CONTENTS OF VOL. IV.

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU ap pd WITH THOSE IN

OTHER PARTS OF THE Wonrp. By Hon. E. G. Squier. Jilus-

trated,

REMARKS ON SOME Currous oci: By Poisk Jodeph Letdy.

Illustrated, s;

THE FRESH-WATER ‘guanine. By Charles B. Haat (Con-

cluded from p. 490 of Vol. III.),

A SKETCH OF THE TRUCKEE AND finid viii. By w. wW.

Bailey, ó 4 "i

THE SEA Gane By Capt ee M. T s : 4 :

Fatconry. By William Wood, M.D., ^ i

ERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. T ilssiedtód ; with a aide By Dr.

À. S. Packard, jr., . .

NOTES ON ipsa Yin OF Caw fucar I Ioan. By

Charles C. Abbot

THE INDIANS OF tipos aie I Hestrotad: By pawid E. Coni:

THE TIME or THE MawMorHs. By Professor N. S. Shaler,

THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS. Jllustrated. y W. G. Binney,

THE SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE BASIN OF THE GREAT LAKES AND

VALLEY OF THE MissirssrPPI. By siege’ J. S. Newberry,

Our NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS. By Rev. J. W. Chickering, jr.,

A WINTER’s Day IN THE YUKON ee By W. H. Dall,

A Few TT ABOUT Morus. With a Plate. By Dr A

Packard, jr. - $ $ i i

THE Horse Pose Cui. With a Ms By Rev. S. Lockwood,

THE B. Ww DAE i AT Noui AND Aui I nisa. By do i

Russe

Footoe FROM A Piori OF TAR By Dr. Elliott ERN U.S.A.,

Tue Lyre Brrp. Illustrated. By Miss Grace Anna Lewis, .

Musset CLIMBING. Illustrated. By Rev. S. Lockwood, Ph.D., .

FLOWERLEsSS PLANTS. By Dr. A. Kellogg, :

VARIATIONS OF Species. By A. H. Curtis,

A STROLL ma THE BEACH OF LAKE MiCHIGAN. By Professor.

W.J.B

BD Lor. Piskas d Hosiraloi. By Chavis C. "Abbott; M. D., y

Du IN NATUR By Thomas Meehan,

OBS TIONS ON THE mati OF THE Soomus Attias.

373 Putin: E. D. Cope

THE DEEP-WATER Purus OF ae Manes: By Dr. William

Stimpson, ‘ a i: í ` .

Gi)

Page

iv CONTENTS OF VOL. IV.

CLIMBING PLANTS. Tibustvated. By Professor W. J. Beal, .

Recent ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. By J. W. Foster, LL.D., *

VARIATIONS IN ries Ne AND WisTERIA. By Thomas Maik á

HE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH. By dw M

INDIAN Baci Yupraiicere. By J. 3. H. reko e

THe HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE MARINE isses

CULTIVATION OF ALPINE FLOWERS. By Alfred W. Bennett,

WHAT IS THE WASHINGTON EAGLE J. A A a

ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS. By Alfred W.

Bennett,

THE Disteanvrtos OF THE Moom : IN We Avon By J. A.

orm. on Cream latino Brus c OF iiv isnt. By Charles

C. Abbo

THE sna IQ OF tod Gractmrs IN THE Wairi

J llen

ISTRIBUTION OF THE MARINE SHELLS OF "PübuibÀ. By Dr.

William aie:

Tur BORERS OF Curate Sito ‘Temes. I llustr add. By Dr. PT s.

Packard, jr.,

SPRINGTIME ON THE YUkoN. By w. H. Da E

THE IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. iludratal.

By A. S. Collins

THE ANCIENT Yaxwd OF Weerken Manta Thiers Dsíósrms AND

DRAINAGE. By Professor J. S. Newberry, LL. D.,

THE CHINESE IN San Francisco. By Rev. A. P. Peabody, D. B.

Tue Lycosa AT Home. Illustrated. By J. H. Em

m UNDER THE Microscops. Illustrated. By k Way,

NT Lion. Illustrated. By J. H. Emerton

THE PEA AND CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. By Kev. Dr. yt P.

Peabody, .

NorES ON SOME "BIRDS IN THE Moszvu o OF VAssáR Cortece. By

Professor James Orton,

FURTHER NOTES ON NEW Ja IR By CháHes C. Abbott,

M.D

THE robar OF LUSA By H. Willey,

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. itiustruies: By Pro

fessor Theodore Gill,

REVIEWS.

405

449

472

Report upon Deep Sea Dredgings in the Gulf saat p.38. Transac-

tions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, p.

souri River Valley, p. 41.

eology of the Mis-

Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques, p. 42.

CONTENTS OF VOL IV. v

Volcanoes and Peso cu p.118. Geology of Colorado and New Mex-

ien. p. 119. Geographical Handbook of all Known p à 121. e-

cent works on the Rcs of Articulates, p. 122. wdoin Sci-

entific Review, p. 122. Nature, p. 123. Cha te g het oir

171. The Record of Zoological Literature n 1868, = 181. The Record

of American Entomology for 1869, p. 182. e Weeds of Maine, p. 182.

The Geology of the New Haven Region, p. s Apis Ideas of Deri-

vation, p. 220. The Torrey Botanical Club, p. 237. Fossil Plants from

the West, p. 237. Relations of the Rocks in the Vicinity of Boston, p.

238. Sponges, p.304. The Extinct Mammalian Fauna of Dakota and

(ET

: h

tion, p. 361. Handbook of Zoology, p.362. A ‘Naturalist’ s Guide, p. 363.

Ornithological Results of the Explorations of the North-west, p. 367.

Geology of i p. 872. AU Atlas of the Geography of Plants,

312. a 1 Selection, p. American Microscopes and their

Merits, p. Kee Alaska and its Veo p.430. Trout Culture, p. 434.

Record of American Entomology for 1869, p. 435. Brazilian Crustacea,

435. 'The Population of an ye e Tree, p. 436. The American Mu-

seum of Natural History, The Polyps and Corals of the North

Pacific Exploring ot du vagari with two plates), p. 488. Eco-

e Craw Fish of North America, p. 616. The Lifted and Sub-

ees Rocks of America, i p Geological Survey of New Hampshire,

emi

ronde of the Six Days of Creation, p. 620. The Eared Seals, p. 675.

Injurious Insects (Illustrated), p. 684. Deep Sea Explorations, p. 744.

The Classification of Water Birds, p. 746. Thorell’s ce Spiders

(Illustrated), p. 752. Geography and Archeology of Peru, p. 7

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Borany. — Larger Bur-Marigold, p. 43. The Yellow-flowered Sarra-

cenia purpurea, p.43. Areas of Preservation, p. 44. Leaves of Conifere,

Large Trees in Aúitraliá; p. 124. dare ds of Floral Organs to Ex-

change Offices, . Monstrosity in Trillium, p 5. Notic

Botanical Monstrosities, p. 125 rc ora, e Fertilization

of Winter-flowering Plants, p. 126. Collected Notes on the

the American Oaks, pp. 183, 242. On the Fertilization of Grasses, p. 239.

Insect Fertilization of Flowers, p. 242. Does Air Dust contain the Germs

ill 2. The

Lianis or Woody Climbers, p. 313. Japanese Sea-weeds, p. 313. Dialysis

with Staminody in Kalmia latifolia, p. 378. Occurrence of Rare Plants in

vi CONTENTS OF VOL IV.

pai ap . 874. Fragaria Gillmani, p. 497. New Plants, p. 438. Palms

the Sa oio prede p. 438. The Irritability of the Stamens in the

And p.438. The salts Plant, p. 495. On the Laws of sou

tion and its sd to Sex in Plants, p. 511. On Objections to Darwin's

Theory of Fertilization through Ded Agency, p. 512. Nutrition cm

Sex in Plants, p. 562. ichardsonia scabra, p. 558. cclimatization of

Palm Trees, p. 559. Fertilization of Salvia by Humble Bees

Motion in the Leaves P Rhus toxicodendron, p. 689. Bur Grass, p. . 689.

Wolffia in Blossom, p.

LOGY. — Relation of the Physical to the Biological Sciences, p. 46.

Notes on the Ducks found on the Coast of Massachusetts in Winter, p.

9. Is Huxley's Bathybius an Animal? p. 50. Reason and Instinct, p. 51.

i Deeks

South, p. 52. Blackbirds in Winter, p. 52. How the Sculptured Turtle

deposits her Eggs, p. 53. Anecdote of the Sparrow-hawk, p. 53. Hybrid

Fowls, p. 53. The Ruby-crowned vno pp. 54, 376. is: Crocodile in

F onde, p.54. House Sparrow, p. 54. orphism in the Higher Worms,

p. 5 Disposal of the Placenta, p. 56. generi Red Bird, p. ig The

pone p.57. The Great Auk, p.57. A Rare Visitor, p. 57. e Cow

Bird, p.58. Occurrence of the Brown Pelican in heats p. 58.

The Chipmunk, p. 58. Albino Rodents, p. 58. Conchological iar of

the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Nov. 4, 1869, p. A

Rare Duck, p. 126. External Gills in Ganoid Fishes, p. 127. The ties

of Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, p. 127. The Organs of Eds

and Smell in Insects, p. 197. Albino Bara Swallow, p. 127. Spi

Horns (with a cut), p. 188. Adirondack’s Reply, p. 189. Habits of n

Striped Squirrel, p. 249. Conchological Notes, p. 250. Functions of the

Nerve-centres of the Frog, p. 250. The Compressed Burbot or Eel Pout,

p.251. A White Woodchuck, p. 252. Rare Birds in Nova Scotia, p. 253.

A New Insecticide, p. 313. Fauna of Round Island, p. 314. Position of

the Brachiopoda in the Animal Kingdom (with cuts), p. 314. The Ru

Song of the Song Sparrow, p. 378. The Pigeon Hawk, p. 439. The

Flight of Birds and Insects, p. 439. Pe zdogenesis in the Birlopidee, p.

439. Curious Conduct of a Sharp-shinned Hawk, p. 439. Partheno-

CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. vil

ming Birds of the Equatorial Regions, p. 495. Embryology of Limulus

Polyphemus (with cuts), p. 498. On the Relations of the Orders of Mam-

mals, p. 502. The Structural Characteristics of the Cranium in the Lower

ee orate On cuts), p. 505. On three new generic forms of Brachio-

ndo

Caudal Styles of Insects Sense Organs, i. e. Abdominal Antenne, p. 620.

A Remarkable Myriapod, p. 621. How to Mount Spiders for Cabinets, p.

622. The Toucan’s Beak, p. 622. Physella not a Fresh-water Shell, p.

623. On the Young of Orthagoriscus Mola (with cuts), p. 629. Ab-

dominal Sense-organs in a Fly, p. 690. Note on the Existence of trans-

riis striated muscular pide in Acmea, p. 691. Cedar Bird with

WwW xou s on the Tail, p. 692. Habits of the Red-headed Wood-

poii, p. 6 American Pihlak, p. 692. Notes on some of the Coast

Fi shes of old. p.693. Morphology and Ancestry of the King Crabs,

760.

Callidryas konp p. Mephitis bicolor, p. 761. Woodcock and

es, p. Tu Sia seule p. 762. Spike-horned Bucks, p. 762.

Deer's die p. 768. Singular Manners and Customs of the Hornbills

during the Breeding Season, p.

GEOLOGY. — Further bg ris of the Affinity between the Dinosaurian

dde and Birds, p. Fossil Horse in Missouri, p. 60. Sudden Dry-

ing up of Streams in "Made p. 61. Quaternary deposits in Missouri,

. 61. New Mosasauroid Reptiles, p. 62. Scolithus a gaa p. 62.

Discovery of a huge Whale in North Carolina, p. 128 he Geology of

Brazil, p. 128. Professor Ward’s Museum, p. 128. Now Ree Remains

from ii the "Curboniférüus and Devonian Rocks of Canada, p. 190. Gigantic

Fossil Serpent from New Jersey, p. 254. Geological Survey of Iowa, p.

New Fossil Turkey, p. 317. Geological WB" ge te p. 878. S-

toration of the WA cesis 379. Ancient Reptiles of the Connecticut

Valley, p. 444. The Rate of GieologicHt Change, p. 444. Notes on some

Post Tertiary Sgen in Michigan, The Supposed Elevation

and Depression of the Continent during the Glacial Period, p. 508. Gla-

ciers in Paleozoic Times, Recent and Fossil Copal, p. 560. -

and Chemung Groups, pp. 563, 639. Nostder-éradus in Berkshire County,

Mass., p. 565. On the Evidence of a Glacial Epoch at the Equator, p

! The C NN of Washington Territory, p. 567. The Great Salt

Marsh of Silver Peak, Southern Nevada, p. 567 e g-

raphy of the White Mountains, p. 567. ew Species of Trilobite from

New Jersey, p. 568 rgence of a portion of the h American

Continent since the Drift Period, p. 568. Black Iron Sand, p.569. The

Stratigraphy and Surface Geology of North Carolina, p. 570. The

vili CONTENTS OF VOL. IV.

Origin of South Carolina Phosphates, p. 571. Did a Glacier flow from

e Huron into Lake Erie?, p. 623. The Upper Delta Plain of the Mis-

sissippi, p. 638. On the Mud Lumps of the Passes of the Mississippi, p.

638. A Point in Dynamical Geology, p. 639. Discovery of Lower Car-

ines of Missouri, p. 766. arks of Ancient pea on

the Pacific Coast, p. 766. oulders in Ancient Times, p. 767. New

covery respecting omnts p. 767

Microscopy. — Microscope Objectives; Regra and Reply, pp. 254

and A poop of the Latex in the Laticiferous Vessels, p. 817.

Does Boiling Destroy Germs? p. 318. Ereni of Gas in Proto-

plasm, he Largest Infusorium Known 980. Air Tight Spec-

imens, p. 444. The Focal Length of Microscopie Objectives, p. 445.

evade of EE of the American Association for the Advance-

t of Science, p. 5 New Form of a Binocular Microscope, p. 571.

n ssh Ponsi a ar Binochiar Microscopes (with cuts), pp. 571, 633.

Diatoms from Marblehead, Mass., p.573. Test Plates, p.573. Instru-

ments at the Meeting of the A.A.A.S., pp. 573-576. New Clinical Com-

pressor (with cuts), p. 574. American Microscopes, p. 625. Wales’ Low

Power Objectives, p. 626. The Simplest form of Micro- -telescope, p. 628.

A New Form of Binocular for use with High Powers of the Microscope,

p. 696. :

ANTHROPOLOGY. — Relics from the Great Mound, p. 62. The Bone

Caves of Gibraltar, p. 255. Archeological Impostures, p. 819. borigi-

nal Relic fi rom Trenton, New Jersey (with cut), p.380. Origin of the

2. i

Archeology, p. 445. On the Structure of the Eskimo dines; 561.

The Significance of Cranial Characters in Man, p ayers

MISCELLANE — The Death of Michael Sars, p.63. Photograph of

George bsp. * T 64. Correction, p. 64. -The Sars Fund, p. 127. Mary-

d Academy of Sciences, p. 191. The Future of Natural Science, p.

438. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, p. 622. Ameri-

can Association for the Advancement of Science, pp. 383, 492, 561, 629.

Norrs. — Pages 703, 767.

ANSWERSÉTO CORRESPONDENTS. — — Pages 128, 256, 320, 383, 448, 576, 704.

Books RECEIVED. — Pages 64, 192, 256, 320, 384, 448, 492, 640.

Lisr OF PLATES AND Curs. — Page ix.

List or CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME IV. — Pages xi, xii.

INDEX. — Page 769.

ILLUSTRATIONS 1x

LIST OF PLATES.

mee be pw Page

1. Bird lice. seven figures, . . 98| 5. North Pacific re and Corals,

2. og thirty-nine figures, 229 nine figures,

3. Hor zn" Crab, etc., fourteen’ ons 6. Illumination of Binocular Micro-

1. North. Pacific Polyps and Corals, T. Injurious Insects, twenty-two fig:

ten figures, s oo ues o. OD 687

LIST OF WOOD-CUTS.

No. Page. Grape vine 4 $ a . 414

L Primitive tomb, Acora, . eee ote 91. Woodbine, : 415-416

. Hill Medi nin Peru, . a ay E 5 ony, é ‘ S S r

x Chulpa, . .. 6| 98. Spike horns of m 00se, "oun . 443

E Chulpa Bolly via, " . 7| 94. "omen iin expansa, . n 489

: Bection of Chul . - .8|95to99. Embryo and young of Lim

. Burial tower, PR 4 . $t ox lus, * à 498-501

7. Pelasgic tower, Italy, . . . 11/100; Larva of Branchipus, . ^ . . 501

8. Early defences, Peru, ; «oc 100b. Larva of Apu A . 501

9. Ancient monuments Tan A + 15/101. Larva of "Triraoleas, n i . 501

10. Pheronema Ann ý . 21/102. Larva of Sao hirsuta, “i . 501

ib 12. Spicules of the same, . 21,22/103. Larva of Agnostus nudus, ach NE

Bed bug, . r 4 . . 85/104. Adult of Á% «UL;

m Mouth of louse, . PN . 87/105 to 106. Skull of Ichthyosaurus, . 506

15. Headlouse, . . QU . 87/107. Skull of n: QUA cg EET

16. Body louse, * . 88/108. Mackerel, . ; é è . 513

17. Em o of lous e OOHO CORBIS uoo o uou As ve cone. MR

18,19, 24. Embryo o Dragon fly, 91, 93/110. Haddock, $ ; é ^ > PEE OLT

301033. Development d — pan in Brie fish, aM a UG . 518

e, 4.1989. Herring, 3 ons eddie le mM

* La of Cow . 93/113. Bill-fish, K » 5 ‘ . 520

Louse of Domestic Fowl, è . 94|114. Internal Lieb 572

.. Louse of Cat . . 96/115. Ward's clinical compressor, . i 575

. Louse of Goat, | s 5 . 96/115 bis to 116. Compe tridentata

) Antenne of — 3:3 4 S T larva an 590

). Smelt, . e « 108|117 to 118. Sapérda vestita, larva and

. Gizzard Shad, « VUE : < 591

. Chub. = T d Š . 111/119. Larva of Sa ape erda calcarata, . 592

: 4/120. Prionus brevicornis and pupa, 592

. Gar ue s RE ) .

. Indian Sung an Ánteloe, . 129|121. Saperda inornata and larva, . 593

. Indian village, . 135 »

331|1 ne 3 E Prien - binocular micro-

Scop e, "i e 701

381|159 to 162. "Ant Li 05, 706

385/163 to ME _Sperm-whales, 728, 734, 136 741,

. Indian bow and arrow, * + 139 É

š ow heads, etC., . . «+ ~~ 189/123. Chion ' cinctus, larva and pupa, t

Water basket, . CURA 2 124to 125. Roller Sp p box,. 606, j

. Awl, etc., for making basket, 141/126. Pickle worm, : a

. Indian woman c ary ng basket, - . 141/197 to 128. deus dresser, $ $ " 611, J

. Stone mortar and pestl . « 142/129. Alypia 8- maculata, ‘

. Jaw of Limax flavus, . . . 167/130 hs 131. "Eudrya grata, 613,

. Teeth of Limax flavus, . . . . 167|132to 133. Acoloithus. Americanus, 614,

, 448. Hyalina cellaria, .: . .. 169/134 gie lacanthus Palas:

. Limax maxim Sie 170135. OENAR blo a. ER )

. Limax garus, . . . 170/136 to 137. Orthagoriscus mola, . 630,

. Arion fus . 170]138. Nest of Sas Pes

Prepared ‘gation’ Mexican skull, 172]139. Anatomy of Theloschistes, Eu

‘to 66. Chalchihui itls, . 173 to 181|140. ‘Anatomy of Collema, . oa

. Spike horns, . 188/141. Anatomy of toa i »

k A after the first moult, . 971|142. Anatomy of Us 2

Zygnem . . 281/143. Anatomy of Stic i

4 Cageotia, PSI egy ie ee ae o Anat. of CERT ps

. Chztomorpha, s (Uc cn MRETHET, Spores of ——

. Microleus repens, . » + >œ 283 1 49. Anatomy of Theloschistes, .

. Seeds of MN «tgo vo WDO. E veda ‘of lichen

. med UNE S 286 151 to 153. Anatom of B Biatora, : 613,

De en . i è ring Pupa o ata i * 5

16 : 1 QU S 1 upa o r Wooden

ce enn i " t Horse fly, .

386

8r. j weed mee ttatu

oa . 410/177. Clateification of Spiders, i + 09

. Solanum jasminoides,

see 5 5$?

“ee

ERRATA.

ERRATA TO VOL. IV.— Page 63, line 16, for pervenum read perver:

line 15, for lips read n g

on 03, for

(Later, however, Cope has

wn the species to = distinct from Kirtland’s Kentuckiensis.) Page 117, line 13 of

^u ox d Teretribus read teretulus. Page 112, line 16, for Rariton rea arita

P vk 501 under figure 100, first line, for 4pus read Branchipus, and in second line, for

anchipus read Apus. On line 1 from iem n Pus éiihalitlores read head. Page 126,

mm line, for MR. DRESSER read MR. D I

age 375, line 34, for J. P. KIRKLAND

read J. P. KIRTLAND. Page gm last Peine la d Zoologist read Zoologists. Page 689, line

29, for poisoning read poison

Plates 3

and 4 (pp. 490, 198); ana pee plates 4 and 5. Plate 5 (page 637) should read

age 687)

Plate 6, and Plate 6 (p. Plate 7. Page 572, for figure 100, read figure

114. Page 575, for sre 100, read figure 115 fi 140.

age 700, for figure 140, read 157. Page

701, for ires "t inge ; however, only refer to the serial

bers of the ve 1 in the text to their p t I )

(x) ;

CONTRIBUTORS.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO VOL. IV.

Mong ES C. ABBOTT, M.D., Trenton, N. J.

W. W. Battey, Providence, R. I.

Prof. W. J. BEAL, Chicago, Ill.

ALFRED W. BENNETT, viis due Quarterly Journal of Science).

W. G. BINNEY, Burlington,

Rev. J. W. CHI puse Je ee N. H.

A. S. COLLINS, Caledon

Prof. E. D. Cop apunta Pa.

:5. A

J: H, rs Salem,

ILL, W

A J. H. GREGORY, M tmd M

A. ; , San PN RE uL

Prof. JOSEPH tir; Philadelphia, Pa.

Miss GRACE ANNA LewTIs, Philadelphia, Pa.

Rev. S. Lockwoop, Lockport, N. J.

THOMAS MEEHAN Dermato, Pa.

Prof. JoHN L. qni Salem, Mass

Capt. C. M. SCAMMON, U. S. N

Prof. N. S. "oiu ATRA Mass.

Hon. E. G. SQUIER, New York, N

Dr. Wm. SrrIMPSON, Chicago, n.

H. WirrEY, New Bedford, Mass.

WM. Woop, M.D., Winsor Hill, Conn.

xii

CONTRIBUTORS.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE REVIEWS, MISCELLANY, ETC.

qo C. Abb

P. Alcott, North Greenwich, Conn.

mbridge, a

adem Ca

ott, M.D., Trenton, N. J.

m. Allison, DeWitt, Iow:

- Mr. Alvord, xa

F. P. Atkin

1r. B., Colo

P. Barn

venilel, Mars.

FRYE bridge, Mass.

ce Pa.

Beal,” Oise. M il.

IOW.d.

Edwin Bicknell, ll, Cambridge, Mass.

rederick Brendel, M eori J

.0.€

J. R. Collete, Somerville, Mass.

Wm. A. pie

Prof. A. J. Co

in, I York, s. X.

Lansing, Mich

Dr. J. G. Cooper, San Francisco , Cal.

Prof. E. D . Cope, poem Pa.

Dr. T Coues

W. H. Dall, V

; MD New York, AN. X

. J. Higgins

Prof. Eugene W. Hilgard, Oxford, M Miss.

Thomas ; LL.D., Waltham, Mass.

of. C. teh HU N.

Rotors Haag, ane Mi LEM Canada. Charl Wright, Ca: QM

5 un ontre: ana = mbrid, ass.

Prof. A. Hyatt, Raters Mace sin

B. C. Jillson, M.D. » Pittsburgh, Pa

p dnt London

ndon

Month mum Journal, London.

J. Matthew Doce Halifax, N. S.

UN ae r, Ralei gh, N. C.

H. M. DM Williamsté wn, Mass.

C. * aly aum a, Fla

H. W. Parker, Grinnell, 10

Dr. wad- = Perkins, Ñewburyport, Mass.

Rev. J. B ambridge, Mass

` : uis, Mo.

Bt. Ms Pi y Rohmer. r, Mobile, Ala.

L. Russell, Salem, Mass.

ira ires Ha Rushford, N. Y.

; Bos ston, Mas

E. G. Squier, wA New York, N. Y.

Winfrid Stearns, Amherst, Mass.

. R. P. Stevens, New York.

Charles Stodder, Boston, Mas

L. EE. Stroop, , Waxahachie, Texas.

Prot S Tenney, Williamstown, Mass.

G. Ag JA ur pm Pa.

RE H. Ward, M.D., Troy, N

Coena A. Winchell, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Dr. s Wook East Windsor Hil,

yman, Cambridge, Mass

COPIED FROM

iblio pitas: wad Universelle, Archives des Sci-

ences Physiques et Ni aturelles, Geneva.

ebold and Kolliker's Zeitschrift fur Wis-

— i the copus Society of| senschaftliche Zoologie, Berlin

Me Gori der ily faturiisse ensci

onn.

| C

S ‘of Natural History.| Franklin Journal, Philadelphia.

A — yt T ee peste of Natural History of

T EL d

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — MARCH, 1870.— No. 1.

ec GG ($e rex.

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU COM-

ARED WITH THOSE IN OTHER

PARTS OF THE WORLD.

BY E. G. SQUIER, M.A.*

THERE is a class of stone structures in Peru belonging to

what is regarded through the world as the earliest monu-

mental period, coincident in style and character with the

cromlechs, dolmens, and “Sun” or “Druidical” circles, so

called, of Scandinavia, the British Islands, France, and

Northern and Central Asia. The existence of such remains

in Peru has not, I believe, been hitherto mentioned by any

traveller in that country. They are not very numerous, at

least not in the parts of Peru traversed by me, but their

scarcity is probably in great part due to circumstances and

causes to which I shall refer further on, and is by no means

inconsistent with the supposition that they formerly existed

in considerable, if not very great numbers.

I think students will attach importance to these remains as

indicating the existence at one time or another in Peru of a

population identical in degree and stage of development with

the people who raised corresponding lithic and megalithic

*Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London; Honorary Fellow of the Anthro-

pological Societies of London and Paris; Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries

of Copenhagen, etc., etc.

Entered according to Act of Co in the year 1870, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE. in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts,

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. Iv. 1 (1)

2 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

monuments in other parts of the world, and who, if not the

progenitors of the semi-civilized nations found in Peru at the

time of the conquest, certainly preceded them in the occupa-

tion of the country. If it should be found, nevertheless, that

there has been a gradual development of any of these rude

remains into elaborate and imposing monuments, corres-

ponding with them in their purpose or design, or a gradual

change from the rough burial chamber of uncut stones into the

symmetrical sepulchral tower built of hewn blocks accurately

fitted together, and in general workmanship coinciding with

the other and most advanced and admirable structures of the

country, then we may reasonably infer that the latter were

constructed by the same people that built the first, and that,

monumentally, at least, the civilization of Peru was in-

digenous, gradually developed and not intruded. Leaving,

however, the very few and obvious deductions I may feel

justified in making, for the close of this brief paper, I wish

to call attention to three groups of monuments, the culpas

and other remains of Acora, Quellenata, and Sillustani, all

in the great terrestrial basin of Lake Titicaca, near that

lake, in that political subdivision of the ancient Peruvian

Empire called the Collao, and now Department of Puno.

'The arable portions of Peru, cireumscribed by mountains,

cold and sterile punos or table-lands, and bare deserts, early

forced the population of the country to a close economy of

their eultivable lands, and led them to bury their dead and

build their towns in waste places, on arid hillsides above the

reach of irrigation, or on rocky eminences and promontories,

which even their patient industry could not make productive.

In such positions throughout the ancient Collao, we find

numberless cemeteries, often in proximity to the ruins of

towns and villages. Some of these cemeteries are marked

by really imposing monuments, and form conspicuous fea-

tures in the landscape.

The first and simplest form of the burial monument, and

which I shall assume, for the present, to be the oldest, con-

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 3

sists of flat, unhewn stones of varying lengths set firmly in

the ground, projecting above it from one to two feet, so as

to form a circle, more or less regular, about three feet in

diameter. The body was buried within this circle, in a

sitting or crouching posture, and with a vase of pottery or

some other utensil or implement at its feet. Sometimes a

few flat stones were laid across the upright ones, so as to

form a kind of roof, and in a few instances these rude tombs

were placed side by side in long rows, and stones afterwards

heaped over them, so as to give them the appearance of lines

of ruined walls.

Another rude but more advanced and impressive form of

Fig. 1.

QUES A

Sane d ws p

er cma Tomb, Acora.

the tomb consists of large slabs of stone, projecting from

four to six feet above the groufid, and also set in the form

of a circle or square of from six to sixteen feet in diameter.

These uprights support blocks of stone, which lap over each

other inwardly, until they touch and brace against each

other, thus forming a kind of rude arch. A doorway or

opening is often found leading into the vault, formed by

omitting one of the upright stones.

The arid plain to the south of the town of Acora, near

the shores of Lake Titicaca, and twelve miles distant from

the ancient town of Chueuito, is covered with remains of

this kind, of which Fig. 1 is an example; and on the west-

ern border of the plain, at the base of the mountains which:

4 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

bound it in that direction, are some of the better class of

chulpas, round and square, built of worked stones, to which

I shall have occasion to allude in another place.

A modification of the second class of chulpas, which I

have described, or rather an improvement on them, is to be

found among the ruins, so called, of Quellenata to the

northeast of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia (Fig. 2), and at many

other places in the ancient Collao. Here the inner chamber

or vault is formed, as in the case of those already noticed,

by a circle of upright stones, across the tops of which flat

stones are laid, forming a chamber, which often has its floor

below the general level of the earth. Around this chamber

a wall is built, which is carried up to varying heights of

from ten to thirty feet. The exterior stones are usually

broken to conform to the outer curve of the tower, and the

whole is more or less cemented together with a very tena-

cious clay. Nearly all are built with flaring or diverging

walls; that is to say, they are narrower at their bases than

at their tops. Sometimes this divergence is on a curved in-

stead of a right line, and gives to the monument a graceful

shape. In Quellenata I found only one skeleton in each

of the chulpas I examined; and none of the chulpas had

open entrances.’ Similar structures in shape and construc-

tion occur in great numbers among what are called the ruins

of Ullulloma (Fig. 3), thrge leagues from the town of Sta.

Rosa in the valley of the river Pucura. -But here the chul-

pas have openings into which a man may creep, and all of

them contained originally two or more skeletons.

Returning now to Acora. As I have intimated, within

sight of the rude burial monuments already noticed as exist-

ing there,—and which so closely resemble the cromlechs of

Fop ee other sepulchral monuments, showing a great

advance on those of Quellenata and Ullulloma. They are

both round and square, standing on platforms of stones reg-

ularly and artificially shaped, dud are themselves built or

_ squared blocks of limestone. In common with the primitive

Ss, sä ak

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Pucura, or Hill Fortress of Quellenata, with Chulpas.

(5)

6 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

and typical forms of the same class of monuments already

described, these also have an inner chamber, vaulted by over-

lapping stones, after the fashion of the earlier approxima-

tions towards the arch. They differ, however, in having

each four niches in the chamber or vault, placed at right

angles in respect to each other. The sides of these niches

converge a little towards their tops, as do most of the

Fig. 3. Inca niches,

PEE windows and

: Cos SS "

Led X SN doorways. In

EC OEC Se, .

Cy PS these niches

re; x T TRUM f å

" , al “ = Kr " T S >, 4 5 A

Aii mina mE oe R were astene l

P e ~ si the bodies of

Ce Eig the dead, in

Cs ui

squatting or

crouching

double -sto-

ried, square

chulpa, with

un): jj, à pucura or

TUE hill fort in the

SSO ee = = “~~ distance, oc-

oS" a SS | curring near

Chulpa, Ullulloma, partly ruined. the Bolivian

town of Escoma, on the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca.

Figure 5 is a section of this chulpa. I introduce these

cuts to show some of the variations in this class of monu-

ments. Escoma is on the same side of Lake Titicaca with

Quellenata, but sixty miles to the southward; and it is a

curious fact, that while at the latter place all the chulpas are

round, at the former they are all square.

The sides of all the square chulpas appear to be perfectly

vertical, and near their summits we find a projecting band or

Locis

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 7

cornice. Their tops seem to have been flat. On the other

hand the round chulpas here swell out regularly up to the

ornamental band or cornice, and terminate in a dome.

These features, however, are still better marked in the

ruins of Sillustani, where the chulpas, in respect of size,

elaboration of design and workmanship, take their highest

form. Here we find them built of great blocks of trachyte

and other hard stones, fitted together with unsurpassable

Hit on LU d

Square Chulpa, Escoma, Bolivia.

accuracy, the structure nevertheless preserving some of the

characteristie features of the first and rudest form of the

chulpa (Fig. 6). The lower course of stones is almost inva-

riably composed of great blocks of which the unhewn por-

tions are set in the ground, and these support a series of

layers, not always regular in respect of thickness, nor uni-

form in respect of size, but which have their sides cut on

exact radii of the circle, and,their faces cut with an accu-

rate bevel upward to correspond with the swell of the tower.

8 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

The stones forming the dome are not only cut on accurate

radii, but the curve of the dome is preserved in each, and

they are furthermore so eut that their push or plunge is in-

ward towards the centre of the structure, thereby tending to

give it compactness and consequent strength. There are

many other interesting architectural features connected with

these remains of Sillustani, the enumeration of which is

not necessary in order to illustrate the particular question

before us.*

Some of the chulpas of Sillustani have double vaults or

chambers, one above the other, and

others have a double row of niches, in

a single chamber, with a cist, carefully

walled up, sunk in the earth below.

There are a few built of rough stones

plastered and stuccoed over, and paint-

ed, with inner chambers also stuccoed.

Now, in all these varieties of the

burial monument called the chulpa,

from the rude pile of rough stones at

Acora, so much resembling the Euro-

L. pean cromlech, through every variety

Section of a (fig. 4).

towers of Sillustani we discover com-

mon features, a common design, and many evidences that

all were equally the work of the same people. If so, do

the ruder monuments mark an earlier and possibly very

remote period in the history of that people? And do the

various stages of development which we observe in this class

of monuments, correspond with like stages in the develop-

ment of their builders? Or did they build -the rough tomb

*For Dierk of comparison, I introduce a reduction from a photograph, of a ioni

led P among the ruins of Alatri, Italy (Fig. 7). The

sa ce "pieta he style and wo rkmanship of the Sillustani monuments and sie

of — is voee hash that the stones of the former are much the largest, and are

cut fitted witl t muc 'h greater accu maey: In n no

of st

h 1

g of perfection i& was by the ancients of

Peru.

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 9

for the poor and insignificant, and the grander and more

elaborate monument for the rich and the powerful, as we do

today ?

I incline, for reasons not altogether drawn from an in-

vestigation of this single class of monuments, to the opinion

that the various forms of the chulpa are indices of different

eras. I doubt if monuments were ever raised, whether rude

or imposing, except over important persons. I believe that

anciently as now, the common Indian, the patient servant of

the chief or curaca of old, Fig. 6.

as of the gobernador of our

age, received few burial hon-

ors. His grave was unmark-

ed by stone or symbol. The

chulpas probably signalize the

graves of individuals distin-

guished in their periods,

upon which contemporaneous

skill and effort were expended.

If the monument was rude,

it was because the people dg

who raised it were also rude. 73€ —

At the time it was erected Mr WT:

the cromlech or chulpa of = 999

Acora cost, it may be, an Chulpa, or Burial Tower, Sillustani.

effort as great or greater than was exhausted, at a later pe-

riod, on the elaborate and imposing towers of Sillustani.

And, altogether, I am convinced, speaking for the present

only in view of sepulchral monuments, that their develop-

ment in Peru may be traced from their first and rudest form.

up to that which prevailed at the time of the Conquest,

preserving throughdut the same essential features.

But it is not in the early sepulchral monuments of Peru,

that we have absolute coincidences with the remains which

are now accepted as among the primitive monuments of

mankind. As we find in both Europe and Asia the rude

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 2

——

10 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

monuments of religion existing side by side with those of

sepulture, so we find in Peru the Sun-circle, or primitive,

open, symbolical temple, side by side with the Peruvian

chulpa. In many places we discover circles defined by rude

upright stones, and surrounding one or more larger upright

stones placed sometimes in the centre of the circle, but

oftener at one-third of the diameter of the circle apart, and

on a line at right angles to another line that might be drawn

through the centre of the gateway or entrance on the east.

In connection with the group of chulpas at Sillustani, or

rather on the same promontory on which these occur, are

found a number of such Sun-circles, which seem strangely

to have escaped the notice of travellers. The tradition of

their original purpose is preserved in the Quichua name

they still bear of Intihuatana, “where the sun is tied

up.”

Some of these circles are more elaborate than others, as

shown in the engraving (Fig. 8), from which it will be seen

that while the one nearest the spectator is constructed of

simple upright stones, set in the ground; the second one is

surrounded by a platform of stones more or less hewn and

fitted together. The first circle is about ninety feet in di-

ameter; the second about one hundred and fifty feet, and

has a single erect stone standing in the relative position

I have already indicated. A remarkable feature in the

larger circle is a groove cut in the platform around it, deep

enough to receive a ship’s cable.

I am well aware that many of the smaller so called Sun-

circles of the old world are rather grave-circles, or places of

sepulture; but that in no way bears on the point I am at

present illustrating, namely: the close resemblance if not

absolute identity of the primitive monuments of the great

Andean plateau, elevated thirteen thousand feet above the

* Inti, in the Quichua language, signifies the Sun, and huatana, the place where or

the thing with which anything is tied up. The compound word is still applied by the

Indians to dials and church clocks. Huata signifies a year.

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 11

sea, and fenced in with high mountains and rey deserts,

with those of the other continent.*

Peru has many examples of that kind of stone structures

called Cyclopean, in which stones a xe — and sizes are

fitted accurately

together, with- ] To

out cement, so A '

as to form a iM

solid whole. 1

The great Inca

fortress of the

Sacsahuaman,

dominating the

city of Cuzco,

the old Inca

capital, is one

of the most im-

posing monu-

ments of this-

kind in America

or the world,

and claims to

rank with the

pyramids them-

selves as an il-

lustration of ES

human power. * Pelasgic? tower, Alatri, Italy. (See foot note p. 8.)

But apart from remains of this kind, which characterize

comparatively late eras, we find remains of similar design,

often imposing, but rude, and on the stones of which we

look in vain for the traces of tools of any kind. In con-

* Cre to have been under discussion in the

cede vise of London during the past mem (1869). Mr. Hodder M. West-

ropp, while indicating their wide range from Etruria to Malabar, from the steppes of '

Tartary, to the centre of Arabia, and from Scandinavia to the Pacific Islands, insisted

i e form

hase

o have supported his views (of which I have only an abstract in

12 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

struction they somewhat resemble the works uncritically

known as Pelasgic. A notable example may be named in

the ruins of Quellenata, already mentioned, situated on a

mountain dominating the town of Vileachico, and overlook-

ing Lake Titicaca (Fig. 2). Still another, but less rude, is

the great fortress of Chancayillo or Calaveras, in the upper

part of the valley of Casma.

Tradition affirms that these pucaras, or strongholds, were

reared long ago, when the inhabitants of Peru were divided

up into savage and warlike tribes, "before the sun shone,” or

the Incas had established their benignant rule. They are

held in a certain veneration as the works of giants, whose

spirits still haunt them, and require to be propitiated with

offerings of chicha and coca. Hundreds of these remains,

often of great extent, crown the bare mountain tops of Cen-

tral and Southern Peru and Bolivia, and are scattered’ all

through the grand Andean plateau. Looking upon them in

their obvious character, expressed also in their name of

pucaras, as strongholds or fortresses, we find them to be but

rude types of the extensive and elaborate defensive works

constructed by the Incas, and in which were introduced

parapets, salient and reéntering angles, and many of the

French) by the cireumstance that human ici and other evidences of sepulture, are

foun nd i in all or nearly all of these monument But we know so A T e temple and vaj

r reciprocal sa

tity and reverence. bs the antiquaries of the future anl over the question

ers r Westminster Abbey and the Church of St. Denis were tombs or temples, on

or ? e this discussion ron — Fox (and I am pee confined to the deu

alluded to), after à for megalithic monuments than Mr. ier"

"D — the Canary Islands, Algeria, Palestine, Persia, the Fejee Islands

were the work of one people that miu

es mies west Pw: barriers | of Poan like the t um the south and

line

eternal

their oc-

currence. And that, th f hn which America is

enumerated), * are Medii those where civi lisetion n never etrated." Civilization

E , a relative , and to which nations who in this age go to war with

of the Arcadian accom of New Mexico mi ht lay good npe pa if megalithic

onuments i

stages, Pe

from what has been ‘meee D the text, e: no longer * be left o ni] in a cold;" and if

civilization took the route of these mon ts it certainly spread “laterally” past the

Pacific Islands to America, or— vice mq,

THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 13

most important features of modern fortifications. In short,

as we find in the rude chulpas of Acora, the essential fea-

tures of the imposing and skilfully constructed burial towers

of Sillustani, so we find in these primitive defenses the

fundamental ideas subsequently elaborated in the gigantic

fortresses of Sacsahuaman, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo. Some

instances fell under my notice in Peru, of single rough

upright stones, oceasionally of great size, which were huaca

or sacred, and to which great reverence is still paid by the

Indians. A notable instance is to be observed on the sum-

Fig. 8.

MS ——

—

- =

Intihuatanus of Sillustani, Peru.

mit of a high, bare hill, on the road between the port of

Simanco and the town of Nepeüa, and which overlooks the

interesting ruins of Huaca-Tambo. No doubt some of these

stones were set up by hand of man, but most of them

occupy natural positions. *

'The celebrated ruins of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, which may

be called the Stonehenge or Carnac of the new world, afford

a striking example of the artificial arrangement of rough as

well as upright stones, in the form of squares and rectangles,

The Indians of the coast of Peru raised large stones in their chacras, gardens and

Msi fields, which they called chichoe or Truanea, also chacrayoe, or Lord of the

14 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

and on parallel lines. Here we find quadrangles defined by

huge, unhewn stones, worn and frayed by time, and having

every evidence of highest antiquity, by the side of other

squares of similar plan, but defined by massive stones cut

with much elaboration, as if they were the work of later

generations, better acquainted with the use of tools fit for

cutting stones, who nevertheless retained the notions of their

ancestors, bringing only greater skill to the construction of

their monuments. The megalithie remains of Tiahuanaco

rank second in interest to none in the world.

Fig. 9 is of a singular monument, in the ancient town

of Chicuito, once the most important in the Collao. It is

in the form of a rectangle, sixty-five feet on each side,

and consists of a series of large, roughly worked blocks of

stone, placed closely side by side on a platform, or rather on

a foundation of stones, sunk in the ground, and projecting

fourteen inches outward all around. The entrance is from

the east, between two blocks of stones, higher than the rest.

This may be taken as a type of an advanced class of mega-

lithic monuments by no means uncommon in the highlands

of Peru. The features I seek to illustrate would be made

more apparent by a greater number of views, plans, and sec-

tions than I am now able to present, as may be inferred from

the few accompanying this paper. When they shall come to

be fully illustrated, I think all students will coincide with me

in my already matured opinion that there exist in Peru and

Bolivia, high up among the snowy Andes, the oldest forms

of monuments, sepulchral and otherwise, known to mankind,

exact counterparts in character of those of the “old world,”

having a common design, illustrating similar conceptions,

and all of them the work of the same peoples found in occu-

pation of the country at the time of the Conquest, and whose

later monuments are mainly if not wholly the developed

forms of those raised by their ancestors, and which seem to

have been the spontaneous productions of the primitive man

in all parts of the world, and not necessarily nor even prob-

ably derivative.

Ancient Monument, Chicuito.

*" ^

| ta) ue ru

a vu

JU RSS

;

3d i Ts y

(15)

16 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU.

I have only to add one word in respect to caverns. There

are many of these in the serras of Peru, in which the mod-

ern traveller is often glad to find refuge, as was the Indian

voyager before him. But few of these however, seem to

have been inhabited. Generally they appear to have been

used as burial places, and abound in desiccated human bodies,

human bones, objects of human art, and the bones of indige-

nous animals, often cemented together with calcareous de-

posits. Some of the many Peruvian traditions affirm that

the ancient inhabitants of the country emerged from the

limestone caverns in the frontier Amazonian valley of Pau-

cartambo.* The best accepted perhaps of the Peruvian tradi-

tions assigns to the Sun-born Manco Capac, his birth-place

and early residence in a shallow cavern on thé island of

Titicaca, out of which the sun rose to illuminate the earth,

and which was regarded as the most sacred spot in the Inca

Empire. That man should first seek shelter in caverns, in a

cold and arid region like the plateau of Peru, where wood is

scarce or unknown, is equally natural and probable; but

the evidences of such a practice do not exist, or rather have

not yet been discovered.

That considerable aboriginal Peruvian tribes once lived in

houses built on piles, or on floats, in the shallow waters of

the Andean lakes, is not only probable but certain. The

remnants of such a tribe, bearing the name of Antis, still

live in this manner in the reedy lakes formed by the spread-

ing out or overflow of the Rio Desaguadero, the outlet of

Lake Titicaca. These people spoke and still speak a lan-

* The old Jesuit, Arriaga, in his rare and valuable work Zztirpacion de la Idolatria

del Peru (1621), tells us not only that the inhabitants of the coast of Peru reverenced

the re their ancestors and also giants, but the buildings erected by

them." He adds: * They reverence also their Pacarinas, or places of ancient residence,

to the — of preferriug to live in them, wd; that they are built in lofty,

rocky, arid places. only possibly to be reached, and even

then ds difficulty, on foot.” n

The word Pacarina, as given by Arriaga, is embodied jn that of Paucartambo, the

name of one of the € r Amazo nian Valleys, running parallel to that of emp near

Cuzco, whence, one of th f their civiliza-

tion and em empire. The name is phare: a corruption of itus Pad to be born; d. ps

dwelling or stopp

ie a e e T ~

REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES. 17

guage differing equally from the Aymara and Quichua, called

Puquina, and the early chroniclers speak of them as ex-

tremely savage, so much so that when asked who they were,

they answered, they were not men but Uros, as if they did

not belong to the human family. Whole towns of them, it

is said, lived on floats of totora or reeds, which they moved

from place to place according to their convenience or neces-

sities.

REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES.

BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH LEIDY.

Amone the many remarkable marine productions which

puzzle the naturalist as to their relationship in the animal

kingdom, is thé Hyalonema mirabilis of the Japan seas.

First described and named by Dr. John E. Gray, of the

British Museum, this distinguished zoologist viewed it as a

coral related with Grigoris or the Sea Fan.

The specimens of Hyalonema, as ordinarily preserved,

appear as a loosely twisted bundle of threads converging

to a point at one extremity of the fascicle and more or less

divergent at the other. The threads bear so much resem-

blance to spun glass that the production has received the

name of the Glass Plant. They are mainly composed of

silex and are translucent, shining, and highly flexible. The

fascicle is upwards of a foot and a half in length and near

half an inch thick. The threads range from the thickness

of an ordinary bristle to that of a stout darning needle.

Specimens of the Hyalonema fascicle, as they have been

brought to us, almost invariably present some portion in-

vested with a brown warty crust; the wart-like elevations

terminating in a cylindrical ring with radiating ridges. These

elevations are the individual polyps, continuous through the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 3

18 REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES.

intervening crust, of which Dr. Gray views the fascicle as

the central axis.

In some specimens of the Hyalonema fascicle the narrow

end is enveloped in a spongy mass, or as Dr. Gray observes,

"a species of sponge." He supposes the sponge to be inde-

pendent of the fascicle or “coral,” though necessary to it

as a means of attachment in its habitation. According to

this view the fascicle with its warty crust, is a parasite of

the sponge into which the fascicle is inserted. Dr. Gray

remarks that *in general the specimens are withdrawn from

. the spongy base and the lower part of the axis is cleaned ;

but it is evident that they all are attached to such a sponge

in their natural state."

When the writer first had an opportunity of seeing a

specimen of Hyalonema, consisting of a fascicle partially in-

vested with a warty crust, presented to the Academy of Nat-

ural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1860, and before he had

seen an account of the remarkable production, his impression

was that it was a silicious fascicle of a sponge, upon which

a parasitie polyp had found a convenient and secure resting-

place. M. Valenciennes had previously expressed a similar

opinion, as observed in the introduction to Professor Milne

Edwards’ work on British Fossil Corals.

Notwithstanding the frequency of silicious threads enter-

ing into the composition of many sponges, Dr. Gray re-

marks, in referring the Hyalonema fascicle to a coral, that

this is peculiar “as being the only body the animal nature of

which is undoubted that is yet known to secrete silica; the

spicules and axis of all the corals which had fallen under his

observation being purely calcareous.”

Professor Brandt of St. Petersburg views the fascicle and

its warty crust as parts of a polyp, and the sponge mass as

a parasite which attaches itself to the ein gradually pen-

etrating its silicious axis, and finally killing

Dr. Bowerbank who has so extensively ae the

sponges in general, regards all three of the elements of the

REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES. 19

Hyalonema—the fascicle, the warty investment and the

sponge mass—as parts of one sponge. The wart-like eleva-

tions of the crust he views as oscules of the sponge.

Professor Max Schultze of Bonn, has published an elabo-

rate memoir on the Hyalonema, accompanied by beautiful

plates of perfect specimens preserved in the Museum at

Leyden. He represents the fascicle and the sponge muss

attached to one end as belonging together, while the warty

crust is referred to a polyp, to which the author has given

the name of Polythoa fatua. :

To conclude these discordant views, we may add that of .

the distinguished micrologist Ehrenberg, who considers the

fascicle as an “artificial product of Japanese industry.”

The Hyalonema in Professor Schultze’s work, is repre-

sented as a sponge mass of conical or cylindrical form with

rounded summit, from which the rope of silicious threads

projects. The sponge mass measures five inches long and

three in diameter ; the fascicle projects a foot and two inches.

The sponge mass is described as composed of loosely inter-

woven cords of fine silicious needles. The entire surface,

except the end opposite to the fascicle, is provided with

numerous orifices about one line in diameter. The flattened

end of this sponge mass is furnished with six orifices half

an inch in diameter, communicating by canals in the interior

with a system of interspaces finally ending in the smaller

orifices of the surface generally. |

The long silicious threads of the fascicle are composed of

delicate concentric layers enclosing a fine central canal. The

external layer appears to be composed of imbricating rings,

most conspicuous toward the free end of the thread and

almost or quite disappearing toward the other end. The

arrangement reminds one of the appearance of the cuticle

on the hairs of mammals. The projecting edges of the ring

toward the free ends of the thread are most prominent "i

also form reversed hooklets.

Professor Schultze regards the sponge mass as situated at

20 REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES.

the bottom of the fascicle, and its flattened extremity with

the large oscules at the base. This appears to be the general

view, but it has oceurred to me that the sponge mass in its

natural position was uppermost, and was moored by its

glassy cable, or rope of sand, to the sea bottom, perhaps to

marine alge. This opinion is founded on the circumstance

that in sponges generally the large oscules from which flow

the currents of effete water are uppermost. The ends of the

threads of the fascicle, with their reversed hooklets, are also

well adapted to adhere to objects.

The equally wonderful and still more beautiful Huplectella

of the Philippines was also at first represented upside down,

as seen in the figure of Professor Owen in the “Zoological

Transactions of. London," the reverse of the position now

assigned to it as represented in figure 76 of the third volume

of the NATURALIST. In the same manner Euplectella and

Hyalonema appear to me to be alike constructed so as to be

anchored in position by the silicious threads, with their re-

versed hooklets. It may be that Hyalonema, in its home,

is suspended by means of its glossy cable, but I think it

highly improbable that it should either sit or be attached by

the base of the sponge mass in which the large oscules are

placed.

In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London

for 1867, Dr. Gray observes that, according to Dr. William

Lockart, "the Japanese Hyalonema is found growing on the

rocks of the island of Enosima not far from Yokohama.

The fishermen offer the sponges with their silicious fibres for

sale to visitors at the temples of Enosima."

An entirely different sponge, apparently intermediate in

character with Hyalonema and Euplectella, recently de-

seribed in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci-

ences of Philadelphia, under the name of Pheronema, would

appear to throw some light upon the question of what be-

longs to Hyalonema. The specimen, obtained from the

island of Santa Cruz, W. I., is preserved in the Museum of

REMARKS ON SOME CURIOUS SPONGES. 21

the Academy. It is represented in the accompanying figure

(Fig. 10), one-half the natural size. The body of the

sponge is oblong ovoidal, with one side more protuberant than

the other. The narrower extremity, which I suppose to be

the upper, is conical, and its truncated apex presents a single,

circular orifice, the third of an inch in diameter. The oppo-

site extremity is rather cylindrical with a broad, slightly

rounded extremity, from which project nu- wig 20.

merous fascicles of silicious threads.

The sponge body is of a light brown hue,

and rigid to the feel. Its surface exhibits

an intricate interlacement

of the sponge tissue, which

appears mainly composed

of stellate, silicious spic-

ules of various sizes. The

coarser spicules of the sur-

face, of which one is rep-

resented in Fig. 11, three

times the diameter of na-

ture, have five rays. Four

of these together are ir-

regularly cruciform, while

the fifth projects in a di- |

rection opposed to all the

others. They appear to

be so arranged that the crucial rays interlace

with those of the contiguous spicules, form-

ing a lattice work on the surface of the

sponge, while the odd ray opposed to the others penetrates

the interior of the sponge. ‘The finer tissue, seen through

the intervals of the latticed arrangement on the surface of

the sponge, appears to be made up in the same manner of

finer stellate spicules. Some of the largest stellate spicules

of the surface have a spread of half an ineh.

The fascicles of silicious threads projecting from the body

Fig. 11,

22 REMARKS ÓN SOME CURIOUS SPONGES.

of the sponge are upwards of twenty in number and over

two inches in length. They resemble in appearance tufts of

blonde human hair. The individual threads are nearly like

those proceeding from the lower end of Euplectella. Where

thickest they are less than the zy of an inch in diameter,

Fig. 2. and become attenuated towards the extremities.

At first, as they proceed from.the body of the

V sponge, they are smooth and then finely tuber-

culate. The tubercles are gradually replaced by

minute recurved hooks, which become better

developed approaching the free end of the

threads which finally terminate in a pair of

longer opposed hooks, reminding one of the arms

of an anchor, as seen in Fig. 12. The object of

the tufts of threads, with their lateral hooklets

and terminal anchors, would appear to be to

maintain or moor the sponge in position in its

' ocean home. i

The singular sponge thus described, the author

has attributed to a genus distinct from Hyalo-

nema and Euplectella, and has dedicated the

species in honor of his wife, under the name of

Pheronema Anne.

N í Of the specimens of Hyalonema in the Mu-

seum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of

Philadelphia, there is one which appears to the

writer as somewhat significant. The fascicle would appear

to have been withdrawn from its sponge body and lain

sometime in the sea before it was found. This is inferred

from the fact that the Polythoa crust reaches to within an

inch and a half of the end, which in the natural condition is

inserted in the sponge mass. Two sharks eggs are also at-

tached to the fascicle by their tendrilled extremities, and

one of the tendrils clasping the fascicle is included in the

polyp crust.

THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM.

BY CHARLES B. BRIGHAM.,

[Concluded from page 490, of Vol. iii.]

A very valuable addition to the specimens of an aquarium

may be found in what are called the cray-fishes or fresh-

water lobsters. These little animals so closely resembling

their salt-water relations can be kept without much trouble

in the general collection. They are natives of most parts of

the country, though rare or limited in their habitat in New

England. In New York they are abundant in the gravelly

brooks and streams, especially in those near Trenton Falls. A

- careful observer will, as wading into the water he searches for

them, see two claws just visible in a hole in the sand or under

the edge of a rock ; and if he can hedge the hiding place around

with his net, and also possibly his straw hat, and then give

the desired specimen a slight stimulus with his hand, he will

find of a sudden his cray-fish resting quietly in the trap he

has set. So quick are their motions that one has to keep a

sharp lookout for them or they will escape; the average

length of those found near Trenton Falls is about two

inches. They are quite hardy, with this exception that they

cannot bear water which is much above the normal tempera-

ture. In the summer time if the tank is so placed that the

sun shines upon it too forcibly, or for too long a time, we

shall probably find the eray-fish resting motionless upon the

gravel with its claws and tail extended and its body some-

what swollen. If this state of things has not existed too

long a time, immediate removal to cold water may revive

the unfortunate victim by degrees. Some day, after the

cray-fish has been a quiet inmate of the aquarium for some

time, we shall be astonished in finding apparently two cray-

fishes instead of one. Closer examination will diselose the

faet that one of them is merely the cast-off shell of the

| (33)

25. — THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM.

other; and now the newly clad cray-fish appears in a coat

of a pinker hue than before, and tries to keep under the

plants and conceal itself, until accustomed to its new gar-

ment it can venture forth once more into its little world.

Cray-fishes eat small pieces of raw beef eagerly. We shall

have to be careful that they do not crawl out of the tank,

for if even a tassel of a curtain is left so near the water

that it can be reached, we shall find our much prized spec-

imen some morning dried up and lifeless in a corner of the

room upon the floor.

Frogs are interesting objects of study, and to many are

great favorites; they are best kept in a tank with an inch or

two of water, with a number of islands or resting-places

above the water for them. A wire screen over the top of

the tank will be necessary to keep the specimens together.

Two of the most useful and instructive sets of specimens

which the aquarium contains are its snails and mussels; use-

ful, because they act as the scavengers of the tank, and from

what would otherwise be the refuse matter make their living

from day to day; instructive, because they serve to illustrate

in a small way the great principle by which the health and

purity of all our larger ponds and lakes is maintained. The

snails live upon the bits of decayed plants and the confervoid .

growths in the tank, and the mussels by filtering the water

act as constant purifiers. There are three kinds of snails

common in our ponds and streams, the Planorbis trivolvis

the Paludina decisa, and the Lymnea desidiosa. Of

these the best is the Planorbis, a snail with a shell coiled like

a modern chignon; it is hardy and of clean habits, and does

almost as much work as its neighbor, the Paludina; it is

found chiefly in ponds or large streams, while the Paludina

can be obtained in great numbers in small brooks or pond

holes. The Lymn:a is found near the gravelly beaches of

the larger ponds; it is a beautiful snail, but does not confine

itself to the refuse matter, and is apt to eat eagerly the most

delicate plants in the tank; it is, therefore, generally an

;

PSAL ONITE ace N

THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 25

unwelcome visitor. Of the mussels, those found in ponds

with their many rayed shells, and those river mussels with

their thick, unattraetive coverings, are alike useful; they

move from one side of the tank to the other with ease, and

we must not expect to find them always in one position; the

number of snails which may be kept to advantage in a tank

is very large; they are so apt to perish during the winter

that it will be well to begin the season with as large a stock

as two hundred for a medium sized tank; a dozen mussels

of a size proportioned to the tank will be sufficient.

There are many specimens, such as fishes at the time of

spawning, or those particularly fierce, or certain larvze, which

would either be destroyed or seen to disadvantage in the:

general collection. For each of these a separate tank is in-

dispensable ; some glass jars of strong clear material holding

about two quarts, will answer every purpose, and the contents

ean be arranged precisely as if they were large aquaria. After

one has had an aquarium in operation for some time extra

tanks of this sort will be found very useful and necessary ;

for if a specimen gets injured or is in poor condition, a few

weeks recruiting in a separate tank will often save its life ; or,

if we have a larger stock of plants than the large tank will

: accommodate at the time, when later in the winter the plants

die off, then we shall wish to replace them from specimens

in the reserve stock.

The instruments used for aquarial purposes are, few in

number and simple. We need a good net a foot or two in

diameter, with very fine meshes, and a flat basket so par-

titioned off that it will hold four good sized jars; these jars

may be of earthen-ware or of strong glass, the latter mate-

rial being perhaps better, as we can then see how many

specimens each jar contains without trouble. Most of the

plants ean be taken home (if the distance is not too great)

rolled up in the net, while the mussels can occupy the room

between the jars. It is very necessary to keep the plants

moist, as they are much blighted if allowed to dry; if

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 4

26 THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM.

covers for the jars are used at all they should be caps of

mosquito netting held on by India-rubber rings.

For the tank a glass rod about a foot iu length and a

quarter of an inch in thickness will be of use in moving the

specimens into place when disarranged. Too much cannot

be said against unnecessarily meddling with the specimens in

the aquarium; a slender rod with a sponge attached to the

- end of it will be useful in removing the conferve from the

sides of the tank; a small gauze-net three or four inches in

diameter is often needed to remove dead or objectionable

specimens; an India-rubber pipe several feet in length af-

fords the simplest method of drawing off the water of the

tank; a fine gauze should be placed over that end of the

pipe which is in the tank, otherwise the specimens may

pass through it and be lost.

Should the water in the tank become impure by any means

it can often be purified by the following simple method : take

a small earthen flower-pot holding about a pint, and insert a

piece of sponge tightly in the opening at the base so that

when the water is placed in it it will pass through the sponge

only drop by drop; the pot being filled with ici pow-

dered chareoal and two-thirds water, place it over the tank

and let it empty itself into the aquarium. The effect of this '

simple contrivance is astonishing and it will often save one

` the trouble of arranging the aquarium anew.

The time of edins mà the amount of food may depend

somewhat upon the kind of stock in the aquarium. As a

general rule it is better to keep the specimens under than

over-fed, for they do not then by wasting their food make

the water impure. Twice a week is often enough to feed

them, and then very small pieces of raw beef will be found

the best food; gold-fishes will not always eat the beef, and

for them erumbs of bread are necessary ; should we find that

they do not eat all that is given we must stop the feeding

at once and remove with the glass rod the neglected portion.

The process of accustoming certain salt-water fishes, such

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. rri

as minnows aud stickle-backs, to fresh water must be done

gradually if we wish a happy result; in this process we have

an example to follow, set by nature herself, for there are in-

stances of bodies of what were once salt waters, so freshen-

ing by degrees that they still retain seals and certain marine

animals. We may find crabs in the Charles River at some

distance above Cambridge, and they may be kept alive and

in health for a length of time in the fresh-water aquarium.

The system of artificial aération and that of producing an

ebb. and flow in the marine aquarium have been practiced

with success in large collections of aquaria.

The value of the aquarium as a means of instruction can-

not be overestimated, affording as it does the opportunity

of studying the habits of aquatic animals in a manner attain-

able by no other means, and giving to all an inducement to

pursue further the study of natural history which will be a

pleasure throughout life.

A SKETCH OF THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT

VALLEYS.

BY W. W. BAILEY.

SiwcE the opening of the Pacific Railroad all haye had

their attention more or less turned to that vast region lying

between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. It is

known as the Great Basin ; but if, misled by the name, we con-

ceive merely of a boundless valley, more or less desolate, we

shall arrive at a somewhat erroneous conclusion. It is indeed

a depression between the two giant ranges of the continent,

but traversing this are successive parallel mountain chains

. with a north and south trend, and only inferior in altitude to

the Roeky Mountains and the Sierra. Indeed, according to

our eastern notions, the whole so-called basin is but a broad

28 THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS.

mountain top, as no portion of it is below four thousand feet.

Notwithstanding the general sterility of the soil it will be

seen, as I proceed, that it sustains quite an extensive and

peculiar flora. With the belief that a brief sketch of this

unique region will be of interest to naturalists I have ven-

tured to present the results of my observations.

My first botanical rambles were along the banks of the

Truckee River, which has its source in Lake Tahoe, a lovely

sheet of pure, cold and clear water, situated on the eastern

boundary of California. From this Alpine lake the little

river flows into the Great Basin and waters some of the best

farming lands in Nevada. It is a narrow and rapid stream,

mostly shallow, and with a rocky or sandy bottom. At

intervals nature has adorned its banks with groves of cotton-

wood (Populus monilifera). It is sincerely to be hoped that

these noble trees will be spared by the rapacious wood-chop-

pers, as in a country so meagre in its sylva, a green thing,

if it be but a shrub, is cheering to the spirit, and a full-sized

tree is a positive delight. The size of these poplars, and the.

wide spread of their branches, render them especially wel-

come to the traveller, who, parched and weary, seeks refuge

within their shade. |

In speaking of the plants of Nevada it is convenient to

classify them much as they are distributed in nature, and we

find that according to their location they naturally fall into

three grand divisions :

lst. The plants of the river bottoms and margins of irri-

gating canals.

2d. Those found on the desert plains at a distance from

water. í

3d. Those of the mountains.

These main divisions for ease in study may again be sub-

divided into sections almost as naturally marked, namely :

A marginal section immediately contiguous to the rivers

or lakes.

A meadow tract, moistened generally by artificial irriga-

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. 29

tion or by streams descending from the mountains, and usu-

ally dry in the summer months.

A desert section proper and one more particularly per-

taining to the alkaline flats and vicinity of saline springs.

Lastly, the flora of the mountains is naturally divided into

two distinct fields, according as the plants grow in the caüons

in the vieinity of water, or flourish ou the higher and more

exposed regions where in the summer months little or no

moisture is obtained, unless from an accidental shower, or by

direct condensation from the atmosphere. Of course these

divisions are more or less arbitrary and shade the one into

the other. Following the above order we observe that on

the, Truckee there are a few plants immediately bordering

the river and small streams which have apparently been

drifted from above with soil and debris swept off by floods.

The original habitat of some of these plants, I presume to be

the neighborhood of Lake Tahoe, although no definite data

can be given in support of such an opinion without an

examination of the flora near the source of the stream.

Still, certain plants which I always found on sandy shoals

and islands in the Truckee, ànd nowhere else, lead me to

this conclusion. Seeds, too, have undoubtedly been trans-

ferred from place to place through the same medium ; but

whether; with the exceptions just mentioned, the prevalent

plants have advanced from the east or the west, I am not

prepared to say. It would require for the study more time

and larger experience than it was my lot to bestow upon it.

The species of plants found along the Truckee at one camp

differed but slightly from those discovered at another, pre-

serving a close resemblance to each other as far as Wads-

worth, the limit of my investigations. It would be tedious and

uninteresting to read a list of the plants found in this region,

a more correct account of which will, I hope, soon be given

to the publie by one more competent to treat of them, and

I shall therefore only mention such as are conspicuous to

the traveller as he passes by, or such as have a positive or

30 THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS.

possible industrial value. Among the smaller plants a spe-

cies of mint is common, and a hemp from which the Pi-Ute

Indians make their bow strings. There is also a highly or-

namental species of sunflower (Helianthus), well worthy of

eultivation, as its smaller and more brilliant flowers render it

more attractive than the grosser garden form. The Mexican

Poppy (Argemone Mexicana), is occasionally seen, and a

thistle, which 1 consider unequalled in beauty. The deli-

cately cut leaves look as if formed of silver, and the flower

resembles a paint-brush charged with scarlet lake. I have

before mentioned the fine groves of cottonwoods, but in

addition to these a fringe of willows is often found along the

stream, and a inigunbeid thicket of “Buffalo berry” (Shep-

herdia argentea), Roses (Rosa blanda) , and other shrubbery.

The bright berries of the Shepherdia and scarlet lips of the

rose present a pleasing appearance, contrasted, as they are,

with the silvery leaves of the former plant. When the roses

are in bloom the effect must be even more charming.

Near Hunter’s Station the river flows through exten-

sive meadows producing abundance of hay and vegetables.

The native grasses are mostly grown, but our own well-

known “Timothy” (Phleum pratense), has been introduced

to some extent, and is always much prized. This valley and

that of the Carson form decidedly the richest portion of the

state. The meadows are bounded by Washoe Peak, an out-

lying spur of the Sierra, by the Pea-vine mountains (so-called

from the frequency with which the lupines or wild peas are

met with on its sides), and a range lying to the east on which

is situated Virginia City. That town, however, is not visi-

ble from the river. Washoe Peak is of very great height,

and frequently shows snow upon its summit even in mid-

summer. It is a splendid mountain in form and color, and

is especially admirable when the clouds which droop over its

snowy sides, are suffused with California's own golden tints.

After leaving this fertile valley, the Truckee enters a narrow

gorge between high rocky hills, often beautiful in the colors

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. 31

'of their exposed strata and always in the graceful outline

of their summits. Upon the higher portions only of these

hills grows the juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), the chief

and best firewood of this region, where fuel is so scarce that

during the winter of my sojourn, wood sold as high as thirty

dollars in gold in Virginia City. The cottonwoods are also

sometimes used for fuel by those residing near the river, to-

gether with drift wood brought down from the Sierra. The

lower slopes inclining to the stream support only the scragg

sage brush (Artemisia). Yet even in this narrow defile the

farming lands are excellent, and are occupied and cultivated

by thrifty settlers. The Truckee after flowing in a general

easterly direction as far as Wadsworth, suddenly hacia and

following a north-west course empties into Pyramid Lake.

This is a sheet of water about thirty-five miles in length and

ten or twelve in width at the widest part.: There are many

small and steep rocky islands in the lake, some of them cov-

ered with an arborescent tufa resembling coral in its appear-

ance. One very abrupt, pyramidal island gives its name to

the lake which was discovered and e alie explored by

Fremont. The islands are the temporary home of pelicans

and other sea fowl, who frequent them in the breeding sea-

son, and share the rocky soil with numerous rattlesnakes and

lizards. Near the mouth of the river the land is good

though subject to overflows, which while they fertilize the

soil for future growth, often jeopardize the present crops.

'This land is held as a reservation by the Pi-Ute Indians, but

even this remnant of their once broad acres is coveted by

the neighboring whites. The lake is surrounded by moun-

tains, cad the lands removed from the water are of little or

no value unless artificially irrigated.

Just before its embouchure the Truckee throws off a

branch which supplies Winnemucka Lake, parallel to Pyra-

mid, but separated from it by a narrow strip of highlands

and mountain ridges. This lake is rarely found on any but

the most recent maps and we are led to wonder how it could

a2 THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS.

have been overlooked. The fact that it is increasing in depth’

while Pyramid is said to be decreasing, seems to indicate

that it is of recent origin and occasioned by some accidental

deflection of the Truckee from its legitimate course. The

fresh water of the river is soon deteriorated by admixture

with that of the lake, which like all similar sheets, devoid of

outlets, is brackish and unpleasant to the taste. The most

showy plants of the Truckee Valley, in addition to those

already mentioned, were a gigantic Thelypodium often ris-

ing to a height of six feet, two species of Mentzelia (Jevicau-

TM and albicaulis) a species of Hosackia, and two of Cleome,

and Sida. Near the mouth of the river occurs a remarkable

deposit of infusorial earth. It is found encased in the cal-

careous tufa so prevalent in this vicinity. Under this lies

the basaltic rock. The "chalk," as it is here called, is one

hundred feet in width and forms a perpendicular bluff nearly

forty feet in height from the stream, which at this point is

very deep. The whole deposit is very free from impurities

and upon microscopical examination, by my brother, proved

to be composed entirely of fresh-water forms.

From the Truckee to the Humboldt Valley there is about

a day's hard riding through deep sands and deserts devoid

of water, where only grows a depauperate form of sage

brush (Artemisia), or the equally dreary grease wood

(Obione). The hills in sight are of volcanic origin, and are

covered with loose and blackened scoriaceous rocks, occa-

sionally encased in tufa. There is not a vestige of a tree,

shrub or herb, with the exception of the ashy colored sage or

the singular Effedra (anti-sypAilitica). The first and only

object that awakens any interest is the group of hot springs.

There are some fifteen or twenty of these presenting differ-

ent degrees of temperature. One spring indicated 2019

Fah., while others were positively cool. The water is beau-

tifully clear, but contains salts in solution which render it

unpalatable. It is, when cooled, however, preferable to most

of the villainous decoctions of the sixty-three elements,

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. 33

which, in the absence of the genuine article, pass in this re-

gion for water. It is often in a state of violent ebullition,

and is thrown up in intermittent jets, especially when ex-

traneous substances are introduced. Some of the springs

of this region, highly saturated with mineral ingredients,

build for themselves a conical chimney, as it were, by the

deposition of their dissolved constituents. Coarse and wiry,

but verdant grasses spring up around. Sometimes living

fish make their abode in these boiling springs, though not

found in the particular group in question. I have seen them

from similar wells where the surface of the water marked

709. This statement is consistent with that of other obser-

vers in various parts of the world. Carpenter says "we

. have examples of the compatibility of even the heat of boil-

ing water with the preservation of animal life. Thus in a hot

spring at Manilla, which raises the thermometer to 187°, and

in another in Barbary, whose usual temperature is 1729,

fishes have been seen to flourish. Fishes have been thrown

up in very hot water from the crater of a volcano, which

from their lively condition, was apparently their natural

residence." Various confervee and animalcule are known to

occur in similar situations, and indeed, were noticed in

these identical springs. Carpenter adds, “small caterpillars

have been found in hot springs of the temperature of 205°,

and small black beetles, which died when placed in cold

water, in the hot sulphur baths of Albano.” After these

quotations I hope no one will charge me with Munchausen-

ism. In apparent extravagance they certainly far "m

my statement.

A few hours after leaving the springs the road begins to

descend, and soon a view is obtained of the basin into which

both the Humboldt and Carson Rivers enter and "sink," or

disappear in the sands. A broad, barren valley is stretched

out before us, through which the course of the river is indi-

cated by the fringe of green tules which border it. Occa-

‘sionally the plain is marked by a tract of white alkaline

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 5

34 THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS.

salts, looking like a snow field as it glistens in the sunlight.

The mountains, most fantastic in outline, which border the

valley, are enveloped in a gauze-like mist which seems to

‘preclude all further inquiry into the features of the anom-

alous landscape. There is no live color in the scene. Even

the greens with which nature usually relieves her more

rugged details, are here wanting, except in the case of the

tules above mentioned. Still there is a strangely fascinating

and weird beauty in the view peculiar to these deserts.

Here the Humboldt which begun its course far away as a fair

young stream, expands into a lake, and becoming disgusted

with its vitiated life commits suicide by self-burial. Hence

the spot is known as the Sink of the Humboldt. At the

sink proper, the water is intensely alkaline and disgusting

to the taste, and the atmosphere is filled with noxious vapors

and miasms. The legions of mosquitoes which infest the

tules are the food of numerous water-fowl, to whom I can-

didly wish all success in their warfare upon the insects.

Among the birds a black swan is said to appear at times,

but I did not have the fortune to see one if any such occur.

Above the lake the Humboldt is a narrow, sluggish and ser-

pentine stream, hardly wider than an eastern creck and

totally lacking its vivacity. The water is turbid and un-

pleasant to the taste. The fish which frequent it are when

cooked soft and tasteless. Nota tree adorns the last hun-

dred miles of the stream, low willows and Shepherdia being

the nearest approach to arborescent growth. The lofty

range of West Humboldt mountains are now in sight, whose

highest point, Star Peak, rises to an altitude of nine thou-

sand nine hundred and sixty feet above the sea. From the

great height of the range, its direction north and south in

conformity with the trend of the other ridges, its frequent

water courses giving life and beauty to narrow belts of lux-

uriant vegetation, and the wide prospect to be obtained from

its many commanding points, it affords numerous subjects

for consideration. Many deep cañons channel its rugged

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. 35

sides, most of which contain clear water. A strange fact in re-

gard to these streams, is that they run freely, even boister-

ously, during the night and early morning, and dry up utterly

in the lower part of their course toward noon. The power

of the sun is such as to totally evaporate the water before

it reaches the plains, while the powerful radiation during the

night allows the stream to resume its proper dimensions.

If a handkerchief be saturated with water at noonday and

then flirted in the air, it becomes dry in a moment, thus in-

dicating the wonderful absorptive power of the atmosphere.

Rains are so infrequent in summer that it becomes a cause

of wonders, not that the rills should fail, but that they

should ever flow. Along these little streams willows,

aspens ( Populus tremuloides), Cornus, Shepherdia and elders

(Sambucus) grow most abundantly, and Clematis with its

feathery plumes waves over all. The herbage is peculiarly

interesting also, columbines (Aquilegia formosa), asters and

solidagos, leading us away in spirit to where their beauteous

kindred smile upon the New England autumn, while the

gilia (G. pulchella) and lupines are equally lovely though

less familiar. Away from the streams the wild sage only

thrives, if so wretched a specimen of vegetable life can be

said to flourish. By far the greater mass of the mountains is

desert, like the plains they overlook. The great, brown

earth waves roll down into the valleys unrelieved by a dash

of green, except where some sombre juniper fights its hard

battle for life. Variously colored lichens occur on all the

rocks, and an occasional tuft of moss on those exposed to

the streams, but ferns are nowhere seen. High up on the

range is found a luxuriant growth of a species of Ceanothus,

and at seven thousand feet or thereabouts, the sage yields to

the western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) and mountain

mahogany ( Cercocarpus ledifolius). The latter is a hand-

some tree, averaging twenty feet in height, with bright

glossy leaves, whose revolute margins conceal the brown

scurf of their inferior surfaces. Its silvery bark, the

36 THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS.

strangely plumose fruit and shining leaves render it very

conspicuous. As in the case of the manzanita (Arctostaphylla

glauca) of California, the wood is susceptible of a high polish

‘and is used for many ornamental purposes. This tree and

the juniper form the only respectable fuel which the country

affords, and the traveller may consider himself especially

blessed if he lights upon either when frantically searching

for the wherewithal to kindle a blaze. The juniper is the

more common tree, and is sometimes twenty or more feet in

height. The wood is lighter colored and appears scarcely so

compact as our eastern red cedar, which in other respects it

closely resembles.

The character of the vegetation is quite different on oppo-

site sides of the same range, many plants being found on one

side which are not at all represented on the other. As a

rule the eastern exposure is the more fertile. Instances of

this peculiar distribution are the little alpine potentilla

(Ivesia Newberry’) found in chinks and crevices of high ex-

posed granite bluffs on the western side, and a curious moss-

like Spiraea (tomentosa) only found in somewhat similar

locations on the eastern side. A few eastern weeds thrive

about the houses in Unionville, and I also found Ranuncu-

lus cymbalaria at quite an altitude in the cafions. This fact

does not speak well for the soil, as this little plant generally

favors the sea-shore or neighborhood of saline springs. A

wild tobacco (Nicotiana) is common, which the Indians

called “pah! monh!” pronounced as two interjections, and

with much the sound of a person vigorously smoking an ob-

durate pipe. They informed us that it was formerly much

used by their tribe, until superseded by the superior article

of the white men. The fleshy roots of a Phelipaea they

told.me they employed as food in the month of October.

The view from the West Humboldt Mountains is very ex-

tensive and remarkable. The atmosphere is so pure in this

region that it is possible to see a distance of sixty miles as

readily as one could twenty at home. From this great

THE TRUCKEE AND HUMBOLDT VALLEYS. 31

height range beyond range is seen both east and west, and

there seems to be no limit to our vision. No positive colors

enliven the landscape, giving it the pleasing variety of our

eastern scenery, but there are only varying tints of brown

in the foreground and light azure in the distance. The re-

mote hills look as if merely outlined in blue. The valleys

are dreary wastes, through which the roads may be seen

winding. From these clouds of dust often rise a thousand

feet into the still air. The dreary monotony of the desert

is relieved at this distance by the broad plains of snow-

white alkali, which it is well to view afar off. They have

no fascination for the unfortunate traveller who inhales their

smarting dust, penetrating as it does the eyes, nose and ears,

and imparting a nauseous soapy taste to the mouth. These

deposits often contain embedded crystals of rock-salt of

great beauty.

About sunset is the proper time to really enjoy the weird

prospect, for the colors the mountains then assume are most

charming. The main masses look as if dusted with gold,

while each cañon and ravine is filled with purple shadows.

'The delicate tints change rapidly, deepening and blending

until finally night drops its curtain on the scene. Still

the act is not closed, for the stars twinkle above the serrated

outline of the mysterious mountains, or the moonlight trans- .

figures their barren slopes.

When we study each detail of this anomalous scenery in

its horrible individuality it seems unreasonable that the

whole should in any way delight us, yet that it is fascinat-

ing is most certain. "There is a peculiar coloring, or rather

tinting, seen nowhere else, and never to be forgotten. I do

not mean to say that the land is anything but a desert—a lit-

eral “howling” wilderness, nor do I maintain with many of

the settlers that earth has no fairer habitations. It is an in-

sult to a forest to call it a wilderness in the above sense,

teeming as it is with myriad forms of life and beauty, but

here where nothing interrupts the view but bare, treeless

38 REVIEWS.

mountains, is solitude complete and unbroken. Whatever

be the charm, it is yet certain that having gazed once we

admire the strange picture ever after.

REVIEWS.

REPORT UPON DEEP SEA DREDGINGS IN THE GULF STREAM.*— This

number of the Bulletin sums up the results of the panes expeditions,

and is also especially valuable for many novel and interesting observa-

tions upon geological and zoólogical questions. According to Professor

Moe the fauna of the reef, consisting mainly of corals, extends to ten >

fathoms only. 'The second zone, *a muddy mass of dead and broken

shells, he corals, and coarse coral sand, is chiefly inhabited by

worms, and such shells as by their sobi seek soil of this m

with a few small species of living corals, some alc? atest ians, and a

Alge.” This extends seaward “from a few miles” off Cape rise

to v geom miles and more off Cape Sable.” ‘A third region, or zone, 4

beginning at a depth of about fifty or sixty fathoms, and extending to a 4

abundant, the species are generally of small size and belong to genera

either identical or closely allied to those of the Cretaceous period. Th

deep sea proper beyond this zone lies upon **a uniform accumulation of

thick, adhesive mud, with a variety of worms and such shells as seek

muddy bottoms." Professor Agassiz thinks that if the bottom in he

depths was rocky, animal life would be **as varied and as numerous

paratively as are the Alpine plants on the very limits of perpetual snow."

With reference to geology, Professor Agassiz says that he infers from

into deepe oor of this zone is rocky ; it is, in fact, a lime ]

stone conglomerate, a iss of lumachelle, composed entirely of the re- E

mains of organized beings, animals now living upon its surface." Algæ ;

are but sparsely represented upon the plateau, and though the animals are i

been subject only to comparatively van NNI of level after they

were once elevated above the primeval o

In the main bearing of this Poids Piotuo) Agassiz agrees with

* d of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. No.13. Re eport upon Deep Sea Dredg-

he Gulf Stream during the Third Cruise of the U. S, Steamer Bibb; addressed to Pro-

aede » Peirce, Supt. U. S. Coast Survey. Agassiz. pp. 363-386. Cambridge, 1869.

ie Beet,

REVIEWS. 39

Dana's theory of the gradual development of continents, a view which

of late has been steadily gaining in adherents, especially in this country.

The statement, however, that probably no stratified rock has been formed

in deep water is open to serious objections. | The Chalk, the —

p the Eozoonal limestone and others of like constituti

composed in great part of qiiae animals especially si to

flourish at great depths, and, probably, so far as we can judge from

soundings and dredgings, covering at the edi day a large portion of

-the Atlantic bottom.

The des uie of the physical contrast between the shelving of the

Floras shore and the abruptness of the Cuban side and Bahama reefs,

minute pRa of the formation and disintegration of the rocks

a the Double Headed Shot Key, Salt Key, and others, will be read with

the greatest interest by all geologists. We could iot do justice to this

part of the beige without quoting several entire pages, and this we

have not spac

Generally Eas the Keys are formed, according to Professor

Agassiz, of fine coral sand, which is washed up on to the higher shal-

hard as ce S MI cU of the sec ondary formation."

Actinians as the lowest; the is kag eit wage and the Hale; pubs

as the highest among the als. Among the Madrepores the se

of the genera is Turbino 5g Fungia, Astrea and Mad ra. TIME

Astreeans, xm assuming their s Eg frame, are ppt prd their first

coral frame is Turbi portage d from that stage they pass into a

Pcie condition, befo a assume their characteristic Astraean

features.” It is next e that the succession of types in geological

app

the vertical distribution of these types on the seashore, the Turbinolian

type is found first and is followed in succession by the P naa the

Astræan, and the Madreporian types. ese views also seem to be i

accord with those of Alexander Agassiz, who, as v dita cited, com-

40 REVIEWS.

pares the deep water Echinoids to the Cretaceous, and those of inter-

mediate depths to Tertiary genera. would seem, therefore, if the

latter be true, that, æ priori, the former would acquire a still higher de-

gree of probability, so far as the agreement of the succession in time and

depth is concerned.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. *— This part

completes the first volume of ** Transactions" and in interest and value,

and the beauty of the plates, fully maintains the high simi of the pre-

Cr part. The plates, which are costly, are presented by the Trus-

tees of the Academy, an evidence of their immediate interest in the

scientific and literary reputation x their city. Nearly half of the volume

is devoted to a biography of Robert tado the first Director of the

ademy, from the pen of Dr. Stimpson, his successor, and the editor of

ins present volume. It will be read with great interest as the record of

a seg explorer and admirable field naturalist.

r. J. W. Foster contributes an exceedingly interesting paper ** On the

PEA of Man in North America.” Among the proofs of his great

antiquity he claims that “the discovery (by Piofüssór Whitney) of a hu-

man skull in California during the past season, buried deep in the gold

drift, and covered with five successive overflows of lava, carries back

the advent of man to a period more remote than any Ed thus far

afforded by the stone mip in the drift of Abbeville and Amiens, in

the valley of the Somme, or the human skeleton in the nel of the Rhine;

and although the fossil elephant (E. primigenius) existed in Europe dur-

ing the glacial epoch, and survived through the valley-drift and loess

(which I think may be regarded as iie ind though different in the

form of the materials, and indicating a difference in the transporting

power of the current), this association of the remains of the elephant

with a sneer of contempt. Last spring I questioned him as to the possi-

bility of his having been mistaken, when he assured me, in the most sol-

emn and emphatic manner, that it was true."

He describes the remains of the id builders, figuring various im-

plements, and recapitulates the evidence of their “advance in civilization

and of a vegetable fibre, allied to hemp,” and “ regularly spun with an uni-

form thread, and woven with a warp and woof.” It was taken from two

* Vol. i, Part I. Chicago, 1869. Royal 8yo, pp. 133 to 337. With a portrait and thir-

teen plates, mostly colored.

NUT EIS EE IES T ee a T EE TOTER EE O SR S OENE AEN, a AE A E E E E S

REVIEWS. 41

mounds in Ohio. He closes with a chapter on the *' ái aig us to the

Antiquity of man on the two Hemispheres.” The remaining articles are

* Descriptions of certain Stone and Copper meena sed by th

Mound Builders,” J oster, L ** List of the Birds of Alaska,

n :

with Biographical Notes,” by W. H. Dall and H. M. Bannister. “O

Additions to the Bird Fauna of North America, made by the Scientific

Corps of the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition," by S. F. Baird, and

“A preliminary List of the Butterflies of Iowa,” by S. H. Scudder

EOLOGY OF THE MISSOURI RIVER VALLEY.* — This is the final report

of the interesting series from the able hands of Drs. Meek and Hayden,

which have been already eA in This Report also includes one

made by Dr. Hines on a portion of the route, and another by Professor

Newberry, on the peat ae and Tertiary plants, x dria reviewed in

the NATURALIST. A careful perusal of the latter, and of Dr. Hayden's

chapter on the Physical Geography of the region surveyed would give

any of our readers new ideas with regard to their own country. The

pins n phical errors in the work are numerous, since it was printed dur-

g the absence of the author; who read no proof of it. The historical

Hin tine tion reviews the labors of previous explorers, and contains in-

teresting remarks with regard to maps. These are especially opportune

attached to the present report. The colors are excellent and its size and

variety of details gives one a very clear idea of the geological structure

of the Great Missouri Valley.

The ter on physical spam contains a resumé of the results of

the barometrical profiles run by t ifferent western government expe-

ne showing the bòiterit rise üf the country west of St. Louis, to the

Rocky Mountains. Dr. Hayden regards the viole country

ve of the Mississippi as a vast plateau, which was gradually elevated to

its present height, the strain bursting the central axis of the plateau and

he R

Mountains. Dr. Hayden describes only two types of these mountains,

those having a granite nucleus and regular outline, and those composed

of erupted rocks, which ‘‘are very rugged in their spies e irregular

in their trend." The author regards the Black Hills as an example of the

regular type, and describes the stratified rocks as lying MK a nucleus,

or kernel, of granite without a break or any unconformability on either

side of the axis of elevation to the latest period of the Cretaceous for-

mation." From these facts we draw the inference that prior to the ele-

vation of the Black Hills, which must have occurred after the deposition

of the Cretaceous rocks, all of these formations presented an unbroken

continuity over the whole area occupied by these mountains. This is

* Geological Report of the Exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers

Dr. F. V. Hayden, assistant bg the direction of Captain (now Lieut. m asd

Brevet Brig. General) W. F. Raynolds. 1859-60. Washington, 1869. 8vo, pp. 1

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

42 REVIEWS.

important conclusion, and we shall hereafter see its application by nier

ranges, and also to the Rocky Mountain range taken in the aggregate.

om evidence of a similar nature the Laramie Mountains, the Big

Horn and Wind River Mountains are shown to have been elevated at

some time during the Tertiary perio

pe IR this connection I ‘hare thought it best w remark gos systematically in regard to the .

e Missouri River and its tributa-

ties tun one of the largest as well as most important Peat basins n America. It

countr y.

drains area of nearly or q 1,000, , Taking its rise in the loftiest portion

of the Rocky Mountains, near latitude 44°, lo: de , it hward in three principal

branches, Madison, Gallatin, and Jefferson forks, to weis junction, and then proc ward

— it eme qe som Ae p gare Por the dpt a ien ce of nearly 200 miles; it then bends

ula t f White th River, a distance of

Ear iv

as. 500 mi es; it then gradually bends southward and yestward to. its junction with i Mis-

ates distance of 1,500 to 2 miles. f th ssouri

rise in the central portions of the Rocky Mountain range, flowing through rene basalt,

and the older -seammsaaabargs? are € it emerges from the gate of the mountains, when the

triassie and j The falls of the Missouri, extending a distance » o

miles, eut their way through a great joda of compaet triassie rocks. Below the falls the

eed oper dpen! ay thr iso the soft yieldin g élays "anf sands ot "me Oretaceous beas peg

T 1 ti ling ly to the mouth of Milk River, where the lignite

tiary formations commence. These are also composed of sands, marls and clays, as the

seine iso of the valley will c A. iit er flows through these tertiary rocks to the Monik

of en River below Fort Union, a distance of nearly 250 miles, where the Cretaceous rocks

com the surface a pin. hese BB er gie at nd nearly to Council Bluffs, a distance of

santa Thay ed inastraight line as nearly as possible. Just

above Council Bluffs the coal me e limestones commence, and the valley of the Missouri

hae ipt ecomes more dicis pie it is of moderate width even below the mouth of

me Kans

MAA xe

y far the 1 tb h he Missouri, and for 400 miles from

to b 1 I a i itself hon Fort Union to Fort Pierre. It

luri tl i 1 y summer for 300 400 miles above

its junction with the Misso uri. the main divide of the Rock

Mountains, near latitude 44 1- 2° a an pi longitude 110°, in a lake, as some suppose, called Yellow-

stone lake, whieh is ceo 60 miles long and 10 to 20 wide. Its channel is formed in rocks simi-

lar to that of the Missouri, about 400 ni of its course passing through lignite tertiary beds.

‘The character of its valley is very similar. p that al the Missouri. Most of the important

— "ep udi this river I p g tion of this chapter. Tongue and

t l tti di d the Big Horn range. Tongue

River is nearly 150 mile s in length, and flows for the most part through the soft yielding rocks

of the lignite tertiary. _Po wder. River is. from E 300 — in length, and also flows nearly

Chapter II. on the * en of Geotepian Pouaiioné in the North-

west." Chapter XII. on Geological Explorations in Kansas, and Chapter

XIII. “Tour to the Bad Lands of Dakota," in 1866, will be found of es-

get value to the student of American Geology.

PETITES NOUVELLES ENTOMOLOGIQUES.*—This entomological news-

paper piedi on d lst and 18th of each month, contains a résum

of news interesting to entomologists, and will be useful to all who wish

to keep themselves informed in current entomological information.

Subscription (for North America) $1.20 a year post free. All communications to be ad-

B ri to Mr. E. Deyrolle, fils, 19 Aag dela Monnaie, Paris. American subscribers ean remi

in two or os sen cent postage s pia

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

LARGER BUR-MARIGOLD.— In the last edition of the **Manual," Prof.

Gray ascribes to Bidens chrysanthemoides a maximum height of two and a

half feet. The writer has recently observed this species growing to the

prodigious height of from six to eight and two-thirds feet. The locality

of these large specimens is near a spring in Pratt Co., Illinois. We tried

the maximum size allowed it by our authors, as in ind do many other

ree to five, rather than “two to three," as Professor Gray says.

But scores of other species might be doni which seem constantly

to outgrow themselves on our western soils. The flora of the United

States as it is now known seems remarkable for various forms of the.

same species; and although future studies will probably identify as dis-

tinct species many forms now regarded as only varieties, yet remarkable

differences in the size of the same species in different localities will be a

more notable feature of our flora when the plants of the east and the

west, the north and the south, shall have been more thoroughly studied

and more diligently compared. — EDWARD L. Greene, Decatur, I llinois.

Tur YELLOW-FLOWERED SARRACENIA PURPUREA. — The remarks of Mr.

Tracy, on page 327 of the NATURALIST, have somewhat surprised me, as

the form of Sarracenia purpurea L., there des ee though rather rare,

has been long and well known. (See Gray’s Manual, ete.) This is, I er

Eaton, a a. purpurea, var. hete

rophylla Torr. Under the latter e d in PUA Wc it says it has

been found at Northampton, Mass. It may be interesting to state in this

connection, as showing its diti E Pune I collected this form (a

specimen of which I preserve in my herbarium) more than two o years ago,

on the south shore of Lake Superior, about thirty miles east of Marquette,

Michigan. It grew with the common form. In my plant the leaves were

without purple veins, or had them but very few and pale.

(43)

44 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

As to its being a transition state, on its way to full whiteness, that is a

point open to question. I do not know that the flower has ever been

found white

Those wie so strongly insist on the relation of vital force to color

would seem to be sustained in this one fact, that iu almost all white vari-

€ (white us taken as absence of color) the foliage, stem, sepals,

,appear to sympathize, and are at least much paler than usual. But

ine will not ius admitted as conclusive. — HENRY GILLMAN, Detroit, Mich.

AREAS OF PRESERVATION. — Although distribution is one of the strong-

est points of the derivative doctrine, yet it is wonderful to see, in the

light of this sober and impartial survey [ Bentham's address on Geographi-

cal Biology to the Linnæan Society, 1869], how entirely the whole aspect

of philosophieal natural history in this regard has changed within two

decades. **Centres of creation" and the like are of the language of the

past, here replaced by Bentham's happy term of ** Areas of Preservation."

And the conclusion tardily reached **that pem present geographical dis-

tribution of plants was in most instances a derivative one, altered from a

very different former distribution," has been followed by the sepas.

that the present species themselves are equally derivative, and ha

changeful history, some steps in which may be dimly surmised by di

study of cognate forms, extant or fossil. At the point now reached, if

not by general yet by large consent, the problems we are led to consider

are such that it is indispensable to have a term of wider application than

* species" technically means; and Mr. Bentham here appropriates to this

use the word Race, to denote either permanent variety (the old meaning

of the word when definitely restricted), or species, or groups of two or

more near and so-called representative species, i. e., for those collections

of seconde Soci or resembling groups of individuals, whose association in

purely technical word. — A. Gray, in American Journal of Science.

LEAVES oF CONIFERÆ. — At the meeting of the Philadelphia Academy

of Natural Sciences on the 5th of January, Thomas Meehan referred to

his original observations that the so-called leaves of pines were rather

branchlets than leaves, and that the true leaves existed in the shape of

scales which were adnate to the stem; and that these adnate leaves were

iain free or adherent in proportion to the axial vigor of the tree. In

ome Conifer, the larch being a good illustration, the adherent leaves or

peas. had the power of producing long foliaceous awns, which ap-

peared as true leaves. Nothing of this kind had been found in Pinus

except in the one-year-old or seedling state. He now exhibited a spec-

imen of Pinus serotina, which had been sent him by Mr. W. H. Ravenel, of

Aiken, South Carolina, in which foliaceous awns, two inches long, had been

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 45

developed from these adnate leaves, under each fascicle of branchlets (form-

ing 3-leaved fascicles). This he thought demonstrated in a more remark-

able manner than any VERE Laid di he had yet made, the soundness of

his former deductions.

alled attention to the value of these adnate leaves in affording spe-

co E They differed in form and other points nearly as much

m one another as the leaves of other tribes or plants. He exhibited

living specimens of Pinus Austriaca, P. sylvestris, P. maritima, P. rigida,

P. pungens, P. mitis and P. glabra Walk., to illustrate this. Some were

costate, some regularly plane, others neue linear, ovate, obtuse,

acute, regular, oblique, spathulate, g ribbous, e etc. inus glabra, which

had been confused with P. mitis, could re den be distinguished by these

almost inappreciable difference founded on the old time leaves (fascicled

branchlets) and cones

Nores FROM CuicaGo. — Chicago has a flourishing young botanical

society, the members of which meet on the first and third Saturday of

each mont They have engraved upon their official se eal the Dioscorea

sta considérine it the prettiest native twiner in this part of the

country.

s flowers of the prairies are no prettier than the flowers of New

York and Massachusetts. e variety is not so great; but on account of

the absence of trees and shrubs some species are represented by very,

large numbers of specimens, making a grander display which is noticed

by everybody. — W. J. B.

PHOTOGRAPHY IN Botany. — To illustrate venation and the nature of

from a specimen of one of the coriaceous-leaved oaks of the Men paee

which was truly wonderful in its rendering. — A. GRAY, in American

Journal of Science.

Photography in Entomology will prove of great je especially in

representing, with accuracy, the venation of the wings o the Hymenop-

tera, iy «niis ard Diptera. We value very highly xis photographs

taken for us several years ud by Professor A. E. Verrill; and Mr. Ca rl

Meinerth of Newburyport, Mass., has taken some exceedingly good pic-

tures of Hymenoptera and Moths. The venation of insects is exceed-

ingly difficult to praan by the pencil, even of a facile and skilled

entomologist. — EDITORS. ]

TRANSFORMATIONS OF PARTS OF FLOWERS. — Professor Koch has found

that in a fruit of Solanum melongena, the five anthers have been trans-

formed into five smaller capsules. A capsule of poppy offers , in the cen-

tre of its cavity, a small elevation € continuation of the <i, bearing

a number of smaller capsules. — Nature

46 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS. — Professor Hildebrand states that plants

intermediate between the Papaveraces and the Fumarie gavé the greatest

quantity of seeds when impregnated with the pollen of another individ-

ual of the same species; less when the pollen was taken from another

ped of the same individual, and least when the impregnation took place

within the flower itself. For Eschscholtzia d the proportion of

seeds in these three cases was as twen y-four to nine to six. Professor

Fewzl says that he obtained giovani of seeds iri two species of 1

on on by fecundation with pollen from other individuals, and that

hese operations are best "nd between eight and nine A.M

pesca

Ix Fours.—In the September number of the Natrurauist, G. F. M.

mentions a Trillium erythrocarpum having its parts in fours. I have in

my collection a similar specimen of T. sessile, found on the Salamonie.

Also a specimen of T. recurvatum from the same pier A petet its parts

in iir two leaves, sepals, petals and stigmas, and f

November number, C. J. S. speaks of a ad aa of ped Mays,

Psal the floral organs have changed offices. I have often observed this

freak in the fields; grains among the staminate flowers, and staminate

flowers surmounting the rachis. I have also seen the entire fascicle of

staminate flowers transformed into a tuft of little green blades. — R. H.

FisuEn, Arba, Indiana.

ANDROGYNOUS INFLORESCENCE. — Such inflorescences have been found

on Zea, Populus, Fagus, Carpinus, Betula humilis and B. alba, as also on

Pinus nigra; the small scale, considered as a [part a the female blossom,

developing itself into an anther. — Nature.

ZOÓLOGY.

ELATION OF THE PuvsrcAL TO THE BronoGcicaL Scrences. — With

reference to those branches of science in which we are more or less |

concerned with the phenomena of life, my own studies give me no right —

to address you. I regret this the less because my predecessor and my

probab |

eminence in this department. But ope I may be permitted, as a

physicist, and viewing the question from the physical wide, to express t

you my views as to the relation which the physical bear to the S iiion

sciences.

No other physical science has been brought to such perfection as

mechanics; and in mechanics we have long been familiar with the idea

of the perfect generality of its laws, of their applicability to bodies

organic as well as inorganic, living as well as dead. Thus in a railway

€ when a train is suddenly arrested the passengers are thrown

ward, by virtue of the inertia of their bodies, precis ely a ing t

s4 laws which regulate the motion of dead matter. So: trite has the cum

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 47

become that the reference to it may seem childish; but from mechanics

analysis of organic substances, and set themselves to study their proxi-

mate constituents, a great number of definite chemical compounds were

obtained which could not be formed artificially. I do not know what may

of formation. Probably it may have been imagined that chemical affini-

ties were indeed concerned in their formation, but controlled and modi-

fied by an peri vital force. But as the science progressed many of

these organic substances were formed gehe n some cases from

other and perfectly distinct organic substances, in other cases actually

fro PARERA amy ts. This statement must indeed be accepted with one:

pies key

It was por several years ago by M. Pasteur, e I believe the state-

ment ies remains true, that no substance, the solution of which possesses

n e plane

polarizatjon, and therefore in these cases the inactive artificial substances

cannot be absolutely identical with the natural ones. But the inactivity

bears to ta c; that it is, so to speak, a mixture of the natural sub-

stance with its image in a add And when we SOA by what a

peculiar and troublesome process M. Pas succeeded in separating

racemic acid into the cues ue ected eis acids, it will

be at once understood how easily the fact, if it be a fact, of the existence

in the natural substance of the mixture of two substances, one right-

handed and the other left-handed, but otherwise identical, may have

escaped detection. This is a curious point, to the clearing up of which

it is desirable that chemists should direct 2 attention. Waiving then

the difference of activity or inactivity, which, as we have seen, admits o

a simple physical explanation, though the correctness of that explanation

remains to be investigated, we may say that at the present time a consid-

some kind, under the agency in many cases of light, an agency sometimes

employed by the chemist in his laboratory. And since the boundary line

between the natural substances which have, and those which have not,

48 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

been formed artificially is one which, so far as we know, simply depends

upon the amount of our knowledge, and is continually changing as new

processes are discovered, we are led to extend the same n to the

various chemical substances of which organic structures are m

B o the laws of chemical affinity, to which, as I have óptimo: to

infer, living beings, whether vegetable or animal, are in absolute subjec-

tion, together with those of capillary attraction, of diffusion, etc., account

for the formation of an organic structure, as distinguished from the elab-

oration of the chemical substances of which it is composed? No more, it

seems to me, than the laws of motion account for the union of oxygen

and hydrogen to form — though the ager re matter so a is

subject to the laws of motion during the act of union just as well as

before and after. In the various processes of MM of precipi-

tation, etc., which we witness in dead matter, I cannot see the faintest

and perpetuation of even the lowliest plant. Admitting to the full as

highly probable, though not completely i ey the applicability to

living beings of the laws which have been ascertained with reference to

dead matter, I feel constrained, at the same time, to admit the existence

of a mysterious something lying beyond—a something sut generjs, which

I regard, not as balancing and suspending the ordinary physical laws, but

as working with them and through them to the attainment of a designed

end.

What this something, which we call life, may be, is a profound mystery.

We know not how many links in the chain of Pe causation may

yet remain behind; we know not how few. It would be presumptuous

indeed to assume in any case that we had si reached the last link,

and to charge with fex a fellow-worker who attempted to push

his re yet one step farther back. On the other hand, if a

thick darkness enshrouds all beyond, we have no right to assume it to be

impossible that we should have reached even the last link of the chain; a

stage where farther dii de is unattainable, and we can only refer the

highest law at whieh we stopped to the flat of an Almighty Power. To

assume the contrary as a matter of scope is practically to remove the

first cause of all to an infinite distance from us. The boundary, how

ever, between what is clearly known and what is veiled in ipee

darkness is not ordinarily thus sharply deflned. Between the two there

lies a misty region, in which loom the ill-discerned forms of links of the

chain which are yet beyond us. But the general principle is not affected

thereby. Let us fearlessly trace the dependence of link on link as far as

it may be given us to trace it, but let us take heed that in thus studying

second causes we forget not the flrst cause, nor shut our eyes to the

wonderful proofs of design which, in the study of organized beings es-

pecially, meet us at every turn. — President Stokes Address to the British

Association. SCIENTIFIC OPINION.

eee ee ee

niia

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 49

NOTES ON THE DUCKS FOUND ON THE CoasT OF MASSACHUSETTS IN

ee cogn — [A sporting friend in Salem sends the following interesting

on our winter ducks, inb; though differing somewhat from the

d opinions of some writers, accord in the main with notes in pre-

vious lists of the birds of Massachusetts. While adding to our ornitho-

of our ducks in winter, they are also important as confirmator

main of what has been previously written]: On looking over the “ List

of New leis ipee " I find some statements that are not in accord-

ance with m experience as a sportsman.

Mallard ordei "deest Linn.). ** Winter resident; not abundant.” This

is not a diving duck, but feeds the same as our tame ducks, and is usually

found in fresh waters. I have never seen it here in winter. Perhaps a

bird wounded in the fall may stay over, but I never saw any in winter.

They are not plenty even on the Chesapeake waters after the last of

November, but go still farther south. A few may be shot on the Jersey

marshes in winter.

Pintail Duck (Dajila acuta Jenyns). ‘Chiefly along the coast. Win-

ter resident; not abundant.” I have never found one of these ducks

here in winter. This is also not a duck that dives for its food ( tas vase

cannot feed in deep water). It is usually a very timid duck, and con-

stantly on the watch. On the Delaware, in spring, considerable oss

are shot. By some it is called Spring-tail.

Scaup Duck ( Fuliz marila Baird). ** Winter resident," I never saw one

of these here in winter. Some are found at that season in Long Island

Sound and on the south side of Long Island. A few also winter on the

south side of Cape Cod.

Red Head (Aythya — Bon.). ** Winter resident." None to

my knowledge winter here. They are a strong diver, and can get their

food even in ipei. if they will eat the same kind of food that our Coot

and Old Squaw.live i

Canvasback iy tc witdnele Bon.). ‘Chiefly winter resident; not

abundant." Very seldom if ever seen in our waters. A very few have

been shot. A few may be found in the waters near New York

Golden Eye yt AK Americana Baird). **Common winger: resident.”

Winters from Florida to Maine. There are always large numbers to

seen any calm day in gun from our lower gunning house on Rowley

el Head (Bucephala albeola Baird). ** Abundant winter resident."

Stay late in fall and come early in spring; but few, if any, winter here.

Black D

time when the weather is favorable, from September to April But in

early spring the more southern ducks of this species come north and stop

alittle time here. They are considerably larger than those that winter

in our bays. The ducks of this species usually spend the day at sea and

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. T

50 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

return towards evening to the flats and marshes to feed, for they are not

a duck that dives for its food, but ciu up as our puddle ducks do when

feeding.

All the species here mentioned may have been seen and shot by others,

but so far as I have observed only Coots, Eiders, Black Ducks, Velvet

Ducks and Scoters winter here. Since most ducks are strong fliers,

capable of travelling forty to sixty miles an hour, it would take but about

one night's flight for them to reach us from Long Island Sound or even

the Delaware waters, and a few warm days may be sufficient to tempt

some here, now and then, that are not probably winter residents, a fact

that may have been overlooked by some who may have observed certain

of them here in win

Is HuxrLEY's BATHYBIUS AN ANIMAL? —In the ** sesion Journal”

for October, 1868, is a memoir by Professor Huxley, ** On some organ-

isms living at great depths in the North Atlantic ipy in which he

states that the stickiness of the deep-sea mud is due to **innumerable

lumps of a transparent gelatinous substance,” each lump consisting of

granules, —À and foreign bodies, embedded in a transparent, color-

less, and structureless matrix." b. granules form heaps which are

sometimes the one-thousandth of an inch or more in diameter h

** granule" is a rounded or oval ašies which is stained yellow by iodine,

and Huxley proposes to call it Bathybius. The ** Discolithi and the Cya-

tholithi,' some of which resemble the ** Jara are said to bear the

same ‘relation to the protoplasm of brin aca as pes spicula of sponges

do to the soft parts of those animals; but t be borne in min

that the spicula of sponges are dtnbedds d in à nist. which is formed

by and contains, beside the spicula, small masses of living or germinal

matter. Asin other cases, this matrix, with the living matter tanger,

constitutes the ‘ PE of Mr. Huxle

Dr. Wallich has, however, arrived at a very different conclusi In

& paper ‘On the Vital Functions of the Deep-sea Protozoa,” jodli

in No. 1 of the “Monthly Microscopical Journal,” January, 1869, this

observer, who has long been engaged in this and kindred studies, states

that the coccoliths and the coccospheres stand in no direct relation to

the protoplasm substance referred to by Huxley, under the name of

ius. rm derived from their parent coccospheres,

which are independent structures altogether. ** Bathybius,” instead of

being a widely extending living protoplasm which grows at the expense

of inorganic elements, is rather to be regarded as a complex mass

of slime with many foreign bodies and the debris of living organisms

which have passed away. Numerous living forms are, however, still

found on it.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 51

Dr. Wal c is of opinion that each coccosphere is just as much an

independent structure as Thalassicolla or util E that, as in

other cases, ‘‘nutrition is effected by a vital act,” whic eld the

organism to extract from the surrounding E the C: adapted

for its nutrition. These are at length converted into its sarcode and

shell material. In fact, in these lowest, simplest forms we find evidence

of the working of an inherent vital power, and in them nutrition seems

to be conducted on the same principle as in the highest and most com-

plex beings. In all cases the process involves, besides ^ je

chemical € aroi, à vital actions, which cannot be im

which cannot be explained by physics and riii ipie BEAL,

in Monthly Masacopisit Journal.

m AND INsTINCT. — Under this title Sir S. W. Baker, Pee: a

chapter of his “ Eight Year's Wanderings in Ceylon," to symptoms

the eshte faculty in animals, and narrates a story of his hound Bins.

beard,” which was called to mind by your account of the Spider and Mud-

URALIS

divided by jungles into so-called patinas, with a large and deep river flow-

ing through the centre. The pack had disappeared, but after a long time

spent in searching for d Sir Samuel saw from one of the grassy

knolls that commanded the patina, an elk swimming out from the jungle,

and succeeded with the gray hounds, remaining by him, in running her

down shortly after she landed:

1 s were — WD the elk, when we presently heard old spectari voice far away In

the jungle. elk, w n to a hill which ndr

iE ince pees and kept a bright lookout. We soon discovered iie e was true upon t

same gam e, wt we watched his Pyth an of Aie — anxious to sce whether he could inus

On his entrance to the Patina byt "he: jivera bank. he immediately took to water and swam

across the rhe id here We carem ully hu MMFT e for several hundred yards down the

river, but othin d to th the point from which the river flowed.

Here - us “took be water, and, pei A = the agi from which he had at first

started Back he returned after his fruitless

search, and once more he took to water, I be kv to dispair of i possibility of his finding;

but the ana? on hou md x" ner. eating sei gti visio the str pipe crossing and recrossing

from either ength he reached the spot

where I knew that the elk had landed, and we eagerly niin uM see if he would pass the

secat ud he wee now several yards from the bank. He wen pearly abreast of the > spot, when he

and awa di pe^ y upon th e scent, while I could not help shouting,

" rusian d r old Bluebea -— In a few minutes he was by the side of the dead elk— a speci-

men of a true hound, who certainly had exhibited a large share of reason.’ " — P.

MALFORMATIONS IN INsECTS.— In the summer of 1868 I observed on

several occasions along the south shore of Lake Superior, specimens of

the Dragon-fly with a curious malformation, or arrest of development of

the wing. In an individual I specially observed, the skin had just been

cast, and the wings, not having yet hardened, were quite soft and delicate

to the touch. In one of the wings was a lump-like unexpanded portion

reducing the size of the limb nearly one-half. The malformation was

02 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

similar in each of the instances noticed by me, and was so serious as to

prevent the flight of the insect, it invariably falling to the ground on

being thrown into the air, and being quite unable to raise itself.

A like deformity, with like results, I had previously found to be not

unc ommoh in the Ephemera, which is produced in such countless multi-

tudes in the lake region. The only wonder is that creatures so fragile

that Ped the touch of a finger ye im them, pep be brought into

Vased in such myriads, generally unharmed and per

Is o examples of a more singular case of sun aun in the

"Bess Pet green Moon-moth (Actias Luna). e wing was similarly

dwarfed or Boris a large portion towards the extremity being unex-

panded and harden The coloring matter and fluids which should have

passed down to uri ect "s development remained above in greenish

blisters, ie the skin of the wing on each side. On breaking this

the contents escaped. By pressing those blisters it was possible to pro-

ject the colored ee in any ewes within the wing; the motions being

quite perceptible in the increased brilliancy of color of the parts where

the fluid passed. — Henry GILLMAN, Detroit, Michigan.

THE COTTON or ARMY Worm or THE SovTH.— The Secretary (of the

a Society of London) read a VARI trae gto respecting the

injury done to the cotton crop in Louisiana by the ** Army Worm," the

larva of Heliothis armigera — the aver oie Eds.)

“Tt stated that the crop was in danger of ! Some years ago the plan-

ters of Louisiana, tempted by the high price of cotton, which was ‘then selling at peni Pants a

pound, began to cultivate cotton, which had b abandoned, The sugar-can

of aceenieny. importance; but me caterpillars arrived, end swept Lid the hopes of die ie

i the was described

audible at ihe. distance of a mile, and to resemble the crackling of a house on fire. It was

npa: pde a jong Re that me Army "orm | only v visited dem hod ciega, but this was an

ty ton: on in the Bahamas;

they. Meroe the cultivation of cotton to M: given. up in many of ‘the West Indian Tslands, and

WOK tt

-South Carolina; r years | r they descended on the whole of Louisiana; and in 1825 they

ravaged the oe ie the Southern States, and it was very difficult even id Hn seed for the fol-

— year. The last g was in 1845, The Army worm appears often in

a and other parts X jns America,"

BLACKBIRDS IN WINTER. — Since the flrst week in December there have

been two, and part of the time three, Rusty Blackbirds constantly about

one of my barns. At the same locality a number of Cow Blackbirds were

seen last winter and the winter before. They appeared about the middle

of November, and left the last of March. tae es only three or four

were observed, but «the highest number seen was nineteen. They were

usually very tame, allowing one to approach within eight or ten feet of

them. Their only note was a sort of a whistle, uttered while sitting on the

top of an apple-tree. The Cow Blackbirds were usually very active, but .

the Rusty Blackbirds seemed much pinched with cold, and in cold days

sat crouched down on their feet.—Rosert HOWELL, Nichols, Tioga

County, N. Y., Jan. 11, 1870.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 53

How THE SCULPTURED TURTLE a insculpta Ag.) DEPOSITS HER

EGGS. — [The following was given to me by Mr. Frank Gammons, of

West Newton. I think it sisati interesting, and send it for publi-

cation. — C. J. M

I was passing through a cornfield in Weston, when I observed a turtle

scratching about a hill of corn with one of her forefeet. I paused and

watched her movements. She went to half a dozen or more hills, and

seemed to try them, but for some reason they did not suit her; finally she

came to one where she began to dig in earnest with both forefeet; turning

around with her hind-feet acting as a pivot she continued to dig until she

had formed a complete circle with the dirt thrown in the centre. She

then reversed her position. by placing her forefeet in the centre and

supporting herself by these alone, she with her hind-feet threw out the

earth; at the same time turning around until the hole was about six

inches deep and about thirteen inches in diameter. She then began to

tread it down hard on the bottom. She then came out to the edge and

between each deposit. Sometimes two would come out very nearly

— | When she had finished laying she filled the hole by standing

n her forefeet as before, and using her hind ones as shovels en

dide one inch of earth was thrown in, she would get in and tread it

solid. This continued until the hole wa 5 aise. when, after smoothing

and treading carefully, she crawled away. She measured nine inches

wide by twelve long. The soil where she dug was very sandy.

ANECDOTE OF T PARROW-HAWK. — An old PA OEA once told me

the following je ear € this bird and I can vouch for truth: ‘One

on ng by my window looking over the ducit little town

of D — —, my attention was turned towards a tame cat which was cross-

ing the street, ce bearing a large mouse in her mouth, evidently a treat

for her young. ut she came well nigh losing it, for a sparrow-haw

came flying over, and seeing the mouse in her mouth, made a sudden

swoop and tried to seize it with its Yo but us not succeed. "The

hawk continued its : Qvod ntil they reached the opposite side of the

street, when the eat we este under the adda and the hawk flew

off into the ea wing LISON, De Wüt, Iowa.

Hysprip FowrLs.— By chance I have had in my possession for two or

three years a pair of hybrid fowls, bred from an ordinary dung-hill cock

and a guinea hen. Not having had the means of ascertaining whether

this is an isolated instance worthy of note, I have addressed these few

lines to you, since if the case is worthy of attention I shall be pleased to

give you any taii concerning them that is in my power. — WARD

BaCHELOR, Wave

[If not too si we ppl be pleased to have a description of the fowls.

Will our readers inform us of any similar cases they may have authentic

knowledge of. «]

54 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

THE RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. — All our standard works on American

ornithology describe the Ruby-crowned Kinglet as presenting little o

no sexual differences in color, both males and females being said to pos-

sess the red crest when mature; those without it being regarded as

young or immature birds. I have To ng questioned whether this is so, but

have not of late had an opportunity of arriving at a satisfactory conclu-

sion. Mr. Jillson, writing to me recently about them, says he thinks

there is some mistake about them. e says ‘‘as far as I know, all nat-

uralists describe the female as having the red on the head. I have taken

from three to a dozen every season in May; have dissected most of them

but have never found one that had the red that was not a male

never taken any without the red until after the former had all, or nearly

all, gone north. Those without the red have always proved to be females,

and I have never heard one of them sing; but I do not think I ever shot

one with the red crown but that I had heard it sing."

What now is the experience of others? Does the female ever have the

red crown? —J. A. ALLEN.

THE CROCODILE IN FLORIDA. — Professor Wyman describes, in the

* American Journal of Science" for January, the skull of a true Croco-

dile shot near the mouth of the Miami River, Florida. He remarks that

‘it has been shown by different paleontologists, especially by Dr. Leidy

and Professor Cope, that several species of Crocodilians existed in North

extinct. At the present time two living species of true Crocodiles, viz:

C. acutus and C. rhombifer, are known in South America, and both doe

as far north as Cuba and San Domingo, but we have not been able to find

a record of the presence of either of them within the limits of the United

States, the Alligator being the only representative of the family to which

it belongs." He considers the Florida specimen as the Crocodilus acutus.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). — The recent introduction of this

interesting and useful little foreigner to Boston, with a view to his

i t

in such circum-

pigs they appeared to be quite at home and vastly enjoying themselves.

is a social, bold, cunning and gregarious bird; domestic, yet impatient

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 55

of restraint, and his loquacity and pugnacious "mie are at times quite

amusing, and if successfully acclimated, we may expect eventually to find

him — a among ¢ our villages and farm menit, as well as

winters, when the earth is bound by frost or enveloped with snow, in the

shape of a few daily handfuls of grain and a snug shelter under the eaves

of the barn or outhouse, would, I apprehend, be the extent of his de-

mands on our sympathies, and with his cheerful company and active ser-

vice during the ensuing season in exterminating those insectivorous pests

the garden and i caet the curculio, cankerworm (Et sui generis),

would be yea an ample remuneration, and a more plentiful supply of

n S and luscious nns w we might expect as one of many other

beneficial sey — J. R. COLLETE, Somerville, Mass.

DIMORPHISM IN THE HIG Lien —The distinguished Swiss nat-

uralist, M. Claparéde, in a ieee rticle: “Researches on the Annelids,”

published in the **Bibliothéque arobi Archives des Sciences Phys-

iques et Naturelles,” gives an abstract of his studies of the annelids of the

Gulf of Naples, in which he confirms the discovery of cui (noticed

in the NATURALIST, Vol. iii, p. 494) that Heteronereis is a form eo

genus Nereis. He states that Ehlers, in 1867, in his ** Die vexati

a work on the higher annelids, has shown the undoubted specific unity of

er 1 e umerilii and Heteronereis fucicola; of Ne-

illosa, and Heteronereis Middendorfii ; ys Nereis fucata and Hetero-

pain TETA "e another Heteronereis to Nereis Agas d

ns. inks the Nereids are ugs into Heteronereids

separate sexes. But, among the peame see yen es (Carma-

i toder

M. Dumeril has spes us with, offers certain points of analogy wit

that of Nereis Dumerilii.”

The bearing of these remarkable discoveries, as well as those

dimorphie forms of insects, on Darwinism, -— especially oe dati

Cope's theory of the origin of genera, is start g, and strongly con-

firmatory of the latter phase of the theory of Soak ie

56 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

DISPOSAL OF THE PLACENTA.— Noticing in the NATURALIST passing al-

lusions to this subject, I desire to add my testimony in the case. I have

closely observed cats and dogs in the act of parturition, and am in posi-

tion to affirm that these animals devour the afterbirth. It would ration-

ally be inferred from the fact that a cat’s bed, no matter how numerous

her progeny, shows nothing but a few blood stains, and those made by the

liquor amnii. The lying-in of a bitch that I watched through the whole

process, and had under observation for some days afterward, furnished

e other interesting particulars. The uterus expelled its contents at

short intervals, one foetus at a time, each e merging iscay without rup-

ture of the membranes, and so of course, accompani y the secundines

intact. The mother at once seized the intrat mass with her teeth,

tore it open, spilt the water, and shook out the puppy. She then hastily

took the placenta and membranes in her mouth, chewing and swallowing

convulsively until the whole mass was in her throat, the funis meanwhile

hanging out of her mouth with the puppy € attached, its abdomen

— her muzzle. At this point she began to bite the cord, about an

inch fr the umbilicus, and chewed it off, Met not the incisor, but

the canine cx aen th. A few drops of blood followed the severing of the

cord; the puppy was left to its own em while the mother rested,

apparently asleep, after yad foam and fatigu The process was substan-

tially repeated in each instance. In this haut ehe there were nine

puppies; consequently some idea of the amount of flesh taken into the

mother's stomach may be formed.

Here are two points for consideration. In the mode of severing the

cord we have a fine example of the instinct, or perhaps rather necessity,

that effects laceration, instead of clean cutting, and thus obviates hemor-

rhage; for lacerated vessels do not t bleed. It raises a question now ex-

tensively discussed by obstetricians; and, indeed, one might ask with

ropriety, was Cain's navel-string tied? Secondly, it is probable that the

secundines are not wasted, but on the contrary furnish sustenance to the

mo for a time. In the case to pen I have special reference the

mother did not leave her bed for forty-eight hours, nor could she be in-

duced to take food brought to her during that time. The mass was cer-

tainly digested, and its nourishment assimilated, as was evident from the

appearance of what was voided on the third day. — ELLIOTT Cougs.

SUMMER Rep Brrp.—I have just learned, through Mr. Winfield s

of Amherst (in a letter to the NATURALIST), that a specimen of the

mer Red Bird (Pyranga estiva), was shot in August, 1867, in that Minor

this making ae ipei instance now known of the capture of this southern

bird in this s

Much is dad still to be learned respecting our Massachusetts

Vite especially in regard to the frequency of occurrence of many of the

pecies. It is to be hoped that those having facts of interest re-

ii such species will see fit to report them in the NATURALIST. —

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 57

THE Osprey (Pandion haliaétus).— Mr. Allen, on page 569 of Vol. iii

of the NATURALIST, refers to the desertion of the seaboard of Massachu-

setts by this bird. I will relate an incident which came under my observa-

tion some time ie showing that the — is still, or recently, a very

near neighbor and affording some expectation of his return to our coasts

where seni a suitable to his peculiar met still exist.

alking from Bristol to Warren, R. I., in May, 1868, I noticed with a

pleasant MD an eyrie of a pair of these birds on the denuded top or

a stunted oak or butternut, at an elevation, judging from my distance, of

less than twenty feet from the ground, located near a solitary farmstead,

b half a mile distant on the right of the turnpike, and with but few

oiher trees of dwarfish growth scattered at intervals around. The female

bird appeared to be busily engaged in collecting material and repairing

her nest; the male meanwhile sedulously pursuing his piscatory avoca-

tion over the adjacent bay. I presume I could not have been mistaken in

identifying the species on this occasion, having had some years previous

a fair opportunity of studying the habits of these birds on the estate of

my friend, Dr. Parmley, near Shrewsbury Iulet, New Jersey. — J. R. Cor-

LETE, Somerville, Mass

THE Great AuK.— The statement (Amer. Nat., iii, p. 539) that **the

Great Auk or Gare-fowl, fortunately wu itself did not live long enough to

receive more than one scientific name" is incorrect. I give several (Pro-

ceedings of the Academy of Natural CB Phila., 1866), and believe

others might be found. The tips of the wings are not white, as stated

(1. c.), the primaries not being thus marked. I — Judge ‘less than

case is

weighty that Professor Nesnton conld not say with edens ar Se

there is yet a chance of the Great Auk still existing" (ibid., p. 23). —

ELLIOTT Cougs.

A RARE VISITOR. — A specimen of Pomarine Jager ( Lestrís Pomarina),

was obtained by Mr. Vincent Barnard on the fourth of July last, on en

Susquehanna River at Peach Bottom, Lancaster County, Penn. Ana

bird oF the same species was procured, during the summer of jel ^

summer may well be considered as quite remarkable. ,*

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 8

58 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

THE Cow Birp.—In the second number of ‘ Nature,” Profes

Newton has an — Ü Antennae and suggestive article on Wis

variation observed in Cuckoos' eggs, which seems to depend upon, or to

e in some way connected with the characters of the eggs of the birds se-

lected by the parasite as the foster-parents of its offspring. Has —

of the sort been determined regarding the eggs of the Cow-bird?

— vary, in the first place, to anything like the extent that the peers S

; and secondly, do they ever tend unmistakably to assimilate in marking

o ^ ide eggs of birds usually selected by the Cow-bird as its dupes? Or,

‘again are the birds so chosen, those whose eggs have any special resem-

blance to a Cow-bird's? It is not always so, I know; but is it so some-

times, frequently, or usually? The subject is worthy of the attention of

our ornithologists, from whom it would be well to hear. — ELLIOTT CoUuEs.

OCCURRENCE OF THE BROWN PELICAN IN MASSACHUSETTS. — Since writ-

ing **Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Moisetinsbtm," I have re-

ceived, through the kindness of Mr. Martin, further information respecting

the Pelicans mentioned in the February number of the NATURALIST

gentleman who saw the flock referred to there, and who fired at them,

fuscus) instead of White Pelivans. They came in from the sea, appar-

ntly much fatigued, and alighted on the beach near the Sankaty dur.

lighthouse, where they remained till driven away by being fired a

White Pelican seems, however, to have been recently killed on nito

Point, Nantucket, as previously our: The Brown Pelican I have not

o occur previously so far north. — J. A. ALLEN

T IPMUN of our jog was noticed a few days ago

busily nibbling at a snake that had been recently killed. He could hardly

be driven away, and soon retürned to his feast when his tormentors had

withdrawn a short distance. Does the Tamias striatus in other regions

possess such carnivorous propensities? — A. J. Cook, Lansing, Mich.

€ back yard of a small restaurant in this city

as killed at the same time. There is an albino rat at a bird-store in

buy J. BEAL. `

gesamte qus prs OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES,

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. , 1869.— Mr. Tryon called the attention of the

members n E mens pt Amnicola grana Say, from Carter County. Mis-

souri, presented this evening. This very minute species was apparently

o SS

Mr. Tryon had discovered it, six or eight years ago, existing in consider-

able numbers in ditches in the southern part of the city of Philadelphia.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 59

Mr. T. distributed specimens to many of the American "EY MeL rii

most of whom informed him that it was new to their collections. "The

donation this evening (Nov. 4) indicates that the species has a large area

of distribution, ae has probably been overlooked by — gin we

supposition that it was — the "i of some larger speci

t the meting held December 2d, Mr. W. L. Mactier pi ationtinn

specimen of Dolium i GE m presented by him this evening.

T. iie ‘of this shell still remains a mystery, although it has been

recently assigned to Japan. Mr. M. also presented a nearly perfect speci- -

men of Voluta Junonia and remarked that it was the rarest of American

Volutide, and was found in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Tryon referring to his remarks made at a former meeting in refuta-

tion of Dr. Gray's opinion that Crepidula plana Say, is identical with

C. fornicata Linn., stated that additional evidence of their non-identity

had recently been presented by Mr. George H. Perkins, who in a recent

paper states **that the ovi-capsules of plana are broader, shorter, and

thinner than those of fornicata, and the ova are differently situated."

GEOLOGY.

FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE AFFINITY BETWEEN THE DINOSAURIAN

REPTILES AND Binps. — Professor Huxley Midas the evidence already

cited by himself and others (especially Prof. E D. Cope), in favor of the

ornithic affinities presented by the 5 ROSE and discusses at length

the recently ascertained facts which bear upon this question, some of

the most important of which are derived from the species described

by him in the preceding paper under the name “ae Hypsilophodon Fozii.

He summed up his paper by a comparison of the different elements o

Lus pelvic arch and hinder limb in the ide eg Kris the Dinosauria

d Birds, and maintained that the structure of the PD ic bones (espec-

ny the form and arrangement of the ischium and pubis), the relation

between the distal ends of. the tibia and the ne SIS (which is per-

fectly ornithic), and the strong cnemial crest of the tibia and the direc-

tion of its twist, furnishes additional and important evidence of the

affinities between the Dinosauria and Birds.

Sir Roderick Murchison, who had taken the chair, enquired as to the

habits of the Hypsilophodon. . Hulke mentioned that Mr. Fox

several blocks Vernis X remains of a large portion of the Hypsilopho-

on, all procured f om n band of sandstone near Cowleaze ine.

which is longer than the femur, four long metatarsal bones, and an astra-

galus. All the long bones are hollow. Portions of at least eight indi-

viduals have been found in the same bed. Mr. Seeley doubted whether

these animals should be called reptiles at all, as they seemed to h

form a group distinct alike from reptiles, birds, and mammals, but occu-

60 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

pying an intermediate position. s the hinder limbs of Pterodactylus the

ser

with birds. The President, in reply, stated that Hypsilophodon, from the

character of its teeth, probably subsisted on hard vegetable food. He

expressed a hope that Mr. Fox would allow a closer examination of his

distinct than to authorize the creation of fresh divisions. — Nature, Lon-

on.

ossıL Horse IN Missovnr.— In the Transactions of the St. Louis

Academy of Science (Vol. ii, p. 418), Professor diei announced the

discovery of horse remains in s altered drift of Kansas.

I have now the honor to announce that similar ani have recently

been discovered in a well at Papinville, Bates County, Missouri. Mr. O.

P. Ohlinger procured a tooth at the depth of thirty-one feet from the sur-

face, resting in a bed of sand beneath a four inch stratum of bluish clay and

gravel. Above the last was thirty feet ten inches of yellowish clay reach-

ing to the surface. Beneath the sand, containing the tooth, was a gravel

bed five feet in thickness, consisting mostly of rounded pebbles resembling

river gravel, generally hornstone, many partially, eus some firmly a adher-

ether

ing toget ther pebbles shown me from the e bed were of iron

ore, coal dd Prepih sandstone. I was ide Mb that some re-

mains of fluviatile shells were found. I sent the tooth to Professor

Joseph Leidy of Philadelphia, and he pronomeed it to be the last upper

molar of a horse, probably an extinct specie

From a similar gravel bed on the banks it pee des Cygne, a fragment

of a tusk was «it me resembling very much that of a mammoth. Its

whole length was said to be seven feet four inches. About ten miles

above Papinville, the banks of Marais des Cygne River appear to be of a

similar formation to the well of Ohlinger, consisting of about twelve feet

of brown sandy clay resting on ten feet of blue clay with many pebbles

of worn gravel at the lower part.

These gravel beds I consider as of more recent age than the drift, but

older than the bluff or loess, and regard them as altered drift. They seem

rather to ME on the Osage and its tributaries, and are often reached

in vind we

tooth tok Maysville, oe was found in altered drift at a depth

of forty-five feet from the su

Dr. Albert Koch exhumed the f haoa Missourium (Mastodon giganteus),

from a bed u gravel and clay on Pomme de Terre River, twenty feet be-

low the surface. In these beds of altered drift we may therefore expect

to find many interesting remains of mammals. — bs C. Broapneap (Read

gles the St. Louis — of. Science, Nov. 15,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 61

SUDDEN DRYING UP OF STREAMS IN NEVADA. — In my article on the

‘Truckee and Humboldt Valleys,” I casually call attention to the inter-

mittent character of the mountain streams in that region. I state that

they “run freely, even boisterously, during the night ne iy morning,

but dry up totally in the lower part of their course by n My offered

explanation was rather a surmise than a conclusion. " hind at that time

in the January number of the ** Country Epa upon **The Forest

Trees and Forest Life of North-west aii a.” He says “these streams

are hid in high mountains, and the sun is not of sufficient power to melt

the snow which forms their volume until late in the day, when they

gather force, and again decrease after sunset until they are almost

dry.”

This solution of the mystery is very plausible and doubtless correct as

regards the streams which came under Mr. Brown's observation. It will

not apply so well, however, to those of the West Humboldt Mountains,

of which I wrote. At the time my attention was drawn to

ject there was no snow upon the range, even the high summit of Star

Peak being perfectly bare. Had there been snow, I think the heat of the

sun in August was sufficient to melt it any time in the day. I confess

that my own offered explanation does not account for the great volume

of water in the streams. Although the subject has no direct connection

with natural history, I have ventured to call your attention to it

order, if - sible, to draw out a theory gans will meet the facts.—

Wow:

iuxta Deposits. — During the summer of 1865, whilst digging a

pit for the foundation of a bridge abutment on the Pacific Railroad, four

miles north of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, after passing through soil and

dark clays at the depth of twelve feet, a bed of gravel and decomposing

remains of fresh-water shells was reached, from which I obtained the

tooth of an Bison species of ox.

n the year 1868, whilst prosecuting some geological examinations in

Moultrie ndi. Illinois, I found in the bank Ac askaskia River, the

pem with part of the vertebral column of an ox (probably Bos lati-

The distance across the skull Diea the roots of the horns

"Mir n twelve inches, and the same between the eyes. The horns were

short, thick, and but slightly curved forward and upward. On the bank

above there were trees growing two feet in diameter. The bones were

e br

Besides remains of ma malia, Donik and sticks of wood have

been found in modified drift at twenty feet or more beneath the bn.

In North Missouri, sticks of wood have been found at a depth of seventy-

five feet, part of a grape-vine at forty feet, and in Illinois a piece of

cedar has been obtained from more than a hundred feet beneath the sur-

face. In Nevada, Missouri, a walnut log two feet thick was dug up from

62 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

a depth of sixteen feet; and four miles north, charred wood and a bivalve

shell from a depth of nineteen feet

It may not be improper here to state that boulders and many rounded

pebbles of granite, sienite, greenstone, etc., with ac d of drift

sands, abound along the north line of Missouri, dapes even abundant

near the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad; iei south they

are more rare, being scarce near the Missouri River. In Baliak shes

Missouri, I have observed a granite boulder twenty-five feet in diameter;

in Monroe County, a greenstone boulder, three feet in diameter. Ná r

the Missouri River one is rarely found more than a foot in diameter. In

Osage County, Missouri, I have only found one small granite boulder, and

found none in the upper river counties on the south. The Missouri River

hornstone, greenstone, lignite and quartz rock, with pebbles from neigh-

boring rocks; all the first named pebbles are borne down from far up in

the mountains.

The absence of granitoid rocks in the accumulations along the Osage

and its tr ibutaries may be sufficient evidence to place the era of these de-

posits in a more recent period than that of the modified drift of North

Missouri. They may belong to the older loess or bluff, and we may con-

clude the horse, ox, mammoth and mastodon to be coexistent. Itis even

probable that they may have roamed America during the epoch of the

mound builders. — G. C. BROADHEAD, St. Louis, Mo.

EW MOSASAUROID REPTILES. — Professor Marsh has kei pes

in soy “ American Journal of Science,” a notice of four n reptiles

egeta or tiled, to Mosasaurus, from the Greensand o Hach Jersey.

Her at ** a striking difference between the reptilian fauna of the

mains of Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, which here appear to be en-

tirely wanting; while the Mosasauroids, a group comparatively rare in

the Old World, replace them in this = s are abundantly repre-

sented by several genera and numerous spec

SCoLITHUS a SroxGE. — Mr. E. Billings has referred the supposed casts

of worm burrows, named Scolithus and Arenicolites, and found in Silu-

with their sometimes wide and trumpet-shaped icon or even with or

a little elevated above the surface. — SCIENTIFIC OPIN

ANTHROPOLOGY.

RELICS FROM THE GREAT Mounn. —I send in this letter a perforated

shell a and an oblong bead. They were found with many others in

a TIN

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 03

removing the **big mound" in this city. The grave was seventy feet

long, eighteen feet wide, and twenty-five feet below the surface; the

dies were in a sitting attitude facing the east; the bones are nearly

decayed and will crumble when exposed to the air. Ihave a lock of long

black hair which was on one of the skulls; I also obtained from the same

head two copper ornaments, shaped alike, which were behind the ears

and beneath which were the oblong beads, one of which is enclosed; the

copper ornaments are shaped like the bowl of a large tablespoon, from

the convex surface of which extends a long, sharp horn. Two large

conch shells were also found which are in my possession. —'T. T. Ricu-

ARDS, wes uis, Mo

[On genit Vol. i, of the Transactions of M Chicago Academy of

MN: dues Foster mentions the finding of the “disks,” “ beads,”

etc., in the grave on the mound, and figures one of the ** disks," which on

the authority of Dr. Stimpson he considers as made from the shell of

Busycon pervenum, often found in connection with the mounds. Colonel

Foster also states that a quantity of small shells Ma arginella apicina, from

the Gulf of Mexico were also found. he ear ornaments of copper men-

E -bowl.

We have also received a number of the disks (all with holes through

the centre) from Mr. Joseph F. Tucker, of Chica, s e who states that they

were found as described by Mr. Richards. We would n to publish

carefully made figures of the ear ornaments in the Sarum

‘Great Mound" have been compared with those e undoubted mound

skulls? For there seems to be much uncertainty relating to this mound.

Was it really formed by the mound builders, or even used by them,

or were the skeletons found there of the present Indian race? It will be

remembered that Professor Smith, of St. Louis, who watched the level-

ing of the mound, was satisfled that it was a river deposit, and not an

artificial mound. —F. W. P

HE DEATH OF MICHAEL Sars, the distinguished Naturalist and Pro-

fessor at the Royal University at Christiana, Norway, was noticed in the

last number of the NATURALIST. Since that notice was written we have

he has thrown upon many of the lower forms of animals in the unri-

MGR in investigations embodied in his publications, we feel it a duty to

olicit aid for his family. Any remittance, however small, will be wel-

come and acknowledged, and will be inewended to his family through the

Norwegian minister. —Eprrors NATURALIST.

64 BOOKS RECEIVED.

GEORGE PEABODY. — We have received from Mr. Carl Meinerth, of

es the finest photograph we have yet seen of Mr. Peabody.

It is done by the new form of Mezzo-tint, invented by Mr. Meinerth, and

is a copy of the last portrait taken of Mr. Peabody by Mayall of London

in 1869.

CORRECTION. — A slight correction apne to be made in — wie on “ esee ” in

the Feira rier mber. The “large openings” in the fi poken of

on page 566, are popi — of ‘spiral a of which there is none in Hn body of

such wood, but of t m ars nt Pags duets. The shaving figured, moreover,

must have | been. taken from com stick of oak, not to show the great umu-

lation of t inn iit each annual zone. The figure shows? them

only in the second layer and a at ari ie third.

—9Ó9Ó9——-

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Archiv fur Anthropologie. Vol. iii, Parts 1-2, Braunschweig, 1869,

Laer cg nd LT ed of the oni Society of London. 4to. Vol, clvili, Parts 1 and 2

Proceedings of the Roya loci eaa 8vo. Vol. x. oM (1808-9). Vol. xviii, Pt. 1. 1869,

List of Fe: — etc. of the Royal Soc dete London, "».

Transatlantic Longitude, as determined by the hae Respite of 1866. A ure X

the Supt of js U. S. Coast Sur. By Dr. B. A. Gould (sinitivontan Contributions]. 4to,

Quarterly Toar nal o penienda Jan., 1870, 8vo, London.

Memoirs de la Societe de Miu et d' Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. 'Tome xix, Pt. 2, 1868.

Tome xx. Pt. 1. to.

The Anatomy of a a Mushroom y M. C. Ce — dde Ae daa Science Review, Oct., 1869.]

Le Naturaliste Canadien. Quenec, Vol. ti, No. 2. ag :

Botanical Notes, By D. A. r. Watt. [From y" Canadian aturalist.]

American Journal of the ‘Medical Sciences. Jan., 1570. iro (quasterhy) H.C.Lea. Phila.

Half Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences Vol. 50. an., 1870, H. C. Lea. Philadel Iphia,

An Address on the occasion of the a “Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander Von

boidt. By James P. Luse. Read befor Pade Albany (Md.) Natural History society,

Petites Novelles Entomologiques. Nos, 13 "a .1870. Paris.

American Entomologist, Vol. ii, No. 2. De ec. Jan. Studley & Co. St. Louis.

ientifie Opini J r

Stanley’s Microscopic Catalogue. Londo

Praiminery Field 4 Report ue F the United States Geological Survey of Colorado and us Merico,

deny E cei i oe am ority of Hon. J. D. Cox, Secretary of the Interior. By F. V. Hayden.

vo ashington,

eiie aig to Zoto) published by us Bo al Zoological Society (Natura Artis Magistra),

mste olio. Notice su ebris ne aue faisant partie de - iate

tions du poe et Pa Histoee Naturelle vm i red rrains Tertiaires des Env

IECIT IER ott LP ruar CLAN 1869.

'ardwicke's e . January, Februa ps e e Also bound volume for ^

and a: fan fit de D. Nos 202. nary. —Jan.8. London.

a le:

Í pt

Thi e Com comer ES,

Atkins. 8vo, pp. 48. por er er n o of Black Bass, pes one

Journal of Conehol: Vol. v, No.3. Phila Mar (10 per annum.)

The — una of joe: aven. € George H. Pe rk » 8vo weise ignes Pro-

ournai of a

: Teacher, Jow ]

zette, Manufacturer and Builder, Chemical News dong. ulliv : Lit-

tell’s Living Age, American Journal of Numismatics, IT LOU ail, E a the

u ounty Independent, neri Ce rnah Wise onsin State Jour-

Farmer. t, Sal — Ent

or. Pacific and Surgical J

zette, cram s

Medical Ga; M

T ET E

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV.— APRIL, 1870. — No. 2.

coc Gu 9 OTD

THE SEA OTTERS.*

BY CAPT. C. M. SCAMMON.

THe most valuable fur-bearing animals inhabiting the

waters of the north-west coast of North America are the

sea otters; they are found as far south as twenty-eight de-

grees of north latitude, and their northern limits include the

Aleutian Islands. Although never migrating to the south-

ern hemisphere, these peculiar amphibious animals are found

around the isolated points of southern Kamtschatka and even

to the western Kuriles, a chain of islands that separate the

Okhotsk Sea from the north-eastern Pacific.

The length of the matured animals may average five feet

including the tail, which is about ten inches; the head re-

sembles that of the fur seal of the coast, having full, black,

sharp eyes, exhibiting much intelligence. The color of the

females when in season is quite black, at other periods of a

dark brown. The males usually are of the same shade, al-

though in some instances they are of a jet shining black like

their hates. The fur is of a much lighter shade inside than

upon the surface; and extending over all are long, black,

glistening hairs, which add müch to the richness and beauty

of the pelage. Some individuals, about the nose and eyes,

*Furnished for publication by the SMITHSONIAN fomes:

f The most northern limit we can rely upon is sixty degrees north.

Entered according to Act of Co in the ue, e 870, by the PEABODY eere ud or

SCIENCE, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the District of Massachuse

9 E

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV

66 j THE SEA OTTERS.

are of a light brown or dingy white. The ears are less than

an inch in length, quite pointed, standing nearly erect, and

are covered with short hair.

Its hind flippers, or feet, are long and webbed much like a

seal’s. Its forelegs are short; the fore paws resemble those

. of a cat, and are furnished with five sharp claws, each meas-

uring half an inch in length; the hind feet, or flippers, are

furnished likewise.

Occasionally the young are of a deep brown, with the

ends of the longest hairs tipped with white, and about the

nose and eyes of a cream color.

The mating season of the sea otter is not known, as the

young are met with in all months of the year; hence it is

reasonable to suppose they differ from most other species of

marine mammalia in this respect.*

The hunters about Point Granville say that the males are

less shy, and run more in shore during May and June, and

appear to be in search of the females; while on the other

hand, the latter make every effort to avoid them. The time

of gestation is supposed to be eight or nine months.

The oldest and most observing hunters about Point Gran-

ville aver that the sea otter is never seen on shore unless it is

wounded. (Nevertheless we have accounts of their coming

on shore upon the Aleutian Islands, which will be spoken of

hereafter.)

It is possessed of much sagacity, has great powers of

scent, and is exceedingly imbued with curiosity.

Its home is nearly as much in the water as some species

of whales; and as whalers have their favorite "cruising

grounds, so likewise do the otter hunters have their favorite

hunting grounds, or points where the objects of pursuit are

found in greater numbers than along the general stretch of

the coast. About the seaboard of Upper and Lower Cali-

fornia, Cerros St. Gerimmo, Guadalupe, St. Nicholas and

*This remark in relation to finding the young at all seasons of the year is based

THE SEA OTTERS. 61

St. Miguel Islands, have been regarded as choice places to

pursue them; farther northward, off Cape Blanco on the

Oregon coast, and Point Granville and Gray's Harbor, along

the coast of Washington Territory. At the present day con-

siderable numbers are taken by whites and Indians about

these northern grounds.

Thence to the northward and westward comes a broken

coast and groups of islands where the animals were in former

days hunted by the employees of the Hudson Bay Company,

Russian American Company, and the natives inhabiting those

broken shores.

These interesting animals are gregarious, and frequently

may be seen in bands numbering from fifty up to hundreds.

When in rapid movement they make alternate, undulating

leaps out of the water, plunging again as do seals and por-

poises. When in a state of quietude they are much of the

time on their backs. They are frequently seen in this post-

ure with the hind flippers extended as if catching the breeze

to sail or drift before it. They live on clams, as well as

crabs and other species of crustacea; sometimes small fish.

When the otter descends and brings up any article of food,

it instantly resumes its habitual attitude on the back to de-

vour it. In sunny days, when looking, it sometimes shades

its eyes with one forepaw, much in the same manner as a

person does with the hand.

The females usually have but a single young one at a

birth, never more than two, which are brought forth on the

kelp (say the white hunters), which abounds at nearly all

points known as their favorite resorting places.*

* That the ott r, or on the kelp, appears improbable;

however, may it not be cipi e? We have: it : from retty reliable authority that

do — ont the beaches ab out e Aleutian Islands. E it probable that the habits of the

D T

3 PS à P PUTI + "m +

it Thare

bch oiomed on the contrary, those m 1l ith much valu-

able data, I know to be of pienten s — and th y scc | positi.

never come on shore unless in some way disabled." This is the ise; of Mr. Blodget,

a very successful hunter at Point Granville. He assures me that he has searched dili-

68 THE SEA OTTERS.

The mothers caress and suckle their offspring seemingly

with much affection, fondling them with their forepaws, re-

clining in their usual manner, and frequently uttering a

plaintive strain, which may have given rise to the saying that

“sea otters sing to quiet their young ones.” But when

startled they rise perpendicularly nearly half their lengths

out of the water; and if their quick, sharp eyes, discover

aught to cause alarm, the cubs are seized with the mouth,

and instantly all will disappear under water. Both males

and females are sometimes seen curled up in such shapeless-

ness as to present no appearance of animal form; when in

this position they are said to be sleeping. The perpendicular

attitude is likewise often adopted during the mating season.

The sea otter is rarely seen far from land, its home being

in the thick beds of kelp near the shore, or about outlaying

rocky reefs.

Point Granville seems to be an exception, as there is no

gently for their tracks along the sandy beach lying between the above-named point

and ahd Maroon but never found the least indication of them

Captain Williams, who has long been a successful sea otter bauer on the California

et pe me ey Mr. Blodget/s statement as to sea otters coming on shore on tha t

ast.

oxe, in his work published in 1780, writes the following in relation to the sea otter:

* Of all these —— the skins of the sea otter are the richest and most valuable. Those

animals resort in great numbers to the Aleutian and Fox Islands; they are called by

the Russians ^ Bosbry Morfki, or sea beavers, and sometimes Mpeg 1 pp on

this animal is of the dele seb 8, whereas e true sea o

The females are called Matka, or dams; and pan ubs, till five wer old, Medviedki,

or little bears, € cause their coat resemble es that of a ‘pean; they lose that coat after

five months, an

Kofchloki.

fur of "e pss son is thick and d long, : of a dark color, and fine Lon A p

en nre Ta ken four ways B

followed in boats and -juatéd down till they are tired, surprised in madras, o ond taken ce

At ppenieem ena the pe sell for, per skm, from thirty to ap iA roubles; middle sort,

twenty to E thirty; worst sort, fifteen to twenty-five. At Kiachta, the old and middle-

otter skins, are die to the Chinese per skin, from eighty to one hundred; the

worst sehe from thirty to fx

s these furs fetch so vent a price to the Chinese, they are seldom brought into

Russia for sale; and several, which have vn carried to d as a tribute, were

purchased thirty roubles a skin; and sent Ng thence to the Chinese frontiers,

disposed of at a very high intere

THE SEA OTTERS. 69

kelp in sight from the shore, but the Indians say that there

is kelp in large patches about ten miles seaward, where the

animals resort as a breeding place.*

About the period of the eatablishing of Fort Astoria, near '

the mouth of the Columbia, and for many years following,

the sea otter hunters, along the coasts of Califorma and

Oregon, were made up from nearly all the maritime nations

of Europe and America, as well as from among the different

tribes of natives that dwelt near the seashore. Those of the

former were hardy spirits, who preferred a wild life and ad-

‘venturous pursuits, rather than civilized employment. The

distance coasted in their lightly constructed boats, the

stealthy search for the game, and when discovered, the

sharpshooting pursuit, gave these hunting expeditions a

pleasant tinge of venture; moreover, the taking of sea ot-

ters on the coasts of the Californias by foreigners, was pro-

hibited by the Mexican government; and the hunters were

aware that, if detected, the penalty would be severe; hence

they ever kept a watchful eye on all vessels seen, which

were carefully avoided, or cautiously approached.

An “otter canoe” is fifteen feet long, nearly five wide, and

eighteen inches deep. It is sharp at both ends, with flaring |

sides, and but little shear. Still these boats are admirable

sea-goers, and regarded as unsurpassed for landing through

the surf. Its shape is peculiar; so likewise are the paddles

for propelling it, which are short with very broad blades,

being better adapted for use in the thick beds of kelp.

The outfit when going on a cruise is limited nearly to the

barest necessities. Two men usually hunt in one boat, each

taking his favorite rifle, with a supply of ammunition. A

little tea, coffee, sugar, flour, or ship-bread, are provided,

adding pipes and tobacco, and, as a great luxury, perhaps a

keg of spirits completes their equipment.

All being in readiness, they leave the quiet waters of the

* Within the last four year this locality — by

e Indians as producing eris ca of kelp, but have never i fond any.—C. M

10 THE SEA OTTERS.

harbor and put to sea, following the trend of the land, but

oecasionally making a broad deviation to hunt about some

island, miles from the main.

' When an otter is seen within rifle-shot instantly the

hunter fires, and if only wounded the animal dives under

water but soon reappears to be repeatedly shot at till cap-

tured. Sometimes three boats will hunt together; then they

take positions one on each side, but in advance of the third,

and all three in the rear of where the animal is expected to

be seen. It is only the practised eye of experienced men

that can detect the tip of the animal's nose peering above

water disguised by a leaf of kelp.

Thus they cruise in search of the game landing to pass

the nights, at different places well known to them, behind

some point or rock that breaks the ocean swell. The land-

ings are "made" by watching the successive rollers as they

undulate upon the beach, and when a favorable time comes

the boat with dexterous management glides over the surf

with safety to the shore. It is then hauled up clear of the

water and turned partially over for a shelter; or a tent is

pitched, a fire is made of drift wood, or if this fail, the dry

stalks of the cactus, or a bunch of dead chapperel serves

them; the evening meal is soon partaken of with hearty

relish; then come the pipes, which are enjoyed intensely.

Freed from all care these hardy men talk of past adventures

and frolies, and when inclined roll themselves in their blank-

ets for a night's invigorating sleep in the open air; awaking

at day-break to the screams of sea-birds and the barking of

coyotes attracted by the scent of the encampment.

he morning repast over they again embark in their

cockle-shell bosti; launch through die surf, gain the open

sea, and paddle along shore, ever on the watch for “otter

sign."

From San Francisco northward as far as Juan de Fuca

Strait, the hunting is chiefly prosecuted by shooting them

from the shore, the most noted grounds being between

TAPER Re SETS NA AUREIS ET IRSE ORE MERERI EU LES

UNDLOUDTUL MESS We O lo Soh sea ee TEGERE RID PR DI EN MR e LIRE PE ONT

REPAS ANNUS UE EPR ee eS

THE SEA OTTERS. 11

Gray’s Harbor and Point Granville, a belt of low coast lying

between the parallels of 46° and 48° north latitude.

e white hunter builds his two log cabins, one near the

southern limits of his beat and the other at its northern

terminus near Point Granville. During the prevalence of

southerly winter gales he takes up his quarters at the last

named station, as the game is found there more frequently ;

but when the summer winds sweep down from the north he

changes his habitation and pursues the animals about the

breakers of Gray's Harbor. From early dawn, till the sun

sinks below the horizon, the hunter with rifle in hand and

ammunition slung across his shoulder,* walks the beach on

the lookout for a shot; the instant one is seen, crack goes

the rifle, but it is seldom that the animal is secured by one

fire. A sea otter's head bobbing about in the restless swell

is a very uncertain mark; and if instantly killed the reced-

ing tide or adverse wind might drift the animal seaward, so

that even if it eventually drifts to shore it may be far out of

sight from the hunter by day, or is thrown on the rocks by

the surge during the night, and is picked up by some one of

the strolling Indians, who “run the beach" in quest of any

dead seal, or otter, that may come in their way.

It is estimated that the best shooters average at least

twenty-five shots to every otter killed; and only about one-

half the number shot are secured by the rightful owners.

But when once in his possession, it is quickly fleeced of its

valuable skin, and stretched on the wall of the cabin to dry.

It is no unusual occurrence for the hunter to pass a week

travelling up and down the beach, and he may shoot sixty or

more rounds, perhaps kill several, but owing to bad luck, not

one is secured, all either drifting to sea, or to shore, possibly

am informed by Mr. Ford, a resident near the hunting grounds, that the hunters

now use à kind of a ladder, or it might be termed two ladders joined near the head

ends by a hinge, opening at me lower ends. It is made of y very DEON

be easily carried by hand;

and mounted by the areae when an elevation is desired, which is 8 considered a great

advantage under some cireu

12 THE'SEA OTTERS.

with the flowing night-tide; and the object so eagerly and

patiently sought for is at last stealthily appropriated by some

skulking savage.

Notwithstanding their propensity to purloin, the Indians

of the north-west coast not only occasionally shoot the sea

otter as do the whites, but in the months of July and

August, when calm weather prevails, they capture them by

night. A small canoe is chosen for the purpose and the

implement used is a spear of native make composed of bone

and steel, fitted to a long pole by a socket. Four chosen

men make the crew for the canoe.

Near the close of the day a sharp watch is kept on any

band of the animals that may have been in view from the

shore and their position accurately defined before beginning

the pursuit. All being in readiness, as the shade of evening

approaches, they launch upon the calm sea, and three men

paddle in silence toward the place where the objects of pur-

suits were seen, while the fourth takes his station in the bow

— who is either a chief or some one distinguished in the

chase— watches intently for the sleeping otters. As soon

as one is descried the canoe is headed for it, and when within

reach the spear is launched into the unwary creature, which,

in its efforts to escape, draws the spear from the pole, but is

not freed yet (as there is a small strong line connecting the

spear and pole together, although permitting them to sepa-

rate a few feet). It dives deep, but with great effort, as the

unwieldly pole greatly retards its progress. The keen-eyed

savage, however, traces its course in the blinding darkness

by the phosphorescent light caused by the animal's transit

through the water, and when it rises upon the surface to

breathe is beat with clubs, paddles, or, perhaps another

spear, and is finally despatched after repeated blows or

thrusts. The confliet arouses the whole band which instantly

disappear, so that it is seldom that more than one is secured.

As soon as the hunt is over the animal is brought on

shore, the skin taken off and stretched to dry, and when

See loui dM M LOU I p uL Hua MC d NM MEC P d m cns duc occ MMC AE DL RI LM ME CALL Ru:

SSE ae M ES HER

THE SEA OTTERS. 73

ready for market the lucky owner considers himself en-

riched to the value of ten or fifteen blankets. The flesh of

the otter is eagerly devoured by the Indians as a choice

article of food. The mode of capture between Point Gran-

ville and the Aleutian Islands varies with the different

native tribes inhabiting that coast.

About the Aleutian Islands, the natives, dressed in their

water-proof garments made from the intestines of seals,

wedge themselves into their bidarkas (which are constructed

with a light wooden frame, and covered with walrus or seal

sking*), i and as it were plunge through the surf that dashes

high among the crags, and with almost instinctive skill reach

the less turbulent ground swell that heaves in every direction.

Once clear of the rocks, however, the hunters watch in-

tently for the otters. The first man that gets near to one

darts his spear, then throws up his paddle by way of signal ;

all the other boats form a circle around him at some distance ;

the wounded animal dives deeply, but soon returns to the

surface near some one of the boats forming the circle; again

the hunter that is near enough hurls his spear and elevates

his paddle, and again the ring is formed as before. In this

wise the chase is continued till the capture is made. As soon

as the animal is brought on shore the two oldest hunters ex-

amine it, and the ore whose spear is found nearest its head

is entitled to the prize. The number of sea otters taken an-

nually is not definitely known, but from the most authentic

information we can obtain the aggregate is two thousand six

hundred ; valuing the skins at fifty dollars each, amounts to

the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

Whether these most valuable fur animals have decreased

in numbers within the few past years is questionable. The

hunting of them on the coast of California is no longer

*These * bidarkas, or skin-boats,” from twel fe 'cording

as they may be made for one or two persons, the greatest width — about ety

inches, and depth ayer inches. In these frail crafts the natives go fro

to Sanak Islands to hunt the sea otter, a distance of one hundred and rune

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 10 .

14 FALCONRY.

profitable for more than two or three hunters, and we believe

of late, some seasons have passed without any one engaging

in the enterprise; notwithstanding off Point Granville,

which is an old hunting ground, sixty otters were taken by

only three hunters during the summer of 1868, a great an-

nual increase over many past years.

It is said that the Russian American Company restricted

the number taken yearly by the Aleutian Islanders — from

whom the chief supply was obtained —in order to perpetuate

the stock. Furthermore may it not be that these sagacious

animals have fled from those places on the coasts of the

Californias, where they were so constantly pursued, to some

more isolated haunt, and now remain unmolested.

FALCONRY.

BY WILLAM WOOD, M.D.

As Falconry, before the discovery of gunpowder and fire-

arms, was a favorite amusement of the kings and nobles all

over Europe, and as it is even to the present day among the

Turks in some parts of Asia Minor; among the Persians,

the Cireassians, the wandering hordes of Tartars and Tur-

comans, and as it forms one of the chief sports of some of

the native princes of India, and is not unknown in the

northern provinces of China, and among several other bar-

bárous or half-civilized countries, it may not be uninterest-

ing to my readers to know in what estimation it has been

held. I will not in this article give any account of the

manner of training falcons; suffice it to say that they were

taught to fly at the game and capture it, and come at call.

It required months, and sometimes years, to train them

properly.

Hawking was not unknown to the Romans in the early

FALCONRY. 15

part of the christian era, but was first introduced into Eng-

land from the north of Europe during the fourth century.

In 920 the Emperor Henry was called the fowler on aecount

of his great fondness for the sport. In the eleventh century

when Canute, king of Denmark and Norway, ascended the

English throne, the amusement became more and more prev-

alent. After the ascension of William of Normandy to the

English throne, none but persons of the highest rank were

allowed to keep hawks. The killing of a deer, or boar, or

even a hare by a serf, was punished with the loss of the

delinquent's eyes, when the killing of a man could be atoned

for by paying a moderate sum. In the twelfth century this

was the favorite recreation of all the kings and nobles of

Europe. “It was thought sufficient for noblemen’s sons to

wind the horn, and to carry their hawk fair, and leave.study

and learning to the children of meaner people." A German

writer, about the year 1485, complains that "the gentry used

to take the hawks and hounds to chureh with them, disturb-

ing the devotions of those religiously inclined, by the

screams and yells of the birds and beasts." This diversion

was in so high esteem all over Europe, that Frederic, one of

the emperors of Germany, thought it not beneath him to

write a treatise on hawking. In 1481, in the reign of Rich-

ard III, Juliana Berners, sister of Lord Berners, and prior-

ess of the nunnery of Sapewell, wrote a tract on faleonry,

which was loudly applauded by her cotemporaries, and be-

came what Hoyle has on games,—a standard treatise. In

1615 and 1619, two works on the same subject were pub-

lished in London, the former, by Gervase Markham, the

latter, by Edmund Bert.

In the thirteenth century the arbitrary law of William,

then Duke of Normandy, was somewhat modified by King

John, "allowing every freeman to have his eyries of hawks, -

faleons, ete., in his own woods." In the fourteenth century,

Edward III, of England, made it felony to steal a hawk, or

take the eggs, and "punished the offender by imprisonment

16 ; FALCONRY.

for one year and one day, together with a fine, at the king’s

pleasure.” Any person finding a hawk was to carry it to

the sheriff of the county, who was immediately to cause a

proclamation to be made in all the principal towns in the

county (each falcon had a ring put around his leg with the

owner's name engraved on it, and a small bell was sus-

pended from the neck of the bird so that it might be discov-

ered when lost in the chase). Any attempt of the finder to

conceal or appropriate it was to be punished the same as

stealing. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the imprison-

ment was reduced to three months, but the culprit was to

lie in prison "till he got security for his good behavior for

seven years."

The dignitaries of the church even indulged in the sport,

and the poet Chaucer represents them as being more learned

in hunting than in divinity. During the middle ages a Eu-

ropean showed his rank by having a hawk on his fist, and

when he died the bird was generally carved on his monu-

ment. Among the Welsh priuces the king's faleoner was

the fourth officer in the state; yet he was "forbidden to

take more than three drams of beer from his horn lest he

should get drunk and neglect his duty." The grand fal-

coner of France had four thousand florins per annum, was

ullowed three hundred hawks, and had fifty gentlemen and

fifty attendants to follow him. He rode out with the King

on all great occasions.

The prices paid for falcons were enormous. Sir Thomas

Monson paid five thousand dollars for a pair. In Persia the

gerfalcon of Russia is not allowed to be kept by any per- -

son except the king, and each bird is valued at fifteen hun-

dred crowns. Hawks were sent as royal tokens from kings

to kings, and formed a customary present from the sovereign

. to the embassador of a friendly power. In more ancient

times they were bequeathed as valuable and honorable lega-

cies, with the injunction, **that the legatee should behave

kindly and dutifully by the said bird."

FALCONRY. 77

The sport suffered no decline on the accession of the

Tudors. Henry VII. made laws about hawking as did also

Queen Elizabeth, who occasionally indulged in the amuse-

ment with the ladies of her court. Sir Walter Raleigh, allud-

ing to her sylvan sports, compares her and her retinue to the

goddess Diana and her nymphs. John of Salisbury, who

wrote in the thirteenth century, said, “that the women even

excelled the men in the knowledge and practice of falconry.”

Henry the VIII. followed the sport until he grew so fat and

unwieldy, that in attempting to vault a ditch, he fell in

where the “bottom had fallen out,” and would have drowned

but for the assistance of a John Moody. Says Hall, “God

in his goodnesse preserved hym.”

In 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot “lamented that providing the

numberless hawks then kept by the English gentry, with

their customary food of hens, almost threatened the total

extinction of the valuable race of domestic poultry.” In

1536, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII,

owing to the inroads made upon the game, he issued a pro-

clamation to protect them, and made it imprisonment, and

such other punishment as should seem meet to his highness

the King, for “any person of whatever rank who should kill,

or in any way molest herons, partridges and pheasants from

his palace at Westminster to St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, and

from thence to Islington, Hampstead, Highgate and Hornsey

ark.”

Falconry had in a great measure lost its prestige in Eng-

land by the beginning of the seventeenth century. Hawking

. was then classed among “the amusements of squires and

country gentlemen generally." In a book of advice which

James I. wrote for the benefit of his eldest son Henry, Prince

of Wales, after recommending manly exercises, hunting, etc.,

he adds, "as for hawking, I condemn it not, but I must

praise it more sparingly, because it neither resembleth the

warres so near as hunting doeth, in making a man hardie and

skilfully ridden in all grounds, and is more uncertain and

78 FALCONRY.

subject to mischances; and which is worst of all, is there

through an extreme stirrer-up of the passions.”

The greatest faleoner of modern times was one of the

Lord Orfords who died toward the close of the last century.

This nobleman spent a princely fortune in attempting to re-

vive an obsolete taste. He had a large. number of hawks

and a regular establishment of faleoners. Each hawk had

its separate attendant; "they were all sent on occasional

voyages to the continent for the sake of a more congenial

atmosphere during their time of moulting."

Having now traced falconry through the English dynasty,

and as they confined it mostly to the smaller game, I will

' give some account of it among other nations who have car-

ried it to a greater degree of perfection. There was no

nation in Europe prior to the fifteenth century but what the

emperor, kings and nobles indulged in this sport, and it

was considered "as the exclusive attribute of noble blood."

Even in China and Tartary in the thirteenth century, it was

strictly forbidden "to every tradesman, mechanic or hus-

bandman throughout his Majesty's dominions to keep a

hawk, or any other bird used for the purpose of game, or

any sporting dog." In China, Tartary, India, and some

other eastern nations, they capture the stork, swan, heron

and hubara with their faleons and. train dogs to act in con-

cert with them, so that they pursue and take hares, foxes,

wolves, deer and antelopes.

Father Rubruquis and Marco Polo make frequent mention

of the practice of hawking during the thirteenth century

among the wandering Tartars. A sport which Marco was

excessively fond of, and frequently indulged in. The ol

Venetian informs us, that the grand Khan (Kublai), who

was at once Emperor of Tartary and China, kept at one

place, where he was accustomed to resort for the purpose of

hawking, two hundred falcons, which during his stay there

“he always visited and inspected in person, at least, once a

week.”

FALCONRY. 19

The Emperor after residing the usual time in China,-

always proceeded to enjoy the field sports in the plains of

Tartary, attended by full ten thousand falconers, who carried

with them a vast number of gerfalcons, peregrine falcons

and sakers. He has also with him ten thousand men who are

called taskaol, distributed all over the country, whose busi-

ness it is to watch the hawks, assist them when necessary,

and secure the falcon when he has captured the game.

Marco tells us, that the Grand Khan takes his wives and the

ladies of the court with him on these expeditions, who have

their own hawks and join in the sport. These with their

attendants, physicians, astrologers, courtiers, slaves and fal-

coners formed an immense retinue. Dividing up into par-

ties of one hundred and two hundred, they proceed to the

lakes and river, where they capture great numbers of storks,

herons, swans, ducks and smaller game. Each bird belong-

ing to his Majesty, or to any of his nobles, has a small silver

label fastened to his leg, on which is engraved the name of

the owner and the name of the keeper so that it can be

readily restored. The manner of taking the prey shows

great skill and sagacity, the falconer usually carries his

hawk to the field on his fist protected by a glove, and on

seeing game, removes the head-gear (a hood to cover the

head and eyes of the bird) and casts the bird off with a loud

whoop to encourage her. If the bird flushed is a duck,

partridge, pheasant, or any bird that does not soar high,

the hawk quickly strikes and brings it down, but if it is a

heron, or some bird strong on the wing, it will attempt to

keep above the hawk. Now comes the tug of war, each

trying to mount above the other until nearly out of sight,

when the faleon by performing a succession of spiral eircles

rises above the game, and darts down upon it with all her

force and velocity, when both tumble from the sky together,

the sportsman hastening to the spot with all possible dis-

patch assists the hawk in her struggle with the prey. Marco

informs us that "the Emperor had reclaimed eagles which

80 FALCONRY.

` were trained to swoop at wolves, and such was their strength

that none, however large, could escape from their talons."

The accounts given by Father Rubruquis and Marco Polo

would seem incredible were not their statements fully con-

firmed by other writers. The description given by Johnson

of the number and magnificence of the hunting retinue of

the Nabob-vizir of Lucknow makes it nearly, if not quite,

equal to that of the Emperor of Tartary and China as de-

scribed above.

The Persians, on some occasions when hunting hares and

other four legged animals, dress their hawks with leather

breeches. I will give the language of Sir John Malcolm

respecting it. “When at Shiraz the Elchee had received a

present of a very fine Shah-Baz or royal falcon. Before go-

ing out I had heen amused at seeing Nutee Beg, our head-

faleoner, a man of great experience in his department, put

upon this bird a pair of leathers which he fitted to its thighs

with as much care as if he had been the tailor of a fashion-

able horseman. I inquired the reason of so unusual a pro-

ceeding. ‘You will learn that,’ said the consequential master

of the hawks, ‘when your see our sport;’ and I was con-

vinced at the period he predicted of the old fellow’s knowl-

edge of his business.”

