they have heretofore been widely separated. Many

interesting drawings were exhibited.

108 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

Dr. W. W. Row.eE: Zhe Morphological Significance of the Lodicules

of Grasses. This study was based on an examination of bamboo

flowers, in which genus three to six lodicules are present. In floral

structures the bamboos are believed to represent the primitive type

of grass flower.. Evidence obtained from an examination of numerous

sections of the bamboo flower indicate that the lodicules must be

regarded as the remnants of a perianth. The three lodicules in

Arundinaria alternate on the axis with the stamens, and may, there-

fore, be considered the inner whorl, or petals. The stamens are

directly opposite the midribs of the carpels, and indicate that the

inner whorl of stamens, present in some bamboos, is suppressed in

Arundinaria. Hackel, as is well known, interpreted the lodicules as

distichous bracts. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

Dr. Lucy L. W. WiILson: Observations on the American Squawroot

(Conopholis Americana Walir.). An exhaustive study of the vegeta-

tive and reproductive parts has been made, but an account of the

former only was read. The invariable host plant is the oak. The

extreme degradation of the parasite and the intimate relation between

it and the oak roots caused the author to compare it with members

of the Balanophorez and Rafflesiaceæ, rather than with parasitic

members of the Scrophulariacee. The seedling parasite seemed

early to attack young oak roots, and steadily grew for ten to twelve

years until a huge mass six inches across might be formed. This

mass was characterized chiefly by the abundance of sclerenchyma

patches developed by the oak host through the irritant action of the

invading parasite. The presence of stomata onthe stem and their

absence on the scale leaves was pointed out, while the double circle

of bundles traversing the flowering stem is peculiar in that the xylem

of one of these sets of bundles faces the xylem in the other.

Dr. Jonn W. HARSHBERGER: Water Storage and Conduction in

Senecio precox DC. from Mexico. Senecio precox (Cav.) DC. is a

plant with a succulent, woody, cylindrical stem growing on lava beds

in the valley of Mexico. It has clustered leaves at the top of the

stem and stores up water in disk-like plates of pith. During the dry

season the plant develops its corymb of composite flowers, and in

doing so uses the water stored up in the pith. The loss of this water

is prevented during the dry season by the fall of the leaves and by a

protective cork and balsam, the latter secreted in the exocortex and

endocortex. The leaves show no xerophytic structure. The water

stored in the turgid disks of pith is gradually conducted by the woody

No. 374.] PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 109

cells and tracheids to the growing point. That the water in the pith

is a reserve supply is shown by examination of a piece of stem, which

was still alive and sending out small green leaves and short shoots,

although it had been cut and in a dry place for over sixteen months.

In this stem the turgid disks of pith were contracted into parchment-

like membranes or partitions. Conduction of water in the stem was

accomplished without the assistance of root pressure and without the

aid, to any appreciable extent, of the transpiration from the extremely

small leafy crown.

K. M. Wiecanp: Notes on the Embryology of Potamogeton. Potamo-

geton pauciflorus was studied with regard to the origin and develop-

ment of the embryo sac, fertilization, and the development of the

embryo. The embryo sac was found to arise in the normal manner

for monocotyledons, viz., from the subepidermal cell after the cutting

off of a tapetal cell. The egg apparatus and antipodals were, how-

ever, somewhat abnormal. Although the normal number of cells in

each was present, they were formed irregularly. The polar nucleus

and first and second synergides seem to have been cut off successively

from the mother nucleus of the egg. The synergides disappear almost

immediately. A similar irregularity was found in the antipodals; but

the most interesting feature, perhaps, was the fact that the definitive

nucleus cuts off a very large basal nucleus, as in Sagittaria, before

endosperm formation proceeds in the upper portion of the sac.

Dr. ADELINE SCHIVELY: Recent Experiments and Observations on

fruit Production in Amphicarpea monoica. Her published observa-

tions show that minute aerial cleistogamous flowers when buried

produce one-seeded “nuts ” with soft fruit and seed coats, instead of

the typical two to three-seeded pods with indurated walls.

She now shows that when purple flowers are buried, in the bud

state, while still attached to the plant, or at any period up to the time

of fertilization, perfect underground “nuts” mature instead of three

to four-seeded pods. Various conclusions were drawn as to the

‘powerful action of environmental agents in determining the size,

shape, and consistence of the seed, the induration of its coats, and

the number of seeds that might be produced.

Dr. MarrHa Buntinc: On the Formation of Cork Tissue in the

Roots of the Rosacee. Starting with observations on Geum urbanum

and Geum rivale made by Professor Macfarlane in 1890, where

intercellular spaces were shown to exist between the cork cells, she

IIO THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

proved this condition to be typical for all herbaceous and shrubby

species examined, but to be absent in roots of arborescent species.

She described the alternation of a flattened, usually pigmented, layer

of cells with one to three layers of rounded cells in each annual ring,

the flattened layer being the last produced each season. Protoplasm,

nuclei, and starch grains exist in cork zones four to five rings removed

outside the phellogen.

Mıss CAROLINE THOMPSON: The Structure and Development of

Internal Phioem in Gelsemium sempervirens Ait. The phloem originates

as four longitudinal tracts in the primary meristem and steadily

increases, until by the eighth or tenth year it has entirely pressed

together and destroyed the pith. During the first year nourishment

of the pith ceases, owing to the differentiation of two layers of cells,

which were referred to as the “phloem sheath.”

A remarkable distribution of the internal phloem was shown to exist

in the petiole, at the base of which a bicollateral bundle arrangement

exists, but this quickly changes to the ordinary collateral relation by

the passage of the upper (internal) phloem through the xylem of the

petiole. Each bundle in passing out into the petiole subdivides into

three parts, two of which remain in the stem and soon reunite, while

the third passes out and behaves as above described.

From the second year onward, the internal phloem patches of the

stem show areas of crushed and obliterated tissue where the previously

formed phloem has been pushed inwards by the younger elements.

In older stems eight large phloem patches, formed by division of the

original four, entirely fill up the pith area.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOOTHILL

VEGETATION OF WESTERN NEBRASKA!

CHARLES E. BESSEY.

In another paper read before this section? I have spoken of

the general features of the foothill portions of Nebraska, and

I need do no more here than to say that the foothill region

includes a belt from 100 to 200 kilometers in width, covering

the extreme western counties and lying for the most part west

of the 102d meridian. It is characterized physically by two long

ridges which extend out from the Wyoming Mountains to the

eastward. The northern one is Pine Ridge, with an elevation

of about 1500 meters, and the southern one Cheyenne Ridge,

with an elevation of 1700 meters. Each slopes gradually to

lower levels, and, after 200 or 300 kilometers, they are raised

but little above the surrounding country. It must be borne

in mind that the whole of the western portion of the state is

greatly uplifted, the general level for the last one-fourth of the

surface being fully 1200 meters above the sea.

A recent botanical journey of about 175 kilometers in this

region enables me to present at this time a few features of the

vegetation which have not hitherto been particularly noticed.

At Alliance in Box Butte County, the point of beginning,

the surface is a gently undulating plain, with an elevation of

1200 meters above sea level. Here, as far as the eye can reach,

there are no native trees whatever and scarcely any shrubs.

The plants which dominate everywhere are Agropyron pseudo-

repens, Stipa comata, Bouteloua oligostachya, and Bulbilis dacty-

loides, with Opuntia mesacantha and Cactus viviparus abundantly

Scattered among the grasses. Lepidium intermedium entered

into these grass formations quite constantly, and in some places

constituted nearly, if not quite, one-half of the vegetation.

1 Read before section G of the American Association for the Advancement of

Science, Aug. 11, 1897.

*“ Are the Trees Receding from the Nebraska Plains?” since published in

Garden and Forest, Nov. 17, 1897.

IFZ THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

For fifty kilometers the vegetation is of this monotonous char-

acter, the monotony intensified by the straw color now assumed

by the dry vegetation. Only when we cross the broad valley

of Bluewater Creek do we find a marked departure from the

Agropyron-Stipa-Bouteloua-Lepidium formation. The increased

moisture has enabled other grasses to push their way in, es-

pecially Sporobolus aroides, and this with Agropyron, which

here is taller and quite green, give a refreshing color to the

stretch of level land on each side of the creek. We cross a

stretch of rounded sand hills over which the vegetation is still

more sparse, but yet it is only a modified form of the Agropyron-

Stipa-Bouteloua-Lepidium formation. As we enter and as we

pass out of these dry hills, we cross a belt, or zone, of Arte-

mista filifolia, which begins and ends with marked abruptness.

The valley of the North Platte, thirty kilometers from the

western boundary of the state, is from six to sixteen kilometers

in breadth, and here, on account of the general introduction of

cultivated plants under irrigation, the botanist finds little of

the original vegetation. The river banks and the sandy islands

scattered here and there in the rapid current are fringed with

young willows (probably Sa/zx nigra) and buffalo berry, but

there is no heavy body of woodland, as we should find under

similar conditions in the eastern part of the state. Doubtless

the greater elevation (1100 meters) above sea level has much

to do with this absence of trees along the banks of the great

river, which is fully a kilometer in breadth.

Upon crossing the river we soon begin the ascent of Chey-

enne Ridge. In its narrow cafions, which open to the north,

we find cottonwood (Populus deltoides), Rydberg’s cottonwood

(Populus acuminata), almond willow (Salix amygdalotdes), box-

elder (Acer negundo), plum (Prunus americana), hackberry (Celtis

occidentalis), and red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), while on the

sides of the bluffs were scattered specimens of pine (Pinus pon-

derosa scopulorum). Here grow side by side the western shrubs,

Rhus trilobata, Prunus demissa, Rosa fendleri, Ribes aureum,

Lepargyrea argentea, and the eastern Symphoricarpos occiden-

talis, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, and Vitis vulpina. Passing

still further up the side of the ridge, we find the smaller moun-

No. 374] VEGETATION OF WESTERN NEBRASKA. 113

tain mahogany (Cercocarpus parvifolius) in great abundance on

the steep slopes. Here the pine is the principal tree, growing

abundantly in the deep cafions and upon the exposed mesa-like

summits of the rocky spurs.

After we reach the top of Cheyenne Ridge, we find broad

stretches of grassy meadow land which are comparable to the

mountain meadows of the great range to the westward ; and

yet here the summits, which here and there rise 100 meters

or more above the general elevation, are capped and fringed

with pines. The Wildcat Mountains constitute one of these

series of higher summits, attaining an altitude of fully 1700

meters, and their summits and slopes, as well as tortuous

cafions, bear pine trees here massed and there widely scat-

tered. From the highest point of Cheyenne Ridge, as we pass

southward, there is a gradual return to the type of Agropyron-

Stipa-Bouteloua-Lepidium which we found on the high plains

north of the North Platte River. As we pass ridge after ridge,

each a little lower than the preceding, we gradually lower our

elevation until we run down into the valley of the Lodge Pole

River, 1450 meters above the sea. The last ten kilometers

have nearly duplicated the floral covering of the Box Butte

Plains, with somewhat less of the effects of aridity in its gen-

eral aspect, and with here and there a cottonwood, box-elder,

or willow tree along the river to relieve the monotony of the

landscape.

BRIEFER ARTICLES.

ADVENTITIOUS BUDS ON LEAVES OF DROSERA

ROTUNDIFOLIA.

A. J. GROUT.

WHEN collecting plants of Drosera rotundifolia for class use, I

found several leaves bearing numerous (from two to ten) young

plants on their upper surfaces (Fig. 1). This fact was first noted

about Sept. 15, 1897.

So far as I can learn, this peculiarity of the sun dew has escaped

observation until the present year. At the time I made the dis-

covery I knew of no other similar observations,

but have since learned that Mr. James A.

Graves,! of Susquehanna, Pa., has noted the

same thing this fall. That these facts have

never before been noticed seems all the more

remarkable since Drosera rotundifolia has been

made the object of such careful scrutiny by

Darwin and others because of its carnivorous

habits.

The most favorable spots for this peculiar

Fic. 1. — Leaf of Drosera “evelopment seemed to be among dense masses

rotundifolia with two Of Sphagnum, and the leaves producing the

PA adventitious buds lay directly upon the wet

moss. A few of the leaves had entirely severed’ their connection

with the old plant, but no roots had developed in the young plants

at the stage represented in the figure. Mr. Graves’s Drosera devel-

oped the adventitious buds in a moist chamber.

The occurrence of the adventitious buds in such wet places sug-

gests that the past extremely wet season may explain their discovery

at this particular time; that is, the unusual amount of moisture has

caused the formation of an unusual number of buds.

Another interesting fact observed was the occurrence of the

peculiar glandular hairs of the leaves a short distance up on the

stems of the young plants, as if the tissues of the stem still retained

some of the peculiarities of leaf tissues.

1 The Plant World, vol. i, no. 2.

FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF EUROPE. IIl5

Sections through the leaf and base of young stems have been

made, but the apparatus at hand does not permit of a section thin

enough to give structural details. The organic connection between

the leaf and the base of the young stem is clearly shown, and the

young plant evidently starts in connection with the fibro-vascular

bundles of the leaf, but my sections do not clearly show the nature

of the connection.

The cells of the very base of the young stem and the adjoining

leaf cells were crowded with chlorophyll grains, while there were

very few in the other leaf cells, showing clearly the much greater

constructive activity (anabolism) of these tissues.

PLYMOUTH, N. H.

NOTES ON THE FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF EUROPE.

CHARLES EARLE.

VI.

Remarks on the Fossil Tapiroids of France.

As far as our paleontological knowledge stands in regard to

the evolution of the modern tapirs, this phylum arose in Europe and

America at about the same time. In America we find in the Bridger

the genus Isectolophus, which is considered to represent one of the

stages leading to Tapirus.

Prof. Albert Gaudry has lately published an important paper?

on the evolution of the teeth of fossil Tapiroids and refers remains

found in the Middle Eocene of Argenton, France, to the American

genus Colodon, which he includes in the tapir phylum. Now, in the

first place, Colodon comes from the Oligocene, or White River Beds,

whereas the beds at Argenton are equal to the Middle Eocene, or

Bridger. The teeth which Professor Gaudry has referred to Colodon

minimus, in my opinion, should be identified as those of the American

genus Isectolophus, or a very closely related genus. This is more

in harmony with the origin of the tapir’s tooth, as in Colodon the

metacone is concave, whereas in Isectolophus this cusp is convex,

like that of the recent tapir.

1La dentition des Ancéstres des Tapirs, Bull. Soc. Geog. de France, p. 315.

1897.

116 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL. XXXII.

In fact, I am not at all certain that Colodon is found in Europe,

even in beds above the Eocene. The Protapirus douvillei, which has

been referred by some American paleontologists to Colodon, is, as I

have shown,’ really a true tapir and belongs in the genus Protapirus,

which is one of the generic links leading to Tapirus.

Again, Hyrachyus intermedius of Filhol has been placed by M.

Gaudry as a synonym of Co/odon minimus. I can hardly agree with

my learned friend of the Jardin des Plantes in this identification,

and I think the jaw and teeth referred by Filhol to the genus

Hyrachyus were correctly identified.

In the jaw of the French species of Hyrachyus, described by

M. Filhol, the number and structure of the teeth are the same as

in the typical American species of this genus, and there is no third

lobe on the last lower molar. The measurements of the jaw and

teeth of Æ. intermedius correspond nearly exactly with those of

Hyrachyus agrarius of the Bridger.

The presence of such typical American Middle Eocene genera as

Hyrachyus and Isectolophus in the Eocene of Argenton, France,

demonstrates how closely this fauna is related to that of the

Bridger.

So far as I am aware, the larger species of Lophiodon are not

found at Argenton, Z. sselensis coming from Issel. We might

conclude from this that the Argenton beds are really earlier than

those of Issel, and this would harmonize better with our ideas of

the dental morphology of the tapirs, as it is more probable that

the types with a convex metacone, Isectolophus, gave origin to both

tapirs and lophiodonts than that the latter were ancestral to the

tapirs. The typical forms of Lophiodon, as Z. ésselensis, prob-

ably led to no permanent results in regard to evolving higher

genera.

In conclusion, the evidence is now pretty conclusive that Hyrachyus

is found at Argenton, and a decided advance has been made by Pro-

fessor Gaudry in the removal of one of the small species of Lophiodon

from that genus, but whether the view is correct that it is a species

of Isectolophus remains to beseen. The third species of Lophiodon

which was referred by Cuvier to this genus is now placed by Pro-

fessor Gaudry in Propaleotherium. The mist has now considerably

cleared away in regard to What is Lophiodon? In France, at least,

all of the small species have been accounted for and referred

probably to their proper genera.

1 Science, Dec. 25, 1896.

No. 374] FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF EUROPE. 117

VII.

LVote on the Structure of the Skull in Dichodon.

The genus Dichodon has been recorded from the Eocene of

Hordwell, England, at Egerkingen by Riitimeyer, and also is found

in the Siderolithic du Mauremont. While at Paris in 1895, I had

the opportunity of examining part of a skull from the Phosphorites,

labeled Dacrytherium cayluxi. I at once noticed the modernization

of this skull and the characters of the teeth, and immediately referred

it to that little-known genus Dichodon of Owen. This genus has

not, I believe, been recorded before from the Phosphorites of

France.

In Dichodon the fourth upper premolar is completely molariform :

it resembles Agriochoerus in this respect somewhat, but in the latter

this tooth has not developed the postero-internal cusp. _Dichodon

stands unique among Artiodactyles in the complex structure of the

last premolar.

The facial part of the skull in Dichodon is high and strongly

compressed. The anterior narial openings are not as terminal in

position as in the Anoplotheroids, with a corresponding reduction

in the nasal bones, obliquity and enlargement of the nares. As

compared with Dacrytherium, there is no preorbital fossa, and the

facial part of the skull in Dichodon is much more modernized than

in the former genus.

In comparison with modern selenodont Artiodactyla, the anterior

portion of the skull in Dichodon closely resembles that of the

Tylopoda and departs widely from the primitive type found in the

Anoplotheres.

With the exception of the closed dental series in Dichodon, this

genus has apparently little near relationship to the Anoplotheres,

but is a much higher type and more nearly related to the true

Selenodonts.

New ROCHELLE, N. Y.,

January 24, 1898.

EDITORIALS.

A New Biological Journal. — We have the pleasure of record-

ing the advent of another excellent periodical from France devoted

to biology. Z’ Intérmediaire des Biologistes, organe international de

Zoologie, Botanigue, Physiologie, et Psychologie, the first number of

which appeared November 5, is edited by Prof. Alfred Binet, with

the assistance of Dr. Victor Henri and an editorial committee

of thirty-four, including Profs. J. M. Baldwin and C. S. Minot

from America. The journal, which is to appear semi-monthly,

cherishes the high ideal of becoming the medium of communi-

cation between the members of the great family of biologists

scattered in all countries. The immediate practical aim is that of

furnishing to biologists information of interest to them as investiga-

tors. This information will be afforded, first, by a department of

“Questions and Answers,” and, secondly, by summaries of the bio-

logical periodicals. In addition, a brief space may be devoted to

original articles and preliminaries. The number now before us

contains “An Appeal to Physiologists,” by E. J. Marey, for the

establishment of a commission to make the types of instruments

used in physiological work uniform; forty-six queries, largely in

psychology, nearly all instructive by their suggestiveness ; biblio-

graphic lists of contents of periodicals, eight pages ; three new pieces

of physiological apparatus, with illustrations. Of the importance of

such a journal as this we have no doubt. In how far it will serve

the working naturalist who wants certain information is yet to

appear. Generally he wants it quickly; but not infrequently the

queries will relate to a life work, when he can afford to wait, as Dar-

win did, months and even years for the answers to his questionings.

But whatever this journal does towards uniting biologists, towards

establishing a habit of mutual dependence and aid, will not fail to

advance the science.