“The first hare seized by the falcon was very strong, and

the ground rough. While the bird kept the claws of one

foot fastened in the back of his prey, the other was dragged

along the ground till it had an opportunity to lay hold of a

tuft of grass, by which it was enabled to stop the course of

the hare, whose efforts to escape I do think, would have

torn the hawk asunder if it had not been provided with the

leathern defences which have been mentioned.”

The account given by Marco of the training of eagles for

the chase is fully substantiated by a later writer, Thomas

Witlam Atkinson. The following account of hunting with

the eagle in Chinese Tartary is related by him in his “Seven

Years Explorations and Adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the

LÀ

FALCONRY. 81

Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary and a part of Central

Asia." “A well-mounted Kirghis held the bearcoote,

chained to a perch, which was socuied into a socket on his

saddle. The eagle had shackles and a hood and was per-

fectly quiet, he was under charge of two men. “We had

not gone far when several large deer rushed past a jutting

point of the reeds and bounded over the plain about three

hundred yards from us. In an instant the bearcoote was

unhooded and his shackles removed, when he sprung from

his perch and soared up into the air. I watched him ascend

as he wheeled round, and was under the impression that he

had not seen the animals; but in this I was mistaken. He

had now risen to a considerable height and seemed to poise

himself for about a minute. After this he gave two or three

flaps with his wing and swooped off in a straight line towards

his prey. I could not perceive that his wings moved, but

he went at a fearful speed. There was a shout, and away

went his keeper at full gallop followed by many others.

When we were about two hundred yards off the bearcoote

struck his prey. The deer gave a bound forward and fell;

the bearcoote had struck one talon into his neck, the other

into his baek, and with his beak was tearing out his liver.

The Kirghis sprang from his horse, slipped the hood over

the eagle's head, and the shackles upon his legs, and removed

him from his prey without difficulty. The keeper mounted

his horse, his assistant placed the bearcoote on his perch,

and he was ready for another flight. No dogs are taken out

when hunting with the eagle, they would be destroyed to a

certainty ; indeed, the Kirghis asserts that he will attack and

kill the wolf. We had not gone far before a herd of small

antelopes were seen feeding on the plains. Again the bird

soared up in circles as before, and again he made the fatal

swoop at his intended victim, and the animal was dead before

we reached him. The bearcoote is unerring in his flight;

unless the animal can escape into holes in the rocks, as the

fox does sometimes, death is his certain doom." In another

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 11

82 FALCONRY.

place he says "next morning before starting, I sketched

Sultan Beck and his family. He is feeding his bearcoote—

hunting with the king of birds being his favorite sport."

The Persians have a peculiar kind that they train to fly at

antelopes and to act in concert with dogs. The huntsmen

‘proceed to a plain, or rather desert, near the seaside with

hawks on their hands and greyhounds led in a ieash. When

an antelope is seen they endeavor to get as near as possible,

but the animal the moment that it observes them goes off at

a rate that seems swifter than the wind; the horsemen are

instantly at full speed, having slipped the dogs. If it isa

single deer they àt the same time fly the hawks, but if a

herd they wait till the dogs have fixed upon a particular

antelope. The hawks skimming along near the ground soon

reach the deer, at whose head they pounce in succession, and

with so great violence as to confuse the animal so much as to

stop his speed in such a degree that the dogs can come up

and in an instant, men, horses, dogs and hawks surround the

unfortunate deer and capture it. The antelope is supposed

to be the fleetest quardruped on earth, and the rapidity of

the chase is said to be wonderful and astonishing, the dis-

tance run, generally, not exceeding three or four miles.

In the spring of 1861, on the return from Russia of our

late Ex-Governor, Thomas H. Seymour, who had been min-

ister to that country for several years, in conversation with

him, 1 learned that faleonry was still a favorite sport in the

East, and that he had joined in the chase several times ; that

eagles were trained as formerly, and that he had seen falcons

with their leathern breeches on catch hares and hold them

by inserting one talon into the game and holding on to the

turf, or anything that came in the way with the other, and

that they held on with such tenacity that their limbs would

be dislocated or torn from their bodies were they not thus

protected.

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

BY A. 8. PACKARD, JR.

Tue subject of our discourse is not only a disagreeable

but too often a painful one. Not only is the mere mention

of the creature’s name of which we are to speak tabooed and

avoided by the refined and polite, but the creature itself has

become extinct and banished from the society of the good

and respectable. Indeed under such happy auspices do a

large proportion of the civilized now live that their knowl-

edge of the habits and form of the louse may be represented

by a blank. Not so with some of their great-great-grand-

fathers and grandmothers if history, sacred and profane, po-

etry, and the annals of literature testify aright ; for it is com-

paratively a recent fact in history that the louse has awakened

to find himself an outcast and an alien. Among savage na-

tions of all climes, some of which have been dignified with

the apt, though high sounding name of Phthiriophagi, and

among the Chinese and other semi-civilized peoples, these

lords of the soil still flourish with a luxuriance and rankness

of growth that never diminishes, so that we may say without

exaggeration that certain mental traits and fleshly appetites

induced by their consumption as an article of food may have

been created, while a separate niche in our anthropological

museums is reserved for the instruments of warfare, both

offensive and defensive, used by their phthiriophagous hun-

ters. Then have we not in the very centres of civilization

the poor and degraded, which are most faithfully attended

by these revolting satellites !

But bantering aside, there is no more engaging subject

to the naturalist than that of animal parasites. Consider

the great proportion of animals that gain their livelihood

by stealing that of others. While a large proportion of

plants are more or less parasitic, they gain thereby in

(83)

84 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

interest to the botanist, and many of them are eagerly sought

as the choicest ornaments of our conservatories. Not so with

their zoological confreres. All that is repulsive and uncanny

is associated with them, and those who study them, though

perhaps among the keenest intellects and most industrious

observers, speak of them without the limits of their own

circle in subdued whispers or under a protest, and their

works fall under the eyes of the scantiest few. But the

study of animal parasites has opened up new fields of re-

search, all bearing most intimately on those two questions

that ever incite the naturalist to the most laborious and

untiring diligence — what is life and its origin? The sub-

jects of the alternation of generations, or parthenogenesis,

of embryology and biology, owe their great advance, in large

degree, to the study of such animals as are parasitic, and the

question whether the origin of species be due to creation

by the action of secondary laws or not, will be largely met

and answered by the study of the varied metamorphoses and

modes of growth, the peculiar modification of organs that

adapt them to their strange modes of life, and the conse-

quent variation in specifie characters so remarkably charac-

teristic of those animals living parasitically upon others.*

With these considerations in view surely a serious, thought-

ful, and thorough study of the louse, in all its varieties and

species, is neither belittling nor degrading, nor a waste of

time. We venture to say, moreover, that more light will be

thrown on the classification and morphology of insects by the

study of the parasitic species, and other degraded, wingless

forms that do not always live parasitically, especially of their

embryology and changes after leaving the egg, than by years

of study of the more highly developed insects alone. Among

Hymenoptera the study of the minute Ichneumons, such as

the Proctotrupids and Chalcids, especially the egg-parasites;

* Wi 1 Ta dhat

Ye notice f Parasitology has for some-

time been issued in Germany--that favored land : of du. It is the * Zeitschrift

für Parasitenkunde," edited by Dr. E. Hallier and A , Jena.

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 85

among moths the study of the wingless canker-worm moth

and Orgyia; among Diptera the flea, bee-louse (Braula),

sheep tick, bat ticks, and other wingless flies ; among Cole-

optera, the Meloé, and singular Stylops and Xenos; among

Neuroptera the snow insect, Doreus, the Podura and Lep-

isma, and especially the hemipterous lice, will throw a flood

of light on these prime subjects in philosophical entomology.

Without farther apology, then, and very dependent on the

labor of others for our information we will say a few words

on some interesting points in the natural history of lice. In

the first place, how does the louse bite? It is the general

opinion among physicians, supported by able entomologists,

that the louse has jaws, and bites. But while the bird lice

(Mallophaga) do have biting jaws, whence the Germans

call them skin-eaters (pelzfresser), the mouth parts of the

genus Pediculus, or true louse, resemble in Fig. 13.

their structure those of the bed-bug (Fig. 13,

from the author's "Guide to the Study of In-

sects”) and other Hemiptera. In its form the

louse closely resembles the bed-bug, and the

two groups of lice, the Pediculi and Mallo-

phaga, should be considered as families of Bed-bug.

Hemiptera, though degraded and at the base of the hemip-

terous series. The resemblance is carried out in the form

of the egg, the mode of growth of the embryo, and the meta-

morphosis of the insect after leaving its egg.

Schiódte, a Danish entomologist, has, it seems to us,

forever settled the question as to whether the louse bites

the flesh or sucks blood, and decides a point interesting

to physicians, 7.e. that the loathsome disease called phthiri-

asis, from which not only many living in poverty and squalor

are said to have died, but also men of renown, among

whom Denny in his work on the Anoplura, or lice, of Great

Britain, mentions the name of "Pheretima, as recorded by

Herodotus, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Dictator Sylla, the

two Herods, the Emperor Maximian, and Phillip the Sec-

a—À

86 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

ond,” is a nonentity. Schiódte, in his essay "On Phthirius,

and on the Structure of the Mouth in Pediculus” (Annals

and Magazine of Natural History, 1866, page 213 ), says

that these statements will not bear examination, and that this

disease should be placed on the “retired list,” for such a

malady is impossible to be produced by simply blood-sucking

animals, and that they are only the disgusting attendants on

other diseases. Our author thus describes the mouth parts

of the louse.

“Lice are no doubt to be regarded as bugs, simplified in structure and

owere

sites, small, flattened, apterous, myopic, crawling and climbing, with a

conical head, moulded as it were to suit the rugosities of the surface they

inhabit, provided with a soft, transversely furrowed skin, probably en-

dowed with an acute sense of feeling, which can guide them in that twi-

light in which their mode of life places them. The peculiar attenuation

of the head in front of the antenns at once suggests to the practised eye

the existence of a mouth adapted for suction. This mouth differs from

that of Rhynchota [Hemiptera, bed-bug, etc.] generally in the circum-

stance that.the labium is capable of being retracted into the upper part

of the head, which therefore presents a little fold, which is extended

when the labium is protruded. In order to strengthen this part, a flat.

band of chitine is placed on the under surface, just as the shoemaker puts

a small piece of gutta-percha into the back of an India-rubber Shoe; as,

however, the chitine is not very elastic, this band is rather thinner in the

degree of protrusion; if this is at its highest point the orifice is turned

inside out, like a collar, whereby the small hooks are directed backwards,

so that they can serve as barbs. These are the movements which the

ium, and along the walls of this tube the setiform mandibles and maxille

in the shape of long narrow bands of chitine. In this way the tube of

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 81

suction can be made longer or shorter as required, and easily adjusted to

the thickness of the skin in the particular place where the animalis

sucking, whereby access to the capillary system is secured at any pue of

the body. It is apparent, aue the whole struct- Fig. 14.*

ure of the instrument, that it is by no means cal- f

culated on being used as a sting, but is rather to

be compared to a delicate elastic probe, in the use

of which the terminal lobes probably serve as feel-

ers. As soon as the capillary system is reached,

the blood wi at once ascend into the narrow

pidity

the pumping ventricle and the Saa erful peristaltic

movement of the digestive t

If we compare the Hin of the louse

(Fig. 15, Pediculus capitis, the head louse ;

Fig. 15. Fig. 16, P. vestimenti, the body

Y louse) with the young bed-

bug as figured by Westwood

(Modern Classification of In-

sects, ii, p. 475) we shall see

a very close resemblance, the

head of the young Cimex be-

ing proportionally larger than

Head Louse. in the adult, while the thorax

is smaller, and the abdomen is more ovate,

less rounded ; moreover the body is white

and partially transparent. The beak of

the bed-bug we have studied from some

admirable preparations made by Mr. E.

Bicknell for the Museum of the Peabody

Academy.

Under a high power of the microscope atonth of the Louse.

specimens treated with diluted potash show that the man-

* Figure 14 represents the parts of the — in a large specimen of Pediculus vesti-

menti, entirely protruding, and seen from above, magnified one abies and sixty

times; aa, the summit of en head, with fou er on each side; bb, the chitinous

band, and c, the hind part of the lower lip — such as the appear through the s y

strong transm ; dd, t os ding part of t lip (the haus-

tellum); ee. the hooks turned outwards; f, the inner tube of suction, slightly bent and

twisted; the two pairs of jaws are perceived on the outside as thin lines; a few bl

globules are seen in the interior of the tube.

88 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

dibles and maxille arise near each other in the middle of

the head opposite the eyes, their bases slightly diverging.

Thence they converge to the mouth over which they meet

and beyond are free, being hollow, thin bands of chitine,

meeting like the maxille, or tongue, of butterflies to form

a hollow tube for suction. The mandibles each suddenly

end in a curved, slender filament, which is probably used

as a tactile organ to explore the best sites in the flesh of

their victim for drawing blood. On the other hand the

maxille, which are much narrower than the mandibles, be-

come rounded towards the end, bristle-like, and tipped with

Fig.16. — ,numerous exceedingly fine barbs, by which the

E bug anchors itself in the flesh, while the blood

is pumped through the mandibles. The base

~ of the large, tubular labium, or beak, which

ensheathes the mandibles and maxille, is op-

posite the end of the clypeus or front edge of

the upper side of the head, and at a distance

beyond the mouth equal to the breadth of the

Body Louse. ]abium itself. The labium, which is divided

into three joints becomes flattened towards the tip, which

is square, and ends in two thin membranous lobes, prob-

ably endowed with a slight sense of touch. On comparing

these parts with those of the louse it will be seen how

much alike they are, with the exception of the labium, a

very variable organ in the Hemiptera. From the long

sucker of the Pediculus, to the stout chitinous jaws of the

Mallophaga, or bird lice, is a sudden transition, but on com-

paring the rest of the head and body it will be seen that the

distinction only amounts to a family one, though Burmeister

placed the Mallophaga in the Orthoptera on account of the

mandibles being adapted for biting. It has been a common

source of error to depend too much on one or a single set of

organs. Insects have been classified on characters drawn

from the wings, or the number of the joints of the tarsi, or

the form of the mouth parts. We must take into account in

Í:

ae ete REO as Nick E P N aad EST Nee Rete repeats

xL Mid t Li d Se nape a E E ERLIE TRES RD

UTR AE he. Y

ESO UM E REESE NE MEOS KNOT ee Oe I ee ee YN ae

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 89

endeavoring to ascertain the limits of natural groups, all the

organs collectively, as well as the internal anatomy and the

embryology and metamorphosis of insects, before we can

hope to obtain a natural classification.

The family of bird lice isa very extensive one, embracing

many genera, and several hundred species. One or more

species infest the skin of all our domestic and wild mammals

and birds, some birds sheltering be- m ‘Fig. 17.

neath their feathers four or five spe-

cies of lice. Before giving a hasty

account of some of our more com-

mon species, we will give a sketch

of the embryological history of the

lice,* with especial reference to the

structure of the mouth parts.

The eggs (Fig. 17, egg of Pedicu-

lus capitis) are long, oval, somewhat

pear-sh:ped, with the hinder end

somewhat pointed, while the ante-

rior end is flattened, and bears little

conical micropyles (m, minute ori-

fices for the passage of the sperma-

tozoa into the egg), which vary in

form in the different species and Embryo of the Louse.

genera; the opposite end of the egg is provided with a few

bristles. The female attaches her eggs to the hairs or feath-

ers of her host.

After the egg has been fertilized by the male, the blasto-

derm, or primitive skin, forms, and subsequently two layers,

or embryonal membranes, appear; the outer is called the

amnion (Fig. 17, am) (though as Melnikow states, it is not

homologous with the amnion of vertebrates), while the inner

* Fo rm 4z +h y EAE TE nt y foa Ps ee, B Professor Nico-

laus Metnow's ^ th Embryonal Develop tof Insects " in Wiegmann's

Naturgeschichte, 1859, p. 136.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 12

90 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

is called the “ visceral membrane” (Fig. 17, db). Melnikow

remarks that

‘In all the insects whose embryology has been studied, and in which

the ventral primitive streak is developed, neither does the amnion nor the

visceral membrane take any part in building up the body of the embryo,

since they are provisional structures in a peculiar sense of the word.

Quite different relations exist in the lice. The origin of the embryonal

membranes of the louse occurs at the time of the formation of the prim-

itive streak. The thickened blastoderm of the end of the egg on which

the hairs are situated folds in, and this fold is the beginning of the primi-

tive streak and of the visceral membrane. The layer of this fold facing

the ventral side of the egg, is transformed into the visceral membrane,

while the other layer, opposite to the other side of the egg, becomes thick-

ened and forms the primitive streak. The remaining portion of the

toderm, with the exception of the primitive streak, which forms the fore-

head (in the more extended sense of the word) consists of the so-called

amnion

In Sobtradiatiection to those insects [Simulium, Chironomus, Donaci

and Phryganidz] in which a ventral primitive streak is developed, neither

do the amnion nor visceral membrane form a capsule surrounding the con-

tents of the egg. "The amnion is intimately connected with the cephalic

portion of the embryo as also with the visceral membrane. This latter

is connected only with the abdominal part of the primitive streak, and

the edges of the side, i. e. the continuation of the amnion. In opposition

to those above-mentioned insects which have a ventral primitive streak,

bryonal membranes of insects, are in direct relation to the mode in which

the primitive streak is formed. It seems, therefore, that the mode of

origin of the primitive streak, or its position in relation to the yolk is

concerned in the above-mentioned differences of the embryonal mem-

branes.*

s. f

* Melnikow does not consider, as his fellow countryman, Metznikow, E that the

embryonal membranes of insects are homologous with those of vertebra iae e says,

*the mode of origin in ko vertebrates is the same. The formation ay visceral

rane and amnion of insects ga L differe ue ‘groups, with pened dn d

formation of the sation streak. mbryonal membranes of vertebrates have a

certain relation to the allantois, AY ihe pce membranes of insects are corre-

lated

on ra

brates; but in insects differences arise, which become noticeable in the —— of the

primitive streak in relation to the yolk. Finally, these embryonal membranes in all

vertebrates are d but in insects this is not the case. They are coii

only in those which have a ventral awe streak,” (Melnikow). We see, therefore,

that r the Mme ion of the egg, great and radical differences exist

between the e eggs of vertebrates and articulat es, and e ven | between different groups of

thelatter. lstat tt

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 91

Again, looking at the louse’s egg and its germ (Fig. 17)

we see the amnion (am) surrounding the yolk mass, and the

visceral membrane (db) within, partially wrapping the rude

form of the embryo in its folds. The head (vk) of the em-

bryo is now directed towards the end of the egg on which

the hairs are situated ; afterwards the embryo revolves on its

axis and the head lies next to the opposite end of the egg.

Our embryo previous to this important change of position

may be compared with the embryo of the dragon fly (Figs.

Fig. 18. Fig. 19.

i I. IL IH. IV. V. VI. VI.

Embryo of the Dragon-fly, side

View; I. antennze; Ir. mandibles; rrr.

maxilla; 1v. second maxille (lab-

jum); v.- vir. legs.

Fig. 19, ventral view of the same.

18,19). Eight tubercles bud out from the under side of the

head, of which the foremost and longest are the antenne (as),

those succeeding are the mandibles, maxille, and second

maxille, or labium. Behind them arise six long, slender

tubercles forming the legs, and the primitive streak rudely

marks the lower wall of the thorax and abdomen, not yet

formed. Figure 20 represents the head and mouth parts of

the embryo of the same louse ; vk is the forehead, or clypeus;

ant, the antenna; mad, the mandibles; max, the first pair

at first the eggs of all animals, as well as the early stages of the embryo, are alike, have

not regarded the important differences presented at the first sketching out of the em-

ryo. The great differences between the two branches of vertebrates and articulates

arise before the most rudimentary form of the embryo is indicated; indeed it may be

said with truth, at the first beginnings of life. Those also who indulge in glittering

iti . and the p

neralities regarding the identity in th e eggs of animals, and th

topl ic matter ich they a: mposed, should also take into account the radic:

differences of the mode of action of this lasm (i. e. egg-contents, yolk and albu-

men) in the eggs of vertebrates and insects at the dawn of life, whether they be due to

the “vital force,” or to some chemical force conserved and metamorphosed into a

ife-giving power,

92 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

of maxille and maz’, the second pair of maxille, or labium.

At this time the embryo may be compared with that of the

dragon fly of the same period of growth (Fig. 24 c, clypeus;

l, antenne; 2, mandibles; 3, maxille; 4, labium; 5, 6, 7,

legs.) We see that the mouth parts of the louse, so unlike

those of other adult insects, are originally similar to them.

Figure 21 represents the mouth parts of the same insect a

Fig. 20. Fig. 21.

Fig. 22.

Fig. 23.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOUTH PARTS OF THE LOUSE.

little farther advanced, with the jaws and labium elongated

and closely folded together. Figure 22 represents the same

still farther advanced; the mandibles (mad) are sharp, and

resemble the jaws of the Mallophaga; and the maxille

(max!) and labium (maz?) are still large, while afterwards

the labium becomes nearly obsolete. Figure 23 represents

the mouth parts of a bird louse, Goniodes ; lb, is the upper

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 93

lip, or labrum, lying under the clypeus ; mad, the mandibles ;

max, the maxille ; 7, the lyre-formed piece ; pl, the “plate,”

and v, the beak or tongue. (This, and Figs. 20, 21, 22, are

from Melnikow).

We will now describe some of the common species of lice

found on a few of our domestie animals, and the mallopha-

gous parasites occurring on certain

mammals and birds. The family

Pedieulina, or true lice, is higher

than the bird lice, their mouth parts,

as well as the structure of the head,

resembling the true Hemiptera, es-

pecially the bed bug. The clypeus,

or front of the head, is much smaller

than in the bird lice, the latter retaining the enlarged fore-

head of the embryo, it being in some species half as large as

the rest of the head. ;

All of our domestic mammals and birds are plagued by

one or more species of lice. Figure 25 represents the

Fig. 25. Hematopinus vituli (Linn.), which is

brownish in color. As the specimen fig-

ured came from the Burnett collection

of the Boston Society of Natural History,

together with those of the goat louse,

the louse of the common fowl, and of

the cat, they are undoubtedly naturalized

here; the other specimens were collected

by Mr. C. Cooke, and are in the Museum

of the Peabody Academy of Science.

The remaining parasites belong to the

AS ` Skin-biting lice, or Mallophaga, and I

Louse of Cow. will speak of the several genera referred

to here in their natural order, beginning with the highest one

and that which is nearest allied to Pediculus. The species

of Docophorus, figured on PI. I, fig. 3, appears to be unde-

scribed, and may be called D. buteonis. It lives beneath the

Fig. 21. 32

94 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

feathers of the Red-shouldered Hawk. It is honey-yellow,

and the abdomen is whitish, with triangular chitinous plates

on each segment, the two on the segment next to the last

forming a continuous band. The head is longer than broad,

with the trabecule (or movable horny process just in front

of the antenne), as long as the two basal joints of the anten-

ne, and extending to the middle of the second joint; the

basal joint of the antenne is rather thick, and the second

joint is as long as the two terminal ones.

Another species ( Docophorus hamatus n. ep, P1. T; fie; 1j

taken from the Snow Bunting ( Plectrophanes nivalis) by

Mr. C. A. Walker, Feb. 10, 1869, is white and has a large

triangular head, with a very narrow

prothorax, not much more than one-

half as wide as the head; the abdo-

men is rounded oval, while the trabe-

cule are very long and hooked.

An undescribed species of Nirmus

(N. thoracicus; Pl. I, fig. 5) found on

the Snow Bunting, is a large white

form with the prothorax remarkably

large, and but slightly narrower than

the head, which is triangular. A nar-

row dark line extends along each side

of the head and body. The trabe-

culæ are large, placed near the front of the head, and the

antennæ in our specimens appear to be remarkably short,

Louse of Domestic Fowl,

being only one-half as large as the trabeculæ and not reaching .

to the outer edge of the head. "The abdomen is long, ovate.

The common barn-yard fowl is infested by a louse that we

may call Goniocotes Burnettii (Fig. 27), in honor of the late

Dr. W. I. Burnett, a young and talented naturalist and phys-

iologist, who paid more attention than any one else in this

country to the study of these parasites, and made a large

collection of them, now in the museum of the Boston Society

of Natura] History. It differs from the G. hologaster of

Tov vem mde a ce tg eur RUETNEE

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 95

Europe, which lives on the same bird, in the short second

joint of the antenns, which are also stouter; and in the

long head, the clypeus being much longer and more acutely

rounded ; while the head is less hollowed out at the insertion

of the antenne. The abdomen is oval, and one-half as wide

as long, with transverse, broad, irregular bands along the

edges of the segments. The mandibles are short and straight,

two toothed. The body is slightly yellowish, and variously

streaked and banded with pitchy black.

Of three species of Lipeurus, figured on the plate, fig. 2

represents a male of the louse of a crow, L. corvi, a new spe-

cies. Its body is unusually broad, and is white, with pitchy

black lines along the side of the head and thorax, a row of

small blackish oval spots along the abdomen, and a pair of

narrow black bands on each thoracic ring. The head is

broad and triangular, with large, curved, long trabecule, and

a prominence just behind the antennz. The latter are slen-

der and simple, with the two basal joints moderately large,

and of equal size and length; the three terminal ones are

slenderer; the third and fifth are of nearly the same length ;

the fourth is shorter, and the fifth ends in a rather sharp

point. The mandibles are slender, acute, and much curved.

The legs are rather stout, with two very small claws, and a

small thumb-like tubercle opposed to them.

Another species ( L. elongatus, n. sp., Pl. I, fig. 4, 9)

is allied to the L. baculus and squalidus of Europe. It is

white, with pitchy black patches along the sides of the abdo-

men, and at the base of the legs. The head is pitehy black

along each side. The two basal joints of the antenns are

of the same length; the third joint is a little larger and

longer than the fourth, while the fifth is a third longer than

the fourth, and is barrel-shaped. The third species (L. gra-

cilis, n. sp., Pl. I, fig. 6, d) has a longer and narrower head

with the clypeus more expanded and larger, and the edge

of the body is dark, but the band is not so wide as in ZL.

elongatus. There are two conical trabecule, and the antenne

96 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

are as long as the head is broad at the place of their inser-

tion ; the second joint is much longer than the first ; the third

and fourth are together as long as the second, while the fifth

is a quarter longer than the fourth joint. The mandibles are

narrow, acute, with two unequal fine teeth.

To the genus Trichodectes belongs the T. subrostratus

Nitzsch? (Fig. 27) identified by Dr. Burnett as probably

the same as the European species. It is a

parasite of the common cat. The front of

the rather square head is elongated trian-

gularly, with the apex ending in two acute

spines on the under side of the head. The

antenne are three-jointed, with the middle

joint a little longer than the last. The

abdomen is oval, and the animal is whitish,

with the head and thorax pale honey- .

yellow. The other species lives on the

goat; it seems to be undescribed, and may

be called the Trichodectes capre (Fig. 23) ;

it is closely allied to T. longicornis of

Europe, but the head is not hollowed so much in front and is

rather broader, while the third joint of Fig. 28.

the antenne is more slender than in that

species. It is reddish yellow, while the

abdomen is edged with red, and is barred

transversely with reddish brown.

The Saddle-back Gull (Larus ma-

rinus) is infested by an undescribed

«species of louse which we may call Ool-

pocephalum lari, Pl. I, fig. 1. It is dark

brown and oval in form, with the head

deeply indented in the middle; the an-

terior lobe, or clypeus (made too small Louse of the Goat.

in the figure), is twice as broad as long, with the basal half

of che head a little wider than the head is long. The slen-

der filiform antenne are three-jointed, the last joint some-

Fig. 27.

Louse of the Cat.

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS. 97

what pointed. The third segment of the thorax is as wide

as the head, and the legs are thick, the femora being broad.

It is allied to C. piceum Denny, which in Europe lives on

the Sandwich Tern.

The most degraded genus is Gyropus, of which Mr. C.

Cook has found G. ovalis of Europe abundant on the Guinea

pig. A species is also found on the porpoise ; an interesting

fact, as this is the only insect we know of that lives parasit-

ically on any marine animal.

The genus Goniodes is of great interest from a morpho-

logical and developmental point of view, as the antenne are

described and figured by Denny as being "in Fig. 29.

the males cheliform (Fig. 29, a, male; b, fe- /

male); the first joint being very large and

thick, the third considerably smaller, recurved

towards the first, and forming a claw, the

fourth and fifth very small, arising from the

back of the third.” He farther remarks, “the

males of this [ G. stylifer, which lives on the

Turkey] and all the other species of Goniodes,

use the first and third joints of the antenne

with great facility, acting the part of a finger

and thumb" (Denny's Monographia Anoplu- Antenne of Goniodes.

rorum Britannie, 1842, p. 155 and 157). The antenne of

the females are of the ordinary form. This hand-like struc-

ture, is so far as we know, without a parallel among insects,

the antennz of the Hemiptera being uniformly filiform,* and

from two to nine-jointed. The design of this structure is

probably to enable the male to grasp its consort and also .

perhaps to cling to the feathers and hairs, and thus give it a

superiority over the weaker sex in its advances during court-

ship. Why is this advantage possessed by the males of this

genus alone? The world of insects, and of animals generally

abounds in such instances, though existing in other organs,

* Except in Ranatra and Belostoma where they are disposed to be flabellate, 7.4.

rudely pectinated on one side

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 18

98 CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

and the developmentist dimly perceives in such departures

from a normal type of structure, the origin of new generic

forms, whether due at first to a "sport" or accidental varia-

tion, or, as in this instance perhaps, to long use as prehensile

organs through successive generations of lice having the

antenne slightly diverging from the typical condition, until

the present form has been developed. Another generation

of naturalists will perhaps unanimously agree that the Cre-

ator has thus worked through secondary laws which many of

the naturalists of the present day are endeavoring, in a truly

scientific and honest spirit of inquiry, to discover.

In their claw or leg-like form these male antenne also

repeat in the head, the general form of the legs, whose pre-

hensile and grasping functions they assume. We have seen

above that the appendages of the head and thorax are alike

in the embryo, and the present.case is an interesting example

of the unity of type of the jointed appendages of insects,

and articulates generally.

Another point of interest in these degraded insects is,

that the process of degradation begins either late in the life

of the embryo or during the changes from the larval to the

adult, or winged state. An instance of the latter may be

observed in the wingless female of the canker worm, so dif-

ferent from the winged volant male ; this difference is created

after the larval stage, for the caterpillars of both sexes are

the same, so far as we know. So with numerous other ex-

amples among the moths. In the louse, the embryo, late in

its life, resembles the embryos of other insects, even Corixa,

a member of a not remotely allied family. But just before

hatching the insect assumes its degraded louse physiognomy.

The developmentist would say that this process of degrada-

tion points to causes acting upon the insect just before or

immediately after birth, inducing the retrogression and

retardation of development, and would consider it as an

argument for the evolution of specific forms by causes act-

ing on the animal while battling with its fellows in the

Ne ONE SENS a

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e ene TAE T at

ait A Ty

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FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 99

struggle for existence, and perhaps consider that the meta-

morphoses of the animal within the egg are due to a reflex

action of the modes of life of the ancestors of the animal on

the embryos of its descendants. `

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 1.

Fig. 1. Colpocephalum lavi Pack. la, antenna. The short line by the side

gives the length of the insect.

Fig. 2. Lipeurus corvi Pack. 2a, antenna,

** 3. Docophorus buteonis Pack. 3a, antenna,

* 4. Lipeurus elongatus Pack. 4a, antenna.

* 5. Nirmus thoracicus Pack,

6. Lipeurus gracilis Pack.

** 7. Docophorus hamatus Pack.

NOTES ON FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M. D.

Tue character of the Delaware River, in the vicinity ot

Trenton, New Jersey, the head of navigation, is quite varied ;

the bed is stony, with scattered large rocks above the rapids,

and sandy, with some vegetation below the falls; the current

is swift to the rapids, but less so, being tide water, below

them; these conditions, with that of the varied character of

the tributaries at and near Trenton, make it an excellent

point at which to examine the ichthyology of this river basin.

This has been done partly by those who have received col-

lections therefrom; but there is nothing i in the publications

of their studies giving any knowledge of the habits of

these fish, but siuply the fact of their presence in these

waters.

The ichthyic fauna is quad aay as some streams are cold

and swift, that until lately harbored trout; and other

streams, sluggish and thick, that are paradisiacal to the mud-

fish (Melanura), and the sucker (Hylomyzon).

100 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

In the present paper we propose not only to mention the

results of the study of the habits of the species partieular-

ized, but to refer also to observations we have made, that

apply to the fishes of these waters as a class, rather than to

any single species. These observations we will give first,

and then notice separately the more interesting species, in

conclusion.

We would first call attention to alterations in circum-

scribed faune. These changes are what have occurred lately

in the small brooks, either emptying into the river directly,

or tributary to the two large creeks, the Assunpink, and

Crosswicks. We give only such instances as have occurred

under our own notice. In the month of June, 1867, we

fished the entire length of a never failing spring-brook, re-

markable always for the number of specimens, if not of

species. The fauna consisted, as usual, of chubs (Semotilus

rhotheus and S. corporalis) ; dace (Argyreus atronasus), and

minnows (Fundulus multifasciatus). The abundance of these

species was relatively as named. During the first week of

July following, a heavy, sudden fall of rain caused a consid-

erable rise in the brook, and the extra bulk of water rushing

over the narrow bed, altered the character of the brook so

slightly, that it attracted no notice from those accustomed to

seeing it daily. On the subsidence of the water, no cypri-

noids, or in fact other fish, eould be found, although we left

hundreds in the stream. A week later we found a few

roach (Stilbe Americana) ; they were never seen by us pre-

viously, in this stream, and still later, young mullet ( Moxos-

toma oblongum). No chub have since been seen in this brook,

which during the summer past (1869), was well tenanted

with the species substituted in 1867, for them. During the

last summer a few red-fins ( /Typsilepis cornutus), and shiner

(Hypsilepis Kentuckiensis), made their appearance. In a

similar instance, happening in 1868, a familiar creek, teem-

ing with eyprinoids, but with representatives of no other

family, was found after a freshet to have lost a large number

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 101

of its species, and those remaining, represented by but few

individuals; while percoids, heretofore wanting, appeared in

the shape of Banded Sunfish (Bryttus chetodon), and Spot-

ted-finned Sunfish (B. punctatus) ; also a few specimens of

the Pirate (Aphrodederus Sayanus) were met with.

A third instance of alteration in the fauna, with no change

in the bulk of water, occurred in the Shabbaconk Creek, a

creek flowing into the Assunpink, which latter is dammed

at its mouth, effectually preventing fish, leaving this creek,

from returning to it. In this instance, the Aphrodederus

Sayanus, which, for several seasons previous to 1867, had

been abundant, suddenly disappeared. We have searched

for them repeatedly since, but never have taken a single

specimen. In the Assunpink Creek, where these “pirates”

it would seem must have gone to, we have also carefully

searched, but its extensive basin has not yet furnished a

single specimen.

Such experiences of one familiar with these waters for fif-

teen years, explain why it is that different visitors in a few

years examination of a stream or neighborhood, will in their

reports differ considerably. One’s own notes may be very

inconsistent, on comparing those of any year with that of the

preceding or following season. Even to the smaller cypri-

noids, that are, we would suppose indisposed, if able, to

migrate, we have applied the terms "abundant," “rare,”

"numerous," "scarce," at different times. More frequently

these contradictory “remarks” were jotted down with ref-

erence to the occupants of small streams, but not altogether

so. It is our custom now to look upon the contents of —

any one stream as but very imperfectly showing the fauna

of that neighborhood, for two water-courses similar in all

respects to the eye, may have no species common to each,

although but two or three miles distant. In concluding

what we have to say under this head — of changes in

faung— we would call attention to our experience in find-

ing ourselves apparently or really in error. Frequently

102 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

we have failed to produce for visitors what we claimed

in publications as easily obtainable ; so we have been forced

to the conclusion that only a series of examinations, cov-

ering three or four years, will warrant one in asserting

positively, that this or that species is a denizen of such and

such waters. An instance of this presents itself forcibly

now in the fact that during the past summer a few speci-

mens of Pomoxis hexacanthus were caught in the Delaware

River. -They were not caught here before 1869, and may

not be here during the coming summer. Through canals a

few specimens might have strayed into the Delaware, or it

may be they were the pioneers of the species hereafter be-

come resident, but the fact, as it now stands, goes for noth-

ing in deciding the geographical range of that species.

Recently discovered species. Professor S. F. Baird, during

the summer of 1854, discovered, in New Jersey, three fresh- _

water percoids, the Banded Sunfish (Bryttus chetodon), the

Spotted Olive Sunfish (Brytius obesus), and the Mud Sunfish

(Ambloplites pomotis). Sometime later Dr. Cheston Morris

discovered in the Delaware, near Philadelphia, the Pomotis

(Bryttus) punctatus, which we now believe to be distinct

from B. obesus. With reference to the three latter species,

we have only to say that their dull coloring and general sim-

ilarity to other species may have caused them to be over-

looked; but we very much question if they were any way

near as abundant before detected by Baird and Morris, as

they now are. With the Bryttus chetodon the case is dif-

ferent. A year later than the date of Baird’s discovery of

this species, in Atlantic County, it appeared sparingly in

Watson’s Creek (Mercer County), a tributary of the Dela-

ware. Since then it has been crowding out the old time

“Sunny” (Pomotis aureus), although never reaching over

one-third the size of that sunfish.

This fish (B. chetodon), considering jts clear silvery and

jet black markings could never have been overlooked.

Wherever it was previously to 1855 it then became an addi-

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 103

tion to the fauna of Mercer County, and of New Jersey, about

the time of its discovery by Baird we believe. Few in

numbers at first, it has steadily multiplied until now it is

fully as common in a few streams as the P. aureus is in

many others.

To pass now from quiet shady waters to the rapid hill-side

brooks, let us discuss the active little cyprinoid, called, by

Girard, Cyprinella analostana, and shown by Professor Cope

to be the Hypsilepis anulostanus. This little fish, we know,

was not a common species, we doubt if it was an inhabitant

of our waters at all twelve years ago ; and now four-fifths of

the streams, besides the shallow rapid waters above the falls

in the river, are literally full of them. Discovered by Kirt-

land in 1845, in the Ohio, did they work their way from

there to here, or how became they so abundant in New Jer-

sey, we might say, suddenly? If they were throughout the

past century, say, a resident of our waters, with so few indi-

viduals of their species in existence as to escape detection

or to be confounded with others, what caused their numbers

so suddenly to increase, that now they are taking the place

of the old-fashioned Red-fin ( Hypsilepis cornutus) ?

In the absence of any facts to the contrary we have

jumped at the conclusion, that these "newer species” were

to us, "newer creations.” If created of old then some un-

detected alterations in our waters must be going on that

some few years since gave them an impregnable advantage

in the struggle for existence, and which will give other spe-

cies now overlooked, ultimately, a similar advantage. Grant-

ing this why do we not come across the few specimens that

are now merely preserving their kind until the favorable

moment arrives for their assuming a multitudinous existence?

As far as we know the "rare" species of the present have

somewhere localities where they are abundant, and those

with us are those that are "pioneering," and are always in

direct communieation with the river basin — the mass of

their species dwell.

104 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

Habits of fresh-water fish. We have never met with any

elaborate treatise upon this subject; and have been surprised

that it should be so little referred to by those who have so

carefully described the fish themselves, unless it is that

the describer has not generally been the collector. "Clear

water,” “muddy streams,” “rapid creeks,” “sluggish brooks,”

and such phrases cover the whole ground, frequently, of the

habits of the species, unless like the stickle-backs they do

something so marked that it cannot well be overlooked. The

introduction of aquaria has not done much to elucidate the

subject, in consequence of the meagre dimensions of the

tanks and carelessness to imitate nature. To what we pro-

pose to réfer now, more particularly, is that the habits of

the same fish vary much in accordance with their surround-

ings, and that the various species are not as confined to

certain kinds of streams as is usually supposed.

We make these two statements after a careful résumé

of our many notes, giving them as the result of eleven

years study of the habits of the forty-nine species, that

are found in the Delaware River or its tributaries, within

five miles of Trenton, in one direction or another. Take

the ten percoids as an example. We have found them in

every variety of water the neighborhood produced, even to

the little rivulets, where young Pomotes and Brytti hovered

behind rocks, in the stiller water, but dashed up stream on

being disturbed. Now these “sun-fish” as a class, are deni-

zens of still water; but the exceptions are not so few, as to

be put under the head of “merely accidental.” In sluggish,

gloomy water, we have found many a school of White-perch

(Morone Americana), that had but to swim a thousand yards

to join their fellows in the swift waters of the river and like

them prey upon the cyprinoids there abundant, but scarce

in the muddy, quiet ereek we mentioned. Often when fish-

ing for pout and the larger Pike (sox reticulatus), we have

found these schools of White-perch, occasionally having the

Rock-fish (Roccus lineatus) associated with them.

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 105

The .ApArodederus Sayanus, once abundant in a clear

pebbly-bedded creek, is now occasionally found in deep

waters with little currents, where the banks overhang suffi-

ciently to give them a safe retreat.

The Bill-fish (Belone longirostris), is not sufficiently abund-

ant in the river, to give one good opportunities of thoroughly

studying it. During the summer, or autumn, numbers of

them occasionally enter the Delaware and Rariton Canal at

Bordentown, New Jersey, and thence come into the canal

basins. When the water is let out of the canal in De-

cember these fish are sometimes caught in the basins which

are a little deeper than the canal. In these puddles, if not

discovered by boys, they will remain during the winter, half

buried in the mud, and semi-torpid. On the opening of

navigation in March they seem to be wholly revivified, and

frequent this artificial water-course during much of the sum-

mer, but finally disappear. An accident brings them, but

they adapt themselves to the surroundings, as their remain-

ing during the summer shows. Occasionally seeing quanti-

ties of young about two inches long seems to show that they

spawned in the canal. The common Barred Minnows, Fun-

dulus multifasciatus, have occasionally been seen by the author

in spring-basins, at a considerable elevation from the brook

into which its waters emptied. How they got there was a

question it was found difficult to answer. To pass from the

brook to the spring head it was necessary to pass up little

perpendicular falls of twelve and fifteen inches. Within a

short time we came across a large number in a little pool

about a yard in diameter, fed by a fall of just thirteen inches,

and very nearly perpendicular. With a sudden onset, we

forced them from their quarters and saw several mount the

fall. The power of this fish to swim against the current is

very great, and by exercise of it only could we explain their

presence at fountain heads. The mass of these fish are found

in the river and tide water creeks, but in some numbers

everywhere that it is possible for any fish to live.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 14

106 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

Many more instances might be given showing the wide

range of territory and difference in habit in different local-

ities, which these fish have; and how unsafe it is to judge

from a casual circumstance or two, what may be the peculi-

arities of any species.

Under the headings of certain species we propose now to

call attention to peculiarities that are specific in their nature,

especially breeding habits of some of the less numerous

residents.

Banded Sunfish (Lryttus chetodon). In the "Geology

of New Jersey,” page 807, the author under the above head-

ing, says “this interesting species is a lover of weedy, slug-

gish streams and ponds, and is never met with in tide-

water." We now, at this writing, are confident, that there

is no fish in New Jersey found in other water not some-

times met with in tide water. Since the above quotation

was put in print we have taken this sunfish from the “bel-

lies” of shad-nets, which were drawn in decided tide waters,

the Delaware and Crosswick’s Creek. The breeding habits

of this species have, during the past two summers, puzzled us

considerably. That they occasionally scoop out a little basin

in the sand, and there deposit the ova, is undoubtedly true ;

but not always is this the case we judge, as during April of

1868—69, we found them in all sorts of out-of-the-way

places, the females heavy with eggs, and in some instances,

a female with a male at her side, were hidden at the foot of

a tussock, -with scarcely enough water to cover them. Two

months later the ground over which they swam was perfectly

dry. Was a severe battle going on between this species and

the Pomotis aureus, that they were forced to hide themselves

to preserve their ova from destruction? We did see some

“nests” like those of P. aureus, but they were not abundant,

as we had seen them previously. "The other Bryttus is simi-

— lar in his habits to the Pomotis, and is not so peaceable as

the B. chetodon; but preferring localities not favorites of

other "sunfish," it does not interfere much with them. The

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 107

coloration of both B. chatodon and B. obesus is very vari-

able. On removing them from the water the black stripes

of the former, and brilliant spots of the latter, are very dis-

tinct, but they soon fade even if replaced in water. In an

aquarium, when first placed in it, they are dull, yellowish

brown, with no distinet bars or spots, but in a short time

they resume that coloring which easily distinguishes them

from other sunfish; the cAetodon becoming silvery, the

obesus, deep olive.

Pirate Perch (Aphrodederus Sayanus). In the “Geology

of New Jersey,” page 808, we make the following statement :

"The ‘pirate’ makes a nest after the manner of the sunfish,

and with the female guards it and afterwards the young, till

they reach a size of one-third of an inch, when they are left

by their parents, etc.” Since the above was written (1866)

we have had some opportunities of farther studying the

habits of this peculiar fish. We believe that they occupy

the nests made by sunfish, but do not scoop them out for

themselves. Furthermore this is not the only manner of

breeding, but like many other fish they seek out-of-the-way

places, as deserted burrowings of the musk-rats (Fiber

zibethicus), and here the pair will remain several days, and

when the young appear they are attended by the parents, or

at least an adult pair, until they are about one-third of an

inch. When young the Aphrodederus is very black, with a

few pale, yellowish dots. The tail is margined with white,

whieh disappears on the fish reaching an inch or more in

length. The adult fish, measuring five inches in length, has

been seen frequently to swallow one of its own kind meas-

uring an inch.

Mud Minnow (Melanura limi). It would be an interest-

ing question to solve in how little water and how compact

mud this fish can survive. Its gills present nothing pe-

culiar in themselves, and certainly are not powerful enough `

to squeeze water out of the mud in which we have found

them buried, two (and one four) inches deep. On closely

108 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

examining the bottom of any ditch one can easily detect the

Melanura lying close upon the mud as quietly as an Etheo-

stomoid,* but if at all disturbed they immediately dart off,

and with a rapid twirl and twist of their whole body will

bury themselves entirely out of sight at about an angle of

forty-five degrees, tail down. We have often tried this in a

shallow aquarium with mud on the bottom, and always with

the same result. The movement is too rapid to be learned

in detail, but they always bury themselves in a hole scooped

out with their tail, which is the most deeply buried portion

of their body.

A peculiarity of this fish worthy of note is the length of

time at which it will maintain one position, especially a per-

Fig. 30.

Smelt, Osmerus mordaz.

pendicular one, head up and tail down. In an aquarium we

have had them remain so four minutes, while we held just

above the water a worm or fly. On slowly lowering these

until they touched the water the fish would then seize them

with a rapidity of movement equal to that of the trout. We

have likewise seen them leap from the water a distance

greater than their length, and seize insects that were upon

blades of grass overhanging the ditch. The largest speci-

men of Melanura limi ever seen by the writer measured

seven inches.

Frost-fish ( Osmerus mordax). We desire to record here

*In mentioning the number of fish in this neighborhood (Trenton, N. J.) as forty-

nine, we did not include the Etheostomoide, and the few stickle-backs that come and

go. Both these Visión às represented in the Delaware will be studied and published

in a separate paper

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 109

the fact of the presence of this fish in a few numbers during

almost every month of the year. In August when the young

shad are going down the river, we have seen single speci-

mens of “smelt,” or “frost-fish,” as they are generally

called. Occasionally also when fishing for White-perch

(Morone Americana) we have caught them. In April there

is very generally a freshet that submerges the tract of mead-

ows bordering on the river south of Trenton. On the sub-

sidence of this water the frost-fish are occasionally seen

with a few herring in the small ditches, and are known then

by juvenile anglers as the “silver pike.” Hearing frequent

mention of silver pike, I found this to be the fish referred

to. Herring that are thus caught in ditches and cut off from

the creeks do not live, but the Osmerus appears to thrive very

well. The herring is the " Alewife" (Alosa tyrannus).

Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma Cepedianum). We gave a short

notice of this species in the “ Geology of New Jersey,” page

Fig. 31.

Gizzard Shad, Dorosoma Cepedianum.

822, which we will quote and speak of more particularly.

“Occasionally the ‘gizzard shad’ is carried by a freshet into

inland streams usually having very small outlets, and thus

imprisoned they thrive very well. A pond near Trenton was,

in 1857, stocked with them, and is now full of specimens,

some weighing five pounds apiece.” Besides this pond

110 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

spoken of we know of one or two creeks that are annually

visited by a few of these herring, and have occasionally seen

several bushels hauled from the deep holes in the creeks they

had entered. They appear in the Delaware early in March,

before the other representatives of the Clupeide do, and as

they are not ever taken in very great numbers, as are the-

other herring in the river, we judge that the immense quan-

tities occasionally taken in creeks, is to be explained in the

suggestion that those that come in the spring do not return.

We have seen them in mid-winter frozen to death, appar-

ently, and have reason to believe that they bury themselves

in the mud when they take up their winter quarters in creeks

and ponds.

The specimens we first met with, and described as Cha-

toéssus insociabilis, were from the pond referred to, stocked

in 1857. They were different in coloration from the same

fish as found on the coast and in the Delaware, and appeared

to be distinct. If these Dorosome are left to themselves, un-

visited by others later from the coast, will they in time be-

come so far changed by the change in their surroundings as

to be a different species? We thought them distinct in 1860,

and the .Dorosoma, from this same pond, is a different

looking fish now, in 1870, from what it was then. The dif-

ference being one of color only it suggests the question as

to whether the character of the water influences the charac-

teristic coloring of species?

The Chub (Semotilus rhotheus and S. corporalis). In all

the tributaries of the Delaware, as well as in the river itself,

“chub” abound. There are several points in their history that

we cannot fully understand when reading what has been pub-

lished of the two species, especially “Cope’s Monograph on

the Cyprinidz of Pennsylvania." This author very correctly

gives the Delaware as the locality of the Semotilus rhotheus,

and admits the presence of S. corporalis. Now in the Del-

aware, at Trenton, "chub" are very abundant, as we de-

scribed them in 1861, which description Cope says is his S.

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 111

rhotheus, and we agree with him; but in addition he says

the Cyprinus atromaculatus is the young of the S. corporalis.

If such were the case then why are not the adult S. corpo-

ralis abundant in the river in proportion to the presence of

the young in the smaller streams? The true corporalis is

scarce, very scarce, yet the atromaculatus is abundant. This,

of course, is an absurdity; but these atromaculati are not

young rhothei; that fish when young is wholly different in

Fig. 32.

Chub, Semotilus rhotheus.

color, being wholly silvery on the sides and belly, the silver

becoming roseate near the back, which is "deeply, darkly,

beautifully blue."

We have endeavored for several years to collect specimens

of atromaculatus of all sizes, and so see where and when

they cease to be atromaculatus and become true corporalis.

We have as yet failed to do so, and have been somewhat

disposed to consider it not the young of any species for these

reasons. It is a peculiarly brook-loving species, hovering

about deep holes, and most ingenious in its mode of eluding

the pursuit of collectors. They are never found (that is,

have not been by us) associated with the young of true

“chub” as that fish is known. Their peculiar markings ren-

der them at once distinguishable from the young of S.

rhotheus, and the two love very different waters, the

S. atromaculatus loving muddy bottoms, in which they

112 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

half bury themselves, while the young of S. rhotheus are

fond of and frequent always pebbly-bottomed, rapid brooks.

To recapitulate, we have, in the Delaware River and its

. tributaries, the Semotilus rhotheus in abundance, likewise

the young in the directly tributary streams, equally nu-

merous — and in eertain streams, some cut off from the

river by dams, the fish described by Mitchell as Cyprinus

atromaculatus, which reaches a length of six and seven

inches, and presents a coloration of black, yellow, reddish

and silvery, like no other fish of our waters. If these are

the young of the Cyprinus corporalis of the same author,

why have we not this latter fish in abundance also? But

we have not. Again, in streams, as the Assunpink and

Shabbaconk, which are cut off from the Delaware by dams,

and in the Stony-brook and Mill-stone, which are eut off

from the Rariton, we have Semotilus atromaculatus which

never cease to be such. Do they die for want of the rivers

to become the S. corporalis? If not, where are these larger

chub? In Stony-brook and the Mill-stone we have also the

SS. rhotheus, from half an inch to nearly half a yard in

length. The difference in the scales of these two species of

"ehub" render them distinguishable without reference to

color; and the S. atromaculatus agree with the size and

number of scales of S. corporalis, as given in the “Mono-

graph of the Cyprinide of Pennsylvania," by E. D. Cope.

We are not yet satisfied, however, that the atromaculated

chub of the Delaware basin is the young of any other

species.

Roach (Stilbe Americana). Professor E. D. Cope in his

Monograph says of this fish: “This Stilbe rarely exceeds

seven inches in length." In the various streams in which we

find the "roach," it is so frequent an occurrence to meet with

them eight, nine, and nine and a half inches in length, that

we are surprised at the figure mentioned by Cope as the

maximum length. Otherwise his remarks accord with our

observations. These large specimens have the pectoral,

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 113

ventral and anal fins brilliant orange, during the spring and

early summer, and later the color is dimmed but not lost.

The color of the body is, as given by him, of “a greenish,

brassy, or golden lustre." Smaller specimens even during

the spring have the fins black and the general coloration sil-

very; duller upon the back than the sides. This species is

not as much annoyed by the approach of winter as are many

of the cyprinoids, merely seeking deeper waters. By cutting

a hole in the ice and letting down a well-baited hook they

are readily taken, and the larger ones at this season are ex-

cellent eating to those who are not incommoded by the mul-

tiplicity of small bones. The largest “roach” we have ever

seen measured exactly nine and seven-eighths inches.

The Mud-sucker (Hylomyzon nigricans). In a tortuous

tide-water creek, with unobstructed access to the Delaware,

there are to be found at all seasons of the year where the

water is deepest and the mud almost unfathomable, myri-

ads of these “suckers”—old, young and middle-aged. Lazy,

limp, almost lifeless, with a net they can be scooped up,

offering no resistance, scarcely flapping their tails. As we

follow up the course of this stream (Crosswick’s Creek,

Burlington Co., N. J.) we still find them tucked in under

the overhanging banks, and so listless that on the receding

of the water, at the turn of the tide, they sometimes are left

high and dry before they are aware of it.* In other

streams of New Jersey the fish is less abundant, and found

usually with the “mullet” (Moxostoma oblongum). As an

article of food they are good from December until April,

and from then until winter are as near worthless as any fish

well can be. We once saw a large specimen in the jaws of

a Water-snake ( T'ropidonotus sipedon), which squealed like

* A similar instance of this is very well "a = a dec different "p uen Poa

oroar

PET PAE WM

the recession of the water until too late. Between tides we have gathered over

hundred in a space not over twenty yards square. Nothing in their stomachs owas

what particular article of food they sought.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 15

114 RESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

a young pig, more so than cat-fish have been known to do

under similar circumstances, and showing greater indications

of “a voice" than does the chub, which Cope says “utters a

chirruping and croaking noise.”

The Gar (Lepidosteus osseus). During the past summer

while walking on the banks of Crosswicks Creek, we were

attracted by a decided commotion in the water, and on near-

ing the spot found a young gar, probably eighteen inches

long, surrounded by and evidently harrassed by a dozen or

more Bill-fish ( Belone longirostris). It soon disappeared by

sinking out of sight, but reappeared soon near the shore,

giving us an opportunity of watching it. It remained as

Fig. 33.

Gar pike, Lepidosteus osseus.

motionless as an Hsox for several minutes, and on the ap-

proach of a minnow would come as near the shore as possi-

ble, moving steadily backwards. If the fish came to about

where the gar previously had been, it was seized in an

instant, and the Zepidosteus would remain motionless until

the approach of another Minnow would cause it to again

draw back. We finally interrupted this “play” in an attempt

to shoot the specimen. This fish we should judge was yearly

becoming more scarce in the basin of the Delaware.

The Darters (Zheostomoide) as a class have been the

most difficult to collect and study. They are with us in

most streams exceedingly abundant, as also in the river

itself. Lying motionless upon the flat stones or compact

sand they readily escape detection, except by experts. As

yet we have not made as elaborate a collection as we desire,

but are satisfied we can show in this family some instances

of wide geographical range, and one or more undescribed

species,

FHESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 115

Another family, the stickle-backs ( G'asteroste?), is one of

much interest as found with us, but they are so uncertain in

their stay in any stream that we have concluded to wait until

another season’s out-door work shall have given us farther

opportunities to study them. The four-spined Stickle-back

( Apeltes quadracus) as an instance, for several summers was

quite abundant in several streams, and is now not seen in

any of them. In Watson’s Creek, in 1865, they were very

abundant, and the writer found several nests; in later seasons

they were still present but in fewer numbers, and during the

summers of 1868—69 they had disappeared. We were ac-

eustomed to collect them from the "bellies" of nets drawn

in the river, and lately have been very unsuccessful in find-

ing them.

During the present, almost completed winter, the Dela-

ware River has not been closed by ice, and judging trom

appearances at the time of writing (Feb. 18, 1870), it is not

likely to be so closed. The fishermen have been steadily

engaged in their pursuit, and with draw and gill nets have

eaptured in very unusual abundance the commoner resident

species, and also single specimens of rare fish, rare either

for the time of year, or for the locality. Some of these

instances are sufficiently of interest to warrant recording

them.

On the 20th of January, the weather warm and water

wholly free from ice, a Shad (Alosa prestabilis), weighing

four and one-half pounds, was taken a short distance from

the city. It was supposed to have been a sickly fish that

had not "gone out" in August of the preceding summer.

Such was proved not to be the case however, by an examina-

tion of the contents of the stomach, which demonstrated

that it had come directly from salt water. Among the mass

of marine food was a partially digested Killi-fish ( Z7ydrar-

gyra flavula). The Shad was a female, with ova apparently

as fully matured as in May. Two or three specimens of

other representatives of the Herring tribe were captured

116 FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY.

about this time, but to what genus they belonged, the writer

could not determine from what he heard. He did not see

the specimens. The Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma Cepedianum),

has been met with by single specimens and pairs, while fish-

ing for “suckers” (Catostomus) and “chub” (Semotilus).

The date is much earlier than any previous one, and prob-

ably more specimens have been taken. They were usually

large, but were thin, sickly and sluggish in their movements.

Probably but few of this species enter the river, or at least,

come up as far as Trenton. When once they have wandered

into deep ponds they will remain and breed. One pond,

that has been stocked with them since 1833, contains now

larger specimens than the writer has ever elsewhere seen.

.. On the 23d or 24th of January a healthy, strong, active

Cod-fish ( Morrhua Americana), weighing nearly four pounds,

was taken in a draw-net. The stomach of this fish showed

it had been in river-water for several days. The fisherman

who took this specimen considered it the first instance of the

kind on record, but such is not the case. Several have been

taken about Philadelphia during the past twenty years. A

unique oceurrence, however, we believe to be the capture of

a large Sturgeon in January. The Sturgeon is sensitive to

the cold, but it would seem that the water had not been

greatly chilled, considering the presence of this fish, which

was fully as active as the species is during the summer

months.

Of the resident fish that are to be taken in variable quan-

tities during the winter, when the ice is not abundant, the

sucker tribe and the Delaware chub are the principal. Dur-

ing the past few days the abundance of these fish has been

remarkable, and in one day several bushels were taken.

The number of chubs was very large and afforded excellent

opportunities of examining their distinctive characters.

They were all the Semotilus rhotheus Cope. None measured

less than eight inches in length, and every specimen, male

and female, had the brilliant rosy and blue tints mentioned

FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 117

by the writer in describing this species in 1861. Mr. Cope

has stated, in his Monograph on the Cyprinide of Penu-

sylvania (Transactions American Philosophical Society), that

the coloration given by the writer, was that of the male

in spring. The description he alludes to was drawn up in

the summer. Mr. Cope is correct as to the coloration being

that of the breeding season, but the tints do not grow less

distinct after spawning, and the female is very nearly, if

not quite, as highly colored during February, March and

April. Later, the female becomes silvery, but the male, in

clear waters, retains his high coloring. In muddy, sluggish

waters, the bright, rosy hue becomes a reddish brown; the

blue tints become leaden. Of the smaller specimens none

exhibited the peculiar cloudy markings of the Cyprinus

atromaculatus Mitchell. The largest specimen, a female,

measured fourteen inches in length, and exceeded all the

others in the magnificence of its coloring. The examination

of nearly three hundred specimens kat clearly that

the beauty of this species was in proportion to the size, and

that the sex could not be determined by the color of the

specimen.

Among this enormous quantity of specimens not a single

Semotilus corporalis was found.

NoTE.— Early in the month of February of this year, the writer received a imu

of sim fish” or “smelt,” from the Raritan River. N. J. Among these fish (Osmeru

mordax) Was a mp. peers of | a oyprinoid, wien was new to the waters of vnd

Jersey, and The specimen was —

to Professor E. D. Cope, and has since been Spese by him in MSS., s Hy

osmerinus Cope. The paper containing the description will be praon soon in a

* Transactions of the American sante Society of Philadelphia."

This is the only species of this genus found in the state, aud is, we believe, nd

In our report of the esee ted. New Jersey, si — boe n pene es end

" AL. as found in the s

rolepidotus whic h is very shade, in the Dolaware > River, about per south of bhia.

delphia, 1 f the

REVIEWS.

VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES.* — Professor Hunt has said more in the

zones, or regions of the earth in which volcanoes are found most abund-

antly, the author sums up the different theories which have been advanced

in the endeavors to account for these phenomena. He rejects entirely,

and with crushing force, the theory which attempts-to account for volca-

noes by supposing that they are the vents of a liquid nucleus, and gives a

summary of his reasons for doing so from which we quote the following

paragraphs:

we Judging from the known properties of the rocks icing which we are acquainted, solidifica-

ti tl but at tł the liquid globe, a process which

ould moreover be favored by the influence of pres This augments the melting temper-

ware of makters, which, Hke me rocks and mort other solids, become less đense when melted,

those which, like ice [or bismuth], be-

me more rras by fusion. Pressure, moreover, it may be mentioned in this connection, in-

eases ie t water for most bodies, whose solution may b scribed as a kind

-* meltii nidos n with water into u Dese density is greater Agen that of the mean

of its eonstituents; the importance of this Lees will appear farther he theory deduced

rom the above considerations, and adopted by Hopkins and by elt ui id briefly as follows:

the earth’s centre is solid, though still retaini ly the bigh temperature at which it be-

À dnos At an advanced stage in tl lidi f fused

r became viscid, so that the descent from the surface of the heavier partition, cooled by

radiation, was prevented, and a didnt m rmed, gend tiep whieh s istas nar — gone on very

slowly. There of yet unsolid-

ified matter (or even api as suggested by Serope, a continuous Pn and ri is in the ex-

istence of this stratum, or of lakes of uncongealed matter, that we are to find an explanation

Y noes and earthquak t f the

movemen whic h pen it "e >? rmation of moui pum in chain ns, as ingeniously set forth by Mr.

Shaler. The utra a gradually a most important agency in the

wer phones, is evidently not excluded by this hypothesis. It may be added that a sim-

f the globe, viz., a solid nucleus and a solid crust separated from each other by

hice stratum, wer io ng ago Suggested is Halley in order to explain the phenomena of ter;

ism.

poner or pressure m: esse portions ar of matter beneath th e surface to pass from solid tb

liquid, or from a vires to a solid state, and in this way helps us to explain the local and the

ede bavi of Hopkins and Serope appar ently

which I adopt, though differing from it in some most important particulars, eines

naming gisen them the existence of a solid nueleus and a solid erust, with an interposed

, on o

sss eous m dena but a layer of material which was once solid, but is now rendered liquid by the

interve — ^a water under the influence of heat and pressure. When, in the process of re-

iocus e globe bad r ached the pel int imagined by Hopki ns, where a solid crust was

over the e shallow. v molten lay id , the farther cooling and

contraction of ld lt in i ts, breaking it up, and causing the

asatio: iiw the va liquid portions confined beneath. When at length the reduction of

temperature permitted the precipita’ cpt T Te bp the — prasever — re, the

whole eooling and disintegrating mass ken:

* Abstract ofa Lecture by Profossor ' T: Lees ey enl D., ald R. S., delivered before the

" Pamph., pp. 10.

(118)

€

REVIEWS. 119

become exposed to the action of air and water. In this way the solid nucleus of igneous rock

became Garanin with a deep layer of disintegra ated snd wate — material, the

ruins of its former e influence of heat from

below and of air and water from above, the world of geologic and of —— history was to be

volved.

T4 +}

t mperatures, develops ex-

Wuordipary soivent powers; while from what has already been n of the influence of pre:

tl ht of the overlying mass becomes a s

— — Per the liquefaction of the wer portions of the sedimentary mate rim. TM is

sind ose alternately wasting pie building : up continents. By the depression of the

yielding crust bene vie 1 regions of great accumulation a ere follows a softening of the lower and

of mime À more fusible strata, while the gre deer mass of more silicious -— becomes —€— into

comparative rigidity. * and finally, as the result of he pee contraction, rises a hardened and

— atas which Pn their composilion Fiela snoer these conditions the most liquid

s conceived, th volcanic rocks. Shaa ccompanied by

difficultly eóerethl iure they are eter extravasated a ong the fissures

which form in the overlying stra d their The variations in the com-

position of lavas and their didi ying gases m different regions , and even from the sam

vent at different times, are strong confirmations of the trati e this view, kiss whieh may

ee » harm that a the various f types of 1 "

y the process of fusion."

OLOGY OF COLORADO AND NEW MExico.* — With the small appropri-

pere of ten thousand hie Dr. Hayden appears to have traversed in

ad c

for this purpose was so small that Dr. Hayden could not have accom-

plished a large portion of his explorations without their assistance, The

appropriation of ten thousand dollars, by the central government, to ex-

plore two territories, while a state is spending annually more than twice

that amount, per annum, upon a single institution, might excite some

Ei dum and confusion in the minds of a foreigner

route lay along the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains, from

due. in Wyoming Territory, to Santa Fé, the Middle Park having

been explored by a lateral excursion from Denver City. Returning from

e and

ee the Rocky apogs through the South Park. The explorer's

re with regard to the superficial deposits are very interesting, and

hait ari importance as an explanation of the origin of some of the

most interesting localities is our justification for the following extract:

* Preliminary Field Report of the U. S. prada Survey of Colorado and New Mexico,

By Dr. F. V. Hayden. Washington, D. C. 8vo.

120 REVIEWS.

* With the nommenpentent of the rinm v wae ushered in the dawn of ta eront lake period

of the Tek " f the tertiary

period, e up to the commencement of the present, there was a continuous series of fresh-

Water lakes. e pret the continent west of the Mississippi River. Assuming the position that

, progressive, and long-continued, and that the earlier sedi-

ments of the tectiney, were marine, then brackish, eec purely. fresh waten, we Wiame: reum

a of e gro y step,

p to the d time. The earliest of pr fecit lakes marked the commencem ment of the

tertiary period, me seps - have ee nivel a ven large — aai the American continent

west of he A f Dar

whie Lr we sg lave called the White River tertiary basin. We believe din it commenced its

growth near has south-eastern base of se. Disk agisce and gradually enlarged its borders. I

1 ost or quite up pi ihe QUERN

ot the present period; t tl d l he

Upper Arkansas, in the Middle Park, among the mountains at the ‘source of the Missouri

River, in Texas and California, and Utah, are all later portions of this great lake. The upper

i in the Win ve

mi r e deposit. ver Valley, near F ,and on the divide

between the Platte and the Arkansas Rivers, were undoubtedly synchronous, though perhaps

not eonnected 1 this great very year, as the limi ar

nded any direction, I fi es of what — to be separa e basins,

greater o , and bearing insic proof, m less pipet dig of the time of their

existence. I hav 9 gen in this pia e the above b Pelis; to of the various geologi

formai sas Ll lied tl West, in digi that my subsequent remarks on these

formations in their southern extension may be more clearly understood. Constant reference

will be medo to pus as the ey have aique seen in the e E h and West, in order that the story

of thei y be linked together

Dr. Hayden also speaks of having met with vast quantities of true drift

material which he regards as originating from the neighboring mountains.

kinds, but slightly worn; but proceeding from the base of the mountains,

the rocks become smaller and more rounded, until they pass into small

pebbles, mingled with loose sand. 'The phenomena of erosion, as seen at

the present time, all along the flanks of the mountains, in the plains, in

the channels of streams, point clearly to a vastly greater quantity and

force of water than exist anywhere at the present time." A page is de-

nis bre familiarity with them enables him to condense into so

brief as Bey

“It is now well known ite: the great Rocky Mountain PENE BER is not composed of a single

range, but a vast series of ranges, covering a width of sìx hundred a one thousand miles.

Toore are also two kinds of ra iota wen "e a i granitoa nucleus, with long lines of fracture,

the

us, and is cor

posed of a series of yotesuie cones or outburs of igneous rocks, in many cases forming thada

saw-like rid or sierras, as the Sierra Nev - Sierra Madre, ete. Along the easter rtion

of the Rocky Mountatns, os the north line to New Mexico, the ranges with a a grani toid nu-

cleus prevail. Each one of tl a number of fragmen

which — m des — from a definite direction, but the aggregate trend will he

about and south-e:

_ As I have | before stated, cach one of the main ranges seems to me to form a gigantic anti-

and the lower parallel ranges a ng like steps to

the plains, or to the m valley. If,for exam agp we were to aud pipund one a ne

minor mountain ranges, as the Black Hills of Dakota. re the

ey very complet e and er we should find a Souter: granitic axis, and. on — - AT scu

p 55 5 y no: rth and so! And

REVIEWS. 121

the eastern portion of the anticlinal, inis east side of the minor ridges — gently down,

vine the west side is abrupt; and on the western portion vice versa, But if we take the ridges

singly and examine them, we shall tm ta most cases that the aggregate — p mearty ners

west and south-east. The conseque

mountain from rogers to south, tse cor ranges or ridges pre esent a sort of ** en echelon” ap-

arance; that is, they run out one after the other in the prairies, preserving the nearly north

and south ebura of the entire sisted Not unfrequently a group or several of these ridges

will run out at the same time, e — a huge notch in the main range. This notch in most

which give birth to a water system of greater or less extent. trem for example, is the noteh

~ Cache a is Poudre, TORE ndo City, Canon City, on the Arkan as River, and other loca rest

are beyond comparison the most correct and most scientific of our Rocks Mountain region in in

existence, we s bvem uld at _— — the "nr: of ye es inet rang

of fracture iti i iti

north and en and "A these — pass out o or conse bod an end without prodome any

3 14

except perhaps.

plain through the mo onoclinal rift. But when ‘several of apa minor ranges come to end to-

e an abrupt jog of several miles towards the west is caused. Then d as rds range

dies out, a "— anticlinal oF s €— cemedartiben (ied is ptm tothe sedimentary beds, Be-

t th t of ridges or ** hog-backs” "riore es very

narrow, sometimes hs hardly Maer m sometimes emey onno esten by superficial de-

posits. But at these breaks the s ofr

from half a mile to wae or fifteen m aie hi width, ft is in i these localities that the complete

re s^ id country can be studied in detail. I do not Po of any portion of the

uch d geolo;

round "Colorado City. Neariy all the elements Edi geological cals revealed in t

ie studying the mines of Colorado the explorer apres that ^g: lodes

are almost invariably parallel, running north-east to south-w This

and the two cleavage planes, one north-east to UR ide and ye other

north-west to south-east, which he found to be peculiar to all the Azoic

rocks, leads to an important and highly interesting generalization :

“Tam inclined to neneve that the epist of the history of the — Mountain ranges is

closely conne . As I have before stated, my own

tamorpl

‘pote h f

mountains is north-west and south-east, and that the eruptive trend north-east and south-

es l t

d and sout ran,

range with a metamorphic or granitic nucleus, the trend chan. around to north-

pouth-nast. Many o of the ranges have a nucleus of metamorphic rocks Peal the cen =

be composed of nt case the igneous ma-

terial ds thrust - in eed be the same direction as the trend. It mes therefere pret

h th eraptive: meer Ss we z pa veas subsequent to the elevation of the

t in Soutl Colorado and New

metamorphie : nucleus,

P Jal] e H f E +

e them over large areas."

GEOGRAPHICAL HANDBOOK OF ALL KNOWN Wee is the title e the

eat and of the most praiseworthy of Fern-books, now so popular in

and. This neat volume is by K. M. Lyell (Mrs. Cir. , Lyell), jä is

just patioa by Murray; a small octavo of two hundred and twenty-

pages. It gives in order, under the principal countries, a list of all

inr Ferns, with range and localities, and then a full series of tables

exhibiting the geographical distribution of each species through the sev-

eral regions.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 16

199 REVIEWS.

RECENT WORKS ON THE EMBRYOLOGY OF ARTICULATES. — Besides the

very valuable paper of Melnikow on the embryology of the lice and other

insects pester noticed and quoted, we have to enumerate several others

of great importance, and which we hope to find room to notice at greater

war hereafter. Professor Claparéde has published a paper, Me illus-

trated, on the embryology of worms, especially Spirorbis, in Siebold and

Kolliker's “Journal.” Melnikow writes in gie aneri nans * On

the early stages of Tenia cucumerina, with a vei figures. Dr. Richard

Greef publishes in the same number of the ‘‘ Archiv" some most inter-

esting researches on Hide meines forms of Arthropoda and worm-

pn SER by four pla

r. Ant ohrn has Aeg runs the first part of his “Researches

on vs ioci and Development of Arthropoda" (Insects and Crusta-

cea) with nine excellent plates. It is extracted from Siebold and Kol-

liker's ‘“ Journal.” He here records his observations on the embryology

of Cuma and allied genera, of certain sea spiders (Pycnogonidz), and

thinks that embryology shows that these curious animals, classified

y many naturalists with the Ara ie are really Crustacea; and of

Daphnia, Praniza, and Paranthura Costana.

A paper of the greatest interest to Mlbonio etia is M. Ganin's ** Con-

tribution to a Knowledge of Developmental History in Insects" in Sie-

bold and Kolliker's “Journal.” It is fully illustrated, and some of the em-

bryoes and larve of certain Pteromali, Platygasters and Polynemas are

of such startling interest, from their resemblance to the zoeüs of crabs

and to certain low worms, that we must defer any farther notice for an-

other number, when we can insert cuts to illustrate our review

THE BOWDOIN SCIENTIFIC REvIEW.* — Two numbers have appeared of

this fortnightly paper, which is viciis im Professors Brackett and

Goodale of Bowdoin College. It is devoted mostly to chemistry and

physiology, and the editors say in their announcement that ** it was orig-

inally their design to communicate to their fellow physicians in Maine

recent intelligence in physiology, and chemistry applied to eee

This design has not been relinquished, but it has been somewhat moditied

at the suggestion of many, and the scope of the journal has been Make

without trespassing upon the field now so well occupied by our American

journals of natural history, physical science, and medicine. It is believed

that much of the work now accomplished by many of our domestic

foreign periodicals may made more directly available by the regular

journal will approach that of **Cosmos" and ‘‘ Les Mondes," but more

prominence will be given to the results of English and American study.”

We trust that this enterprising and ably conducted journal will meet with

every possible encouragement. We quote the conclusion of M. Mayer's

*A Fortnightly Review. Brunswick, Maine, 8vo, pp. 32. $2.00 a year.

"cec T

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 123

discourse before the Scientific Reunion of Insbruck, on Matter, Force and

“The French PUN — Hirn, who, at the same time with Joule, Colding, Holtman

and Heniholtz, disco mechanical equivalent of heat, arrived at the conclusion, which

i pae there are three categ

re)

P»

as we n w

retira part. But neither matter nor

v pars generally supposed that the nervous substance, and especially the brain matter

part in intellectual operatio dion try have

roved that no living organ, a pun course the brain, contains free e phosphorus. If, on one side,

si illusions must vanish before the data of an exact science, it is none the less iie. n

li rial modificatio

me co ottequenens ofas wor Tolconisr activity; wa nd — bnt intellectual acts

of the individ inti onnect But it isa

entify these two activities which ab pra parallel to each other. An illustration

can be no teleg iie com on

ts o.

what ve idea h

as a function of the electro-chemical action. That is still —

ever be regarded

for the brain and "thought. The brain is ouly the mac chine, it is not thought. Intellig

m ia

hib t

and the anatomist. What ist j y Jj 3

eternally pre-established by 1 objeeti

would be sterile. Logic is the statics of intell ligene e, gramm ar is its en, and language

ts dynami I finish in saying to you u with. deep convietion: an exact philosophy should and

NaTURE.* — During the last year we prendi à very favorable opinion

of “ Scientific Ones.” a weekly scientific newspaper, and have now to

g It is in royal 8vo form, well printed, containing ex-

cellent articles by the leading scientists of Great Britain, and much valu-

able weekly tpe Everybody who can afford to do so would do

well to subscribe to it.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

EDIBLE FuxGr. — During the last few years great attention has

paid, by botanists on the one hand and epicures on the other, to the Sec

qualities of certain fungi. Notwithstanding the prejudice generally en-

tertained against this class of vegetable productions, extending in Sc

land, Wales and some parts of England, even to the common mushroom,

Nature, a weekly illustrated journal of science. Royal 8vo, two columns. pp. 32. Twelve

atu

cents a number. Millan £ Co. New York, 63 Bleeker street.

124 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

there is no question that a considerable number of species, very abundant

the year when very little else is to be obtained. It is nigris that

— is scarcely a parish in England where tons of wholesome food are

not allowed to waste every year, to say nothing of the vicus for their

sci culture. Berkeley reckons that there are at least thirty distinct

English edible fungi; Dr. Curtis has partaken of forty in North Carolina,

and enumerates one hundred and eleven species in that state alone re-

puted to be edible. Fries, the greatest living cryptogamist, is publishing

a large work on the edible and poisonous fungi of Sweden; several works

ofa similar character have recently been brought out in Italy; in our

own country the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, Mr. Worthington G. Smith and Dr.

Bull of Hereford, may be mentioned as having paid special attention to

the subject. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

E TREES IN AUSTRALIA. — On this subject the government director

of the Botanic Garden at Melbourne furnishes some qp» catio details,

as follows:—‘‘The marvellous height of so f the Australian (and

ásia v the Victorian) trees has become we. instr of Mon: investi-

ation since of late (particularly through the miner's tracks) easier

access has been afforded to the back gullies of our mountain system.

Some astounding data, supported by actual measurements, are now on

record. e highest tree previously known was a Karri Eucalyptus

a deii select measured by Mr. Pemberton Nani in one

delightful gle f the Warren River, in Western Australia, where it rises

to ^ ado vum hundred feet high. Into the hollow trunk of this

Karri, three riders, with an additional pack- -borse, could enter and turn in

it without oo At the desire of the writer of those pages (Dr.

Müller), Mr. D. Bogle measured a fallen tree of Eucalyptus amygdalina, in

the deep recesses of Daudenong (Victoria), and obtained for it the length

of four hundred and twenty feet, with proportionate width; while Mr.

G. Klein took the measurement of a Eucalyptus on the Black Spur, ten

miles distant from Healesville, four hundred and eighty feet high... - -

It is not at all likely that, in these isolated inquiries, chance has led to

the really highest trees, which the most secluded and the least accessible

spots may still conceal. It seems, however, almost beyond dispute that

the trees of Australia rival in length, though evidently not in thickness,

even the renowned forest egg of California, Sequoia Wellingtonia, the

highest of which, as far as the writer is aware, rises, in their favorite

haunts at the Sierra even: to about four hundred and cuf feet. . ..

Mossman's Origin of the Seasons, p. 367. [And see more at Sa od « Silli-

man's Journal" for November, 1867, p. 422.]

LATE T EEEE E E e Neve ade ua EEUU PEREN

LP UN e

;

VETT ts ee. eT

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 125

TENDENCY OF FLORAL ORGANS TO EXCHANGE OFFICES. — In the No-

vember NATURALIST, p. 494, ** C. J. S.," speaks of finding a little ear on

the apex of a staminate spike of Indian Corn. This is something new to

me; but I have several times seen staminate organs, produced on - ear.

When the rains came after the past dry summer many plants seem to

have made haste to produce new organs even though out of lid «du

than to go on with the development of organs formed at the natural

t rn has

ime. This tendency gives us ears of c n the tassel, as C

observed, and tassels formed upon the ear and many abortive ears ina

single husk, as I h observed this fall. I have noticed, also, a few

growth of little leaves, and are scarcely recognizable as Timothy-heads.

D. MILLIKIN.

MoNsTROSITY IN TRILLIUM. — April 28, 1866, while totas D at ie

Roy, N. Y., I found a Trillium with two stems arising from a c

rootstock, "each stem bearing a flower unlike the other and neither pulsi.

he petals of one could hardly be distinguished from its sepals, the only

— Mire being a minute white margin surrounding the apex

of each petal. The floral envelopes in this case appear to have reverted

to the "pam and color of the leaves much more nearly, than in the other

terminal flower where the petals are oblong and pure white, having a nar-

row green stripe running through the centre of each. "Though monstros-

ities among the Trilliums may not be rare, I have never seen à similar

one. — C. S. OSBORNE, Rochester, N. Y.

Notices OF BOTANICAL MONSTROSITIES, such as the above, we are glad

from our various correspondents. But they must not be dis-

appointed if they should not appear at once. When they have accumu-

lated a little so as to throw interest upon each other, we will print them

all, or the most interesting ones, with some remarks on their classification

and bearing, as pe ted in connection with a recent work upon Vege-

table Teratology, by Dr. Masters of London, published by the Ray Soci-

ety. ‘If ou

monstrosity in Indian corn, the attempt to produce ears on the staminate

spike is common enough; the production of male flowers on the ear is so

unusual that we should be very glad to see specimens. Chlorosis (as it is

termed) in Trillium grandiflorum is rather common, and we find that the

plant so affected goes on year after year producing such blossoms. — Eps.

.— Dr. Berthold Seeman discusses in the **Journal of

upon a vegetation which, like the Arctic, enjoys the protection of a thick

covering of snow, and is besides in a state of inactivity. e tempera-

f the summer during the months of July and August has by far the

1236 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

greatest share in the distribution of vegetable life in the northern ipo

d i

there is no reason to suppose that the terrestrial pole is destitute of vege-

tation. The most northerly berry-bearing plant yet recorded is Vaccinium

Vitis-Idea, or the cranberry, gathered in Bushman Island, on the north-

west shore of vergence vs by Captain W. Penny, or in latitude 76° N.,

and longitude 6 . The most poto berry-bearing genera are Vac-

cintum, htt Rubus, Cornus and Empetrum. It is stated that occa-

sionally berries ripen in Lapland ene doped of Scienc

[We should think so! See Linneus’s “ Lapland Flora," and ‘Ms inter-

esting ** Tour in Lapland.” In the former almost thirty baccate-fruited

plants are enumerated, and at least half of these ripen edible berries. —

Epirors. |

THE FERTILIZATION OF WINTER-FLOWERING PLANTS. — Mr. A. W. Ben-

nett contributes = the first number of the new scientific ma aga pag

* Nature," the results of some observations on the fertilization of tho

plants which kibti flower in the winter, when there are few or no

insects to assist in the distribution of the pollen. He finds that in those

wild plants which flower and produce seed- bearing capsules throughout

the year, as the white and red dead- -nettles, shepherd's purse, chickweed,

groundsel, etc., the pollen is uniformly discharged in the bud before the

flower opens. Many garden-plants, on the other hand, natives of warmer

countries, but which still flower with us in the de epth of winter, never

bear fruit in this climate, and‘in them the pollen is not discharged till the

flower is fully open. Of this class are the yellow jasmine and the Chi-

monanthus fragrans, or all-spice tree; in the latter Species the arran ge

ment of the pistil and the stamens is such as to render self-fertilization

impossible. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

ZOOLOGY.

A Rare Duck. — A specimen of the aio Tree Duck, Dendrocygna

fulva, was killed in New Orleans on the 2 f January, 1870, and pre-

sented by Mr. N. B. Moore to the nds Institution. This is the

Tejou. The species occurs sparingly throughout Mexico and Central

America and the eastern parts of South America, and is said to have been

found nesting near Galveston, Texas, by Mr. Dresser. x

TES E Em NIE ANT PS. V PICENO NIE CN Fe)

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 127

tirai GILLs IN Ganorp Fises. — Steindachner has pied hus

lyp-

terus Senegalus external branchiw occur when they are youn In T new

species, P. Lapradei, the branchie persist in individuals yb viua inches

long. They consist of a long, flattened band, with fringed edges, very

like the external branchis of the axolotls; there is a single one on each

side behind the operculum, and it does not pass the posterior margin

of the pectoral fin. In P. Senegalus this transitory organ SEEPI

sooner, and is no longer to be found in specimens measuring thre

half to four inches in length. That these are respiratory organs en been

proved by the anatomical investigations of Professor Hyrtl. — Annals

and Magazine of .Natural History.

Tur LIMBS OF ICHTHYOSAURUS AND PLESIOSAURUS. — Dr. Gegenbaur of

Jena, has recently published an essay on the nature of the limbs of Ich-

thyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. He indicates that the homologies of the

paddle of the former are best understood by reference to the fin of the

Selachians, especially of the sharks, a most important point. He accepts

the view of the great importance of the differences between i

sauroid fishes, and therefore a basis for the estimation of the origin of

the distal portions of limbs from the simplest form — the simple ray. —

. D. COPE.

THE ORGANS OF HEARING AND SMELL IX INSECTS. — Mr. Lowne, in a

which are remarkably dilated, and are covered with minute —

communicating with little sacs in the interior. The halteres he rega

as t of hearing, their cavity being filled by a very large nerve

terminating in nerve cells, which is connected with a number of small,

highly — bodies, regularly arranged around the base of the organ.

ALBINO BanN SwaLLow.-——In the month of July of last year, near

Saco, Maine, I observed a flock of Barn Swallows (Hirundo horreorum

Barton), one of the individuals of which was pure white or nearly so. —

P. ATKINSON

Tue Sars Funp.— At a parlor lecture delivered in Salem by Mr. E. S.

Morse, the sum of twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents ($29.50) was raised

for the family of the late Professor Michael Sars, of Christiania. Liberal

sums have already been'subscribed in London and Paris.

128 CORRESPONDENCE.

GEOLOGY.

DISCOVERY OF A HUGE WHALE IN NORTH CAROLINA. — Professor Kerr

has discovered recently in North Carolina the remains of a huge whale

some eighty feet in length, which I have recently studied. It is near

Balena, and very different from anything hitherto found. It has an ex-

traordinary development of the supercilia. The ear bone is preserved.

I have named it Mesoteras Kerrianus. — E. D. COPE.

HE GEOLOGY OF BraziL.— Professor C. F. Hartt of Cornell Uni-

iude who has for several years been studying the geology of the coast

region of Brazil, and has published two papers on the subject in the NAT-

ALIST, Vol. i, and a general résumé of his explorations in the ‘ Pro-

ceedings of the American Geographical Society," and has an extensive

work on the subject nearly printed, entitled **'The dob and urea

Geography of the Coast Provinces of Brazil,” proposes to make a

trip to Brazil next summer. He will take with him several students E

Cornell University, and the expedition will be one that in its results will,

we doubt not, do credit to that institution which has already done s

much in UN full courses of scientiflc studies into college curricu-

lums. The geology and natural history of Brazil have been iine studied

out by da Cen professors from America and Europe. Professor Hartt

proposes to or apts the Amazonian drift, and doubts Mrd ing been

thrown on Professor Agassiz's theory of a great Amuzonian glacier by

several eminent SE we trust that this vexed question will he fully

settled.

PROFESSOR WARD’Ss MusEUM. — It will be gratifying to many of o

readers to learn that the late fire has not proved an unconquerable oe

stacle to the indomitable energy of Professor Ward. Our own Museum

has lately been augmented by the addition of a small collection of his

he will continue to furnish casts and collections to colleges and institu-

tions as freely as before the fire. Professor Ward also informed us that

he was upon the point of departing again for Europe. where he expects

to renew and add to his collections, both of actual fossils and of casts.

His museum was fully insured, and as this has been paid, the losses can

be, in a great measure, repaired, especially among the moulds, only one-

third of the whole of these having been destroyed. — EDITORS.

—— e e

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

S. L. W., New York. aac Nos. 1 and 3, Leptogium tremelloides ; No. 2, Pannaria

microphylla; No. * Endoc iniat m two specimens, one of which is E. glaucum

Ach., but only a variety ; [o 5 por 6, Cetraria lacunosa; No.7, Urceolaria TEET

No. 8, desee dii. The Usnea Sei a number is Usnea rubiginosa MX., &

variety of U. barbata. —J. L. R.

"UD JL.

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — MAY, 1870. — No.

coc Gu (O59 e

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.*

BY EDWARD E. CHEVER.

Fig.34. Indian stalking an Antelope,

THE name “Digger,” which Fremont gave to the Indians

that he found on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada,

ead before the Essex Institute, February 21, 1870. An abstract will be found in

the * Bates of the Essex Institute” and

e tribes, du ming five years of ET personal intercourse,

s given him a ^n baii o g a correct judgment of what these Indians

really were before they were demoralized by Toe with me Whites, and that he has

confined himself to such state y and kne

— EDS.

w to be correct.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1570. by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 17

130 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

people who obtained a precarious subsistance in winter by

digging through the snow for roots, and searching the rocks

for lizards, and who had neither villages or numerical force,

has been applied by the readers of Fremont's work to all

the Indians of California.*

The name was really applicable to those whom he first

met with, but not to the Indians living on the other side of

the mountains, who spoke a different language and were

more provident than those living on the great plains east of

the Rocky Mountains. The latter have been much more

destructive to the whites in battle, having procured, at an

early date, firearms from Indian traders. The gold excite-

ment, however, settled California so rapidly that the Indians

were in a hopeless minority after the first immigration

crossed the continent, and excepting where their villages

were attacked they had no wish to fight, for they had no

surplus population to lose.

That these same Indians were not wanting in courage

or spirit I have had repeated proofs.

They would attack the sturgeon when under water and

drag him to the shore with their limbs bleeding from the

sharp spikes. I have also seen Indians bearing the scars of

conflicts with grizzly bears, and the frequent instances of

white men scarred with wounds made by their arrows, shows

that they contended courageously with the early settlers.

The Indians of California, in 1849, were the more inter-

esting to the ethnologist from the manner in which that

country had been settled. The Jesuits, it is true, had been

in Lower California for many years, and had established

mission schools there, and a few Europeans had a short time

before made scattered settlements in the Sacramento Valley,

but the whole country was so remote from our frontiers, and

inclosed by the intervening barriers of the Rocky Mountains

* The Indian tribes of the section I am describing, called themselves respectively,

Sesum, Hocktem, Yubum, Hololipi, Willem, Tankum 1 inhabited tl lley of north

em California, dox " Qi "XD Aa and the Coast Range.

n ar e

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 131

and the snows of the Sierra Nevada Range, that it had been

but little changed since its discovery by the whites. Many

Indian tribes were living in as perfect a state of nature as the

elk, deer or antelope, which furnished them with food. A

head-dress of feathers with a scanty coat of paint on his face

was the full dress of a brave, while a fringe made of grass,

or fine strips of bark, from the waist to the knee, was the

costume of the girls or women. The Indians had but lit-

tle beard naturally, and excepting in a few cases where old

men had grown careless of appearances the hairs were pulled

out ; sometimes a pair of muscle shells were used as tweezers,

although I have seen a squaw dip her fingers in ashes and

pull out her husband's beard, and draw tears at the same

time from his eyes. Both sexes wore ornaments in the

ears, but not rings. The children had their ears bored

when quite young and small sticks inserted; these were ex-

changed from time to time for larger sticks, until a bone

ornament, made from one of the larger bones of a pelican's

wing carved in rude style, and decorated at the end with

crimson feathers, could be worn permanently. This bone

was about five or six inches long and larger in size than

my little finger. The back hair of the men was fastened

up in a net, and this was made fast by a pin of hard wood

pushed through both hair and net, the large end of the

pin being ornamented with crimson feathers, obtained from

the head of a species of woodpecker, and sometimes also

with the tail feathers of an eagle. The women used no nets

for their hair, nor wore feathers as ornaments, excepting in

the end of the bones used by both sexes for the ears, which

I have already described. The children were naturally

frank and the girls gentle and confiding, not much more so,

perhaps, than young grizzlies, but then I doubt whether the

cub’s mother threatens to give it to a white man, if it proves

disobedient, and a white man was the Bugbear used to

frighten papooses into good behavior. They were allowed

much freedom, however, in seeking amusement or instruc-

182 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

tion; the girls acting as nurses to the younger children,

and taking them off in the woods or to the river where they

bathed, and the babies allowed to crawl in the water before

they could walk on land. An Indian could no more remem-

ber when he learned to swim than when he first stood on his

feet. When the children were disposed to be good natured

the girls petted them as kindly as our children tend dolls,

but if they were cross, in spite of their caresses, they threw

cold water in their faces until their tempers cooled. The

girls fully equalled the boys in swimming or diving, and also

used the paddle with skill, sometimes even beating the boys

in their canoe or foot races. The boys, however, soon took

to their bows and arrows, wandering off to hunt, and the

girls learned at home the art of weaving baskets and making

bread of acorns. Familiar with the points of the compass

from infancy, they use their knowledge on all occasions ; even

in play, if a ball or an arrow is being searched for, the one

who saw it fall will guide the seeker thus, "to the east," Ta

little north,” “now three steps north-west,” and so on. In

the darkest night I have known an Indian go directly to a

spring of water from a new camp by following the directions

of a companion, who had been there previously, given perhaps

as follows : “three hundred steps east and twenty steps north."

This early training in wooderaft gives that consummate

skill and confidence which is rarely acquired by those who

learn it later in life. In tracking game they know the

"signs," as our hunters call them, of the various animals

and birds as well as they know the kind of game that made

them, and experience teaches them when the animals moved

away. In tracking white men they cannot make mistakes.

The white man’s foot is deformed, made so by the shape of

his boots or shoes, and even when he is barefooted his toes

are turned inwards. The Indian's foot, never having been

compressed, has the toes naturally formed and straight as

our fingers are, and he can even use them to hold arrows

when he is making them. When he walks therefore, each

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 133

toe leaves its impress on the dust or sand, the imprint of

the little toe being as straight, perfect and distinct as that

of the largest. In summer the Indians are fond of travelling

from place to place as fish or game, sunny nooks, or shady

glens offer their attractions in turn, and this living in differ-

ent places accounts in part, for the intimate knowledge they

possess of localities and also of trails leading from one sec-

tion to another.

In the event of exposure to a severe storm when out hunt-

ing, or on a journey, the Indian does not risk his life by ex-

hausting his strength. He selects the best shelter near him

while he is comparatively fresh, and with bark or boughs, or

under an overhanging rock, seeks protection from the wind.

A hole sunk in the ground, and a small fire kept burning by

an armful of sticks, will keep him warm till he can resume

his journey. The Indians use great skill in their selection

of fuel, and also in the disposition of the sticks in burning.

They say of the white man "big fool, make heap fire and

smoke, stand far off, look at him burn, while freeze." The

Indian rejects green or wet wood and puts a few dry sticks

together, with the ends towards a centre. This gives a free

circulation of air between the brands, with but little smoke,

and a large proportion of heat for the size of the fire. Their

winter quarters are dry and warm, but are rarely free from

smoke, which the Indians do not seem to regard as an incon-

venience. The outside is covered with earth and at least a

half of the hut is below the surface of the ground. The in-

side shows strong posts supporting an arched roof made of

poles bound with grapevines, and these covered with reeds

and coarse grass secured by cords. A small hole in the roof

serves as a chimney, and a low door, usually on the south

side, is kept open excepting in stormy weather. A raised

platform of poles and reeds holds the skins and blankets

used for bedding. These blankets, made from geese feathers

woven so as to bring the feathers overlapping each other, are

ingeniously made, and are a protection from wet or cold.

134 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

When the Indians leave their houses a branch is left in the

door to show that no one is athome. The California Indians

were more provident than most of the aborigines of this

country. Large, round, upright cribs, made of poles and

reeds, perhaps eight or nine feet high, contained their sup-

plies of acorns. These cribs were neatly made and had a

floor of loose reeds to keep the acorns from contact with the

ground; they were estimated to hold two years supply of

breadstuff, and were filled when acorns were abundant to

_ provide for a short crop if the next year should prove un-

fruitful. The whole tribe, men, women and children,

worked together in gathering acorns in the fall for these

public granaries. The hunting and fishing were done wholly

by men, and some of the fishing was done at night when the

women were sleeping at home. Much of the drudgery came

to the women and seemingly with their consent. They said

that a hunter needed a keen eye, a firm hand and a fleet foot ;

if he became stiff from hard work or lost his skill, his wife

must suffer with him in his misfortunes, and it was best for

each to do what each could do best.

The position of honor among the Indians is the recogni-

tion of excellence in some quality or acquirement. This

induces every young man to improve himself by every

opportunity offered, so that he may become the first in use-

fulness and be called on to meet chiefs in council. When

the customs of the Indians are learned the charge of indo-

lence, as often made against them, does not seem wholly

merited. One of the early settlers in New York asked a

chief why he did not work and lay up money. The chief

replied that he wanted one good reason given him why he

should make a slave of himself all of his life to make his

children lazy for the whole of theirs. The labor performed

is often great and exhaustive and must be shared by many.

As no one gains any advantage over his fellows, excepting as

he may prove himself more useful to them by the exercise

of superior skill, he has less inducement to work alone, as a

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 135

publie servant. The Indian again has a desire to have game

abundant, and to have the trees preserved for his acorns and

fuel. It would seem folly to kill game faster than needed

for food from year to year, and cutting down the oak that

brought him acorns, would be killing the goose that laid

the golden egg. An Indian to be judged fairly must be re-

garded as an Indian. Custom with them, as with civilized

people, is law, and many of their customs have probably

been transmitted, with but little change, from remote ages.

Fig. 35.

Indian Village.*

There is every reason to believe that the Indians were very

numerous in California at some former time. Deserted

mounds, showing the sites of former villages, are seen along

the banks of the rivers, and a few tribes, speaking dialects

of their own and yet living separately as nations, only consist

of a dozen families each. One of these removed to a large

tribe while I lived near them and remained as a part of the

more powerful tribe for a year or more; but they became

discontented or homesick, and returned to the village con-

ib the huts, and the poles - un in some

of them support the decoys used os the Indians in shooting geese. — ED

136 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

taining the dust of their ancestors. Here they kept up the

traditions of their fathers, and related tales of former glory,

and prayed to the Great Spirit for success and for abundant

blessings. It is worth our time perhaps to consider, while

speaking of the mounds that indicate the sites of villages,

how much of the elevation is due to natural deposits, and

whether it may not jn many cases be entirely so.

The streets in the city of Chicago have risen from eight

to ten feet above the old level during the past twenty-five

years from the soil obtained from cellars, ashes, sweepings,

etc. Even the villages (so called) of prairie dogs are made

higher by their occupation. The ground used as a permanent

home by human beings is constantly receiving additions from

the wood used as fuel, bones of animals, shells of various

kinds, and even the bodies of the California Indians were

buried near their houses, with their baskets and implements

used in hunting and housekeeping. I am aware that else-

where mounds seem to have been heaped up by another race

of people, but the highest that I have met with in Califor-

nia I think were owing to the gradual accumulations from

centuries of occupation.

The traditions of the Indians are so fanciful, when they

get beyond the history known to the living, that they differ

but little from printed fictions.

Their religion is probably little changed from that of an

earlier age. A Good Spirit is invoked to provide food and

give prosperity, and evil spirits are to be propitiated. The

oldest chief prays at certain seasons, morning and evening,

outside of the council lodge, and sings in. a monotone a few

sentences only. This is not in words taken from their lan-

guage, but is supposed to be intelligible to the Great Spirit.

When special prayers are made for success in fishing or hunt-

ing, the request is made in plain Indian. Although he prays

constantly for success, he uses wonderful craft and skill to

ensure it. The antelope could not be approached in the

short, dry grass on the plains even by crawling, but the In-

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 137

dian whitens the sides of his body with clay, and puts a per-

fect decoy antelope’s head on top of his own.* With a short

stick in his left hand to give length to the pretended foreleg,

aud carrying his bow and arrows in his right, he pretends

to feed contentedly on the grass until the antelope approaches

sufficiently near for him to kneel and shoot. The hunter,

when standing or walking, supports himself on the short

stick held in the left hand, like an animal standing on three

legs (Fig. 34). I found by adopting this decoy head, and

wearing knit clothing, that the antelope would come to me

readily if I would remain in one place and hold the head

near the ground, as if feeding. It was more difficult to walk

far in this way, and the antelopes would come to me at times

when if I had attempted to go to them, they would have

become alarmed. |

To illustrate the ease with which an Indian can provide

food for himself, I saw one come to the bank of Feather

River one afternoon and start a fire. Turning over the sod

and searching under the logs and stones he found some

grubs. Pulling up some light dry reeds of the last year’s

growth he plucked a few hairs from his own head and tied

the grubs to the bottom of the reeds, surrounding the bait

with a circle of loops. These reeds were now stuck lightly

in the mud and shallow water near the edge of the river, and

he squatted and watched the tops of his reeds. Not a sound

now broke the quiet of the place; the Indian was as motion-

less as the trees that shaded him. Presently one of the reeds

trembled at the top and the Indian quietly placed his thumb

and finger on the reed and with a light toss a fish was thrown

on the grass. The reed was put back, another reed shook

and two fish were thrown out; then still another and the

fellow was soon cooking his dinner.

The spearing of salmon by torch-light, is very exciting.

* This = "d rent skin of = ae head with artificial horns made from tulé

e bulb ef ^ ie daas | bar ete with charcoal;

2 Ortho diih zin ped fi dpecker, with the purple

iik fédihers attached.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 18

cover ed W P

138 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

It is done on moonless nights and usually in parties of three

to each canoe. One Indian guides the boat, a boy kneels in

front with a blazing torch held near the surface of the water,

while the one with the spear watches for the flash of the

salmon as he darts toward the light. The spear is a loose

point of bone with a hole through the centre, and one end

fitted in a socket at the end of a light strong pole, and se-

cured to the staff by a cord through the centre of the bone.

When a fish is struck the bone is drawn out from its

socket and left in the fish, making what sailors call a

"toggle," the cord holding it in spite of its struggles.

When the Indian is about to spear the salmon, you see him

to advantage, and he gives his orders full of earnestness.

*Hoddom ! Hoddom ! Pue-ne ! Pue-ne! Hon-de ! Hip-pe-ne !

Mip! Mip! Wedem-pou!" as the struggling fish is drawn

to the canoe. These words translated are: There, there!

. East, east! Lower! Higher! Hold, hold! The last word

is an exclamation of surprise.

No christian has stronger faith that his Father will provide

for his wants, than these Indians had that the Great Spirit

would send the salmon into their nets, or the grasshoppers to

vary their bill of fare. Although grasshoppers are regarded

with dread by the white settlers in some sections, the Indians

go out to meet them rejoicing. They pile up the dry bunch

grass for a centre and then forming a wide circle, and swing-

ing branches of trees, they adajo driving the swarms of

grasshoppers, until they take refuge under the pile of bunch

grass. The grass at every point is set on fire simultane-

ously; and burns like gunpowder. When the smoke has

rolled away the roasted grasshoppers are picked up by the

basket full.

The division of fish and game was made generally by a

chief, who counted out as many portions as there were fami-

lies to eat. If no objection was made to the size of any por-

tion, one of the number turned his back and called out, some

name as each lot was pointed out by the chief, the Indians

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 139

removing their share as fast as called for. No complaint

was made if some were sharers who had not been workers,

and hospitality to those entering their lodges was universal.

The Indians hunt for one kind of game only at a time,

and each kind when they can be taken most advantageously.

Fig. 36.

a The bow unstrung, from the Museum of the Peabody Academy.

b Arrow with head of obsidian, from the same.

When I saw every kind of game represented together at

the Indian encampment in Bierstadt’s celebrated painting

of the Yosemite, I knew the camp had been introduced for

effect, from this evident ignorance of, or disregard for the

habits of Indians.

The Indian bow (Fig. 36) is made of the tough mountain

cedar, with a thick back of sinew. A string of sinew also

enables him to draw an arrow nearly to its head before it is

sent humming through the air. The arrows are of two

kinds, those with a head of hard, pointed wood for common

use and those (Fig. 365) reserved Fig. 37.

for extreme cases of attack or

defence, having points of agate

or obsidian, which are carefully

kept in the skin of a fox, wild

cat or otter. The stone arrow-

heads (Fig. 37) are made with

great care, and the materials

from which they are made are

often brought from long dis- b a

EUM & Arrow-head of obsidian, from the Mu-

tances. Obsidian and agate are ,,, EET Academy. a,

probably selected not so much “Section or the

for beauty of coloring as for their close grain, which admits

of more careful shaping. They use a tool with its working

edge shaped like the side of a glazier’s diamond. The

140 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

arrowhead is held in the left hand, while the nick in the

side of the tool is used as a nipper to chip off small frag-

ments. An Indian usually has a pouch of treasures consist-

ing of unfinished arrowheads or unworked stones, to be

slowly wrought out when industriously inclined. The feath-

ers are so placed on the arrow as to give it a spiral motion

in its flight, proving that the idea of sending a missile with

rotary motion is older than the rifling of our guns.

It would consume too much space to describe all their im-

plements, and many of them do not differ materially from

Fig. 38. those that were used by Indians in this

a section; among them were awls of bone,

thread of deer sinews, and cord which

they used for their nets, bird traps, and

blankets ; — this cord was spun from the

: inner fibre of a species of milk-weed.

Their cooking utensils were made from

the roots of a coarse grass. These roots

grow near the surface of the ground, and

in sandy soil can be pulled up in long

pieces. The pulpy outside skin is re-

a Cooking or warer basket, moved and the inside is a woody tibre,

tray, and this also shows extremely tough when green, and durable

baskets are formed* when made into articles for daily use.

The Indian women split these roots into thin strips, keep them

in water when they are making baskets, and take them out

one at a time, as needed. The water basket is first started

from a centre at the bottom, and is added to stitch by stitch,

without a skeleton frame to indicate the intended size (Fig.

38). A loose strip of grass root is added constantly as a

new layer to the last rim, and this is sewed on with another

strip of the same fibre to the finished work beneath, a bone

awl being used to bore holes through the basket portion. The

last rim or complete edge of a basket has a larger filling, con-

sisting of several strips of split grass roots, or sometimes à

willow stick is used. The larger baskets are ornamented with

ion M x4 2 Skia di moorrect

e e

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 141

figures woven in of a darker color; the girls sometimes add

beads and feathers for smaller baskets (Fig. 39). The con-

ical baskets used for carrying Fig. 39.

burdens is woven instead of

being sewed together, and is of

looser texture and lighter in

weight (Fig. 40). They are

quite durable, however, and are

used to carry wood, acorns, or

household goods on a journey. UH

The water baskets were also

durable and would hold t a The yoke used to carry the conical basket.

b The awl used in sew sowing the basket.

water.* Water was made to *Fraeme

boil in them by dropping in d Inside view of the same, showing that

. stitch from above run

stones previously heated. The i M

women” ‘skilfully: vuséd £wo Rod ere.

sticks in handling hot stones or coals as we would tongs.

Kies In bread making the women pounded

the acorns between two stones, a hol-

lowed one serving for a mortar (Fig. 41),

until it was reduced to a powder as fine

as our eorn meal. They removed some

of the bitterness of the meal by scraping

hollows in the sand and leaching it, by

causing water to percolate slowly through

it. To prepare it for cooking the dough

was wrapped in green leaves and these

balls were covered with hot stones. It

comes out dark colored and not appetiz-

, but it is nutritious and was eaten

SEE with gratitude by Fremont’s men in

Waker, 7s a burden 1844, Fish and meat were sometimes

cooked in this way. A salmon rolled in grape leaves and

surrounded with hot stones, the whole covered with dry

SRR aus

WEADRANARAALN ANAL

COCO CTA LL)

CULT

* A shallow basket of their work. which has been in the Museum collection for years,

now holds cold water as perfectly as when it was made. — EDs.

142 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

earth or ashes over night and taken out hot for breakfast,

does not need a hunter’s appetite for its appreciation.

Marriage among the California Indians was similar to that

of other tribes in other parts of the country. Presents of

sufficient value were given by the man to the girl’s parents,

and the bride might be given away without her knowledge

or consent. From my own observation I know that the

Indian uses the best of his judgment in making a selection,

and desires neither family strife or misery in his lodge.

Girls are married at thirteen or fourteen years of age, and

no woman of marriageable age

remains single long. Most of

the Indians, who became per-

sonally well known to me, were

very happy in their family rela-

tions, and the custom of dividing

food equally among them, al-

== lowed no family to suffer from

TT want.

Stone die ad Bola from the Museum When the whites first came

ee TEM into the country the Indians

were virtuous and happy, and if whiskey had not demora-

lized them they would have retained mueh of their original

independence and self-respect. They were naturally cheer-

ful and attached to each other, and although polygamy was

permitted I knew only one chief who had two wives.

These seemed to agree, although Waketo said of his family

that it had "too much tongue."

In earlier days dancing among them was confined to cere-

monies of different kinds. In some of these the women

joined, forming themselves into a circle; but as only one

step was used in a solemn way, accompanied by a half turn-

ing of the body, a stranger might be in doubt whether

it was rejoicing or mourning. Within this circle the men

danced with great activity, leaping across a fire burning

in the centre, and yelling and singing whilst the women

Fig. 41.

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 143

continued their solemn dancing, singing a low monotonous

chant.

Running of races was confined, after childhood, to the men,

and endurance rather than speed sought for. A race was

for three or five miles at least, and a good runner would

follow à runaway horse or mule that had started off with

greater speed, but in a few hours would return with the

animal in his possession.

The Indians were inveterate gamblers, and parties from

one tribe would visit another for several days at a time and

play day and night. The game was a sort of an **odd and

even," as played by white children, the parties guessing

as to the number and position of the sticks used in the game.

The playing was accompanied by singing, and beads were

principally used for stakes.

In the treatment of diseases the Indians succeeded in a

certain class of them, but failed altogether in others. The

pain from a sprain or rheumatism would be drawn to the sur-

face by burning the skin with fire. I can testify to a cure

from this remedy. A severe sprain of an ankle, followed by

two months use of crutches, resulted six months later in

rheumatism in one of my feet. The assertion of a chief

that fire would eure it in an Indian, but for a white man—

and here he shrugged his shoulders as if words were unnec-

essary —induced me to try the experiment, and show him

that white men could bear pain. I placed a live coal on the

top of my instep, and before the burn was healed my rheu-

matism was gone. For headaches they pressed their hands

on the head of the sufferer and sometimes cured it by gentle

pressure. For other diseases they tried steam baths, especi-

ally for colds. When any internal disorder defied their

treatment, they immediately begged medicine from the

whites.

In burying the dead a circular hole was dug and the body

placed in it, in a sitting posture, with the head resting on

the knees. Ifa man his nets were rolled about him and his

144 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

weapons placed by his side. If a woman her blanket en-

closed her body, and a conical shaped basket, such as they

carry burdens in, was put in the grave also, with the peak

upwards. The widow of an Indian cut her hair short and |

covered her head with ashes, and in the mountains they used

tar for that purpose. Every night for weeks, after their be-

reavement, the wails of these women were distracting. I

do not know the exact time prescribed for mourning but I

do not think it lasted more than six months.

The language of the California Indians is composed of

gutteral sounds, difficult to separate into words when spoken

rapidly, and hard to pronounce or remember. The count-

ing is done, as with all primitive people I have met, by deci-

mals. Children in reckoning call off the fingers and toes

of both hands and feet as twenty, when wishing to express a

large number. In counting ten the following words are used :

Weekum, Paynay, Sarpun, Tchuyum, Marctem, Suckanay,

Penimbom, Penceum, Peleum, Marchocom. If eleven is to

be expressed it is Marchocum Weekum, or Ten one ; Marcho-

cum Paynay, ten two, and so on to twenty which is Mide-

quekum. The general term for man is Miadim, and for

woman Killem, and for a child Collem. A boy is Miadim

collem and a girl Killem collem. Although this seems to

indicate a poverty of distinctive terms, yet when it is found

that every animal, bird, insect and plant has its own name,

it will be seen that there is no want of materials to supply a

stranger with words for book making, if his tastes lead him

in that direction.

After many years passed with these Indians, and having

every opportunity to study their customs and character, I

entertain pleasant recollections of their friendship which was

never broken, and feel sadly when I realize that the im-

provements of the white men have been made at the sacrifice

of Indian homes and almost of the race itself.

Feather River (Rio de Plumas), before its mines were

washed for gold, was so clear that the shadows reflected on

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 145

its surface seemed brighter than the real objects above. The

river abounded in fish, as did the plains on either side in

antelope, deer, elk and bear. The happy laughter of chil-

dren came from the villages, the splash of salmon, leaping

from the surface, sent ripples circling to the shore, and the

blue dome of heaven was arched from the Sierra Nevada

with its fields of snow on the east, to the distant Coast Range

that shut out the Pacific on the west. Grand oaks, with far

spreading shade, dotted the plains that stretched for miles on

either side, and in spring time the valley was brilliant with

flowers. This was the possession and home of the Indians,

whose ancestors had lived and hunted without patent or title

obtained from deeds, long before the first sailor planted his

flag on the sea-coast,and claimed the country by right of dis-

covery. It could not be expected that the Indian would

see his trees cut down and game destroyed, and the clear

rivers turned into muddy streams, without regret. That

they refrained from seeking satisfaction for what they re-

garded as intentional wrong is more surprising.

A white woman told me one day of her spirit in driving

an Indian from her tent, by getting out her husband's pistol

and ordering him to “vamose.” The Indian’s story was

heard in this particular ease, and never having seen a white

woman before he was astonished at her hostile intentions,

and indignant at having been threatened when he intended

no wrong. He added that he knew now "why so few of

the white men in California were married."

The Indians are philosophical by nature and accept either

death or suffering, when regarded as inevitable, with com-

posure. On one occasion, when talking with a chief, and

slapping mosquitoes with considerable energy, killing them

when I could, the Indian remained cool and serene, quietly

brushing the little torments from his limbs, and observing

my impatience, said, “what good comes of killing a few,

the air is full of them." When the first steamboat passed

the Indian villages I watched the Indians to see what effect

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 19

146 THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA.

it would produce, but to my disappointment it did not excite

them or elicit any expression of wonder. Even the steam

whistle failed to move them ; they did not understand it and

would not exhibit surprise. . Two years later a brig sailed

up the river and the Indians were full of excitement. The

size of the sails and the strength of the ropes came within

their comprehension, filling them with wonder. The task of

gathering fibre enough to weave so much cloth, and such

ropes, made the white man a wonderful worker in their

estimation.

It has been eustomary to attribute certain general qualities

to whole tribes of Indians, and this has been done to those

of whom I have written. I can only say that no two In-

dians of my acquaintance were alike, and their mode of life

would naturally develop individuality of character.

The charges of lying and stealing, as urged against them,

have some foundation in fact, although the Indian might

make some such defence as our soldiers made to the accu-

sation of theft of honey and chickens while marching

through the South during our late war. "They did not steal,

they took what they wanted and expected to live on the enemy.

No Indian ean steal from his tribe, however, without los-

ing his character, and their desire to have position in the

tribe makes both men and women as careful of their reputa-

tions as those in civilized life. Indians and white men can-

not live side by side happily, nor without fighting till the

white man is acknowledged master. The Indian is cat-like,

attached to localities, and kills only such game as he needs

for food; he is stealthy by nature, and patiently waits his

opportunity to strike. The white man is migratory and

carries his attachments to strange lands, making his home

where his ambition or nature attracts him, and is destructive

alike to game or forests. The Indian, if he become an ob-

stacle, is classed with wild animals, and is hunted to the

death; this antagonism becomes mutual and is perhaps as

natural as the antipathies of cats and dogs.

THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 147

The early settlement of New England was attended by

the horrors of Indian warfare, and this struggle is the same

to-day as then, but farther west on the plains of Colorado

and Arizona. The Indians of California are now fed on gov-

ernment rations, and instead of elk and antelope the land is

grazed by herds and flocks of domestic animals owned by

the white men, and enumerated and taxed as one of the

largest items of wealth in a rich state. The present policy

of the government of removing Indians from disputed lands,

and settling them upon reservations, is perhaps the best

thing that can be done, but much of the management of

Indians in the past has been a shameful record of fraud, by

the agents of our government who represented the public

money-bag, and of outrages committed on emigrants by the

Indians.

Many of the Indian agents, in their greed for gain, sup-

plied hostile tribes with rifles, ammunition and whiskey

in exchange for furs and even property captured from the

white settlers. Whisky that may only make a fool of the

white man converts an Indian into a fiend, and when drunk

he may kill friend or foe. The individual settler, exposed

to attack, regards the Indians as brutal and dangerous, and

loses faith in his government if it rewards with presents the

wretch who has murdered his companions, and may at any

time attack him by surprise and butcher his wife and children.

Our government is now powerful enough to warrant the

exercise of authority and mercy. It is folly to purchase

peace of such a people by paying them tribute, as the In-

dians themselves seek to propitiate evil spirits by gifts of

beads; and it cannot be right to make “Black Kettle” a

present of a Colt's revolver, after he has already used his

rifle and knife on more white victims than any brave of his

tribe.

The Indians whom I have particularly described in this pa-

per, have been shown to possess the virtues of generosity and

hospitality without the least knowledge of Christianity, and

148 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTIIS.

it is a mortifying fact that the early explorers in this country

generally found welcome and hospitality among the Indians

before the white traders had corrupted them. Now it is dif-

ficult to find a tribe that a white man cares to visit unless

with the balance of power on. his side. Indian cunning even

has not proved equal to the duplicity of the white man. You

may have heard of the Indian who offered his beaver skins

for sale to a trader in olden times in one of our Puritan vil-

lages, when the trader was on his way to church. The trader

would not purchase then, but in a whisper stated a price.

When the church was dismissed the Indian followed the

trader home and demanded payment for his skins, but was

forced to accept a less price than was first named. The

Indian took the money but told an acquaintance that he had

discovered the use of the big meeting at the church,— "it

was to lower the price of beaver skins."

As a white man I take the side of the pioneer in defence

of his family, but I wish the Indians could have been spared

much of the degradation brought upon them by bad white

men that must eventually end in complete subjection, or

extermination.

NOTE. Allthe fi PT M Pr RTI ted, drawn from memory. — EDS.

e D

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

BY PROF. N. S. SHALER.

We must ask the reader to go with us into the remote

past; back beyond the time when man invaded the primitive

forests and disturbed the abundant life which covered the

prairies around the great inland seas of our continent ; still

farther back until we come to a time when very different

animals from those now living there, roamed those woods

and fields. We thus come to a time remote when measured

tater ae eo ES

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 149

by the usual standards of duration, yet only a geological

yesterday. Once such journeys as we propose making were

very difficult, and attended with dangers to soul, if not to

body, whieh might well make any but the stout hearted in-

vestigator hesitate. But now that the wall, which once di-

vided the preadamie time from the present, has been so

frequently breached and trodden over by those bound on

expeditions into an even more remote past than that to

whieh we seek to penetrate, we may set out on our journey

without fear of meeting with a reception, on our return,

which might make us wish that we had stayed among the

monsters of that ancient time.

We will not strain the imagination of the reader by asking

him to conjure up a pieture of land and sea unlike that given

by our present continents and oceans. He need not flatten

out mountain ehains, or dry up river systems, in order to

represent to himself a true picture of the theatre which bore

the actors of the scenes we are about to describe. Our good

old continent was much the same then as now. All the

changes which have taken place would fall within the limits

of error of the maps of the past few decades. The unceas-

ing agents of change operating through water, have done

much work; but a little longer delta to the Mississippi, a

somewhat greater projection of Florida to the southward,

a lessened area of the great lakes of the north-west, are

about all the more important changes which have been ac-

complished sinee the time of which we speak.

In order to come in contaet with living elephants and

mastodons, we need not go so far into the history of our

continent as to traverse the glacial period. Long after the

time when this great ice envelope shrouded the northern half

of this continent, the great pachyderms continued to form

the most important feature in the life of our continent. .If

we wish to go back to the time when these great animals

first came into our fields and forests we must ascend much

farther into the past, beyond two or more glacial periods,

150 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

with the long intervals of repose between them. During the

middle and later tertiary periods elephantine life had its

highest development; a half a dozen or more species lived

then on the surface of the European continent, and only a

portion of the then existing forms may be known to us.

The importance of the elephant life of this time may be

better estimated by comparing the number of large mammals

belonging to any one family now existing in the same area.

Only three or four species of the family of cervide, to which

the common deer belongs, have existed in Europe since the

glacial period. Among the bulls not more than two.species

are known to have lived during the same time. Nor among

the large carnivora, the bears or wolves, have the species

been more numerous. We must seek among the smaller of the

existing mammals, among the squirrels or mice, for the same

riehness in specific representation as we find among the ele-

phants of the tertiaries. The variety in size and form seems

to have been very great; the smallest species was not over

three or four feet high, while the largest stood as high as

any of our living elephants, towering to the height of ten or

twelve feet. We know too little of the geology of the other

continents of the old world to say whether this exceeding

richness in large elephants at this stage of the earth's history

was also found there. We know, however, that India,

where one of the two remaining species of elephants lives,

was thronged with these animals at this time, and although

Africa was probably then separated from the other continents

with which it is now closely united by seas of considerable

width, it, too, probably bore an abundance of the same life.

We do not know the character of the life of the middle ter-

tiary time in North America with anything like the accuracy

that we do that of Europe during the same time. The in-

vestigations which are to enable us to form a clearly defined

picture of the life of that time, on our own continent, are yet

to be made. It seems likely, however, that during the time

when elephants were so remarkable a feature in the life

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 151

of the old world, the new world was inhabited by quite dif-

ferent forms of pachyderms. The beds of the Mauvaises

Terres, and neighboring country so astoundingly rich in ani-

mal remains, have supplied us with more species of fossil

horses than are known from all the rest of the beds of that

period. Altogether the middle and later tertiaries of North

America have supplied us with the remains of at least ten

species of fossil horse-like animals; so that the compara-

tively unexplored regions of North America have yielded

more tertiary horses than all of every age and formation

which have been found in other regions.

When we come down to dates nearer to our own time, and

only separated therefrom by the last ice period, we find evi-

dences that the European elephantine life still continued,

though the species had changed, there being no longer so

eonsiderable a number of distinct forms as then existed.

We are not yet quite certain whether the elephant remains

of Siberia come down to us from a period anterior to the

glaeial epoch, or whether they were stored away in that

frozen soil during or since that time of extreme cold. All

analogy with the remains found in other regions, lead us to

conclude that these herds of elephants, whose remains are

found in such abundance around the mouths of the great

rivers of northern Asia which empty into the Arctic Ocean,

are contemporaneous with those of the closely allied, if not

identical, species found in the peat swamps and morasses of

North America. The number of these fossil elephants which

are to be found in northern Asia is as remarkable as the

condition in which they have been preserved. The ivory

which they have left strewn over this region has been for

centuries an important article of commerce, a large portion

of the Chinese supply being probably derived from this

source. There can be no doubt that the elephant life of

this region was once as abundant as that which now exists in

the jungles of Ceylon, or the southern part of Africa.

The peculiar cireumstanees under which many of the bod-

152 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

ies of the Siberian elephants have been preserved, enables us

to form an idea of the external form and habits of the crea-

ture far more satisfactory in its character than that which

we have of any other extinct animal, except a few which

have been exterminated by the hand of man.

Generally the geologist is compelled to effect the restora-

tion or rebuilding of the form of the extinct animal from

fragments of a skeleton, the gaps of which he must fill by

inference, and this conjectural framework is afterwards to be

thrown into a more or less imaginary outline of soft, envel-

oping parts. He is only too thankful if he finds that decay

has left him a tolerably fair basis which he may build his

labor upon. But in the case of many of the Siberian ele-

phants the preservation is perfect; not only the skeleton,

but the whole mass of the soft parts; the external envelope

of skin, with its protecting covering of hair; even the deli-

cate and perishable structures of the eye, an organ which so

quickly perishes when decay begins to work, are all in an

unchanged condition. Nor is the preservation that of form

alone ; the chemical condition of the body is unchanged, it is

still flesh and blood; its imprisonment in the ice of the

frozen soil of the Lena delta for an hundred thousand years,

more or less, has not perceptibly changed its constitution ;

animals feed greedily on this flesh which has endured twenty

times as long as the historical record. The dogs and wolves

gather from afar to the feast whenever one of these bodies

is uncovered, and there seems no good reason why those

abnormal appetites of Paris, which find a new titillation of

the palate in every monstrosity of diet, should not get a

sweeter morsel from these preadamic elephants than they

have obtained from their choice pieces of the knackers yard.

Fortune certainly awaits the next rival of the Aois treres

Provenceaux, if he will bid for it with elephant steaks from

Siberia. The many ingenious inventors, who seek to find a

means of preserving substances liable to perish by decay,

who are constantly endeavoring to solve the problem of how

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 153

to bring the surplus food of South America to the hungry

mouths of Europe, may take a profitable lesson from these

Lena elephants. Freeze the object to be preserved from

decay in a block of ice; retain this in a frozen state and the

entrance of the dreaded agents of change is at once barred.

The conditions of permanent preservation are obtained ; air

is excluded; that which is within the substance is locked

with the water and can act no farther. These are the simple

conditions which have kept the Lena elephants unchanged,

while the very vegetation which supported them has been

swept away; and by observing these conditions we might

have preserved the body of Cæsar himself unchanged to the

present day. Who knows but that following the simple

method here indicated, the forms of the illustrious dead may

yet be preserved from generation to generation, giving a

tangible chain to connect the too forgetful present with the

past. What could so preserve the memory of a time as one

of its chief actors sleeping before our eyes cased in crystal

ice? Would not the world be richer if we could have

before us the earthly habitations of a Dante, a Shakspeare,

or an Humboldt, as they were left by their immortal selves?

He who entered the cold depositaries of such precious relies

could not come forth without feeling that he was closer

wedded to a distant past than ever before. The author does

not feel free to advise this Siberian treatment of our ances-

tors, as he is not sure but death should be followed by decay ;

but to those who think that the closer our relation to the

past the better fitted we are for the work of the present, it

must commend itself.

But to return to our elephants. The peculiar interest

which is attached to the discovery of the well preserved re-

mains of the only one of these animals which has come under

the eye of a naturalist, warrants the transcription of the

whole statement of the cireumstances of its discovery.

This important discovery was made by the Chief Schuma-

choff, of the wandering tribe of Tunguzes, near the mouth

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 20

154 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

of the river Lena. The following account is translated and

condensed from the description published in the "Memoirs

of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.” *

*In 1799 he built a cabin for his wife on the borders of the Lake

Oncoul, and then went to search on the shore of the northern sea. hoping

to find some elephants tusks. One day he perceived in the midst of the

ice cliffs a shapeless mass, which did not look like the heaps of drift wood

which are often found there. In order to examine it more nearly, he

came ashore and observed the object on all sides, but could not recognize

what it was.

‘The following year he discovered at this point a sea cow, and saw at

the same time that the mass which he had seen before was farther sepa-

rated from the ice, and showed two long projections, but he could not yet

determine what it was. Towards the close of the following summer the

whole side of the animal and one of the tusks projected beyond the ice

wall of the cliff. On his return to the shores of Lake Oncoul he commu-

nicated the result of this discovery to his wife and to some of his friends;

but their way of looking at the matter gave him much distress. The old

men told him that they had heard their fathers say that once before a

similar monster had shown itself on the same peninsula, and that the dis-

coverer and all his mg perished soon afterwards. The mammoth was

consequently looked upon as an augury of a dire calamity, and the Chief

was so much affected AR The fell very ill; but at last, being a little con-

valescent, his first idea was of the profits he might gain by selling the

usks, which were of extraordinary beauty and size. He gave orders to

have the locality carefully "dran, and all strangers turned away on

some pretext, charging at the e time some of his people to watch

carefully that no one should cs pni treasure.

But the summer was less warm than the preceding, and the mammoth

remained buried in the ice which scarcely melted at all. At last, towards

the close of the fifth year, the ardent desires of Schumachoff were happily

accomplished. For that part of the ice which was between the ground

and the mammoth having melted more rapidly than the rest, the surface

became sloping, and this enormous mass, pushed by its own weight, slid

down and sorted on a bank of sand upon the shore.

In the month of March, Schumachoff came to his mammoth, and having

cut off his tusks sold them to à merchant for goods worth fifty roubles.

to establish these facts which one would have believed so improbable. I

found the mammoth still in the same place, but entirely mutilated. The

Jacutes of the neighborhood had cut up the flesh and fed it to their dogs

during a period of scarcity, and the wild animals, white bears, wolves,

*Tio etal ^r 4 Qiu H ad m ris gl fat. Tit. 1797 efosso, Auctore

Tilesio. Mem. Acad. Imp., St. Petersburg. Tome v.

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 155

gluttons and foxes had picked the bones. The skeleton, almost entirely

stripped of the flesh, was still entire with the exception of one forefoot.

The spine from the head to the coccyx, a shoulder blade, the pelvis and

the remains of the three extremities were still attached by cartilage. sin

head was covered with a dry skin. One of the ears was very well p

served, and furnished with a tuft of hair. Allthese parts have Sine

suffered by transportation for a distance of eleven thousand werst. Still

the eyes have been preserved, and in the left the ball is still visible. The

brain remained in the skull, but seemed somewhat dried. The parts the

least injured are one front and one hind foot; they were covered with

hair, and had still the soles. According to the assertion of the Chief the

creature was so fat that the belly hung down to below the knees. The

neck bore a long mane. The skin, of which I collected Puch three-quarters,

is of a dark gray color, covered with wool and bla

The escarpment from which the mammoth had slid seas a height of from

two hundred to two hundred and rid feet, and is composed of clear,

pure ice. It slopes towards the sea and its summit is covered witha

coating of moss and friable earth sam eight inches thick. During the +-

heat of summer a part of the crust melts, but the rest remains frozen.

Curiosity caused me to climb two other hills somewhat away from the

shore. They were composed of ice also, and less covered with moss.

At various points one saw fragments of wood of great size, and many

tusks of mammoths imbedded in the ice precipices.” `

The peculiarities of the geographical distribution of or-

ganie life makes us associate certain animals and plants with

certain features of climate. So that the inference was natu-

rally made that the remains of elephants and rhinoceroses

indicated a climate of a tropical character in the region

where they are found at a time when these extinct species

were living. That this is entirely fallacious is sufficiently

proven by the fact that our Lena elephant is fitted to resist

just such a temperature as now prevails in the regions where

his remains are found. `The hairy envelop afforded a non-

conductor. such as does not exist on the skin of any living

animal outside of the Arctic circle. In place of the imper-

fect hairy covering of hairy pachyderms, or the bare skin of

his living congeners, this elephant was provided with three

distinet suits of hair and wool, the longest bristle-like hairs

having various lengths up to a foot and a half, and serving the

ruder purposes of defence; the next and shorter coat was a

close set, tolerably fine hair, three or four inches long ; within

156 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

this, in itself a considerable protection against the weather,

lay a coating of wool, fitting the intervals between the other

hairs, and enabling the animal to withstand the greatest rigor

of the climate, which now prevails in this part of Asia. Acute

observation has supplied us with another evidence of the

fitness of this elephant to live in the ordinary conditions of

high latitudes. In the tooth of the specimen, before de-

scribed, was found a morsel of wood, the remains of the last

meal made by the creature; the microscope of the botanist

showed this fragment to belong to a coniferous tree, so that

the stunted furs of the high north might have supplied food

for herds of these mammoths. It is not, however, quite cer-

tain that these animals ever came down to the borders of the

northern sea, though, as we have seen, they were fitted for

such a climate as now prevails there; so far as we know

the remains which are found around the mouths of the

great rivers of Siberia are always in a position, which

seems to indicate that they have been swept into their places

by the river, and may thus have come from any point on

its course. The fact that spring overtakes the stream at its

headwaters, filling its channel with the floods of the annual

melting, while the region near the estuary may be still fro-

zen solid, renders these Siberian rivers, as all other streams

which flow towards higher latitudes, peculiarly liable to de-

structive overflows. Overtaken by these inundations these

clumsy inhabitants of this region were swept down towards

the sea and stranded on the perpetually frozen soil of the

shore; here buried in the mud and ice they soon became

frozen, and each successive inundation thickened the sheet

of ice and frozen soil which sealed them from decay. Noth-

ing but a change of climate or an alteration in the course of

the stream in such fashion as to disinter the remains can

ever disclose the innumerable bodies of these ancient mon-

sters which lie stark and stiff along the waters of that frozen

sea. When the frequent disinterment of these valuable fos-

sils, by the falling of the frozen cliffs of the rivers of Siberia,

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 157

are more closely watched, we will doubtless obtain similarly

preserved bodies of the other large mammals which were

contemporaneous with these elephants. It would be contrary

to all analogy to find that these great pachyderms held these

vast steppes of Siberia unassociated with other large mam-

mals. We may reasonably expect to find a whole fauna of

creatures fitted to the rude conditions to which we have seen

this elephant is adapted.

Unfortunately we know too little concernirig the fossils of

the extreme northern part of North America to be able to

say whether the Siberian elephants were peculiar to the Asi-

atic border of the Arctic Ocean, or extended over the north-

ern part of this continent. All analogy in the distribution

of life around that sea, at thé present day, would lead us to

expect that the same, or allied species, ranged all along our

northern shore. The Mackenzie River being subject to just

such a peculiar overflow as has embedded the elephants of

Siberia in ice, we can hope that when its shores are better

known there will be similar fossils found there. There

seems to have been an obscure tradition among some portions

of the Indians of eastern North America, that on the unex-

plored and distant recesses north of Lake Ontario and the

St. Lawrence, there dwelt some great mammals which had a

size like that of the elephant. With the early voyagers this

was accepted as proof that the mammoth still lived in the

western part of Labrador; and on some of the first maps

this territory was laid down as the habitation of these sur-

viving members of the giant race whose bones strewed the

surface of so large a portion of the continent. It is to be

expected that the Indians, who must from time to time have

encountered skeletons of the mastodon and elephant where

they had been unearthed by the changes of river courses, or

brought to light in their efforts to free the obstructed course

of large springs, such as those at Saratoga or Big Bone Lick,

would have believed the species still living, and have assigned

it a home in some distant region. A savage conceives with

158 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

diffieulty the extinction of any species of large animal, but if

it fails to cross his path is disposed to assign it a home in the

region least known to him.

So far as is known to the author no remains, either of

elephants or mastodons, have been found north of the parallel

of forty-eight degrees east of the Rocky Mountains. South

of this line the remains are found in tolerable abundance

over the whole surface of the eastern United States as

far south as middle Alabama. We have not sufficient evi-

dence of the distribution of the remains of these animals to

determine just what range they had. New England has

given us the fewest remains, only rare traces of the presence

of this species having been found. In the valley of the

Hudson they are tolerably abundant. In New Jersey, where

the conditions favorable for their preservation are frequently

found, some of the most perfect skeletons have been disin-

terred. All over the middle states we come across traces of

this species ; and in the West, they are the most abundant of

mammal remains. On the Pacific coast, the fossil elephants

were as numerous as in the Mississippi Valley ; on this side

of the continent they seem to have a greater northern range.

The explorations of Mr. Dall revealed the existence of these

remains as far north as Alaska; so that on the west coast

at least, we have the remains of American elephants as far

north as those of Siberia. The existence of these remains

in Alaska makes it exceedingly probable that we shall find

the similar fossils throughout British America, and that our

mammoth is specifically identical with that of Asia. It is re-

markable that the buffalo, which once ranged far east, and

covered the whole of the plain region of the Ohio basin with

innumerable herds, has not left as many traces of his pres-

ence as the elephants. The remains of the mastodon seem

even more plentiful than those of the red deer. Something

must, no doubt, be attributed to the greater size and solidity

of the bones of these pachyderms over those of bison and

deer. Still the remarkable abundance of the elephant re-

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 159

mains is indubitable proof, not so much perhaps of the abun-

dance of the individuals at any one time, as of the long con-

tinuance of the species on the soil. The buffalo was a

temporary race on the Ohio Valley; he had probably been

here only a few thousand years at most, possibly but a few

hundreds, when the coming of the white man drove him

beyond the Mississippi. He was not there at the time of

the mound builders. His bones are not found among their

remains.: His striking form is not copied in their pottery,

as are those of all other remarkable mammals of the

valley. Nor do we find him delineated in the great figure

mounds of the north-west; although if he existed in the

region at the time when these people made these earthern

monuments, he would have been sure of a prominent place

among them. The elephants and mastodons, on the other

hand, had a life which may possibly be reckoned by hundreds

of thousands of years. A species was probably here before

the glacial period; and since that time up to about the com-

ing of man, possibly after his advent on the continent, they

were continually present. The consequence is that their re-

mains are found in about every spot where the conditions

of their preservation exist. Almost any swampy bit of

ground in Ohio or Kentucky where these huge creatures

would have gotten mired in their efforts to get to water in

dry seasons, or where the too yielding mud could have swal-

lowed them up when they endeavored to cool themselves by

wallowing in the mire, as is the habit of all elephants, con-

tains more or less evidence of the presence of these animals.

Sometimes a single tooth or tusk only has survived decay ; at

other times many skeletons are packed together in the bog.

The numerous salt springs of the West, commonly ealled

licks, are peculiarly rich in these remains. Like many

other mammals these elephants were in the habit of seeking

once a year, or oftener, some place where they could supply

the hunger for salt. The saline waters, such as pour from

Big Bone Lick, the upper and lower Blue Licks of Kentucky,

160 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

or other similar localities in the West, supplied this need, and

here came, on an annual pilgrimage, all the large animals of

the country. When this region was first occupied by the

whites the bones of elephants and mastodons were found in

abundance upon the surface, or buried beneath a thin covering

of mould around the various springs of the first of these

localities. For nearly half a century they supplied every

strolling curiosity hunter with relies, besides furnishing the

remarkably perfect specimen in the British Museum, as well

as half a dozen less complete skeletons. There remain to

this day traces of the ancient paths on which at the time the

country was settled the deer and buffalo thronged to their

favorite watering place. These traces, broader than a wide

bridle path and worn to the depth of several feet, were fifty

years ago the natural roads, leading from great distances,

down to the springs. The buffalo evidently fell into the

paths made by their predecessors, the elephants; for along

the courses of these paths the mammoth remains seem most

abundant. Although some of the remains of the Hlephas

primigenius give evidences of extreme antiquity, others

seem comparatively very recent. The author has a tooth of

this species which came from the uppermost terrace of the

alluvial plain opposite Cincinnati, at a point over sixty feet

from the surface. This tooth could not have been placed in

its position less than fifty thousand years ago. Since the

deposition of the beds where it lay the Ohio has deepened

its rock channel over fifty feet, and shrunk to the mere

shadow of the mighty stream which flowed through its valley

when it bore the melting ice of the drift period. On the

other hand some of the remains of the same species, such

as those which lie upon the surface at Big Bone Lick, are so

well preserved as to seem not much more ancient than the

buffalo bones which are found above them. There is a great

difficulty in determining the relative antiquity of the two

elephants which have existed in the United States since the

glacial period. The Zlephas primigenius (if the species

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 161

be identical with the European representatives) seems on the

whole to be more ancient than the Mastodon Ohioticus. It

was beyond all question in existence when the upper terraces

of our river bottoms were being formed, which must have

been just as the ice sheet was passing away from the Alle-

ghanies and was flooding our Western streams with its waters.

This mastodon on the other hand seems never to be found

under circumstances which indicate such great antiquity ; it

seems to have come in after the details of the river courses

were about complete and all the terraces formed. There can

be no doubt, however, that these two giants were associated

during the latter part of their history. Although it is quite

unusual for two allied animals of very great size to exist to-

gether in the same field, there is no reason why the Western

world could not have been broad enough for both. There is

sufficient difference in the structural features of these two

races to warrant the supposition that they must have been

characterized by considerable difference of habit and instinct

such as would lead them to choose different fields of activity.

It seems not unlikely, though the evidence is hardly suffi-

cient to support the assertion, that the mastodon was most

given to wandering in the swamps, while the elephant ranged

on higher grounds.

The Zlephas primigenius, or mammoth, was consider-

ably taller than the Indian elephants of to-day, though not

much exceeding them in length. The most striking dif-

ferences of form were to be found about the head, which

was considerably higher and more pointed than that of

the Indian elephant, and provided with tusks, which in-

stead of projecting downward and forward, curved quite

abruptly outward and backward. The size of these tusks

far exceeds those of any living elephant the author has

measured; tusks-of our North American mammoths have

been found having a length on the outside of the curve

of over ten feet, yet wanting both tips and bases. The

perfect tusk must have been over eleven feet long. In

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 21

162 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

addition to the greater length of the tusks the mammoth was

distinguished from the elephants of to-day by the long hair

which hung in a coarse mane from the neck and along the

belly, nearly dragging on the ground. This shaggy envelope

of hair must have added duse to the apparent size and

formidable appearance of this giant.

We know less about the appearance of the mastodon than

the elephant proper. Their proportions were evidently not

more widely different than those of our domesticated bull and

the buffalo. The mastodons were probably never over eleven

feet high. They had straight tusks, as have our modern

elephants, their grinding teeth, which exhibit the most char-

acteristic differences, separating them from their larger rela-

tives, were fitted for the grinding of rougher food. From

the extreme frequency of the occurrence of the remains of

the mastodon in the swamps of the West, it seems likely that

this form of elephant was peculiarly suited to exist in such

regions.

There can be no doubt that a few thousand years ago these

companion giants roamed through the forests and along

the streams of the Mississippi Valley. They fed upon a veg-

etation not materially different from that now existing there.

Replace them in the primeval forests of that region and

their wants would be as well supplied as when they were

lords of the domain. The fragments of wood which one

finds beneath their bones seem to be of the common species

of existing trees; even the reeds and other swamp plants

which are imbedded with their remains are apparently the-

same as those which now spring in the soil. The naturalist,

accustomed as he is to behold the mysterious changes of life,

where races sink at once into a common grave, and the face

of earth prepared for other actors in the great tragedy of

existence, cannot but feel more keenly than before the tem-

porary character of all life when he opens to the light of

day the resting place of one of those species of gigantic ani-

mals. What eoid have been the nature of Sante agents

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 163

which at one stroke drove from the face of earth two of the

most powerful races of its inhabitants, sweeping with them

many smaller forms, such as the extinct deer and bulls which

we find buried with them. The unchanged geography of the

country assures us that no great convulsion of nature

brought it about. The similarity of the vegetation of the

elephant period, with that now growing on the same soil,

shows pretty conclusively that it was not due to great geo-

graphical changes of other regions reacting on the climate

of the region they inhabited. It is not meant to assert that

no changes of climate have taken place; on the contrary,

such changes have most likely come about; but they have

hardly been sufficient to extinguish animals so well adapted as

the Zlephas primigenius undoubtedly was to brave climatic

irregularities.* There seems but one other way to explain

the extirpation of these races and that is through the action

of man. There is no longer any doubt that our ancestors

of the stone age, on the European continent, were ushered on

to earth in the midst of the gigantie animals of the elephant

riod. It is now over thirty years since Schmerling of Liege

presented the evidence of the contemporaneity of the remains

of man with those of the cave bear and other extinct ani-

mals. Step by step the evidence has accumulated, over-

whelming the determined opposition of those who think that

the truth they have is necessarily damaged by all new dis-

coveries. It is impossible to present here the evidence

which supports what may seem to many a too confident as-

.sertion; its character is known to most readers. Bones of

these extinct animals, split for marrow and worked for tools,

are probably the most important part of the evidence. But

the most unquestionable bit of proof is that which is fur-

nished by a fragment of a tusk of an elephant in the collec-

far from a change from warmth to cold having been the cause of the extinction

of the fossil elephants which have recently disappeared from the Mississippi Valley,

at all, it likely acted by an alteration from cold to warmth, giving a climate too hot for

a creature probably clothed as we know the Lena elephant to have been,

164 THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS.

tion of M. Lartet, of Paris. Some artistic spirit of the

stone age has commemorated an incident*of the chase by

graving upon this fragment a rude, but spirited representa-

tion of the animal to whom the tusk belonged. The form

is very characteristic ; the shape of head, such as the species

is known to have had, differing considerably from that of the

African elephant, is clearly shown. But one feature alone is

sufficient to show that the savage meant to represent a mem-

ber of the race to which the Lena elephant belonged; it is

the long, shaggy hair, falling like a mane from the shoulders

and neck and fringing the belly ; this is clearly indicated in

the engraving. But for the preservation of the Siberian

elephants in ice we would have failed to perceive the meaning

of this feature in the drawing; as it is it leaves no doubt

that he who drew it had an Hlephas primigenius in his

mind's eye.

It was probably for the best that man should have come

upon earth while these giants still lived. They were his

teachers in the first arts of craft and courage. Having to

dispute the possession of his primitive home, the caverns,

with the gigantic cave bear, and the mastery of the forests

with the formidable elephants, he was compelled to contrive

weapons and use them with well concerted bravery. The

magnitude of the dangers which surrounded him compelled

him to associate himself with his fellow men, and his tri-

umphs in struggles, where skill and valor prevailed against

animal strength, gave him the first rude education of the

combat.

If we must seek a reason for the death of the elephants in

external influences we may well find it in the coming of man,

though it would be quite as reasonable to suppose that their

race already, as we have seen very ancient, passed away

because it had lived its time and done its appointed work.

We have no such evidence of the contact of man with this

ancient race of giants on the continent of North America as

European discoveries have afforded. No one who has ex-

THE TIME OF THE MAMMOTHS. 165

amined the conditions of entombment of the extinct peoples

of the Western states, the preservations of their remains,

and the changes which have taken place since their deposi-

tion, can believe that the disappearance of the elephants, and

the coming of the North American man were separated by

any great length of time. When the fields of the West, rich

in the remains of these ancient animals and ancient men, are

studied as they will be by the rising generation of investi-

gators of that region, the precise idein will be easily

established. It is not likely that it will be found that the

highly organized mound building nations were instrumental

in driving the extinet elephants from the soil of North

America. Had they come in contact with these large crea-

tures we should have had some representation of them in

their pottery sculpture, where we find figures of all the com-

mon large mammals of the West, except as before remarked,

the bison, as well as other forms like the manatee which

could not have been personally known to the inhabitants of

the Ohio Valley. It is more likely to have been some rude

dweller in caves of the stone age who slew the last mammoth

of America.

The history of the changes in the elephant life, a little

while ago so abundant, on three at least of the five conti-

nents, is not unlike what we find among other types of ani-

mals and plants which have passed the full meridian of their

existence and are hastening to their setting. While the type

is in its full vigor it spreads its diversitied species far and

wide over northern as well as southern lands ; when it begins

to wane the northern species fall first in the struggle, and

the last remnants of the type are found beneath the torrid

sun where easier conditions permit them to protract a senile

life. Among the plants the palm and tree ferns ; among the

animals the large reptiles like the crocodiles and alligators,

the rhinoceros, the hippotamus, the tapirs, the monkeys, and

many other types find in the tropical forests the conditions

of existence which the ruder climes of the north long since

166 THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS.

denied them. Our speculative friend asks, “may it not be

that man, driven from the northern lands by the coming of

his higher suecessor on the stage of life, is to finally end his

race on earth within the recesses of the gloomy forests of

Brazil or Borneo?"

THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS.

BY W. G. BINNEY.

Most of the readers of the NATURALIST, who reside in the

cities of our Atlantie coast, are aware that the cellars of their

houses are infested with slugs and snails. They have seen

or heard of the glistening tracks made by their slime, and

have heard dreadful stories of the ugly creatures who left

them when escaping from their nocturnal depredations. But

as few of our readers have met them face to face, we pro-

pose giving a short description of each with a portrait of

sufficient accuracy to enable any one to identify the separate

species. '

A word first about their characters and habits. They all

belong to the great division of mollusks which are called

Pulmonata, from the fact of their breathing with lung-like

vessels. Furthermore, they all belong to that group of Pul-

monata which are called Geophila, or lovers of dry land,

from the fact of their habits being terrestrial in distinction

from those which are adapted to living in fresh-water, or in

the sea. These Geophila are distinguished in addition to

their breathing with lung-like vessels by their having their

eyes at the end of long, slender, cylindrical feelers. Thus

far most authors agree, but in subdividing these Geophila

into natural groups there is so little accord among naturalists

that we do not carry our readers farther in classification.

Suffice it to say that literally from head to tail almost every

THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS. 167

character has been seized to found families upon, and thus

far the conchological world is but little the wiser for it.

Our cellar mollusks are all nocturnal in their habits. They

lie quietly stowed away in some crack or crevice of the walls

during the day. At night they sally forth in Fie. 49

pursuit of food and to enjoy the company of «qu

their kind. They feed on vegetable matter —

refuse from the kitchen, decaying vegetables Jaw of Limaz flavus.

or fruits —or on Indian meal, flour, or anything they are

lucky enough to find. They even devour animal food, and

in confinement have even been accused of cannabalism.

When one comes to know how well adapted their mouth is

to eating, it becomes a wonder that our mollusks leave any-

thing uneaten. For the mouth of each individual mollusk is

Fig. 43.

Half row of teeth of Limar flavus,

armed at its entrance with a sharp, stout, pointed process,

called a jaw, for want of a better term. This falls, portcullis-

like, on the food of the animal, and cuts off pieces into his

mouth. We give here a figure of the jaw of Limax flavus

one of the species mentioned below (Fig. 42)." Once in the

mouth the food is taken hold of by a long, broad, ribbon-like

membrane, generally called a tongue. The whole surface of

this tongue is covered with sharp, tooth-like processes run-

ning in transverse rows. These small, sharp teeth rasp

quickly the food and carry it forwards towards the stomach.

Short work they must make of it, for the number of these

tooth-like processes is very great, counting as high as eighty

thousand in some species. We give here a figure of one-

half of one transverse row of teeth on the tongue of the same

species whose so-called jaw is already figured (Fig. 43). To

168 THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS.

understand the figure it must be borne in mind that the

remaining half of this transverse row is similar to the half

figured, and that all the transverse rows are alike. Thus

our figure gives as good an idea of the tongue as if the

whole hundred rows of eighty-five teeth each were given.

No wonder the possessors of all these teeth have a reputa-

tion for voracity and that their presence is dreaded in

kitchen gardens.

Our cellar mollusks are active all the year round, owing

to the milder and more equal climate of their. abode. They

do not hibernate like their brethren of the fields and woods.

Their soft shell-less body gives them little protection trom

their enemies. Like all animals so defenceless they would

soon lecome exterminated had they not great powers of

reproduction. They lay eggs several times during the year,

and in such numbers that a couple of them will lay as

many as six hundred in a year. These eggs are gelatinous,

semitransparent and globular, sometimes attached together

like a rosary. They are remarkably tenacious of vitality,

so much so that they resist the greatest extremes of temper-

ature. They have even been shrunk and dried in a furnace

and kept for years in this state, yet still have developed their

young upon being restored to moisture. The young animal

emerges from the egg in about ‘a month, and when two

months old begins to reproduce its kind, though not itself

arrived at more than half its greatest size.

Only one species of our cellar mollusks is furnished with

un external well developed shell. The others are what are

commonly *nown as slugs. They have, however, under the

skin of the forepart of their body, called the mantle, a rudi-

mentary shell, either in grains of calcareous matter or in a

regular calcareous plate. This plate was formerly supposed

to have great medicinal properties, and has been said to be a

sovereign remedy for almost all the ills that flesh is heir to.

The whole surface of their body is constantly lubricated

by a watery fluid. They also have the power of secreting a

THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS. 169

milk-like mueus at any part of their body which may require

protection from any foreign substance. This secretion of

mucus is their only means of defence against their enemies.

It also is used as a thread like the spiders web to enable

them to descend to the earth.

All the species mentioned below are of foreign origin.

They were imported from England. They are found only

in close proximity to man around his habitation, either in

cellars or gardens. Most of them were noticed pig y.

more than half a century ago, as early as mollusks

became to be studied in our country. They have

also been imported into other colonies of England, g

and probably are destined to become the most em

cosmopolitan of mollusks. adips eid

We will now describe the various species found «eerie.

in our cellars, commencing with the only one which bears a

well developed external shell (Fig. 44). This is the Hyalina

cellaria, a thin, horn colored, glistening, flattened shell of five

whorls, and less than half an inch in diam- Fig. 44a.

eter. The edge of the aperture is sharp, not

reflected, or dienai by a border of testa- V B

ceous matter. It isa common European shell Animal of Hyatina

of which a single specimen was first noticed — ^^

by a gentleman in Philadelphia on a wharf near the foreign

Shipping. It was shown to Mr. Say, who described it as a

new species. Of late years it has not been seen in that

city, but from Astoria, Long Island, to Halifax, it exists in

almost every Atlantie port. It is found only in cellars and

gardens. It used to be very common under the bricks of

the inner edge of the sidewalk on the north side of Mount

Vernon street, Boston, between Walnut street and Louisberg

Square.

Limax maximus is the largest of our cellar slugs (Fig. 45).

It seems to be a more recent importation than the other spe-

cies, having first been noticed in Philadelphia in 1867. It

appeared almost simultaneously at Brooklyn, New York, and

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 22

170 THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS.

at Newport, R. I. The individual figured was found in a

garden in Pelham street of the last named city. Some indi-

Fig. 45.

Limax maximus,

viduals placed in a garden in Burlington, New Jersey, were

shortly after found in an adjoining cellar. This species is

readily distinguished by the rich brown or black stripes

Fig. 46. running lengthwise

down its back, giv-

ing it a leopard-like

appearance. It is

about four inches

H om ce tes whose tongue and

jaw are figured above, grows about three inches long (Fig.

46). It is characterized by a brownish color, with oblong-

oval uncolored spots; body cylindrical, elongated, termin-

ating in a short Fig. 47.

prominent keel;

mantle oval.

rounded at both

ends, with round- a

ed spots ; base of : aron denis

foot sallow white. It has been noticed for more than forty

years in the cities of our Atlantie coast, and probably has

followed the white man over the whole country.

Arion fuscus belongs to a different genus from the last

named slugs (Fig. 47). It is readily distinguished by its

REVIEWS. 171

jaw which has no median beak-like projection to its cutting

edge, but has rib-like processes on its anterior face, cren-

ulating the margin. Its tongue differs also in the form of

the teeth. In the forepart of its body, under the rounded

shield-like process of the skin, there are calcareous grains

instead of a well formed plate. And finally at its tail is a

decided triangular perpendicular mucus pore. It grows

about one inch long. The color is whitish, grayish or

brownish; upper surface marked with elongated crowded

glands; mantle oval, granulated ; tail obtuse, not carinated ;

the sides marked with an obscure brownish line. It is of

European origin and thus far has only been noticed in

Boston and vicinity. It is not properly a cellar snail, but

is found with the preceding species around kitchens and

gardens.

REVIEWS.

om ; .

ba, ALCHIHUITLS. * — [Mr. Squier has in this communication to the Ly-

um given a very important and interesting summary of what is known

Mida to pgs carved ** green stones ” from Mexico and Central America,

and as he has kindly placed the original cuts of the article in our hands,

we make this review in the form of extracts from his communication.

In a future number we shall give figures of a few similar carved stones

Ne et de Mr. McNiel in Nicaragua.]

g the articles of ornament used by the aboriginal inhabitants

of Mexico and Central America, those worked from some variety of green

stone mbling emerald, and called by the Nahuatl or Mexican name

Rp a UD. or chaichiuite,t were most highly esteemed, and

are oftenest mentioned by the early explorers and chroniclers. The word

‘chalchiuitl is defined by Molina, in his Vocabulario Mexicano (1571), to

signify esmeralda baja, or an inferior kind of emerald. The precious em-

erald, or emerald proper, was called quetzalitztli, from the quetzal, the

bird known to science as the Trogon resplendens (the splendid plumes of

which, of brilliant metallic green were worn by the kings of Mexico and

* Ob C ti f Ch tral America. By E.G.

From the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 2

Ms pese followed the orthography of the word throughout, as given by tl i thors

172 REVIEWS.

Central America as regal insignia), and itzli, stone; i.e. the stone of the

quetzal.

Sahagun mentions four of the Mexican gods who were the especial

REEN] of the lapidaries, and honored as the inventors of the art tor

working stones and chalchiuites, and of drilling and polishing them.’ He

does not, however, describe the process made use of by the Indians in

cutting precious stones, *because,' he says, *it is so common and well un-

derstood;’ an omission which his editor, Bustamente, regrets, ‘since the

art is now entirely lost.’

Quetzalcoatl, the lawgiver, high-priest, and instructor of the Mexicans

in the arts, is said to have taught not only the working of metals, but

ee aed the art of cut-

g precious stones, such as

pee ving which are green

stones, much esteemed, and of

great value.’ ( Torquemada,

ib. vi., cap. xxiv.) Quetzal-

coatl himself, according to cer-

tain traditions, was begotten

f these stones, which

the edie Chimalma had

placed in her bosom. Indeed,

both among di poti and

ations

Seer to ave ——

in its kind. Its name w&

to heroes and divinities. The

ee of water bore the

ame of Chalchiuitlcuye, the

the

Human Skull, Ancient Mexican, inlaid with turquoise and the name of Chalchiuha-

and obsidian.

city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water near it, the color

of which, according to Torquemada, ‘was between blue and green.’

Cortez, according to the same authority, was often called ‘ Chalchiuitl,

which is the same as captain of great valor, because chalchiuitl is the

color of emerald, and the emeralds are held in high estimation among

the nations. (Monarchia Indiana, vol. i, p. iut When a great digni-

tary died his corpse was richly decorated for burial with gold and plumes

of feathers, and *they put in his mouth a fine stone resembling emerald,

which they eed iuc and which, they say, they place as a heart.’

(1b., vol. ii. p. 5

REVIEWS. 173

in esteem, and as his account may materially aid in identifying the chal-

chihuitl, it is subjoined entire:

‘The emerald which the Mexicans call quetzalitztli is precious, of great

value, and is so called, because by the word quetzalli they mean to say a

very green plume, and by Fig. 49.

peculiarities belong

the good emerald ; name-

ly, it is deep green with

p |

-—

and at the same time lus-

trous. "There is another

kind of stone which is

called quetzalchalchivitl,

so called because it is

very green and resem-

bles the chalchivitl ; the

best of these are of dee

green, transparent, and

without spot; ose

which are of inferior

quality have veins and

spots intermingled. The

Mexicans work these

1 Ow

are green (but not trans- Chalehibuitl, or engraved precious stone, from Ocosingo,

: : Central America. Full size.

parent), mixed with

white; they are much used by the chiefs, who wear them fastened to

their wrists by cords, as a sign of rank. The lower orders (maceguales)

are not allowed to wear them. . . . There is yet another stone called

tlilaiotic, a kind of chalchuite, in color black and green mixed. . . . And

mong the jaspers is a variety in color white mixed with green, and for

this reason called iztacchalchiuitl.* Another variety has veins of clear

* Iztac signifies white; 1. e. white chalchihuitl.

174 ' REVIEWS.

green or blue, with other colors interspersed with the white. And

there is yet another kind of green stone which resembles the chaicbósiitn

and called PERE ig auge * ]tis known to the Nr: as tecelic, fcr

the reason that it is very easy to work, and has spots of c h

wrought and curious stones which the natives wear shige! js their

wrists, whether of crystal or other precious stones, they call chopilotl—

a designation that is given to any stone curiously worked or very beauti-

ful? (Historia de Nueva España, lib. xi., cap. viii.) The same author,

deseribing the ornaments which the Mexican lords used in their —

speaks of a ‘head-dress called quetzalalpitoat, consisting of two tassels of

rich plumes, set in gold, and worn suspended from the hair at crown

of the head, and hanging down on each side towards the shoulders.

They also wear rings of gold around the arms and in their ears, and

round their wrists a broad band of black leather, and suspended to this

a large bead of chalchiuitl or other precious stone. They also wear a

chin ornament (barbote) of chalchiuitl set in gold, fixed in the beard.

Some of these barbotes are large crystals, with blue feathers put in them,

which give them the appearance of sapphires. There are many other

varieties of precious stones which they use for barbotes. They have

their lower lips slit, and wear these ornaments in the openings, ys

they appear as if coming out of the flesh; and they wear in the same

way semilunes of gold. 'The noses of the great lords are also E

necks, sustaining a gold medal set nura with oe and having in its

centre a smooth precious stone.’ (Zb., viii. ca

x.)

In these descriptions, it will be seen yo the alinia are spoken

of as ornaments, e or oblong beads, which conforms with the repre-

sentations in the paintings. But these or similar green stones were used

for other purposes Pra chronicler D MM in his account of the

conquest of the Tesis of Yucatan, spea idols their temples *of

precious arp green, red, and of other apti esi in describing the

gre e of Tayasal, mentions particularly an idol which was found

in it, *a e long, of rough emerald (esmeralda bruta), which the infidels

called the god of Battles," tnd sg the conquering general, Ursua, took

as part of his share of the s

The Mexicans nevertheless ie true emeralds, of which we have left to

us the most glowing descriptions. Gomara describes particularly five

large ones which Cortez took with him from Mexico to Spain at the time

of his sin visit, and which were regarded as among the finest in the world.

The re valued at 100,000 ducats, and for one of them the Genoese

aneii offered 40,000 ducats, with the view of selling it to the Grand

Turk. Cortez had also the emerald vases, which the padre Mariana as-

sures us, in the supplement of his History of Spain, were worth 300,000

ducats. They are reported to have been lost at sea. All these emeralds

2s De. h Pa tht.

cosa verde. , and tecpatl, stone; 1. e. green stone.

1 , , 5

Shae le Nasa ae gh S Eg PN N ER E

REVIEWS. 175

were cut in Mexico by Indian lapidaries under the orders of Cortez, and

were most elaborately worked. One was wrought in the form of a little

bell, with a fine pearl for a clapper, and had on its lip this inscription in

Spanish, Bendito quien te crió! Blessed he who made thee! he one

valued most highly was in the shape of a cup, with a foot of gold. All

of them were pres- ,

ented by Cortez to his

second wife, who thus,

Fig. 50,

rkab

these emeralds, Peter

robbed by the French

pirates, that must have

surpassed any of them

in size and value.

eer

and trinkets of a hard,

green stone, which

they call by the Mex-

ican name, and which they regard as of great value; *a string of frag-

ments large enough for an ear-ring being worth as much as a mule.'

Mr. Blake, suspecting this stone to be turquoise, and learning that it was

Basso-Relievo of the god Cuculcan, from Palenque.

fragments of the so-called chalchihuitil ‘of applegreen and peagreen,

passing into biuish-green, capable of a fine polish, and of a hardness

176 REVIEWS.

little less than that of feldspar.’ The fragments found were small, not

~~ three-quarters of an inch in length and one-quarter of an inch

ickness, and the material ‘appeared to have formed crusts upon the

m dpa cavities or fissures in the rock, or to have aani through

it in veins.

Mr. Blake's description applies to the specimens exhibited to the Ly-

ceum not long ago E Pro fessor Newberry, and there is no doubt that the

ages. wa s, a variety of the turquoise. But I doubt if it

e the true gee eo ud the Mexicans and Central Americans. That

ud used the stone described by Mr. Blake for certain purposes, I know;

Fig. 51.

Chalchihuit] from Ocosingo. Two-thirds actual size.

for there exists in the museum of the late Mr. Henry Christy, in London,

a human skull completely encrusted with a mosaic of precisely this stone,

€: a flint knife with its handle elaborately inlaid with it, in small frag-

ments. Of the first of these relics I present a drawing made by Waldeck

ex pubised by the oe Government. See Fria. 48.*

T f eviden opinion, goes to show that the stone

i ih Paco. s that -— Molina defines to be ‘ baja esme-

ralda, or possibly nephrite, ‘a jasper of very green color,’ as Sahagun,

already quoted, avers. I should ctore object, on strictly critical and

historical grounds, to the suggestion of r. Blake, that the variety of

turquoise found by him should be * known among mineralogists as chal-

chihuitl.’

But apart from any speculations on the subject, I have to lay before the

Lyceum a most interesting series of green stones, unrivalled, in their

*In Mr. Christy’s i r, with turquoises,

tempe and white and ‘red shells. The predominant — — sr is end rmi The bac

of the skul e face to be

hun -— by €

ern: int (which still remain) over t the face of an nerd as was eri cu nM

transverse black bands in the ent are of obsidian in the original. The essi are eere of

iron pyrites, cut hemispherically and highly polished.

REVIEWS. . 177

way, in the world, which were found among the ruins of Ocosingo, in the

department of Quesaltenango, Guatemala, on the borders of Chi: ipas, and

not remote from the more famous but hardly less imposing monunients

of — I must not omit to say that, in common with similar stones,

they were designated by the people of the region where they were found

as chalchichuites.

TR - Bibi first and most — of these » precisely four inches long by two and

th i, asa about half a thickness. 1€ face is sculptured in low

relief, hin the figure Ld a divinity seated, eross-legge d, on a kind of carved seat, with his left

and his right raised to his breast, as i the act of giving benedic-

tion. Around his loins s an ornamental girdle, and depending from his neck kae re reta on

is breast is an oblong ober plate or charm lik to ha en worn by

the Jewish e tae sts. The face is ir ofile, show-

Fig. 52.

an p-

tures, Or haere are mee ed in the lobes of the

ears, and the head is surmounted with the character-

istic and elaborate plumed head-dress that we observe

large bas-relief found by Mr. Stephens in an inner

chamber of one of the ruined structures of Palenque

(Fic. 50). At about one-third of ets "an of the

carved chalchihuitl, measu oo from the top, it is

drilled through from edge o edge, the an Pete a

little less than eweadeauces an Pct

drilling eod puse made from each side to the

tre, where the o drillings run one into the pires

with ofl slightly diminished bore. - e pi rpos e of this

or other part of the e person; but the back edges of the

e are sis pierced a as if to affo n mean

oy e vio

for enamel. It is a semi-disk in shape, four and a half

neh

rings and ot rnaments below the chin. It, too, is LT. om Ocosingo. Te

s dge, longitud ur home et

side. The back shows that it was sawn from a solid ! ock of the same material, both from

above and below, u ntil the earner d each other ae half an inch, when the interme-

diate core, if E may so call it, off. The swcrre of the saw is distinctly T. from

hu ps hey ig as well as "e Me ge spin the striæ are nearly polished out. This was clearly

i 8 there are no means by which to fasten it to robes of any kind, It

pee ~~ served » a ati ote r breast-pla’

2.—This is ost interesting, atone a very irregul spee-

Misc. Pix inches bán two-tenths long by and a half vieni wide at ‘its wide i: ort: The

ack shows a compaet greenish stone, wit as he same evidences of havin dir gris sawn from a

solid block to which I have alluded i in describing pier 51. The - - appear of a brilliant

een — exhibiting 1 helmet or

huge and neek NE tiniomibié to describe, and only to be understood by ins ein

of dg lcm This, too, is pierced, like that last described, from edge to edge, near "ed upper

end.

FIG. 53, — This i my tively 11 fi lentical terial with Fic. 49, an irreg-

“=

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 23

178 REVIEWS.

ular triangle in shape, somewhat concave on the face, where is carved in profile a human hea

achment by threads to some portion of the dress of the wearer, It is polished

paria and S5 and Hepernes: pu. an d thr ae inches by one and — It has its

formerly Maye r, Mus eum, of Lon

"m — PRÉ gn specimen * peculiar. and very interesting It is a sey irregular glo

on d =

Fig. 53. eter. On three sides, if I may ise the ex-

prennon in respect of a sphere, are as lua d

56,57. As I shall "e MOM to my

to ned. a siniple NM perfect gione

aeter, pierced th

ws a hole sufficiently large to admit a sions

“Fics 58 and 59 - types of a large clas

of what may be called a orna-

— vin no Nee signifie j

and 61, howe iis may have

a Minos trate signifieance. "The latter

(Fra. 61) is a fr t

Fig. 54.

two-tenths in diameter over the rim, o one inch and one-

indi e with a bore of atienda of an inch in diameter.

The above described are fair types of

the aes found at Ocosingo; but I pos-

sess some other worked and engraved green-

stones, worth oo. a in this con-

nection. The first of thes

ned globe, pierced,

IG, e RE URGES to the engraved Assyrian ourth size.

seals, or, as they are sometimes called, ‘Chaldean’ cylinders.

It is a perforated cylindrical piece of heavy, opaque stone, of a dark sea-green color (ne ph-

rite?), two inches long by an inch and one-tenth in diameter. In a kind of oval o r what

Egyptian scholars would call a cartouche, is presented the profile of some divinity (tbe. Maya

sed e corner of the

an, , Among the things found by the conqueror of the Ttzaes, Ursua,

REVIEWS. 179

temples which he destroyed in the island in 1697, sd eere er an idol of emerald a span long,

beri says the chronicler, * he appropriated to hin

may be observed of the figure engraved on this poet that fo speak, among American na-

dias was the verbal as well as the symbolical expression of life or being, as is to see or to

i Fig. 56 i

* Hieroglyphics” on Chalchihuitl globe. Full size,

breathe, ® or to eat, among eris Betions in various parts of the world. 'The projecting tongue in

t de iile | dm living God or man; he who

n talk, and therefore lives. In this

"ud ince, the lax and drooping tongue Fig. 59.

heightens the dit of death which the Fig. 58. ==

— eye in part conveys.

. 64 is an engraving of a stone

A or adze of hard green stone,

parallel with e r

cutt e edge is slig curved out- Chalchihuiti

ward, implying that, i intended for

Peai service, it was an it is to be y d that it was bolically, in the

Pheirhihnit? Anlat

bin of distinction or ornament. It was found in an ancient grave in Costa Rica. Q9 ruling

ca of Peru carried an axe instead of a passin as one of his insignia of dominion.*

* In Greece stone weapons s of jade or nephrite are sometimes found, which the common peo-

Lo call “thunderboltsy and hold in D abire qtu in Nasan, New Pro of the * London Athe-

m^ found a ilar object, called by the same name, in nrg New vide S in the Ba-

na Ie Jeha cs ES s polished ithe: fia attened, bet oint eå a with a broad cutting

edge at the other, and r a ad by the natives as a pre ative rb Thiele. Another —

respondent of the same publication states that he ands a aiat object in Jamaica forty year:

ago, e called a thunde — It was kept in an earthern jar filled with water, ded wass esi

posed to keep thew water

180 REVIEWS.

G. 65 (full siz 133 tc th 1] "1 ho 6 ¢ Ly -" ae D | 1 3.6

Piast the island of Pat adn Lake Nicaragu

FiG.66 is of still another and harder M d of green stone, from a mound near Natchez,

iik 64.

| will

7 A lf,

Eng 1st ylinder from Yucatan.

Hatchet of green stone

from Costa Rica.

and appears to be a strange combination of the head of a siren of o of the

frog, with Sh human body. Itis also pierced laterally, like esl already described, pods

or suspension

I do not jii FrGs. 63, 64, 65, and 66 as specimens of the chalchihuitl,

but as showing the regard paid to green stones generally. It is one that

pervades both continents and many nations, from the advanced Chinese,

Fig. 68.

Carved green stone found near Natchez.

Sculptured frog, Nicaragua.

to whom the green jade is sacred, to the savage dwellers on the banks

of the Orinoco, among whom Humboldt found cylinders of hard green

stones, the most highly prized objects of the several tribes, and some of

which it must have required a lifetime to work into shape.

REVIEWS. 181

‘Of the carved chalchihuitls, like those d ibed from FiG. 48 to Fia. 62,

I have seen but three specimens outside of my own collection: one al-

ready alluded to in the Christy Museum of London, another in the late

Uhde Museum near Heidelberg, and a third in the Waldeck collection in

Paris.

The question how these obdurate stones were engraved, drilled, and

sawn apart, or from the blocks of which they once formed a portion, is

one likely to arise in most minds. It is one that has puzzled many in-

quirers; nor do I pretend to give an answer, except that the drilling was

pur performed by a vibratory drill, composed of a thin shaft of cane

b o, the silica of which was reénforced by very fine sand, or the

I of us very article — treatment. The strie shown in the orifices

are proof of something of the kind, and the esteem attached to these

As regards the sawing, of which the backs of Fias. 51, 52, and 64, afford

striking examples, we may find a clue in the accounts of the early chron-

iclers, who relate that they saw, in Santo Domin ngo and elsewhere, the

ines use a thread of the cabuya ai agave), with a little sand, not only

in cutting stone, but iron itself. The thread was held in both hands, and

drawn right and left sis worn out s attrition, aim then changed for a

new one, fine sand and water being constantly supplied.

Not a few inquirers Vise the hypothesis pe most of the raised

and sunken figures on various stones in Mexico, Central America, and the

mounds of the United States. were produced by persistent rubbing or

abrasion — a general hypothesis which I shall not dispute. B bjeets

m the mounds, as well as from other points on the continent, we have

distinct Meg f the use of graving or incisive tools of some kind —

as for instance in ad heretyk in Fic. 54, which are cut in a stone so °

hard that the blade of a knife produces scarcely any impression on its

polished surface.

E RECORD OF ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE FOR 1868.* — We have before

out the part on insects; or the conchologist without that on shells; or the

ae ates be at all informed on the progress of his speciality unless

work to refer to. Its preparation isa labor of love by the

editors aa its liberal minded publisher, Mr. Van Voorst; and the work is

a credit to their heads and hearts.

*Vol. V. Edited by Dr. A. eet London, Van Voorst, 1869, 8vo, pp. 592. Price re-

duced to $10a vol. The Record id 1868, also in parts: Part 1, Foin, $3.50; Part

2, Entomology, $1.00; xe s pb aad agde and the Lower Animals, $3.50. For sale at the

Naturalist's Book Agenc

182 REVIEWS.

THE RECORD OF AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY FOR 1869 will be Sores late

in May. It will contain chapters by Messrs. Scudder

Horn and Packard, and Baron Osten Sacken. Price, A x which does

not cover the cost of printing. We trust lovers of entomology will evince

their zeal for the science by promptly dandas to this useful publica-

tion. e hope that it will meet with bet support than last year, as

the im are n out of pocket in bmi: of the small sale of

the work for

THE WEEDS OF Matne.* — This cR issued from the State Print-

g Office, consists of a few forms taken from the recent report of the

Secretary of the Maine Board of initio: The young man whos

appears as the author, has certainly shown a remarkable taste for

hal study. Wholly unassisted, even by friendly advice, he co

menced the study of botany under great disadvantages and he has nies

ously prosecuted his herborizing during the too scanty leisure afforded by

a Maine farm. The ART power of diagnosis, which the author

possesses, leads us to hope that he will devote the next few years to

rigid disciplinary study, Pad then resume botanical work for which he

s H fi The pamphlet itself is not to be criticised

make it the text for a few very brief remarks. It is so easy to learn the

names of plants and associate the two together, and so very difficult to

learn £he plant itself, that too many of our young botanical students are

devoting praa time meia to collecting, preserving, and naming speci-

mens. In v of the many great questions in plant- ph ares which

week. The January p number of “Gomptes rendus,” contains a very in-

teresting note by M. Prillieux upon the movements of chlorophyl grains

n f st

but it is plain, too, that the thinkers of our time are asking that the

former kind of work shall be done and faithfully done. Our plants are

well named, and therefore we are justified in suggesting that our young

botanical friends devote less time to mere *' botanizing," as it is absurdly

called, and give more time and better work to the study of the plant.

Tux GEOLOGY or THE New Haven REGION.f — Professor Dana de-

scribes the geology of New Haven and vicinity, with especial reference to

the origin of its topographical features; showing by special facts, that

the region, in the glacial era, like that of New England to the North, was

moulded by ice, and that icebergs had no part in the matter, and the sup-

posed iceberg sea over New England no existence.

* By F. L. Seribner,

tF the T ti f the C ticut Academy. 1870. 8vo, pp. 112.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

COLLECTED NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN Oaks. — The first

American oak noticed in botanical works is the white oak, ML by

Parkinson in “Theatrum Botanicum," 1640, as Quercus alba Virginiana.

Banister, 1686, in **Catalogus Plantarum "n Virginia Observ ataram ” (in

Rayi Historia) mentions Quercus alba virens (as Virginiana sempe ns),

Phellos € im Marilandica) with a drawing by Ray, and neers We.

(as Q. pum

nt » * Amagestum Botanicum," 1696, enumerates Quercus esculi

divisura, Pie is Q. rubra L., Q. Americana rubris venis (Q. coccinea Wg.),

var. y (DC.), Q. Virginiana salicis longiore folio (Q. Phellos L.), Q. Vir-

giniana sempervirens (Q. virens Ait.), Q. castanee folio ( Q. prinus palustris

Michx.), Q. pumila castanee folio Virginiensis (Q. prinus pumila Michx.),

Q. rubra, papaa and Prinus palustris, are illustrated.

Catesby in his ** Nataral History of Carolina,” 1731, names Q. alba, Pri-

a tica

Walt., he knows under the name Quercus folio non serrato; his Q. esculi

divisura is Q. erap asma and his Q. humilis "wn folio breviore is

Q. cinerea Michx.; all except the latter are illustra

Charlevoix in ** "Histoire et vituli générale de e Nouvel France,”

Paris, 1744, knows Q. prinus palustris Michx., Q. alba L., Q. virens Ait.,

and Q. nigra L.; he gives drawings of the three latter.

In — stunt us eae ean 1743, containing the pee which John

Cla obse Virginia, we find Q. Phellos, nigra, atica, Prinus

pcan — ih he calls Q. pumila bipedalis, fei stelata Wg. (to

him Q. alba) and falcata Michx., which he calls rubra

Kalm in his travels, or rather in his ‘‘ Preliminary "Redit on his Bo-

tanical Collections," 1751, mentions only four oaks. Q. rubra and alba,

the Spanish oak (Q. falcata Michx.) and another one with three lobes at

the apex of the leaves, which is perhaps the var. triloba of the latter (Q.

triloba Michx.). These are the American oaks known at the time when

Linnsus' **Species Plantarum," 1753, was published. Linné established

five species, Q. Phellos, comprising Q. virens and cinerea as varieties 3 and

7- Q. nigra x and g (x being aquatica Walt.), Q. rubra, comprising rubra,

coccinea and Catesbei, Q. prinus (Q. prinus palustris Michx.) and Q. alba.

Du Roi published (in ** Harbke'she wilde Baumzucht," Braunschweig,

1771) a new species, Q. palustris.

Marshall published his ** Arbustum Americanum,” in 1785, in which he

described the following oaks: Q. alba, Q. alba minor=stellata Wg., Q.

alba palustris, which is apparently Q. Prinus tomentosa Michx., not Q.

3 (1835

184 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

alba. as Michaux says; Q. (Q. tinctoria Bartr.), Q. nig

digitata, Q. nigra trifida, Q. anis i (aeprifolia, the two latter certainly "d

iug under Q. nigra L. var. fj» Q. nigra pumila— Q. ilicifolia Wg., Q. rubra ;

ra issi Q. palustris Du Roi; Q. rubra montana=Q. falcata

Michx. ; Q. rubra nana=Q. Catesbæi BMiohx.; ; Q. Phellos mper: sap

la tifolía— Q. Phellos L. (silvatica Michx.); Q. Phellos

virens Ait.; Q. Prinus—Q. Prinus monticola Michx. ; ; Q. Prinus hutnitio=

Q Prinus "od Michx

Wangenheim in his PSR on the ** SET iene BAN ten," 1787, pro-

posed-some new species, of which three are ack ledged to-day: Q.

stellata (the Q. alba minor of Marshall), Q. reckon (the Q. pumila of

pou. and Q. coccinea (Q. rubra L., var. a). His Q. cuneata is Q.

falcata Michx., var. y triloba, and his Q. MiBMEen is the Q. aquatica

teim by.

Walter in ** Flora Caroliniana,” published in the year 1788, enumerated

thirteen oaks: 1, Q. sempervirens (virens Ait. ); 2, Q. Phellos ; 3, Q. humilis

(cinerea Michx., var. 7. Spes 4, Q. ydo ce prid Michx., var.

pumila) ; 5, Q. Prinus; 6, Q. nigra; 7, Q. aquatica (nigra L., a) 308,

rubra (glandibus parvis globosis, perliaps Q- SA Wang.?); 9, Q. iovis

(Catesbei, Michx.?); 10, Q. alba; 11, Q. lyrata, which he first describes;

a Q. sinuata, from the bu dii ud of which it is not plain what it means;

3, Q. villosa already described by Wangenheim as Q- stellata. Micha

usd a. who a FANE but did not name it, the au iis

of cus aquatica. De Candolle makes Walter the author of it; the

Whi published his Flor ora one year after the publication of Wangenheim's

novius, so his name should be added. By the m Walter is noteworthy

for his modesty, which should be imitated by many an eager species-

His w n

** Libertatem appellative assignandi paucis tantum concedendam stil;

quamobrem iis, qui in hac scientia merito duces sunt, jus reliquit dicendi

quenam sint nomina plantis nunc primum descriptis." If so many botanists,

who, overrating the doubtful merit of having created a new species, fill

our botanical books with names, would follow modest old Walter, a good

deal of wasted paper could be saved, and a good deal of unnecessary

work. Indeed, it is much easier to make new species, than to clean those

Augean stables of synony

Aiton in ** Kew Garden," 1789, calls the oo Q. sempervirens of

Catesby Q. virens; the latter name is adop

William artram, in his ** Travels Vind North and South Carolina,"

Phil. 1791, proposes the new species Q. tinctoria, which De Candolle in

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 185

his Prodromus reunites with Q. coccinea Wg., as var. y pecia Bart-

ram's Q. hemispherica and dentata are both varieties of Q. aqua

Luis Née joined the expedition of Malaspina from 1789 me 9; he

visited South America, Mexico and the Pacitic Islands, and brought

i t

cias Naturales ” by Cavaniitén, 1798. Amongst these oaks are two Cali-

fornia species, Q. lobata and agrifolia ; the latter was already known to

lucknet as Ilex foliis ag € Americana (in ** Phytographia," London,

cat 93, M but without flower or fruit); the others are Mex-

n, Q. circinata, magno pti, salicifolia, microphylla, are acuti-

fui elliptica, castanea, and candicans, all considered yet b ood

s." His Q. lut

and Nea. specimen is defective; tfi rugosa Humboldt and Bodl ud

changed into Q. crassifolia, Me ibique specimen being very defective

- doubtful.

André Michaux explored from 1785 to 1796 the forests of Eastern North

merica. He published in 1801 his **Histoire des Chénes l'Amérique

tion. His arrangement is the fi

E ades leaves of the old tree ipi beste pointed: fruit peduncled, annual.

porem obed. Q. obtusiloba (stellata Wg.), macrocarpa (n. sp.)

lyrata Walt., alba L.

2. Leaves toothed. Q. Prinus, with : varieties: palustris, monti-

cola, acuminata, pumila and tomentosa.

B. d entire. Q. virens, but the poc are according to him

ial.

II. Leaves a ve old tree Vieh i fruit sessile, biennial.

eaves entire. i un bns three varieties, silvatica, mari-

tima, and pumila. one rea, Q. imbricaria (n. sp.), Q. lauri-

folia, with the variety porate,

2. Leaves with short lobes . aquatica, Q. nigra, ho tinctoria,

with two — (aigu eons tee, Q. trilo

3. Leaves deeply lobed. Q. Banisteri (ilicifolia Wg M Q. ws

(hispanica Clayton, discolor rents elongata Willd.), Q. Catesbai

Q. coccinea Wg., Q. palustris Du Roi and Q. rubra

The same species are enumerated in his **Flora Americana,” published

by L. C. Richard, but without this arrangement. The ripening of fruit

-is not there mentioned at all.

Willdenow in **Species Plantarum," 1797-1810, enriched (?), the genus

Quercus by new species, making out of the five varieties of Prinus,

five species: Prinus, montana, bicolor (tomentosa), castanea (acuminata)

and Prinoides (ridi ; the varieties of Phellos, maritima and pumila he

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 24

186 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

changed into two species of the same name; tinctoria var., sinuosa into

discolor, and his Q. myrtifolia is probably a variety of Q. aquatica.

Persoon in ** Synopsis Plantarum," 1805 enumerates MA five oaks, of

Nort

posed

five new species: Q. ieee! which proves to be an hybrid; ambigua

and borealis, which fall und pi coce "a ; ^fi A e which is Q. nigra

L. 8.; and oliveformis, whic

Humboldt and Bonpland nites Eris -1808) mer -three new spe-

cies, of which thirteen are now considered a a Qs see

crassifolia, crassipes, depressa, Humboldtii, ee a ind, obtusat

pulchella, repanda, reticulata, Tolimensis, Xalepensis; four are evum

Q. Amalguerensis, chrysophylla, glaucescens and sideroxyla ; three had been

described already by Née: Q. eu. XR Pep Née; trid astanea

var. 7, and Mexicana = Castanea Née var. E; three are the same as

other species of the same authors: Q. sata is reticulata H. B.; pan-

durata and ambigua are obtusata H. B., va f. They are all Mesi-

can, except three from New Granada : liv Tolimensis s setter

erensis. ‘They are described in perdis Æquinoctiales,” 18 818.

acter, the second the presence or absence o the bristles of the leaves;

the third the form of the leaves.

Nuttall in ** Genera of North American Plants," 1818, follows the same

Escorts 2 the number of his species is thirty-two. He calls Q.

Prinus discolor Mich. fil. Q. Michauxii, but at the same time he keeps Q.

bicolor Willa. as a species with the variety mollis (probably Q. velutina

Lam., which he believes is : filiformis Muhl.). Afterwards he proposes

three. more species: Q. Gambelli, Leana (a hybrid) and dumosa (in ** Silva

ee a doubtful species. Of Mexican species he knew ouly fif-

iol in a * Sketch of the Flora of Georgia," 1824, enumerating

twenty-six tps adds to those already known, a variety of falcata Michx.

(var. pagodefo

Chamisso ak Schlechtendal, 1830, in **Linnea," v., described some

new Mexican oaks from specimens collected by Schiede and Deppe: Q.

calophylla, polymorpha, ao germana and oleoides, the latter being

Q. virens Ait. These make the western species amount to thirty-six.

Hooker and Arnott published y 1841, the ** Botany of Capt. Beechey's

Voyage," comprising the plants which Lay and Collie, 1825-28, collected.

We find amongst them three oaks, two Californian: Douglasii and densi-

flora, and one Mexican: aristata. In ** Hooker's Flora boreali Americana,”

SE CITIES RP ERAT RUIN cq ms

adi

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NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 187

1833-40, is described as new Q. Garryana by Menzies and Douglas, found

in Oregon; and in ** Icones," 1837-45; — —' from Guatemala.

Ben vm describes in the Botany of the v e of the had under

command of Capt. Belcher, the lis sine s Barclay, Hinds and Sin-

clair. He proposes a new species T : capas Hindsii, Pion Cali-

fornia which is nothing else than Q. lo

From the same author are the en thats = conned di 1839-42, «aste

‘ing the plants which Hartweg, 1836-40, collected in Mexico, etc. There w

find a number of new species: Q. barbinervis, visit m ‘ahami, "rd

neri, Sonomensis, dysophylla, a te salicifolia, the ew atter names, as

read Cand

ers had already been described: Q. Mexicana is crassipes H. B.,

= Sa Cham. hl., Hartwegi = obt H. B., petiolaris =

She am. avd Baht ., Callosa = tomentosa Willd. Others are

a Willd., var., compressa — acutifolia var.,

E Hook, AER. var. §. Hartwegi; Douglasii = Douglasi. `

Hook. Arn. var. ; one proposed as a variety was afterwards taken as a spe-

cies by Liebmann: Q. obtusata var. = Q. laeta Liebm. At the same time

two Belgian botanists, Galeotti and — travelled in M exico, and

— many oaks, which have been publ d, MN in ** Bulletin of

th cadémie des Siria of Bruxelles," i P i and Marte

e aj lutescens, Ghiesbreghtit, nitens, Ada banat glaucoides, pha

z=:

haps crassifolia), are doubt uch as were already described are Q.

d Schl., nitida = acutifolia Née, acuminata

and (ational — pog Schl., spinulosa = crassifolia H. B., affinis

= obtusata H. B., decipiens = reticulata H, B., laurina = depress a Bth., lan-

B ca

n ar

tandrefolia, sah o a pie se paises Seemanni, Sartorii, Cor-

tesii, læta, Drummondii, strompocarpa, grandis, Warscewiczii, rene

Species already pn are Q. Fendleri—undulata Torr. (in Annals Ly-

ceum of New York, He P iod: uei " B. Ri luy Wm

M. G; eret morpha Cham. & Schl., retusa

=virens Ait.; varieties 3 scribed specia d are Q. ao MM MAE

Née, y rudinervis— ie ta H. B. y, Newi=Douglasii var. y, longifolia—

acutifolia var. ocotefolia—nitens var. y, (bless hs microcarpa=elliptica

evar. His Q. oocarpa is the same as his zewiczii; what he took

for laurina is lanceolata H. B., var. 5. ; Q. Grahami om] is acutifolia Née, .

his lancifolia is a new species by A. DeCandolle changed into leiophylla ;

Q. bum pnr cuneifolia ( Chinantlensis), excelsa, evgeniarfalia, Jarian,

floccosa, fulva, jurgensenii, Oaxacana, Orizabae, sapota , Segoviensis,

serra, sororia, scytophylla, turbinata (by A. DC., aspen mee Guatimalen-

188 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

sis), are donbtful species. From Wright’s collection he described Q.

pungens, hastata and grisea, already published by Torrey, the two former

greaves’ :

named, when he published them: Q. crassipocula (in Williamson's Vr rt)

is chrysolepis Liebm., described in **Plantze Hartwegians;" Q. tinctoria

var. Culifornica (in W Lb S seien is utitur Bth.; longi odi in

* Frem. Geogr. Mem. of Cal," is 7 Née; echinacea (in Whipple’s

Rep.) is e sryalenin n Sites es' Report) is agrifolia Née.

In ** Mexican Boundary Survey " (1858), is a new species described as

acutidens from pen steel wasn by De Candolle; another, obtusifolia,

falls under undulata Torr., as a variety ; auodier vatriséy is there mentioned,

Q. coccinea var. microcarpa. Kellogg published in the ** Proceedings of

the California Academy of Sciences," vol. i, some new species, which are

not new: Q. fulvescens is chrysolepis Lbm. ; dere doses is agrifolia Née;

` Ransomi is lobata N?e. His Q. Morchus (Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. ii) is

doubtful. Newberry proposed what ita ey to ik fo or a variety of tinctoria

i.e. coccined), as a new species, Q. Kelloggii, MAN falls under yes

mensis Benth. Curtis, 1849, proposed a new eastern species, Q. yes

Shuttleworth's Q. Floridana is the var. f. WloHdana of Q. stellata ac-

cording to De Candolle, perhaps p oid Svar. parvifolia? E aes in

* Genera Plantarum," Suppl. iv, 2, 1847, enumerates one hundred and

ninety-seven described oaks, of which one hundred and one are American. :

BRENDEL, Peoria, Ill. (To be concluded.)

ZOOLOGY.

eris Horns. — The article in the December number of the NATURA-

ms to me dee bs the eons of careless — nes The ‘Common

ary observer would be thought old

animals. :

T er of persons hunting

in the Mirondcis increases very

rapidly, and every hunter is bent on procuring a fine pair of horns as a tro-

phy, and as it takes at least six or eight years for a buck to grow a fine

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 189

pair of antlers, you ean see that the chances for a deer to attain a full de-

velopment is growing more unfavorable every year. The reason why sjnke

horns seem to be more numerous than formerly, is that there are more

hunters and fewer old deer. If any oue can show me a spike horn of a

deer that is Me or more years old, that is not the gen of accident, I

would like to

The same ceeded exists with the moose and carraboo. It is now

almost impossible to procure a large and well developed pair of moose

or carraboo horns, while some years ago they were plenty. — W. J. Havs.

ADIRONDACK’s REPLY. — In replying to the criticism of Mr. Hays, I er

unless I can take time to collect testimony, only reiterate my form

mesigiirhe that I shot on Louis Lake a buck with spike-horns, viti

a yearling, nor a two years old, nor a three years old even, but a

M pee of full age and size; and that I afterwards shot on Cedar

Lakes a buck- with spike-horns, which was pronounced to be a ‘three

year old." I will add that I have conversed on the subject of ** spike-

horn bucks" with a number of hunters and guides, some born in the

Adirondacks, others who have lived there many years, and that the tes-

timony of all agreed that spike-horn bucks are of all ages and sizes, and

that they are slowly increasing in the southern part of the Adirondack

region

I shot the large buck on Louis Lake, Silas Call, then a noted and

. most intelligent guide, now keeper of the inn at Northville, was with me.

He will undoubtedly remember the facts and testify to them if called upon.

When I shot the smaller spike-horn. William S. Robinson, Esq., of- Mal-

den, Mass., stood by my side. Hon. F. W. Bird, of Walpole, was of the

party, and saw the deer at the shanty. I do not know that either of these

den has ever given attention to the subject of spike-horn bucks;

but Mr. Bird has hunted a good many years in the southern Adirondacks,

gentlemen for using their names without their consent, but, living at a

place reached only by infrequent mails, I have no time to procure it.]

David Sturges, the keeper of the inn at Lake Pleasant, born there, and

one of the best and most successful guides and hunters of the Adiron-

dacks, could give valuable testimony on the question. He has been upon

the lookout all through the past autumn and early winter, for the head of

with horns **in the velvet," before next September. I hope then Mr.

Sturgis will be mgre:successful. But spike-horn backs; of full age and

size, are not yet common, and a young one will not answer your purpose.

Of the figures of ** spike-horns " (Fig. 67) by Mr. Hays, neither resembles

very closely the trne spike-horn. I have the pair from the young spike-

horn buck shot by me, and will send them to you whenever I go to a place

reached by the express. I will send with them the antlers of a common

“two year old” buck. You will at once see the difference. You will see

too, what was the fact, that the spike-horns came from the larger deer.

190 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

The distance between the horns shows this. The spike-horns are about

of the spike-horn buck is shorter than that on the other; the spike-horn

was shot just as deer were attaining the ** blue coat;" the other was shot

a month or six weeks later. This is the reason of the difference.

Notwithstanding what Mr. Hays says, I never saw a yearling buck

(that is a buck in his second year, wearing his first pair of horns) that

could be said to have ‘attained full growth,” in ** height,” or anything

else. I never saw a **two years old" (in his third year) that had attained

full growth in all respects — itor yet “a three years old." "The saddle ie: a

two years old will never exceed forty or fifty pounds in weight. I dou

seventy pounds; and I have the head of one whose saddle weighed a little

overeighty pounds. I have heard of bucks still heavier. Without the

antlers, there may in some cases be difficulty in distinguishing between a

two years old and a three years old; but there is never any difficulty in dis-

tinguishing between either of these and a buck of six or seven years. ` Å

yearling (in his second year) can always be known by his size. A buck

in the spring, when he attains the full age of two years, never has horns,

and has had none for some time. While his first pair of horns lasts surely

he can never be said to have ** attained full growth” in any respect. Shot

in the fall previous, his youth is very manifest. Me it is the first pair of

horns only that are ever ** spikes" in a common C. inianus

id Mr. Hayes. ever hunt south of Raquette ro or ever r south of

Fulton counties, and west into Herkimer county and the *' idis tract."

But I have visited the country north of Long Lake only o

The writer in the ** Saginaw Republican" apparently s pet of deer.

A yearling buck (in his second year, with his first pair of horns) has

spike-shaped horns; but at the rutting season he is scárcely pes A

months old, and is quite too young and small to be a rival of a full-grown

buck, while a two years old buck (in his third year with his second pair

of horns) has antlers which are scarcely more formidable weapons than

the antlers of a full-grown buck. In point of fact I believe the full-

grown bucks have altogether the advantage with the does.— ADIRONDACK.

GEOLOGY.

New ANIMAL REMAINS FROM THE CARBONIFEROUS AND DEVONIAN

Rocks or CaNADA. — Principal Dawson has discovered another species

of amphibian from the Joggins Coal Mine, the Baphetes minor ; the remains

consisting of a lower jaw six inches long. The author also noticed some

EP SUS MC LA Er eiu Lr

cot Des

ge Nk adi eee ae

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 191

insect remains found by him in slabs Meet Sphenophyllum. They

were referred by Mr. Scudder to the Blattarie. From the Devonian beds

of Gaspé the author stated that he had ec a small species of Ceph-

alaspis, the first yet detected in America. Mr. Etheridge remarked that

the Cephalaspis differed materially in its proportions from any in either

the Russian or British rocks. — Nature.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

MARYLAND ACADEMY OF Scrences. — By this title we announce the or-

ganization of a Natural History Society in the city of Baltimore. We are

glad that the long continued efforts of the gentlemen who are its present

officers have at length resulted in the establishment of a society regularly

chartéred, and with some fifty members. They have, as it appears from an

ad states their case very fairly and modestly to the citizens of Balti-

re, and we do not see how they can do otherwise than sustain the new

society x they care at all for the completion of their system of public in-

structi

an pu devoted to the exposition of the natural resources of

the country have a recognized value in Europe and in some of the cities

of this country. But their refining influence € society, the cultivation

which results from their publications and teachings, especially if they

vanced students of the public schools, as the Boston Society has done, is

not at all appreciated or even understood.

The basis of the new academy, as announced in article two, is broad and

effective, and ought to insure its members the moral and material support

search, and to collect, preserve and diffuse information relating to the

sciences, especially those connected with the natural history of Maryland."

The officers of the academy are Philip T. Tyson, president; John G.

Lee, treasurer; P. R. Uhler, curator; A. Snowden Piggott, M.D., Libra-

rian; J. B. Uhler, J. DeRosset, M.D., and F. E. Chatard, jr., M.D., as-

iutint curators.

192 BOOKS RECEIVED.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Description @ un Jeune Individu de la Dermatemys Mawit espec

Elodites. Par. M. Alf. Preudhomme de Borre. "regen 1969; vo 0.

maie th ae on @ une arene espece Americain 4 genre Caiman > tie. Par. M. Alf.

do la famille des

va Svo.

nales Academici, 1816-65. Leiden. 42 vols. 4to. [1867. 8vo.

poseen til en Forandret Ordning af det hoiere “Skolenaesen. Del. 1-3, 8yo. Christiania,

et K.-Norske Fred. Univ. Aarsberetning for Aaret, 1866. Svo. Christiania, 1869. 8vo.

Index Scholarum. 4to. Christiania, 1869. 4to.

Le Glacier de Boium en Juillet, 1868, Par S. A. Sexe. Christiania, 1869, 4to. pp.40.

En Anatomisk Beskrivelse af de paa. Over og Underextremiteterne dro e con Wi Mu-

cose. A.S. D. Synnestvedt. -— ved Dr. J. Voss. Christiania, 1869,

The Mammals of lowa. By J. A. All [From Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. Vl xiii, dee 1869. |

Notes on the Rarer Birds of A Pa e AN e By J. A. A len. [From ie "Nat.. Vol. iii.]

Contributions to the ge al History of Nova Scotia, Part 1, Coleoptera, By J. Matthew Jones.

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The Fauna of California and its Geographical Distribution. By J. G. Cooper. [From Proc.

Cal. Acad. Sci., iv, Feb. 1870.)

Contributions to os from Museum of Yale College. No. 6. Descriptions of Shells from

Gulf of California. By A. E. Verrill. re 1 Am. Jour, Sei, and Arts, Mch., 1870.]

Transactions of the American E ogical Society. Vol. ii, No. 4.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, No. 3. Ang. "iin 1869.

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Annual Report of Superintenden ? Edu cation of Ontario for 1868. Toronto, 1869.

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Catalogue of Officers and Students r4 g iversity y Mic. Maas, Anu Arbor, 1870,

Circular and Catalogue of. Union Albany. 1870.

Meteorological Observations for 1969 ot ion ow a Cuy y. Tay T. S. Parvin.

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ris.

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Verha d ee yet der Eh geologischen Reichsanstait. Vols. for 1867 and 1865, and Nos. 1-13 of

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Dec., 1869, Montreal

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Annals of the Lyceum of Natural Hist "New Yor Vol. 9, No. 9. Mika

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UL Et .Im

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV.—JUNE, 1870. — No. 4.

coc Gu (RO ER >

THE | SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE BASIN OF THE

GREAT LAKES AND THE VALLEY OF THE

MISSISSIPPI.

BY PROFESSOR J. S. NEWBERRY.

THE area bounded on the north by the Eozoic highlands

of Canada, on the east by the Adirondacks and the. Allegha-

nies, and on the west by the Rocky Mountains, though now,

and apparently always, drained by two systems of water-

courses, may be properly considered as one topographical

district ; since much of the water-shed which separates its

two river systems is of insignificant height, is composed of

unconsolidated “Drift” materials, has shifted its position

hundreds of miles, as the water level in the great lakes has

varied, and was for a long interval submerged beneath a

water connection uniting both drainage systems in one.

In this great hydrographic basin the surface geology pre-

sents a series of phenomena of which the details, carefully

studied in but few localities, still offer an interesting and

almost inexhaustible subject of investigation, but which, as

it seems to me, are already sufficiently well known to enable

us to write at least the generalities of the history which they

record,

The most important facts which the study of the “Drift

! the r 1870, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OP

Entered according to Act of Co in yea m HA - ing

SCIENCE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 25

194 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

phenomena" of this region have brought to light are briefly

as follows :

lst. In the northern half of this area down to the paral-

lels of 389—409, we find, not everywhere, but in most local-

ities where the nature of the underlying rocks is such as to

retain inscriptions made upon them, the upper surface of

these rocks planed, furrowed or excavated in a peculiar and

striking manner, evidently by the action of one great de-

nuding agent. No one who has seen glaciers and noticed the

effect they produce on the rocks over which they move,

upon examining good exposures of the markings to which I

have referred, will fail to pronounce them the tracks of gla- -

ciers.*

Though having a general north-south direction, locally the `

glacial furrows have very different bearings, conforming in a

rude way to the present topography, and following the direc-

tions of the great lines of drainage.

On certain uplands, like those of the Wisconsin lead re-

gion, no glacial furrows have been observed (Whitney), but

on most of the highlands, and in all the lowlands and great

valleys, they are distinctly discernible if the underlying rock

has retained them.

2d. Some of the valleys and channels which bear the

marks of glacial action—evidently formed or modified by

ice, and dating from the ice period or an earlier epoch—are

excavated far below the present lakes and water-courses which

occupy them.

These valleys form a connected system of drainage, at a

lower level than the present river system, and lower than

could be produced without a continental elevation of several

hundred feet. A few examples will suffice to show on what

evidence this assertion is based.

* From oe my own observations | on the action of glaciers on ext i desse in. mne Alpe

and in Oregon and

could have produced such effects. A different view is — of this subject, it is true,

but only by those r have never seen the markings

in question. The track of a glacier is as unmistakable n that of a man or & bear.

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 195

Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Onta-

rio are basins excavated in undisturbed sedimentary rocks.

Of these Lake Michigan is six hundred feet deep, with a

surface level of five hundred and seventy-eight feet above

tides; Lake Huron is five hundred feet deep, with a surface

level of five hundred and seventy-four feet; Lake Erie is

two hundred and four feet deep, with a surface level of five

hundred and sixty-five feet; Lake Ontario is four hundred

and fifty feet deep, with a surface level of two hundred and

thirty-four feet above the sea.

An old, excavated, now-filled channel connects Lake Erie

and Lake Huron. At Detroit the rock surface is one hun-

dred and thirty feet below the city. In the oil region of

‘Bothwell, ete., from fifty to two hundred feet of clay overlie

the rock. What the greatest depth of this channel is, is not

known.

An excavated trough runs south from Lake Michigan —

filled with clay, sand, tree trunks, ete. — penetrated at

Bloomington, Illinois, to the depth of two hundred and

thirty feet.

The -rock bottoms of the troughs of the Mississippi and

Missouri, near their junction or below, have never been

reached, but they are many feet, perhaps some hundreds,

beneath the present stream-beds.

The borings for oil in the valleys of the Western rivers

have enabled me not only to demonstrate the existence of

deeply buried channels of excavation, but in many cases to

map thein out. Oil Creek flows from seventy-five to one

hundred feet above its old channel, and that channel had

sometimes vertical and even overhanging cliffs. The Beaver,

at the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango, runs one

hundred and fifty feet above the bottom of its old trough.

The Ohio throughout its entire course runs in a valley

Which has been eut nowhere less than one hundred and fifty

feet below the present river.

The Cuyahoga enters Lake Erie at Cleveland, more than

196 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

. one hundred feet above the rock bottom of its excavated

trough. The Chagrin, Vermilion, and other streams running

into Lake Erie exhibit the same phenomena, and prove that

the surface level of the lake must have once been at least

one hundred feet lower than now.

The bottom of the excavated channel in which Onondaga

Lake is situated, and the Salina salt-wells bored, is at least

four hundred and fourteen feet below the surface level of the

lake and fifty feet below the sea level. (Geddes, Trans.

New York State Agricultural Society, 1859.)

The old channel of the Genesee River at Portage, de-

scribed by Professor Hall in the Geology of the Fourth Dis-

trict of New York; the trough of the Hudson, traceable on

the sea bottom nearly one hundred miles from the present

river mouth; the deeply buried bed of the Lower Missis-

sippi, are additional examples of the same kind; while the

depth to which the Golden Gate, the Straits of Carquinez,

the channel of the lower Columbia, the Canal de Haro,

Hood’s Canal, Puget Sound, etc., have been excavated, indi-

cates a similar (perhaps simultaneous) cloyution and erosion

of the Western coast of America.

The falls of the Ohio— formed by a rocky barrier across

the stream — though at first sight seeming to disprove the

theory of a deep continuous channel in our Western rivers,

really afford no argument against it, for here, as in many

other instances, the present river does not follow accurately

the line of the old channel below, but runs along one or the

other side of it.- In the case of the Louisville falls the Ohio

runs across a rocky point which projects into the old valley

from the north side, while the deep channel passes under the

lowland on the south side, on part of which the city of

Louisville is built.

The importance of a knowledge of these old channels in

the improvement of the navigation of our larger rivers is ob-

vious, and it is possible it would have led to the adoption of

other means than a rock canal for passing the Louisville

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 197

falls, had it been possessed by those concerned in this en-

terprise.

I ventured to predict to General Warren that an old filled-

up channel would be found passing around the Mississippi

rapids, and his examinations have confirmed the prophecy.

I will venture still farther, and prediet the discovery of

buried channels of communication between Lake Superior

and Lake Michigan — probably somewhere near and east of

the Grand Sable— at least, between the Pictured Rocks and

the St. Mary's River— between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario

through Canada,— between Lake Ontario* and the Hudson

by the valley of the Mohawk, — between Lake Michigan and

the Mississippi, somewhere along the line I have before indi-

cated.. I also regard it probable that a channel may be found

connecting the upper and lower portions of the Tennessee

River, passing around the Mussel Shoals. This locality lies

outside of the area where the Northern Drift deposits were

laid down to fill and conceal ancient channels, but the exca-

vation and the filling up of the channel of the Tennessee—

like that of the Ohio—were determined by the relative alti-

tude of the waters of the Gulf. The channel of the Lower

Tennessee must have been excavated when the southern por-

tion of the Mississippi valley was higher above the Gulf level

than now, and Professor Hilgard has shown that at a subse-

quent period, probably during the Champlain epoch, the

Gulf coast was depressed five hundred feet below its present

relative level. This depression must have made the Lower

Mississippi an arm of the sea, by which the flow of the Ohio

AT atis

4 WIG POOR Ł J A i

the lake baila, tae the line of drainage was established in what is now known as Ni-

agara River.

Though among the most recent of the events recorded in our surface geology, this

choice of the Niagara outlet by the lake waters was made so long ago that all the ero-

sion of the gorge below the falls been accomplished since. The excavation of the

basin into which the Niagara flows — the basin of e Ontario, of which Queenstown

Heights form part of the margin — belongs to an epoch long anterio;

198 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

and Tennessee was arrested, their channels filled, terraces

formed, etc. If the Upper Tennessee has, as appears, a

channel lower than the Mussel Shoals, it must be somewhere

connected with the deep channel of the lower river.

It should be said, however, that it by no means follows

that where an old earth-filled channel passes around the

rocky barrier by which the navigation of our rivers is im-

peded, it will be most convenient and economical to follow

it in making a canal to pass the obstacle, as the course of

the old channel may be so long and cireuitous that a short

rock cutting is cheaper and better. The question is, how-

ever, of sufficient importance to deserve investigation, before

millions of dollars are expended in rock excavation.

If it is true that our great lakes can be connected with each

other and with the ocean, both by the Hudson and Mississippi,

by ship canals, —in making which no elevated summits nor

rock barriers need be cut through, — the future commerce cre-

ated by the great population and immense resources of the

basin of the great lakes may require their construction.

3d. Upon the glacial surface we find a series of unconsoli-

dated materials generally stratified, called the "Drift de-

posits."

Of these the first and lowest are blue and red clays (the

Erie clays of Sir William Logan), generally regularly strati-

fied in thin layers, and containing no fossils, but drifted

coniferous wood and leaves. Over the southern and eastern

part of the lake basin, these clays contain no boulders, but

towards the North and West they include scattered stones,

often of a large size; while in places beds of boulders and

gravel are found resting directly on the glacial surface.

In Ohio the Erie clays are blue, nearly two hundred feet

in thickness, and reach up the hill-sides more than two hun-

dred feet above the present surface of Lake Erie. On the

shores of Lake Michigan these clays are in part of a red

color, showing that they have been derived from different

rocks, and they there include great numbers of stones.

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 199

On the peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Huron the

Erie clays fill the old channel which formerly connected

these lakes, having a thickness of over two hundred feet,

and containing a few scattered stones.

4th. Above the Erie clays are sands of variable thickness

and less widely spread than the underlying clays. These

sands contain beds of gravel, and, near the surface, teeth of

elephant have been found, water-worn and rounded.

5th. Upon the stratified clays, sands, and gravel of the

Drift deposits are scattered boulders and blocks of all sizes,

of granite, greenstone (diorite and dolerite), silicious and

mica slates, and various other metamorphic and eruptive

rocks, generally traceable to some locality in the Eozoic

area north of the Jakes. Among these boulders many

balls of native copper have been found, which could have

come from nowhere else than the copper district of Lake

Superior.

Most of these masses are rounded by attrition, but the

large blocks of Corniferous limestone which are scattered

over the southern margin of the lake basin in Ohio show

little marks of wear. These masses, which are often ten to

twenty feet in diameter, have been transported from one

hundred to two hundred miles south-eastward from their

places of origin, and deposited sometimes three hundred feet

above the position they once occupied.

6th. Above all these Drift deposits, and more recent than

any of them, are the “lake ridges," — embankments of sand,

gravel, sticks, leaves, etc., which run imperfectly parallel

with the present outlines of the lake margins, where high-

lands lie in the rear of such margins. Of these, the lowest

on the South shore of Lake Erie is a little less than one

hundred feet above the present lake level; the highest, some

two hundred and fifty feet. In New York, Canada, Michi-

gan, and on Lake Superior, a similar series of ridges has

been discovered, and they have everywhere been accepted as

evidence that the waters of the lakes once reached the points

200 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

which they mark. That they are nothing else than ancient

lake beaches we shall hope to prove farther on.

In the southern half of the Mississippi valley the evidences

of glacial aetion are entirely wanting, and there is nothing

corresponding to the wide-spread Drift deposits of the north.

We there find, however, proofs of erosion on a stupendous

scale, such as the valley of East Tennessee, which has been

formed by the washing out of all the broken strata between

the ridges of the Alleglianies and the massive tables of the

Cumberland Mountains, — the caüons of the Tennessee, one

thousand six hundred feet deep, etc. Here also, as in the

lake. basin, the channels of excavation pass far below the

. deep and quiet waters of the lower rivers; proving by their

depth that they must have been cut when the fall of these

‘rivers was much greater than now.

The history which I derive from the facts cited above is

briefly this :

lsr.— That in a period probably synchronous with the

glacial epoch of Europe, —at least corresponding to it in the

sequence of events,—the northern half of the continent of

North America had a climate comparable with that of Green-

land; so cold, that wherever there was a copious precipita-

tion of moisture from oceanic evaporation, that moisture was

congealed and formed glaciers which flowed by various routes

towards the sea.

2ND.—-That the courses of these ancient glaciers corres-

ponded in a general way with the present channels of drain-

age. The direction of the glacial furrows proves that one

of these ice rivers flowed from Lake Huron, along a channel

now filled with drift, and known to be at least one hundred

and fifty feet deep, into Lake Erie, which was then not a

lake, but an excavated valley into which the streams of

Northern Ohio flowed, one hundred feet or more below the

present lake level. Following the line of the major axis of

e Erie to near its eastern extremity, here turning north-

east, this glacier passed through some channel on the Cana-

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 201

dian side, now filled up, into Lake Ontario, and thence found

its way to the sea either by the St. Lawrence or by the Mo-

hawk and Hudson. Another glacier oceupied the bed of

Lake Michigan, having an outlet southward through a chan-

nel—now concealed by the heavy beds of drift which occupy

the surface about the south end of the lake — passing near

Bloomington, Illinois, and by some route yet unknown

reaching the trough of the Mississippi, which was then much

deeper than at present.

3D. — At this period the continent must have been several

hundred feet higher than now, as is proved by the deeply ex-

cavated channels of the Columbia, Golden Gate, Mississippi,

Hudson, etc., which could never have been cut by the

Streams that now occupy them, unless flowing with greater

rapidity and at a lower level than they now do.

The depth of the trough of the Hudson is not known, but

it is plainly a channel of erosion, now submerged and be-

come an arm of the sea. As has been before stated this

channel is marked on the sea-bottom for a long distance from

the coast and far beyond a point where the present river

could exert any erosive action, and hence it is a record of a

period when the Atlantie coast was several hundred feet

higher than now.

The lower Mississippi bears unmistakable evidence of be-

ing—if one may be permitted the paradox—a half-drowned

river; that is, its old channel is deeply submerged and silted

up, so that the “father of waters,” lifted above the walls that

formerly restrained him, now wanders, lawless and ungov-

ernable, whither he will in the broad valley.

The thickness of the delta deposits at New Orleans is va-

riously reported from fifteen hundred feet upwards, the dis-

crepancies being due to the difficulty of distinguishing the

alluvial elays from those of the underlying Cretaceous and

Tertiary formations. It is certain, however, that the bottom

of the ancient channel of the Mississippi has never been

reached between New Orleans and Cairo; the instances cited

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 26

202 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

by Humphreys and Abbot in their splendid study of this

river being but repetitions of the phenomena exhibited at

the falls of the Ohio—the river running over one side of its

ancient bed.

The trough of the Mississippi is not due to synclinal struc-

ture in the underlying rocks, but is a valley of erosion sim-

ply. Ever since the elevation of the Alleghanies—7.e. the

close of the Carboniferous period — it has been traversed by

a river which drained the area from which flow the upper

Mississippi, the Ohio, the Tennessee, etc. Since the Mio-

cene period, the Missouri, Arkansas, and Red rivers have

made their contributions to the flood that flowed through it.

The depth to which this channel is cut in the rock proves

that at times the viver must have flowed at a lower level and

with a more rapid current than now ; while the Tertiary beds

formed as high as Iowa and Indiana in this trough, and the

more modern Drift clays and boulders which partially fill the

old rock cuttings, show that the mouth and delta of the river

have, in the alternations of continental elevation, travelled

up and down the trough at least a thousand miles; and that

not only is it true, as asserted by Ellet, that every mile be-

tween Cairo and New Orleans once held the river's mouth,

but that in the several advances and recessions of the waters

of the Gulf the mouth has been more than twice at each

point. The change of place of the delta has been caused,

however, for the most part, by oscillations of the sea level,

and not, as Ellet supposed, by the filling of the channel by

the materials transported by the river itself.

Dnrrr Deposits. The Drift deposits which cover the gla-

cial surface, consisting of fine clays below, sands and gravel

above, large transported boulders on the surface, and the

series of lake ridges (beaches) over all, form a sequence of

phenomena of which the history is easily read.

Erie Clays. The lower series of blue or red clays—the

"Erie clays” of Sir William Logan— over a very large area,

rest directly on the plain and polished rock surfaces. These

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 203

clays are often accurately stratified, were apparently depos-

ited in deep and generally quiet water, and mark a period

when the glacial ice-masses, melted by a change of climate,

retreated northward, leaving large bodies of cold fresh-

water* about their southern margins, in which the mud

produeed by their grinding action on the paleozoie rocks of

the Lake District was first suspended and then deposited.

On the shores of Lake Erie these clays contain no boul-

ders and very few pebbles, while farther North and West

boulders are more abundant. This is precisely what might

be expected from the known action of glacial masses on the

surfaces over which they pass. Their legitimate work is to

grind to powder the rock on which they rest; an effect

largely due to the sand which gathers under them, acting as

emery on a lead wheel. The water flowing from beneath

glaciers is always milky and turbid from this cause. Rocks

and boulders are sometimes frozen into glaciers, and thus

transported by them, but nearly all the boulders carried along

by a glacier'are such as have fallen from above ; and a mo-

raine ean hardly be formed by a glacier except when there

are cliffs and pinnacles along its course.

In a nearly level country, composed of sedimentary rocks

passed over by a glacier, we should have very little débris

produced by it, except the mud flour which it grinds.

The Erie clays would necessarily receive any gravel or

stones which had been frozen into the ice, either as RERE

pebbles or stones, distributed to some distance from the gla-

cial mass by floating fragments of ice, or as masses of frozen

gravel, or larger and more numerous boulders near the gla-

cier. In some localities torrents would pour from the sides

and from beneath the glacier, so that here coarse material

would alone resist the rapid motion of the water, and the

stratification of the sediments would be more or less confused.

* Cold, b ing from the melting glacier, and depositing v with its sediments

iq f life; fresh, 1 eode wood—

ver 11. *h 2. T sh - Laat shells.

q Champlain” y

204 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

In regard to the cause of the gradual amelioration of the

climate of the glacial epoch, by which the great glaciers of

the lake basin were driven northward and finally altogether

dissolved, we are not left entirely to conjecture.

osmical causes possibly and probably had the chief agency

in producing this result, but we have unmistakable evidence

of at least the coóperation of another and perhaps no less

potent cause, namely, continental depression.

` If a cosmical cause had simply increased the annual tem-

perature till the glaciers were all melted, without the action

of any other agent, we should never have had the accumula-

tion of drift deposits which now occupy all the glacial area ;

but the drainage streams, changed in all their courses from

ice to water, would have flowed freely and rapidly away

through their deeply cut channels to deposit their abundant

sediments only where their transporting power was arrested,

in the depths of the ocean.

Instead of this, we everywhere find evidence that this flow

was checked, and a basin of quiet water formed by an ad-

vance of the ocean consequent upon a subsidence of the land.

On the Atlantie and Gulf coasts this depression progressed

until the sea level was more than five hundred feet higher

than now. The effect of this depression was to deeply sub-

merge the eastern margin of the continent, and cover it with

the “Champlain” clays.

It is evident that at this period the drainage from the great

water-shed of the continent must have been met by the quiet

waters of the ocean almost at the sources of the present

draining streams, and as the “dead water” gradually crept

up the valleys, arresting the transporting power of their cur-

rents, their old channels would be silted up and obliterated,

and their valleys partially filled with materials for their sub-

sequent terraces. In the advance and subsequent recession

of the line of “dead water” we have ample cause for all our

terrace phenomena.

This continental depression accounts satisfactorily for the

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 205

filling of the old channels of the Mississippi and the Ohio,

as a depression of five hundred feet would bring the ocean

nearly to Pittsburgh on the Ohio, to St. Paul on the Missis-

sippi.

But I think we have evidence that the continent did not

sink uniformly in all its parts, but most at the North. Not

to cite any other proof of this,—northern coast fiords, etc.

—the altitude of the loess-like deposits of the upper Missis-

sippi and Missouri (the lacustrine non-glacial sediments of

this period of submergence), the upward reach of the Drift

clays of the lake basin, the filling of the valleys of the

streams flowing into the Ohio and Lake Erie, the old lake

beaches marking the former water-level in the lake basin —

all indicate that the continental subsidence was greatest to-

wards the north. To this subsidence we must, as I think,

attribute the accumulation of water in the lake basin and

Mississippi valley to form the great inland sea of fresh-water,

of which traces everywhere abound. It seems to me scarcely

necessary to suppose any other barriers by which this sea

was enclosed than the highlands that encircle it— such as are

roughly outlined by the light tint on Professor Guyot’s map

of North America—and the sea-water which filled the

mouths of the two* straits by which it communicated with

the ocean.

Yellow Sands and Surface Boulders. I have mentioned

that on the Erie clays are beds of gravel, sand, and clay,

and over these again great numbers of transported boulders,

often of large size and of northern and remote origin.

These surface deposits have been frequently referred to as

the direct and normal product of glacial action, the materials

torn up and scraped off by the great ice pinen in their

* Tf pated bat — That there ` was ome in the course of the Mississippi we oo

nd that so lo the oth

The eastern | sie of the lake waters may not have been by the St. saat but

as likely through the gap between the Adirondacks and the Alleghanies. The shallow

nnels betwee vei Thousand Islands and v" uri ent seem to indicate that

for the lakes.

206 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

long journeys from the North; in fact, as some sort of huge

terminal and lateral moraines. I have, however, disproved,

as I think, this theory of their transportation in a paper pub-

lished some years since (Notes on the Surface Geology of

the Basin of the Great Lakes. Proc. Bost. Nat. Hist. Soc.

1863), in which it is urged that the continuous sheet of the

Erie elays upon which they rest, and which forms an un-

broken belt between them and their place of origin, pre-

cludes the idea that they have been transported by any ice-

current or rush of water moving over the glacial surface; as

either of these must have torn up and scattered the soft clays

below.

There is, indeed, no other conclusion deducible from the

facts than that these sands, gravels, granite and greenstone

boulders— masses of native copper, etc., which compose the

superficial Drift deposits — have been floated to their resting-

places, and that the floating agent has been ice, in the form

of icebergs; in short, that these materials have been trans-

ported and scattered over the bottom and along the south

shore of our ancient inland sea, just as similar materials are

now being scattered over the banks and shores of Newfound-

land. ;

If we restore in imagination this inland sea, which we

have proved once filled the basin ot the lakes, gradually dis-

placing the retreating glaciers, we are inevitably led to a

time in the history of this region when the southern shore

of this sea was formed by the highlands of Ohio, etc., the

northern shore a wall of ice resting on the hills of crystalline

and trappean rocks about Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

From this ice-wall masses must from time to time have

been detached,— just as they are now detached from the

Humboldt Glacier, — and floated off southward with the cur-

rent, bearing in their grasp sand, gravel, and boulders—

whatever composed the beach from which they sailed. Five

hundred miles south they grounded upon the southern shore ;

the highlands of now Western New York, Pennsylvania and

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 207

Ohio, or the shallows of the prairie region of Indiana, Illi-

nois, and Iowa; there melting away and depositing their

entire loads,—as I have sometimes seen them, a thousand or

more boulders on a few acres, resting on the Erie clays and

looking in the distance like flocks of sheep,—or dropping

here and there a stone and floating on, east or west, till wholly

dissipated.

These boulders include representatives of nearly all the

rocks of the Lake Superior country, conspicuous among

which are granites with rose-colored orthoclase, gray gneiss,

and distbed all characteristic of the Laurentian series;

hornblendie rocks, massive or schistose, and dark greenish

or bluish silicious slates, probably from the Huronian ; dolo-

rites and masses of native copper, apparently from the

Keweenaw Point copper region.

In the Drift gravels I have found pebbles and small boul-

ders of nearly all the paleozoic rocks of the lake basin, con-

taining their characteristic fossils, namely, the Calciferous

Sandrock with Maclurea, Trenton and Hudson with Ambony-

chia radiata, C'yrtolites ornatus, Medina with Pleurotomaria

litorea, Corniferous with Conocardium trigonale, Atrypa

reticularis, Favosites polymorpha, Hamilton with Spirifer

mucronatus, etc.

The granite boulders are ohen of large size, sometimes

six feet and more in diameter, and flenerally rounded.

The largest transported blocks I have seen are the more

or less angular masses of corniferous limestone mentioned

ona preceding page.

Along the southern margin of the Drift area, especially on

the slopes of the highlands of Northern Ohio, the Drift

sands and gravels are of considerable thickness, forming

hills of one hdd feet or more in height, generally strati-

fied, but often without any visible irs, These de-

posits are very unevenly distributed, with a rolling surface

frequently forming local basins, which hold the little lakelets

or sphagnous marshes so characteristie of the region referred

208 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

to. These are the beds to which I have alluded as constitu-

ting, in the opinion of some geologists, a great glacial mo-

raine, but from the fact that they are locally stratified, and

overlie the older blue clays, I have regarded them as trans-

ported not by glaciers, but by icebergs.

Possibly some part of this Drift material may have accu-

mulated along the margin of the great glacier, moved by its

agency; but in that case we should expect to find in it abun-

dant fragments of the rocks which outcrop in the region

under consideration, whereas I have rarely, if ever, seen in

these Drift gravels any representatives of the rocks under-

lying the south margin of the lake basin.

By whatever agency transported, the Drift gravels have,

like the boulders, for the most part come from some remote

point at the North, and were once spread broadcast along the

southern shore of the inland iceberg-bearing sea.

In the retreat of the shore line during the contraction of

the water surface down to its present area, every part of the

slope of the southern shore between the present water sur-

face and the highest lake level of former times, i.e. all

within a vertical height of three hundred feet or more, must

in turn have been submitted to the action of the shore waves,

rain, and rivers, by which if, as is probable, the retrograde

movement of the water line was slow, these loose materials

would be rolled, ground, sorted, sifted, and shifted, so that

comparatively little would. be left in its original bedding ; the

fine materials, clay and sand, would be washed out and car-

ried farther and still farther into the lake basin, and spread

over the bottom, to form, in short, the upper sandy layers

of the Drift.

At certain points in its descent the water level seems to

have been for a time stationary, and such points are marked

by terraces and the long lines of ancient beaches which have

been referred to. A similar "lake ridge" now borders the

south shore of Lake Michigan, where it may be observed in

the process of formation ; and this seems to be the legitimate

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 209

effect of waves everywhere on a sloping shore composed of

loose material; storms driving up sand and gravel to form a

ridge which ultimately acts as a barrier to the waves that

built it. Winds, also, often assist in building up, and some-

times alone form these ridges, by transporting inland the

beach sand.

In other localities, where hard rock masses formed the

shore of our inland sea, perpendicular wave-worn cliffs were

produced; and many of these now stand as enduring and

indisputable monuments of a sea whose waves, perhapé for

ages, beat against them. Such cliffs may be observed on Little

Mountains: in Lake county, in the valley of the Cuyahoga, in

Medina and Lorain county, Ohio, along the outcrops of

the Carboniferous conglomerate and Wait sandstone.

In all the changes through which the valley of the Missis-

sippi passed during the “Drift Period,” its general structure

and main topographical features remained the same. Yet

the character of its surface suffered very important modifica-

tions, and such as deeply affected its fitness for human occu-

pation.

As we have seen, the glacial epoch was marked by erosion

on a grand scale.

Then, our river valleys and some of our lakes—though

mapped out long before — were excavated to a much greater

depth than they notv have.

During their subsequent submergence, these valleys and

lakes were partially or perfectly filled with the drift deposits

which covered all the surface like a deep fall of snow,

rounded its outlines and softened all its asperities.

When the waters were withdrawn, the rivers again began

clearing their obstructed channels; a work not yet accom-

plished, and in many instances not half done. Numbers of

the old channels were wholly filled and obliterated, and the

streams that once traversed them were compelled to find

quarters elsewhere. Examples of this kind have been al-

ready cited, and they could be multiplied indefinitely.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 27

210 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

ORIGIN or THE GREAT LakEs. — The question of the ori-

gin of our lakes is one that requires more observation and

study than have yet been given to it before we can be said to

have solved all the problems it involves. There are, how-

ever, certain facts connected with the structure of the lake

basins, and some deductions from these facts, which may be

regarded as steps already taken toward the full understanding

of the subject. These facts and deductions are briefly as

follows :—

Ist. Lake Superior lies in a synclinal trough, and its mode

of formation therefore hardly admits of question, though its

sides are deeply scored with ice-marks, and its form and area

may have been somewhat modified by this agent.

2d. Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake

Ontario are excavated basins, wrought out of once contin-

uous sheets of sedimentary strata by a mechanical agent, and

that ice or water, or both.

That they have been filled with ice, and that this ice

formed great moving glaciers we may consider proved. The

west end of Lake Erie may be said to be carved out of the

Corniferous limestone by ice action; as its bottom and sides

and islands—horizontal, vertical, and even overhanging sur-

faces—are all furrowed by glacial grooves, which are par-

allel with the major axis of the lake.

All our great lakes are probably very ancients as since the

close of idee Devonian period the area they occupy has never

been submerged beneath the ocean, and their formation may

have begun during the Coal Measure epoch.

The Laurentian belt, which stretches from Labrador to the

Lake of the Woods, and thence northward to the Arctic sea,

forms the oldest known portion of the earth’s surface. The

shores of this ancient continent, then high and mountainous,

were washed by the Silurian sea, where the débris of the

land was deposited in strata that subsequently rose to the

surface, and formed a broad low margin to the central moun-

tain belt, just as the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata flank the

Alleghanies in the Southern States.

“ions eae oe :

TO ESE Shade M

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 211

In the lapse of countless ages, all the mountain peaks and

chains of the Laurentian continents have been removed and

carried into the sea, and this has been done by rivers of

water and rivers of ice. That these mountains once. existed

there can be no reasonable doubt, for their truncated bases

remain as witnesses, and it is scarcely less certain that gla-

ciers have flowed down their slopes of sufficient magnitude

and reach to deeply score the plain which encircled them.

It will be noticed that all the great lakes of the continent

hold certain relations to the curving belt of Laurentian high-

lands.

Some of them are embraced in the foldings of the Eozoie

rocks, and fill synclinal troughs; but most of the series,

from Great Bear Lake to Lake Ontario, exhibit the same

geological and physical structure, are basins of excavation

in the paleozoic plain that flanks in a parallel belt the Laur-

entian area. Few of us have any conception of the enor-

mous general and local erosion which that plain has suffered.

Those who will take the trouble to examine the section

across Lake Ontario, from the Alleghanies to the Laurentian

hills of Canada, and compare it with the other sections in the

Lake Winnepeg district, radial to the Laurentian arch, given

by Mr. Hind in his report on the Assiniboin country, will be

sure to find the comparison interesting and suggestive; sug-

gestive especially of a community of structure and history,

and of an inseparable connection between the lake phe-

nomena and the topographical features of the Laurentian

highlands flanked by the paleozoie plain.

In estimating the influences that might have affected the

number and magnitude of glaciers on the sides of the Lau-

rentian mountains, it should not be forgotten that the Cre-

taceous sea swept the western shore of the Paleozoie and

Laurentian continent from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic

Ocean ; and whether we consider this sea as a broad expanse

of water simply dotted with islands, or a strait traversed by

a tropical current, we have in either case conditions peculi-

212 SURFACE GEOLOGY.

arly favorable to the formation of great glacial masses of ice,

i.e. a broad evaporating surface of warm water swept by

westerly winds that carried all suspended moisture immedi-

ately on to a mountain belt, which served as a sufficient con-

denser. |

This, at least, may be positively asserted in regard to the

agency of ice in the excavation of the lake basins, that their

bottoms and sides wherever exposed to observation, if com-

posed of resistant materials, bear indisputable evidence of

ice action, proving that these basins were filled by moving

glaciers in the last ice period if never before, and that part,

at least, of the erosion by which they were formed is due to

these glaciers.

No other agent than glacial ice, as it seems to me is capa-

ble of excavating broad, deep, boat-shaped basins, like those

which hold our lakes.

If the elevation of temperature and retreat northward of

the glaciers of the lake basins were not uniform and contin-

uous, but alternated with periods of repose, we should find

these periods marked by excavated basins, each of which

would serve to measure the reach of the glacier at the time

of its formation, the lowest basin being the oldest, the others

formed in succession afterwards. Such a cause would be

sufficient to account for any local expansions of the troughs

of the old ice rivers.

Where glaciers flow down from highlands on to a plain or

into the sea, the excavating action of the ice mass must ter-

minate somewhat abruptly in the formation of a basin-like

cavity, beyond which would be a rim of rock, with whatever

of débris the glacier has brought down to form a terminal

moraine.

= When glaciers reach the sea, the great weight of the ice

mass must plough up the sea bottom out to the point where

the greater gravity of water lifts the ice from its bed, and

bears it away as an iceberg.

If it is true, as the facts I have cited indicate, that our

SURFACE GEOLOGY. 213

lakes are but portions of great excavated channels locally

filled with drift material, the fiords of the northern Atlantic

and Pacific coast present remarkable parallels to them ; and

I would suggest Puget's Sound, Hood's Canal, and other

portions ‘of that wonderful system of navigable channels

about Vancouver’s Island, as affording interesting and in-

structive subjects for comparison. Like our lakes their

channels are for the most part excavated from sedimentary

strata which form a low and comparatively level margin to

the bases of mountain chains and peaks. They too have

their depths and shallows, their basins and bars, and probably

all who have seen them will assent to Professor Dana’s view,

that they are the "result of subaérial excavation," in which

glaciers performed an important part.

The " Loess” of the Mississippi Valley. The “Bluff form-

ation" of the West, sometimes called "Loess," from its re-

semblance to the Loess of the Rhine, I have on a preceding

page designated as a lacustrine non-glacial Drift. deposit. It

seems to be the sediment precipitated from the waters of our

great inland sea.in its shallow and more quiet portions, to

which icebergs, with their gravel and boulders, had no ac-

cess, and where the glacial mud was represented only by an

impalpable powder, which mingled with the wash of the

adjacent land, land shells, etc.

It is evidently one of the most recent of the deposits

which come into the series of Drift phenomena, and was ap-

parently thrown down while the broad water surface which

once stretched over the region where it is found was narrow-

ing by drainage and evaporation, till, by its total disappear-

ance, this sheet of calcareous mud was left.

It underlies much of the prairie region, and once filled,

often to the brim, the troughs of the Mississippi and Mis-

souri, so deeply excavated during the glacial epoch. When

the system of drainage was re-established the new rivers be-

gan the excavation of their ancient valleys in the Loess.

When they had cut into or through this stratum, so that it

214 OUR NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS.

stood up in escarpments on either side, man came and called

it the Bluff formation, because it composed or capped the

bold bluffs of the river-banks. It is often, however, only a

facing to the rocky cliffs, which are the true walls of these

valleys, and which are monuments of an age long anterior

to the date of its deposition. — Annals of the Lyceum of |

Natural History of New York, 1869.

OUR NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS.

BY REV. J. W. CHICKERING, JR.

Ir has long been a favorite aspiration of the writer, at

some time in life, to have an arboretum collected from our

woods and waysides. But despairing of that, I would in this

article give a list of those native shrubs and trees, which

seem to promise to repay transplanting, and which would in

beauty, and many of them in novelty, to any but the bota-

nist, vie with those imported.

the trees of early spring, it is a pity that the Silver

Maple (Acer dasycarpum), and the Sugar Maple (A. sac-

charinum), were not more generally known and valued, as

flowering trees. The former is the earliest tree I know in

this latitude, and the beauty of the long, yellow tassels of

the latter, commends itself to every observer. Then for

grounds of any extent the different Birches, the White (Be-

tula alba), the Paper (B. papyracea), the Yellow (B. ex-

celsa), and the Black (B. lenta), are in early spring most

attractive ornaments, for the grace and variety of the spray

of their delicate catkins. Then the Tulip Tree ( Lirioden-

dron tulipifera), and the Cucumber Tree (Magnolia acum-

inata), both perfectly hardy in New York and New England,

should be seen much more frequently in cultivated grounds.

The Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) forms a pleasing clump

OUR NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS. 215

whether it hang out its bright yellow flowers or its crimson

berries.

Of course the Sumachs would claim a place with their

variety of flower, fruit and leaf, at least the Staghorn Sumach

(Rhus typhina), with its red velvety branches; R. glabra, as

smooth as the last is shaggy, and R. copallina, with its leaves

looking as if varnished.

The New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americanus), with its

spikes of delicate white flowers, demands a place, as well as

admiration.

Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens), also called Roxbury

Waxwork, so well known as having given a name to one of

the most charming rural poems in our language, is a hardy

climber, vigorous amd luxuriant in summer, and very con-

spicuous in autumn, with its scarlet seed coverings set in

orange linings, as is its first cousin the Waahoo (Huonymus

atropurpureus), with its crimson drooping fruit, not uncom-

mon in cultivation.

The Red-bud, or Judas Tree (Cercis Canadensis), with

its branches all aflame in early spring, is a small, graceful

tree.

Spirea opulifolia, is an attractive variety, while the

Meadow Sweet (S. salicifolia), and the Hardhack (9. to-

mentosa), so valuable as a medicine, were they only less

common, would be eagerly sought for their beauty.

The Shad-bush (Amelanchier Canadensis), heralding along

the Connecticut, “the first run of shad,” is a favorite where-

ever known, while the Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginica),

closing the floral procession of the season with its weird,

wrinkled yellow flowers in October, and even November, is

not to be neglected.

The Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), beautiful alike

in its snowy profusion of flowers and its bright red berries,

is less known and far less cultivated than its merits deserve.

It is hardy, with bright green leaves, and ought to become

common, as our most showy shrub or small tree.

216 OUR NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS.

Several other species of this genus are worthy a place in

our collections: Cornus circinata, sericea, stolonifera, pani-

culata, alternifolia, all of which may be found either in thick-

ets or swampy places.

The Honeysuckle family is already introduced, but some

members of it need a special introduction.

The Snowberry (Symphoricarpus racemosus), with its

fruit so well known to children as far from liability to stain ;

and the Coral-berry (S. vulgaris), are in general cultivation,

especially the former.

The Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera semperivirens) , and

the delicate little Fly Honeysuckles (L. ciliata and ecrulea),

are equally as charming as some of their foreign sisters. The

Viburnum too is a beautiful genus. The Cranberry Tree

(V. Opulus), whose fruit is better to look at than to eat,

and the Hobble-bush (V. lantanoides), so called from the

facility with which its procumbent branches trip the incautious

traveller, are well known in early spring, with their broad

eymes of mainly sterile flowers; and the flower-buds of the

latter forming in early autumn, afford a beautiful study of

nature’s care in affording protection against the winter's

cold; while the rusty down upon the leaf-stalks affords

under the microscope a most beautiful specimen of stellate

hairs. But the other species, V. nudum, prunifolium, den-

tatum, pubescens, acerifolium, and especially Lentago, while

by no means rare in the woods and copses, are very beau-

tiful, with enough of variety to render it desirable to have

them all.

The Button-bush ( Cephalanthus occidentalis) is odd, with

its buttons of white flowers, and worthy of cultivation.

Many of the Hricace are no less beautiful than unknown.

The Swamp Blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum) with its

great variety of forms, is a very attractive shrub, with pu-

scent leaves, large flowers, and conspicuous and delicious

fruit. The Deerberry (V. stamineum) is very peculiar in

its habit of flowering, and would be very ornamental. Doubt-

OUR NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS. 211

less this genus will eventually be taken up by the nursery-

men, as have the different species of Rubus.

The Leather Leaf ( Cassandra calyculata), and Andromeda

polifolia, are both worthy of attention. White Alder ( Ole-

thra alnifolia) is already somewhat known, and is covered in

August with handsome blossoms so fragrant that a clump

may be detected at many rods distance.

Mountain Laurel, Calico-bush, Spoon-wood (Kalmia lati-

Jolia), is one of the most beautiful shrubs ever created, as

seen in profusion in its varying shades, in parts of Massachu-

setts, but very seldom in cultivation. Kalmia glauca, or

Pale Laurel, is less showy, but of great beauty. The Azaleas

(A. viscosa and nudiflora) are very common, very beautiful

and fragrant, but very seldom cultivated.

The Grek Laurel (Rhododendr ‘on maximum), though mag-

nificent in its native thickets, cannot probably compete with

the foreign species, now so generally introduced, but Rhodora

a anal: with its rose-purple blossoms, covering the leaf-

less branches, is one of the pleasantest sights of early spring,

and Labrador Tea (Ledum latifolium) with its delicate white

clusters and leaves rusty-woolly beneath, is likewise full of

beauty.

The Fandi (Chionanthus Virginica) with its delicate

white drooping panicles, ought to be seen much more fre-

quently than it is.

Sassafras officicinale with its curiously lobed leaves, yellow

racemes of flowers, and spicy aroma; Leather-wood (Dirca

palustris), also called Wicopy, with pale yellowish flowers is

a curious shrub, its wood soft and brittle, its bark so tough

that it can be used for thongs, requiring a strong man to

break even its .slenderest twigs.

From this list have bu omitted very many trees and

shrubs in common cultivation. The object has been to call

attention to those less generally known. Many of these

have their natural station in swampy ground; many resist

attempts at transplanting. But a little care in choosing from

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 28

218 A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY.

those in dryer locations, or setting out in moist ground, or

"better yet, propagating from seed, would doubtless overcome

these difficulties, reward the pains taken, and introduce some

charming novelties to the lovers of flowers.

Sueh an arboretum, shrubbery or lawn, comprising only

native species, would not only gratify the botanist and the

naturalist, but would surprise and delight the rapidly in-

creasing number of amateur cultivators, who as yet have

very little idea of the wealth of floral beauty to be found in

our swamps and woodlands.

A WINTERS DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY.

BY W. H. DALL.

Many of the readers of the Naruratist when they hear

Alaska spoken of, picture to themselves a snow-covered

country, with at most a scanty summer, and a long and ex-

tremely cold winter. A recent “official” report for instance,

represents the island of St. Paul as surrounded in winter by

“immense masses of ice” on which the polar bears and arctic

foxes sail down from the North and engage in pitched battle

with the wretched inhabitants. Such romances are due

solely to the ardent imagination of the “official” mind, and

have no basis in fact. There is no solid, and but little float-

ing ice near St. Paul in winter; the arctic foxes found there

as well as on most of the other islands, were purposely in-

troduced by the Russians for propagation, a certain number

of skins being taken annually; and finally, we have no

authentic evidence that the polar bear has ever been found

south of Behring Strait.

The country of Alaska comprises two climatic regions

which differ as widely as Labrador and South Carolina in

their winter temperature. One contains the mainland north

A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 219

of the peninsula of Aliaska and the islands north of the St.

Matthew group. The other includes the coast and islands

south and east of Kadiak, while the Aleutian Islands, with

the group of St. Paul and St. George, are somewhat inter-

mediate, being nearly as warm as the southern or Sitkan

district, and much less rainy.

This article will refer only to the northern district, which

I have called the Yukon Territory. This is the coldest and

most inhospitable part of the country, yet it is far from

resembling Labrador or Greenland, although the winter

weather may occasionally be very cold. The summers are

much warmer and more pleasant than in Labrador, and may

be compared to those of the Red River district of the Hud-

son Bay Territory.

At the first thought one would hardly suppose that a natu-

ralist would find much to do in the depth of winter, unless

it were to sit by his great Russian oven or stove, and keep

himself warm. I would invite the readers of the NATU-

RALIST to accompany me on a day’s tramp, similar to.many

which I have undertaken without such pleasant company,

and see how far their first anticipations will be realized.

We will start from Ulokuk, an Indian village on the por-

tage between the Yukon and Norton Sound, and bring up at

Unaloklik, an Eskimo village on the coast, thirty miles away.

We clothe ourselves in the comfortable costume of the

country, consisting of a pair of warm American trousers; a

deerskin hunting shirt with a hood, made with the hair on,

trimmed with wolf or wolverine skin, and fastened by a belt

around the waist; a good mink-skin cap with ear-lappets; a

pair of otter-skin mittens ; and a pair of long Indian deerskin

boots with soles of sealskin, tied around the ankle and just

below the knee, and having a bunch of straw below the foot

to keep it warm, dry, and safe from contusions. Our equip-

ment will consist of our guns, a geological hammer, a good

sheath-knife, a small axe, teakettle, bag of biscuit and dry

salmon, and a pair of long snowshoes apiece.

220 A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY.

We start at ten o'clock, just as the December sun emerges

from the southern hills and casts its welcome beams over the

broad tundra covered with snow, flecking the green spruce

boughs with golden touches of light, and giving a mellow

tone to the clear blue sky. The temperature may be about

twenty below zero, but in our warm deerskin dresses, we

feel that it is only just cold enough to make the blood leap

and the nerves thrill with the excitement of a brisk walk,

skimming over the snow with our light snowshoes.

We just clear the alder bushes around the village when a

chirp and twitter in a clump of willows attract our attention.

We look, and see a flock of the Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enu-

cleator), brilliant in searlet and yellow, rifling the willows of

their buds, carefully rejecting the scales and eating only the

tender green hearts of the young buds. "They look so pretty

as they rufle their scarlet coats, defying the winter frost,

fat and comfortable with abundance of food, that we hesitate

before we bring our guns to bear on them, and reluctantly

add half a dozen members of the happy family to our col-

lecting bag, with a single shot. They have the large bill

which has been thought to distinguish the European form

alone, and eannot be distinguished from typical specimens

of the enucleator. "They are among the most common of the

Yukon birds in winter, and though quite small are usually

fat and tender, and not to be despised in a pie. Leaving

the banks of the Ulokuk River we strike aeross an undu-

lating prairie called tundra by the Russians, and only marked

by clumps of dwarf willow (Salix Richardsonii), which

project above the snow. Here and there a larch shakes its

myriads of little cones in the passing breeze, or a small

spruce shows its green tips; but the large spruce, poplar,

willow and birch, prefer the vicinity of the river. The

snow-covered Ulokuk Hills smooth, serene and beautiful,

bear up the reluctant sun, which seems loth to part from the

horizon. Does the snow move? or what is that by yonder

willow brush? We are answered as a covey of the exquisite

A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 291

Snow Grouse or Ptarmigan (Zagopus albus) rise with a

whirr, showing their black tail-feathers as they seek a

more retired spot. Scarcely to be distinguished from the

snow, nor less immaculate, we must be more sharply on the

lookout if we would secure a brace next time. They are

better to look at than to eat; for the dark colored flesh is

dry and tasteless, and if we want specimens the better plan

is to apply to the next Indian girl we meet. She, for a

needle apiece, will furnish us with birds caught in snares,

without a feather ruffled, or a speck on their shining coats.

Their legs and feet are feathered down to the toes, and other

stockings would be superfluous were we ourselves so warmly

clad.

As we near a clump of poplars on a bend in the river, we

see that the bushes are alive with tiny birds. The Black

Cap (Parus atricapillus) and the Hudson Bay Titmouse E ue

Hudsonicus), chatter to each other from the swaying twigs

of alder, and a little farther on is a countless flock of the

Rosy Crowned Sparrow (-Zgiothus linaria) bold and saucy,

with their crimson crests and rosy bosoms setting off their

graceful shapes and lively motions.

Chip! chip! chee! cries an angry Squirrel (Seiurus Hud-

sonius) from yonder poplar; he evidently wants to know

why we intrude on his privacy with guns and things, mak-

ing ourselves disagreeable. A look, and he darts behind the

trunk, only showing his head and ears, repeating his angry

ery in apparent astonishment at our obstinacy in remaining.

Finding us unmoved "a change comes o'er the spirit of his

dreams” and he seeks refuge in the deserted nest of a

Golden-winged Woodpecker (Colaptes auratus), and waits

for better times. You ask what is yonder broad trail in the

snow; too small for a bear, too broad and heavy for a fox.

It is the track of a Wolverine ( Gulo luscus), known here by

the more euphonic name of rossamorga. The Indians tell

strange stories of his cunning, his perseverence in destroying

their traps, and his almost human powers of reflection. The

222 A WINTER’S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY.

Hudson Bay men say the same, but between you and I,

I don’t believe half of it. Mr. Carcajou is very intelligent,

no doubt, but he takes the place of snakes in the legends of

the northern trapper, and we all know what stories are told

about snakes, in more southern latitudes.

The sun, though very low, is at his noonday elevation,

and a short time will be devoted with satisfaction to lunch.

One takes the axe and starts for a dead dry spruce tree, an-

other scrapes away the snow from a hillock, with his snow-

shoe. There we see in the depth of winter bright green

mosses and other small plants, with the partridge berry and

cranberry vines loaded with berries beneath the snow. The

white fleecy covering defends them from the frost, and when

the snow melts in the spring they have only to put forth

their blossoms and continue to grow, under the warm sun

which endures almost till midnight in May and June.

Here comes the wood, and we proceed to make a white

man’s fire, which is built with the sticks laid parallel in layers

which are at right angles to one another. This makes a flat

top, and taking a dry stick we whittle a few shavings, which

are put on top of the pile. Then with a flint and steel (for

matches are luxuries in the Yukon Territory) we light a bit

of punk, and with our breath as a bellows, in a few moments

we have a light with which we proceed to kindle the fire,

putting it on top of the pile, so that the air having free

access, it soon produces a cheerful blaze. An Indian builds

his fire conically, which is much less convenient and takes

much longer to boil the kettle. It is a work of time and

difficulty to melt enough snow to fill the teakettle, and

taking the axe, we go yonder where a low, smooth depres-

sion in the snow indicates the position of what was a pool of

water. A few minutes vigorous chopping and the welcome

fluid gushes up and rapidly overflows the surface of the ice

where we have scraped away the snow. It is full of little

red crustaceans, like sand fleas, etc., among which we may

distinguish members of the genus Cyclops, giants of their

A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 223

kind, carrying two pear-shaped bunches of eggs, one

on each side of the tail. We throw a double handful of

snow into the hole to filter out these unbidden guests, and

filling the teakettle return to the bivouac where the others

are broiling pieces of dry salmon on sticks by the fire. As

soon as the kettle boils we put in the tea and let it boil up

once, and our meal is ready. ‘Tin cups in hand, we enjoy

the grateful and refreshing beverage, which is worth more to

the traveller in the north than any amount of whiskey. In-

deed the latter is worse than worthless, and no old traveller

would wish to have it along with him. After tea, biscuit

and salmon are discussed, the one other luxury of voyageur

life is enjoyed, namely, a cheerful pipe of tobacco, and re-

placing our pipes in our "fire-bags" we continue on our way.

By keeping a sharp lookout it is more than probable that we

shall see a Marten (Mustela Americana) seeking refuge in

some bushy spruce as we pass by. Their tracks are every-

where, and they often disturb the traveller's cache of dr

salmon used for dog feed, and left by the roadside until his

return.

We keep on our way through thick spruce groves where

the trees may average eighteen inches in diameter and forty

feet high. In the interior, on the Yukon, they grow much

larger, but. all the trees diminish in size and abundance as

we approach the coast, where there are none atall. The

Aspen (Populus tremuloides), the Spruce (Abies alba), the

Poplar (Populus balsamifera), and the Birch (Betula glan-

dulosa), are the largest and most prominent trees. There

are no true pines, though the settlers call the spruce “pine.”

Leaving the bank as we reach the river we continue on our

way upon the ice. Although the thermometer may have been

as low as fifty below zero since August, yet you will always

find open places in the ice. These are formed by the rapid

current or by warm springs. At Ulokuk there are a number

of the latter, which keep a large space in the river open all

the year round. Over this water a cloud, like steam, arises

224 A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY.

in very cold weather. Myriads of fish, particularly a delic-

ious salmon-trout, and a small cyprinoid fish, frequent such

localities. One would hardly look for insects in this winter

weather, yet by watching the snow on the river while

the sun shines brightly, a small, shining, pointed creature,

like a Podura, may be seen gliding between the particles of

snow, and immediately disappearing should a cloud pass

over the sun. In September I have found wooly caterpillars,

the larve of arctians, crawling on the snow, while the at-

mosphere was even below zero; and I once found (October

20th) the caterpillar of Vanessa Antiopa in the same manner,

alive; and on yet another occasion I shot a whiskey jack, or

Canada jay (Perisoreus Canadensis), with one just killed, in

his mouth. A little way farther on, a bluff of dark colored

sandstone fronts the river. Here our hammers may well be

employed, and with care fine specimens of fossil leaves may

be obtained. These are usually Sycamores (Platanus), but .

others can be found by searching for them, and in Cook's

Inlet some fifty species have been collected, some of which

are common to Greenland, Spitzbergen, Northern Europe

and Siberia, showing that there was a time when this part of

the world was covered with a rich and verdant forest, and

the temperature was about that of Virginia. ‘This was be-

fore the advent of the hairy elephant, who lived in colder

times. It grew at last too cold for him, however, and his

bones and teeth may be found scattered over the country, on

the surface, and usually much decayed. “His remains have

been found imbedded in the masses of ice (not glaciers)

which fringe the Siberian coasts, and in a perfect state of

preservation, as if he had wandered into an enormous re-

' frigerator and been frozen into it. ;

' You will look in vain here for the familiar drift boulders,

so common in the stone fences of New England. What was

going on during the glacial period in the Yukon Territory

isa mystery. There were no glaciers there, for their traces

are entirely wanting.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS. 225

The sun is now on the point of retiring for the night, al-

though it is barely three o'clock, and the sight of the tall

caches, like corneribs, which mark the position of the village

for which we are bound, is not unwelcome ; for thirty miles

on snowshoes is a good day's tramp, especially for the first

time. In a few minutes we are seated in one of the com-

fortable underground houses and enjoying the hospitality of

the friendly Eskimo. Perhaps some summer's day, reader,

we will try our luck together again.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR.

Tn opportunity of copying a number of colored figures by

Abbot, hitherto unpublished, leads me to say a few words

regarding our native moths. The Lepidoptera, both butter-

flies and moths (especially the former, from their constant

presence by day) from their beauty and grace, have always

been the favorites among amateur entomologists, and the

rarest and most costly works have been published in which

their forms and gorgeous colors are represented in the best

style of natural history art. We need only mention the

folio volume of Madam Merian of the last century, Harris's

Aurelian, the works of Cramer, Stoll, Drury, Hübner, Hors-

field, Doubleday and Westwood, and several others, as com-

prising the most luxurious and costly entomological works.

Near the close of the last century, John Abbot went from

London and spent several years in Georgia, rearing the

larger and more showy butterflies and moths, and painting

them in the larva, chrysalis and adult, or imago, stage.

These drawings he sent to London to be sold. Many of them

were collected by Sir James Edward Smith, and published

under the title of “The Natural History of the Rarer Lepi-

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

226 A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

dopterous Insects of Georgia, collected from the Observa-

tions of John Abbot, with the Plants on which they Feed.”

London, 1797. 2 vols., fol. Besides these two rare vol-

umes there are sixteen folio volumes of drawings by Abbot

in the Library of the British Museum. The plate given with

this article is selected from a thick folio volume of similar

drawings presented by Dr. J. E. Gray of the British Mu-

seum to Professor Asa Gray, to whose kindness we are in-

debted for an opportunity of figuring the transformations

before unknown of over a dozen moths, whose names are

given, as far as possible in the present state of our knowledge,

in the explanation of the plate.

The study of insects possesses most of its interest when

we observe their habits and transformations. Caterpillars

are always to be found, and with a little practice are

easy to raise, and we would advise any one desirous of be-

ginning the study of insects to take up the butterflies and

moths. They are perhaps easier to study than any other

oup of insects, and are more ornamental in the cabinet.

As a scientific study we would recommend it to ladies as

next to botany in interest and the ease in which specimens

may be collected and examined. The example of Madam

Merian, and several ladies in this country who have greatly

aided science by their well filled cabinets, and thorough and

critical knowledge of the various species and their transform-

ations, is an earnest of what may be expected from their

followers. Though the moths are easy to study compared

with the bees, flies, beetles and bugs, and neuroptera, yet

many questions of great interest in philosophieal entomology

have been answered by our knowledge of their structure and

` mode of growth. The great works of Herold on the evolu-

tion of a caterpillar; of Lyonet on the anatomy of the

Cossus; of Newport on that of the Sphinx, both in their

various stages; and of Siebold on the parthenogenesis of

insects, especially of Psyche helix, are proofs that the moths

have engaged some of the master minds in science.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS. 227

The study of the transformations of the moths is also of

great importance to one who would acquaint himself with the

questions concerning the growth and metamorphosis and ori-

gin of animals. We should remember that the-very words

“metamorphosis” and “transformation,” now so generally ap-

plied to other groups of animals and used in philosophical

botany, were first suggested by those who observed that

the moth and butterfly attain their maturity only by passing

through wonderful changes of form and modes of life.

The knowledge of the fact that all animals pass through

some sort of a metamorphosis is very recent in physiology.

Moreover the fact that these morphological eras in the life

of an individual animal accord most unerringly with the gra-

dation of forms in the type of which it is a member, was the

discovery of the eminent physiologist Von Baer. Up to this

time the true significance of the luxuriance and diversity of

larval forms had never seriously engaged the attention of

systematists in entomology.

What can possibly be the meaning of all this putting on

and taking off of caterpillar habilaments, or in other words,

the process of moulting, with the frequent changes in orna-

mentation, and the seeming fastidiousness and queer fancies

and strange conceits of these young and giddy insects seem

hidden and mysterious to human observation. Indeed, few

care to spend the time and trouble necessary to observe the

insect through its transformations; and that done, if only

the larva of the perfect insect can be identified and its

form sketched how much was gained! A truthful and cir-

cumstantial biography in all its relations of a single insect

has yet to be written.

We should also apply our knowledge of the larval forms

of insects to the details of their classification into families and

genera, constantly collating our knowledge of the early

stages with the structural relations that accompany them in .

the perfect state.

The simple form of the caterpillar seems to be a concen-

228 A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

tration of the characters of the perfect insect, and presents

easy characters by which to distinguish the minor groups;

and the relative rank of the higher divisions will only be

definitely settled when their forms and methods of transform-

ation are thoroughly known. ‘Thus, for example, in two

groups of the large Attacus-like moths, which are so amply

illustrated in Dr. Harris's "Treatise on Insects Injurious to

Vegetation ;" if we take the different forms of the caterpillars

of the Tau moth of Europe, which are figured by Godart and

Duponchel, we find that the very young larva has four horn-

like processes on the front, and four on the back part of the

body. The full grown larva of the Regalis moth, of the

Southern states, is very similarly ornamented. It is an em-

bryonie form, and therefore inferior in rank to the Tau moth.

Multiply these horns over the surface of the body, lessen

their size, and crown them with hairs, and we have our Io

moth, so destructive to corn. Now take off the hairs, elong-

ating and thinning out the tubercles, and make up the loss by

the inereased size of the worm, and we have the caterpillar

of our common Cecropia moth. Again, remove the nake

tubercles almost wholly, smooth off the surface of the body,

and contract its length, thus giving a greater convexity and

angularity to the rings, and we have before us the larva of

the stately Luna moth that tops this royal family. Here are

certain criteria for placing these insects before our minds in

the order that nature has placed them. We have here cer-

tain faets for determining which of these three insects is

highest and which lowest in the scale, when we see the larva

of the Luna moth throwing off successively the Io and Ce-

cropia forms to take on its own higher features. So that

there is a meaning in all this shifting of insect toggery.

This is but an example of the many ways in which both

pleasure and mental profit may be realized from the

thoughtful study of caterpillar life. —

In collecting butterflies and moths for cabinet specimens,

one needs a gauze net a foot and half deep, with the wire

À FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS. 229

frame a foot in diameter; a bottle containing a parcel of

cyanide of potassium gummed on the side, in which to kill

the moths, which should at once be pinned in a 'cork-lined

colleeting box carried in the coat pocket. The captures

should be spread and dried on a grooved setting board, and

a cabinet formed of cork-lined boxes or drawers; or as a sub-

stitute for cork, frames with paper tightly stretched over

them may be used, or corn, or palm-pith. Caterpillars should

be preserved in spirits, or glycerine with a little spirits, or

strong salt and water, while some ingeniously empty the

skins and inflate them over a flame so that they may be

pinned by the side of the adult.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 2.

Fig. 1. ae. es Hübner, female; la, larva, 1b, pupa. Feeds on

Sideronytum

Fi E 2. Cniodnay pean Pack., male; 2a, larva; 3a, pupa. Feeds on

mea coccin

Fig. * Dryopteris, dd undescribed, female; 3a, larva; 35, pupa.

Feeds on Vibur

Fig. 4. Acontia ino tois: male; 4a, larva; 4b, pupa. Feeds on

Hibiscus palustris.

g. 5. Homoptera edusa EE 5a, larva; 5b, pupa. The plant on

CAT it feeds is not na

Fig. 6. Hyperetis, species Mat ros female; 6a, larva; 6b, pupa. Feeds

on a species of Azalea.

TE 7. Boarmia, species not known, female; 7b, larva; Ta, pupa.

n Helenium.

iz 8. Acidalia, species unknown. 8a, larva; 8b, pupa. Feeds on Tril-

lium.

Fig. 9. Herminia, Pocta not identified, male; 9a, larva; 9b, pupa.

Feeds on Rhexia

Fig. 10. Helia puedo CREE? female; 10a, larva; 105, pupa. Feeds

on Phlox speciosa.

Fig. 11. An unknown species of Phalenide, male; lla, larva; 115, pupa.

is.

Feeds on Coreops

Fig. 12. A species of Botys, male; 12a, larva; 12b, pupa. Feeds on

Feeds

Ipomea.

Fig. 13. A species of Botys, female; 13a, larva; 13b, pupa. Feeds on a

species of ‘Crotalaria.

"wa bye VLE WS

MODERN IDEAS or Dertvation.* — This felicitous title heads an equally

expressive and concise summary of the vàrious theories on the origin of

vain treated by the strong hand of an accomplished and veteran

observer.

Prof essor Dawson recognizes that nodes has given form and cohe-

ncy to researches upon the origin of species, but omits one very impor-

fine consideration, to which we think the Pieta effect of his book is dii.

The novel and exact methods of investigation, the analytical character

of the book powerfully influenced a much arger class of minds than

reptiles (Iguanodons) and the ostriches. ** Yet," writes Professor Daw-

son, ** he could not have placed together any two members of the ew OE

series inel hel. ten: any naturalist that an enormous gap had t

filled between them.” The views of Darwin are summed up as pa ds

“That all otganized beings are engaged in a struggle fo r existence; that

in this struggle certain varieties arise, which, being better suited to the

grins prosper and multiply more than others: that this pad to

a ‘Natural Selection,’ similar in kind to the artificial selection of breeders

of ick: that members of the same species isolated from each other .

and subjected to struggles of different kinds, will in process of time

become specifically distinct.”

nae Dawson objects to this theory for several reasons. The most

important are that **conditions which involve a struggle for SRR

breeders for their purposes,” and that the possibilities of geological his-

tory are exceeded by the enormous time demanded by Darwin for accom-

plishing the developmental change from one species to another.

Seemingly no worse or more contradictory comparison could be made

*Modern Ideas of Derivation. By Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D. Canadian Naturalist,

Vol. iv, No. 2. June, 1869,

(230

REVIEWS. 231

than that between the laws which govern the transmission of character-

istics among races perpetually clashing in the ‘struggle for existence,"

and those influencing the production of different breeds among animals

enjoying the protection of the animal breeder. We, however, think that

Professor Dawson would find it difficult to establish the truth of this

rta

existence necessarily lead to extinction. Darwin himself has shown that

it leads to the extinction of those races which are not possessed of cer-

tain advantages, and that it cannot according to physiological laws do

otherwise than develop in a higher degree those points or changes in the

favored races which enabled them to gain their first victories over their

weaker brothers.

The last objection, with regard to the lapse of time demanded for spe-

cific changes ee to the Darwinian theory, is becoming stronger

every day. eep sea dredgings have shown us that computations of

geological time, side upon the thickness of rocks, and the presence of

other ia geological time, by imagining the lapse of ages and a corres-

ponding modification of the organization of the animals included in the

lowest bed. A simple change of fourteen degrees Fahrenheit may pos-

sibly make the difference between a limestone compose ed entirely of

organic remains, and a sandstone containing the fossil remnants of a

totally distinct fauna, Hough both of these may have been composed of

contemporaneous animals.

he authors remarks upon Professor Cope's late paper before the

American Association so well ua dp the substance of the new theory

of derivation that we quote them

"e ETNO Jast of these hypotheses wbich I shall notice, and, du oyn — the most promising of

the * Origi G di th do tural Sciences, f and

which is t based on the well known analogy between beaches changes, rank in the zoological

scale and geological succession. It may be € by the remarkable and somewhat start-

ling fact, that while no authenticated case exists of animals chan ging from one species to an-

other, y are known to ch | from one zug or family t

their individuality. Professor Dumeril, of Paris, and Professor Marsh h, of New Haven; have

recenti y directed attention E. the fact that species of Siredon, reptiles of -= lakes of the

f Mexico

which, like our North American Menobranc. retain their

set during life, when kept ih ape bien n a warmer ON MEI than mat w which is D

0 them. s eir gills, and pass into a form hitherto regard: ofa

pa amily, APOR us Amblyst toma. In voila case we mar either pete that the ! Ambistoms

i it d be-

nas 1L

s maturity

1 T, 1 of Spi-

See Recent "nd of Deep Sea Fauna, by A. E. Verrill. Am

ence and Art, 2d series, January, 1870.

ladelphia, 1869,

232 REVIEWS.

fore it has lost its gills. Siredonl d o have

its period of reproduction arrested until it has gone on a stage farther in growth and ni lost

its gills. In any case the same species —nay, the same individual— is capable of existing in a

State of maturity as a creature half fish and half reptile in regard to its circulation, or in a

perfect reptilian state in which it breathes solely by — Farther, we may su se

" nly

and a change in these conditions inducing the opposite e Here we have for ri first time

actual facts on which to base a theory of developm — dun "— point " the operation of

two causes —first, the possible Retardation or A , and secondly, the

action of outward circumstances on the organism capable of this retardat ion or acceleration.

We here substitute for the acon to vary of Owen’s theory, the ascertained fact of repro-

physical conditions, and for the questi ion as d the change of one species into another, the

change of the same species from one g ther. Farther, instead of vague specula-

tions as to possible Sp of amed animals, we are led to careful consideration of the em-

' the s

sts tabulated by Mr. hene Mani nay y proceed to ate the limitations

hich his views put to the doctrine of derivation. f this the real nature

oe Se as a possible Pid] then derivation must follow the same ien wiicdo eta-

orphis m n and ombr youte fers?

peci ted y have in itself A CAPACI ee Lem

M k 1 cates Hani

which ever

| ti

ee with fe influence o of external circumstances. Yet the agar eg ud r orbit of

y to pass

into a really bt, b A al investi-

ng etn inferen nce. As already hinted, it is a most important point o of se siguen that when

ain e series of embr ryonie changes of any animal, we have thereby ascer-

tained ‘is “possibilities in regard to accelerated development lis bc sensorial in Tepara tor

udies of scale. Now, if M

we knew the embryonic history of every snimdt, i rec and fossi il, i in its anatom etails,

we should be able to construct out of this a table of — affiliation of pa pas should

he sam e d classes in

t ty

mh ; hy

which they Saad msi existed in eT time, and to predict what they might become in

ime still to come

am heats of acceleration we have also shown to be the law of

grow among the Nautiloids and Ammonoids. Thus the discoidal

vus though an ancient group, do not ae during their entire

life, from the Silurian to the Tertiary, such extensive changes in the

septa as the Clymeniz do in the course of a single geological epoch, the

or i

m d is case

precisely parallel to that of the growth of the Siredon salamander into

the Parallelism between the ge dete of Life in the Individual and those in the

supe se Group of the co eng Order, Te anchiata. By A, Hyatt. Memoirs Boston Soci-

ety of Natural History, Vol. 1, Part 2, ae

REVIEWS. 233

n Amblystoma, and presents itself to the geologist when compared to

je lower Clymenise in the same way, the only difference being that in

this case the characteristics of a different order of animals are produced

by the acceleration of the growth, instead of a distinct family and genus

merely.

Other instances are brought forward in the memoir referred to above

de whic

demonstrate with equal clearness the agency of the law acceleration

in the production of varieties and even of individual differences.

Thus one of the best known species of the Lower Lias, dead os (Am-

monites) obtusum, is divisible into several varieties. For the sake, how-

ever, of reducing it as much as possible we will eliminate all of these but

three, and consider only the English specimens from one locality, Lyme

Regis. These have three distinct variations of form. The first has the

exceedingly shallow channels, while the pile (coste) are prominent and

ither end. The channels appear on the last quarter of

the third, and almost immediately attain their ultimate adult depth and

aspect on the fourth volution; the second ame aiite in

the larger number of individuals, but accelerates them by a t

depth of the channels and the height o keel after.the Nin: volution,

producing thereby adults with deeper channels and more prominent keels.

There are different degrees of this acceleration in different individuals,

some having shallower channels than others.

The third variety attains the adult characteristics of the most ciem

members of the second variety on the fourth whorl, and on the fifth,

flattens the sides. The first and second varieties have gibbous or dime

sini but the third is a transitional variety, approximating to Asteroceras

stellare. The accelerations show themselves also in the development of

the pile; the s rm

these lateral projections at an earlier age than the first, and the latter

forms pas same parts at an earlier age than in the first variety.

This whole progress in the form and characteristics of parts takes place

may and probably will be made to this view, that the third is really a va-

riety of Asteroceras stellare, and does not belong to Asteroceras obtusum

at all. This alternative would be even more favorable to the theory

here advanced neis that given above. The difference is less in all re-

pect wee

Asteroceras obtusum, than between the former and Asteroceras stellare.

Therefore any estimation of the value of their characteristics which would

join the third variety to the latter species must also include the former

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. - 80

234 : REVIEWS.

species as a variety under the same name. If at the other end of the se-

ries we should be permitted to add Ammonites Turneri, "as we think

will perhaps prove to be merely a local variety of A. obtusu _ evi-

den«

typical Asteroceras obtusum, and in all respects it is similar to that spe-

cies, differing only in the later or c production of the channels and

keel and in its somewhat smaller

A third opinion that all of icai were distinct species, may be answered

first, by reference to the accelerations in the development of the pile oc-

curring between the different individuals a the first variety, which in

that case become types of varieties, and, o, by citing other species.

Thes: one species of a lower genus perg incipiens, all the specimens

of which are from one locality, fades by regular and inseparable grada-

nels

farther be strengthened by showing that this via or absence of chan-

nels becomes in the Middle Lias of such importance that it constitutes a

Discoceratide (Arietes). Thus Hildoceras thle: en and Wal-

cottii) differs from Grammoceras ene striatulus, Amm. Aalense, etc.)

principally in these characteristics

he presence or absence of eee: therefore, or any change of form

to which the abdomen may be subjected, cannot, to use the terms of the

modern systematist, be considered as of slight importance even though

we find them, when first introduced, subject to simple varietal changes in

some species

he Iais of a review do not permit us to continue this part of the

subject. Lenie many similar instances, therefore, to a in due:

group.

marks which refer to the possibility of determining beforehand the future

course of the changes of a group, but have been accidentally passed over

in silence by him. He has also given Professor Cope the undivided credit

move all doubt that the aim of a large part of the investigations there

Bulletin of the Museum of C 'ative Zoology, No. 5, p. 99.

REVIEWS. 235

recorded is identical with those of Professor Cope's more elaborate essay.

ave no desire for controversy and regard scientific claims as gener-

ally speaking not worth contending for, but feel that silence, in the present

instance, would place in a false light the object of these investigations,

and vitiate the original value of the results of much labor not yet pub-

lished. The quotation below will serve to justify these remarks, and at

the same time bring us back to the more agreeable and legitimate subject

of this review.

“ This law” (of acceleration) ** applied to such groups as have been

growth, greater differences which in turn become embryonic, and so on;

but when the same law acts upon some series whose individuals alter the

place. The old age characteristics in due course of time or structure,

characteristics first found in the old age of the shell, which are Pria

at earlier periods hy species standing higher in the series, just as

aes characteristics are inherited by them in the young. Thus the oe

radation and ultimate extinction of groups of animals may be accounted

for by the law of acceleration quite as accurately as their rise and pro-

gress in organization.

These de adito tendencies bring about in the old age. of the indi-

liar unrolled shells of the Cretaceous Ammonites, which are, form for

form, the same as those of the earlier Nautiloids in the older formations.

Shown to be degraded species; in their simpler septa when compared

with the normal formed ammonites, having in the adult only the six lobes

of the young, and in their ornamentation, and simple, rounded, keeless

and channelless whorls.

e retardation of development which is invoked to account for

vet and the group to which it may i. The struggle for exist-

M the action of this law, but that it has no controlling influence is

of *“On the Paralellism," p. 232.

f First noticed by Doa Pi Franeaise. Terr. Cretaces p. 381.

236 REVIEWS.

proved, we think, by the fact that degradational or senile tendencies are

inherited.

In this connection I — suggest that the Turrillites and other allied

spiral shells, will ultimately be found to be the legitimate descendants of

the defo aed Tur prm described by D'Orbigny from the Lower Lias

beds. It is now generally xni oi ER y European writers that these

forms are discoidal ammonites that have di cid from the usual mode

of growth common to their Sueco, and instead of revolving neue in

the same plane the whorl has become slightly assymetrical, and thus be-

gun to form the assymmetrical spiral of the genus Turrillites. This

tendency is quite common with the septa of Psiloceras psilonotus eem

other species, and in.the shell, also, but is so faintly See that i

difficult to distinguish from the effects of compression. If this and a

instances of a similar kind be finally substantiated we have are still an-

other application of the law of acceleration > See ae which

naturalists have been hitherto accustomed to c deform

prolong their existence by perpetually inheriting the a senate s of their

ancestors, and certainly the degradational characteristics as displayed in

all the terminal species of the ammonoids cannot be explained in this

wa; ere also we have the limitation of the cycle of changes or varia-

Mond which a species or form may be supposed to be capable, at least

part sin accounted for; and as Professor Dawson and others have

pointed out, the theory of natural selection makes no provision for such

restrictions rsion cannot be called upon to Born the return of

the Nautiloid forms i onoids of the Cre $ boenus they

8 the t of traceable inherited characteristics continually aug-

naL T

or atrophy of the adult ac in the individual, and in the group,

by an unrolling of the closely coiled and deeply involute whorl of the

Jurassic ore es, and they occupy the — extreme of structure and

life in both c

d Mii in ipee that Professor Dawson does not wholly

commit himself to the new theory, but regards it as ** holding forth the

most promising line ss investigation" as yet advanced. Though the

author of the theory in common with Professor Cope, we cannot refuse to

until the extent to which it may be modified by physical causes, and per-

haps natural selection, be fully understood, an unprejudiced mind cannot

consider it as capable of clearing away all our present difficulties. It

gives us, perhaps the means of asserting that the plasticity of organs

REVIEWS. 237

have certain limits; that a. can arise from natural selection, or

physical changes, only when these act in given directious and for a given

time, after the — of Bon whether in the individual or the

group, if sudden h do not intervene, all changes must be degrada-

tional in posit PE causes, and the struggle for existence can

no longer improve the vitiated organization when it has assed this

period. Its death is decreed as certainly as its line of developmental

changes must have been before it was born, and whatever agency other

laws may have, they can only act with more or less force and velocity in

these usi a RAS paths of progress and decline, or cut them short by

the destruction of the organization. — A. HYATT

THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB, ee under the auspices of its Presi-

dent and Nestor, meets at the Herbarium in Columbia College, began

with the year to issue its ‘ ahi in monthly numbers of four pages

each. The notices and memoranda thus issued relate chiefly to the local

flora of New York, which is the special charge of the Club; but matters

of more than local interest are touched pics making it well worth the

attention of our botanists throughout the country. For example, in the

February number, Mr. Leggett, the Wn explains the anomaly of Lepi-

cotyledons, in line with the radicle, and in which the bend is made, are in

the position answering to incumbent, and so the ee take the ac-

cumbent position by a twist of ninety degrees. The *“ Bulletin” is fur-

nished, upon application to the editor, 224 East Tenth street, New York,

for a dollar a year, or seven copies for five dollars

Foss, PLANTS FROM THE Wrsr.*— This report closes Dr. Hayden's

report reviewed by us in March, 1870. By some oversight we confused it

with a former paper of Professor Newberry, a and thus passed by some

a general review of the geology of North America, and as these govern-

ment reports, notwithstanding their wide distribution, generally have but

few non-scientific readers, we shall rep ublish this for the benefit of our

subscribers in some succeeding number

e chapter on the ** Cretaceous Flora” gives a concise summary of the

rious go overnment expeditions which have made collections d an

plants of this period. The conclusions reached are identical with those

ich we have already quoted in the review referred to above in March,

ien page €

Scotland. This and the large number of other identical miocene species,

lead to the inference that North America and Europe were connected by

O T E

* Report on the Cretaceous and Tertiary Plants. By Professor J. 8. Newberry.

238 REVIEWS.

an intermediate continent. ‘‘If this inference should be confirmed by

ture observations, we should then see how the eocene tropical or sub-

tropical flora of Europe was crowded off the stage by the tropical flora

east, and now represented by the living Indo-Australian flora,

characterized ee its Hakee, Dryandree, Eucalypti, etc., etc., which form

echa onspicuous an element in the eocene flora of Europe." Instances in

s land connection must have occurred to the northward, and that the

country was then in possession of a milder climate than now reigns in

the same latitude.

In discussing the causes which produced this difference of climate

Professor Newberry gives his adherence to none in particular, but thinks

that the deflection of the Gulf Stream would be the most natural method

space. This cannot be assumed to be the cause in the present instance;

for any ‘‘cosmical cause, producing a general elevation of temperature

on the earth's surface, would have given us a tropical flora on the Upper

Missouri, whereas we find in the miocene flora there, as yet no tropical

plants."

RELATIONS OF THE ROCKS IN THE VICINITY OF Boston.* — Professor

Shaler regards all the Pisa gs of this vicinity as of —_— =

and rejects the old theory of their oe origin. In this S sup-

rted by the late discoveries of the Eozéon in this vicinity, Di a the

Dor T

` he ipsis ood of Quincy is described as consisting of a layer of

m slate an

tending to the edge of the Charles River flats in Brighton, where

they iion pu to a sandstone.

* Abstraet of Some Remarks on the Relations of the Rocks in the TAAR g Boston, By

N. S. Shaler. Proc. Boston Soc, Nat. Hist., vol. xiii. Dec. 3, 1869. Pamph., pp.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

THE FERTILIZATION OF GRASSES. — In gently flowing rivers of tropi-

cal America grow many fine aquatic grasses, species of Luziola, Or arg

ideas with deep purple, and with six long yellow stamens hanging out

of them, were disposed in a lax terminal panicle; while the slender green

female flowers grew on the bristle-like branches of much smaller panicles

springing from the inflated sheaths of the leaves that clothed the stem.

less, some of it, attain the female flowers disposed for its reception.

A parallel case to the above is that of the common Maize (ZeaMays L.),

where the male flowers are borne in a long terminal raceme or panicle,

and the female flowers are densely packed on spikes springing from the

leaf-axils. Here the male flowers must plainly eee before the pollen

on the fem organs

In Pharus scaber (H. B. K.) another tall broad-leaved grass, the spike-

lets stand by twos on the spike — a sessile female spikelet, and a stalked

male spikelet.

In the fine forest gre of the genus Olyra, whereof some species, such

as O. micrantha (H. K.). rise to ten feet in height, and have MORE

leaves above three Min broad, and a large terminal ri Mp capil-

lary branches, like those of our Aira c cespitosa, it is the r flowers

that are male, with large innate (not versatile) anthers, pe d upper

that are female, with two large stigmas, that are either dichotomously

male flowers, although placed lower down the axis, are actually sus-

pasira over the terminal female flowers

It is generally to be remarked of decliuous grasses, that either the male

(289)

240 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY

flowers are very numerous, as in Zea Mays, or the stamens are multiplied

in each male flower, as in Pariana, Leersia, Guadua, etc.; orthe stigmatic

apparatus of the female flowers ? LM So as almost to insure im-

n the Bambusesz I have ga itera: belonging to the genera Guadua,

Merostachys, and Chusquea, the flow re more or less polygamous,

a genus in the whole order which is not described as having some flowers

by abortion, neuter or male, and especially those that have biflorous

ow such as the Panices. Some grasses, of normally hermaphro-

orus (Nees), a grass peculiar to the Amazon, quite destitute of stamens,

and therefore purely female. i

To come home to our own country: Is all the pollen wasted that a

touch or a breath sets free from the flowers of grasses in such abundance?

Watch a field of wheat in bloom, the heads swayed by the wind, lovingly

too, that throughout Nature, heat or moisture, or both, are essential to

truded from the side or from the base of the flower at an early stage,

often before the stamens of the same flower are mature — thus as it were

inviting cross fertilization from the more precocious stamens if other

pente bsp are already shedding their pollen

ve gathered grasses will have aukið that some have yel-

low ena others pink or violet anthers; and that anthers of both

types of color may co-exist on distinct a aaa of the same species.

The same peculiarity is just as noticeable in tropical grasses, and (with-

when distended with mature pollen the yellow color of the latter is alone

made without any reference to the question now in hand, require to

be renewed and tested: and in them, as in all that precedes, I am open

to correction.

am grasses with bisexual flowers, there are two ways in which the

e fertilized, namely, either by pt pollen of its own flower

pant or open), or by that of other flowers, after the manner of the de-

pean ged dya In the latter case, the pollen may be transported by the

the fur of animals (as I have observed the seeds of Selagin-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 241

ellas in South America), or in the plumage of birds. The agency of in-

sects has not been traced in the fertilization of grasses, but may exist.

The little flies I have seen on the flowers of grasses seemed bent on de-

positing their eggs in the nascent ovaries, but may also have aided in

cross-fertilization. In the Amazon Valley grasses are often invested by

ants, who, indeed, leave nothing organic unvisited throughout that vast

region; and they also, I think, cannot help occasionally transferring

grains of pollen from one flower to another.

ers of Palms and Grasses agree in being usually small and

the thick forest, the sense of hearing would perhaps give the first notice

of its proximity, from the merry hum of winged insects — its scented

flowers had drawn together, to feast on the honey, and to transport the

ers from the grasses seems to show that insect-aid is not needed for ef-

fecting their — but does not render its accidental concurrence a

whit less unlikel

That — “notwithstanding their almost mathematical characters,

vary much as other plants do, is plain from the multitude of osculating

forms (in Boc enera as Era E Panicum, and Paspalum), which puz-

zle the botanist to decide when to combine and when to separate, i order

g arriages, er

brought about. If the flowers of grasses be sometimes fertilized in the

bud, it is probably nepos like the similar cases recorded of Orchids

and many other familie

To conclude: the more I ponder over existing evidence, the more I feel

convinced that in its perfect state every being has the sexes practically _

separated, and that natural selection is ever tending to make this separa-

the prototype even of man was hermaphrodite, may one day be proved to

e a fact! — Dr. R. Spruce, Scientific — [See his paper in Journ.

Linn. ae

r cTs. — Dr. Bail of Danzig, in a recent pamphlet, keen

iu ee s dis various kinds of fungus that are parasitic upon the larv

of different insects, and his investigations are of some practical ‘aise

tance in relation to a possible check to the destruction of forest-trees,

which goes on to an enormous extent in North Germany, through the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 31

242 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ravages of caterpillars. In certain seasons these caterpillars appeared

to be attacked by an epidemic, their bodies bei ng swollen to bursting,

and Mie threads phis visible between the rings of the body, which

seemed to issue fro e body itself. In this cabin great numbers

were found still SE to the leaves. The destroying agent had been

identified by Dr. Reichhardt of Vienna as the mycelium of a fungus which

he named Empusa aulice. The distribution of the Empusa is very con-

siderable; the only order of insects which is not at present known to be

subject "s their attacks being the Neuroptera (dragon flies, etc.) ; they are

known to be parasitic upon sertis Seven Hymenoptera (bees, ants,

etc.), Lepid an (butterflies and moths), Diptera em and gnats),

eset (crickets, etc.), and aphides, perii in the larva or gu condi-

tion, on wate sends and even the same species on tdt. and fishe

Not dd is their distribution over so many different animals aes

but also the lesan a rapidity of their development in the individual.

€ common house-fly is, in some years, destroyed i 6 this emp in

ast numbers, and vd dung-fly has been in certain districts almost anni-

bin In the forests of Pomerania and Posen the caterpillars € been

killed by it in such quantities that it may be considered to have saved

tion.

Cordyceps —— Jsaria farinosa, and Penicillium glaucum ; the two lat-

ter forms he inclines to unite as different stages of growth of the same

plant. — The rice

SECT-FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS. —In an article contributed to

this respect, to the related families, one of which is familiarly repre-

sented in our gardens by the Canna, or Indian Shot. Here the arrange-

ments depends upon the viscidity of the pollen, and the bursting loose of

the style; the pollen is first deposited on an expansion of the style,

whence it is taken away by the insect, to be deposited upon the stigma

of the flower next visited.

N AMERICAN Oaks. — Concluded. A. De Candolle,

teen are synonyms of others. De Candolle proposes three new speci

Q. Lindeni (collected in New Grenada in 1842, by Linden), Wislizeni ( 1,

n New Mexico by Wislizenus), and omissa (from Seemann's collection,

but omitted in ** Plante agii d = ”). Q. dumosa Nutt., and acutidens

Torr., are not mentioned. Counting these omitted species, and drop-

ping olivæformis and Leana as eg then uniting grisea with oblongifolia

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 243

and pungens, and Fagor hastata in — we have ninety American

Species. But n this number may be in the future greatly reduced,

particularly in sees Mexican species, i ws are founded on a limited

ne of specimens, and with the habitat for the most part not

state

copiis attempted the first methodical disposition of the Peet as

above mentioned, which was after him maintained by Pursh, Nuttall a

Elliott. In Europe the important character taken from the ripening »

the fruit was entirely neglected. Only Koch, in ** Flora Germanica," 1837,

gives notice that Q. Cerris ripened its fruit in the second year.

Then Spach, in Vol. XI. of his ** Histoire Naturelle des Veg. Phane-

which is founded on the form and being of the leaves, the cup and

the ripening. His disposition is thi

I. DECIDUOUS LEAVES: ESCULUS.

1. Robur: Leaves sin aa pinnatifid; lobes not bristle-pointed.

lobes or teeth aad Female flowers often from buds

ehe esh leaves, and so the fruit lateral on d year’s shoot.

ration annual. igi of the cup echina

b. datni: Leaves late deciduous, bec sa ‘yellow! ish and

brownish; lobes or teeth bristle-pointed. Maturation biennial.

Scales of ‘the cup short, appressed.

II. LEAVES PERSISTENT: ILEX.

6. Suber: Maturation annu

T. ee: —,, biennial

A nh T3

Endlicher ti , only changing

Cerroides into: Elmobalanus, and while Spach considers only the European,

Western-Asiatic, and American species, he introduces the Easte rn Asi-

cuspidata, which forms his —— Chlamydobalanus; the former are

all in his subgenus Lepidobala

Gay, in “ Ann. des Sc. Nat., mi Ir pointed out the errors in the above

e ?

So the whole group Cerris has the maturation biennial.

Desf., and hispanica Lam., which Endlicher put as one species under rd

244 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

lifera, belong to Cerris. Spach forms, for the single species, Q. infectoria

Oli o the group gallifera, with dai maturation, Endlicher added Q.

only European species; the American botanist is more interested in

Spach's group, Suber, with the species Q. virens Ait. This species was

taken by all the authors from Michaux, the elder, to A. Gray, as maturing

the fruit in the second year. Spach puts it with Suber, with annual matu-

ration. In the ** Prodromus," and in the latest edition of ** Gray's Manual,”

itis annual. Gay agrees with, but does injustice to, Endlicher, when he

says that Endlicher's seventy-seven American and thirty-five east Asiatic

species, which never have been examined upon their maturation, had been

joined with Suber. Endlicher ranges neither virens nor the rest in the

group Suber, but into no group at all. His arrangement is thus: Ilex

1. Mediterranez et orientales; VI. Suber. VII. Coccifera. 2. Americans.

8. Japonicer, etc.

The disagreement of view in respect to maturation is explained by the

fact that until now two different species, with different maturation, have

Spain along the Atlantic, and furnishes all the cork used in these coun-

tries. It is Quercus occidentalis Gay, with biennial maturation, and was

kept before the discovery of Gay for Suber. Itis remarkable that often

quite EOGHAE species differ only in maturation, and it is not impossible

hat the mistake concerning Q. virens grounds on an interchange o

cinerea d pes former. In regard to the flrst groups Gay follows End-

licher and Spach; but I think there is an objection to the second group

Elxobalanus. The subulate prolongation of the upper scales of the cup

is so variable that this character is not profitable to be used.in a natural

arrangement. I have seen fruits of Q. macrocarpa, in which the prolon-

gation of the scales was scarcely perceptible; on the other hand I have

seen fruits of Q. bicolor or Prinus discolor, with very much prolonged

scales. It is my opinion that Q. macrocarpa falls under the group Robur,

and that in — Elzobalanus should be dropped.

There wo essays of A. De Candolle in ** Ann. des Sc. Nat. ser.,

IV, Vol. poh ” (1862): Sur le fruit Ps chêne and Etude sur Véspéce. De

to form artificial subdivisions, which are necessary from the great number

of species. A new diagnostic character, discovered by De Candolle, is

for the same reason unfit to form natural groups. This is the position of

the abortive ovules at the base, or at the apex, of the ripe seed. Workin

for the

nervation of the leaf, respecting the direction and relative size of the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 245

nerves of different degrees; their number to a certain point (?), the

pedicelled or sessile; the form of the cup at the base; the termination

of the lower scales of the cup; the direction of the scales in the ripe

ruit.

De Candolle adopts the three subgenera of Endlicher, adding two more

from species which Endlicher puts under Lepidobalanus. The subgenus

Androgyne, is formed by the single (Californian) species, Quercus densi-

flora Hook, which has the flowers of both sexes in an upright spike, male

with South Asiatic species. All the other American species belong to the

subgenus Lepidobalanus. The arrangement in the ** Prodromus" is thus:

I. LEPIDOBALANUS.

8 1. Abortive ovules below. Maturation annual.

* Leaves deciduous.

Q. LyRATA Walt., Q. MACROCARPA Michx. (with var. abbreviata and mi-

nor); Q. OLIVÆFORMIS Michx., Q. BIcoLor Willd. ( Q. Prinus tomentosa

Michx., Prinus discolor Michx. f., Michauxii Nutt.). There is a variety

cultivated in France, f. platanoides— Q. prinus platanoides Lam.— Q. velu-

tina herb l'Her.— Q. pannosa Bosc. (which is, perhaps, Q. mollis Nutt.— Q.

filiformis Muhl.). Q. Prinus L.—Q. prinus palustris Michx. (De Candolle

refers to this the flgure Q. montana in Emerson's Trees of Mass., Pl. 6, and

the text to the next). Q. Prinus B acuminata=Q. castanea Muhl. (Emer-

son says the younger Michaux makes this a distinct species. h no

so as far as I know). Q. Prinus Y monticola=Q. Prinus foliis obovatis

Wangenh.—Q. montana Willd., Q. Prinus à chincapin=Q. prinoides Willd.

=Q. Prinus pumila Mich.—Q. chincapin Ph.= Q. Prinus chincapin Michx.

fil. Q. sa Walt.

three varieties f Floridana— Q. Floridana Shutlew, y depressa (Nutt.) on

246 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the upper Missouri, à Utahensis the only oak hetween Salt Lake s Sierra

Nevada, z ALBA L. with two varieties (?) $ repranda, y microca

Q. UNDULATA Torr.— Fendieri Lom. Two varieties 9 iode y pe-

ui Q. DOUGLASII wie with Poi aq p Gambellii=Q.

Gambellii Nutt., y novo-Mexicana=Q. Gam i Lbm. à Neaei, Q. Neaei

y Q. lo

glanda Torr. Q. Garrysna Hook. Q. DRUMMONDH Lbm. These five spe-

cies are Yery likely varieties of one species nearly related to the European

Q. Robur.

The following are Mexican and Central American species, ven dentate

or entire leaves; the maturation of the fruit is not sufficiently known.

. CORRUGATA Hook, Q. 1NsIGNIS Mart. Gal., Q. STROMPOCARPA Lbm.,

n] T

resinosa Lbm., B. OBTUSATA HB.— Q. affinis Mart. puo l; the varieties p

pandurata— Q. panduraia HB. y Hartegtbe- Q- ambigua HB.—Q. Hart-

ig cQ I

€— Q. Laxa Lbm.— Q. callosa Mart., Q. LAETA Lbm.— Q. obtusata var.

., Q. BENTHAMI A. DC.—undulata Bth., Q. TAPUXAHUENSIS A. =

A pasa Bth., Q. Cortresu Lbm., Q. SARTORO Lbm., Q. SALICIFOLIA

Née, Q. SEEMANNI Lbm., Q. GHIESBREGHTI Mart. Gal., Q. BARBINERVIS

Benth., Q. GLAUCOIDES Mart, Gal.—Q. elliptica Lbm.

Q. HuxBorpri Bonpl., * CITRIFOLIA Lbm., Q. cosrARICENSIS Lbm., Q

LixpENI A. DC., Q. TorriMENsIS HB., Q. rTowENTOSA Willd. edt peduncu-

lata Née=@Q. callosa Bth. Thare are four shape zu unis Q.

Q. RETICULATA HB.— Q. spicata HB=decipiens Mii Ga "ia ihe variety 8

Greggii, Q. PULCHELLA HB apu GLABRESCENS idi . with the var. 5. integ-

rifolia, Q. GRISEA eo (probably Ad s acogida Torr.) Q. REPANDA HB.,

Q. MICROPHYLLA =Q. repan with var. 9 crispata, Q. OB-

LONGIFOLIA Torr., d PUNGENS psy ee HASTATA Lbm. (both below Q.

y them the abortive ovules at the apex of the seed!, Q. pingi

bm.-— Q. sage] ie =Q. fulvescens Kell., Q. VIRENS Ait.— Q. sem-

nian Cat.— Q. os 8. L.-——Q. Virginiana Mill.— Q. oleoides intet

Schl.— Q. retusa "es Q. LUTESCENS Mart. Gal.

$2. Abortive iue below. "gni gm biennial.

es persiste

Q. CRASSIFOLIA HB.— Q. kos Née=Q. spi sa Mart. Gal., Q. SPLEN-

DENS Née, with the var. 5. pallidior=Q. Frise cae Bth., Q. SCYTOPHYLLA

Lbm., Q. SIDEROXYLA HB., Q. La

§ 3. Abortive ovules above. Metuistion biennial.

* Leaves deciduous.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 247

Q. FALCATA Michx.= Q. elongata Willd.— Q. discolor Ait.; there are two.va-

rieties, 8 Ludoviciana, Y triloba=Q. triloba Michx. =Q. cuneata Wg., Q.

Wg. . Ba

with the var. $ runcinata, Q. paLustRIs Du Roi-Q. rubra ramosissima

Marsh.—Q. rubra dissecta Lam., Q. GEORGIANA- A. Curt., Q. COCCINEA

. coccinea Wg.=Q. rubra a L. There are four varieties: a coccinea—

Q. coccinea Michx.=Q. ambigua and borealis Michx. fils.; 8 nigrescens=

Q. tinctoria sinuosa Michx.=Q. discolor Willd.—Q. tinctoria Michx. fils. ;

y tinctoria=Q. sihaidria Batr.— Q. tinctoria ric Michx.— Q. €

Lam.,ó Rugelli, Q. SonoMENSIS Bth. —Q. rubra Bth. in Pl. Hartw., Q.

LEANA Nutt. a pmo considers the hy d of this as not bated

It is perhaps not so scarce as Suppo osed; there is besides the known indi-

viduals one in Fulton Shai Illinois, and one near aie the lege in

the immediate neighborhood of Q. coccinea per imbri

LENSIS A. . Q. PuELLos L. with the var. p ariei SUD.

IMBRICARIA Michx. with a var. f spinulosa, Q. NIGRA L.=ferruginea

Michx. fils. = Q. Marilandica Cat. ; there are two varieties, 9 quinqueloba,

y tridentata, Q. SKINNERI Bth., Q. XararENsis HB., Q. WARSCEWICZII

Lbm.—Q. glabrescens Seem.— Q. odcarpa Lbm., Q. cALoPHYLLA Cham. and

$Schl.— C. Alamo Bt th.— Q. — Mart. Gal.— Q. acuminata Mart. Gal.

* Leaves persistent

Q. GRANDIS Lbm., Q. ACUTIFOLIA , Née=Q. furfuracea, there are five vars.

f Bonplandi, 7 augwitifoliacs Q. iq kena Thib., à conspersa Bth. niti

Mart. Gal. €. longifolia—longifolia Vae £ microcarpa, Q. WISLIZENI A. DC.,

. aquatica Walt., Willd.—Q. nigra L. a=Q. uliginosa Wg.=Q. Phellos

Mart. Gal.—Q. ome ues four vars. ; cea pademi Y Visi etu

sublobata, y tridens=Q. tridens HB., à glabrata=Q. Mexicana var. glab-

rata Seem., € Mexicana= Mexicana HB., Q. LANIGERA Mart. Gal., Q. CRAS-

8 HB.=Q. Mexicana Bth., Q. CINEREA Michx.—Q. Prinus 8 L=Q.

Phellos cinerea Spach, with four vars. : f dentato-lobata, y humilis— Q.

humilis Walt., Ô iens pumila Walt.=Q. sericea Willd.— Q. Phellos

pumila Michx., * a, Q. RUGULOSA Mart. Gal., Q. CONFERTIFOLIA HB

Then follow Se ine doubtful species.

II. ANDROGYNE.

Q. DENSIFLORA Hook. and Arn.—Q. echinacea Torr., the var. 8 Hartwegi

is Q. densiflora Bth. in Pl. Hartw

248 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

De Candolle supposes that of the species now known and described

about S aine are provisional, and that when all the species of America

w adopted are as well studied as the European, the **good

Species " sin be reduced to about one hundred; then the American spe-

cies would scarcely be more than fifty. This is credible when we perceive

supposed *‘ good species.” What will become of our — partic-

ularly the Mexican species, when once worked out in that w

I thought I had a very good character, eges by all fadi in the

bud. The Quercus coccinea, wherever I found it here (Peoria) had a con-

ical pointed tomentose five-ridged bud, with dui rows of scales, and I was

sure I should never see it otherwise. Now I get from northern Illinois

a number of specimens with the acorns and all the other characters de-

cidedly those of Q. coccinea, but some of them with smooth round buds,

just as in Quercus rubra. We have now about half a dozen species united

in Q. coccinea ; the difference between Q. rubra and Q. palustris is so insig-

nificant that the latter could be taken as a variety of the former, and per-

ween the species as now accepted would be very Sosecistü. dos uer-

cus bicolor seems to me to be a transitional form between e macrocarpa

a . Prinus ; to acs former it is approximate by the often subulate

scales, e pubescence of the lower side of the leaves, the buds, and the

scaly bar the twigs, which are often corky in Q. macrocarpa. An

exact — of the term ‘‘species ” has never been proposed. Since

Darwin’s theory has made the stability of species d it has

lost much of its importance; but we want a certain t m, be it species,

or form, or race, or whatever it be: we want a name "m an object, that

it may be understood. That is the task of species. I cannot see more

in it.— FRED. BRENDEL, Peoria,

T CONT. THE GERMS OF DiskEASE? — Dr. Tyndall, ina

recent lecture, asserted: (1), that the dust in the air we breathe is largely

composed of organic particles; (2), that they are the germs of plants

like the yeast and such-like fungi; and (3), that they are the means by

which epidemic diseases are propagated

_ The editor of ‘‘ Scientific Opinion,” per that “each and all of these

vations such as those of kompr Joly, Musset, Mantegazza and others,

all go to show that the germs of many of the lower vegetable organisms

which are familiar to botanists, dei pot presen in nd air generally.

Thirdly, the hypothesis g small pox, scarlet

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 249

fever, cholera, and the like diseases" is a oo Mig tt rather thar

a minute veris of phe iota organic matter, is but an hypothesis

and nothing more. So far as it has been attempted to be demonstrated

y the apace of eism and eris: it has sevi broken down,

and the ablest fungologists in the kingdom — Berkley and others — are

distinctly opposed to it, as are, we nee ape the more scientific of our

modern physicians.

ZOOLOGY.

ABITS OF THE STRIPED SQUIRREL. — I lately noticed in my garden a

bright-eyed chipmunk, Sciurus striatus, advancing along a line directly

towards me e came briskly forward, without deviating a hair’s breadth

to the nei or the left, till within two feet of me; then turned square

towards my left — his right — and went about three feet or less. Here

ng.

ground, vndis ing this member with both forepaws, thrust his head

and shoulde byte thr ipu the dry leaves and soft muck, half bury-

ing seat in an instan

t first, I thought “ed after the bulb of an — that grew

emis in front of his face and about three inches from it. I was the

more dd in this supposition, by the shaking of the Es

Present » however, he became ii corta quiet. In this state he

the contrary, he was gradually backing out. I was surprised that, in all

is apparent hard work (he worked like a man on a wager) he threw back

o dirt. But this vigorous labor could not last long. He was very soon

completely above ground ; and then became manifest the object of his earn-

es rk: he was refilling the hole he had oe and repacking the dirt

ied leaves he had disturbed. Nor was he content with simply refilling

and repacking the hole. With his two little eset feet he patted the

surface, and so exactly replaced the leaves that, when he had completed his

took out a dozen seeds or si re-covered the treasure as well as my bu is

ling hands could, and withdrew filled with astonishment at the exhibit.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 32

250 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

n of "igi skill and instinct of this little abused denizen of our

PRAE rder

my actin days I had killed many of the little gies had

ced the treasures in their burrows many times; ha n them,

as I supposed, under every variety of aspect; in short, I aeui I knew

the chipmunk, every inch; but here was a new revelation of chipmunk

character, for which I "e ghee unprepared,

i t

ugs: o you and den readers anything like a complete heiss of

the motions, the skill, the carefulness, the completeness of effect, and

the consequent satisfaction exhibited by this little harvester. I have

never read nor heard of any other man's having witnessed a similar

scene, nor do I expect seat ever again to witness one y opportu-

nity for observation was perfect as it could possibly be; for he was so

near me that I could almost stoop over and lay my hand on him, while

he was half buried under the leaves.

The lesson is perfect; for what our chipmunk does, all chipmunks do,

under the same circumstances. Where does instinct stop, and reason

begin? Wherein does instinctive, irrational skill differ from rational

skill? — IRA SAYLES, Rushford, Alleghany Co.,

NCHOLOGICAL Nores. — Mr. C. B. Fuller, of Portland, has recently

ania Littorina litorea Linn., at Kennebunkport, Maine. Willis re-

i d

found so far south. This species is identical with the common Periwinkle

of the English coast, and its increase may be hoped for, as it will intro-

duce a new article of food to our poorer classes. Immense quantities are

consumed in England, one firm in London purchasing seventy thousand

bushels per annum. They are very prolific and are ravenous vegetarians.

Oyster merchants use them to keep down the growth of seaweed in their

oyster beds.

For the first time we record the discovery of two species of Melanians

from Massachusetts. Specimens have pigs sent by William P. Alcott o

North Greenwich, Conn., collected by him on the shores of Lanesboro

Pond, Lanesboro, Mass. We identify pues virplcins Say, and Melania

Kay.

UNCTIONS OF THE FARY I-ON o THE Ene. — Oh gg! E. Goltz

of Kónigsberg has been continuing 1

centres of the frog. Afterremoving the cerebrum with as little effusion

of blood as possible, the frog remained on the table in exactly the posi-

tion of a sound animal, and without any indication of the injury “it had

sustained; but, of its own accord, would never change the position once

assumed. If pinched or pressed, it would turn itself round, or remove

itself by a leap from the external pressure, but would then remain equally

unchangeable in its new attitude. It can indeed be induced by external

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 251

means to go through actions which it would not ordinarily perform volun-

tarily, so that to a bystander it would almost appear to have undergone a

n be obtained in this manner. The mutilated frog possesses also the

power of preserving the equilibrium of its body. If placed on a book, to

animal in this respect, that they are performed mechanically, and with the

regularity of a machine. It would also appear, from these experiments,

at the nerve-centres for the voice and for the power of maintainin

equilibrium reside, not in the brain, but in the spinal cord. — Academy.

THE COMPRESSED BuRBOT OR EEL Pour. — In the March (1869) number

of e NATURALIST is à paper with the above title by Wm. Wood, M.D.

r giving the history. locality, number of specimens and their de-

spt he then says: ‘‘ The Lota compressa probably visits the salt

water, asi it is taken in ascending the Connecticut, or its tributaries, in the

spring of the year in company with fish from the salt water ascending to

spawn.”

My first acquaintance with this rare fish was early in the spring of 1859.

A specimen was brought me from West River, about a mile north of our

village, where that stream joins with the Connecticut, and where it was

* hooked up” while angling for other fish. Afterwards in 1864, another

the fact, because I knew t that the specimen of Lesueur, who firs

long. As I had lived many years near these waters, and supposed myself

to be well acquainted with their different denizens, and, moreover, had

never seen won sid before, not even their fry, I was led to inquire

whence the

t first aa to me that they might have come up from the salt

once the entertainment of this idea. Be that as it may, an incident has

recently come to my notice which may shed some light on their early

history, and certainly on one of their species.

252 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

On our farm is a swamp of about three acres, from which issues a

rivulet, getand three feet wide and three to five inches deep. I have

coast. l my attempts to obtain a full view of the fish proved fruitless,

but I judged bythe ripples it made ou the surface of the water, while

passing shallow places that it must be some three or four inches in length.

ently whilst our woodchopper was at work in this swamp, he cut

down a tree which fell into one of these pools, and a fish was thus thrown

out upon the snow. It proved to be a veritable Lota about three and one-

quarter inches long. It resembled Lota compressa in every particular,

ui thatits thickness might have been greater in proportion to its

len

m rivulet empties into Whetstone brook, a stream ordinarily about

two rods wide and two or three feet deep, and has a bed differing little

from that of the Connecticut River. I iive lived by this stream a

n this distance are two obstructions, partly natural and partly artificial,

one thirty feet, the other twenty feet high, so that it can — e supposed

that there is any egress from the river to the rivulet by w

The fishes of the Whetstone are Salmo fontinalis Mit s , Rhinichthys

atronasus Agas., Boleosoma Olmstedii Agas., Semotilus argentev.

argyrus Americanus Putn., and Holomyzon nigricans Agas. ; a e

be formed, whether these swamps are the breeding places of Lota com-

pressa, or whether the specimen mentioned above may not be a new

species. à

The train of thought to which a solution of these questions might give

rise, would naturally lead us to examine into the effects that €— local

or particular causes may have upon the development and for

life. With respect to the size of this specimen, being vint smaller

than those found in the Connecticut, we may say, that all fish of the

dimensions than in the Wissens i the OMM being as striking in the

latter case as in the former. — CHARLES C. Frost, Brattleborough, Vt.

A WnurrE Woopcuuck. —It may "nd you and some of your readers

to know that I have obtained a perfectly white woodchuck, a perfect al-

bino of Arct s monax clin. There is not a dark hair on his

body or tail, and his eyes are of a clear, rich, scias color. Hew

caught on North-west hill in Williamstown, Mass., and brought to me

oug

alive. From the first he fed freely on clover, bermas the clover heads,

_ ` nest he spent most of his time taking nearly the form of a

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 253

and made a nice nest for himself from the part discarded as food; in this

all. He al-

ways exhibited a readiness to bite, and it was not safe to touch him with

the hand. One day I carried him, in his small cage, to my lecture room,

and afterwards put him in my private room and left him alone. When I

Without much trouble I secured him in his box again, and carried him

home and put him in a large cage in my cellar which is well lighted and

ventilated. About midway between the top and bottom of this cage isa

shelf which touches the bars or slats in front, and extends backwards

about half the depth of the cage. This shelf was put in so that the

Lond

ect

of eight or ten inches below the lower edge of the vertical shelf for the

whole width of the cage, and when he was disturbed he often run through

this hole instead of going along on the bottom.

I was interested to see that he used everything he could get to enlarge

gnawing, he squeezed out through the hole, scaled the cellar wall, and

escaped through an open cellar window. A few weeks afterwards he

was killed by a farmer’s dog, and I have sent his skin to Mr. Jillson to be

mounted.

Mr. Hitchcock of this town, informs me that he has seen a living white

woodchuck in New Lebano, N. Y.—S. TENNEY, Williams College.

Rare Brrps mx Nova Scotia. —I observe in the last number of the

NATURALIST a note on the occurrence of the Pomarine Jager (Lestris pom-

arinus), on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, in July last. On the

uary last, the Purple Gallinule (Qallinula martinica, Baird). This is the

first instance on record of its capture in Nova Scotia. — J. MATTHEW

Jowrs, Halifax, N. S.

254 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

GEOLOGY.

GIGANTIC FOSSIL SERPENT FROM NEW JERSEY.— Professor Marsh de-

Scribes in ** American Journal of Arts and Sciences," under the name of

Dinophis grandis, a new and gigantic snake from the Tertiary formation

of New Jersey. He says ‘‘the earliest remains of Ophidia, both in

Europe and this country, have been found in the Eocene, E nearly all

the species from strata older than the Post Pid appear to be more or

less related to T constricting serpents. Remains of this vem are

not uncommon in European rocks, but in this country two species wi

one founded on a single vertebra, have been described hitherto, peo

of these were discovered in the d argen of New Jersey." Me

vertebra described ** would indicate an animal not less than thirty — in

length; probably a sea-serpent allied to ite Boas of the present era.’

In closing, the author states that “the occurrence of closely related

species of large serpents in the same geological formation in Europe and

America. just after the total disappearance in each country of Mosasaurus

and its allies, which show such marked ophidian affinities, is a fact of pe-

have led

gists, familiar with these groups, to confidently diaaa: will rS

at no distant day, reward explorations in the proper geological horizon.”

MICROSCOPY.

MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVES. — À performance of a 4-10 objective made for

me by Mr. William Wales, of this city, is of such a superior character that

I have no doubt it will be of interest to many of your readers. With di-

rect or central light in i Erico cS s to oblique, and with the diatom

mounted not dry, but in balsam, the Pleurosigma angulata is beautifully

resolved ; de three sets of lines being Vitis into view with great dis-

tinctness, and this with the No. 1 or A eye-piece. Amplification 210 di-

ameters. With no equal power of Powell & Leland's of London, of

Hartnack of Paris, of Tolles & Grunow of this country, or of Gundlach

of Vienna, various objectives of each and all of which makers I have

examined, have either, I myself, or other microscopists of my acquain-

tance been able to effect this. Another feat which I had recently the

honor of exhibiting to several members of the “ Bailey ae sed

Club" of this city was a resolution of the podura scale with its "s

central markings with this same 4-10. The resolution ed the stri

uman muscular fibre by a 3-inch objective,*also made by Mr. Winisió

Wales of this city, again challenges our admiration. un J. HIGGINS,

M. D., 23 Beekman Place, New York.

[We referred this note to Mr. E. Bicknell, who kindly sends the follow-

ing reply. — Eps.]

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 255

Messrs. Editors of the American Naturalist :—In answer to your question

` in regard to the.above communication, I would say that while fully con-

h D

f the opinion that he (Dr. Higgins) has either made an error in

his measurement of amplification (210 diameters with the No. 1 or A eye-

pu or that the 4-10th objective is very much — in magnifying

power. All of Mr. Wales’ 4-10th objectives ess Ihave seen have been

as near or nearer 1-4ths than 4-10ths in magnifying power; quin below I

give a table of amplification of such 4-10th objectives as are at hand; also

two 1-4ths for comparison :

MAKER. ANGLE OF AP. EYE-PIECES.

1 2. 8

4-10 J. Zentmayer, " T - " 75° 130 210 400

se I and Tip ee ite AA es 2

« Ww. Wales. dp Y? 110* 175 300 535

1-4 R.B. Tolles * È 4 $ 120° 200 325 615

* Smith and Heck, ME ar es cd 75° 210 340 650

measurements were made with a first-class stand and eye-pieces of

some uniform standard adopted by the different makers of objectives,

so that the 1-4th of one maker may not be as high as the 1-6th of another

maker; or a 4-10th of one be as high as a 1- 4th of another; or, still worse,

a 3-inch objective of one maker of precisely the same power as à 2-inch of

another maker, which was just the case with two objectives which I had

about one year since. If the objectives did not differ any more than the

first three in the above table it would be an improvement. The amplifi-

cation which Dr. Higgins gives to his 4-10ths is as fig as the highest

1-4th in the above table. — EDwIN BICKNELL, Salem.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

HE Bone Caves or GIBRALTER. — The four Genista Caves, Martin's

Cave, St. Michael's Cave and some others, have yielded evidences of early

man, in the form of osseous remains, associated with flint vantages s dn

stone axes, polished and chipped; worked bones, servin

h , needles and gouges; anklets or armlets of dii sates

potte eden rubbing-stones and charcoal With these were found

mains of numerous animals,* including Rhinoceros etruscus, Rh. lep-

torhinus i (extinct); Equus, Sus priscus (extinct); me scrofa, Cervus ela-

Those marked thus §, are abundant; and d thus 88$, very abundant. Asingle molar of

Bopha antiquus was obtal ined m many years since by the late Mr. James Smith, of Jordan Hill,

hed) at Europa Point, tl I extremity ot the roc

250 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

phus, var. barbarus $, Cervus dama §, Bos (a large form), and Bos taurus

nnea, Canis vulpes, Ursus sp.; also remains of the common dolphin,

numerous genera and species of birds, a species of tortoise and numerous

remains of fishes, of which the tunny is most prominent.

The remains are imbedded in red cave-earth and also in a black layer

similar to that noticed in the caves of France and elsewhere. In many

with them the remains of the various animals which at an earlier period

a the thickly-wooded heights, now ently oo of trees and

only covered at places by the little Chamarops hum

Many human and animal ires attributable » ae rn periods, have

been also met with; but the older human remains are distinguished b

aie aie in the thigh on io tus closely resemble those met with in

the Cro-Magnon Cave. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

W. H. S., Hummelstown, Pa. — The “Canadian Naturalist” is qom tg monthly at

Quebec, 4: year gold. ie M. PAbbé Provancher, Quebec, Can

uL |J. S., St. Augustine, Fla. No. 1, Pinquicula lutea ; 2, N othing c cran ped this num-

die tant ministrum ? 4, Lupinus diffusus; 5, icula mila. See

Chapman’s Southern Flora. For naming, fair specimens LULA be sent, — not miser-

able and bis roe M "bits

KE. Es — Specimens of various species of sea-anemones with two mouths,

each Surthanded, byi ee TAY of eee bare often Peon observed and perdas in in

Euro Ih eral insta: eda Be kind in o rel eia a.

tum. T is, pr hata E dw regarded a "bee rmal bdeifiton, and a i many

cases to have been caused by so ege amg which has been ponen. rim Tu diska

instead of one. pt daar geoeges division occurs normally, howev n alhe €

mals, and a disk-shaped sea-anen ig is fo medi "4 rv Fest: Tediok ni DM hn

m Ricordea €—— Duch. and Mich.). — A. E. V

resonon); dt p? E Ha oor Sex Say a Con iobasis Pinta ae (Meta >. pec

ay (Melan u

fart E 2,13, May, argaritana iat van 1 $5 e^ natus Sol. ; 15, dudas eh ntula

Say: 16 eee ene mate rper. d ais

—MÓ— -

BOOKS Viso dant

Rer ag fotos nnd "archi a apn g, Ak a

Scientific Opinion. DEM

The rm ts London. Ni P 8. “Stay.

Science G. pom E don. d May.

American En omologist ES antes. St. Louis. Vol. 2, No. 6. April, 1870.

2c erai e ogists Monthly Magazine. London (monthly). From mber, 1868, to March,

oni Lennon: April 9, 16, 23,

‘ma on the Pig; Breeding, Rearing, Joseph Harris.

Ilustra! 12mo, cl. cloth. Sane Judd & € oe New Y« York. i $1.50. T -

ketones sof Creation; a lar View rd Some y e Grand Conclusions of the Sciences in ref-

the History of M. a ee vn aee xander Winchell, Pe „etc. With illus-

a 12mo, cloth, pp. 460, thers. New Yor

Uu X A

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — JULY, 1870. — No. 5.

cc GI (t9 eoo»

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

BY REV. S. LOCKWOOD, PH. D.

— ÀÁ9——

Ir is proposed to give some results of a summer's study

on the ineubation of the eggs of the Horse Foot Crab, and

to connect those results with observations made in an ac-

quaintance of several years with the animal in its native

haunts, in the hope of thereby furnishing something towards

a life-history of the species." .

Among systematists this crustacean is known as Limulus

Polyphemus. It bears also the popular names Horse Foot

Crab, Horseshoe, and King Crab. In this article these

names will be used as convenience may suggest.

The King Crab delights in moderately deep water, say

from two to six fathoms. Except in the case of the very

young, which are probably carried thither by the tidal flow ;

*In October, 1869, the writer read a paper before the Zoological section of the New

York Lyceum of Natural History, under the title “ A Contribution to the Natural His-

tory of the King Crab," which contained the notes taken during su investi-

. gation alluded to above. The article now appearing in the AMERICAN NATURALIST is

taken mainly from that paper. — S. L.

" by the Pz A or BCIBNCE, he Clerk's Office of the District

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 33 (257)

258 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

it never seeks the shallow waters, unless for the purpose of

reproduction. It is emphatically a burrowing animal—living

literally in the mud, into which it scoops or gouges its way

with great facility. The anterior edge of its enormous

cephalic shield is not unlike in form the sausage, or mince-

meat knife of our kitchens (Pl. 3, Fig. 12). The upper

shell of the animal is composed of three parts—the forward

shield, which is greatly the larger, the posterior shield, and

the long bayonet-shaped spine, or tail. In the burrowing

operation the forward edge of the anterior shield is pressed

downward, and shoved forward, the two shields being in-

flected, and the sharp point of the tail presenting the ful-

crum as it pierces the mud, while underneath the feet are

incessantly active, scratching up and pushing out the earth

on both sides. There is a singular economy of force in this

excavating action, for the alternate doubling up or inflecting,

and straightening out of the two carapaces, with the pushing

purchase exerted by the tail, accomplish both digging and

subterranean progression. Hence the King Crab is worthy

to be called the Marine Mole.

The Limulus is carnivorous. Its food is the soft nereids,

or sea worms ; so that not only in its mode of burrowing for

concealment, but also in its method of procuring food does

it resemble that little burrowing mammal of the land. It is

sometimes found held in a strange durance, with a limb en-

trapped between the valves of the quahog, or round clam,

( Venus mercenaria). It is a pitiful sight to behold—a galley

slave with limb confined to ball and chain— "as far from

help as limbo is from bliss." The explanation is easy. The

quahog too is a burrower, and Limulus has seized the pro-

jecting syphon of the molluse, which being suddenly with-

drawn, the less agile claw is jerked between the valves, and

the same are closed. This, of course, would effectually

entrap the limb. But here occurs just this strange fact, that

a lobster or a crab would not long be held in such durance,

but would give their custodian leg-bail; that is, would cast

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 259

off, and desert the imprisoned limb, and in due time would

reproduce the lost member.

The position of the mouth, and the masticating process

are so peeuliar, that a description should not be omitted.

The King Crab has six pairs of feet; although by some,

those constituting the extreme anterior pair are called anten-

ns, being greatly shorter than the others. The four pairs

between this first pair, and the last pair, have a functional

structure differing from the anterior and posterior pairs. Of

these four pairs, the basal joint, or haunch, of each limb is

flattened and smooth on each side, as though they were a

series of plates intended to work upon each other, as the

keys of an organ under the fingers of the musician. The

external edge of each is rounded, and beveled like the edge

of a carpenter’s chisel. Thus these flattened haunches lie

against each other, their rounded edges directed backward

at a considerable angle. The beveled edges (which are the

exposed parts) of these projections are covered with very

sharp incurved spines, overhanging and pointing into the

oral aperture; for it is between these four pairs of spine-

clad haunches that the creature’s mouth is situated. Each

of these basal spines is articulated, and is set in the crater,

or cup, of alittle teat-like prominence. These then, are the

true jaws of the animal’s mouth; and as there are four pairs

of these manducatory joints, the creature’s mouth is set in a

line between eight jaws. These spiny teeth have, by their

articulation, an amount of mobility in their little pits, which

is eminently serviceable and preservative. Of these chew-

ing teeth, though the number is variable, an individual can

scarcely have less than one hundred and fifty.

Wishing to see what their food might be, and how they eat

it, I placed a specimen, hatched the preceding summer, in a

small aquarium, and supplied it with plenty of fresh and

tender sea lettuce (Ulva latissima). But this sea salad re-

mained untouched, although the young Limulus had no other

fare for three weeks. In fact, famishment had rendered it

260 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

literally diaphanous. I then tried animal food. Having

opened a live quahog I routed the little fellow from his hi-

ding place in the sand, and gave it a morsel of the clam. It

was ravenous, and fed only as a really hungry being could.

Though using the round clam principally, I gave it other

food at different times. Any molluse was acceptable, if

only sufficiently tender. It even ate beef; but not with the

relish of the mollusea. This I observed, that being well fed

it never would eat carrion; although what it would do if

impelled by hunger I cannot say.

As yet I had not seen the eating. This was also hidden

by the carapace. I was now very anxious to witness the

feeding process. The first step was to put the animal on a

long fast, and thus to secure a good appetite. This done, a

bit of clam was dropped before the hungry crab, which was

instantly drawn under with its claws, when I immediately

turned it over, holding it with the abdomen against the glass

side of the tank. It was kept in that position for full five

minutes, the eating process being easily witnessed, and the

manducation quite satisfactorily observed. The performance

is certainly a very curious one. The animal being in its

natural position, the food is held immediately under the

mouth by the claws, or nippers, of the posterior pair of jaw-

less feet, aided, if necessary, by some of the others. The

basal joints, or manducatory haunches, then begin an alter-

nating motion of these members upon the food, by drawing

one of the spiny or rasp-like joints against the opposite one

of the same pair, the food of course being between the two.

This chewing by means of these opposing rasps, reminded

me of the hand-carding process, in which the card held by

the right hand is brought towards and against the one held

in the left hand, the wool being between; when the right

hand card is held still, and the left hand duplicates the mo-

tion, and so on. The fine particles rasped off by the

ineurved teeth pass into the mouth. It will be readily seen

that food so finely chewed before it passes into the digestive

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 261

apparatus would afford but a poor chance to the investigator

who sought its nature by use of the knife. Of the large

number that I have opened of adult specimens, I never found

anything to tell me on what they fed; and not until by

aetual experiment, above described, did I know whether

Limulus was vegetarian or carnivorous.

The exuviation of the King Crab is performed several

times during the first year, and at very short intervals.

How many I do not know, as that must vary according to

the time of hatching. But I think the young produced in

the latter part of June will accomplish five or six moults be-

fore the cold weather comes. Even in the case of the adult

— exceptional as it is among the crustacea — I think it prob-

able that the shell is cast more than once in the year. The

professional oysterman having taken up his best crop with

the tongs, secures the gleaning with heavy iron dredges ; and

when using this instrument will take up an occasional Horse

Foot, even in the winter season. In the unusually fine

weather of an open February several years ago, in Rariton

Bay, an adult female was in this manner taken out of the

mud by the deep sinking dredge, when lo, the animal had

but recently “shed,” and its shell was still quite soft.

Sometimes the shedding can be witnessed under very un-

usual circumstances. A large female taken in August, al-

though kept for many days in the open air, yet moulted in

captivity. The operation was a very trying one, and re-

quired three or four days, as the animal got very dry. A

little water was occasionally thrown on it for pity’s sake;

and even this was not marine water. Of course moulting -

under such extraordinary circumstances was a very dif-

ficult, and probably painful operation; the wonder was that

it could be done at all. With natural surroundings a few

minutes generally suffice for the task. A thin narrow rim

runs round the under side of the anterior portion of the

cephalic shield. This is in fact the widest part of the ani-

mal. Just before the time for exuviating a separation occurs

262 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

between this rim, and the perimeter of the anterior shield.

To the unaided eye this rent is altogether imperceptible, but

opens on the exertions of the animal; and at this opening it

emerges from the old shell. Now as the opening is at the

front, and in the place of the greatest width, and moreover

as the shell is sub-coriaceous, and somewhat yielding, and

at this particular place is very thin, it may be seen how great

advantage the animal has in this matter over the higher crus-

taceans whose moult, from necessity, takes place from behind,

and whose shell is composed of a more unyielding material.

Iu the exuviation of Limulus I fancy a close likeness to that

of the insects when leaving the pupa. The King Crab

emerges at the forward, but under side of the cephalic cov-

ering ; the beetle at the forward, but dorsal side of the same.

It is plain that Limulus has an easier time in getting off his

old coat than his “more respectable relations" have. To see

the King Crab, as it were, coming out of himself, is a sight

so odd as to draw from those beholding it the exclamation

“it is spewing itself out of its mouth.”

When the animal, specially noticed above, had come out

of its old shell it was nine and a half inches in the shorter

diameter of the cephalic shield ; while the vacated shell was

but eight inches by the same measurement. If they moult

more than once in the year this would make their growth

quite rapid; and if they do not, it seems to me that they

must attain an age of not less than eight years before reach-

ing the size that indicates adult life. But we must speak of

this farther on. I have observed that every spring, that is,

so soon as the water has lost its winter temperature, large

numbers of the young of the previous summer are found in

the shallows. These range from dn inch to two and a half

inches in the shorter diameter. As the ereature when begin-

ning life for itself, is but a scant quarter of an inch in diam-

eter, this would imply rapid growth, and I think that the

larger of the above have probably lived through two winters.

There are reasons for believing that the spawn is deposited

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 263

by the same individual more than once in the same season.

I have heard this asserted with confidence by some fishermen.

But as they could advance no proof no attention was given

it until the following fact occurred. Let me first state that

it is a eustom prevailing wherever the Horse Foot Crab

abounds, to catch it to feed poultry, under the belief that it

makes them lay, as it surely does fatten both them and hogs,

but imparts a shocking flavor to the flesh of both. The fe-

male is always preferred on account of its eggs, of which it

has not less than half a pint, crowded within the cephalic

shield. These are obtained by inserting the point of a knife

into the forward, and under edge of the shield, and running

the knife round through the thin rim, already described,

when the entire lower part can be torn from the upper part

of the shield, thus exposing the eggs, which are like mustard

seed, but of an ashy green hue. Now a female that I knew

to have spawned in May was in this manner opened in July,

and was then to my surprise full of eggs, well formed, and

with every appearance of maturity.

The Horse Foot Crab spawns at or near the new and full

moon, in the months of May, June and July. By this,

however, is only meant that they embrace the time of the

extra high tides, which depend so greatly on the lunar influ-

ence. But mark the nice calcuiation herein displayed.

They come up at a great high tide, advancing on the bottom,

until they reach a suitable spot near to, but within the ex-

treme line of this great tide. Three definite advantages are

in this way secured. First, the spawning is performed under

water, or without undue exposure ; second, the line of the

average high tide is thus selected ; and third, a short ex-

posure to the daily low tides is thus secured, by which the

proper exposure of the spawning spot to the development-

accelerating heat of the direct rays of the sun is obtained.

A visit of the adult Limulus to the shore line, except at

the spawning season, is a very rare event. At this season |

they come up in great numbers in pairs ; and it may be said

264 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

with no figure of speech, in true nuptial bands, —the male

riding on the shield of the female, and retaining himself

firmly in this position by holding to the sides of the poste-

rior carapace, with the two stout and short nipper feet, which

are exclusively possessed by the males, which with the size

of the animal, so much smaller than the female, serve to dis-

tinguish the sex at a glance. . The female excavates a de-

pression in the sand, drops her spawn into it, upon which

the male emits the fecundating fluid, and the nest is at once

deserted, the parents returning seaward, with the retreating

tide. Occasionally, a pair less alert than the rest, is left by

the tide, which, however, they will overtake, if unmolested.

By the action of the water the eggs are immediately covered

up with sand; though if the wind be unpropitious, large

numbers are often washed up, and east in windrows on the

beach, and soon devoured by the many hungry beings, of

bird, fish, and mollusc kind that always abound.

Our Limulus is a true monogamist. But it is likely that a

new mate is accepted each spawning time. Occasionally a

female comes to shore with even three suitors attached, two

of them vainly endeavoring to unseat the accepted one. The

above has led to the belief among fishermen of a dispropor-

tion of the sexes. I think that this point cannot in that way

be inferred.

Though formerly the Horse Foot Crab was very plentiful

in Rariton Bay it has become rather scarce. Accordingly

they have to be watched for now. Not having the time to

spare I engaged a fisherman to keep a lookout in the month

of May, 1869, for an actual spawning. He was instructed

to see the pair come up and spawn, and to capture them at

once on their attempt to return with the tide; he was also

told to scoop up with a tin vessel the whole spawn-mass,

sand and all, and not to touch the eggs with his hands. I

believe the man faithfully obeyed instructions. Thus the

spawn and the parents were brought to me uninjured. My

preparations had been carefully made. Hatching jars had

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 265

been set for a number of days, and the water was in a fine

state of oxygenation. One difficulty I had to submit to, of

a serious character. I could only subject the water to the

reflected light of the sun. The direct light would in the

summer season prove too warm, and spoil my water. The

result, as will appear, was that the hatching was accom-

plished very slowly, a fact which with another should be

borne in mind while reading the following, namely, the ab-

sence of those conditions of agitation, variation of water

depth, and sometimes complete exposure to air and sunlight,

consequent on the tidal flow.

. May 26, 1869.—To-day my Limulus eggs were set for

hatching. Yesterday was full moon. The eggs were of a

greenish white, dull, and rather dirty looking. . My notes

record no measurement, which I now regret. As incubation

progressed the external shell became rapidly darker, and

more coriaceous. But for this last fact I had becóme afraid

that they were in process of decay. Several ineffectual ef-

forts were made to get at the internal changes, but owing to

imperfect instruments I gave up in despair, and determined

to watch and wait for more advanced developments. There

is considerable vitality in the King Crab's eggs. It will bear

a good deal of retardation, and yet come out at last. It

will be understood that necessarily my arrangements had a

good deal of retarding effect. At the real amount I was

quite surprised. Those on the surface progressed most

rapidly.

July 18th.—Thirty-four days after spawning. The opaque

chorion has cracked (Pl. 3, Fig. 1) disclosing the white pel-

lucid spherieal membrane within. Now a sight met me

which gladdened my eyes. It was a living trilobite form.

But of course very diminutive. Yet it could be seen with

the unaided eye, and quite satisfactorily with a common lens.

It is shown greatly magnified (Pl. 3, Fig. 2) in outline.

Here the elongate character of the abdominal posterior is

noticeable; also the excessive relative width of the thorax.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 34

266 ` THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

The figure shows only the upper side, but it has the feet quite

advanced, and the two great eyes have well begun. In two

or three days it was considerably changed (PI. 3, Fig. 3).

Though not so much, still the cephalo-thorax was relatively

greatly in excess of the abdominal shield. The limbs, though

not shown in the eut, were quite long, reaching beyond the

edges of the carapace. The two sessile eyes were now

prominent, but the central oculiform tubercles, as they have

been called, but which I prefer to call ocelli, were wanting ;

for in their place, that is, the central anterior of the cephalic

shield, was still a depression, or cleft, yet to be filled up in

the progress of development. To me it seems that so far

the development was markedly asaphoidal; that is, it re-

minds me of Asaphus, using that term as the typical genus

of the Trilobites. Before passing, it should be observed

that the embryo had its two segments inflected ; and with

short intervals of rest (not many minutes at a time) kept

up a very active revolving within its pellucid prison; the

effect of this friction on the walls of the hollow sphere would

be to bisect it. As the embryo revolves it lies upon its back.

August 3d.—Seventy days from the spawning. To-day

an embryo has left the ovum. It measures two and a half

lines in length and two lines in width. Except for a little

space in front the cephalic shield is armed on its perimeter

by a series of briar-like spines, in two rows of about twenty-

five each, the spines alternating with some regularity as to

size. The curved rim of the pygidium, or caudal shield, is

also fringed, but with setaceous tufts, each tuft being made

up of hairs of different lengths. This new-born creature is

in outline almost circular. The cleft in front of the cephalic

shield has disappeared. The sessile eyes are now promi-

nent, and are well up on the shield, the two ocelli are quite :

distinctly marked. But as yet there is nothing of the artic-

ulated tail that marks the parent Limulus, or its congener

Eurypterus.

Such was the form (Pl. 3, Fig. 4) of the little bins be-

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 261

fore me. Was it not a veritable trilobite? It at once began

to shift for itself, making a persistent effort to burrow like its

parent. By consulting the figure it will be seen that besides

its tail-less aspect every feature is that of a trilobite. The

abdominal, or caudal, carapace is relatively much wider than

in the adult Limulus. The segmentary lines afford a very

distinct trilobed character to both shields. The spiny and se-

taceous fringe finds its counterpart in many of the trilobites.

The pointed tendency of the keel on the caudal shield seems

to me to look towards Pterygotus. But if we take into view

the presence of the ocelli already, and the high-up position

of the large sessile eyes, we have Eurypterus shadowed

forth. Let the reader examine Pl. 3, figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,

which give an outline of the telson-plate, or terminal tail-

joint of as many separate species of the fossil crustacean ,

Pterygotus. Fig. 5 is P. Banksii, in which the telson is

marked by a cleft. Fig. 6 is P. bilobus, showing the cleft

less marked, and the presence of a median ridge or keel.

Fig. 7 is P. gigas, in which the keel is more developed,

showing a higher relief, and a greater prolongation, and the

disappearance of the cleft. Fig. 8 is P. Ludensis. Here

the keel is still more acuminated, and the plate itself is

mucronated. Fig. 9 is P. bilobus, its size being very much

reduced. Fig. 10 is P. acuminatus. Here the keel has

attained an extreme length, and great relief, and is with the

plate carried to a slender point. And this prolongation of

the telson plate into a terminal spine, is, I think, in respect

of posterior development, the highest effort of the Pterygotus.

I also think that this is shadowed forth in the embryology of

Limulus. But it should be noticed that there is not so far, in

all this spinal tendency, anything in the direction of an articu-

lated spine. That is, there is nothing xiphosuroid, or sword-

tailed in all this, as in Limulus, and the fossil crustacean

Eurypterus, which have an articulated bayonet-shaped ap-

pendage. Now Pterygotus has two sessile eyes, and only

two, and these are placed low down on the very edges of the

268 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

forward shield. But Limulus and Eurypterus have both

two large sessile Ap set high up on the shield, and two

ocelli set forwar

The want of an L'iitiodlatéd tail was soon apparent in the

case of our little Limulus. ‘The slightest obstacle turns it

on its back, when, not having this organ, which the adult

uses so effectively in such emergency, the little thing begins

a vigorous flapping of the branchial plates. This causes it

to rise in the water; then by ceasing the agitation it at once

descends, with a chance of alighting right side up. Should

it miss the ascent would be repeated until its desire was

accomplished.

August 15th.—Eighty-two days from the spawning. A

great many had hatched, and many had perished for want

_ of care. I had almost given exclusive attention to the one

described above. It had its second moult to-day. A few

minutes sufficed for it to withdraw itself from its baby suit.

I noticed that it stopped a little while, as if to rest, having

the caudal appendage only half withdrawn from the old

shell (Pl. 3, Fig. 11). At last out it came, a person of dis-

tinction possessing the articulated rapier. It is a true Limu-

lus now, and fully entitled to carry for life, the sword of

honor, which has ever been the family mark of rank. The

animal is now quite a fourth of an inch in width, and its tail

is the one-twentieth of an inch in length. Where did it keep

it while in the old dress? It must have been bent under and

upon the abdomen. I have noticed them since at this

moult, with the tail considerably incurved, and which re-

quired some hours to straighten out. Dorsally the little

thing has now nearly the complete appearance of the adult

Limulus. The setaceous fringe of the abdominal carapace

had disappeared, and had left an, armature of teat-like or

half-developed spines; and the spiny fringe of the cephalic

shield was quite gone. The posterior projections of this

shield are now sharp. The tail is distinctly articulated, but

somewhat stumpy. A section of the adult tail would be al-

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 269

most triangular, the lower side being slightly rounded, the

upper sharply edged, while a section of the tail of this young

specimen would be almost ovoidal. The tail of the young

is also more distinctly marked with lines of segmentation

than is that of the adult. As it travelled on the mud before

this moult, it made tiny rows of toe-tracks, leaving a plain

unmarked space between the rows. Now it moves with tail

depressed, and makes a medial line dividing the toe-tracks

into two series.

Alas, at this point, when I had become intensely interested,

a serious illness, against which I had offered a dogged de-

termination to keep at work, peremptorily settled the matter

by taking from me the use of my eyes.

It will be noticed thus far that the observations here re-

corded, are almost entirely morphological, and not physi-

ologieal. Professor E. D. Cope has given us a lucid phrase,

"expression point." He says of development, "while the

change is really progressing, the external features remain

unchanged at other than those points, which may be called

expression points.” It seems to me that “expression points"

of generic significance have been pointed out four times in

these reniarks. Twice in the ovum I thought there was an

"expression point" of a trilobed genus; and in the larval

stage, I thought Pterygotus and Eurypterus were shadowed

forth

And in the metamorphoses of the larval state there are

remarkable changes with reference to functional necessities.

Already mention has been made of the moult at which the

animal receives its articulated tail. Now in the life of Lim-

ulus this tail is as indispensable as is the Alpine stock to the

Swiss mountaineer. It is constantly liable by the least agi-

tation, or obstruction, to be turned on its back, when but

for its tail it would be as helpless as a tortoise in the same

position. It is then that it deflects the tail, and inserts this

sharp spine into the mud or sand, and after a few perse-

vering efforts succeeds in turning itself over. So feeble are

210 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

its limbs that exposure of the under side to the attacks of

fishes would soon end its career. In short it must keep its

carapace "right side up with care," if it would care to live.

I must now mention another functional metamorphosis

which seems to me of a very remarkable character. So

great is the difference in form between the anterior feet of

the female, and the same feet in the male, that the very

children on the shore lines at once in this way distinguish

the sexes. In the female this limb is long, slender, and

weak ; in the male short, stout and ventricose. Intended for

strong holding, their nip is like that of a vice. Their use is

to hold on to the carapace of the female, so that the male

may retain his position as the pair come up in the breeding

season. And so strong his hold that no violence of storm,

or attack of rival suitors, can displace him. Well does the

fisherman know this, as he stands in the water ready to spear

the female as she comes up in nuptial embrace. He is only

concerned to catch the female, for it would need some force

to separate the two. Now functionally, this stout foot, "or

hand," as the fishermen call it, has no use in early life. The

Horse Foot Crab has its period of puberty ; this is its adult

stage. But judging from the size of the males when they

couple, which is pretty uniform, and their actual rate of

growth, I think that the puberty of Limulus cannot come

before the third or fourth year. And it would not surprise

me if the latter figure should prove the minimum age.

However this is the point— it is not until that age of pu-

berty is reached that the male undergoes its last metamor-

phosis. It then has a moult, from which it emerges, having

received its large claws, or literally, its nuptial hands.

What change there may be on the emotional side wlio can

tell, when master Limulus assumes the toga virilis and is old

enough to "propose." This may be asserted of these very

decorous and monogamous people, that among them prema-

ture marriages are unknown, for however soon the lady may

be ready to give her heart, not until maturity of age can the

gentleman possibly extend to her his hand.

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 211

The above fact was obtained by evidence purely negative,

yet not the less convincing. First, there was the suspicion of

the fact, then the search for a young male possessing nuptial

claws. But albeit the numerical equality of the sexes this

was not found, though large numbers of young specimens of

different ages were examined. Moreover, I have not found

the fisherman who has ever seen one.

Although some of the systematists make of Limulus a

distinct order, as Xiphosura, or sword-tailed ; yet I cannot

but think that in nature the Trilobites are included, making

of all one grand order. It would thus have not only a real

systematic meaning, but a profound chronologic significance.