Scientific Names. — There has recently come into our hands a

small paper of no little value to systematic naturalists. We refer to

Professor Walter Miller’s “Scientific Names of Latin and Greek

Derivation,” published in the Proceedings of the California Academy

of Science and reprinted by the Stanford University. The paper

should be a vade mecum, studied and restudied by every person who

is in danger of describing new genera and new species. Were its

EDITORIALS. IIQ

teachings followed we should not have our tastes shocked by such

hybrid names as Gillichthys; we should no longer have to see

feminine adjectives coupled with masculine nouns; we should no

longer be in doubt as to whether Alcyonaria or Halcyonaria,

Aplodinotus or Haplodinotus was the preferable form.

We wish, however, to make use of the paper as a text, rather than

for a regular review. From one standpoint the appearance of this

paper is to be regretted. There is danger of its falling into the hands

of those who will feel it their duty to reform nomenclature in accord-

ance with the rules there laid down and thus inflict upon a suffering

world a new series of useless terms. There are people who cannot

realize that our system of systematic nomenclature is not an end but

a means, It is really the foundation of our book-keeping, and to

change this book-keeping from day to day is far from facilitating

actual work. We are told that the whole endeavor of the systematic

purists is to result in permanence, but we have been waiting for this

permanence now these many years, and, so far as we can see, it is as

far off as ever.

We have no fault to find with the law of priority, no fault with

the rule that names shall be formed in consonance with the laws

of philology. What we do find fault with is the feeling that these

man-made laws are inviolable and the evident disinclination to use

that best of gifts, common sense, in their application. All the world

knows what Amphioxus is. The name is used in every paper dealing

with its structure, but the law of priority demands that Branchiostoma

be substituted for it. Were it possible to make the substitution,

would there be any more permanence than if the better-known name

be left alone? Lepidosteus is in almost world-wide use. Is perma-

nence effected by resurrecting the fact that, in defiance of the laws of

euphony and philology, its original form was written Lepisosteus?

But these are not the worst cases to bother us. The most absurd

are those changes which are based upon the law that names of similar

Origin but of different form are in conflict, and that the later one

must stand aside on the ground of possible misunderstanding.

Ellobius must go because Ellobium was described first; Gymnura

must be renamed because of possible confusion with the earlier

Gymnurus. ‘These are little better than those cases of changes pro-

posed because of alleged inappropriateness or inaccuracy of name.

We who are not engaged solely in systematic. work are beginning

to get weary with this continual shuffling and changing of names.

We do not find that fixity which we had been led to expect. Names

120 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

are less certain in their meaning than they were twenty or thirty

years ago. Who can tell to-day what a writer means if he mentions

some fact about Acer saccharinum? One must first be acquainted

with the mental composition of the author; is he radical or is he

conservative in his make-up?

We can suggest no better business for the American Association

for the Advancement of Science than the appointment of a com-

mittee to take the initiative in reopening this whole question of laws

of nomenclature, and in the appointment of such a committee care

should be taken that morphologists and physiologists as well as

systematists should be recognized in its make-up. It would be desir-

able to see if it be not practicable to institute some law of limitation

to the priority rule, or there will always be those who will write Asta-

cus when they refer to the lobster. Such a committee could cooperate

with other similar bodies appointed by other scientific organizations

elsewhere, and thus make some laws of universal application.

Marvelous Technique. — At various times during the past year

the daily papers have contained accounts of a wonderful discovery

on the part of an alleged American professor to the effect that he

had been able to increase the magnifying power of the microscope

to an extent hardly dreamed of by other workers. So long as these

accounts were confined to the daily press we took no notice of them,

but now that they have obtained entrance into such a worthy journal

as the New York Medical Times we think it time to lodge a protest.

The “ discovery ” is in effect the insertion of a second microscope in

the place of the ocular of the first. It is true that this will result in

an amplification of the image, but every tyro knows that this process

is an old one, and that, while an enlargement results, there is no gain

in definition ; it is merely a magnification of the imperfections of the

first objective. Still greater amplification than any this so-called

professor claims can be obtained by the simple projection micro-

scope, but no one who has seen a nucleus thus “thrown up” until

the image has a diameter of six or eight feet will claim that the

process discloses features before invisible.

The same brilliant discoverer announces also a still more brilliant

discovery in technique by which he has been able to obtain sections

“of about one one-hundredth the thickness of the finest slice ever

hitherto obtained.” For refinement of technique his procedure

“beats the Dutch.” “I cemented upon a glass slide a single layer

of cells, and then placed upon this slide another slide whose surface

had been freshly covered with cement and allowed them to remain in

No. 374.] EDITORIALS. I2I

contact until the upper and lower surfaces of the cells had become

cemented to the glass slides. Then I introduced between the two

glass plates a very thin blade of copper (!), the edge of which had

been sharpened to the very finest cutting surface possible. . .

This blade is introduced between the two plates and pushed aa

between them so as to separate them, and on its way it slices the

cells in the middle. One of these plates is then cemented to another

glass plate with the cut surfaces of the cells against the other glass

plate and the slicing operation repeated,” ad infinitum.

The same article proceeds next to the superlative. No longer

will Spencer’s well-known characterization of life be quoted. Our

brilliant professor has solved the problem. “I am satisfied,” says

he, “that life is mind — that all vital phenomena are mental. A cell

can feel stimuli and can adapt acts to ends (sic). Now, only mind can

do this; only animate bodies have minds, and mind alone it is which

constitutes their life.” There follows much more of the same sort, but

we have no room for further quotations. Some years ago the Ameri-

can Naturalist (vol. xxi, p. 549) advertised for an author for a much

needed “ Unnatural History,” stating the qualifications necessary in

the person who should undertake the work. The author is now found,

and if the present flow of lucubrations be continued, the volume

missing from all libraries will soon be an accomplished fact.

The Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology.

formation of the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology an

important step has been taken for the advancement of botany in

America. We have no intention of assuming the functions of a

scientific newspaper, but the first annual meeting of this society is an

event of such significance that we are very glad to publish the report

of its proceedings, which is presented on another page. At this

meeting the workers on the morphological and physiological sides of

botany have come together for the first time as a distinct body, and

one is able to obtain for the first time a comprehensive view of what

is being done in this country along these lines of investigation. There

was, naturally, considerable variation in the quality of the papers

presented, but one cannot fail to be impressed with the variety and

amount of work which they represent and their generally excellent

character. Certainly the society is to be congratulated upon the

success of its first meeting, and no doubt its meetings in the future

will be of even greater interest, and will exert a profound and

broadening influence not alone upon the botany in this country but

upon the biology in general.

REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE.

GENERAL BIOLOGY.

The Role of Water in Growth.'— Dr. C. B. Davenport has

made an interesting series of experiments upon the eggs and

embryos of Amblystoma, toads, and frogs to determine the propor-

tions of water relative to the other constituents of the body during

the earlier stages of growth. . Defining growth as “increase in

volume,” he finds that “ exactly as in plants, there is a period of

slow growth accompanied by abundant cell division — the earliest

stages of the egg. There follows, after the first few hours, a period

of rapid growth due almost exclusively to imbibed water, during

which the percentage of water rises from 56 to 96; lastly comes

the period of histological differentiation and deposition of formed

substance, during which the amount of dry substance increases

enormously, so that the percentage of water falls to 88 and below.

But the growth is due chiefly to imbibed water.”

Assuming for the sake of argument “that the dry substance is

all growable,” the author finds that the curve of daily percentage

increments based on dry weights of tadpoles fails to confirm Minot’s

generalization that there is a “certain impulse given at the time of

impregnation which gradually fades out, so that from the beginning

of the new growth there occurs a diminution in the rate of growth.”

On the contrary, he finds in tadpoles no loss in the rate of growth of

the growing substance. He points out further that no such diminu-

tion is noticeable in plants.

There are one or two points in which we would take issue with

the author. In the first place, the use of the term “plasma,” bor-

rowed from the German, in place of “ spongioplasm ” or ‘reticulum ”

seems to us an unfortunate one. The common use of this term is

to designate the fluid portion of the blood, and, therefore, when it

is used in a description of the living cell-contents it conveys a false

impression to English readers. In the second place, it does not

seem to us to follow, because growth as a whole is shown to be due

to the imbibition of ‘water, that “we have to conclude, therefore,

that all local growths are due to local imbibition of water.” It is

' 1C. B. Davenport. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xxviii, no. 3, pp- 73-84-

June, 1897.

REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 123

well known that in tadpoles, especially, nearly all the cells are

heavily laden with yolk granules until a relatively late period of

development. Of this the author takes no account. It is quite

conceivable that local growth might take place without any general

or local increase in the percentage of water. Until the larva is

able to take food the increase in the dry weight of the living

material is due to assimilation of yolk, and it may be that local

growth during this period is due solely to the solution, transference,

and assimilation of this food supply stored within the organism. If

it can be shown that there is an increase in the percentage of water

in a local growth, such, for example, as a gill-bar, it may well be that

it is a purely secondary phenomenon. Then the question, What

determines excessive local growths? would not resolve itself into,

What determines excessive local imbibition of water? but into,

What determines excessive transference and assimilation of yolk

material? In supposing that local growth is due primarily to the

absorption of water, whether active or passive, we are assuming a

simplicity of operation that is hardly warranted by the known com-

plexity of living material.

The paper is well illustrated by tables and plotted curves.

The Capacity for Regulation in the Development of Organisms.

— The word “regulation,” as employed by Driesch, expresses the

capacity of an organism to obliterate in development the effects of

any malforming influence to which it has been subjected, so that,

despite the mutilation, it develops into the normal form. Driesch’s

former studies had been chiefly made upon developing eggs; he now

(Arch. f. Entwicklungsmech. Bd. v, Heft 3, 1897) examines some

cases of regeneration.

As is known from the studies of Miss Bickford, regenerating

stems of Tubularia do not form new tentacles by a sprouting out at

the cut edge, but by a metamorphosis of the old tissue of the stem

just below the cuj. The old tissue thickens along a number of longi-

tudinally lying areas, representing the future tentacles, which soon

become fully formed. This phenomenon of differentiation in place

is called by Driesch reparation. The first question Driesch asks is:

If the repairing stem be split lengthwise so that a double head is

formed, will the normal number of tentacles be repaired through

regulation on each half head? The result showed that nearly or

quite the normal number is so formed.

Again, if the head is cut off and regenerated, and then cut off a

second time, will the time elapsing before complete reformation be

124 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

less after the second cut than after the first? Experiment showed

that it is so; that, whereas it takes five and one-half days on the

average for regeneration to occur after the first cut, it is effected

under otherwise similar conditions in three days after the second.