However this may be in the light of coming knowledge, I

think Pterygotus and Eurypterus stand higher than the typi-

cal Trilobite proper, and that Limulus leads rank over all.

Figure 68 shows Limulus after the first moult (very

much enlarged), when not more than a week old. The

fringe of the buckler is now less thickly Fig. 68

set, the cardinal spines only being con-

served, and these not so stout. The

posterior shield shows the permanent

spines. Still the contour is asaphoidal

while the median ridge of the abdom-

inal carapace, terminating in the point

of the mucronated shield, is suggestive

of the dorsal keel in Pterygotus gigas e

and P. anglicus. At this stage, as the Limulue after the rst mouit.

facts seem to me, the larval Limulus shows forth more than

one generie "expression point" in the career of the trilobite

as a "comprehensive type."

It should be stated here that thé exuvia represented by

fig. 68 was accidentally discovered on the surface of the mud,

at the bottom of an hatching jar, used in these observations

last summer. At the close of the warm season last year

my jars must have contained not less than two hundred

young Limuli. We have already said that so soon as

1273 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB.

hatched the young burrow like the adult; hence the rare-

ness of an opportunity to witness the casting of the skin.

Hoping to continue observations upon the dii of my in-

teresting family the ensuing year the jars were carefully put

away. Little regard, however, was paid to temperature,

which, on several occasions, went down to the freezing point.

On the 3d of May, 1870, I emptied the jars to see how my

charge was getting on, when lo, not one of the last year's

hatching was alive! but wonderful to say at least a dozen

little fellows, all hatched this spring, and all alive, had taken

their place. With these were also at least thirty eggs, in

different, but all in advanced, stages of incubation. In some

of them the young could be plainly seen revolving. The

fact was these eggs had been at the bottom of the hatching

jar, and had never had any contact with the sunlight. At

once, not without some misgiving as to the result, the

proper provision was made to complete the incubation,

namely, new sea-water, clean sand, the eggs put on top, and

all set in a favorable place. With an eedinary hand lens

the progress of incubation could be observed daily. At

half-past four o’clock on the afternoon of May 11th, before

. my eyes, a new-born baby Limulus left the egg. Just think

of it—these eggs are within two weeks only of being a year

old! And then how remarkable are these facts also—those

eggs were partly incubated last summer. Hence there has

been not only a remarkable retardation of development, but

also an actual arrest of the same for seven or eight months

without sacrificing life. Query: is there any connection

here with that indomitable persistence of being, which in

the Divine will has carried this comprehensive type through

the many Eons of existence, wherein has been unrolled so

slowly the life plan of the Entomostraca, from that initial

Trilobite of the Pre-siluria to our Limulus of these latter

days?

It has been hinted already in this article that at different

stages of its life the larval Limulus made a different impress

> poiana.

o SM

American Naturalist. Vok IV, Pl. 3,

LOCKWOOD ON THE HORSE-FOOT CRAB.

THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 273

when it walked. While tailless there were simply two par-

allel sets or rows of toe-tracks, but when tailed those

parallel rows were separated by a median line, showing the

caudal trail. Is there not here a caution for the interpreters

of the “Protichnites” seeing that the same species, at diverse

ages, may make widely different tracks?

Not more than three or four exuvie were found entire in

the mud of the hatching jars. In all the rest the buckler

and the pygidium were separate. Now it is not the case

that the Horse Foot shells, in the long wind-rows on the

shore-line, are entire. The entire ones are decidedly excep-

tional. Before certain tides the young are helpless; but the

adult never comes shoreward except to spawn. Hence their

exuvie are brought up by the wash and the under-tow of

storms, thus effecting the separation of the two parts. Is

there not here an explanation of the great abundance of the-

pygidia, or caudal shields, of the Asaphus Iowensis in the

Iowa limestone rocks? I do not regard them as the debris

of dead trilobites but as their cast-off shells. They are the

tidal windrows of that ancient sea. The articulation of the

two carapaces was no doubt feeble; and the specific gravity

of the pygidium less than that of the buckler. In this case

the debris would be sorted into different depths of water.

The bucklers would be less crowded, because in greater

depths where the tidal action was less; while the lighter

pygidia would, by the same law, form the drift of the shore-

lines.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3.

Fig. 1. Egg of Limulus just cracked by incubation, showing the pellucid

sphere. f

Embryo in the egg, much enlarged.

Same two days older, much enlarged.

Young Limulus just out of the egg, enlarged nine diameters.

Terminal tail joint of Pterygotus Banksii.

Terminal tail joint of Pterygotus bilobus.

Terminal tail joint of Pterygotus gigas.

Terminal tail joint of Pterygotus ludensis.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

BON NONO

SAPS wh

274 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Fig. 9. Pterygotus bilobus.

Fig. 10. Terminal tail joint of Prerygotus acuminatus.

Fig. 11. The smaller one is Limulus just hatched, natural size, mere out-

line; the larger is the same undergoing the first moult, and leaving

the old shell, and having a tail.

Fig. 12. Limulus Polyphemus, one year old. The markings on the pos-

terior carapace become less distinct with adult age. The adult female

will attain a size even exceeding twelve inches across the cephalic

hield.

Fig. 13. Eurypterus remipes ; size very much reduced.

Fig. 14. Sao hirsutus, a trilobite.

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

BY JOHN L. RUSSELL.

Tue vegetable productions of the ocean, like those of the

drier portions of the earth, are subject to'a similar order of

distribution. The most common collector of plants becomes

soon aware that there are kinds which are not to be looked

for in ordinary places, and soon learns to set a value on those

which rarely occur to him. He also desires to extend. the

area of his observations so as to embrace different latitudes,

orío obtain the same results by ascending lofty mountain

heights. So the collector of sea-weeds does not confine

himself to particular districts, but endeavors, either by per-

sonal inspection or else through the labor and courtesy of

others, to ascertain what forms, seemingly familiar or entirely

diverse, may grow abroad. The deeper soundings of the

ocean-beds, like the higher elevations of the land, afford him

a greater variety, affected by different causes, which in their

natural course produce different results. —

The general plan of vegetable life, especially in the lower

plants, seems to point to constant modification of some one

typical form, and this modification appears to have its origin

in climatic influences. It becomes a most fascinating study

to endeavor to join the separate and divided links so as to

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 275

possess, in a series of specimens, the probable method of

development which nature has thus instituted. Let me en-

'deavor to adapt this idea to the thoughts of this present

essay, and arrange to some extent the sea-weeds (Alga)

of our own and of foreign or distant coasts together. Let

us see in what kinds there are corresponding ones ; and when

we select some choice specimen from the beach-drift, or

pluck it from the rocks, endeavor to tell on what distant

strand it is obedient to the pulsing waves, or perchance at-

tracts other eyes.

The coast of New England presents as great a diversity

in outline and in character as perhaps can be found in the

same length of the Atlantic shore. We have here the deep

inlets like Norwegian fiords in Maine; the bold rocky prom-

ontories of Massachusetts varied with the almost level and

smooth sands of the South. The noblest in size, as well as

most beautiful in color and features, are the algæ which are

to be met with throughout this wide range. The would-be

successful collector must resort to the dredging apparatus,

and like the shell collector needs a strong arm and abundance

of patient toil to serve him; else he must wait some vio-

lent storm, which shall break from their deeper moorings

those more valuable weeds which only can grow perfectly

and develop themselves entirely far below the surface,

where the sun’s rays but feebly penetrate and the water is of

a nearly uniform temperature. Some wonderful waifs are

occasionally met with in this way by visiting the beaches and

picking over the waste with scrupulous care. In the

warmer waters of the Southern States, like those on the

Florida Keys, there may be sought singular kinds resembling

corals, for whieh they were formerly mistaken by Lamour-

oux, some of exquisite beauty in design and shape. Some

of these are found growing from the base of a Gorgonia or

sea-fan, and secreting from the ocean their covering of lime.

And others of richest green ereep over the sand beneath the

water, and throw up a turf as verdant as that which clothes

216 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

the most luxuriant pastures. This field of botanical enquiry

is yet open, and many a desirable harvest can be reaped, from

season to season, out of the treasures of the deep, and the

yet undiscovered or little known species of New England

attract the deserved attention of the casual visitor or of the

sedulous student.

Let then the season be summer, the warm days of June,

when many people as naturally resort to ‘the seaside as if

the custom were instinctive and migratory. To some the

scenery is the same and familiar, and the cool air is the

main thing to be realized ; to others, though familiar yet ever

new, and to others every object, however minute, is novel.

The very rocks and cliffs are different in looks, composition

and general features ; the sand composed of curious minerals,

tiny shells and comminuted fragments; the wild flowers

wierd and unusual; the thick leaved and prickly seeded

plants thriving within the spray’s reach ; the beach cumbered

with productions of the sea— mineral, animal, vegetable —

thrown in wild confusion. Who, for the first time, is not

moved with wonder at these sea-weeds? Who would not wish

to become better acquainted? And no wonder so many are

gathered, floated out into shape, dried, pressed and carefully

laid away, silent witnesses that beauty and utility are often

combined where little dreamed of. The interest increases

with each coming season; the practised eye soon learns to

discriminate; the cultivated taste finds the most propitious

time of the year for collecting, and such trifles, employed at

first to while away an hour or two, are often found indis-

pensable and auxiliary to the very enjoyment of life.

. Suppose we start on a walk for some gravelly beach con-

tiguous to some town or city, and removed from it by the

interventions of wild pastures, rocky and almost desolate,

or by some level, wide extended marsh. At any season of

the year, when walking is practicable, the botanist who ac-

companies you, can point out abundant objects of interest

long before you come within sea range. The intervening

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 211

space proves not so dreary or desolate as it appears, for

often our most interesting and best friends have the rudest

exterior. Perhaps he knows something about the lichens,

those dull green, grayish, yellow, bright orange, black

crusts, scales, fringes, torn, ragged felts ; or perchance those

dry, crisp, brittle, crimson tipped, blunt tipped, sharp

pointed, branching anomalies which cover many an acre of

sterility where nothing else grows, and where the surfaces

of rocks and the rough bark of trees cannot offer them any

chance. He will be able to introduce you through these

desiccated and seemingly lifeless plants, the lineal descendants

of the first forms of vegetation which appeared on the dry

- and solid earth, to the wonderful and more grotesque, more

developed, sometimes enormous sea-weeds which, at the birth

of Creation, sprung into activity as plants in the "waters

which covered the face of the deep." Nay, you need not heed

these unless you choose, although within every one of them

lies enfolded a wondrous tale, locking up in the recesses of

their natures, health and healing and joy. Notice too as you

walk, the fair lowers springing up on every side. If autumn,

or early winter, a bright October’s day or a green Christ-

mas, you may yet find for your admiration such seed-vessels,

such starry ealyces, such feathered down, such inimitable

irifles as no gold could purchase or art fabricate.

Such rough and confused pasture lands lie between Rock-

port and the sea; between Gloucester, between Marblehead,

Cohasset, Scituate and many famous places, and the beat-

ing ocean. By the very marge of one such beach I have

found plants seen nowhere else by me except on mountain

sides. Think of Rockport in July, lovely in the masses of

mountain laurel, and this fine native shrub opening its clus-

ters of flowers within sight of the very sea. From the land

side the very odors of Araby the Blest come over the Man-

chester and Gloucester waters from the magnolia, and glad-

dens the heart of the returning fisherman. The very rocks,

worn smooth by the surf and rounded and polished, extend

218 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

just so far inland, which the closely attached lichen defines by

its persistence in bright yellow colors in the strict line of ter-

restrial and maritime growth. They stand there patient senti-

nels to denote that the floods shall no more cover the earth ;

the lichen the earth's plant, and the alga the sea’s plant,

approximate and almost kiss each other in approach. Noth-

ing higher in the scale of organization ventures so near; not

the sedge, bulrush or hardiest grass dare grow so close to the

waves. Nor are lichen and alga far removed in consan-

guinity ; in structural difference something; some more ex-

posure to sun and rain, to snow and ice, to heat and cold, in

existence and continued individual life vastly more in favor

of the little crusted slow-growing lichen, patient, untiring,

serenely beautiful, doing by day and night its usual work

and breaking down the hardest and most obdurate rock

formations by the gentlest persuasion of its constant pres-

ence to aid the atmospheric influences.

Tbe alge are so diverse in their forms, and so many in

number, computing only the precise kinds or species, to say

nothing of innumerable varieties, many of which have been

separately and minutely described, that in orde: to facilitate

the labor of finding out what they are it has been found best

to divide them into three great groups known by the color

of their seed-vessels. Butas it is not always possible to find

their seed-vessels, or even those minuter parts which though

not seeds serve for similar purposes, because like other plants,

and what we call flowers or flowering plants, these too have

partieular seasons of the year when they produce them, so

to look for strawberries after the vines have done bearing

would be precisely like looking for seed-vessels on sea-weeds

when they had passed the season. Some kinds, too, like

some other and higher plants never bear any seeds in our

latitudes, but such seed bearing plants must be sought else-

where. Fortunately in this dilemma the chances of success

are in our favor, and the usual color of the sea-weed corres-

ponds with the color of the seed it bears. The rosy or

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 219

red-seeded alg: are usually the most popular because the pret-

tiest ; but others, even the black or fuscous-seeded alge have

many claims on our attention. I will venture, however, to

set both these kinds aside for awhile, and speak first of the

green-seeded alge, the Chlorosperme, as they are called in

the books.

In the rear of some beaches, like that known to the old

folks about Marblehead, as Devereux’s beach, perhaps it has

now another name, surely none more euphonious — may be

seen large extended reaches of salt or brackish water, cov-

ered with floating masses of a light-green tangled fibre, and

which lies in flakes upon the tips of the growing grass, or

east ashore to desiccate and fade in the bright sunshine.

Lifting carefully a little on the end of a sharply-pointed

stick we shall find a great many silky, glossy threads, each

slender, sparingly branched with alternate and scattered

branchlets somewhat spread apart; sometimes growing on

one side, each joint several times longer than broad. "Within

each joint look after a green granular mass which answers

for seeds, and to do this you must have a pocket lens for

your eye; at home a compound microscope would do better,

and in this rapidly growing and widely extending Chloro-

sperm you have taken your first lesson, perhaps, in studying

the alge, having been introduced to the Conferva flavescens,

and if possessed with farther curiosity you may learn of

other Confervas of equal or surpassing evidence. The ex-

treme lightness which these sheets of dead fibres have,

renders them easily elevated into the higher strata of the

air, whence they have been known to fall in violent showers

far into the interior, spreading consternation by their pres-

ence in such an unusual manner, and greatly frightening the

superstitious and ignorant. Sometimes this substance has

been called “meteoric paper," and I have seen in the micro-

scopical cabinets of my acquaintances fragments of similar

matter from very remote parts of the globe. This single

species has been observed extensively in Europe and

280 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

America; and the few students of our native kinds have

been rewarded by meeting with several others, identical with

species which grew on the other side of the Atlantie Ocean,

such as C. i ycina, rivularis, aerea, refracta, etc. But

perhaps the most curious of these water silks, as they may

be termed, credited to the northern lakes and to those lovely

sheets of fresh-water in Central New York, is the C. glome-

rata of the earlier writers, but now called Cladophora, on

account of the peculiar manner in which the joints arrange

themselves, being either packed together in strata or layers,

or flexed and curved in long and delicate lines; and another,

far more curious, of which there are many sorts distributed

from Sweden in the far north, to Cayenne in South America ;

found in Cuba, in New Zealand, in the lakes of Germany

and in the fresh-waters of Great Britain; and worth looking

after here, is the C. egagopila, its filaments rolled together

like a compact ball, and when dry, sometimes used for pen-

wipers. I have looked for it, but always in vain; other del-

icate and pellucid-jointed water plants sometimes do so, but

evidently they are only imitations. In the ditches and

by the sides of shaded paths where the water is stagnant,

similar Chlorosperms may be seen. Is there any identity and

do the same alge grow indifferently in fresh and salt water

alike? The question is worth attention, so let us when we

retrace our steps examine. Here I have lifted on the end of

my cane some of these floating, swollen masses; they also

are fibrous and silken, but see! how different is the green

coloring particles within the joints! Here are a few in

which the seeds are so arranged that the joints which are

only about as long as they are broad, and vary in length,

are marked by two roundish stars. It is but a rude idea

produced by the arrangement of the seeds, but as these

stand side by side in the parallel joints of two of the

silken filaments of the tangle we have lifted from the ditch,

and which are joined laterally by a connection or bridge,

they remind us of the mythological story of Castor and

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 281

Pollux, the twins of Tyndarus, and our humble alga is

accordingly called Tyndaridea, and of it are many kinds

growing tangled even, in the same mass. In similar and

Fig 69. equally unlikely places for beauty to dwell

\ and abide we can gather the Zygnema, or

Yoke-thread, in the joints of which the

green granules are at first arranged in

spiral rings, but afterwards collect into a

sinele globule as the future seed (fig. 69).

In one species the spiral lines become a

Zygnema. series of the Roman V, and in another of

the letter X. Strangely, too, do the delicate and fragile fila-

ments or silken threads bend at acute angles, the coloring

matter first fillmg each joint, vig. 70.

but soon contracting into a nar-

row continuous stripe. In this

‘and others of similar behavior

and appearance we have Mou-

geotia (fig. 70), named in mem-

ory of a botanist, and bearing

his surname. They are com-

mon in Europe and New Eng-

land. Before we leave these

rich green, emerald and vivid,

or pleasing green weeds of the

stagnant and brackish pools, let

me tell you of a pleasant surprise I once had in the sunny

waters of an overflowed and stagnant pool formed by the

rising of the lake, and there permanent through the year for

want of means of draining it. Years have fled and the pool

is solid ground now, covered by the property of the railroad

company, and near Burlington, Vermont. The conchologist

may be pleased to learn that Lymnaea megasoma Say, once

lived there ; but my finding the elegant water-net, or Hydro-

dictyon utriculatum, previous to its being seen by the cele-

brated Bailey in Philadelphia and at West Point, will always

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 36

Mougeotia.

282 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

connect a delightful remembrance with stagnant pools and

still waters in my mind. In this pretty aquatic the joints

are united at their ends into regular pentagonal or hexagonal

meshes, and form a tubular

net which floats in the water.

Turning again towards the

sea let us look into these

salt pools among the cliffs,

some shallow and others

deep and lined with exquis-

itely colored alge too. Cer-

tainly, so far as looks go,

some of these verdant and

glossy silks should be Con-

ferve, but having been in-

structed better by the lens

let us see what it will do for’

us here. This flossy silk,

how delieately and grace-

fully it floats just under the

Cheetomorpha. surfuce, but a little of it

lifted into the air collapses in a very ungrateful way. Yes!

you have gone out of the realm of the Conferve and only

resemblances occur. Thus your floss silk, so entangling,

inelegant in the air, shows its elegant proportions and finer

divisions in its native elements and in water of a denser me-

dium. It is a tuft of a true maritime Chlorosperm (fig. 71),

one of a very large genus, and as Professor Harvey tells us,

difficult to define; so we must be content with our present

knowledge to observe and admire. Some tufts of darker

green colored and bristle-like jointed filaments stand stiffly

in the water; they are worth gathering, and bear the name

of Chotomorpha, or Bristle alga; the most common with us

is the Melagonium, but several others may be found on the

New England shores and the Mediterranean, the Canary

Isles, Algiers, New Holland, Tropical America and the East

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 283

Indies; the northern and southern portions of the globe de-

light in their presence. For specimens they only dry indif-

ferently, the joints shrinking by dryness, but the algologist

cares little for looks. Very marvels are those closely adhe-

rent alge, which creep over moistened surfaces, and some

of which are found on rocks wetted by the sea,

many in springs of flowing water, some in hot

springs, and such unlikely places; but I should

scarcely forgive myself if I overlooked in this

connection the Microleus repens (fig. 72), in

masses resembling a green slime of almost black

intensity ; but lifted from the wet path and

a few of its conferva-like threads magnified,

shows its claim to regard. As the little bit.

expands under water the microscope assists you

to see the oscillating motions of its jointed

filaments, creeping apart from each other like

the measured progress of the hand over the dial plate of

your watch!

Similar, but not tied up in little sheathing bundles, are the

pretty Lyngbyas, snarls of silky fibres, but each in a mucous

sheath by itself and divided into numerous transverse joints

of rich deep green, purple, brown and other colors; widely

diffused over the globe and extensively scattered over wet

surfaces, faces of rocks, and places where we should expect

nothing curious or striking. They too, boast of many kinds

of residence in the sea, in salt marshes, among pebbles on

the shore, in hot springs, and the water of salt works, living

alike in fresh or saline homes.

Some few larger and more specious Chlorosperms are

those rich green crisped and wavy-margined thin alge, which

lie upon the soft mud after retreating tides, covering unsight-

liness with continuous beauty, and refreshing the eyes. They

are known as "lavers," Ulvw, and two or three species are

well known. They do not make very pretty specimens, but

pieces of them can be advantageously employed in arranging

Microleus repens.

284 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

other kinds. Sometimes they are served up with lemon

juice under the name of Oystergreen, and as a diet are con-

sidered of good repute. The broadest leafed kind are se-

lected. The green particles which correspond to the seeds

are deeply embedded in the pulp of the entire plant, and

commonly arranged in fours, while those of the Purple laver

(Porphyra), which notwithstanding their color, so distinct

from the seeds of the Chlorosperms, form an exception to the

general rule, and though possessing rounded granules, qua-

ternally arranged, are also provided with clusters of oval

seeds (fig. 73) besides thus indicating a step

forward in the progressive development. To

QR find this pretty alga it is well to examine the

b piles and timbers of wharves, and the perpen-

QD ` dicular faces of rocks submerged by the tides.

Other and finer species than our own have a

wide dispersion, and in common with the green

lavers may be frequently met with, abroad, in similar situa-

tions. Not very unlike their cousins, the Ulve, are the

grotesque looking, pale green, inflated bullate Enteromor-

phas, tossed in wild confusion, and mingled irrespectively

together, with the usual rejectamenta of the sea upon the

rocks; despised and overlooked as they are apt to be there

they are respectable Chlorosperms when growing and thriv--

ing under the water; and a little care and attention to their

merits will give them their place among the dried trophies

of the ocean gleanings. Singularly alike, and yet different,

are the Tetrasporas of the fresh-water, floating quietly upon

the stream, their lax netted tissues of pleasant green color

having their interior substance dotted over with clusters of

seeds arranged in fours; and others of humbler pretensions

but of wondrous symmetry and beauty nestling like small

disks upon the pebble or upon the submerged log, or throw-

ing wide upon the current their elegant beaded filaments like

necklaces of strung jewels, embraced by the Chlorosperms

or claimed by aberrant forms of the Confervze. ;

Seeds of Porphyra.

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 285

Some tropical sea-weeds belonging to this section now

claim the attention. These are the Siphonaces, so-called

beeause whatever be the form or size of the alga the different

parts have a continuous cavity throughout like a pipe or

siphon. And a very great difference exists in these several

forms, some of which are very singular, others very beautiful.

They are described as green, marine or fresh-water alge,

either naked or else coated with carbonate of lime, which

they extract by the method of their growth and life from the

water. A few kinds, of which the elegant Bryopsis is an

instance, are found in our northern bays and waters. It is a

pretty little ereen-tufted feather-like alga, parasitic on other

weeds, and growing on the rocks near the shores. Yet in

its range it reaches to Cape Horn, the Falkland Islands and

New Zealand. The green particles within its substance

break up into smaller parts, and bursting through the sides

of the branches escape to furnish the needed seed dispersion.

In a somewhat similar branching kind, but in which the single

jointed filaments and branchlets or twigs, as we may call

them, are compacted together into flattened bundles, so as

to look like a rude fan furnished with a handle or stem, and

the sticks somewhat encrusted with carbonate of lime, we have

the Udotea, named by Lamouroux after some ocean goddess,

known to Hesiod. One species, the U. conglutinata, of

Lamouroux, has been seen growing at Key West; and

another, in which the lime is uniformly and evenly depos-

ited on the entire surface, much more resembles a spread-

out fan, and is known in our tropical seas as U. flabellata,

while other seas produce still other forms. They are so

bizarre and unlike ordinary alge that no one but an adept

would recognize their place among sea-weeds. In Halimeda

(fig. 74) we have still other singular and anomalous looking

plants, short-jointed and broadly dilated for the length of

the joints, looking not unlike some smaller truncated cactus

of the green-house, but soon fading to a dull white tint, and

on drying becoming brittle. Several species are met with

286 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

on the Florida shores, of which, perhaps the 77. opuntia is

the most common, as I have picked several fragments of its

clustered stems from gorgonias aud corals collected among

the Keys. Removing the lime encrustations, a singular skel-

eton of fibres, branching off into clusters of smaller branches,

presents itself and which serves as a support to the tissues.

In company with these oddities is another singular marine

produetion, composed of innumerable slender, single-celled

Fig. 74. branching filaments, inextri-

cably woven together into the

form of a hollow ball, and

whieh grows from the size of

a cherry to that of the human

head, and is known in the

European seas as Codium

C bursa, or Sea-purse; while

another species with a nar-

row, long, branching form,

but with fibres similarly en-

tangled and woven, has been

found on the coasts of Cali-

fornia, but is not known on

the Atlantie shores of New

England, a prize perhaps for

Halimeda. some sea-weed collector! Of

the other siphon-constructed alge may be cited the Cauler-

pas, elegant, green, creeping-rooted algæ, mimicking under

graceful forms, the ferns, club-mosses, feathery mosses,

ground pines, selagines and other higher cryptogamic plants,

such as grow in the woods and in bogs remote from the sea ;

investing the submarine sands and tide-washed rocks with

perennial verdure and loveliness, and found alike in every

tropical sea on the globe.

These lime-bearing alge so far away from our personal ©

observation, and to be seen only in our most southern lati-

tudes, should have some representatives on our northern

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 2817

shores, and it is to the Corallines and their allies that we

will turn for farther enquiry. Leaving, however, unwil-

lingly, the attractive Chlorosperms we will make some ac-

quaintance with the beautiful family of the Rhodosperms, or

rosy-seeded algæ, plants corresponding in the tints and colors

of their external and internal arrangements, with the ele-

gance of their seed-vessels and seeds. In outward habit the

Corallines present also considerable variety from the sim-

plest and lowest in the mode of increase similar to that of the

crustaceous lichens, spreading in horizontal concentric cir-

cles, or gradually developing upwards and outwards in the

form of stems and branches. On every part, encrusted in

their lime covering which moulds itself to the joints, swel-

lings, depressions, ridges, or into the flutings and channels

of the surface, or surmounts the very tips in the form of

seed-vessels, one would scarcely suppose that these elegant

marine productions — so abundant in every tide pool, and

fringing the deep cool grottos beneath the water-covered

rocks, or lining with patches of pleasing and varied colors

their sides, or laying down tessellated and mosaic pave-

ments, by encrusted pebbles presenting to the vision variety

springing from their secreted cements — were sea-weeds and

marine vegetation. But an immersion in diluted mineral

acids dispels the mystery; the usual tender and flaccid tis-

sue of cells and pulp appear in due proportions beneath the

covering which looks so much like the fabrications of the

polyps, and in the absence of microscopical investigation

these innocent plants were described and figured as ani-

mals related to the corals, and from their smaller size and

comparative insignificance were called Corallines. Very

rarely found in the colder seas the one species best known at

the north is the Corallina officinalis (fig. 75), once in ficti-

tious repute in medicine. You cannot miss it, growing as it

does in the pools left by the tides, and to be picked from

the beaches attached to some shell, most usually the larger

muscle (M. modiolus), thus indicating its range even in

288 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

deeper soundings where that mollusk abounds. A much

more slender and delicately jointed kind, scarcely more than

simply branching, is the Jania, presenting under the surface

of the ocean a violet green tint, which soon changes to a

more or less deep rosy or red, and finally becoming shining

white if exposed to the air and light, growing parasitically

on other sea-weeds and widely distributed. Some elegant

species are known in Cuba and on the southern coast of the

Fig. 75. United States, and others are found in

the oceans about Australasia, Cape of

Good Hope, ete. The Amphirow, also

widely distributed over the globe, are

lime-bearing Corallines, the joints cylin-

drical, separated from each other by bare

portions of the horny axis, the seeds

lodged like those of all the Corallines

in conical wart-like conceptacles, the

different parts of the little plant on which

these occur furnishing some criterion to

determine its real name. Beautiful and

— interesting as they seem in living condi-

tion, a more intimate examination assists in revealing their

curious structures. Having in this excursion for northern

lime-enerusted sea-weeds stepped into the domains of the

odosperms, or rosy-seeded algze, let us take leave of our

verdant acquaintances, and cultivate the friendship of a

higher series of marine plants, whose seeds and seed-vessels

are more curious, elegant and diverse.

The alge in this order are by far the most universally

attractive of any of our native kinds. That part which

looks like their foliage, and is technically called the frond, is

liable to a great difference in size, shape, and outline, in

some being broad, or flat, or narrow, or thread-like, the main

stem frequently dividing. or the disk-like support on which

it rests suddenly spreading and ramifying upwards, the

branches often arranged in regular pinne, or lateral wings,

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 289

and these again dividing into smaller branchlets; or the

broad, thin, membranous leaf throwing out similar but

smaller ones from its edges; the seed-vessels often display-

ing much beauty and elegance of design, and variously dis-

tributed in the leaves; add, too, that gathered at almost any

season, they make pretty specimens for the album, either as

portions of the plant or even as fragments, it were no won-

der that equally with the child and the adult the Rhodo-

sperms become favorites, and are considered foremost among

the wonders of the sea.

Attracted by the brilliant crimson feathery bit which now

comes riding on the crest of the wave, the attempt to secure

it as a prize is suecessful. It came from deep soundings,

and has been torn off from the friendly support of some

gigantic kelp, by a sudden swell or rude wind. Thousands

of just such bits, and some of them several inches long and

broad, you can pick out of that drift high up on the beach.

It is the Ptilota serrata, and though so common here, should

you chance to gather alge on the coast of California you

will find it there, the denizen of the Atlantic and Pacific

alike, while those who collect for amusement from the

beaches of Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, etc., may

find another, P. elegans, likewise found at Beverly and its

neighborhood, a smaller and softer plant with jointed pin-

iiis. On the tips of the main branches, and enclosed by

the curving of the smaller, are lodged the pretty concep-

tacles or seed caskets, giving the plants a feature of interest.

The species of Ptilota are not numerous, but they are found

in most parts of the world. A still more beautiful fragment

is this which I have at this moment rescued; I find it fre-

quently with the last but seldom can I find a perfect piece,

such as is now lying on my study table at home, from the

English coast. In outline and ramification a little like

Ptilota, but its dichotomous branches are two-edged with a

sort of thickened midrib, its color a dark lake, and it dries

into good shape. It has two kinds of seeds, some growing

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 87

290 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

in the pulp of the frond in clusters (¢etraspores), the

others issuing from conceptacles which grow on the outside

of the smaller branches. On the French coast it is called

P. vulgare, or the Common Ptilota, and Kützing says that it

oceurs in the Atlantie, Pacifie, and Southern Oceans.

The Carrigeen moss, so well known in the preparation of

food, and to many more familiar on the table than on the

shores of the ocean, is the Chondrus crispus, really an

elegant alga. It is subject to many varieties, and the best

way to study them is to go down as far as you can among

the rocks at low tides and see the plant growing. A careful

drying of some of the most prominent sorts will repay.

Those gathered from the beaches are more or less bleached

or discolored, and generally filled with sand. In similar sit-

uations, and even growing where the water is always deep,

some other alge similar yet distinct may be sought. Like

others which grow out of reach except by the dredge, they

are thrown ashore in tolerable perfection during storms. Of

these the Phyllophora membranifolia may be cited, the

fronds as much as a foot long when fully grown, the stem

cylindrical, filiform, irregularly branched, the branches ex-

panding into fan-shaped flattened membranous leaflets, the

color a rich purple, inclining to livid, while that of the

European species is scarlet. The Gymnogongrus which in-

habits similar situations might be mistaken for the Chondrus,

looking not unlike some variety of it, but its internal

structure forbids this. Something like twenty kinds are

known in the world, and the one most seen in this neighbor-

hood is G. Norvegicus, having an extensive northern distri-

bution.

These black tufts growing out of the stems of the larger

alge, and from the outside of shells, ete., belong to Poly-

siphonia nigrescens, of which the curious student could find

a great many distinct varieties. A section of the frond

would exhibit a number of tubes, side by side, composing the

branch, and indeed the entire plant, and those tubes vary in

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 291

nuniber, and yet seemingly not in a capricious manner, in

different tufts. Though thus inelegant and vulgar or

common, they belong to a refined and delicately educated

family, having in their circle some of the prettiest alge

known in the American seas, of which the Venus’ Comb (P:

pecten- Veneris) found parasitic on corals and shells at Key

West and the Pine Islands, is a notable example ; and in-

deed all require only to be magnified to show what they are.

There are numerous species to be looked up on the various

sea-weeds and marine objects on which they delight to grow.

This almost gelatinous mass of dissolving threads ‘staining

the paper with a deep empurpled or crimsoned blotch, is the

Dasya elegans, more commonly met with to the south of

Cape Cod; it is likewise a parasitic alga and grows in deep

water; nor are other beautiful species unknown in distant

regions. L2hodomela is worth looking for, being an elegant,

much branched, filiform, cylindrical-stemmed alga, of which

R. subfusca, gracilis, Rochei, etc., have been collected on the

coast of Massachusetts. The several species belong to tem-

perate zones. In the English manuals much is said of the

beauty of the Lawrencea; in this country this alga is repre-

sented by the Chondriopsis of J. Agardh, and some may be

sought, of which C. Baileyana is really elegant and graceful,

while its conceptacle, or seed-vessel, is of classic outline, mi-

nute, yet not to be overlooked! Others similar might be al-

luded to, but we must defer mention of them, unless we meet

them in their coral groves in waters of a higher temperature.

The broad-fronded rosy sea-weeds claim a passing tribute.

Our beaches and shores, the resort of summer seekers for

pleasure and profit, offer us the Delesseria with a genuine

rosy-red, leaf-like; jagged edged, or else delicately branching

membranous symmetrical frond, with a pereurrent midrib.

The seed-vessels are to be looked for near the midrib, but

definite spots containing another sort of seeds occupy the

surface or portions of the frond besides. Several species are

found both north and south, but by far the finest is the D.

292 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Americana, dedicated to Henry Grinnell of New York, in

honor of his noble conduct in an expedition fitted out by him

in search of Sir John Franklin, and known to American bota-

nists as the Grinellia of Professor Harvey. In Nitophyllum

we have a ribless frond, traversed by slender irregular

veins; the frond broad membranous and variously divided,

= hoses in the form of dots deep in the pulp of the leaf.

blepharis ciliata has the margins of its rich dark red

Fus beautifully ciliated or fringed; Botryoglossum and

Hymenena are California species and can scarcely be looked

for with any degree of success hereabouts. The Rhodo-

menie, with Huthora, are plants of great beauty, and need

scarcely more than be named as the species are few; R. pal-

mata is parasitic on alge in shallow water; R. palmetta on

the larger kinds in deeper soundings, and Z. cristata extends

in its range from the Arctic coast to Cape Cod.

Among the most abundant of these rosy-seeded alge, and

likewise of the most delicate structure, we notice the Cera-

miacee, with fronds growing in close tufts, but sometimes

‘solitary, creeping along the surface by fibres or affixed by

disks, the stems slender, thread-like, articulated, dichoto-

mously or pinnately branched, and sometimes growing so

interwoven as to form network or spongy masses. In some

species the space between the joints is diaphanous, which

gives a strikingly beautiful appearance; in others the joints

exhibit no such peculiarity. The species are exceedingly

numerous, and the search for rarer ones in any given district

would be compensating to him who does not despise trifles

such as these at first seem.

The last of the Rhodosperms to which we invite your at-

tention is Callithamnion, a very large genus of beautiful

alge, mostly small and many even minute, the different spe-

cies difficult of determination, subject as they are to constant

variation. The elegance of their several parts in stem,

branches, and branchlets, the delicacy of their subdivisions,

their exquisite color and the symmetry of the seed-vessels

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 293

in spite of the obstacles in correctly addressing them by

their correct names, attract the attention of the most

superficial. They are not difficult to find, and the same

efforts to secure other and more specious kinds will insure

many of these.

The Melanosperms, black or fuscous seeded sea-weeds,

less comely and attractive but by far more useful to savage

and civilized man alike, remain for a cursory glance at least.

Although our species are of only a respectable size when

compared with foreign kinds, yet they assist so much in pro-

ducing the effect we witness, wherever the ocean impinges

on the land, we can illy spare them. Investing rock and

wood structures alike, if built in places subject to the varia-

tions of the tides, they bear exposure of a few hours to the

dry atmosphere or seorching sunshine, and revive as the

cooled waters return to cover them, forming safe retreats to

fishes, mollusks and other marine creatures, and affording the

most nutritious dressings by way of manure to the exhausted

fields. The variety of forms which they present has caused

them to be comprised in several families with subdivisions

arranged in such a way that they can be more readily studied,

and those will claim our notice. About our shores the most

abundant sea-weed of this kind is the fucus, of which there

are two or three species and several varieties; or according

to Professor Harvey five species on the American and seven

species on the European shores, and one allied to F. nodosus,

found at the Cape of Good Hope. They are usually known

as kelp weed, rock weed, etc. Their seeds are lodged in

tubercles filled with mucus, and they are discharged through

the small pores; the hollow vesicles by which they are

buoyed up in the water are not the seed-vessels but air

bladders. A section of one of these seed tubercles, under

the microscope, affords an instructive and pleasing sight. The

Halidrys siliquosa might be readily taken for a narrow

fronded fucus, but the air vessels are singularly divided

transversely by numerous diaphragms extremely thin and

294 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

membranous. It is usually found in shallow pools, but

where the plant is never left to even temporarily become

dry. Though very eommon on the Atlantic shores of

Europe it does not seem to have been recognized here as

growing on this side of the ocean. The Cystoseira, too, is

only recognized as American in a California species though

several are known to the British waters, and the Phyllospora

Menziesii, detected by Menzies himself when with Vancouver,

has elsewhere as yet only occurred in the deeper soundings

of the California coast. In this plant we see the same glob-

ular air vessels we have noticed in the fuci. To this family

belong also the gulf weeds, Sargassum, a vast genus and of

which some species extend as near as Nantucket and Provi-

dence. One of them, the tropical Sea-grape (S. bacciferum),

is seen floating in masses in the gulf stream, and is a familiar

object. Kützing gives us a list of one hundred and three

distinct species known over the globe !

An excessively branched and bushy mass of dark brown

fibres, covered with short harmless prickles, and sometimes

growing several feet in length, often presents itself on the

sandy beaches, evidently torn from the bottom of deep

water. This is Desmarestia aculeata, so variable in appear-

ance at different stages of growth as to have led good bota-

nists astray. When young, this otherwise stiff, bristly weed

is clothed with the most delicate pencils of finely divided

. filaments, of a beautiful green color, a condition worth seek-

ing. Its mode of bearing seeds is unknown.

Another natural order of the Melanosperms, comprising a

great variety of kinds, is the Laminariacee, among which —

from a simple cylindrical threadlike frond of the diameter of

a whip-cord, and often twenty, thirty or forty feet in length,

tapering at the extremity, and fixed at the base by a disk

(Chorda filum) to a frond of broad dimensions, and sup-

ported by a long stalk (Laminaria or oar-weed) — we find a

series of modified forms in species found in our waters. Of

the sea leaf ( Thallasiophyllum), one of this order, a writer

THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 295

and naturalist thus speaks: “The ocean hardly boasts of a

more beautiful production; it is generally about the height

of a man, very bushy and branched, each branch bearing a

broad leaf at its extremity, which unfolds spirally ; a spiral

border winds round the stem ; a number of rather long, nar-

row perforations, arranged in a radiate form, give ilie. frond

the appearanee of a cut fan; the margin is entire, its sub-

stance coriaceous, but liable to be torn. No seeds have been

detected. This fine fucus, or sea-weed, is plentiful around

the whole island of Amaknak, clothing the rocky shore like

a thick hedge, and forming at a little distance a very pleasing

feature in the scenery." (Mertens as quoted by Professor

Harvey.) Though destitute of this wondrous sea-leaf, our

piles of seawrack can display something similar in the highly

curious sea colander (Agarum Turneri), which has come

ashore after strong winds and gales. Furnished with a short,

compressed, coriaceous stem, widening and flattening as it

approaches the frond, and clasping by its stout fibrous roots

the rocks and stones, its dark olive green expanded leaf per-

forated at short intervals with roundish holes, it is quite a re-

spectable weed. The shores of Kamtschatka and the Pacific

recognize others. Besides several kinds of the oar-weed of

respectable dimensions, such as the Sweet or Sugar, the Long-

shanked, the Fingered, with its frond deeply cleft into several

strap-shaped segments, we have for noble sea-weeds Alaria

esculenta, known, as articles of food, under the name of mur-

lins among the peasantry of Scotland and Ireland, belongs

to a small genus, inhabits the colder regions, and is recog-

nizable by a branching root, stalked, membranous frond,

with smaller fronds or leaflets springing from the stalk and

below the main frond. A definite dark colored patch in the

centre of these leaflets indicates the clusters of pear-shaped

seed-vessels packed vertically among straight and simple

threads.

From these we come by easy transitions to some of the

most marvellous vegetable productions on our globe, and

296 THE SEA-WEEDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

alge, or sea-weeds, too. How insignificant appear our kelp-

weeds in comparison with the Lessonia of the Antarctic Zone,

trees with forking and branching trunks covered with crim-

son brown, sinuated edged, and jagged-toothed leaves, or with

blackish opaque foliage and twisted flexuous trunks, growing

like submarine forests; or with the Nereocystis of the Aleu-

tian islands, whose stem, never thicker than a packthread, ex-

tends to the length of forty fathoms or more, and expands at

the summit into an inflated cylinder from which issues a leaf,

which gradually grows wider near its top; not singly, not

here and there a plant but areas of great extent covered with

innumerable plants; or with the Macrocystis whose slender

stem and numerous leaves are buoyed up by their expanded

and swollen base, the stem so long that fifteen hundred feet

has been reported by observers as within the limits of belief.

These several kinds of expanded fronds are employed as

utensils among savage people, while the trunks of many of

these gigantic alg: drifting on desert shores have been mis-

taken and gathered for fuel, supposed to be actual wood.

The structural arrangement of the cellular tissue on a

number of the Melanosperms, giving to their fronds a pecu-

liarly netted appearance when viewed through a magnifying

glass, suggests a natural order, called Dictyotide, which sig-

nifies like a net. Externally there is quite a variety among

these sea-weeds, and of them we may search for Punctaria

in two species, both parasitic on other and larger sea-weeds

about Boston Harbor, or even Asperococcus with an inflated

frond, while the others delight in a flattened one. The seeds

may be found in the minute dot-like clusters scattered over

the surface of the plants. To this order belong the curious

Padina pavonia and its allied Zonaria lobata, bearing no

inapt resemblance to those richly zoned and velvetty fungi

which grow out of old dead tree-trunks; but both these

lovely alge are tropical and belong to our most southern

states. The rest of the Melanosperms are either parasitic

and minute, and to be gathered either accidentally or else

FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND. 297

though strange and unusual in exterior, so infrequently that

they hardly claim our present attention. In the structure of

their seed-vessels and seeds they are objects of curious in-

terest and beauty, but require a quick eye to detect the

condition favorable to secure specimens, which when col-

lected, must be submitted to the microscope to satisfy the

enquirer. t

If our excursion and lesson has convinced us that in the

distribution of plants, the ocean, which to many, shuts out

the chance of minute observation, forms no exception to the

law of vegetation; each part of its vast bosom bearing, like

the earth, its appropriate flowers, plants and fruits, a day or

two among the sea-weeds will be well employed.

FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A.

Ir those whom fashion and the weather drive from city

follies and vices to the vices and follies of the seaside ; who

live in hotels and carriages and fancy the society of their

kind the only sort desirable or possible, —if such read at

all by the sea shore, it is not from the broadest and most elo-

quent page before them. With eyes to see, blind; deaf, with

ears to hear; to them, a blank, a void, beyond the titillation

of social scandal. Others go out of doors afoot, looking

and listening; in every object by their pathway a familiar

thing; with every vibration of the air, a well known voice;

with every odour a reminiscence. Alone by the sea? There

is no solitude—no escape for the naturalist, even though in

a weak moment he wish it, from a multitude—no disentang-

ling of self from the web of animate creatures of which he

is one slender thread.

The sea, we know, is teeming with life—full of shapes

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 38

298 FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND.

useful or curious, beautiful or monstrous; the waves them-

selves, in ceaseless change, incessantly battling with the

land, seem life-like; but the sand itself, solid and motion-

less, looks lifeless. The great broad sheet that stretches

along the coast seems to be now, as it always has been, in-

animate. A vast bed of silica; and yet if not alive, what a

sarcophagus it is of myriad lives since perished !- If the poet

says of dust in the crack of a door, "Great Cesar's ashes

here!" and attach to the mote and the man common and

equal significance, yet farther than this the naturalist; for

him, not the greatest pile that ever rose over emperors' re-

mains— not the pyramids,* tombs of Pharaohs, are so great,

as this monument of life that Nature built —the simple sand.

If ghosts be ever laid, here lie hosts, of creatures innumer-

able, vexing the mind in the attempt to conceive, never to

compute, them ; so minute that a grain of sand is prodigious

beside. Creatures of wonderful, beautiful, varying shapes;

creatures that ate and drank after their fashion and went on

rejoicing or grieving till the day came. Let us write a name

in the sand; the wave comes — the ebb, the cradle, — the

flow, the grave — of such short-lived creatures ; what to these

then, that write their name in the “sands of time ;” the coast

of a continent their grave, the beach their monument, each

sand-grain an epitaph.

How long this book has been making we do not know;

no man's time will suffice him to turn and read even a single

page. Reflection confounds; still we may stroll on, obser-

vant, if not thoughful; a letter, a point, an intelligible note,

may catch the eye ; and trifles enough have at least some pith.

Say, at the moment, there is no living thing in sight. Asa

wave curls away from the mirrored sand, little bubbles play

here and there for a few moments, and then too subside.

Under the sand, where each bubble rose, lives a creature,

* And these too, are of a sort of lime stone, called * nummulitic ” — chiefly

pamposed of vast mam bere o certain Foramimfers esecereit es). Ano of din ram-

ur millions of these aon

FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND. 299

encased in shell armour, rarely seen alive, and scarcely

known except by its casement, when this is thrown upon the

beach; what some call a razor-shell, others Solen ensis.

When the foot presses in yielding sand, surcharged with

moisture, a slender jet of water spirts up; below is a clam

(Mya arenaria) ; it dislikes the weight upon its elastic home,

and remonstrates. There goes a groove in the sand, as if a

child had wantonly dragged ‘its copper-toed boot along, or

some curious share had turned as curious a furrow; but the

creature that made it has gone below, after what would have

seemed to us, had we witnessed it, a tedious journey. Scat-

tered here and there are large globular, yet essentially

spiral, shells of the sea-snail (Neverita heros); the animal

that lives in them made that mark, unfolding a great fleshy

"foot," and gliding along, perhaps eating éomethtng as it

went, with an organ that is mouth and iiini in one. Where

it is now, under the sand, are plenty more mail-clad things,

of all shapes and sizes and colors; snug and secure, giving

no sign of their presence. The sand is not only a great

dut. of foraminiferous skeletons; it is full of flesh and

blood.

. . But we may look for signs from above as well as under

the earth, or from the waters beneath ; the sand tattles many

pleasant, harmless secrets, if we only attend. Here are

foot-notes again, this time of real steps from real feet; the

next tide will wash them out ; but perhaps some one of them,

— the one chance of millions— may be left to signal, centu-

ries hence, as much as they tell now. They are wedge-

shaped, and meaningless as the cuneiform characters upon a

Babylonie obelisk, unless the key to the cryptogram is

found ; for this, the lock must first be examined to the last

detail, and it is surprising how many details there are. The

imprints are in two parallel lines, an inch or so apart; each

impression is two or three inches in advance of the next one

behind ; none of them are in pairs, but each one of one line

is opposite the middle of the interval between two of the

300 FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND.

other line ; they are steps as regular as a man’s, only so small.

Each mark is fan-shaped ; it consists of three little lines less

than an inch long, spreading apart at one extremity, joined

at the other; at the joined end, and also just in front of

it, a flat depression of the sand is barely visible. So much:

now following the track we see it run straight a yard

or more, then twist into a confused ball, then shoot out

straight; again then stop, with a pair of the foot-prints op-

posite each other, different from the other end of the track,

that begun as two or three little indistinct pits or scratches,

not forming perfect impressions of a foot; where the track

twisted there are several little round holes in the sand.

The whole track commenced and finished upon the open

sand. The creature that made it could not, then, have come

out of either the sand or the water; as there are no fire-

animals now days, it must have come down from the air; a

two-legged flying thing—a bird. To determine this, and

next, what kind of bird it was, every one of the trivial

points of the description just given must be taken into ac-

count.

It is a bit of autobiography ; ; the story of an invitation to

dine, acceptance, a repast, an alarm at the table, a hasty re-

treat. A bird came on wing, lowering till the tips of its

toes just touched the sand, gliding half on wing, half a foot,

until the impetus of flight was exhausted; then folding its

wings, but not pausing, for already a quick eye spied some-

thing inviting ; a hasty pecking and probing to this side and

that, where we found the lines entangled; a short run on

after more food ; then a suspicious object attracted its atten-

tion; it stood stock-still (just where the marks were in a

pair) till, thoroughly alarmed, it sprang on wing and was off.

So much is perfectly plain and intelligible; it may be not

quite so easy to find out what the bird was, for we will shut

the “back-stairs” door and allow no guessing, but go

honestly about our induction, as if we only knew of dead

birds in the closet, and had never seen a live one.

FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND. 301

Each foot-print was of three marks only; clearly then

made by a three-toed bird ; or, if by one with four toes, the

fourth was too shor£ to reach and impress the ground visibly,

or else was joined to the leg too high up. The three marks

all point forward ; then the hind toe, or hallux, as it is called,

was the missing or rudimentary one. Now, unless the bird

was of a kind unknown to naturalists, which is highly im-

probable, it must have belonged to one or the other of two

groups—the Walkers and Waders, or the Swimmers—

named, respectively, Cursores and JVatatores, since no bird of

the only other remaining group (Jnsessores) has none, or a -

rudimentary hind toe.* Birds, however, cannot swim unless

their feet are fashioned into paddles of some sort. We only

know of this being done in two ways: either by stretching

a membrane between the toes, making a webbed foot, or by

fringing of the toes by broad membranes, making a lobed

foot. But either of these feet, pressing the glassy sand,

would have shown its pattern. Clearly then the bird was

neither palmiped or lobiped— it was not one of the Wata-

tores; it must have been a Wader. Other reasoning, from a

different premise, brings us to the same conclusion. The

marks were not in pairs, but alternating, each with its fellow

of the other line; the bird did not hop or leap, but walked

or ran bringing one leg after the other, whence we legitimately

infer that it was not one of Jnsessores or Perchers ; for these

hop. But it might be asked, how do we know that the

perchers hop instead of walking when on the ground, since

we are agreed that we never yet saw a live one to find out

by observation? Yet it is easy to reason up to such a point,

that assumption is virtual certainty. For the hind toe (or

each hind toe when there are two) of the Jnsessores is long,

is inserted on a level with the anterior ones, and is armed

with a curved claw as the others are. This arrangement is

*' To this and all other unqualified general statements in ornithology there are

technical obiecti 1 1 t ti not. however. i lidati 1

rules.

302 FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND.

for the perfect opposition of the hind and front toes, as the

thumb of our hand opposes the fingers; it infallibly suggests

the idea of something to be clasped between—of grasping

some object; the suggestion amounts to a moral certainty

when we dissect and find among typical perchers.a special

muscle for the freer and more advantageous working of this

hind toe in opposition to the others. Such birds then, live

where their foothold is not upon a flat surface, as the ground,

but upon slender, cylindrical, claspable supports, as are

found in trees and bushes. But there cannot be much plain

walking done among twigs; the birds must constantly

spring from one to another branch, and when they happen

to descend to the ground it is not likely they would at once

change a habit inborn and inbred for ages. So with certain

exceptions, not necessary to point out here, Jnsessores are

hoppers, as distinctively as all birds below them are either

alkers or Swimmers.

This bird's wings never touched the sand, yet the marks

show the shape of the wing as plainly as the character of the

feet. The wings were flat, long, narrow and pointed, cut-

ting the air like blades. We learn this from the few indis-

tinct seratches on the sand just before the prints became

perfect. The bird came gliding swiftly and low, an

scraped the sand before its wings were closed; to do this re-

quires a wing large or at least long. For all heavy bodied

birds, or birds with wings small for their weight; or with

short, rounded and concave wings—all these, however fast

they may whirr along when fairly on wing, must drop

quietly, if flying slowly, or arrest their motion abruptly

and forcibly, if flying rapidly, to avoid shock on alighting;

in either case they drop plump, and find their feet at once.

Now of all our true walking or wading birds the Galline

(Grouse, Quail, ete.) and the Paludicole (Rails and Galli-

nules) conform to these last mentioned particulars; so does

the Heron family, and these, moreover, have a long hind toe.

It could have been neither of these. The circle of possibili-

FOOT-NOTES FROM A PAGE OF SAND. 303

ties is rapidly narrowing; we have only left whence to pick,

the families of birds that make up the group Limicole, or

the shore-waders, as distinguished from the Paludicole, or

marsh-waders. Conning the Zimicole over in mind, we

fine there are but two families furnishing in our locality any

species so small that the imprint of its toes is less than an

inch long. These are the Plover and.the Snipe families

(Char qadrii and Scolopacide).

We noticed just in front of the point pom the lines of

the three toes came together—at the "heel," as it is gen-

erally but wrongly called —that the depression of the heel-

mark continued a slight distance between the bases of the

toes. Clearly there must have been something of a web con-

necting the roots of the toes, just as our fingers are joined

at the hand. Now our plovers and snipes each furnish us

one, and only one, bird that is partially webbed and small

‘enough to have made the tracks; these two are the Semipal-

mated or Ring Plover (Ægialitis semipalmatus) and the

Semipalmated Sandpiper (Hreunetes pusillus) ; it might have

been either, for anything we have yet noticed. Which was

it? We have exhausted our foot-data, but still one mark is

left, and that decides. The snipes have long bills, vascular,

nervous, and sensitive at the tip; these are organs of touch;

the birds feel for things they cannot see. The plovers

have short bills, comparatively hard at the tip. There were

little round holes in the sand, just where the lines tangled

up ; this was where the little bird stuck in its bill and probed

for something. It would be useless for a plover to do this,

for it could not fee! anything if it did; we infer then, that

a plover never would. And so at last, the bird stands con-

fessed ; Semipalmated Sandpiper, Hreunetes pusillus ; section

Tringee, of family Scolopacide, of group Limicole, of

order Grallte, of subclass Cursores, of class Aves or BIRDS.

REVIEWS.

PONGES.* — Professor Heckel in this paper has condensed the results

of an extended and very remarkable series of investigations with regard

to the affinities of the Sponges.

He places them nearest the corals, considering their canal system as

hich however, springs from an originally cellular layer, and an inner

cellular membrane. This comparison is carried so far that as in the

Coelenterata (Acalephs and Polyps) the large vessel, hak conveys away

the water admitted through the sides by the smaller branches permeating

in proportion as they have one or more afferent openings. Of course Pro-

fessor Heckel is well aware of the principal objections to his theory, and

states them. The mouthless sponges, for instance, he accounts for by re-

ferring to the mouthless Sycocystis, which, however, has young with a well

formed mouth. The fact, however, that the water permeating the spon

This cavity enlarging finally breaks through one end, and forms a oath

opposite to the end which has already become attached to the rocks. At

this young stage it is ign : be not essentially different nn. a fresh-

water Polyp, or a young

The author nowhere etis to the late memoir of Prof. H. J. Clark, the

— vesicles and particles of food in various states of digestion.

Carter’s observations, as well as Professor Hecke. distinctly confirm the

edu. or single-haired, condition of the cells of the internal mem-

brane, and the structureless, gelatinous nature of the external layer.

fin tha f}

ganizati f relationship to apd Corals, By Ernest M

(T: lated in the Ann and Mag. : Nat. History Jan 1870, from

207).

(304)

REVIEWS. 305

orakade Clark found that tne — "cid considered one of the

mplest forms of animal life, had a s r flagellum, but that this was

ents to procure food, which he Pt saw as it entered the sac-like

body through a mouth situated at its base. The D of this mouth spread

itself over the morsels which descended into a digestive vesicle in the in-

terior of the body. The series from this point to the sponge is completed

by a form, Salpingceca, which with the same characteristics also secretes a

gelatinous envelope. These anatomical facts fully justified the author of

the memoir alluded to in claiming tha discovered the true nature

of the sponges, and they appear n nuch closer affinity be-

tween the sponges and the Uniflagellate Infusoria, and appear much

more decisive than the coral-like characteristics described by Professor

Heckel.

The comparison of the aquiferous systems of sponges with the true

stomach cavity and circulatory vessels of the coral is more than doubtful.

sponges. It is well known that these perforations are common also in

the star fishes and Polyzoa, and their precise import in either is as yet

unknown. e most rational view would seem to be the opposite of

Heeckel’s, i. e., that the pores are the mouths, and the so-called mouths the

anal orifices, since out of these is all the refuse of the body thrown. De-

scribing the radiating canals of Cyathiscus, the author asserts that the

horizontal walls which divide these canals are absorbed, and the vertical

species as an individual to possess numerous minute pores to admit food

and rapidly enlarging canals, abutting finally in a large trunk to facilitate

its emission. This is just the reverse of the economy of the organization

of every individual, as such, in the animal kingdom. Individuals are uni-

versally possessed of facilities for obtaining and swallowing food in the

shape of large pliable mouths and stom machs, whereas the emission of the

refuse takes place through the smaller end of the canal or through the

mouth again

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 39

306 REVIEWS.

the proper support of an individual it is evidently necessary that

ae pato whether microscopical in size or not, should be obstructed in its

ve in p

a creature in which all this is reversed, and a digestive system is presented

to us which is dioc aqu) increasing its facilities for getting rid of food

as fast as it is swallow ow this reversal of the animal economy can

be of service to the race we cannot see, so long as we regard the ies

as an individual, or an aggregation of large individuals; but if on the

other hand we adopt the opinion of his opponents, then all these ant

ties disappear. We then see that the pores act as a strainer admittin ng

only bodies of small size, such as are appropriate for the sustenance of

the monads, which cover the internal surfaces of the canals. The e grad-

ual tede sn of these canals into a central trunk becomes at once ap-

propriate, when we compare it with the similar facilities which are found:

in al Mn: communities for ism the colony of refuse and

deleterious matters. The fact noticed by author, with m arked em-

ith

lade Soros is also explained, and the vase-like form of these cells

noticed by Carter, and the amoeba-like d of the external mem-

brane, accords spony well with this view. We do not find in this article

upon a question of fact as regards the structure of the single cells of the

internal membrane we may look for an early solution of this vexed ques-

tion.

If we dropped the review here it would be treating aea SEA

with great injustice. Though forced to criticise the main point of his

other works of this eminent German zoologist, will "i bargs felt in the

history of the progress of knowledge in this departm

The account of the function and structure of the orit and of t

inne of the ** ova" from special forms of his so-called cells of i^

int 1 membrane are of the greatest interest and importance. That,

also, of ine gradual development of the canal system gives us an entirely

new and original view of sponge structure. In this connection the re-

however to coalesce again as they approach maturity and uni ari-

ous apertures into one viec trunk and single aperture; and also, that

we can trace the origin of a species from common stem form

ilustrate this last scel the author instances two species, Guancha

blanca and Sycometra compressa, whose variations are so great, and indi-

REVIEWS. 307

cate affinities, with so many different groups, that he has been obliged to

place them in a separate order by themselves. ‘ Sycometra compressa

appears as a sponge stock which bears MUN one and the same cormus the

mature forms even of eight different genera.

conclusion Professor Heckel begs all of his readers who may be in

possession of specimens of calcareous sponges to send them to him for

examination and comparison.

THE EXTINCT MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF DAKOTA AND NEBRASKA.* — This

important work is the final expression, the author informs us, of labors

extending over a period of twenty-three years, during which the mate-

rials on which it is based, have been accumulating. Sufficient time has

elapsed to allow of corrections of first identifications, and we have the

result in a memoir of much completeness and accuracy in the topograph-

ical descriptions of the remains preserved in such unusual perfection and

y Mes

have seen the light. As it is, the execution both in printing and litho-

graphy, is a credit to all concerned.

The species hitherto discovered in the Bad Lands belong to two series

of strata, determined many years ago by Dr. F. v. Hayden to be Miocene

and Pliocene respectively. Fossils from these, and a few of Postpliocene

age are included. derived from the area in question. The whole d

described is eighty-six, distributed as follows: Carnivora, fifteen; Artio-

— thirty-four; Perissodactyla, twenty-nine: Rodentia, pus Insect-

ivora, two. With reference to the relations of the genera and species, |

we dee the author speak, by quoting his valuable summary at the close of

the descriptive portion of the work:

*In comparing the two lists ts representing the North American tertiary essen. mainly

from the states of Dakota and Nebraska, the quaternary mam:

mals of the same continent, a remarkable dissimilarity is Sbenived, p the we is also

a tst esemblance of the former with the tertiary and quaternary mammals of - old

Miaflo f

nan. nol 4 one qua rs in the quaternary formation of North America; and of tuünihone

wenera a of procesy terrestri mammals, ch iefly from is Niobrara River of Nebraska, only

f Nort eríca, and of these eight three are

abse nt in the existing fauna of the continent, The ma rsa alluded to as common to the

pliocene tertiary and the quaternary formations are Canis, Cervus, Dicotyles, Mastodon, Ele-

It is uncertain how far the s spies es of Canis attributed to the Niobrara pliocene formation

are peculiar to it. Part of the fossils may be em aternary, or 66 a eae even er remains.

Of Cervus, part of the specimens referred to it may be of a reversed Bere the antler

viewed as as pertaining to the same may represe xia a peculiar genus, vnus, subeequen ay extinguished,

Ane only

longed to a quaternary or perhaps a recent species. The remains of the piceo. Mastodon

f Matat. A Nah i ata TNI "

> y f the Mammal-

ian Remains of North America.

on the Geology of the Tertiaries of Dakota and aka, by Professor F v. Hayden, M. D.

308 REVIEWS.

pertain to the subgenus Tetralophodon, while those of the quaternary period belong to the

er emgins ‘of kiephas probably indicate a species herd from the quaternary E. a

h it is not posi y d. The ain E

from thos he E. fraternus, Th s Bip parion is clearly common to both the

pliocene and quaternary perio ut the species are different otohippus, one of the soli-

pedal genera of the Niobrara pliocene, appear: ave existed during the quaternary

s also to

period, in Obi. oath America. A small —_ of Poe of the Niobrara pliocene, is re-

presented by n

he quaternary fauna Sad both American continents was ane rey. seenguiened n the

n sloths, no trace of w

prese

the tertiary aas of North America.

cumstane «Te esi remains of

ations of Eon

je presence o nad d fauna of North America of the great sloths, together with

This appears the ne repareabie from the Vias

other ordinal and ge c forms, w kewise existed, and in part still continue to exist, iu

South America, Med to ihe hopresetor that the North American continent during the

Th r similitude of thé

hick l g he p k, with the contem-

poraneous oe of De mes world, ugg he p lity that the North American continent

from. a continent whose a Mer w forms the bottom " the great Faci > bns

tiary t

ana of Asia with its peninsula. Europe, o on nthe other,

h he

remains fro om the Mauvaises Terres and the Niobrara River, we observe the slink A act

that upwards of fifty = cniin belonging " the T faunæ together, seuroey a genus is com-

mon to bo "S In view o ft

41 1 .

Thus, for instance, t the pliocene Merychyus s y bed "od as identical oes 4 with

eo 00) on as

e Vi id ocene Rhino-

ros occide: ppears to have been an Aceratherium, while that of the pliocene formation

was probably a true or horned Rulsoesnds.

t, those of Dakota and Nebraska, under consid-

eration, appea in thei p with the tertiar unz of Europe.

Of the seridbrons of the former | liti prising .

the genera, or more than one-h If, f : Can

Amphicyon, Hysnodon, eerste and Drepanodon. The feline Diets o of the Buen

miocene has not elsewhere been vered. The re o carnivorous genera are too

gph tate nowh for compariso n.

It is ur R i d 1

that b f i , none, excepting the genus s Cervus, bel gs t y other kno

fane ‘cuties’ or rece; f th iti ble tl f the

remains attributed to k may belong to a peculiar subgenus, while others may be of a recent

species.

p the North Amer ings fexnary nee quaternary

ruminants, " fiud pemnrkapie differences, A liar famil

e latter

by a single genus. This family has nowhere in been discovered, neither in the American

quaternary nor the foreign tertiary PM CHE

Another v: the Agriochcerida, nearly allied to the former, is peculiar to the miocene

of the Mauvaises Terres.

p and quaternary de-

posits, but partieularly in the miocene, and they are yet represented in the existing fauna of

South dienen.

The M

osch

E y but not in

the l later formations of " North. cita.

erica. The

— are represented by a genus in the Niobrara pliocene. The SOT: and Bovide

represented in North America prior to the quaternary period,

REVIEWS. 309

Of icti m exclusive of n» Je pe — of seven species of six genera

belong to the Dakota miocene, h erium and us are mon

to the European te “tt tiary, The remaining genera in an but imperfectly known, appear to be

pes ES - Niobrara pliocene presents us with traces of a peccary, but rahe ‘probably may

neriod

e of the artiodaety le genera of the Dakota miocene, the huge pasion: was repre-

ienn by the nearly allied Chalicotherium of the European and Himmalaya miocene period,

Of uneven-toed Pachyderms or Perissodactyla, the Dakota egre presents one Acera-

therium, a peeuliar genus of the same family, the Hyracodon, and a species of Lophiodon.

The former and latter are both European tertiary forms. Another member of the Rhinoceros

family, R. hesperius, from California, was probably an Aceratherium of miocene age. A. merid-

ianus of Texas was probably of the sume CART as the latter.

The Niobrara plioeene p m tl Rhinoceros, odon and Elephant.

The for A gh ab aiaa t in its Europear

equiva alen ai and continuing to exist in Asia and Africa, nh qct E ed to the sub-

genus Tetralophodon, wine that ea me qM period was a Trilophodon. Elephants of

other species were nearly y e but two Fiunt now live

in Asia and Africa.

Five genera of So lipeds appear to have lived in North America during the miocene period.

Three of them are peculiar, and appear st to have been discovered elsew ere They have

been named Anchippus from Texas, Hypohippus from the Niobrara Rive pappaa

from New Jersey. The remaining genus ppsa characterized sg ud Pe of

maius from the Mauvaises Terres belongs also to the European miocene.

he Niobr:

The pliocene formatio: Niobrara is remarkable for the abundance of its equine

mains, which have been referre e genera, of which Merychippus and Parahippus ae

pecu bu r, and Protobippus has been discovered cleewhe ag - ly in a America. The re-

American quaternary and like-

The miocene “Rodents of the. Án Terres belong to four peculiar genera of as many

still existing families. D genera, Palzocastor, may be identical with the European

ene f Cotemporan

The pliocene Rodents e a Me pa appear to belong to the still existing g Castor

and irri, but the latter now exists only in the old wor!

Of t w discovered qua ternary rodents o f North America, one genus, Hydrocherus, now

S RR

The miocene Insectivora of North America belong to three genera no discovered else-

where." pp. 359-362.

viewing the character of the work, the care and accuracy of t

spect constitutes its great merit. On the other hand, however, we d to

in many cases, that exact comparison and clear diagnosis of era

proposed or adopted, by which the zoological affinity is alone RE

and by means of which the analysis of the subject in the broad sense is

so greatly facilitated. Without it, the student gropes in a mass of detail,

'and unless he fortunately have access to a good museum, will fail of

acquiring a mastery of it. This refers also to a precise comparison with

Eur DEYS nem for which we have so many standards in figures and

The EEN of extinct mammalia is of equal or greater value to the

student. The whole number of species enumerated is two hundred and .

three, of which Dr. Leidy has stood sponsor to one viget and twenty.

'The speen are distributed into the orders as follow ; Cédivbes, thirty-

three iodactyla, fifty-two; Perissodactyla, hcec Rodentia,

iwastr! Insectivora, five; Marsupialia, one; Edentata, seven; Sirenia,

310 REVIEWS.

two; Zeuglodonta, two; Cetacea, forty-four. There are several species

described for the first time, and the literary references are very complete.

he system adopted by Dr. DUM requires some comment. He adopts

the order Bimana, a step which we regard as retrograde, since modern

ae fresh in the mind m every student, have proved beyond

cavil that t group is equi to the order Quad hace The di-

vision of MUR o Ruminantia and EM aS orders, rank-

ing with other medaia ea on Bons d eoe or pred of the

of a homological system. The sian spin of the ae Kai from

Carnivora has in the same manner little better foundation. The bri

oft

case the Squalodons, which embrace ten of the twelve species included,

must certainly be referred to the Cetacea. "The separation of the Sirenia

order has met with favor from Owen and others, and is well adopted

in the present work.

THE putas EVIDENCES OF PLANT-LIFE.* — In this pamphlet Pro-

fessor Dawson reviews the different substances which have been sup-

posed to show Zh plants existed contemporaneously with the Eozóon in

the Laurentian of Canada.

nd First, that

e organie strueture can be detected in ‘the Laurentian graphite;

condly, that the general arrangement and microscopic structure of the substance corres-

mds wi the mo and bitu mmer matters 3H Grextae IDreuntons of won

odern date; thirdly, that if the L

it has only undergone a metamorphosis similar dn kind to that which organic miaiter in meta-

morphosed sediment of later age has experi en dotem that the association u the gra ph-

itic matter witli organic limestone, bed iron o lli

the probability of its vegetable origin; fifthly, ius t when we consider the immense thie kh ess

and extent of the Eozoonal and graphitic limestones and iron-ore deposits of the —

if we admit the organie origin of the limestone of graphite, we must be pre pe ared elie

that the life of that early period, thongh it ay h

ously developed. d that it lled.

accumulation that of any subsequent period."

sum up these facts

copi

d, in its results, in the way of sinapsia

FossıL Birps. t — In this little pamphlet Professor Marsh imposes a ne

hir apud on the science of Paleontology, by the discovery of five iia

f Cretaceous birds. Among the species there is one, Paleotringa m

dastribed from the original specimen found by Dr. Morton. he

first fossil bird bone found in this country, and though referred to by Dr.

Morton in his Organic Remains of the Cretaceous period, has been hith-

erto considered a recent specimen, which some accident had been

b the Cretaceous marl deposits. The forms embrace one large

‘swimming bird ( Laornis Edwardsianus), two gulls (Paleotringa littoralis

* On th^ m of the Laurentian of Canada.

By J. W. Dawson, LL. D., Proceed-

ings of the Geolog ety, Postponed Papers, Vol. xxvi, chant l. Pamphl vm n

+ Notice of = Foss Birds from the hited and Tertiary Formations of ‘ie United

States. st C. Marsh. From American Journal ar Science and Arts. March,

1870. "adieu 4

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 311

and P. vetus), and two rails ( Telmatornis priscus and T. affinis). Besides

these there are descriptions of four species of Tertiary birds, the first

that have been regularly described from that formation in this country.

These are sl to be more closely allied to existing species than those of

the Cretaceou They are — Conradi, Catarractes antiquus, Grus

Haydeni, and in Idahen

Though the discovery of man remarkable bird, the Archeopteryx, in

the Jurassic beds, led naturalists to suppose that Cretaceous forms

would be eventually discovered, to Professor eia energy we owe

the fulfilment of these anticipations.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

HIBERNATION OF DUCK-WEED. — It has long been known that some spe-

cies of Lemna, or duck-weed, produce, at the approach of winter, leaves

of a different character to those formed in the spring, which fall to the

th nd or i

winter. A series of more accurate observations on this point is recorded

by M. Van Hoven in the ** Bulletin de la Société Royale de Botanique de

Belgique." The species of Lemna indigenous to Belgium are the same as

those found in this country; of these M. Van Hoven finds that two only,

the L. polyrrhiza and gibba, produce leaves of a different form in winter;

while with the three other species, L. minor, trisulca, and arrhiza, the

ena leaves live through the winter, remaining on the surface. In

oe these winter-leaves first make their appearance in August or

Septem They are much smaller than the. ordinary leaves, reniform

or Musici elliptieal, olive-brown on both sides, and not gibbous be-

neath; their roots are exceedingly minute, and at first hidden within the

first frost. At the e ordinary gran of the Mu AC of vegetation, a small

bubble of oxygen appears on the upper surface of these submerged:

leaves, which carries fpe to the surface, from which they again descend

[n ertai t. m Lemna gibb

water, differing in shape, size, and structure from those developed during

summer. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

912 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY

Tue FRAGARIA GILLMANI AGAIN.—In simple justice to those concerned,

I think it but right to state that specimens of this food have lately

been examined by Dr. Asa Meta and that he confidently considers it F.

Mexicana Schieck senda: At the same time he admits that Schtechenda

in his description has cereals all mention of the well-developed leaf ou

the scape, which Dr. Gray sin ud idcm to be, or to be Rassen

the distinguishing charac ‘the species," adding that **no

one could tell from Sc er vin inensis whether or not he had a

plant like this in view.” It w hus be seen that he does not entertain

the idea that it is merely Ve accidental variation of F. vesca,” as som

everbearing ocn (F. Gillmani eR has held this everbearing

character for ten years in the State of higan. Plants removed to the

house from ilie open ground last RM are now (March 22d, 1870) in

e plant has been raised from seed during the past season, and

the besito continue to produce all the characteristics of the parent

plants, with dichotomous stem and racemose flowers, even to the blos-

soming and fruiting of the stolons, and that when but four months old!

—the leafy character of the stem being a marked feature. — Henry GILL-

MAN, Detroit, Michigan

VITAL FORCE AND COLOR IN PLANTS. — In my remarks on the yellow-

flowered variety of the purple Sarracenia, in the March number of the

NaTU

A ST, the parenthesis, on page 44, contains an evident lapsus

penna stead of reading **(white being taken as absence of color),"

it might be corrected and improved so as to read ws :— “(white

about thí interesting subject, and more clearly deflning the laws which

govern it. As we better understand the effects on vegetation of different

gi constituents of the soil, more light will be shed in this dam

I s bee marked that when a flower is of two colors, they a

most potes DIE of each other. Familiar instances of ux are

forg i

the fairy bird's-eye primrose of the rocks (Primula farinosa Linn.), bear-

ing pale lilac gewo with yellow eyes, powdered with silvery farina, and

the peerless calypso, nymph of the hemlock groves (Calypso borealis

Salisb.), with br don purple petals, and lip maculated with a darker

purple, almost hiding the flush of rare yellow glory within. Where there

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 313

are three 1 the third is commonly white, — the union of the other

two, as it were. A fine illustration of this is seen in the showy moccason-

flower (C; bebo spectabile Swartz.). The snow-white petals spread

ted lip i ich in

rpie

pends the singular petal-like diu stamen of a pale lemon-color blotched

with tawny spots. Another elegant example of this is presented by the

Calopogon pulchellus R. Br., the club-shaped hairs in the beautiful beard

of which are pure white, bright yellow, and rich purple. The white is dis-

tributed, if we may use the expression, into yellow and purple. — HENRY

ILLMAN, Detroit, Michigan

HE LIANIS OR Woopy CLIMBERS of the Isthmus, form, as is well

known, bora codes in the forests, which can be penetrated

only by aid of the axe or m un ie. M. Lévy, a botanical traveller in Nic-

the new roots were now so slender and feeble that he desisted. The

plant was a species of Bignonia.

JAPANESE SEA-WEEDS. — At a recent meeting of the Royal Academy of

Amsterdam, a collection was au to illustrate the care taken by the

Japanese in applying to beneticial purposes the natural products of their

country. The collection consisted of sixteen species of alge which are

useful for Mod: or other purposes, inu with fabrics manufactured

from some of them. Several of the species were altogether new; in

other instances the application was nid novel. — Quarterly Journal of

cience.

ZOOLOGY.

New INsECTICIDE. — M. Cloez, who is engaged at the garden of the

Paris — has invented what he considers a complete annihilator for

plant-lice and other small insects. This discovery i is given in the ** Revue

rière, To reduce M. a preparation to our measures, it will be sui-

d dium of hme seed ud red TRUN are to be put in

seven pints of water, and boiled until reduced to five pints. When the

iquid is cooled, strain it, and use with a watering-pot ge, as

may be most convenient. We are assured that this sisi has been

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 40

9514 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

most efficacious in M and it will be worth while for our gardeners

o experiment wit Quassia has long been used as an insect-destroyer.

The stavesacre duce are the seeds of à species of larkspur, or Delphi-

nium, and used to be kept in the old drug stores. Years ago they were

much used for an insect that found its home in the human head, but as

that has fortunately gone out of fashion, it may be that the seeds are less

obtainable than formerly. The stavesacre seeds contain Delphine, which

is one of the most active poisons known, and we have no doubt that a

very small share of it would prove fatal to insects. — Scientific Opinion.

Fauna OF ROUND Istanp. — The remarkable discovery has been made

feet deep, no animals of that Pita being natives of the Mauritius.

The flora was also found to be to a great extinct specifically distinct.

— The Academy

POSITION OF THE BRACHIOPODA IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. — For some

time past the writer has had reasons for believing that the Brachiopods,

with the Polyzoa, had greater affinities with the worms than with the mol-

lusks. He has studied attentively Terebratulina and Discina as well as

their early stages, and in all points of their structure interprets articu-

lated characters, and not t nr characters. Without entering into

particulars at this time, he would state that in the structure of the shell

he finds the greatest resemblance to the shell of crustacea, both as nb

the peculiar baer structure, and the scale-like appearance, and i

chemical composition. In Lingula, while the carbonate of lime amounts

to only six per cent., the phosphate of lime amounts to forty-two per et

in Arie sete which fringe the mantle are remarkably worm-like.

wo t bristles are enclose d in muscular sheaths, while in e

viri animals the hairs are simply tubular prolongations of the epi-

dermallayer. In the Brachiopods these bristles are secreted by follicles

and are surrounded by muscular fibres, and are freely moved by the animal.

The structure of iini sete differ but little, if at all, from those im the

ipa i boten with the cirri is to be compared to similar parts in the

aeons worms, and the mantle which covers and conceals their arms,

s to be compared to the cephalic collar, as seen in Sabella, for instance,

ere we find it split laterally, and a portion reflected. If this were

sime developed so as to cover the oT fronds of cirri, we should

recognize quickly the relation between the

Dr. Gratiolet has compared the aea — of the Brachiopods

to that of the crustacea, and Burmeister has shown a resemblance between

e oviducts of Brachiopoda, with their trumpet-shaped openings and,

similar organs in the worms.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 315

In the little knowledge we have of their € the strongest

proofs exist of their affinity with the worms. .Lacaze-Duthiers figures

a positive articulate and worm-like character. From the body of this

embryo, prominent bristles project. Smitt figures the same in the

embryo of Lepralia, wherein he describes six bristles that appear loco-

motive; and Claparéde figures the embryo of Nerine, a worm, in which

we find similar bristles Matias from the body. In this condi lMon it

is interesting to note that in the winter eggs, or statoblasts, of Polyzoa

we have a relation to Mb ecu among the lower crustacea, the

ephippia of Daphnia, and the winter eggs of Rotifers, for example

Leuckart places the Polyzoa lih the worms, and the close affinity of

resemble in almost every essential point of their eiectum the hippo-

€ Polyzo

e many of i foregoing points need ample illustration, and as the

iter has in preparation a memoir on the s subject, he will now only call

fatis to the facts supporting these views, evolved from the study of

living Lingule. It is but justice to state that six months previous to the

observations made on Lingula, he had come to v ge on herein ex-

pressed, and had freely argued it with his colaborator

He sàw the necessity of examining Lingul i karea before advancing

and a

Macon, North Carolina, for their ‘cans aid sd sympathy in further-

ance of the object of his visit there. i

After nearly a week’s eere search, Lingule were found in a sand

shoal, left at low tide. They were found buried in the sand. The pe-

annelids. In many instances the peduncle was broken in sifting them

from the sand, yet the wound was quickly healed and a new sand-tube

promptly formed. When placed on the surface of the sand they were

noticed to move quite freely, by the sliding motion, in all directions, = the

rsal and ventral n me aided at the same time by the rows of s

bristles, which swung back and forth like a galley of oars, ea a

peculiar track in the

The peduncle was aioe: and the blood could be seen coursing back

and eben in its channel. It was distinctly and — ringed, and

presented a remarkably worm-like appearance. It had layers of circular

aud lon; ngs tudinal muscular fibre, and coiled Re. in numerous folds

316 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

or unwound at full length. It was contractile, also, and quickly jerked

the body beneath the sand when alarmed.

But the most startling discovery in connection with this interesting

animal was the fact, that its blood was red. This was strongly marked

in the gills, which were found in the shape of a series of rows of simple

lamelle, hanging from the internal surface of the mouth; thus proving

the correctness of Vogt's observations from alcoholie specimens

times the peduncle sepu become conjeste E nd a deep rose blush was

markedly distinct. The es were distinc

iter believes Bde Matos ods to = true articulates, having cer-

tain affinities with the crustacea, but properly A penetra to the worms,

coming nearest the tubicolous annelids. They better be regarded as

forming a comprehensive type, with general pond features. Possibly

they have affinities with the mollusks, through the homologies pointed

out by Allman as existing between the Polyzoa and Tunicates.

It is interesting to remember that Lingula, though one of the earliest

animals created, has yet remained ee the same through all geo-

logical ages to the present time. — Epwa ORSE

Fig. 76.

Fig. 78.

Fig. 76. Peduncle pu retaining a portion of the sand tu

Fig. 77. Showin, e valves in motion; the n broken ania new sand case being formed.

Fig. 78. Pedunele broken close to erm and sand ease being formed,

uE RuBY CROWNED WREN. — In reply to Mr. Allen's question, I ma

state positively that, according to my experience, the adult fertile Aem

is **ruby-crowned " like the male. She is perhaps a trifle smaller, not quite

so brightly colored, and with the flame-colored patch possibly of alittle less

extent; but she cannot be distinguished from the male with certainty,

except on dissection, and even then it is not always easy to determine

from slight inspection, unless the organs are enlarged in functional activ-

ity. The barren or sickly female may possibly not acquire the ornament

Birds of both sexes Tack it for at least a year; whether they breed or not

with plain heads I do not know. These come along in spring in the rear

of the mature birds; they are most abundant at the time when the latter

are about leaving. — ELLIOTT Cougs.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 317

GEOLOGY.

GEOLOGICAL Survry or Iowa.— The legislature of this state has

too ánxious about the next election t any attention to the de-

elopment of the natural resources and mining interest of the state

Provision. has been ma owever, for the publication of the State

Geologist's Report, which is to be completed in the same style as the

Illinois Geological Survey.

New Fossit Turkey. — At the meeting of the Philadelphia Academy

of Natural Sciences, March a, Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale College,

exhibited a number of fossil remains from the Post-tertiary deposits of

Monmouth E New Jersey, which indicate a new and distinct type

of birds, closely related, apparently, to the turkey, and not unlikely the

progenitors of the existing species. The specimens shown were portions

of three skeletons, of different ages, which belonged to birds about the

esting remains were refe ferred provisionally by Professor Marsh to the

genus Meleagris, and the species they represent was named Meleagris altus.

MICROSCOPY.

CULATION OF THE LATEX IN THE LATICIFEROUS VESSELS. — Within a

few days I have repeated some experiments (first made more than fifteen

years since) upon the circulation of the latex in the laticiferous vessels of

ore de

Amici, Dutrochet and Mohl deny any visible motion in them except such

as is the result of injury; while Schleiden says **that in the uninjured

vessels, the motion of the latex can very seldom be successfully shown ;”

even in Chelidonium majus it is only occasionally possible, and then pre-

sents great optical difficulties

Now, I find, by potting a young plant of this kind, and placing any

young leaf between two strips of glass (upon which a drop of glycerine

as been put) in such a manner as to bring the under side of the leaf up-

318 NATURAL ILISTORY MISCELLANY.

ermost on the stage of the microscope, so as to throw the strong re-

flected sunlight upon it from the mirror below, that;

First, there is occasionally either a nearly total want of motion or only

the particles to be seen, running from right to left, if the vessel happens

to run horizontally on the stage, or n me if the vessel runs from the

outer to the inner border of the stage

Secondly, that while watching the eieolndon as seen through the lenses

in the reflected sunlight, if I move the diaphragm from left to right, so as

Lond

ün

[97

-—

£e

irror.

The actual direction in the plant is from the apex of the leaf in sunlight

body properly placed will quicken the circulation, as will cold retard it.

If I mistake not we have here a fine demonstration of the conversion of

light into heat by its passage through the vegetable tissues, and of heat

into motion by its action upon the laticiferous vessels.

Prof. Balfour in the Article Botany, ** Ency. Brit.,” says that in plants

with milky and colored juices evident movements have been viii

and mentions the calyx leaves of Chelidonium majus, as also the Ind

rubber plant, the gutta-percha tree, the dandelion, and the Pagi pant

and through your journal, should you think this article worth insertion,

. by

mixinga little of the colored juice with alcohol, and adding a little water,

it will be seen that the motion of the liquids in the vessels cannot be the

result of evaporation. And that it is not an ocular illusion may be argued

from the fact that three independent vie witnessed the changes of

motion as above described. — H. C. Perkins, M. D., Newburyport.

Note, May 12. I have just examined the circulation of the latex in the

laticiferous vessels of Leontodon taraxacum under the same circumstances

as that of Chelidonium and am pleased to find precisely the same results.

ES BOILING DESTROY GERMS?— This question cropped up in the

course of the Pasteur and Pouchet controversy on Heterógeny, and it a

boiling. This is another simple problem for microscopists. —

Microscopical Journal.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 319

ANTHROPOLOGY.

AR RCH ROLOGIOAL IMPOSTURES.— To hoaz 1s eminently an American pro-

always reckless, which pervades our society far and wide, and which is

gratified by creating what is called **a sensation." Sometimes there is a

sinister or selfish motive hehind, and a deliberate imposture is practiced

with the view to pecuniary advantage. Of this the ‘Aztec children”

and the ‘Onondaga giant” are clear examples. The latter fraud, it is

to be hoped, is bani ; the former flourished for years after it had been

ie md exposed.

I have hu —— down a score or more of these frauds on popular cre-

just as though two spoons of equal size could not fit into or over each

canons of Rear River in the Uin ountains. I quote from n article :

* Having secured the help of some half dozen men, Professor Scott immediately directed

his, cour: hast the T where a bastard men? starts out eee one of the sad pars

Fortunately he 2 with him a half-br ge

all through that section, and through the interpretor he _ warned from Wenn i a

sub-chief of sme ipcdiod Mies, f of extraordi-

nary dimensions. Tl and to his ; great gratifica-

tion discovered a tumulus of as fair and positive proportions as any described by Squier and

Davis wi

gok eet, was :

of half a gallon, cone-shaped, an s um atte any mark or engraving whatever onit. Along the

left side lay a mica bracelet ser a spring clasp, perfectly preserved. On each side of the

Skull were two medicine stones, shaped like a cigar, full of holes, and of half-pound weight.

320 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

The Scotch granite. Onthe right side of the

debe. pda rdg bund à silver plate about the size and exactly the shape of an a

pale re No mark Mur was distinguishable on this piece, but it is of the purest silver. 1t

may h e poen u sed an * sngel, though » he Professor fueliabe to ue »-— that it was a

» din? Yas UAL OF

I replied to my bebés that I thought the ien story a ‘‘ hoax,"

but if it would please him would soon find out if it were or not. I ac-

cordingly addressed a letter to the editor of the paper in which the article

originally appeared, asking him on what authority the publication was

made. He answered that it had been written by a sub-editor (giving his

name) who, however, had left his employ, but to whom he would forward

my letter. A few days ago I secured a note from the sub-editor afore-

said, in which he says:

“To be frank with you, ‘Explorations in Utah’ was a sensa ffset tl

coming report of Profteiés Powell in the Colorado Canons,’ d ooa Samuel necp à in

Colorado,' both of which have since appeared. From personal observation in the region me

us.”

I should perhaps mention that ** Professor Scott's" explorations were

alleged to have been undertaken under the belief that the race of the

mound builders of the Mississippi Valley had migrated to Mexico and

Central Mexico, and that traces of their transit might be found on the

way. — E. G. SQUIER.

ATE. TO CORRESPONDENTS.

T. D jM r specimens though inconvenien any x small for determination,

&re: 1, "Po Ln e) 2i Aspidium patens : * Parmelia I. var

amilina fraxinea; 5, Parmelia speciosa variate grad ifera. Southern spe-

cies of liihens and — are d erac e. end aime Taco ore. Your eei

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Annual cg ee Synopsis. By J. B. Trembley, M.D., Toledo, Ohio. Pamph. 1870..

ndred Dollar Mn Essay on the Cultivation vé the ae By D. H. Compton.

8yo. eg ig "iwetruzed. pe iae &Co. New York, 1870. oed

The Geological Surv of Ont es 869. ite py eee ee

bag! meni re of Ohio, Fe mar y A By J. S. Newberry Enit. OEC" p^ pamph. 1870.

of a Bear Hu A the — Read ‘bet ore the Albany Institute, January-18,

X pias Colvin.. ave: pamph. J. Munsell. Albany, 1870.

Proceedings Academy of Natur ai Sciences of sigs telphia, 0. 4. "Decem ber, 1869,

Discourse on the Lie and Character of Geor; eae: a By S. T. Wallis. Peabody Institute

. 8vo, pam

rnal of the Queckett Micro scopical Ol Club. .No. 10. April, 1870. 8vo. Plates.» London.

Alaska and iis Resources. By W. H. Dail. La Lar 8vo. Cloth. 628 pages. Many lllustra-

I a to e ard.

First Annual Report of the quit nhe y rH made during the year 1869,

y E.

T. mee State Geologist, assisted by Messrs. Bradley, Haymond and Levette. 8vo, Mod "pp.

AR rendi Indianapolis, 869. =

"gia M l rom e

Ibis" tor rv 1870. Y ih e-Fowl (Alea impennis). By Alfred Newton. [F

Contributions to the Theory Natural Selection. A Series of Essays. AMréd Russel

Wallace. pp. 384. 12mo. eih. London and New York. 1870. P pen. ir Co.

The Naturalist's Guide in Collecting and Preservin ects of Natural History, with a Com

ete Catalogue of the Birds a Eastern Massachusetts. C. J. Maynard. Illustrated. pp. 170.

2mo, cloth. Boston, 1870. Fields, Osgood & Co. [$2.00.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New e Vol. ix. No.10, April, 1870,

Naturalist's Note Book. April and May, Londo)

Iai e Get i prt alae dett, Cte o TUUM

L ri of Noi rn Americ reference to

Erian ese ue Period, Aberats of the Bakerian Lecture. Lecture. By J. W. Deseo (From

yal Society. London, 1870.]

LL EE E

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — AUGUST, 1870. — No. 6.

coc Gu eS €

THE LIEBE Si RD

BY GRACE ANNA LEWIS.

> Maat X

NNA TN D 7^5 c «MM

Cram Siig

SY AM T

"as. (f NS SY "

(M, OA

€ ý

Z- =

3 e e e z ey =x a T

TuE Lyre Bird finds in the south-eastern portion of Aus-

Entered ding tó A gr h 1870, by the PrABODY ACADEMY OP SCIENCE, in the Clerk's Offi ha Di

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

41 (321)

223 THE LYRE BIRD.

tralia a region peculiarly adapted to its nature. At a variable

distance from the sea rises a range of mountains, the swell

of which is undulating rather than precipitous, while the

summits expand into immense open downs and grassy plains.

These are studded with belts and forests of trees, and appear

like a succession of vast parks. As the hills and plateaus

sink into the cup-like depression of the interior, marshy

grounds alternate with parched and sterile barrens; but sea-

ward, the soil is of almost inconceivable richness. Here, a

tropical luxuriance prevails. Forests of immense, ever ver-

dant, blooming trees, are broken by rich meadow-like dis-

triets admirably suited to grazing purposes. Indeed, the

country as described, is so charming, that it might be con-

sidered almost a Paradise were it not for the intense heat of

summer, increased, as it is, by the hot dry winds which

blow southward from more northerly regions. Parching

droughts are succeeded by torrents of rain, which, collecting

on the hills and plains, and advancing through their stream-

lets, pour in swollen floods down the mountain sides to the

sea, carrying destruction on every hand. Thus are the sea-

ward slopes washed into gullies and ravines, which are left

obstructed by fallen trees and branches. Over these active

nature soon spreads a mantle of greenness and bloom, by

means of rapidly growmg creeping vines, forming almost in-

accessible fastnesses. In these secluded haunts the Lyre

Bird hides itself from the gaze of man. It is found over a

large extent of country, but is peculiar to the mountain dis-

tricts of Australia, and especially to those on the south-

eastern face of the continent. Two species are known; one,

Menura superba, the well-known Lyre Bird, the other a

closely allied species, Menura Albertii.

Australia is a country of wonders, where even the leaves

of the trees are so disposed that they present but little surface

to the scorching sun, and, consequently, are almost valueless

for shade; and where, both in the vegetable and animal

world, are curious furms existing nowhere else on the globe.

THE LYRE BIRD. $23

Here is a rich display of birds with gorgeous plumage, and

here also are found many remarkable only for their unlike-

ness to all others. Among the latter is a family, the mem-

bers of which, with their peculiarly large feet, scratch up

grass, herbage, and soil, and throwing these backward, in

concentric circles, finally raise a mound which forms a verit-

able hot-bed. In this they deposit their eggs, and the heat

engendered by the decaying vegetable matter quickens the

life-germ, as in ordinary hatching does the warm body of

the brooding mother.

What is especially curious is that the Lyre Bird, while in-

cubating its eggs in the method common to birds, has a sim-

ilar habit of raising mounds which it devotes to a wholly

different purpose. These elevations seem to be intended as

orchestras for the display of musical powers, and both morning

and evening they betake themselves thither, frequently while

they whistle, sing, or imitate the notes of other birds, raising

and spreading their tails with all the pride of the peacock.

M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, refers both the Lyre

Birds and the “Mound Builders” to one family, that of the

Megapodide, or the Great Feet. It is by no means won-

derful that this thought should have suggested itself to the

mind of the learned naturalist, for there certainly is, in

several respects, a striking similarity between the Lyre Bird

and the Megapodes, a resemblance so strong as to be per-

ceived even by the casual observer. But this similarity

seems capable of explanation on other grounds than those

of a family relationship, nor need we even suppose that the

birds in question belong to the same order.

The Lyre Bird has been known for more than half a cen-

tury, but possibly, our fullest information is derived from

the English naturalist, Gould, who, with his wife, travelled in

Australia for the purpose of ornithological investigation

more than twenty years ago, and who since has, from time

to time by his correspondence, obtained facts of much im-

portance to ornithological science. To his pen, and to her

324 THE LYRE BIRD.

almost magie pencil, we are largely indebted for our knowl-

edge of Australian birds. The pictures of both artists are

so life-like that we might well be pardoned for forgetting

that we had never heard the musie of their songsters, nor

beheld the flowering vine where it grew.

The whole collection of birds, forming the originals of

Gould's “Birds of Australia," was purchased by Dr. Thomas

B. Wilson and presented to the Academy of Natural Sci-

ences in Philadelphia, —a gift to a noble institution of his

native city, in which America has reason to rejoice. In

this collection, along with other specimens of the Lyre Bird,

may be seen that which furnished the half size illustration

of Gould. It is somewhat faded by time, but otherwise is

in a good state of preservation. From this bird our artist

has given the cut heading the present article.

The bird is about the size of the common fowl. Its gen-

eral plumage is of a dull leaden, or chocolate brown color,

Fig. 80. brightened on the wings, chin

and front part of the throat

with a reddish tinge, which is

much richer during the mating

season. The peculiar beauty of

the bird, however, lies in its tail,

which is in perfection only four

or five months of the year.

This appendage consists of six-

teen feathers, twelve of which,

(icin EM M NS in the engraving, are

natural size, ' furnished with loose, slender and

flowing barbs, which are so distant from each other that their

effect is that of a background of light and elegant tracery.

Figure 80 shows a section from one of these feathers, the

barbs, many of which are seven inches in length, having

been cut away on either side of the central stem. Four

of these feathers are of a closer texture near the base where

firmness is required. The two unpiiant middle feathers are,

THE LYRE BIRD.

325

on the outside, destitute of barbs, except a slight fringe

near the termination. On the inner side there is a narrow

vane gently expanding to a little

more than half an inch at the widest

part, but contracting towards the end.

These feathers bend on either side

over the delicate tracery, heightening

its effect by their decided lines, as

best seen in fig. 79. Figure 81 pre-

sents two sections, æ from the ter-

minal curve, and 6 from the middle

of one of these rigid feathers.

But that which gives character to

the whole is the arrangement of the

Fig. 81.

external feathers. These curve in "terminal curve; > nom middle

such a manner that the two together

terminal curve; 6 from middle

portion of one of the central,

rigid feathers.

form the outline of an ancient lyre, an appearance so striking

Fig. 82.

a, manung uide, from o

of ee Mp ei cg Maihora:

devoid of color.

as to confer on the birds their popular

name. These two feathers contrast

with the middlé ones by presenting

vanes, wide on the inner side, on the

whole length of the shaft. These

vanes, are apparently frilled, but this

singular effect exhibited at a in figure

82, which is a section, half size, from

one of the exterior feathers, is pro-

duced by an alternate omission of bar-

bules on the barb, as seen at 5, fig. 82

which is a single barb. As the barbs

are seen edgewise, they present, in the

naked spaces, the appearance of trans-

parency, and are usually so described.

The microscope, however, proves that

in these portions the barbs are not

These two outer feathers are of one or

more shades of brown and ash color, lighter than the general

326 THE LYRE BIRD.

plumage, and are tipped with black. In running the tail is

lowered and held horizontally, and when of full size it is

nearly two feet in length.

Gould describes the Lyre Bird (Menura superba) as soli-

tary, never more than one pair, and frequently only one bird

being found in the same covert. It is extremely shy, and of

all birds is the most difficult to capture, this being ascribed

in part to its extraordinary powers of running and in part

to the nature of the ground it inhabits, traversed as that is

by immense, obstructed gullies and ravines. It seldom or

never attempts to escape by flight, but like the Texan Guan,

belonging to the Penelopide, frequently ascends trees to a

considerable height, by leaping from branch to branch.

One mode of procuring specimens is by wearing the tail of

a full plumaged male in the hat. The poor bird is deceived,

and, approaching to greet a companion, easily falls a victim

to the gunner. Any unusual sound, such as a shrill whistle,

generally induces it to show itself for an instant; if this

favorable moment is not seized instantly, the next it may

be half way down a gully. None are so successful in the

capture of these birds as are the native blacks of Australia.

Restless and active, the Menura is constantly engaged in

traversing the brush from one end to the other, and the

mountain sides from the top to the bottom of the gullies,

whose steep and rugged acclivities present no obstacle to

its long legs and septal) and muscular thighs. It is also

said to be capable of performing the most extraordinary

leaps, frequently using this method of escape from its

enemies.

Independently of its loud, full call, which can be heard

reverberating over the gullies at least a quarter of a mile, it

possesses an “inward and varied song, the lower notes of

which can only be heard when the listener is within a few

feet of the singer.” This animated strain frequently ceases

suddenly and then recommences with a low snapping sound,

ending in an imitation of another Australian singer, the

THE LYRE BIRD. 321

Satin Bird, and is always accompanied with a tremulous mo-

tion of the tail.

Through a letter written from Sydney, Australia, by Dr.

George Bennett, and published in the "Proceedings of the

Zoological Society," London, we learn something of the Lyre

Bird in a state of captivity.

The bird, described in the letter of Dr. Bennett, had been

captured when so young that it was only just able to feed

itself. It was in the possession of a gentleman who, when

he first obtained it, fed it with great care and regularity on

worms, grubs, German paste and beef chopped very fine,

but as it grew older he added hemp seed, bread, etc. ; in

short, treating it as he would any member of the Thrush

family. Of many specimens, of all ages, which he pur-

chased as companions, this was the only one which survived,

the others, brought from the Illawara district, lived but a

short time. Apparently healthy and well when they

whistled at dusk in the evening, the morning would present

only a lifeless form. Others kept in an aviary in Sydney,

survived their captivity but six months.

On the fourth of January, no indication of sex could be

ascertained from the plumage of the individual described.

Twenty days afterwards, when the bird was two years and

four months old, two of the peculiar feathers of the male

were developing.

This bird was in a constant state of restless activity, run-

ning rapidly about the spacious aviary in which it was con-

fined, and leaping upon and over the stones and branches

placed in the enclosure, yet with all its restlessness it would

follow the call of its owner and take food from the hands of

those to whom it was accustomed. It mocked with great

accuracy the Piping Crow, Wonga Pigeon, Parrots and

various other birds in the same aviary and in the vicinity,

and about dusk in the evening was often heard to utter its

own peculiar whistle.

Even in Australia this bird was so highly prized that a

328 THE LYRE BIRD.

liberal offer could not induce the possessor to part with it to

send to England.

Another letter from Melbourne, Australia, written to Gould,

informs us that the nestling bird is extraordinarily helpless ;

when taken forcibly from the nest, it walked most awk-

wardly, with its legs bent inwards, frequently falling, appa-

rently from want of strength to move the large and heavy

bones of its legs properly, and this at a time when its height

was sixteen inches, and when its wings and tail were already

furnished with feathers, although the body was still clothed

with down, which, as well as the feathers, was of a dar

brown color. When taken from the nest, the bird screamed

` loudly, and the mother, notwithstanding the proverbial shy-

ness of the species, actuated by her maternal fondness, tried

in various ways to deliver the captive. A shot was the re-

ward of her devotion, and with its mother near it, the young

Menura soon became silent and quiet. Afterward its cries

for its natural protector being answered by an imitation of

` the mother's voice, it was easily led by the sound and soon

became very tame. It was exceedingly voracious, but ate

wholly in the manner of the Passeres, the nestlings of which

hold the open beak in a vertical position, requiring food to

be dropped therein. It was sustained principally by worms

and the larve of ants, and when occasionally it picked up

the latter for itself it never was able to swallow them, the

muscles of the neck not having gained sufficient power to

effect the required jerk and throwing back of the head.

Remaining for an unusually long time in the nest, the young

Menura, like the passerine birds in general, possesses the

instinct of cleanliness.

The habits of Menura Albertii are very similar to those of

its better known relative; the former, like the latter, being

famous for its most extraordinary mocking capabilities.

Commencing his song before the dawn of day, in fact being

the earliest of song-birds, he continues till about an hour

after sunrise, besides his own peculiar note imitating the

THE LYRE BIRD. 329

cries of all the birds in the bush. He then becomes silent

and remains so during the day until about an hour before

sunset, when he again commences singing and playing about

until it is quite dark.

This species chooses sandy localities and feeds wholly on

insects, mingled with a considerable proportion of sand, but

is without the crop found among the gravel-using Rasores.

It commences building in May, lays its eggs in June, and

hatches its young in July. Choosing some bare rock where

there is a sufficient shelter for a lodgement, it builds an

oven-shaped nest, outwardly constructed of sticks or roots,

tendrils, or the leaves of palms, and lined with soft green

mosses, or the skeleton leaf of the parasitical tree ferns, —

a substance almost as elastic as horse hair. This nest is

completely rain proof and has the entrance on one side.

A nest of this species, with two eggs, is deposited in the

British Museum. The nest is about two feet in length, by

sixteen inches in breadth, and is domed over except at one

end. The eggs, about the size of those of the common fowl,

are of a deep purplish chocolate, irregularly blotched and

freckled with a darker color.

The nestling is covered with white down and remains six

weeks in the nest.

In this species the male bird is about four years old before

he acquires his full tail; the two centre curved feathers are

the last to make their appearance.

Of the nest of M. superba we find no FORUM clear descrip-

` tion, but it appears very nearly to resemble that of M. Al-

tii. The eggs of the former species are said to be of a

lighter color, and the young to be blind as well as helpless.

The method of nest building, the helplessness of the

young, and their passerine manner of feeding, taken in con-

nection with the structure of the Menaul. all point to a

position considerably higher than the Megapodes. It is true,

the young are covered with down, but exceptions occur

among the Fissirostral birds, as for instance, the Night Hawk

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

330 THE LYRE BIRD.

and the Whip-poor-will of the Caprimulgide, both of which

are downy at birth ; and the Menurid@ may present a similar

exception in the group of the Passeres, where the young are

nearly if not entirely nude.

Gray placed Menura among the Wrens. Jerdon assigned

it a position intermediate between the Walking Birds, —in-

cluding the common fowl and the Pigeons and Doves, — and

the higher Land Birds.

Most ornithologists of the present day unite in consider-

ing it as a member of the Passeres, that group which in-

cludes our Thrushes, Wrens, Pewees, Humming Birds,

Sparrows, Crows and all the multitude of their kind.

Professor Huxley has examined a portion of its anatomy

with care, and while referring Menura to a group equivalent

to the Passeres, sees so many distinctions between this and

all other passerine genera, that he places it in a section of

this group alone, no other birds in the world answering to

the Lyre Birds.

Nitzsch, who with equal care, examined Menura in refer-

ence to plumage, reaches the same conclusion, that it is un-

doubtedly a passerine genus, but that in certain respects it

differs from every other, while manifesting a relationship to

the Wrens, the Thrushes, the Dippers and several other

allied families.

From all these considerations the probabilities of the

case seem to be, that the Lyre Birds are neither Wrens nor

shes, nor members of any other family to which they

appear to be most nearly allied; but that they may be the

living representatives of a group which preceded one, or

either, or all of these various families; and, that under a

passerine form, they repeat some of the peculidrities of the

Megapodes and of their near connections, in the line of ascent,

the Cracide and Penelopide; at the same time reasserting,

in a general way, their resemblance to the Walking Birds,

while exhibiting a fundamentally passerine nature. In the

same manner does each of the vertebrate classes repeat,

MUSSEL CLIMBING. 331

within its own type, characteristics of lower forms of life;

and thus do all the higher animals in their embryonic condi-

tion, pass through stages representing the lower vertebrates.

MUSSEL CLIMBING.

BY REV. S. LOCKWOOD, PH.D.

Can any one see a snail travel, and not del mentally,

“how it does it?” The method certainly is curious. A

fleshy disk is protruded, and caused to project in the direc-

tion of locomotion; it is then spread out flatly, and while

slightly adhering to the object over which it is passing, a

contractile energy is exerted, and the little animal bearing

its house is drawn onward. Thus by the repeated protru-

sion, expansion, and contraction of this soft organ, in due

time its journey is accomplished. Because of this method

of progression on a ventral disk, all those shell-fish, or

properly speaking, molluscan animals, so constituted, are

called by the systematists, gasteropods, a term which means

ventral-footed. And in rank these gasteropods stand next

to the most highly organized of the mollusca. But some of

these shell-encased creatures do not travel at all. Take, for

instance, the oyster, called a monomyary, because the valves

are held together by a single muscle. This sedate bivalve

once settled, probably never moves from that spot. But a

332 MUSSEL CLIMBING.

the dimyaries, or two-muscled bivalves, well represented by

the common edible mussels, possess a foot, which is not

greatly unlike that of the snails. The mussel’s foot, how-

ever, presents in its class, the least developed condition of

this organ, for it is a spinner, rather than a walker; or, as

Owen says, "it is subservient to the function of a gland,

which secretes a glutinous material analogous to silk, the

filaments of which are termed the byssus,” which often

serves for attachment to rocks. He farther says, "in most

dimyary bivalves the foot is an organ of locomotion.” Some

of the river mussels in babyhood spin a byssus with which

to moor themselves against the currents of the stream.

When older grown this necessity is overcome, and the capac-

ity just mentioned is lost. Then the adult turns its foot

into a plow-share, and is dragged along in the furrow it

makes in the mud. The razor-shell alternately bores down-

wards and propels upward, the foot doing all the work.

With the foot as an elastic spring the heart-shell leaps along.

But the common black mussel, Mitylus edulis, and its de-

spised neighbor, the brown horse mussel, Modiola plicatula,

who ever saw them walk? Propulsion is not always walk-

ing. The scallop with its large adductor muscle, by snap-

ping together its light valves, thus forcibly ejecting the.

water within against the water without, flits through, and

sometimes even skips upon its native element, like an aquatic

butterfly. But no pedestrian does so in all Mollusca-dom.

Why then should not these pedate bivalves, the mussels,

walk as others of their own people do? "For want of

brains!” says one. You are mistaken, sir. They have

brains, the right kind too, and in the right place, — a real

pedal nerve-mass, or ganglion; a little bilobed brain at the

very bese of the “understanding” itself, that is, exactly un-

der the foot, as was fabled of a very agile dancer, that his

brains were in his heels.

Now, if seeing is believing, mussels can walk. We once

saw a young brown mussel, of the species Modiola plicatula,

MUSSEL CLIMBING. 333

about five-eighths of an inch in length, turn his foot to most

excellent account. We had pulled the youngster's beard off,

and then had deposited him at the bottom of a deep aqua-

rium. The water was probably but poorly aerated, hence

he was evidently ill at ease, and to our astonishment he at

once began travelling over the pebbly bottom, then up the

glass side with the utmost facility and grace. The foot

moved precisely as any univalve gasteropod would do, and

with the same easy gliding motion. The movement was

continued without interruption until it had reached the sur-

face of the water, a distance of not less than ten inches,

which added to the distance travelled over the bottom, was

probably equal to fourteen inches. At the surface it lost no

time in spinning its byssus, which it fixed to the side for a

permanent abode.

For its lively colors, perhaps rather ruthlessly, we had

picked this little fellow out of a large family cluster, snugly

packed in a hole in one of the piles of the dock. It wasa

large group of all sizes, literally bound together by the

silken cords of —attachment shall we say ?

A fellow captive was a full grown, black, edible mussel,

torn from its anchorage, a stone near by, at low tide. e

afterwards found ensconced in this black shell, an amount of

intelligence, which filled us with astonishment. If his

youthful fellow prisoner could beat him at walking, he was

about to accomplish the feat of climbing to the same posi-

tion by means of a species of engineering of a very high

order.

In order the better to understand this singular feat, let us

introduce it by the narration of some spider tactics we once

witnessed. The insect had captured a large beetle, but

could not get it to its web, and seemed indisposed to prey

upon it away from its den. It had dragged the prey under

the web, which was about two feet above. It ran up toa

point close by its web; there it attached a thread, by which

it speedily descended, and then attached the other end to its

334 MUSSEL CLIMBING.

booty. Again it ascended, affixed another thread, then de-

scended and affixed to the prey as before. Each thread, in

sailor phrase, was made taut. After a good many threads

had been in this manner attached, each being stretched tightly,

and each pulling a little, the weight was seen to ascend a

small fraction of an inch. Again the threads were increased,

and again the weight ascended a little more, until at last,

after incredible labor, perseverance and skill, the little en-

gineer had the satisfaction of success; for its well earned

booty, with one final, tiny jerk “brought up” at the desired

spot. The explanation of all this is simple. Suppose we take

a cord of the material known by the ladies under the name

elastic, and attach it to an ounce weight. If but very moder-

ately stretched it would certainly pull at least a grain. Sup-

posing it to do that, a second one would pull with equal force,

and it would be but a simple estimate to determine how

many threads would be required to raise the entire weight.

But enough of this. Now for the mussel.

Placed at the bottom of the aquarium, where it had been

for a couple of days, it had succeeded in wiggling itself up

to one of the glass sides of the tank. This coor plisbed

it protruded its large foot, stretching it up as high on the

glass as it could reach, this organ seemingly adhering very

tightly. A little hole opened near the extreme forward end

of the foot. This tiny hole was really the extremity of a

folded or closed groove. Out of this a drop of white

gluten, or mucus, not larger than the head of a pin, was

exuded, and pressed against the glass. There was then a

slight withdrawing of the foot, simultaneously with an un- `

folding, or opening of the groove, which contained, as if

moulded there, the already completed delicate thread. This

done, the partly contracted foot (not drawn into its shell at

all, be it understood) was again extended, this time a little

higher than before. The groove, or spinneret, was again

closed, except the little opening on the surface of the foot,

whence another little drop of mucus appeared, which also

MUSSEL CLIMBING. 335

was pressed against the glass. Again the foot was with-

drawn a little, the lips of the groove unfolded, and the

moulded thread set free. This gave thread number two.

Each was evidently set at a considerable tension. And in

this wise, thread after thread was formed and set. I regret

that I did not record the exact number, but am sure that it

was about twelve or sixteen, and the time occupied was be-

tween two and three hours, when lo! up went the mussel,

about three-eighths of an inch high. Yes, he was drawn up

by his own cords. He was literally lifted from terra firma.

Not at all suspecting what was to follow I mentally ex-

claimed. “This little fellow knows the ropes."

There was next a period of rest. Whether it was due to

exhaustion of material, and was meant to allow the secreting

gland time to evolve a fresh supply or not, I cannot affirm ;

but must say that such was my belief, for after an hour or

so it set to work again, precisely as before, attaching a new

cluster of threads. This cluster was set about five-eighths

of an inch higher than the previous one. When this new

group of filaments was finished, the same result followed,

another lift of a fraction of an inch, but not quite so high as

the first. I now suspected its motive—the animal was

actually in this singular manner attempting to reach the sur-

face. It wanted to take an airing, and was really in a fair

way to bring it about.

While setting its third cluster of threads, I foresaw a seri-

ous diffieulty in the way, and one against which the spider

never has to contend. It was this: after the third lift had

been achieved the threads which had accomplished the first

lift had changed direction; that is, the ends of the threads,

Which had pointed downward when pulling up the mussel,

were now pointing upward, and were actually pulling it

down. Of eourse the lowermost thread, or threads, would

exert the most retrograde traction. Thought I, *Sir Mussel-

man, you will have to exercise your wits now.” I rejoice to

say that the ingenious little engineer was complete master

336 MUSSEL CLIMBING.

of the situation. The difficulty was overcome in this way

—as each lowest thread became taut in an adverse direction,

it was snapped off at the end attached to the animal. This,

as I think, was done by two processes ; the one by softening

that end of the thread by the animal's own juices, purposely

applied, as the pupa in the cocoon moistens its silk envelope,

when wishing to soften the fibres, so that it can break a hole

through which the imago may emerge; the other by a moder-

ate weeded pulling, thus breaking tiie filament at its weak-

est point.

The next day our little engineer had accomplished the

wonderful feat of climbing to. the surface by ropes, fabricated

during the ascent. Without delay it moored itself securely

by a cluster of silken lines at the boundary where sky and

water met, and was there allowed to enjoy the airing it had

so deservingly won. Bravo! my little Mussel-man! No

acrobat can beat thee on the ropes!

And what are we to say to all this? Blind instinct, for-

sooth! Who believes it? The wise men of the ages have

written as the tradition of the elders— " byssus-bound," of

our Mytilus. But it can make of its bonds, mooring lines

of safety against the storm, and with consummate skill can

build a silken stair-way into its, own wished for elysium of

delight. It is some three years since the writer witnessed

the facts here recorded, and to this day, the sight of a mus-

sel inspires him with profound reflection on the ways of

Him who made these creeping things of the sea.

— It has seemed to the proa that in the perfection of movement shown by

the Mo diola plicatula, as given above, a high stage of foot CE is indicated,

such as would hint at a grade outranking a op ual edulis. gure inserted is th

M. edulis ; but the process o —8S. E

FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

BY DR. A. KELLOGG.

THE great coal measures of our continent are the grand

storehouses of preserved plants from this richest realm of

the vegetable kingdom ; they are the entombed pioneers that

have paved the way, and still light the path of higher forms

of life, both vegetable and animal. However much we may

to-day value these humble and lower steps on the stage of

existence, we are apt to fall far below a due appreciation of

their value in the economy of nature ; our health, wealth, com-

fort, nay our very existence more or less, directly depends

on the uses they subserve ; and still every new dawn brings

some novel use crowding the advancing ages until we look

back but a few days to our early years, and wonder how we,

as well as our forefathers could do without this or that neces-

sary of life. As coal they are the familiar friends of our la-

bors, and the cheerful companions of the domestic fireside.

It is not, however, to the dead and fossilized forms alone, but

mainly to the living, that we invite a moment's attention.

An idea of minuteness and insignificance too often follows

any reference to the simplest plants in nature; yet many at-

tain a great size, such as Tree Ferns and certain Sea-weeds

—the former forty feet high, of the size of one's body,

and the latter of prodigious length, besides myriads of inter-

mediate forms.

e Fungi, a brief account of which follows, are cellular

plants, without flowers, living in the air, often nourished

through a stem by an amorphous spawn, or mycelium, in-

stead of a root, and propagated by very minute spores,

serving the same purpose as the seeds of flowering plants.

The largest species found in California, is the kind com-

monly known as Touchwood, or Hard Tinder ( Polyporus) ;

of a semicircular shape, between one and two feet across,

` AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 43 (837) `

938 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

and six to eight inches thick; this large species we have

only seen attached to the living trunks of the Laurel Tree

( Oreodaphne Californica). Its name signifying many pores,

describes itself, the lower surface being a mass of little

tubes or pores, angular like honey-comb.

As tinder it makes a slow but sure fire and good coal,

wind proof, so that as a slow match for blasting purposes it

is perfectly safe. It burns at the rate of an inch in five min-

utes; this rate, of course, will vary a little with thickness.

Dipped in nitre and dried it is even more sure on gunpowder

than fate itself. The corky kinds of fungi to which this

belongs continue to live and increase for many years, al-

though in general mere size is no reliable index of age in

this field of inquiry, for we know that under favorable cir-

cumstances the Scaly Polyporus (P. squamosus), found on

the trunks of dead trees, attains, perhaps, the largest size of

any known. Instances have been recorded of its measuring

seven feet five inches in cireumference, and weighing thirty-

four pounds avoirdupois, growing to these vast dimensions

in the short space of three weeks.

The power of these plants to disintegrate the hardest

wood is very remarkable, causing it to yield much more rap-

idly than the ordinary influences of the weather. Among

the greatest agricultural obstacles in the vast timber clear-

ings of the South and West, and indeed of most new coun-

tries, are the old stumps, which, if left simply to the action

of the weather, might be something less than half a century

in decaying; yet if these were simply sprinkled with water

in which fungi had been washed, they would shortly crumble

beneath the magician’s wand, a mere shreddy mass of inter-

laced cottony touchwood, the tissues and cells of which

would be seen to be traversed and disorganized by this amor-

phous mycelium. We know from actual observation that

where heavily timbered land is required to be cleaned off

entirely, it often costs from fifty to one hundred dollars per

acre. Perhaps to estimate it in human flesh, we might adopt

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 339

the western proverb, that it wears out one generation to

bring the land into tolerable tillage for the next. Only a

few of these plants are known to us, nor do we know their

uses except in a few instances. Many of the species we

know are very destructive to the trunks of living trees, on

which they grow. In the first instance they may giow on

parts which are diseased, but the insidious mycelium spreads

with great rapidity ; the moment any growth of this kind

appears the tree should be felled, or if a valuable ornamental

tree, the parts affected should be carefully removed, and a

strong solution of sulphate of copper or corrosive sublimate

be supplied.

Most Polypori are close and tough in their texture, and

rather indigestible; still some are eaten. Berkley declares

that the most delicious of all fungi is the P. casareus. Sev-

eral other species besides our P. igniarius are used as tinder

and moxa, and some are said to make famous razor-strops.

Certainly a more satiny cushion could not be devised. © The

common small species, with variegated. concentric rings (P.

versicolor), is used to lure insects from the mycologist's more

valuable specimens. One is used in Russia, pounded and

put in snuff, to improve its narcotic properties ; another has

been manufactured into coarse clothing. Only one, I be-

lieve, is worshipped, i.e., the P. sacer, a most striking

object, much venerated by the negroes on the West African

coast.

Perhaps many of us have experienced the kindred pleas-

ures of paradise on a walk in the woods after a thunder-

storm in the warm days of August, and felt our lungs swell

with a thrill of strength to the very fingers’ ends, while

breathing the balmy odors of the wood; it was not all the

breath of flowers, nor foliage, nor any conspicuous form of

commonly recognized vegetation. Some may remember

having searched for the sweet knots to take home with them,

hiding the uncouth thing in the house in order to excite the

pleasing wonder and prying curiosity of the loved ones, as

340 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

to where that sweet odor came from! It was the sweet

scented Polyporus, another species of the same plant. Sim-

ilar fragrance is observed in one species growing on the

bireh which is used to scent snuff; another like the soft con-

tents of the puff ball, is celebrated for staunching blood.

This fungus has been much used as a remedy, and its virtues

. vaunted in this country for the cure of consumption in its

early stages; so also have similar surprising effects been

attributed to the use of Agaricus emeticus. The phospho-

rescent agaries of the olive and palm are luminous like large

fire-flies, and a few suffice to light up a large room sufficient

to read by.

It is often said that some allied mushrooms are unwhole-

some, and therefore there is danger, and upon the whole, it

is best to let them alone. In reply, might we not inquire if

the carrot, celery, parsnip, angelica and anise are not allied

to the deadly hemlock? ‘The potato, egg-plant and tomato

are also close akin to the poisonous night-shade. The inno-

cent arrow-root, too, is the actual product of the fearful

woorai, or maratia arunamacea, with which the savage pois-

ons his arrow-points in war. The universal practice in

Russia is to salt fungi; and beside they are often subse-

quently washed and treated with vinegar, which would be

likely to render almost any species harmless. Any one fa-

miliar with our coast and bays will not fail to hear of cases

of poisoning with shell-fish, and there are also sad cases on

record of death from these as well as the edible mushroom,

or Agaricus campestris. Fungi vary in quality with climate,

meteorological conditions, soils. etc., so that the safest way

is to eat ul: those raised in garden beds for the purpose ;

always bearing in mind that much depends upon the mode

of erui and cooking.

The Grape Disease ( Oidium Tuckeri), is the result of a

parasitie fungus, terribly devastating to the wine crops of

Europe, the losses of which are estimated by millions, and

so frightful as to threaten starvation to thousands; fortu-

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 341

nately, the native vines of America are not subject to it,

even when cultivated m proximity, on the European Conti-

nent.

This fungus plant is easily destroyed by dusting on them

flowers of sulphur with a soft brush, when the fruit is well

set, about the size of a pea. One application, the Hon.

George Hobler, of Alameda, assures me, has proved an in-

fullible remedy with his foreign grapes; had he known its

value sooner it might have saved his English gooseberries,

which he had plowed up and cast away in utter despair.

Currants, and other fruits, are also victims at times. Indeed,

one species, Oidium albicans, called Thrush, grows in the

mouths of children. This can be transplanted and eulti-

vated; a weak solution of potash or saleratus will dissolve

out the albumen and leave the plant wholly exposed and

unchanged. Now, the use of this knowledge is, that the

same law and similar remedies are indicated here, as where

it attacks the vine, namely, to kill the parasite and cure the

disease. It is always pleasing to be able to see in rational

light why our grandmothers were right in being so partial to

sulphur. One dram of sulphite of soda to an ounce of

water is a sure cure.

The Oidium fructigenum is often seen in whitish puberu-

lent spots of a greenish gray on oranges ; and on apple trees

it destroys the fruit while still hanging to them; beans,

plums, peas and hops, ete., are also often destroyed, or much

injured by its ravages.

A digression into the rationale of remedies for these evils

would greatly interest us, but we must forbear; they turn,

however, upon a tew simple physiological facts —in a word,

the Flowerless Plants on land or sea have an oily or shiny

coating to the spores, neither the sea water nor air actually

touch them; but the moment this adhesive oily or mucila-

ginous matter is destroyed, they perish ; hence the use of ley,

lime, ashes, etc., together with many chemical washes.

It is impossible in a short article like this to dwell upon

342 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

all the mildews, white and black (Puccinia and Antennaria)

which ruin wheat fields in the North, and orange groves in

the South. Rust, or red mildew ( Uredo rubigo), which,

however, is not so injurious as some others, but is still a

serious evil—the smut (Urego segetum)—bunt ( Uredo

caries), where the grain looks well, but is a mass of black

fetid sporidia when crushed. If any one of these fungi, out

of a thousand, would spread famine and death broadcast

over the earth, is it of no use to investigate the subject? As

on his rolling main no navigator, coasting its dangerous

shores ever contemns the chartings and soundings of science,

so let the landlubbers learn to do on theirs.

A brief allusion to a few points in so large a field is all it

is hoped to do: but the bald botany of the subject is only to

aid the end in view, namely, the practical use of the knowl-

edge; this requires that we add a few words upon the ill

effects on men and animals, as well as the gross wealth and

prosperity of a country. That the diseased or fungoid cere-

als referred to are very dangerous to man and beast, no one

of proper information will doubt or deny ; why they are less

dreaded than the larger poisonous fungi, is sufficiently mani-

fest. The Ergot of grasses (e.g. Agrostis, Festuca, Ely-

mus, Dactylis, etc.), but chiefly of rye, is one of this class ;

the fungus is perhaps better known as spurred rye —the

symptoms of poisoning from eating it, are general weakness,

intoxication, creeping sensation, cold extremities and insen-

sibility ; then follow excruciating pains, and lastly, dry mor-

tification — the fingers and toes drop off.

I have known only one case so suddenly serious that the

patient lost the fingers and toes; but very many instances

where ultimate death of both men and cattle have followed

the use of fungoid grain; and also mouldy provisions.

Cheese, however, is supposed to be improved by it, and in

parts of Europe they inoculate with a plug taken from a

mouldy, and introduced into a new cheese; or the curd is

exposed for a day or so before making up, so that the float-

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 343

ing spores in the air may inseminate the mass. If to some

they are improved, there is a species or condition of mould

that I have every reason to believe is dangerous to persons

of a consumptive predisposition. The black dust of hay

fields ( Ustilago) acts in a more direct manner—hay makers

are attacked by violent pains and swellings in the head and

face, and great irritation of the entire system. The blue

bread mould (Pencillium), or a condition of it is found on

the inside of casks, the spores of which prove poisonous ;

this is well illustrated by the two coopers who entered a

great tun to clean off this mould, when they were seized with

violent pains in the head, giddiness, vomiting and fever,

scarcely escaping with their lives.

Alluding to fungi on forests, fruits, shrubberies, grapes

and grains, a passing word will not be amiss on the potato

disease, caused by the Botrytis infestans; its ravages, how-

ever, are too well known to this generation for particular

details. Another, the B. bassiana, attacks the silk worm

in China and Syria. The Achorion microsporon, Trico-

phyton and Lychen agrius, are well known to attack man,

to say nothing of the strong probability of their being the

origin of malaria, typhus, cholera, and the plague, etc., be-

sides numberless epidemics, which, at least, are preceded

and unduly accompanied by these strange and often micro-

scopic wonders of the vegetable kingdom. Unlike other

plants the fungi in place of purifying the air—at least, so

manifestly — from the poisonous carbonic acid and the other

elements of injury, and giving us back the vital oxygen,

steal away this, and shed on the shadowing wings of every

dark corner of the earth an element, which, if it exceeded a

tenth, would annihilate the race ; besides all this, they throw

off hydrogen, which causes abrasions and sores—mostly of

the mucus membranes and air passages ; and, finally, as we

have seen in some cases, they exhale specific poisonous sub-

stances; while myriads of spore-seeds so minute and light as

to be scarcely less volatile than ether itself, are poured forth

344 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

upon the gentlest breeze, were it even so slight as to leave

the gossamer unmoved. Let us not, however, look alto-

gether upon the dark and dismal side of the picture. They

all may be, nay, are, beneficent forms of life, only less

poisonous and otherwise injurious than would be the fleeting

noxious vapors they catch from the atmosphere, as their

kindred do the filth of the mighty deep, and hold it back

from its fiendish mission of misery to mankind. They

come mostly in the melancholy autumn days when the flow-

ers are fading away, and the leaves are falling to decay,

when the beautiful fairies have fled from the grassy lawns ;

when no naiads dance in glee down the glittering wavelets

to the boundless ocean; for then. even the brook itself

loathes and leaves its slimy bed, which, with the aid of

crypts, reptiles and creeping things, can scarce suffice to

stay or temper the impending plague. Like a grizzly beast

of prey, it walks in thick darkness, or sits at bey in the sun-

sucked fogs; or, perchance, winds its slow length invisibly

along, like a spirit serpent in the stagnant air of the vales

and deep mountain gorges; or coils its envenomed form in

the dismal cellars and filthy by-ways of our cities. It is

notorious that in stagnant water, or in that other fluid, the

air— where decomposing organisms take on innumerable

forms of life—there is the purified and purest portion of

the pond. Even the noisome mosquitoes, dragon flies and

reptiles, with flowerless plants, render fluids salubrious that

were hastening to putrefaction and death.

That like assimilates to like in the realms of spirit and of

matter is a universal law that will be seen, and, sooner or

later acknowledged. From the vegetable kingdom many

examples might be drawn in illustration, and, perhaps, few

will be more strikingly in point than the Fly Agaric ( Agar-

dcus muscarius), so named from its being used to poison flies.

This intoxicating fungus is often seen in hilly or subalpine

regions, particularly in our forests of fir and birch, where

its tall, trim, white stem, and rich scarlet cap, studded with

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 345

white, scaly warts, form a beautiful contrast to the soft,

green carpet of moss from which it springs, and the elegant

emerald foliage that overshadows it. This very poisonous

fungus is to the north-eastern nations of Europe and North-

ern Asia, what opium and hemp are to India and China,

awa to the Sandwich Islanders, cocoa to the Peruvians, and

what tobacco and various spirituous liquors are to Europe

and America. Thus we see, as a reverend writer justly re-

marks, that the indulgence of these narcotic cravings has at

last degraded itself to so low an object in the scale of nature

as a common toadstool; and that, too, in the most revolting

manner possible to conceive. The Kamtschatkan and Koriae

races are so dreadfully degraded that they personify this

fungus under the name of Mocko Moro, as one of their

household gods —like the god Siva of the Hindoo Thugs; if

urged by its effects to commit suicide, murder, or some

other heinous crime, they pretend to obey its commands,

and to qualify themselves for premeditated assassination,

they have recourse to additional doses of this intoxicating

product of decay and corruption. When steeped in the ex-

pressed juice of the native whortleberry, it forms a very

strong intoxicating kind of wine, which is much relished.

ut the more common way of using the fungus is to roll it

up like a bullet and swallow without dowiug, otherwise it

would disorder the stomach. Dr. Greville in the fourth

volume of the “ Wernerian Transactions,” says, one large

or two small fungi are a common dose to intoxicate for a

whole day, i.e., by drinking water freely, which augments

the narcotic action. The desired effect comes on from one

to two hours after taking the fungus. Giddiness and drunk-

enness follow in the same manner as from wine or spirituous

liquors; cheerfulness is first produced, the face becomes

flushed, involuntary words and actions follow, and sometimes

loss of eonseiousness. Some persons it renders remarkably

active, proving highly stimulant to muscular exertion; but

by too large a dose violent spasmodie effects are produced.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. zi

346 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

So exciting is it to the nervous system of many that its

effects are very ludicrous; a talkative person cannot keep

silence or secrets —one fond of music is perpetually singing,

and if a person under its influence wishes to step over a

straw or stick, he takes a stride or jump sufficient to clear

the trunk of a tree. It is needless to say delirium, coma

and death often results as in the case of alcoholic spirits.

The most remarkable fact is that the fluids of the de-

bauchee become similarly narcotic, and are therefore pre-

served in times of scarcity. Thus a whole village, as some

suy, may be intoxicated through the medium of one man,

and thus one fungus serves to prolong these most fearful and

disgusting orgies for many days together. It is worthy of

note that the very same erroneous impression as to size and

distance produced by this plant, are also created by the

hasheesh of India, and are also frequently noticed among idi-

ots and lunatics. It has been suggested that many of these

may have suffered martyrdom at the stake during the witch

mania of Scotland, owing to their natural and temporary

defect — inability to step over a straw being considered the

conclusive test of familiarity with evil spirits. And with

those devoted to its intentional use, we should say it really

does come within one of it. It is curious to observe how

the effects produced by various species of poisonous fungi

should be so very similar to alcoholic liquors. The effects

in both eases may be traced to a kindred cause. Alcohol,

as all know, is the product of fermentation or corruption,

arrested at a certain stage of fungoid growth, as also is the

case with the yeast and rising process of the pastry cook and

brewer. Having, hence, one common origin, it is less won-

der their effects should be similar; and, we may add, they

tend to produce a like poisoned condition in the human body.

This is exemplified in excessive beer and liquor consumers,

the slightest accident or even scratch on which will often

cause death.

_ Thus they become the short-lived mushroom humanity

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 341

that blooms on the very verge of decay. That these things

are nevertheless intended to subserve some good purpose is

not denied; every degree of life is wisely provided for, even

the worst. This is most manifest from the lowest lichen to

the highest vegetable structure ; and when mankind observe

the true equilibrium of order, the race is justly represented

and designated a microcosm, in which from the highest to

lowest all things are duly subordinated to an end or use.

The common Puff Ball (Lycoperdon bovista and pratense)

requires special notice. When slowly burnt and the fumes

inhaled it produces intoxication, followed by drowsiness and

then by perfect insensibility to pain, with loss of speech and

motion, while one is still conscious of everything that happens

around— realizing the truth that it is possible for one to lie

stretched on the funeral bier sensible to weeping friends ;

aware of the last screw being fixed in the coffin and the last

clod clapped down upon us in the churchyard, and yet unable

to move hand or lip for our own deliverance. Experiments

have recently been made on eats, dogs, and rabbits, and simi-

lar effects have been found to invariably ensue. And for ages

it has been used in this manner for stupifying bees, and thus

robbing their hives with impunity. If the inhalation in

man, however, be continued too long, vomitiug, convulsions,

and ultimate death results.

Much of this lore is still closeted, perhaps, mainly in the

secret chambers of the past; the fumes of many plants have

been used as spells, enchantments, and to induce spectre

seeing, etc., of which we may name some on a proper occa-

sion. In the order of nature, all auras are adapted to human

requirements, and under the influence of the last named,

unlike our artificial chemicals —chloroform and ethers—the

individual remains conscious all the time. I have myself, as

well as thousands of others, experienced similar slight trance

states of rapture, sweetly and softly celestial, and yet most

of all alive to consciousness, with only a dread less some

gross vociferous burst from beneath should break the spell ;

à dread lest some one should speak to you.

348 FLOWERLESS PLANTS,

That these fungi are sometimes purely meteoric, is proven

by their fastening upon iron and rapidly extending them-

selves; here the matter is manifestly conveyed to them by

the air and moisture. Many Polypori, too, grow on hard

tufa of volcanoes without a particle of organic matter.

Nevertheless, unhealthy conditions of air, soils, and the ob-

ject attacked, we have often seen to be true concomitants, so

that in most cases they may be deemed consequences, rather

than causes, if one prefers that view of the subject—our

chief concern being a review of the facts. Some of them,

indeed, require certain specific conditions so well known

that they can be grown to order, leading shrewd observers

to the plausible conjecture that they are of spontaneous

generation. — .

Berkley and McMillan, from whom we collate, mention

that in Italy a kind of Polyporus, greatly relished, is grown

simply by singeing the stump or stems of hazel-nut trees and

placing them in a moist, dark cellar; other instances of ex-

tinet fires being followed by fungoid scavengers, imps of

the pit, are too well known. Now, as charcoal and other

ack bodies absorb many hundred times their own bulk of

foetid gases — for the color, black, is philosophically and dev-

ilishly filthy, and it ardently desires or affiliates with, and

pertinaciously clings to foul air and odors; and, as a very

fiend, only yields them up readily as contagion, eluding,

perchance, the. alchemist's wand — the vile spell is hardly

broken but by that great power of the universe, heat. Hence

we see why they make such apt servants and meteoric media

for their masters, the Fungi. These plants and other para-

sites sometimes invade living organisms, both animal and

vegetable, in their most vigorous state, but we may safely

say, in general terms, that whatever fouls or lowers the

standard of life in the human, in the animal, or in the plant,

surely invites these disorder-inspecting gnomes from beneath ;

which move to and fro in the earth— messengers of the

shades !— ready to alight upon and claim as their own all such

trenchers upon the outer realms of death. It is therefore

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 349

not wise, neither naturally, morally nor spiritually, to ven-

ture too near that other place.

I well recollect, many years since, while residing in the

pine forests of Russell county, Alabama, one of my neigh-

bors (Oliver) was desperately annoyed by some mysterious

feetor, like carrion—only more so. A general search was

instituted, and at length an abominable fungus was found

growing beneath the steps of his log cabin. I have only

known of two instances of this kind. It may, however, be

common in the piney wood sections of our country. This is

a species of Clathrus, a putrid, revolting, jelly-like mass of

raw flesh just beneath the loosely-lifted soil. It diffuses

such a loathsome stench that none could endure it.

One might object that this stench was owing to its putrid

state; not so at all; it is the natural foetor of the fungus,

just as we find in our common pole-cat weed and cabbage,

several arums, stapelias, etc. Unless the hiding place of

this pest is discovered — and little peace is likely to come to

the premises until it is—and the intolerable nuisance abated,

with its surroundings, they are apt to repeat themselves.

There is a popular superstition that if any one should acci-

dentally touch this monstrous mass it would produce cancer.

Hence the custom of carefully covering it over with leaves,

moss, earth, etc., to prevent the possibility of a contagion.

Now, whatever we may think of such superstitions, let us

respect —I had almost said reverence—the intuitive prompt-

ings from that purer and better world within and above this

lower region of filth and contagion, which causes the sensi-

tive and tidy spirit to shudder at, shrink back from and shun

such exposures.

We do most solemnly warn the reader that the most vig-

orous health may not too rashly presume upon a forced, fool-

hardy or wanton and careless contact with these, or with

those other fungi—the moral mildews, moulds and blites of

man’s paradise.

Recent researches seem to show us how little we yet know,

350 FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

and well do they warn us not to form too hasty conclusions ;

nevertheless, with one voice they proclaim these fungi to

be more abundant and much more important than is com-

monly supposed. They are undoubtedly the secret or ob-

scure and often unsuspected- proximate causes of many

diseuses of animals and. of man— operating either directly

or indirectly. We have already seen that the ergot fungus

of ill-drained localities found on the Broom-grass (Bro-

mus), and Meadow or Spear-grass (Poa), ete., but chiefly

on the Rye, sadly deteriorates the blood in every degree

from intoxication, inveterate ulceration, and mortification

to absolute death, or from first to last, both in man and

animals. We cannot dwell here upon the indirect dangers

of eating the flesh or drinking the milk of such disordered

brutes; the effects are scarcely less deleterious than the

fungus itself.

These remarks are true in general as respects other causes

or other kinds of vicious vegetation. The black dust of hay

fields alluded to ( Ustilago hypodytes) acts directly, throwing

. one into a most violent and dangerous fever; so also, the

spore dust of the common blue mould (Peneillium), as in

the case of the coopers previously mentioned. Thus we

see that these plants act powerfully and strangely on man,

whether their etherial fumes are inspired, snuffed, or their

substances taken into the stomach, or even vegetate on the

outer or inner surfaces of the body. They are also known

to abound in the lungs of web-footed quacks, and the brains

of many animals, but we believe they rarely reach the brains

_ of some Esculapians.

A French chemist and botanist, M. Dutrochet (as quoted

by the Rev. E. Sidney), says he found every sort of vege-

table matter, with only a drop or so of almost any acid,

yielded a mould; but when albumen contained a neutral salt

none appeared. If salts of mercury are present the mould

is stopped. On the contrary oxides of lead hasten it; ox-

ides of copper, nickel and cobalt retard it; oxides of iron,

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 351

zinc, antimony and other minerals have no effect; all per-

fumes stop it.

Passing in this flying review some of the lower forms of

flowerless plants of forests and fields, with a few parasites

on man and animals, only touching here and there an inter-

esting and suggestive fact, we finally offer a word on tbose

found upon our farm fixtures, houses, and especially all

timber structures, although not confined to them alone, for

even the wall, in the pride of its strength, erumblingly bows

beneath their stealthy tread.

Builders have a woful knowledge of numerous fungi found

on wood, e. g. the Polyporus destructor, truly as its specific

name signifies, a destroyer ; also P. thelephora, from a Greek

word, meaning nipple, by reason of its teated surface; and

P. sporothricum, from the little pore-tubes having hairy fila-

ments hanging out; the one, however, most familiar to me

from my Sarti recollection is the Weeping Morel (Meru-

lius lachrymans), a crying evil. Both this and the M. vas-

tator are sufficiently devastating to all timbers in warm, moist

situations where there is no free circulation of air, as

in hollow trees, cellars, wainscoting, timbers of ships, sills,

sleepers, etc. These invaders, little less than legion, all

pass under one common designation, the dry rot.

eeping morels at first appear in a white spot, or point,

spreading their filaments flat over the surface of the timber

in rounded white cottony patches from one to eight inches

broad, and so onwards; near maturity it forms folds of yel-

low, orange or brown, weeping Madeira wine colored tears ;

they soon after mature myriads of dirty, rusty-colored spor-

ules which spread destruction far and wide ; wood, books and

walls. crumble in its consuming path ; buildings often, though

taken down and the stones scraped and fired, scarcely suffice

to stay the scourge. Is this the leprosy of the wall spoken

of in Leviticus? Heat applied to dry wood only hastens the

malady. It can be forestalled by cutting the timber in win-

ter when the sap is out; and, better still, by immersion in

a09 VARIATIONS OF SPECIES.

water for a long time, to fully supplant or extract the entire

juices, as is often practiced by the best ship-builders and

honest wheelwrights, carpenters, etc., who regard a worthy

and enduring reputation. It is said that the ships in the

Crimea Sea suffered more from this insidious foe than from

the ravages of fire, or the shots and shells of their enemies.

We have seen samples of this light, crumbly, papery shelled

wood, with its weight and strength totally consumed.

A strong wash of corrosive sublimate solution over the

timbers of cellars on which these deliquescent or weeping

morels so dampen it, are at once rendered dry, and the evil

often entirely arrested in the midst of its havoc.

Lastly, most of us have heard, and many have no doubt

seen, specimens purporting to be a caterpillar turned into a

plant, or some such similar foolishness. We have one in the

herbarium which any one may see at their leisure. This is

one of those parasitic fungi, that rob and kill in order to

supplant and live on others gains; the dying grub’s head

never sprouts up as a plant, but the seeds or spores of the

Spheria Robertsii alight upon the caterpillar of a moth, the

Hepialus, when it buries itself in the mossy woods to undergo

metamorphosis, and by its growth destroys the napping

grub. Two species of these are used by the Chinese, who

sell them in bundles of eight or nine, with the worms at-

tached, which they place in the stomach of a duck and roast

for the patient to eat.

VARIATIONS OF SPECIES.

BY A. H. CURTISS.

Ix the March number of the NATURALIST we observe an

account of a remarkable growth of Bidens chrysanthemoides,

and as the writer seems to fear that his story may be con-

sidered an exaggeration, we come to his support with one

VARIATIONS OF SPECIES. 353

twice as /all, which, happily, refers to the most nearly re-

lated species, Bidens cernua. While collecting along the

alluvial, marshy borders of the Potomac below Alexandria,

some years ago, we found this species (not before discovered

so far south) growing to the extraordinary height of five

feet. This, compared with Gray's maximum height, will be

seen to be in the ratio of six to one ; while in the instance

of B. chrysanthemotdes, it was only three and a half to one.

Our press would barely admit of smaller branches, while in

collecting the same species in New York, we nave easily

pressed two entire plants side by side. As if this were not

a sufficiently surprising effort of nature, on proceeding some

distance farther, we came upon some plants of Oxalis stricta

(an eccentric plant in more than one respect) fully five feet

in height, and widely branched. We do not apprehend that

such statements will be discredited by any person familiar

with the vegetation of such localities. We mention them as

curiosities in vegetable growth, and not as matters worthy

of permanent rocorii or of a place in a work of the nature

of the " Manual."

Such variations in the size of plants appear to be seldom

attended with any material change of specific characters, and

are therefore of less interest than those produced by differ-

ence of latitude and longitude, or by change of station, as

from wet to dry locations, from sunny exposures to shade,

from marine to fresh-water localities, or from mountain to

valley, and vice versa. These are all fertile in effects of the

greatest interest to modern theorists, and no botanist should

fail to make them a subject of special study. Such observa-

tions inevitably suggest a former unity of many of our spe-

cies and genera, Mid result in the correction of too wide

distinctions. The two species of Bidens referred to, to-

gether with B. connata, are strongly suggestive of a common

parentage; and when Bidens frondosa is compared with

Coreopsis bidentoides (especially since the former has been

found with upwardly barbed awns), it is difficult to perceive

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

354 VARIATIONS OF SPECIES.

a proper dividing line between the two genera. We do not

anticipate a loss of the genus Bidens, however, though prob-

ably no collector would object to its thorough extermination

from our flora, with all its “pitchforks” and "Spanish

needles," together with the Desmodiums, which in autumn

force the herborizer so extensively into their service in trans-

porting their "fearfully and wonderfully made" legumes.

As examples of the manner in which one genus may merge

into another, and one species into another, we cite two in-

stances which have lately fallen under our observation. The

first is that of the G'ymnostichum Hystrix of Schreber. This

remarkable grass was apparently separated from the Linnsean

genus Elymus, upon the single character of the absence of

glumes. In this section of the country, however, we find it

with well developed glumes, which are persistent after the

spikelets fall. The glumeless and intermediate forms also

occur, but the one most common has rigid, awn-like glumes

situated precisely as in Hlymus, of nearly an inch in length,

and with one prominent nerve, being therefore triangular,

though appearing terete. We have never found the pales

dentate (as figured in Pl. 11 of Gray’s Manual) in any form

of the species, and the “pedicels” are evidently the joints to

which the glumes are attached, and are but little longer than

in some species of Elymus. Were the spikelets appressed as

in Elymus, it would strikingly resemble some species of the

latter in aspect, and as there appears to remain no constant

technical distinction of any importance, we see no reason why

its former name, Elymus Hystrix L., should not be restored.

Our second case is that of Eupatorium aromaticum L.,

which we are convinced is but a variety of K. ageratoides

L. The latter species is very common at the North in low,

rich woodlands, and has large, thin and smooth leaves,

which, we think, vary very little in size and shape. On

reaching Maryland (except in the mountains) and the coast

this species seems to be supplanted by one having the same

peculiar flower-heads, but lower and less branching, with

VARIATIONS OF SPECIES. 355

smaller corymbs, and smaller, thicker and pubescent leaves.

This species is common in Virginia in dry copses and open

woodlands, but varies greatly, so that we are puzzled in se-

lecting typical specimens. On coming to the Piedmont

region, however, the problem was soon solved, for here we

found that it was no longer confined to dry and somewhat

exposed and sterile situations, and that in proportion to the

degree of shade or richness and dampness of soil in which it

grew, so the leaves became thinner and larger, and the whole

plant more robust, till it could no longer be distinguished

from the true E. ageratoides; and on visiting the neigh-

boring mountains, we found the latter species growing in

great abundance. .If, therefore, the generally aecepted rule

be applied to this case, EZ. aromaticum must be considered

to be a variety of E. ageratoides. Ina very similar manner

Acalypha gracilens Gray, varies into A. Virginica L., and

it has very properly been reduced to the condition of a va-

riety by Professor Gray. In this connection we would men-

tion that we have found Eupatorium aromaticum with leaves

beautifully whorled in threes. As the same arrangement has

been observed in another species, it would seem that the

genus is inclined towards this mode of leaf-arrangement,

which makes that of Æ. purpureum appear less anomalous.

Before closing we would add to the list of monccious and

dicecious plants which have been found with androgynous

inflorescence (see March number of the NATURALIST, p. 46)

an instance of the same mode of inflorescence in Fraxinus

Americana. In the spring of 1867 we observed in this

county (Bedford Co., Va.) a tree of this species with pani-

cles thoroughly androgynous; but in this instance, as if a

violence had been done to nature, every flower afterwards

became changed to a mass of small, contorted leaves, bend-

ing the branches with their weight, and presenting a truly

remarkable appearance.

NOTE, — Bidens cernua and B. chrysanthemoides might also have been adduced as

Species which run together. We beg for a sight of th tall Virgi T iu

A STROLL ALONG THE BEACH OF LAKE MICHIGAN.

BY W. J. BEAL.

Tut south-west extremity of Lake Michigan is surrounded

by a low, sandy beach, back of which are low land and

marshes. Let us take a stroll with our NATURALIST friends

along the lake shore south of Chicago. In place of the rocks

and sea-weeds, radiates, shells and crustacea of the Atlantic

coast, here are only fragments of cork, chips, sticks, now

and then a mutilated specimen of an Unio, or a few small,

dead gasteropods, or their empty shells. Among the land

plants we shall find more to interest us. The student from

Salem (Mass.), or the coast of New Jersey, recognizes the

Beach Pea (Lathyrus maritimus) which we believe is never

found far from the salt water, except along our great inland

lakes. Here also is the Sea-rocket ( Cakile Americana), a

radish-like plant, and the Shore Spurge ( Euphorbia polygo-

nifolia), growing in the loose barren sand, just as they do

near the ocean. Of true marine grasses we find the Sea

Sand-reed (Calamagrostis arenaria), the graceful Squirrel-

tail Grass (Hordeum jubatum), and the pest of barefooted

boys called Bur-grass or Sand Bur (Cenchrus tribuloides),

and a rush (Juncus Balticus). Our seaside botanist is ac-

customed to see the Arrow-grass (Triglochin maritimum),

on every salt marsh. It is likewise common on the marshes

a little way back of the lake. In the "basin" near the city

flowers a Pond-weed (Potamogeton pectinatus). Silver-weed

(Potentilla anserina), is plenty in the sand, and in some

places last season it sent off runners each way full seven feet

in length.

We have never seen the Seaside Crowfoot ( Ranunculus

cymbalaria) near the lake shore, but it is very common a

little way back on the low pastures and meadows on richer

soil. Some of our neighbors tell us that they find the

Prickly Pear ( Opuntia vulgaris) on the bluffs just north of

(856) :

A STROLL ALONG THE BEACH OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 351

the city, where it was once much more abundant. The

_ grasses Calamagrostis longifolia, Card-grass (Spartina cyno-

suroides), Porcupine-grass (Stipa spartea), are common

enough and look as though they ought to be dwellers by the

sea. We find in the sand beach of the great lakes, Pitcher’s

Thistle (Cirsium Pitcheri), a curious plant which we should

look for along the sea beach. It is white, wooly all over,

the stem leafy and sprawling, the flowers cream color, and

about the size of our common Cirsium lanceolatum. The

Dwarf, or Sand-cherry, usually trailing six to eighteen inches

high, characteristic of true western enterprise, occasionally

grows along our shore to the height of eight or ten feet, and

has a stem two inches in diameter.

In the walk first proposed one finds thrifty specimens of

the Bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi). Its pinkish white

flowers are too pretty to be known by two such long, ugly

names, as those given by Adanson and Sprengel. There are

now and then tufts of the Early Wild-rose (Rosa blanda),

abundance of common Milkweed (Asclepias cornuti), and

A. obtusifolia, several Willows and Poplars, Scrub Oak,

Shrubby St. John's-wort, Climbing Bitter-sweet (Celastrus

scandens), Grape-vines, Vetches, False Solomon's Seal,

Asters, Huphorbia corollata, Panicum virgatum, Lead-plant

(Amorpha canescens), and at the mouth of a brook, its kin-

dred, the False Indigo (A. fruticosa), Poison Ivy, and

Fragrant Sumach.*

We have found several specimens of the curious Aphyllon

Jasciculatum, a parasitic ghostly plant of the Broom-Rape

Family. In August we find two species of Prairie Clover

(Petalostemon violaceum and P. candidum), the former has

been pronounced the belle of Chicago, notwithstanding the

want of grace in its straight flower-spike. Back in the

ponds flourish the Pond-lilies (JVympA«a odorata and N.

tuberosa), and Nuphar advena. The Yellow Nelumbo Ue

In dry places flourishes a curious Umbellifer, the Rattlesnake-master, or Button-

M. Eryngium yuccaefolium), with leaves like the Yucca, and head and stalk

resembling the onions of our gardens.

358 REVIEWS.

lumbium), has been found in the mouth of Calumet River,

ten miles south of Chicago. In the groves are beautiful

Violets, Phloxes, Oxalis violacea, the unique Dodecatheon

Meadia ; on the marshes Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) ,*

Indian Plaintain (Cacalia tuberosa), Valeriana edulis, and

away back on the prairies are hundreds of acres of tall.

sedges and grasses abounding in several species of Liatris,

showy Sunflowers, rank Rosin-plants (Silphium), and mul-

titudes of Asters and Golden Rods.

REVIEWS.

D THE AMAZON. t— This racy account of a six months’

trip across the continent of South America is really a valuable contribu-

tion to American geographical science. The author's ** general route was

from Guayaquil to Quito, over the Eastern Cordillera, thence over the

Western Cordillera, and through the forest on foot to Napo, down the Rio

by canoe to Pebas, on the Maraiion, and thence by steamer to

Pará.” This is a new route of travel, and after a trip to the Pacific

shores of our own continent, we should prefer this safe, romantic and

unfrequented journey to any other we know of. The ascent of the Nile,

the great rivers of Asia, and even the Congo itself, are hackneyed subjects

compared to scaling the Andes, passing around Chimborazo, and plunging

for a long month into the depths of a South American forest, seeking the

sources of the Napo River, with that magnificent sail down the Marañon

and Amazon to crown all.

As an illustration of the author's pleasant style (though his facts are

not ics well arranged) we a his Dee of Chimborazo :.—

“Coming up from Peru through th f Loja, f

m: C ee traveller reaches Rio tama, seated on the thresbold ut ie a Da-

f Co En wy iirrounada with a splendid

P Si ts WR €

n our left is the most sublime speetaele in the New World. “It an a x mjeti pile kel sla

great giant. His feet ternall ‘ingly white; but they

h ai aii PH "

P f the Pacific coas

Roussea disappoi i ; and the frst glimpse of Niagara often

BRnt Mimh

* Habenaria Cai —Á three or four species dum.

+The Peta and the Amazon: or, Acro: eia Continent of South America. By James Orton,

With» a Dew map of St Enuatorial America an s illustrations. New York. Harper and

REVIEWS. 359

whelming grandeur breaks upon the traveller. You feel that you are in the aia Coda ae

of the monarch of the Andes. There is sublimity in his kingly look, of which the oc n might

be proud.

* All that expands the spirit, yet tum à

Gathers e ound this summit, as if t

How earth may pierce to heaven, ss tid vain man below,’

It looks d fr ons the ~~ first. Now and then an expanse of thin, sky-like vapor, would

cut the mounta n twain, and the dome, islanded in the deep blue of the upper decret

seemed to be elong n more uà heaven em to Paa We knew that Chimbor razo was more

twice tl = g p the moun-

tain's side till he ed lik } i the mighty white, , but giving scd n de-

spair four thou sd ami w thesumm tl B

but the hero of Spanish- Americam Independence ponpes = dubated man. Las! : p €

the philosophic ebrius . and attains t f 19,600 fee e hi "e

point reached by m cis a the aid of a balloon; but the dome remains nee ci pze his foot.

Yet none of these seie increase our admiration, The mountain has a tongue which speaks

ery

ni gni tnde Steiniohes the Impression of oye ee wonder, rad pier which ud mee are

env tif rolativo elev:

reduced by incite with the surrounding m tains. Its ioo » 21,420 feet, or forty-

five times the height of Strasburg — d gus hee ac it otherwise, the fall of one pound

rom the top of ea e would mpera of water 30°. One fourth of this is

perpetually covered with snow, so that ed acide pnm, . Chimpurazu—the. = untain of snow—

d DERE

very approp t ,

gleamed with voleanic fires, There is a hot ing on the nor! th side, an imm ount of

debris EM the slope pem w “the erty const chiefly ‘of fine-grained, peteca

l y Chimbo-

PI sels

razo 1s very lik 1 i hyti

Bouguer found | it made the plumb-line deviat eT or 8",

Narrower, but ou than those of the Alps, the — bina and sinks in the effort to com-

st t

im m ain appears e be

much thin crust, and the strata thrown on their vertical edges, teveatag dee p, dark ehasms,

at seem to lead to the confines of sp lower world. init that of

Ordesa in the Pyrenees, is 3,200 feet dee els but here are rents in the side of Chimborazo in

look u

out as i

condor, Tiie -€— in ibit read, guter in the - Fw the proud bird fearlessly wheels over the

orig h and t sails over the dome of Chimborazo. Could

ireen speak, g ld h gi f the landscape beneath him whe:

e pied isa dandis miles in diameter. If

what cH E] " hateht Rit ti Ditata t

t Chimborazo is steeper than the Alp-king; and steepness isa "ur more quickly ap-

ud ted . *Mont Blanc (says a w zae r in ers Magazine’) 1s

preciate rur epi Segrar A? ett a Ar 1e d ard t stability; but € aig eras

reckless architecture of the Matterhorn brings th reris n fairly on his knees, respect

akin to that felt for the leaning tower of Pisa, or the soaring pi niwerp.

: rt

White Mountain’ is the natural and almost uniform name of the Highest m ED tad in all

countries; thus Himalaya, Mont Bla mo B Hoen — Sierra Nevada, Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Lebanon,

‘l tates,

Us a hi seid than Chimboraz 0 has been questioned;

bebes D iboldv’s statement t that the condor fic r dies ‘ sand feet above th d summit of Pichincha.

Baron > p. in his ascent of ie saw us pee flying at the height of wi 18,000 feet;

Dr. Hooker found crows and ravens d the Himalayas at 16,500 feet; and flocks o: wild geese

are said ^ fly over the peak of Kintschinghow, 22,756 feet.

360 REVIEWS.

Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, but ds X

has been supplanted by NAR CR verest in Asia, and Aconcagua in Chile, In mo n glo

and glory, howeren, » still sta nds unrivaled. The Alps have the avalanche, Avg ensi

Niaga

of snow," g * ras » beautiful and gr run. eve they are wanting.

The monarch of the ionl y n silence. ‘The silence

is absolute and actually oppressive. Tl Quit t

the elevation of 14,000 feet. Save the rush of the trade wind iii the afternoon, as it sw

the roar of t ma, nor the m waters. Mid never ent. You

can almost hear the globe turning o; s axis, The a tim en the monarch deigne

speak, and € with a voice of se for the lava on its sides is an isthaec T volcanic

activity. But eve o has sat

2 sullen silence, ‘satisfied to look ‘from his throne of clouds o'er half the ears There is

mething very suggest ve in this silence of Chimbor: razo. It was once full of noise and fury;

The Suthors description of the great crater of Pichincha is alike inter-

esting. The naturalist will enjoy the sketches of animal and vegetable

life, and the visio geology and anthropology of the varied tracts

passed over

[=]

[en

with hints about the best routes, the expenses, the best outtit, and the

precautions and dangers, with a final word on the consolations of travel:

dangers: First, from the people, Traveling is as safe in Ecuador as in New York,

and eid than a Missouri. There are n picos nish banditti, though some places, as Chambo,

ani ise t a penni :

e ut no more so in ador tha an vein e We have tr rave elled from Guayaquil to Da-

T Hah PRE E otis. eso ee P

"Secondly, from brases s. Some

af-

sreveliet woua have us infer that it is impossibl irinS g“

onatel ined by pent, T g upon by a Jaguar, or bitt: jig

i y sand-heap and pi der ev y st ' (Edinburgh "Review xliii, 310). Pa-

x “he paucity « of animal life. We were two months on the ‘Andes (August and Septem ber)

before we saw alive snake, They are plentiful in the wet season in cacao plantations; but the

majority harm Pi ell, who particularly studied the reptiles of India, found that

out of forty-three specles which he e ined not more than seven had poi s fangs; a

ir E. Tei t, a long residence in Ceylon, declared he had never — e vs eue of

by the bite of a snake. owever, that the num of

mber

us species are greater in South America than in any other part of ni wise ped A is

* Mount Everest is 29,000 feet, and Aconcagua 23.200. Schlagintweit enumerates thirt

cy —X over 25,000 feet, and "Ms above 20,000. OM have little ret redu s

the Bolivian mountains, Chimborazo has nearly the same latitude and alti-

REVIEWS. 361

some manion to know that, zoologically, they are inferior in rank to the harmless ones;

‘and certainly,’ adds Sidney Smith, ‘a snake that feels fourteen or fifteen stone stamping on

his "Ki: vine little time for reflection, and may be allowed to be e poisonous.’ If bitten, apply am-

monia externally immediately, and take five drops in water gai it is an almost certain

antidote. The discomforts and dangers ricas: from the anima Hin MN n are no greater than

11 erland fr w York to New Orl

SEMN of one thing the —— in oor America may be assured that dear to him, as it 1s

to us,

vang of nature, the adventurous walk through the primeval forest, the "uc canoe-lifo

n the Napo, and the long, monotonous sail on the waters of the Great River.

SKETCHES OF CREATION.* — The scope of this book is fully set forth

in the rather SARI us The aim of hys author is an excellent one and

just such a work as this is intended to be is much neede ed, and we wel-

come every Eua: at popularizing ds latest facts and theories of sci-

ence. Our ideal of such works às these are the writings of Hugh ice:

e Faraday, Gosse, Quatrefages, and others, who, added to the

charms of a pure, simple, pellucid style, present "ep story of eas or

a ciam at fragments of it, in a thoroughly artles

and Figuieresque, the r sometimes becomes grandiloquent, and his

aiios falls far short a d sprightly style of his French prototype. In

Spite, however, of these faults of style the book is a very readable one;

the facts are correctly stated; the theories presented with much fairness;

the illustrations excellent, and if the whole book had been as well and

simply written as the chapters on salt and gypsum, and oil, where the

learned author is fully at home, our duty as a critic would have almost

been a Fpa As regards his choice of subjects lovers of the sensa-

tional and marvellous will find their cravings fully satisfied in the chap-

ters entitled > “ The Ordeal by Water,” ** The Ordeal o pet The ** Solar

ystem in a Blaze," * The Reign of Fire," **'The T of Time," ** The

Reign € Universal Winter," “The Sun Cooling Off,” a “The Machinery

of the Heavens Running Down." When the author has endeavored, as

he seems to think salintectaclly: to settle so many vexed points in the

science of our day we wonder that he “refrains from been attempt to lift

the veil which conceals the destiny of other firmaments!

e close with a few special criticisms. The Orthoceratite may have

been a very formidable monster to a trilobite’s mind, but for the life of us

we do not understand how, considering the probable structure of the

T a Sketohes of Creation: a popular view or some of the grand conclusions of the sciences in

together ig d — of the intimations of

scienc of the earth and the solar

System. By Alexander Pete LL.D. With illustrations. New York. Harper and Broth-

ers. 1870. 12mo, pp.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 46

362 REVIEWS.

limbs and its stiff armor and its habits of burrowing in the mud, T

corals do not usually live, it could when “alarmed, shoot with a

Stroke of his tail under cover of some coral crag."

imagine this acrobatic feat performed by alobster. And Bis the way the

author is at fault in allying the trilobite to the Idotean —

Glyptonotus antarcticus, figured on page 322, when its ^ sest ally

orse Shoe Crab, Limulus. Our author adopts the nebulous denies

How can he logically discard a theory of a gradual development of vege-

£e

o e Cuverian types, and must form a fifth “corner stone on diis

Nature has built the superstructure of "ty animal creation" (p. 3 We

would question whether there is not a successional relation d the

four subkingdoms of animals, as much as in the classes of the vetebrates.

anatomist, and shown to have been composed of the bones of mastodons

with a sprinkling of Zeuglodon bones

HAND-BOOK OF ZooroaYv.*—In this little manual the author id claims

to give a skeleton of the subject, with illustrations taken from species

which the student can collect for himself within the limits n Hou

ght

ordinarily to be used. The and second chapters, on Physiological

Zoology and Zoological pieces contain much F sense, and de-

* Handbook of Zoology; nd fossil. By J

Dawson, LL. D., F. R.S., etc. Part I. Invertebrata, with 215 Arni Montreal. ue

Price $1 50..

REVIEWS. 363

serve to be widely read by a class of pa educated ‘‘ species describers "

p vex good naturalists the world o

regret that the distinguished uico lip the ces in the

ier for what radiate feature do the cebas, Foraminifera,

Sponges and Infusoria possess? are sb Tu ila which

4p om so ue with the E placed between the Poly-

à and Brac

-. We ar no means satisfied with the author's treatment of the class

of Insects, comprising in his estimation the subclass Hexapoda and Myri-

apoda. He consi

roptera even! Notwithstanding all we know of the Fleas, they are also

consigned to a separate ** order," though proven to be a family of diptera.

Arachn placed as a “class” above the insects

ode of development, their want true metamorphosis (except in

certain genera of Acarina), their morphology — all convince us that the

are inferior to the Hexapo nd do not show class characters, any more

than do the Myriapo s definition of the class the author says

“ antennæ rudimentary or mandibuliform.” Th æ as proved by

anatomy and especially embryology (see Claparéde’s great work on th

embryology of the spiders) do not exist in the Arachnids. The so-called

antennz are the mandibles. What are the “ tentacles ” in this group, the

palpi? Of his order Dermophysa, of which we see no necessity, the

Demodex represents a family of the mites, and the Tardigrades are in all

probability the types of another and the lowest family of Acarina, while

the Sea Spiders (Pycnogonids) are traly crustaceous, as proved very sat-

isfaetorily by the able embryological researches of Dr. Anton Dohrn.

eer are to our mind ler than the Scorpions and Phrynidz

cuts are for the most part indifferent, and the printing only dh

to O

plainly alluded to could be easily corrected, and a cheap, practical, very

readable and exceedingly useful manual be produced, and one that would

deserve a wide circulation.

AN ' GUIDE. *—This is an excellent little work—one so g

in faet, that we only wish there were more of it. It is difficult, if not im-

* The Naturalist’s Guide in collecting and preserving objects of Natural History, with a

complete list of the Bi p of Eastern Massachusetts. By C. J. Maynard. With Illustrations

by E.L. Weeks. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. 1870. (For sale at the Naturalists’ Agency.

Postage paid $1.90, :

364 REVIEWS.

€— to give the novice in collecting and taxidermy all the informa-

on h little space as Mr. Maynard occupies; and in

easet to the utmost, he vp left some thin ings that it would

-—

fa")

mie

birds — of the pleasures and difficulties of taking them — and his pictures

of field- work, are true to the life. e have abundant evidence that he

has put himself in no danger of tripping by compilation. Thus, for

example, his remark upon page 84, “that birds for a certain period in-

crease in size, after which they gradually decrease," is none the less true

because it expresses a fact of which few are aware; and it is one not

likely to be found out except by long continued and repeated observation.

We endorse the imde without reserve. Most birds are at a maxi-

mum size before they are perfectly **adult;" on reaching which state, a

certain condensation or compaction of the frame seems to take place, so

that they become somewhat smaller. Of this the Bald Eagle is an excel-

lent illustration.

The art of preparing birds for the Scientific cabinet, no less than that

to judge of the real merits of his method — still less of the degree of skill

he may have acquired in using it. But we are bound to add, that we see

no reason why excellent results should not be obtained by following his

employs, we fear it may be found by ihe beginner a little obscure at

places — or at least, not so full and plain as it might have been made.

This brings us back to the thought that prompted our opening sentence;

on the abdomen, and keeping them out of the wound afterwards;

REVIEWS. 365

nor of the very next trouble —to avoid attempting to take off the thin

of the bone by introducing the closed scissors between the muscles, and

opening them t wid o pac to grasp the bone; then we strip the

muscles from above downward, and snip all the tendons at a single

stroke below. Practically; iei small birds at least, this is done with the

thumb-nail, in an instant. in the cases of certain long-winged

we rem

arate from both the other bones and all the muscles by cutting its head

away from the elbow-joint, stripping the muscle off from above down-

ward, and then removing humerus, radius and all the muscle by a trans-

verse stroke of the scissors just above the carpal joint. A description

should have been given of the neat and rapid way of removing the brain

and all the head-muscles by the four special cuts that may be made in an

instant; instead of the general directions for scooping out and scraping

the skull. We think the writer hardly puts the tyro sufficiently on his

guard against stretching a skin unduly, particularly at the neck, and so

producing that ugly bare space on each side, difficult to rectify afterwards.

Except in the cases of large birds, where main strength and awkwardness

do well enough, no skin should be pulled, or even drawn, off; but should

am more than

told, and then spoil his specimen. We should like to make a few sug-

gestions regarding this matter, but want of space prevents, as it does our

even alluding to a score of little points which will not be found in this or

ania than any trestibó upon the subject can possibly be m ee

In Part II, Mr. Maynard gives what we find to be a very complete and

otherwise exostiont list of the birds of Eastern Massachusetts. e do

the changes that Dr. Coues has shown to be necessary or advisable in

certain families; and in ala specific he is nearly as conservative * as

* Thus he does not admit Turdus Alicie ger Viendo beige Aud., Ægiothus ez-

ilipes Coues, Larus Hutchinsii Rich., and L. S onianus Coues. Our Certhia and Eremo-

Vlil eee Gouna he refers to the European C. enter and E. prises V our hand is

rss e order, where the writer might have con-

366 REVIEWS.

Mr. Allen. The notes of habits, etc., are very valuable and useful, and,

(its main points, if we recollect rightly, having been already presented in

the NATURALIST by Mr. Allen), several of the entries are of special inter-

est and importance. Ano ong these way be mentioned siia Bairdii,

Argytira maculata (accidental), Xant hal (accidental)

Tyrannus Weapon n. tal), Paster domestica (introduced), Chon-

destes grammaca (ac tal), Turdus nevius (accidental), Helmintho-

phaga per penis an. sacer (unusually southern), Strix pratincola (rarel

so northe iind Micropalama himantopus (rare), Macrorhamphus scolopa-

ceus, Thalasseus acuflavidus, Pelecanus trachyrhynchus, and P. fuscus (both

of these an accidental). 'The first named Mr. Maynard considers as

more likely to be a winter visitor from p north, than a straggler from

Nebraska. Quiscalus major, acne Wilsonius, and a few other species

occurring in Allen's or Coues’ lists, he dismisses as resting upon insuffi-

cient evidence; probably in most instances he is correct in so doing. The

supposed Buteo ** Cooperi” turns out to be a state of B. lineatus. A good

voisin a of the nest and eggs of Helminthophaga chrysoptera is given.

h mages of Scops asio, and the relationships of Sterna macrura and

discussed at some length. In of the Scops it is evident that

Kbps e mds will not be likely to come to any agreement, until they

onc e did long ago, that the variations in the plumage are

purely secos In an appendix, Mr. Maynard etim all the species

in conveni form

We have "un so 6. ponti impressed with the book, and others will

doubtless find it so useful, that we feel the less hesitation in criticising

some things in it that we cannot praise. A little care would have pre-

vented such slips as *'carpel" for carpal (p. 20), ** coccygus " for coccyz,

or for os coccygis, **arctea" for arctica (p. 152), ** Argyria" for Argytira (p.

164), ** penguin" for peregrine (p. 184), etc. We fear, however, that the

ter himself is responsible for such awkward blunders as — ** where the

humerus joins the sternum" (p. 40); and the mention of the wrists and

heels of sheep and deer as ** knee ncn " (p.49). The figures we cannot

speak well of; in fact, they are very bad, and we should judge that "s

will hardly answer the purpose for which they were designed. Thus

sistently questioned specific validity: Falco anatum, Astur atricapillus, Pandion Carolinensis,

Otus Wilson ianus, piae Cassini, Nyctale Richardsoni, There are many others, as nearly

allied to European types, th at be allows to stand, Though | we agree hase the writer in be

that arise from ou Mei acceptation of the term ** species," he had ado pted i oori man

and less itr cal definition than this: ‘Species consists in a bird's having certain

charaeters so w well defined, although inconstant pe never variable beyond a certain point), ,

p. 85.

that it aJ readily

REVIEWS. 367

trust that Fig. 3, Plate vim, was not taken from an example of the au-

thor’s handiwork! The book is well printed and handsomely — up.

We hope it may acquire the popularity to which its merits enti

ORNITHOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE NORTH-WEST.*

This memoir gives the first published results of the Russo-American Tel-

egraph Expedition, organized to explore preparatory to the connection

of San Francisco and St. Fet ersburg by electric telegraph. The officers

Academy, in broad and liberal spirit, for the scientific exploration of the

country by a corps of young naturalists headed by Major Robert Kenni-

cott. The party left San Francisco in July, 1865, by several vessels,

touching at various points, where cond doni were m made e arting again,

December, 1866, and remaining there all hito In the spring they pro-

gence Mies mendis of the termination of the enterprise. Notwithstanding

this Mr. 1 decided to finish the scientific reconnoissance of the Yukon

River, Sint im in the country alone and at his own expense. He pro-

ceeded with Eskimos to Unalaklik, where her emained until November,

the country both east and west of Nulato. Crossing the portage in June

he descended the Yukon to its mouth, and shortly afterward embarked for

several years of travel and exploration, are worked up e the paper now

under consideration, and in the one we shall presently notice.

We fin memoir to be one of special interest ii itiha, as

was to have been anticipated, no less from the character of its authors

and of the other naturalists whose collections contributed towards it,

than from the nature of the ground explored, and other fortunate circum-

stances. Itis not too much to say that no single paper has appeared for

the last decade, and perhaps for a longer period eap we do not for-

get the results of Mr. Xantus’ explorations), that has added so positively

senting some of the leading ain in dent though even à seit

epitome of all the ada obtained would exceed our li mits. Before

Be he gale ei A Sle Sa SE TET UE

* List of the Birds of Alaska, with Biographical Notes. By W. H. Dall and H. M. Bannister.

l.i Art. ix. 1869.

368 REVIEWS.

doing we have only to add, in expressing our sense of the intrinsic value

of the paper, and in according all the praise to its authors, that they so

justly deserve, our impression that the symmetry of the paper is some-

what marred by the circumstances, unknown to us, which resulted in the

eastern birds occur in s Husa! jan Ameri Poli either associated with, or re-

ee vocis speci was rather to have been antici-

pat e fact has pain Sdn more and more apparent, of late years,

by <a is anite from the North-west; and the present one may be re-

garded as demonstrating it. Thus we have Picus villosus and P. pubes-

cens instead of P. Harrisii and P. Gatrdneri; Colaptes auratus instead of

C. Méricanus; Scolecophagus ferrugineus instead of S. cyanocephalus;

Dendreca coronata instead of D. Auduboni; Querquedula discors instead

of Q. cyanoptera, etc.; with Seiurus aurocapillus (though this has lately

been known also from the Southern Pacific coast), Parus atricapillus, P.

Hudsonicus (“abundant at Nulato”), Passerculus savanna (associated with

the three other varieties, or species), Junco hyemalis,* Passerella iliaca,

Bonasa wmbellus, Gambetta flavipes. Th sence of “Uria lomvia”

(Lomvia troile), with both U. Californica and U. arra (svarbag), is prob-

ably rather a matter of circumpolar distribution. We note on the other

hand, among absentees that might have been expected, Zonotrichia leuco-

pines. Limosa fedoa and Numenius longirostris. i

ong the names to which American ornithologists have been more or

and does not correspond at all with specimens of either EI or island-

nsignatus" Cass., is given as a variety of Swainsoni.

The old name of Nyctale “ puris replaces N. Richardsoni, used

of late years; as Picoides ** Ameri " does P. hirsutus, ler Sunde-

vall’s recent showing ih Av. deanery 1866, p. 15). The Saxicola enan-

same bird that was described and flgured

by Cassin as S. “ Sigo e Vig. (Illust. B. Cal. and Tex., p. 207, pl.

peas Four species of Passerculus are recognized in the list, though we

uld judge that with the exception perhaps of P. Sandwichensis, it were

i rg probably explaining its occurrence, in Washington Territory (Suckley), and Arizona

REVIEWS. 369

difficult to tell them apart. Melospiza pon and Passcrella Townsendii

occurred at Sitka. Corvus caurinus continues to be recognized as distinc

from C. ossifragus. ‘The record of d omus Bairdii is the north-west-

ernmost as yet; with this and Sclater's recent South American indication

: it may be considered as an inhabitant of the western hemisphere at large,

though it has yet to be detected in the Atlantic province; this, however,

may be predicted with some confidence. Bermnic AS) var. occid entails is

Mr. Dall remarks that ** it " not at all unlikely that B. Hutchinsii and

leopar are one species.” — The party were enabled to make specially

interesting observations on some dici water fowl, not only of intrinsic

value, I pos onstrating over again that many, and pro obably most birds,

wever “rare” they may be usually considered through default of speci-

mens or other fortuitous i yet have their ‘‘ metropolis ”

mon in the North Pacific, though not in Bering’s Sea. Larus argentatus

(var.) and L. iraran are abundant on the Yukon. With the Rissa

tridactyla ** abundant at Sitka and Plover Bay," Mr. Dall has Ternen

confounded, since a iei not E R. Kotzebui, a species, or perha

a dev

re same iiim p the dicen ‘in the color of the legs to which Mr.

red to yellow in vei nen pas dui We do not recolleet now which

not rare at Plover Bay. Colymbus arcticus is recorded instead of C. Pa-

cificus, which was to have ts ape eiie and the same may be said of

Podiceps griseigena instead of P. Holboelli. The “rare” vie ees

Loon ( Colymbus Adami: only recognized of late years, was got at

ong the

The crested Synthli Si umizusume pip have jas anticipated;

ut oniy S. antiquus is re

Not less important pti Ns a of their geographical distribution, s

Which we have only outlined some of the more salient points, is that o

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 4T

910 REVIEWS.

the habits of the species observed. ‘Great care has been taken," says

Mr. Dall, **in the record of habits; * * * and it is presumed to be gener-

ally correct." Of this we have no doubt, and only regret that we must

om-

mending it, as we specially do, to the attentive consideration of ornithol-

ogists. The accounts of some of the species are very full, and there are

few paragraphs that do not fill some gap in our previous knowledge with

highly interesting matter.

Mr. Dall includes in the list Vanellus cristatus, from a description given

hi ya hunter of a bird kille islan the Golsova River, and

which **could apply to no other It untry;" no specimens,

however, wer n. The other actual additions to our bird-fauna

origen. badiiventris (Lawr., Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., 1865, p. 172),

is Nicaraguan; the others are from the North-west; some are well-known

old-world apiki new to our fauna; others have been separately de-

scribed as new by Cassin, Elliot and Coues, of late years; while others

still are here presented for the first time. The most interesting of these

are doubtless the three that respectively introduce to our fauna as many

genera previously known only as old-world. Pyrrhula is represented by

a variety (Cassini Baird) of coccinea; “ the color of the under parts, if

really characteristic of the adult male, will at once distinguish it, in be-

ing light cinnamon gray, as in the female coccinea, instead of bright nim-

Sem red” (p. 316); the single specimen is from Nulato, January 10, 1867.

other eustes peoa Baird (one specimen, St.

Michaels), closely altied to »" trochilus and Eversmanui; and a Budytes,

ich

(p. 277) : — “I first observed this species at St. Michael's saad the 9th or

10th of June, and from that until well into the month of August; they

per

nicus, the most abundant of the strictly terrestrial species. During the

month of June n Sumo them generally in flocks of from twenty to

thirty individua

Scops vesci (Elliot, Proc. A. N. S., Phil., 1867, p. 69, and Ill. B.

Am. pl. x, one specimen, Sitka), is a large, dark, northern form, close by

igo nor T. hyemalis in shape and generally similar to it in color, with

the siz - edon; **of its distinctness from any other North American

PE. Ran can be no question " (p. 815). Leucosticte griseinucha Brandt,

*On Additions to the Bird h America, made by the Scientific Corps of the

Russo-Ameriean Telegraph siens By 8. F. Baird. — Ibid., p. 311, (Art. x.)

REVIEWS. 371

(Aleutian Islands), noticed in 1858, by Professor Baird, though not for-

mally introduced for want of specimens, is here more definitely charac-

terized; and one L. littoralis n. s. (Sitka and Fort Simpson) is described;

the latter is considered to be what Elliot figured under the name of gris-

einucha (nec. Brandt), than which species, however, it “is considerably

maller; the colors are brighter and lighter” (p. 318), and the

areas upon the head are somewhat different. Melospiza insignis, n. s.

from Japan, ete o n uced fi

(Dall); Schlegel has it from Sitka. Fulmarus Rodgersi (Cassin, Pr. A.

N. S., Phil., 1862, 290, and Coues, ibid., 1866, p. 29), first described, as just

quoted, from the ** North Pacific,” was taken at St. George's Island, Mr.

Aud., it appears to lack the great depth of bill which is a strong character

of the latter. The last species that Professor Baird gives is the Simor-

hynchus Cassini (Coues, Pr. A. N. S., 1868, p. 45), from Ounimak Pass; a

Species near S. tetraculus, but much less in size, with a remarkably small,

simple bill, and dusky, leaden colored plumage.

In closing a rapid analysis of these two very interesting and important

memoirs, we have only to add further, that they are accompanied by a

number of colored plates, well illustrating all the new species, and the

other additions to our fauna.

572 REVIEWS.

GEOLOGY OF InDIANA.* — This survey has evidently begun in earnest.

The present volume informs us that it is instituted to make known the

mineral resources of the State, but does not state the amounts appropri-

ated; we hope, however, it is ee to the practical benefits

already conferred by the Survey. The geology of the counties examined,

Clay, Greene, Park, Fountain, Warren, Sacre and — bv

rich fields of coal, and are full of practical details which s

already more than tenfold repaid the expenses incurred. Ne Es

castle to Terre Haute a section has been run along the railroad line and

depth. These have rd the Survey to give a very interesting section

showing the strata from the Silurian to the surface. The first one at

Terre Haute penetrates uli the glacial deposits and reaches to the depth

of one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three feet, stopping in the

e thousand two hundred and forty feet, penetrated the

Upper sre

The present Rep is concluded with a catalogue of the Mammals and

Birds ie Franklin nt

The assistants aoe in the epson are Professor F. Bradley, Dr

Dr. G The two f

oughly worked up the natural history of the State.

RupoLPH's ATLAS OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. — There is, as I un-

derstand. an ** Atlas der Pflanzen geographie," by L. Rudolph, of which a

without ever having looked at it. To prove my assertion I will point out

the following errors in plate ** North America” of the first edition. Be-

tween 34° and 45? north latitude in Oregon and California we find sixteen

ilax officinalis (Mexican when of Presl, South American when the plant

* First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana. By E. T. Cox, State Geologist.

8vo. pp, 240, with two maps and one section.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 373

of Humboldt and Bonpland is endet guise — ‘a European

tree! 'The Vanilla, Cacao and Quinoa cultiv n the desert west of

the Color dol Zinnia elegans, Georgina coccinea, as a purga are all

placed too far northward. Robinia viscosa and hispida between the upper

Pinus pa

from West Indies, transplanted to the North American continent; Juglans

oliveformis, our Pecan aud Castanea pumila in the Rocky Mountains, and

Kalmia cuneata on the Red River; Aristolochia officinalis (probably Ser-

pentaria), Tent capreolata in Michigan ; PHOTOS Lotus an European

tree; almonds and figs cultivated near Lake Ontario! And so on! Should

all these errors be ee acs in the second aition, the ou sa iia of

the work into our schools will be a great nuisance. — F. BRENDEL.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

DIALYSIS piene hes AMINODY IN KALMIA LATIFOLIA. — These two technical

words we take from Dr. Masters’ interesting volume published last year

by the Ray sco gia Bron ** Vegetable Tamar which last word

denotes the science of monstrosities. Dialysis is the term applied to the

separation of parts which are normally abst staminody is the conver-

sion of other organs into stamens

We have before us a novel and specially ap esy monstrosity which

is described by these terms. It was discovered by Mis s Bryant, at South

Deerfield in this state, and we are unis to her, through a common

corolla is separated into its five component petals, and these transforme

into stamens. Altered as they are in shape, yet a trace of the pouch is

often discernible, in the form of a little boss on the outer or lower side,

and a slight corresponding depression on the upper. The anther is ex-

914 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

trorse and adnate, usually TANNIN rather an strictly terminal, and its

wo cells srt to open lengthwise. The ten proper stamens are just

as in the normal flower, except that they are pate or at length recurved,

and the aimes wholly free, there being no pouches to receive them.

The pistil is wholly normal, and there is nothing € to prevent the

ovules from being fertilized and maturing seed. — RAY

OCCURRENCE OF Rare PLANTS IN ILLINOIS. — There are in * inc

Manual" some species noted as rare which grow in the eor of Peoria:

Sin nivea DC., Napea dioica L., Pets incarnata L., Cacalia suave-

8 cle i A. Gr

palustris L., in great abundance; and in St. Clair county, Eleocharis quad-

rangulata R. Br.

There are a number of species which could, from the habitats given in

*Gray's Manual,” be taken as not growing in Illinois, though they do;

are Arenaria lateriflora L., Flerkea proserpinacoides Willd., Agri-

Ylora Ait. ea Hoffm

L. (only one f , Tro h.

à idi je aphylos uva-ursi Spr., Lysimachia ihyrsiflor Utri-

cularia intermedia Hayne, Phlox reptans Michx.(?), Fraxinus eese

am., Aristolochia serpentaria L., Dirca palustris L., Carya tomentosa

illoides chi ili

i s spectabilis L., Trillium nivale Ridd.,

glochin maritimum L., Potamogeton n Lig: dl tricoccum

Ait., Carex arida dah Torr, e Ji iformis L., C. lanuginosa Michx.,

longirostris Torr., Schleich., Asplenium at adn

ichx., occur around Peori

een Arabis lyrata d on the limestone rocks near Galena, and

Mofes verna Nutt., in Fulton county. In Southern Illinois I have d

lected Vitis indivisa Willd., V. bipinnata T. Gr., Heuchera villosa Mich

pte radiata spe Celtis ETE (near Cairo) Quercus pellos

-, Cyperus virens Michx., um Walterianum Schult., P. leve Michx.,

dst us anena Auk c in Falling Spring, posait St. Louis). —

RENDEL.

ZOOLOGY.

EARLY ARRIVAL OF GEESE. — A flock of forty geese (Anser Canadensis)

were observed passing over Glace Bay, Cape Breton, steering north on

the 23d of February. This is at least a fortnight earlier than I have ever

known them to appear in Nova Scotia. — J. MarrHEW Jones, Halifax,

MS.

YBRID Fo — In answer to a query in the NaTURALIST for March,

as to the ky vridation of Pintados, I might state that an instance of the

eg alluded to came under my notice in the year 1845, where the cross

as the more singular one of a male turkey and a female Guinea hen.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 945

There were upwards of twenty eggs laid by the hen, and incubation had

were hatched, and grew to maturity, evincing a DAE combination "n

the form and habits of their i incongruous paren

The birds were forwarded to the Academy ei N us Sciences of Phil-

— where their skins were mounted, and I believe are still to be

seen. . I forwarded an account to the Academy at the time, and they were

wade the subject of a report by the late Dr. Morton. I bas not the Pro-

ceedings of the Academy by me, but I believe the account, will be found

in the volume for 1846.

The Guineas are ver y strong in their attachments, and the old gobbler

had to do the agreeable to un wife and chidren all summer whether he

would or no. — WILLIAM KIT

We a, at the Central Park a pair of afir fowls, which I consider

tween themselves or with either of the species from which they were

i ILLIAM ONK

In answer to a query in the NaruraLst of Mar ch, I would say that

there was a fowl in St. Augustine of this state, that was a cross between

the dung-hill fowl and Guinea hen. I have heard of two other instances,

but have no positive proof, except in this one instance. —C. H. NAUMAN

HYBRID RABBIT. — On the 13th of October a rabbit was shot in the

woods in this vicinity, which the most superficial observers readily de-

bit and

dj tw

— blended as to leave no doubt as to its parentage. It is well

mounted in my cabinet. — J. P. KIRKLAND.

TURKEY BUZZARD. — Can a Turkey Buzzard be deceived by his sense of

smell? I have noticed several instances in which skunks have been eaten

odorless being allowed to lie as long as other animals. Did the buzzards

mistake the skunk's scent for putrefaction? — J. L. B., Colora, Md.

DovBrE HrADrD Snakes. — Within the last ten years I have had in my

possession two specimens of doubled headed Snakes. One was accident-

ally lost, the other is before me, preserved in alcohol. The latter lived

it seized with one of its mouths; the other seemed always to be passive

376 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

fno use. Both specimens were the young of our Water Snake,

ipis leberis of B. and G. — W. KIRKLAND.

REPRODUCTIONS OF LruBs. — M. P leppeaux has hg for fish what

he had already oe anette in es case of newts, viz.: that when the

limb is removed ow the scapula or ilium it is bum But

when the scapula or ilium is removed no reproduction takes place. —

Monthly ieee Journal.

Dors THE PRAIRIE Doa REQUIRE ANY WATER? — The following may

throw some light on the question. October 26th, 1869, I received two

prairie dogs from Cheyenn ne. The dogs were kept in my laboratory under

my own eye, and I am sure have drank no water from that time to the

present, nearly six months. March 11th and April 3d I placed a dish of

water before them. Each time they merely smelt of it, and turned away

without drinking a drop. They were fed on nuts, corn, apples, cabbage

leaves, celery tops, etc. Durin g the months of December, Jan nuary and

Februa ah t uid were taking their winter nap, and of course ate nothing.

B N, M. D., Pittsburgh, Pa.

AN ALBINO Turkey Buzzarp (Cathartes aura Ilig) was shot near

here about a month since, and a white black duck (Anas obscura Gm.),

was seen a few days ago. — CHARLES H. NAUMAN, Smyrna,

ALBINO SNow Bm p. — November 16th last, I shot an albino snow bird,

Niplewa hyemalis. The bird was with a flock of its Species, and attracted

my attention by its singular whiteness. It is a male, and possessed no

peculiarity that I have ^ pienene except its plumage, which was chiefly

now-white. — WILLIAM P. ALcorr, North Greenwich, Conn

ALBINO Rats. — Colonies of albino rats are dicii quite common

in the city of PUR ius d its suburbs. Ihavealive specimen caged,

which if freed from its odor, would form an interesting pet. Its fur and

hair are pure white, and its eyes pink colored. No squirrel could be

more active and playful. Much of its time is spent in washing its face

and smoothing down its coat of hair and fi

THE LITTLE STRIPED SKUNK IN CENTRAL Iow A. — An animal of this

beautiful species was killed in this town a Iowa), February 12th,

and brought to me to be stuffed for the College cabinet. It has been

Specimen is not much larger than a Western Fox Squirrel. It has all the

characters of Mephitis bicolor Gray, as ee in Baird’s ‘General

Report.” — H. W. PARKER, Grinnell, Tow

. . THe Rusy CRowNED KrixGLET. — In regard to the query of Mr. Allen

about the ruby erowned iue J I would say that I obtained ten or twelve

specimens in May and June on the Yukon River, Alaska, all of which had

e red crown, and proved on examination to be males. I never saw à

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 377

€— of this species in that region, and noted the fact as remarkable at

"4 spen among the notes in regard to the Massachusetts ducks, the

statement that the mallard pintail and black duck do not Give for their

; : i

two occasions. This species was not found on the sea-coasts of that

region.

The pintail is very common on both coast and river, and I have seen

them dive apparently for food, hundreds of times. Indeed, they are ex-

tremely exhert at it, and are only excelled by the true sea ducks, such as

the old squaw. The same is true of the mallard, which is more common

on the deeper lagoons and on the coasts, than on the shallows by the

river, according to my observations. It is, however, not ig erate that

their habits may vary somewhat in differen localities. — W. H. DAL

THE MARSH HARRIER. — About all our meadows and wherever mice are

numerous this beautiful species is very abundant. During the past and

present month we have seen, we believe, at least a hundred of tiak all

Jemales. Where are the pale blue gray male birds? We have yet to see

the first specimen this year. We have never seen en in as many

ear s this absence of male harriers as noticeable elsewhe

others called attention to it? This species, Circus Hudsonius, nidificates

this state, yet even in the neighborhoods of the ;

unable to find the male bird. We have noticed this hawk lately engaged

aquaticus), and once saw the bird overtake and kill the beast, but it would

or did not devour it. Will any hawk eat so offensively — an animal

as this Scalops is? — CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D.

ERONS. — tria the past four months a yard within city lim-

paratively warm, and the Véseluiiua about them green. In this pond the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 48

378 NATURAL, HISTORY MISCELLANY.

frogs have been as active and abundant as during the summer, which fact

their farther movements to see if, during the coming summe r, they will

be as indifferent to the proximity of man, and if next winter they will

also remain in a yard in town. — DR. CHARLES C. ABBO

F THE SONG-sPaRROW. — Throughout ius winter, and at this

time (April llth), we are having with us a great abundance of sparrows,

upon, e

been one other feature connected with them, that to an ornithologist is

interesting and equally noticeable, i. e. a marked change of notes or song.

heard the same bird warble first the old time song and follow immedi-

saad with the new notes. Giving, as the best illustration of their old

g, Pres-pres-pres— Pres-by-teee- -rian; we can best show the variation

ed describing the new as Fee-o, Fee-o, twit-ta, db twit-ta, fee! Hea

ing these notes, at first, in the one locality (Trenton, N. J.), we fon

possibly they might have been u gauai by but one individual; but since,

we have shown this not to be the ca e, by finding the same variations of

song, in various and widely atc localities. Is such a change of

notes à common occurrence, in a species having so uniform a song as

this species is known or supposed to have? ro E HARnLES C. ABBOTT, M. D.

GEOLOGY.

GEOLOGICAL ay eno TIONS. eee ex Ha rtt of Cornell Uni-

the right bank of the Amazon. Another aim of the expedition is to ex-

plore the coast from Para down to Pernambuco, and investigate the coral

reefs of this part of the coast.

About the same date Professor O. C. Marsh, of Yale College led an ex-

pedition, composed of Students and recent graduates, to the Rocky Moun

tains, where he will spend several months and collect the vertebrate fociis

of Nebraska, Dakota, and Wyoming. The party will then go to Cali-

coast, after which they will return thr ugh Colorado and Kansas, reach-

ing New Haven probably in Nove abe

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 319

RESTORATION OF THE DINOTHERIUM. — I enclose an outline restoration

of the Dinotherium, that I found lately among the St. Petersburg Trans-

actions, presenting the latest ideas of Dr. Drandt in regard to that

animal. — S. F. BAIRD

"38 "fi

WNUN ou] Jo uorg.ro1823 f

—09——

MICROSCOPY.

DEVELOPMENT oF Gas IN PnoroPLASM. — Dr. Th. Engelmann has o

served in Arcella, a minute protozoon like an Ameba with a shell, a peri

gas can after a time be absorbed again, and reasons are given for believ-

ing that a sort of volition is exercised by the Arcellæ in the secretion and

380 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

absorption of the gas which they use in the manner of a float or air-

bladder. The air-bubbles are not connected with the contractile vacuoles,

or with the nuclei les it is important to observe, do no

occur in on-granular protoplasm of the pseudopodia, but in the

granular substance, and a t spherical but of an irregular for hic

as Dr. Engelmann observes, proves that the protoplasm is not in the con-

dition of aggregation of i he mical composition E

hus so remarkably developed by the Arcell@ was not det mined, nor the

mechanism (if any exist) of the formation and disappearance ir-

he discovery is of importance from two points of view: in t

first place, for the development of gas in protoplasm a ysiological

this development, of which this exceedingly simple organism makes use

for the purpose of locomotion.— Quarterly Journal of Science.

THE LARGEST INFUSORIUM KNOWN. — In the “Institut” of the 24th of

January is an interesting paper on the Gregarinads, which are well known

to represent one of the simplest forms of animal life, Sonea of a nu-

lately discovered a remarkable form, to which he ep VEDI the name

Gregarina gigantea, in the intestine of the lobster. It has been subjected

to M luge and Schwann of the Académie Royale de Belgique for ex-

amination, and they report that its length is no less than 16 mm., and its

is occupied by a viscous liquid containing granular particles, with a nu-

cleus and nucleolus. This last exhibits a remarkable phenomenon. At

first it is single, but in the course of a few seconds the nucleus oe

to be filled with a large number of small refractile idis which a

so many nucleoli. Some of them then augment considerably in size,

whilst the primary nucleolus gradually disappears. "o the exception

of the yolk of the egg of birds, and some other ^ the Gregarina

gigantea constitutes the largest known cell. — The Aca my

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Auonidik ut RELIC FROM TRENTON, NEw JERSEY. — In the ‘“ Proceed-

ings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of nade and in local

papers, we have frequently called attention to various large deposits of

arrowheads, axes, etc., and to interesting isolated specimens of curi-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 381

ously shaped relics, found in and near this city. We now call attention

to the relic figured here as one that is unique, at least so far as New Jer-

sey is concerned. About four and a half inches long it is very accu-

c sloped to the back, which is a flat ridge, uniformly one-thirty-

econd of an inch in width, from the neck to the posterior end, which

curving upward, is about double bus thickness on the edge. "The head

of the stone is oval, accurately cut, with a width in the centre of three-

sixteenths of an inch. The etd protuberances, stand out from the

head one-third of an Fig. 85.

inch, and have a narrow

in Hrs illustration (Fig.

b as the

SB CRI FOR is » à

At either end is a p drilled; in the front the hole is about a quarter

of an inch from the end and drilled obliquely, until it meets the drilling

from the neck, which is bored at a similar angle to the neck, as the

under one is to the base. The holes at the posterior end are slaslerty

bored. The material is hornblend.

If the stone is meant for a representation of some animal the holes

would seem to * intended for the insertion of legs; but probabiy were

nsed to insert a string or sinew, that the figure might be carried about

the neck. We have never seen any large collection of these ** Indian”

relics, and do not know whether it is a common form elsewhere or not,

but, as we previously stated, it is novel to New Jersey. It was ploughed

up near the city, in a neighborhood where only axes and arrow points are

to be met with, and those not abundantly. — CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D.

ORIGIN OF THE TASMANIANS. — Mr. Bonwick, in a recent paper “ On the

nians have now b ost extinct, an old woman being the only sur-

vivor of ther y were related in manners and in general physique

to the neighboring Australians, but were allied by black skin and wooll

hair to the di icans, while they were assimilated by resemblanc

of language, customs, and habits of thought, to races scattered

over vast areas. T r seeks plain this relation by con-

structing an ideal southern continent, whence all the dark-colored races

surrounding the Indian Ocean, extending into the Pacific and south-

erm OCEA radiated. He regards the Tasmanian as probably

382 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

by plants is necessarily the same as that pursued the higher animals.

ia president alluded to the great difference between the Australian and

asmanian, especially in the character of the hair; Le he regarded it as

bicis impossible that the Tasmanian could have come from Aus-

ralia

islands may have extended from New Caledonia to Tasmania, similar to

hat which now connects New Caledonia with New Guinea; and that

by this means a low negrito type may have spread eastward over this

area. — Scientific Opinion.

Stone IMAGES ON EASTER ÍISLAND.— A paper was read by Mr. J. L.

Palmer, R. N., on a recent visit to Easter Island in H.M.S. Topaz. Dur-

ing the visit the singular colossal stone images which excited the aston-

ishment of Captain Cook and the earlier voyagers were accurately

observed and measured, and a specimen of them brought away to deposit

in the British Museum. Mr. Palmer described the topography of this

remote island in the South Pacific. It is only twelve miles in length by

four in width, and lies in a part of the ocean far away from other islands,

at a distance of two thousand miles from the coast of South America,

d one thousand miles from the nearest Polynesian islands to the west.

The island is entirely a wies formation, and presents numerous

extinct craters, one of which yields the gray lava of which all the stone

pered, set of people. They belong to the Polynesian race, h

tradition of their immigrating from Opara at no very distant period

interest attaching to sland was an ethnological one, and concerned

e race who sculptured the vast quantity of stone images now existing

in situ on stone platforms in various parts of the island, or inside large

stone chambers or houses. The platforms, chambers, sculptures, and

inut h

e state

itants knew nothing of the matter, that they were undoubtedly of e

antiquity, and that it was probable they were executed by a race who h

long since passed awa

jn the discussion which followed Mr. Markham mentioned the fact of

similar images having been found by the early tagen invaders in the

cities ou the banks of Lake Titicaca, in Sonth Peru, and belonging to the

Aymara nation. There existed, we is "i eror: Hal the

Aymara images were profusely sculptured. Recently a stone platfor

had been found in one of the fic Isl one thous miles to the

o migrated acros

Franks gave in detail his reasons for Mm that the ancient remains

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC. 983

in Easter Island truly belonged to an earlier population of the same Poly-

nesian race who now inhabit the island. Sir George Gray also expressed

the same opinion, and spoke of the habit of carving images as being a

peculiarity of Polynesians, including the Maories, and that in a place

here wood (the usual material very scarce, as it is in Easter

which the images were made as supporting Sir George Gray's explana-

tion. — Scientific Opinion.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. — The

meeting of the Association for 1870 will be held at Troy, N. Y., beginning

on Wednesday, August 17th, having been postponed by the Standing

Committee from the 3d, at the request of the Local Committee. We be-

Receptions, Finance, Lodgings, Excursions, Rooms, Invitations, Printing

and Railroads, we feel confident that the See. will be most cor-

dially received.and taken care of during the ses

e trust that the subsections of riha eie "uid Ethnology, and of

Microscopy. organized at the Salem meeting, will be reorganized with a

large attendance in these interesting departments.

ollowing are the Officers of the Meeting: — William Chauvenet,

St. Louis, President; T. S. Hunt, Montreal, Vice-President; Joseph h Lov-

ering, Cambridge, Te anent Secretary; C. F. Hartt, Ithaca, General

Secretary; A. L. yn, Philadelphia, Treasur

Standing Committee.—William Chauve ee x Hunt, mais Lovering,

C. F. Hartt, J. W. Foster, O. N. Rood, ó. a Marsh, A. L. Elw

cal Committee. — John A. Griswold, Chairman ; George de ‘Burdett,

First Vice-Chairman ; P. V. Hagner, Secon Vico- Chairman ; Benjamin H.

Hall, General Secretary; H. B. Nason, Corresponding Recretinies ; Adam

mith, Treasurer, and seventy-seven others.

—— 09 ——

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

C. m plant found in flower June 21, on Mount Monadnok, is thi

renaria

Grenlandica. It is abundant on the summit of Mount Washington, and id have found

it common at Hopedale, Labrador, where it grows near the uu of the oc

384 BOOKS RECEIVED.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Des arripiens i T Corals. By A. E. Verrill. [From Am. J d Arts. May, 1870.]

Reviews of R t on [nvertebr. cane of Massachusetts, and of So Polke of New Haven.

B re E. Verrili, "Dite Am. Jour. Sei. Arts. May, 187

Valedictory Address, Jefferson Medical College. By J. A: Meigs, M. as Philadelphia, 1870.

Ueber die Mikroskope eraty t i F^ A P P. Ha en. Pant 1,8vo. 1870.

tion :

American in Eniomologist a nd [eii n Vol. ii. Nos. 7- s. May, J es $

[ -S€ Annual Re f Trus

eabody Institute. Eighteenth Annual Report of Trustees, Pea

American Journal of rj dical Sciences. No.118. April, 1870. erri $5,00.] Philad.

osmos. From January 1 to June 25, 1870. Paris. Leek ly sss

Monthly Report of Department of Agriculture. March, Ma

Annual Report of Sec y Massachusetts Board of Agric culture ra 1869. 1 vol, Svo. Boston, 1870.

American Journal of Conchology. Vol. v., Part4. Phi cps, E a year.]

per reg Report of the American Museum of ‘Natural d istory. January, 1870. New York.

Note. "n e Fishes of New Jersey. By C. C. Abbott, M. D. "ET om American Nat-

weatlet. get 70.)

posi id be the Torrey Tolania Club. pha 4-6, April, June

Bor e 2" view. Nos.7-ll. May, July. .Br runswick, Maine. [$2 a year.]

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AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — SEPTEMBER, 1870. — No. 7.

CC RC: 424 95 I~

MUD-LOVING FISHES.

BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D.

MvcnH is lost to those who essay to study the habits of

fresh-water fishes, first, by ignoring uninviting mud-holes,

and secondly, by walking carelessly to the banks of the

stream, and seeing nothing at first, think they are themselves

unseen by anything inhabiting the water. Never was there

a greater mistake! Nine times in ten, if these same streams

be approached cautiously, and yourself concealed, you peer

carefully into the water, you will find it tenanted. by many

and larger fishes, than you supposed were there. Following

out this plan, we once saw and captured a chub (Semotilus

rhotheus) thirteen inches long, in a narrow brook of but

six inches in depth. This fish, when the bank was carelessly

approached, would withdraw to a deserted muskrat burrow.

After standing quietly for a few minutes upon the bank of

a stream that has been openly approached, one will notice

Entered aecordinz tn Act of f% h / Dn be tha P D Clerk’a Office cf the T

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 49 (385)

386 MUD-LOVING FISHES.

the gradual appearance of the fishes your sudden presence

startled and sent off ; but returning under such circumstances

they are not the same fish in their movements; for although

they may appear to swim about fearlessly, they nevertheless

are watching you, and fail to exhibit many of their peculiar

habits. An aquarium, even, in which fishes become tame, is

best watched at a distance, as more is going on generally,

than when you are near by. Fish are like children, fuller

of mischief when alone. These remarks, be it understood,

apply to some species—not all. What we design consid-

ering as mud-loving species are nine in number, all common

to the Delaware and its tributaries, at and near Trenton,

Fig. 87.

Enneacanthus Métal :

New Jersey. They are the Spotted Sun-fish ( Enneacanthus

guttatus,* the Mud Sun-fish ( Acantharcus pomotis), the Mud

Minnow ( Melanura limi), Mud Pike (Esox porosus), Mullet

(Moxostoma oblongum), Black Sucker, Catostomus ( Hylo-

myzon) nigricans, Mud Cat-fish (LAmiurus DeKayi), Eel

CAnguilla tenuirostris), and the Lamprey (Petromyzon nigri-

cans). (We consider the Ichthyomyzon appendix as the

young of the last, or an allied Petromyzon).

Spotted Sun-fish ( Enneacanthus guttatus). We have very

* We trust the nomenclature of our fishes is finally established; and no species will

be farther burdened with confusing synonomy. We follow Cope (Journal Acad. Nat.

Sci., Phil., Vol. vi, part 3, p. 216, Jan., 1869), in this paper; and if farther changes are

proposed, feel now as th gh hould adopt tl ith reluct

MUD-LOVING FISHES. 387

carefully searched for a trait characteristic of this fish as

compared with Æ. obesus, and have uniformly failed to do so.

The habits of the species are those of the Centrarchid:e gen-

erally, modified in so far as being merely more of a mud-

loving species. So purely a mud-dwelling fish are they

that we have frequently found them in water so shallow, that

they marked the mud with their pectoral fins in swimming ;

preferring such shallow water, with the mud, to that which

was deeper, to which they had access, because it was over a

stony bed. In winter they congregate in deep water, and

unless care is taken to dig well into the mud they will not

be taken in the ordinary scoop-net. We found, during the

past winter, in one instance, that a large number had appar-

ently scooped out a basin in the bottom of a little pond. At

any rate, closely huddled together, in a small space, some-

what deeper than the surrounding bed of the pond, was a

large number. Examination of several showed they were

then taking no food. The stomach of each specimen, and

the whole digestive tract, in fact, were empty.

The main interest attaching to this species, at least to us,

is the fact of its occupying many small, sluggish streams,

similar and side by side with others that harbor, though less

abundantly, the ZE.'obesus. We never yet have found them

associated in small streams, in the tributaries of the river;

yet, in the Delaware itself the Æ. obesus is occasionally, and

the guttatus frequently found. North-east of Trenton, in the

Spar-kill, a creek emptying into the Hudson, and in the

streams along the coast, emptying into the bays, the Æ.

obesus abounds ; and the guttatus has not been found. Along

the Delaware both are found, the guttatus more abundantly.

Professor Cope has found Z. guttatus near Richmond, Vir-

ginia, and (verbal communication) has not found it about

Philadelphia. It is undoubtedly in the Delaware, at Trenton

—distanee thirty-seven miles. We have been thus particu-

lar in stating its habitat, because the fact of its not associ-

ating with the E. obesus is a mystery we cannot explain,

388 MUD-LOVING FISHES.

except in tne manner following. The simiiarity of these two

Enneaeanthi is so marked, that unless living, they can

scarcely be distinguished ; and considering the abundance of

one and presence of the other, but not associated, we suggest

that the Æ. obesus is with us, not of its own choice, but

foreibly brought by freshets from the localities where it is

the only Finden (New York State) to this, the proper

territory of the E. guttatus. Once here it occupies certain

Streams from which it has driven the former occupant, E.

guttatus. lt is always found in the streams having unob-

structed access to the river. If this be a true explanation

of its presence does it not confirm its claim to a distinct

specific title? In the “Geology of New Jersey” we con-

founded the two species, considering Pomotis guttatus Mor-

ris, a synonym of Zryttus obesus Girard.

On the 16th of March we found females of the Mud

Minnow (Melanura limi), in clear, cold, running water.

They were much distended with large masses of MM

ored eggs, that we should judge were nearly “ripe.” We

have watched them frequently since but failed to find them

depositing these ova. Atthis time, April 19, a large propor-

tion of the females are no longer gravid. It would appear

that in March they were passing up stream, or brook, to

spawn, but appeared to be unaccompanied by males. >

We have lately found that this fish, when grown, feeds

largely upon small shells (Physa and Lymnea). We have

seen them seize the animal, crush and then drop the shell,

and then, by nibbling at the extruded soft parts, finally suc-

ceed in devouring all but the shell. Young crawfish are also

worried to death by this cyprinodont, which at first bites off

the larger claws, and ultimately succeeds in crushing the

whole shell. On the other hand they are themselves ex-

posed to attacks from a voracious animal, which takes advan-

tage of their lying buried in the mud. We refer to the

odoriferous Cinosternoid ( Ozotheca odorata). This turtle

appears to be able to discover the whereabouts of the mud-

MUD-LOVING FISHES. 389

minnows without alarming them ; and cautiously approach-

ing from behind, they seize the head of the fish that is

scarcely extruded from the mud. This they generally com-

pletely sever from the body, cast aside, and then draw from

the mud the decapitated body. We doubt the ability of

this turtle to catch a mud-minnow not concealed in the mud.

When lying on the mud, like an Etheostomoid, their move-

ments are very rapid when disturbed.

In speaking of the habits of certain species of fishes as

‘mud-loving,” or dwellers in and upon mud, we really indi-

cate merely those species that are most truly nocturnal. We

judge that, to a certain extent, all fish are nocturnal. We

have often noticed that fish will leap from an aquarium, if

uncovered during the night; but this occurs but seldom

during the day. Fishing with a line has always been more

fruitful with us at night than fishing during the day ; even

when fishing for yellow or white perch, and other active day

fish. Nets set over night entrap a greater number, and

larger specimens, than when set for the same number of

hours between sunrise znd sunset.

These remarks are peculiarly applicable to the two Cato-

stomoids we have mentioned above, Moxostoma oblongum :

and Hylomyzon nigricans. Unless quite small, less than six

inches in length, these "suckers" remain quiet throughout

the day; but as night approaches they leave the shallow,

muddier portions of the creeks, and swim towards and into

the. deeper waters. About sunset we have often noticed

them coming to the surface, and with their nostrils above the

water, they make a low, sibilant sound, and leave in their

wake a long line of minute bubbles. When attacked, as

they frequently are at this time, by turtles, they give a very

audible grunt, similar to that of our chub when drawn from

the water. Both of these “suckers” are occasionally found,

even during the day, in running water, hunting among the

stones upon the bottom; but still water and soft mud are

never far distant. The “suckers” of our rivers are very

390 MUD-LOVING FISHES.

different in their likes and dislikes. Coming up the stream

in February and March, the large-scaled species, Teretulus

macrolepidotus, and the common Catostomus Bostoniensis,

seek out rapid waters, rocky bottoms, and are so active and

fearless during the day, that many are seen and killed in the

shallow waters they have entered. . This is very noticeably

the case at Trenton, New Jersey, where the Assunpink creek

enters the Delaware. The “suckers” come up to the foot of

the dam and congregate there in large numbers. Both of

these species bite readily at a hook; but the “mullet” and

"black-sucker" never do with us.

We can imagine nothing more devoid of interest than a

mud-catfish (Amiurus DeHayi), at least as we have them

here in New Jersey. Occasionally one of unusual size is

met with to give it some characteristic worthy of attention.

The largest specimen we have ever seen weighed five pounds,

thirteen ounces. The greatest width of the head was five

and one half inches. This species wallows in the mud in the

beds of streams of all sizes; it is abundant in many of our

largest creeks, in every mill-pond, and in average sized

dibdlios with overhanging banks, this “mud-lover” frequently

congregates in large numbers. It is a little curious to notice

kaw soon matters right themselves, as to the distribution of

fishes, after a fritt has subsided which had obliterated the

previous boundaries. We have in mind now an extensive

tract of meadow, through which meanders two rapid current

creeks, and also through it are cut innumerable ditches.

In these ditches dwell several mud-loving fish. Of course

the freshet produces considerable of a “scatter” among

them; but on the subsidence of the water we very seldom

find mud cat-fish in the clear-water creeks, and the running

water species caught napping in the ditches very promptly

leave, as a few days suffice to restore to each locality its

characteristic species.

In our report in the “Geology of New Jersey,” we gave

but three fresh-water siluroids. Since then we have had our

MUD-LOVING FISHES. 391

attention called to the stone cat-fish ( Noturus gyrinus), from

the Delaware Water Gap, Warren County, New J ersey. Be-

sides the specimens from this locality in the Museum of

the Philadelphia Academy we have seen one living specimen

in an aquarium, taken in the Assunpink Creek at its mouth.

This is the only living specimen taken in New Jersey that

we have ever seen, but learn that it is common in some of

the rocky creeks in the northern part of the State.

The Eel (Anguilla tenuirostris), as elsewhere we suppose,

is abundant in all our water courses. A careful examination

of specimens from various localities, and comparison of re-

ports of local fishermen, tend to the fact (?) that the largest

eels are to be found in the rivers and streams directly tribu- -

tary to them ; and that in isolated mill-ponds far distant from

the main water courses, they are not so large or numerous.

We do not admit that such is really the case, but it does

appear to be true. The experience of other observers would

be interesting to know; and how large do our various spe-

cies of Anguilla grow, as found in fresh-water? In the

Delaware and its many small tributaries we find the Lamprey

(Petromyzon nigricans) very abundant. Although occasion-

ally found sticking to the sides of large fish, shad, rock-fish,

white-perch and chub, they do not appear to feed upon fish

thus exclusively. We have frequently found a large quantity

of them adhering to the carcasses of dogs and other drowned

animals, and judge that they subsist upon dead, rather than

living animal matter. In an aquarium they adhere to the

glass sides and remove the green scum very effectually, but

whether they devour it or not we could not ascertain. We

ve known the Lampreys to suck their way up the facing

of mill dams and so wander far up from the river. In suc

cases they bury themselves in the mud, in the winter, as do

eels instead of following the river out into the sea.

VARIATIONS IN NATURE.

BY THOMAS MEEHAN.

THE idea that art has made most of the variations we find

in gardens is far removed from the truth. It has done

much to prevent a true knowledge of the origin of species.

Art has done little towards making variations; it has only

helped to preserve the natural evolutions of form from being

crowded out. There is scarcely any species of wild plants

but will furnish numberless variations, if we only look for

them. To-day I examined a large patch of ox-eye daisies

(Chrysanthemum leucanthemum). The first impression is

that they are remarkably uniform, yet there were some with

petals as long only as the width of the disk; others with

petals double the length. In some the petals taper to a

narrow point; in others they are tridentate on the apex.

Again, some flowers have petals uniformly linear. Others

have them tapering at both ends. Some have recurved and

others flat petals. In one plant the scales of the involucre

were very much reflezed, a very striking difference from the

usually closely appressed condition.

I have frequently found that these very common things

which nobody looks at, furnish as many new facts to an

enquiring mind, as the rare species which every one loves to

see.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN

ALLEGHANIES

BY PROFESSOR E. D. COPE.

I. On the so-called Alleghanian Fauna in General. The

terms Canadian and Alleghanian, have been applied by Pro-

(392)

FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES. 393

fessors Verrill* and Agassizt to faunal associations of spe-

cies of animals, characteristic of Canada and. adjacent

territory, and the Middle and Eastern United States, etc.

The former author, in the later essay quoted, attempts to

define these faune in a more or less precise manner, regard-

ing the southern boundary of the first as “coincident with a

line which shall indicate a mean temperature of 50° Fahren-

heit, and the southern boundary of the second, to be the

line of 559." In accordance with this view the southern

boundary of the Canadian fauna, commencing at the mouth

of the Penobscot River in Maine, extends parallel with the

coast into New Brunswick, and returning through middle

Maine passes south of Moosehead Lake and the White

Mountains, along the eastern base of the Green Mountains

to the south, and up their western foot to the river St. Law-

rence. From near Montreal it turns to the south-west, and,

passing through Lake Ontario, crosses Michigan from St.

Clair to Milwaukee, and rises following the valley of the

Mississippi northwards. The Adirondack Mountains were

regarded as a portion of this fauna, surrounded, like an

island, by the Alleghanian.

The southern boundary of the Alleghanian was traced

from near Norfolk, Virginia, up the valley of the James

River to the Alleghany Mountains, southward along their

base to their termination in Georgia, and then north again

along their western slope to Kentucky and the Ohio River.

The Southern, or Louisianian, fauna included the lower por-

tion of the Ohio basin, and an undetermined extent of that

of the Mississippi north of the latter. The boundary line

then descended to the south to the west of that river. I

may suggest here that the most northern habitat of the Siren

lacertina might prove to be near the northern extreme of the

boundary in question. This point, so far as I am aware, is

* Proceedings Essex Institute, III. 136. Proceedings Boston Society of Natural His-

Ty, 1866, .

t Nott and Gliddon, “Types of Mankind,” 1853.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 50

394 FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES.

Alton, Illinois, from which place I have a specimen of that

species.

My object at present is to show that the region, including

the crest of the Alleghany Mountains to their southern ex-

tremity in Georgia, possesses a fauna in many respects entirely

different from that of the southern two-thirds of the Alle-

ghanian fauna as defined by Verrill, and in some respects as

similar to the Canadian. My conclusions are based more on

observations on the distribution of birds than on animals of |

other classes, as were also those of Professor Verrill. They

are very imperfect, and I have no doubt that additional ob-

servations will increase the weight of evidence in the direc-

tion here pointed out.

Among Mammalia three species may be noticed, namely :

Sciurus Hudsonius, Cervus Canadensis, Lynx Canadensis.

The first named species is characteristically northern, and

little known in the southern part of the above defined Alle-

ghanian fauna. In southern and eastern Virginia it is un-

known, as well as in North Carolina and Tennessee. It is,

however, not uncommon on the summits and crests of the

Alleghanies in both the former states. In North Carolina

and southern Virginia it is so restricted to the heights as not

even to descend into the mountain valleys. I resided for

nearly two months at the Warm Springs, Madison county,

North Carolina, and in Henderson county, in the same state,

at an elevation of two thousand five hundred feet above the

sea, without observing a single individual; yet the inhabi-

tants are well acquainted with them as game of the moun-

tain tops, under the name of the “Mountain Boomer,” a

name they bear in Virginia, also. This distribution and

name are mentioned by Audubon and Bachman in their great

work,

The elk is recorded by Baird as having left remains, during

human habitation, in West Virginia. Of this fact I was also

assured when in the same region. Dr. Hardy, of Asheville,

North Carolina, states that horns of the elk were found in

FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES. 395

the woods on the Black Mountains at that southern point,

when he was younger, and that he is satisfied that its range

extended nearly to South Carolina during the human period.

This species formerly ranged over the Alleghanian fauna, but

is now nearly confined to the Canadian.

Like the red squirrel the Canada lynx extends to the

southern limits of the Alleghany ranges, occupying the

highest ground, though apparently not so restricted to the

elevations as the first named. It is distinguished, by the

name catamount, from the Lynx rufus which is called wild

cat, and is well known to the hunters. It is known to be a

northern species, being unknown in the wilds of the lower

country of Virginia and North Carolina, where the L. rufus

takes its place. What its southern limit is, in eastern and

western Pennsylvania, I am unable to ascertain.

In Giles County, E. Virginia, at an elevation of five thous-

and feet, I observed in August, 1867, the following species of

birds: Junco hyemalis, Dendreeca icterocephala, D. Black-

burniæ, D. cærulescens, D. maculosa, D. virens, Myiodioctes

Canadensis, M. mitralus, Parula Americana, Mniotilta varia,

Setophaga ruticilla. From the season at which these were

observed, they evidently bred in the locality in question.

They were most of them abundant.

In the high valley of Henderson county, and on the Black,

Rich, and other mountains in southern North Carolina in

September, 1869, I observed the following: Junco hyemalis,

Vireo solitarius, Dendræca coronata, D. maculosa, D. virens,

D. cerulescens, D. Blackburniæ, Parula Americana, Mnio-

tilta varia, Myiodioctes mitratus, Setophaga ruticilla. These

were also abundant, and no doubt bred in the localities in

question.

These species are enumerated as especially northern forms.

They pass Philadelphia in latitude 40° in early spring (April

and May), on their way to northern breeding places.

Rarely a Setophaga ruticilla breeds in that region, but the

great majority accompany the northern Dendrocas and the

396 FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES.

Vireo solitarius. Of the list, Verrill states that Mniotilta

varia, Parula Americana, Dendreca virens, D. Blackburnie,

D. icterocephala, Myiodioctes Canadensis, Setophaga ruticilla

and Vireo solitarius, breed at Norway, Maine, at the north-

ern limit of the Alleghanian fauna. Dendreca coronata. and

Junco hyemalis migrate still farther north to within the lim-

its of the Canadian fauna, to breed: D. maculosa, not

breeding at Norway, may have similar habits. The two

former birds are regarded by Verrill as true types of the

Canadian fauna, the Junco representing in part Spizella so-

cialis of the Alleghanian, and the D. coronata the D. pinus

of the same.

The southern localities now given for the species of the two

lists, I have not found recorded, except in the case of Junco .

hyemalis, which according to Audubon breeds in the Vir-

ginian Alleghanies. The species mostly, and especially the

last named, are confined like the red squirrel to the most ele-

vated mountain crests. In North Carolina these range from

five thousand to six thousand seven hundred and forty feet.

It is also evident that a number of species of birds, mostly

wood-warblers (Dendreca and other Tanagride) have an

east and west, as well as north and south migration; passing

to and from the Alleghany Mountains, instead of going to

the New England States and Canada.

Among the Batrachia a single species is found on the

high peaks of the Black Mountains, and its faunal relations

are similar to the preceding. This is a species of Sala-

mander, the Desmognathus ochrophea, which is common in

that Canadian island, the Adirondack Mountains, and in the

Alleghanies as far south as the South of Pennsylvania. In

the lower country of New England and New York it appears

not to be known to naturalists, though it may occur there,

while in Southern Pennsylvania it is not found. Its range

extends to the Georgian Alleghanies, as a specimen similar

to those from the Black Mountains was sent to the Smith-

sonian Institution by Dr. Jones.

FAUNA OF THE'SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES. 397

The preceding species of mammals, birds, and batrachia,

accompany very exactly the range of the trout (Salmo fon-

tinalis). This well known fish is already in South-western

Virginia, confined to the most elevated peaks and knobs,

and does not even occur in the streams of many of the

mountain valleys. In North Carolina its distribution is quite

similar. I took it in the headwaters of the French Broad,

and was satisfied that it occurs in the head of the Catawba.

Dr. Hardy, of Asheville, who is very familiar with the

Southern Alleghany Region, assured me that it is found in

the headwaters of the Chattahoochie in Georgia, the only

example of its occurrence in a river flowing directly into the

Gulf of Mexico, with which I am acquainted. At the same

_ time Dr. Peck of Mossy Creek, Tennessee, who has fished

for trout in most of the Alleghany streams, is of the opinion

that the fish does not oceur in any streams in the Cumber-

land Mountains.

The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) also occurs on the moun-

tains of North Carolina, but what the southern limit of its

range in the low lands is, I do not know.

Of the eighteen species above enumerated, at least ten

are not found in the southern half or more of the Allegha-

nian fauna, that is, are not known as residents about Phila-

delphia, and most of them are not found within a consid-

erable distance north of that point. Of this number at least

two belong exclusively to the Canadian fauna, while of the

remaining eight, five ( Lynx Canadensis, Sciurus Hudsonius,*

Cervus Canadensis, Setophaga ruticilla and Salmo fonti-

nalis), are absent or rare in the low countries south of

Philadelphia. `

The value of the isothermal of 65° during April, May

and June, as a boundary of faune may thus be questioned,

though it is probably as determinative as any other that

* A friend long resident in Loudon Co., Va. (on = Potomac), informs me that the

red squirrel does not occur there. Prof. Baird give in the 8th VoL, U. S. Pac. R. R.

Rep’t, measurements of specimens from Mississi

398 FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES.

could be fixed upon. Thus the limit of the breeding region

of the ten northern species above alluded to might be re-

garded as such a boundary. This would be about the par-

allel of the mouth of the Connectieut (or Hudson), and it

would coincide with the northern limit of several genera and

species of fishes. Thus Lepidosteus, Clinostomus, Ennea-

canthus, Acantharchus and Carpiodes, do not exist north of

this point, nor the widely distributed species Semotilus cor-

poralis and Hypsilepis analostanus. There is, however,

nearly as much change at the latitude of the Susquehanna,

while at the James, Micropterus, and probably Campostoma,

have their northern Atlantic limit.*

II. On the fauna of the Upper Valley of the French |

Broad River, North Carolina. —'This valley is probably the

most extensive for its elevation above the sea, in the Appa-

lachian region. It may be said to extend from near Ashe-

ville at the southern extremity of the Black Mountains, to

near the line of South Carolina, or the Saluda Mountains,

north and south. On the east and west it is bounded by the

Blue Ridge and the Cold Spring and other ranges, respect-

ively, embracing the counties of Henderson and Transyl-

vania and part of Buncombe. The French Broad River

traverses it from south to north, taking its rise in the south-

ern and western bounding mountain ranges. This fine val-

ley is comparatively level, and the soil, though loamy,

contains a considerable proportion of sand. The river pur-

sues a level course with but few rapids, and through broad

meadows susceptible of high cultivation. ` The climate is

delightfully equable, being without summer heats and win-

ter snows. The magnificent scenery, in views of the sur-

rounding mountains, especially to the westward, have made

it the Saratoga of Charleston and Mobile; and its claims,

say an essay on the — of Ashes : in the Alleghanies of Ree western Vir

stated, p. 245, tha I have since

vine ae gi through pias. Agassiz, that it is found in Lake Champlain.

FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES. 399

80 superior in scenery to that watering place, will no doubt

be some day recognized by the citizens of our northern

cities.

According to the measurement given by Prof. Kerr, in

his first report on the progress of the Geological Survey

of the State, the elevation of this valley is twenty-five

hundred feet above the sea. The highest point in the great

valley of the Alleghanies, on the line of the Virginia and

Tennessee Railroad in south-west Virginia, is nineteen hun-

dred feet, according to the railroad surveys. The Black

Mountains rise from the Upper French Broad Valley to six

thousand seven hundred and forty feet. On the south, three

ranges separate it from the upper country of South Carolina,

the southern escarpment of each of which presents a much

greater descent than the northern.

As might have been expected, the products of this valley

approximate, in some respects, those of the North. It is the

source of supply for the immediately adjoining southern

regions, of apples, potatoes, and cabbages that will head. In

its fauna it partakes of a few northern traits. I observed

the following birds there in September, so that I cannot be

sure that they breed there, or that they had not descended

from the surrounding mountains: Mniotilta varia, Parula

Americana, Dendreca virens, D. carulescens, D. maculosa,

Setophaga ruticilla. The reptile fauna presented on the

other hand a marked peculiarity, and I write the present

notice to call attention to it. The lizard Oligosoma laterale

Say, was common; the salamander Spelerpes guttolineatus

was excessively abundant, and a single example of Ambly-

stoma talpoideum was found there under a log, during my

residence of a week. These three species have been looked

upon as representing our extreme southern Reptile fauna.

They have not been found hitherto north of the low country

of the Gulf States, and its prolongation up the low valley of

the Mississippi. The Amblystoma only, of the three, has

occurred near Cairo, Ill. (Mus. Smithsonian). The Speler-

400 FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES.

pes guttolineatus seemed to take the place in habit and man-

ners of our Plethodon erythronotus, which did not occur

there. The occurrence of these species at that elevation

seems quite peculiar, as I did not meet with either of them

in three weeks in the valley of Tennessee from ten to thirty

miles north of Knoxville, nor in two months in the low

country of western, middle and eastern North Carolina, in

the latitude of this valley.

Besides these species, there were abundant the widely dis-

tributed Spelerpes bilineatus, S. ruber, Amblystoma puncta-

tum, and Desmognathus fuscus. D. niger and D. ochropheus

of the neighboring mountains were not there.

As to the flora of the valley I made but few observations.

The buckeyes and Gordonia of the Cumberland Mountains

had disappeared, and the universal “ stick-weed" (-Actinome-

ris squamosa) of the Great Valley was rare. Aconitum un-

cinatum adorned the thickets with its twining stem bearing

large blue flowers. The coarse Silphium terebinthaceum was

conspicuous in the old fields, along with abundance of a

common Crategus. In the woods there were three species

of Viburnum, and the swamps were often well protected

against intruders by the Smilax laurifolia. ‘The moss sup-

ported abundance of the Sarracenia purpurea, and a second

species, perhaps S. rubra.

The latter plant is interesting as furnishing another in-

stance of the dependence between species of different king-

doms, for means of subsistence. The tubular leaves of this

species are erect and slender, or trumpet shaped. The del-

icate hairs with which they are lined increase in coarseness

to near the base, while they are so delicate on the inside of

the free portion of the leaf as to produce the effect of iri-

descence. Insects which enter are imprisoned by this ar-

rangement, and I did not examine a specimen, of the many

observed, which did not contain at least an inch of dead

insects of all orders, in the bottom. On the top of this

mass of decay a large dipterous larva was invariably found.

FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES. 401

It was not of a kind familiar to me, and seemed evidently to

depend for subsistence on the animal matter furnished by the

trap-like qualities of the Sarracenia leaf. I did not observe

any such tenant in the J. purpurea, where the hollow pe-

tioles were frequently more or less filled with water.

IIl. On some species of Spelerpes. — In his original

descriptions of North American Salamanders, published

many years ago by Professor Jacob Green, he mentioned

one under the name of Spelerpes cirrigera, which was said to

have been discovered in Louisiana. This animal was small,

and furnished with a marked peculiarity in the shape of a

dermal appendage or tentacle, dependent from the upper lip

near the nostril. In other respects the animal was allied to

the Sp. bilineatus, the small speeies so generally distributed

over the United States. In Holbrook's extensive work on

herpetology, this species is again described and figured, but

no new specimens are mentioned as having been discovered,

and it is regarded as very rare. In 1869 the writer made a

study of the North American salamanders preserved in the

Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, and examined with

much interest, among others the types of Green's description

of Spelerpes cirrigera from Louisiana. A narrow investiga-

tion of these convinced me that no other character existed

by which to distinguish them from a usual southern variety

of Sp. bilineatus, than the two peculiar cirri originally ob-

served by Green. Now these cirri are evidently remnants

of an early larval character universal among tailed Batrachia,

namely, the balancers. These are a long process on each

side of the head immediately in front of the branchial pro-

cesses, which appear very early, indeed almost simultane-

ously with the latter. They are probably homologous with

the beards of the larval Dactylethra of Africa described by

Wyman and Gray, which give those tadpoles so much the

appearance of Siluroids, or cat-fish. In our salamanders they

disappear at various periods of growth, and sometimes leave

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 51

402 FAUNA OF THE SOUTHERN ALLEGHANIES.

traces in the form of an angle or swelling beneath the nos-

tril on the lip, and sometimes as in the supposed species

Spelerpes cirrigera, as a tentacle, or cirrus. Influenced by

this consideration I referred Green's salamanders to his Sp.

bilineatus.*

In the course of collecting in the Alleghany region of

Tennessee and North Carolina, I became satisfied of the pro-

priety of this step. While in the recesses of a cave in the

valley of Tennessee, in Jefferson county, I found a very fine

specimen of Spelerpes longicauda of a red orange color,

which had well developed tentacles on each side, precisely as

in the cirriferous Sp. bilineata of Green. Subsequently in

ascending the Black Mountains in Buncombe county, Nort

Carolina, I found five specimens of the typical form of Sp.

bilineata, of which three were tentaculate, and two were not.

Finally, in a considerable number of the Sp. guttolineata,

from the headwaters of the French Broad in North Carolina,

one presented the same feature of well developed tentacles.

This irregular preservation of a larval character, is o

interest in connection with the theory of evolution. Should

the presence of these tentacles be permanent in any species,

it is not to be doubted that the character would be regarded

as generic, and justly so. Its history would in that case be

like the history of all other generic characters as represent-

ing the undeveloped stage of another type, if not itself the

ne plus ultra. Should it be constant in a color variety only

of some species, and wanting in other varieties, and in other

species, the first would become the type of another genus,

whatever its claims to specific distinction might be. The

latter would of course follow the former! If, however, the

naturalist of the old school had any suspicion that the two

forms may have had a common origin, he would ignore the

distinctions. The proper course appears to me to recognize

characters as definitive when they are constant, and discuss

their history afterwards.

* See Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1869. p. 107.

ON THE DEEP-WATER FAUNA OF LAKE MICHIGAN,

BY DR. WILLIAM STIMPSON.

A knowledge of the character of the animals and plants

living at the bottom of the great North American Lakes,

the largest bodies of fresh-water in the world, has long been

a desideratum ; and dredging operations have this year been

initiated by the Chicago Academy of Sciences which have al-

ready produced interesting results. The first dredgings were

made off Chicago, where the waters were found to be shal-

low, and the bottom sandy or gravelly. At a distance of

eighteen miles from land the depth was but fourteen fathoms.

The bottom was nearly barren of life. We obtained, how-

ever, specimens of the larva of some neuropterous insect, a

Clepsine, a flesh-colored leech belonging to a new genus; a

Lymnea, two Melanians and a Plumatella. The plants

consisted of a moss, a Chara, a Nostoc,and one other alga.

The next investigations were made in the more central

and deeper parts of the lake. Dr. Hoy of Racine had been

for some time endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the food

of the whitefish, which had previously remained entirely un-

known, These fish being caught in gill-nets and “pounds,”

are generally taken from the water some hours after being

actually entrapped, and the food in the stomach becomes

thoroughly digested, and its character undistinguishable be-

fore it can be obtained and examined. Dr. Hoy, however,

after long search, succeeded in obtaining some fish in which

the eontents of the stomach was in a comparatively fresh

state, and ascertained it to consist mainly of remains of

small crustaceans. These he submitted to me for examina-

tion, and among them I had the pleasure of detecting indi-

cations of the existence of marine forms in the lake.

It thus became highly desirable to examine the ground

upon whieh Dr. Hoy's fishes had been obtained, and accord-

(403)

404 ON THE DEEP-WATER FAUNA OF LAKE MICHIGAN.

ingly on the 24th of June last we started out from Racine

for the purpose in a tug belonging to that place. The party

consisted of Dr. Lapham, Dr. Hoy, Mr. Blatchford and Dr.

Andrews of Chicago, and myself. We dredged at various

points from twelve to twenty-six miles from land, the great-

est depth found being sixty-four fathoms, with a bottom of

blackish impalpable mud. Between the distances of twelve

and twenty-two miles from shore the depth was tolerably

uniform, averaging forty-five fathoms, the bottom being

generally a reddish or brownish, sandy mud. On this

plateau we obtained alive the crustacea found by Dr. Hoy in

the stomachs of the whitefish, consisting of a Mysis and two

species of Gammarus. A small white Planaria, and a new

species of Pisidium also occurred. All of these animals

were found in abundance, showing this portion of the lake

bottom to be rather densely inhabited.

Mysis is a marine genus, many species of which occur in

the colder parts of the North Atlantie and in the Arctic

seas. One species, M. relicta, was found by Lovén in com-

pany with Zdothea entomon and other marine crustacea in

the deep fresh-water lakes, Wenner and Wetter of Sweden,

indicating that these basins were formerly filled with salt-

water, and have been isolated from the sea by the elevatory

movement of the Skandinavian peninsula which is still go-

ing on. That the same thing has occurred to our own lakes

is shown by the occurrence in their depths of the genus

Mysis, notwithstanding the non-occurrence of marine shells

in the quaternary deposits on their shores. Kingston on

Lake Ontario, is, I believe, the highest point in the valley

at which such shells have been found. Very probably, at

the time when the sea had access to these basins, the com-

munication was somewhat narrow and deep, and the influx

of fresh-water from the surrounding country was sufficient

to occupy entirely the upper stratum, while the heavier sea-

water remained at the bottom. After the basins had become

separated from the ocean by the rise of the land, the bottom

CLIMBING PLANTS. 405

water must have become fresh by diffusion very slowly to

allow of the gradual adaptation of the crustaceans to the

change of element. Possibly the occurrence at the bottom

of salt springs like those of the adjacent shores of Michigan

may have had something to do with the slowness of the

change. At present the bottom water, judging from a speci-

men we obtained from a depth of fifty fathoms approxi-

mately, is entirely fresh.

I am informed by Professor Gill that the Triglopsis

T'hompsonii of Girard is a marine rather than a fresh-water

form. This fish inhabits the depths of the lakes, having

been found by Professor Baird in the stomach of Lota ma-

culosa, taken in Lake Ontario, and recently by Dr. Hoy in

those of trout caught off Racine.

Our Mysis is allied to certain arctic forms, which would

lead us to refer its original entry into the lakes to the cold

period of the quaternary epoch. While the marine species

usually live near the surface of the water, this one appears

to be confined to the bottom, a result of its seeking the

colder and at a former period the more saline waters.

The investigation of the materials obtained by the dredg-

ing parties of the Academy is now in progress, and the re-

sults will be published in full with illustrations at an early

period.

CLIMBING PLANTS.

BY PROF. W. J. BEAL.

following remarks upon this interesting subject, can

scarcely be called a review, but more properly a summary

given nearly in the words of the author.* It has been made

*On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. By Charles Darwin, E

F.R.S., F.L.S., etc. [From the Journal of the Linnzan Society.] pp. 118. London, 1895.

406 CLIMBING PLANTS.

quite full, as it is likely the original paper has been read

by but few readers of the NATURALIST.

Climbing plants may be divided into those which spirally

twine round a support ; those which ascend by the movement

of, the foot-stalks or tips of their leaves; those which ascend

by true tendrils; those which are furnished with hooks, and

those which are furnished with rootlets. The last two ex-

hibit no special movements and are of less interest than the

first three.

Spirally Twining Plants. —I begin with a special case,

one depending upon my own observation, similar to the one

taken by Mr. Darwin. A thrifty hop-vine in my yard went

up nine or ten feet to the top of a stake. Still aspiring it

ran above the support, at the same time reaching off and

swinging round and round following the course of the sun.

When about two feet above the stake the tip of the vine cir-

eumscribed a circle two feet in diameter. While it grew

longer the extent of the circle was about the same, as a

part of the vine had become strong and remained nearly

stationary. By observations made at different times in the

ay it was found to perform one revolution in from one to

two hours, moving most rapidly in the warmest part of the

warmest days. It is now four feet and two inches above any

artificial support, and has just tipped over to the north-east

in the direction of the prevailing wind. The revolving

movement lasts as long as the plant continues to grow,

but each separate joint or internode, as it grows old, ceases

to move. In the ease of the hop and most other twining

plants, about three internodes at a time partake of the

motion. :

The Hoya carnosa (Asclepiadacew) revolves opposite to

the sun in five or six hours, making a circle of over five feet

in diameter. The tip traced thirty-two inches per hour.

It was an interesting spectacle to watch the long shoot

sweeping night and day this grand circle in search of some

object round which to twine. Sometimes it described nar-

CLIMBING PLANTS. 407

row ellipses. After performing thirty-seven revolutions the

stem of a hop was found to be twisted three times round its

own axis in the direction of the sun. To prove that the

twisting of the stem does not cause the revolutions, as Hugo

von Mohl supposed, some stems are not regularly twisted

and others twist in an opposite direction to the revolving

plant. In many twining plants the end of the shoot is

hooked so as the more readily to hold fast to any object of

support which may be caught. This support once found,

the point of contact ceases to move, but the tip continues to

twine above and around the support as a rope swung around

a stick will coil in the direction of the swinging rope.

If a stick shortly after having been wound round be with-

drawn, the shoot retains for a time its spiral form, then

straightens itself and again begins to revolve. Mohl be-

lieved that plants twined because of a dull irritability of the

stem, but experiments prove that this is not generally the

case.

If the support of a twiner be not lofty it falls to the

ground, and resting there the extremity rises again. Some-

times several flexible shoots twine together into a cable and

thus support each other. Single thin shoots will fall and

turn abruptly back and wind upwards on themselves. The

majority of twiners move in a course opposed to that of the

sun or the hands of a watch. Rarely plants of the same

order twine in opposite directions, but no instance is known

of two species of the same genus twining in opposite direc-

tions. Of seventeen plants of. Loasa aurantiaca, eight re-

volved in opposition to the sun and ascended from left to

right, five followed the sun and ascended from right to left,

and four revolved and twined first in one direction, and then

reversed their course. One of these four plants made seven

spiral turns from right to left, and five turns from left to

right. Climbers of the temperate zone will not generally

twine around thick trees, while those of the tropics can.

Unless this were the case those of the tropics could hardly

408 CLIMBING PLANTS.

ever reach the light. In our temperate countries twiners

which die down every year would gain nothing as they could

not reach the summit in a single season. With most twining

plants all the branches, however many there may be, go on

revolving together; but, according to Mohl, the main stem

of Tamus elephantipes does not twine—only the branches.

On the other hand, with the asparagus, given in the table,

the leading sboot alone, and not the branches, revolved and

twined. Some produce shoots of two sorts, one of which

twines; the others not. In others the uppermost shoots

alone twine. One twines during the middle of the summer

but not in autumn. Some grow erect in dry South Africa,

their native country ; but near Dublin, Ireland, they regu-

larly twine.

Leaf Climbers. — The stems of several species of Ole-

matis are twiners like the hop. But in addition to this mode

of holding fast, the petioles are sensitive to the touch,

slowly bend into the form of hooks, and if successful in

catching a stick they clasp it firmly and soon become greatly

enlarged and strengthened by an extra growth of woody

fibre. If they come in contact with no object they retain

this position for a considerable time, and then bending up-

wards they reassume their original upturned position, which

is retained ever afterwards. In Clematis calycina the

clasped petiole becomes nearly twice as thick as the leaf-

stalk which has clasped nothing. The petiole of the un-

clasped leaf is flexible, and can be easily snapped, whereas

the clasped footstalk acquires an extraordinary toughness

and rigidity so that considerable force is required to pull it

into pieces. The meaning of these changes is plain, namely,

that the petioles may firmly and durably support the stem.

In some species of Clematis furnished with compound leaves

the main petiole alone is sensitive, while some have two or

three sub-petioles, also sensitive; still others have the en-

tire number, as many as seven, sensitive. Some petioles

are extremely sensitive to very light weights, as one-eighth

CLIMBING PLANTS. 409

of a grain. They will clasp thin withered blades of grass,

the soft young leaves of a maple, or the lateral flower pe-

duncles of the quaking grass Briza; the latter are only

about as thick as a hair from a man's beard, but they were

completely surrounded and clasped.

The first petiole of Tropceolum tricolorum var. grandi-

lorum bear no lamine or blades, and are very sensitive to

touch, sometimes bending into a complete ring in six min-

utes. The next filaments above have their tips slightly

enlarged, and those still farther up the stem still more

enlarged ; so we find all grades, from tendrils to leaves with

large blades. All of these petioles are sensitive; those

without blades acting in every way like genuine tendrils;

the latter are short lived, however, dropping off as soon as

the petioles of the true leaves have clasped the support

above. The most remarkable fact, and which I have ob-

served in no other species of the genus, is that the filaments

and petioles of the young leaves, if they catch no object,

after standing in their original position for some days, spon-

taneously and slowly move, oscillating a little from side to

side towards the stem of the plant. Hence all the petioles

and filaments, though arising on different sides of the axis,

ultimately bend towards and clasp either their own stem or

the supporting stick. The petioles and filaments often be-

come, after a time, in some degree contracted, presenting

features much like true tendrils.

Maurandia semperflorens (SScrophulariacem) has flower

peduncles which are sensitive like tendrils, and exhibit re-

volving powers. These spontaneous movements seem to be

of no service to the plant as they lose the power when the

flower is old enough to open. The leaf-stalks and internodes

of this plant do not twine.

hospermum scandens var. purpureum when young has

sensitive internodes. When a petiole clasps a stick it

draws the base of the internode against it; and then the

internode itself bends towards the stick, which is thus

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 52

410 CLIMBING PLANTS.

caught between the stem and the petiole as by a pair of

pincers. The internode straightens itself again, excepting

the part in contact with the stick.

With Solanum jasminoides (Fig. 88) as in no other leaf-

climber examined, a leaf grown to its full size was capable

of clasping a stick ; but the movement was extremely slow,

requiring several weeks. On comparing a thin transverse

Fig. 88. slice of this petiole with

one from the next or older

leaf beneath, which had not

clasped anything, its diam-

eter was found to be fully

doubled, and its structure

greatly changed. In the

section of the petiole

which had during several

weeks clasped a stick, the

two upper ridges have be-

come much less prominent,

and the two groups of

woody vessels beneath

Molanum Macalasddes, them much increased in

diameter. The semilunar band is converted into a complete

ring of very hard, white, woody tissue, with lines radiating

from the centre. The three groups of vessels, which, though

closely approximate, were before distinct, are now com-

pletely blended together. This clasped petiole had actually

become thicker than the stem close beneath; due chiefly to

the greater thickness of the ring of wood.

Plants belonging to eight families are known to have

clasping petioles, and plants belonging to four families climb

by the tips of their leaves. With rare exceptions the peti-

oles are sensitive only whilst young; they are sensitive on

all sides, but in different degrees in different plants.

Tendril-bearing Plants. — By tendrils are meant fila-

mentary organs, sensitive to contact and used exclusively

CLIMBING PLANTS. 411

for climbing. They are formed by the modification of leaves

with their petioles, of flower-peduncles, perhaps also of

branches and stipules. The species of tendril bearers de-

scribed belong to ten natural families. Species of Bignonia

and some others taken together, afford connecting links

between twiners, leaf-climbers, tendril-bearers, and root

climbers. Some little time after the stem of Bignonia

Tweedyana has twined round an upright. stick, and is se-

curely fastened to it by the clasping petioles and tendrils, it

emits at the base of its leaves aérial roots which curve partly

round and adhere to the stick; so that this one species of

Bignonia combines four different methods of climbing, gen-

erally characteristic of distinct plants, namely, twining, leaf-

climbing, tendril-climbing, and root-climbing.

The movements of Bignonia venusta are quite compli-

cated. Not only the tendrils but the petioles bearing them

revolve; these petioles, however, are not in the least sensi-

tive. Thus the young internodes, the petioles, and the

tendrils, all at the same time, go on revolving together, but

at different rates. Moreover the movements of the opposite

petioles and tendrils are quite independent of each other. .

One other curious point remains to be mentioned. Ina few

days after the toes have closely clasped a stick, their blunt

extremities become, though not. invariably, developed into

irregular disk-like balls, which have the singular power of

adhering firmly to the wood.

The simple undivided tendril of Bignonia speciosa ends in

an almost straight, sharp, uncolored point. The whole ter-

minal part exhibits an odd habit, which in an animal would

be called an instinct ; for it continually searches for any little

dark hole into which to insert itself. The tendrils slowly

travel over the surface of the wood, and when the apex came

to a hole or a fissure it inserted itself, often bending at right

angles to the basal part. The same tendril would frequently

withdraw from one hole and insert its point into a second

one. Mr. Darwin says: "Improbable as this view may be

412 CLIMBING PLANTS.

I am led to suspect that this habit in the tendril of inserting

its tip into dark holes and crevices has been inherited by the

plant after having lost the power of forming adhesive disks."

A plant of Bignonia capreolata was several times shifted

in position in a box where one side only was exposed to the

light; in two days all six tendrils pointed with unerring

truth to the darkest corner of the box, though to do this

each had to bend in a different manner. Six tattered flags

could not have pointed more truly from the wind than did

these branched tendrils from the stream of light which en-

tered the box. When a tendril does not succeed in clasping

a support it bends downwards and then towards its own

stem, which it seizes, together with the supporting stick, if

there be one. If the tendril seizes nothing it does not con-

tract, spirally, but soon withers away and drops off. A

unch of wool was placed in the way of the tendrils; they

caught one or two fibres and then the tips began to swell

into irregular balls above the one-twentieth of an inch in

diameter. The surfaces of these balls secrete some viscid

resinous matter, to which the fibres of the wool adhere, so

that after a time fifty or sixty fibres are all deeply imbedded

in one ball of tendril. These tendrils quite fail to attach

themselves to a brick wall. These plants are especially

adapted to climb trees clothed with lichens and mosses which

abound on the trees in the native country of the Bignonia.

Cobea scandens (Polemoniacee) is an admirable climber.

The terminal portion of the petiole which forms the tendril

is sometimes eleven inches long. The tendril performs one

revolution against the sun in an hour and a quarter. The

base of the petiole and the internodes do not move at all.

A large majority of the tendrils of Corydalis claviculata

still bear leaflets, though excessively reduced in size. We

here behold a plant in an actual state of transition from a

leaf-climber to a tendril-bearer. Whilst the plant is young,

only the outer leaves, but when full-grown all the leaves,

have their extremities more or less perfectly converted into

tendri

CLIMBING PLANTS. 413

Echinocystis lobata. A thin, smooth, cylindrical, stick

was placed so far from a tendril that its extremity could

only eurl half or three-quarters round the stick. It was

always found in the course of a few hours afterwards that

the tip had managed to curl twice or even thrice quite round

the stick. . Measurements showed that this was not due to

the growth of the tendril. Whilst the tendril was slowly

and quite insensibly crawling onwards it was observed that

the whole surface was not in close contact with the stick.

The onward movement is supposed to be slightly vermicular,

or that the tip alternately straightens itself a little and then

again eurls inwards, thus dragging itself onwards by an in-

sensibly slow, alternate movement, which may be compared

to that of a strong man suspended by the ends of his fingers

to a horizontal pole, who works his fingers onwards until he

can grasp the pole with the palm of his hand. Experiments

upon this interesting plant were made and the results pub-

lished by Dr. Asa Gray, in 1858. This led Mr. Darwin to

more extended observations upon many other climbing

plants. He is only one of a large number of persons who

are indebted for valuable hints from the sagacious botanist

of Cambridge, Mass.

Hanburya Mexicana. In a few days after the tips of the

tendrils have grasped an object the inferior surface swells

and becomes developed into a cellular layer, which adapts

itself closely to the wood, and firmly adheres to it. This is

not the extreme tip of the tendril but a trifle back of it.

This layer apparently secretes some resinous cement, as it is

not loosened by water or alcohol, but is freed by the action

of ether and turpentine.

Tendrils of plants belonging to Vitacee, Sapindacem,

assifloracee, and perhaps others, are modified flower pe-

duneles, but their homological nature makes no difference in

their action. Figure 89 shows part of the tendril of a grape-

vine bearing flowers. From this state we can trace every

stage till we come to a full-sized common tendril, bearing on

414 CLIMBING PLANTS.

the branch which corresponds with the sub-peduncle one

single flower-bud !

Ampelopsis quinquefolia (Fig. 90, tendril, with the young

leaf. Fig. 91, tendril, several weeks after its attachment to

a wall, with the branches thickened and spirally contracted,

and with the extrem-

Fig. 89.

ities developed into

disks. The unattached

branches have with-

ered and dropped off.)

climbs by tendrils like

the grape-vine, but in

addition. has a way of

holding fast to plain

surfaces by means of

little disks or cush-

ions. . These disks are

apparently never de-

veloped without a con-

tact with some object.

A tendril which has

not become attached

to any body does not

contract spirally ; and

in course of a week or

Grape-vine,

two shrinks into the

finest thread, withers and drops off. An attached tendril, ou

the other hand, contracts spirally, and thus becomes highly

elastic ; so that when the main foot-stalk is pulled, the strain

is equally distributed to all the attached disks. During the

following winter it ceases to live but remains firmly attached

to the stem and to the surface of attachment. The gain in

strength and durability in a tendril after its attachment is

something wonderful. They adhere still strong after an

exposure to the weather for fourteen or fifteen years. One

single lateral branchlet of a tendril, estimated to be at least

CLIMBING PLANTS. 415

ten years old, was still elastic and supported a weight of

exactly two pounds. This tendril had five disk-bearing

branches of equal thickness and of app: wently equal strength,

so that this one tendril, after having been exposed during

ten years to the weather, would have resisted a strain of ten

pounds!

Spiral Contractions. — Tendrils of many kinds of plants

if they catch nothing, contract after an interval of several

Woodbine.

days or weeks into a close spire. A few contract into a

helix.

The spiral contraction which ensues after a tendril has

‘aught a support is of high service to all tendril- bearing

plants; hence its almost universal occurrence with plants of

widely different orders. When caught the spiral contrac-

tion drags up the shoot. Thus there is no waste of growth,

and the stretched stem ascends by the shortest course. A

far more important service rendered by the spiral contraction

is that the tendrils are thus made highly elastic. The strain,

as in Ampelopsis, is thus equally distributed to the several

attached branches of a branched tendril. Tt is this elasticity

which saves both branched and simple tendrils from being

torn away during stormy weather. In one case observed

416 CLIMBING PLANTS.

the Bryony (Fig. 92) safely rode out the gale, like a ship

with two anchors down, and with a long range of cable

ahead to serve as a spring as she surges to the storm. When

an uncaught tendril contracts spirally the spire always runs

in the same direction from tip to base. A tendril, on the

other hand, which has caught a support by its extremity,

invariably becomes twisted in one part in one direction, and

in another part in the opposite direction; the oppositely

turned spires being separated by short, straight portions.

Sometimes the

spires of a ten-

Fig. 91.

dril alternately

turn as many as

five times in op-

posite directions,

with straight

portions between

them; even seven

or eight have

been seen by M.

Léon. Whether

few spires, or

many, there are

as many in one

‘Woodbine.

direction as in

the other. To give an illustration; when a haberdasher

winds up ribbon for a customer he does not wind it into a

single coil; for. if he did, the ribbon would twist itself as

many times as there were coils; but he winds it into a figure

of eight on his thumb and little finger, so that he alternately

takes turns in opposite directions, and thus the ribbon is not

twisted. So it is with tendrils, with this sole difference,

that they take several consecutive turns in one direction, and

then the same number in an opposite direction ; but in both

cases the self-twisting is equally avoided. Passiflora gracilis

has the most sensitive tendrils which were seen; a bit of

CLIMBING PLANTS. 417

platina wire, one-fiftieth of a grain in weight, gently placed

on the concave point, caused two tendrils to become hooked.

After a touch the tendril began to move in twenty-five sec-

onds. Dr. Asa Gray saw tendrils of Sicyos move in thirty

seconds. Other tendrils move in a few minutes; in the:

Dicentra in half an hour; in the Smilax in an hour and a

quarter; and in the Ampelopsis still more slowly. Tendrils

move to the touch of almost any substance, drops of water

excepted. Adjoining tendrils rarely catch each other. Some

tendrils have their revolving motion accelerated and retarded

in moving to and from the light; others are indifferent to its

action. America which so abounds with arboreal animals

Fig. 92.

Bryony.

abounds with climbing plants; and, of the tendril-bearing

plants examined the most admirably constructed come from

this grand continent, namely, the several species of Big-

nonia, Eccremocarpus, Cobea, and Ampelopsis.

Root Climbers.— Ficus repens climbs up walls just like

ivy; when the young rootlets were made to press lightly on

slips of glass they emitted, after about a week’s interval,

minute drops of clear fluid, slightly viscid. One small drop

the size of half a pin’s head, was mixed with grains of sand.

The slip of glass was left exposed in a drawer during hot

aud dry weather. The mass remained fluid during one hun-

dred and twenty-eight days; how much longer was not ob-

served. The rootlets seem to first secrete a slightly viscid

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 53

418 CLIMBING PLANTS.

fluid and then absorb the watery plants, and ultimately leave

a cement.

Plants become climbers, in order, it may be presumed, to

reach the light, and to expose a large surface of leaves to its

* action and to that of the free air. This is effected by climbers

with wonderfully little expenditure of organized matter, in

comparison with trees, which have to support a load of heavy

branehes by a massive trunk. Because these climbing plants

graduate into each other they have " become" climbers by

gradual changes. This looks too much like the old fanciful

theory that has again and again appeared, namely, the giraffe

acquired his long neck by a constant desire for high twigs,

and an effort to reach them ; the elephant his long trunk by

a similar desire and effort to reach the grass at his feet. We

cannot see how homology iudicates descent. We do not be-

lieve because the various modes of inflorescence run into each

other (homologous) that they have all been derived from one

common form. Mr. Darwin believes that leaf-climbers were

primordially twiners, and tendril-bearers were primordially

leaf-climbers ; and thinks he understands how the change has

been brought about; yet he says "if we inquire how the

petiole of a leaf, or the peduncle of a flower, or a branch,

first becomes sensitive and acquires the power of bending

towards the touched side, we get no certain answer." We

are again silenced if we inquire how the stems, petioles,

tendrils, and flower peduncles first acquired their power of

spontaneously revolving. Below we give a good sample of

Darwinism.

“If these views be correct Lathyrus nissolia must be de-

scended from a primordial spirally-twining plant; that this

became a leaf-climber; that first, part of the leaf, and then

the whole leaf became converted into a tendril, with the

stipules by compensation greatly increased in size; that this

tendril lost its branches and became simple, then lost its re-

volving-power (in which state it would resemble the tendril

of the existing L. aphaca), and afterwards losing its pre-

REVIEWS. 419

hensile power and becoming foliacious, would. no longer

be called a tendril. In this last stage (that of the existing

L. nissolia), the former tendril would reassume its original

function of a leaf, and its lately largely developed. stipules

being no longer wanted would decrease in size." He be-

litros that the capacity of acquiring the revolving power on

which most climbers depend is inherent, though undevel-

oped, in almost every plant in the vegetable kingdom.

Notwithstanding his peculiar views, which are so enticing to

many, we must kan leds that he is a shrewd and accurate

observer, and that in this paper, as in many others, he has

patiently collected a vast amount of valuable information

upon a great variety of subjects.

REVIEWS.

RAL SELECTION.* — Mr. Wallace has here brought together, ina

the mad of the reader, which the ous style of treating the different

subjects greatly strengthens. In fa e have rarely read a wore which

has given us so much’ pleasure and i iiia and we recommend it to

all those who desire to get the principles of Darwinism but have not the

patience to spend a longer time over Darwin's work.

The first chapter shows that geological changes determine the varia-

tions which take place in the geographical distribution of animals and

plants; that closely allied animals are closely associated geographically

and geologically, so that * every species has come into existence coinci-

reversions of domesticated types when returned to a feral condition. A

domesticated type, when allowed to become wild again, generally speak-

*Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. A Series of Essays by Alfred Russell

Wallace, McMillan & Co., London and New York, 8vo, p. 384,

420 REVIEWS.

ing possesses modifications which are exceedingly disadvantageous; thus

they must either regain the original characteristics of their ancestors or

become extinct.

n treating of mimicry, or the protective resemblance which many in-

sects have to the bark and leaves of trees, Mr. Wallace is particularly for-

cible and happy in his illustrations. The Kallima inachis and K. paralexta

these insects never alight except on withered bushes, they are almost

sure to escape detection. ** We thus have size, color, form and habits all

cause of variation.

fore natural selection can act. Thus in the jail et of all ste

i c

wit

e same locality. Again, as cited by i Danger the rise of à mountain

lirai and corresponding revolutions in the flora and pope of a a EM

upon with equal facility by physical causes, natural selection being only

the secondary means by which these variations are perpetuated or trans-

ferred from individual to individual.

To our minds one of the most remarkable portions of this book is the

bold and successful application of the theory to man, and the last chapter

1 n

It is shown that natural selection nore cease act upon the body

after man had once reached a period at which am gari tnu ralio

began to — since then all eae for farther physical change

would be at

(Fn cei nnn: Wang *ind$aK &. + "n + logists this

ipe. M <i 3 PAEA ird ; si ; but

peri el Y i q in at a period so remote in his

REVIEWS. 421

histone: that he had RS

y ] hat e organ of the mind,

which now, ral im prae abov ve the highes Moe utes;—at a peri

Leur he had the form but hardly the nature of man, when he vga ro aa human a aa

r those sympathetic and moral fe oleae which in a greater or less degree everywhere

oa the Tace Just in propor rtion bei these truly human faculties became Saai in

him, ld hi 1 d and permanent, because -— latter would be of

less ir cine e to his well being; he would be kept in harmony with the slowly changing uni-

verse und him, by an advance in mind, rather than by a change in body, If, therefore, we

are of fees that he was not really man till these higher faculties were fully developed, we

may fairly assert that there were many originally distinct races of men; while, if we think

thas a oeng — €— 4 us des a wig or but with mental faculties scarcely

ave been human, we are fully entitled to

maintain the common origin of all mankind."

With regard to the limits of the action of this law we quote the follow-

ing interesting and Se sonne ~

“Mr. Darwin himself has taken care to impress upon us, that iaid A has no

power to produce absolute perfection 1 but only aan perfection, o power to advance ae

ue much beyond his fellow b t ble it to

em in the struggle for ae Still les S has it any ‘powe r to produce m moaietions

whieh a are ^" nd degree injarions: to Ma possessor, eu Mr. Darwin frequently uses the strong

hi y. If, therefo: Ni we a in

1 . whieh all tl show would have been actu-

y cou uld not t possibly have i produced by

uiia seleetion. MR could any seca a eveloped organ have been so produced if it

had aig n merely u ss to him, or if its were not proportionate to its degree of develop-

uch cases as t -— ese hp haa pee. some other law, or some other power, than

d selection ” had been at work."

The author than Wed d to show that the brain of the savage is use-

lessly large, being on an average over two and a half times the capacity

of that of a Gorilla and nearly seven-eighths of the average = ucasian, or

civilized European. n by the

Size of the unused brain, cannot be accounted for by na iaia selection,

since it is evidently, as shown above, something provided which is not in

use and for which a daily necessity does not exist.

The hairless condition of the back in man is also, as pointed out by Mr.

Wallace, a characteristic which among naked savages is decidedly a dis-

oe and equally unaccountable on the principles of natural selec-

tion.

an any

ally i inpri

lar]

cet

(jq

e have already pointed out in previous reviews other cases in which

somewhat unquestioning and hasty acceptation of Darwinism whic

Seems to have become the fashion.

Mc d e LU

* The Difficulties of the Theory of Natnral Selection, Scientifie Opinion, Nov. 10, Dec. 1,

1869. Nos. 54-57, Vol. 2.

422 REVIEWS.

And here permit us to repeat, by way of explanation, that Darwin-

ism does not mean the theory of development or derivation, pure and sim-

ple, as any insist, but that explanation of its ‘action by the law of

natural din which is given by Wallace and Darwin. We have no

objections to urge against the theory cett accounts for the origin of

species by descent from some ancient and simpler forms, which might be

is evidently only a secondary law, active perhaps in all species but sub-

n race em ile its by means of more subtle agencies than we are

aR ES

At the same timeI must confess, that this teory has i NaNe of requiring en iner

n o! what we can

avoid considering as the ultimate aim and outcome of all or; rganized ex xistimeé — füitefléctüMt,

ever-advancing, spiritual man. It therefore implies, that the great laws which govern t

ssary part of tho

just as the action of all surrounding Pier is one of the agencies in vivre development.

ould be e put forwar

I m

of * dise selection. tis JM Misc y "unconscious 5 inttigence” pe all organic nature.

put for y ; but to my mind it has the

double Mironis tage of intelligibl di ble of kind of proof. Itis more

probab e, that bed dee nw i tee — ke ns. to discover it; but Here pesme few e, to be

te origin

of life and organization.

n this connection read the original thoughts in the closing paragraphs

on “The Nature of Matter,” ** Matter is Force,” ** All Force is probabl

Will-force," expressed in brief thus: **if, therefore, we have traced one

force, however minute, to an origin in our own wILL, while we have no

knowledge of any other primary cause of force, it does not seem an im-

m conclusion that all force may be will-force; and thus, that the

universe is, not merely dependent on, but Veri is, the WILL of

vata Tub igesie or of one Supreme Intelligence

AMERICAN MICROSCOPES AND THEIR Menits.* — The first of these

papers is an elaborate attempt at an account of American microscopes

and their merits; but should have more properly been entitled an attempt

to describe the Beside made by R. B. Tolles, as of the twenty-five

which it covers, twenty are ee to Tolles. The second article

*On the North American Microscope. By Dr. H. pe igh Cambridge, Mass. Max Schultz’s

Archiv fur Microscopische Anatomie. Bonn. 2d No. 1870. A communication by D1 H. Hagen

on his experience in the use s the mieroseo Proceedin ere of the Boston Society of Natural

History, vol. xii, p. 357. March 10th, 1869. A verted apn on Tolles’s Scheick’s

microscopes, to the Boston sime of Natural History, November 10th, 1869, Unpublished.

REVIEWS. 423

above named, but first in time, is noticed here merely to illustrate some

statements ionge en as though there had been no contra-

diction of t Ther no other course left for those who know

him to be wrélig or na asia ed by his statements, than to examine

his qualifications for pronouncing judgment, and to show wherein he is

mistaken

P ign n being a man of acknowledged scientifle acquirements, and

holding a reputable position at Cambridge, his opinions, given on a

lished in a journal of high repute in Europe, will command attention inh

respect there, among those who have no opportunity to see and judge for

left to itself to refute his “ opini " No one can object to any compar-

son of American instruments with others; it is only asked that the com-

parison shall be made fairly, and by a competent expert. e iter

proposes to show that Dr. Hagen's investigation has been superficial and

inadequate to the task he undertook; and that he has mistaken facts and

repeated assertions after he had been informed that they were erroneous.

- Hagen opens his first communication to the Boston Society of Nat-

perfecting of the instrument —I was anxious to examine the power [? ]

of American microscopes." This passage sets forth his claim to be a

Voy hing cr um ic.

* During the past ten years there has been great competition among

opticians, dn in every case wn progress has been arrested by one in-

surmo emi obstacle." [What one?] ‘Since the recent improvement

in c ing objectives for ie thickness of covering glasses, compara-

iei ica has been done.” Why he should have restricted the “ great

competition " to the last ten years, and called the improvements in objec-

tives

years ago, can only be explained by supposing what has been generally

believed to be the fact, that the “improvement” and the competion had

that the London retta Society, which procured gagne of the

"three" leading London a s in about the year 1845, in 1867-

doned the whole of them as ioa the times, and obtained new ones of

the same makers.

424 REVIEWS.

Dr. Hagen then makes some very just observations on “ the difference

‘in the aberration of the eyes of the observers. There is no doubt that

pity that it did not occur to Dr. Hagen to remember what he had written

essentially excelled those of European make." ‘To my knowledge a di-

e an w Eu

‘Thus the American instrument constituted until recently a myth to-

which all interested in this branch of science gazed with anxious

curiosity, and prompted me during my two years residence in this coun-

ry, to become guest x dipasti with it, and I have spared no pains to

study them carefully.” Here we have distinctly the task set forth, and the

claim that he spared no pains to accomplish it. Two years of the spare

time of a busy man was rather short for the imsdestaltng. especially for

one with an imperfect knowledge of the English rc nt? Let us see

what were the **pains" taken. “The members of the m icroscopical

section of the Boston Society «e Natural History, “especially Mr. Bicknell

coming ** thoroughly acquainted” with the American microscope, for the

purpose of publication; they were never asked to assist for any such pur-

pose. Had Dr. Hagen not spared his * pains;” had he enquired i those

who could have “ assisted” him in his “ study " and have given him “ posi-

tive proofs," he would have been referred to Professor Holmes and Pro-

fessor Bacon of his own university, and to Professor Smith of Hobart

College, New d L have made a study of the micro-

Scope for twenty years—to Dr. ard, Pres. Columbia College, New

York; to Professor H. J. Clarke m en Kentucky University; to J. E

Gavit, Esq., of New Yor k; to Dr. F. W. Lewis of Philadelphia; to Pro-

disregarded that which he obtained from Messrs. acne and Bicknell.

REVIEWS. 425

jectives have accomplished some things which the American have hith-

erto failed to do.” It is not the purpose of this paper to produce evidence

outside of Dr. Hagen’s own statements, as to what American objectives

have done. It is only needful to contrast what he says above with what

he says he himself saw. Dr. H. says ‘‘that an objective 1-10th inch with

ocular C. showed while band 19 [of the Nobert test plate] was in the cen-

tre of the field, the 18th, 17th, and half of the 16th bands; the lines in all

were well defined, but not so that I could have counted them all. I could

seen at once? If either of these suggestions are answ in the nega-

tiv H has himself seen the 19th band resolved with a

olles’ objective. But agen says that American objectives have

objective, is much ** more" than to see all the lines with a 1-16 (really

a 1-20). He never saw, read of, or heard of a 1-10 European objective

426 ‘ REVIEWS.

is Mr. Bicknell, who says he saw them, and only with a Tolles’ 1-12.

Hartnack does not say distinctly that he has seen them with a 1-16; he

attempted to show them to two accomplished GRAN and both

failed to see them. Dr. Eulenstein has also failed with Hartnack's Nos.

10, 11 and 12, Powell and Lealand's 1-50 and Ross' brisa and Dr.

Hagen knew these facts, for the writer told him before his paper was

written; comment is unnecessary. Dr. Hagen also says that ne

1-16 has resolved S. gemma, and Tolles’ 1-10 has not, ergo Hartnack’s has

done what Tolles’ could not. Dr. Hagen has himself Agr the

“direct proof" he wanted of the * cinese excellence" of the

Now for some of Dr. Hagen's errors and mistakes. He says of Tolles'

objectives **the workmanship is superb,” “ the adjustment only moves the

lower lens from the two others." The solid eye-pieces are ‘really bi-

convex Coddington lenses.” He gives on the authority of Edwards a

is not Tolles’ ce e eye-pieces are not Coddington lenses, and that

Tolles had never made objectives to move the front lens; all of which

Dr. Hagen could Sed easily ascertained.

Dr. Hagen considers that **a most important fault of the instrument

consists in the difficulty of its use. In order to adjust them so that they

will give their greatest results requires delicate labor and considerable

€ ek this Poem they are excelled — the denen as well as the lower

of English and German." ‘Thee of treatment of Hartnack's

iud. feriis senem aaa is Ere for less troublesome.” If this

means anything it must refer to the delicacy of the adjustment for cov-

ering glass. Undoubtedly sab en are far less troublesome. It is

thought to be well known to microscopists that the delicacy of this ad-

justment — consequently in one sense the difficulty of use — is increased

a: "n proportion to the approach to perfection of the lenses. Certain it

is that Hartnack when delivering an objective made for a member of the

Boston Society of Natural History two years ago, called the purchaser's

attention especially to the fact that when an object was best shown,

the m

astonished to see how much more the hand of the artist himself will

develop with the instrument."

The majority of the eat eae here are ‘ dilletanti or workers on

diatoms ;” this must be news to Professors Holmes, Bacon, Ellis and T"

and to their hundreds Mi past and present students; be “ truth will be

REVIEWS. 491

respected” if it is said that there are gp enough diatomists in the

whole country to encourage each other

agen thinks that his attempt at ‘even pronouncing a judgment on

the Haie instruments, caused a storm of indignation against me by yas

resident microscopists," and accounts for it by the assertion that “w

know that most of them are members of the Boston Optical pyri

tion." Dr. Hagen here refers to the reception of his verbal communicas

tion to the Boston Society of Natural History in November last. Of all

the persons then present but two were members of that association, and

whatever indignation was manifested was at his preposterous sti Aa

isons of cost. Dr. Hagen then asserted that the American instruments

cost 600 per cent. more than German of equal merit, and that Lbs cas

objectives of the most celebrated pred could be imported to advan-

tage." In his paper in the ** Archiv” Dr. Hagen reduces the comparative

much," but repeats his comparison as to the English ** according to Frey's

statement." Now before this paper was written the cost of importing

English beds was read in detail to Dr. Hagen, and it was shown

makers’ price lists that the cost was much higher than Tolles’

prices ie sili objectives, and yet Dr. Hagen elects to repeat his er-

He said th

received, an extract from which is a good comment on all that Dr. Hagen

"ia States $350. I compared them ne at the museum." Dr.

Barnard, President of Columbia College, New York, writes, ** Dr. Hage

is absurdly wrong in his comparison of the performance of the American

and foreign objectives of the same proe.” “Tt is nonsense to make

such comparisons as these price for price.

No less unfortunate is Dr. Hagen in his description of Tolles’ first class

instruments; he partially describes the plan and construction of some in-

struments viis h he had seen— omitting, however, some of the most

nard's report of the Paris Exposition of 1867 — constructing in this way

an instrument which has no existence. He claims to have **seen and

tested nine of Tolles' instruments of the largest class." The writer will

498 REVIEWS.

not say that is impossible, but he can say that there are no nine instru-

ments of the “largest class” known to Mr. Tolles that Dr. Hagen could

tenable " is, to use his own expression, **quite comical.^ Dr. Barnard had

reported that **it was to be regretted that the American makers did not

send" stands to the exhibition; for the want of them the objectives were

not properly examined. Dr. Hagen twists this round in thís way. ‘‘ The

same objectives are frequently used here with English stands and occu-

lars, plenty of which were to be had in Paris. If, then, they did not

prove themselves successful the reason must be that they did not attain

8 pU T

Hagen. A recent letter from Dr. Barnard recites the whole story. He

says: **In regard to what Dr. Hagen says of my report, he so singularly

misunderstands me, or so wilfully misrepresents that it seems hardl

necessary to reply to him. I never said or intimated that a Tolles’ stand

was necessary to develop a Tolles’ objective, but only that a stand o

some kind was necessary, a proposition which I think stands to reason.

The disadvantage could not appear until the jury, instead of examining

e glasses, country by country, as I supposed they would, using Crea

, perm

ness of the protracted examination, with the extreme heat of the crowded

room, made the jury impatient, Ae notwithstanding the compliment Dr.

a me as an “adept,” I was not smart enough to secure, on that

occasion, wind I thought a fair trial of the glasses — by which expression

mean not a fair development of their powers, but a fair attention to the

development. never got the whole jury to examine the glasses thoroughly.

After I had obtained from Mr. Beck a stand, Dr. Brooke of London, made

the fullest trial with them which I could secure from any member, and he

expressed himself — though he has the natural national leaning

of an Englishman. ould have been ridiculous for me to narrate all

y report, but Ur i absurd for any one to interpret what I do say

REVIEWS. 429

r. Hagen does." "That effectually terapie of Dr. Hagen's rennen

that the American objectives “did not attain so much as other

Dr. Hagen attempts to in the opinion. now insequi re-

ceived in England and America, that the microscope should be so con-

structed as to receive an inclination. He says, ‘‘the statement made b

people here that the working with high Paus instruments (they being

turned back) is much more convenient, as keeping the neck straight pre-

vents the rush of blood to the head, makes rather a comical impression.

I say comical, when we consider that for tens of years back several tliou-

sand low stand instruments have been in daily use in Europe without

od results.” [?] Possibly no one but Dr. Hagen has ever heard

that the use of vertical instruments caused a rush of blood to the head;

but the ases of all microscopists here (Dr. Hagen excepted), is

against the use of the low stand vertical nnen a and that evils and

imperfect work do result from the use of such. To show that the ‘‘com-

icality " of the objection is not original with American microscopists, the

following is d from Dr. Wm. B. Carpenters work on the micro-

Scope, — an author iere opinion is certainly kae to Dr. Bes s thirty

m Heini n fifteen years ago. **Scearcely less important

* ja the capability c ‘ot mes placed in either a vertical or a horizon-

tal fire or at any a with the RETI, kema deranging the

adjustments of its dd to y other," is certainly a

have so long neglected the very simple means which are at present com-

monly employed in this country of giving an inclined position to micro-

scopes, since it is now universally acknowledged that the vertical posi-

tion is, of all that can be adopted, the very worst." Perhaps if Carpen-

Dr. Hagen has so little to say of American microscope makers, other

than Tolles, that he found it impracticable to make so many mistakes in

regard to them. If he had taken more “ pains” he could have added ma-

sponsible. ‘J have not in fact had an opportunity to compare Spencer's

objectives and oculars.” ‘‘In Boston, Salem, and Massachusetts gener-

ally, there are none of Spencer's instruments to be found;" that is be-

cause he “spared the pains" to find them. The writer had them, and

would have guided the enquirer to others.

f Zentmeyer he remarks: “As near as I can find out he — -

Tolles or den Another example of the superficial DADA x

tained by Dr. Hagen; a portion of the very oculars which he saw on Mr.

Bicknell's orco qiti and which he gives the power of as Tolles, were

made by Zentmeyer! Had he not “spared pains" to inquire, he could

430 REVIEWS.

have learned that Zentmeyer does make glasses, and that one of the

Tolles' stands which he had seen was furnished with an excellent ob-

jective by Zentmeyer. In the notice of Zentmeyer's stand the most im-

n his notice of Grunow's instruments he particularizes an inverted

microscope, the peculiarity of which was a movement by friction cibis

an invention of Tolles, and which he (Hagen) had seen various modifica-

tions of on several of Tolles’ instruments, in particular the first one in

which it was ever introduced; yet he failed to notice it there.

It may, perhaps, be urged for Dr. Hagen that these things are trivial,

and to some they may look so; but they constitute Dr. Hagen's paper;

the aggregate of the trivialities makes about the whole. Dr. Hagen fails

throughout all his papers to appreciate the difference between magnifying

power and quality.

ith a patronizing air that is “ nearly comical,” viet reading the paper,

he compliments the artists in these words: ‘Messrs. Tolles and Wales

re no doubt artists of asi first water, constantly abides tá advance

and enlarge their science

r. Hagen admits that he has not exhausted his subject, and promises

to renew it; it is to be hoped that he will, and that when he does he will

spare no pains to make himself thoroughly acquainted with it; if he en-

deavors to do that, all our judi eu will cheerfully assist him. — C. S.

ALASKA AND ITs Resources.* It is not often that an expiration is able

and therefore, undertook to carry out the remainder of the explorations

which were only half completed when the telegraph eT reunion

the enterprise. The author was thus left alone for one and suc-

ceeded in completing the survey of the Yukon Valley, zal dine except

by the natives. As a thorough and reliable account of Alaska, with its

fee of th:

elegant book, and that it is the fruits of American pluck, enthusiasm,

and scientific zeal.

Many of the scientific results obtained by Mr. Dall have been already

published in the NATURALIST, and the great value of his discoveries in a

of onal

a, we are struck ra the earnest endeavor of the author to

*By William H. Dall. Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1870. 8vo, pp. 627. With a map and nue

merous illustrations. $7.50,

REVIEWS. 431

make his statements thoroughly reliable. Alaska is in most respects &

new country,—the hand of civilized man has scarcely made its mark on

the face of nature, the Indians and Innuits will soon disappear, domesti-

cated and introduced species of animals and plants have scarcely taken

up their abode and begun to wage war against the native species, and

just at this juncture the record of a naturalist who has watched the

changes of each season for two years in succession is a contribution of

the first importance to scienc

The first half (Part I) of i book is a personal narrative of travels on

second year he remained after the expedition returned, and prosecuted his

explorations alone and at his own expense. The second part treats of the

geogr mh history, inhabitants, and —— of Alaska

In reading the narrative w nally meet with a aridi of gen-

eral Co to our Senden.. Let ‘the mt give us his first impressions

of the Yukon:

“Passed over (p. a the — er — nie hills, — one of which I caught my first

glimpse of the great river Yukon and ice-bound. A natural "e p ati urged

me forward, and eie a smart M Mb sem real miles kii arrived a the steep bank of me

river. It was with a Witi akin to e

HOr ioeveren ocean, mas I irc ir tho dogs and down the steep deelivity, side

and to enjoy the magnificent prospect before

me.

Th lay a stretch of Lida’ miles of this great, broad, snow-covered river, with phim en frag-

ments of i k 1 y light of the setting sun; the low opposite s

miles away, s eemed a mere black streak on the horizon. A aw islands covered with dark

rii huc T M sight Nue Bel Į th

tains.

t w banks near me ge the

eer à asi a “This “was the river I had read and dreamed pig hich had seemed as

phronded mn mystery, in Spe o the tales of Spr who bad seen it. oe its banks live thou-

look to it a itte and even for clothing.

no ukon

baad f

siae indeed. must he be, who surveys the broad cpu the pines of the North for

the first time More emotion. A little Innuit lad, who ran Sollee the dogs and saw it for the

first time, shouted at the sight, saying, amidst his expressions of astonishment, ‘It is no

river, it is a sea!’ and ! lians had d of ridicule for him, oft they had

it.”

The anthropologist will glean much valuable information from the nar-

is an imp

ie tci: the Innuit casine, or town hall, it is stated t

“There a nail pin in the structure, which is of the most solid description.

patas nd te eon are two “feet in diameter, ‘and the broad se ats on both sides, previously re-

p gle p four inches wide, thirty feet long, and four

aiani pons, 'These plank: Sera logs. a "

of the natives

Of € eas, the number of North American species of which is now

in disp

“There are three species large brown bear of the mountains, known as the ‘ grizzly”

among the pad Bay voyagers the barren-ground bear (Ursus Richardsonii of Mayne

Reid), which is eonfined an America to the extreme north-east; and the black bear,

432 REVIEWS.

whieh frequents the vicinity of the Yukon, in the woody district only. The polar or white bear

is found only in E vicinity of Behring Strait, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and on St.

Matthew's Islan n peur Sea. 5 has probably r (— the latter locality on floating ice;

we only know tt it halers, who apply the name of Bear Island to the lo-

eality, from the abu € of these animals. We know that it is not found on the mainland

south of latitude Mats e degrees, The cubs of the black bear are of the same color as the

parent, and very much smaller than its brown cousin, which sometimes reaches a

— of scd NN YN a girth T as grea t The brown bear, or grizzly, is the only one

Regarding the remains of the extinct elephant (Elephas primigenius),

which are not eres found on the ENIM the author s pt:

mig nius): The e bones are not so “common as the teeth and tusk, being found on the surface

ies an usually much decayed: while the bones of n inask-ox and fossil buffalo found in the

f the animal matter in

nd — OPE — T no tradition of -— — large animal than the reindeer and

f dead

n a +h 4 13 QIh z PONES Mv u he 1a 43 ane S vd

u- On - = Arctic coast occasionally find €— in such Séépüai. ‘that dej bpm

the ivory, according to Simpson.

FUR er on the geography of Alaska gives a full acount of the

general Gage featured of the territory, and many useful details

with regard to the navigation of the shores and adjacent islands. This

this portion of the North Pacific, and it shows us, also, perhaps the most

important result of the expedition. This was the demonstration of the

cessation of the Rocky Mountains, at a point about one hundred and fifty

miles south-east of Fort Yukon.

*'The Rocky Mountain chain extends east of the basin of the Yukon,

between it and the Mackenzie, as far north as latitude 649. Here it bends

bid ada and, becoming broken, passes to the west and south, com-

i hi

t vegetation, bearing its blossoms and maturing its seeds as readily

as in situations apparently much more favored.

But in value to the geographical details are the many authentic

REVIEWS. 433

facts regarding the natives now so rapidly disappearing. By learning to

speak their language, and living among them, his testimony is of special

a 2

special study, and cautiously DEM (oe p. 154) that “it is

th 1 i

xtraneous circumstances. Much is also due, VAR gna to the sim-

"vius of thought and habit idi. abd obtain among human beings of a

low type, and who gain their living by similar means. Hence, a general

e world, and this M udis can afford no basis for generalizations in

ms to their orig

regards their dun pu disse “It should be thoroughly and

xr understood, in the t place, that they are not Indians; nor

have they any known iA. pa Physically, Proppen, or ETRA

to the Indian tribes of North America. Their grammar, appea rance,

habits, and even their anatomy, pM in the form of the skull, sep-

arate them widely from the Indian race. On the other hand, it is almost

“the Indians call the Innuit and Eskimo Uskeémi, or sorcerers. Kagus-

keémi is the Innuit name for the Casines, in which their Shamáns enm

their superstitious rites. From this root comes the word Eskimo."

In the chapter on the aboriginal inhabitants of Alaska, he ras by

dividing the inhabitants into Indians and Orarians, the latter ARTS al

the tribes of Innuit, Aleuti and Asiatic Eskimo. The author is in

that the Aleutians originally emigrated to the islands from the American

continent, driven by hostile tribes. The Innuit formerly extended farther

south than they do now, and in this connection we find the suggestive

remark that “ Dr. Otis, of S United States Army Medical Museum at

Washington, who has handled as many aboriginal American crania

any northern ethnologist, ied that the skulls found in the northern

mounds have the same peculiarities which distinguish all Orarian crania,

and that both are instantly distinguishable from any Indian skulls."

The chapters on the climate and agricultural capabilities and geology,

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 55

434 REVIEWS.

and the whole tenor of the remarks on this subject leads the reader to

the belief that the purchase of Alaska was wisely made by our govern-

ment.

ROUT CurTURE.*— This is just the book that has been wanted by

every one interested in the raising of fish by artificial propagation.

contains à vii of the experience of the most successful fish breeder

n the country, pre ar in concise id forcible language; every word

fully convincing pe reader that the author is simply giving the results

of his experience, with di earnest bii of furnishing others with all

the information necessary for them to become as successful breeders of

trout as himself. With this book in hand, and a proper location and sup-

carelessness could make it fail, though, like all other stock raising opera-

tions there are many things that should be looked after before the eggs

are placed in the hatching house; and as no sheep raiser would purchase

five hundred sheep for his farm unless he had what he knew to be suffi-

cient pastirage for so large a number, so no trout raiser should purchase

the trout breeder. We hope to give a communication on this subject in

a future number.

There are savers facts very interesting to the naturalist alluded to by

Mr. Green. The average age of a trout he thinks to be about twelve or

three to ten years. Mr. Green also states that trout will not live in water

the temperature of which is above 689, and do best at a temperature of

48°,

On the last page of the book Mr. Green calls attention to a “ worm”

Trout Culture. By Seth Green. 12mo pamph., pp. 92. Green and Collins, Caledonia, New

vies [For sale at the Naturalists’ Agency, Salem. Price $100.]

Er. 54

REVIEWS. 435

which is very destructive to — trout and other fish, by catching them

in webs which are spun under

e web is as perfect as that of the spider, and as much mechanical ingenuity is displayed

in its eae aR Aes is made as quick ly aal in í Sho pame way asa spider’ 8, by fastening the

threads at different poi web is finished. The threads are

tst 1 hold tł tter th bili ls: a absorbed, tat the web wi

e — 5

stick ta th R a a 4 41 * A A cei rt

This Piae is, according to an article i in on neues number of t

* American Entomologist and Botanist," the larva of the ands

Black-fly, or at least of a species of xis same genus, apin and is fig-

ured in the “Entomologist,” where also there is an important article on

the transformations of this pest to fishermen, and as it now turns out to

fishes also.

Messrs. Green and Collins are ready to supply persons with trout eggs

8t $10 for a single thousand, or young trout at $30 a thousand, to any

extent required, from their farm at Caledonia, and as both eggs and youug

can be, and have been, sent in perfect safety to various parts of the coun-

try, and even to France and England, there is now no reason dd every

northern stream should not have its supp z ors ee beauties

RECORD OF AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY FOR 1869.*— After a pains delay

than was anticipated this ** Record” has A asesi ad. The editor

2 rad :

especialiy the beginner, ond are well worth the price of the whole pamph-

let

RAZILIAN CRUSTACEA.f — In this carefully ur essay Mr. Smith

remarks that * the collection, although quite small in number of speci-

mens and representing only the higher groups et the class, is interesting

the coast." Five new species are described, and a new genus, Xiphope-

neus (X. Hartii). The plate is lithographed from photographs and is of

unusual excellence.

* For sale by the — Book Agency, Salem. July,1870. 8vo, Price $1.00,

t Notice of the g ustacea collected by Professor e. F. Hart artt on ie Dont of Brazil in 1867,

together with Paes ae idney I . Smith.

the diim of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 2, 1870. 8vo,

436 REVIEWS.

HE POPULATION OF AN OLD PEAR TnEE.*—The author in these charming

Stories of insect life relates his experience with various forms of insects

which visited an old pear tree in his garden, weaving in many satires

Itis an admirable book to place in the hands of boys and girls. The

vi aa suns are uri i reminding us of the grotesqueness and strong

ffects seen in Doré's drawings on wood, and form a marked feature and

attraction of the dod

THE AMERICAN Museum OF NATURAL History.t— Under this title

there has been established in the city of New York a museum in whose

list of trustees we recognize many names well known to the citizens of

the metropolis. e we honor these gentlemen for their public spirit

we do not see even rok their report how it was that they n suddenly:

became tnim of such a determined desire to found a museu

ve that New York will eventually possess the finest e largest

museum nd the country, just as they now have the most beautiful park.

There is, however, one mistake’ which we might notice, the futility of

forts of the directors, or whoever has in charge the large collections in

the third story of the arsenal building, we should say that they do not

seem to possess even that slight knowledge which five minutes criticism

from any competent scientific man would have giyen them. We have

never in our experience of the unscientific attempts to build museums

seen anything so entirely unfit for its purpose as the large two-storied

ease which occupies the centre of the arsenal hall. No one but à phys-

ician, or a committee of such, well acquainted with hospital practice and

it vinee

lyrpioue, would presume to attempt the erection of a hospi gi

are generally called upon to build railroads and steam APEND but in

natural history all this is reversed, and we do to have yet

learned that it requires a naturalist to plan a natural MS building.

We understand, however, that efforts are being made to place some well

visitors, but this does not seem to have been thought of. he board of

management, also, appear to be drifting to stuffed skins of birds and

dq vv IT LEE

*The Population of an old Pear Tree: or Stories of Insect Life. From the French of E.

van Bruyssel. Edited by the author of the “ “Hele of Redclyffe.” With numerous illustrations

by Becker. 12mo, pp.221. New York. Macmillan & Co. 1870.

t First Net of the Trustees,

i .$8inee | the above _was written, we have become part, ig that the Commissioners have

CEP SEN ia ee x

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 437

mammals. The accumulation of the latter would most certainly be of

great benefit, but a large collection of the former would simply duplicate

the museums of Philadelphia and Bosto

Our strictures are wholly due to a ican to awaken the directors of

an museum to the importance of avoiding the errors of their predeces-

Ew is no Pesce excuse for a tigi of ee which, at

history e all the museums with which we are acquainted, either in this

article upon the ‘ Scientific Institutions of North America,” by George

entham in his Annual Address to the Linnzan Society, for 1867, and the

various articles frequently published upon the proper — of

museums and kindred topics in ** Scientific Opinion" and ** Nature.’

all respects, worthy of the name that it has taken, and of the city that

should have a museum unequalled by any in the country.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

FRAGARIA GILLMANI. — In a note on this plant by Mr. Gillman, page 312,

it is stated that Dr. Asa Gray considers that the ** well — leaf on

the scape, proves to be the distinguishing character of the species." It

is not clear whether this refers to F. ** Mexicana," or F.* gessi but

to show that neither can lay claim to this character —€— I enclose

F. vesca, in which are not only well developed leaves on the

gern but better bie leaves than I have ig ees on p ** Gill-

In i note on F. **Gillmani" last year I stated that leaves on the scape,

or flowers on the runners were poor characters to found species on, be-

cause a flower scape is nothing but an erect runner, and a runner but

Snares scape. In this specimen, now sent, you will see this Rabe

y the rudiments of roots, as well as leaves on the scape.— THOMAS

HAN.

[We understand Dr. Gr ray to have remarked that all the specimens

he has seen of Schieehtendal's F. Mexicana have leaf-bearing scapes, and

tion and habit in Mexico, or an aboriginal form, — which in either case is

curious. — Eps.]

438 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

w PLANTS.— In my botanical rambles this last May two new plants

came sinon my own observation. One of them which we have made

kn nown as Viola erecta, was found near Williamstown, Mass., and is a va-

um album, has a white flower with yellow anthers and leaves, but

ede. dons ge aetati which mark it as a distinct variety of G.

maculatum.— H. M. Myers, Williamstown, Mass.

ALMS OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. — In the capti Popular ac Miro nt

f palms, contributed by Dr. Seemann to the * Gardener's Chronicle," it

tivation. There is, m howews Y, nng evidence to show that the palm noticed

both in this country and at Kew. Of these the best developed specimen

known belongs to the collection of H. H. Hunnewell, of Wellesley, Mass.

THE IRRITABILITY THE STAMENS IN THE BARBERRY, according to

i dain (Comp s Rendus " April 25th), is b Meg y chloroform.

or twelve minutes, in which case sisi vitality of the flowers was Ead

impaired or destroyed. — Acade

dnd mel

THE FUTURE OF NATURAL SCIENCE. — We had heard it stated that

cepi Maid discovery would be made solely by the aid of mathe-

; th d our data, and need only to work deductively. State-

rues of a similar character crop out from time to time in our day. They

arise from an imperfect acquaintance with the nature, present condition,

and prospective vastness of the fleld of physical inquiry. The upshot of

natural science will doubtless be to bring all physical phenomena under

for ages to come — possibly for all the ages of the human race — nature

will find room for both the philosophical experimenter and the mathe-

matician. — Tyndall's notice of the ** Life and Letters of Faraday" in the

Academy.

A iS UEM

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 439

Tue PrckEoN Hawk. — Mr. Samuels, in his work on the “ Ornithology

and Oology of New England," says that he never saw a nest of this bird,

and never heard of but one instance of its being found in New England, but

he adds that it doubtless breeds here. This may be true, but it seems to

me almost as though he really could not have inquired into the matter,

for in this very town (Amherst, Mass.), I know of three positive in-

so I do not hesitate to Sis this fact. The bird seems to be compara-

tively common here. It seems to me as if this bird is so often here, and

found to breed here, it must Ap that some other town or state in New

England receives its due share of attention. —WINFRID STEARNS, Amherst,

Mass

THE FLIGHT or BIRDS AND INsECTS. — M. Marey has recently shown

that birds and insects zd in a totally different manner. In birds the ex-

rough a series of lemniscs (lemniscates, or figures e

author has studied this intricate subject by ns of two very ingenious

machines, one of h, by a very simple arrangement, indicates very

o whi

precisely the flight of an insect; while the other made to be placed on

the back of a bird, transmits all the movements of the wing to a receiver

which faithfully records them. — Cosmos.

PÆDOGENESIS IN THE STYLOPIDÆ. — Professor von Siebold has dis-

covered that the so-called female of Xenos is in re ality a larva, and that

in s er undergoes the "jux transformations of these gall flie is

child-reproduction, in individuals without true ov. varies, was aptly termed

by Von Baer “ Pzedogenesis."— Siebold and Külliker's Journal of Scientific

Zoology. :

CURIOUS CONDUCT OF A SHARP-SHINNED Hawk. — On the 6th of April,

while wandering along the Sepia Creek, near Trenton, N. J., I sat

down on a convenient mat of dead grass to observe the movements of the

“red-fins” ( Hypsilepis sche swimming in the clear waters before

ovem

fuscus). It had evidently been visiting the grass, on which I was now

sitting, gatheri ing from it materials for lining a nest which I soon discov-

en the

towards me near the ground and lit by a small tuft of grass. Walking

around this he scratched the ground away from the roots, and then seiz-

440 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ing the tuft with one claw, dragged the roots up, and shook off the adhe-

rent earth, very much as a man would pull and shake a radish or turnip.

bunch of roots pua. be on one side and the blades of grass on the

other of the notch. When thus arranged to the bird's satisfaction, it

again took up the grass in its beak, and giving it a sudden jerk broke

the roots ati the blades. It then flew to its nest. — CHARLES C. AB-

BOTT D.

HENOGENESIS IN A Wasp. — Professor von Siebold has discovered

unfertilized eggs. It will be remembered that in the honey bee the drones

are also developed from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen. — Siebold and

Külliker's Journal of Scientific Zoology

List or New ENGLAND LEPIDOPTERA. — Mr. S. H. Scudder has published

a very valuable and complete list of the butterflies found in New E ngland.

ropose to prepare for publication a similar list of the larger Heterocera

(Sphingide to Phalenide inclusive). Any information relating to the

tim he i

rare moths or those not strictly part of the New England fauna, and lists

of the species — in ies one locality, would afford most important

assistance. It w be a great convenience if any one wishing to aid

would Seiten any NE to me as early as possible.— CHARLES S

MINOT, 39 Court Street, Boston.

IMPROVING INTELLIGENCE IN BIRDS AND Insects.—M. Pou , the

Director of the Museum at Rouen, and a well known voit bii

discovered that the new school of swallows are improving their style of

architecture, building their nests with more regard to sanitary principles,

as ain more room and admit more light air

the nest is, we infer, more nearly that which will include a maximum of

inhabitable space; and, besides this, and still more impo , the en-

it been changed from a small round hole into a long slit, a

sort of baleony, from which the young swallow may look out upon the

world and breathe fresh air. What is more, the new scho all

hitects appear to prefer the new streets, while the old school still

build the old nests on the cathedrals and older houses; perhaps from

some sense of artistic fitness, which scruples at any change of style in

adding extensions to monuments so venerable. If this last fact could be

satisfaetorily established it would furnish a complete answer to the Dar-

doubt migrating birds are of all others least likely to be the slaves of

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 441

local prejudices. As the travelled cuckoo was the first to conceive the

low j earned in the south, where air and prospect and

Space are best appreciated, to adopt the verandah principle, there so

universal. Both bees and birds have now been shown to have made

great strides in architectural knowledge." ‘‘London Spectator,” April 16,

1870, in a communication from ** Pouchet” in the ** Pall Mall Gazette.”

A parallel instance in bees is noticed by Dr. Ogle in a very important

article on the ** Fertilization of Various Flowers by — contributed

to the April number of the * Popular Science Review." The arrangements

for the cross-fertilization of the flowers of the bean and other papilion-

aceous plants by bees, here described by Dr. Ogle, are pretty well known,

o the fact that both humble and hive bees have the trick of evading

iut duty by piercing a hole in the side of the calyx of bean-tlowers, so

getting at the nectar by a short cut. Dr. Ogle has remarked that while

cession of bean flowers, uniformly does either the one or the other. It

ence; so ng slow in acquiring knowledge, others quicker. Th

Scarlet Runner, when the bloom is covered with gauze to keep insects,

is wholly sterile; and so indeed habitually are à good man un-

covered blossoms. The latter is probably owing to the observed fact

that most bees have learned to get at the nectary by nipping the tube.

Were all bees equally clever there would be an end of scarlet runners,

unless indeed either nature or artifice were to induce some modifica-

tion of structure by which the tube might be protected and the bees

again driven to the mouth." We think it proper to add that Dr. Ogle's

press, showing that the proofs have not been revised by the author nor

by any competent proof reader.

W MANY LEPIDOPTERA ARE THERE IN THE WORLD? — This question is

thus answered by Mr. Bates in his able address to si Entomological So-

Iz]

£e

Q L

pdo

[c]

[24

tim e

at in all complete lists of local Lepidopterous faunas in Europe the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 56

4493 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

number of moths to butterflies is as twenty-six to one. He then gets at

the probable number of butterflies in existence. by arguing from the num-

ber published, districts unexplored, and so forth, and believes the number

to be not fewer than eight thousand seven hundred and forty. Unfortu-

nately, in pursuing the calculation he forgets his datum-line of twenty-

six moths to one butterfly, and takes the proportion as it stands in Stau-

Veiis and Wocke's ** Catalogue of European Species," where the propor-

n of course is much less, because the smaller moths have not been so

exhanstively collected throughout Europe as the butterflies. In this way

er urope i

would produce the incredible total of two hundred and ew -seven

thousand two hundred and forty species.— Scientific Opini

OoLoGicaL. — Two years ago while down here some friends of mine

mer were invariably three, and in the latter four. Can any one explain

this constant difference in the number of eggs? — C. H. NAUMAN, Smyrna,

Florida.

SPIKE-HORNED DEER. — With regard to the question in discussion be-

tween W. J. Hays and Adirondack, whether spike-bucks ever are more

I know nothing of the Adirondack region, personally. I fancy how-

ever, it is of small extent: and I suppose it is surrounded by a settled

country, peopled for a century or more by a less or greater number of

Skilled hunters,

s Adirondack prepared to affirm, without a shadow of doubt, or can he

a buck five or six years o e thinks it easy to distinguish a buck o

“full age and size," though Nene of antlers, but gives no marks by

which another can judge of the age. I would like to know how he would

one of three or four years, in the absence of horns. Among domestic

animals may often be seen thrifty yearlings, which will outweigh starvel-

ings of two years or more.

I have killed my hundreds of deer, perhaps — never one spike-buck that

would not have been pronounced young by competent jud

hunting I associated with i si men more or x ie acquainted with

deer, from none of whom did I ever hear of an old spike-horn buck. Can

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 443

Adirondack cite from any park an example of such a one whose age is

known with certainty? This would be to the Mike

The explanation given by Mr. Hays s S to be a satisfactory one

The idea that a new race of deer has Popes in et small district

within the last few years out-Darwins Darwin. — CHARLES WRIGHT.

A SPIKE-HORNED Moose. — Several instances of the capture of ** spike-

horned" bucks of the common deer ( Cervus dg having been

recently reported in the NATURALIST (Vol. mm, p. 552, Dec. 37 VoL IVS

p. 188, May, 1870), interest has hence been awakened in oeil to this

unusual condition of the antlers in the Cervide. A **spike-horned "

moose, captured in Northern Maine by Mr. J. G. Rich, was recently re-

ceived at the Museum of Comparative Z oology, of which the accompany-

Fig. 93.

Spike Horns of Moose.

ing fizure (Fig. 93) correctly represents the form of the horns, as seen

from the front. Mr. Rich writes me that full-grown moose having horns

of this character are well-known to the moose hunters of Maine, by whom

such animals are termed **spike-horns." Mr. Rich states this animal to

evidently a full-grown one. He says it is in believed by the hunters that

these animals never shed their horns. The present specimen was taken

late in March, nearly two months after the time when these animals

usually cast their horns. — ALLEN.

A New Insect PARASITE OF THE Beaver. — Herr Krisch has dis-

Covered a parasite of the European beaver, which unites the flattened

body of the lice, with the peculiarities of the fleas. By the presence of

rudimentary wings it is nearest allied to the Diptera, and is named

Paty castoris. — Proceedings of the Natural History Society Isis, in

444 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

GEOLOGY.

CIENT REPTILES OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY. — Professor Cope has

noticed in the ** American Journal of Science," the bones of the Megadac-

diis polyzelus of Hitchcock found at Springfield, Mass., and infers that

“demonstrate the former existence in the region in question, of a

genus ma

stones of the valley of the Connecticut there can be no doubt," and the

author adds that there is abundant reason that they progressed " leaps.

X ATE OF GEOLOGICAL CHANGE. — Mr. H. M. Jenkins writes on the

rate 2 geological change, in the "arteri Journal of Science,” and

comes to the conclusion that

: her the relative lapse of time occupied by the Successive events of geo-

logieal history by the known facts of the accumulation of deposits, or by the comparative

hanges whieh have occurred in the life of successive periods, we are led equally to infer that

the rate of geological change has been more rapid in the latter than in ue earlier geological

periods d that that asd d tone n ^ pria fot m

MICROSCOPY.

R-TIGHT SPECIMENS. — When shall we cease to suffer from the direc-

tions sometimes given to mount dry specimens in a cell of pasteboard or

paper, fastening the glass cover down by “a little gum” or “paste?” Of

y case the original object is tolerably certain to be marred or ruined.

I not unfrequently see collections of PEPES by popular makers, which

have perished in this manner. Lately I lost in this way a very choice

Specimen prepared by one of the be yes makers, whose work is

usually faultless; and still later, having occasion to remount a group of

diatoms whieh had been bought at a considerable price, I found the thin

any r s to

entirely exempt. I know of no cure for this state of things except for

arrangement which is both convenient and economical; but such pro:

parations should always be Mejia protected by Brunswick black or

me other impervious varnish. —

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 445

Tue FOCAL LENGTH OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTIVES. — Mr. C. R. Cross has

ably discussed this subject in the ** Franklin Journal.” He remarks: ‘* The

investigation of which the present article is a summary, was undertaken

in order to see if some reliable method of measuring the focal length of

mi iproscope objectives eue ot be found. The importance of such a

method will be apparent to all who have had occasion to make use of

objectives by different makers. The focal length of lenses of the same

their relative oen For example, if two quarter-inch objectives

be compared, and one Ee results much superior to that given by the

other, we iaa pa at all sure that the better lens is not really of shorter

focus than its designation would indicate." He presents a table giving

** the results of several hundred measurements on various objectives, and

suggests that an examination of the table will show that the focal length

of the objectives of some makers differs considerably from the length

marked upon them. For example, No. 34 marked 1-2 inch is really a 1-3

inch objective; No. 33 marked 1-4 inch is really a 1-5 inch; No. 29 marked

4-10 inch is really a 1-4. Lens No. 14, marked 1-4 inch, is really a 1-5 inch;

but Nos. 18, 15, by the same Papi are correctly designated 1-5 inch,

2-3 inch. Differences of this kind must of necessity lead to a great con-

fusion in comparing objectives vith c one another. I would therefore

suggest that each objective made should be measured before being offered

tube, sliding in the tube of the microscope, and measure as I have already

described. The draw-tube should be moved till the front of the ruled

glass shall be exactly 10 inches from the micrometer used as the object.

Or it would be more convenient still to have an apparatus similar to the

first form, but arranged with a suitable stage and stand so that it can be

Set at any desired angle. The distance 10 inches (254mm.), euggeste ed as

s well as about the length used by microscopists in actual work.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

PERUVIAN ARCH.EOLOGY. — The extent to which the conditions of man-

kind are influenced by natural circumstances, and how these may dictate,

not alone the architecture and arts of a people, but their social, religious

E opi organizations, is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in

The Inca Empire, it seems to me, was only rendered possible by

RG ier geographical and topographical position occupied by the

family or families that were its founders. Long antedating that empire

its vast area contained a great number of communities, tribes, or princi-

palities, more or less advanced or civilized, separated from each other,

446 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

however, on the coast, by hot and almost impassable deserts, and in the

interior by lofty mountains, or cold and trackless punas. They had but

little intercourse or political dependence, and they all, when by means of

alliance or conquest the enterprising families around Cuzco became con-

solidated, fell an easy prey to those inhabitants of the high, strong fast-

"icta or Mns of iym ndes. From their dominating position the

Inc ere enabled to throw overwhelming forces successively on the

Vom ses edu from their mountain centre, hes one by one

inold them into the grandest of aboriginal American Empires. Itis easy

o see how ambition, and the exigences arising out of cipit aggressions,

Should have poe gents that astute policy or statesmanship, that

ability in organization and admimistration, of which the Incas furnished

nple.

That portion of a Andean plateau lying ara the Pass of La Raya,

at the northern extremity of the Titicaca basin and the Pass of la Banda,

near Pasco, is a great mountain-encircled region, drained by the River

viais itself, as we have seen, formed by the hierga Apsaons and

as flowin

the waters collected in numberless vales among the mountains. Nothing

better describes these vales than the Spanish word bolson, or pocket.

nd, as I have said, while the valleys of the coast are separated by des-

erts, de ese bolsones are isolated by ranges of bills, mountains, or unin-

habitable punas, and all these are divided into groups by the great rivers,

which, like the Apurimac, are intransitable except by the aid of bridges

of mimbres, or ropes swinging dizzily in mid-air

The olsones are of varying altitudes and dosssdueatly of various

climates and productions. Some are well-drained, others are marshy,

and contain considerable lakes. They discharge their gathered waters,

often in large streams that plunge, in numberless cataracts, through dark

and narrow ravines into the gorges of the great rivers. The passage

one b a

punas, frequently among frost and snow, mea y ways by rocky and diffi-

cult paths, fit only for the goat and the llam

It was in precisely one of these bolsones, D central one of a group or

cluster lying between the Vileamayo River and the Apurimac, that the

their career of conquest by reducing the people of the bolson of Anta or

Xaxiguana on the north, and of Urcos or Andahuaylillas on the south.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 447

The bolson of Cuzco, which is not far from thirty miles long, is divided

into two nearly equal parts by the Pass of Angostura, or the narrows,

where the mountain spurs project toward each other into the valley, leav-

ing hardly room enough for the roadway and the river. On the promon-

buildings and remains of wo orks, showing that this was regarded as a

strategic or important position, for the immediate protection of the

itol

The Cit ty of Cuzco, which occupies the site. of the ancient capitol,

stands at the northern or most elevated extremity of the bolson, or valley,

on the lower slopes of three high hills, the Carmenca, Sacsahuaman, and

Cantuta, where as many rivulets, the Almodena, Huatenay and Tullamayo,

or Ro odadero, coming together like the fi ngers of an outspread hand,

land of the Sacsahuaman, between the Huatenay and the Rodadero.

The position of this d as determined by Mr. Pentland, is latitude 139

91! S., and longitude 72° 2! W. of Greenwich. Its elevation above the sea,

the climate is equable and salubrious. Wheat, se ae and pota-

u iie

conditions that not more than thirty miles distant are deep, hot valle in

where semi-tropical fruits may be produced abundantly, we may compre-

hend that Cuzco was not an unfavorable site for a great capitol.

very name, e may credit the chronicler, signified

Umbilicus. The Inca power once fairly established in the cluster of val-

leys, of which I have spoken, and the d narrow passes by whi

itants of the vite and na ille running down the slopes of

Andes and the Doa: eft to subdue one by one the families di

ing in the bolsones northward to the Equator, and southward below the

desert of At visse an extent of thirty-seven degrees of latitude.

— E. G. Squier, from Lecture on Peruvian Archeology + Sahel before the

American depu dud Pici Society, February 1

448 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

NSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

E. S. Miller. Your specimens reached us in such a ade ut d condition that it boi

ae r3 Nog them

heat or fermentation, or torn accidentally on opening the package. We do not want

- of the mon sent as they are common hereabouts, dough we thank you for your

offer. —J. L. E.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Proceedings of the Acad. of Nat, Sciences. Phil.

1, 1870.

piieis Annua pet d of the Provost A the Peabody DM to the HMM Baltimor rei 1870.

A" peris s c President ER DE Lyc nod Nat.

Co ay in

The Woody Plants of North C — lige’ M. A. Curtis, DD. 8vo. Raleig s i0,

Geological and Natural History Su y of North Carolina, Part 3. Botany,” By M. A, Curtis,

DD. sv wg a

By Geo: N. Lawrence,

Fifty the ave of the N. Y. State Library. Albany, 1870.

Cranberry Cuiture, By Jos. J Bad

Glimpses of Nature. S. M.N

Chemist and Vider Lin t. icm end 1, 15, 1870.

emy. No.

n eport of the Wena ees 9) Museum of Comparative Zoology for 1869.

Thirty-three Ornithological pan hiets.

aoe ey n der K. K. zoologisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien. Band, xviii, 1868, xix,

vols. 8vo,

Zeitschrift fur Akklimatisation, 1868, Nos, 1-12, 1869. Nos, 1-12. 8vo. Berlin.

Sitzungs- ichte der NA Naturforschender Pounds. Berlin. 4to, 1865-69.

o 0, ungen herausgegeben vo turwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen. Bad, 2, Heft. 2.

Die Vi getationsverhaltnisse Von Croatien. 8vo. Wien, 1868. Von Dr. August Neilreich.

The TA sactions of the Entomological Society "à riga 9.

e pe s den à omi ie Rocks of America. Jat ae on the Oceanic, Atmospheric

iso,” E and the Distribution v Rae ey di atlin, London, Trubner & Co.

E the a pra! Language, From the MSS., D.G. y ge M. D.

National pam a d

Cont. ons to th . po mar of the Muskokee Langu ed . Brinton, M.

| org ent Phone of z guag — ,

b. D.

ener ec Scien Dis nei ety: i isto. & n D. Iowa City. Iowa.

Proceedings af. of th e California A cademy of "Science e.

Vol.l. Part2, 1870.

Quarterly Journa. cience, London, July, 1870.

ime Re Con. ow "o. NS art 1, 1870.

Field, vm 2d sed y 9th. on, 1870,

Cosmos, y 2d, 9th and isth. T Liv. 1 ay A

Address on ‘he Natural History

and Pathological Osteology of the Horse. By N. Cressy, M. D.

Middletown. Jan., 1870.

Bulletin d de la p e Impertate des Naturalistes de Moscow. Nos. 1, 2,3. 8vo. Moscow. 1869.

es de la Societe omoh de France, 8vo. 1869. Paris.

Verhan ngen des naturhistorischen Vereins du preussichen Rheinland und Westphalen. 8vo.

26th Pocedéen: i Haltt. 1, 2, Bonn. 1869,

Peat Fuel; how to make It, and how to use it. What it costs and what it is worth. T. H.

| Senadion.. FM 2, Da Rae 155."

. 0.98.

and and Water. 4,11, 18 8 and 25. Ju s

English Mende and a hidd Jut i Vol. xi

Tidas skrift fo ar Soe ere ve Fremstillinger tinger af Nathreidenskaben ME. "Jure 1870,

Bulletin ogique d Acclimatation. "Tome 7. June, 1870.

Nature, gren ^ D LA^ fron perial

z= - fan who Advertises and American Newspaper Rate Book. Royal 8vo. Rowell & Co, New

Speech y Hon. y Geo. F. Hoar on Universal Education, 2 AR AR

e des rs Scien es de t E to June “70,

bor sake > con Gon ance et de l'stranger, Paris. Dec

Petites Nouvelles JEntomologiques, Nov. 25 and 26,

The North American Lakes, considered as Ch: Po By Dr. Edmund

janes Woyal 8vo, pp. 2 ronometers of Post Glacial Time. By

ID JE OH

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. —OCTOBER, 1870. — No. 8.

c—c0 G3 (9t re DF

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.*

BY J. W. FOSTER, LL. D.

Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the American Association

for the Advancement of Science: —

THERE is an article contained in our Constitution which

requires the retiring President to address the Association

in general meeting ; and custom has prescribed that he select

for his theme some new and important discoveries in science,

or some new inventions and processes in the arts. ;

It is in the discharge of this duty that I appear before you

on this occasion, and solicit your attention for the passing

hour. So vastis the domain of science, and so numerous

have become its cultivators in almost every part of the

world, that, even if I had the capacity, the labor of embody-

ing the results of a single year, in a brief address, would be

a mere accumulation of details devoid of that spirit which

gives them value— generalization.

I shall, therefore, restrict myself to the researches which

have been made in those departments of science which with

me have been the subjects of special investigation ; and shall

* Address of the retiring president of the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science, J. W. Foster, LL. D., delivered at Troy, New York, on the evening of

August 18, 1870.

ZO he the P. " g fn &

Entered accordi

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 57 (449)

450 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

seek to set forth what others have accomplished, rather than

to advance original views.

. It will be found that, throughout all time, since the earth

became fitted for the habitation of organic life, that there

have been great cycles of heat and cold, and that these

cycles have exercised a marked influence in the modification

of all terrestrial forms. To traverse the whole ground,

would employ too much time ; and I shall, therefore, restrict

myself to the changes which barely antedate the Human.

Epoch.

We know that the Tertiary Age, so far, at least, as re-

lated to the northern hemisphere, was characterized by a -

warm and equable climate, extending even to the Polar Sea.

Where now blooms the Andromeda close by banks of per-

petual snow, at that time grew a luxuriant forest vegetation.

McClure’s sledging party gathered fragments of fossil wood,

acorns, and fir cones in the interior of Banks’s Land, far

within the limits of the Arctie Circle. As high as latitude

709 N. in Greenland, large forests lie prostrate and encased

inice. At Disco bta the northern verge of European

settlement, the strata are full of the trunks, balo leaves,

and even the seeds and fruit-cones of trees, comprising firs,

sequoias, elms, magnolias, and laurels, —a vegetation char-

acteristic of the Miocene Period of Central Europe. Pro-

fessor Heer particularly notices the Sequoia Langsdorfii,

which is very closely allied to the Sequoia sempervirens of

the Coast Range of California.

Spitzbergen was clothed with a forest vegetation equally

luxuriant, amongst which the Swedish naturalists recognize

. the swamp-cypress ( Taxodium dubium) in a fossilized state,

at Bell's Sound (769 N.), and the plantain and linden in

King's Bay (78° and 799 N.). The same Sequoia was ob-

served by Sir John Richardson within the Arctic Circle west

of MacKenzie River. The lignite beds of Iceland have

yielded to the botanists, Steenstrup and Heer, fifteen arbor-

escent forms identical with the Miocene plants of Europe.

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 451

In the flora of the Great Lignite Basin of Nebraska, which

is referred to the Miocene age, Hayden has detected the oak,

the tulip or poplar, the elm and walnut, and a true fan-

palm, with a leaf-spread of twelve feet ;—all, however, of

extinct species. These forms he regards as characteristic of

a sub-tropical climate, such as now prevails in the Gulf

States. The fan-palm (Sabal Campbellii) is the representa-

tive of the Sabal major of the European Tertiaries, and the

Sabal palmetto of our Southern States.

The Cinnamonium, an unquestioned tropical type, while

not thus far detected in the Missouri Basin, has been found

by Lesquereaux in the Cretaceous (?) beds of Bellingham

Bay, on our Northwestern coast; in the Eocene of the

Lower Mississippi, and in the lignite beds of Vermont.

Professor Newberry, in a review of the flora of the Cre-

taceous and Tertiary Ages of North America, thus re-

marks :

"We have, therefore, negative evidence, though it may

be reversed at an early day by further observations, that the

climate of the interior of our continent, during the Tertiary

Age, was somewhat warmer than during the Cretaceous

Period; and that during both the same relative differences

of climate prevailed between the western and central por-

tions that exist at the present day."

The Drift Epoch was ushered in by a marked change in

physical influences, by which the whole flora of the extreme

northern hemisphere was so far affected that certain forms

were blotted out of existence, while other forms were forced

to seek, by migration, a more congenial climate, and accom-

modate themselves to altered conditions. In the higher

regions we find a predominating growth of mosses and saxi-

frages, and at the southern limits of the Drift a buried

vegetation of an Alpine character.

f we examine the faune of the two epochs— particularly

the land animals which we may suppose to be peculiarly

susceptible to atmospherie changes— we shall find that there

452 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

was a marked modification of forms. Dr. Leidy, in his late

work on the extinct mammalian faune of Dakota and Ne-

braska, states that, of the thirty-two genera of Miocene

animals, not one occurs in the Quaternary formation of

North Ameriea. In comparing the Miocene and Pliocene

faunæ with each other, as represented mainly by the remains

from the Mauvaises Terres and the Niobrara River, scarcely

a genus is common to both. “In view,” he continues, “of

the consecutive order and close approximation of position of

the two formations and fauns, such exclusiveness would

hardly have been suspected." The greater similitude of the

Miocene and Pliocene fauns with the contemporaneous

faunæ of the Old World, has led him to suggest that the

North American continent was peopled, during the Tertiary

Epoch, from the West. ‘Perhaps this latter extension,” he

continues, “occurred from a continent whose area now forms

the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and whose Tertiary faunæ

is now represented east and west by the fossil remains of

Ameriea.on the one hand, and of Asia, with its peninsula,

Europe, on the other."

The topographieal features of the two continents and the

hydrographieal soundings of the two oceans, render this

supposition probable. Between Ireland and Newfoundland

there is a great plateau, which an elevation of the earth's

crust to the extent of a few thousand feet would convert

into dry land; and Behring's Straits, which now separate

Asia and North America, are, at their narrowest points, but

thirty miles wide, and their shallowest depth is but twenty-

five fathoms.

And here the paleontologist comes to the aid of the

hydrographer, and, by their joint labors, the one renders

probable what the other has conjectured as possible —the

former union of the two hemispheres. Zoology would indi-

cate that such was the fact during the Pliocene Epoch, in

which will probably be found the origin of those mammalian

types eontemporary with the elder man, and represented by

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 453

the extinct Proboscidians and Ruminants. None of these

large animals could probably have passed over the straits

which now divide these regions, and the close alliance in

form would indicate a common origin. We infer, therefore,

that the subsidence during the Drift Epoch cut off the com-

munication between the two hemispheres, and the refrigera-

tion which then took place, served to disperse the colossal

animals, who sought by migration to lower latitudes a cli-

mate congenial to their nature.

s in Europe we find the remains of these northern types

intermingled with those of an African type— the hippopota-

mus, which in his summer migrations strayed as far north as

England; so on this continent we had, during this epoch,

the great sloths, represented by the megalonyx and mylodon,

whose congeners at this time exist in South America. Thus

there was an inosculation, so to speak, of two distinct and

contemporaneous faune.

It is an inquiry of the highest interest— perhaps as much

so as any connected with the physical history of the past:

How far has man been a witness of these stupendous changes ?

It is not until towards the close of the Drift Epoch, that we

are enabled to detect unmistakable signs of his works,

although there are not wanting proofs which would refer his

origin to an earlier date— the Pliocene. So numerous and

well-attested are the facts, that we must now regard him as

the contemporary of many of the great mammals which

have ceased to exist, and the subject of physical conditions

very different from what now prevail. To account for these

changes requires the lapse of a longer period of time than

has heretofore been assigned to his existence upon earth.

Thus within a few years has been opened a sphere of in-

vestigation which has enlisted a large class of able observers,

and their labors have thrown a flood of light upon the

origin of our race. Ethnography has become aggrandized

into one of the noblest of sciences. However conflicting

these revelations may be to our preconceived notions, they

454 ; RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

must not hereafter be disregarded in treating of the past

and present condition of' humanity. We must weigh the

value of observations and press them to legitimate conclu-

sions. The investigator at this day is not to be tram-

melled, in the language of Humboldt, by “an assemblage of

dogmas bequeathed from one age to another"—by "a physi-

cal philosophy made up of popular prejudices.”

The periods of the prehistoric man have been divided by

M. Lartet, into two ages :—

1. The Stone Age, and (2) the Metal Age.

The Stone Age has been subdivided into three epochs.

1. That of the extinct animals, such as the mammoth and

cave-bear. |

2. That of the migrated existing animals (Reindeer

Epoch)

3. That of the domesticated existing animals (Polished

Stone Epoch).

The Metal Age has been divided into two epochs:

1. That of Bronze, and (2) that of Iron. -

The elder man differed widely from the intellectual and

much-planning man of this day. The conditions of climate

greatly modified his modes of thought and physical pursuits.

The northern hemisphere was just emerging from a long-

continued state of glaciation. The snows which had

wrapped the earth as in a mantle, were melting, and the

great glaciers were reluctantly retreating within the Arctic

Circle. Every depression became a lake, and every lake a

sea for the reception of the accumulating waters, whose re-

sistless foree swept along mud, and sind, and shingle, and

fragments of rocks. As "the barriers gave way, the waters

cut out channels on their route to the sea, and the terraces

and ridges which border our lakes and rivers are but the

monuments of their erosive action. It was a sad and deso-

late land, to be paralleled only in the Arctic Circle. But

man was not alone. On the European Continent there was

a strange assemblage of: animals; the elephant, with his

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 455

compound clothing of wool and hair; the rhinoceros simi-

larly protected; the cave-bear and cave-hyena; the tiger;

and the great ox, not patient of toil as at this day, but fierce

and indomitable. On this continent was the elephant of a

closely-allied species; the lion and bear, and at least two

species of the musk-ox, gigantie as compared to their mod-

ern congener.

In such a climate and on such a soil we can well imagine

that agriculture formed no part of the occupation of the

primitive man. He gathered not the kindly fruits of the

.earth, but was essentially a predaceous animal. The few

skulls that have been recovered would indicate that he was

low in the scale of intellectual organization —a small brain,

a retreating forehead, and oblique jaws. In capacity he was

below the Australian and New Zealander. In stature he

was dwarfed, but was broad-shouldered and robust— the

result, perhaps, of vigorous exertion and out-door exposure.

He was carniverous, and, perhaps, a raw flesh-eater; for in

the jaws which have been disinterred, the incisor-teeth are

much worn—a peculiarity which has been noticed in those

of the flesh-eating Esquimaux. This fact ought not to be

cited to his disadvantage, for in an Arctic climate, where the

animal heat is so rapidly abstracted, man requires a highly

nitrogenous food. Thus we find our own countryman, Kane,

when imprisoned in the ice of Rensselaer Harbor, resorting

to raw walrus-meat, and rolling it as a sweet morsel under

his tongue.

It cannot be gainsayed, however, that man was a cannibal.

In Scotland were found the bones of children which, accord-

ing to Owen, bore upon them the marks of human teeth,

and the:evidences produced in.the Archeological Congress

at Copenhagen established this fact beyond controversy.

He was not destitute of skill in the art of delineation, for

we have restored to us, on a slab of slate, a very good

profile of the great cave-bear— the earliest instance extant

of pictorial representation.

456 RECENT ADYANCES IN GEOLOGY.

But we must accord to him one redeeming trait. That

homage which, in all ages and among all nations, the living

pay to the deaa : those ceremonies which are observed at the

hour of final separation; that care which is exerted to pro-

tect the manes fron) all profane intrusion; and those delicate

acts, prompted by love or affection, which, we fondly hope,

will smooth the passage of the parting spirit to the happy

land—all these observances our rude ancestors maintained.

These facts show that, deep as man may sink in barbarism,

brutal as he may hecome in his instincts, there is still a

redeeming spirit which prompts to higher aspirations, and

that to him, even, there is no belief so dreary as that of

utter annihilation.

Perhaps, among the existing tribes of the human race in

the Aretie Highlander, as described by Sherard Osborn,

we have the nearest approach to the prehistoric man : —

* Although dwarfed in stature, they are thick-set, strong-limbed, deep-

singe pa base-voiced, and capable of vigorous and prolonged exer-

tion. I

tables and cereals, they have of course no conception, and I know of no

other people on the earth's surface, who are thus entirely carniverous."

After the lapse of a period whose interval cannot be

measured, the great animals which characterized the dawn of

the Human Epoch, began to disappear, and were replaced by

other forms of diminished size, but of improved type.

Among these, on the European continent, were the reindeer,

the pinot, the stag, the bison, and urus, together with

the horse, not distinguishable from the existing species.

The reindeer and musk-ox, which only thrive in a cold cli-

mate, not only oceupied England, but wandered as far south

in France as the shores of the Mediterranean and the slopes

of the Pyrenees, which interposed effectual barriers to theit

further progress.

The reindeer must have existed in vast herds, und to the

primeval man have proved the most useful of animals.

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 451

Every portion of the carcase was economized. His flesh

furnished food; his skin, clothing; his sinews, thread; and

his horns were fashioned into harpoons, javelins, and sockets

for the reception of spearheads and hatchets.

On this continent we find the musk-ox and reindeer, iden-

tical in species with the European forms, in a fossilized state.

The reindeer ranged as far south as Kentucky and New

Jersey, but the existing musk-ox has not been found fossil-

ized outside of his present limits. The Bóotherium, how-

ever, which exceeded him in size, and to which he was

closely aliied, had a range co-extensive with the reindeer.

The stag (Cervus alces) and the bison (B. latifrons), were

in existence, while the horse, which is abundantly repre-

sented in the Pliocene, and is continued into the Quaternary

Period, had become extinct before the discovery of America.

His remains are found in Eschscholtz Bay (latitude 66° 20’

North) in connection with those of the Elephas primigenus,

the urus, deer, and musk-ox, embedded in a deposit of clay

and fine micaceous sand. The rhinoceros (R. merianus)

appears in the Miocene of Texas, and is represented in the

Pliocene of the Upper Missouri as R. crassus, and in the

same formation in California as R. hesperius; but thus far

the Rhinoceros tichorhinus so intimately associated with the

great Proboseidians of Europe, has not, to my knowledge,

been found in North America. In addition to these forms

may. be mentioned the great mastodon, which came into

being subsequent to the elephant, and survived his extinc-

tion.

The fact of the existence of the mammoth or mastodon,

was certainly known to the founders of the cities of Central

erica, for in more than one instance there is graven

with elaborate care, on the walls of their structures, the

form of a Proboscidian, which cannot be mistaken for one or

the other of these animals; but the works on which these

delineations are made, indieate a far higher order of art than

was ever attained by the prehistoric man of Europe. These

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 58

458 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

delineations, I am disposed to think, are of the mastodon,

and, found as they are upon the walls of stone-built palaces

and temples, there is strong evidence to believe that this

great Proboscidian survived almost to the Historic Period.

The men of the Reindeer Epoch made gradual advances

in the industrial arts. They did not cultivate the soil, for

the climate was still inhospitable. While their progenitors

were content with knives flaked from flints in the form of

rude fragments with cutting edges, they wrought out tools

more symmetrical, but without any attempt at polishing.

They attained to a very creditable degree of artistic skill,

as shown by their designs traced on tablets of ivory, and

carved out of the antlers of the reindeer. We have thus

represented the stag, the ibex, the horse, a reindeer couch-

ant forming a dagger-hilt, and also the great elephant with

his characteristic markings; the small oblique eye, the pon-

derous trunk, the recurved tusks, and the shaggy mane.

The human form even is delineated. We have an ivory

statuette of the female figure, and traced on a stag's horn

the outline of a male figure with a caudal appendage like

that which was conjectured by Lord Mondoddo, the eccen-

tric Seoteh philosopher, to appertain to the primitive man.

On this continent the evidenees of the existence of man

at this age, while obscure, are yet, I am disposed to believe,

authentic. The human bone found in the Loess at Natchez,

and the flint implements found in connection with the Mis-

souri mastodon, may claim as high an antiquity as the oldest

of the European “finds.”

The discoveries in California would seem to carry back

the existence of man to a remote date. As far back as 1857

Dr. C. F. Winslow sent to the Boston Natural History So-

ciety a fragment of a human cranium found in the “paydirt”

in connection with the bones of the mastodon and elephant,

one hundred and eighty feet below the surface of Table

Mountain, California. It was in this region (Angeles, Cal-

averas County) that a human skull was subsequently found

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 459

by a miner named James Matson in a shaft one hundred and

fifty feet deep, which passed through five beds of lava and

four deposits of auriferous gravel. The statements of Pro-

fessor Whitney as to the authenticity of this skull have been

received with extreme distrust; but does not this earlier

discovery of human remains in the same formation confirm

the correctness of those statements?

Our country is yet new, and it is only recently that atten-

tion has been directed to these investigations. It is hardly

to be expected that a competent observer will be present at

the precise time when any relic of the past is disinterred ;

and there is an universal feeling of doubt and distrust as to

the authenticity of all such finds. With the evidence before

us that both hemispheres have been subjected to the same

dynamie causes, and peopled by the same races of animals,

often identical in species, is it not philosophical to infer that

here we shall be able to detect the traces of man and his

works, reaching back to as high an antiquity as on the Euro-

pean continent?

The Reindeer Epoch terminates the earliest known record

in the career of man. It was signalized by a series of phy-

sical events too important to be slightly passed over. The

glaciers again advanced, and again the land became refriger-

ated; but the cold period was not so long continued, and

was less intense. To this succeeded a period of warmth,

and as the glaciers dissolved under its influence, there en-

sued a flood which swept over the lowlands and forced the

cave-dwellers to flee to the high grounds. The water in

Belgium, according to Dupont, rose to the height of four -

hundred and fifty feet, and the calcareous mud, known as the

Loess, was then deposited in the Rhine Valley. The caves

were also invaded, and the “bone-earth” which forms the

division between two distinct faune, is of the same age.

It was during this epoch that the great mammals disap-

peared from the earth; the elephant, the rhinoceros, the

cave-bear, the cave-hyena, the tiger, and the Irish stag.

460 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

The reindeer, the musk-ox, and the elk, migrated to the

north where the changed conditions of climate were more

congenial to their nature.

The musk-ox has disappeared from Europe, but he sur-

vives on this continent, restricted in his range to what are

known as the “Barren Grounds,” lying between the Wel-

come and Coppermine mountains. The auroch, protected

by stringent laws, still survives, while the horse, domesti-

cated by man, has vastly multiplied. . The ure-ox, living

through the great catastrophe, has disappeared within his-

torical times.

The greatly augmented thickness of the Loess on this con-

tinent, would indicate that the ice action was exerted more

powerfully, and its effects are traced over a larger area; and

the same destruction overtook the larger quadrupeds, extend-

ing even to the gigantic sloths, who lived in a milder cli-

mate.

From this era we may date a change in the physical con-

ditions of our planet, so far at least as relates to the north-

ern temperate zone. The climate became milder, and the

soil yielded more bountifully those seeds and fruits which

contribute to human support. Man for the first time began

to show signs of progress in the industrial arts. His weap-

ons of flint were more symmetrically fashioned, and in some

instances were polished. The dog became his companion,

and some of the other animals were domesticated. This

was the Polished stone Epoch.

n the Bronze Epoch we trace still greater advances.

Man dwelt in fixed habitations. He surrounded himself with

such domestic animals as the ox, horse, pig, goat, and sheep,

and retained his companionship for the dog. He cultivated

wheat and barley, whose flour he kneaded into bread and

baked between heated stones. Apart from berries he gath-

ered the fruits of the pear, cherry, and plum. The discovery

of the art of smelting copper, and of the additional art of

hardening it by a slight admixture of tin, was an immense

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 461

stride towards civilization. Ere long followed the discovery

of the art of iron-smelting, —a discovery which has done

more to advance the welfare of our race than all others com-

bined. Then it was that man, for the first time, was fur-

nished with a weapon which enabled him to achieve a

conquest over Nature, and this assertion will not appear

extravagant when we reflect how intimately this metal is

connected with all the industrial arts.

The Iron Epoch approaches so near the Historic Era, that,

as forming a portion of geological history, the events are too

insignificant to be dwelt upon.

The Mound-builders of our own country, in the scale of

civilization, were intermediate between the Polished stone

and the Bronze Epochs of Europe. They resided in towns,

many of which have since become the sites of flourishing

cities. They practiced agriculture, making use of maize as

their chief cereal; but there was not on this continent a

domestic animal who could aid them in their labors or con-

tribute to their sustenance. Strange as it may seem, that

while the Danish kitchen-middins and the Swiss refuse-heaps

contain abundant traces of mammalian bones, thus far they

have been but rarely detected in the mounds. They chipped

with great skill the limestone-chert into spades, spear-

heads and arrowheads. Out of porphyry or greenstone

they wrought their hatchets and battle-axes, and these were

often ground and polished. The same material, too, was

often used in making pipes, which were carved into forms

representing quadrupeds and birds, so faithful in detail that

the species to which they belonged can be identified. The

specular iron-ore of Missouri was elaborately wrought and

Polished into slung-shots or “plummets.” They mined ex-

tensively the native copper of Lake Superior, which they

beat, and perhaps smelted, into knives, chisels, spearheads,

arrowheads and bracelets. They wove cloth with a regular

Warp and woof, out of a fibre as yet undetermined. They

modelled clay into vases, water-coolers, and othet utensils,

462 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

and ornamented them with elaborate designs, and the human

face, even, is portrayed with rare fidelity ; and finally, they

must have maintained an intercourse with distant and widely

separated portions of the continent.

Since the close of the Reindeer Epoch the changes which

have taken place in the flora and fauna of Europe have been

slight. We may note, however, the disappearance of the

Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris) from Denmark, where it is

found entombed in the peat-swamps, and the introduction of

the sessile oak, which in turn is becoming supplanted by the

common beecli. In the Baltic the oyster flourished in places

from which it is now excluded, and certain other marine forms

that attained a full growth, are now dwarfed. There is an

instance or two of the disappearance of mammalian forms,

but this may be traced to the direct agency of man. These

slight changes in physieal geography have modified the dis-

tribution of animals and plants, but they have not affected, in

the least, their form. Whatever ehanges have been observed

are due to domestication.

So far as relates to our own country, there are evidences

in the Great Basin and on the Colorado Plateau, that at no

remote day there was a much more genial climate and a soil

more productive than now prevail. This is seen in the dead

forests that line the mountain side ; in the waterlines of the

lakes and streams high above the greatest floods; deep

eafions through which now course trickling streams, but

which must have formed the channels of voluminous rivers;

and alluvial bottoms now bare and desolate, in which are

imbedded a robust vegetation.

I have, perhaps, dwelt too long upon these changes which

have so essentially modified the surface of the earth, and at

the same time the destinies of our race. Had an Arctic cli-

mate continued to prevail over what is now the temperate

zone, man would have made no advance in civilization ; life

to him would have been a continued struggle for existence.

It is only in a genial climate, and on a soil so-generous as to

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 463

yield with moderate exertion a support, that he can cultivate

his intellect ; and such culture, I need hardly affirm, is at the

base of all civilization.

How great the contrast between the primitive cave-dweller

and the practical man of to-day, who, availing himself of

the conquests of science, subjects the forces of N ature to his

will; who spans with bridges, deep chasms ; who stretches his

iron rails over high summits; who traverses the trackless

deep with unerring course; who flashes intelligence over a

hemisphere. Hw different from the intellbctan] man of to-

day, who weighs the earth as in a balance ; wlio measures the

distance of the sun and assays its elements; who maps the

comet's path; who penetrates the deepest mysteries of

the Universe. The one was almost a brute; the other is

almost a god !

While these revolutions have taken place on the surface

of the earth they have, at the same time, been sufficiently

powerful to modify the marine fauna in the disappearance of

old and the introduction of new forms to the depth of 1,500

feet; but in the profounder abysses of the ocean, age after

` age, the conditions of life have remained comparatively

unchanged. It is only within the past year that this inter-

esting fact — a fact which must lead to a material modifica-

tion of our previously formed views—has been prominently

developed.

The soundings made as far hack as 1857, over the great

telegraphic ‘plateau which stretches from Valentia to New-

foundland, disclosed in all instances a fine caleareous mud

which entombed countless millions of shells belonging to the

family of Rhizopods, and some peculiar bodies which are

known as Coccoliths and Coccospheres, which were found to

correspond with the organic contents of the true Cretaceous

Period. In 1861, among a number of living mollusea and

corals found adhering to a telegraphic cable between Algiers

and Sardinia, taken up for repairs, Milne-Edwards detected

certain shells which were only known as Tertiary fossils. In

464 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

the same year Sars, the Swedish naturalist, described the

Rhizocrinus Lofotensis, obtained on the Scandinavian Coast,

a new and living type of Crinoidea belonging to a family

characteristic of the Oolite. The soundings, prosecuted

under the direction of Count de Pourtales, attached to the

United States Coast Survey, between Florida and the outer

edge of the Gulf Stream, have yielded important results

which have been in part reported upon by de Pourtales, the

elder and younger Agassiz, and Lyman.

The deep-sea dredgings prosecuted during the past year

on board of her Britannic Majesty’s ship Porcupine, placed at

the disposal of a scientific committee, consisting of Messrs.

Carpenter, Jeffrys, and Thompson, have yielded results of

the highest interest. The supposition of an Azoic zone must

now be abandoned. The profoundest depths of the ocean,

in which the Himalayas or the Andes might be engulfed, are

now believed to be inhabited, and inhabited, too, by organic

forms which, since the dawn of the Cretaceous Age, have

undergone no considerable modification. The littoral de-

posits, on the other hand show the most marked diversities.

1n organic forms. In one sense, as declared by Dr. Carpen-

ter, we are living in the Cretaceous Age; in another, since

the close of that age we have witnessed repeated dispersions

and modifications of organic forms.