The repetition of the stimulus quickens the response.

If a piece of the stem of Tubularia be cut at both ends, regeneration

will take place at both the oral and the aboral end. If, now, in one

case the oral end be sealed with wax so that it cannot grow and the

aboral be left free to regenerate, will the time required for the for-

mation of the aboral head differ in the two cases? The result showed

that regeneration of the aboral head occurred in all cases inside of

seven days after the cut when only one head was forming, whereas

it took over twelve days when both heads were arising. Regenera-

tion is slower when the formative stuff goes to two points than when

it aggregates at only one.

The tentacles of Tubularia surround the oral end at two levels.

After decapitation, consequently, reparation of tentacles occurs at

two zones, a distal and a proximal. The question arises: What

will happen if after reparation has begun in both zones the distal

zone is cut off? Will a head with only one zone of tentacles arise?

Here the marvelous phenomenon of regulation was most strikingly

shown. The normal number of zones was regained, and, indeed, by

either one of four modes, all producing the same end result, —- the

restoration of the perfect form of the adult. These four modes are:

(1) by regeneration — the cut end grew out, and in this regenerated

_ part the distal zone of tentacles arose by reparation; (2) by dissolu-

tion —the remaining (proximal) zone of tentacles was dissolved

and in its place the normal condition of two zones appeared ; (3) by

replacement — the distal zone having been removed so as to leave

the maximum space beyond the proximal zone, a new series of ten-

tacles sometimes arose in this empty space without disturbing the

proximal zone; (4) by division — the arising tentacles of the proxi-

mal zone disintegrated in their middle, forming the two zones char-

acteristic of normal development.

Determination of Sex in Plants. — The causation of sex in the

hemp plant, studied at various times in the past, forms the subject

of a short communication in the Comptes Rendus of the French

Academy for Nov. 15, 1897, by M. Molliard, who concludes from

his experiments that the medium in which the plant grows may

affect its sex, and that, in this case, contrary to the currently admitted

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 125

theory, the transformation of staminate into pistillate flowers occurs

under conditions disadvantageous for the development of the vegeta:

tive apparatus.

Plankton Studies. — The first article of volume five of the Bulletin

of the Lilinois State Laboratory of Natural History, recently published,!

contains a bibliography of the methods of conducting plankton studies

and a useful description of the oblique haul and pumping methods

which have been in successful use for some years at the Biological

Station at Havana, Ill., in the collection and separation of the minute

animals and plants floating free in the water and incapable of materi-

ally changing their position by their own efforts.

Students of this rather new phase of biology will also find an in-

teresting preliminary report on the plankton of some of the lakes of

the Alps and Jura” in the Buletin of the Botanical Laboratory of

the University of Geneva for June, 1897. T

ZOOLOGY.

Cell Lineage. — In a paper entitled “Considerations on Cell

Lineage, Based on a Reëxamination of Some Points on the Develop-

ment of Annelids and Polyclades,”*® Prof. E. B. Wilson presented

observations regarding the origin and relations of the mesoblast in

annelids and polyclades which illustrate the fact of ancestral remi-

niscence in cell lineage. In some of the annelids (Aricia, Spio,

Nereis, and others) the primary mesoblasts have not been properly

so called, for before giving rise to the mesoblast bands they bud forth

cells that may be, in some cases, traced into the wall of the archen-

teron. In Nereis not less than six or eight such cells are formed ;

these become pigmented, wander into the interior, and finally give

rise to the posterior part of the archenteron. In Aricia and Spio

only a single pair of corresponding cells is formed, and they are so

small as to play a quite insignificant part in the building of the body.

A comparison of these results with those of Conklin on Crepidula

1 Kofoid, Plankton Studies, I. Methods and apparatus in use in plankton

investigations at the Biological Experiment Station of the University of Illinois.

2 Pitard, Quelques notes sur la florule pélagique de diverses lacs des Alps et

du Jura.

3 Read before the New York Academy of Sciences, Biological Section, Dec.

13, 1897.

426... THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII.

indicates that the mesoblastic pole cells of annelids and mollusks are

to be regarded both historically and ontogenetically as derivatives of

the archenteron, and that the rudimentary cells of Aricia and Spio

are vestiges or ancestral reminiscences of such origin.

A reéxamination of the cell lineage of a polyclade, Leptoplana,

shows that, as in the annelid or gasteropod, all of the first three

quartets of micromeres give rise to ectoblast, while the second

quartet gives rise also to mesoblast, each cell of this quartet seg-

menting off three ectoblast cells, and then delaminating a large

mesoblast cell into the interior. The third quartet apparently gives

rise to ectoblast alone, though the possibility of its producing meso-

blast is not excluded. The four macromeres remaining give rise to

the archenteron, as Lang describes, first dividing to form four basal

cells (corresponding in origin and position with the four basal ento-

meres of annelids and mollusks) and four much larger upper cells

which correspond to the fourth quartet of micromeres in annelids

and mollusks. The posterior of these cells always divides before

the others, sometimes equally and symmetrically, as in Discocoelis

(Lang), but more often unequally. The cells thus formed give rise

to a part of the archenteron, and not, so far as can be determined,

to mesoblast.

These observations show that the mesoblast of polyclades is of

ectoblastic origin, and they suggest that the origin of mesenchyme

cells from the second (Unio, Crepidula) or third (Physa, Planorbis)

quartets in gasteropods may be a vestige or ancestral reminiscence

of the mesoblast formation in the polyclades. They suggest, further,

that the mesoblast bands (entomesoblast) of annelids and mollusks

may have been historically of later origin than the mesenchyme

(ectomesoblast) —a view which harmonizes, broadly speaking, with

that of Meyer—and that the two symmetrical entoblast cells into

which the posterior member of the fourth quartet divides in the

polyclade may represent the prototypes of the entomesoblasts of the

annelids and gasteropods.

Early Stages in the Development of Molgula. — Mr. Crampton

briefly reviewed his observations on the early history of the egg in

Molgula manhattensis as follows :'

The author emphasized, the fact that development begins not with

the cleavage or fertilization processes, but even before. From the

origin of the primary odcyte until the final assumption of the adult

1 Paper read before the New York Academy of Sciences, Biological Section,

Dec. 13, 1897.

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. Lag

form, there is a continuous series of developmental changes, each

stage being based upon the preceding one and conditioned by it.

The growth of the primary oécyte and the formation of the yolk

were considered at some length. A true “ yolk nucleus ” arises, as

the author believes, from the nucleus, and this by continued growth,

and later by fragmentation, gives rise to very small spherules, which

later, by enlarging, form the yolk spherules. The yolk nucleus is an

albuminous body closely allied to, if not identical with, the yolk or

deutoplasm. This was indicated bya large number of microchemical

tests. The yolk nucleus at a very early stage of the egg was also

shown to be the only albuminous body in the cell ; for the rest of

the extra-nuclear part of the cell is almost exclusively composed of

pseudo-nucleinic substances. Evidence was cited which indicated

that the yolk nucleus was formed by the nucleus, and that it enlarged

by constant additions to it from the nucleus.

e more important results of a study of the maturation and

fertilization processes might be briefly stated, although a fuller

account will appear in the published paper. ‘The first maturation

spindle arises entirely from the germinal vesicle. It is peculiar in

that it is barrel shaped, and does not, as far as can be determined,

bear at either end centrosomes or asters. The first polar body

receives sixteen chromosomes, while sixteen remain in the egg. The

second maturation spindle is also barrel shaped, and is also devoid

of centrosomes and asters. Eight chromosomes remain in the egg.

The sperm entrance was described in detail, and evidence was

brought forward to show that the centrosomes - the first cleavage

figure were derived from the sperm.

The spindle of the first cleavage figure appears to be formed from

the segmentation nucleus, there being no ‘central spindle’ extending

between the centrosomes. The spindle itself was shown to be

barrel shaped, the daughter chromosomes reforming into a vesicular

nucleus at the ends or heads of the barrel. A “ Zwischen-Korper ”

also arises, as in the maturation stages, by a concentration of the

spindle fibers at the equator of the figure. After the reformation of

the daughter nuclei, and after division of the cell body, the paired

daughter centrosomes and asters diverge. The daughter nucleus

later moves up between the asters, and prepares for the next division.

Comparative independence and parallelism of the processes under-

gone by the centrosomes and asters, on the one hand, and those of

the nuclei, on the other, become very strongly probable. Detailed

evidence in support of the above points will be given in the published

paper, a preliminary notice. )

128 © THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (VoL XXXII.

Zoology at Johns Hopkins. — The number of the Johns Hopkins

University Circular for November, 1897, is devoted to accounts of

biological work done. In the introduction Prof. W. K. Brooks

gives an outline of the work of the Jamaica expedition of 1897.

Dr. H. L. Clarke’s paper on the Viviparous Synoptide of the West

Indies is reprinted from the Zoologischer Anzeiger. Prof. Maynard

M. Metcalf discusses the follicle cells in Salpa, in which he sup-

ports the earlier results of Brooks. Dr. George Lefevre has a

paper on “Budding in Ecteinascidia.” In this form the bud

development is strikingly like that in Perophora, as described by

Ritter, except for the peculiar rotation of the inner vesicle, which

complicates the process in that genus. Dr. F. S. Conant describes

one new genus (Tripedalia) and two new species of Cubomedusz

(T. crystophora and Charybdea xaymacana). ‘The paper is more than

systematic, for it contains notes upon the anatomy and development.

We understand that Dr. Conant’s notes and drawings made during

the past summer have been preserved and will be included in the

full paper, to be published later. Mr. Gilman A. Drew has some

interesting notes on the embryology of the primitive mollusk Yoldia.

The most important features in the development are the formation of

a larval test, only paralleled by that of Dondersia and the formation

of the central ganglia from the walls of invaginations. Dr. E. A.

Andrews describes some spinning activities of the polar globules in

echinoderms, mollusks, and nemertines, phenomena to which attention

has but recently been called.

BOTANY.