Dr. Wyville Thompson, generalizing on these facts, says

that there is no direct evidence that oscillations have taken

place in the Northern Atlantic greater than 1,500 feet since

the commencement of the Mesozoic Period, and that the

great depressions in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are due

to causes that acted before that period. :

"There have been," he continues, "constant minor oscilla-

tions; but the beds formed during periods of depression, but

now exposed by an upheaval of this minor character, are com-

paratively local and shallow-water beds, as shown by the na-

ture and richness of their fauna." :

The dredgings which have been made in the fresh-water

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 465

lakes of high northern latitudes have proved of equal inter-

est. In the Swedish lakes, Wetersee and Wenersee, have

lately been discovered crustacea which, though differing from

those now living in the sea, are clearly related to marine

forms of a northern and even Arctic character. Thus have

been found the Mysis relicta, whose congeners live altogether

in the sea, and those resembling the species in the most

northern latitudes ; the Que loricatus thus far found

only in the Arctic Ocean, Baffin's Day, Greenland, and Spitz-

bergen; the Zdothea entomon, in the Arctic Ocean and the

Baltic Sea; and the Pontoporcia affinis, still found in the

Baltic, but whose related species occur in the Greenland

seas. These lakes are three hundred feet above the sea-

level; but these results show that at no remote day they

communicated with the ocean, and were originally tenanted

by a marine fauna of an Arctic type. As these waters be-

came first brackish and then“ fresh, most of the forms died

out during the transition, leaving in the depths a few crusta-

cea which i correspond in part’ to the species in the Baltic, and

in part to those of the Arctic Ocean.

Within the past year Dr. Stimpson has. obtained results

equally interesting, from dredgings brought up from the

deeper parts of Lake Michigan. The lake-level is five hun-

dred and eighty-three feet above the ocean, and the greatest

depths extend below that line. At the depth of sixty

fathoms he obtained à Mysis which, although not specifically

identical with the Swedish form, is closely allied, and its

occurrence authorizes us to draw the same conclusions as to

the marine character in former times of the Great Lakes,

which the Swedish physicists . have arrived at as to the

former condition of their own.

Much discussion has been had in former years, and even

in this Association, as to the nature of these lake waters dur-

ing the Glacial Age. It is well known that on the borders

of Lake Champlain, and at intervals along the St. Lawrence

from Quebec to Kingston, and up the Dita the terraces

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 59

466 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

attaining an extreme height of between four hundred and

five hundred feet, contain marine remains; but when we

pass over into the Great Lake-basin, these remains disap-

pear. Hence it has been inferred that, at that time, as now,

the Great Lakes were filled with fresh water; but the dis-

coveries of Dr. Stimpson, I think, disprove the correctness

of this inference; and further discoveries may show that

these lakes formerly had communication, not only with the

Atlantie through the St. Lawrence, but with the Arctic

Ocean through Hudson Bay.

We are now led to the inquiry: What has caused these

great changes of temperature, affecting the whole economy

of terrestial life? Between the Arctie an Antarctic regions,

there are great diversities of climate and physical conditions.

The one is characterized by a vast expanse of land, and the

other by a vast expanse of ocean. The one enjoys a short-

lived summer in which the flowers blossom and fructify ; in

the other reigns unmitigated winter, and. even mosses and

lichens are absent. In the one the reindeer and musk-ox

are hunted to the verge of the sea; in the other, animal life

disappears below latitude 56 deg. Man has been able to

penetrate North to 82 deg., 40 min., 30 sec., or within

nearly five hundred miles of the pole; but to the south he

has only reached 78 deg., 10 min., or about eight hundred

and fifty miles.

There are several causes which combine to produce this

result. The great continental masses which characterize the

northern hemisphere, warmed by the summer sun, radiate

heat into surrounding space, while the narrow expanse of

land in the Antaretie circle, bathed by chilled waters, and

encased in ice, acts as a refrigerator of the atmosphere. Be-

sides, as we shall hereafter show, owing to the earth’s move-

ment, the southern summer is shorter by at least eight days,

and the amount of heat received during that period by the

northern hemisphere cannot but exert an appreciable influ-

ence. The Arctic region, then, enjoys a milder climate than

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 467

it would if, as in the Drift Epoch, it were submerged to the

depth of at least two thousand feet. In the Great Year of

astronomers, the southern pole, after having passed through

its great winter solstice, is now entering upon its summer

climate.

Lyell has conjectured that these phenomena are due to a

different distribution of land and water, combined with a

different distribution of oceanie currents; but with an ex-

panse of land occupying almost the whole of the northern

hemisphere, and with the Gulf-stream diffusing its warm

breath over the western coast of Europe, and the Japan Cur-

rent over the western coast of America, we find that the

domain of ice and snow remains fixed ; and we can conceive

of no conditions, dependent upon these causes, whereby the

Cinnamonium should again flourish at Bellingham Bay, or

the Sequoia on the Greenland coast.

Others have inferred that these great cycles of warmth

and cold may be due to the increased or diminished heat

transmitted from the interior of the earth. If we adopt the

theory of a cooling globe, there must have lapsed a very

considerable period between the time when it passed from

‘an incandescent state and when it became fitted for the sus-

tenance of organic forms. Sir William Thompson, basing

his observations on the well known laws of heat and conser-

vation of energy, infers that it has only been habitable

within the last one hundred millions of years. It is, then,

if his estimates be true, that within this interval we are to

include all the changes in the organic world — the flor: and

faunz which have successively come into being, and have

successively displaced each other.

n the process of solidification the earth is supposed long

ago to have arrived at that stage when the radiation from the

cooling surface is no greater than that derived from the sun,

and therefore, a stable temperature has been established.

We would infer, then, that any violent reaction of the inte-

rior upon the external crust, would affect more sensibly the

468 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

deep-sea animals than those dwelling on the land; but the

investigations which I have cited, show that while the sea-

fauna has undergone slight modifications since the dawn of

the Cretaceous Epoch, the land-fauna has been subjected to

the most marked deviations.

May not, then, these fluctuations of temperature be due

to causes which operate from the exterior? It is necessary

to assume that, throughout the lapse of all time, our planet

has occupied its present relation to the sun, or the solar sys-

tem? Is not the recession of Sirius, which is now going on,

an argument against the fixity of the siderial heavens?

We are assured that ours is not a central sun, but one in

the great possession of stars which is sweeping towards the

constellation Hercules ; and that in the region of either there

are spaces of densely-clustered stars, and other spaces which

are comparatively barren. Now every star is a sun, emitting

light and heat, a portion of which is transmitted to us. Our

planet at this time is moving through one of those starless

spaces, and therefore is not in a position to receive the full

influence of such a cause. The distinguished Swiss botanist,

Heer, to whom we are so largely indebted for our knowl-

edge of the Miocene flora, has suggested that it is to this’

source rather than to telluric causes we are to resort to

explain the varying distribution of p as mani-

fested in past geological times.

Again: Have we the right to assume that, throughout all

past ages, the poles of our planet have pointed in the same

direction? We can conceive that, if its axis were to form

with the plane of the ecliptic, the same angle which it now

forms with the equatorial plane, there would ensue an entire

change of climate, and consequently of organic forms. Why

should the astronomer insist on the immutability of the

siderial system, when to the geologist is unfolded a record.

of seas displaced and continents elevated; of great cycles

of heat and cold; of the disappearance of old, and the ap-

pearance of new forms of organic life? Change, not con-

` stancy, is inscribed on every leaf in the volume of Nature.

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 469

I am not a believer in the doctrine of multiplied shocks.

I would not, in the explanation of natural phenomena, resort

to blind catastrophes. But is there not behind all, and over

all, and pervading all, a great governing principle to whose

operation we can refer these changes? Does it not exist in

the celestial mechanism itself? To the solution of this prob-

lem the attention of several physicists has been directed.

The speculations of the French savant, Adhemar, are not

altogether to be overlooked, based as they are on the preces-

sion of the equinoxes and the movement of the apsides; a

movement which, I believe, was unknown to the elder

astronomers. If we compare the movement of the earth

with the stars, it requires the lapse of 25,000 years to bring

the equinox to correspond with the same point in space it

now occupies; but the orbit itself being movable, this

period is reduced to about 21,000 years. This is called the

Great Year, being the measure of time before the winter

solstice will again exactly coincide with the perthelion, and

the summer solstice with the aphelion, and before the sea-

sons will again harmonize with the same points of the terres-

trial orbit. :

The earth, at this time, approaches nearest the sun in the

northern hemisphere during autumn and winter, and it is

only when it recedes the farthest from the source of heat

that the northern hemisphere receives the full effect of its

vivifying warmth. As the earth between the vernal and

autumnal equinox traverses a longer circuit than during the

other half of the year, and also experiences an accelerated

movement as it draws near the sun, the result is, that the

northern summer is longer than the southern by about eight

days ; but after the lapse of ten thousand five hundred years

these conditions will be reversed. It was in the year 1248,

. according to Adhemar, that the Great Northern Summer

culminated, since which time it has continued to decrease,

and that decrease will go on until the year 11,748, when it

will have attained its maximum.

470 RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY.

This compound movement, the precession of the equinoxes

and the shifting of the line of apsides, it is claimed, exerts

a marked influence in the distribution of the earth’s tempera-

ture. While the Great Winter prevails at the north pole,

the refrigeration is so excessive that the heats of summer are

insufficient to melt the snow and ice precipitated during the

winter, and hence, year after year and century after century,

they go on accumulating, until the cireumpolar region is in

a state of glaciation, and the added weight becomes sufficient

to displace the centre of gravity, which would be equivalent

to a subsidence at one pole and an elevation at the other.

M. Adhemar has even caleulated the extent of this move-

ment, and states that it would amount to about 5,500 feet.

Now, let it be borne in mind that Professor Ramsey has

shown that in Wales the submergence of the land during the

Drift Epoch amounted to 2,300 feet, and our own observa-

tions show that in the northern portions of this country the

glacial action proper may be traced to the height of 2,000

feet; although there were mountains which served as radi-

ating centres, on whose flanks the Drift action may be traced

much higher. These. geographical points, roughly esti-

mated, are about midway between the equator and the pole,

and the extent of the subsidence would correspond very well

with the calculations before referred to.

In the year 1248, the Great Winter terminated at the

south pole, where for 10,500 years the aceumulation of snow

and iee had been going on, attended with the phenomena

which we have described. “Here then,” says M. Julien, an

advocate of this theory, "is an irresistible foree which, fol-

lowing the invariable law of the irregular precession of the

equinoxes, must make the earth's centre of gravity periodi-

cally oscillate.”

Mr. Croll, an English physicist, has elaborately discussed

this question in a series of papers in the “Edinburgh New

Philosophical Magazine,” which have excited profound atten-

tion. With great labor he has prepared tables showing the

RECENT ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY. 411

amount of the earth's eccentricity for the period of three

millions of years, at intervals of 10,000 years for a greater

portion of that time, and 50,000 years for the remainder.

He infers that a glacial period occurs when the eccentricity

of the earth's orbit is at a maximum, and the solstices fall

when the earth is Zn perihelio and in aphelio; and that only

one hemisphere has a glacial climate at the same time, which

occurs when the winter is in aphelio.

In this connection, I may mention the labors of our own

countryman, Mr. Stockwell, who has prepared a paper, now

on file in the Smithsonian Institution, embodying his own

calculations as to the earth’s eccentricity for the past two

millions of years.

There is such an intimate connection between the several

branches of science that the researches in one field often

throw light upon the obscure points in another. In the solu-

tion of this difficult problem, the geologist may invoke, and

I trust not unsuccessfully, the aid of the astronomer.

That a set of causes were active during the Drift Epoch,

in one hemisphere, which remained dormant in the other,

admits of little doubt; and the advocates of the astronomi-

cal theory, as evidences of the shifting of vast amounts of

water from one pole to the other, point to the marked differ-

ences in the topographical features of the two hemispheres.

In the Austral region we meet with projecting headlands

and peninsula-like terminations of continents, and groups

and chains of islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans ex-

tending over vast areas, which rise up like the peaks and

crests of mountains. These are the evidences of a gradu-

ally engulfed hemisphere. In the Boreal region we have

wide expanses of land diversified by mountains, prairies, and

plains; elevated sea-beaches and river-terraces, most con-

Spicuously displayed on the borders of the Arctic Sea; vast

Oceanic shoals; a marine fauna of a northern type preserved

in beds of 1,400 feet, and stratified beds of gravel and sand

2,000 feet, above the ocean-level; clusters of lakes yet re-

412 VARIATIONS IN TRILLIUM AND WISTERIA.

taining their bitter waters; shallow seas once salt, but each

decade becoming more brackish ; vast desert tracts which up

to a recent time formed the ocean bed ;—all these phenomena

indicate a hemisphere gradually emerging from the waters.

Perhaps the physicist ean discern in these great periodic

oscillations, the method by which Nature perpetually renews

the youth of our planet, and maintains its fertility.

Gentlemen of the American Association: — The hour

which, in your eourtesy, had been assigned to me, has now

lapsed, and I must bring these remarks to a close. The

topies which have passed under review open up spheres of

thought with regard to time and space too vast to be com-

pr essed within the limits of a mere oral discourse. Assert-

ing no ability by reason of profound research to pass

duthorifatively on these results, may I not inquire: Have

they not disclosed new paths in the great domain of Nature,

which may be profitably explored jointly by the geologist

and the astronomer ; and is there not a probability that there

will be found to exist an intimate relation between the peri-

odie fluetuations of temperature on our planet, and the peri-

odie pertubations to which it is subjected as a part of the

solar system? Great as have been our achievements in sci-

ence during the past, we profoundly believe that new tri-

umphs await the patient observer.

VARIATIONS IN TRILLIUM AND WISTERIA.

BY THOMAS MEEHAN.

Iw a recent number of the “Bulletin of the Torrey Botan-

ical Club,” of New York, Mr. J. H. Hall describes a plant

of Trillium erectum, which he has had under his observation

for several years, and which produced some years white, and

other years the regular brown purple flowers. I have made

VARIATIONS IN TRILLIUM AND WISTERIA. 413

a similar observation this year in a Wisteria sinensis. Plants

on my grounds have made an unusual second flowering.

There were more blossoms in July than in April. Among

them is a snow white variety, which has flowered annually

for six years past at least. At this second flowering it took

a notion to flower blue, — not quite as deep a blue as the

regular tint of the well known kind ; but still anything but

the white we have always had before. It was very difficult

for my gardener to believe that in some way or another

"some hybridization " had not been going on. Potatoes fre-

quently change this way in the color of the tubers, when the

intelligent farmer is sure " there must have been some mixing

of the pollen which in some way affected the circulation

and changed the color." Dahlias, chrysanthemums, balsams,

and many other things with parti-colored flowers, frequently

have some wholly of one of the mixed colors; but all this in

| Some way is supposed to be the work of art. :

These natural variations I regard with much interest as

teaching us that the law of evolution is not wholly through

seed, and that those botanists who look for it in the embry-

ology of the reproductive organs are not wholly on the right

track.

Physiologists usually commence their treatises with “the

seeds ;” as if the seed was the primary element in the organ-

ization of vegetation, instead of the final result. Not that

they really teach it, but this order of treating the subject

gives the public mind that impression. Mr. Darwin’s ideas

Seem to arise from some such reasoning as this. It seems

hardly possible to conceive of first existences from eggs or

seeds. True we see most of the changes through this

medium now; but if we find cases in abundance (and I think

we might if we looked for them) like these of Trillium and

Wisteria, where changes occur independently of sexual in-

fluence, they will at least suggest another law to account

for the origin of species.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 60

THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH.

BY J. W. DAWSON, LL. D.

TWENTY years ago scarcely anything was known, even to

those engaged in the study of vegetable fossils, of a land

flora older than the great coal formation. In 1860, Goep-

pert, in his Memoir on the plants of the Silurian, Devonian,

and Lower Carboniferous, mentions only one land plant, and

this of doubtful character, in the Lower Devonian. In the

iddle Devonian he knew but one species; in the Upper

Devonian he enumerated fifty-seven. Most of these were

European, but he included also such American species as

were known to him. The paper of the writer on the Land

Plants of Gaspé was published in 1859, but had not reached

Goeppert at the time when his memoir was written. This,

with some other descriptions of American Devonian plants

not in his possession, might have added ten or twelve spe-

cies, some of them Lower Devonian, to his list. In the ten

years from 1860 to the present time, the writer has been

able to raise the Devonian flora of Eastern North America to

one hundred and twenty-one species, and reckoning those of

Europe at half that number, we now have at least one hun-

dred and eighty species of land plants from the Devonian,

besides a few from the Upper Silurian. We thus have pre-

sented to our view a flora older than that of the Carbonifer-

ous period, and, in many respects, distinct from it; and in

connection with which many interesting geological and

botanical questions arise.

Geologists are aware that in passing backward in geologi-

cal time from the modern to the Paleozoic period, we lose,

as dominant members of the vegetable kingdom, first, the

higher phenogamous plants, whether exogenous or endoge-

nous; and that, in the Mesozoic period, the Acrogens, or

(474) :

THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH. 415

higher cryptogams, represented by Ferns, Club-mosses, and

Equiseta, share the world with the Gymnosperms, repre-

sented by the pines and Cycads, while the higher phæno-

gams on the one hand, and lower cryptogams on the other,

are excluded. Hence, the Mesozoic age has been called that

of Gymnosperms, while the Paleozoic is that of Acrogens.

These names are not, however, absolutely accurate, as we

shall see that one of the highest forms of modern vegetation

can be traced back into the Devonian; though the terms are

undoubtedly useful, as indicating the prevalence of the types

above mentioned, in a degree not now observed, and a cor-

responding rarity of those forms which constitute our preva-

lent modern vegetation.

It is my present object shortly to sketch the more recent

facts of Devonian and Upper Silurian Botany, and to refer

to a few of the general truths which they teach. The rocks

called Devonian in Europe being on the horizon of the Erie

division of the American geologists, which are much more

fully developed than their representatives on the Eastern

Continent, I shall use the term Hrian as equivalent to De-

vonian, understanding by both that long and important

geological age intervening between the close of the Upper

Silurian and the beginning of the Carboniferous.

Just as in Europe the rocks of this period present a two-

fold aspect, being in some places of the character of a de-

posit of "Old Red Sandstone," and in others indicating

deeper water, or more properly marine conditions, so in

America, on a greater scale, they have two characters of

development. In the great and typical Erian area, extend-

ing for seven hundred miles to the westward of the Apala-

chian chain of mountains, these rocks, sometimes attaining

to a thickness of fifteen thousand feet, include extensive

marine deposits; and except in their north-eastern border

are not rich in fossil plants. In the smaller north-eastern

area, on the other hand, lying to the eastward of the Apala-

chian range, they consist wholly of sandstones and shales,

416 THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH.

and are rich in plant remains while poor in marine fossils.

Hence it is the Devonian of Gaspé, of New Brunswick, and

of Maine, with that of eastern New York, which have chiefly

afforded the plants to be described below; and it is exclu-

sively in these areas that we find underclays with roots, or

true fossil soils. Most of the localities of fossil plants in

the distriets above mentioned have been visited, and their

plants studied ¿n situ by the writer. The Gaspé sandstones

were first studied and carefully measured and mapped by Sir

W. E. Logan. The Devonian beds of St. John's, New

Brunswick, have been thoroughly examined and illustrated

by Professor Hartt and Mr. Matthews, and those of Perry

by Professor Jackson, Professor Rogers and Mr. Hitchcock.

Professor Hall, of the Survey of New York, has kindly

communicated to me the plants found in that State, and

Professor Newberry has contributed some facts and speci-

mens illustrative of those of Ohio.

In the Sandstone cliffs of Gaspé Bay, Sir W. E. Logan

recognized in 1843 the presence of great numbers of ap-

parent roots in some of the shales and fine sandstones.

These roots had evidently penetrated the beds in a living

state, so that the root-beds were true fossil soils, which, after

supporting vegetation, became submerged and covered with

new beds of sediment. This must have occurred again and

again in the process of the formation of the four thousand

feet of Gaspé sandstone. The true nature of the plants

of these fossil soils I had subsequently good opportu-

nities of investigating, and the most important results, in

the discovery of the plants of my genus Psilophyton, are

embodied in the restoration of P. princeps. This remark-

able plant, the oldest land plant known in America, since it

extends through the Upper Silurian as well as the Devonian,

presents a creeping horizontal rhizome or root-stock, from

the upper side of which were given off slender branching

stems, sometimes bearing rudimentary leaves, and crowned

when mature, with groups of gracefully nodding oval spore-

THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH. 477

cases. The root-stocks must in many cases have matted the

soils in which they grew into a dense mass of vegetable

matter, and in some places they accumulated to a sufficient

extent to form layers of coaly matter, one of which on the

south side of Gaspé Bay is as much as three inches in thick-

ness, and is the oldest coal known in America. More

usually the root-beds consist of hardened clay or fine sand-

stone filled with complicated net-work or with parallel bands

of rhizomes more or less flattened and in various states of

preservation. In all probability these beds were originally

swampy soils. From the surface of such a root-bed there

arose into the air countless numbers of slender but somewhat

woody stems, forming a dense mass of vegetation three or

four feet in height. The stems, when young or barren, were

more or less sparsely clothed with thick, short, pointed

leaves, which, from the manner in which they penetrate the

stone, must have been very rigid. At their extremities the.

stems were divided into slender branches, and these when:

young were curled in a crosier-like or circinate manner.

When mature they bore at the ends of small branchlets pairs

of oval sacs or spore-cases. The rhizomes when well pre-

served show minute markings, apparently indieating hairs or

scales, and also round areoles with central spots, like those

of Stigmaria, but not regularly arranged. These curious

plants are unlike anything in the actual world. I have com-

pared their fructification with that of the Pilularie or Pill-

worts, a comparison which has also occurred to Dr. Hooker.

On the other hand, this fructification is borne in a totally

different manner from that of Pilularia, and in this respect

rather resembles some ferns; and the young stems by them-

selves would be referred without hesitation to Lycopodiacez.

In short, Psilophyton is a generalized plant, presenting char-

acters not combined in the modern world, and, perhaps

illustrating what seems to be a general law of creation, that

in the earlier periods low forms assumed characteristics

subsequently confined to higher grades of being.

418 THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH.

A second species of Psilophyton (P. robustius), also

abundant at Gaspé, shows stouter stems than the former,

more abundantly branching and with smaller leaves, often

quite rudimentary. Its spore-cases are also of different

form and borne in dense clusters on the sides of the stem.

Masses of very slender branching filaments appear to indi-

cate a third species (P. elegans) which is also found in the

Devonian of St. John, New Brunswiek. These species of

Psilophyton occur both in the lower and middle Devonian,

and, as will be mentioned in the sequel, they extend also

into the Upper Silurian.

Decorticated and flattened stems of Psilophyton cannot be

readily recognized, and except when their internal structure

has been preserved, might be mistaken for alge, a mistake

which I believe has in some instances been made. Speci-

mens of the barren stems (var. ornatum) might readily be

referred to the genus Lycopodites.

Another genus of generalized type is that named by

Haughton Cyclostigma. As found at Gaspé it presents

slender stems with rounded scars, placed either spirally or

in transverse rows, and giving origin to long rigid leaves.

It had a slender axis of scalariform vessels, and fructifica-

tion of the form of elongated spikes or strobiles is found

with it. In many respects these plants resemble Psilophy-

ton, and their affinities were distinctly Lycopodiaceous.

Specimens from Ireland, in the Museum of the Geological

Society, kindly shown to me by Mr. Etheridge, appear to

show that in that country these plants attained the dimen-

sions of trees, and had roots of the nature of Stigmaria. Mr.

Carruthers has even suggested that they may be allied to

Syringodendron, a group of Carboniferous trees connected

with the Sigillarie.

The genus Lycopodites is represented by a trailing spe-

cies, bearing numerous oval strobiles (L. Richardsoni), a

species quite close to many modern club-mosses (L. Mat-

thewi), and a remarkable pinnate form (L. Vanuxemit);

THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH. 419

Which, though provisionally placed here, has been variously

conjectured to resemble Ferns, Cycads, Alge and Grapto-

lites. But the most remarkable Lycopodiaceous plants are

the gigantic arboreal Lepidodendra, plants which, while they

begin in the Middle Devonian, become eminently expanded

in numbers and magnitude in the Carboniferous. The com-

mon species in Eastern America (ZL. Gaspianum) was of

slender and delicate form, very elegant, but probably not of

large size. In the same family I would place my new genus

Leptophleum.

he Calamites, afterwards so largely developed in the

Carboniferous, and to be replaced by true Equiseta in the

Trias, make their first appearance in a large species ( C. in-

ornatum) in the Lower Devonian, and represented in the

middle and upper parts of the system by two other species,

which extend upward into the Carboniferous. They are

also represented in the Devonian of Germany. and of Devon-

shire. The peculiar type indicated by the internal casts

known as Calamodendron is likewise found in the Devo-

nian.

More beautiful plants were the Asterophyllites, with more

slender and widely branching stems, and broader leaves

borne in whorls upon their branches. These plants have

been confounded with leaves of Calamites, from which, how-

ever, they differ in form and nervation, and in the want of

the oblique interrupted lines common to the true leaves of

Calamites and to the branchlets of Equisetum. The Aster-

ophyllites, and with them a species of Sphenophyllum, ap-

pear in the Middle Devonian.

No plants of the modern world are more beautiful in point

of foliage than the Ferns, and of these a great number of

Species occur in the Middle and Upper Devonian. I must

refer for details to my more full memoirs on the subject, and

in the present paper shall content myself with a few general

Statements. Some of the generie forms of the Devonian,

and perhaps a few of the species, extend into the Carboni-

480 THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH.

ferous; others are peculiar to the Devonian; and among

these forms allied to the modern Hymenophyllum and Trich-

omanes appear to prevail. One remarkable type, C'yclop-

teris (Archeopteris) Hibernicus, with its American allies, OF

Jacksoni, etc., extends in the Upper Devonian over both

continents, yet is wanting in the Carboniferous. Tree ferns

also existed in the Devonian. Two species have been found

by Dr. Newberry in Ohio, and remarkable erect trunks have

been obtained by Professor Hall from Gilboa, in the State

of New York. The latter are surrounded by aerial roots,

and thus belong to the genus Psaronius; a genus which,

however, must be artificial, since in modern tree ferns aerial

roots often clothe the lower part of the stems while absent

from the upper part. The only indication as yet of a tree

fern in the Old World is the Caulopteris Peachii, of Salter,

from the Old Red of Scotland. It is further remarkable

that the ferns of the genus Archeopteris are much more

large and luxuriant in Ireland than in America, and. that

in both regions they characterize the upper member of the

system.

Of the plants of the Paleozoic world, none are more

mysterious than those known to us by the name Sigillaria,

and distinguished by the arrangement of their leaves in ver-

tical series, on stems and branches often ribbed longitudi-

nally, and by the possession of those remarkable roots

furnished with rootlets regularly artieulated and spirally

arranged, the Stigmarie. It seems evident that this group

of plants included numerous species, differing. from each

other both in form and structure. Still, as a whole, they.

present very characteristic forms dissimilar from those of

their contemporaries, and still more unlike anything now

living. Ibelieve that many of them were Gymnosperms,

or at the least, Acrogens with stems as complicated as those

of Gymnosperms. In the Carboniferous period these plants

have.a close connection with the occurrence of coal. Nearly

every bed of this mineral has under it a “Stigmaria under-

THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH. 481

clay," which is a fossil soil on which a forest of Sigillariz

has grown, and the remains of these trees are very abundant

in the coal and the accompanying beds. Hence the Sig-

illariæ of the coal-period are regarded as the plants most

important in the accumulation of coal. ln the Devonian, as

far as we yet know, they did not attain to this utility, and in

the lower part of the system at least, the rhizomata of Psil-

ophyton seem to have occupied tbe place afterwards held by

the Stigmarie. In connection with this it is to be remarked

that the Sigillarie of the Erian period seem to have been

few, and of small dimensions in comparison with those of

the coal.

Rising still higher in the vegetable kingdom, and arriving

at unquestionable Gymnosperms, we find in the Devonian of

Eastern America, and also, I believe, in that of Scotland

and Germany, trunks which may be referred to Conifere.

In the Middle and Upper Devonian these present the struc-

ture of modern Araucarian pines, or that modification of it

belonging to the Carboniferous trees of the genus Dadoxy-

lon. In the Lower Devonian we have what seems to be a

simplification of the Coniferous structure, in the cylindrical

wood-cells, marked only with spiral threads, found in the

genus Prototaxites. These trees are very abundant as drift

trunks in the Lower Devonian, down almost to its bottom

beds, and sometimes attain to a diameter of three feet.

Though of a structure so lax that it is comparable only with

the youngest stems of ordinary Conifers, these trees must

have been durable, and they are furnished both with medul-

lary rays and rings of annual growth. Unfortunately we

know nothing of their foliage or fruit.

But for one little fragment of wood we should have had

no indication of the existence in the Erian of any trees of

higher organization than the Conifers. This fragment, found

by Professor Hall at Eighteen-mile Creek, Lake Erie, has

the, dotted vessels characteristic of ordinary Exogens, and

unquestionably indieates a plant of the highest kind of

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. 1V. 61

482 THE PRIMITIVE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH.

organization. Until confirmed by other facts this discovery

may be received with doubt, but I believe it can be relied

on.

Our knowledge of the flora of the Upper Silurian is at

present nearly in the same state with that of the Middle and

Lower Devonian ten years ago. I know in the Upper Silu-

rian of Canada but two species of Psilophyton, both appar-

ently identical with Devonian forms. In England, besides

the spore-cases known by the generic name Pachytheca,

there exists in the collections of the Geological Survey frag-

ments of wood and bark which I believe indicate two

additional species. In Germany three or four species are

known in rocks of this age. All of these plants appear to

be Acrogens allied to Lycopodiaceze. That these few spe-

cies constitute the whole flora of the Upper Silurian we can

scarcely believe. They occur in marine formations, and

were probably drifted far from the somewhat limited land-

surfaces which existed in the explored parts of the Upper

Silurian areas. When we obtain access to deposits of this

age formed in shallows or estuaries, we may hope to find a

flora of greater richness; and, judging from present indica-

tions, not dissimilar from that of the Lower Devonian.

With the exception of some remains which I believe to be

of very doubtful character, the Lower Silurian, has as yet

afforded no remains of land plants, and in North America,

at least, this is very significant, inasmuch as we have, in the

Potsdam sandstone, extensive sandy flats of this period, in

which we might expect to find drifted trunks of trees, if

such had existed. But the search is not hopeless, and we

may yet find some estuary deposit on the margin of the an-

cient Laurentian continent, in whose beds the plants of that

old land may occur.

Lastly, for reasons stated in a paper lately published in

the Proceedings of the Geological Society, I believe that the

extensive deposits of graphite, which exist in the Laurentian

of Canada, are of vegetable origin, and possibly in part

INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 483

produced by land plants, as yet altogether unknown to us.

If the Palzeozoic was the age of Acrogens, the Eozoic may

have been that of Anophytes and Thallophytes. Its plants

may have consisted of gigantie mosses and lichens, present-

ing us with a phase of vegetable existence bearing the same

relation to that of the Palæozoic which the latter bears to

that of more modern periods. But there is another and a

more startling possibility, that the Laurentian may have been

the period when vegetable life culminated on our planet, and

existed in its highest and grandest forms, before it was

brought into subordination to the higher life of the animal.

The solution of these questions belongs to the future of

geology, and opens up avenues not merely for speculation,

but also for practical work.

The above must be regarded as merely a Ne of the

present aspect of the subject to which it relates. Details

must be sought elsewhere. — Nature.

INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS.*

BY J. J. H. GREGORY.

THE stone selected for arrowheads and tomahawk points,

was, as a rule, very hard in its nature, compact in structure,

and fine grained, presenting a conchoidal fracture when bro-

ken. In the valley of the Connecticut these conditions were

satisfied by a variety of hornstone, along the sea coast in

the porphyry. In each of these localities I have found some

arrowheads made of jasper, some of white granular quartz,

and occasionally one from slate, but the greater propor-

tion of these are collectively small, though it is evident

Mii ptr deir qn on the Stone used by the Indians within the limits s Eee er

in the manufacture of their a with some remarks on the ess of man

facture, Se at the Troy meeting of the American Association for the signum

of Science,

484 INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS.

that beauty in the material had attractions. One great

source of supply for the jasper and quartz implements, was

in part or wholly scattered boulders, while the porphyry

came from the ledges on Marblehead Neck, and thé small

boulders washed up along the coast. That boulders were

frequently used is proved from many half formed imple-

ments which show some of the rounded surface yet remain-

ing. That the porphyry ledges on Marblehead Neck were

an extensive source of supply, is proved by the cart loads

of chippings of stone around and in the vicinity of them.

That these pieces and fragments were artificially broken is

proved by the many conchoidal surfaces, the fresh appear-

ance of the surfaces, and the rough design which some of

these present.

That the practice of the aborigines was to cut out but

rough designs at the quarry, and work out these designs

at their camping grounds, is proved by the large size of the

fragments chipped off near these ledges, and the scarcity of

even rough designs; while in the town of Marblehead, about

a mile from the porphyry ledges on the Neck, the chippings

are smaller, and the designs are nearer to completion. In

the township of Marblehead I have found a multitude of

implements, over a thousand in number, that were broken

in every stage of the process of manufacture, while I have

rarely found in the Connecticut valley fragments of un-

finished implements; such as I have found are usually those

of finished implements. The chippings of stone on Marble-

head Neck, as I have shown, average quite large; those in

the township considerably smaller, and the chippings found

in the Connecticut valley are yet smaller.

The hornstones so commonly used for arrowheads and

other implements there I have never found in Marblehead,

and I have never found among implements of the Connecti-

cut valley any manufactured from the porphyry of Marble-

head. In one of the Reports of the Smithsonian Institution

is an account of the finding of a mass of half finished imple-

INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 485

ments buried in the ground ; such deposits simply prove that

the aborigines having cut out rough outlines of implements,

at times carried these to their camping ground, and there

buried them, to be finished at leisure. I exhibit specimens

of a lot that I dug up in Marblehead, on the Freeto farm,

about a foot below the surface; such deposits are called

"Indian pockets." There were over forty pieces in the lot.

Here is one of a lot of nearly a peck, found in Hadley,

Mass. The quantity in every case appeared in each instance

to be about equal, apparently limited by the weight one per-

son might conveniently carry. From a study of the break-

age we learn that in making their arrowheads and toma-

hawk points they chipped the stone from the edge towards

the centre, which, while it gave a sharp edge, left a central

ridge that gave strength to the weapon. In finishing arrow-

heads there was a great deal of slow, careful work, which

finally consisted in breaking off particles almost as fine as

dust, by gentle pressure against stone. I had one arrow-

head brought to me by a friend from California, made from

the bottom of a glass bottle; it was very sharp and exquis-

itely finished. It was mostly made in his presence by an

Indian squaw and nearly three days were spent in its manu-

facture. It can be safely stated that with the same tools no

white man can make an Indian arrowhead; I am informed

that even Flint Jack, skilled as he was in the business, after

many years of practice, failed in his “Celts,” as stone arrow-

heads are ealled in England.

From the very few arrowheads made from red jasper,

found in Marblehead, I doubt whether the fine ledge of jas-

per loeated in Saugus, about five miles distant, was known

to the aborigines, as the rich color of the stone, with its fine

conchoidal fracture, would have been likely to have made it

very popular. The material for the few arrowheads found,

made of red jasper, I presume was procured from rocks of

the drift deposit. The rocks used by the Indians on the

coast in the manufacture of their larger implements, such as

486 INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS.

axes, gouges, skin dressers and grain pestles, were green-

stone and syenite, and in the Connecticut valley a large por-

- tion were made from trap rock. Evidently one reason why

the greenstone and syenite were preferred to the porphyry

was that these would take the fine finished design far more

readily than porphyry. We find the difference between these

rocks, illustrated by the ocean worn stones on the beach;

while those from trap and greenstone, are as smooth as

polished metal. Porphyry stones under the same circum-

stances, while they have a fine general polish, will yet often-

times have many minute fractures below the level of the

polished surface. These large implements appear to have

had their forms first roughly hewn out, then to have been

worked into shape by picking with sharp pointed stones

after which they were sometimes polished. The axes as a

rule were not polished, while the implements used in the

dressing of skins were, almost uniformly. Sometimes when

the natural form of the material favored, such as fragments

of trap rock for pestles and for hoes, but little additional

work was put upon it, and the implement was but a rough

affair.

Of the large implements, as would be presumed from

their character, it is rare to find any that were broken in the

process of manufacture, while such as have been marred or

broken, after having been manufactured, are very common.

It is stated by those who have made a comparison between

the large implements of this country and of Europe, that those

manufactured by the aborigines of this country are hewn,

picked and sometimes polished ; those of Europe are simply

hewn. This marked difference, if it is a fact, is not so sin-

gular as appears at first sight; the material, to a large ex-

tent, of the European implements, is flint, which, while it

cannot be surpassed as a material for hewing, yet for pick-

ing and polishing, would prove very refractory, and it is

probable that the same motives that led our own aborigines

to avoid the porphyry, led those of Europe to be content

INDIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 481

with simply hewing, having to deal with a still more stub-

born material in their flint. The skin dressers, gouges and

some other implements were made as sharp at the working :

edges as such stones were capable of, and this was doie

by rubbing them on fine grained stones. On the sea coast

pieces of the finest grained greenstone were mostly used,

some of which, whei found, were as much worn as any

modern carpenter's hone.

I have never seen among the relics on the sea coast any

resembling the scalping knives of the West, or of Europe,

or any whose peculiar shape suggested that it might have

been used as a scalping knife. I infer from this that on the

sea coast the large chippings of stone, having a sharp edge,

were used as scalping knives. Among some fifteen hundred

specimens of Indian implements, collected on the sea coast,

I have never seen more than one, that, from its shape and

size could possibly have been used as the conventional toma-

hawk, an axe shaped weapon to be thrown from the hand.

The illustrations in some of our modern school books are

more correct when the tomahawk is shown to have been a

wooden club terminating in a hard woody knob, in which

had been inserted a large stone point.

The form of the metallic axe was doubtless copied from

the same implement used by the inhabitants of the stone

age. From time to time the metallic axe has varied in form,

and all the several forms of stone axes I have in my posses-

Sion have been represented in some of the forms of the

metallie axe, and as that of the standard axe of to-day is

precisely that of one of these forms, I cannot doubt but that

the stone implement supplied the model.

REVIEWS.

——9Ó———

THE POLYPS AND CORALS OF THE NonrH Paciric EXPLORING EXPE-

DITION.* — Professor Verrill here describes, with numerous figures by Dr.

Stimpson, all the Polyps and Corals collected, with notes on their colors

appearance in life, by Dr. Stimpson, which are new to science. It is

metrical distribution. An excellent summary of the class of ** Cnidaria,”

the polyps, or single animals, protruding from the surface. These sea

pens (so called from the resemblance, in the genus Pennatula, of the

whole colony to a pen) move freely about in the mud or sand at the

bottom of the sea. They belong to the most highly organized polyps, the

order of Alcyonaria, in which the number of tentacles of each polyp is

juo. to eight. All the above named sea pens are from Hong Kong.

Of th

6, the coral stock, and 62 the animal of Muricea divaricata V.; and Fig. 7,

the animal of an allied coral, Acanthogorgia coccinea V., of which 7a repre-

sents a top view, with the eight tentacles outspread. All three are from

Hong Kong.

Of the soft Alcyoniums, called in England Dead Men's Fingers, which

x not secret a coral, our author figures the animal of Nepthya thyrsoidea

V. (Fig. 8, 8a, a polyp), from the Cape of Good Hope; Anthella lineata

Stimps., Fig. 9; 92, a polyp; 95, one of the tentacles much enlarged, from

08i

Hong Kong; and Telesto ramiculosa V. (Fig. 10, polyp-colony; 10a, a

polyp), from the same 1 ty. An interesting sea Anemone, Sagartia?

paguri V., was dredged in twenty to thirty fathoms, and D

said

Stimpson to be always parasitic on a hermit crab, Diogenes Edwardsii

of emg Another form, Cancrisocia expansa Stimpson, Fi

“Is the only genus of Actinidz, except aptum (A. palliata), in which a solid secretion

is formed is pd basaldisk, In Canerisocia it a concentrically striate structure, the gene

* Synopsis of Pacific E under Com-

modore C. Ringgold and Capt. John mana U. S. N., TA HN t6 1856, Collected by Dr.

Wm. Stimpson, Naturalist to the ipsum By A. E. Verrill. [From the Proceedings of

the Essex Institute. Vols. 4-6 1866-1869. 8vo,pp. With inde es.]

REVIEWS. 489

being evidently lines of veis sr The e of formation seems to be this: The crab when

very young, selects a very small fragm sorta of shell or pebbles, bere it here upon its back

by its posterior claws, as other species of Crabs (Hypoconcha) do, -— f Pecten, or some

other bivalve shell. Upon this small she elly, or epus: Popes elio ei eie ng Caneris ocia

finds a congenial sie but soon — mpi. af its — = a ae m rt

"T depesiting i a "e, of horn-lil t

peated, in proportion to its s own growth, and that of the crab jm

car ries it. In this das there is soon fo ian a broad thin pellicle, having its concentric ele-

aen» v. ranged around a nucleus of sto shell, which is usually excentric, the increase

id in ps nt than be bind. This basal secretion is held upon the back of

tiui by its recurved posterior legs, in the same manner as the original bit of shell.”

The division of Corals he raises to the rank of an order, under the

term Madreporaria, thus making it parallel with the Alcyonaria. Among

these corals numerous new forms are described and figured.

Cancrisocia expansa.

A number of species from various parts of the world are added in a

supplement. The geographical list shows that most of the species are

from the Seas of East India and China, the South Seas, Cape of Good

Hope, and the West Coast of America

REVUE pes Cours ScrexTIFIQUES.* — This journal, now in its eighth

year, is valuable as giving us reports of the olla: a of prominent scien-

tists in Europe, and occasionally our own country. Late numbers contain

lectures by Marey on the flight of birds and insects; by Agassiz and ra

Academy relative to the qualifications of Ms. Darwin to be she

member of that t body. Considering the bigotry and unstleniile spirit, to

Say nothing of the surprisingly low grade of scientific acquirements dis-

Played by some of the members, we should judge that if an opportunity

Should offer Mr. Darwin would decline the honor (sic) of membership.

* Edited by MM. Eug. and Yung Em. Alglave. 15 francs a year. 4to, eq im 15. as Each

volume about 900 pages. Germer Balliere, 17 Rue de 'Ecole-de-Medicine, Pa

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

American Naturalist. Vok IV. Phu

ee NORTH PACIFIC POLYPS AND CORALS.

)

American Naturalist. VoL IV. Pw

Fig. 9b.

Fig. 7a.

NORTH PACIFIC POLYPS AND

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

NINETEENTH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD-

VA E, HELD AT TRO , AUGUST l7 TH- 24TH, 1870

The nineteenth meeting of the Association opened with about one hun-

dr ers. During the meeting about fifty more members

red their pee a e gemi and detis el new members

taries, Messrs. B. H. Hall and H. B. Nason, who, as nonet, had the greater

part of the Local Committee work on their hands, did all in their power

to make the meeting à Vae: and to furnish aecommodations and aid

to the members in attendan

A large and brilliant dm was given to the Association by His

Honor Mayor GILBERT, on Thursday evening, and an equally brilliant one

by Hon. Joux M. Francis at his residence, on Monday evening. Monday

was occupied by an excursion to Saratoga and dinner at Congress Hall,

at the invitation of the citizens of Troy. On Friday mornin

e ALBANY INsTITUTE and were most hospitably entertained, and visited

the Dudley Observatory, State Cabinet, and the large private collection of

Professor Harr. Gathering at the State Library at half past four o'clock

most delightful evening was passed at a levee given by the Albany In-

stitute, after which a fine sail up the river brought all back to Troy before

night. **Section Q" was well carried out on Tuesday n ight.

During the evenings of the session many members called themselves

Burden Iron Works, and the Rensselaer Iron Works; the proprietors and

ND of all the works being most obliging and courteous to

e throngs of visitors who invaded their firey quarters.

The address of the Retiring President, J. W. FosTER, was delivered on

evening, at the First Presbyterian Church. This address is of

The following were the officers of the Troy meeting:— T. SrERRY

Hunt,* of Montreal, President ; JosepH LOVERING, of Cambridge, Perma-

nent Secretary; F. W. Foram} of Salem, General Secretary; A. L. EL-

*In the absenee , detained by illness, Vice-President HUNT be-

came the presiding Mir of the meeting.

ofessor HARTT being absent on his expedition in Brazil, Mr. PUTNAM was elected as

General è

(492)

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 493

WYN, of Philadelphia, Treasurer. Standing Committee—T. STERRY Hunt,

JOSEPH LOVERING, F. W. PUTNAM AM, ASA Gray, F. A. P. BARNARD, J. W.

FosrEn, O. N. Roop, JOHN Torrey, E. D. Corr, E. N. Hon RSFORD, J. E.

HILGArD, A. AUS H. B. Nason. Section A.— Mathematics Physics,

and Chemistry—F. A. P. BARNARD, of New York, Permanent Chairman;

. W. Hovan, of Albany, rpm ary; G. W. MAYNARD, of Troy, ELIAS

Taian. of New Haven, S. D. TILLMAN, of New York, Sectional Com-

mittee. Subsection C M Section Hec Mick oscopy—S. S. HALDEMAN, of

Philadelphia, Permanent Chai: R. H. Warp, of Troy, Secretary.

Section B.—Geology a Pavo irit. Gray, of Cambridge, Per-

manent Chairman, and afterwards A. H. WORTHEN, of Springfield, Ill.,

and James HALL, of A bany; HENRY Hartsnorne, of Philadelphia, Sec-

retary, and afterwards THEODORE GIL L, of Washington; James Hatt, of

Albany, J. G. Morris, of Baltimore, ALPHEUS Hyatt, of Salem, Sectional

Committee. pen E of Section B.—for one day, T uesday, Section B.

as subdivided, and THoMAs HILL, of CURA MM, was elected Chairman,

and W. H. ah ie: of Washington, Secretary.

At the last session of the meeting 3 was voted to accept the invitation

of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE to hold a future meeting of the

Association at San Francisco, and a committee was € to make

arrangements for holding the meeting of 1872 in that c

It was also voted to accept the py from d presented

by the State Geologist of Indiana, E. T. Cox, to hold the twentieth meet-

Asa Gray, of Cambridge; Vice-President, GEORGE F. BARKER, of Ne

Haven; Permanent Secretary, JOSEPH LOVERING, of Cambridge; General

Secretary, F. W. PUTNAM, of Salem; Treasurer, WM. S. Vaux, of Phila-

delphia.

We give abstracts ae several of the papers read in Section B. in this

Short one, and at this time popas those authors who have not yet sent

us the promised abstracts to do so

Prof. Enwanp S. Morse read a Ped = On the early stages of Discina.”

i s

phore, sustaining a few cirri, the stomach hanging below, and other

features in which a resemblance was seen.

494 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

'The perivisceral wall is made up of two layers of muscular fibres which

cross each other, giving it a reticulated appearance. While the young

shell is oval in shape there is marked out a perfectly circular area, indi-

cating that at the outset the embryo possesses a circular plate above and

below. The muscles were very large and occupied most of the perivis-

ceral cavity. The sets fringing the mantle were very long, those from

the anterior margin being nearly three times the length of the shell. The

mantle margin, the blood lacuns, and the bands of muscles to move the

with the cavity of the peduncle. The circulation was voluminous an

rapid; no trace of pulsation could be detected. The fluid was not blood

proper, but chyle-aqueous, cate distinct from this was the proper heart and

blood as bic out by Hancock

From repeated sca tenis of the hiro crs he could state itum

regarding the nature of these organs. 'The internal mouth was plaited

and turned towards the sides, the remaining partion of the heti was

reddish in color, and glandular, eh dbo A performed a renal function

as in similar organs among the

The sexes were sepa icto. ie estis: arms had a limited power of mo-

tion. The coils could be raised or depressed, and the axis of the coil could

be at boom angles to the longitudinal axis of the body or parallel to it.

ontents of the stomach were found in all the lobules of the liver,

nating that the food circulated in these hepatic prolongations, as in

t nelids. Upon young Lingula a perfectly circular area could be seen

near hé beak of the shell; this indicated the form of the embryo shell

the specimens he had brought from North Cavell in May were alive at

this date, August 19th. They had been confined in a small cid ees a

little sand, and the water changed every two or three days. This i

was Bees tbs since Lingula had existed from the earliest pend

ages to the present time.

In describing pode he mentioned in detail, the muscular, alimentary,

he rt

Hancock were traced to a ganglionic enlargement in the divaricator

muscles, and were unquestionably nerves as pointed out by Owen.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 495

Professor EDWARD S. MORSE also made a communication **On Brach-

iopods as a division of the Annulata.” A brief abstract of these views was

published in the July number of this magazine. A few new facts have

been added which have been noticed under the description of Lingula.

g a sc n e

bilobed lophophore of its young, as described by Kowalewsky, as further

proofs of the annulate character of the Brachiopods.

Dr. Tuomas HILL read a paper on ** The Compass Plant." In J une, 1869,

Dr. Hill was coming from Omaha to Chicago, on a very dark rainy day, so

dark that he could not form any estimate of the points of compass from

the sunlight. At three different points on the prairies he noticed young

plants of Silphium laciniatum, and estimated from them, while going at

full speed, the course of the railway track. On reaching Chicago he

procured by the kindness of the officers of the C. & N. W. road, detailed

maps of the track, and found where he had estimated the zog at 359,

75°, and 90°, the true bea arings were 31°, 78°, and 90°

In October, 1869, being detained by an accident wn Tama, he gathered

with fourteen leaves. Ten of these fourteen leaves showed a strong dis-

position, when about four inches high, to turn to the meridian; the other

four showed a feeble disposition in the same direction. These ten leaves

on coming up in June, had an average bearing of 42°, and the mean bear-

ing was nearly as large. But in August, the same ten leaves showed an

average bearing of only 44°, and the mean bearing was but 24°.

r. Hill refers this polarity to the sunlight, the two sides of the leaf

boli equally estre and struggling for equal shares. He hoped in a

more favorable summer to test this, and several other points which had

Professor James ORTON read a paper upon the ** Condor and the Hum-

ming Birds of the Equatorial Region." He remarked that probably no

bird is so unfortunate in the hands of the curious and scientific as the

Condor. Fifty years have elapsed since the first specimen reached Eu-

peated in many of our text books, and the very latest ornithological

can lift an elephant from the ground high enough to kill it by the fall ;

nor the story of the traveller, so late as 1830, who declared that a Condor

y fee s or even

equals twelve feet. Ihave a full grown male from the most celebrated

locality in the Andes, and the stretch of its wings is nine feet. Humboldt

496 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC. SOCIETIES.

never found one to measure over nine feet; and the largest specimen

which Darwin saw, was eight and one half feet from tip to tip. Ano

male in the Zoological Gardens of London, measures eleven feet. It is

not yet settled that this greatest of unclean birds is generically distinct

from the other great vultures. My own observation of the structure an

habits of the Condor, incline me to think it should stand alone. Asso-

ciated with the great Condor is a smaller vulture, having brown or ash-

colored plumage instead of black and white, a beak wholly black instead

of black at the base and white at the tip, and no caruncle. It inhabits

nounced it the young of the xi sips A gryphus —a conclusion which

the = did not seem wholly to endorse

to the royal Condor, Acsi Orton aered the following observa-

Mus either new or corroborative: Its usual habitation is between the

altitudes of. ten thousand and sixteen thousand feet. The largest seem

coast, where they may be seen roosting on pean on the E te

rarely perch, but stand on the rocks. ey are most commonly seen

around vertical cliffs, perhaps because their nests are there, and also be-

cause cattle are likely to fall there. Flocks are never seen except around

a large carcass. It is often seen singly, soaring at a great height in vast

narrow pen is therefore sufficient to imprison it. In walking the wings

carrion bird it breathes the purest air, spends much of its time soaring

three miles above the sea. Humboldt saw one fly over Chimborazo. I

have seen them sailing at one thousand feet above the crater of Pichincha.

ts gormandizing power has hardly been overstated. I have known a

single Condor, not of the largest size, to make way in one week with a

calf, a sheep, and a dog. It prefers carrion, but will sometimes attack

authenticated case of its carrying off children, nor of it attacking adults,

xcept in defence of its eggs. In captivity it will eat everything except

pork and fried or boiled meat, When full fed it is exceedingly stupid,

and can be caught by the hand; but at other times it is a match for the:

stoutest man. It T" sses the greater part of the day sleeping, searching

for prey in the morning and evening. It is seldom shot (though it is not

invulnerable as once PYTA but is generally caught in traps. The

nly noise it makes, is a hiss like that of a goose — the usual tracheal

muscle being eines It lays two white eggs on an inaccessible ledge.

It makes no nest proper, but places a few sticks around the eggs. By no

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 497

amount of bribery could I tempt an Indian to search for Condor's eggs,

panion. As may be inferred the moulting time is not uniform. Though

it has neither the smelling powers of the dog (as proved by Darwin), nor

the bright eyes of the eagle, somehow it distinguishes a carcass afar o

He described in full the appearance of the Condor, remarking that the

female is smaller than the male, an unusual circumstance in this order,

the feminine eagles and hawks being larger than their mates.

Professor Orton next spoke of the Humming Bird, of the habits and

economy of which our knowledge is very meagre. The relationship be-

quarters seem to be near New Granada; some species are confined to

particular volcanoes, or an area i afew miles square. Of the four hun-

q e i edd species f Homm ming nus pad de are found

the wanton destruction of Humming Birds for mere decorative purposes,

continues for the next decade, as it has during the last, i al genera

à year. He noticed one fact in regard to the nests of Humming Birds,

which he could not explain. Our northern hummer glues lichens all over

the outside; so do a number of species in Brazil, Guiana, etc. But in the

lar variation is seen in the nests of the chimney swallow — our species

building of twigs glued together with saliva, while its Quito representa-

tive builds of mud and moss. The time of incubation at Quito is twelve

days, and there is but one brood in a year.

AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 63

498 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Dr. A. 8

Limulus Polyphemus." 'The eggs on which the following observations

were made were kindly sent me from New Jersey, by Rev. Samuel Lock-

od, who has given an account of the mode of spawning, and other

habits, in the AMERICAN NATURALIST. They were laid on the 16th of

May, but it was not until June 3d that I was able to study them. The

eggs measure .07 of an inch in diameter, and are green. In the ovary

they are of various hues of pink and green just previous to being laid,

the smaller ones being, as usual, white. The yolk is dense, homogeneous,

and the yolk granules, or cells, are very small, and only in certain speci-

mens, owing to the thickness and opacity of the egg-shell, could they

Not only in the eggs already laid, but in unfertilized ones taken from

the ovary the yolk had shrunken slightly, leaving a clear space be-

Embryo of Limulus.

tween it and the shell. Only one or two eggs were observed in- process

of segmentation. In one the yolk was subdivided into three masses of

unequal size. In another the process of subdivision had become nearly

completed

of three minute, flattened, rounded tubercles, the two anterior place

* t H

of Savigny), being much smaller than the others. The mouth opening

is situated just behind them. In a succeeding stage (Fig. 95, ar, areola;

am, blastoderm skin; ch, chorion) the embryo forms an oval area, SUT-

rounded by a paler colored areola, which is raised into a slight ridge-

This areola is destined to be the edge of the body, or line between the

ventral and dorsal sides of the animal. There are six pairs of appen-

dages, forming elongated tubercles, increasing in size from the head

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 499

backwards; the mouth is situated between the anterior pair. The whole

embryo covers but about a third of that portion of the yolk in sight. At

this time the inner egg membrane (blastoderm-skin?) was first detected.

he outer membrane, or chorion, is structureless; when ruptured the

torn edges show that it is composed of five or six layers of a structure-

less membrane, varying in thickness. The inner egg membrane is free

from the chorion, though it is tm contact with it. Seen in profile it con-

sists of minute cells which project out, so that the surface appears to be

finely granulated. But on a vertical view it is composed of irregularly

waved, or have from three to five long slender projections, with the ends

sometimes knobbed, directed inwards. These cells are either packed

e ce:

asubsequent stage (Fig. 96) the oval body of the embryo has in-

creased in size. The segments of the cephalothorax are indicated, aud

Fig. 98.

Fig. 97.

cephalothorax, the sides of which are not spread out as Ina later stage.

At this stage the egg-shell has burst, and the “amnion” increased in size

several times exceeding its original bulk, and has admitted a correspond-

500 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ing amount of sea water, in which the embryo revolves. At a little later

period the embryo throws off an embryonal skin, the thin pellicle floating

about in the egg.

Still later in the life of the embryo the claws are developed, an addi-

tional rudimentary gill appears, and the abdomen grows broader and lar-

becomes broad an at, the abdomen being a little more than half as

£e

—

m»

4°)

£g

whole embryo bears a very near resemblance to certain genera of Tri-

lobites, as Trinucleus, Asaphus and others.

ut six weeks from the time the eggs are laid the embryo hatches.

It differs chiefly from the previous stage in the abdomen being much lar-

ger, scarcely less in size than the cephalothorax; in the obliteration of

scarcely projecting beyond the edge of the abdomen. It forms the ninth

segment. The young swim briskly up and down the jar, skimming about

on their backs, by flapping their gills, not bending their bodies.

Conclusions. The eggs are laid in great numbers loose in the sand, the

male fertilizing them after they are dropped. This is an exception to the

ularly laminated chorion, there is an inner egg membrane composed of

rudely hexagonal cells; this membrane increases in size with the growth

of the embryo, the chorion splitting and being thrown off during the

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 501

latter part of embryonic life. Unlike the Crustacea generally the prim-

itive band is confined to a minute area, and rests on top of the yolk,

as in the spiders and scorpions, and certain Crus- Fig. 101.

tacea, i. e., Eriphia spinifrons, Astacus oyee

Palæmon adspersus, and Crangon maculosus, in

which oe is

Fig. 99.

: t : Larva of Trinucleus orna-

plius skin about tus, natural size, and en-

; larged.

embryonic life. Fig. 102.

This Nauplius m

skin corres-

nds in some

Larva of Limulus, natural size, nå . of eee em-

enlarged.

ryol

The recently hatched young of pet ae wes lm rira, "esf

can scarcely be con nsidered a Nauplius, like t

Fig. 103. Fig. 104.

Larva of Agnostus nudus, Adult Agnostus nudus,

nat. size, and enlarged. nat. size, and enlarged. a Laces ot Apst.

b Larva of Branchipus.

figured by Barrande qne. 101, larva of Trinucleus ornatis ; Fig. 102, larva

of Sao hirsuta; Fig. 103, larva of Agnostus nudus) which are in Trinu-

cleus and Agnostus born wits only the cephalothorax and pygidium, the

502 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

oracic segments being added during after life. The circular larva of

~ hirsuta, which has no thorax, or at least a very rudimentary Mo

gion, and no pygidium, approaches nearer to the —€— form of t

Piyllopods, though we would contend that it is not a Naupliu

larva passes through a slightly marked Pan e oe It differs

om the adult simply in possessing a less number of abdominal feet

(ilis), and in having only a very rudimentary s pine. Previous to hat tch-

ing it strikingly resembles Trinucleus and ERES trilobites, suggesting

that the two groups should, on embryonic and structural grounds, be

included in the same order, especially now that Mr. E. Billings* has de-

monstrated that Asaphus possessed eight pairs of five-jointed legs of

rae

—

£o

®©

ted

®©

£e

sexually, and the eggs were probably laid in the sand or mud, and im-

pregnated by the sperm cells of the male, floating free in the water.

The muscular system of the trilobites, must have been highly organized

as in Limulus, as like the latter they probably lived by burrowing in the

mud and sand, using the shovel-like expanse of the cephalic shield in

digging in the shallow palæozoic waters after worms and stationary soft

bodied invertebrates, so that we may be warranted in supposing that the

imentary canal was constructed on the type of that of Limulus, with its

large, uae gizzard and immense liver.

ILL presented a verbal communication ** On the Relations of the

Orders of Mammals.” He stated that in order to render at once appreci-

ate the guiding principles by which he had been influenced. 'These were

ve:

1st. Morphology is the only alb guide to the natural classification of

organized beings; teleology or physiological adaptation the most unsafe

ications of any single organ.

Rus ee er ye

* Proceedings of the — Society of London. € = T » June 2, 1870.

In this communication Billings announees the impo very of a — of

Asaphus platycephalus, probe that the e anim mal possessed PPA pes of five-jointed

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 503

38d. The animals and plants of the present epoch are me derivatives

with modification of antecedent forms to an unlimited extent

4 An arrangement of organized beings in any iia series is,

therefore, impossible, and the system of sequences adopted by genealo-

ern taxonomy (Linnzeus) must be followed, subject to such deviations as

our increased knowledge of structure necessitates.

e adoption of such principles compels us to reject such systems as

are based solely on modifications of the brain, those of the placenta, and

those of the organs of progression, such modifications not being coinci-

dent with corresponding modifications of other organs, and therefore not

the expressions of the sum of agreements in structure.

Commencing with the highest forms of mammals we have, by univer-

sal consent, the Primates. This Linnean order, purged of the Chiroptera

referred to it by its founder, includes man, the monkeys, and the lemurs,

with their respective allies. It is divisible into two suborders —the An-

thropoidea and the Lemuroidea

The subjects of the next highest group are not so universally recog-

nized, but the Ferz or Carnivora, on account of the nature of the skele-

ton, the development of the brain, and the organs for "e perpetuation of

ai kind, seem to be most entitled to that rank. s order seems to

mbrace as suborders the ordinary gressorial E (iesipsäia) and

ipe Pinnipedia, or Seals, Walrus, etc

An extinct type — the Zeuglodentes — is related on the one hand to the

Seals, and on the other to the toothed Pacta The relation with the

latter is, however, the most intimate, an may be combined with them

and the whale-bone whales into one in aika Cete — of which each

form represents a suborder. The relations of the order with the Fere is

only masked by the extreme teleological modifications. :

Evidently the derivatives from the same stem as the Ferm, the Insect-

ivora, may be placed next in order. The affinity of the Chiroptera to that

order is now universally recognized, aU ay ag the extreme teleo-

n org

to indicate, with sufficient ipis uia i sees egraded are their rank.

he relations of the subclass Didelphia, with its single order Marsupi-

alia, and of the subclass Ornithodelphia, with another unique order Mon-

otremata are now recognized beyond dispute.

esuming now the consideration of the sequence by linear series, we

may approach by normally specialized forms, the more generalized of

each series, and thence in such cases as are necessary diverge in another

504 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

direction to the abnormally specialized. We would then have something

like the series thus represented on the blackboard (some suborders being

omitted), the index hands representing the respective nature and direc-

tion of the groups.

Subclass MONODELPHIA.

I.— PRIMATE SERIES.

rder ATES.

Suborder ANTHROPOIDEA. Suborder LEMUROIDEA.

IIl.—FERAL SERIES.

r FERZE

Suborder FISSIPEDIA. -&r Agar Suborder PINNIPEDIA.

Order CETE.

Suborder ZEUGLODONTES. Suborder ODONTOCETE. Suborder MYSTICETE.

III.—INSECTIVOROUS SERIES.

Order INSECTIVORA. 3 LE" Order CHIROPTERA.,

IV.— UNGULATE SERIES.

Order UNGULATA.

Suborder ARTIODACTYLA. Suborder PERISSODACTYLA.

Order HXRACOIDEA..£&2 Order PROBOSCIDEA. Q~ Order SIRENIA.

V.— RODENT SERIES.

Order GLIRES.

Suborder SIMPLICIDENTATA. Suborder DUPLICIDENTATA.

VI.— EDENTATE SERIES.

Order BRUTA, or EDENTATA.

Subelass DIDELPHIA.

Order MARSUPIALIA.

Subelass ORNITHODELPHIA.

Order MONOTREMATA.

Any orders than those admitted seem problematical, and the adoption

of an order Bimana for man alone — much more a subclass — seems to be

pro-

position in biology more demonstrable than that man is the derivative

from the same immediate stock as the higher anthropoid apes, and prob-

ably after the culmination to nearly the same extent as at present of the

differentiation of the order into families and subordinate groups.

Professor A. WINCHELL read ** Notes on some Post Tertiary Phenomena

in Michigan." This paper was intended simply to make note of three

roides Ohioensis), have been recently found in Michigan. What is pu

haps most interesting of all, is the discovery of a flint arrowhead in à

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 505

similar t This arrowhead was found seven feet beneath the sur-

face in a ditch excavated in the southern part of Washtenaw county.

The coe remains found near Tecumseh, but a few miles distant, lay

but two and a half feet beneath the surface. The Adrian mastodon was

buried but three feet deep.

The second note related to the occurrence of enormous beds o

bog iron in the upper peninsula of Michigan, on the tributaries of the

Monistique river. It occurs in a half desiccated bog covering several

townships. It is of remarkable purity, and of great but unknown depth.

It lies directly in the track of the projected railroad, intended to connect

the North Pacific Railroad with the railroad system of Michigan. The

ore can be pe down er ERGEN and its tributaries, to Lake Michi-

gan, in the immediate vicinity of an excellent harbor. This immense

dipòsit is enr doc sete’ from the desintegration of the hematites

and magnetites of the contiguous region on the West. sie ore will

possess great value for mixing with oes other Lake Superio es.

The third note was on the discovery of an ancient salle of Lake

Superior. Following the White Fish river from the head of Little Bay

de Noc, we find it occupying a broad and deep valley walled in on both

sides by limestone cliffs attaining an elevation of one hundred and twenty

feet. The head waters of this river literally interlace with those of the

Au Train river, which runs north into Lake Superior. Here is a vast

valley of erosion but little elevated in any part above the present level

L gh thi

ear the head of the valley, point North and South. In short, the evi-

dences lead to the conviction that a vast glacier stream once traversed

this valley and was probably the agency by which it was excavated.

Little Bay de Noc is but the prolongation of this valley at a lower level;

and, indeed, the whole basin of Green Bay seems to be but a phenomenon

of erosion belonging to the epoch of the same glacier system.

Prof. E. D. Corr read a paper ** On the structural Characteristics of the

Cranium in the lower Vertebrata (Reptiles, Batrachia and Fishes),” giving

à new systematic arrangement of the Reptilia, and determining for the

first time the struc nm of the posterior regions of the crania in Dicy-

nodons and Ichthyosa

He first pointed out cen homologies of the squamosal bone, stating that

identical, with the “ temporo-mastoid ” of the frog, and the preoperculum

of osseous fishes, by comparison with Lepidosiren. This was proven by

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 64

506 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

the development of this element in the Dicynodons and Ichthyosaurus,

where it had heretofore been erroneously determined. ‘Thus in Ichthyo-

saurus it was the ‘*‘supratemporal” of Owen, e besides forming the

posterior i of the zygomatic arch it descended posteriorly to about

opposite the middle of the posterior face of the os-quadratum. Further

reaching round nearly or quite to the postfrontal, and sending down a

columella to the pterygoid. This supero-anterior portion was the parie-

talof Ow The true parietal was in advance of this, and embraced

the usual vpisa while the frontals were the nasals of Owen. The

Fig. 105.*

true nasals he i i in small bones, one at the posterior extremity

of each exterior nostril.

` Turning to the Dicynodont genus Lystrosaurus, he stated that the form

of the squamosal bone was very similar to that seen in Ichthyosaurus,

quadratum when viewed f nd; the latter was small and occupied

a position at the inferior extre on the intero-anterior side of the

squamosal, and was hed to the pterygoid iny dly He hought

Urodela, and Dipnoi, which Huxley had suggested was the preoperntm

of the Teleosts, was truly the squamosal of the higher verte

the presence of the parietal arches as distinct from the opisthotics was

insisted on, they having been united by Owen. He then gave new deter-

* Fig. 105.—Iehthyosaurus; lateral view (fi peci from B , Leicestershire).

x. . Premaxillary bone. nadra tojugal

Mx... Maxillary. Geos ses Qua oe her

x B — DD. «v ec cipio

Hus ve Prefrontal. jesus TTA : :

. stfroi An.... Angular,

£t SIN etal. l Àr, . . . Articular.

Ta ...Lachrymal. S. Ar.. etas e ERR

*.. Malar. Pter. . Pterygoid.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 507

minations of the opisthotic bone in e various orders of oA aah recti-

der Fig g.

roótic

as in Clidastes. The desiit ee of the ear bones in the

Fig. 107.¢ same groups

g was then des-

a ae cribed, and the

ô am

Pter «9 —

D j— À—

PAR eX

is postero-

interior to the didis: and below the opisthotic. He ‘ai not found it

Fig. 106 m cranium; posterior view. Lettering the same as in 105 with the

i addition O bono

Ex, p; Base T Stap.. ` Suprastapedial or hyomandibular.

p. O. oceipt Lettering

Fie 7107. Suprecceipital. frontosus (from Cape Colony); profile. y credendi

with the following additions

tvi

om., ONES Col..... Columella.

sev. B Ectp.. . Ectopterygoid,

- x Iovem Subart. . Subarticilar.

Pter. ., Pterygoid.

508 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

described. He thought that the element in Ichthyosaurus, called by

eer the squamosal, was really the quadratojuga

ext pointed out the various origins of the eulinmetiss a bone pecu-

liar dí esie , and designed to support the roof of the cranium. In

Ichthyosaurus and Dicynodon it originated from the squamosals, in tor-

toises from the parietal, in crocodiles from the alisphenoid, and in lacer-

tilia the origin could not be discov ered.

He spoke of the proposition of Huxley, that some of the earlier types

of reptilia in geologic time were not more generalized than those now

existing. He took exception to goes and stated L the Dicynodon,

(

Thus he showed it had five characters of eheu xia, three of Tes-

tudinata, two of Rhynchocephalia, three of Dinosauria, one of Lacertilia,

and one of Crocodila.

The system of Reptilia : oposed was the following:

(A). Attached quadra

I. Parts of M. de dinei, ribs two

eaded to c i A Ichthyopterygia.

II. Se ism differentiated :

1. Hes ad of rib sessile on centrum tubercle to

Testudinata.

2. “Copa sariko on PE ihri on

neura Archosauria.

3. sails stid biterdi — Wiking to acid

ch.

a Synaptosauria.

(B) Qu dinte, iia ioti lé.

1. Ribs double headed; a quadratojugal. . -> Ornithosauria.

ibs single headed; no quadratojugal.

(2). No cisci a columella; opisthotic, all at-

attached ; Lacertilia.

(b). Alis snot no abot; ipiéibollt fixed,

styloid; paddle Pythonomorpha.

(c). alisphenoid; no aii opisthotie free

mobile Ophidia.

R J. B. ‘Peay rea d & paper on “The gopročćá Elevation and De-

pression of the Continent during the Glacial Period.” Many geologists

ane of the ages. Intense cold being thus occasioned by cosmical influ-

s, the formation of an ice sheet of vast extent would naturally follow,

pid if there were abundant moisture. The fact of intense igneou us

activity, near the close of the Tertiary Period, suggests the occurrence

of immense evaporation, and thus a source of aqueous supply. An ice-

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 509

sheet might thus be formed. Great cold prevailing on its northern limits

and serving as a barrier to its motion in that direction, there being at the

same time a partial melting of its southern face, the waters from the

wasting S on its surface percolating the icy mass, there also being

MSS AAA and expansions cons ru ent upon alternations in the temper-

ature; all these being connected with the gravitating force of a mass

from five thousand to ten thousand ria in thickness, motion to the south

would pd result, even on a horizontal surface, and much more if

there were a southward inclination of the country. Under these circum-

stances we n e an instrumentality fully able to plane, smooth, and striate

the rocky floor of the continent as it now áppears, and thus to account

for the debris almost everywhere met with in great c RR

But if there were no elevation of the country, how are we to explain

the ocean. Thus its waters must have undergone a great depression, per-

haps one of several hundred feet; and this enables us to account for the

mud-flats and other like deposits, which were probably laid down when

the ocean was at a dud level than it is to-da

It has been, moreover, thought necessary to suppose that a depression

of the tuque na. do followed its conjectured elevation. The land

havi ing been lifted up, it must be got down again, in order that there

cause a return of Rx while the cosmical agencies already referred

summer of the ages thus coming on, the ice-sheet as gradually melting

must retreat northward. And the waning of the glacial mass wou

accompanied by results which require an explanation.

510 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

The ice thawing, the detrital matter which lay beneath it, and is now

known as typical drift, would be laid bare and left substantialy as we

find it. In this view a resort to a depression of five thousand or six

icebergs could not furnish the material of New England typical drift,

since it is for the most part of local origin; while bergs of ice from the

White Mountains could not have supplied it, for it is a continuous sheet,

far to the.north of these mountains. So iceberg

posited it, because, as they slowly wasted, the particles of matter must

have been scattered by the flux and reflux of the tides, and thus to a large

' extent stratified. Again, from the southern border of the wasting ice-

laying down those deposits known as modified drift. These constitute in

part the terrace formations, which usually slope with the rivers along

which they occur. In some instances there were barriers obstructing the

waters; thus were formed ponds and lakes, in which deposition took

place in more nearly horizontal layers. Finally from the wastin

ice-sheet the surface of the ocean must be elevated, its waters spread

in which we'now find them.

In conclusion it may be asked whether the explanation suggested be

not in consistency with the facts, and thus whether we ought not to ac-

r. described three new generic forms of Brachiopoda, princi-

pally ffom the collections of the United States Exploring Expe ition.

Two of these o the group of articulated Brachiopods, while

the third was that animal, which, under the name of Lin

been described by Mr. Morse. Mr. Dall then spoke of several special

points of structure, especially the peduncle of Lingula, demonstrating its

construction to be analogous to that of the siphons of bivalve mollusks,

as the common clam, Mya arenaria. He then described the bristles

Mr. Dall took the opposite view, and, while admitting all the facts

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 511

brought forward by Mr. Morse, and fully appreciating the careful and

thorough nature of his researches, contended on the other hand that

these facts were susceptible of quite another interpretation.

Mr. Dall then went on to take up, one by one, the circulatory, nervous,

muscular, and digestive systems of the Brachiopods, and to compare each

with the same organs in the Annelids and the Mollusks, and came to the

one of two great primary divisions of the Mollusca— one. the true Mol-

lusks, typified by the Gasteropoda, and second the Molluscoidea, typified

by the Brachiopoda. The second division would include the Polyzoa,

Tunicata, and Brachiopoda, and Mr. Dall was of the opinion that these

groups were essentially related to one another, and cannot be separated

without violence to their affinities.

In reply to Mr. Dall’s communication and objections advanced, Prof.

Morse replied in brief 2s the time for adjournment had passed. He would

only take a few moments in correcting some points in which Mr. Dall

gen

tacea, and does not occur in the mollusks. Mr. D d not know of any

ubicolous worms having a blind intestine. Professor Morse referred him

to certain worms in the inferior gr ws on on were

development, the presence of a dorsal vessel, the terminal opening of

ntestine, and the forward opening of oviducts. As to a comparison

between the peduncle of Lingula and the syphonal tubes of Mya, the

relations were so different that they could not enter the discussion what-

ever. The related points, as indicated by the structure of the oviducts,

demand a molluscan character in the Brachiopods. He then carried out

the points raised by Mr. Dall, by citing other mollusks, with strong

articulated features, which Mr. Dall had overlooked.

: MAS MEEHAN read a paper “On the Laws of Fasciation, and

out in thick masses, which botanists called ‘‘fasciations,” and the people

**Crow’s Nests.” An over supply of nutrition was the received theory

of their origin. He believed the reverse to be the fact. In proof of this

he stated that the shoots forming the bunch of branches never grew as

vigorously as the others, the leaves were of a paler hue, and in evergreens,

the leaves were deciduous. Many of the shoots died in severe winters.

512 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

All these results were due to imperfect nutrition, the effect of which was

alow state of vitality. That we eakness produced the or was also

n his r nati

niy

cohesion with the stem in proportion as vitality was low. Here were the

same facts. The leaves on the fascicle of the Balsam Fir were of the

same nature as the weak leaves described in the paper referred to. Mr.

Meehan had also shown, at the Salem meeting, that sex was influenced by

the condition of vitality. The male sex followed from a loss of vigor.

Here the same law followed fasciation. The fasciated bunches in the

numerous branchlets, an increase of petals follo In a variety

known as Willson's Early, the number of branchlets in the bunch was

often greater than in other instances female organs were

once that weakness was unfavorable to the female sex, and proportion-

ately favorable to fasciation. The conclusion reached, was that fasciated

branches, or ** Crow's Nests,” are the consequence of impaired nutrition

or vitality

Mr. THOMAS MEEHAN read a paper ** On ete to Darwin’s Theory

of Fertilization through Insect Agency.” He said that the discoveries

- of Darwin had steps wonderful apparent seas for fertilization

through insect agency; but occasionally instances were found where with

had been considered as objections to a full acceptance of Mr. Darwin's

theories. The Salvia was an instance. The lower division of the anther

acted as a petaloid lever, closing the throat of the corolla tube, which

is this probable, as in cultivation the Salvia produces very little see

"LC WX GU

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — NOVEMBER, 1870. —No. 9.

THE HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE

MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS.

BY JAMES H. BLAKE.

Fig. 108.

The Mackerel, Scomber vernalis.

THE part of Natural History relating to the habits of

fishes is far behind other branches of this study, compara-

tively little being known of this interesting subject. The

reason of this is plainly understood when we consider how

small is the number of persons interested in such studies,

who have the opportunity of observing the fishes a sufficient

length of time to enable them to gain any great amount of

information concerning them. Those who have the oppor-

tunity for gathering such information are of the class who

look more to the financial profit from this business than to

the benefit in knowledge they may gain. There is fortu-

nately another class of individuals; who, while striving for

their own maintenance, are careful to record the numerous

he Diet

Entered accordins to A , fa a 1970. bw the P Acapemy or Science. in th

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 65 (513)

514 THE HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE

interesting facts which come under their observation; but,

unhappily for science, this class is too small to occupy the

field, and consequently we are kept in ignorance of this im-

portant matter.

he migration of the fishes on our coast may, in a meas-

ure, be compared to that of the birds on the land, both being

governed by the seasons. The song birds, for instance,

which frequent our villages during the summer and attract

our attention by their musical strains, we greatly miss during

the winter months, and we know that they have gone to parts

where the temperature is better adapted for their subsistence

and comfort. Those who reside at the seashore all the year

observe movements among the fishes similar to those seen in

the birds, and the time when each species of fish that is of

value to the fishermen will make its appearance in any par-

ticular locality on the coast is practically known. Nearly all |

the fishes change their habitat as the different seasons ad-

vance, some by going to more northern or southern latitudes,

while others move simply from deeper to shallower water,

and vice versa to find the temperature they require.

There are no fish which remain in one and the same lo-

cality or fishing-ground the year around. Consumers of fish

are acquainted with the fact that all our marketable fishes are

found at a regular and limited period in our markets.

The Mackerel (Scomber vernalis), Fig. 108, come into the

shallow water near the land directly from their winter habitat,

the deep water of the Atlantic, during the months of May

and June, and their annual appearance is very regular.

They approach the coast for the purpose of spawning, and

on reaching a favorable situation, immediately deposit their

eggs, and leave them without farther protection. The num-

ber of eges deposited in one season by each female is esti-

mated to be between five and six hundred thousand. After

spawning the fish move northward, following the line of the

coast till they are checked by the chill of the water, when

they return, and, in the month of November, seek the deep

MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 515

water again. Those mackerel which first come in contact

with the land at Cape Cod will migrate as far as the northern

part of the coast of Maine. They are not easily caught with

the hook during their spawning season, and it is at this time

that “gill-nets” are used to the best advantage. The mack-

erel at this time are very lean, and the flesh has a darkish

appearance, while at the time of their departure from the

coast they are flat and plump, and are then considered to be

in the best condition for food, and oo bring the

- highest price.

In comparing the number observed in one season with

another the difference may be very great, but on the whole

they cannot be considered as either increasing or decreasing

in numbers. Some seasons they will be very plentiful, and

schools of them may be seen near the surface of the water

one or two miles in extent. When seen thus manceuvring

in such great abundance they will not allow themselves to be

taken with the hook very extensively; it is then that the

purse-seines are used to the best advantage in capturing

them. At other times, perhaps the following day, the fish

will be entirely unobservable in the water, but when " tole-

bait” is thrown over to “raise them,” they will perhaps soon

be seen by the side of the vessel in vast numbers, and will

readily take the hook. Sometimes a crew of fifteen men

will catch over a hundred barrels of them in a few hours.

In those years when many fish are seen it has been observed

that they are small, and that in those seasons in which the

number is less they are large. This is probably owing in

part to the number destroyed when young, and in part to

the fact of a larger number than usual spawning on the

outer banks.

Mackerel are always on the move and migrate in schools.

In the spring, when they are caught in gill-nets, the quantity

taken in the different nights varies considerably. Fishing

with “drift-nets” is practiced in the night, for the fish can-

not be caught in this way in the daytime, as the net is then

516 THE HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE

easily seen by them and avoided; they also swim deeper

during the day, and would thus pass under or below the

nets. The fishermen cast their nets about dusk; soon after,

the fish are observed in them, and often before ten o'clock in

the evening the nets will contain thousands of mackerel.

The fishermen may visit the same locality the following night

and be very unsuccessful, while the reports from other boats

will show that the greater proportion of the fish were in

another direction, and also that they move constantly and in

large schools.

Mackerel, like most fishes, have their choice in respect to

food. This consists of the young of other species and of

Fig. 109.

The Codfish, Morrhua Americana.

erustacea. The “tole-bait” consists chiefly of Menhaden

(Alausa menhaden) ground very fine, with which clams are

sometimes mixed, as they are believed to improve its quality.

The bait commonly used for the hook is a piece of white

skin cut from the throat of a mackerel, but when they are

abundant and ferocious any white material will do; some-

times a small silver coin is used, and it is not uncommon for

them to be taken on the bare hook.

The Codfish (Morrhua Americana), Fig. 109, is another

familiar marine species, but one which differs very consider-

ably in its habits from the mackerel. It is found in our

markets all the year, but is not taken at all times from the

MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 517

same locality or fishing-ground. This fish does not migrate

along the coast, but acquires its desired temperature by

gradually moving from shallower to deeper water, and re-

turning as the season grows colder. Nearly all fish which go

in schools migrate more or less along the coast after coming

from the deeper water, while those which are distributed over

the bottom, as the Cod, Haddock, ete., do not migrate ex-

cept from shallower to deeper water.

Codfish visit the shallow water of Massachusetts Bay to

spawn about the first of November, and towards the last of

Fig. 110.

The Haddock, Morrhua xglefinus.

this month deposit their eggs on the sandy banks and rocky

ledges.* About eight or nine millions of ova are annually

deposited by each füindlé/ The codfish remain in the vi-

cinity of their eggs till June, when they again retire to

deeper water, the shallow water having become too warm

for them.

The codfish, like the mackerel, takes no care of its eggs,

and only a small portion of these ever arrive at maturity.

Nature so regulates the destiny of these eggs that only a

portion of them are permitted to mature, prm the

* G. O. Sars of Christiania, Norway, has observed that codfish deposit their spawn

at the surface of the water, where the fen float throughout the whole of their develop-

ment. He has followed up the evelopment a the egg, and as fa young, during the

first fortnight after exclusion. The the egg 16th day. See Giin-

ther’s Zoological Record for 1868, — EDITORS.

518 THE HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE

codfish would soon monopolize the whole ocean. These

eggs are eagerly devoured as food by the various animals

which inhabit the bottom, and the proportion of eggs de-

stroyed in this and other ways cannot be readily estimated,

but we know it must be enormous by the comparatively few

young fish we see. If, during its stay in shallow water, the

weather should suddenly become cold, and so remain for two

or three days, the codfish immediately retreats to water of

some forty fathoms in depth, and does not return till the

temporary change has passed ; then they gradually seek their

Fig. 111.

The Bluefish, Temnodon saltator.

former resort, which is a depth of fifteen or twenty fathoms.

The Haddock (Fig. 110) at such times likewise retreats, but

does not so soon return to its former station.

The quantity of codfish annually taken does not differ so

much in the different years as does that of the mackerel,

yet the amount is somewhat variable. The cause is the same

in both cases, but as the codfish has a shorter distance to

come the annual number is naturally less variable. The

number of codfish existing at the present time does not ap-

pear to differ from that of twenty or more years ago, and I

think we are safe in assuming that there has been no percep-

tible diminution for a century.

The food of the codfish consists of smaller fish, mollusks

and crustacea. The bait considered by the fishermen as

best adapted to their tastes are the common Herring ( Clupea

elongata), squid, ete., but clams (Mya arenaria and Mactra

MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 519

solidissima) are more generally used, as only this bait can

be obtained at all seasons of the year; clams are also found

to remain longer on the hooks.

Nearly all the codfish obtained on our coast are brought

to market in an unsalted condition, but they form only a

small portion of the number sold.in Massachusetts. The

majority of the codfish sold here are brought from. the

Banks of Newfoundland and other great banks, and are

always brought in a salted state.

We have already stated that although many hundred

thousands of mackerel and codfish are captured through the

agency of man, and many more are destroyed by other influ-

ences, there has been, notwithstanding, no noticeable change

Fig. 112.

"The Herring, Clupea elongata.

in their numbers. But there are some species of fish which

Visit our coast that are constantly diminishing in numbers,

and our shores were formerly frequented by some fishes in

great quantities, which have now nearly, if not quite, dis-

appeared.

The Bluefish ( Temnodon saltator), Fig. 111, which inhabits

our waters from the last of June till September, has had very

marked periodic variations in numbers. This fish, as his-

tory informs us, was captured and esteemed as an article of

food by the earlier settlers of this state. Previous to the

year 1763 bluefish were very plenty on the southern coast

of Cape Cod, but about this year they all disappeared, and

none were taken till sixty or seventy years after. For the

520 THE HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OF SOME OF THE

past thirty years specimens have been taken, but they did

not arrive in any noticeable abundance till within the last

sixteen years, and are at the present time again vanishing.

During the last mentioned period I have observed them

about Provincetown in great abundance, where they often

presented a beautiful spectacle. At times the splashing of

the water caused by these fish in their rapid motions in pur-

suit of their prey, could be seen as far as the eye can reach.

They make great havoc among their weaker neighbors, and

some fishes have been entirely driven from our waters by this

ferocious species. All fish which are a prey to the bluefish

migrate on its first appearance. In the case of the mackerel,

fishermen have noticed that when a few bluefish. have been

caught during the mackerel season, that a few days after not

Fig. 113.

LA ,

The Bill-fish, Scomberesox Storerii,

a mackerel could be found, having been driven from the

vicinity by the bluefish. I think it may be affirmed that the

disappearance of so many of our smaller fish is due to the

destructive nature of the bluefish; it even drives fish much

its superior in size.

In respect to our smaller fishes, the Herring ( Clupea elon-

gata), ete., we observe a considerable decrease in the num-

bers which now annually visit our shores, as compared with

their former numbers. The Pogey (Alosa Menhaden) and

the Herring ( Clupea elongata), Fig. 112, have comparatively

almost deserted the waters about Provincetown, where I have

_ formerly seen them in immense schools very near the shore.

Fishermen made nets and other necessary preparations every

year to capture them on their arrival in the spring, and the

business was carried on extensively and profitably for many

years, but at the present time no such fishing there exists.

MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 521

The Bill-fish (Scomberesox Storeri?), Fig. 113, which but

fifteen years since I saw stranded on the shore by the thou-

sands, driven in by its devouring pursuers, has gradually

decreased, till at the present time it has nearly, if not quite,

been driven away, and I think that during the past year

there was not one specimen seen at Provincetown. ,

CULTIVATION OF ALPINE FLOWERS.

BY ALFRED W. BENNETT.

Mr. RonBiNsoN is no mere enthusiast in his subject when he

says:— "This book (‘Alpine Flowers for English Gardens ?)

is written to dispel a very general error that the exquisite

flowers of alpine countries cannot be grown in gardens, and

as one of a series of manuals having for their object the im-

provement of our out-door gardening, which it appears to

me, is of infinitely greater importance than anything that

can ever be accomplished in enclosed structures, even if

glass sheds or glass palaces were within the reach of all.”

His first concern is with the structure of rockeries, in the

mode of building which not only is the taste still displayed,

or at all events till quite recently, barbarous and inartistic

in the extreme; but it would seem as if the very conditions

necessary for the health of the plants were studiously neg-

lected. The ordinary idea of the treatment of rock-plants,

judging from the hideous monstrosities which may be seen

in many a gentleman’s garden, is that you have nothing to

do but to poke them in between the chinks of perfectly bare

stones or clinkers piled together in a promiscuous heap, in

order to present them in their native habitats. A gardener’

who commits such an absurdity as this, can never have as-

cended a mountain with his eyes open. To quote again from

Mr. Robinson :—“ Mountains are often bare, and: cliffs are

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 66

522 CULTIVATION OF ALPINE FLOWERS.

usually devoid of soil; but we must not conclude therefrom

that the choice jewellery of plant-life scattered over the ribs

of the mountain, or the interstices of the crag, live upon

little more than the mountain air and the melting snow!

Where will you find such a depth of well-ground stony soil,

and withal such perfect drainage, as on the ridges of débris

flanking some great glacier, stained all over with tufts of

crimson saxifrage? Can you gauge the depth of that narrow

chink, from which peep tufts of the diminutive and beautiful

Androsace helvetica? No; it has gathered the crumbling

grit and scanty soil for ages and ages; and the roots enter

so far that nothing the tourist carries with him can bring out

enough of them to enable the plant to live elsewhere." Al-

pine plants are peculiarly exposed to sudden alternations of

heat and cold, of moisture and dryness. The cold, almost

frosty, night will be followed, in July and August, by an

unclouded day, when the rays of the sun beat on the un-

sheltered surface of the rock with an intensity that would

scorch up many an English meadow plant. Only a very

small proportion of alpine plants are annuals; and they are

frequently provided with a storehouse of nourishment in the

form of rosettes or tufts of thick succulent leaves; but their

chief water supply is through their roots; and thus we find

that while our garden annuals have fibrous roots of insignifi-

cant dimensions, and even our forest trees will seldom strike

their roots to a greater depth than the height of their foliage,

the roots of alpine plants, scarcely an inch in height, will be

found to penetrate the chinks between the rocks full of rich

earth, to the depth of sometimes more than a yard, or forty

times the height that they venture into the air. The neglect

of this most essential condition for the growth of alpine plants

is of itself amply sufficient to account for the failure which

has generally accompanied the attempts to introduce these

lovely flowers to our rockeries. A good depth of soil is in-

deed more indispensable to these plants than the presence of

rock and’ stone. They no doubt prefer to expand their

CULTIVATION OF ALPINE FLOWERS. 523

flowers and extend their green shoots over the bare rock;

and where rock-work is artistically managed, this faint at-

tempt at a reconstruction of their native habitat adds greatly

to the picturesqueness of the effect. But many of them will

flourish equally well in open borders, and even when planted

in pots, with a few stones about them to protect the roots

from the direct action of the sun, if only the two requisites

are attended to, of constant moisture and perfect drainage ;

and hence they are invaluable acquisitions to the cottage or

window gardener. The Saxifrages, the beautiful purple

Aubrietia, with respect to which Mr. Robinson says, "rock-

works, ruins, stony places, sloping banks, and rootwork suit it

perfectly ; no plant is so easily established in such places, nor

will any other alpine plant clothe them so quickly with the

desired vegetation,” the various species of Arabis, the alpine

Primulas, all make excellent bedding plants. The ease with

. Which a new alpine can be domesticated in our climate is

shown by the rapid spread of the lovely early forget-me-not,

Myosotis dissitiflora, brought not many years since from the

Alps near the Vogelberg, now to be had from every nursery-

man, and the treasure of many a cottage garden, with its

exquisite sky-blue flowers, continuing from mid-winter till

early summer. i

But it is not alpine flowers only which will repay the small

amount of trouble neċessary for their introduction. Many

plants which are never grown without the protection of a

greenhouse, do not require any elevation of temperature for

their successful growth, but merely an absence of great

changes of both temperature and moisture. This is especially

the case with not a few of the most delicate ferns, such as

the elegant maidenhair, and the two fragile little filmy-ferns ;

and the requisite uniformity of temperature and moisture

can be obtained out of doors by the erection of a partially

underground grotto or ravine of rocks, through which water

is perpetually trickling, the 'entrance being protected by a

screen of foliage from the direct influence of the weather.

524 WHAT IS THE ' WASHINGTON EAGLE”?

It is astonishing how equable a climate can be obtained by a

simple device of this kind. The drawing given on p. 359

is from such a rock-cave constructed in the grounds of one

of our most scientific and successful nurserymen near York,

where he grows not only our royal so-called "flowering fern,"

the Osmunda regalis, and several foreign allied species, but

the most beautiful of all this beautiful tribe, the moisture-

loving Killarney fern, which clothes the soil of the damp

dark woods by the Tore waterfall.

The beauty of these horticultural experiments is that they

ean be tried on so small a seale, and are thus within the

reach of almost every one; yielding a source of pure and

healthy enjoyment which few other pursuits will afford. Mr.

Robinson almost promises us that his little book shall be the

first of a series of similar manuals on different departments

of gardening ; and we can hardly conceive a greater service

than this to a large number of his countrymen, who merely

require to be told how to set to work to cultivate this fasci-

nating science. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

——

WHAT IS THE “WASHINGTON EAGLE"?

BY J. A. ALLEN.

Editors of the AMERICAN NarURALIST: Sirs :— Will you please inform

me through the NATURALIST or otherwise, whether you have ever known

of the Washington Eagle (Haliaétus Washingtonii), being captured or

seen in New Hampshire. I have an eagle in my possession which I think

is the ** Washington Eagle." It was caught last spring in Goffstown, near

Manchester, N. H. It isa large bird, measuriug eight feet from tip to tip

of wings, three and one-half feet in length, and weighs fourteen and one-

half pounds. I have also two other eagles, a Golden, and a Bald Eagle.

The Golden le mea seven and one-half feet from tip to tip, three

feet in length, and weighs twelve and one-half pounds. The Bald Eagle

measures seven feet in extent of wings, and three feet from point of beak

to end of tail, and weighs eleven pounds. Ithink that the Bald Eagle has

a differently shaped beak from the other, and that is why I am in doubt

WHAT IS THE "WASHINGTON EAGLE"? 525

as to its species. Besides, I never knew of a Bald Eagle being so large.

If you will please inform me in regard to the Washington Eagle you will

oblige me very much. — WILLIAM JARVIS, Hanover, N.

Tue " Washington Eagle” ( Haliaétus ees Aud.)

appears to be still inakaa upon, especially by amateur orni-

thologists, as a probably valid, though little known species.

The question of its true character was formerly a source of

perplexity to professional naturalists, some of which may

still regard it as having claims to recognition as a “good spe-

cies." As our knowledge of the birds of this continent be-

comes more perfect, the existence as valid species of several

of the hypothetical species, especially of the rapacious birds, .

becomes less and less probable. This results principally

from two facts. First, through the constant accession of

materials in our museums we are every year finding out more

and more definitely the variations resulting Pi sex, age,

individuality and locality to which each species is subject,

and in these variations the forms which with greater or less

probability gave rise to some of the doubtful species in our

catalogues. Secondly, the continent itself and its fauna are

becoming too well-known to render tenable the suppositions,

formerly entertained, that some of the strange birds de-

scribed in early times may have their habitats in unexplored

districts, whence they have occasionally wandered to better

known localities. The opinion long since advanced by some

writers that the * Washington Eagle" is but a very large im-

mature Bald Eagle, is hence gaining ground.

Audubon described his "Bird of Washington" from a

large specimen taken by him in Kentucky more than fifty

years ago. The original specimen from which Audubon

made his drawing and description is not known to be extant,

and seems to have never been preserved. Audubon appears

to have been the only naturalist who examined it. He re-

garded it as a very rare bird, and states that he saw not

"more than eight or nine” specimens. He does not seem,

however, to have actually examined more than one. It dif-

526 WHAT IS THE ‘‘ WASHINGTON EAGLE"?

fered, according to Audubon, in three important particulars

from the common Bald or White-headed Eagle (Haliaétus

leucocephalus) ; namely, in size, habits, and in the scutella-

tion of the tarsi. Its size (length, "three feet seven inches ;"

alar extent, "ten feet two inches ; folded wing, “thirty-two

inches") greatly exceeds that of any known North American

eagle, while it differed in habits from the Bald Eagle in

being a true fishing eagle, and the scutellation of the tarsus,

as represented in Audubon's plate, is a character quite un-

usual in any of the eagles. Tt is now well-known that the

common White-headed Eagle will catch its own fish, instead

of resorting to piracy for them, as is its usual habit. In

respect to the scales of the tarsus, those in front are repre-

sented as being considerably larger than they are in the

common eagle, but as this is one of the first figures Audubon

published, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that they

may not have been quite accurately drawn, and that his

description of them was made from the plate instead of the

specimen itself. It is difficult, however, to account for its

great size, since the proportions of length of body and folded

wing, to the alar extent are the same as in the common eagle,

and hence leave little ground for the theory that through a

typographical error the alar extent should read seven feet

two inches instead of ten feet two inches, as has been sug-

gested.

As already remarked, Audubon really obtained but a single

specimen; and, as Mr. Cassin has observed, no specimen

precisely corresponding to Mr. Audubon's bird having been

obtained since its discovery, it has latterly, as Mr. Cassin

adds, "been looked upon by naturalists, especially in Eu-

rope, as an unusually large specimen of the White-headed

Eagle.”* Numerous local observers have, however, re-

ported it as occurring occasionally at different localities, and

Mr. Cassin himself has doubtfully referred specimens to it

taken in New Jersey. He even includes it as a good species

* Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, etc., p. 111, 1854.

WHAT IS THE ‘‘ WASHINGTON EAGLE"? . 527

in his “Synopsis of North American Birds,” * and in his re-

port on the rapacious birds in Professor Baird's great work

on the “Birds of North America.” If not a valid species, of

which there seems to be but slight evidence, it must be

either an immature Whité-hénded Eagle or an immature

Northern Sea Eagle ( Haliaétus albicillay, since these are its

only known near allies, though neither of these are known to

ever quite equal it in size. The White-headed Eagle ranges

in alar extent from a little less than seven feet to a little

more than eight; and the Northern Sea Eagle is of about the

same size. That it is not the latter is evident from the fact

that Audubon describes his bird as breeding in Kentucky,

a locality far south of the known range of ‘ie truly arctic

Sea Eagle. It would be one of the strangest facts in

natural history that a bird like Audubon’s Washington Eagle

should remain undiscovered for more than fifty years, when

its alleged habitat is within the settled parts of the United

States. On the whole it seems to me tolerably evident that

this supposed species should be considered as based on a

large example of H. leucocephalus, and that a “few grains of

bikinia may be safely made for slight inaccuracies on the

part of its enthusiastic discoverer. "The bird referred to

above by Mr. Jarvis I regard as unquestionably referable to

the H. leucocephalus.t

t Farther remarks concerning the “Washington Eagle” may be found in the writer’s

“Catalogue of the used Trae of vic rion ètc., in the * tech of the Museum of

Comparative Zoology,” Lis as well as conce a Bartram’s hi

“Sacred Vulture,” “satires a ne combination igi ain characters of =

Caracara Eagle e (Polyborus maeh Cassin), the White headed } Cok: Haliaétus leuco

Lesen and the John Crow (Sarcorhamphus papa) of the West Indies. Reasons oe

H. albicilla.

ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND

BY ALFRED W. BENNETT.

Tue introduction of new forms of vegetable life into our

gardens and greenhouses has made considerable progress

during recent years. The Acclimatization Societies of Paris

and London have, it is true, paid more attention to the do-

mestication of foreign animals than of plants; something,

however, has been attempted in this direction, and with con-

siderable success. This branch of acclimatization would,

indeed, seem likely to be the most fertile in results beneficial

to mankind. For one fresh animal introduced that will be

of real utility, there will probably be a dozen plants that

yield important economical products. The early races of |

mankind appear to have exhausted our powers over the

lower animals—the horse, the ass, the dog, the camel, the

ox, the sheep, were all brought under subjection to man at

the earliest period of his history ; and within historic times

no important addition has been made to the number of our

domestic animals. Not so with plants. A large number of

the vegetable substances used as food at the present day, and

of the vegetable articles of manufacture, were unknown to

the ancients; and the field for farther extension of our utili-

zation of the vegetable kingdom seems indefinitely large.

The power of cultivation in modifying plants is also much

greater than any corresponding power of domestication in

modifying animals. The oldest extant drawings of the horse,

the ox, or the camel, scarcely point out any distinctive fea-

tures from their descendants now living; the potato and the

apple, on the other hand, may almost be considered as man-

Ahi: E

i many hints of use to florists and gar-

deners in the middle states e where many subtropical plants can with care be

grow.— EDITORS

(528)

ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS. 529

ufaetured products ; while many gardeners' flowers, such as

the Pelargonium and the Tulip, differ so widely from their

ancestors as, in some cases, to obscure their parentage. The

term acclimatization has been objected to by some scientific

men, on the ground that the descendants of any animal or

plant which has been transported from one climate to an-

other have no more power than their ancestor of adapting

themselves to that climate, unless the principle of Natural

Selection has come into play to eliminate the individuals

least able to adapt themselves to the new climate, those only

surviving which, from some cause or other, are most suited

to the fresh conditions. Be this as it may, there is no ques-

tion about the fact that the farmer and the gardener have it

in their power to naturalize plants foreign to our climate and

our soil.

But the conditions of this naturalization are by no means

so simple as might at first sight appear. It might naturally

be supposed that all we have to do is to introduce those

plants which grow spontaneously in a climate and a soil sim-

ilar to our own, and that they will necessarily flourish, and

will scarcely be aware of the change. Or, if they come

from a warmer country that all that is needed is to protect

them by glass and artificial warmth from the inclemency of

our winters. But in practice this is not found to be the case.

A plant will frequently obstinately refuse to become natural-

ized in a country, the climatal and geological conditions of

Which are similar to those that occur in the region where it

is indigenous. Our commori daisy, a native of almost every

country of Europe, is said to have resisted all attempts to

introduce it even into the gardens of the United States.

Some plants seem to have an unconquerable aversion to the

` fostering hand of man, even in their own country. A well-

constructed and carefully kept fernery will contain speci-

mens, more or less luxuriant, of nearly all our native ferns;

the polypody and hartstongue from shady banks and tree-

stumps ; the so-called male and female ferns from the woods ;

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 67

530 ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS.

the spleenwort from dry walls; even the royal "flowering-

fern" from bogs; and some of the semi-alpine species will

flourish with the exercise of a little care. One kind, how-

ever, is almost invariably absent, and that the most widely

distributed of all our ferns, the common break, a native of

every county and almost of every parish in the country, but

which can seldom be induced to remain a denizen of soil that

has once been brought under man’s dominion. On the other

hand some of the greatest favorites of our gardens, which

display no coyness whatever in overrunning our flower-beds,

are natives of countries where the climate presents very dif-

ferent features to our own, or of very limited tracts of our

own country, to which they seem strictly confined by im-

passable barriers of soil or meteorological conditions. To

take instances of the latter phetiomenphi: — There is no gar-

den flower more cosmopolitan in its tastes, more certain to

thrive under any conditions of light or heavy soil, sun or

shade, care or neglect, even in the heart of a town, as its

very name seems to indicate, than the London Pride. Yet

the Saxifraga umbrosa is one of the most restricted in dis-

tribution of our native plants. Abundant enough where it

does grow, it is yet entirely confined to the moist equable

climate of the hilly country in the south-west of Ireland and

a few other similar localities, beyond-which it is never found

in the wild state. Botanists will think themselves amply

repaid for a toilsome day's march by gathering the beautiful

Polemonium cæruleum in its native habitat among the calca-

reous hills of the west of Yorkshire; yet the Jacob’ s Ladder

is an ornament of every garden on the very stiffest part of

the London clay. Probably ever y piece of cultivated

ground, which contains a laburnum tree, produces each

spring a plentiful crop of self-sown young trees, which come

up without the least care or protection until destroyed in the

process of weeding; yet the laburnum shows no disposition

to take a place among the naturalized trees of our woods and

hedges, although the seeds must often be carried there by

ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS. 531

birds. It is remarkable that many of our common vegeta-

bles, the cabbage, the asparagus, the sea-kale, the celery,

are natives of our own shores, never growing spontaneously

out of reach of the salt spray; and yet requiring, when

transplanted into our gardens, no peculiarity of soil or treat-

ment to enable them to support a vigorous existence. These.

are instances of plants to which our climate appears entirely

congenial, and yet which seem as if they could not propa-

gate themselves with us or spread, except under man's pro-

tection. Others, again, appear to require only to get a

footing in a foreign soil to become established in it with

extraordinary rapidity, even to the overmastering or expul-

sion of some of the indigenous inhabitants. When Australia

and New Zealand were first colonized by Europeans, their

flora presented an aspect of perfect strangeness, very few of

the native trees or flowers belonging even to genera common

to Europe. The seeds of some of our English weeds were,

however, introduced, intentionally or accidentally, by the

early settlers; and now the thistle covers the waste lands of

Australia as it does in England, and the clover and the

groundsel everywhere remind the Englishman of his far-

away home, and have become às completely at home as the

mustangs or wild-horses on the pampas of South America.

In our own country a very remarkable instance of this rapid

naturalization has occurred in the case of the Elodea Cana-

densis or Canadian water-weed ; which, introduced not many

years since into our canals from Canada, has now become

such a pest in many places as seriously to impede the navi-

gation. Other instances might be mentioned of foreign

plants introduced with seed having in a very short time be-

come common weeds in all eultivated land. Indeed, many

of the species included in our handbooks of British plants

are so entirely confined to arable land or to spots in the

immediate vicinity of human dwellings, that it is impossible

to say how many of them may be really indigenous to the

soil, and how many naturalized aliens.

532 ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS.

There is no doubt we have a great deal to learn as to the

mode in which plants propagate themselves in nature, which

may be of the utmost value to our gardeners. Every one is

familiar with the fact of the apparently spontaneous appear-

ance in immense abundance, of plants in soil when subjected

to certain farming operations, or on the sowing of some par-

tieular crop. Whenever a new railway cutting or embank-

ment is made, some ,plant unknown in the neighborhood is

almost sure to appear, and either permanently establish itself

or again disappear after a few years. The "sowing" of lan

with lime is invariably followed by the appearance of a crop

of white or Dutch clover. When certain kinds of wood are

cut down it is said that during the next year a particular

species of moss will always be found covering the ground.

Immediately after the great fire of London in 1666, the

London Rocket (Sisymbrium Irio) sprang up in enormous

quantities on the dismantled walls, but is now no longer to

be found in the metropolitan district. The usual theory to

account for this sudden appearance of new plants is the

existence in the soil of large " stores of seeds" ready to ger-

minate on the first favorable opportunity. In his Anniver-

sary Address to the Linnean Society in 1869, Mr. Bentham,

however, pointed out that if this explanation was the true

one, it ought not to depend merely on theory, but would be

capable of easy practical verification. He suggested whether

a hitherto insufficiently acknowledged part in the rapid dis-

semination of plants may not be played by birds. The

whole subject presents a wide field for farther investigation,

and must amply reward any one who takes up the inquiry,

if endowed with the qualities of accurate observation and

patient research.

Mr. Mongredien’s "Planter's Guide” deals chiefly with the

introduction into this country of foreign trees and shrubs.

Within the last twenty or thirty years the appearance of our

lawns and plantations has been greatly changed by the num-

ber of new forms which have made their appearance. The

ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS. 533

stately Wellingtonia, the formal self-asserting “Puzzle-

monkey,” or Araucaria imbricata, the massive Deodar and

Cryptomeria, the elegant Pinus insignis and Cupressus

Lawsoniana, are all still of too recent introduction to permit

us to judge of what their effect will be when grown to their

full stature. The number of cone-bearing trees from all

parts of the world, perfectly hardy in this climate is extra-

ordinary ; and, partly from their graceful shape, partly from

the evergreen character of their leaves, the attention of cul-

tivators has been perhaps too exclusively confined to them,

while deciduous trees have been comparatively neglected.

Recent experiments have shown that in this quarter also

there is abundant room for an extension of our powers of

domestication. In one of the London Parks least frequented

by the upper ten thousand, that at Battersea, great success

has attended the introduction, during the last few years, of

half-hardy trees and shrubs, the precaution being ‘taken of

protecting their roots during winter by a layer of some sub-

stance impervious to frost. The French have paid more

attention to the perfect naturalization of half-hardy plants

than we have done; notwithstanding the greater severity of

their winter, species are grown by them out of doors which

are never seen with us except in greenhouses; even as far

north as Paris, the bamboo, for instance, is frequently met

with in gentlemen’s gardens; and there is no doubt that

many shrubs and herbaceous plants, which we never think

of attempting to grow except under protection, might, with

a very little care and attention, become permanent denizens

of our gardens and shrubberies. Probably few are aware

that the common Camellia will stand with impunity an ordi-

nary English winter. Mr. Mongredien says that "if pro-

tected during the first two or three years after being planted

out, and when once established, it proves in the climate of*

London quite as hardy as the common laurel, and blooms as

profusely as in a conservatory. It is true that, from its habit

of flowering early in the spring, the blossoms are sometimes

534 ACCLIMATIZATION OF FOREIGN TREES AND PLANTS.

damaged by the nipping easterly winds, but this occurs only

in unfavorable seasons; and even if the tree never flowered

at all, its lovely foliage would still make it one of the most

beautiful evergreens of which our gardens can boast. A

plant of the variety Donkelarii has stood out for twelve

years in a garden at Forest Hill with a northern aspect,

without the slightest protection during the severest winters,

and now forms a good-sized bush, densely clothed with mag-

nificent foliage. "The Camellia ought to be planted out in

every garden, and with a little attention for the first year or

two, it would prove quite hardy, at least in the more south-

ern — and each season it — increase in attractive-

ness.”

The climate of the south of Blip is far more congenial

to the introduction of foreign trees and shrubs than that of

the northern counties, not from the greater severity of the

winters in the north, for the minimum temperature of the

year is often as low in Kent or Hampshire as in Yorkshire

or Northumberland, but from the shorter and cooler sum-

mers. Many plants absolutely require a considerable per iod

of high temperature to enable them to ripen their wood suf-

, fiiently to withstand the winter frosts, and especially to

induce them to flower. In many parts of Scotland, how-

ever, the climate is as favorable to horticulturists as in any

district in England. In the Duke of Sutherland's estate at

Dunrobin, on the east coast of Sutherlandshire, Hydrangeas,

myrtles, and other half-hardy plants, grow as freely and as

unchecked out of doors as they do in Devonshire or Corn-

wall. The equalizing effect of the Gulf Stream on the tem-

perature is no doubt the cause of this special immunity from

frost. The proximity of the sea-coast is not generally fav-

orable to the growth of trees and shrubs, not so much from

the saltness of the air as from the prevalence of high winds,

which are very injurious to growing vegetation. Young and

tender shoots which will bear a moderate amount of cold,

will sometimes. be scorched as if by fire by a tempestuous

night. — The. Quarterly Journal of Science.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOOSE IN NEW

ENGLAND.

BY Js A.-ALLEN.

In consequence of their large size, the value of their flesh,

and the pleasure attending their chase, the different members

of the deer family ( Cervidæ) are among the first to disappear

before the progress of civilization in a newly settled country.

The moose (Alce malchis), like the caribou ( Tarandus ran-

gifer), doubtless once existed in Southern New England,

though I have seen no record of its occurrence in the south-

eastern portions since the settlement there of Europeans. It

probably remained in the mountainous districts till a later

period, but for many years has been extinct in Massachu-

setts, Southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and Southern

Maine.

In answer to my inquiries in respect to its present

southern limit in Maine, Mr. J. G. Rich, the well-known

hunter and trapper, writes me in substance as follows: "Al-

though now scarce in that state, it is first met with on the

Penobscot at about eighty miles above Bangor; on the Ken-

nebee north of the Forks in Somersett county ; at Kennebago

Lake, and to the northward of Rangely Lake in Franklin

county; and north of the Agiscohas Mountain on the Marg-

alloway River, in Oxford county.” A few also exist in the

extreme northern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont.

and in the Adirondacks of New York. As the experienced

hunter finds it a not very difficult animal to capture, the

moose unless protected by law, must soon become extinct

throughout the New England States. The legislature of

Maine has already passed a stringent game law for their pro-

tection, which it is to be hoped may be carefully enforced.

Mr. Rich’s long experience as a trapper and hunter in the

Maine woods, has rendered him thoroughly familiar with the

(585)

536 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND

habits of the moose and the other large mammals of this

region; and some years since (in 1860) he published an

interesting series of articles in the now defunct * Bethel

Courier," on the "Wild Animals of Maine," in which he

brought together facts of great value to the naturalist, in-

cluding the most complete history of the moose yet extant.

It is to be hoped that he will be able to soon reissue these

valuable sketches in a more permanent form.

NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND BIRDS OF NEW

JERSEY.

BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D

Tue ornithological fauna of New Jersey having undergone

some changes within the last few years, it may prove inter-

esting to ornithologists to have the results of ten years con-

stant, careful observation as to the movements of our inland

birds; comprising those that are resident; those coming from

the South in the spring, and visitors from the North in win-

ter. Certain species formerly abundant are now rare; and

others formerly but seldom met with, are now abundant.

As an instance we will mention the Summer Red-bird

(Pyranga estiva), which may no longer be accounted a

summer resident, although prior to 1857 it was abundant;

and on the other hand the Snow-bunting ( Plectrophanes

nivalis), which previous to 1865, was a very rare visitor, and

then only during very severe winters, and since has as regu-

larly appeared as the Junco hyemalis. They do not appear,

like them, early in October, but after considerable snow has

fallen. During the winters of '67, '68 and 69, they were

so abundant that hundreds of dozens killed on the outskirts

of the town (Trenton, Mercer Co.), were offered for sale in

our markets. Every additional snow storm seemed to in-

BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 991

crease their numbers. They were very fat, and, considered

as delicate as the Rice bird, Dolichonyx orizivorus, in Octo- .

ber.

It may be proper here to state that the climate, during the

past thirty-eight years, has undergone no change other than

a slight diminution in the quantity of snow. `

The species to which I desire to call particular attention

are

l. Pigeon Hawk (Hypotriorchis columbarius). During

the early autumn, when the Reed-birds (Dolichonices), have

gathered in the marshy meadows, and the Red-winged Star-

lings (Agelaii), fairly blacken the drier lowlands; when

the “Flicker” (Colaptes), is rattling off the thin bark from

the hickories, and congregated Blue-birds twitter from every

panel of fence ; when the unsought Meadow-lark ( Sturnella)

challenges you to discover his retreat, with his saucy “ you-

can't see-me," and timid snipe (Gallinago), with a nervous

"scape" endeavor to avoid the gunner's aim with a most ec-

centrie flight, —then really are the days proper of our birds

of prey, and all of our species, from the magnificent Black-

hawk ( Archibuteo Sancti-Johannis), to the saucy Sparrow-

hawk ( Tinnunculus sparverius), are more or less abundant.

Ever on the alert for wounded birds or rash Meadow-mice,

they sail over the meadows from morning till night and add

no little charm to the attractive scene; but while all this is

the order of the day upon the lowlands, there is skulking

along the fences of the uplands, and about the yards of the

farm-houses, a shy, cunning falcon, ever watching the

farmer’s poultry and pouncing thereupon continually. We

refer to the Pigeon-hawk (Hypotriorchis columbarius), a

species numerous throughout autumn and winter, but espec-

ially interesting from the fact that it remains throughout the

year quite frequently.

In May, 1863, a nest of this species, with young birds

just able to fly, was found by the writer in a large sycamore,

on Duck Island, Delaware River, near Trenton, N. J. In

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 68

538 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND

February (22d) 1865, a nest with eggs was also found by

the writer, in a large elm, on the Shabbaconk Creek, near

Lawrence, Mercer county, New Jersey. Young specimens

in pin-feathers have been killed, in August and November,

by a cousin of the author, which were seen and identified by

the latter.

New Jersey seems to be a sort of neutral ground, as well

as half-way house in the matter of NEGERI RAE distribution.

It is the northernmost limit of the range of some ; the south-

ernmost limit of the range of others ; and occasional breeding

ground of many species. From unascertained, and we im-

agine unascertainable causes, there are many visiting species

that remain or pass on, as it may happen. An: ornitho-

logical note-book will for one year record probably a dozen

species, of which no trace will be found during the following

year, except during their passage north or soothe, In 1859,

a cold storm overtook the Red-starts (Setophaga ruticilla) as

well as many of the warblers. During the following month

(June) there were more nests -of aio about Mercer

county than the writer has found in the ten summers since.

Since 1865, we have seen no Pigeon-hawks between the

dates of March 15th and October 15th. They may have es-

caped our notice, but we opine not. Next summer Mercer

county may have a dozen nests of this species.

2. Red-bellied Woodpecker (Centurus Carolinensis).

This Woodpecker makes its appearance in April very regu-

larly, and reappears in equal or greater numbers in October,

and some few have been met with during the winter. It

seems strange that it does not breed within state limits, but

it certainly does not, except in a few isolated instances ; at

least this is the conclusion the writer has airived at, as in

accordance with his own observations. Correspondents in

the extreme northern and southern sections of the state have

written me, however, that they have found both them and

their nests in May. These letters were from Sussex and

pe May counties. As it undeniably breeds in Pennsyl-.

BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 539

vania and in New York, it is probable that the reason of

the author's failure in finding their nests, except in one in-

stance (vide Geology of New Jersey, p. 765), arose from

the faet that the natural features of the sections of the state

he happened in were not such as attract the species. It,

however, does not breed, as uniformly within state limits, as

the five other species of Picide common to the state.

The cutting off of the heavier growths of timber, and

general alteration, and rendering of the country's surface

tame by cultivation, must have the effect either of changing

the habits of the birds, or of driving them from their former

haunts. . The latter is generally the case, and undoubtedly

is so with reference to this species. The other Picide are

still abundant except two species, Melanerpes erythrocephalus

and Hylatomus pileatus. Throughout the winter the “ Sap-

sucker (Picus villosus), and Downy Woodpecker (P. pu-

bescens), are very sociable, and appear as much at home in

the maples along our town streets, as in the orchards beyond

the village TER

3. Taille Flycatcher (Empidonax Traillii). The great

influx of feathered life that comes to our state in the month

of May is so varied as to species, and the many varieties

having their particular haunts whereto they hie, that it is no

easy matter, even after several attempts, to learn just what

have come; and later in the season just how many have re-

mained. That the list will vary year after year is unquestion-

able; but the species now under consideration is not one that

simply remains during the summer occasionally. They do

so now regularly, although their numbers vary very consid-

erably. During the past seven summers the writer has reg-

ularly met with them. Previous to 1863 they are not

mentioned in any of his note-books. They are, with us, a

very restless, wild bird, remaining among the topmost

branches of tall trees, and in such situations building their

nests.

A nest of the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher ( E. flaviventris),

540 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND

was found at Princeton, New Jersey, during the past sum-

mer, containing young birds. This is the only nest of this

species we have ever seen, but have met with the bird during

the breeding season.

4. Wilson's Thrush (Turdus fuscescens). 5. Hermit

Thrush (Turdus Pallasi?). 6. Olive-backed Thrush ( Tur-

dus Swainsonii).

Early in May, with the Chat (Jcteria viridis), and House-

wren (Troglodytes ædon), and spring birds generally, there

appear in our gardens in town hopping close along the fence,

upon the ground,. modest little Thrushes, that at once attract

the attention of the most careless observers by their general

similarity to the grand Song-thrush (Turdus mustelinus),

only abridged. With the same jerking of the tail, and a

very similar chirp, they industriously overturn the dead

leaves fallen the autumn previous, and gather from beneath

them innumerable spiders, insects, and small worms. Every

half hour this search for food is disturbed by a quarrelsome

Wren, that is generally driven off when the Thrush becomes

fairly angered, when it will resume its hunt for food. They

at this time constantly chirp—never sing. These small

Thrushes are referable to one, or all, as the case may be,

of the three species we have named above.

Wilson's Thrush (Turdus fuscescens) is the less numerous

of the three species previous to June lst, and from then

until October, is the most so. It breeds within state limits

in greater numbers than do the “Olive-backed” or * Hermit,”

but is more retiring in its habits at this time of the year,

and appears to wander very seldom any great distance from

its nest, during incubation, and to remain in the neighbor-

hood of the nest until those of its fellows and the allied spe-

cies have begun to reappear from the north, when again they

frequent town gardens as well as more retired * country "

localities. This species at this writing (November 24th,

1869), is now in Trenton, New Jersey.

The Hermit-thrush ( Turdus Pallasii) is said by Audubon

BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 541

to be quite abundant in New Jersey during the summer

(vide Birds of America, Vol. 11, p. 30), but I cannot en-

dorse this statement altogether; but there may have taken

place a change since he wrote in the movements of this bird,

especially as he gives the northern mountainous portions of

Pennsylvania as the southernmost limit of the breeding local-

ity of the Turdus fuscescens, which is now common to New

Jersey. The “Hermit,” as the writer has met with it, is about

as one to eight in the numbers that breed here, comparing it

with Thrghis fuscescens; and as one to twenty, compared

with the whole number of Turdus Pallasii that arrive here

in May. They disappear from general observation about

June 1st,'and as Audubon has written "throwing itself into

the depths of the forests, there spends the summer montlis,

frequenting the lowest and most shady thickets." During

the latter part of the month of August last, the writer heard

one of these birds singing, for the first and only time. The

song excelled that of Turdus mustelinus. Its usual note is

a shrill chirp, not as frequently repeated as that of Turdus

Suscescens or Swainsonit. They were last seen in Trenton,

New Jersey, on the 20th of November.

* The Olive-backed Thrush (Zurdus Swainsonii) which was

formerly more abundant than of late years, makes its ap-

pearance in May, with the two preceding species, and re-

sembles them in all its habits. It is unquestionably the least

abundant of the three, either as a migratory or resident bird.

During the summer of 1866 (vide Geology of New Jersey,

p. 768) the three species of Thrushes were unusually abun-

dant; and during the summer, many Olive-backed Thrushes

remained and bred. During the past ten years they have

remained as compared with those of their numbers that went

North, about as one to fifty. Certainly the proportion re-

maining is not less.

The habits of these Thrushes suggest the probability that

changes in the climate must be taking place in the northern-

most limit of their range, and to preserve an equal extent of

542 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND

territory as breeding grounds, must come South in propor

tion as they are compelled to relinquish territory at the North.

At all events, there is a steadily increasing list of those mi-

gratory birds that formerly never remained in New Jersey

during the summer, and that now do so, raising one or more

broods during their sojourn. To this statement the writer

would add another, that the number of "isolated instances"

of migratory species remaining, is also increasing. How

many such “isolated instances” must occur to make the

breeding of the bird within state limits a fixed fact? One

nest a year or a dozen? Is it probable that the young birds

raised in an "isolated instance" recognize their birth-place

the ensuing spring and so remain? Thereby we would have

as the result of an accident, a permanent habit established

among that particular species. Would we not?

7. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula). 8: Gold-

en-crested Wren (Regulus satrapus).

In the Kinglets, of all other birds, it would be supposed

that we had those that were strictly, so far as New Jersey is

concerned, a northern-breeding, Jersey winter-sojourning

species; and, indeed, the great bulk of them are so, except

that they go farther South, of course, as well as remain here.

Nevertheless, they too, break in upon long established rules

and the records. of the books, and have both been found

breeding in Sussex county, New Jersey. At least, we have

as evidence of this their presence in June, and also that of

their young in August. Of those that spent the winter and

left in the spring of 1869, there remained probably one per

cent. The impression I may have given of their numbers

during the summer, in the Geology of New Jersey, p. 169,

is erroneous, in so far as one might suppose that they were

common at that season. They are rare, but diligent search

will generally discover two or three in the course of the

summer.

The Kinglets do not seem to be much affected by the

severity of the winter; except that during severe snow-

BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 543

storms they seek the sheltered woods. In the depths of

winter they and the Winter-wren (Troglodytes hyemalis),

the Creeper (Certhia Americana), and the Black-capped

Titmouse (Parus atricapillus), enliven the woods, especially

a wooded hillside with a southern exposure. Such a position

is the most favorable by far, for finding these and other

small winter resident birds. Unlike the Winter-wren C

hyemalis), the Kinglets are not quarrelsome, but quietly

from limb to limb, and tree to tree, flit incessantly, gather-

ing the dormant insect life beneath the bark. To recur to

the subject of their summer sojourn is it fair to suppose that

those that do remain are old and too feeble to perform the

journey north? If so, would they not also be too old for

nidification and incubation? We think so; and so cannot

account for the specimens in pin-feathers.

At this date (November 24th), both species of Kinglet

are very abundant about the trees in the streets, and are

remarkably tame.

9. The Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitherus vermivorus).

10. Blue-winged Yellow-warbler (Helminthophaga pinus).

ll. Golden-winged Warbler (Helminthophaga chrysoptera).

12. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata). 13.

Hooded Warbler (Myiodioctes mitratus).

We have now to take up the question of the geographical

distribution of certain birds in a somewhat different manner,

and to discuss, or rather to assert that we are not entitled to

that usually or heretofore accredited to us. Of the five

species of Warblers we have named above, four (except

Dendroica coronata) have so far eluded us, although we have

Searched earnestly for them, after the spring visitors had

gone. Coming as they did with them, and leaving simulta-

neously we supposed, like them, they, too, had gone north.

This was our experience up to the time of completing our

report for the “Geology of New Jersey.” Three summers

have since passed, and as yet we have found not even one

Specimen of the four species later than June 5th, and no

544 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND 5

authentic nest. Of the many Warblers nests we discovered

there were four that we failed to identify, the birds belonging

thereto not appearing when we had opportunities of watch-

ing. The general appearance of these nests which had eggs

in was that of species common with us, although the eggs

were a little peculiar. We have not had, since 1866, during

any one summer, very good opportunities for hunting birds ;

but being ever on the lookout for the four species in ques-

tion, we think it strange if they did remain throughout the

breeding season sibus our detecting them.

As we have shown that some species that have heretofore

always sought breeding grounds north of us now remain,

therefore why should not others, formerly with us, conclude

also to make a change, even though it be the opposite from

that of their cousins? The SPI of our state has materi-

ally changed in its general aspect within the past thirty

years, since Audubon' visited it; and these changes may

have driven off certain species that probably are abundant

no farther north or immaterially so, say Pennsylvania and

New York. The changes we refer to are the very general

cutting off of the woods, and clearing out of swamps. Cer-

tainly nine-tenths of the shelter that existed for birds in

1840 is now no longer in existence. The question may now

be pertinently asked that if there is less shelter, why are

there more new comers than there are departures of former

residents? This we admit seems strange, and we can only

answer it by asking another question; why should birds so

similar as the Sylvicolide be of so many minds? Again,

the four species in question are not at all sociable in their

habits, and the new comers are; so we can see that the latter

could be contented where the former would not, provided

that the climate suited them.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata), pre-

sents to us an instance of climatic geographical distribution

which has not been published we. believe; and that is, that

from September to June this species has been met with in

ý BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 545

New Jersey, on each of the intervening months. My at-

tention was first drawn to it, by noting several in March,

before any other species of the family had appeared. In

February of the following year one specimen was seen and

shot, and since then (1863), it has been met with sparsely

in November, December, and January. These seattered

Warblers are associated with the regular winter residents,

Creepers, Nuthatches and Titmice.

14. Butcher Bird (Collyrio borealis). We have seen the

Shrike as early as September quite abundant, but more

generally it is in December and January that it is to, be

readily met with. No species visiting us from the North is

more uncertain in its movements, and occasionally a winter

passes without any being seen about. The snowy winters

are those in which they are most numerous, and during such

a winter their peculiarities are more readily studied, as they

are during "open winters" far more shy and retired in

their habits. With us they follow closely after loose com-

panies of Snow-birds (Junco hyemalis), and seem to live

very largely upon them. On the approach of warm weather

they do not all go beyond the boundaries of the state, as the-

writer has seen them in Sussex county during the breeding

season. But very few individuals do remain however.

15. Winter Wren (Troglodytes hyemalis). So like them

in its appearance, and arriving in as large numbers so closely

upon the disappearance of the Troglodytes edon, there is a

wide spread impression among persons with a smattering

of disjointed ornithology, that they are one and the same

bird, and that simply the former habit of migration has

ceased. This absurd idea has gained ground in consequence

of the very great accession to their numbers of the T. hye-

malis that now annually appear. During the winter they

are one of our most numerous species, ranking with Passer-

ella iliaca and Lophophanes bicolor in this respect.

Like the “Shrike” ( Collyrio borealis), they, too, do not

depart wholly from us in the spring. Their numbers with

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 69

546 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND :

us in summer are much less than might be supposed, how-

ever, from my note in the "Geology of New Jersey," p.

116. !

16. Red-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta Canadensis). A careful

observer of the birds that now (November) are enlivening

our generally leafless trees will not fail to notice continually

a woodpecker-like moving little bird that has as unmusical

a note as ever fell upon one’s ear or added cacophonic va-

riety to a harsh mixture, for verily the music of the woods

hath now departed. Of the three birds to which these re-

marks are applicable, we refer particularly to that named

above. A strictly northern species, early in November by

ones and twos they make their appearance in company with

Sitta Carolinensis, and to the casual observer they appear to

be one and the same. In their habits, they, with us, present

nothing distinctive. "They number, we should judge, about

one to twenty compared with “ Carolinensis,” and three or

four per cent. remain during the summer. The locality of

their nests and breeding habits are generally the same as in

S. Carolinensis.

17. Black-throated Bunting (Zuspiza Americana). Al-

though abundant during the summer in Pennsylvania, less

than one hundred miles from the state line (Delaware River),

we had never, up to the end of the summer of 1867, been

able to see these birds later than May, until they appeared

in numbers in September. In the spring of 1868, and again

during the past spring and summer, we found in various lo-

ealities colonies of them breeding in low bushes, several

nests being found in one field. We believe that for some

reason we have not ascertained, they have annually left the

state to breed and then reappeared. They are now with us

(November) and we think that a féw remain during the

winter.

18. Rusty Black-bird (Scolecophagus ferrugineus). Dur-

ing the summers of ’67, ’68 and '69, these birds have been

quite abundant about Trenton, New Jersey, associating with

^ BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 547

the Quiscalus versicolor and Agelaius phomiceus. The

built their nests invariably in trees growing upon the banks

of streams, raising one brood only.

19. Snipe ( Gallinago Wilsonii). We find on conversing

with intelligent observers throughout the state, that in the

immediate neighborhood of all those tracts of meadows

where the Snipe first appear in March, or even earlier, that

quite a number remain during the summer and breed. This

has been our opinion and coincides with the results of our

observations about the extensive tract of meadow extending

along the Delaware River from Trenton to Bordentown, New

Jersey. During the past few years we think the number

remaining has increased steadily. In the autumn many ar-

rive from the North and remain a longer or shorter time

according to the weather. Indeed, so long as the ground is

not too much frozen to enable them to feed, they are abun-

dant; and after the formation of thick ice some still remain,

resorting to spring-holes, and such open water as gives them

a chance to thrust their bills in the mud; but we cannot im-

agine what they then find to eat. During the winter we

have examined the stomachs of many, but the mass contained

therein was invariably so far digested as to render it impos-

sible to recognize anything, except that it appeared to be

largely animal matter.

20. Tell-tale Sandpiper (Gambetta melanoleuca). 21.

Yellow-legged Sandpiper ( Gambetta flavipes).

Early in May, following the course of the Delaware River,

these birds in company with other Scolopacide arrive in the

neighborhood of Trenton, New Jersey, and on the muddy

shores and marshy inland of Duck Island, and the exten-

sive sand bars and grassy islands near and above the city

mentioned, make themselves at home. By the first of June

the great majority have gone North; but with the few

smaller species that remain, and the myriads of Tringoides

macularius, the “Tell-tale” and “Yellow-legs” now reduced

in numbers, associate, and when feeding along the river act

548 NOTES ON CERTAIN INLAND

as guides, apparently, and certainly as guards. Being at this

time of the year very shy, they give notice of the approach

of danger, and leading the flock, “Tell-tales,” * Yellow-legs,”

“Solitaries” and “Teeter,” fly in large circles, at a great

height, and then resume their feeding near where they were

previously to being flushed. During the breeding season,

if frequently disturbed while feeding, they fly to their nests.

Both the “Tell-tale” and SYehor-loge? have been found

breeding in Mercer county, New Jersey; They seek some

quiet nook along a small stream, and in the high grasses

build quite a substantial nest, raising one brood that leaves :

the nest before being able to fly. At this time they are a

dull mouse color, and when approached, squat so closely to

the ground and remain so motionless, that it is nearly im-

possible to detect them.

22. Solitary Sandpiper (Rhyacophilus solitarius). Al-

though the numbers remaining in New Jersey during the

summer vary very much, we have never failed to find them

during June and July, and August brings them again plenti-

fully from the North. They breed as regularly in the state

as the Spizella socialis, if not as abundantly. While the

number of isolated specimens we meet with is large enough

to warrant the descriptive name solitarius, yet many are

seen associated with the other Sandpipers, especially in May

and early autumn.

23. Mallard (Anas boschas). 24. Green-winged Teal

(Nettion Carolinensis). 25. Blue-winged Teal ( Querque-

dula discors). 26. Bufile-headed Duck (Bucephala albeola).

There is generally in April or May a freshet in the Dela-

ware River, and one that usually overflows the tract of

meadow mentioned when speaking of the Snipe (Gallinago

Wilsonii). During the prevalence of this high water the

ducks usually make their appearance in lar, ge gambeta feed-

ing over the meadows in loose flocks, ibd; species being the

Mallard (Anas boschas), Black-duck (Anas obscura), Sprig-

tail = acuta), the two Teal (Nettion Carolinensis and

qo :

Sia | EPS ES or ears a ae

BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 549

Querquedula discors), Shoveller (Spatula clypeata), Widgeon

(Mareca Americana), Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Whistler

(Bucephala Americana), and Bufle-head (Bucephala al-

beola). i |

After the waters have subsided they generally congregate

at the river, and after a week or more, during which time

many are killed, they have left. But not wholly so, as

during the summer months, besides the beautiful Aix sponsa,

. which we always have, there are quite a number of Anas

obscura always to be met with, and not unfrequently the

four species we have mentioned above. Of the four species

the Mallard is the most abundant, and the " Buflle-head"

least. That they all breed in the state there can be no

question. `

We conclude with the above, the selections from our

notes, made in the field and at various times, on the peculi-

arities, if we may call them such, in the ornithology of New

Jersey, with the thoughts they have suggested, believing

they will be of interest to those especially giving attention

to the subject of geographical distribution. Of the three

hundred species of birds included in the ornithic fauna of

New Jersey, of course there are many that are exceedingly

rare in our territory. Among some species there have hap-

pened freaks of habit, unique instances so far as our experi-

ence goes, that though entertaining, are doubtfully of suffi-

cient value to warrant their publication; but as apparently

trivial occurrences have sometimes proved a help in the

solution of difficult questions, we propose to give a plain

narration of one or more such occurrences.

In January, 1869, an acquaintance in hunting over the

Delaware (Trenton) meadows for hawks came to a lively

spring in a hillside having a southern exposure. As he was

about leaving it he flushed from grass still green and long,

a pair of Virginia Rails (Rallus Virginianus), and fortun-

ately killed them. They were both fat, showed no signs of

having been previously wounded and thereby detained, and

550° FORMER EXISTENCE OF LOCAL GLACIERS

flew as rapidly and with as much apparent vigor as in Sep-

tember. Farther search failed to discover others at the

time. Two weeks later three others were killed, and in the

first week of February, one more. These latter specimens

were equally fat and vigorous. No similar circumstance has

come under our notice.

Similar instances of the presence of the Night Heron

(Nyctiardea Gardenii) have three times come under our no-

tice. We have found these birds sitting on trees near

springs, from whence the water flowed swiftly, and about

which the grass remained quite fresh. Leaving them undis-

turbed, but watching them frequently, they were never seen

to leave their perch. From the accumulation of droppings

it was evident that the particular branch even, on which they

were first seen, was that on which they had‘been resting for

some time past. Only single specimens have been thus

found, all male birds, and they have always been much

emaciated. When forced to move they all proved able to

fiy, but returned to their accustomed place, after a circuit-

ous flight of short duration. Were they too old to go South?

Did they get any food? If so, what and where? On dis-

section the stomachs of these three specimens proved to be

empty, but the uppermost droppings were fresh!

THE FORMER EXISTENCE OF LOCAL GLACIERS IN

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.*

BY PROFESSOR L. AGASSIZ.

TWENTY-THREE years ago, when I first visited the White

Mountains, in the summer of 1847, I noticed unmistakable

evidences of the former existence of local glaciers. They

* Read, in the absence of Professor Agassiz, by J. B. Perry, before the American

Association for the Advancement of Science, Troy meeting, Aug., 1870.

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 551

were the more clear and impressive to me because I was

then fresh from my investigations of the glaciers in Switzer-

land. And yet, beyond the mere statement of the fact that

such glaciers once existed here, I have never published a

detailed aceount of my observations, for the simple reason

that I could not then find any limit or any definite relation

between the northern drift and the phenomena indicative of

local White Mountain glaciers; nor have I ever been able

since to revisit the region for more careful examination.

This year a prolonged stay among these hills has enabled me

to study this difficult problem more closely, and I am now

prepared to show that the drift, so-called, has the same gen-

eral characteristics on the northern and southern side of the

White Mountains. Whatever, therefore, may have been the

number of its higher peaks which at any given time, during

the glacial per id; rose above the great ice sheet which shew

covered the country, this mountain range offered no obstacle

to the southward movement and progress of the northern

ice fields. To the north of the White Mountains as. well as

to the south, the northern drift consists of a paste more or

less clayey or sandy, containing abraded fragments of a great

variety of rocks, so impacted into the minutely comminuted

materials as to indicate neither stratification nor arrangement

or sorting, determined by the form, size or weight of these

fragments. ‘Large boulders and pebbles of all sizes are

found in it ilirnghéok its thickness, and these coarser mate-

rials have Writ been ground together with the clay and

sand under great pressure, beneath heavy masses of ice; for

they have all the characteristic marks so unmistakable now

to those who are familiar with glacial action: scratches,

grooves, furrows, ete. These marks are rectilinear, but

they cross each other at various angles, thus showing by the

change in their direction that the fragments on wdiich they

occur, though held for a time in one amd the same position

while its straight lines were engraved upon their surface,

nevertheless changed that position more or less frequently.

552 FORMER EXISTENCE OF LOCAL GLACIERS

A few flatter fragments with more angular outlines show only

one kind of scratches, having evidently been held for a

longer time in the same position. This drift, however it may

vary in its mineralogical components in different localities,

exhibits everywhere the same characteristic treatment over

the whole country, from the shores of the Atlantic to the

Rocky Mountains and beyond. In the White Mountain re-

gion it has the same mineralogical character north and south

of the range, and rests everywhere upon the well known

roches moutonnées, in one word, upon the planed, grooved,

polished and scratched surfaces of the rocks underlying it.

Observation has taught us that materials such as those de-

scribed above, so combined, exhibiting the same characters

in their surfaces and having the same diversity.of composi-

tion and absence of all sorting or regular arrangement, occur

now at the bottom of the great glaciers of our time, and

nowhere else; being found between the ice and the rocks

over which it moves,—the result in fact of the grinding

action of advancing glaciers. On account of their unvarying

position I have called these deposits “ground moraines,”

because they are always resting upon the rocky floor of the

country, between it and the under surface of the ice. Our

typical unaltered so-called northern drift is synonymous

with. the ground moraines of the present day, differing only

in its greater extension. It is in fact a ground moraine

spreading over the greatest part of the continent. All its

characteristics, identical in every detail with those of the.

deposits underlying the present glaeiers, show that it can

only have been formed under a moving body of ice, held

between it and the underlying mass of rock. The great

ice sheet of the glacial period which fashioned the drift

must therefore have been co-extensive with the distribution

of the latter. It is very important to distinguish this drift

from the moraines formed under other circumstances, and

from the so-called erraties and perched blocks. Moraines,

as commonly understood, that is, lateral and frontal mo-

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 558

raines, consisting of loose materials collected along the sides

and at the terminus of a glacier, always indicate, and, where

undisturbed, actually define the margins of a moving mass

of ice; whereas the so-called median moraines PIGH along

the line of junction of the glaciers are carried upon the back

or upper surface of the ice, and always consist of angular

materials, the shape and arrangement of which are deter-

mined by their mode of accumulation. Just as among the

glaciers of the present day we discriminate between ground

moraines, lateral, frontal and median moraines, so must we

also distinguish between the same phenomena in past times.

The glacial period had also its ground moraines, its lateral,

its frontal and its median moraines, its erratics and perched

boulders. But the huge ground moraine of the earlier ice

time stretched continuously, like the ice sheet under which

it was formed, over the whole country — from the Aretics to

the Southern States, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky

Mountains. I do not speak of the western slope of the Con-

tinent, because I have not examined it personally. The

great angular erraties of that period were scattered irregu-

larly over the country, as the few large boulders are icutéétud:

on the upper surface of a glacier now. It is the contact of

the more limited phenomena of the local glaciers which suc-

ceeded this all embracing winter (their lateral, frontal, me-

dian and limited ground moraines and their erratics), with

the more wide-spread and general features of the drift that I

have been able to trace in the White Mountains this summer.

The limits of this paper will not allow me to do more than

record the general facts, but I hope to give them hereafter

more in detail and with fuller illustrations. The most diffi-

cult part of the investigation is the tracing of the erraties to

their origin; it is far more intricate than the identification of

the origin of ordinary drift, or of continuous moraines, be-

cause the solution of the problem can only be reached under

favorable circumstances where boulders of the same kind of

rock can be followed from distance to distance, to the ledge

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 70

554 . FORMER EXISTENCE OF LOCAL GLACIERS

tn situ from which they were detached. Now, in the neigh-

borhood of the White Mountains, we find beside the typical

or northern drift, large erratic boulders as well as lateral,

frontal and median moraines. A careful examination of

these shows beyond a doubt that they came from the White

Mountains and not from the northern regions, since they

overlie the typical drift which they have only here and there

removed and modified. A short description of the facts will

leave no doubt upon this point.

The finest lateral moraines in these regions may be seen

along the hillsides flanking the bed of the south branch of

the Amonoosuck, north of the village of Franconia. The

best median moraines are to the east of Picket Hill and

Round Hill. These latter moraines were formed by the con-

fluence of the glaciers which occupied the depression be-

tween Haystack and Mt. Lafayette, and that which descended

from the northern face of Lafayette itself. These longi-

tudinal moraines are partieularly interesting as connecting

_ the erratic boulders on the north side of the Franconia range

with that mountain mass, and showing that they are not

northern boulders transpor ted sodthewnidj but boulders from

a southern range transported northward. But by far the

most significant facts showing the great extent of the local

glaciers of the White Mountain range, as well as the most

accessible and easily recognized, even by travellers not very

familiar with glacial phenomena, are the terminal moraines

to the north of Bethlehem village, between it and the north-

ern bend of the Amonoosuck river. The lane starting from

Bethlehem street, following the Cemetery for a short distance,

and hence trending northward, cuts sixteen terminal moraines

in a tract of about two miles. Some of these moraines are

as distinct as any I know in Switzerland. They show un-

mistakably by their form that they were produced by the

pressure of a glacier moving, from south, northward. This

is indicated by their abrupt ipei slope, facing, that is,

toward the Franconia range, wbile their northern face has a

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 585

much gentler descent. The steeper slope of a moraine is

‘always that resting against the glacier, while the outer side

is comparatively little inclined. The form of these moraines,

therefore, as well as their position, show that they have come

down from the Franconia mountains. A few details con-

cerning their loeation may not be out of place, in order that

any visitor interested in the facts may readily find them with-

out a guide. The ground to the north of Bethlehem slopes

gently northward, and is not wooded for about half a: mile

rom the street. Following the lane above mentioned, the

first moraine reached skirts the edge of the wood and is near

the houses of Mr. Phillips; there are four others more or less

distinct before reaching a little trout brook called * Barrett's

Brook." The lane descends more rapidly toward the brook

than before, and where the descent begins to be steep the

eye commands the space between the brook and a higher

ground on which stands a house owned by Henry McCulloch.

Over that interval six very fine moraines may be counted,

one of which is perhaps the finest specimen of a terminal

moraine I have ever seen. Beyond McCulloch’s there are

five more, not quite as distinct. The ground beyond the

termination of the glacier of the Rhone in Switzerland is

celebrated for its many distinct concentric terminal moraines ;

but here we have a field over which within the same area a

larger number of such moraines may be seen, and I believe

that a pilgrimage to this spot would convert many a sceptic

to the true faith concerning the transportation of erratic

boulders, especially if he has seen the glacier of the Rhone

and ean compare the phenomena of the two localities.

The Littleton road from Bethlehem, and the roads to Fran-

conia Notch from both these towns frequently intersect ter-

minal moraines. Those familiar with the topography of the

Franconia range and its relation to Picket Hill and the slope

of Bethlehem, will at once perceive that the glacier which

deposited the front moraine to the north of Bethlehem vil-

lage must have filled the valley of Franconia to and above

556 FORMER EXISTENCE OF LOCAL GLACIERS

the level of the saddle of Picket Hill, making it at least

fifteen hundred feet thick, if not more; thicker in short than:

any of the present glaciers of Switzerland. It will be ob-

served, also, that as soon as the northern portion of that

glacier had retreated to the wall which encircles the Fran-

conia Valley on the north, the glacier occupying henceforth

a more protected valley within the ranges, must have made a

halt and accumulated at this point, that is, south and west

of the saddle of Picket Hill, a very large terminal moraine.

This moraine actually exists to the present day, and is one

of the most characteristic features of the distribution of

erratics in these regions. From the moment the glacier was

reduced to the level of Franconia bottom it must suddenly

have vanished entirely from the whole valley, and thus it

happens that no other large terminal moraines are seen be-

tween that just mentioned and the higher range of Fran-

conia.

. Moraines similar to those observed on the northern side

of the White Mountains exist also on their southern side in

the vieinity of Centre Harbor. Lateral moraines may be

traced at the foot of Red Hill, a little above Long Pond ; also

along Squam Lake. Median moraines are very distinct near

Centre Harbor Hotel. "Terminal moraines are also numer-

ous near Centre Harbor-and in the neighborhood of Mere-

dith. At the southern end of Red Hill the lateral moraines

trend westward and show their connection with the terminal

moraines. These facts, taken in their relation with those

enumerated above, show that there were local glaciers, on the

southern as well as the northern slopes of the White Moun-

tain ranges, moving in opposite directions; those on the

northern slope moving northward, and those on the southern

slope moving southward. I have seen no evidence thus far

of these northern glaciers extending beyond the range of

hills which separates the Amonoosuck River from the Con-

nectieut River valley west of Laneaster, nor have I traced

the southern glaciers beyond Lake Winnipesaukee. Traces

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 557

of an eastern glacier moving westward may be seen near the

Twin Mountain House ; but I have not examined that region

with sufficient care to give minute particulars.

All these moraines rnd traces of local glaciers overlie the

typical or northern drift so-called, wherever the latter has

not been entirely swept away by the local glaciers them-

selves; thus showing that the great ice sheet was anterior to

the local glaciers, and not formed by a spreading of smaller

preexisting glaciers. At least, wherever I have recognized

traces of circumscribed glaciers in regions where they no

longer exist, it has always appeared to me that the minor

areas covered by ice were remnants of a waning sheet of

greater extent. If the glacial period set in by the enlarge-

ment of limited glaciers already formed and gradually

spreading more and more widely, as Lyell and the geologists

of his school suppose, the facts which would justify such a

view are still to be made known. I have not seen a trace of

them anywhere. On the contrary, throughout the ranges of

the Alps, in the Black Forest, the Vosges, as well as in the

British Islands, in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, I have

everywhere satisfied myself that the more extensive the

glaciated areas, indicated by polished surfaces and moraines

in any given locality, the older they are when compared with

glacial phenomena eircumscribed within narrower limits.

It therefore follows from the facts enumerated above, as

well as from a general consideration of the subject, that the

local glaciers oF the White Mountains are of more recent date

than the great ice sheet which fashioned the typical drift.

On another occasion I hope to show that the action of the

local glaciers of the White Mountains began to be circum-

scribed within the areas they covered, after the typical

drift had, in consequence of the melting of the northern

ice sheet, been laid bare in the Middle States, in Massachu-

setts and Connecticut, after even the southern portions of

Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine had been freed, and

when the White Mountains, the Adirondacks and the Ka-

558 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

tahdin range were the only ice clad peaks in this part of the

continent.

When in their turn the glaciers of the White Mountain

region began to melt away, the freshets occasioned by the :

sudden large accumulation of water remodelled many of

these moraines and carried off the minute materials they

contained, to deposit them lower down in the shape of river

terraces. I have recently satisfied myself, by a eareful ex-

amination, that all the river terraces of the Connecticut

River valley and its tributaries, as well as those of the Mer-

rimack and its tributaries, are deposits formed by the floods

descending from the melting glaciers. What President

Hitchcock has described as sea-beaches and ocean bottoms

near the White Mountain and Franconia N otches, as well as

in the Connecticut River valley and along the Merrimack,

have all the same origin. The ocean never was in contact

with these deposits, which nowhere contain any trace of

marine organic remains.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

RICHARDSONIA SCABRA, à tropical American Rubiaceous weed, has every

now and then been picked up and sent us from Georgia or Alabama; and

if it is Pursh's Spermacoce involucrata, as is probable, it was introduced

more than half a century ago. It appears that it is now taking wide pos-

very common throughout the piney wood region of Alabama skirting the

Gulf coast. It seems to choke out all the grasses by its more luxuriant

growth. It is known by farmers, as “ Mexican Clover," and may possi-

bly have been introduced during the Mexican war, as it is said to grow

in the rear of Vera Cruz. It is relished by all kind of stock, either green

or cured. à í

In my capacity, during our late war. as botanist and chemist for the de-

me epi hr Ust RRO SE ATE ee

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 559

partment of the Gulf, I introduced the roots of this plant into the supply

table of the Confederate States Army, qs an indigenous succedaneum for

their operation, and I can say that in increased doses it answered every

purpose."

ACCLIMATIZATION OF PALM Trees. — In addition to the date-palm and

the Chamarops, which have long been naturalized on the European shores

of the Mediterranean, M. Naudin has succeeded very well with several

other kinds at Collioure, in the Pyrenees, notwithstanding the exception-

ally unfavorable character of the winter of 1869-70. The severe cold of

the last week o cember, when the thermometer descended to — 4?,

and in some caine even to— 6 was fatal to only one species.

The epee iade iti w of snow Which took place in January, last-

ing for forty-four hours without intermission, was expected to destroy

the young Ru AES dE After, however, they had been entirely cov-

ered up with snow for nine or ten days, so that the boughs were com-

pletely flattened, when the thaw came they almost immediately recovered

their former position, even the green color of the leaves not being in-

jured. 'The same fall of snow caused a fearful amount of destruction

among the olives and cork-oaks. — Quarterly Journal of Science.

ZOOLOGY.

LONDON ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. The — number of animals in the

Zoological Society's Gardens, usually somewhat exceeds 2000. On the

first of January last, it was 2,031, Misc of 598 mammals, 1245 birds,

and 170 reptiles and batrachians, besides the fishes in the aquarium which

do not appear to be included in the annual census. Constant additions

are made to the series, not only by purchase, but also by gifts of corres-

pondents in every part of the world, and by exchange with the continen-

tal establishments. — Nature

Tur NESTING OF THE Fish Hawk. — Mr. Samuels in his ** Birds of New

situated about twenty miles east of Portland, I know of at least fifteen

nests of the fish hawk within one square mile. I think Imight safely call

the number twenty, but as I am writing I can only distinctly remember

three miles, and I can find more places like it.” These nests that Ispeak

of were all on two small islands. These islands I — exclusively, but

Isee no reason why there should not be nests onthe rest also. On

of these islands the great blue heron and the night ei breed together

560 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

in quite large numbers. Mr. Samuels also says that they never molest

their feathered neighbors. I hawe repeatedly seen the fish hawk attack

the night heron and pursue it for a short distance. There seemed to be

no reason for these attacks, but the hawk appeared to be venting his ill-

humor upon the poor heron for want of some other object. Once when

fowl (the distance was too great to make out with certainty what it was),

that was swimming by near its nest. The bird dove and the fish-hawk

hovered about till it reappeared, when it renewed its attack. This per-

formance lasted for a few a and ended by the fish hawk’s desisting

from his assaults. — WALTER WOODMAN.

GEOLOGY.

GLACIERS IN PaLmozo1c TrMES.— In “Notes on an ancient Boulder

Clay of Natal," Dr. Sutherland describes an ancient ** boulder clay," con-

solidated into a clay stone porphyry, ‘“‘ perhaps of Permian age," which

rested generally upon old Silurian sandstones, ps upper surface of which

was often deeply grooved and striated. Mr. T. M'K. Hughes, while ad-

atal beds, under discussion, enormous blocks of rock occurred, which

were sixty or eighty miles from their original home, and still remained

angular; and there was a difficulty in accounting for the phenomena on

anl other hypothesis than that suggested. He still maintained the proba-

bility of the occurrence of. glacial npa not only in the Permian, but

in other ages, as he had done, now fifteen years ago 0.” — Proceedings of

the eire Society of London, bera in Nature

T AND FosstL CoPar. — At the meeting of the Linnean Society

m thy 5th, Dr. J. D. Hooker read a communication from Dr. Kirk,

Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul at Zanzibar, on the distinction between the

recent and fossil states of the resin known in commerce as Copal. One

characteristic by which fossil copal is known from the recent resin is the

so-called **goose-skin." Dr. Kirk has ascertained that the fossil copal

but

pieces of the resin n a very high price even in that country. — Quar-

terly Journal of Science.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.

NINETEENTH MEETING OF THE dapat ASS@CIATION FOR THE ÅD-

VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, HELD aT Troy, N. Y., AUGUST l7TH-4TH.

87 [Abstracts iie papers esi from the October Nwmnber.]

ve a short account of some researches into the

Strait were essentially the same, while many of the adjectives, verbs

and prepositional terminations differed in tribes which were closely adja-

cent. He then gave a description of the multiform changes of the term-

ination of the verbs, showing that the Eskimo of Repulse Bay had, in the

indicative mood of a transitive verb, five forms, only one of which (the

present) had an exact equivalent in English. 'They were the present

form or tense; the past imperfect, indicating an action just MM qp

the past perfect, indicating an action performed long ago; the future, re-

lating to an action about to be performed; and the future perfect, whic

denoted an action to be performed in some future time

The termination alaha with the singular. dual di plural numbers,

and the various cases of subject and object, result in a total number of

indicative mood is eleven hundred and ninety, and of the whole verb is

over three thousand one hundred, including the affirmative, negative, and

eid be forms. The non-transitive verbs have a smaller number.

T “to be” and “to have” are identical and possess very few

ED also gave an account of the anatomical characters of the

e plum

cordon of lamellar gills all around the bo y. His recent investigation of

the anatomy of many species, principally from the American coasts, had

Shown that the value of these distinctions was less than had b een here-

the Li

il sub wW

respectively bear the names of Abranchiata, and ee The

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 71 (561)

562 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

ipt Eu and Polyplacophora, included by Troschel in this order,

o be eliminated; the former having the value of a subclass, while

ae test form a well marked order. He concluded with some remarks

on the synonymy of some of the genera most abundantly represented on

our coasts.

Mr. Tuomas MEEHAN read a paper on “ Nutrition and Sex in Plants."

He referred to his **laws of sex," read last year, and now proposed to

show that a decreased power of nutrition was one of the operating causes

rme

before the supra-pistillate ones opened. These were extremely weak,

owing to the superior absorptive power of the females below them. He

then exhibited some specimens of these, as well as some from a es

large Chestnut tree, which had always borne abundant fruit, but had this

year produced nothing but male flowers. The leaves were all striped

with yellow and green, j inóloatini; as every PEO RAEE gardener knows,

that. nutrition was obstructed. ants over watered, by which the young

feeding roots rotted, always put on this yellow cast. The yellow tint

always followed “ringing” the branches, or any accident done to the

of the agents € Frei on the as of vitality that governed the sexes.

rof. E E of Philadelphia, read a paper on the ** Reptilia of the

'Triassic e cacao of the United States.” He stated briefly the distri-

bution of the rocks of Triassic sui and the localities at which verte-

brate remains have been found. He stated that fourteen supposed species

es = pigs which had not "Pm sb red to ien epotopriMes ons

e then pointed out that three of the ge — Megadactylus of

Hiteheoek, Clepsysaurus of Lea, and Bathygnathus E Leidy, longe to

the order Dinosauria. This he had been unable to determine from the

d r eyen the Ai bones, but from the pis elements.

when in a sitting position. The fore limbs of the Megadactylus were

rather long. The genus Clepsysaurus was, as Lea has pointed out, nearly

related to Paleosaurus of the Bristol (England) conglomerate, while Ba-

thygnathus was also related to the same and to Teratosaurus. Of the

was established on remains from ee PER poni ered by

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 563

eee M. Wheatle ey. A portion of these was — They included

bones of the extremities, pelvis, and vertebrae. The femora measured

about thirteen inches in ——— It was bitis Belodon ote us.

wiTh

ican Trias that such was the case. us there was much greater diffi-

culty in distinguishing the Crocodiles and Dinosauria of the Trias, than

those of the Cretaceou This was to be es lly seen in the forms o

the vertebræ, and the femora. The Rhynchocephalia and Thecodontia

were Triassic groups still more generalized and intercalated between the

preceding and the later orders Lacertilia and Crocodilia. In the case of

^ period

Sandstone and Montrose Sandstone of Vanuxem with the Hamilton and

The sandstone referred to had been termed in the annual reports of Mr.

Vanuxem the Montrose sandstone and Oneonta sandstone; the former a

well marked locality in Pennsylvania; the latter n New Y York. This

sandstone had been regarded as the terminal rock ee the series; and as

section from near the ind to the top of the dign without recognizing

any important subdivisio

In the final nom NN. the term Pita group was adopted for the

entire series. A red sandstone, which had been observed farther to the

. Westward, along the Tioga River and ipo the borders of New York and

Pennsylvan ia, containing "eats and bones of Holoptychius ae regarded

as part of the same group. Since this red sandstone of Tioga was

known to thin out to the westward, it gave support to the hypothesis

that’ it was only the thinning western extension of the formation which

was so largely developed in the Catskill Mountains.

In the central and western parts of the State the limits of the Hamilton,

Portage in Chemung groups, had been pretty well defined, the two latter

occupying a great breadth in the southern counties. In the coloring of

the map the great breadth given to the Catskill group in the eastern coun-

ties reduced the Chemung and Portage to a narrow belt giving an incon-

564 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

gruous aspect to the area, especially when we recognize the generally ac-

cepted inse that the source of the sediments has been to the eastward

of these its.

- A few years after the close of the survey it was ascertained that in

Delaware nu lying above the sandstones of Oneonta, there were sev-

eral hundred feet of gray greenish and other sandstones and shales, con-

taining the characteristic fossils of the Chemung group

At the same time it was ascertained that the beds below the Oneonta

sandstone in Schoharie and Otsego counties contained no characteristic .

i i han

cing t

common characteristie species of that group. Waiting opportunities for

farther investigation the results of these observations were not published,

though the error has been partially corrected in the geological map pub-

lished by the Geological Survey of Canada.

Later observations have served to verify the earlier conclusions, but

there has been no opportunity of tracing out in a complete and satisfac-

tory manner the limit of this sandstone formation

An examination of the Hamilton group along the valley of the Scho-

harie creek, has shown that the more argillaceous deposits, with marine

fossils, are succeeded by coarser beds with remains of land plants, and in

the neighborhood of Gilboa numerous trunks of large tree-like plants

have been found standing in the position in which they had grown. The

entire thickness of the formation is not less than three thousand feet, and

this is succeeded by the red and gray sandstone and shales originally de-

scribed as the Oneonta and Montrose sandstones

The entire thickness of this sandstone in Schoharie and Delaware

counties has not been ascertained, but in the adjacent county of Otsego

it is not less than five hundred feet, and is characterized by the diagonal

lamination especially in the gray beds, and many of the layers contain

remains of land plants.

The characteristic fossil Cypricardites * of Vanuxem is found in a shaly

bed at the bas the sandstones in Richmond's quarry near Mt. Upton,

immediately ife a plant bed which, so ee; as at present determined,

belongs to the upper part of the Hamilton p.

iai: sandstone so far as observed, Pie contains remains of fishes, and

ong them scales of Holoptychius, but all those seen had proved of

in species from those of the Tioga red sandstone.

Lyin he south and above the sandstones we have the series of beds

before referred to. containing the characteristic fossils of the Chemung

group, and above this the sandstone and conglomerate of the top of the

Catskill mountains.

ia EE E tincidu

Cairill on.

si C. angusta are both varieties of form due to pressure.

The shell. ae is not a true Pa e

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 565

The parallelism of the groups in the eastern and western parts of the

State may be thus presented : —

Old Red Sandstone of Tioga, etc Catskill Mt. aperi:

Chemung Group, Chemung Gro

Portage Group, Oneo ta Sandstone,

Hamilton Group, Ha "icm Gro

In the central part of the State there is no sandstone iid the char-

ceous matter, and the absence of the evidence of cross currents pro-

ducing diagonal virens anie d the ise of the same epoch to be

Spread out evenly o

We are not yet m teva to dl that the Oneonta sandstone of

followed the epoch of the slates and flagstones of the Portage as seen o

EGERIBASPR ade a communication on ‘ Boulder-trains in Berk-

Shire county, spinis iP " In Richmond, Berkshire county, Mass.,

here are six or seven nearly parallel trains of angular boulders, two of

them particularly well defined. Attention was called to them years ago

by Dr. Reid of Pittsfield. They have been also referred to, and in part

phép by Sir Charles Lyell, and the late President Hitchcock.

e trains originate partly in a range of hills consistiug of chloritie

naan, C o

of the larger for some dise iens 'Their direction during the first

heir course is south about 55° east. Somewhat farther on, they

uth.

President Hitchcock prosening that there was a submergence of the

566 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

region, speaks of these lines of boulders as osars. Sir Charles Lyell also

supposing a depression, thinks these boulders were transported by coast-

ere being no evidence of any eerie depression of this part of

the continent during the Glacial Period, even if a submergence would

afford an adequate opti which it rane not, how are we to account

for these boulder-tr.

As the vast ice- Bee which spread over the country gradually wasted,

the FEL din from which these boulders were derived would be at last

laid bare. 'The ice no longer passing directly over the tops of the hills,

here is eirik that the mass was parted, moving around the north-

septum. and South: westers sides of the several peaks. Of course, under

n thickness, and continuing to thaw, the boulders would be carried for-

ward for some dett and finally left above the typical drift, as we now

d As the ice wasted there would be changes in the direction of

the moving mass, determined by the character of the un nderlying surface

of solid rock, thus I us to account for the variation in the course

of the boulder-tra

Such, in brief, is Bd explanation suggested for these trains of angular

Professor ORTON presented a paper ‘On the Evidence of a Glacial

Epoch at the Equator,” geriet controverted Professor Agassiz's theory of

the glacial origin of the Amazon Valley. He briefly reviewed the state-

The o

si and plainly siiis that side toni of the Amazon, like the Pampas

Plata as shown by Darwin, is an estuary creation, or the relic of à

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 561

not visible, and in their stead extinct shells are abundant. Professor

Agassiz has declared that the Amazon clays are “ drift" from the Andes

transported by glaciers and ground down to an impalpable powder. But

these fossils, some of them very delicate, are marvelously well preserved.

Two explanations of the existence of saya fossils have been given: (1)

That they are accidental, being fragments of some formation elsewhere,

mingled with the drift. But this hypothetical formation cannot be found.

x e

not be later than the Pliocene. Moreover, the terraces which would re-

sult from submergence are not discernible within or on the borders of

the valle

Professor Orton then alluded to the glacial transmigration hypothesis,

ite t

Andean highlands, that there had been no mingling of plants such as

would have resulted had a vast glacier covered the whole or even the

greater part of North America. And the conclusion reached was that

facts were incompatible with the existence of an equatorial glacier and

even of an intertropical cold epoch.*

Mr. UR W. Ray — United Stat es Commissioner of Mining, gave a

cific slope. The speaker, to save the time of the meeting, condensed

em vts rapid talk the substance t his "e papers on ** The Lava-ducts

— epee 575 “ The Great Salt Marsh of panes Peak,.

hanes Ney The mer, he said, was a picture from the heart

of the great prec ptione of the North, and the latter an equally

characteristic scene from the region of solfataric and thermal-aqueous

metamorphosis in the South. The accumulation of ice in the subterra-

nean lava- euni the disappearance in them of streams (“lost r rivers”),

various other features were eet vente to. The speaker ascribed

ihe ikalia deposits of the Ne Bs n to the decomposition of the

soda-felspar abounding in the rocks, "ea means of hot gases and waters,

Professor C. H. Hrrcucock presented a paper upon ** The Geology and

Topography of the White Mountains." The topographical results were

embodied in a model which he exhibited — a raised model on the scale of

three-fourths of an inch to one thousand feet. This model is about four

b aes fossils aboye €— were given to PE. Conran for RES nein He eee eia

Seven extinet, I , of which only three are no:

nted. The species are 7saca Ortoni, I. lintea, Liris daga ee don crassilabra, E. Mis:

paea sulcatus, Dyris gracilis, Neritina Ortoni, Bulimus — Pachydon (Anisothyris)

tenuis, P. carinatus, P. mih wus, P. Mid P. a ete. F. vafa $, P. altus, and a bivalve allied

to Mulleria, Duplicates f Professor Orton.

568 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

feet long, and shows the territory bounded by the Ellis, Saco and Peabody

rivers. It is colored to show the distribution of the several formations.

M in

ries; (2) granite; (3) e tcs si granites and traps; (4) Staurolite and

andalusite rocks belonging to t 06s group. he first group composed.

main range of mountains in sies from north to south, namely: Mad-

ison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Franklin, Pleasant,

Clinton, Jackson and NA bster. Contrary to previously received opinions,

it was said that the structure of this ridge is anticlinal and not synclinal,

and the force crowding it up came from the north-west instead of south-

east, as is the case everywhere else in the country. The relations of the

granite to the schists is interesting. Ir is plain that the immense d

ea was eruptive, for at the boundary of the two en

granite had been injected into the schists. In the Saco hin ene di

Notch, the granite occupies the lower area, and the schists upon th

is the softest rock among the mountains, and therefore it is Ofen chiefly

in the valleys. These valleys have very abrupt sides, thus resembling the

Yosemite a in California. The Professor could not agree with the

theory of the California geologists, that the bottoms of these valleys had

fallen out, sis rather believed in the old-fashioned theory of denudation.

The Coós group is à new one, it is not less than ten thousand feet in

Teten ap is dpi of à quartzite Pin limestone with staurolite

slates and schists. It is characterized by the presence of silicates of

alumina destitute of — — and the minerals are staurolite, andalusite,

and kyanite. Formations containing these minerals occur in New Hamp-

shire, Vermont, Medus Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,

and they were referred to this new group. The same had been described

by te Hunt a eeks previous in the ** American Journal of

cience” as the Terranovan series, and some fossils of the am Pe-

ri ad been found in it in Nova Scotia. It would hence appear that this

ciently supposed position of the inita System. — system had been

results would not follow the proposal ms ae new Coós Grou

e next exhibited specimens of a new species of idee (Acidaspis

ieu from New Jersey, obtained from a boulder which was trans-

ported from New York by the glaciers. It came from the Marcellus slate.

No other species of this genus had derer num been found above the Scho-

harie grit.

Professor C. H. Hrrcncock presented an argument to prove that a large

portion of the North American Continent had been submerged beneath

the interior along the great lakes. These were specified by name and

locality, extending up the Hudson River and Champlain valley and the

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 569

lakes of Ontario and Erie to Minnesota. He argued that these plants

were originally introduced by natural emigration along an ancient estuary,

and that many of them remain to the present day in consequence of the

M of conditions favorable to their preservation. He supposed

at the plants about the salt springs in Northern New York were intro-

— in the same way. The pre-glacial flora has been completely de-

Stroyed by the'intense cold, and while a new creation might explain the

existence of salt water plants about the springs, it would not show w

these marine plants could exist in the far interior. There should be a

questions, and therefore it was urged "o botanists should faithfully pre-

serve the localities of all their specimen

Professor T. SrERRY Hunt said the ecd of black iron sand upon

many sea beaches has long been noticed both in Europe and America.

Their origin is to be found in the crystalline rocks, from the disintegration

of which these sands have been derived. The action of the waves, b

virtue of the greater speci vity of these sands, effects a process of

concentration, so that considerable layers of nearly puré black sand are

ften found on shores expos nd & These black sands vary

New England and the Gulf of St. Lawrence consist of magnetic oxyd of

garnet, the purest specimens holding from thirty to fifty per cent. of mag-

netic grains. Such sands have long been es as sources of iron in

India, where they are directly converted in mall furnaces into malleable

rking it were, however, made in cont game onn., where the Rev.

he London Society of Arts in 1761 awarded a medal to Mr. Elliot for his

discovery. The working, however, was abandoned, and for a century no

ttempts were made in America to use these sands. Some four years

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. T2 *

510 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN. ASSOCIATION

since the large quantities of them in the lower St. Lawrence attracted

attention, and successful trials were made for their reduction in the

bloomary fires of Northern New York, after which an establishment for

working them was erected at Moisie in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where,

under the direction of skilled workmen from Lake Champlain, the treat-

ment of these iron sands has been successfully carried on. These sand

ores are remarkably free from both sulphur and phosphorus, and hence

yield an iron of great purity and toughness. e working is effected in

forges like those used on Lake Champlain, and prs no difficulties.

Prof. W. C. Kerr remarked ** On some points in the Stratigraphy a

Surface Geology of North Carolina." ispum wo ibn narrow belts piedi

of coal-bearing triassic rocks in North Carolina, lying, nearly parallel, in

a direction a little north of east, A: separated by an elevated and rolling

tract of metamorphie and granite rocks sem to seventy-five miles wide,

are found to constitute the fragmentary fringes of an eroded inticindi

the one dipping north-west at an angle of 30? to 75?, the other south-east

ism plateau or mountain chain lying eastward, between the mesozoic

e petens which **has left no sign" of its existence but this. I

jum found no trace of glacial action in North Carolina, even in the most

elevated mountain plateaus, but abundance of Quaternary gravels, whose

position is such as to negative the existence of glaciers in iM latitude,

y ad cut

position is very Viet at an elevation of more than one thousand feet

above the sea, and near the top of a hill one hundred feet above the val-

ley of the Catawba Sce (which is one mile distant), and twenty-five

miles from the Blue Ridge. It is covered and protected by eight to ten .

feet of fluvial gravel and sand. It is peculiar also in its contents, being

made up in considerable part of drift wood, and containing abundance of

pine and hemlock cones (there being no hemlock forests nearer than the

Blue Ridge) and other seeds, and also of charcoal, partially burned pine

knots and charred logs.