Botanical Observations on the Azores,' by William Trelease. —

During the summers of 1894 and 1896 Professor Trelease, Director

of the Missouri Botanical Garden, made two excursions to the

Azores. By his friends it was generally supposed that these jour-

neys were rather in the nature of well-earned vacation trips of a

man whose productive research work and arduous executive duties

must call for occasional relaxation. It is accordingly a matter of

some surprise to see as a result of these trips a stout, closely

printed, and excellently illustrated report, including not only a care-

ful compilation of the work of others, but hundreds of entries of

1 From the Eighth Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, issued

Sept. 9, 1897.

No. 374] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 129

personal observations. Of this report the introductory pages give

a concise statement of the geography, geology, and meteorological

conditions of the archipelago, followed by a habital description of

the vegetation, including not only the gradually disappearing in-

digenous element and numerous introduced species, but even the

varied plants of cultivation.

The body of the report is occupied ay a complete enumeration

of the plants, both phewnogamic and cryptogamic, known to grow

naturally upon the islands. In this list, the following classes of

plants are distinguished by different kinds of type: (1) endemic

species, (2) Atlantic species of wider distribution, (3) established

escapes, (4) doubtful or casual plants. Even the relative abundance

of the different species is indicated by signs, so that their respective

importance in making up the entire vegetation can be readily in-

ferred. After the names of each species and variety are enumerated

the islands on which it occurs, various authenticated exszccati, and

several references to the most accessible descriptions and figures.

The nomenclature of the Kew Index has been followed “as a matter

of convenience.” — Would that some other American botanists

could be content to follow this example and at the same time con-

sult both their own convenience and that of their colleagues ! —

Some half-dozen new species and varieties of phanogams are char-

acterized, and these, as well as a number of other rare and hitherto

unillustrated endemic species, are admirably figured in fifty-four

plates, drawn by Miss Grace E. Johnson.

Professor Trelease has sought in vain for evidence of that racial

and varietal divergence in the florulz of the different islands which

is so pronounced in the Galapagos Archipelago. This fact, how-

ever, is not very surprising. Such a divergence could scarcely come

about unless the florulæ were to a considerable extent isolated ; for,

if this were not the case, there would be constant crossing and

reblending of nearly related forms. In the matter of isolation of the

different islands, the Azores and the Galapagos Archipelago are in

no sense similar. As Wallace has pointed out, the meteorological

conditions for seed distribution are much more favorable in the

Atlantic than in the Pacific. But a still more important difference

lies in the long habitation of the Azores and constant human inter-

course between the different islands of the group. This cannot

have failed to bring together plants which have tended toward

racial divergence, and these when established upon the same island

have most likely crossed freely and again formed a common stock.

130 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

The carices of the list, so far as represented by the collections

of Professor Trelease, have been identified by Prof. L. H. Bailey,

and the cellular cryptogams by a number of specialists. At the

close of the paper is a generic index and a bibliography of Azorean

botany. The whole report is not only a great credit to its author,

but forms the most noteworthy piece of recent American work upon

any extra-American flora. BI E

The Flora of British India. — With the publication of the title-

page and preface of the seventh volume, and a full index (collated

with the /ndex Kewensis) to the entire work, Zhe Flora of British

India‘ is brought to a close at the end of 1897. In the quarter of a

century consumed in its publication the area to which it is devoted

has materially increased, and many new collections have been

brought to the hands of its indefatigable editor and his collaborators,

so that it is but natural that the later volumes should be more thor-

ough than the earlier ones. Valuable jt is, throughout ; and yet, as

Dr. Hooker remarks in the preface to the concluding volume, the

treatise is to be regarded as a pioneer work rather than a finished

flora. There is no reason to doubt, however, that time will justify

his very modestly expressed hope that it may not only enable

botanists to name with some accuracy a host of Indian plants, but

that it may further facilitate the compilation of local floras and

monographs and the discussion of the problems of the distribution

of plants from the point of view of what he very well characterizes

as perhaps the richest and certainly the most varied botanical area

on the surface of the globe, and one which, in a greater degree than

any other, contains representatives of the floras of both the Eastern

and Western Hemispheres. :

Miss Eastwood’s Studies.” — In the second part of the recently

inaugurated botanical section of the Proceedings of the California

Academy of Sciences, Miss Eastwood gives interesting information

concerning a number of plants from the White Sands of New

Mexico; a comparative study of spurless forms of Aquilegia, in

1 The Flora of British India. By Sir J. D. Hooker, assisted by various bota-

nists. London. L. Reeve & Co. Pts. xxiii and xxiv. Price 18s. net. — The

dates of publication of the volumes, as follows: i, May 1872—Feb. 1875; ii, May .

1876-May 1879; iii, May 1880-Dec. 1882; iv, June 1883-Aug. 1885; v, Aug.

1886-Apr. 1890; vi, Dec. 1890—Apr. 1894; vii, 1896-1897.

2 Alice Eastwood, Studies in the Herbarium and the Field. No.1. Proc.

Calif. Acad. Sci: 3 ser. Botany, i, No. 2, 71-86. Pl. VI, VII.

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 131

which several nominal varieties of this character are described ;

descriptions of new Californian species belonging to the genera Iris,

Montia, and Newberrya ; and a revision of the Manzanitas of Mt.

Tamalpais, in which, because of the inadequacy of printed descrip-

tions and other difficulties, three forms that seem undescribed are

described and named as distinct species, while it is left to some

future monographer of the genus to assign “ definite limits, if that

be possible in so polymorphous a genus, which continually suggests

hybridization or a very active and unlimited tendency to vary.”

Pittonia.— In the seventeenth part of volume three of this

work,’ which appears at irregular intervals, Professor Greene writes

on new species of Eriogonum; the hop trefoils, for which he takes

up Desvaux’s name Chrysaspis; a second list of corrections in

nomenclature, in which he takes up Necker’s name Aragallus for a

large number of leguminous plants usually known as Oxytropis or

Spiesia ; a nineteenth instalment of “ New or Noteworthy Species,”

dealing likewise largely with Leguminose; on the classification of

asclepiads, in which the genus Oxypteryx is proposed for Asclepias

arenicola Nash, and Podostemma for certain other species cluster-

ing about Asclepias longicornu Benth.; the genus Chamecrista, first

established by Commelin in 1697, and of which, fortunately, con-

sidering their recent multiplication, no species-are characterized as

new, though nine are transferred from their familiar association

with Cassia; a sixth part of “Studies in the Composita” devoted to

a discussion of the following new and restored genera: Leucosyris,

Leucelene, and Ionactis, the latter based on Aster linariifolius L., Chry-

sopsis alpina Nutt., and A. stenomeres Gray; a twentieth instalment of

“ New or Noteworthy Species,” well distributed over the Polypetalz

and Gamopetalz ; a second series of “ Studies in the Crucifere,” in

which the genus Nesodraba is proposed for several species of a

Alaskan region, previously referred to Draba or Cochlearia ; and

“ Notes on Violets,” accompanied by three plates illustrating Vio/a

emarginata. T.

Cell or Corpuscle? — Under this title, in Watural Science for

December, 1897, Rudolf Beer discusses the much-vexed question of

the terminology of those structural units which are yet organisms

rather than the ultimate units of organs. Concluding that in vege-

1 Pittonia. A series of botanical papers by Edward L. Greene. Washington,

September-December, 1897. Price, 50 cts.

132 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII.

table anatomy either the wall or the living contents of the so-called

cell must be renamed, he would retain the name cell for the former,

designating the cytoplasm and nucleus as a corpuscle, believing

that in this way botanical and zoological terminology may be

brought into harmony most readily.

The Septate Leaves of Dicotyledonous Plants. — M. John Bri-

quet, in the Bulletin of the Botanical Laboratory of the University of

Geneva, for June, 1897, gives an interesting summary of his recent

studies on certain of the plants possessing the foliar septa first re-

corded by Guettard in 1747, and for many monocotyledous genera and

the single dicotyledonous genus Villarsa, examined in detail by Duval-

Jouve in 1873. Tothese M. Briquet now adds species of the um-

belliferous genera Ottoa, Crantzia, and Tiedemannia. With Duval-

Jouve, he concludes that the diaphragms.or septa serve to increase

considerably the solidity of construction of the leaf without interfering

with the free circulation of gases in its intercellular spaces. While

the majority of plants possessing these structures are aquatic or

subaquatic, Ziedemannia teretifolia is shown to be amphibious and

to possess admirable adaptations to existence during alternating

periods of extreme wet and drought.

The Photosynthetic Organs of Asparagee. — Though, as is

too frequently the case with students of vegetable anatomy, Pro-

fessor Reinke has no thought of a monograph of this interesting

group, his recent study of the cladodia of Asparagus, Ruscus,

.Danz, and Semele? contains much that is of interest to the system-

atist, and justifies the conclusion that these aberrant genera are

really derivatives of the leafy Siliacezx. I

= New Hardy Nymphæas. — In the Revue Horticole, of Paris, for

Nov. 16, 1897, M. André describes three new hardy Nymphæas of

the odorata type, — W. gloriosa, N. Eilisiana, and N. odorata exgui-

sita, — which have recently originated as seedlings under the hands

of M. Latour-Marliac, whose beautiful seedlings and hybrids of

American pond lilies are now known wherever this attractive class of

aquatics is cultivated. T

Flora of Africa. — To the many recent publications on the African

flora is now added a list in which the botanists of the Brussels Gar-

den propose to publish rapidly the new species and interesting facts

brought out in the examination of the collections they are now

1 Reinke, Die Assimilationsorgane der Asparageen. Eine kritische Studie zur

Entwickelungslehre. /ahrbiicher f. wiss. Bot., Bd. xxxi, Heft 2, 207—272, f. 26.

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 133

receiving. The first fascicle,’ just issued, adds one hundred and

fifteen species to the known flora of the Congo, and describes

twenty as new to science.

Proprietary Rights in Science. — Another incident in the history

of the Rouy and Foucaud ore de France, given to the curious

reader by M. Malinvaud in the Journal de Botanigue of October 19,

opens a question of general ethics in scientific citation. It appears

that in the flora named a Dentaria is ascribed to a certain region

on the authority of two persons, one of whom is one of the authors

of the book, while it is now shown that some eighteen years ago the

plant was found and first recorded for that locality by others. The

author in question claims that his custom has been to cite speci-

mens seen by himself in the course of his study. His critic evi-

dently contends for the citation of the original discoverer. The

practice of the more thorough American botanists would lead one to

believe that possibly either party in the present instance is little

more than half right, with the balance slightly in favor of the author

who has actually seen the specimen on which an entry is made. T.

The November number of the Johns Hopkins University Circulars

contains, in abstract, a paper by D. S. Johnson, on the leaf and

sporocarp of Marsilia.

A sad chapter in the history of American biology is supplied by

Professor Brooks’s notes on the Johns Hopkins expedition to Jamaica

in the summer of 1897, in the Johns Hopkins University Circular for

November, and the memorial minutes, in the same number, accom-

panied by biographical sketches of James Ellis Humphrey and

Franklin Story Conant. These promising biologists, the former

already well known in botanical circles, and the latter coming to the

front in zoology, fell victims to the ever-present fever of the tropics,

and it may well be asked if their death should not suggest more

care than has usually been given in the organization of expeditions

for scientific exploration where such diseases are likely to occur.

Students of human nature who have observed the punctiliousness

with which the Monsieur de's in the reign of terror inscribed them-

selves as Citoyens will find some entertainment and no small food

for reflection in an article by Dr. Alfred Chabert on the well-known

botanist Villars, published in number ten of the Buletin of the

Boissier Herbarium for 1897.

1 Durand and de Wildeman, Matériaux pour la flore du Congo. Premier fas-

cicule. Bull. Soc. Roy. de Bot. de Belgique, tome xxxvi, pp. 47-97, pl. III-VI.

134 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

PALEONTOLOGY.

Harris’s Catalogue of Australasian Tertiary Mollusca.'— The

catalogues published by the trustees of the British Museum gener-

ally contain much more than their titles imply. In them will often

be found some of the latest applications of the laws of evolution

and the elucidation of new and important principles of morphology.

Discussions of this nature have added value and weight from the

intimate association of specimens and ideas, for usually curators

of collections and custodians of ideas are too frequently dissociated.

It is, therefore, a wise policy to engage the services of the highest

talent in the preparation of the catalogues or reports on various

collections or classes of organisms.

Thirteen volumes on fossil vertebrates, eight on fossil inverte-

brates, and three on fossil plants have already been published in

this series, and Dr. Woodward states that thirty volumes more will

be needed to include the remainder of the plants and Mollusca, the

whole of the Brachiopoda, Annelida, Arthropoda, Echinodermata,

and Ccelenterata.

The present catalogue of the Tertiary Mollusca of Australasia is

based upon the study of large collections, especially rich in well-pre-

served Gastropoda. Mr. Harris has thus been enabled to study the

larval shells and the stages of growth with accuracy and precision.

In studies of phylogenies and in the systematic classification of

the Gastropoda the results are important. The scaphopods and

lamellibranchs are also included, but owing to meager material

they have afforded insufficient data for general conclusions

Some valuable suggestions are given governing the correlations of

phylogeny with chronology. : Thus, a genus that has survived from

early Mesozoic times, with but little modification in the later stages

of its history, has had its day and settled down to a more or less

fixed form. Such a genus is of little use for homotaxial purposes,

though interesting phylogenetically. In the Tertiary the determi-

nation of homotaxis can best be based upon families which origi-

nated in Jurassic or Cretaceous times and reached the Eocene with

strong tendencies to variation ; yet, at the same time, the members

should be capable of wide and rapid dispersion.

1 Catalogue of the pies Mollusca in the Department of Geology, British

Museum (Nat. Hist.). Pt. i. The Australasian Tertiary Mollusca. By George

Harris, F.G.S. 8vo, pp. i-xxvi, 1-407. Pl. I-VIII. London. Printed for

the trustees. 1897.

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 135

The general law-is suggested that when the main features of

ornament are foreshadowed in the early nepionic or brephic stage,

and especially when they obtain even in the protoconch, that orna-

ment may be regarded as of value in the determination of species.

On the contrary, when the ornament does not make its appearance

until the late neanic or adolescent stage, and, even in an elementary

sense, is not completed until what may be regarded, by analogy,

as the early mature stage, that ornament merely characterizes

the individual, and is only of negative use for the purposes of

classification.

As is well known, the size of the protoconch is variable, even in

the offspring of a single individual, that difference being commonly

attributed to carnivorous proclivities on the part of the larger speci-

mens when in the embryonic stage. The author also notes that

the size of the protoconch does not seem to have much influence in

determining the size of the, shell in the adult. The larger proto-

conch is not very often accompanied by the production of a larger

adult shell than that which comes from a much smaller protoconch,

that is, in the same species. There are, however, exceptions to

this, and, correlatively, it may be noted that the shape of the proto-

conch occasionally determines the general shape of the shell.

Further interesting observations are made on the development of

the Volutidae, the columellar plications in Mitra, and the recur-

rence of a type of ornamentation in a species of Cerithium, All the

genera are briefly described, and the type species is given. The

notes on the species are preceded by a list of the synonymy and

bibliographic references.

Some changes in the nomenclature of the genera will not meet

with general endorsement, although the principles adopted are, for

the most part, those approved by the best authorities. Thus, the

name Nuculana (Link, 1807) is used instead of Leda (Schum., 18 17)

on the ground of priority. Nuculana, however, was given by Link

as a mere verbal substitute for Nucula (Lam., 1799), as Dr. W. H.:

Dall and others have shown. Link’s diagnosis applies to Nucula

and not to Leda, for he says that the shell is “smooth, closed

all round.” Nuculana (Link zon Adams) is therefore “an exact

synonym” of Nucula, and cannot be sustained on the ground of

priority. Consequently the family name Nuculanidz, Adams, cannot

be retained for Ledide. C.E B

136 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

PETROGRAPHY.

California Eruptive Rocks.— The “ bed-rock” series of the

Sierra Nevadas underlying the sands, gravels, and volcanic rocks in

the vicinity of Nevada City and Grass Valley, Cal., consists of

highly altered sedimentary rocks, crystalline schists, and igneous

rocks, much resembling pre-Cambrian complexes elsewhere, but

which here are known to be much younger than Cambrian.

Lindgren ! describes the old igneous rocks as comprising grano-

diorite, a type of rock intermediate between granite and quartz, —

mica-diorite, aplite, granite-porphyry, diorite-porphyrite, diorite, gab-

bro, serpentine, diabase, porphyrite, augite-syenite, and amphibolite.

The limits of variation of the granodiorite are shown by the follow-

ing figures :

310; ALO, F&O, FeO CaO MgO 5,0 Na,O

59—68.5 14—17 1.5-2.25 1.5-4.5 3-6.5 I-2.5 1-3.5 2.5-4.5

Its predominant feldspar is a plagioclase, though orthoclase is

present in small quantities, often intergrown with albite forming

micro-perthite.

The gabbros are distinguished from the diorites by the character

of their feldspathic component. This is a mediumly acid variety in

the diorites and a basic variety in the gabbro. The ferromag-

nesian constituent in the latter rock may be either pyroxene, horn-

blende, or mica; though, as a matter of fact, all the gabbros described

by the author contain some form of pyroxene or its alteration prod-

uct. The serpentine is derived from pyroxenite and peridotite.

The diabases and porphyrites probably represent the cores of old

volcanoes. ‘These rocks grade into each other through so many

different types that the author finds it difficult to classify them.

The principal distinction made use of in defining them appears to

be coarseness of grain, “since the diabase may readily become por-

phyritic, the resulting rock being referred to as diabase-porphyrite.

A more pronounced porphyritic structure with finer-grained holo-

crystalline groundmass gradually leads over into the porphyrites,

referred to as augite-porphyrites or hornblende-porphyrites.” A

majority of the porphyrites might be classed as apo-andesites,

though the rocks are very different from the andesites of the dis-

trict.

1 Seventeenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. ii, p. 2. Wash-

ington, 1896.

No. 374] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 137

The amphibolites are “massive or schistose rocks composed

chiefly of hornblende, usually with smaller quantities of quartz,

feldspar, epidote, and chlorite.” They are in most cases dynami-

cally metamorphosed diabases or porphyrites.

The sedimentary rocks of the district are siliceous argillites, clay-

slates, quartzites, and micaceous schists. These are altered by both

dynamic and contact metamorphism.

The metamorphic processes, excluding weathering, are divided

into: (1) dynamic metamorphism, including dynamo-chemical meta-

morphism, as in the case of the formation of amphibolites from

diabases ; (2) common hydro-metamorphism produced at low tem-

peratures; (3) hydro-thermal metamorphism, including solfataric

metamorphism, and (4) contact metamorphism. The most important

characteristic of dynamo-chemically metamorphosed rocks is the

production of mosaics. Feldspars are among the most important of

the new minerals formed by this process. In hydro-metamorphism

the original constituents of rocks are broken down into aggregates

with the production mainly of hydrated minerals.

In his discussion of the gold-quartz veins the author calls atten-

tion to the fact that the wall rocks of the veins have been much

altered by metasomatic processes. The changes effected in them

consist mainly in the introduction of carbon dioxide, sulphur, and

potassium and the abstraction of silica and sodium. The changes

produced in a granodiorite by these processes have resulted in a new

rock composed of: sericite = 61.11%, quartz = 25.00%, sphene

= .60%, apatite = .46%, pyrite=2.87%, FeCO;=.58%, MgCO,

= 2.70%, and CaCO; = 7.23%. A siliceous argillite, originally con-

sisting of a fine-grained aggregate of quartz, feldspar, brown mica,

pyrrhotite, and organic matter, has been changed to an aggregate of

sericite, calcite, and residuary quartz. The principal results of the

interaction of the wall rock of the veins and the liquids emanating

from the vein fissures are thus seen to be carbonates and sericite.