Another peculiarity is that the peat, occupying the middle of the nearly

vertical face of the cut d Arce vas deep), and being exposed but

one season, has put forth an abun > swamp vegetation, €— of

carex, juncus, and several etna ws Swamp grass and wee

There are evidences in eastern North Carolina of A oscilla-

tions of sea level during the prehuman period (probably synchronous

with the Da epoch). The accumulations of stratified gravels on

the summits and slopes of the hills, at an elevation of more than three

hundred feet above the present sea level, extending entirely across the

State, at a distance of one hundred and on to one hundred and

fty miles xtent

direction, while the minimum of elevation is bug by the excavation

of the channel of the Cape Fear River (e. g.) for more than thirty miles

to a depth exceeding one hundred feet below the present tide level.

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 511

Professor W. C. Kerr on the **Probable Origin of the South Carolina

Phosphates.” The physical circumstances of tie deposition of these

beds in their present situation, have been explained in a manner suffi-

terials which compose them,—the elimination and accumulation of such

enormous quantities of phosphate of lime in so peculiar a situat

The recent discovery of the singular Brachiopod, Lingula tasters ig

in the shoals along the sounds of North and South Carolina furnis

lution of the mystery. This shell, it will be remembered, consists of phos- .

phate instead of carbonate of lime. Its habitat is at the precise level of

eA l

loses its form and furnishes only its solid material, to be agglomerated by

some concretionary or other chemical or chemico-mechanical force into

the nodular masses which are so peculiar to this formation

THE MICROSCOPICAL SUBSECTION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR

THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, Which was initiated at the Salem meeting

last year, was continued with renewed interest and increased numbers at

the Troy meeting this summer, and promises to be a permanent and use

ful division of the Association. Under the Constitution, as amended this

year, this department is removed from Section B (Natural sane and

recognized as Subsection C of Section A (Mathematics and Physics

croscopy applied, the use of the instrument, being chiefly a department

of Natural History. To avoid confusion at this Spi nesa of Natural

History papers designed for this department should n a memorandum

to that effect upon their MSS., as a request to the doen committee to

Professor S. S. HALDEMAN, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, was elected

Vaid Chairman this year; and Dr. R. H. Warp, of Troy,

Secret

petals this subsection, having been recently formed, has necessarily

fraction, and which cannot fail to be a valuable addition to the resources

f the working microscopist; and **on the Illumination of Binocular Mi-

oscopes," by Dr. R. H. Ward, of Troy, suggesting convenient means of

: a illumination in the naturalist’s every day work with the micro-

cope, and urging that professional microscopists make their Lea

512 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

more distinctly felt in regard to the lower classes of instruments that are

furnished to be iras and particularly in regard to popularizing the

Binocular Microscope.

In exhibiting photographs by Dr. Maddox of the Podura scale, Presi-

dent Barnard gave an exhaustive review of the discussion in regard to th

structure of the fine The traditional ‘note of exclamation,” or goose-

difficult with sufficiently high powers. Professor Smith, of Kenyon Col-

lege, orta to make the objective its own illuminator. Others have

replaced the mirror M placed behind the lenses by a plate of glass or à

prism ; ne all these means P^ a glare of light by reflection from the sur-

panad the lenses. The speaker had proposed

mirror behind the outer pair, an in-

mele abs rkuhn (fig. 100) which works exceed-

ingly well with medium powers, say one-third

` Fig. 100.

- ipiertind in high powers, As ared

si above the front pair), it Ped more light, and

illuminates from any part or all parts of the

circumference at will; on the other hand it is

ut oe less easily applied, requiring the front lens to

em ed in glass in : i

shown in the photographs where the wedge-

pushing an pasakose far beyond its ordinary power were received with

general distrust.

In the itc which followed the reading of this paper, Dr. Ward

remarked that the production of a beaded appearance, as a purely optical

effect, should be —À am longer sienne vis rather an occasional

accident to persons using high powers. As reme instance, in the

case of a coarse and pisci si ese he aria vm while experiment- :

ing upon an elater of Marchantia polymorpha, that beautiful double spiral

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 518

was *'resolved " into three rows of “beads” or ** hemispheres," perfectly

distinct and unmistakable, which occupied, of course, the position of the

middle and edges of the spiral. They were illuminated by parallel light,

very enoda under a 1-15 objective of 175° worked at a power of 3,000

diameters

Mr. E. Bicknell, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge,

Mass., exhibited some diatoms recently thrown up by the sea at Marble-

head, Mass. The deposit first found belonged to brackish water, as in-

proof of the recent encroachments of the ocean upon the shore-line in tha

vicinity.

The Test Plate of Nobert, who has now “gone to the war,” and Dr.

Woodward’s photographs of the same, were exhibited by Dr. Ward,

chiefly in the interest of that part of the audience who were not profes-

sional Agee eis and might be unfamiliar with these wonderful works

ists had seen the eden jio with powers of only five or six hundred

diameters, In regard to the use of photography as a test of structure

under high powers and difficult cireumstances, we may learn a lesson

lines, which manifestly have nor da ta ce to the appearance of

Scratches on glass as seen under suitable pow

Dr. Ward had also been Gia te the idees of seeing two planes of

the object at the same time with the Wenham's Binos ular. The eye -pieces

conjugate foci below do not coincide. Some microscopists have attri-

buted much of the stereoscopic effect to this fact, which, however, does

difference of planes is most considerable), either to the stereoscopic ef-

fect, or to the increased distinctness of definition above and below the

plane of most perfect vision.

An abundance of instruments were furnished by members to illustrate

their discussions, or for the general work of the subsection. The first

class stands were mos stly of the make of Powell and Leland, sus Beck, and

Crouch, of London, of Nachét of Paris, and of Zentmeyer in this coun-

try. The “Jackson” model of stand, with a curved arm, seems to be

514 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

growing in favor here; and it is to be hoped that those makers who have

heretofore made only one style of stand will soon offer both; so that buy-

ers can choose their style of stand irrespective of their choice of makers.

In objectives and accessories Tolles; Wales, Zentmeyer, Grunow, Spencer,

to be assumed by all members as a settled question. Few members, o

the other hand, fall into the present fashion of high power objectives, —

preferring to use lenses of 1-15 or 1-16, and downward, and gain greater

amplification by other means than by ^pnind the nominal focus of the

objective.

Dr. Josiah Curtis exhibited a micro-telescope, or microscope and tele-

scope combined, made to his order by Tolles. It is an ordinary Cutter's

pound microscope acts as an erecting eye-piece. Furnished with a proper

support this makes an admirable pocket telescope, defining well at pow-

ers of forty or fifty diameters.

Mr. Tolles had mounted a 2 1-2-inch lens with the society screw on each

side of the shoulder, so that it can either be screwed on in the usual posi-

giving, by approaching the eye-piece, about the power of a 4-inch lens at

e usual distance. Microscopists have been accustomed to gain a lower

power than could be focussed by their rack, by screwing a low objective

not be used with the ordinary Binoculars. 'The lens, though of second

class, was very good. i

r. Tolles has also arranged a 4-inch objective in which a short work-

ing focus is obtained by a reducing lens in the rear. This reducing lens,

for convenience, is mounted in a sliding tube, and gives when pushed in

a fair 3-inch power. As a 4-inch the combination is extrem mely good. _

Mr. Bicknell applies this expedient to ordinary objectives; placing in

the draw-tube, instead of the concave amplifier sometimes used, an ach-

pene convex lens as a reducer, with which an extremely low power

n be obtained with good definition, flat field, and working focus not in-

wr tibeten long. A4 1-2 or 5-inch lens (solar focus) may be used. A

ow objective of two combinations may be sii is using one part as an

objective: and placing the other in the draw-tu

r. Ward had contrived a “clinical” ipse for use with the mi-

donc of the same name. The clinical microsc cope is very convenient

for examining mounted specimens, which is exactly what it is not wanted

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 515

for— except by teachers. He had used it for years in teaching, but not

much as a ‘‘clinical.” A glass slide to hold the object, with a thin cover

laid on by capillary attraction, is well for once, but does not satisfy a

busy man. It applies to too limited a range of objects; and the cover is

inconvenient to carry, awkward to handle, and easy to break. He had

used Wenham's compressor until lately, but that is inconvenient under

the springs of the “clinical” stage. The new compressor, figured below,

is simple (and d inexpensive) and can be used with great bes

both for clinical and class use, and for much of the ordinary work of th

microscopist. It is E except upon a large stage, in hii case

it would require a few pins to serve as legs. The want of parallelism is

less than in most compressors, and is not inconvenient in clinical use.

The two brass plates seht entirely for apto the object or clean-

ing the glass. The upper plate fits into a notch filed in a ledge at the left

of the lower, the Prata of the two plates ss secured by a pin

through the lower and a notch in the upper. The screw which attaches

them at the right is permanently fastened in the upper plate by a groove

‘sia a pin. It has a coarse thread, which may be cut double to screw out

. more rapidly, or — AG may be reversed near the centre so that it will

at the same tim e the upper se depress the lower plate. Should a

steadier motion [n pecus a spring may be riveted upon one plate to

press against the other. The rie i is adjusted for a glass of 1-20

Fig. 101.

mess

Ward's Clinieal Compressor.

inch below the object and 1-125 above, cemented upon the inner surface of

the brass plates. This is strong enough to carry in the pocket safely; it

can also be used with the parabolic illuminator, or with any objective or

achromatic condenser except those of large angular aperture. uld

thin glass be required for any purpose, a glass or tin cell of sufficient

thickness to e putres should be cemented on one of the

plates, or both if necessary, and the thin v fastened upon the rim thus

form Should no cell of UE thickness be at hand, select a glass

cover of the required thickness, fasten i iih marine glue on one of the

plates, punch out with a file the part corresponding to the opening in the

plate, and then fasten the thin glass with Canada balsam upon this extem-

zed

Ti Mw

Mr. E. B. Benjamin, of New York, exhibited a microscope by Gundlach

of Berlin. This was a sma cheap instrument, according to the

516 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Hanaman and others. They have already vindicated their name in this

sense as well as at home.

r. Charles Stodder, of the Boston Optical Works, exhibited Cutter's

rn microscopes, and Tolles’ students’ microscopes, of various degrees

f comp

them. In buying a students' microscope, however, the beginner should

always be advised, in the writer's judgment, to have it —€— witha

first class l-inch objective or something very near it. So much of his

early work is, or ought to be, done with this power, and his success as

well as pleasure depends so much upon its light and ae that it

ought to be the last point economized upon. The sliding stage upon some

of these instruments would seem to be easily convertible, for those inim

wish it, into a White's lever stage.

Mr. F. Miller, of New York, exhibited a good students' microscope of

very low cost. It is chiefly ewe for its large body, which admits à

large ions piece and gives a good r. Miller also exhibited excellent

illuminating prisms and various accessories and objects, including Mól-

ler's beautiful type pla

Crouch's educ E rhet abs had a larger body than even Miller's,

admitting the use of the same eye-pieces as the first class stands: e

y Swift of

eme was exhibited by Dr. Ward. Also Murray and Heath's *sea-

side.

Of the general business of the subsection the most important was the

appointment of a committee to report in relation to uniform standards in

the power of a; eye-pieces, etc. President F. A. P. Barnard of

New York, Mr. E. Bicknell of Cambridge, apes ss., Dr. R. H. Ward of

Troy, N. Y., Professor C. E. Pickering of Bost s Prona r O. N. Rood

of New York, and Dr. Josiah Curtis of Plum. diese di this committee.

ANSWERS TO eS E

oo. 4h d e Humming Bird you describe is the male of the common Ruby-

throated H e Bird erre moi L.) The female and "cs eru are without

the yy eek rlet color on roat seen in the males fter midsummer the

paoata throated individuals are d Rd numerous thon the baies There is but one

species of Humming Bird in the Northern States. — J. A. A

J. M. J., Halifax.— We will endeavor to name the collection of marine invertebrates

you

8: A. W., Bucks eos Pa. — Your fern is Osmunda regalis. —J. L

S. L., Freehold. N. J Piola: con hag fos is eg pa ees rape Surak, which was in-

troduc ed Ears Togian and t 0 Quebe aa R statea to to de estroy annually

cabbages in de lreid da m city. It thence spread into

New ots and is now common about New York. d Philadelphia. It feeds con-

€— on the heart of enden ere | yiee the two other species of Pieris, P. Protodice

virak pia orn -— yd upæ of a ies of Syrphus fly, which feeds.on the

plant. lice, Sca d wir on the ses in dio saiem Tihe 8 yrphus fly is of course

AES We

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV.— DECEMBER, 1870.— No. 10.

CTP ORDOD >

THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES.

BY J. A. ALLEN.

PnosasLY the vegetation of no two adjoining regions,

both of which are situated between the same parallels of

latitude and at nearly the same height above the sea, presents

greater differences than exist between the vegetation of the

fertile prairies of the Mississippi Valley. and the forest re-

gion that extends from their eastern border to the Atlantic

coast. To one who has always lived amid the diversified

scenery of the Eastern or Middle States, where distant

mountains almost everywhere bound the view, and forest-

crowned hills and cultivated valleys so agreeably alternate as

to dispel the possibility of monotony, a first view of the

primitive prairies, —

** The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,”

as Bryant has so felicitously described them, which

* stretch

In airy undulations far away

the ocean, in his gentlest swell,

Stood still, with is rounded billows fixed

And motionless forever," —

is extremely novel and full of interest. But the prairies,

“unshorn” of their primitive wildness will soon be things of

the past, so great are the attractions they hold forth to the

emigrant, and so rapid the transformation that follows their

oes disks cM E AR ML

Lustziot

Entered aocordine to A "Ad TD. he tha D A & ha fikia OUR

* AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 78 . (577)

518 THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES.

settlement. Already there are few localities east of the

Missouri where their primal simplieity and beauty have not

already been more or less modified.

Great changes in the vegetation of a new country neces-

sarily result from its settlement by an agricultural people,

but the rapidity and ultimate completeness of the transform-

ation greatly depend upon the relative susceptibility of the

country to cultivation. Since vast areas of the prairies

offer no obstruetions to the revolutionizing plow, the aston-

ishing rapidity of the change in the flora that follows its

march can scarcely be conceived by those who have not

witnessed its actual progress. No sooner is the sod inverted

than scores of species of the original and most characteristic

plants almost wholly disappear; in a few years the luxuriant

wild grasses, overtopped with showy flowers, varying the

hue of the landscape with the advancing season, have be-

come supplanted by the cultivated grasses and the cereals,

and that constant scourge of the agriculturist, the ever intru-

sive weeds. The timber no longer remains confined to

narrow belts skirting the streams, for besides the newly-set

orehards, rapidly growing kinds of trees, planted to afford

shelter from the fierceness of the summer's sun and the fury

of the bleak winter winds, everywhere diversify the land-

scape, while comfortable log cabins, or neatly painted, com-

modious houses give an air of civilization to districts that

at no distant period were the undisturbed home of the buf-

falo and the elk.

Far more slow has been the change at the eastward,

where the forests have slowly yielded to the axe of the

woodman, and where much of the land is too uneven for

cultivation. Here the forests, though in the longest set- .

tled districts perhaps once or twice removed, still cover no

inconsiderable part of the country, and consist, for the most

part, of the indigenous trees in nearly their original propor-

tions, while the lesser shrubs and the herbaceous plants they

primitively sheltered are still persistent, and to a great de-

THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES. 519

gree occupy the neglected pastures, the roadsides and the

waste nooks of the farms. In short the transformations of

the flora of the prairies are often far more complete after a

period of settlement covering but two decades, than are to be

seen in those portions of New England which have been

occupied by Europeans for as many centuries.

In the present article it is proposed to sketch briefly some

of the peculiarities of the primitive flora of the Upper Mis-

sissippi prairies,* which not improperly, either in respect to

their fertility under cultivation, or the luxuriance and beauty

of their native vegetation, have been styled the "Garden

of the West." The wild plants of the prairies present at

every season features peculiarly attractive. In spring ane-

mones and violets, as elsewhere, are among the early flowers,

the latter of which are particularly numerous and character-

istic, peering brightly out among the young fresh blades of

grass. To these soon succeed several species of beautiful

phloxes, the painted cup, and the prairie rose. Later still ^

appear the purple and the white turban flowers (Petaloste-

mon violaceus Michx., and P. candidus Michx.), the ceano-

thus, the hoary-leaved, purple-flowered lead plant (Amorpha

canescens Nutt.), the purple cone flower (Echinacea angus-

tifolia DC.), and, from its abundance perhaps the most con-

spieuous of all, the beautiful Coreopsis palmata, which here

and there gives its own bright color to large patches of the

undulating landscape. Blazing stars of several species

(Liatris squarrosa Willd., L. pycnostachya Michx., L. sca-

riosa Willd.), with their long nodding spikes of rose-purple

flowers soon follow, ranking among the most showy of the

many showy plants. To these are soon added sunflowers of

various species, most common of which are the Helianthus

rigidus Desf., the H. giganteus Linn., the H. grosse-serratus

Mart., the Actinomeris helianthoides Nutt., and the Lepachys

pinnata T. & G. ; the tall compass plant (Silphium lacini-

* The region more especially under consideration is Northern Illinois, and Central

and Western Iow

580 THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES.

atum Linn.) ; the Indian plantain ( Cacalia tuberosa Nutt.),

the tall verbena ( V. hastata Linn.), and the yucca-leaved

rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccefolium Michx.); all

generally remarkable either for their large showy flowers, or

the peculiar character of their foliage or habits. Finally the

season closes with the later sunflowers and coreopses, some

of which are of gigantic size, towering far above one’s head ;

the purple- llomamd gaurias and the golden epilobiums.

From the first springing up of the early flowers till the frosts

of autumn end the floral season, the prairies are arrayed in

bright and showy hues by a succession of species of larger

and taller growth, each later set not only overtopping their

predecessors, but the rapidly growing prairie grasses. Ever

varied too are the prevailing colors. Here blue prevails,

there white or purple, and again large tracks are golden, as

everywhere a few prevailing forms give character to the veg-

etation. Generally they are coarse, large plants, often res-

inous, with thick, harsh leaves and large flowers, and nearly

all are species never or rarely met with in the Atlantic

States, and never as characteristic species of the eastern flora.

The Composite and the Leguminose are preéminently the

prevailing families, far more so indeed than at the eastward.

Many of the species are in various ways remarkable, but

none more so perhaps than the plant popularly known as the

compass plant (Silphium laciniatum), whose large, thick,

rigid, upright root-leaves, one to two and a half feet long,

are reputed to uniformly present their edges north and soul)

whence its name. Though they do aot thus invariably ar-

range themselves, they generally stand in this direction,

so uniformly in fact that they well serve as a convenient

guide to the traveller in determining the points of the com-

pass.* Another species of the same genus, called the cup

nA dec NEUE bec onde dai Ti ME

* Since the above was written an interesting paper on the Compass Plant was read

by Dr. Thomas Hill at the Troy meeting of the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science, an abstract of (Vol. iv, p.

495, October, 1870). Dr. Hill refers this polarity to the a the two sidan x the

leaf being equally sensitive, and struggling for r equal

THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES. 581

plant (S. perfoliatum), from the large opposite leaves of the

stem being connate at their bases, forming a considerable

cup-like cavity, capable of containing water, is common in

the moist ravines. Other remarkable forms are the Indian

plantain (Cacalia tuberosa), conspicuous for its thick,

smooth, plantain-like leaves, deep-green on both sides and

strongly ribbed; and the yucca-leaved rattlesnake master,

or button snakeroot (Eryngium yuccefolium), with its linear

grass-like, bristly fringed leaves, and its bracted flowers,

closely sessile in dense heads, —an umbelliferous plant, but

wholly unlike the generality of the species of the Umbellif-

er&, both in its foliage and in the form of its inflorescence.

The prairie clovers, or turban flowers (Pentalostemon) , are

among the most interesting of the leguminose species, and

among the most characteristic. Their oblong or cylindrical

heads . of white or purple flowers are evidently: suggestive of

the latter name. Each head continues in flower for many

days. At first the flowers form a band at the base of the

head, which, gradually moving upward, later occupies the

middle of the head, and finally its summit, recalling the

Oriental head-dress, in allusion to which these plants here

received one of their common names.

The habits of some of the sunflowers, but especially those

of the Helianthus rigidus, present one feature of interest.

The H. rigidus is one of the earliest flowering species

and one of the most abundant ones, it being in some locali-

ties one of the most conspicuous and characteristic plants.

By the middle of August it has attained nearly its full

height, which commonly ranges from two and a half to four

fees the terminal heads of ae earlier specimens have already

begun to unfold their yellow rays, and those of the rest are

nodding on their flexible stalks. It isa popular belief that

the sunflower always turns its flowers towards the sun, but

in reality so numerous are the exceptions to this rule in our

garden sunflowers and in our common wild species of the

East, that few observing people regard it doubtless as other-

582 THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES.

wise than an idle whim. With many of the prairie sunflow-

ers, however, the facts are different; especially is this so in

the case of H. rigidus. Morning after morning, at flowering

time, the heads of this species may be seen bending gently

towards the east; they are erect at mid-day, and at evening

gracefully droop towards the west. This continues day after

day for weeks, with surprising regularity and uniformity.

Later, however, the stems grow rigid and remain nearly ver-

tical. In this case at least the popular notion referred to

above seems well founded.

Aside from the open prairie species already mentioned —

which embrace the greater part of the most conspicuous ones

— numerous others of almost equal interest are found grow-

ing in the low grounds, and in the open forest belts that

skirt the streams. Prominent among these are coreopses

aud sunflowers of several species, especially the C. aristosa

and C. tripteris, Helianthus strumosus, H. decapetalus and

H. tracheliifolius; the ground nut (Apios tuberosa Moench.)

with its fragrant, dark purple flowers ; the western iron weed

( Vernonia fasciculata Miehx.), the great St. John’s-wort

(Hypericum pyramidatum Ait.), the broad-leaved polygonum

(P. Pensylvanicum Linn.), and, in more open and drier

places, the rag-weeds (Ambrosia), the wormwoods (Arte-

misia), the tick-trefoils (Desmodium), the bush clovers

(Lespedeza), and the psoraleas. Many species of such east-

ern plants as love rich moist woods, are also found here.

One of the strangest features, perbaps, in the flora of the

prairies, and that which of course constitutes them prairies,

is the entire absence of arboreal or even suffruticose species,

the timber of this region, as is well known, forming open

park-like belts along the streams, which with great propriety

have received the name of “groves.” Here the species, as

might be expected, more strongly recall the flora of the East,

the resemblance extending not only to the trees and shrubs,

but to the herbaceous species that flourish beneath their

shelter. But the predominant species can hardly be regarded

THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES. 583

as properly eastern forms, while the entire absence of repre-

sentatives of some large groups of trees and shrubs that are

common at the East makes the difference greater than at first

seems. One may traverse hundreds of square miles in the

prairie districts without meeting a single birch, alder, a

chestnut, beech, or aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), nor

any species of pine, spruce, hemlock or other coniferous tree,

all of which are so abundant in the forests of the Atlantic

States as to constitute the prevailing species. Two species

of cottonwood (Populus monilifera Ait., and P. angulata

Ait.), so closely allied as to be confounded as one by the

casual observer, but neither of them exclusively western, are

probably the most characteristic trees, as they are certainly

the most abundant and important. The sugar maple, the

linden, elms, bitter-nut and other hickories (chiefly the

former), butternuts, black walnuts, burr, white, black and

other oaks, several species of ashes, the beautiful ash-leaved

maple (JVegundo aceroides Mench.) and the locust (Ztobinia

Pseudacacia Linn.), are the principal and almost the only

important kinds of timber, the greater number of which are

more or less common trees. Among the shrubs are several

species of sumach (Rhus) and the hazel bush ( Corylus

Americana Walt.), which here, as at the East, principally

compose the thickets, whilst the Ceanothus, or Jersey tea, is

a frequent inhabitant of the prairies. One searches in vain,

however, for any whortle-berry bushes ( Vaccinium), of

which so many species abound at the East, or for any repre-

sentatives of the large family Hricacee, than which no fam-

ily is more characteristic of the woodlands of the Eastern

States. Viburnums are common, and the elder ( Sambucus

Canadensis Linn.), the honeysuckle (Lonicera), the snow-

berry (Symphoricarpus), and other caprifoliaceous shrubs

are more or less frequent. The wild apple, the Washington

thorn (Crategus cordata Ait.), and the wild plum are com-

mon among the rosaceous shrubs, but blackberries and

raspberries are rare. The wild plum grows in the river

584 THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES.

bottoms in unsurpassed perfection. "Though they are all, or

nearly all, of the same species (Prunus Americana Marsh),

the varieties in respect to the form, size, color and quality

of the fruit are almost endless, the plums varying in form

from spherical to egg-shaped, and from nearly white through

every intermediate stage of color to yellow and even dark

red, and in flavor from bitter, uneatable kinds to those as

delicious as the highly cultivated varieties of the garden.

From the abundanee of woody climbers the forests of the

river bottoms sometimes present an almost tropical aspect.

The Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia Michx.), and

the winter grape ( Vitis cordifolia Michx.), climb to the tops

of the highest trees, with a diameter of the stem exceeding

any specimens I have elsewhere seen. Other climbers are

frequent, including the singular wild cucumber, or balsam

apple (Echinocystis lobata T. & G.), which assumes an al-

most tropical luxuriance, here and there abundantly envel-

oping the trees.

The restriction of the forests to the river bottoms and

their banks has previously been alluded to as a remarkable

feature, of which various explanations have been offered.

The fact of the rapid encroachment of the forests upon the

prairies wherever they have been protected from exposure

to the annual fires that formerly swept over the country, and

the rapid growth of the timber whenever it becomes estab-

lished, indicate clearly that not only have the fires had much

to do with their restriction, but that there is nothing either

in the climate or the soil unfavorable to their rapid spread.

The damper northern slopes of the streams being also gen-

erally better wooded than the necessarily drier southern

slopes, also points to the fires as the great agency that has

operated through long ages to check their increase, and that

their circumscription has had little to do with the peculiar

origin of the prairies and of their present flora, as some

have formerly supposed.

As has been already incidentally remarked, the vegetation

THE FLORA OF THE PRAIRIES. 585

of the open prairies, as compared with the herbaceous vege-

tation of regions to the eastward similarly situated geograph-

ically, is mostly made up of coarse, large species, and of

forms peculiar to the prairies. It consists, moreover, prin-

cipally of a comparatively few predominant forms,—features

strongly in contrast with those of the neighboring regions.

The grasses, like.the exogenous species, are also few in spe-

cies, but coarse and luxuriant, as they are the product of a

soil of unsurpassed fertility. Yet the flora as a whole is one

singularly susceptible to the inroads of civilization. Even

the grazing of cattle for a few years is sufficient to materially

alter its character. The grasses, according to the testimony

of early settlers, soon dwindle in size and luxuriance, while

the relative abundance of the other plants becomes materially

altered. As already remarked, the breaking and turning of

the soil at once exterminates a large number of the previ-

ously dominant species, and instead of lingering as trouble-

some weeds, the more hardy exotics, that through man's

influence assume an almost cosmopolitan habitat, usurp their

places, the cereals, the cultivated grasses and the noxious

weeds of the old world thoroughly crowding out the original

occupants of the soil. "With all the beauty and the novelty

of the primal flora of the prairies, the traveller, after a few

weeks of constant wandering amid their wilds, is apt soon

to experience a monotony that becomes wearisome, the full

degree of which he scarcely realizes till the soft green sward

and the varied vegetation of cultivated districts again meet

his eye.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 74

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MARINE SHELLS OF FLORIDA.*

BY DR. WILLIAM STIMPSON.

OxE of the most striking peculiarities of the zoology of

Florida is the diversity in the character of the littoral shells

of the two sides of the peninsula. The naturalist passing

from St. Augustine to Cedar Keys finds upon the western

beach a group of shells so different from those he had seen

upon the Atlantie shore, that he is reminded of the similar

(though vastly greater) difference in the fauna which exists

on the two sides of the continent itself; for instance, at the

isthmus of Panama. This diversity is seen in the common

large shells as well as in the fauna taken as a whole. Thus

on the east coast Busycon canaliculatum, B. carica, Dosinia

discus, Arca incongrua and A. Americana are the most

abundant shells, while they are not found at all on the west

coast; and at Cedar Keys and Tampa Bay we find the sub-

tropical species Cassidulus corona, Busycon perversum, Py-

rula papyratia, Strombus alatus, Bulla occidentalis, Callista

gigantea, Dosinia elegans and Arca Floridana? strewed on

the beaches in great numbers, while they occur but rarely on

the east coast; some of them not at all. The list presented

contains the names of three hundred and fourteen species

collected by me on the two coasts, of which only one hun-

dred and forty-five, or less than half, were common to both ;

fifty-eight being peculiar to the east and one hundred and

eleven to the west coast. Several of these species are in-

deed representative, but specifically quite distinct. These

results will no doubt be considerably modified by future re-

searches, as some of the smaller species may have escaped

detection on one or the other of the two shores, although

really existing upon both. But the fact will, nevertheless,

remain that a marked difference exists between the faune of

these shores notwithstanding their proximity and notwith-

* Abstract of a paper read at a recent meeting of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.

(586)

DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHELLS OF FLORIDA. 581

standing the comparatively recent origin of the peninsula

which separates them.

Of the recent origin of the Floridan peninsula (or at least

of the northern part which makes the separation between the

great Carolinian Bay and the Gulf of Mexico), we have not

only geological but zoólogical evidence. Although, as shown

above, the littoral fauna * of that part of the gulf which

bathes the west coast of Florida is of a character far more

tropical than that of the east coast, the fauna of the latter

is reproduced in the northwestern part of the gulf. The

correspondence between the shells of Galveston and those

of South Carolina was noticed by Roemer many years ago,

and the fact is now confirmed by an examination of the

shells brought by Dr. Durham from several points on the

coast between Point Isabel and Pensacola. The peninsula

and warm waters of the southern cape of Florida now form

an impassable barrier to the western migration of species of

the temperate fauna into the colder parts of the gulf, but of

their connection within a comparatively recent geological

period there can be no doubt. The connection was probably

through sandy straits and lagoons, too shallow to allow of

the passage of the gulf-stream, but perhaps permitting the

westward flow of the cold waters of the Carolinian Bay.

The present tropical character of the shells of the west

coast of Florida is plainly due to the influence of the gulf-

stream, which is not here, as in the northwestern part of

the gulf, crowded off the shores by the waters of a great

river, or by cold northwest winds. On the other hand the

east coast, as far south as Cape Canaveral, forms a part of

the shore of the Curolinian Bay, along which, inside of the

guif-stream, a cold current runs, giving to this part of Flor-

ida a coast fauna similar to that of South Carolina.

* By the littoral fauna, that of the true ocean shores is here meant. The waters of

the shallow inlets "rer estuaries of the west coast are subject to great changes of tem-

perature, which, dar ing the w inter *morthers," may fall to the freezing point, at

Which times fish ca s > i t numbers i expected,

; mig

the fauna of these adag E vet uy e from that of the beaches, and such northern

forms as Modiola poenis and Cardium Mortoni, which are adapted to such extremes

€f temperature, find here a congenial station.

THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR.

IN no way can the good taste and publie spirit of our citi-

zens be better shown than in the planting of shade trees.

Regarded simply from a commercial point of view one can-

not make a more paying investment than setting out an

oak, elm, or maple or other shade tree about his premises.

To a second generation it becomes a precious heirloom, and

the planter is duly held in remembrance for those finer quali-

ties of heart and head, and the wise forethought which

prompted a deed simple and natural, but a deed too often

undone. What an increased value does a fine avenue of

shade trees give to real estate in a city? And in the country

the single stately elm rising gracefully and benignantly over

the wayside cottage, year after year like a guardian angel

sending down its blessings of shade, moisture and coolness

in times of drought, and shelter from the pitiless storm,

recalls the Létddiost associations of generations after genera-

tions that go from the old homestead.

Occasionally the tree, or a number of them, sicken and

die, or linger out a miserable existence, and we naturally

after failing to ascribe the cause to bad soil, want of mois-

ture or adverse atmospheric agencies, conclude that the tree

is infested with insects, especially if the bark in certain

places seems diseased. Often the disease is in streets

lighted by gas, attributed to the leakage of the gas. Such a

case has come up during the past year at Morristown, New

Jersey. An elm was killed by the Elm borer, Compsidea

tridentata of Olivier, and the owner was on the point of su-

ing the Gas Company for the loss of the tree from the sup-

posed leakage of a gas pipe. While the matter was in

dispute, Mr. W. C. Baker of that city took the pains to

peel off a piece of the bark and found, as he writes me,

(588)

THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES. 589

“great numbers of the larve of C. tridentata in the bark

and between the bark and the wood, while the latter is 'tat-

tooed’ with sinuous grooves in every direction and the tree

is completely girdled by them in some places. . There are

three different sizes of the larve, evidently one, two and

three years old, or more properly six, eighteen and thirty

months old." The tree had to be cut down.

Dr. Harris, in his Treatise on injurious insects, gives an

account of the ravages of this insect which we quote: "On

the 19th of June, 1846, Theophilus Parsons, Esq., sent me

some fragments of bark and insects which were taken by

Mr. J. Richardson from the decaying elms on Boston Com-

mon, and among the insects I recognized a pair of these

beetles in a living state. The trees were found to have suf-

fered terribly from the ravages of these insects. Several of

them had already been cut down, as past recovery ; others

were in a dying state, and nearly all of them were more or

less affected with disease or premature decay. Their bark

was perforated, to the height of thirty feet from the ground,

with numerous holes, through which insects had escaped ;

and large pieces had become so loose, by the undermining

of the grubs, as to yield to slight efforts, and come off in

flakes. The inner bark was filled with burrows of the

grubs, great numbers of which, in various stages of growth,

together with some in the pupa state, were found therein;

and even the surface of the wood, in many cases, was fur-

towed with their irregular tracks. Very rarely did they

seem to have penetrated far into the wood itself; but their

operations were mostly confined to the inner layers of the

bark, which thereby became loosened from the wood be-

neath. The grubs rarely exceed three-quarters of an inch

a length. They have no feet, and they resemble the larve

of other species of Saperda, except in being rather more

flattened. They appear to complete their transformations in

the third year of their existence.

“The beetles probably leave their holes in the bark during

590 THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES.

the month of June and in the beginning of July; for, in the

course of thirty years, I have repeatedly taken them at vari-

ous dates, from the 5th of June to the 10th of July. It is

evident, from the nature and extent of their depredations,

that these insects have alarmingly hastened the decay of the

Fig. 115. elm-trees on Boston Mall and Common, and

. that they now threaten their entire destruc-

| tion. Other causes, however, have prob-

ably contributed to the same end. It will

be remembered that these trees have greatly

suffered, in past times, from the ravages of

canker-worms. Moreover, the impenetrable

state of the surface-soil, the exhausted con-

dition of the subsoil, and the deprivation of all benefit from

the decomposition of accumulated leaves, which, in a state

of nature, the trees would have enjoyed, but which a regard

for neatness has industriously removed, have doubtless had

no small influence in diminishing the vigor of the trees, and

. thus made them fall unresistingly a prey to

insect-devourers. The plan of this work

precludes a more full consideration of these

and other topics connected with the growth

and decay of these trees; and I can only

add, that it may be prudent to cut down

and burn zll that are much infested by the

borers.”

ee The Three-toothed Compsidea (Fig. 115),

tridentata, is a rather flat-bodied, dark brown beetle,

with a rusty red curved line behind the eyes, two stripes

on the thorax, and a three-toothed stripe on the outer edge

of each wing cover. It is about one-half an inch in length.

The larva (Fig. 116, drawn from the living specimen) is

white, subcylindrical, a little flattened, with the lateral fold

of the body rather prominent; the end of the body is flat-

tened, obtuse, and nearly as wide at the end as at the first

abdominal ring. The head is one-half as wide as the pro-

Compsidea tridentata,

THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES. 591

thoracic ring, being rather large. The prothoracie, or seg-

ment just behind the head, is transversely oblong, being

about twice as broad as long ; there is a pale dorsal corneous

transversely oblong shield, being about two-

-_ thirds as long as wide, and nearly as long as

the four succeeding segments; this plate is

smooth, except on the posterior half, which

is rough, with the front edge irregular and

not extending far down the sides. Fine

hairs arise from the front edge and side of

the plate, and similar hairs are scattered

over the body and especially around the

end. On the upper side of each segment is

a transversely oblong ovate roughened area,

with the front edge slightly convex, and behind slightly

arcuate. On the

under side of each

segment are similar

rough horny plates,

but arcuate in front,

with the hinder edge

straight.

It differs from the

larva of Saperda ves-

lita Say, in the

body being shorter,

broader, more hairy,

with the tip of the

abdomen flatter and more hairy. The prothoracic segment

is broader and flatter, and the rough portion of the dorsal

plates is larger and less transversely ovate. The structure

of the head shows that its generic distinctness from Saperda

is well founded, as the head is smaller and flatter, the cly-

peus being twice as large, and the labrum broad and short,

while in S. vestita it is longer than broad. The mandibles

are much longer and slenderer, and the anteunz are much

smaller than in S. vestita.

Saperda vestita.

Fig. 118.

Saperda vestita, larva.

592 THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES.

The Linden Tree-borer (Saperda vestita of Say, Fig.

117) is a greenish snuff yellow beetle, with six black spots

near the middle of the back; and it is about eight-tenths of

an inch in length, though often

smaller. The beetles, according to

Dr. Paul Swift, as quoted by Dr.

Harris, were found (in Philadelphia)

upon the small branches and leaves

on the 28th day of May, and it is said

that they come out as early as the first

of the month, and continue to make

their way through the back of the

trunk and large branches during the

whole of the warm season. They WX

immediately fly into the top of the ç S#erda calcarata, larva.

tree, and there feed upon the epidermis of the tender

twigs, and the petioles of the leaves, often wholly denuding

Fig. 120. the latter, and caus-

ing the leaves to

fall. They deposit

their eggs, two or

three in a place,

upon the trunk or

branches, especially

about the forks,

making slight incis-

ions or punctures for

their reception with

their strong jaws.

As many as ninety

Prionus brevicornis and pupa. eggs have been

taken from a single beetle. The grubs (Fig. 118e; qd;

enlarged view of the head seen from above; b, the under

view of the same; ¢, side view, and d, two rings of the body

enlarged), hatched from these eggs, undermine the bark to

the extent of six or eight inches, in sinuous channels, or pen-

Fig. 119.

THE BORERS OF CERTAIN SHADE TREES. 593

etrate the solid wood an equal distance. It is supposed that

three years are required to mature the insect. Various ex-

pedients have been tried to arrest their course, but with-

out effect. A stream,

thrown into the tops of

trees from the hydrant,

is often used with good

success to dislodge other

insects; but the borer-

beetles, when thus dis-

turbed, take wing and

hover over the trees till

all is quiet, and then

alight and go to work

again. The trunks and

branches of some of the trees have been washed over with

Fig. 122. various preparations without benefit.

Boring the trunk near the ground, and

putting in sulphur and other drugs, and

plugging, have been tried with as little

effect.

The city of Philadelphia has suffered

grievously from this borer.

Dr. Swift remarks, in 1844, that " the

trees in Washington and Independence

Squares were first observed to have

been attacked about seven years ago.

Within two years it has been found nec-

essary to cut down forty-seven European

lindens in the former square alone, where

! there now remain only a few American

foret tetnator, arra TOGENE, and these a good deal eaten.”

(Ost In New England this beetle should be

looked for during the first half of June.

The Poplar tree is infested by another species of Saperda

(S. calcarata of Say). This is a much larger beetle than

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 75

Fig. 121.

Saperda inornata and larva.

594 SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON.

those above mentioned, being an inch or a little more in

length. It is gray, irregularly striped with ochre, and the

wing-covers end in a sharp point. The grub (Fig. 119a; b,

top view of the head ; c, under side) is about two inches long

and whitish yellow. It has, with that of the Broad-necked

Prionus ( P. laticollis of Drury, Fig. 120 and pupa), as Harris

states, "almost entirely destroyed the Lombardy poplar in

this vicinity (Boston). It bores in the trunks, and the

Fig. 123. beetle flies by night in August and Sep-

tember. We also figure the larva of

another borer (Fig. 121c; a, top view of

the head; b, under side; e, dorsal view

of an abdominal segment; d, end of the

body, showing its peculiar form), the

Saperda inornata of Say, the beetle of

which is black, with ash gray hairs, and

without spines on the elytra. It is much

smaller than any of the foregoing species,

being nine-twentieths of an inch in.

length. Its habits are not known. We

also figure, from the manuscript work of

: Abbot, the larva and pupa (Fig. 122, d,

pupa; 5, larva) of Monohammus titillator of Fabricius, but

he does not state on what treo it feeds. We copy also a

figure of the larva and pupa of Chion cinctus (Fig. 123, 4,

pupa; 5, larva), from the same work. The author gives no

account of its habits. | i

Chion cinctus, larva and

pupa.

SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON.

BY W. H. DALL.

Havine joined the readers of the NarvRALIST in a winter

day's journey on the Ulukuk portage not long since, We

may, if so inclined, try our fortune again together, in the

SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON. 595

more pleasant springtime, and gather what facts we may of

interest and value during another day, spent on the great

river of the northwest, and its shores.

The spring, after the middle of March, comes on with

eager steps in the Yukon Territory. The days lengthen so

rapidly that the change is almost perceptible from one day to

another. The great snow blanket, from six to eight feet

thick, which covers the whole country, sinks and hardens

from day to day. A tremulous mist, quivering like the hot

air above a heated iron, hovers over the brilliant surface of

the snow crust, and to this is due the painful inflammation

of the eyes (conjunctivitis) which is only too familiar to the

northern voyageur under the name of "snow blind." To

avoid it, we don a. pair of dark green glass goggles, or the

wooden goggles of the Eskimo, which admit tbe light only

through a narrow slit in the blackened wood, warding off the

reflected light; yet even through these the surface of a hill

or river appears most dazzling, so intense is the snow glare.

Early in April the long hot days and short nights are felt

and their results indieated, by the water which covers and

softens the ice sheets on lakes and rivers. Shirt sleeves are

the rule, and open casements let in thé unaccustomed sun-

light without stint, while the dark parchment windows of

winter are laid aside.

On the tenth of April, though the whole country was white

with the half melted snow sheet, flies, to all appearance

the familiar blue bottle and housefly, clustered in myriads

. on the sunny side of the wall of the Nuláto trading post.

The same day I found the velvety crimson catkin of the

alder (how many of our readers have ever seen it?) side by

side with the silvery one of the river willow, and search-

ing among the poplars for new arrivals, brought down a

white-winged crossbill, the first of the season. A day or

two later, the turfed roof of my log dwelling was alive with

small steel green beetles, redolent with a musky odor, and

by carefully scanning the few spears of dry grass and green

596 SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON.

tufts of moss which appeared above the surface of the snow,

I found several other smaller species sunning themselves,

unconscious of the presence of an enemy. The short-tailed

field mice (Arvicola xanthognathus and A. Gapperi) were

waking up to a sense of the situation and enjoying them-

selves on the river bank wherever a projecting root or stone

offered a shelter from the keen eyes of the numerous hawks

whieh ever and anon sailed overhead. Another reason for

coming abroad was, that the melting snow was making their

underground establishments very damp and uncomfortable.

he Canada jay, known all over the northern country by

the less euphonious name of " whiskey jack," had already laid

and almost hatched its eges. The goshawk and the duck-

hawk (Astur atricapillus ‘and Falco anatum) had put their

nests in order, and some of them had one egg as an earnest

of what was coming. The ptarmigan (Lagopus albus) be-

gan to show rich dark brown feathers on the head and neck

and on the edges of the wings. Owls (Syrnium cinereum,

Nyctea nivea, Nyctale Tengmalmi, etc.) , were abundant and

attending to pressing domestic affairs.

Toward the end of April I climbed a tall, dead stump,

once a noble birch (Betula incana?), and found, in the cavity

at the upper end, six smooth white eggs. While transferring

them to my knapsack the head of the family came home,

and careless of personal risk or even death, dashed wildly

about my head, knocking off a loose cloth eap which I wore,

and screaming with sorrow and anger. The female owl, for

it was a hawk owl's nest (Surnia ulula), soon joined him;

and they flew to the top of a neighboring spruce, uttering

cries of indignation to each other. Reaching the ground I

soon quieted them, bringing both down with a single shot,

and thus devoted the whole family to the interests of

science.

~ On the third of Máy; Kurilla, my indefatigable Indian

hunter, killed a white-cheeked brant (Bernida - leucopareia)

and two ducks, a mallard and a golden eye (Bucephala

SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON. 597

Americana), receiving therefor the usual perquisite of a

pound of tobacco for the first goose of the season. From

this time forward, wild fowl might be expected in abundance.

On the twelfth of May the ice came down with a rush in

the small rivers; and that on the Yukon grew every day

more unsafe. No salmon were to be expected for some

weeks, but large numbers of “blanket fish” (a species of

Thymallus) were to be seen ascending the small rivers.

They would not take the hook, though the greatest induce-

ments were offered, nor will any other fish found in the

Yukon, as far as I know.

The ice on the Yukon breaks up about the twentieth of

May. The earliest season known for many years brought

open water on the sixteenth, and the latest on the twenty-

fifth of the month.

On the twentieth of May I saw a fine specimen of the

Camberwell beauty ( Vanessa antiopa) and after that other

butterflies were not uncommon, though they are more plenty

toward the middle of June.

Waiting until the ice and logs are well out of the river

and the freshet has somewhat subsided, let us take a small

skin canoe and spend a day on the river. The sun is bright

and warm; the weather clear and delightful; every living

thing is pulsating with the energetic life of the Arctic spring.

A gun, ammunition, axe, teakettle, and a few other indis-

pensable articles constitute our equipment.

Shoving off from the muddy shore of the Nulato river-

bank, the blood springs, and the nerves tingle with the

smart strokes of the paddle, which send us shooting over

the turbid waters; laden as they are with sticks, refuse, and

small cakes of ice, the remnants of the freshet, which last

has carried the heavier logs and larger fragments seaward

some days ago. f

Hugging the bank to avoid the swifter current, the

feathery willows and glistening tender leaves of the poplar

(P. balsamifera) overshadow us, and small curculionid

598 SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON.

beetles frequently drop into the boat from the overhanging

boughs finding a safe harbor in our collecting bottles. The

species are numerous but the individuals few. Two or three

Indians in their small, frail, birch canoes, accompany us, on

their way to some small river flowing into the Yukon.

There they will spend a week or two hunting the beaver,

driven from his house by the rise of the spring floods.

These dusky aborigines notice our eager capture of beetles,

and such small game, with unconcealed amusement, but are

keenly alive to the fact that good specimens will buy needles,

caps, or tobacco, and regulate their actions accordingly.

As we round a bare point where the sun shines warmly on

the fragrant grass and the saxifrage is already in blossom, a

flight of swallow-tailed butterflies (Papilio Turnus and P.

Aliaska) come sailing along, and immediately all is exeite-

ment. Paddles are wildly brandished in the air, the light

eanoes dart swiftly hither and thither, and the unconscious

insects, thus assailed, escape with a loss of half their num-

ber. Then our Indian companions, with some incomprehen-

sible wittieism passing between themselves, bring in the

results of their foray, and so some eight or ten passable

specimens are added to our collection at the expense of a

few needles and half a dozen percussion caps.

Away go the light canoes again, keeping admirable time

with their paddles to a chant of which the following may be

taken as a free translation : —

Where is the salmon, the big chief salmon?

| Hah?

Hat Het Ha! Hah! Hah!

His sides are scarlet, his tail i " mighty,

Ha! Het! I e! Ha!

F uscious the steam i the kettle;

Hunger flies, wh salmon

Ric d sw: the tails of beaver,

Fat the deer, in the summer "

And the bear in mn;

Better still is the vines fat salmon?

Ho! Ho! Ho! Ha! Ha! Ha

-and so on with an indefinite amount of interpolated chorus.

A little break in the green bank, where a small stream

SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON. 599

dashes its clear cold water into the muddy Y ukon-tide, offers

an inviting nook, and into it we haul our bark, and, making

fast to a projecting willow root, scatter in search of “speci-

mens.” A tough climb of ten minutes takes us to the top

of the brown sandstone bluff, broken and weatherworn; yet

showing, in its successive layers of clayey and sandy rock

with thin lamine of fossil vegetable matter, that, in ages

gone by, the same forces were at work there, that we now

observe on the recent river bank; each series of three layers

shows how some flood came down and deposited first its

sand, next its clay in the form of fine mud, and lastly

any fragments of wood or vegetable matter which the re-

ceding waters left behind them. In the rocks above, how-

ever, a different state of things may be observed. Instead

of the fragments of leaves of sycamores (Platanus), of

carbonized wood, and of unrecognizable vegetable matter,

we find remains of fuci, here and there a fragment which

may have been of terrestrial origin; and, especially, remains

of mollusca, mostly bivalves, such as oysters, mussels, and

similar shell-fish, and very rarely a mass of remains which

may once have been a fish. These fossils, though metamor-

phosed, broken, crushed, and frequently existing only as

casts, are sufficient to indicate a miocene age for the rocks

in which they occur, and no fossils of the older rocks have

yet been found on the lower Yukon.

By turning over some of these prostrate trunks we shall

obtain rare prizes in the shape of Carabide, beetles, fre-

quently of brilliant colors and large size, of which some are

so rare that an enthusiastic entomological. friend once ex-

claimed to us, when parting: “Oh, if I thought I could

discover the Carabus Vittinghevit, I think I should leave my

business and go with you!” In the same locations are to be

found minute land shells (Helix chersina, striatella, electrina

and others, as well as minute species of Pupilla and Vertigo,

all common to the northern zone of the world, from Sweden

to Labrador, though known under various local names.

600 SPRINGTIME ON THE YUKON.

Diptera, in the shape of mosquitoes, are only too common,

as we have discovered long since, and one does not wonder

that the deer and moose, to escape their persecution, plunge

into the Yukon under the very eye of the hunter, to meet a

certain doom.

Birds of the season are vocal in every bush; and here

again we meet familiar aequaintances, perhaps the very same

whieh have built their nests and reared their young under

the roses and lilacs of Massachusetts. The common robin

(Turdus migratorius), the much more beautiful and musical

varied thrush (T. nevius), the gray-cheeked thrush (T.

alicie), the ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula), the

yellow, black-capped, and yellow-riimped warblers: (Den-

droica estiva, striata and coronata), the wax wing (Ampelis

garrulus), the rusty blackbird (S. ferrugineus), and a host

of others are everywhere about us, hardly noticing our pres-

ence, and intent on pleasing their newly found mates, by

song, and twitter, and pretty, arch gymnastics, which, to the

tender-hearted make the use of powder and shot, even for

scientific purposes, little better than deliberate murder.

Kurilla, at our side, says “the bushes are boiling over with

birds!" And this reminds us that the sun is now high in

the south, and we make our way toward the boat abandoning

sentiment to boil the teakettle. On our way, a few low

musical notes attract our attention just in time for us to see

the author, a water ouzel (Hydrobata Mexicana), dive with

a splash and patter into the little brook before us, and away,

out of sight. Yonder is a beautiful rounded dome of moss,

woven as closely as a Turkey carpet, and as smooth and even

as the dome of St. Peter's, with a small round hole at one

side, where our timid songster in due time will rear his

family. Kurilla's gun is ever ready; he has reached the

waterside before us and a magnificent mallard lies at his feet,

which he has just shot, as it rose from yonder stump hidden

in a bunch of alders. Parting the bushes we see him point

triumphantly to an excavation in the decayed wood where

IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 601

lie six eggs, just laid and left in an evil moment by the

parent. While we are thinking of the bereaved niother

Kurilla’s thoughts tend toward omelets, and the frying pan

and a piece of deer-fat are soon produced. Duck roasted on

4 stick before the fire, is quite another thing from the em-

balmed remains which the hotels offer us, by way of game,

and to our mind it is far superior. Our meal of duck, ome-

let, tea and bread being finished, we seat ourselves in the

boat, east off the lashings, and shoot out into the rapid cur-

rent, leaving the mosquitoes, for a time at least, behind us;

when, an hour afterwards we haul up on the beach at Nuláto

and survey our trophies, some of us may conclude that pleas-

ure as well as profit may be found, even in the wilderness

which borders on the Yukon.

THE IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT

BREEDING.

BY A. S. COLLINS.

Four or five years ago the subject of this article would

have been considered of little practical importance. Now,

however, fish-breeding establishments in our country can be

counted by the hundred ; and every detail of the business is

receiving close attention. I propose briefly to describe the

method in which trout naturally impregnate their eggs, and

then the various methods or modifications adopted by fish-

breeders.

Natural Method of Spawning. Some time about the

month of October (the time varying with the temperature

of the water), the trout which have hitherto been scattered

through the stream, begin to run up toward its sources. The

place which they choose for a nest has always certain char-

acteristics. It is chosen as near a spring head as possible,

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 76

602 IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING.

having a gravelly bottom and being in comparatively swift

water. But as these conditions are necessary only to the

hatching of the eggs they need not be dwelt upon here.

The females spawn but once in a season ; the males, on the

other hand, milt several times. So that there is always an

excess of males. The females do not choose their partners.

As soon as the female begins to make her nest some one of

the males around swims to her side. If a stouter or pluck-

ier male chances to come that way, a battle royal ensues, and

the victor takes the place of the vanquished. This operation

is often repeated, and it seems to make little difference to the

female which one lies by her side. It is to be noted that by

this order of nature, the healthiest and strongest trout pair

together. When the female is ready to emit her eggs the

male glides to her side, and his milt is emitted simultane-

ously with, and over her eggs. The male swims off, the fe-

male covers the eggs with’ gravel, and the operation is

complete. This description of the action of spawning is

very incomplete; but is sufficient for our present purpose,

which is to compare with it the methods in use among trout

breeders,

Stripping the Fish. This was the earliest method and is

still in more extensive use than any other. At certain times

the ripe males and females are taken from the races. By a

very slight pressure of the hand, the milt is forced from a

male into a pan partly filled with water; by a similar pres-

sure the eggs of a female are forced as quickly as possible

into the pan, and the operation is continued in the same

order until all the fish are handled; the water being gently

agitated from time to time with the hand or the tail of a fish.

The eggs are then supposed to be impregnated and after

standing some twenty or ‘twenty-five minutes, are placed in

the hatehing troughs. This plan has its advantages; among

which, the first and foremost is that more eggs can be im-

pregnated in this way than in any other. If the eggs of a

trout be taken from their bed in the natural stream and ex-

IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 603

amined, it will be found in the majority of cases that a very

small percentage are impregnated (in one case standing as

low as six per cent). While by the stripping process any-

where from eighty-five to one hundred per cent. can be

impregnated. If we consider that in natural spawning, the

milt is ejected into comparatively swift water, which sweeps

it almost immediately away from the eggs, we shall cease to

wonder at the difference. Another advantage is that the

eges in the stripping process are exposed to the milt of sev-

eral males; and as the milt of one male will impregnate

thousands of eggs, if only one male out of a dozen used be

good, we may fairly expect that all the eggs in the pan will

be impregnated. It is also an incidental advantage of this

process, that as the fish are all handled the stripped fish may

be put into a spare pond, so that they may not again run up

into the raceway and hinder those about to spawn. For this

reason and also because it is not intended that the fish should

lay any eggs, a race for stripping purposes takes up com-

paratively little room. On the other hand the disadvantages

of the process are manifold; the principal one being that it

is very difficult to take the eggs and milt at the precise time

when the fish would naturally yield them. With much ex-

perience, however, a trout breeder will succeed very well in

doing this, and at our own place* we would even now about

as soon have stripped eges of our own taking as any others.

But a novice would not probably succeed very well. An-

other disadvantage is that the handling of a struggling fish

is a thing to be avoided if possible. Even the most experi-

enced can hardly help killing a few, and the least experienced

will kill many. The bruised fish do not show'the hurt at

once, and will often live some weeks after receiving the

injury. This difficulty increases with the size of the fish.

The large fish which give the most eggs are the hardest to

handle safely. Then the operation itself is not the most

pleasant in the world. A ten or fifteen minutes immersion

* Trout Ponds of Seth Green & Collins, Caledonia, N. Y.

604 IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING.

of the hands in cold water in the middle of winter is not

very desirable, and if this has to be repeated a half dozen

times every day, it becomes a thing to be avoided if possible.

Then, too, all the fish in the race have to be taken at the

same time, whether ready or not; and the interruption to

those who are just commencing to spawn is bad for many

reasons besides the danger of handling them two or three

times to see if they are ripe. These disadvantages and es-

pecially the first mentioned, induced Mr. Stephen H. Ains-

worth to prepare and use what are known as the " Ainsworth

Screens.” This invention is an imitation of a natural trout

bed. Coarse gravel is placed in a wooden frame two feet

square and three or four inches high with a bottom of wire

Screen eoarse enough to permit trout eggs to pass through

readily. A similar frame with sides only one inch high and

fine wire bottom is placed beneath the first, and both are

sunk eight or ten inches in the raceway. Trout making their

nests in the boxes lay bare the coarse screen. The eggs;

being at the same time impregnated by the milt of the male,

fall through the meshes of the upper screen and are caught

and retained by the fine meshes of the under sereen. The

two frames fitting closely together make it impossible for

any fish to get at the eggs, and they are kept safely until the

screens are removed and the eggs taken to the hatching

house. The advantages of this plan are very great; but

they are obvious and may be summed up in a few words.

There is no danger by this method of getting unripe or

immature eggs, as the eges are all naturally spawned. It is

also certainly reasonable to suppose that a fish can do this

part of the- business best. There is also no danger of loss

from handling the fish; and a comparative novice can take

the place of a more experienced hand. Then in this way

the fish select their own partners; and probably when left to

themselves those pair which are best adapted to each other;

whereas in the stripping process, the pairing is arbitrary and

no rules for selection are known.

IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 605

But the inconveniences attending this plan in its first

shape were very great. The frames could not be made

smaller than two feet square, as that is about the amount of

space a trout requires for spawning. Nor could they be

made larger, as the weight of the gravel on larger frames

would render them unwieldly to handle. Therefore, in order

to fill a trout race, a series of boxes— say from ten to forty

is required. All these have to be looked over at least once

every week during the season, and if there are many fish,

two or three times a week. Each: time the screens are

looked over every fish is necessarily driven from the race,

although they may be just commencing their nests, or in the

very act of spawning. The upper screen with its load of

gravel is first lifted out of the water. The lower screen

will then float to the surface if it is not water-logged. The

eggs lying upon it are brushed to, one corner with a feather ;

à pan is placed underneath the corner, the screen is tipped up

and the eggs feathered into the pan sometimes, for the cur-

rent often sends them in any direction except into the pan,

and cold fingers are not always reliable. India-rubber gloves

are no protection from cold, nor woollen gloves from water ;

and the two combined are too clumsy for the purpose. After

the eggs are taken, the fine screen is returned to its place,

the upper sereen fitted exactly to it and both sunk again to

their place ; unless as often happens a stone or two has fallen

out of the frames upon the supporting ledges, in which case

the screens have to be taken up again and the stones re-

moved. It will take two men five or six hours to properly

look over forty of these screens. In order to make this

process easier the writer invented and patented what he

calls the “Roller Spawning Box." This box answers for se-

curing the naturally impregnated eggs of salmon, salmon

trout, speckled brook trout, whitefish, shad, etc., etc. The

principle used is that of the " Ainsworth Screens,” and the

improvement consists in a new and convenient method of

collecting the eggs.

606 IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING.

Figure 121 represents a small spawning box with a portion

of the side removed. Figure 125 is an enlarged view of the

front of the same box. At A is seen a double row of

frames each two feet square with a bottom of coarse wire

cloth. Instead of being made singly they are put together

in one piece. These screens are to be filled with coarse

gravel and the eggs pass through as in Ainsworth’s screens.

Under these is an endless apron of fine wire cloth, D, pass-

ing over rollers at the two ends of the box. This apron is

about one inch beneath the upper screen, and is kept from

Fig. 124.

Roller Spawning Box,

sagging by small cross-bars (two of which are seen in the

cut) corresponding to the divisions of the upper screen.

These cross-bars are supported by and, when the rollers are

turned, slide on an inch square strip nailed to the side of the

box. A similar strip one inch above supports the larger

screens,

The eross-bars also keep the eggs from being carried

down by the current. By using two small beveled cog-wheels

the front roller can be turned by the handle seen at G. As

the roller is turned forward the endless apron moves with it,

and the eggs as they come to the edge of the roller will fall

off. The pan, C (fig. 125), is placed in front of the roller,

and receives the eggs as they fall. The box need not be more

IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 601

than two feet deep; the depth depending upon the size of

the rollers, which in a short race may be quite small and the

box not more than eighteen inches deep. The box is set

directly in the raceway, and intended to fill it completely.

The water enters in the direction of the arrows, and may

either enter with a fall over the top of the box, as seen in fig.

124, or the top of the box may be cut down until the water

will enter on the level at - Fig. 125.

which it is intended to stand

over the screens. E

F (fig. 124) is a screen

intended to prevent the fish

from running beyond the

race, or getting into the

lower part of the box. It

may extend to the bottom,

or be arranged as seen in the

engraving. D is a screen at

the front of the box, also

intended to prevent the fish C&S St

from getting below. When Peet of opui POr

the eggs are to be taken this screen is raised on hinges to an

upright position, and confined by a spring catch or latch as

seen at E (fig. 125). This confines the fish which may happen

to be in the race and none of them can get below. The pan

is then lowered to its position, the roller turned and the

eggs taken. When the operation is finished the screen D

is again lowered, the button turned and the work is done.

If the box is wide, say four feet, it is more convenient to

have the pan made in two or three sections, inserted in a

light frame, as. the eggs can be more easily carried in and

poured out of a shorter pan. It is better perhaps to make

the screen D to open in the middle, having hinges at both

sides. Then one half will keep the fish in the pond, and the

other half the fish in the race, from running into the well.

The box can be made of any length from four feet to forty

608 IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING.

feet or even longer, and of any width from two feet to six

or eight. If it is made very wide an additional longitud-

inal support must be provided for the revolving screen.

We recommend the following dimensions for speckled trout

races: two feet wide and from ten to twenty feet long; or

four fect wide and from twenty to forty feet long. The

upper screens may be made in convenient sections, the whole

width of the box, and six or eight feet long.

The sereens F and D are so made that while a full current

is permitted to flow over the upper screens (A), only a gen-

tle current ean flow through the under part of the box.

This current is meant to be so regulated that when the pan,

C, is placed about an inch from the turning roller, all the

small stones which the trout may whip through the upper

screen will fall short of the pan; the eggs being lighter will

be carried by the current into the pan, while a great part of

the dirt, ete., which may collect on the under screen will be

carried up over the pan and entirely out of the box. The

revolving screen may be made of tarred muslin or some sim-

ilar fabric. But wire cloth (of ten or twelve meshes to the

inch) keeps much the cleanest and we are inclined to think

it best for the purpose. I make my aprons, half wire cloth

and half tarred muslin, furnishing the wire only with cross-

bars and always leaving it uppermost. This apron is fast-

ened around the rollers by a lacing of cord. At the end of

the season the water in the pond can be drawn down a foot

and everything taken out but the rollers. Give the screens

a coat of paint or gas tar and lay them away in a dry place

until the next autumn. A stiff brush may also be placed un-

der the forward roller, so that every time tbe roller is turned

to remove the eggs the screen will be perfectly cleaned.

A few of the advantages of the plan are as follows: Let

us compare a double row of forty Ainsworth screens, each

two feet square and occupying a space in the raceway forty

feet long and four feet wide, with one of the new spawning

boxes of the same dimensions.

IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 609

lst. By the old way it would take two men a good half

day to remove the screens singly, feather off the eggs ina

careful manner, and return each (double) screen to its

proper place.

It would take the new spawning box about fifteen minutes

to do the same work with one man.

2d. The weight of the gravel which has to be lifted in

the old way every time the eggs are removed, amounts to

many tons in the course of a season.

In the new box the gravel is not lifted at all.

3d. By the old way the operator's hands must of necessity

be more or less wet during the whole operation. Now as

the trout and salmon spawn during the winter season, when

the thermometer generally stands below the freezing point,

taking eggs in the old way is not only inconvenient and

painful but often impossible.

By the new way the hands are not made wet and may be

kept comfortably gloved.

4th. By the old way more or less of the eggs are lost by

careless feathering, exposing the eggs to the freezing atmos-

phere, clumsiness in handling the screens (caused by cold

fingers) tipping of the screens, wash of the current, etc.

By the new way every egg is saved.

5th. By the old method every fish is driven out of the

race when the eges are taken. Some of them will not re-

turn, but will seek a spawning place in the pond and many

eggs will be unavoidably lost.

By the new way the fish are not driven from the race.

And as the boxes are always covered duriug the season, the

fish will not even be disturbed. In fact they may spawn

while the eggs are being taken, and yet not a single egg be

lost

The advantages of this method when compared with the

stripping process are many. It is much less trouble to take

the eggs. Itis much more comfortable. It avoids bandling

the fish, and the consequent loss. It saves all the eggs which

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. Ti

610 REVIEWS.

are lost in the intervals of stripping. It does not disturb

the fish in the process of spawning. It insures a perfectly

natural impregnation.

The question whether naturally impregnated eggs are

better than the stripped eggs, is not yet settled. Iti is cer-

tain that more eggs can o» impregnated by the stripping

proeess, but that the resulting fish are as healthy as those

grown from naturally fertilized eggs, is not yet definitely

proved. We are inclined to think that when the stripping

is properly performed there is little difference. However

this may be, a: few eggs more or less are of little conse-

quence to the trout-breeder; while convenience and speed

together with certainty of resu!t are, as in every other art,

of prime importance.

REVIEWS.

ECONOMICAL ENTOMOLOGY IN Missounr* — The annual appearance of

& volume containing so much that is new t regarding the common injuri-

ous insects of a single State, is a proof that people are giving increased

attention to the subject of applied entomology, and that it is considered

nce to i

the country at large. There should indeed be an entomologist in each

State ł whose sole business it should be to acquaint himseif with the hab-

its of the injurious insects, the best remedies against their attacks, and

above all the habits of their insect parasites, which keep them under, as

* Second Annual Report on the Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects, of the State of Mis-

souri, made to the State Board of Agriculture. By C. V. Riley, State Entomologist, Jefferson

City, 1870. 8vo. pp. 141. With numerous wood cuts. For sale at the Naturalist's Book

ile a large proportion of this report is reprinted from the ** American Entomologist,”

of which Mr. eer is the editor, yet the observations were made by him as the State Ento-

mo —À and that able m ne may be said to be in a sense the entomological organ of the

Misso ard of Agriculture. [W that the ** American Entomologist” will

simi nded for a year. We trust to see it revived at the end of that time, and meanwhile

shall sorely miss its monthly visits.]

this report was printed the State of Illinois has appointed Dr. Le Baron to succeed

the late Mr. Walsh as State Entomologist of Illinois; and Dr. A. S. Packard, jr., has been this

year aiti ee State Entomologist, by the Board of Agriculture of the State of Massachusetts.

The e of New York has published nine reports on noxious and beneficial insect shad Dr.

Fitch, a rie I

ESSI.

REVIEWS. 611

well as the habits of birds, which also hold them in check; and lastly, the

State should liberally EN print and —(— the entomologist's

eport. By so doing, not on ould the interests of agriculture be pro-

inatéd and thousands of oi patents ea to the State (though each

legislator who unwil- Fig. 126.

lingly votes a oe E

dollars or more sin-

cerely believe ge he is

robbing the ury,

while actually refilling it

to t at amount),

i i ^" CT TI m ee ee

knowledge; and science \ I £ e), UY

[o ion - Se 336

State of Massachusetts,

are known all over

Europe; in other words,

throughout nearly the whole civilized world, and so are those of Dr.

Fitch, the State Entomologist of New York. while the writings of Mr.

Walsh, late State Entomologist of Illinois, containing so much that is

novel and interesting to theoretical as well as practical entomology, are

Pickle Worm.

read and sought after by European authors.

true knowledge of practical entomology may well be said to be

in its infancy, when, as is well known to agriculturists, the cultivation

Fig. 197. of wheat has almos

e average annual rate of interest, according to the

United States census, in the State of Illinois, the wheat crop of 1864

612 i REVIEWS.

ought to have been about thirty millions of bushels, and the corn crop

about one hundred and thirty-eight num bushels. Putting the cash

value of wheat at $1.25 and that of corn 50 cents, the cash value of

the corn and wheat destroyed by this ser nidi little bug, no bigger

than a grain of rice, in one single State and one single year, will there-

fore, according to the above figures, foot up to the astounding total of

OVER SEVENTY-THREE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!” "The cabbage butterfly

(Pieris rape), recently introduced (p. 28) from Europe, is estimated by

M. Provancher, to annually destroy two hundred and forty thousand dol-

lars’ worth of cabbages around Quebec. The Hessian fly, according to

Vine Dresser and Pupa.

Dr. Fitch, destroyed Sh million dollars worth of wheat in New York

State in one year. The worm of the North (Leucania m

which was so abunda: Pas in 1861 from New England to s, was

reported to have d that year ín Eastern Mp etts

nly

checking its attacks, resulting from a "dede Mind of its snm m

deliver a wasted fields from its direful a

Indeed the cry of waste, waste, arises city over the land. The money

and material that is wasted annually in-bad roads, in the loss of fertilizers

from wanton waste, the loss from ignorance of geology and mining engi-

neering, the waste involved in the process of extracting ores. the waste

from bad cooking, poor housewifery, and above all, the loss of human life

REVIEWS. 613

from ignorance of scientific laws,* iy resulting from te at

and vice, the offspring of ignorance, —the amount that is thus w we

venture to assert would, if saved, pay off our national debt in one year,

and change our world as it were into a new planet! A century hence

when the country is crowded tenfold

its present amount, our pem pae will

Fig. 129.

the hilrodusiló to his report that

“we have in inda country altogether

f f th

m attention, and are considered Apis as

as very serious evils in Europe, would not be deemed worthy of notice in

. ravages, and each State loses annually from fifty to sixty "n dollars

from this cause alone, though but four states bave as yet m

attempt to prevent this serious loss." e may reasonably a the

annual loss in our country alone from noxious animals and the lower

Amey such as rust, smut and mil-

ol as not far from one thousand

ie Y dollars! Of thi un

at least one tenth, or one hundred

million of dollars annually, could

probably be saved by human exer?

i St ainai tell us that

doubled; the average man lives forty

ears, where in Spencers time he

lived but twenty. The world since Sh time has become richer and better

Eudryas grata,

Science will do for agrieulture and the arts. However RI our

3 +h

*'" In Great Mm mpra more than h

least five times s many sicken bro out of pure ignorance of the laws of health, whieh

are never Mn Od t6 pies em at school.” — Dr. Playfair's Address at the British Social Sci

Congress,

614 REVIEWS.

figures may appear, they at least tend to show that our material wealth

„and prosperity depend most intimately on the favor shown to science and

the enco PM GU given to original research, however abstruse, by men

of scientific t

To save a iere of this annual loss of food stuffs and fruits should be

the first object of farmers and gardeners. They eke out a bare livelihood

the "dst amount raised.

Fig. 131. P

Could they save what is wasted by

e ' insects they would grow rich;

ined use of proper remedies against the canker worm, and other noxious

caterpillars and cut worms? A few of the more enlightened and indus-

trious sort are forehanded and cae in restraining these pests. A law

carried out by a proper State Entomological constabulary, if we may so

designate it, would compel idle mma shiftless neighbors to clear their

farms and gardens. We doubt that if a State would appoint a

State Entomologist with ane cone ane who should dio the fields

and report neglect in killing injurious insects to the town authorities, by

whom delinquents should be fined, many times the cost of iE

such a bureau would be saved to the State. Indeed, why should we n

have an Insect law, as well as Fish and Game laws?

Among some of the injurious insects reported on by Mr. Riley is a new

st to the cucumber in the West, the Pickle worm ( Phacellura nitidalis

Cramer, Fig. 126). This is a cater-

pillar which bores into the cucum-

"b n large enough to pickle,

and it is occasionally found in

Three o worm

Fig. 132.

a single one will cause the cucum-

ber to rot. He also gives us

excellent drawings of the Vine

Acolcithus Americana.

pupa; Fig. 128 adult ;), a sin

ae ad of idea will som rat * strip a small vine of its leaves in

a few nights," and sometimes nips off bunches of half-grown grapes.

Another caterpillar, which sometimes is so abundant as to nearly defoli-

e the e is the Alypia 8-maculata Fabr. (Fig. 129; a, larva; b,

REVIEWS. 615

side view of a segment). This must not be confounded with the bluish

larva of Eudryas grata Fabr. (Fig. 130) which differs from the Alypia cater-

pillar in being bluish, and in wanting the white patches on the sides of the `

body, and the more prom- Fig. 133.

Larva of Acoloithus.

va i

gregarious (Fig. 133) REI in companies of a dozen or more and eating

the softer nri of the leaves. It is quite common in the Western and

Southern Sta

ere are over a hundred cuts in this pamphlct, and the mere dissem-

ination of these illustrations will do much towards creating a taste for

entomology in the young. The author sie ibd admits inelegancies of

expression, which mar an otherwise clear and readable style. He com-

per. We trust that the next report will be improved in this respect, as

the excellent cuts need good, hard paper.

AMERICAN CRABs.*— In this admirable paper, describing many of our

Peabody Academy of Socii The desc ations seem to be carefully

and conscien ntiously prepar The specimen of Gelasimus palustris, with

the large fingers Airis nearly equal in size, and mentioned as a

remarkable anoma aly in vol. iii, p. 557, of the NATURALIST, is now referred

by the author to a new species, Gelasimus pugnar.

Not 1, No.1. Ocypodoidea, with four peque Lp By Sid-

ney I. hh Tres the Transactions of M Don. Academy, vol. ii). p.63. 1870.

616 REVIEWS.

Tue Craw Frsu or NORTH AMERICA.* — The Cambridge Museum has

issued another of its sumptuously illustrated and printed catalogues,

which Res liberality of the State of Massachusetts has given it the means

to do. From the hands of Dr. Hagen we have, as might be expected

from his known care and accuracy in research, a monograph of much in-

terest and value. The craw fish have been much neglected by naturalists

in this eue though these ua tane lobsters have already made their

mark in the local histories of the times, by the injury they occasionally do

by ik ating our river dams, and Deine #3 the levee of A Missis-

sippi near New Orleans, and the rice fields of the Southern stat

As the author refers very briefly to their: burrowing habits, esa allud-

ing to the fact that a species ‘severely damages the rice fields of the

accordi vspaper ac

counts they have by tunnelling the artificial banks o T Aeee e

caused devastating floods; and while in Northern Maine we were to

that the craw fish so undermined the dam at the mouth of the Aroostook

River, that it was partially carried iind While craw fishes are most abun-

dant in the Middle, Western and the Southern States, they are more com-

mon in New England than one would be led to suppose from Dr. Hagen's

quently under stones in lakes in Northern Maine, and has had specimens

from Williamstown, Mass., presented him by Mr. S. H. Scudder.

Passing over the cinseticstibn and distribution of the species, we will

glean some results of the author's study on the sexual peculiarities and

dimorphism of these creatures. He finds that some of the females show

ferences, such as the greater development of the limbs, the tarsal third of

which are pening when they are not in the males of the first form,

and the ** hooks on the third article of the third, or in some groups of the

third and of the id pair of legs are smaller and less developed. The

whole body has less size and width, the sculpture is not so well finished,

while the claws are shorter, narrower, and more like those of the fe-

male.” He adds that ‘the existence of a second form of the male, if it

were no more than a passage or metamorphotic form, would not be ex-

* Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of yerge Zoology. No. Monograph of

tne North American Astacidæ. By Dr. H. A. Hagen. Cambridge, 1870. pe al 8vo, pp. 109.

With eleven lithograph plates

REVIEWS. 617

traordinary. But the great number of full-grown second-form specimens

n every species, which are often even larger than the first-form males,

seems to prove that they are individuals which have remained in a sexual

stage that does not agree with their corporal development, — in short,

that they are perhaps sterile." "This conjecture he finds supported by an

anatomical examination.

We quote all the author's general remarks on Dimorphism in Crustacea

and Insects (p. 24). We have noticed in the NATURALIST, vol. iii, p. 494,

iv, p. 55, the recent discoveries of Malmgren, Ehlers, Claparéde and oth-

ers, regarding dimorphism in the worms, which our readers would do

well to read in this connection.

imorphism in other Crustacea.— Perhaps this fact of the existence in the crustacea of two

orms, one always sterile, is not unique. In " e genera Lupa and Callinectes, there are not

rarely females with a very narrow and acute postabdomen. siete t is very easy to separate

from the ordinary females, with a large and cireular eset vane n. Professor L. Agassiz in-

ino me em he decr satisfied bimaal A of 1 iving specimens, met

wW ith A LHGILUYM v

some other g f Brachyur

I am indebted to Mr. Alexa andes Agassiz for the information that F. Sagen Fuer Darwin,

MS has described two forms of the male in M hestia Darwinii and in is dubius, He re-

arks that when found upon die shore the form of the second pair of gna pista varies from

dint of the specimens found at: a distance pia i where D lives under mouldy leaves in loose

earth. In ith large and those with small

pragak are y Het; tö be detected, but in two other species, 0. tucurauna a € S tucuratinga, the

shap the hands changes even in the full-grown

oid Q

sts that 4} Bunt? burrowing

pem hahit

The Veces of two different forms of males in Cambarus is very important in the oen

tion «o species, and the fact that these forms are n Mee by all preceding au

may e wor

Wresting 1 di hi was known only ing the PERRE

re H 11 4 H

which

a general review " vy desirable. An ee examination bos mese dimorphic ibis is

Still wanting, only t

The dimorphism seems to be represented in two different ways; a difference only in the

colors (dichroic forms of Brauer), or a difference in size and shape, and mostly in the female,

we same

ld m m I s

Species, and atio? nthe female. Perhaps in the ants and in the white ants— it seems more

natural to r ange all the socially living insect, Mts the ants, bees, wasps, and white pie under

the same]

Dim l ally in Lepidoptera

2 — hind etae of many Orthoptera, and in =e females of ppe gt es latter genus the

sterile,

og difference in the der opti of the wings. The ar ither e and well-devel-

ped, or short, or entirely wai The n thoptera (Gryllus, Loeust lat

bie ag T ocus) have n carefully described by Messrs. Fischer, Von ld, Lu-

S, Brauer, and m iod Fideles ely r apterous Hemiptera, by Westw l

the -winged Diptera by Schaum ( Lip-

Ornithobia an

ra). Mr. resda is mit wolar an goiat = per upon dimorphism in the genus

a. e win ith

whi :

complicated neuration and different colors. There ripe even a case of morphism in some but-

; s of j Cel

t . according to the observation Mr. Wallace. Papilio Orm om Celebes, has

three distinet forms of females, a n some cases inde number of female forms appear: be

four. Dimorphism desse in different shape d size is observed in the Lepidoptera

(Equites, ete.), in the Coleoptera, in the Lame nior, and in the Longicornia, and perhaps

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 78

618 REVIEWS.

in the Lymexylon and Hyleceetus; in the Hymenoptera ver in the Diptera (Enant

The dimorphism in the Dipterous genus hasia, discove oew, is very remarkable.

thong seen fy ae onec I may be permitted to add here a ae communication by Mr.

oe ent t some ye = ago ma still kanvipquasr ^ti E m "o gems "— "em spors

laf,

nd more colored, d ame the body more color ed. The tw forms fly at the Terg time and

unite with tħe same form of females. The genital parts of pang lar: es are in shape and

m Menon with Those or the — m secs There exist — Waca forms e WM

Isay seems, because I have never seen a male whieh I hesitated to

Lived in - or the two nos?

f di variable in t

Pichena: ABA and genera is the m ode of Hosting even from that Publier n the Asa

cidz. Perhaps a closer examination will disclose even gome di: Ference, in me. pamal paria

certain dim Mti insects. s

distinct species, will be hereafter recognized as only —€ variations, Still, it is ate

that very different facts are to-day united under the same na of dimorphism.

sere nty the eaae of a di imorphism in another part or ven PL viz.,in the Crus-

au iv WOII.

E LIFTED AND SUBSIDED ROCKS OF pa ICA.* — The author’s name

is well known from his admirable paintings and portraits of Indian life

and physiognomy. Catlin’s * North American Indians," was one of the

wonder books of our childhood and youth, Sharing the interest of Irving's

Astoria, Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales, and Tanner's Narrative, those

y boy delights in

reading ; and leading them all in careful detail, arid distinguished from all

in rich, pictorial ébsitfioue t.

We turn with a de egree of sadness to the present little volume, and

wonder how the author could have brought himself to publish such scien-

tific nonsense. The author has been a great traveller over the American

Continent, on both hemispheres. He has studied the faces and habits of

noes, the floods moving northw and thus forming the Gulf-stream.

Such a “cataclysm of the bete ah " adiri disturbed the minds of the

elevated waters, the Gulf-stream first bursting out of the sunken Gulf of

oe pnto Poeta erige n

* By George Catlin. London, Trubner & Co. 1870. 12mo, pp. 228.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 619

Mexico, and travelling at a pace which modern days have seen nothing

“Throwing out, as it were, by explosion, the shattered fragments of

[Aztec] str aia civilization to the savage nations of the globe."

r. Catlin, with reason, protests against the discredit

thrown on Pn state M regarding the Mandan religious ceremonies, by

Mr. Vemm and memorializes s Congress for simple justice, by order-

bne

dently plundered from Catlin. We would suggest that Mr. Catlin has

nothing to fear from Schooleraft's heterogeneous and illy digested vol-

umes, which do no credit to the Congress that ordered their publication.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY or New HawrsHIRE.* — By his annual report we

should judge that Professor Hitchcock was pushing on the work of the

survey with diligence and success. Much attention has been paid to that

indispensable means of geological research, a good t UB map,

and Mr. G. L. Vose, one of the assistants, has **taken a large number of

observations for the purpose of nd the exact position of as many of

‘He ha

part of Coós County, and besides gives an account of his winter's occu-

pation of the summit of Mount Moosilauke.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND AnmTs.f— This long established

journal — ehh has from its commencement been the leading vehicle for

the original papers of American scientists — will be continued after the

close of the present year, As A MONTHLY JOURNAL. This increased fre-

quency of publication will meet a wish often expressed by authors, for a

more rapid interchange of views, and an earlier knowledge of the pro-

gress of research. We hope that the friends and patrons of science will

aid in promoting its wider circulation.

ual I tence of - State of New Hampshire.

nd Ann and M

y C. H. Hitcheaek. 1870. (Svo, pp. a “with a piece

T Founded by Professo risp 100 volumes, in two Series of

each

Editors and Pr. I DANA. Sop somete eh genes

GRAY - GIB 8 of Cambridge, and NEWTON, JOHNSON, BRUSH and VERRILL of

. Devo T Chemistry, Physics, lg ag alogy, Nat tural irai Astronomy, M vest

ology, zon third series in monthly n foe 450 pages

each, from s uary, — i diris preda mes) 4 "86.00 a year, or 50 cents a number. w com-

plete set f the and second series, Address SILLIMAN & DANA, New ‘ices Ok

620 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

THE CHEMICAL History OF THE SIX Days or CREATION.* — In mak-

ing another attempt to reconcile Geology and Genesis, the author has ex-

hibited much more knowledge, fairness, and a truly scientific spirit than

ments of the Scriptures, clothed as they often are, in the peculiarly rhe-

torical style of the languages of the East, and most difficult to translate,

will command the assent of fair minded scientists and theologians. The

bigoted of both classes of minds will perhaps disagree with hi

He explains by the recent discoveries regarding the correlation of forces,

ous elements. He contends that the “nebular hypothesis and the devel-

opment hypothesis may both be true, and God still remain the Creator of

the Universe." A scriptural day of the Hebrew writer with our author,

**is simply an evening and a morning— a period of darkness and a period

of light, and the duration of such a day is not at all limited by anything

contained in the text." He shows that the introduction of plants and

the lower animals, and of fixed time, and the introduction of the higher

pba, and man himself, are mentioned in the same order in Genesis

n geological history, and that there is no fundamental disagreement

veni nd the Hebrew cosmogony and the facts of modern science. With

this general comparison the author is content to stop.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ZOOLOGY.

THE CAUDAL didis OF INsECTS SENSE OnGaNs, i. e. ABDOMINAL AN-

NNZ.— Dr. Anton Dohrn has published a note in the “ Journal of the

Entomological Goiats of ia (1869), to the effect that the abdominal

appendages of SE female of the Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa) are true sen-

sory organs (tastorga e

n the “ emt oco " of the Boston Society of Natural History, May,

1866, the writer states that ** while, as we have shown above, the genital

In the same ‘ Proceedings” for Feb. 26, 1868, he dia VW rites: “ Re-

garding the insect as consisting of two fore and hind halves, the two

ends being, with this view, repetitions of each other, these anal stylets

*By John Phin. New York, American News Co. 1870. 12mo, pp. 95.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. _ 621

may be considered as abdominal antenns, so that the antenne look one

way, and their homologues, the many-jointed antenniform anal stylets,

398.)

The subject is also referred to in the ** Guide to the Study of Insects,"

page 17, and the remarkable antenniform abdominal appendages of Man-

tis tessellata figured in illustrati

I have been able to seein sense-organs (probably endowed with the

Sense of smell) in the short, stout-jointed, anal stylets of the Cock-

roach (Periplaneta Americana), beautifully mounted by Mr. E. Bicknell. _ I

have recently, after reading Dr. Dohru’s note, observed the sense-organs

and counted about ninety * minute orifices on each stylet, which are prob-

ably smelling or auditory organs, such as are described by Hicks (see

"n Guide," p.26). ‘They were much larger and much more numerous than

smelling than geo to enable the males to smell out the females. I

have observed the same organs in the lamella of the antenne of the car-

rion beetles, which pede sen depend more on the sense of smell than

that of touch or hearing to find eiim carcasses in which to place

their eggs. — A. S. PACKARD, JR., June 87

A REMARKABLE MynrAPOD.—Whhile IU over a chip with Myriapods

and Poduras on the under side, brought in from the Museum grounds

by Mr. C. A. Walker, I detected a lively little yellowish white creature,

which immediately suggested Sir John Lubbock's Pauropus, to which we

have alluded on p. 45, vol. iii, of the NATURALIST (where the six-legged

It may be called Pauropus Lubbockii, in honor of the original discoverer

of this remarkable type of Myriapods. No more interesting articulate

has been discovered for many iuit E the occurrence of a species in

America is worthy of note. It has but nine pairs of legs eh geni

when hatched), and in some points in pe organization seems to be a con-

necting link between the Myriapods and Podurids, which are ik in-

Sects, probably de gom gape pibe Our species is yellowish white,

and .03 of an inch in len Mr. Walker assures me, after seeing this

specimen, that he saw a inte one last May under the bark of an apple-

tree in Chelsea, Mass. — A. S. PACKARD, Jr., November 10.

dding, ** there were

3. E o xr ta

* Mr. P geen yes counte more carefully than I ey: the exaet number of these pits, and

made a

rnp Pea S

ace OL pp

623 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS. — The first

meeting of this new society was held July 19th, at Madison, Wisconsin.

The president, Dr. J. W. Hoyt, reported the preparation sha publication

of the first number of the Academy’s ** Bulletin." It was also stated that

a bill had passed the Legislature for a topographical survey of the lead

region of the State under the direction of the Academy. A paper was

read on the “ Classification of the Sciences," by Rev. A. O. Wright. Mr.

Englemann and Judge Knapp spoke on the destruction of the forest trees,

the latter concluding that the pine forests of Michigan and Wisconsin

would be wholly destroyed in twenty-five years, if their present reckless

studies on the fish of Lake Michigan, and of the recent dredgings in the

lake in connection with Drs. Thompson and Lapham, vage in the

eee number of the Wines Other papers were

e have also to note the existence of a flourishing Mid History

heir in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

TO MOUNT SPIDERS FOR CABINETS. — In M. Thorell’s fine 4to on

emos Spiders, which singularly enough, is published in Upsala, and

yet printed in the English language, the following instructions are given:

— '' The spider is first killed, either by the vapor of ether or by heat, and

is impaled by an insect-pin, which is passed through the right side of the

cephalothorax; the abdomen is then cut off close to the cephalothorax,

and the cut surface dried with blotting-paper. The head of another

insect-pin is cut off, and the blunt extremity introduced through the inci-

sion into the abdomen, up to the spinners. The abdomen thus spitted is

inserted into a large test-tube held over the flame of a candle, the prepa-

ration being constantly rotated till dry, avoiding the extremes of too

much or too little heat — the firmness of the abdomen being tested every

now and then with a fine needle, till it is so firm as not to yield to pres-

sure; the front extremity of the pin is now cut off obliquely, and the

point thus made inserted into the cephalothorax, the two halves of the

body being thus again brought into Sahat The animal may then be

mounted as usual.” — Popular Science Rev `

Tovcaw's BEAK. — Permit a few words in answer to the question

* Wherefore such a beak” for the Toucan. On page 306, of that most

lively and interesting book for a denizen pro tem., or longer, of the tropics

* The Andes and the Amazon," by Professor J. Orton, the author has &

rather piquant discussion of this question. I answer it by saying, to feed

th, to be sure. What else? Perhaps also for defence and pluming.

heavy, serrated mandibles. Like the shovel-nosed tribe, or the digger-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 623

like tribe, or the curved-beak tribe, wn form, size, is everything for

their peculiar method of obtaining ratio

The Toucan feeds on insects, which s 2 in the corolla of flowers;

it especially delights in tubular corollas, and has a great fondness for kem

rich, scarlet, fuschia-like clusters of the Rose de Monta, of Guayan

These clusters he seizes near the calyx, and by longitudinal i

of his powerful mandibles, aided by their serrated edges, saws them off,

and then by his horny and fimbriated tongue, separates the insect portion

from the vegetable, and swallows that which his palate approves of, like

any other sensible bird. To see him hop from branch to branch, reach

out his long, ponderous jaws, seize his breakfast, saw it off, as one sees

a butcher in his stall, to see the parts rejected fall to the ground in petal-

iferous showers, and he maintain his equipoise, has been one of the most

ost mortem examinations of his injestæ, and have always found the

shields and remains of insects the most abundant in his craw. —R. P.

STEVENS.

PHYSELLA NOT A FRESH-WATER SHELL. — Mr. Tryon called the aem

tion of the Lig sa section of the Sahai ak Academy of N

Sciences, to the curious error committed by several oap rains in

treating Berendtia pris sella) Nim as a fluviatile mollusk. He sup-

posed that the resemblance of the first generic name given to Physa was

of species as illustrated by the “groups” or subgenera of Helices, estab-

lished by Albe ers, and stated his conviction that nowhere in the animal

ingdom could more conclusive evidences of the truth of Darwintanian

be adduced

GEOLOGY.

Dm a GLACIER FLOW FROM LAKE HURON INTO LAKE ERIE? I find on

page 193, of Vol. 4 of the AMERICAN NATURALIST, an article by Professor

B. M i

Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, are basins excavated

in undisturbed sedimentary rocks. Of these, Lake Michigan is six hun-

dred feet deep, with a surface level of five hundred and seventy-eight

feet above tides; Lake Huron is five huudred feet deep, with a surface

624 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

level of five hundred and seventy-four feet; Lake Erie is two hundred

and four feet deep, with a surface level of five hundred and sixty-five

feet; Lake Ontario is four hundred and fifty feet deep, with a surface

level of two hundred and thirty-four feet above the sea.” “An old, exca-

vated, now filled channel, connects Lake Erie and Lake Huron.” Andon

of these ancient glaciers corresponded in a general way with the present

one of these ice rivers flowed from Lake Huron, along a channel now

filled with drift, and known to be at least one hundred and fifty feet deep,

into Lake Erie, which was then not a lake, but an excavated valley, into

which the streams of Northern Ohio flowed, one hundred feet or more

below the present lake level." It will be granted, no doubt, that a glacier

occupies the bed, or lowest part of the valley through which it flows, and,

that like water, it flows from a higher to a lower point of elevation, or

in other words, that it flows down hill, instead of up hill. But if Profes-

sor Newberry's position, that formerly a glacier flowed from Lake Huron

States that the surface of Lake Erie is five hundred and sixty-five feet

above the sea level and is two hundred and four feet deep, which locates

its bed at three hundred and sixty-one feet above the sea level, and two

hundred and eighty-seven feet above that of Lake Huron. If it be true,

which is granted, as stated, that “an old, excavated, now filled channel

connects Lake Erie and Lake Huron, then must it also be true, granting

that the beds of these lakes occupied the same relative position to each

other in the glacial period that they now do, that whatever glaciers flowed

through it must have flowed from Lake Erie in the direction of Lake

Huron, and found an outlet in that direction, instead of from ‘‘ near the

length, by abont twenty-five miles in width, saying nothing as to its

thickness, lifting itself, by the mere force of gravity, from a lower up

to a higher plane of elevation, which would appear to be impossible.

The probabilities are that the furrows in the ** old, excavated, now filled

channel, connecting Lakes Erie and Huron," were made by running or

floating icebergs, long ages after the work of excavating the beds of the

great lakes by the glaciers had been completed, and not by true glacial

ice. The difficulty of reconciling the observed facts in the case, seems

to accrue from allotting too short a space of time to the glacial period.

It would appear more perspicuous to allow an excavating period, corres-

EN UL 4 2 o o o ood e yeu

NATURAL HISTORY. MISCELLANY. 625

ponding in time with the period of the greatest continental elevation,

during which period the glaciers would naturally flow in the direction of

completely filled, and the surface elevated above them from one to two

hundred feet, and even more. Then comes another continental elevation,

the beginning of the present status of appearances. — L. J. Stroop,

Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas.

MICROSCOPY.

AMERICAN Micnoscorzs. — The able refutation by your correspondent,

C. S., in your issue of September, of the statements made by Dr. Hagen,

Writers, as to drive them to the most obviously, to use Dr. Hagen's own

mild epithet, “ comical” conclusions.

Referring to German stands, for whose glorification Dr. Hagen seems

to have written the papers in question, any one who, like myself, has

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 79

626 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

that has ever used one of them; and still it is, to this i the favored

One iPods by students thr ouifnaus France and Germ

t objectives and eye pieces, I have nothing to mk in " dE to

e giv

hands of one observer, often proves an we failure in the hands of an-

other, though both acknowledged ** adepts " in the use of the microscope.

This undisputed fact should make one very careful before pronouncing

ex cathedra upon the merits of objectives produced by artists of unques-

tioned ability. In connection with this last remark, allow me to state that

I shall be most happy to show to Dr. Hagen the Surirella gemma and its

markings, which he only saw dimly with a 1-10th inch objective of Tolles;

to show him, with a 1-8th inch immersion lens of W. Wales, the ** basket

work," as we call the elongated hexagons of that fine test at the Bailey

Club, as near to Hartnack's theoretical diagram, as it is practicable to

accomplish in a microscope view of that diatom. This very same 1-8th

play of the lines in question with his No. 11 — almost equal to the 1-15th

of our makers — pronounced my poor 1-8th an ‘inferior pen ine

**as long as I lived, would never resolve the Surirella gemma." mu

for hasty judgments. The determination of the abstract, as well as ies

tive merits of objectives, must stand, in the opinion of all experienced

plexing and difficult problems to settle in practical op ties

Although not having the right to claim thirty years aduperienos in the

use of the microscope, and although one of the most insignificant dilet-

tantis in the realm of microscopy, I venture to bring to bear my humble

testimony, and some little experience gained in long European peregrina-

tions, in favor of the superiority of English and American instruments,

for both their mechanical and optical excellence, over all continental pro-

ductions in the same line, begging here to mention, that in my statements

I am influenced by no national prejudices, as I do not belong by birth, to

either of the two aforesaid nationalities; neither am I a member of the

Boston Optical Association. — T. O., Cornwall Landing, Sept. 16, 1870.

WALES’ LOW POWER OBJECTIVES.*— May I ask of you the favor of a few

lines in reply to Mr. Bicknell’s note in the NaTURALIST for June last. Mr.

cknell agrees with me in according to Mr. Wales' objectives the high

rank to which they are undoubtedly entitled, but in some way seems to

the microscopic world. It was not that Mr. Wales’ 4-10 had an amplifica-

tion of two hundred sna ten diameters, or that Mr. Wales’ did or did not

deii a dad

* This reply, with a ber of stponed on account of

the space devoted to tq reports of the meeting of tlie American kadilo

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 627

underrate his lenses in the naming of them, ay point — presented

was, that lenses of such low power should do so much, there not be-

ing any great liability of material difference E the enini present ,

in a of such low power as 38-inch. No measurement of its power

was give Not so, however, in the case of the 4-10, for as is well known,

and as Mr. Bicknell states, objectives of various makers rating the same,

differ greatly in their magnifying power. And this again occurs, not only

with the objectives of different makers, but even the objectives of the

same maker differ, although rated the same, e. g. in R. & I. Beck's Cata-

logue, 1868, are advertised 1-4 inch objective (No. 234) magnifying power

two hundred and ten, and on a succeeding page 1-4 inch objectives (No.

296) magnifying power one hundred and forty diameters. "Therefore I

lacie’ f London, of Hartnack deg n of Tolles and Grunow of this

dea or of Gundlach of Vienna, various objectives of each and all of

which makers I have examined, have either I myself, or other microscop-.

ists of my acquaintance, been able to effect this.”

Ido not say with a 4-10 objective, for firstly, they all differ in their

amounts of amplification, and secondly, neither Hartnack nor Gundlach

thus denominate their objectives, but as usual with Continental makers,

number them as 1, 2, 3, and so on. The word power, however, I thought

could not be ee di: such equality of power being most —

attained by the use of the draw-tube.

That an objective ee two — and ten diameters ils

used in connection with a No. 1 or an A eye-piece, should resolve the

Pleurosigna angulatum, mounted, not grs but in balsam, and by direct

light, instead of oblique, is what I wished to put on record, and such I

think the generality of microscopists would infer on perusal of the arti-

cle. As, however, Mr. Editor, Mr. Bicknell is of the opinion that I have

current, I would state that not only have I myself remeasured the ampli-

fication present on the use of said objective in said resolution, but that I

am permitted to use the names of Dr. Edward Curtis, formerly of the

Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C.; of Mr. Joseph vik Ward, the

well known microscopist of this city; and of Mr. O. G. Mason, Photog-

rapher of Bellevue Hospital, names familiar to all mieroseopists in New

. York, in testimony of the correctness of said measuremen

As regards the second point raised, namely, the Bionic of object-

ives by their various makers, it is, undoubtedly, the fact, not however

I think from any intention to mislead, but rather from an inherent want.

or defect in the nomenclature in use. The denominating of an objective

a 4-10, 1-5, 1-8 and so on, answers a certain purpose of informing us of

about what power is meant, but if, in addition, the makers would engrave

628 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

upon their objectives the amplification present when the image formed by

such objective is thrown upon a screen at the recognized normal distance

.of ten inches (or 254 millimeters) from the object we should then have

something de e hich I find most convenient for obtain-

ing this amplification of the objective considered in and by itself is as

E a f the lines or di ns of a stage micrometer is

—the collective or field glass of the same having been previously removed.

The plane or distance from the stage micrometer at which the eye-piece

micrometer should be placed, namely, ten inches, may easily be effected

by means of the draw tube. By comparison of the lines of the stage mi-

crometer as thus Projected, with those of the eye-piece micrometer the

eye-piece enlarging both sets of lines equally, decer SEAS the

reading. In this use of the eye-piece micrometer i ary t

the exact value of its scale should be known, a gt erer when

otherwise used. The scales upon the micrometers which I use and find

in general best adapted to the purpose, are a millimetre divided into 1-100

for the stage micrometer, sunt a centimetre divided into 1-100 for the

ocular or eye-piece microme

With the highest respect sak kindliest of feelings towards Mr. Bicknell,

who has contributed so largely to the advancement of microscopic sci-

ence in America, I intended in my original communication, not the bring-

ing before the public the superior boc cu of Mr. Wales' lenses, for

their merit in this country we are all agreed, but to place on recor

Mags resolutions as attained by itane low amplification. — J. J.

HiGGiNS, M.

T PLEST FORM OF MICRO-TELESCOPE. — At a fleld meeting of tlie

Fire ose, held in Hoosic Falls, on the 24th of September, Dr.

H. Ward of , N. Y., exhibited a simpler form of micro-telescope

than has wikci-eo d boni proposed. He screws an ordinary 4-inch objective

(5-8 inch wide, 2 3-4 inches solar focus) into an adapter (about 2 inches

acts as an erecting ej c gii, as in Tolle queue and Curtis' micro-

light of a 1-inch opening; but the new arrangement gives a really useful

field-telescope without re quiring a single addition to the microscopist’s

apparatus. Solid (single pras oce objectives act best as erectors iu

this case, but the ordinary objectives, from 2-inch to 1-2-inch, answer

very well. The same arrangement, by raising the tube [pica and

perhaps substituting a 1-inch objective for the 4-inch. furnishes an erect-

ing compound microscope which is excellent as a hand-magnifler p fleld

use; and by removing the lens below the stage we have the ordinary fleld

microscope on which the object may be placed in the * clinical compres-

sor,” or otherwise.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 629

ANTHROPOLOGY.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CRANIAL CHARACTERS IN Max. — Professor John

Cleland has communicated to the Royal Society a paper in which he gives

an account of some careful investigations into the cranial measurements

of various races, and criticises the various methods of craniometry in use

— pointing out what facts of growth and feit of parts Pu observed

measurements really indicate. He observes that if the terms dolicho-

cephalic pe "pss are to retain any scientific value as applied to

skulls, the **cephalic index” (that is, the breadth in terms of the length

which is called one rendre) must not be depended on. Other points of

importance, as pointed out by Retzius, must be attended to. According

9 Dr. Cleland, the relation of the height to length of a skull is of great

importance. There is no foundation whatever for the supposition,

which is a wide spread one, that the lower races of hum manity have the

forehead less developed than the more civilized nations; neither is it

the case that the forehead slopes more backwards on the floor of the

anterior part of the brain-case in them than it does in others. — Quarterly

Journal - Science.

TARY GENIUS. — In his late work on “ Hereditary Genius,” Mr.

idite Galton thus describes his PE

“Wha rofess to prove is Mies that if t 1 taken, of dene one os a ee

excoptionaly itd in a high degree—say ne d or as one in a million—and th

r has not, the former r child gem ioc aste a éreider chance of turning out to ue ited in

a Miet ph than the other. Also, I argue that, as a new race can be obtained in animals and

n ber

plan bis raise ed t o SO great a degree of purity 1 thes i will makntaln itself, with n mo e

ríe e eare,

men might be obtained, under exactly similar conditions,"

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.

NINETEENTH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD-

VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, HELD AT Troy, N. Y., AUGUST 17TH-24TH.

1870. [A hn of papers continued from the November Number]

r. F. W. PuTNAM made a communication **Om the young of Ortha-

piti mola." He had been led to his investigations by the statement,

e by Messrs. Lütken and Steenstrup,* that the young of Orthagoriscus

venei cine iiem the adult, and that Molacanthus was not a distinct

genus, but simply the young state of Orthagoriscus. This statement of

the redii Copenhagen zoologists led him to believe that they had

not seen the young of Orthagoriscus and had been misled by the singular

form of Molacanthus in considering that genus as the younger state of

* (Efversigt Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Forhandl. 1863. p. 36.

630 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

the sunfish. He exhibited drawings of Molacanthus, of the adult form

of Orthagoriscus mola and O. oblongus, and of the young of the last two.

The drawing of the young of O. oblongus was copied from Harting's

work. Harting had figured the specimen in connection with remarks

Fig. 134. Fig. 135.

Molacanthus Palassii

(1-2 grown, natural

Size).

Orthagoriscus oblongus (young, natural size).

o the effect that he thought the young of this genus were not so dif-

Fus from the adult in form as ae by Liitken and Steenstrup.

€ drawings of the young of O. mola were from specimens taken in

Pichtibienmii Bay and now in the Piee) Academy of Science, having

Fig. 136. een received

from the Essex

specimens, four

inchesi in length,

Orthagoriscus mola (young, natural size). doubt could be

entertained as to their being the young of O. mola. In these young spec-

the eye is proportionally very large, and is placed at the margin

margin. In the young the dorsal fin and the upper portion of the caudal

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 631

are thrown respectively a little penn sre of the anal fin and the ee

e caudal

which culminated in the formation of the projecting “nose” so charac-

teristic of the old

specimens, he was Fig. 151.

led e'c

fn the caudal be- Orthagoriseus mola (adult, greatly reduced).

came a pointed fin.

Along the asc portion of these young fishes is a fleshy ridge, ran

deta saisis d from the body, and armed with several rows of small s

The back, for Ll half the distance in front of the dorsal fin, jm a

2 raised fleshy ridge.

dai red Sais were mentioned in connection with the skel-

vee of the young and the changes which take place in its growth. The

neural spines of the 5th to the 15th vertebra -are closely packed to-

gether with the interneural spines, and extending backwards support

632 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

the dorsal fin, while the hæmal spines of the 10th to 16th vertebra

are in. close connection with the expanded interhzemal spines supporting

the anal fin. The 16th vertebra gives off large neural and hemal

spines, the former having five interneural spines anchylosed with it as

in the adult, while the hæmal spine supports nine interhemal spines,

the vertebral column, has been as often considered as an interspinous

bone as a vertebra. In the young specimens this vertebra, though separ-

ated from the column as in the adult, has in close connection with it two

ien above and two below, probably indicating that this vertebra is in

reality the consolidation of two vertebral bodies, the 17th and 18th, while

central rays of the caudal fin, and they and the 17th, 18th, and 19th ver-

tebre are only represented by the free or “ floating " 17th vertebra which

lies in the chain of interspinous bones of the caudal. 'This is the only

_ instance of a vertebra existing as distinctly separated from the vertebral

column known to the author.

A dissection of the soft parts of the young shows the same arrange-

ment as in the adult; the large liver extending in two lobes and enclos-

ing the stomach and portions of the intestine, and the long intestine with

its five or six oda The arrangement of the bundles of muscles is the

same as in the ad j

On comparing er Legs with Molacanthus an entirely different

structure is observed. First, the external form of Molacanthus differs

while the reverse is the case in Orthagoriscus. There are many largely

spines of the 4th to 17th vertebra, and those of the anal with the hemal

spines of the 10th to 17th vertebre. The vertebral column in Molacanthus

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 633

terminates abruptly with the 17th vertebra, and no caudal chain of inter-

spinous bones can be traced. The liver is small, when compared with that

of the young Orthagoriseus, and is composed principally of a large right

lobe overlying the stomach. The stomach is small and the intestine is

short, making but two sii like the letter S, while in Orthagoriscus it

is long and has five or six turns, or coils. The arrangement of the mus-

cles and the bones of the head are, in general, about the same as in

Orthagoriscus.

Figure 134 is from a specimen of Molacanthus Palassii,* natural size.

This specimen was taken from the stomach of a dolphin caught in the

Figure 135 is the po of MM (Cephalus) hee i

from Harting’s Memoir. This specimen was taken from t

‘ Thon ” caught in the Auaris pode and is represented of cin size.

Figure 136 is from one of the young specimens of Orthagoriscus mola

taken in Massachusetts Bay. Natural size

Figure 137 represents the adult form of Orthagoriscus mola from a draw-

in their outline. The best is that of Harting, under the name of Orthago-

riscus ozodura, in the Transactions of the Academy of Amsterdam for

68. An intermediate stage between the young and the adult, mm fig-

ured, is represented by the figures of Bloch, Donovan, and Yarr

Dr. R. D read a paper before the Section of Microscopy ‘On.

the Illumination of Binocular Microscopes.” The object of this paper is

the opticians, has brought into existence the sumptuous first-class stands

and their elaborate accessories, but to make some suggestions in the in-

terest of that larger class, microscopical amateurs, who, incidentally to

, 9f the market, and their choice of apparatus, and consequent success in

Work, e xt. upon the chances of trade and the interested par-

tiality of dea

It is not ipie but unfortunate, that this class of apparatus, students'

— Vei ao of these fish will be discussed in full in the Memoirs of the Academy. The

nam:

Mr. Pata s paper will be ! published Ri full m a future number of the Memoirs ot the

Peabody Academy p

in this a nns

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 80

634 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

microscopes, et id omne genus, should latest and least feel the control of

real science in their construction. Only a few years ago in London, and

. much later in this country, was there any serious effort to make students’

microscopes worthy of the times. Even now some of the best of these

are sold without a diaphragm below the stage, or with so small a body

that the lowest (and, for beginners, best) eye-piece gives a ridiculously

mall field, and too many are still built upon the old vertical plan which

um been iin te for twenty years. In regard to stereoscopic micro-

scopes the case is still worse. Tolles’ binocular eye-piece **for microscopes

only ” is not yet in the market, though expected for years, and Wenham "8

binocular, long since popularized in England, is nearly unknown here ex-

cept on large and costly instruments. Grunow, of New York, has done

something during past years to furnish small bi nocular instruments.

When will he, and Tolles, and Zentmayer, and Miller, and McAllister, ^

others, do for us what Crouch, and Collins, and Murray and Heath,

Beck, and many others, have long since done for England in Fares an

abundant variety of good binoculars of moderate size and cost? If the

binocular microscope were unnecessary for anybody it would be for the

diatomist; yet I can scarcely believe that such a person, after s So

Móller's ipa plate a illuminated under a 4-10 objective of Mans

120° in a good binocular, would ever advise any person to purchase a

monocular instrument except as a necessity of price. While we are

waiting ro still further a nts in the binocular, promise of whic

ma Mr. Holmes' bisected lens, the erecting binocular of Mr.

Stephenson, and the binocular by double ee of Dr. Barnard, let

t on

croscopical work, the Eq the ie cd , s, and the light, the e is

be still better; and probably Tolles’ orthoscopic eye-piece would answer ~

the same purpose. e illuminating angle would be varied by focussing

below the object, with much less logs pa definition ae in the old style

of using an objective for the same purpose; or, preferably, various stops

of blackened card would be oe below th sese lens to stop off any

desire

used to correct the yellow glare of preside Hue. Rebbe slight mechan-

ical ingenuity the student can combine th diaphragm

of blackened card or brass, and sonaat josreane the convenience of

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 635

his really excellent achromatic condenser. The effici iency of his -—

ratus will be vastly increased by adding the graduating diaphragm mad

dá Collins and others in London and occasionally offered for sale in this

vate London dealers. At first sight it cmo uld seem that this apparatus

ould not be used on stands of the *: Jackson ". model; but, by a little

Far cci filing, it can be used on large ie of this style, as I have

been accustomed to do for years. After using a graduating diaphragm in

the ordinary microscopical work of natural history, the orthodox wheel

à i

changes of light, seems simply absurd. For use irae ERS - or

arg

phragm should be used on all stands to whieh it can be applied; dim

i ati

iris diaphragm as made by Beck. There is often some difficulty in getting

the graduating diaphragm sufficiently near to the lenses in the small lens

condensers, but none in the eye-piece condensers.

The easiest and most fascinating use of the stereoscopie microscope is

doubtless with opaque or translucent objects with the paraboloid or other

means of Misi aaa illumination. In lighting transparent objects

under the binocular we have only one new condition introduced, the ne-

cessity of a wide horizontal illumination in order to give an even light

over the whole of both fields. Focussing the condenser upon the object

and gradually opening the diaphragm, we shall probably find, with a 1-

inch of 259, the best definition and resolution accomplis ished just at the

cones of light each having an angular width about one-half or one-third

of that of a objective, and converging hori detta upon the object at

an angle nearly as atas that of the chet, v hall have both fields

fairly « m piede lighted, and no glare he same zu is attained by a

stop with a Pei slit, giving a dr umi and narrow vertical

pencil of lig

This Bs may be applied with some dps even to instru-

ments without €— by placing a disc like Fig. 1 of Plate 5, hav-

ng an opening of suitable width, over the pele) to shape the cone

of light from the concave abi ee r the regular wheel of apertures may

be replaced by a somewhat larger one containing one or "-" openings of

this shape.

Next comes the spotted lens, which may be applied to any microscope

and which will greatly increase its working power at an almost nominal

636 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

expense, giving sufficiently good black-ground and oblique-light effects

for small microscopes. This lens is used for transparent illumination of

both fields of the binocular with 1-2 or 1-4-inch objectives (the Webster

condenser, with its smallest centre stop, and graduating diaphragm, at-

tains the same end in a much finer manner), but much of the light passed

even by it is detrimental, and its performance may be improved by a cap

of card or paper, pe: over it, having a horizontal opening, or a vertical

stop (Plate 5, figs. 2 and 3), one of the openings in Fig. 3 being closed

when oblique light is Pianist A horizontal opening of —ÓÀ width

may be easily combined with the brass mounting of the spotted le

1 usin objective or similar tna: as achromatic s

the horizontal slit is still more applicable. It (Plate 5, fig. 4) may be

added, for instance, to the stop-plate of Powell and Leland's achromatic

condenser, or -— in the supplementary aperture of Ross' 4-10 con-

denser, or in small microscopes screwed in between the lenses of a con-

densing Suite. pe ae t stops must be used for different angles of

regulated by the Paci plate, or by Zentmayer's graduating dia-

phragm, or Brown's iris diaphragm which. instead Z the diaphragm-

plate, should be combined with condensers of this clas

ut the real value of this stop, and the real ease ba banding the light

in the every-day work of the d microscope, is attained with

the large-lens condensers, with which a 1-4 of 75?, or, when more resolv-

ing power and less depth of field is d ed, a 4-10 of 110° to 120°, can be

as easily managed as a 1-inch, both fields being softly and evenly lighted.

Plate he fig. 6, ind placed in the same fr vias or the stop-plate may

b modified as to furnish a horizontal slit as in Plate 5, fig. 7, the

Nap of the slit hens controlled by the aaa spi An ad-

justable slit may be extemporized by using a nen edge of card in

width and curved direction of the slit any serious inconvenience in prac-

prin

e graduating di e We ia for facility of use and certainty of results,

teg fairly superseded the original wheel of apertures; perhaps the time

nothing left to remind us of our circular diaphragm-plate. If the optic-

ians would give us something having the general arrangement of the

EAE AS ETON ENE EEE NEN E aa sau E E N S OE,

E Eg REENE A Pu Nou eS FEAN REET, E

American Naturalist. VoL IV, PL &,

WARD, ON THE ILLUMINATION OF BINOCULAR MICROSCOPES

rpo”

(627)

638 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

Webster condenser, but of 110°, perfectly achromatic and adjustable for

thickness of the glass slide, and mounted over a graduating diaphragm,

a pair of shutters for an adjustable horizontal slit (one of them, or an-

other single shutter, capable of moving independently for oblique illum-

the ordinary investigation in natural history would consider the combi-

nation rather as a ET part of their stand than as an accessory to

be sometimes used with it

Dr. WALKER of ^ Orleans, La., read a paper prepared by Professor

EuGENE W. HILGARD, State Geologist of Louisiana, on ** The Upper Delta

Plain of the Mississippi." The paper is one of a series by the same au-

thor, the preceding ones having treated of the older formations which

characterize the geology of the Great Enlargement of the "pss Gulf

Basin, of which the Mississippi River, below Cairo, forms the

delta or alluvial deposits proper, cover the older formations

paratively slight depth only, the river running on paludal pdt w

then on an ancient sea bottom, of corresponding (late quaternary) age,

from above New Orleans to near its mouth, It thus appears that Artesian

bores in the vicinity of New Orleans, tubed through the (chiefly marine)

seen to have swept over the southern coast with sufficient force to trans-

port pebbles of five to six ounces weight from far distant regions, the

nearest being Tennessee and Arkansas. This great eroding agent seems

also to have so cut and worn the older formations into ridges and chan-

nels, that the overlying ones vary greatly in thickness, while level at the

surface. The singular phenomena known as the New Orleans Gas Wells,

are also mentioned. When bores were sunk for water, the gas rushed up

with such force as to carry up several cart loads of sand in a single night,

and when the gas became ignited, it was extinguished with great dif-

culty.

An abstract of a second paper by the same author, “On the Mudlumps

of the Passes of the Mississippi,” was given by Prof. J.E.Hmaarp. The

Mudlumps are islands formed by upheavals of the bottom, off the mouths

of the Passes, inside the bar. They often rise in mid-channel, obstruct-

ing navigation and diverting the current, and at times bringing up ob-

jects long ago lost from vessels. They form a number of pretty large

islands, especially near the mouth of the South-west Pass. On them we

frequently find springs of liquid mud, accompanied by bubbles of com-

bustible gas; these springs often exhibit all the phenomena of mud vol-

canoes — extensive cones of mud, with an active crater in the middle.

Most of the material of the Mudlumps seen above water, bears evidence

of having once belonged to active cones, now extinct.

MEE USt eem EE TN S

cue cani e A EMI e

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 639

The author investigated the origin of these springs, by an examination

of their ejecta — gas, water, and mud. The gas he found to be such as is

produced by vegetable matter in its first stages of decay. The mud con-

tains evidence of à mixed fluviatile and marine origin; while the water

in which it is diffused, has the composition of sea-water changed under

the influence of ferrugino-calcareous river mud, containing fermenting

vegetable matter.

The conclusion reached is, that the mud is the same as that which is

deposited on the **blue clay bottom” of the Gulf, outside the bar, in a

semi-fluid state. In its annual advance, the bar covers this mud stratum,

which exists equally higher up the Passes; the increase in weight by

vegetation, alluvion, etc., of the new formed land above, as well as that

of the bar below the mouth, causes the bottom to bulge upwards at the

points of least resistence, 7. e. in the deepest channel.

Attention was called to the fact, that of all rivers known, the Mississippi

is the only one exhibiting either mudlump action, or the peculiar narrow

lands of bank, advancing rapidly towards deep water, which are known

as **necks," and are obviously dependent on the mudlumps for their

origin. It is therefore permissible to infer, not only that all the similarly

Shaped alluvions above the head of the Passes, at least as far as the forts,

have been formed by mudlump action, but also that the latter will cease

so soon as the bar, in its advance, shall pass beyond the shelf of ‘blue

clay botton” (presumably of the Port Hudson age), into the deep water

of the Gulf; which point is now nine miles out from the mouth.

Professor W. C. Kerr read a paper on **A Point in Dynamical Geol-

ogy.” This paper called attention to the agency of the sun as a probable

and sufficient explanation of the well-known remarkable coincidences or

the coast lines, mountain systems and chains of islands, — nearly all the

great ** feature-lines" in the physiognomy of the globe,—with the arcs of

great circles tangent to the polar circles; the exceptions being generally

arcs of great circles perpendicular to the former; inasmuch as the sun os-

globe in its plastic and formative state. Similar considerations are appli-

cable to the lunar influence, wbich was cumulative in the same direction.

THE ONEONTO AND MONTROSE SANDSTONE, ETC. — In the Report of my

paper on the Oneonto and Montrose Sandstone etc., the language may

convey the idea that the sandstones of both these localiies have been

identified with the Portage Group, which was not intended. The Oneonto

Sandstone is pretty clearly an equivalent of the Portage Group of Central

640 . BOOKS RECEIVED.

and Western New York, while up to this time no positive determination

has been made regarding the Sandstone of Montrose. The latter may be

the equivalent of the Red Sandstone of Tioga a sun of the summits of the

Catskill, but we have not yet the facts necessary for the d —

Will you have the kindness to make some note of correction in the nex

number of the NATURALIST. Yours, etc. — JAMES HALL.

The following papers were also read before the Association : —

PAPERS READ IN SECTION B. — NATURAL HISTORY.

Notes on Granitic Rocks. By T. St fie Hun

On the Oil-Bearing Limestone of Chicago. T. St. rry Hun

On the Lignites of West America, their te ae and geret Value. By J. S.

'ewberry.

On the character of the TT necessary to interpret the record of the last

Glacial Period. haler

rnit Circuits of Generation : Zymotic Fungi: 6. Of the (nominal)

Genera of Fresh water Alge, as Pisa Peli iom of Bryacem, etc, c. Of Vorticel-

kcPlamrinm. By T. C. Hilgard.

nee recep T sree Arietes. By Alpheus Hyatt.

e iron, "not — oriec. E. M A ad

On the salt deposit of pede stern Ont. y T. Sterry Hun

On the Relation of Organic Life ed e ek coded rs the Physical Character

hal

The oe. and ‘Old Age of the Tetrabranchiate Cephalopods. By A. Hyatt.

On a method of collecting cer t Geological facts, adopted by the ' Social Science

Pis schon ” By N.S. Shaler

On the eras and Chronology of the Drift Phenomena in the Mississippi Valley

By J. S. Newber

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Archie fur pepers al M pria vol. iv. Heft, 1, 2, 1870. 4to.

zology of Peru, By E,G@. Squier. London, 1870. 8vo.

Feuille edens ure die ei 5, May to August, 1870. Dornach, Haut-Rhin.

($1.00 arta rer) Me

Report on

s thee 2 ao "Long Island, N, Y., and of tts Dependencies. By Sanderson Smith

und abc ru me. ork. 8vo, pp. 30,

u ^

8vo.

a Ireland, 1870. 8Y0,

m 12, 25. peers Addres. Dr. Wi Thompson, November 10,1869, Belfast. Treland. 40.

geni

Phil bi

rnal of Microscopy. Vol. i, No.1. Chicago, Movember js ng "published

mber, 1870,

teal Club. Vol. i, No. 10. October, 1870.

eee Ai

emist

Minerals of Colorado, By J. Alden — Contial Pagi eei 8vo, pp. 16.

Journal of Popular Science. oo

of t

Collections of the Minnesota Historic Seti. Vol M. ei T St. Paul, 1870. 8vo,

TD EE CH

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. JANUARY, 1871. — No. 11.

coc GU (ede ex

THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE.*

BY PROF. J. S. NEWBERRY, LL. D.

siio

THe wonderful collections of fossil plants and animal

remains brought by Dr. Hayden from the country bordering

the Upper Missouri have been shown by his observations,

and the researches of Mr. Meek, to have been derived from

deposits made in extensive fresh-water lakes ; lakes, which

once oceupied much of the region lying immediately east of

the Rocky Mountains, but which have now totally disap-

peared. The sediments that accumulated in the bottoms of

these old lakes show that in the earliest periods of their his-

tory they contained salt water, at least that the sea had ac-

cess to them, and their waters were more or less impregnated

with salt, so as to be inhabited by oysters and other marine

or estuary mollusks. In due time the continental elevation

which brought all the country west of the Mississippi up out

of the widespread Cretaceous sea, raised these lake-basins

altogether above the sea level and surrounded them with a

broad expanse of dry land. Then ensued one of the most

interesting chapters in the geological history of our conti-

nent, and one that, if fairly written out, could not fail to be

read with pleasure by all intelligent persons. The details of

*From Dr. Hayden's forthcoming “ Sun Pictures of the Rocky Mountains.”

PS Clerk's Of; Tus

Entered

VM he tha Pa

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 81 (641)

642 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

this history are however, in a great measure, yet to be sup-

plied ; inasmuch as the great area of our western possessions

is still but very partially explored, and it is certain that it

forms a great treasure-house of geological knowledge, from

which many generations will draw fresh and interesting

material before its riches shall be exhausted.

The enlightened measures adopted by our Government for

the exploration of the public domain, the organization and

thorough equipment of the numerous surveying parties that

have traversed the region west of the Mississippi within the

last twenty years, together with the more extensive explora-

tions by private enterprise of our great mining districts,

have resulted in giving us materials from which an outline

sketch can now be made that may be accepted as in all its

essential particulars, accurate and worthy of confidence.

It has happened to me to be connected with three òf the

Government surveys, to which I have referred, and to spend

several years in traversing the great area lying between the

Columbia River and the Gulf of Mexico. The observations

which I have made on the geological structure of our West-

ern Territories supplement, in a somewhat remarkable way,

those made by Dr. Hayden, so that taken together, our re-

ports embody the results of a reconnoissance stretching over

nearly the whole of our vast possessions west of the Missis-

sippi.

Our knowledge of the geology of this region has also been

largely increased by the no less important contributions of

other explorers. Among those who deserve most honorable

mention in this connection are Mr. George Gibbs, to whom

we are indebted for most that we kdo: of the geology of

Washington Territory; to Professors W. P. Blake and

Thomas. Antisell, to Prof. Whitney and the other members

of the California Geological Survey; to Baron Richtofen,

the lamented Rémond, Drs. Shiel, Wislizenus, and others.

The results obtained by the last, largest and best organ-

ized party which has been engaged in Western explorations,

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 643

that of Mr. Clarence King, have not yet been given to the

public, but from an examination of some of the materials

which are to compose the reports of this expedition, I feel

justified in saying that it will prove to be among the most

important of all the series of explorations of which it forms

a part, and that the published results of this expedition will

be not only an important contribution to science and our

knowledge of our own country, but a high honor to those

by whom the work has been performed, and to the Govern-

ment by which it was organized.

Without going into details or citing the facts or authori-

ties on which our conclusions rest, I will, in a few words, give

the generalities of the geological and topographical structure

of that portion of our continent which includes the peculiar

features that are to be more specially the subject of this

paper.

It is known to most persons that the general character of

the topography of the region west of the Mississippi has

been given by three great lines of elevation which traverse

our territory from north to south: the Rocky Mountain

Belt, the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. Of these,

the last is the most modern, and is composed, in great

part, of Miocene Tertiary rocks. It forms a raised margin

along the western edge of the continent, and has produced .

that "iron bound coast" described by all those who have

navigated that portion of the Pacific which washes our shores.

Parallel with the Coast Mountains lies a narrow trough

Which, in California, is traversed by the Sacramento and San

Joachin Rivers, and portions of it have received their names.

Further north, this trough is partially filled, and for some

istance, nearly obliterated by the encroachment of the

neighboring mountain ranges, but in Oregon and Wash-

ington it reappears essentially the same in structure as

further south, and is here traversed by the Williamette and

Cowlitz Rivers.

These two sections of this great valley have now free

644 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

drainage to the Pacifie, through the Golden Gate and the

trough of the Columbia, both of which are channels cut by

the drainage water through mountain barriers that formerly

obstrueted its flow, and produced an accumulation behind

them that made these valleys inland lakes; the first of the

series I am to describe of extensive fresh-water basins that

formerly gave character to the surface of our Western Terri-

tory, and that have now almost all been drained away and

have disappeared. ;

East of the California Valley lies the Sierra Nevada; a

lofty mountain chain reaching all the way from our north-

ern to our southern boundary. The crest of the Sierra Ne-

vada is so high and continuous that for a thousand miles

it shows no passes less than five thousand feet above the sea;

and yet, at three points there are gate-ways opened in this

wall, by which it may be passed but little above the sea-level.

These are the eaüons of the Sacramento (Pit River), the

Klamath and the Columbia. All these are gorges cut

through this great dam by the drainage of the interior of the

continent. In the lapse of ages the cutting down of this

barrier has progressed to such an extent as almost com-

pletely to empty the great water basins that once existed

behind it, and leave the interior the arid waste that it is—

_ the only real desert on the North American Continent.

The Sierra Nevada is older than the Coast Mountains,

and projected above the ocean, though not to its present

altitude, previous to the Tertiary and even Cretaceous ages.

This we learn from the fact, that strata belonging to these

formations cover its base, but reach only a few hundred feet

up its flanks. The mass of the Sierra Nevada is composed

of granitic rocks, associated with which are metamorphic

slates, proved by the California Survey to be of Triassic and

Jurassic age. These slates are traversed in many localities

by veins of quartz, which are the repositories of the gold

that has made California so famous among the mining dis-

tricts of the world.

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 645

East of the Sierra Nevada we find a high and broad pla-

teau, five hundred miles in width, and from four thousand to

eight thousand feet in altitude, which stretches eastward to

the base of the Rocky Mountains, and reaches southward

far into Mexico. Of this interior elevated area the Sierra

Nevada forms the western margin, on which it rises like a

wall. It is evident that this mountain belt once formed the

Pacific coast; and it would seem that then this lofty wall

was raised upon the edge of the continent to defend it from

the action of the ocean waves. In tracing the sinuous out-

line of the Sierra Nevada, it will be seen that its crest is

crowned by a series of lofty volcanic cones, and that one of

these is placed at each conspicuous angle in its line of bear-

ing, so that it has the appearance of a gigantic fortification,

of which each salient and reéntering angle is defended by a

massive and lofty tower.

The central portion of the high table lands, to which I

have referred, was called by Fremont the Great Basin, from

the fact that it 4s a hydrographic basin, its waters having no

outlet to the ocean. The northern part of this area is

drained by the Columbia, the southern by the Colorado. Of

these the Columbia makes its way into the ocean by the

gorge it has cut in the Cascade Mountains, through which it

flows nearly at the sea level; while the Colorado reaches.

the Gulf of California through a series of caiions, of which the

most important is nearly one thousand miles in length, and

from three thousand to six thousand feet in depth. In vol-

ume VI. of the Pacific Railroad Reports, I have described a

portion of the country drained by the Columbia, and have

given the facts that led me to assert that the gorge through

Which it passes the Cascade Mountains has been excavated

by its waters; and that previous to the cutting down of this

barrier these waters accumulated to form great fresh-water

lakes, which left deposits at an elevation of more than

two thousand feet above the present bed of the Columbia.

Similar faets were observed in the country drained by the

646 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

Klamath and Pit Rivers, and all pointed to the same con-

clusion. i

In all this region I observed certain peculiarities of geo-

logical structure that have been remarked by most of those

who have traversed the interval between the Sierra Nevada

and the Rocky Mountains. In the northern and middle por-

tions of the great table lands the general surface is some-

what thickly set by short and isolated mountain ranges,

which have been denominated the <‘‘Lost Mountains.”

These rise like islands above the level of the plain, and are

composed of volcanic or metamorphic rocks. The spaces

between these mountains are nearly level, desert surfaces,

of which the underlying geological structure is often not

easily observed. Toward the north and west, however,

` wherever we come upon the tributaries of the Columbia, the

Klamath or Pit Rivers, we find the plateaus more or less cut

by these streams and their substructure revealed.

Here the underlying rocks are nearly horizontal, and

consist of a variety of deposits varying much in color and

consistence. Some are coarse volcanic ash with fragments of

pumice and scoria. Others I have in my notes denominated

“concrete,” as they precisely resemble the old Roman cement

and are composed of the same materials. In many localities

these strata are as fine and white as chalk, and, though con-

taining little or no carbonate of lime, they have been re-

ferred to as “chalk-beds” by most travellers who have

visited this region. Specimens of this chalk-like material

gave me my first hint of the true history of these deposits.

These, collected on the head waters of Pit River, the

lamath, the Des Chutes, Columbia and elsewhere, were

transmitted for examination to Professor Bailey, then our

most skilled microscopist. Almost the last work he did be-

fore his untimely death was to report to me the results of

his observation on them. This report was as harmonious as

it was unexpected. In every one of the chalk-like deposits

to which I have referred he found fresh-water diatomacee.

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 647

From the stratification and horizontality of these deposits,

I had been fully assured that they were thrown down from

great bodies of water that filled the spaces separating the

more elevated portions of the interior basin, and here I had

evidence that this water was fresh. Since that time a vast

amount of evidence has accumulated to confirm the general

view then taken of the changes through which the surface of

this portion of our continent has passed. From South-

western Idaho and Eastern Oregon I have now received

large collections of animal and vegetable fossils of great va-

riety and interest. Of these the plants have been, for the

most part, collected by Rev. Thomas Condon, of the Dalles,

Oregon, who has exposed himself to great hardship and

danger in his several expeditions to the localities in Eastern

Oregon, where these fossils are found. The plants obtained

by Mr. Condon are apparently of Miocene age, forming

twenty or thirty species, nearly all new and such as repre-

sent a forest growth as varied and luxuriant as can be now

found on any portion of our continent.

The animal remains contained in these fresh-water depos-

its have come mostly from the banks of Castle Creek, in the

Owyhee district, Idaho. The specimens I have received

were sent me by Mr. J. M. Adams, of Ruby City. They

consist of the bones of the mastodon, rhinoceros, horse, elk

and other large mammals, of which the species are probably

in some cases new, in others identical with those obtained

from the fresh-water Tertiaries of the “Bad Lands” by Dr.

Hayden. With these mammalian remains are a few bones

of birds and great numbers of the bones and teeth of fishes.

These last are cyprinoids allied to Mylopharodon, Miloche-

ilus, etc., and some of the species attained a length of three

feet or more. There are also in this collection large num-

bers of fresh-water shells of the genera Unio, Corbicula,

Melania and Planorbis.* All these fossils show that at one

A EE db uin oni uoc tdi uiia

TE One of the most common is a species of Tiara closely resembling an East Indian one,

fla th. P" " 1 ahi ntinent

“o

648 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA :

period in the history of our continent, and that geologically

speaking quite recent, the region under consideration was

thickly set with lakes, some of which were of larger size

and greater depth than the great fresh-water lakes which now

lie upon our northern frontier. Between these lakes were

areas of dry land covered with a luxuriant and beautiful

vegetation, and inhabited by herds of elephants and other

great mammals, such as could only inhabit a well-watered

and fertile country. In the streams flowing into these lakes,

and in the lakes themselves, were great numbers of fishes

and mollusks of species, which, like the others I have enu-

merated, have now disappeared. At that time, as now, the

great lakes formed evaporating surfaces, which produced

showers that vivified all their shores. Every year, however,

saw something removed from the barriers over which their

surplus water flowed to the sea and, in the lapse of time,

they were drained to the dregs. In the Klamath lakes, and

in San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun bays, we have the

last remnants of these great bodies of water; while the

drainage of the Columbia lakes has been so complete, that

in some instances, the streams which traverse their old basins

have cut two thousand feet into the sediments which accumu-

lated beneath their waters.

The history of this old lake country, as it is recorded in

the alternations of strata which accumulated at the bottoms

of its water basins, will be found to be full of interest. For

while these strata furnish evidence that there were long in-

tervals when peace and quiet prevailed over this region, and

animal and vegetable life flourished as they now do nowhere

on the continent, they also prove that this quiet was at times

disturbed by the most violent volcanic eruptions, from 4

number of distinct centres of action, but especially from the

great craters which crowned the summit of the Sierra Ne-

vada. From these came showers of ashes which must have

covered the land and filled the water so as to destroy im-

mense numbers of the inhabitants of both. These ashes

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 649

formed strata which were, in some instances ten or twenty

feet in thickness. At other times the voleanie aetion was

still more intense, and floods of lava were poured out which

formed continuous sheets, hundreds of miles in extent, pen-

etrating far into the lake-basins, and giving to their bottoms

floors of solid basalt. When these cataclysms had passed,

quiet was again restored, forests again covered the land,

herds dotted its pastures, fishes peopled the waters, and fine

sediments abounding in forms of life accumulated in new

sheets above the strata of cooled lava. The banks of the

Des Chutes River and Columbia afford splendid sections of

these lake deposits, where the history I have so hastily

sketched may be read as from an open book.

But, it will be said that there are portions of the great

central plateau which have not been drained in the manner I

have described. For, here are basins which have no outlets, .

and which still hold sheets of water of greater or less area,

such as those of Pyramid Lake, Salt Lake, etc. The history

of these basins is very different from that of those already

mentioned but not less interesting nor easily read. By the

complete drainage of the northern and southern thirds of the

plateau through the channels of the Columbia and Colorado,

the water surface of this great area was reduced to the tenth

or one-hundredth part of the space it previously occupied.

Hence, the moisture suspended in the atmosphere was di-

minished in like degree, and the dry hot air, sweeping over

the plains, licked up the water from the undrained lakes

until they were reduced to their present dimensions. Now,

4s formerly, they receive the constant flow of the streams

that drain into them from the mountains on the east and

west, but the evaporation is so rapid that their dimensions

are not only not increased thereby, but are steadily dimin-

ishing from year to year. Around many of these lakes, as

Salt Lake, for example, just as around the margins of the

old drained lakes, we can trace former shore lines and meas-

ure the depression of the water level. Many of these lakes

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

650 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

of the Great Basin have been completely dried up by evap-

oration, and now their places are marked by alkaline plains

r "salt flats.” Others exist as lakes only during a portion

of the year, and in the dry season are represented by sheets

of glittering salt. Even those that remain as lakes are

necessarily salt, as they are but great evaporating pans where

the drainage from the. mountains — which always contains a

portion of saline matter—is concentrated by the sun and

wind until it becomes a saturated solution and deposits its

surplus salts upon the bottom.

The southern portion of the great central table land — that

which has been denominated the Colorado Plateau—is al-

most without mountain barriers or local basins, and we,

therefore, find upon it fewer traces of ancient lakes, though

they are not entirely wanting. It is apparent, however, that

this high plateau, which stretches away for several hundred

miles west of the Rocky Mountains, was once a beautiful

and fertile district. The Colorado draining then, as now,

the western ranges of the Rocky Mountains, spread over the

surface of this plateau, enriching and vivifying all parts of

it. When it reached the western margin of the table land,

however, it poured over a’ precipice or slope five thousand

feet in height, into the Gulf of California, which then

reached several hundred miles farther north than now. In

process of time the power developed by this stupendous

fall cut away the rock beneath the flowing water, and formed

that remarkable gorge to which I have already referred.

This gorge is nearly one thousand miles in length and from

three thousand to six thousand feet in depth, and is cut

through all the series of sedimentary rocks from the Tertiary

to the granite, and has worn out the granite to a depth of

from six hundred to eight hundred feet. Just in proportion

as the Colorado deepened its channel, the region bordering

it became more dry, until ultimately the drainage from the

mountains passed through it in what may be even termed

und channels," and contributed almost nothing

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 651

to the moisture of the surrounding country. The reason

why the walls of this cañon stand up in such awful preci-

pices of thousands of feet is, that the perennial flow of the

stream is derived from far distant mountains ; almost no rain

falls upon its banks, and when any portion of the bordering

cliff has passed beyond the reach of the stream, it stands

almost unaffected by atmospherie influences.

On the east of the Roeky Mountains lies the country of

the "plains," a region not unlike in its topography to the

great plateau of the West, but differing in this: that it is not

bordered on the east by a continuous mountain chain ; that it

slopes gently downward to the Mississippi, and that its east-

ern half has been so well watered that the valleys have been

made broad and all its topographical features softened down.

In former times, however, the topographical unity now con-

spicuous on the plains did not exist, and the surface was

marked by a series of great basins which received the flow

ef water from the Rocky Mountains and formed lakes, less

numerous, it is true, but of greater extent than those of the

far West. The northern portion of the eastern plateau has

been Dr. Hayden's chosen field of exploration for many

years; a field he has well tilled, and from which he has ob-

tained a harvest of scientific truth which will form for him

an enduring and enviable monument. l

Among the most interesting researches of Dr. Hayden in

this region, are the studies he has made of the deposits

which have accumulated in these great fresh-water basins.

The story he has written of his explorations of this district `

has been so well and fully told that I shall not attempt to

repeat it. Suffice it to say, that the series of fresh-water

basins discovered by Dr. Hayden in the country bordering

the Upper Missouri have proved to be as rich in new and in-

teresting forms of animal and vegetable life as any that have

been found upon the earth's surface. The vertebrate remains

collected by Dr. Hayden have been studied, described and

illustrated by Dr. Liedy, and the splendid monograph which

652 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMEBICA :

he has published of these fossils, forms a contribution to

paleontology not second in value or interest to that made by

Cuvier in his illustrations of the fossils from the Paris basin ;

nor to that of Faleoner and Cautley, descriptive of the fos-

sils of the Sewalik hills of India.

The scarcely less voluminous and interesting collections of

fossil plants made by Dr. Hayden have been placed in my

hands for my examination. Of these, the first instalments

were described and drawn some years since as a contribution

to the report of Colonel W. F. Reynolds, U.S.A., a report

not yet published by the Government. The descriptions,

however, were printed in the Annals of the Lyceum of Nat-

ural History of New York, vol. ix, 1868.

The general conclusions drawn from a study of this por-

tion of Dr. Hayden's collections as regards the floras of the

Tertiary and Cretaceous periods, the topography and climate

of the interior of the continent, form a part of my contribu-

tion to Colonel Reynolds’ report. Since that report was

written, however, very large additions have been made to

our knowledge of our later extinct floras, by collections of

fossil plants made in different portions of the western part

of our continent by Dr. Hayden, Mr. Condon, Dr. Le Conte

and myself; and also by the collections made by Mr. W. H.

Dall and Captain Howard in Alaska, and by several explor-

ers on the continent of Greenland.

Deferring for the present a comparison of the plants de-

rived from strata of similar age in these widely separated

localities, and the inferences deducible from them as regards

the physical geography of our continent, I will say that the

flora and fauna of the lake deposits on both sides of the.

Rocky Mountains apparently belong to one and the same

geological age, and tell the same story in regard to the to-

pography, climate, conditions and development of animal

and vegetable life. There is this striking difference, how-

ever, perceptible at the first glance between the fresh-water

Tertiaries of the east and west. In Oregon, Idaho and

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 653

Nevada, voleanie materials have accumulated in the lake

basins to a much greater extent than east of the Rocky

Mountains ; and we have abundant. evidence that during the

Tertiary period the western margin of the continent was the

scene of far greater volcanic activity than we have any record

of in the Rocky Mountain belt.

The deposits formed by the lake basins of the Upper Mis-

souri region are shales, marls and earthy limestones, with

immense quantities of lignite, but with almost no traces of

volcanic products. The number of fossil plante and animals

is much greater there than farther West; and we have, in

these deposits, proof that during unnumbered ages this por-

tion of the continent exhibited a diversified and beautiful

surface, which sustained a luxuriant growth of vegetation

and an amount of animal life far in excess of what it has

done in modern times. This condition of things existed

long enough for hundreds and even thousands of feet of

sediment to accumulate in the bottoms of extensive fresh-

water lakes. These lakes were gradually and slowly dimin-

ished in area by the filling up of their basins and by the

slow wearing away of the barriers over which passed their

gently flowing, draining streams.” Since the deposition of

the fresh-water Tertiaries, which occupy the places of the

old lakes, great changes have taken place in the topography

of this region by the upheaval of portions of the Rocky

Mountain ranges. In some localities these lake deposits are

found turned up on edge and resting on the flanks of the

. mountains which border the plains on the west. ]t is cer-

tain, however, that much of the Rocky Mountain belt existed

anterior to this date. We have in these, and many other

facts that might be cited, proofs of the truth of the assertion

I have elsewhere made that these great mountain chains,

though existing at least in embryo from the earliest paleo-

zoic ages, have, since then, been subject to many and varied

modifieations—that they have been, in fact, hinges upon

Whieh the great plates of the continent have turned — lines

654 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA :

of weakness where the changes of level experienced by the

continent have been most sensibly felt.

It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the collections of

fossil plants made by Dr. Hayden from different localities

differ so much among themselves. In every newly discov-

ered plant-bed he has obtained more or less species of which

we before had no knowledge, and it is even true that between

some of his collections there are no connecting links. It is

also true that much of the material he has collected has not

yet received the study it needs. From these facts it will be

seen that much yet remains to be done before the great inter-

val of time during which this series of fresh-water Tertiaries

accumulated can be divided into definite periods, and before

we can venture to affirm that a flora of any epoch had such

or such a botanical character and, therefore, this or that

average annual temperature. Some interesting facts came

out, however, at once in the examination of these materials ;

to these I will briefly refer.

In the beginning of the Cretaceous age, North America,

as we know, presented a broad land surface, having a climate

similar to the present, and covered with forests consisting,

for the most part, of trees belonging to the same genera with

those that now flourish upon it. In the progress of the Cre-

taceous age, the greater part of the continent west of the

Mississippi sank beneath the ocean, and the deposits made

during the later portions of the Cretaceous age contain a

vegetation more tropical in character than that which had

preceded it. It seems probable that at this time the lands

which existed as such, west of the Mississippi, were islands

of limited extent, washed by the Gulf Stream, which appar-

ently had then a course north and west from the Gulf of

Mexico to the Arctic Sea.

The earlier Tertiary epochs were, however, marked by an

emergence of the continent and a gradual approach to previ-

ous and present conditions. This is indicated by the fact

that the oldest Tertiary deposits (Eocene?) contain a flora

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 655

less like the present than is that of the Miocene or Middle

Tertiary. In this category of older deposits with a more

tropical flora, I would place the Green River Tertiary beds,

those of Mississippi studied by Lesquereux, and those of

Brandon, Vermont.

In tbe Miocene age, the continental surface was broader,

the lake basins of the West contained only fresh water, and

the land surface was covered with a vegetation very much

like that of the present day; a number of Miocene’ species

still existing. The climate of the continent in the Miocene

age was much milder than now. Fan-palms then grew as

far north as the Yellowstone River, and a flora flourished in

Alaska and on Greenland as varied and as luxuriant as now

grows along the fortieth parallel. At this time there must

have been some sort of land connection between our conti-

nent and Europe on the one hand and Asia on the other.

The flora of all these regions was essentially the same, and a

large number of plants were common to the three continents.

In this age the mammalian fauna of our continent exhibited

the same remarkable development that it did in Europe and

Asia; and over our western plains roved herds of great

quadrupeds rivalling in number and variety those that have

Struck with wonder and surprise every traveller in South

‘ica.

— This state of things seems to have continued through the

Pliocene age and up to the time when the climate of the

continent was completely revolutioned by the advent of

the “Ice period.” The change which took place at that time

was such as taxes the imagination to conceive of, as much as

it taxes the reasoning powers to explain.

We have seen that in the Middle Tertiary age the climate

of Alaska and Greenland was that of New York and St.

Louis at present. In the next succeeding period, the glacial

epoch, the present climate of Greenland was brought down

to New York, and all the northern portion of the continent

wrapped in ice and snow. This change was undoubtedly

656 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

gradual (for nature does not often "turn a corner"), but it is

plain that it must have resulted in the gradual driving south-

ward of all the varied forms of animal and vegetable life

that were spread over the continent to the Arctic Sea.

When glaciers reached as far south as the fortieth parallel it

is evident that a cold-temperate climate prevailed in Mexico,

and that only in the south of Mexico would the average an-

nual temperature have been what it was previously in the

latitude of New York. We must conclude, therefore, that

the herds of mammals which once covered the plains of the

interior of North America were forced by the advancing cold

into such narrow limits in Southern Mexico that nearly all

were exterminated. Plants bore their expatriation better;

inasmueh as a tree, even of the most gigantic size, will live

upon the space occupied by its roots provided the climatic.

conditions are favorable; while one of the larger mammals

would require at least a thousand times this space for its

support. As a consequence, we find the present flora of our

continent much more like that of the Miocene than is our

fauna, though the change to which I have referred seems

to have been fatal to quite a number of the most abundant

and interesting of our Miocene forest trees. Of these, the

Glyptostrobus may be taken as an example. This was 4

beautiful conifer which, in Miocene times, grew all over our

continent and over Northern Europe. In the change to the

glacial period, however, it was exterminated, both there and

here, yet continued to exist in China—where a Miocene col-

ony from America had taken root—and it is growing there

at the present time. This great ice-wedge iih came down

from the north separated very widely many elements in our

Miocene flora which have never since been re-united, so that

when the storm had passed and better days had come, and

the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic States were re-pos-

sessed by the descendants of the Tertiary plants, they were

still separated, by many thousand miles, from their brethren

which had formerly crossed the now submerged bridge of

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 651

Behring's Straits; and thus the two kindreds have been

growing, and flowering, and seeding, and dying in each col-

ony far beyond the reach of the other, and developing their

peculiarities each in its own way from generation to genera-

tion. When now we come to compare the present flora of

China and Japan with that of the eastern half of our conti-

nent we find the strongest proofs of their intimate relation-

ship. Many of the species are identical, while others are

but slightly changed and, on the whole, the differences are

less than such as have grown out of separation in human

kindred colonies in an infinitely shorter period.

Among the great mammals that formerly inhabited our

continent but such as are now extinct, there were some which

seem to have bid defiance to the changes I have detailed.

These were particularly the mastodon and elephant, both of

which were probably capable of enduring great severity of

climate. The mammoth we know was well defended from

the cold by a thick coat of hair and wool, and was probably

capable of enduring a degree of cold as severe as that in

Which the musk-ox now lives. We know that both these

great monsters —the elephant and mastodon — continued to

inhabit the interior of our continent long after the glaciers

had retreated beyond the upper lakes, and when the minutest

details of surface topography were the same as now. This

is proven by the fact that we not unfrequently find them em-

bedded in peat in marshes which are still marshes where

they have been mired and suffocated. It is even claimed

that here, as on the European continent, man was a cotem-

porary of the mammoth, and that here as there, he contrib-

uted largely to its final extinction. On this point, however,

more and better evidence than any yet obtained is necessary

before we can consider the cotemporaneity of man and the

elephant in America as proven. The wanting proof may be

Obtained to-morrow, but to-day we are without it.

. The pictures which geology holds up to our view of North

America during the Tertiary ages, are in all respects but

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 83

658 THE ANCIENT LAKES OF WESTERN AMERICA:

one, more attractive and interesting than could be drawn

from its present aspects. Then a warm and genial climate

prevailed from the Gulf to the Arctic Sea; the Canadian

highlands were higher, but the Rocky Mountains lower and

less broad. Most of the continent exhibited an undulating

surface ; rounded hills and broad valleys covered with forests

grander than any of the present day, or wide expanses of

rich savannah over which roamed countless herds of animals,

many of gigantic size, of which our present meagre fauna

retains but a few dwarfed representatives. Noble rivers

flowed through plains and valleys, and sea-like lakes broader

and more numerous than those the continent now bears di-

versified the scenery. Through unnumbered ages the sea-

sons ran their ceaseless course, the sun rose and set, moons

waxed and waned over this fair land, but no human eye was

there to mark its beauty or human intellect to control and

use its exuberant fertility. Flowers opened their many-

colored petals on meadow and hill-side, and filled the air

with their fragrance, but only for the delectation of the wan-

dering bee. Fruits ripened in the sun, but there was no

hand there to pluck, nor any speaking tongue to taste.

Birds sang in the trees, but for no ears but their own. The

surface of lake or river was whitened by no sail, nor fur-

rowed by any prow but the breast of the water fowl; and

the far-reaching shores echoed no sound but the dash of the

waves, and the lowing of the herds that slaked their thirst

in the crystal waters.

Life and beauty were everywhere; and man, the great

destroyer, had not yet come, but not all was peace and har-

mony in this Arcadia. The forces of nature are always at

war, and redundant life compels abundant death. The in-

numerable species of animals and plants had each its hered-

itary enemy, and the struggle of life was so sharp and bitter

that in the lapse of ages many genera and species were

blotted out forever.

The herds of herbivores — which included nearly all the

ee EER moka

THEIR DEPOSITS AND DRAINAGE. 659

genera now living on the earth's surface, with many strange

forms long since extinct— formed the prey of carnivores

commensurate to these in power and numbers. The coo of

the dove and the whistle of the quail were answered by the

scream of the eagle; and the lowing of herds and the bleat-

ing of flocks come to the ear of the imagination, mingled

with the roar of the lion, the howl of the wolf, and the des-

pairing cry of the victim. Yielding to the slow-acting but

irresistible forces of nature, each in succession of thesi va-

rious animal forms has disappeared till all have passed away

or been changed to their modern representatives, while the

country they inhabited, by the upheaval of its mountains,

the deepening of its valleys, the filling and draining of its

great lakes, has become what it is.

These changes which I have reviewed in an hour seem like

the swiftly consecutive pietures of the phantasmagoria or the

shifting scenes of the drama, but the eons of time in which

they were effected are simply infinite and incomprehensible

to us. We have no reason to suppose that ferra firma was

less firm, or that the order of nature, in which no change is

recorded within the historie period, was less constant then

than now. At the present rate of change— throwing out

man's influence —a period infinite to us would be required

to revolutionize the climate, flora and fauna, and there is no

evidence that changes were more rapid during the Tertiary

ages,

Every day sees something taken from the rocky barrier of

Niagara ; and, geologically ipeaking; at no remote time our

great lakes will have shared the fate of those that once ex-

isted at the far West. Already they have been reduced to

less than half their former area—and the water level has

been depressed three hundred feet or more. This process is

likely to go on until they are completely emptied.

The cities that now stand upon their banks will, ere that

time, have grown colossal in size, then gray with age, then

have fallen into’ decadence and their sites be long forgotten,

660 THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO,

but in the sediments that are now accumulating in these lake- .

basins will lie many a wreck and skeleton, tree-trunk and

floated leaf. Near the city sites and old river mouths these

sediments will be full of relics that will illustrate and ex-

plain the mingled comedy and tragedy of human life. "These

relics the geologist of the future will probably gather and

study and moralize over as we do the records of the Tertiary

ages. Doubtless he will be taught the same lesson we are,

that human life is infinitely short, and human achievement ut-

terly insignificant. Let us hope that this future man, purer

in morals and clearer in intellect than we, may find as much

to admire in the records of this first epoch of the reign of

man, as we do in those of the reign of mammals.

THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO.

BY REV. A. P. PEABODY, D.D.

Tue Chinese form from a seventh to a fifth part of the

entire population of San Francisco, and are seen in consid-

erable numbers in all parts of California. They mingle with

no other race; they learn or profess to know enough and

only enough of the English tongue to transact their neces-

sary boss with their paces: and in San Francisco

they live almost wholly i in their own crowded quarters, which

constitute in all respects a city by itself.

In the street they are the cleanest and neatest of people.

Every man and boy has his queue of hair, as long as himself,

nicely wrapped in silk braid, and generally rolled round the

head. Their principal garment is a dark blue, close-fitting

frock. Their shoes are of silk or cloth, with felt soles.

Their houses are dirty beyond description. Scores and

even hundreds of them are sometimes huddled together in

the same building, with blankets for their only beds, and

THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 661

almost their only furniture. In these houses their simple

cooking is performed in the long halls into which their apart-

ments open, over furnaces, with no legitimate outlet for the

coul-smoke, which leaves its black and greasy deposit half

an inch thick on the ceiling and walls. I went into several

of their fashionable restaurants, and found them hardly less |

filthy than their lodgings, yet with a marvellous — of

complicated and indescribable delicacies, which a year's in-

come of the establishment might have tempted me to touch,

but certainly not to taste.

Their provision-shops contain little except pork, and that,

seldom in a form in which it would be recognized by an un-

practised eye. Every part of the swine, even the coagulated

blood, is utilized; and the modes in which the various por-

tions of the beast are chopped, minced, wrapped in intes-

tines, dried almost to petrifaction, commingled with nauseous

Seasonings, pique the curiosity as.much as they offend the

nostrils of the American observer.

Their theatres offer an amazing spectacle. Their perform-

ances commence early in the forenoon, and last till midnight.

Their plays are said to be historical, and they are often con-

tinued for several days. The scenery is simple, cheap, and

gaudy, and is never changed. The costumes are splendid,

With a vast amount of gilding and of costly materials, but

inexpressibly grotesque, and many of the actors wear hide-

ous masks. The orchestra consists of a tom-tom (which

Sounds as if a huge brass kettle were lustily beaten by iron

drumsticks), and qiie of the shrillest of wind-instru-

ments. The noise they make may be music to a Chinese

eur, but it consists wholly of the harshest discords, and each

performer seems to be playing on his own account, and to be

intent on making all the noise he can. This noise is uninter-

rupted, and the. actors who are all men (men playing the

emale parts in costume), shout their parts above the din in

a falsetto recitative, monotonous till toward the close of a

Speech, but uniformly winding up with a long-drawn, many-

662 THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO:

quavered whine or howl. The performance is for the most

part literally acting. A crowned king or queen is commonly

on the stage, and almost always comes to grief. Parties of

armed men meet on the stage, hold sham-fights, kick each

other over, and force the sovereign into the melée. Then a

rebel subject plants both his feet in the monarch's stomach,

- knocks him down, and himself falls backward in the very

act. Thus the fight goes on, and gathers fury as its ranks

are thinned, till at length the whole stage is covered with

prostrate forms, which lie for a little while in the semblance

of death, then pick themselves up, and scud off behind the

scenes. The actors live in the theatre, though they might

seem to have no living-room. I went into the principal

theatre one morning, before the actors, who had been per-

forming until a late hour, had arisen; and I found them lying

in one of the passage-ways in several tiers of holes, so nearly

of the size of the human body that they could only have

wormed themselves in feet first.

Gambling is one of their passions. There are numerous

gambling-houses where the playing goes on through the

whole day and night, with an orchestra like that of the thea-

tre, enriched by a single female singer, whose song seems &

loud, shrill, ear-piercing monotone, so horrible as almost to

compel the belief that the Chinese ear must have as unique &

structure as if it belonged to a different species from ours.

The Chinese exercise, with marvellous skill, all the me-

chanical arts and trades, and have as large a variety of shops

as the Americans, with wonderfully rich assortments of

goods, including works in wood-carving, ivory and filigree,

which can nowhere be surpassed in delicacy and beauty.

Their temples or josh-houses, are small upper rooms, with

hideously grinning idols, overlaid with tinsel, and covered

with tawdry ornaments, on an elevated platform at the ex-

tremity of the apartment. Before these idols a dim lamp is

always burning, and a table is spread for votive offerings.

which are generally cups of tea or fruits. These apartments

THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 663

are in the buildings maintained by the Chinese Emigrant

Aid Societies as reception-houses and hospitals, — vile dens

as we should deem them, but, it is said, fully level with a

Chinaman's notions of repose and comfort.

These people are by no means unintelligent. It is said

that there are none of them who cannot read, write, and cast

accounts ; and there are among them some men of high edu-

cation, polished manners, large business, and friendly, yet

never intimate relations with their brother-merchants.

There is a mission-house, with a school and a chapel; but

the missionary, an intelligent man and an indefatigable

worker (by the way, my guide and mentor among the

theatres and gambling-houses, in which he seemed very much

at home, on the principle of becoming all things to all men),

told me that he had gained a firm hold on very few ; that he

found it almost impossible to keep a small congregation to-

gether through a very short service, though many came in to

listen for a little while ;* and that the slightest disturbance in

the street, even the passing of a hand-organ, would instantly

empty his chapel.

These Chinamen are generally without their families; the

numerous women that live in their quarters -being with very

few exceptions persons of bad character. The men come to

this country with the purpose of remaining but a few years;

and if they die, their bodies are embalmed, and sent home

for burial, Chinese corpses sometimes forming a vessel's

entire freight.

he Chinese question I cannot undertake to discuss here.

Suffice it to say that, in my opinion, all that can be hoped

from the Chinese is the supply of cheap labor which is

needed for the rapid development of a new country. As

to making these people citizens who will even prize their

rights, still more exercise them judiciously, or changing their

older and to them satisfying type of civilization into the

Anglo-Saxon Christian type, — this is utterly beyond proba-

bility or hope. If the Chinese are to be Christianized, it

664 THE LYCOSA AT HOME.

must be on their own soil, and with no invasion of their an-

cestral habits, except the engrafting upon them of the

morality of the New Testament.

THE LYCOSA AT HOME.

BY J. H. EMERTON.

Lasr spring Mr. J. A.

Lintner noticed on the sandy

hills west of Albany, N. Y.,

a number of holes about half

an inch in diameter, each

<< surrounded by a ring of

"v sticks and bits of leaves

| loosely fastened together by

SN fine threads. A few days

Wwe afterward (May 6), I care-

Sw fully opened several of these

x holes and found in the bot-

3 tom of each a large spider,

A a Lycosa. The holes were

Ww from six to eight inches deep

* and lined with a delicate web,

which near the top was stout

enough to be separated from

the sand, forming a silken

: tube attached to the ring of

ws chips around the mouth of

N NS S Www the hole. When the holes

SN NS SS XV were opened the spiders lay

st of Lycosa

NS still in the bottom and al-

e lowed themselves to be taken

out without attempting to escape. The sand at the bottom

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 665

of the holes was of a grayish color, but there were no remains

of insects and no cast skins of the spider. Before opening

the holes we sounded them with straws and tried to provoke

the spiders to come out, but they took no notice of it. The

drawing represents the ring of leaves and sticks, a section of

the tube, and the spider at the bottom, all of the natural size.

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

BY H. WILLEY.

Tue Lichens, though among the lowest, are also among

the most abundant and widely distributed orders of plants.

They are the earliest to 'cover the naked rocks with vegeta-

tion (though none, that we are aware, have been found in a

fossil condition), and by their decay, to prepare a soil on

which more highly organized plants can flourish. In the |

Arctic zone some species are so abundant as to furnish the

reindeer with the food necessary for his subsistence, and are

even used as fodder for cattle and swine, and are said to in-

crease the quantity of milk. Recently they have been used

for the manufacture of brandy—a very poor use to put them

to—and were formerly much employed in dyeing. Hoff-

man, in his work on the uses of lichens, gives plates of over

seventy-five tints obtained from them. But the recent sci-

entific discoveries in this art, have greatly diminished their

use for this purpose. Some were formerly used for medical

purposes, frequently in accordance with the old doctrine of

signatures. Peltigera canina was supposed to cure hydro-

phobia; Sticta pulmonaria, the consumption, ete. But they

are now considered of little, if any importance, in medicine.

Arctic travellers have found in Umbilicaria, called ripe de

roche, a poor and bitter substitute for food, when nothing

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 84

666 LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

better could be obtained ; and in Sweden bread has been made

of the reindeer lichen in times of famine.

Lichens abound, also, in the temperate zone, especially in

the mountains and the moist regions of the coast. Nearly

three hundred species have been found in this vicinity (New

Bedford). The number of known species, according to the

most recent estimate (Krempelhueber, 1865), is about five

thousand. They are to be met with everywhere. In swamps

the trees are festooned with the pendulous Usnea. The foli-

aceous Parmelias, Stictas, etc., cover their trunks. The

rocks and stones are everywhere covered with their spread-

ing crusts. Some species grow on rocks covered with fresh

or salt water. The brown, or scarlet fruited Cladonias, or

“cup mosses,” which the French call "herbe du feu” are

spread over the earth. Some attain a diameter of two feet

or more, while others are so small as hardly to be visible to

the naked eye. Many of them are brilliantly colored, and

exceedingly beautiful. They may be collected at any season

of the year, are easily preserved, and their study, though

not common among our botanists, owing, in a reat degree,

to the want of books on the subject in this country, and the

necessity of using the microscope in order to become prop-

erly acquainted with them, is full of interest and instruction.

In the natural system of plants the lichens belong to the

Cryptogamous, or flowerless series, which includes the

ferns, mosses, alge, and fungi. They rank below the

mosses, having no distinct stem or foliage, but bearing their

fruit on a foliou shrubby, or crustaceous expansion,

called a thallus, whence they are sometimes called Thallo-

phytes. They have affinities on the one side with the alge,

and on the other with the fungi, and by some botanists have

been included under one or ‘the other of these orders.

recent writer, Schwendener, has propounded the theory that

they are a compound plant, the thallus being a true alga, and

the apothecium a fungus; but to this etry: no true lichenist

will be likely to assent.

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 661

The distinctive features of lichens consist in their having

a thallus containing peculiar green cells, called gonidia, au]

in their spores being contained in asci, or spore-cases. In

the latter particular the ascomycetous fungi resemble them,

but these are always destitute of gonidia. A bluish reaction

of the gelatinous substance of the apothecia is also character-

istic of most liehens, though in some it is brown or red.

In the fungi the reaction with Fig. 139.

iodine is yellow, except in a :

very few instances, where it is

blue.

In order to investigate more

closely the structure of the

lichens, let us take any folia-

ceous lichen, Theloschistes pa-

rietinus ( Fig. 139), for instance,

the eommon orange-colored wall

lichen, which occurs every-

where on stones and trunks;

and having inserted a portion

of the thallus in a slit made in Section of thallus of Theloschistes parie-

el, rtical layer; g, A ml,

à piece of soft cork, with a razor medullary layers sh Inferior lay

slice off as thin a cross-section as possible, and put it on a

slide, with a drop of water, beneath a

piece of thin glass, v under the lens of our

microscope. W e shall see that it is com-

posed entirely of cellular tissue, differing

in this respect from those plants which

have a vascular tissue. The upper sur-

face, cl, we shall perceive to consist of a

layer of cells composed of this tissue.

poena ailas; 6, tucnilitorm Next beneath this is a stratum of round,

em greenish yellow bodies, g, called gonidia ;

then a stratum of elongated cells or filaments, ml, crossing

each other in various directions, constituting the medullary

layer; and lastly another row of cells forming the lower sur-

F'g. 140.

668 LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

face, sl, and from which proceed the slender fibres by which

the plant is attached to the matrix on which it grows. These

four layers make up the thallus of lichens. In some genera,

Fig 141. as Collema (Fig. 140), the upper cel-

lular layer is wanting, and the gonidia

lie close to the surface; in others, as

Peltigera, the lower is deficient, and

bundles of long fibres proceed imme-

diately from the medullary layer.

These are very conspicuous and cu-

Parmelia colpodes; c, cortical rious in Parmelia colpodes (Fig. 141).

er; I, ‘conidia ml, ine ae

ary layers A, hypothallus. They constitute the hypothallus, which

forms the substratum on which the other parts of the thallus

are built up.

In the fruticulose lichens, which bear some resemblance

to the stem of a plant, the thallus is Fig. 142.

more or less rounded, and the gonidia

are arranged around the medullary layer

as an axis. In Usnea (Fig. 142) the

thallus is solid, and the centre is com-

posed of a mass of compact filaments

lying parallel to the axis. In other

genera it is hollow, or composed of

loose filaments. In some genera, as

Lichena, the medullary filaments, in-

stead of running parallel to the axis,

diverge from the centre to the circum-

ference. In many crustaceous lichens

the thallus consists of hardly more than

a collection of gonidia, sometime buried

beneath the bark, and of few filamen-

Usnea barbata; a, longitu-

dinal seetion of th allus; Gi

tary elements. In these the hypothallus ^ eross-section of the same.

often forms a black border around the margin of the thallus.

The gonidia constitute the peculiar characteristic of the

lichen thallus, and are present in all true lichens, their

presence being almost the only mark by which some can be

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 669

distinguished from fungi. There are some parasitic plants,

consisting only of apothecia, which grow on the thallus of

other lichens, called by Massalongo and Koerber, Pseudo-

lichens, which are considered by some as

lichens, by others as fungi. Most of them

give the characteristic blue reaction with

iodine. In examining a section of a young

specimen of one of these, Scutula Wall-

rothii Tul. (Biatora Heerii Hepp), which

grows on the thallus of Peltigera canina, I have seen a

stratum of true gonidia un-

derlying the apothecia, and

extending around it. Some

of these parasites are doubt-

less lichens, while others

must be relegated to the

ascomycetous fungi.

Section of apothecium of Theloschistes parie- The gonidia are either of X

toja, greenish yellow color, as men-

tioned above, as in Physcia, Parmelia, and the greater number

of lichens; or of a bluish green, as in Collema, Peltigera,

some Stictas, ete. These latter are called granula gonima,

or collegonidia. In Collema Fig. 145.

they are strung together like a

chaplet of beads, and are called

moniliform (Fig. 140, 6). In

some genera they spring from

the end of thalline filaments,

in others they are grouped

together, enveloped in a trans-

Fig. 143.

Granula gonima of

Sticta fuliginosa,

Fig. 144.

Portion of same more enlarged; ch,

3 pe rape i

parent gelatinous substance, and ae wa; jum vomer: f

" y layer.

araphyses

surrounded by a thin membrane kondia; mi —

(Fig. 143). In Synalissa both kinds of gonidia occur.

They frequently burst into mealy excrescences, cà ed s0-

redia, on the surface of the thallus, and have the faculty of

mültiplying by self-division and of propagating the plant,

610 LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

and in this way many lichens on which apothecia rarely or

never occur, are multiplied. In some Verrucarias there are

small gonidia, called hymenial gonidia, included in the

hymenium.

The gelatinous substance which is found in the thallus is

called lichenine. It is of a starchy nature. In many crus-

taceous lichens, oxalate of lime is present in considerable

quantities, and may be easily recognized by its octahedric

erystals. Phosphate of lime, salt, sugar, oil, with various

peeuliar acids, also occur, but not in great abundance.

Having thus viewed the principal features of the lichen

thallus, let us now turn our attention to its organs of fructi-

fication. On looking at the lichen (Theloschistes) already

selected, we shall see its surface covered with small round

disks of nearly the same color as the thallus. These are the

apothecia (Fig. 144), and contain the spores, the reproduc-

tive organs of the plant. Making a thin perpendicular sec-

tion of one of these, and placing it under our lens, we shall

see that it is surrounded by a margin containing gonidia like

the thallus. The interior (Fig. 145) is composed of a mass

of parallel filaments, called paraphyses, among which are the

asci, or Spore-cases. This interior portion is called the hy-

menium. That part which contains the paraphyses and asci

is called the thalamium, and the portion below it, the hy-

pothecium.

Those lichens whose fruit has an open disk, are called

gymnocarpous. The margin of the disk is called the exci-

ple. When formed from the thallus, and containing gonidia,

it is called a thalline exciple ; when otherwise, a proper exci-

ple. The thalline exciple is usually pale, yellow, brown,

red, or of the same color as the thallus, though it often

blackens. The proper exciple is either black, as in Lecidea,

or colored, as in Biatora. But in many lichens with a thal-

line exciple, it often assumes a biatorine form. The exciple

is sometimes double, asin Gyalecta. The color of the disk

varies greatly, being flesh-colored, yellow, red, brown, OY

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 611

black. In some species, as Vephroma arctica and Parmelia

perforata, the apothecium attains a large size. In Cladonia

it is borne on the summit of a hollow stalk, called a pode-

tium; in Calieium on a slender solid stem. Fig. 146.

In the Graphides, or "written" lichens, the

apothecia are elongated and narrow, branched

or stellate, and bear a rude resemblance to

written characters.