The Rocks of Castle Mountain, Mont. — The Castle Mountain

mass in Central Montana is an eroded volcano, which presents “ all

the different types of crystallization and structure possible for an

igneous magma to assume under the most varied conditions of cool-

ing and pressure.” In general, the rocks have been derived from a

siliceous magma rich in alumina and the alkalies. This has given

rise to the various members of the granite-rhyolite family in the

district. Associated with these, but in much smaller amounts, are

138 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

found augite-diorite, porphyrites, lamprophyres, and basalts. These

are arranged as follows: plutonic rocks in the central core, porphy-

ritic rocks in intruded sheets and dikes, extrusive rocks in lava

flows, and tuffs and breccias underlying the lavas. All these differ-

ent rocks are described in detail by Weed and Pirsson.' The

plutonic rocks are granite and augite-diorite. They have altered

the shales through which they intrude into tough hornstones, and

the limestones into coarsely crystalline marbles containing in places

garnet, phlogopite, vesuvianite and pyroxene.

The naming of the rock types discussed by the authors is based

on their macroscopic texture. In the acid series, for instance, those

rocks are called granite which appear holo-crystalline to the naked

eye. Those are named quartz-porphyry which possess a groundmass

so finely granular that its components cannot be distinguished with- '

out the aid of a microscope, and those that contain glass or a very

dense groundmass are called rhyolite. In their description of the

granite-porphyry the authors describe the micro-pegmatitic structure

as an original one and express doubts as to its ever being second-

ary. Dark basic concretions in the granite are regarded as the

result of the liquation of the liquid magma from which the rock

solidified. One of the most interesting of the quartz-porphyries

described is a rock containing sufficient tourmaline to rank as an

accessory component. This mineral occurs in stellate groups re-

placing feldspar. Very frequently fluorite is associated with it. An

analysis of this rock gave :

SiO, TiO, AlO, FeO; FeO MnO MgO CaO K,O NaO Li,0 KH,O Total

82 13.80 37 10. =

The lamprophyres cutting the “belt series” of shales, etc., are

augite, — vogesites, minettes, monchiquites, and diabases. Many of

the rhyolites are devitrified and many of them contain spherulites.

These are thought in all cases to be original,

A comparison of the analyses of the different rock types of this

district shows that no absolute relation exists between the silica

and the different bases; but it seems to indicate that there is a

definite relation between the quantities of soda and potash present.

The differentiation of the Castle Mountain series appears to have

been deep-seated.

The igneous rocks of the Denver Basin, Colorado, are principally

basalts, which appear on the plains at the foot of the mountains as

dykes and surface flows or sheets. Augite-syenite and quartz-

1 Bulletin 139 of the U. S. Geol. Survey. Washington, 1896.

No. 374.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 139

porphyry also occur in the district, but in small quantity only. All

the basalts contain orthoclase in fairly large quantity. An analysis

of the rock from a dyke at Valmont gives :

SiO, TiO, Al,O; FeO, FeO CaO BaO MgO K,O Na,O P,O; Cl SO; H,O Total

43.25, .89. 36.73: 3.99: 6.28 Bas .013" sI 4:08 piei O .12 1.72 =100,163

The augite-syenite is a biotitic variety containing some bronzite.

The tuffs occurring in the district are andesitic. These and cer-

tain andesitic pebbles found in conglomerates are the only evidences

met with in the study of the district that point to the former

presence of andesite lavas in the vicinity. W.S.B.

1 W. Cross, Ch. V. Geology of the Denver Basin in Colorado. Monograph

XXVII. U.S. Geol. Survey, p. 315.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

Syracuse’ University will begin the erection of a $45,000 Science

Building in the spring. Adelbert College, at Cleveland, Ohio, has a

Biological Building under way which will cost about the same amount,

while Richmond (Va.) College has received $5000 towards a Science

Building.

Lafayette College met a severe loss by the burning of Pardee Hall

December 18. The fire caught in the biological laboratory and

destroyed a large part of the scientific equipment. The most valu-

able part of the herbarium was saved.

Sir W. C. McDonald has recently given $200,000 to the scientific

departments of McGill University.

At the middle of December $65,000 had been subscribed for the

proposed zoological gardens at Bronx Park, New York.

The American Geologist is to do a much-needed work in its pro-

posed catalogue of current papers relating to the geology of North

America.

Dr. Justus Gaule, professor of physiology in Ziirich, has resigned.

Dr. Nikolaus Michael Melnikow has resigned the professorship of

zoology in the University of Kazan.

Dr. Ludwig Karpelles, of Vienna, the well-known student of the

Acarina, has changed his surname to Karell.

For several years the University of Tokyo has maintained a bio-

logical station at Mazaki, an exposed point about half a day’s sail

from Tokyo. While the collecting near here is very fine, the place

has many drawbacks, and so it has been decided to remove the

station several miles further north. The former building will be

moved, and be incorporated in the new structure, which will be larger

than the old one.

` The University of Upsala receives about $45,000 for the establish-

ment of an associate professorship of physiological botany, the donor,

Franz Kempe, stipulating that Dr. Lundström be the first appointee.

Dr. R. Semon, whose work upon the fauna of Australia is so well .

known, has resigned his position as docent in zoology in the Uni-

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. I4!I

versity of Jena. It is doubtful if the large work on Australia already

_begun is ever completed. Indeed, the monotremes and Ceratodus

seem veritable “hoodoos.” The material obtained a dozen years

ago by Mr. Caldwell, aided by Royal Society funds, is lying unused,

and with no prospect of being studied.

Will some reader of this journal inform a correspondent concern-

ing “Teichmann’s injection mass”? It is mentioned by Hochstetter

(Morphologisches Jahrbuch, vol. xiv, p. 122) as being admirably adapted

for use with the fish-like forms.

The British government is gradually grinding out “ Jubilee medals.”

Among the latest to receive them are Dr. Albert Giinther, the well-

known ichthyologist, and Dr. R. Meldola.

The Zoological Society of South Australia receives $10,000 by the

will of the late Sir Thomas Elder, and the Medical School of the

University of South Australia receives $100,000 from the same

source.

The Harvard Natural History Society celebrated its fiftieth anni-

versary December 17 with addresses by Prof. N. S. Shaler and

William T. Hornaday. It is next to the oldest student scientific

society in America, the oldest being the Lyceum of Natural History

at Williams College, which was founded in 1837 and has retained a

vigorous organization since that time.

Gen. Albert Ordway, who died in New York City November 21,

was at one time a student under Agassiz, and published one or two

papers upon the Crustacea, the most notable being an outline of a

monograph of the species of the genus Callinectes (better Neptunus).

e was born in 1843, entered the army, and was connected with

military organizations during the remainder of his life.

With the new year Prof. Raphael Blanchard begins the publication

of a new magazine, Archives de Parasitologie.

The library of the late Prof. Carl Vogt goes to the Senckenberg

Natural History Society at Frankfurt-on-the-Main.

Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.) has just dedicated a new sci-

ence building given by Mr. Elihu Root, and named in honor of his

father.

The Royal Society has awarded the Copley medal to Prof. Albert

von Kölliker, of Würzburg, who just before had received the Retzius

medal from the Swedish Medical Association.

142 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII.

Sir William Flower has resigned the presidency of the International

Zoological Congress. Sir John Lubbock has accepted the office, and

will preside at the meeting at Cambridge next August.

In a recent number of this journal we gave an outline of several

expeditions of the summer of 1897. In addition to those there noted

_ must be added the botanical expedition of Mr. J. M. Rose to Mexico.

_ Lower California, the west coast of Mexico, and the states of Zacati-

cas, Durango, and Jalisco were explored, and the collections brought

back contained 2000 numbers. Mr. A. P. Morse, who is connected

with Wellesley College, visited the Pacific coast under the direction

of Mr. S. H. Scudder, and made large collections of insects and

especially of Orthoptera.

At the meeting of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, on the

evening of January 3, the following officers for 1898 were installed :

President, Edmund A. Engler; Vice-Presidents, Robert Moore and

D. S. H. Smith; Recording Secretary, William Trelease ; Correspond-

ing Secretary, Joseph Grindon; Treasurer, Enno Sander; Librarian,

Gustav Hambach ; Curators, Gustav Hambach, Julius Hurter;

Directors, M. H. Post, Anand Ravold.

Prof. R. A. Philippi has resigned the directorship of the National

Museum at Santiago, Chili, on account of his age (go years). He

has held the position for 43 years. He is succeeded by his son.

The Department of Agriculture has decided to abandon the sub-

tropical laboratory maintained for several years past at Eustis,

Florida. We are not in a position to judge of the economic results

of the laboratory, but its scientific production has been such as to

make its abandonment a matter of regret.

Dr. Harrison Allen died in Philadelphia November 14. He was

born in that city April 17, 1841, studied medicine in the University

of Pennsylvania, served as assistant surgeon in the United States

Army during the Civil War, and in 1865 was appointed professor of

comparative anatomy in his 4/ma Mater, a position which in 1878

was changed to the professorship of physiology. Dr. Allen was a

careful and accurate anatomist, and his papers on the anatomy of

mammals and the systematic descriptions of the Chiroptera are of

great value. Personally, Dr. Allen was a delightful companion, and

his death, with that of Drs. Horn and Cope, is a severe loss to sci-

ence, not only in Philadelphia, but in America as well.

No. 374.] SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 143

Vesuvius is active again, throwing forth ashes and lava from the

central crater, and much more from the lower crater called Atrio del

Cavallo.

The Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee and the Durham

College of Science have opened a marine biological laboratory at

Cullercoats, near Newcastle. Mr. Meek has been placed in charge

of the scientific work.

The Berlin Academy of Sciences has granted 3000 marks to Prof.

B. Hagen, of Frankfurt, for the publication of an anthropological

atlas, 1500 marks to Professor Kohen, of Griefswald, for mineralogi-

cal researches, and 800 marks to Prof. R. Bonnet for anatomical

studies.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular for November, 1897, con-

tains sketches of the late Prof. James Ellis Humphrey and Dr.

Franklin Story Conant.

The Annual Report of the Australian Museum at Sydney contains

the statement that the Museum has recently acquired the remains of

the elephant “ Jumbo.” Be it known to our antipodal friends that

the great and only Jumbo — the Jumbo of the London “Zoo” — is

preserved in the United States, his skeleton in the American Museum

in New York City, his skin in the Barnum Museum of Tufts College.

The Australian Jumbo is but a pretender.

In his admirable address as president of the British Malacological

Society, Prof. G. B. Howes has the following extremely pertinent

remarks: “One regrettable feature of the year’s work has been the

tendency toward reversion to the trinomial system and the too rigid

adherence to rules of priority. When, in an age in which science is

popular, Aplysia becomes Tethys and vice versa, and, in one of over-

crowding of literature, it is thought desirable to discriminate between

‘types,’ ‘paratypes,’ and other sort of types, it were no wonder did

the wayside naturalist turn from us in despair. For the purists

Ichthyosaurus ought to go, Troglodytes becomes Anthropopithecus.

Convenience and fitness of things must be considered. The effects

of extreme specialization are here but too evident; one man describ-

ing as the result of a life’s labor ‘characters’ which it requires the

experience of a life to appreciate. If this course is to continue, let

us boldly replace Homo sapiens by Mendax simplex and have done

with it.”

144 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vow. XXXII.

Recent appointments: Dr. Gustav von Arthaber, docent in pale-

ontology in the University of Vienna.—W. L. Bray, professor of

botany in the University of Texas. — Edgar R. Cummings, instructor

in geology in the University of Indiana.— Dr. Eugen Czaplewski,

director of the bacteriological laboratory in Cologne.— Dr. O. V

Darbishire, docent in botany in the University of Kiel. — W. L. H.

Duckworth, lecturer upon anthropology in the University of Cam-

bridge.— Dr. H. Eggeling, assistant in anatomy in the University of

Wiirzburg. — Dr. S. Fuchs, extraordinary professor of physiology in

the University of Jena. — Dr. Otto Fuhrmann, of Geneva, extraordi-

nary professor of zoology at the Academy of Neuchatel. — Dr. Thad-

daeus von Garbowski, docent in zoology in the University of Vienna.

— Dr. Geo. T. Kemp, professor of physiology in the University of

Illinois, Urbana, Ill.— Prof. Gregor Kraus, professor of botany in

the University of Würzburg. — Dr. Kreidl, docent in physiology in

the University of Vienna.— Dr. Lehmann-Nitsche, chief of the sec-

tion of anthropology in the Museum of La Plata. — J. G. Luehman,

government botanist at Victoria, Australia. — Dr. Alexis Alexander

Ostroumoff, professor of zoology in the University of Kazan, as suc-

cessor of Professor Melnikow.— Dr. Gustav Piotrowski, docent in

physiology in the University of Lemburg, Austria.— Dr. Ludwig

Plate, titular professor of zoology in the Veterinary School at Berlin.

— Dr. Hans Rahl, docent in histology in the University of Vienna.

— Herbert M. Richards, instructor in botany in Columbia Uni-

versity. — Dr. Guido Schneider, director of the biological station at

Sebastopol. — Dr. William G. Smith, lecturer in botany in Yorkshire

College, Leeds, England. — Dr. Julia Snow, instructor in botany in

the University of Michigan. — Dr. A. A. Tylor, instructor in biology

in Union College. — Dr. Franz Wagner, professor extraordinary of

zoology in the University of Giessen.

Louis V. Pirsson, of New Haven, has been appointed professor of

physical geology in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University,

not at Harvard, as we stated erroneously in our January number.

Recent deaths: Samuel Allport, petrologist, in Birmingham, Eng-

land, July 7, aged 81. — Leopold Auerbach, professor of physiology

in the University of Breslau, September 30, aged 69.— James Bate-

man, botanist and author of monographs upon Odontoglossum and

upon the orchids of Mexico and Guatemala, at Worthington, England,

November 27, aged 86.— Peter Bellinger Brodie, well known for

his work on fossil insects, at Rowington, England, November 1, aged

No. 374-] SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 145

81.— Dr. Louis Calori, formerly professor of anatomy in the Uni-

versity of Bologna. — Dr. Cesare Crety, professor of zoology and

comparative anatomy in the University of Sassari, Sardinia, Septem-

ber 14. — Joseph William Dunning, entomologist, in London, October

15.— Prof. Raphael von Erlanger, zoologist, at Heidelberg, aged 33.

—Dr. J. Frenzel, zoologist, in charge of the Miiggelsee Biological

Station near Berlin, aged 39. Dr. Frenzel spent several years in

South America, and did much work upon the invertebrate fauna. —

Ernest Giles, an Australian explorer. — Francisque Guillebeau, a

student of Coleoptera, at Le Plantay, France, August 17, aged 76.—

Dr. M. Forster Heddle, mineralogist, St. Andrews, Scotland, Novem-

ber 19, aged 69. — Dr. Samuel Houghton, for thirty years professor

of geology in Trinity College, Dublin, October 31, aged 76.— Dr.

Nikolaus Kleinenberg, professor of comparative anatomy in the Uni-

versity of Palermo, well known for his researches on Hydra and on

the developmentof annelids. — Prof. Alessandro Lanzillotti- Buonsanti,

a student of the anatomy of domestic animals, at Milan, September

10, aged 40. — August Merkel, student of Coleoptera, in Brooklyn,

August 19, aged 60,— Samuel A. Miller, well known for his work

upon paleozoic invertebrates, at Cincinnati, December 19, aged 61.

— Dr. Wilhelm Mörike, docent in geology in the University of Frei-

burg, and known from his studies of the geology of South America.

— Alberto Perugia, ichthyologist, in Genoa, September 24, aged 54.

— Johann Schaschl, coleopterist, at Unterburg, Austria, September

26.— Dr. A. Schrauf, professor of mineralogy in the University of

Vienna, aged 60.— Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Snyder, botanist, at

Braunsberg, Prussia, aged 87. — Rev. Gustav Standfuss, student of

Lepidoptera (father of Max Standfuss), October 6, aged 82.— Dr.

Otto Volger, mineralogist and geologist, in Sulsbach, October 18,

aged 75. — Capt. E. Y. Watson, student of Lepidoptera, in India.

146

BOOKS RECEIVED.

ANDREWS, GWENDOLEN FOULKE.— The Living Substance as such: and as

Organism. Boston, Ginn, 1897.

ACLOQUE, A.— Faune de France. Paris, Bailliére, 1897.

BAILEY, L. H.— Principles of Fruit Growing. New York, Macmillan (Rural

Science Series), 1897. $1.25.

BRITISH MusEuM (Natural History). — Catalogue of Tertiary Mollusca, Part I,

Australasia. London, 1897.

EIMER, THEODORE. — On Orthogenesis and the Impotence of Natural Selection

in Species-Formation. Chicago, Open Court Pub. Co., 1898. 25 cents.

GEIKIE, SIR ARCHIBALD.— The Founders of Geology. London and New

ork, Macmillan, 1897.

GoopE, GEORGE BRown.— The Smithsonian Institution. 1846-1896. The

istory of the first half-century. Washington, 1897.

KINGSLEY, J. S. — Elements of Comparative Zoology. New York, Holt, 1897.

INGERSOLL, ERNEST. — Wild Neighbors, Outdoor Studies in the United States.

New York, Macmillan, 1897. $1.50

Iowa GEOLOGICAL SuRVFY.— Annual Report, 1896, with accompanying papers.

Des Moines, 1897

Macu, Ernst.— Popular Scientific Lectures. Trans. by J. T. McCormack.

2d edition. Chicago, Open Court Pub. Co., 1897.

MORLEY, MARGARET WARNER.—A Few Familiar Flowers. Boston, Ginn,

1897. 70 cents.

MORLEY, MARGARET W.— Flowers and Their Friends. Boston, Ginn, 1897.

60 cents.

MissourrI BOTANICAL GARDEN. — Eighth Annual Report. St. Louis, 1897.

RANDOLPH, HARRIET. — Laboratory Directions in General Biology. New York,

Holt, 1897. 80 cents.

Rosinson, Louis. — Wild Traits in Tame Animals, being some familiar studies

in evolution. Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1897.

ROMANES, GEORGE JOHN. Darwin and after Darwin III, Post-Darwinian

Questions, ‘ucla and Fisioa an Chicago, Open Court

Pu ` 1.00.

RorH WALTER E. Ethnological Studies among the North-west-central Queens-

land Aborigines. Brisbane, Government, 1897.

Trovessart, E. L. Catalogus mammalium tam veventium quam fossilium.

Nova edite. Fasc. III, Rodentia II. Berlin, Friedlander, 1897. 10 marks.

VoL. XXXII, No. 375” MARCH, 1898

THE

AMERICAN

NATURALIST

à |

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES

IN THEIR WIDEST SENSE

CONTENTS

I. Louis Agassiz.

II. The Philosophical Views of Agassiz . . . . ALPHEUS S. PACKARD

III. Agassiz and the Ice Age. . - . o . @. FREDERICK WRIGHT

IV. Agassiz on Recent Fishes . . . . . . DAVID STARR JORDAN

V. Agassiz’s Work on Fossil Fishes . . CHARLES R. EASTMAN

VI. Agassiz’s Work on the Embryology of the Turtle GERTRUDE C. DAVENPORT

VII. Agassiz at Penikese 5 tte BURT G. WILDER

VIII. Editorials: March, 1848, The inoks a a No Era in the mage of Zoology

in America — The Fur-Seal Problem.

IX. Reviews of Recent Literature: History of the Smithsonian Institution, Proceed-

ings of the Indiana Academy of Science — Anthropology, The Races of

Europe — Zoology, The Development of Fresh-Water Bryozoa, Lepidosiren,

Fishes of the Vicinity of New York City — Botany, Ripening of Fleshy Fruits,

Ferns of Nicaragua, Pharmaceutical Archives, Indiana Botany, — Cane, = ;

Digestion in Pitcher Plants, Primitive Angiosperms, New Species of eee tee

Botanical Notes.

X. Scientific News.

XI. Correspondence: Some Generic Characters.

XII. Books Received,

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E. A. ANDREWS, PH.D. , Johns ines University, Baltimore.

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WILLIAM S. BAYLEY PRD, Colby University, Hoitaa

CHARLES E. EECHER, PH. D. ., Yale University, New

DOUGLAS H. CAMPBELL, Pu.D., Leland Sta fel ar Uniowrsity, Cal.

J. H. COMSTOCK, S.B., Cornell Univers rsity, Ith

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W- E. RITTER, Pa D, Caer stb fet Site hal Reley.

are igre » S.M., Harvard University, Cambridge.

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