In many genera, such as Verrucaria, the

apothecia are closed, and these are called

angiocarpous. These apothecia are usually

black, conical, with a small opening at the

summit. Their covering is sometimes called Spore-c: S tlie

the perithecium. But there is no fixed line Wi» spores-

of demarcation between the gymnocarpous and the angio-

arpous lichens.

The paraphyses are sometimes long and thread-like, and

Fig. 147.

simple colored spore of Calicium uevcenetm.

Spores. a, sim

5, diblastish Ramalina calica

ietrabla sti * Buellia mean spool

d, acic ul: * Biatora rubel

i - * Collema Aaccidum.

^ muriform " " Buellia pe

easily separated, sometimes short and closely agglutinated,

and, as in Arthonia, are sometimes entirely wanting. In this

genus the exciple is also wanting. The paraphyses pm

Spore-cases are generally colored Hm sometimes red «

brown, by a solution of iodine.

The spore-cases, which lie among the paraphyses, are sacks

usually of an oblong or club-shaped form, sometimes lanceo-

672 LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

late or globose. In some genera, as Calicium, they disappear

early, and the spores then appear to be free. But they are

usually persistent, and a little pressure is required to sep-

arate the parts

and bring out the

spores. In the

plant under ex-

amination there

are eight of them

in each spore-

case. This is the

usual number.

But many species

have one, two,

Section of Spermogonea of Theloschistes parietina. cl, cortical four, sixteen, or

layer; g, gon o o, ostiolum; c, cavity; s, sterigmata; ml,

me dullary laye

more, or even

several hundred spores in each spore-case. The spores differ

greatly in size, form and color. In Theloschistes they

arc colorless, of an oval form (Fig. 146), with a small

cavity at each end, sometimes connected by a small canal,

and measure from twelve to sixteen thou- Fig. 149.

sandths of a millimetre in length. In other

species they are of a brownish yellow, or a

deep brown approaching black. The smallest

spores are hardly two thousandths of a milli-

metre in diameter, while the largest are

nearly two-tenths of a millimetre in length.

In form they are globose, oval, elliptical, fusi-

form, needle-shaped, ete. (Fig. 147). Many

spores are divided by one or more transverse

partitions, and these again sometimes by per-

pendieular ones. The former are called di- Sterigmata and sper-

tetra-pleio-, or poly-blastish ; the latter mu- "a? rnesm*

riform, and spores like those of Physica, polar-bilocular.

Their great variety of form and eolor renders them most

interesting objects under the microscope, and they are of

LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 613

great importance in the determination of species, so that

the study of lichens cannot now be successfully or thor-

oughly prosecuted without an acquaintance with them. Their

general form and Fig. 150.

color being constant

in each genus and

species, they have,

as Professor Tuck-

erman observes (Li-

chens of California),

“added a new con-

tent to the conception of species.” While their study opens

fresh difficulties and perplexities to the student, it affords

him a deeper insight into the inscrutable mysteries of nature,

who, whatever we

Spermatia,

Fig. 151. à

may strive to ascer-

tain, ever holds some

secrets in reserve

which are beyond

our grasp.

In its earliest

stages the spore-case

appears filled with

small globular gran-

ules, in which lines

of division appear,

and the spores grad-

ually assume their

regular form and

number. The spores

are at first colorless

Section of pyenide or Biatora Heer. s, tylosporesz £ thal- and simple, and their

cy: pipes internal divisions

all gradations in the

ed with a mass

d in à linear

and vdd of color may be seen in

same hymenium.. They frequently remain fill

of oil globules: They are sometimes arrange

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 85

674 LICHENS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

series in the spore-case, sometimes irregularly grouped, and

sometimes spirally twisted around a central (ideal) axis.

When ripe they are expelled from the spore-case by the

pressure of the paraphyses, which

when moistened, absorb water co-

piously. Many observations have

been made as to the manner of the

development of the thallus from

the spore, but the matter is still in-

volved in a good deal of obscurity.

On the thallus of most lichens

are to be seen a number of small

P more ily magni, showing te black dots , either scattered irregu-

larly over its surface, or along the

margin. These are the spermogonea (Fig. 148), and they

contain, in great numbers, the spermatia, which are ex-

tremely minute, cylindrical, or needle-shaped bodies, situ-

ated on the extremities of simple or branched filaments,

called sterigmata (Figs. 149, 153). Their forms appear to

be constant in each species, but are much less diverse than

those of the spores, and they are always colorless. They

have been supposed to be the male

organ of reproduction, but nothing

is certainly known of their functions.

Nylander, who attaches much import-

ance to the spermatia in his Syn-

opsis, distinguishes five forms of

them. Ist, the acicular slightly swol-

len at one end, as in Usnea; 2d,

acicular slightly swollen near the ex- Spores (a), sterigmata and sper-

tremity, as in Evernia; 3d, straight ual hres ma NEA

acicular or cylindrical, as in most Lecanoras; 4th, bowed

acicular, or cylindrical, as in some Lecanoras ; 5th, ellipsoid

or oblong, as in Calicinm, which last, he says, approach rather

too near the short cylindrical spermatia. There are no

spherical spermatia. But he is not fortunate in attempting

REVIEWS. 675

to apply these distinctions, and it seems difficult to render

them of any great systematic value. Leighton, who has de-

scribed and figured the spermatia of a large number of

lichens, has failed in many instances to recognize the dif-

ferences in form indicated by Nylander, especially in regard

to the first two forms. and points out a great confusion in the

application of Nylander's idea in his Prodromous and Synop-

sis in regard to the spermatia of Platysma (Cetraria). In

figure 150 (a, spermatia of Pyrenula lactea Mass. ; b. Ver-

rucaria epigea Pers. ; c, Synalissa phylliscina; d, S. phao-

cocca Tuck.; e, Lecanora athrocarpa Duby; f, Parmelia

colpodes Tuck.; g, Cetraria ciliaris Ach.; h, Placodium

camptidium Tuck.), we give a few additional illustrations

of the different forms of spermatia. A slight but distinct

crackle is almost invariably heard on crushing the spermo-

gonia under the thin glass, which seems peculiar to these

organs. Besides the spermogonia, there are also other

small bodies, resembling them in external appearance, called

pycnides (Fig. 151), but containing spore-like bodies called

stylospores (Fig. 152), on the extremities of short filaments.

They are often septate. Their office is unknown, and they

are of comparatively infrequent occurrence.

: REVIEWS.

dade

THE EARED ined aiias to the year 1866, comparatively little atten-

tion had been paid to the systematic relations inter se of the seals, and in

that year, Dr. John Edward Gray, in the “Catalogue of the Seals and

Whales in the British Museum,” iby essentially the same classifica-

maaa enana it E ansa

*On the Eared Seals (Olariadz), pens detailed pe ae ge of the North Pacific species, by

J. A. Allen. Together with an account of the habits of the northern fur seal (Ca/forhinus we

nus), by Charles Bryant. [l pl. 108 ax 3 pl. 3l. exp.] Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative

NY logy [ete.]. Vol. I. No.1.

copy which we owe Aa the kindness of the author, is

graphic plates of Zalophus Giltespit.

is further illustrated by two photo-

676 REVIEWS.

tion which he had presented in 1850, in his catalogue of the seals—a

' singularly unnatural one, based chiefly on the number and development

of the teeth; all the Pinnipeds were regarded as forming a single family,

divided among five sub-families, namely : —

A. Grinders two-rooted ; [etc.] *

a. ating teeth 4 [above]; 4 [below] [etc.] ee

b. 6 [above]; 4 uet [eto. ] Phoci

B. Grinders with singl grind f Halicherus).

c. Ears without any conch; [et e}.

* Muzzle large, truncated, simple; canines large; grinders lobed, when old, truncated.

Trichechina pinion Trichecus Rosmarus and Halichærus!

** Muzzle 0! M e with a dilatable appendage; cutting teeth 4 [above] 2 [! below];

ved hes —

d. Ear li 1 distinct ext l ; [ete.] Arctocephalina

* Only the Vir v contr: ip characters are noticed here; the others are often binant

only to a portion of the groups diagnosed.

If classification is really intended to represent the natural relations of .

organized beings, as determined by the sum of their structural agree-

ments, and the subordination of the respective groups differentiated, à

more unfortunate classification than that noticed could scarcely be de-

vised; if even it is only regarded as a means to enable us to ascertain

the second prime division), having the ** grinders with single root (except

the two d not being distinguished, even by Gray's own diagnosis,

from Lobodon of the Stenorh; inchina (first prime division), which

of the genera Pagomys, Halicyon, (the latter based on intangible charac-

ters,) and Callorhinus.

same year, 1866, appeared a ** Prodrome of a Monograph of the

Pinnipeds, by Theodore Gill, " in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute

(V, pp. 1-13), in which those animals were distributed among three fami-

lies (Phocide, Otariide, and Rosmaride), equivalent to the three sub-

families recognized by Turner, and the Phocide were divided into three

sub- uated Mec iit by important osteological characteristics pre-

vionsly unn by systematists. In the Otariide, five = were rec-

the Otariids, two by Gray and two by Peters nos “Dublished in the same

year. The former, after a first passionate outburst of anger, finally ac-

cepted as valid the three families just noted, and, like Peters, adopted the

genera of Otariids first defined in the Prodrome (i. e. Eumetopias and

REVIEWS. 671

Zalophus), raised to generic rank two additional groups named as sub-

The extreme to which differentiation was carried may be judged from

the fact that Mr. Allen has reduced two of his genera to one species, and

was strongly inclined to reduce three others to a second species. Those

sub-families in the main agreed with the genera defined in the ** Prodrome

of the TTE but were rendered unnatural by the combination — in

face of the characters used as diagnostic — of Arctophoca (a sub-division

of sil cn with d and by the Marcum of Phocarctos

(a form inseparable from Otaria) in the ** Arctocephalin As an example

of the mode of differentiation, a follo wing diagnoses will suffice.

** Nerphoca. sti large, thick, all equal, in a continuous uniform

Series. Austra

S will be eau E the same feature is indicated <a ae by a vot

different phraseology, save as to the locality. But th

character of locality is erroneous, for Zalophus has never yr Pap in

South America, and its type is an inhabitant of the North Pacific only,

i. e. California and Japan!

The chief and most valuable information published after the “ Pro-

drome," and up to the year 1870, was contributed by Dr. Wilhelm Peters,

er al ch tas

und to d impossible with the material possessed by the author of the

> Prod: rom

Much anc PUR had also accumulated as to the distribution, habits,

‘Was with t

investigation of the North Pacific species of s family, and incidentally

f the classification of the entire group. He has, like his immediate pe

decessors, admitted the validity of the family ee by him ** Otariade,

and has admirably contrasted the characteristics of the pelvis and hind

that **these appear to be natural groups, of true generic rank, and prop-

erly restricted; and, after a careful examination of the subject,.....

" nd appear to [him] to include all the natural genera of the family." *

e genera are considered by Mr. Allen as separable among two

sub-families, the author remarking (p. es * that if the Otariade constitute

à group entitled to family rank. — and the so-called sub-families of the

neater

* Allen, op. cit., p. 38.

. 618 REVIEWS.

Phocide have truly a sub-family value, —the Otariade must be considered `

as divisible into two sub-family groups, of which the hair seals consti-

and Oulophocine t for the fur seals, in m to the different character

of the pelage in the two groups." To the Trichophocine, are referred the

genera Otaria, Eume es tor a Zalophus; to the Oulophocine, the genera

Arctocephalus aud Callor.

Mr. Allen has riens uem A ENEA for his sub-families, solely from

the nature of the pelage, the size and form of the entire animal, the

length of the ears, the length of the toe-flaps of the hinder limbs, and the

number of molars. His definitions are as follow

T VONT ily I. Trichophocine.

under-fur; size large and form robust; ears short and broad; molars either

6 Minen 5 [bélo ow] 5 itin 5 [bibowinime [above] 10 [below] or 5 [above] 5 [below]

ae [above] 10 [below

smalle

of the hinder limbs much longer than in ameg molars 6 ahai 5 Yit 6

[above] 5 [below]=12 [above] 10 cedi m dari m 4 44.)

We may at once concede the MUN of the distinctions based on

the pelage, remarking, however, that the character is not as absolute as

the homologue of the under-fur of the fur-seals, and Gray attributes to

difference in the extent of the under fur in the species of Arctocephalus,

A. antarctica (Otaria pusilla ehe i having very thin under hair (‘‘ Mit

(“ Haar mit dichter Unterwolle”) ; the difference between the extremes

of those two iacu seems thus to. be very much reduced, when we take

Mr. Allen had access, will demonstrate the truth of our criticism. We

have in every case taken the measurement » the adult males only, a

have reduced all the measurements to millimetres

^ Arctocephalus nigrescens, WE aul doas E OE woo Maw ans

Falklandicus, M s d cra f ‘ 235 Peters.

^ Cerne ME o 7. V oO aor TM Gray.

* p.c, hair, and $óx7, seal.

T OvAos, soft, and $óx.

REVIEWS. 679

4. — á golf EIU te Maite 238 Peters.

5. Callorhinus ursi T iibris dab iioad bacc da C o o Mr,

6. Arc den vi lr is aas Pipes EE MINUS RAD 262 . Gray.

7. Zalophus ee sl (aponica, UU MUR. 8 o, D a

8. Callorhinus ursin $ o an a eae i ei 975 Allen.

9. Zalophus Gimespiys e ode e oet RH Roane 0 OR eg

10. "t st i ‘ . . ` 290 Allen

1l. O HrOvL | ol E E AET T A EE S a

12. Zalophus Gillespii (Japonica), . . +. «.« -. >œ 310 Peters,

13. e « À : $ : : : i r . 830 Allen.

M.íOtatii])ubiMa, (^ "Lose ead: Sa 835 Gray.

15. Eumetopias "C ‘ ane Reine Vau s . A . 85 Gray

16. ee al ea og lel 374 Allen.

17. i ud - 889 Allen.

As it may be objected that the skull of Otaria Ullow was of a female or

young, we will at once dismiss that from consideration. But the forms

still remaining, and concerning which no objection, it appears to us, can

plies a greater relative total length for those animals than the head alone

would verde and thus the inapplicability of the diagnosis is still fur-

ther enhan

As to us PE VER — from the comparative robustness or slen-

derness, the following measurements by Mr. ^P M of the hair and fur

seals of Alaska, show the usta proportion

Ratio of skull to

Unmounted. Mounted Skull. length of male skin.

Callorhinus weinus (2, M 2,470 245 I-X. 20-

2,311 2,390 275 I-VIII. 190-275

Eumetopias — G mo, 2,750 2,790 874 L-VII. 300-374

: 2,896 3,010 385 .— L-VII. 315-385

When we thus become cognizant of the comparatively slight differences

between the two members of the family observed, when too, we notice the

range of variations in one of the species, and when we reflect that such

difference may be created by the mode of preparation of skins, and that

other forms appear to be intermediate, to say the least, the character be-

ngible.

The length of the ears is the next character noticed; ge following

measurements will strate the relative lengths in millimetre

Otaria ETE T Eumetopias, $ Allen.

Zalo tiai BEI ters Arctocephalus è 30-40 Peters.

E aw is cos E Pete Callorhinus, à . 85-50 Allen.

These measurements, by Mr. apes are from the same individuals, before

* No data are given concerning the pu E the girth to the length, and no very appreciable

MM dn constant differences appear to exist, : hough Pee is said to be considerable diference

680 REVIEWS.

and after mounting, the ears appearing shorter when mounted. We thus

learn at once to distrust and be cautious respecting such characters, eve

admitting their value. But in view of these tables, and the conclusions

no differences of form have been referred to, nor has the reviewer by

autopsy been able to convince himself of the existence of any of mo-

other character remains; in Oulophocine ‘‘the toe-flaps of the

hinder limbs much longer than in Trichophocine.” The statement is per-

faetiy ^ dmi c whatever may be our estimate of its value, if only Cal-

offers an intermediate condition. There is no difference See as to

dentition, as the alternatives for the Trichophocina indica

Mr. n, W o

s now made

of sub-family value, if only for the reason that they are not trenchant;

but we must add that even had they been absolute, we should have been

extremely doubtful as to the propriety of assigning them such a taxo-

nomic value.

But if we have been obliged — and most unwillingly we have — to dis-

sent from Mr. Allen in his view of taxonomic values, we rejoice to testify

to our concurrence with him in the main, and if Mr. Allen will simply re-

ject Zalophus from the company of the other hair seals, we will at once

admit t e has made an important advance in the appreciation of the

relations, inter se, of the members of the family; the comparàtive rela-

tion Otaria and Eumetopias appears indeed to be more intimate

T and if ere skull is a correct index, it should, in our judgment, be

e group, composed of all its members save Zalophus, while

d. group shea be lioika afar. All the species, except of that

the muscular attachments. Zalophus, on the contrary, has a narrow and

regularly attenuated muzzle, which is straight or even slightly concave,

and in of seam has elevated and trenchant crest;

(p. 6

may add that we know of no indications, from other sources, which belle

REVIEWS. 681

this evidence of isolation. But while we would thus insist on the isola-

tion of Zalophus, we would not consider it as entitled to rank other than

are the relations between the members of that family and the groups

which have been distinguished as sub-families in the apet and which

we are happy to learn meet with Mr. Allen’s approbation.

Availing ourselves now of the data that have adicit up to the

present time, and which have been so well digested by Mr. Allen, we be-

lieve that the relations of the Otariids may be expressed by the following

synoptical table, in which only the most obvious and distinctive charac-

ters are introduced.

I. Skull with a more or less decurved front rostral profile, and with a

sagittal groove from which are Mai ted the low ridges indicating

the limits of the temporal mus

A. Pelage with under-fur: vidas normal : rent 5 aee s

above

j Mnt dnos

a. Snout much decurved above, and abbreviated, its length being

, les SS than the longitudinal ver of the orbits, Callorhinus.

in le

ceeding the longitudinal — of the orbit, «itf . Arctocephalus.

B. take without defined under

bove 6-6; the Sr little remote from the preceding

‘aad in a line with, or in advance of the transverse max! illo-

palatine suture; bony palatal margin much nearer the

pterygoid hamuli than the teeth; hinder feet with swimming

membrane much produced and deeply incised, Otaria.

b. Molars above 5-5; the last remote from the srepeding. and B

hind the transverse maxilo palatine suture; bony palatal

and m Eumetopias.

II. Skull om as poma incurved fron to rostral profile, a and with. a

st,

solid, t ed and iu elevated sagittal cre Zalophus.

-Although we are not inclined to place much stress on the sequence of

forms when so many gaps remain unfilled, and when "f unknown might

reverse the opinion that we have with more or less reason derived from

me acquaintance wit th the seen, we are disposed to believe that the pre-

of relationship, but such a system, especially when the genera are very

numerous, becomes too complicated, and is of really little or no use. We

Dpr.G i d on artificial groups,

Tm, age "i 3. E

are entirely differently limited.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 86

682 REVIEWS.

do not speak of taxes on the memory, for memory has nothing to do with

the existence of natural groups, although some scs are in the habit

of objecting to names because, forsooth, they tax the m

With respect to species, Mr. Allen carries vba MH to an extreme.

concludes that analogous variations are only of like value; the inference

is by no means a perfectly safe one, though it may be best in proposing

at least ten species have been admitted by one of the most accomplished

Three such species are considered by Mr. Allen, who had never seen them

and was only guided by analogy, as variations of one; Otaria jubata, O.

Ulloc, and O. (Phocarctos) Hookeri,* being referred to O. jubata extended;

and three other species —— admitted by those who have exam-

ined them, are admitted as very doubtful, i. e., Arctocephalus Falklandicus,

A. cinereus (Gray), and A. antarcticus. It may be that Mr. Allen is correct;

after years the nomenclature is again disturbed by the revival of the

unjustly buried names. It is to be feared that some of the species which

Mr. Allen has doomed to annihilation will yet arise and assume a healthy

—

w words as to the relations of the family. Mr. Allen, treating of

e. primary groups of the Pinnipeds, remarks (p. 21), that * d

that they have a higher value than a sub-family value, I d for the

present the classification elaborated by Dr. Gill, in his Prodro

they seem intermediate in general features between the earless s

dint

* Since the transmission to the printer of the copy of this review, a number of the ** Anales

f the 0. Hi

at th th anf cha Bin De f eit. T deit a

ae 2 ei a E S n RUE a SERT

REVIEWS. 683

the walruses. Their affinities, as they appear to me, may be indicated as

follows

OTARIADZ,

‘t RoSMARIDJE,

PHOCIDÆ.

* The evidences of the superiority of the Otariade over the Phocide,

consist mainly in that modification of their general structure, and especi-

ally of the pelvis and posterior extremities, by means of which they have

freer use of their limbs, and are able to move on land with considerable

rapidity; the Phocide, on the other hand, move with great difficulty when

out of the water. But the higher rank of the former is also indicated by

their semi-terrestrial habits, the scrotal position of the testes, and in the

nearer approach in general features to the terrestrial Carnivores, especi-

i la. Most of these

zoology are often very ambiguous terms. So far as Mr. Allen means the

generalized, by high, and by lower, the more modified types, we perfectly

agree with him, for the Otariids seem indubitably to be the least removed

in structure from that stock which has diverged from the old feral stem

and culminated into the existing Pennipeds; nearly equally plain does the

evidence appear that the Walrus is in general a type which possesses

re of the primitive characters of the stock than do the Phocids, al-

i ch a

in this sense, as an abstract question, we have no objection to the employ-

ment of the term low, for there seem to be too many proofs of the exist-

ence of such cases doubt. But Mr. Allen leaves us in uncertainty as

species and subordination, or, with the many, interprets appearances as

indicative of facts. In the former case there would be no basis for argu-

ment, but if we still call low, iu comparison with the gressorial carnivores,

the Pinnipeds and the whales, believing in their evolution from the same

stock as the former, it is only because we connect, with adaptation for

684 REVIEWS.

^. In this connection it may be recalled that while in the monogamous

Pinnipeds, or Sei living in small communities, there is little difference

in size between the males and females, in the social species, or rather

those of Un the males have Miss; the males are vastly larger than

the females. Macrorhinus, of the Phocids, e all the Otariids belong

sexes in the forms above enumerated, furnishes not the slightest evidence

of more intimate primordial affinity, for like causes would in each special

case, pues as this, produce like effects.

e have already lingered so long over the systematic portion of Mr.

Allen's dcn that we are perforce obliged to omit any observations on the

habits or physiological relations of the species, but the work is replete

with information on the subject contributed by Captain Bryant respect-

ing the fur-seal (Callorhinus ursinus), and judiciously edited, with notes

and comparisons with the habits of other members of the family, by

r. Allen.

And finally, cordially thanking Mr. Allen for his most valuable contri-

bution, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, under Professor

ssiz’s superintendence, for its publication, we close by a recapitula-

tion of its most noteworthy elements, nfmely:— A nearly complete rè-

information ee their ved dad comparison thereof with those

of other species. — THEODORE GIL

. INJURIOUS Insecrs.*—In this contribution to applied entomology, We

rva is a little brown caterpillar which eats the buds in May. Itis diffi-

cult to kill it without also injuring the tree itself. It also injures the buds

^ *Injurious Insects, New and Little Known. By A. S. Packard, jr., M. D. oss the Massa

ehusetts Agrieultural Report, 1870.] 8vo, pp.31. With a plate and wood-cuts

REVIEWS. 685

and erumples the leaves of the cherry, and rici the pear. A minute

moth is also described as mining the leaves of the apple, a single leaf

sometimes containing five or six larve. hi is a Micropteryx (M. pomivo-

rella n. sp.), allied to the European M. oi te though about half its

Size. This is the only species of this interesting genus yet found in

America. Of the two moths infesting the cherry, the v-marked tortrix

is the yellow cranberry worm (Tortrix vacciniivorana n. sp.), of the New

Jersey cranberry fields, while the habits of the cranberry weevil (Pl. 6

tig. 10, enlarged; 10a, larva, enlarged), are described from the observa- .

tions of Mr. sh, who has paid more attention than any one else

to the insects infesting the cranberry. Two Fig. 154.

insects not before known to feed on the cur-

rant, are the Cherodes transversata of Walker,

and Halia wavaria, a species introduced from -

Europe, where it has long been known to

feed on the gooseberry. a

aspberry is einig a a beetle (By- s

turus unicolor Say, Pl. 6, , enlarged), 3 =

ic s the fruit buds, ate kes long =

slits in the leaves during June. Of forest =

nen the many-teethed Priocycla (P. bili- E

nearia n. sp.), is a span worm feeding on the E:

oak. Tul pine Vninbh (P. piniata n. sp. bi

W. Saunders, to whom our entomologists are e di benet Xu:

descriptions of the larve of many of our butterflies and moths. Besides

ese pine insects, the singular saw-fly larva of a species of Lyda (Fig.

154), which has been found on the Austrian pine in a garden in Salem,

deserves mention. It is a reddish olive green worm, with a pale reddish

head, and two appendages to the end of the body like its antenne.

A species of the Snout moth, of the genus Botys ( B. syringicola n. sp.)

a clear winged moth (Ægeria syringe Harris) to be often destructive

to lilacs,

Of uM to gardeners is an account of the bean weevil (Bruchus

granarius of Linneus, Pl. 6, fig. 8, bean containing several grubs; 8a,

pupa). is is the wen known and very destructive bean weevil of

Europe, concerning which Mr. Angus writes from West Farms, N. Y., to

the author: = I send you a sample of beans which I think will stabile you

686 REVIEWS.

if you have not seen such before. I discovered this beetle in the kidney

or bush beans a few years ago, and they have been greatly on the increase

every year since. I might say much on the gloomy prospect before us

in the cultivation of rad important garden and farm product if the work

s insect is not cut short by some means or Mons

Fig. 155.

wW A

els

A-—-À

f which: Mr. R. Howell of Tioga Comijn - York,

have infest ed the newly planted corn in this vicinity.

e enclosed specimens were taken on the llth in-

stant. I presume that they have been in every hill

crm RA

Pupa of Robber-fy. I found a number last Friday about an inch under

ound hanging to young stalks with much tenacity.

When very range every stalk is killed. Some fields two or three

years ago were wholly destroyed by this insect. The habits of a robber-

fly (Proctacanthus pides fig. 155, pupa), which burrows in the sand

of the shores of Plum Island, Mass., are noticed, together with those of

the large horse fly ( Tabanus oen, fig. 156, pupa), which in its early

stages lives in garden mould. Among plant ipio insects is noticed

the white scale bark louse (Aspidiotus bromelie, Pl. 6, fig. 6, magnified ;

4, young magnified; 4a, end of body still more Maitea It is often

destroyed by a minute chalchid fly, Coccophagus(?). Bois-

duval's fern bark louse (Lecanium filicum Pl. 6, fig. 7a, scale

enlarged seen from above; 7b, the same, seen from be-

neath, and showing the form of the body surrounded by

the broad flat edge of the scale; ^ 1c, an antenna, enlarged;

7d, à leg, enlarged; 7e, end of t Acai oii the flat-

tened hairs fringing the edge V4 com hot-house

plants, as also me pud ues bark oos (Lecanium pe

cerii n. sp. Pl. 6, fig. 5, magnified; 5a, a tenn

larged). and the p Won coccus (C. a PA c ri

fig. 3, magnified) ; the plant house aleurodes (A. vaporarium

of Westwood, Pl. 6 fig. 9, enlarged; 9a, pupa enlarged),

is more common perhaps than one would suppose. It gone Pupa ot Horse-fly.

out ptg cap on enc dics and we found it not

in n strawberry plants on the boa of the State

iieiea prann si porcis The list of hot-house insects is com-

pleted by one of the most injurious of all, the minute thrips huie

hemorrhoidalis), from Europe, Pl. 6, fig. 2, greatly magnifled, which by

its punctures, causes the surface of the leaf affected to turn red or white,

while at at times the entire leaf withers.

Vol. IV, Pl. 6.

American Naturalist.

(687)

PACKARD, ON INJURIOUS INSECTS.

E Gabel oe urged Priv rer RCM

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

FERTILIZATION or Satvra By HUMBLE Bees. — Mr. Meehan's state-

observations on the same subject, that I cannot allow them to pass un-

challenged. r. Meehan affirms that the humble bee does not enter the

corolla of the Salvia to obtain the honey, but **bores a hole on the out-

side” for that purpose. He says, after describing the "E of the

flower — ** The principle is perfect. But no insect is seen to enter.” This

statement is certainly not in accordance with facts. I have sida and

again observed the conduct of the humble bee on the Salvia; and I affirm

that a large majority of the bees do enter the corolla, and that the anthers

rest on the back of the insect exactly in the way that Mr. Meehan says

they ought to rest. It is true that some of the bees do cut the tube of

the corolla to get the honey. This, however, is only done by those bees

which are too large to get into the flower. — E. H. T., —Q Delaware

Co., Penn., Oct. 15, 1870.

MOTION IN THE LEAVES OF RHUS TOXICODENDRON. — Botanical writers

peculiar jerking motion. Un de r the name of *' Australian mdp I have

all times, — Tno: N.

Bun Grass. 2. enclose a e. that is very annoying to farmers on the

eastern shore of Maryland. I am not botanist enough to determine its

Place, The natives call it *« Sand Burr.” Will you be kind enough to say

Something in the NATURALIST about it? —Joun W. NOTT.

oe Hedge-hog or Bur-grass, is peculiar for a general r

blance to ur Couch or Quitch-grass, and in its habits is equally ag

AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 87 (689)

690 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

with aversion by the farmers. But this latter is a Northern grass, not

found at the South, while the Bur-grase is to be found only beyond the

i fN

4 ham, from Wisc

Minnesota; and in the Middle and Southern States, according to other

observers. The specimen sent to us by Mr. Nott is C. echinatus Muhlen-

burg (Descriptio Uberior Graminum, p. 51) and figured by Plunkenet (Phy-

tographia tab. 92-3). It is described by Dr. Chapman in his ‘‘ Flora a of

the Southern United States," p. 578; and another species, the C. tribu-

loides, which grows on the seashores of Delaware, Carolina, etc., known

as the Coc ckspur or Bur-grass, is also familia» to farmers, an much

dreaded. As much as we detest the Couch-grass of our northern farms,

we are to rejoice in the absence of these spiny and thorny spiked and

urred-grasses in our northern soils. In some sections where the land is

light, the Couch-grass makes a nutritious fodder and hay, being ee

eaten by horses and cows; but we suspect that these sagacious anima

would not care to aor the flowers and seeds of the ‘‘ Sand me

although the leaves and stems of C. pend ior tender and abund-

ant, and we can p understand that it is very annoying where it

T grows.—J. L

IN BrossoM.—I have just found Angst 98th, 1870) the

ai es anes orn. flowering abundantly in a pool at Sandwich,

Ontario, on she Detroit River. I enclose specimens. I discovered this

quarters of an inch thick. We find it, also (though not fertile), some

miles higher up the river, at Connor's Creek, Michigan, but nowhere eise

along the shores. Though Gray says “flowers and fruit not seen," it has,

t b

wig next "n in my aquarium, the little plants at once ‘‘ righted them-

sion of the pool, driving out the Lemna, which is ** few and far between,"

and of a sickly, degraded type. — Henry GILLMAN, Detroit, Michigan.

ZOOLOGY.

ABDOMINAL oo IN A ou Ly. — While engaged in naming &

— of microscopic preparations of insects mounted on slides by

. W. Sta icm PEDE. ei me collection of Dr. T. D’Oremieulx

and Paus York, my attention was drawn to a sense-organ situated on the

female anal appendages of a "ind of Chrysopila, allied to C. ornata

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 691

(Say); a genus of flies allied closely to Leptis. The female Bete s

are rounded, somewhat spatulate, and of the usual form s n other

species of the genus. The appendage is covered with stiff Violin hairs,

about fifty in number, arising from conspicuous, round, clear cells, while

the whole surface, as seen under a Zentmayer's 4-10 (A eye-piece), is

densely covered with minute short hairs. On the posterior edge of the

upper side of each appendage is situated a single, large doin sac, with

the edge quite regular. Its diameter is equal to a third of the iir of

the appendage on which it is situated. Dense fine hairs, ul those cov-

ering the appendage, project inwards from its edge. The bottom t this

shallow pit is a clear transparent membrane not bearing "n in There

are no special sense-organs on the antenne of the same in

With these organs, which I suppose to be pou in diae func-

tion, may be compared a very similar single sac situated on the under

side of the end of the labial and maxillary palpi of a species of Perla,

mounted on a slide in the same collection. Its diameter is nearly half as

great as the palpal joint itself. Instead of being depressed, the sac in

Perla is a little raised, forming a slightly marked, flat tubercle, which is

ace the mem

ne (tympanule of Lespés) is naked. It is strongly probable that this

P an olfactory organ, and placed on the under side of the palpi, next to

the mouth, so as to enable the insect to select its proper food by its odor,

giving an additional sensory function to the palpi of insects. There are

no special sense-organs in the antenne.

Lespés in his note on the auditory sacs, which he says are found in

the antenne of nearly all insects, states that as we have in insects com-

pound eyes, so we have compound ears. I might add that in the abdom-

inal appendages of the cockroach we apparently have a compound nose.

{n the palpi of Perla, and the abdominal appendages of Chrysopila the

** nose" is simpl

On examination, I have found sense-organs in both pairs of antenna

of Homarus xvii the Lobster, such as are described by Farre, and

also the more rudimentary form of supposed auditory organs in the com-

mon spiny Lobster (Pilinurss) of Key West, Florida. — À. S. P., Nov. 30.

NOTE ON THE EXISTENCE OF TRANSVERSELY USCULAR

FIBRES IN Acmxza.— While engaged in the p ESD pr: "a lingual

ribbon of a species of Acmæa (A. (Collisella) Bickmorii D.), brought

from Amboyna by Mr. Bickmore, I noticed that, among the fibres adher-

marked, though exceedingly fine, transverse stris j ctüre of the

fibre itself was mpl sparent tube or cylinder with nuclei irregu-

tractores radule, or the principal, if not the only agents in pulling back

692 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ribbon. They were evidently voluntary muscles acting with consid-

erable rapidity. It was noticeable that, of all the muscles of the buccal

mass, these only —— striation. They differed from so he

dorsal muscles of a smal mp (Palemon sp.), in being more pss stri-

ated. I have had no elei al as yet, of examining other species, and

therefore cannot say whether the phenomenon is tant throughout

the genus. is is the fourth class of the aang ae path the Mollus-

Labs in which striated muscular fibre has been shown to exist; it has

een demonstrated in Polyzoa (Eschara) by Milne-Edwards; in Con-

"hom SEM by Lebert; in Ascidia (Salpa and dattadiiuum by Es-

ch d Moss; and finally in Gasteropoda in the present case. — W. H.

CEDAR BIRD WITH WAXEN APPENDAGES ON THE TAIL. — I have not seen

it mentioned in any work, nor do I think that many are aware that the

Cedar bird prets Resin Baird) is occasionally, though very rarely,

rated

found with the tail dec with those singular wax-like, really horny

tips, which " is well nem own adorn the wings. I have recently been

n a specimen taken in New York State in which the four middle tail-

specimens here mentioned gave evidence of being unusually old birds.—

ENRY GILLMAN, Detroit, Michigan.

WoonprPEckER.—In the spring of 1869

some Melanerpes erythrocephalus, ‘can pecking a hole for a nesting

place, at about sixty-eight feet from the ground, in the steeple of one of

the churches that is situated in our village. One of our citizens, Mr. J. C.

: Gibson, in order to put a stop to their operations and prevent the farther

disfiguration of the edifice, Ade. to kill all the birds he saw engaged

in pecking at the hole thus commenced; he kept up his deadly assaults

upon them until this spring, Mii his absence from home stopped his at-

info

are now engaged in rearing a brood in it. Is not such persistency of pur-

pose worthy of admiration, notwithstanding it is exhibited by à harmful

bird? — L. J. Stroop, Waxahachie, Ellis county, Texas, pedem 24, 1870.

the wild regions of the Adirondacks. Mr. H. H. Bromley of the Chasm

House informs me that dead ones have often been found in the woods,

having been killed by the spines of hedge-hogs which they had attacked.

M. OE

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 693

NOTES oN SOME OF THE COAST FISHES OF FLORIDA. — During a resi-

dence of three months in East Florida last winter, I sailed up and down

the Halifax, Indian, and Hillsboro’ rivers, and enjoyed fine sport with

the fishes of € bert many of which I found to be of the first excel-

lence on the t

Shee epshead cali ovis Mitchell). At New Smyrna, near the Mus-

[o]

by trolling with a mullet bait and hand line. At about half flood we

caught them by casting a hand line, with mullet bait, far off into the surf,

or by fishing with a rod and line where the channel ran near the beach.

This fish much resembles the striped bass (Labrax lineatus), in habits,

a fish on th

and is quite as game a e hook. I had many ks and man

yards of strong bass line taken away by them, as they fight fiercely to

the last. This is a very sh on the table; rich, firm and delicate.

a golden copper hue on the sides, an white beneath; scales large; tail

square; first and second dorsal with sharp spines; teeth numerous and

small in the jaws; large and enamelled on the vomer.

Cavalli or Crevallé (Lichia Carolina DeKay). Family of Scombridse.

also take a red rag or spoon, trailed behind a boat; a very activ

strong fish; good eating, though rathe M sepes in his i Panis

w tter, I am deu es by old fishermen on the Florida coast,

never takes à Ae and can c be TUN in nets, and at night. It much

resembles the Crevallé in

Sea-trout ( Otolithus AG es ). This belongs to the same fam-

ily as the Weak fish of the New York coast. In shape and color it resem-

bles the jake tront of Lr Adirondack region, but wants the adipose fin

course is not a true trout. It is

it or clam; weight from two pounds

under part

teeth strong, tail waved in form, with a double dorsal fin, with spines.

Black Snapper ( Mesoprion pargus Cuv. ). Belon

cide; is in form like the tautog; a bottom fish, with larg ) )

strong teeth; bites eagerly at clam or mullet, and pulls hard; silvery in

694 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

color when first taken, then turns red, and lastly black; is one of the best

of the southern table fishes; weight, from four to sixteen pounds.

Crab-eater, Sergeant fish (Elacate Atlantica Cuv.). Family of Scom-

bride, or mackerels; found along the shores of the inlets, where it lurks

for prey among the mangrove roots; very voracious; takes clams or

mullet bait; color, Silvery, with a black stripe along the sides; hence its

local name of Sergeant fish; the under jaw longer than the upper; weight

up to twenty pounds; a good table fish, though inferior to the former.

hiting or King-fish ( Umbrina alburnus DeKay). Shaped like a perch,

double dorsal with strong spines; color, gray and black above, yellowish

white beneath; mouth and teeth small; bottom fish of deep water; takes

clam bait; very good table fish; weight, from one to two pounds.

Croker (Micropogon undulatus Cuv.). A southern fish of the perch

family; in form, deep like the sheepshead; color, silvery; takes clam

bait eagerly; weight, from one to two pounds; a good table fish.

og-fish, Sailor's Choice (Hemulon Julvomaculatum Mitchell). Shaped

like the last; a good pan fish; weight, from half a pound to a pound;

takes clam bait on the bottom.

Cat-fish, of the salt-water (Galeichthys marinus DeKay). Handsomer in

of the perch family, much resembling in appearance and habits the black

bass of the western waters, except that it has a larger head and mouth,

and grows to a larger size, say to twelve or fifteen pounds. It takes live

bait, spoon or bob, which is a bunch of colored feathers with three hooks

concealed among them.

Besides the above fishes, these waters contain blue fish, Spanish

mackerel, beluga, mullet, Jew fish, drum, sha l, lady fish, porpoise,

sharks, saw fish, sting ray, the hawk's bill turtle, the soft-shelled turtle,

the green turtle, clams, oysters and crabs, of various kinds.— S. C.

CLARKE,

GEOLOGY.

Discovery or LOWER CARBONIFEROUS FOSSILS ON THE Rro TAPAJOS. —

Iam just returning from a very interesting and profitable trip up the Rio

able. Of the Brachiopods I have some magnificently preserved speci-

mens, showing interiors. I am going back to Pará to give up my little

Stea divide up my party. I then return to the Tapajos with a

very small party, including a photographer, to examine more carefully,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 695

not only these rocks, but to study the Amazon sandstones and clays. I

have scen nothing to cause me to change my opinion about the age of the

last named formation. I have not succeeded in finding any fossils in

hem. I have found beautiful nc leaves of apparently recent plants, in

a recent ironstone. In the hill of Creré, Monte tpe m and near Santa-

rem, beds of basalt occur. — C. F. Hartt, on boa M Steamer

‘“‘Jurupensem,” near Monte Alegre, Rio BSR i a. 5th, 1870.

New Fossit Fisnes.— Prof. Corr has Berend studied a genus Sauro-

cephalus and allies, from the Cretaceous, and states as a result, that these

fishes are not in the least related to the Sphy AEA where they have been

placed heretofore. The structure of the mouth is like that of the Chara-

cinidæ, while the neural arches are distinct and the tail vertebrated as in

Amia. The pectoral se i have been described by Leidy, as those of a

new inq Ichthyodectes, type species I. ctenodon ; the former differs from

the known genera, Saurocephalus and Saurodon, in not having the series

of Neisdcts foramina on M inner side of the alveolar ridges. He refers

ese fishes toa new family, under the name of Saurodontide.

PrasriCciTY or Rocks.— The old cobble-stone pavement in Waverly

Place, between Broadway and Mercer street, being now in

tan have taken place on their perpendicular surfaces, and I am therefore

convinced that they have been moulded into one another by pressure only.

On conversing with the rotii: they all “concurred as to the fact, and

the foreman stated that his attention had been called to it before. Very

probably I am myself only repeating what is already well known to

ers. — GEORGE GIBBS, New Yo

Satt Puarns IN New Mexico. — Brevet Major General August V.

Kautz, U. S. Army, writing from Fort Stanton, New Mexico, informs me

that there is a valley of some two hundred miles long and twenty wide,

lying between the Sierra Blanca and the San Andreas and Occura moun-

tains, in that Territory, in which there is no stream, and only a few alka-

line springs and salt lakes, or ponds. Where the road from Fort Stanton

to El Paso crosses it, about sixty miles south of that post, is a plain of

white sand, sik I gypsum, which has drifted into mounds,

forty and fifty feet in height. Water of a strongly alkaline character is

obtained by difghig i a few feet, and around the edges of this district, salt

marshes exist, where in the dry seasons, great quantities of almost pure

Salt may be collected. The sand is so white and the plain so extensive as

696 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

to give the effect of snow scenery. As I do not remember to have seen a

description of the place in print, I send you this note with a specimen of

the sand forwarded by General Kautz. — GEORGE GIBBS, New York

MICROSCOPY.

EW FoRM oF BINOCULAR FOR USE WITH HIGH POWERS OF THE

Microscopr.* — Of the several forms of binocular arrangement for the

microscope which et hitherto been constructed, only such as are

ee. for use with low powers exclusively, have as yet come into gen-

eral use. Of these, en Wenham prism is the bape m and hardly

any bd form is employed at all by British or American constructors.

with

the field is so imperfectly and so unequally illuminated that it ceases to

be available.

he Wenham binocular, like the original binocular of Dr. Riddell, and

like the different forms constructed by Mr. Nachet, divides the light,

P i gh

aaia, With objectives of low power, the base of each conical

tionable; but with high power objectives, the pencils are very slender;

and at the distance behind the combination at which it is necessary to

place the binocular construction, many are very disproportionately di-

vided, and many escape division altogether.

By the introduction of an erector into the body of the microscope, the

years since, constructed a binocular eye-piece which solves completely

the optical problem under consideration for all powers; but this instru-

*Read by F. A. P. Barnard LL. D.. Hán ere = Columbia College, N. Y., before icro-

scopieal Ameriean Association the Advancement of Science, of aiii

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 691

ment is costly, and apart from this vin it has for some reason or

other failed to become a favorite with those who have used it.

t is now two or three years since Mr. We nham suggested the emet

cability of constructing a binocular for high powers, by means of a co

trivance which should reflect one-half the light of each pencil iid

transmit the other half. is plan was to take a glass prism with par-

On this account, or for some other reason not stated, Mr. Wenham did

not pens up his invention

In the January number of ‘¢Silliman’s Journal" for 1868, Professor

Hamilton L. Smith, now of Hobart College, described a binocular arrange-

in the body or the microscope: As both surfaces of such a mirror will

tant saving of light. Hitherto Professor spent binocular has not been

constructed by regular opticians, and its merits are not fully known.

e oonstruetions by Professor eise himself perform very well, but

have a rather limited field.

MR and Lealand, of London, have patented a binocular

mirror are parallel, and the image from the second surface is got rid of

by giving to the glass considerable thickness. The reflected rays are re-

flected a second time by means of a right angled prism. As this arrange-

when very high p

cally unavailable for any useful purpose. This evil might be remedied

by increasing the angle of incidence at which the rays from the Penn

fall upon the first reflecting surface ; but this expedient would be attended

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 88

698 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

by a large increase in the amount of light lost at the second reflecting

surface, and by a corresponding diminution of the brightness of the im-

-— seen pe transmission

oculars estre d on.the principles of those last described may be

SHE cata-dioptric, in contradistinction from those which split the body of

the light geometrically, and which are properly denominated stereotomic.

ey have not the advantage which belongs to stereotomic binocular

of presenting the object viewed in all its three dimensions. But re

pennt what most observers regard as very desirable, or find at least very

comfo dp the use of both eyes at the same time. It is true that there

are many whom practice has so accustomed to the use of a single eye,

that vam profess to suffer no inconvenience from this mode of observa-

tion, and regard binoculars with indifference except so far as they are

BARE A by their stereoscopic effect. But ; however slight may be

for a series of years, without finding that his eyes have lost the equal

power which they once possessed of accommodating themselves to dis-

tances. It seems iy iy sible to prevent this result from supervening

sooner or later, unless by maintaining a strict impartiality in the employ-

ment of the eyes praia at the microscope; and this is what few re-

a good form of this instrument adapted to the higher powers desirable.

Such a form is believed to have been found in the construction now to be

described.

If a rectangular prism of calc spar be cut with four of its faces parallel

and the other two perpendicular to the direction of the optic axis, a ray

of light incident perpendicularly upon any one of the lateral faces will be

divided by double refraction into two rays, but both of these two rays will

plane. And the diner ray will 2 mex. total reflection at an angle at

transmission occurs for the extraordinary ray is e P From M^

ray originally incident upon the prism. If, therefore, the supposed calc

spar prism were cut by a plane, making an angle of 37° 11' with one of its

lateral faces, a ray incident perpendicularly upon this lateral face and

meeting the plane of section, would be half reflected and half transmitted,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 699

or so nearly so that the MEN would be imperceptible. Moreover,

the very minute portion of the extraordinary ray which would undergo

Euro: would deviate more than two mue from the direction of the

reflected ordinary ray; and so, supposing this prism to form part of a

binocular arrangement for Me microscope, would be thrown out of the

eld.

But the pencils of rays which go to form the image in the body of the

microscope have a certain angular spread. If, therefore, the axis of the

central pencil be ae to a given plane, those of the lateral pen-

cils will be inclined to the e plane. Accordingly if this central axis

were to be incident on the Pise plane of section at 379, the inciden-

between limits somewhat larger. Also as the lateral rays of each pen-

cil are inclined more or less to the axes of the same pencils, the limits of

maximum and minimum incidence would be more largely reip by this

circumstance. For low powers we should have to allow for a range of

incidences goena perhaps eight or nine degrees of ehk For

very high powers this range would hardly exceed six

If the ition of the central axis is fixed at 37° 1l, the angle of total

reflection for the ordinary ray, then the lateral pencils of this ray, whose

incidences are less than 37° 11’, will be to a certain, but not very con-

siderable, degree, transmitted. This does not affect the definition of the

image seen by transmission, but it gives it a slight wc fa to ist

other in respect to an If, however, the inciden

axis is made as tiga as 39°, the two images become eiis eq ws in

brightness. In this case some of the ideni pencil of the extraordinary

ray Will attain an "i ien of 429, at which point the amount of reflec-

tion is quite sensible, but this does not materially affect the middle of the

field, nor is it sufficient to impair, perceptibly, the brilliancy of the image

Seen by transmitted light.

is now about three years since the plan of a binocular founded. on the

applied to in London, and in this country, but no one was found willing to

attempt the preparation. In the spring of 1869, Professor Rood, of Co-

lumbia College, kindly lent his aid to the accomplishment of this under-

nearly the same index of refraction, of which the first surface was placed

100 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

parallel to the terminal plane of the calcite. It was thought that the

very nearly equal and opposite refractions thus suffered by the ray would

suffice to prevent sensible esee and this is nearly true. But the

unequal dispersive power the two substances makes itself slightly

manifest when the Pichina used are low; though this defect disappears

in the case for which the instrument is intended — that is with high pow-

ers. Nevertheless, it has been thought best in new constructions now

preparing, to give such an obliquity to the terminal plane of the ca cite

that the reflected ray may be incident upon it perpendicularly, and to

modify correspondingly the flint glass prism. On the whole it appears to

be the plane of section an inclination of about 38° in-

stead of 39°. Indeed it would appear that, for low powers, the lower

case, there is a larger reflection of the voies ray, which is greatly

vg ced by a very small change ín the angle of incidence. For this rea-

son it is convenient to have the system of prisms so cuisse. that it can

sive a slight rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane of re-

flection, and to adjust it to the position most satisfactory with the power

employed.

The annexed figure (140) will serve to give an idea of the form of con-

struction now employed. ABCD i section, parallel to one of the lat-

Fig. 140. Ae faces, of a calcite prism, origi-

ki u nally rectangular, of which the optic

iii B F axis is parallel to the section, and to

T ee PA [I> : the sides AB and DC. This prism is

divided by a plane perpenre iim

ABCD, making an angle of 38° wit

y AB and 52? with AD. Also, the face,

E ae inclined 14° to the original face

igo" | 10. f the rectangular prism, is made to

ed pee e that face. The prism, when

completed, sliootd have its lower face

square, and the side of the square which is equal to DC, should be six-

tenths of an inch. The remaining dimensions will be determined by this,

and 2 d which 5 wi be three-twentieths of an inch. The surfaces

of section, BE, may be brought very near to each other. In the con-

icon actually pets they have been separated only by a single

Esso of tinfoil, introduced at each of the angles.

ism, FGH, is of flint glass with a refracting index as high as 1.56

or higher. It is isosceles, having an obtuse angle of 92? at F, the acute

angles being equal and each 44°. The side, FH, being parallel to BC, à

the second, reflected by BE, passes perpendicularly through the two sur-

and FH, is a second time reflected by GH, and finally emerges

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 101

at right angles from the face FG. The inclination of o to e is twelve de-

grees. It would be preferable to make it somewhat less, as this inclina-

tion allows only a length of body to the microscope of about seven inches.

By employing in the prism, FGH, glass of higher refracting power, it may

be made less, and by using calcite for this prism, or in other words, by

making BCDE and FGH all of a single piece, the same object may be at-

tained to any desired degree. The objections to this latter plan are two-

"S The first relates to the difficulty of construction. It is said that

e Wenham trapezoidal prism of glass is troublesome to make. The

he would be much increased in the use of such a material as calcite,

especially when it is necessary to preserve an exactly prescribed relation

between the faces of the prism and the optic axis. The second objection

is found in the consideration that, in order to adapt the tubes of the bi-

nocular to the eyes of different observers, it is necessary to give to one

of the tubes an angular movement, moving the prism, FGH, at the same

time, by half the same angular amount, as is done by Mr. Nachet in one

of his forms of binocular; or to move this tube and prism laterally, as

Mr. Nachet has also done in another of his forms. This necessity arises

from the fact that, if the tubes are sufficiently inclined to each other to

a it

vide construction, and of greater size than is desirable.

there is another objection to the crossing of the pencils which is

i serious. This binocular, as actually constructed, dese when

ib t

used with moderate powers, à Sensibly stereo- Fig. 14

scopic effeet. Nor is it difficult to understand why Wa Py

it should do so. any stereotomic binocular,

e»

€

Los

seen that if aa'a'! be the axial ray of a converging

pencil of which bb'b” and cc'c/ are the lateral lim-

iting rays, and if a transparent reflector, MN, be in-

terposed obliquely in the path of this pencil, the angles of incidence of all

the rays intermediate between a! and b' will be larger than those of the

rays between a! and c'. Of the reflected rays, therefore, those between

al!!! and b!!! will be more abundant than those between a!” and c; while

b a e

ill be a corresponding deficiency between a!’ and b". Now if all

102 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the light except these excesses should be extinguished, it will appear at

once that the illumination still outstanding would be such as is required

to produce stereoscopie vision; that is, each half of the pencil would go to

the opposite eye. In our calcite prism, we have seen that in, for instance,

nary ray, on the other hand, is almost totally transmitted between a! and

c', and loses something by reflection toward b’. These effects are more

marked in some of the oblique pencils, and the consequence is, that, with

low powers, the stereoscopic appearance is very perceptible. O cross

the reflected rays upon the transmitted behind the prisms would there-

fore be productive of a pseudoscopic effect which would be objectionable.

But with high powers, on account of the small difference of incidence

existing in that case between bb! and cc!, the image appears plain.

and with the B oculars, the Providence Grammatophora is thus resolved

with great facility.

When the power used is below one-fourth, there is a little haziness pro-

duced in the image seen by reflection, in consequence of the mingling of

the, to some extent, reflected extraordinary ray, from the clear field sur-

rounding the object. This effect is immediately removed, by placing over

the slide a card, out of which has been cut a slip having the width of the

field. Such a card, or a similar thin plate of metal, may be easily secured

to the stand, so that the stage and slide may move beneath it while it

mains fixed. This haze is moreover suppressed still more easily by

_ Slightly tilting the system of prisms, so as to diminish by a degree or two

the angle of incidence upon the reflecting plane of section. ‘This really

gives to the image seen by transmission the advantage in respect to il-

lumination; but as, with low powers, both images are strongly illumi-

mounting the prisms, to provide some system of adjustment by whi e

position may be varied to correspond to the power emp

e ex me ave been made with calcite prisms cut in such a

manner that the extraordinary ray p ding from common light pe t

reflection is ábout the same as before. The construction employed at

first gives results which are very satisfactory; but it is designed to pur-

NOTES. 703

sue experiment further, and with the able assistance of Mr. Joseph Zent-

mayer, whose zeal for the improvement of the microscope has induced

him to undertake the rather i dgio task of preparing the prisms, it

will soon be ascertained w er ot any material advantage can b

gained, by adopting a pase ss iy cutting them.

NOTES.

Our readers are doubtless aware that Congress at the last session made

an appropriation of $50.000 for Arctic er with the promise that

the scientific operations of the expedition were to be prescribed by the

E a my or Sciences. Erer in uu was appointe ted by the

i che

enry are to act in concert with him. and prepare a manual of scientific

inquiry for the use of the expedition, which will, undoubtedly, interest a

large circle of readers when published.

. Hyatt has been appointed Professor of dtes at the Mas-

saints Institute of Technology. Mr. E. S. Morse has been chosen

Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology at pd doin College, and

has been appointed Lecturer in the same branch at the Maine Agricul-

tural College. Dr. A. S. Packard, jr., is * oh on Economic Entomol-

ogy at the same institution. Mr. B. K. Em n has recently been

elected Professor of Geology at Amherst Soler. ‘as chair filled for so

many years by Dr. Edward Hitchcock, Senior.

Chicago offers a new publication for general patronage, under the title of

the ‘ Pemba Journal of Microscopy.” The first number, for November,

is of quarto size and contains sixteen page h nal is to be pub-

contributions on TOE and kindred subjects are requested from

all parts of the w

Dr. Hagen has rege returned from Europe, having purchased,

through as furnished by a lady in Boston, for the Cambridge Museum,

a Parisian collection of weevils of great extent and value. We are glad

to know that he has brought over his own unrivalled gollaction of Neu-

roptera. Its presence in this country is most fortunate for this depart-

ment of entomology.

The addition to the building for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at

Cambridge, at an expense of upwards of $60,000, is rapidly going up.

Professor Agassiz has returned to Cambridge with restored health, and

with new plans for the enlargement of his Museum.

104 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The Lyceum of Natural History of New York has lately started for-

wards with renewed vigor, and now issues its ** Proce dings," as well as

* Annals." Three signatures of the ** Proceedings” (from pages 1 to 44),

have been received, and contain abstracts of several interesting papers

read at the meetings in April and May last.

Gradually the unpublished results of the labors of Dr. T. W. Harris

are being given to the public. Mr. P. R. Uhler, of Baltimore, has ready

for publication by the Boston Society of Natural History, descriptions

of the Hemiptera of the Harris Entomological collection.

Congress is about to print an entomological report by Townend Glover,

the entomologist of the Agricultural Department. It will form an ex-

ceedingly useful work, and will deserve the widest circulation.

e well-known Paris dealer in insects, M. Deyrolle, took flight to

London with his immense stock of insects, before Paris was actually

invested.

Mr. J. A. McNiel, who has made two expeditions to Central America,

is now in Philadelphia preparing for a third Archeological Excursion to

Nicaragua.

Prof. O. C. Marsh of Yale College, has just returned, with his party,

from the Rocky Mountains. The Expedition started in June last.

All our French exchanges, months ago, were suspended.

ANSWERS TO ee

D. H., Tuscaloosa, Ala.—The larva taken from oak wood is the Oak-tree Borer

(hiie one) one of the silk worm family | f peer ). It often spa — to

the red oak, t h the moth, : large ash gray species, is npp ively ra

C. E., Cin deum — Å light droles, such as is described o; and P IL

25 Vol. i n ae the gro will answer your purpo: a "MGE quete — E o

wit five- reca window “a hollo or fishing lead to sink the dre In

red ta nt mL I out soep- minute w iah and small PORDO suc

wakes tons and e éspecialiy the larger shelled forms, such as Lymnadia, Estherea, etc.

E. S. M., Mitchel ll, Ind. Your photo; h is that of tabo Tityus male. Ap

would be Mu pecca for eni he Museum or the Academy. j

H. G., Detroit. — We reque r to your question from a „physiol "ed of

the highest standing, and d have poberie] the fo llowing in reply: “ The subject is a very

important o A re often called upon to decide whether a fron —

is or is not de ^ Man ries vuibubiantie M microscopists ha p full confidence that no i]

is easier than to de cide the Kegs atter by looking through their instruments, until they fin

ha er.

ui d is easily distinguished «m that of m pen ma pee birds, reptiles

un fishes, by the size and m of the globules; and te ofh chemical and micro-

osed m

however successful it may have once been in the hands of some e as not, after

many years, come into use, and. MAE of the size and appearance of the globules also

fails, as the globules of some o f the domesticated animals offer the same character-

istics as those of man.”

TRE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. IV. — FEBRUARY, 1871. — No. 12.

COEQORY 2. a

THE ANT LION.

BY J. H. EMERTON.

Fig. 159.

REN

SSS xn

DUE N

(LES

Ant Lion, adult.

On the twenty-ninth of August, while hunting spiders

among the rocks on the hill north of Bartholomew’s pond in

South Danvers, Mass., I unexpectedly found the pit of an

ant-lion ( Myrmeleo immaculatus De Geer), in a clear space

under the shade of a large boulder. The pit (Fig. 160) was

about two inches in Se and one deep. The insect him-

self was hid at the bottom, but when I dropped bits of earth

into the hole he showed his position by throwing up sand.

I then dug him out and took him home with me, where I

put him into a bowl of dry, coarse sand, such as is used by

masons for mortar. He remained buried for several days,

but ui came to the surface, dug his pitfall, and gave me

Entered accordin 1470. be the P at ABLEEREE d ME M de Oak Fie E

Ging the District

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 89 $ (705)

106 THE ANT-LION.

an opportunity of observing his habits. Fig. 161 represents

the ant-lion at this time, showing the under aide with the feet

in a natural position. At first he was so timid that as. soon

as any one approached he stopped where he was and re-

mained motionless until left alone. If his pitfall was de-

stroyed he dug a new one; but during all the time I kept

Fig. 161. MC v. him I never saw

T" ~ the whole process

=== surface he would

keep quite still

— for a few mo-

ments, then retreat backward, by jerks, under the sand. He

never moved forward but always backward by the contrac-

tions of his abdomen as much as by his feet, making a furrow

through the sand. He seldom travelled

an inch in one direction, and often made a

complete circle in that distance. I think

he commenced his pitfall by making a

circle of this kind, and afterward throw-

ing out the sand from the centre. In

dipping he used his flat head and jaws, ihid: were iud

under several grains of sand and then jerked upward, throw-

ing their load sometimes as far as six inches; and always far

enough to avoid leaving a ridge around the pitfall. When

the pit was finished rg was entirely concealed beneath it, as

in Fig. 160, except his jaws, which were spread apart hori-

zontally at the bottom. The surface of the pit being as steep

as the sand could be piled up was very easily disturbed; and

when an insect ventured over the edge the ant-lion was ap-

prised of it at once by the falling sand. He immediately be-

gan to throw up sand from the bottom, deepening the pit and

so causing the sand to slip down from the sides and the insect

Fig. 162.

THE ANT-LION. 707

' with it. The ant-lion seized it with his long jaws and held it

up above his head until he had sucked all he wanted from it,

when he threw the remainder out of the hole and repaired

the trap. Fig. 162 (from Westwood), shows the structure of

the jaws, and how the ant-lion may drink the juices from an

insect without bringing it to his mouth. On the under side

of each jaw (a), is a groove (b), extending from one end to

the othér, and partly filled by the slender maxilla which lies

in it, forming a tube, one end of which passes into the insect

which is bitten, while the other opens near the mouth of the

ant-lion. After eating he became more timid, and some-

times would not take a second insect. If, however, several

were put into the pit at once, he would bite one after the

other until all were killed, before deciding on which to

begin. I fed him two or three times a week, usually with

house-flies, cutting their wings off and letting him take them

in his own way. In October, having occasion to travel

some distance, I put him in an ounce bottle half filled with

sand, corked him up, and carried him with me in my bag.

In about a week I gave him a large house-fly, which he did

not catch, not having room enough in the bottle to make a

pitfall. I gave him no more food till the next March.

Meanwhile he remained for several months on a shelf in my

room. * Occasionally I tipped him out and always found him

lively enough to right himself if turned on his back, and to

retreat under the nearest sand. In January he was packed

up in my trunk for more than a week, and when I opened it,

after it had remained several days in a warm room, I found

him as lively as when first caught. He afterwards became

quite torpid again in a cold *elospt, where he remained

through the rest of the winter. About the first of March,

when flies began to be plenty, I-commenced to feed him

again. He found it rather awkward to catch insects in

the bottle as there was not room enough to make a pitfall,

and his inability to move forward made it hard for him to

seize an insect unless he met it directly between his jaws.

708 | THE RESOURCES AND CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA.

He soon, however, made pitfalls half an inch in diameter, `

which answered the purpose. Sometimes he lay on the sur-

face of the sand with a few grains seattered over his back to

conceal him from notice, and his jaws extended on the sur-

face: If a fly was put into the bottle it would circle around

close to the glass and usually run over the ant-lion’s back.

He would jerk up his head and attempt to seize it, which he

seldom succeeded in doing the first time. If he caught a

leg or wing he was unable to move nearer and shorten his

hold, and the fly escaped. He would often throw up the

sand and try to undermine the fly. He would sometimes

work an hour in these ways before the fly would get into a

favorable position. I fed him every day or two until May

15th, when he spun a spherical cocoon (Fig. 161a) around

him, and remained enclosed until June 25th, a very hot day,

when he came partly out, and leaving his pupa skin half

in the cocoon appeared as a perfect fly (Fig: 159), but: did

not spread his wings oesie

THE RESOURCES AND CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA.

BY REV. A. P. PEABODY, D.D. z

Tue thought uppermost in my mind, during a recent visit

to California, was of gratitude to the bravely patriotic men,

who, in the late rebellion, at the risk of their own lives

saved this great state for the Union.

One who has not been in California can hardly appreciate

the magnitude of the threatened loss. The state might

easily have maintained her independence, not only of her

sister republics, but of all the world beside. It is poten-

tially a self-sustaining empire. Exceeding in the aggregate

of its territory the British Islands, it extends through all the

degrees of latitude which are identified with a genial climate,

THE RESOURCES AND CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 109

without stretching far enough northward to know the severity

of winter, or diri enough southward to feel the enervatiug

influence of a tropical sun.

It could supply all its own wants. Its pastoral pun

could easily furnish wool, hides and food for twenty times

its present population. Its rivers and bays swarm with the

choicest of fish, salmon being so abundant that it can hardly

be accounted a luxury. The vine-bearing capacity of the

one county of Sonoma exceeds that of all the wine-growing

regions of Europe. Wheat has been harvested at the rate

of ninety bushels to the acre, and fifty or sixty bushels are

but an ordinary crop, twenty being regarded as a good yiel

in the Genesee district of New York. The fruits are un-

surpassed in quality and in profusion, and are subject to

. none of the blights, parasitic insects and fungi, that infest

our orchards, so that one need not fear to eat an apple

in the dark. Strawberries may be bought in the San Fran-

cisco market every month in the year. It is not easy to

name any fruit which will not ripen within the limits of the

State. At Sonoma, on the grounds of General Vallejo, the

old Spanish commandant of California, I saw ripe or ripen-

ing, along with all the common fruits of the temperate zone,

oranges, lemons, bananas, olives, figs and almonds. I have

eaten olives in Italy, but never any so good as those from the

General's own trees on which I lunched at his table. In the

southern part of the State, cotton is rapidly becoming a sta-

ple, and coffee, equal to the best St. Domingo, is already

raised. The cultivation of tea has been commenced with

the promise of complete success, and there is no reason why

the spices of the East Indies should not become naturalized

there.

There is also in the iioi a supply of lumber of all

kinds which it would take many centuries to exhaust, though

as yet, for lack of available avenues for transportation, lum-

ber for the cities on the coast is imported from Oregon.

If every sehooner, sloop and sail-boat in the world were a

710 THE RESOURCES AND CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA.

ship of three thousand tons, I saw, on a single day's ride,

enough pine trees from one to two hundred feet high,

straight as an arrow, to furnish masts for all the vessels in

the world, without perceptibly thinning the primeval forest.

The climate is unequalled in salubrity. In San Francisco

a sea-breeze sets in from the ocean at three or four o’clock

on a summer afternoon, rendering the air rather cooler than

suits one not acclimated ; but this is not experienced in the

winter, and the average temperature of the winter is rather

higher than that of the summer. Only a few miles from the

coast the force of the ocean-breeze is spent. There the sum-

mer days are very hot, but the air is so pure that the ther-

mometer of one’s own consciousness is much below Fahren-

heit’s, and I found it as easy to take a long and brisk wall at

the temperature of a hundred degrees, as it would be in

New England at seventy-five. The night air is inexpressibly

sweet and mild, so that one would not care whether he lodged

within doors or under the star-gemmed roof. It is no un-

common thing to have the windows of lodging apartments

taken out, and laid aside as useless, from the early spring till

the autumn. The atmosphere, even in midsummer, is so en-

tirely free from malaria, that lamb or veal hung up in the

open air will dry before it becomes tainted ; and outside of

farmhouses and hotels we often see, suspended on trees,

locked safes covered with wire-gauze, in which fresh meat

may be preserved sound and sweet for several weeks.

For seven or eight months in the year rain never falls.

The grass, indeed, looks brown; but the trees, which strike

their roots down into soil still moist, retain their verdure,

and for the various crops of grain and vegetables artificial

irrigation is extensively employed, — windmills for raising

water being used, not only on farms, but in orchards, and

often in private gardens. ‘The whole country is diversified

by gentle elevations — foot-hills, as they are called — which

generally furnish perennial fountains that are led among the

valleys, unfailing sources of fertility and wealth. The cli-

. BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE. 1711

mate facilitates the labor of harvest. The wheat and grain

are threshed on their native field, bagged, and piled up

against the fences till a convenient time for carrying them

to market; and I often saw such huge piles of bagged wheat

„and oats, that it required some stretch of fancy to imagine

that it could all have grown in a single year within the area

of the field.

NOTES ON SOME BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF

VASSAR COLLEGE.

BY PROFESSOR JAMES ORTON.

TuE Ornithological Cabinet in the Vassar Museum, con-

tains nearly twelve hundred distinct species, of which seven

hundred are North American, and the remainder South

American. Among them are several type specimens and

others of historical interest as the originals of Audubon's

celebrated drawings.

Falco islandicus Gm. This fine specimen formerly be-

longed to Audubon, to whom it was presented by Sir John

Cheperstal, and is the original of the figure in “Birds of

merica."

Accipiter nigroplumbeus Lawr. Tyre. This new hawk

was obtained by the writer in the Valley of Quito, where it °

is very rare.

Strix punctatissima Gray. Indigenous to the Galapagos,

but now rather abundant in the Valley of Quito near the

cotton-mills of Chillo, where it is called “Factory Owl.” It

lays nearly spherical eggs, in a rude nest made of a small

quantity of rubbish scraped together and lined with a few

feathers, and generally built in the gable ends of houses or

under the eaves.

Trogon Mexicanus Sw. The late Mr. Giraud informed

us that this specimen was shot in Texas. The Trogon fam-

113 BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE.

ily is well represented in the East Indies; but it is more

fully developed in the New World where there are about

twenty-five species. In splendor of plumage they are sur-

passed only by the Hummers ; in stupidity, by the Jacamars.

Their only utterance sounds like Te vio/ (I see thee). They

are zygodactylous, but unlike the woodpeckers and parrots,

the third or longest toe being the inward of the two forward

toes instead of the outward.

Andigena laminirostris Gould. This rare bird represents :

a remarkable group of Toucans characterized by the dense

villose clothing of the under surface. This species is found

at Nanegal on the west slope of the Andes ; not in the neigh-

borhood of Quito, as stated by Mr. Gould. The Toucans, of

which thirty-five species occur at the equator, are confined

to tropical America. They live in dense forests in small

companies. Their flight is laborious but not jerky. On the

ground they hop like a robin. They have a shrill though

variable cry, which sometimes has a vague resemblance to

tocano, and again to pia-po-o-co. The imaginative natives

call them Preachers, because they seem to make the sign of

the cross by wagging the head up, then to the left, next to

the right, and finally down, saying at each movement Dios

tode (God gave it you). The sexes are exactly alike. The

most common species on the Upper Amazon are Cuvier?,

Humboldtii and pleuricinctus.

Tetragonops ramphastinus Jard. This singular Barbet is

called by the natives venenero or deer-hunter, because it

whistles with ventriloqual powers. None of the Capitonide

sing. The phlegmatic Buecos or * pig-birds," as the Indians

call them, seem to have their head-quarters in Eastern Peru.

The Tetragonops is a connecting link between the Barbets

and Toucans.

Lesbia Ortoni Lawr. Type. This remarkably fine spe-

cies is the latest addition to the Trochilidæ. It was discov-

ered in the Valley of Quito at the foot of the isolated

mountain Ilalo, and is the only specimen ever found. The

BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE. 113

superstitious Indians who inhabit Ilalo are very exclusive,

forbidding the approach of any white man to their mountain ;

and for this reason, probably, this Hummer has never before

been seen. The collection contains one hundred and er

six species of Trochilide.

Chetura rutila Vieill. This elegant little Swift or "Noc-

turnal Swallow” was obtained in the Quito Valley, where it

is very rare. Vieillot’s type was found in Trinidad ; Lafres-

naye's specimens were from New Grenada; and Salvin pro-

cured them in Guatemala, where Sclater says it properly

belongs. Its nest is not made of mud and sticks like that

of its northern representative, our chimney swallow, but

chiefly of moss, very compact and shallow, and located in

dark culverts about two feet above the water; never on

houses or trees.

Brachygalba lugubris Sw. ReE-DISCOVERED TYPE. Since

this Jacamar was first described in 1838, not a single speci-

men has come under the notice of any naturalist; and in

1853, Mr. Sclater declared that Swainson’s bird remained to

be re-discovered. This specimen was shot by Mr. Gilbert

at Valencia in 1867, and has been recognized by the distin-

guished ornithologist, George N. Lawrence, Esq., as the lost

lugubris. The only discrepancy from Swainson’s description

is the possession of four toes instead of three; but the hind

toe is quite small. It is distinct from B. inornata. Jacamars

stand next to the Trogons and Hummers in the beauty of

their golden-bronze, and steel-colored plumage. They are

peculiar to tropical America, and Guiana is their true home.

None have been seen on the west slope of the Andes.

Todirostrum gracilipes Scl. The type in the British Mu-

seum came from Bogota; but this specimen was obtained

by Hauxwell on the Upper Amazon. From the same locality

we have the Empidomus varius.

Myiarchus Lawrencii Gir., Basileuterus Belli Gir., B

Brasieri Gir., Dendroica olivacea Gir., and Cardellina ru-

brifrons Gir. . The types of — species formerly belonged

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

714 BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE.

to this cabinet, but are now in the Smithsonian Institution,

and are replaced by other specimens collected by Sumichrast,

Salvin and Verreaux. To the day of his death, Mr. Giraud

contended that the types were collected within the State of

Texas.

Myiozetetes inornatus Lawr. Tyre. From Valencia, Ven-

ezuela.

Turdus Hauxwelli Lawr. Tyre. From Pebas, Peru.

Dendroica tigrina Gm. This handsome specimen was

shot by Wilson in the vicinity of Cape May, 1812, and was

described by him as a new species. Gmelin, however, in

1788. had named it Motacilla tigrina.

Euphonia elegantissima Bp. Our specimens do not con-

form to Sclater’s description: the throat of the male is not

"black," but bluish black like the back; the forehead is

not “chestnut, margined behind with black," but is bright

yellow.

E. nigricollis Vieill. This Tanager is one of the best

songsters in the Valley of Quito; the other birds only

twitter and chirp; like the people, too lazy to sing. The

Mimus lividus is its rival in Brazil. The Tanagers generally

have no melody of voice. They are restless, wary birds,

having a rapid, abrupt flight, and seldom hopping on the

ground. They are most numerous in New Granada, and the

most important genus is a To the puzzling question,

“What is a Tanager,?” Sclater answers, “a dentirostral

Finch.” At Quito the Finches build their nests in October.

Atticora fasciata Gm. This type of the genus is described

by Baird as having ten tail feathers: both male and female

in the Vassar collection show twelve. They are from the

Maranon.

Pipra deliciosa Scl. One of the most brilliantly colored

of the Manakins, the male being also remarkable for the sin-

gular structure of its wings, the secondaries being curved.

By the natives it is called " Watchman,” because it flies be-

fore certain blue birds, and makes a noise with its wings in

case of danger.

BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE. 115

Diglossa aterrima Lafr. The natives say that it changes

its colors if taken to Pichincha, becoming like D. Lafresnayi.

Rupicola sanguinolenta Gould. This splendid “Cock of

the Rock " is found only, we believe, on the western Andean

slope. The R. Peruviana is confined to the eastern slope,

and the R. crocea to the mountains of Guiana. It fre-

quents shady ravines and is very shy. It “plays "possum,"

falling apparently dead when shot at, but soon flies off. It

makes a guttural noise not unlike the grunt of a hog. Like

the Bird of Paradise, Peacock, Turkey, etc., the Cock of

the Rock makes an extraordinary display of its finery just

prior to the breeding season.

Chrysomitris Mexicana Bp. Tyre of Fringilla Texensis

ir.

Ocyalus latirostris Sw., Clypicterus oseryi and Amblycer-

sus solitarius. These splendid specimens of Icteride were

obtained on the Upper Amazon, where they appear to be rare.

Icterus G'race-annae Cass. This seems to be the only spec-

imen found since its description. The type is in the Phila-

delphia Academy. This fixes the locality (Machala near

Guayaquil), which was not positively known.

Cephalopterus ornatus Vieill. This Umbrella Bird came

from the Upper Amazon. It was formerly thought to be

confined to the islands in the Rio Negro. It is found only

on the eastern side of the Andes; the C. penduliger being re-

stricted to the western slope, and C. glabricollis to Contin

America. The throat lappet of penduliger is nearly ten

inches long; that of ornatus about four, and of glabricollis

insignifieant. According to Fraser, the appendage seems

generally held in a bunch like a rose under the throat, and

to fall after death. `

Chlorenas vinacea and Ortolida guttata; from the Upper

Amazon. Near Savonita on the west slope of the Andes is

an Ortolida whose note sounds like £rabajá, trabajá (work!

work !), and the response of the answering bird is manana,

manana (to-morrow), a parody on Spanish character.

116 BIRDS IN THE MUSEUM OF VASSAR COLLEGE.

Meleagris ocellata Temm. A pair, male and female, in

fine plumage.

Lophortyx Gambelii Nutt. Of this bird, “whose rarity

is only equalled by its beauty" says Gould, there is a pair

in perfect condition.

Demiegretta Pealii Bp., Garzetta candidissina Gm.,

Florida ceruba Linn., and Ibis alba Linn. These speci-

mens once belonged to Audubon, from which he made the

drawings for his large work.

Platalea ajaja Linn. This specimen was obtained of Dr.

Trudeau. It was shot on the plantation of his father near

Charleston, S. C.

Aphriza virgata Gm. Typr of Audubon's A. Townsendi,

from the mouth of Columbia River; the only specimen ob-

tained within the bounds of the United States. Properly

belongs to the Pacific Islands. Professor Baird doubts its

occurrence on the shores of the northern Pacific, but Dr.

Sclater does not. Several have been found on Vancouver's

Island.

Phalaropus Wilsonii Sab. A superb specimen in Bell’s

best style of mounting.

Anser Gambelii Hart. Original of Audubon’s drawing.

Bernicla leucopsis Linn. Original of Audubon’s drawing.

Somateria spectabilis Linn. Specimen shot on Long

Island Sound !

Sterna Trudeauii Aud. Tyre. The original of Audu-

bon’s figure and description; shot at Great Egg Harbor.

According to Mr. Giraud, the only specimen found in North

America. It is in full plumage. :

Colymbus arcticus and C. septentrionalis Linn. Origi-

nals of Audubon's drawings.

Podiceps occipitalis Less. This grebe was found by the

writer on Lake Mica, which is on the side of Antisana,

Ecuador, 13,300 feet above the Pacific. It appears to be

identieal with the species abounding on the coast of Chili

and Straits of Magellan. It is difficult to conceive how this

TURTHER NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES. 717

purely aquatic bird could or would ascend and cross the

western Cordillera, and then ascend to an icy, solitary lake

on the shoulder of one of the loftiest volcanoes in the east-

ern range, 2,500 miles from its native place. Forbes found

Cyclas Chilensis (formerly considered peculiar to the most

southern and coldest part of Chili at the level of the sea)

abundant in fresh-water ponds in the Bolivian plateau near

La Paz, 14,000 feet high. Do not these facts point to

changes in the Andes on a grand scale, and at a rate which,

measured by the time required for a change of species, must

be termed rapid ?

Alca impennis Linn. Original of Audubon’s figure. A

notice of this specimen was published in the American

Naturalist, 1869.

Mormon cirrhata Pall. Original of Audubon’s figure.

Phaleris cristatella Pall. Original of Audubon’s figure.

FURTHER NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES.

BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D.

Fig. 163.

Hybognathus.

Durine the month of February of the present year

(1870), Professor George H. Cook, State Geologist, sent to

the author of this paper a number of “frost-fish,” or “smelt "

(Osmerus mordax), and among them was the single speci-

men figured above. On submitting this cyprinoid to Pro-

718 FURTHER NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES.

fessor Cope of Philadelphia, he pronounced it undescribed,

and has since described it* as Hybognathus osmerinus.

During the past summer the author had no opportunity of

fishing in the Raritan River, at or about New Brunswick, at

which point the specimen was taken; but among a number

of small collections from that river, no specimen of this

cyprinoid occurred. From other streams, generally not in

the basin of the Raritan, isolated specimens have occurred,

and the distribution seems to be without reference to salt

water, although the type, and two other specimens, were

taken from streams having direct access to the sea.

Of its habits, as yet, we have determined nothing; only

learning from the specimens we have seen, that it seems to

be very scarce, and associated by twos and threes with other

cyprinoids, more especially with Hybopsis Hudsonivs, which

is very abundant in many of our smaller streams, as well

as the Delaware River.

During the month of August of this year, the writer found

a locality for two species which are not abundant elsewhere,

so far as his own observations go to show, These fish are

an etheostomoid ( ololepis erochrous Cope), and a “cat-fish”

( Noturus gyrinus). They were both found abundantly

in Stony Brook, Mercer Co., N. J., near the village of

Princeton. The stream here is shallow, with a muddy bot-

tom, and here and there a flat stone or two, under which

both species took refuge when disturbed. On approaching

the brook, the fish were found to be lying on the mud, near

the edge of the stream, in water scarcely two inches deep.

The movements of the etheostomoids were very deliberate, as

they usually moved very slowly, making straight lines on the

mud, apparently by not lifting themselves from the bottom of

the stream. By placing a small baited hook immediately in

front of the “darters,” they would seize it with all the ra-

pidity and voraciousness of a pike, and upon swallowing it,

ap Mere

* A Partial Synopsis of the Fishes of the Fresh Waters of North Carolina. By Ed-

ward D. Cope, A.M. Amer. Phil. Soc., Phila., 1870, p. 466; foot note.

FURTHER NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES. 119

would invariably be taken. The writer took nearly fifty

specimens with a hook, in about two hours. The “ stone-

cat-fish” were much more active, and shy; and would not

take the hook, until after an immense deal of nibbling tr ying

to the patience.

While collecting specimens in ad Brook, as mentioned

above, the writer met with a nearly exhausted eel, into

the left gills of which, a lamprey ( Petromyzon nigricans),

had aid its sucking apparatus. The eel had drawn the

lamprey by the suction power of the gill, into its throat,

and having thus killed the lamprey, was itself nearly dead

from endeavors to get rid of so great an incumbrance. In

the stomachs of both the eel and the lamprey, were found

masses of partially broken shells of minute Lymnew, show-

ing (cireumstantial evidence) that they had been occupied

in feeding upon the same food on the same ground, when the

lamprey made his unfortunate attack upon the eel. Has it

been noticed before, that the lamprey feeds upon small shells?

Two specimens of Aphrodederus- Sayanus, were taken

in Stony Brook, during the summer, and have been since

kept alive in an aquarium. Soon after their capture, and

since, one of them has exhibited the followiug "freak of

coloration.” The specimens, while lying on the pebbles at the

bottom of the tank, were each of a glossy black, relieved by a

pale brown throat, well dotted with black ; and with a snowy

white margin to the caudal fin. They were removed by a

small net, to another tank having somewhat colder water in

it, and immediately one of the pair became of a uniform

pale straw color, except the black dots on the throat, and a

narrow line running from -the lower edge of the orbit to

the iaw. The white margin of the caudal fin was scarcely

distinguishable from the general color of the fin and body.

The iris became silvery, with a mere trace of yellow. In the

course of half an hour, the tints commenced to grow deeper,

and full two hours elapsed before the usual black hue was re-

sumed and the two specimens became similar in appearance.

120 THE SPORES OF LICHENS.

Had this specimen thus "bleached" on being removed

from one tank to another, done so on being taken wholly

from the water, and, thus faded, had been preserved in al-

cohol, might it not have been looked upon as an Aphrode-

derus albidus nov. spec., and thus additional synonomy been

offered to the confusion now existing? Is it, in fact, safe to

consider color as of any value as a specific character, unless

by comparing many specimens, and finding the variation

uniform and without gradations? We have found the

" sun-fish” as a group, to vary very much in accordance with

the character of the stream in which they were found; and

in an aquarium the “banded sunfish” (Mesogonistius

chatodon Gill), is verily kaleidoscopic. The black bands

actually sometimes wholly disappear !

THE SPORES OF LICHENS.

BY H. WILLEY.

THE importance of the spores in the study of lichens,

will perhaps render interesting a more extended reference

to this branch of lichen history. The spores were known

to Micheli, who figures those of several species in his “ Nova

Genera Plantarum,” 1729, as did also Acharius in his “ Lich-

enographia Universalis,” 1810. But he made no use of them

in his system. The great work of Fries, “ Lichenographia

Europæa Reformata,” 1831, has no reference to the spores,

excepting a few remarks in regard to their germination ;

but Eschweiler in the same year, made a somewhat care-

ful examination of them, and noticed their various forms,

although he endeavored in vain, he says, to make use of the

.spore-ease in distinguishing genera. Fée, in the supplement

to his "Essai," 1837, was the first to do this, and to figure

and describe accurately the spore-cases and spores. But

THE SPORES OF LICHENS. 121

De Notaris in 1846, from which period Krempelhuber dates

the modern period of Lichenology, fully inaugurated the

new method, and established it on a solid foundation. He

pointed out the unity of the spore-type in many natural

genera, and declared that species in which the spores pre-

sented important differences could not be grouped together.

But the results of his labors do not appear to have been com-

bined into a general system. Norman, in Norway, 1852,

Massalongo, in Italy, 1852, and Koerber in Germany, 1854—

1859, continued his work, and based their systems to a greater

or less degree, on spore characters, while the younger Fries,

Trevisan, Stitzenberger and others have labored successfully

in the same field, and made important contributions to this

department. No description of a lichen is now considered

adequate which does not give an account of the spores, when

they are to be found.

The Italian school, however, has attributed too great im-

portance to minor distinctions in the size of spores, their

septation, and number in the spore-case, attaching great im-

portance to micrometric measurements, and lonbr.: increas-

ing the species and genera to a most unwarrantable degree,

e not unfrequently violating natural affinities, answering

no useful end and tending rather to create confusion than

to advance true science. A few instances may serve to illus-

trate this. Pyrenula nitida Scher. is a very common bark

lichen, and subject to but slight variation. The average

length of the spores is from .018 to .022 millimetre; but

specimens occur, which cannot be separated from it, in which

they measure constantly from .030 to .038. Arthonia

velata Nyl. is another instance in which the spores in some

specimens are constantly nearly twice as large as in others.

The spores of Sagedia chlorotica Ach. are described in

the European forms as constantly 4-blastish, measuring from

.018 to .023. Here they are usually from 4 to 6-blastish,

and measure from .025 to .047, and it is only recently that

I have found specimens with constantly 4-blastish spores, a

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 91

T33 THE SPORES OF LICHENS.

little smaller than the European, and measuring from .014 to

.020. Sagedia cestrencis Tuck. is another example, though

I am doubtful whether my specimens are different from S.

carpinea Pers. As it occurs on the beech, the spores are

fusiform, and measure from .034 to .038, while those on

the hemlock, referred to the same species, are acicular and

from .072 to .118. But perhaps the difference in form would

justify making this a distinct species. Rinodina sophodes

Mass. and Biatora rubella Fr. are two very variable species,

but specimens referred to each vary in the former from .010

to .025, and in the latter from .018 to .075.

So in regard to the number of spores in the spore-case.

The form of Rinodina sophodes in which the spore-cases

contain twelve or more spores, can hardly be distinguished

from that in which there are only eight, though Th. Fries

makes it a separate species, under the name R. polyspora. I

have found specimens of Buellia microcarpa D. C. which do

not differ from the common form more than the two forms

of R. sophodes, but in which there are from eight to sixteen

spores in a spore-case ; and a parasitic lichen on the thallus

of a Saxicoline Pertusaria which appears to differ from

Buellia parasitica Flk., only in the spore-cases containing

a large number of spores. These examples might be numer-

ously increased, but they are perhaps sufficient to show that

too much importance should not be attached to what Profes-

sor Tuckerman calls “ mere gradal differences.”

Nylander, the great French lichenist and the antagonist of

the German-Italian school, does not seem to attach sufficient

importance to the differences in spore characters. In his re-

marks in his “Synopsis” on specific characters in lichens, he

contents himself with a few indefinite observations in regard

to them, and in his classification makes no generic distinc-

tions based on form or color. Thus Rinodina is included

under Lecanora, and Buellia under Lecidea. Indeed he

seems to consider the spermatia as more important classi-

ficatory organs than the spores. In his descriptions, however,

THE SPORES OF LICHENS. 723

he gives the forms of the spores, though not always accu-

rately, and their measurements. While the Italian and Ger-

man writers on the one hand tend to too great a subdivision

of genera and species, Nylander, on the-other, is frequently

too comprehensive, though this is perhaps the safer error of

the two.

Professor Tuckerman of Amherst, has expressed briefly

his views on the value of spore characters, in his “ Lich-

ens of California," 1866, and has laid the foundation of a

more sound and instructive doctrine on this subject than

previous writers. In his opinion, which has been followed

-in what precedes, "less weight than has often been assumed

should be given to spore differences of a merely gradal

character, or such others as depend only on mensuration,

and more to those that seem typical.” He considers that

there are "two well defined kinds of lichen-spores, comple-

mented in the highest tribe only by a well-defined inter-

mediate one. In one of these (typically colorless) the

originally simple spore, passing through a series of moditi-

cations, always in one direction, and tending constantly to

elongation, affords at length the acicular type. To this is

opposed (most frequently but not exclusively in the lower

tribes, and even possibly anticipated by the polar-bilocular

sub-type in Parmeliacei), a second (typically colored) in

which the simple spore, completing another series of changes,

tending rather to distension and to division in one direction,

exhibits finally the muriform type.” Tn accordance with this

view Rinodina is distinguished from Lecanora, and Buellia .

from Lecidea. Theloschistes parietinus is separated from

Physcia, a genus with colored spores, and placed in a distinct

genus, the type of whose spore is the polar-bilocular. On the

other hand Biatora rubella would not be separated from that

genus, which includes species with simple spores, merely on

account of its septate spores, nor Buellia petrea placed in a

distinct genus, Rhizocarpon, on account of its muriform

spores, nor Lecanora cervina on account of its polysporous

124 THE SPORES OF LICHENS.

spore-cases. It is to be observed, however, that the typi-

eally colored spore is often, as Professor Tuckerman ex-

presses it, decolorate. Thus the spores of Buellia petrea,

are often, and always, so far as I have observed, in a form

which occurs on rails, colorless, and frequently only 2-blast-

ish. Similar conditions also occur of Rinodina sophodes and

R. ascociseana. Pertusaria is another genus in which the

spores should probably be considered as typically colored.

They are usually of a yellowish tinge, and in one specimen

of P. leioplaca they were of a rich golden brown. There

are many genera in which species with spores belonging to

the typically colored series, have spores always, so far as

observed, colorless, or “decolorate.” In the genera of all

the great families of lichens will be found spores corres-

ponding to these various types; and a table might be con-

structed, showing the analogies throughout. But into the

subject of lichen classification it is not my purpose here to

enter.

Our illustrations in the preceding number of the Natu-

RALIST show the different types of spores as thus distin-

guished; those of T. parietina being polar-bilocular, those

of Biatora rubella, acicular, and those of Buellia petrea,

muriform. The adoption of this idea will certainly intro-

duce an order and clearness into lichenology which it has

hitherto lacked, and will do away with a host of genera of

the German and Italian writers, which serve only to en-

cumber the books and to embarrass and confuse the student.

There are perhaps some exceptions, as Professor Tuckerman

admits, in regard to Gyalecta, and as is perhaps the case

also with Arthonia. But these may disappear with further

knowledge, and we have to thank the Professor for an idea

which greatly simplifies a difficult study, and whose advan-

tages, as he justly remarks, far outweigh its difficulties. He

has promised a further discussion of the subject in his forth-

coming work on the Genera of North American Lichens.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

BY THEODORE GILL, M.D., PH.D.

— Qa

Vastness of size is so generally, and it may almost be

conceded, so naturally associated in the popular idea with

the whales, that some may scarcely be able to realize at

first the fact that there are species no larger than ordinary

porpoises; and yet which agree so closely in all the more

essential elements of structure with some of the whales,

that it is impossible, in a natural system, to separate them

far from their gigantic relatives. We say some of the

whales, for it is to be observed that the animals which are

designated popularly as whales do not form a natural group,

as contradistinguished from other animals. As popularly ap-

plied, the word whale is a designation used in common for

all the gigantie cetaceans, whether they be toothless and fur-

nished with whalebone, as are the right-whales, or whether

they be toothed, as are the sperm-whales, or cachalots.*

The pygmies, to which we have alluded above, would not

answer, then, to the popular conception. But, indeed, there

are no characters which are coórdinated with size, and which

would enable one to give a definition other than relative to

size. We have to enter upon a more profound examination

before being able to ascertain the relations of the various

members of the cetacean order. It is only by taking into

account the sum total of characters, internal as well as ex-

ternal, that we are at length enabled to arrive at a correct

appreciation of the true affinities of animals, and this induc-

tive mode of study, applied to the cetaceans, teaches us that

* It should be added, however, that **whale? seems to be used by some whalemen

as a quasi-generic term for the cetaceans (see Cheever, ** The Whale and his Captors,”

pp. 96, 97), and is al pplied by other p t f the 1 Delphinide, such as

Beluga (the white whale), Orca (the killer whale), Globiocephalus (the caing whale), etc.

(725)

126 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

in the order are two great groups, which, we may at once

add, are suborders; and that these groups are distinguished

from each other by numerous characteristics: the most ap-

parent of these are, in one group, (the MvsrrcETE,) the de-

velopment of whalebone on the roof of the mouth, and the

entire want of teeth,* — they being reabsorbed into the gums

before birth, —the development of an olfactory organ, and of

nasal bones free at their distal ends ; and in the other group,

(the DENrICETI,) the absence of the whalebone, and the

development of teeth after birth generally persistent in one

or both jaws during life, but in some forms more or less

early deciduous; the olfactory organ is atrophied, and the

nasal bones are appressed to the frontals and overlapped

by the vomer.

It is not in one alone of these groups that we find associ-

ated together, in a natural morphological combination, giants

and dwarfs, although only in one do we find the contrast in

the present age of our globe. It is the family of Physeter-

ide (the sperm-whales) which furnishes us with the con-

trast in living forms; only giants are now living to repre-

sent the Balenide (the right-whales), and Balenopteride

(the fin-back whales), but in the miocene age, a species of

a fin-back whale lived that when adult was not even as large

as the new born young of the fin-backs now living. + It is,

however, only with the pygmy sperm-whales, equally small

or even smaller, compared with their gigantic relatives, ł that .

we will now concern ourselves. And we will commence our

study with the enquiry as to what are the essential charac-

ters of the family to which they belong. Our task is ren-

* Teeth are present, however, in the foetus, but are not functionally developed.

‘ope in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

rÀ

. D. Benne

size authentically recorded of the sperm-whale is seventy-six feet in length, by thirty-

n dd a | H MTS f e

MAGS vinu Þ

largest examples they commonly obtain.” Professor Flower, after a critical study,

concluded tt length might be about sixty feet, and * ventures to question whether

the cachalot frequently, if ever, exceeds that length, when ed in a. straight line."

The Kogiina attain a length of from seven to eleven feet.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 121

dered easy by the recent publication of a very elaborate mon-

ograph “On the Osteology of the Cachalot or Sperm-whale

(Physeter macrocephalus),” by Professor Flower of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England, and a full descrip-

tion and illustrations of a pygmy whale, by Professor Owen,

who has been the first to clearly elucidate the details of

structure of a member of the group of small species.

1. Families of Toothed Cetaceans. There are four families

of toothed cetaceans: the Physeterids, or sperm-whales ; the

Ziphiids, nearly allied to the former, but in some respects

approaching nearer to the Delphinids; the Platanistids,

containing mostly fresh-water forms; and, finally, the Del-

phinids, containing by far the largest number of genera

and species, and embracing the dolphins (not the fishes of

that name), the porpoises, etc. It is on a comparison be-

tween the members of all those families that the following

characters are shown to be peculiar, either absolutely or in

combination, to the Physeteride.

2. Common Character of Sperm-whales. The form is

variable, the head being either disproportionately large and

blunt in front, with a subterminal blower, as in the giant

whales, or conical, as in the dwarfs; the snout, however,

always projects forwards, and the mouth is inferior. The

cervical vertebre in whole, or the atlas excepted, are an-

chylosed together. The hinder ribs lose their heads, and

are only connected by their tubercles with the transverse

processes of the vertebrze. The costal cartilages which con-

nect the ribs with the sternum retain more or less of their

original cartilaginous condition. The skull has the bones

raised so as to form a more or less elevated retrorsely convex

crest behind the anterior nares. The supraoccipital (so) and

parietals combined extend forwards on the sides, and pre-

sent a convex border projecting forwards high above the

temporal fossa, and forwards beyond the vertex. The

frontal (f) bones have an extended lateral surface de-

flected downwards and produced upwards, exposing to view

728 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

a triangular or retrorsely falciform wedge between the max-

illaries and supraoccipital. The left nasal bone (n) is atro-

phied; the right hypertrophied and twisted to the left side.

The: jugal (7) is well developed and projects downwards

or backwards. The orbit is small or of moderate size.

The pterygoid (pt) bones are thick, produced forwards and

entering largely into the bony roof of the mouth over and

behind the palatine (pal) bones, not contiguous at the mid-

dle, with low ridges on the oral surface diverging more or

less backwards and outwards, and with sides not involuted

so as to form the outer wall of the postpalatine air-sinus.

The lower jaw has a more or less elongated symphysis.

Teeth are functionally developed only or chiefly in the lower

jaw. The pectoral limb is small.

3. Deductions. Such are the characters possessed by all

the members of the family. It will be observed that all but

(Fig. 161.)

Lower Jaw of Physeter macrocephalus, from Flower.

one of them which are truly distinctive are derived from the

internal organization, and as some persons may complain of

this and ask why external characters have not been em-

ployed, it may be added that there are no distinctive ex-

ternal features, except the inferiority of the mouth, and that

only owes its importance to its coórdination with others.

It cannot be too often repeated that our judgment respecting

the relations of animals is only reliable when based on the

most complete and comprehensive examination of the entire

Structure, external as well as internal, and that one of the

first elements of a natural classification is that the characters

used shall be at least expressive of the sum of all the com-

mon characters.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 129

In order now to exhibit the relative importance of the

characters and their subordination, it may simply be stated

that the chief, or at least most salient peculiarities in the form

and relation of the bones are those exhibited by the supraoc-

cipital in combination with the parietals, and also those pre-

sented by the frontals. In these respects, the sperm-whales

stand alone among the cetaceans, while the Ziphiids, to

Which they are most nearly allied, and with which they agree

in the costal cartilages, the form of the pterygoids, etc.,

resemble the Delphinids in the development of those bones.

4. Differences among Physeterids. Having now pretty

carefully passed in review the common characters of the

Physeterids, we may now enter on an examination of the

subdivisions which are indieated by a similar course of study.

After a detailed investigation of all known forms it is found

that they may readily be grouped into two divisions which

are separated from each other by many striking peculiarities.

One of these is represented by the large species; the other

by small ones ; for the former, has been retained by the best

naturalists the Linnean name Physeter; for the latter, was

first proposed the Grayan name Kogia, a barbarous designa-

tion which has by some been superseded by Huphysetes. In

order to exhibit at once the contrast between the two forms,

and to facilitate comparison, we append the characters in

parallel columns.

PHYSETER.

orm massive, with the head

very large, oblong in profile and

truncated at the front; eyes very

small, very low, and near the angle

of the mouth; blow-hole anterior,

and at or near the edge of the trun-

cated snout.

Form delphinoid, with the head

conical, the snout being attenuated

than the angle of the mouth; blow-

hole at the forehead.

Dorsal fin represented by a hump.

Cervical vertebre differentiated

into an atlas and a combination of

the second to seventh anchylosed

and fused together.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

Dorsal fin falcate.

Cervical vertebræ all united by

anchylosis.

130

Ribs about ten or eleven pairs in

umber.

Skull abruptly contracted into the

attenuated rostrum, which e equals

with the ros-

tral part oblong and acute conic.

Cerebral cavity declining down-

wards.

Occipito-sphenoid axis angular;

the basioccipital portion very de-

clivous

portion inclining upwards

Basisphenoid (bs) and palatines

(pal) not or scarcely visible from

the side, being concealed from view

by the exoccipitals and Squamosals.

Frontal (f) with the exposed sur-

face broadly triangular above be-

illaries; cury

tapping oe the process is

very disti

Squamosal (s) with an external

pet triangular surface, and with

a zygomatic process for articula-

tion with the ; contributing

little egt: I" the floor of the

temporal fos

and articulated with z

cesses of the squamos.

Jugals (j) inclined Wabi wastes:

zygomatic p:

Nasal (n) bone flat, smooth.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY..

Ribs about thirteen or fourteen

pairs in number

Skull gradually sloping into the

rostrum, which is shorter than the

condylo-orbital line; above, reni-

form get with the rostrum ob-

tusely co

Cerebral cavity inclining up-

wards.

Occipito-sphenoid axis continu-

ous upwards from the thickened

horizontal floor in front of the fo-

ramen magnum

Basisphenoid and pa

curved downwards and outwards,

and largely exposed to view from

the sides.

Frontal with the exposed surface

retrorsely curved above; with an

angulated margin above the tem-

poral cavity.

Squamosal with a small, tesis

surface, but a large incurved sur-

face, forming the largest nosti

of the periphery of the temporal

fos

Jugals inclined downwards and

remote from the squamosals.

Nasal bone with a thickened sig-

moidally sinuous ridge continued

from the nasal septum to the ver-

tex, and with a less defined branch

exten from its Apre part

nding

forwards on the right rmax-

illary.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 731

Maxillaries (m) continuous, the Maxillaries differentiated into

contour bei mply interrupted wW ortion the dee e-

by the anteorbital tch; the ante- orbital notch; the eren Short,

rior portion very long, high, wide, low, nd ecarinate; the

narrow,

and carinate at its proximal half; posterior portion imi a thickened

the posterior panna simply decliv- external contour.

ous on the frontals.

Intermaxillaries (i) very elon- Intermaxillaries very short, di-

gate, nearly contiguous "S verging forwards on account of the

and projecting forwards sider- development of the vomer; not or

ably beyond the nostis. ittle extending beyond the maxil-

laries.

Lower jaw with the symphysis Lower jaw with the symphysis

the

Vie co-equal with the alveolar iis more than half as long as

region, and more Nr. half the alveolar region, and less than a

Teen of the rami. third the length of the rami.

5. Deductions Respecting the Relative Value of Differ-

ences. Thus have we in considerable detail contrasted the

respective peculiarities of the two groups of Physeterids.

e have gone into such detail, as it is only in that way that

we can appreciate the great difference between the two.

The question now arises, pees is the value of those groups?

Are they simply genera? or are they entitled to higher rank?

On account of the limited number of species, and the close

relationship of the several members of the respective groups,

we are compelled to judge somewhat by analogy, and com-

parison with allied families. As the result of such compar-

isons, especially among the representatives of the families

Ziphiids and Delphinids, it is believed that the value of

Several characters above given is of more than generic value,

the difference appearing to be very much greater than exists

between genera in either of those families, and it is there-

* Our readers E in Boston and its suburbs ean verify t the ch yseter by a

visit to the Museu at Cambridge which establishment

are the skull and wake of the skeleton of an individual obteiaed, | we believe, on the coast of

New Jerse

4M t may be. remarked here that [Mae oes remains from the Mintene « a m3 sre United

* crocodilinus Cope, and Ontocetus Emmonsii Leidy; and some from the gobaemequ as Phy-

seter antiquus Leidy.

732 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

fore proposed to designate the genera Physeter and Kogia

as representatives of two sub-families of PrysETERIDE, to

be respectively designated as Puysererinz and Kocuna.

If we are called upon to make a distinction between sub-

family and generic characters, it is believed that the most

important are the form of the head (a difference of greater

moment than analagous ones among the Delphinide) and

position of the blow-holes, the form and direction of the

cerebral cavity and coórdinate modification of its enclosing

bones; the direction of the occipito-sphenoid axis, and the

form and relations of the jugal and zygomatic processes of

the squamosal bones.

And lest some may entertain a suspicion that some of the

differences above enumerated may be the result of vegeta-

tive growth (or bulk) in Physeter, it is proper to add that

the young of that form essentially resembles the adult, and

that the characters enumerated are as applicable to the one

as to the other. Nor are the characteristics of Kogia the

expressions of arrested development; they are special mod-

ifications, and the form itself is quite as specialized a type

as is Physeter itself. Both forms, so far as known, have

equally lost the evidences of the nature of their common

progenitor, and it is impossible to decide, from present facts,

which is the most divergent from the common stock. If we

were to be guided by consideration of size, Kogia would

seem to be the most divergent, the typical PAyseterids and

related Ziphiids being all large animals, but such hint

would probably be illusive per se, although really perhaps

near the truth.

6. Subdivisions of the Family. While the first subdi-

vision of the family into two subfamilies based on tangible

and reliable data, is that presented in this article, a binary

division had been previously proposed by Dr. J. E. Gray,

in the "Additions and Corrections" of his "Catalogue of

Seals and Whales in the British Museum," published in

1866 ; therein (p. 386), he subdivides the family as follows:

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 733

I. age compressed, truncated in front. Blowers in front of the upper part

the head. Skull elongate. Dorsal hump rounded. Pectoral fin

xe truncated. Catodontina

1: TODON. The atlas adii transverse, nearly twice as broad as

high; te pane canal subtrigonal, narrow below.

2 EURON. The atlas subcircular, rather broader than — the

central d circular, in the middle of the body, widened abov

II. € dede rounded in front. Blowers at the back of the forehead.

nall, inferior. Dorsal fin compressed, falcate. Pectoral elon-

ri rene Physeterina.

3. PuysETER. Head large, elongate, rather depressed in fron

4. Kocia. Head moderate, blunt and high in front. Skull iier and

broad. The septum that divides the crown of the skull very sinuous,

pies so as to form a funnel-shaped concavity.

5. EvPHYsETES. Head moderate, blunt and high in front. Skull short

and broad. The septum that divides the crown of the skull simple, lon-

gitudinal, only slightly curved.”

No animal has ever been seen in recent times in which the

alleged characters of frontal blow-hole and falciform dorsal

have been found associated with the structural characters

and size of Physeter, and as Dr. Gray himself remarks,

“there is not a bone, nor even a fragment of a bone, nor any

part that can be proved to have belonged to a specimen of

this gigantic animal, to be seen in any museum in Europe.

Commenting on this, Flower adds that “if the Linnean genus

Physeter is to be kept in abeyance until the discovery of

Sibbald’s Balena macrocephala tripinna [the only basis for

the so-called Physeter tursio], it is to be feared that it may

ultimately disappear altogether from zoological literature.’

Heartily concurring in this view, and coinciding with the

most judicious cetologists that the Sibbaldian animal was

simply distinguished on account of a misapprehension as to

its relations, je that it was, as Eschricht has observed,* an

old cachalot with worn teeth, the name Physeter is retained

for it as that proposed by the founder of zoological tax-

onomy. In this case the name Physeterine of course must

be connected with the same form. The factitious genus

as, from some misunderstanding, remarked that “ Eschricht nt rg to

believe Mid cM described a Killer or Orca gladiator, under the above

134 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

Physeter being eliminated, none but the small sperm-whales

are left in the Grayan tribe Physeterina, and they form a

natural group for which the name /fogiine has been above

proposed; while the apparently most essential characters

have been first attributed to it.

The genera Catodon and Meganeuron, distinguished, so far

as known, solely by differences in the osseous development

of the cervical vertebree, may better be conjoined provision-

ally under the single generic name Physeter.

The diagnoses of Kogia and Luphysetes do not appear to

be the expressions of actual differences.

7. The Species of Physeterins. The sperm whales, or

Cachalots, according to Flower, " unlike the right-whales, are

Fig. 1€5.*

Physeter.

essentially inhabitants of the tropical and warmer parts of

Fig. 195 the temperate seas, and pass freely from one hem-

isphere into another." They have been observed

in every sea, wandering northward in the Pacific

to the Straits of Bering ; in the Atlantic, straggling

northward, at least as far as the coasts of Britain

and the North Sea; aud in the southern hemi-

sphere, they have been found rounding the capes,

and passing from one ocean to the other. "Between the

North Atlantie and the Australian seas there is no barrier

interposed to animals of such great powers of locomotion."

*Fig. 165. Outline - the Cachalot, — from Beale’s “Natural History of the

See die 1839, p. 23; b, the situation of the case; c, the junk; d, the bunch of the

e hu ac i, the ridge; * the — Ri thé tail or eto s. Between the

pei eni line r blanket pieces; the

T Fig. 166. Head se seen from the front; the ed forming the s wea are intended to

represent the flat anterior part of the head.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 735

As may be supposed, animals from places so widely dis-

tant have furnished the bases for different specific names, and

after various fluctuations of opinion, in the last general com

pleted work on the cetaceans—that by Dr. Gray already

referred to—three authenticated and four doubtful species

of true Physeterine are admitted, exclusive of the nominal

Physeter tursio. The three considered established by him

are Catodon macrocephalus, Catodon australis, and Mega-

neuron Krefftii; the four "species wanting further confirma-

tion” are the Pacific sperm-whale (Catodon Colneti Gray),

the South African sperm-whale (Catodon macrocephalus A.

Smith), the Indian sperm-whale (Catodon macrocephalus

Blyth), and the South Sea sperm-whale (Physeter polycy-

phus Quoy and Gaimard). |

Professor Flower, after an elaborate comparison of skele-

tons of Physeter from the British waters and from the

Tasmanian seas (the home of P. australis), arrived at the

conclusion that the apparent differences of P. australis, com-

pared with P. macrocephalus, were the characters of imma-

turity or the result of error in the identification of parts, and

"putting aside these distinctive characters as valueless, there

is not one other presenting any approach to a specifie dis-

tinction pointed out throughout the whole memoir by Wall,"

and he himself has been unable to find any specific differ-

ences between the Northern Atlantic and Southern Pacific

forms; he, however, is careful to remark that he does not

"deny the possibility of their being specifically distinct," and

very appropriately adds that “similarity of osteological char-

acters does not prove unity of species." But until such can

be defined, specific names would only mislead.

As to the "species wanting farther confirmation," it is suf-

ficient that Dr. Gray ranks them in that category.

One other name only needs notice, the Meganeuron

Kreftii Gray, founded on cervical vertebre ; the atlas cer-

tainly differs considerably from those of the Physeter macro-

cephalus hitherto made known. Mr. Krefft, however, who

136 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

transmitted them to Dr. Gray, finally regarded the "mass of

vertebre as belonging to Catodon australis.” Until the ac-

quirement of further data, the relations of the form will be

doubtful.

8. The Species of Kogiins. Representatives of the sub-

family have been obtained at the Cape of Good Hope,

near Sidney (Australia), and from the coast of the Madras

Presidency, and respectively attributed to four species. To

the localities already distinguished, we may now add Lower

California, from which the lower jaw of a specimen, as well

as a figure and notice of the animal, have recently been for-

warded by Colonel Grayson. It would therefore appear

probable that the group is quite generally distributed in the

Fig. 107.

Kogia F'oweri, adapted from a colored figure by Col. Grayson.

Pacifie Ocean, and probably in the South Atlantic. The

four forms previously distinguished as species have been re-

ferred by Dr. Gray, as already indicated, to two genera,

Kogia and Euphysetes; the latter name having been re-

stricted to the form on which it was primitively based, while

the three others have been referred to Kogia. As above

remarked, the pertinence of the new diagnosis of Huphy-

setes to its type is not apparent, and is at variance with

the original description as well as figure of the species. Of

the species mentioned, the Indian form is by far the best

known, thanks to Sir Walter Elliot, the collector, and Pro-

fessor Owen, the describer; two Australian forms have been

specifically distinguished by Mr. Krefft, after an examination

of the skeletons of both; the species of the Cape of Good

Hope is only known from a skull, and the Californian species

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 737

only from the lower jaw and the accompanying figure ; but

those combined will be sufficient to readily distinguish the

last species from its congeners, although we must await with

impatience the collection of better material, and we may be

allowed to hope that this article may incite our Californian

friends to seek for and procure specimens.

Our present knowledge of the species of this sub-family

seems to indicate that there are two well-marked divisions,

one of which is represented by the species (Physeter brevi-

ceps Bl.), on which the genus Kogia was originally based by

Dr. Gray, and to which the Huphysetes Grayi Wall, the

Euphysetes Macleayt Krefft, and the Mazatlan individual also

belong; and the other division is represented by the Zuphy-

setes simus Owen. These are very decidedly distinguished

by the difference in the form of the lower jaw, and the form

as well as development of the teeth.

In all the typical Kogie, the lower jaw, for each ramus,

has a more or less truncated oar-shaped posterior margin,

and from its upper and lower angles, the respective margins

converge, describing nearly straight or little convex outlines,

to the alveolar area, the lower margin ascending upwards to

the symphysis, where the rami are parallel or nearly so, and

which there project downwards into a longitudinally convex

carina. There are from thirteen to fifteen teeth in each

ramus; they are very long, much curved, and acutely

pointed.

In Euphysetes simus “each ramus has a convex, almost

semicircular posterior margin, curving upward and back-

ward from below where the angle poroi exists in other

mammals, and then forward to the seat of the coronoid pro-

cess [etc.]. In the alveolar groove are partially excavated

sockets for nine teeth [etc.]; the teeth are small, straight,

conical, obtuse, not exceeding eight lines in length, of which

the cylindrical base has a diameter of two lines, that of the

crown a diameter of one and one-half lines, with a length of

two and one-half lines, diminishing to a sub-recurved apex”

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 93

738 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

(Owen, l. c., p. 41). A pair of teeth are also developed

near the front of the upper jaw. With these mandibular

and dental characters seem also to be coórdinated a less de-

veloped dorsal fin, comparatively longer temporal fosse,

the deep fissure limiting the front part of the supraorbital

ridge ; the more deflected jugals, and the more rounded lat-

eral ridges of the hinder portions of the maxillaries. As it

is certain that a generic name will sooner or later be de-

sired for the form so distinguished, it may be called on

account of the symmetrically rounded lower jaw Callig-

nathus. The known species are as follows:

1. KOGIA BnEVICEPS Gray ex Blainv. Habitat, Cape of Good Hope.

2. Koara GnaYr Gray ex Wall. Habitat, Australia, near Sydney.

3. KoarA MacLkavi Gray ex Krefft. Habitat, Australia, near Sydney.

. Koca FLowrnI Gill The form is robust; the dorsal very low,

** posterior to which is a sharp ridge as if belonging to the fin, extending

towards the tail;" the color black or blackish above, whitish or yellow-

ish-white below, and upwards and forwards, including the end of the

nout.

The lower jaw at its symphysis below is very compressed, has concave

zontal.

The teeth are very long and slender, very much curved outwards and

backwards, and acutely pointed; there are about fourteen or fifteen in

number on each side.

The animal on whose jaw and portrait the species has been based, was

obtained a short distance from Mazatlan, in 1868, and measured nine feet

in length; its blubber yielded seventy-five pounds of oil. No details as

to its mode of capture were sent by Colonel Grayson, but it was re

marked that “ it is said to be a strange fish in those waters."

B. CALLIGNATHUS sIMUS. Habitat, India, coast of Vigigapataw, Madras

Presidency. ;

9. On the Nomenclature of Kogia. A few words con-

cerning the nomenclature of the genus seem to be demanded.

Dr. J. E. Gray, perceiving certain discrepancies between

the figure and descriptive notice by Blainville of a skull

from the Cape of Good Hope, referred by the latter author

to the genus Physeter, and named JP. breviceps, conferred

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 139

upon it in 1846 the barbarous generic name Kogia, with the

following diagnosis :

“Head moderate, broad, triangular. Lower jaw wide be-

neath, slender, united by a short symphysis in front. Jaw-

bone * of the skull broad, triangular, as broad as long."

In 1854, Mr. W: S. Wall, t ina "History and Description

of the Skeleton of a New Sperm-whale [ ete. ] ", described in

addition a new pygmy species, to which he gave the name

FEuphysetes. Grayi, evidently inclining to the opinion that it

would prove to be congeneric with Kogia breviceps, but on

account of the inapplicability of Gray's generic diagnosis,

refusing to identify it with that form; he "regretted that a

barbarous and unmeaning name like Kogia should have been

admitted into the nomenclature of so classical a group as the

cetacea.”

The name Kogia has also been repudiated, and Huphysetes

adopted by Professor Owen, who has acknowledged the

generic identity of the species on which they were respec-

tively based ; in reference to it, that profound naturalist has

remarked that he has "that confidence in the common sense

and good judgment of [his] fellow countrymen and labourers

in philosophieal zoology which leads [him] to anticipate a

tacit burial and oblivion of the barbarous and undefined

generic names with which the fair edifice begun by Linneus

has been defaced." t

Dr. Gray, defending his name, has observed that "Mr.

MacLeay objects to the barbarous name of Kogia;” and the

learned doctor of philosophy, with charming naivete, adds :

"I have been asked, what does EHuphysetes mean? should it

* Lest this character might be inexplicable, it is proper to state the author meant the

ortion of the skull. .

t The work quoted has been lately attributed to Mr. W. S. MacLeay, but as Mr. Wall

has assumed the responsibility of authorship with the evident t of Mr. MacLeay

thera t 3 P

g accepting ez parte evidence in the case, or even

for inquiring into the relations of the parties with regard to the contribution of scien-

tific knowledge and literary skill; in this opinion, I simply concur with Professor

dera

er.

1 Owen, Mon. Brit. Foss. Cetacea Red Crag, No. 1, 1870, p. 27; (Ray Society).

740 THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

not have been written Huphycetes, with a c?" The sug-

gestion of Dr. Gray's questioner can scarcely fail to elicit a

smile at the ignorance displayed in the question, or perhaps

a laugh at the execrably complicated pun that may have

been intended, and which appealed to evidently unappre-

ciative ears. The name is a literal rendition of the Greek

(Ev, augmentative, and 45577, blower), and, as explained

by the framer, simply means “a good or easy blower."

Notwithstanding, however, the objections to the name

Kogia, we adopt it, as Professor Flower has also done, be-

cause of its priority, while we recognize the justness of the

criticisms upon it. But if we were to pursue the course

recommended in repudiation of it, hosts of generally ad-

mitted generic names would have to be superseded, among

which would be most of those of the author of the name in

question. Linné himself furnished a precedent for the adop-

tion of names other than those derived from the classical

languages, although Ae admitted such with cautiousness and

a due regard for sense and euphony. Analogous names,

proposed though they may be without like reserve, must in

the judgment of the great majority of systematists be re-

tained, lasting monuments to the discredit of their authors,

and an opprobrium to zoology.

EXPLANATION TO CUTS.

= Skull of pies wae simus, seen from wot =

100. se i &

171. TE isoctad.

172. Lower Jaw « Kogia Flowers; th the dotted lines indicate the approximate form of

the hinder portion of the ram

173. Skull of adult Physet er macresphatus seen from pod —

ME he [r1

SAI, Me i vai _Joneitmainaly “bisected, to show the relative

size and Te gage - th ial * P

occipital; so, supraóceipital ; etal?; s, squamosal; J;

PARAL: ph, palatino; J; Jugal: uh, etyichyold ; Uh DAMIJAN, th, ibyieliysia.

Nore. —An the figures of the ten illustrations of Cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) : vti

(Physeter sent a ceria in Trans, Zoo London, Vol. n, de 309-372, 1868, an ritiene

us simus, from Professor oni i memoir “On some Indian qom cle by

Walter Elliot, Esq.,” in Trans, Zool. Soc., London, Vol. vi, pp. 87-116, 1866. The lower jaw of

Kogia Floweri is from nature.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 741

Fig. 171.

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY.

742

Fig. 173.

Fig. 174.

SIE ESSE SSIES

T2722

Eas

ZEEE

THE SPERM WHALES, GIANT AND PYGMY. 743

REVIEWS.

—— 9Ó.——

EA EXPLORATIONS.—In the Report before us * are given the

preliminary proceedings and equipment, the narrative of the three cruises

performed during 1869, the general results so far as they relate to Physics

and Chemistry, and, in an appendix, a summary of the observations upon,

and analysis of, samples of sea water and deep sea bottom collected, dur-

ing the cruise. Passing over the first portion for the sake of brevity,

(though there is much, especially in the description of the equipment, to

interest all naturalists), we learn "m the Porcupine, with Mr. Jeffreys

and Mr. W. B. Carpenter on board, left Woolwich, May 18th, and after

coaling at Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, cruised, dredging at in-

throughout. Among the signe ‘were Nucula pumila, Verticordia

abyssicola, ** Fusus” n.sp. like ** F." Sabinii, Phakellia ventilabrum, Gon-

oplax rhomboides, Ebalia n.sp., Pd Hog Geryon tridens and many small

crustaceans. The next dredgings were taken in a line eleven degrees of

longitude due west from Galway, and reached a depth of 1230 fathoms.

All the mollusca except Aporrhais Serresianus were northern (the temper-

ature of the bottom being 37° 8/ Fahr.) ; several new species and two new

Mighels (which has two conspicuous eyes), a species of Ampelisca, an

eyed crustacean, and numerous gigantic foraminifera. A third trip, from

Killebegs to the Rockall Bank was then made, and dredgings as deep às

1476 fathoms succeeded in obtaining an abundance of life. Among the

species were an imperforate brachiopod with a septum in the lower

valve, which Mr. Jeffreys calls | Atretia gnomon, Kelliella EE ola Sars,

Cumacea n.sp., several sm new crustaceans; Pourtalesia, probably

P. miranda, A. Ag. and many fine foraminifera, in cluding an pes ites of

eached fi

able ground for belief that, if life existed at that depth, it could have no

bathymetrical limits. In Lat. 47° 38/ north, and Lon. 12° 08’ W. Gr. a

depth of 2435 fathoms was obtained, and a dredge weighing 225 lbs. was

‘sent down with a heavy weight attached to the line five hundred

fathoms from the dredge, in order to make it bite the bottom. This ap-

paratus, attached to 3000 fathoms of line, was ten minutes in running out.

* De. iki lee tion of the Deep Sea in H. M. Surveying Ves-

sel Poreupine, dies ee a of 1869. Conducted by Dr. W. B, Carpenter, pis P.R.S., J.

Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., and Prof. Wyville Thompson, LL. D., F.R.S. (Proc. R. Soc. No. 121.)

(744)

REVIEWS. 145

When hauled in, the dredge contained 150 lbs. of pale gray ooze, contain-

alumina, carbonate of magnesium, and oxide of iron. The animals

brought up were, among others, Dentalium n.sp. (large), Pecten fenestra-

tus, Dacridium vitreum, Scrobicularia nitida, Neæra meer Anonyx Hólbol-

lii Kroyer, Ampelisca equicornis Bruzel., Munna n.sp., several annelids;

Ophiocten Kroyeri Lütken, Echinocucumis alte, Sars; a stalked cri inold

allied to Rhizocrinus; Salicornaria, n.sp., two fragments of a hydroid

Z "V "a numerous foraminifera, ép a a ved rhizopod

e eyes in species of all classes were well developed, showing that in

these aii light of some kind must exist. The temperature at the

bottom in this case was 36° 5! Fahr. npud 65° 6! Fahr. at the surface.

he third cruise in charge of Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Prof. Wyville

Thompson and Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter, was devoted to the exploration

o exist

a ich h rey

between the north of Scotland, the Hebrides, and the Fare Islands.

Space will not admit of even a condensed exhibit of the valuable results

— on ost cruise

he rst and valuable of the results of these dredgings, due

to the se Wiese) of the British Government, may be succinctly stated

‘as follows.

1. It has been practically proved that there is no limit to the existence

of animal life as far as depth is concerned, and that the difference in the

Specific gravity of the water at = cea and at 2500 fathoms is less

Ps that between salt and fresh w.

2. That there is a constant slbi between the carbonic acid gas

from the bottom and the oxygen at the surface, by which the animals at

ion.

3. An abundant supply of dilute protoplasm in the water serves

food for the protozoic inhabitants of the deep sea, upon which latter Pd

higher animals subsist.

lacial sees climate € exist over any area, without refer-

ence to the terr, climate of that area.

5. Cold deris warm areas may sue in close juxtaposition, at great

racters.

in composition from the chalk rock ee a of England, and no evi-

dence whatever has accumulated to sustain the hypothesis of Dr. Carpen-

ter that the Cretaceous period is at pist aie in the Atlantic

a bed; indeed, that “ae in a late letter in ** Nature” has prac

Gane abandoned this

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 94

146 REVIEWS.

7. Temperature is the great agent which determines the distribution of

submarine animals; a view previously maintained by many eminent nat-

uralists and now permanently established by these, and other dredgings

in the assa and by the researches of American naturalists in the

North Pac

tis to “a DEREI that the views of Mr. Jeffreys in regard to the spe-

cific and generic limits of animals, differ so widely from those of the

majority of modern naturalists. In the present report he unites animals

belonging to different genera under the same specific name; e. g., hei-

mia septigera and cae septata, and those who have had occasion to

critically examine his British Conchology, find in it many similar cases.

Such determinations, nga course, will tend to invalidate any conclusions

which niay be drawn from his report, and will undoubtedly throw à

certain amount of efi upon the whole subject. — W. H. D.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF WATER BrRDs.* — Although from the title of

this paper one vie reasonably expect to find the classification of the

c only so-called water birds in general treated of, the writer re-

proper, as distinguished from aquatic, or even natatorial Gralle.” The

series of special papers on pag of the principal groups of the swim-

birds which Dr. Coues has published during the last few years Tf

scientific student will find himself warranted in the natural anticipation

of finding the sod in question full of important and, in general, well

considered d

r. Coues me out with the assumption that it is demonstrable that

the Natatores ** are one of three primary divisions of birds, at least of car-

inate birds," which he regards, practically, at least, as subclasses. To

uding to the fact that a singular unanimity has prevailed in

regard to the definition of the group of Natatores, and that in the main

similar subdivisions have been recognized, though by different authors

ward iri and their rank differently estimated, he proc ceeds

efly nsideration of four of the leading modern systems of or-

pde mss te These are, to quote his own words, ** (1) a

*On the Classification of Water Birds. By Elliott rape A. M., M. D., Ph. D., ete. Proc.

Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1869, Vol. 1, pp. 193-218. Decemb

t (1.) Synopsis of the North American forms of Dui Uni aa Podicipide. Proc. Phil. Acad.

Nat. Sci., 1862, pp. 226-233, April, 1862. (2.) Revision of the Gulls of North jones Er

; p 1

of Colymbus torquatus; with notes on its Myology, Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., I, pp. 131-172,

Apes, me. "a A Wenn of t the Aleida. Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sel., pem pp

sense

REVIEWS. 741

dichotomous — in two ‘ parallel series,’ based upon one physi-

ological character, — Bonaparte; (2) a trichotomous, founded — very

general considerations, eii and after him Lilljeborg; (3) quinary,

a modification se the second, by dividing two of the three rt into

tion of birds as modified reptiles — and carried out with ai novos

to one anatomical character, afforded by certain cranial bones, — Huzle

Each of these systems is reviewed at some length, their pini fotiziéé

succinctly presented, and many of their deflciencies pointed out.

In his remarks upon the Bonapartean system, Dr. Coues dE to di

comparison of the two groups of birds termed Altrices and Precoces to

are important, constant structural differences, whereas in the other no

such differences exist. ** If helplessness at birth compared with precoc-

s Dr

in the scale, then either the reverse is the case w with mammals, or else we

must compare altricial Zncessores with Marsupials, and proecocial Natatores

with the higher orders: a dilemma either horn of which is —

wur divisions of the latter. Hence, doubtless, as Dr. Coues par-

tially suggests, birds, in regard to the eee of the young at birth,

should be ` i

compare i the Placentali he preecocial birds

would then be comparable with the sae a ‘Waele s, (as rbi-

vores,) and the altricial iem with the altricial or higher Placentals. T

vast difference in the modes of generation between birds m ls,

subclasses of mammals. It is nevertheless Mes that in the two great

groups of birds first recognized by Oken — he Altrices and Precoces —

but afterwards so thoroughly elaborated by edictis that the syste

as all will Mb appropriately bears his name, there is something a

forcibly recalls the t wo subclasses of mammals. This division, in the

present iras dn peg separates birds into two highly nat-

ural, primary series, with, to a great extent, parallel or representative

groups in each, ai o distinct that no removal of any of the groups

of the one series to e other can be made without bringing illy-asso-

148 REVIEWS.

ciated groups into juxtaposition, although no constant structural differ-

ence has yet been discovered by which to separate them

The partially natural basis on Md the system of Nitzsch is ie is

clearly recognized by Dr. Coues, although the dat ejiis which it was

founded have thus far been but very imperfectly pres

n regard to the quinary system of Vigors, mons d wrong

in its assumptions, especially as developed by some of Vigors's followers,

Dr. Coues justly finds (as the present writer has been long of the opinion

there existed) many facts that to a certain extent favor this arrangement

in regard to many of its details. The remarkable vitality of the system, and

its strong hold upon public opinion, as Dr. dut ues diete is evidence

that it has some foundation in nature f which it was able

for a long period to hold its ventana aan the numerous technical ob-

onward when the idea of a ** lineal" classification was abandoned; and it

was doubtless the advantages of the ‘‘circulatory " system of grouping,

and the recognition of similar modifications of the members of diverse

groups that gave to the Vigorean system some of its recognized advan-

tages. Dr. Coues, however, goes further: **A system," he says, ‘‘ that

disposes objects in — planes is a great advantage over a lin-

eal arrangement, but it stops half-way to the goal. The third dimension

is needed; to me - breadth must be added thickness; the circle

must vijei & sphere: . ... . We cannot predicate affinity or anal-

ogy o o the ia or left, ie She top or bottom,— but must take it

that id lai near or remote, may approach, touch, or fuse with each

other, along the axis of either of the three possible diameters” (p. 197).

The idea h

tion (though not necessarily implying generic relationship) —is one that

has doubtless impressed the majority of naturalists, and which has given

rise, in the various efforts made for its expression, to I numerous and

s The met

physical form in which Dr. Coues expresses this idea aia to it, doubt-

less, to many minds, a somewhat objectionable charac

In reviewing Professor Huxley’s classification, Dr. Coues terms it ‘‘ an

attempt ” — as a slight examination of it is sufficient to show — ** to clas-

certain character, the value of which was not only unknown, but also

unsuspected before; and has shown how perfectly it marks groups of à

REVIEWS. 749

certain grade. Second, he has demonstrated once more — and it is to

be hoped for the last time — the futility of attempting to found such fun-

damental divisions [‘ orders,” etc.] upon any one single character. . . .

As the sole basis for a system of ornithological classification, the scheme

will probably remain in critical abeyance only until the time when its

whip waren shall have been forgotten, and its unsoundness alone remem-

Profe essor Lilljeborg’s system is justly referred to as “ the most ‘ catho-

m en

ract

based systems of classifications. Phipps igs not only meets, in

general, the approval of Dr. Coues, as of numerous other ornithologists,

but it is essentially followed by tis in his asain n of the Natatores,

although he adopts an opposite order of UES. of the several

groups. His scheme is hence almost the same as that of the ‘‘ Arrange-

ment of Families of Birds " published in 1866 by the Smithsonian Insti-

tution, * which was only a slight modification of Professor Lilljeborg's

system. Dr. Coues regards the division of the Natatores by Lilljeborg

into two groups — Simplicirostres and Lamellirostres — intermediate in

rank between the subclass and the orders, as not only a superfluous in-

tercalation, but as an unnatural division, from the inequivalency of the

two groups; this eyt 48 constituting the chief difference between

the systems of Coues and Lill

In discussing the relations e the Nolslores to the Grallatores, the char-

acter and affinities of two ** ambiguous forms" are incidentally adverted

to. These are the Phenicopteride and the Haliornithide, the latter of

which is Beitr as fulicarious in its affinities, and the former as belong,

ing to the grallatorial Cursores. Notwithstanding the heron-like form of

the Flamingoes, almost their whole structure is so well known to be an-

serine — with which their preecocial habits accord — that it is a matter of

surprise that Dr. Coues should follow Lilljeborg and others in referring

them to the Cursores; almost their sole point of divergence from the

Anatide consisting in their elongated grallatorial form, they being in fact

merely long-legged ducks.

Dr. Coues's classification of the Natatores may be tabulated as follows :

ie aca ho tan Afterall m ibutii Vol. viii, p. 8, June, 1866,

Contributions, yO

150 REVIEWS.

B a FAMILIES. SUBFAMILIES.

a 6

E ( SPHENISCID (Penguins.) >

a Alcine (Auk 3

o Uriinc (Guillemots.) I

k P (Greb s dilymbine (Grebes.) 2

* ODICIPIDZE es odilymbine (Grebes.

^ : | icipine (Grebes.) | a

2 z

= Z

7 | PROCELLARIIDÆ. Diomedeine (Albatrosses. ) :

A $ Proc Rreoniirinn athe etrels.) >

2 Halo :

[e] s

Z Lestridine (Jaégers.) a

O | LARIDX. Larine (Gulls.) ^

H Sternine (Terns.) M

3 Rhynchopine (Skimmers.) :

PE a SULIDJE (Gannets.) b>

E ee Exiacaxma (beloeana 8.) 5

eio ALACROC iu (Cormorants.) "ü

Biz E DJE (Dart a

< | TACHYPETID/E (Fr igate Birds.) =

S | Puarrnonrips (Tropic Birds.) 4

E "d

n E]

OQ ANATIDJE. nserine (Geese.) a

= dnating Q iver Ducks.) a

d Fuligulin 2

H S uri iai (Sea Ducks.) à

3 à Mergine eniin: ) z

While the above system, as already stated, differs in no very essential

many facts not previously brought together. Great value is also given to

the paper by the comprehensive and well elaborated diagnoses of the

groups which it contains.

As indicated in the foregoing remarks, we are not prepared to accept

Dr. Coues's classification in full, notwithstanding the evident thorough-

REVIEWS. 151

ness with which he has gone over the ground. To state the reasons which

devoted to the subject here. We may add, however, that the separation

of birds into Altrices and Precoces, though based chiefly upon di HK

distin — is a classification that appears to separate the bi da in

two natural, primary groups, —2a division wholly ignored however ia

Li Mesi and rejected by Dr. Coues. In regard to the boss which

lies at the foundation of ek division, the latter author himself admits

that **as Mediae testimony in the formation of orders and location of

probably be decided by reference to it." As he says further, ** It draws

sharp, if here and there a broken [?], line between Galline sns apice

It separates, with opem herons and their allies from oth ralle.

It goes some way in distinguishing lamellirostral from other paeng,

and other inc of its application mig e cited." The exception

doubtless referred to in the italicized portion of the above extract occurs

in the Pygopodes, which is an (artificial 2 mete of altricial and præ-

cocial types. On this basis the **ord gopodes would be divided,

the altricial Alcide and Peste Ae associated with the Altrices as

he est members of that series, and the Colymbide and Podicipide

the Steganopodes and the altricial Pygopodes. 'The Lamellirostres would

head the proecocial or lower series, followed = the Colymbide and Podi-

cipide

Finally, a word in regard to one or two other systems. Birds, more

other class of po uui being fitted to live more or less ex-

cus cal in either the air, the water, or on the land, the duties of repro-

duction alone ae ni ‘eae indispensable to some of them, different

odes and degrees of locomotion, with corresponding differentiations of

the locomotive organs, are required to adapt them to their several modes

of life. But facts go to prove that such modifications have not neces-

verse of all this, till gradually the wings become functionally abortive,

and the sternum a smooth buckler. An exclusively walking or swimming

bird (a non-flying bird), with a largely developed sternal crest would be '

an anomaly in nature; and a flying bird, especially one preéminently

strong of wing, without a highly produced sternal crest, would be appar-

ently an impossibility. Hence the propriety of founding subclasses prin-

cipally upon the presence or absence of such a sternal character — as it is

well known has been done — seems at least highly questionable. Again,

152 REVIEWS.

webbed feet, which usually accompany a swimming or aquatic mode of

ave been erroneously accorded a similar importance in classification.

Yet the altricial ase the Laride especially, and preéminently the

ridine, have the most positive affinities with the Raptores, of which

features may be i

of groups next above families, modifications of the locomotive organs

can hardly be considered as a proper basis for subclass or even ordinal

divisions.—

THORELL’S elidel SPrpERs.* — The character and extent of this

work, which is invaluable to students of spiders even in this country,

can not be better stated than in the words of the author (pages 18 and

19):

“I have first made up a systematical € or review of the vested rni subfamilies

-— genera es fies ico spiders 5 recognized y me. Each generic name is accompanied by the

etym ological, ‘derivation, its synonyms and the name of the pun that typifies the genus; and

J y Ihav thought appropriate. m

description of the form and armature of the ‘tarsal and alpal ci aws, which organs have not

e head of each family I have in-

troduced a — neu Bh of the characteristics of the subfamilies and genera x —— rises.

"m PADS

tion of ea eyes and the form of the organs of the mouth, partly because such distinctive fea-

Wt easily verified, Party: becanae they are most spree di (often too exclusively) used.

But ye also endeavored to nis

use of the different forms and numbers of the spinners, of diferen ces » the — — a

mber

claws on the tarsi, ete. agire only

to one ser id leaving the other undetermined, I have not adopt ted, but consider that they ought to

unreservedly rejected. I ought to call especial attention to the circumstance, that exotic

forms have not been taken into consideration in the formation of these schematic reviews,

which accordingly asa

ass) z

una. The characteristics of et sub-orders, as they cannot be expressed in a few words, and

indeed may be considered as generally known, I have not thought it darc to repeat, but

— » or tem to e. g- Latrellle's, "Sundevall’s, Westring’s and Ohlert’s wor

with which I have — ps treatise, I hav

included all the works known to me on now existing European spiders, of a descriptive, $ ae

atical and zoo-ge al character, with the exception of such idit as belong to the

prz-Linnean period, of which only a small number of works, referred to in the following

itted.”

The catalogue contains the nep of Das "i hundred works, ar-

ranged Aga sai tically, according to hor

A a discussion of the vic et 2 hse nomenclature and à

adii of those which he has followed, the author proceeds to review

land," sat. Ba ugene Simon's * Histoire Naturelle des Araignees," and to

compare the spider fauna of Scandinavia with that of Great Britain and

Ireland.

In regard to the classification of the spiders, he says:

pee Nee Nae ce MEUM EE

* On European Spiders. By T. Thorell, Partl. Upsala, 1869-70. 4to. pp. 242.

REVIEWS.

* Whether we endea

from ud group bends is looked upon a as the — perfect down

YY het}

753

avor to arra 2

genera of spiders in a continuous series,

to the lowest, or vice-versa, or

principle, we are soon met by the same dif-

ficulties, ican 1 present shemecty, es, w "henever we endeavor to arrange in sucl

el LAST A

fi h 3 ith f H EH

E Xe reasons for the or em " of arrangement we

we hope, easily be seen if one casts one's eye $ ri

à en h wil

e accompanying diagram, whic

view of oe SOSE founded « on ra agit, w Pied the families of the spiders piae by

Fig. 177.

gi hrynoidz.

Opiliones.

I. Orbitelarix IV. Territelariz.

1. Epeiroide. 12. Theraphosoida,

ir, Retitelariz. 13. Liphistioidx.

2. Theridioidx, 14, Catadys soidz.

3, Scytodoidze v. Laterigrad:e

4, Enyoida 15. Thomisoidz.

LI. Tubitelariz. vi. Citigradz.

5. Urocteoi 16. Lycosoidze

6. Omanoide. _ lr. Oxyopoid2

7. Hersilionide. VII. Saltigradz.

8. Agalenoidz 18. Myrmecionidz,

Drassoidz. 19. ane ome

10. Dysderoidæ, 2 Dinopoi

ll, Filostatoidze. Ere solde

2 Atto

In a note, the author expresses his belief with Darwin, that ** propin-

quity of descent is the hidden connection which our classifications at-

work closes with a list of the genera of fossil spiders found in

Europe, compared with living genera è

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV.

154 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

GEOGRAPHY AND ÁRCH/EOLOGY OF Peru.* — While in England recently,

Mr. Squier was induced by his friends to reprint in pamphlet form the

paper which he read before the American Geographical Society in Feb-

ruary last. We gave an abstract of that portion of the lecture which re-

lated to the Archeology of Peru in the NATURALIST for September; but

did not allude in our former notice, and will well repay reading by all in-

terested in this great centre of a prehistoric nation.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ZOOLOGY.

edem i AND ANCESTRY OF THE KING Crass. — In a communica-

tion to the Boston Society of Natural History, Oct. 17, 1870, Dr. A. 8.

Pa Pub p stated that a study of the embryology of Limulus, as well

as its anatomy, led him to consider, as eed authors had done, from

Savigny and Van der Hoeven down to the present time, the anterior di-

vision of the body as a cephalothorax, the posterior division being the

abdomen. Latreille, Milne-Edwards, and more recently Mr. Henry Wood-

ward, ¢ the distinguished paleontologist, have regarded the anterior divi-

pet previous to moulting a ko in the egg, the abdomen was

: i á

of six segments) are wen and sie only the eyes, simple and compound,

but all the ambulatory appendages, which surround the mouth and are

true maxillipeds, no antenne or thoracic appendages being developed.

This region contains the stomach and a considerable portion of the intes-

tine, and the liver, which opens into the intestine near the middle of the

cephalothorax, sending but a single pair of biliary tubes into the abdo-

terior half of the dorsal vessel, with two pairs of arteries

and two pairs of valvular openings, is situated in the cephalothorax.

the Geography and Archmology of Peru. By E. G. Squier, M.A., F.S.A.

ete. verlosen xum Trubner & Co., 1870. (Price 25 cents. Address Naturalists,

Agency.)

f On some Points in the Structure of the Xiphosura. Quarterly Journal of the Geological

Society of London for Feb. 1867,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 155

Lastly, the genital openings in both sexes are situated on the flrst pair of

abdominal lamellate Fle the testes and ovaries lying wholly in

the cephalothorax; the ovaries, when distended with eggs, filling up the

front of the sins dena racic shield

The abdomen consists of nine sessio, the long spine-like telson

forming the ninth, as seen plainly in the embryo. e abdominal cavity

is small, the abdomen being very thin, and mainly filled with the muscles

attached to the lamellate feet.

There are, then, in Limulus, no thoracic feet, comparable with those

of the Decapods and the Tetradecapods, and the thoracic region (as

much of it as exists), is merged with the head, in fact never becoming

pee m from the head proper. Thus we have in Limulus a crusta-

TAX rum potential, viewed externally, with no M or segments

to indicate its existence) and a nine-jointed abd

This disposition of the body-segments is vrac iil by the zoéa, or

young, of the Decapods. In the freshly hatched zoéa the body is divided

into two regions; the cephalothorax, with no trace at first of thoracic

nts, Oo

deciduous maxillipeds), the thorax not being yet omg and a

five-to-seven-jointed Aia The size of the cephalothorax, com-

pared with the abdomen, —— greatly in the different forms at Zoés

hinder portion of the cephalothorax, thus proving our statement that the

cephalothorax of Limulus, and consequently the so-called **head" of

Eurypterus and Piéryites, nidore, a head with a potential thorax,

the latter never becoming differentiated in subsequent moults.

In the Trilobites, however, according to the late discovery of Mr. Bill-

ings, the thoracic segments bearing jointed feet are developed; though,

as shown by Barrande, the larval trilobite is hatched either without any, or

but a single, thoracic segment. Limulus, Eurypterus, Pterygotus,

e ite

D on the ancestry of the members of the subclass * of Bran-

chiopoda, he would trace them all to a common Nauplius form, as Haec-

kel, p Müller, and Dohrn had done. This Nauplius form may have

exi n the Laurentian Period, as we already find highly organized

eiia. Phyllopods, and Ostracodes in the lowest Silurian strata. He

d vs his communication to the American Association he has spoken of the pig

opoda itis he regarded tl the Peeciloptera z as a suborder, he thought the te

da, etc., they were aus

more general, groups than me orders of Vertebrates first limited by Linnæus, whose idea of

H f uniformity, gum as the term family should be applied

In the sense in which Latreille used it.

156 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

suggested that the modern Phyllopods, such as Apus and E

cent

certain Silurian Copepoda and Os da e accounted ori

of these forms rather by a process of acceleration and retardation

of development as suggested by Messr Cope* an att,ł involv-

intermediate generic forms as we do not find i or fossil. He also

thought that the study of the facts of Dimor phism and Parthenogenesis,

and the mode of production of the more remarkable sexual differences

among animals, would throw light on a comprehensive theory of evo-

lution.

NCESTRY OF INSECTS. — Referring to his discovery of Pauropus

in this country, and mentioning the six-legged form of the young, and its

resemblance to Podura, and comparing it with the Hexapodous young

of Julus and the young of certain mites, Dr. Packard, at the same meet-

ing, referred the ancestry of the Myriapods, Arachnids, and Hexapodous

Nauplius fo ong Crustacea, inasmuch as the body is not

differentiated into a head, thorax or abdomen, and there are three pairs

of temporary appen e Nauplius, which was first supposed

dage Lik

to be an adult Etioniltricsii: the larval form of Trombidium, had been

described as a genus of mites under the name of Leptus (also Ocypete

and Astoma) and was supposed to be adult.

For this primitive, ancestral form he proposed the term Leptus. He

suggested that the ancient Leptus may have descended through Demodex

from some Tardigrades, and that this latter group had perhaps descended

parallel line of descent through some Leptiform Silurian insect resem-

bling the young of Stylops, Meloe, and low neuropterous or orthopterous

larve, and the Thysanura, such as Podura and Lipura. He did not regard

the insects as having been evolved either from a zoéa o r Nauplius form,

but would refer the ancestry of both classes e Insects and Crustacea),

testem of each other, to the worms (Annulata

MONTEREY IN THE DRY SEASON. — On ders to the coast from the

Colorado AES in May, 1861, my health impaired by the tropical heat of

he last two months at Fort Mojave, and by the too sudden change to the

emi climate of the coast, I was glad of the opportunity of recruiting it

by some weeks devoted to collecting marine animals, etc., at Monterey.

* Origin of Genera. ee 1868,

` f Parallelism betw e order and individual ie the i Fotarto Cephalopods. Me-

of the Boston Fel of Natural History. and AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. 4,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 757

Leaving, therefore, my military companions at San Diego, I travelled

o San Francisco by land, picking up about forty species of Mollusca at

points along the southern coas

My preparations for dredging, determining my collections, and describ-

w bra

26th, ponens and SOR E eae shore chiefly Mollusca, but not

lecting other animals. The additional species collected were thirty- jak

of de. one gare 2d. seventy-five Mollusca (thirty new spe-

glaucus Cope), it was impossible to obtain measurements and

of them as they were always cut up while floating, pes the mutilated

carcasses when washed ashore were deprived of ‘flukes " and other essen-

tial parts, besides smelling so strong that the odor for gm was almost

unbearable.

The land mammalia were chiefly very distinct from those of Fort

Mojave, as is naturally to be expected in comparing a well-wooded, fertile

region with an almost barren desert. The rizzly Bear was quite com-

quadrupeds, well known as Californian, are doubtless to be obtained by

peas and more thorough search than I could make. I got two small

s, the representatives of species to be found at Fort Mojave, viz:

the poca Wood-rat (Neotoma fuscipes), and Wood-mouse (Hespero

mys gp also one of a genus not found there, ‘cap ead

Field-m ola edax

The sad ASSA land birds were the Vulture (Cathartes Califor-

nianus), the Pigmy Nuthatch (Sitta pigmea), western variety of the Yel-

e i tris

Humming-bird (Althis Anna), Heermann's Song Sparr w (M. Heermanni),

Californian and Brown Finches (Pipilo megalonyx a fuscus), while a

few seen there only in winter or spring were here breeding, viz: the

Black Pewee (Sayornis nigricans) Dwarf ida (Turdus nanus), West-

158 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ern Bluebird (Sialia Mexicana), Barn and Cliff Swallows (Hirundo horreo-

rum and lunifrons), Bewick’s Wren (Thriothorus Bewickii), Parkmann’s

Wren (Troglodytes Parkmanni), Oregon Snow-bird (Junco Oregonus),

Chippy (Spizella socialis), while a longer residence would no doubt

largely increase all these lists. I must however remark that all these, ex-

cept the second, fifth, and twenty-first, are also summer residents as far

south as San Diego, and the three exceptions are probably so in the high

mountains east of there. This shows the remarkable uniformity of the

fauna, corresponding to that of climate, in zones running parallel to this

coast for distances of over five hundred miles.

Of water-birds I observed a few of interest. The whale fishery

attracted several species usually seen only far off shore, of which the

enormous Petrel or **Gong" bres dt i gigantea), could often be seen

swimming lazily near the try-works to pick up scraps of blubber, some-

times accompanied by the dusky yo Mn of the Short-tailed Matra

(Diomedea brachyura) The Pacific Fulmars (F. pacificus), called by the

Tager

rocks along shore. On the 12th, saw small Grebes le Praes icus),

probably lately come from their breeding station; and by t 8th, families

of about five each, became common. Ont sth, I first iria the large

Grebe (P. donema but as I left next day i saw no more of the arrival

of winter visitors. I need not here particularize the common Sandpipers,

have — to say about them when describing my winter collections made

at San D

ats are not common at Monterey, on account of the coolness of

the summer climate, fogs obscuring the sun for at least half the summer.

I found but two species, the large Ridge-back Lizard oie multi-

carinatus), and a Plestiodon, both common in woods from here northward.

Batrachia however are well suited by the damp climate, as besides Frogs

(Rana sp. and Hyla regilla), and Toads (Bufo halophila?), I found a Sal-

amander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) even at this extreme of the dry season,

not uncommon

I will not ípébtty the thirty species of fishes obtained, as most of them

have no peculiar English names and the list would be of little interest to

general readers. — J. G. COOPER.

THE Rovan D PELICAN ON Lake Huron. — On the evening of the

15th of June, ioi a most remarkable specimen of the rough-billed peli-

ecanus orhynchus Gmelin) was shot by Captain Oliver Mai-

in the marsh at Sarnia, Lambton County, Ontario (Canada).

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. _ 159

This bird is very rare on the great lakes, e the individual in question,

which was of the male sex, was of unusually large size. It weighed

thirty-three pounds, and the expanded in measured in full one hun-

dred and eight inches! The bill from the eye was sixteen inches in

length, being of a dirty yellow or yellowish brown. The plumage was

almost pure white, with the exception of the alula; primary coverts, and

at I have seen no mention of in the description of this species, that

over each eye was a group of small feathers of a brownish black color,

this species is Kait d as having at the season of reproduction.

In Baird, —— and Lawrence's ** Birds of North America," this peli-

can is mentioned as breeding ‘‘in the fur countries, generally selecting

TAREA places in the neighborhood of water falls;" and as be

[o gh

and Middle States ;" and as also inhabiting **throughout the Rocky Moun-

tains and California." The same work gives the stretch of wings as

seventy inches, and length of bil 13.50, while much smaller specimens are

recorded. Mr. James Hobson, who mounted our specimen, and who is of

much experience in this direction, having received several of this species

from Florida and elsewhere, says he never before saw so large a pelican;

dence of over twenty years in the region of the great lakes, I had not

previously met with the pelican, nor had I heard of more than three in-

stances of its having been captured within their limits.

The marsh at Sarnia is an inlet or overflow of the river St. Clair, near

its head, and about one mile from the south shore of Lake Huron. The

from the northward, from the direction of the lake. Onthe morning of

the 14th it flew back to Lake Huron, but returned in the evening of the

same day, remaining till shot on the following evening, as before stated.

It was very active, wandering over the marsh all day, swimming about, or

only rising for a short flight, and alighting again in the water.

to say there were no fish found in its pouch; only a few small worms and

insects. — HENRY GILLMAN, Detroit, Michigan.

p or Hawks. — Do hawks migrate in pairs only, or do they

te in flocks and separate into pairs as they arrive at their breeding

ion In 1856 my attention wae called = genta a number of hawks

that were diving, higt

in the air (as they commonly do in the spring when pairing) and passing to

the north-east. Not making any note of the occurrence I cannot give the

exact number or date. It was early in the spring, and there must have

760 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

been twenty or more. Early in April, 1860, I — a similar migra-

tion when the number in sight at one time was about fifty. A friend of

mine in an adjoining MN who is a very careful ap accurate observer,

asked me a short time since if I ever saw a flock of hawks? He said

that early this spring seam about the last of a or the first of April

when passing over his farm with his two sons, his attention was attracted

by the screaming of hawks, and on looking up the air seemed to be filled

with them. ey attempted to count them. but found it somewhat diffi-

cult to be perfectly accurate, as the birds were constantly in motion,

diving and screaming and passing northward, yet they counted seventy-

three in sight at one time. In both of the flights which I witnessed, and

also in that seen by Mr. S. and his sons, the hawks were not in flocks ac-

cording to the common acceptation of the word flock, but were in pairs,

or groups of about four usually, all passing in the same direction, north-

ward. Having never read in our works on natural history, of suc

Nes ami passing at one time, I give these facts, hoping to call the atten-

tion of our ornithologists to them, and draw out from them any observa-

tions which they have made on the subject. — WM. Woop, M.D., East

Windsor Hill, Connecticut.

ScuppEr’s Work ON New ENGLAND BUTTERFLIES. — Illness in my

family has thus far prevented my completing the work on New England

Butterflies announced some time since in these columns. "This delay has,

print enabled me to extend the original plan of the book much more

fully n was anticipated.

I gnat take this opportunity of thanking my many friends and corres-

‘pondents for the"c ordiality with which they have seconded my under-

se ea When it is known that such memoranda have already been

arum from ninety different persons, covering a period of observation

of from one to ten years, and, in the case of some butterflies, including

as many as one hundred and fifty or two hundred notes for a single spe-

cies, it is not too much to say that we shall arrive at a degree of exacti-

tude upon the history, seasons, and riche darioa z our but-

terflies, which we have not hitherto enjo

the hope of gaining still tigan nale on these points, I should

be pleased to receive notes made by any observers during the season of

1870; descriptions of habits, d of flight and of posture would be

of incorporating in a work on the butterflies of New England and vicinity

many forms not mentioned in previous lists of New England species, I

beg all persons interested to send me the fullest possible notes, as well

as examples of the early stages of the following species (most of these

- have — or never been known to occur in oie England; where the

re italicized, specimens of the imago are desired for examina-

tion): irns Marcellus, Pieris Virginiensis, P. anii Callidryas Eubule,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. : 161

Colias Labradorensis, C. Keewaydin, C. Eurytheme, Terias Lisa, Xanthid-

ium Nicippe, Anthocaris Genutia, Nymphidium dorsale, Lycæna violacea,

L. Pembina, L. ee Thecla Ontario, T. Clothilde, Euptoieta Claudia,

Melitea Batesti, Apatura Clyton, Grapta Dryas, G. Fa bricii, G. interroga-

tionis, Libythe a Bachmanii, Saty yres areolatus, yor teary Jutta, Nisonia-

des Lucilius, N. Horatius, N. Virgilius, N. Mart , N. Icelus, Hudamus

Bathyllus A epar E. ga Be Hesperia oles H. Wingi H. via-

lis, H. Monoco, H. Hianna, H. Mesapano, H. Delaware, H. Phylæus, H.

Wyandot, aen uA Hur

Persons possessing secu their collections and memoranda any precise

data, however meagre, for determining the respective times of appear-

ance of the different buch: of Grapta and Nisoniades, as recently dis-

p n will be given in every instance.

ters, memoranda and specimens, sent to my address at the Society

of zen History, Ber apo pedes Boston, ie March 4th, 1871, will =

forwarded thence to me in season for incorporation in my book.

manuscript n soon be kao It will form an imperial oe ie

m four to five hundred pages, and be illustrated by chromolitho-

graphic ies in a style which, judging from specimens prepared, has

never yet been equalled, even in Europe.-— SAMUEL H DE:

CALLIDRYaS Evusute Linn.— This large Pierian butterfly was taken by

me at New Bedford, Mass., Aug., 31st. Mr. Sanborn, who has seen the

specimen, speaks of it as the first one of the kind observed in New Eng-

land, or at least in Massachusetts. H. W. PARKER.

. S. I. Smith informs us that he has taken this insect abundantly at

Fire Island, Long Island, N. Y., during the past summer.] — Ep

MEPHITIS BICOLOR. — Since my note in the August N: ATURALIST Was

written, on the occurrence o of this species in Iowa, I have obtained an-

other skin in Grinnell, Iowa, and still another in Des Moines, from a

dealer in pelts, who informs me that he bought at least fifty skins of the

that the species may be found even in central New York. Dr. S. J.

Parker, of Ithaca, N. Y., has twice seen by the roadside, in that region,

a small, many-striped skunk, very different from the common one.—H. W.

ARKER.

o Motes. — The Shrew Mole (Scalops Canadensis) h

been A Weeds abundant for a few years past in Essex county, Ms.

c Thes

brava in Miculy cultivated gardens. The shrew usus is seldom seen

above ground, but burrows with celerity below its surfac

The Star-nosed Mole frequents the same moist neg Wie like the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 96

162 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

shrew mole, it finds its favorite food, such as earth-worms, grubs, etc.

In procuring its food it makes extensive and numerous burrows, above

unsightly and difficult to cultivate.

Now there is a beautiful bird designed by nature to prevent the increase

of these noxious animals from becoming excessive in places frequented

by the mole. It is the woodcock (Scolopax minor), whose death is

delayed until the 15th of August by a law of the State, after which time

there will probably be a general attack made upon them with the gun.

It is observable what a difference there is in the appearance, in some

localities, occupied by the above mentioned animals. A friend told me à

few days since that it was difficult to mow a piece of his land last year on

account of the many piles of earth thrown up by the moles. This year

the surface of his land is smooth, and I have passed several times this

summer by the place and have frequently heard, or flushed the woodcock

feeding there in the dusk of evening.— AUGUSTUS FOWLER, Danvers,

August 14, 1870.

TURKEY BUZZARD. — On page 875, current volume, J. L. B., in a para-

graph on this bird, inquires **Can a Turkey Buzzard be deceived by his

experiments by Mr. Audubon and Dr. Bachman, made nearly forty years

since, as related by the former in his ** Ornithological Biography,” Vol. ii,

age 33, should settle these questions. I think, then, that it may be

safely assumed that both the Turkey Buzzard (Cathartes aura) and the

Black Vulture (Cathartes Jova) are practically incapable of distinguishing

odors, and select their food by the sense of sight alone; and also that

they feed upon fresh, as readily as upon putrid, flesh. As the old error on

this subject seems to be perpetuated no doubt toa considerable extent,

and as that great work is rare, at least in private libraries, might not the

whole, or at least a part of the paper to which I have referred, prove in-

teresting to your readers? — J. D. Caton, Ottawa, Illinois, Aug. 22, 1870.

Bucks. — Mr. H. H. Bromley, proprietor of the Chasm

House near Keeseville, has given me an account of the spike horns that .

is confirmatory of ** Adirondack's " statements, and also shows that the

variety extends farther south in the Adirondack region than heretofore

stated

Mr. Bromley was for six years the landlord of the Hotel at Franklin

Falls, located on the Saranac River, about thirty miles southeast of

e and the region mentioned by “ Adirondack." When he first

went into this region, eight years ago, he was told about the spike horned

bucks which were them common and well known to all the hunters and

trappers in the Saranac region. During his residence at Franklin Falls,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 163

he shot several spike horns, and one at least was a large buck of four

years if not of five, and was so considered by several old hunters. In

this specimen one of the horns was slightly forked at the end, but the

other was a simple slightly curved spike. Mr. Bromley says that any old

hunter of the Saranac region would laugh at the idea of all the spike

horns being young bucks of two or three years, and he states that they

can be recognized by their shorter legs, as well as by their spike horns.

Mr. Bromley thinks that the spike horns have increased in numbers

over the branched horns, and that in spite of the extensive hunting are

about as abundant as when he first went into the woods. — F. W

DeEr’s Horns. — It is a well known fact that the horns of deer are but

very seldom found in the woods, even in districts where the deer are very

plenty. Several ways of accounting for their disappearance have been

suggested, but the cause that seems to be the best substantiated is that

under the snow in early spring. In confirmation of this theory Mr. H.

Bromley of Keeseville, N. Y., has informed me that he once found a deer's

horn in the woods that had been partly gnawed, and had been nearly

eaten through in two places by mice. — F. W. P.

SINGULAR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE HORNBILLS DURING THE

BREEDING SEASON. — No sooner has the hen commenced the labor of in-

cubation, say several trustworthy observers on this subject, than the

male walls up the hole in the hollow tree in which the hen is sitting on

her eggs, until there is only room for the point of her bill to protrude, so

that until her young birds are hatched she remains confined to her nest,

and is in the meantime assiduously fed by her mate, who devotes himself

species, but is also spoken of by Dr. ngstone in the case of hornbills

met with during his African uidi and there appears to be no

doubt of its authenticity. In Sumatra, in 1862, Mr. Wallace heard the

same story from his-humters, and was taken to see a nest of the concave-

casqued hornbill, in which, fter the male bird had been shot while in the

act of feeding its mate, the female was discovered walled up. **With

a young one, lbpareatly not — days old, add a most remarkable

pie It was about the size of a half-grown duckling, but so flabby

and semi-transparent as to resemble a bladder of jelly, furnished with

head, legs, and rudimentary wings, but with not a sign of a feather, ex-

cept a few lines of points indicating where they would come.” — Nature.

———' dl

GEOLOGY.

THE MEGATHERIUM AND ITS ALLIES. — The law of adherence to type,

or pattern, in the skeletons of the Megatherium, cri perde and Mylo-

don, extinct animals of the sloth tribe, ~~ o be illustrated in a

remarkable manner in the following particulars:

164 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

First. — In the great size, weight and solid condition of the bones of the

s; gk and in their want of FIRGRIAEX. aaa:

ond. — In the number, arrangement, 272, mode and unlimited growth

of iir teeth; in their deep insertion into the jaws; their deeply exca-

vated base; in the structure of their teeth, when viewed as organs, —

made up of a cylinder of vascular dentine, dentine and cementum, and

more particularly in the striking "e of their organization when

examined under the microscope; t f the Megatherium and Mylodon

being aput ly the same, with ^s «citta of the looped canals or

tubules in the cementum, as figured by Prof. Owen in the article Odon-

tography, i in the ** Encyclopædia Britannica."

ird. — The bones of the skull resemble each other strongly in the

Fin development of the cells of the diploé, which in their general ap-

pearance resemble wood eaten through and through by the largest sized

worms; and in the shortness of the face. The alveoli of the two jaws

correspond in number, position and relative depth, with the exception of

Megalonyx, which has its first molar in the upper and lower jaw sepa-

rated from the other teeth and taking the usual place of the canine or

is: teet

Fourth. ii he bones of the chest and trunk have, in general, a strong

resemblance in size and form, especially the ribs in size, the scapula in

form, the expanded ilia, and the clavicles. 'The bones of the hand and

arm have a marked family likeness — the radius and ulna of Megathere

and Megalonyx, the humerus of Megalonyx and Mylodon in particular,

and in all the genera in the broad expansion of the external and internal

condyles of the humerus for the origin of the supinator and pronator mus-

cles. The differences between these in outline and form from that o

Moiktherüsi will be hereafter alluded to.

Fifth. — The number and size of the bones in the tail of Megatherium

and Mylodon, and the use to which this appendage is put, appear to be

precisely the same, making with the posterior extremities a most stable

tripod for the support of these animals while reaching for their food.

DERE we hé wood and massive vica of the Megatherium =

as figured in Leidy's ** Memoir’

and | in the ** Penny Cyclopedia " and Snes antes a Britannica,” this bone

in the prices: appears not to be so o flattened n front, but this. e ania

resemblance in form to that of Mylodon, but it is not united in either of

these animals (making as it were one bone) as in Megatherium

The bone syed pei extinct animals differ somewhat:

i e general outline of the lower jaw of. Megniberium, espe-

cially that of ide Cuvieri from South America; less so, however, in that

part where the teeth are implanted in the N. American Megathere, and

n its anterior prolongation.

Second.— The skulls of Megalonyx and Mylodon, looking at them

either from above or below, differ somewhat, especially in their width;

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 165

this difference, however, may be the result simply of the displacement

forwards of the first molar, as appears to be the case with some varieties

muscle arises. The bone in Megathere at this point, viz., on ei

of the insertion of the deltoid, being broad and flat, while, in Megalonyx

and Mylodon especially it forms, with a marked prominence on the out-

side of the bone, a large hollow surface looking outward and backward,

for the origin of the external part of the muscle, and which large and

deep groove seems to have been filled up by it. The distal extremity of

is int

all probability the nerve and artery passed in their course to the forearm.

Fourth.— The astragalus of the Megalonyx, Dr. Leidy says ** bears much

whole weight of the leg upon the inner side of the foot."

Fifth.— The cubitus of Mylodon, as figured by Dr. Harlan, very

slightly resembles either that of Megathere or Megalonyx.

From the few facts above stated, it would be unwise to draw hasty con-

clusions, and if the three genera have a common parentage it would be

difficult to say to which genus the first pair belonged. Are there not,

Hipparion, Anchitherium and Equus, which have been brought forward

by Professor Huxley in confirmation of Mr. Darwin's hypothesis ?

marked

Boston.

No less marked will appear the mechanism of the elbow joint in all

the genera of these digging animals, and the upper or mashing surface

of their teeth, so characteristic of all the Megatheroid tribe — the sur-

face presenting at one time ‘‘a transverse sulcate plane, at another, ex-

cavated in the midst, with prominent margins." — H. €. PrRkINS, M.D.

THE TERTIARY BEDS OF THE AMAZON. — Up to December, 1867, no fos-

sils had been observed in the peculiar variegated clay formation which

overspreads the great valley of the Amazon. At that time I was sojourn-

ing with my friend Hauxwell at Pebas, where I discovered a multitude of

166 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

fossil shells exposed in the fine section made by the Ambiyacu just before

t reaches the Marafion. These shells were examined by Gabb, who

explore for other localities, being sure they would be found. He soon re-

rted a similar deposit thirty miles below Pebas on the south side of the

Marañon, about one hundred and twenty miles west of Tabatinga, where

spe

larger kinds. Out of half a bushel of specimens which he sent me, this

is the result arrived at by our eminent paleontologist, Mr. Conrad. Not

one species was found in the whole collection which is now living; indi-

extinct, belonging to genera only three of which are now represented.

st numerous species seems to be the iene (Pachydon) obli-

quus. In the whole collection there is but one land shell (Bulimus), and

ip one decidedly fresh-water species (Hemisinus). The great majority

belong to a genus which was especially abundant in the early Tertiary,

and lived in brackish water. This agrees perfectly with my theory of the

ereated the Orinoco and Paraguay, it was gradually freshened by the in-

flux of the fresh-water streams from the surrounding highlands, and

gradually emptied into the Atlantic by the co ontinued rise of the Andes.

The fossils were found in the heart of the valley interstratified with the

colored laminated clays which I had traced from Curary on the Rio Napo

down to the Lower Amazon, and which Agassiz affirms is a glacial de-

moving over the whole plain. 'This is mere assertion, for he found not

one positive evidence. Besides, there are strong biological and physical

sil

the least abrasion; a glacier would have ground them to powder. Con-

rad says they must have lived and died in the vicinity of the spot where

they now occur so abundantly.—JAMES Orton, Nov. 15, 1870.

Leap Mines or Missouri. — Mr. G. C. Broadhead read a paper before

the St. Louis Academy of Science € October, entitled ** Notes on the

Geology of Cole County, Missouri. He mentions that the Magnesian

limestone series, which include the rich mineral deposits of Missouri,

occur in Cole County, and that the rich Galena lead mines are in the lower

beds of the second Magnesian limestone. At Fowler's mines he noticed

, zinc, - heavy spar; the latter in very clear amber-colored crystals

and in blue lamellar forms

Marks OF ANCIENT GLACIERS ON THE PacrFic Coast.— Dr. Robert

Brown dissents from the theory of an entire absence of glacial remains

proper on the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains, stating that the

NOTES. 161

northern drift is present in Vancouver Island and British Columbia, ** in

as marked a manner as ever I saw it in countries celebrated for the pres-

ence of such remains.’

He finds rounded hills, trap bosses, rounded rocks, and grooves, while

the whole country is strewn with erratic boulders. Great masses, sixty to

one hundred tons in weight, are found scattered everywhere over the

island (Vancouver) from north to south, and through the region lying on

the western slope of the Cascade Mountains. *' Grooving and other un-

— pipes near the boundary line of Alaska. — American Journal of

BOULDERS IN ANCIENT TrMES. — In a communication made to the Acad-

emy of Sciences of Vienna, M. Boué remarked on the accumulations of

boulders in secondary deposits and in the sandstones and conglomerates

of the tertiary period. These accumulations have been explained either

placements, or by aqueous eruptio The most ancient of these blocks

are found in the older parie sandstone. They have been traced

between Jurassic and Cretaceous beds, and in the latter; but nowhere

though he could not admit, as some geologists have, that the glaciers have

hollowed out the basins of the lakes, or had existed in the course of al-

most all geological periods. — Cosmos.

Dr SCOVERY RESPECTING hen OLITHS. . Gümbel, of Munich,

erto been didcaveród. He finds that the organic remains of these minute

animals are left as a residuum after the matrix in which they occur has

been heated with highly-diluted acetic or hydrochloric acid.

NOTES.

students or recent grids of the College. The main object of pans ex-

168 NOTES.

pedition was to investigate the extinct vertebrate fauna of the Tertiary

and Cretaceous deposits of the Rocky Mountain country, and the general

plan adopted was to make several separate trips, of one or two hundred

miles north or south of the Pacific r aliroa d, to regions that were unex-

plored, or had never been carefully exam ned.

The first of these was made early in ped from Fort McPherson in

Nebraska to explore the Pliocene deposits along the Loup Fork river.

Here rich collections of fossil vertebrates were obtained, and several new

— of extinct mammals and birds discovered. The next expedition

made in August, from Fort D. A. Russell in Wyoming, to €—

ien geology of the country between the north and south Magie: of t

Platte river. Onthistrip the Mauvaises Terres or ** Bad land " Paire

with the true Titanotherium and Oredon beds was discovered in Colorado,

remains obtained were also PM and included several species of

extinct mammals and birds, new to science.

he third expedition was made DEN Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in Sep-

tember and October, to examine the geology of the Eastern Uintah

Mountains, and the country between the Green and White rivers. In

this region interesting geological discoveries were made, and many new

Tertiary vertebrate remains secured, which will soon i described by

Professor Marsh. On their return, the party went to California, and

spent a month in visiting various points of scientific interest; after which

they came east to Denver, and thence to Fort Wallace, Kansas. Abou t

two weeks were spent in exploring the Cretaceous beds of this vicinity,

where some interesting reptilian and fish remains were obtained, and the

party then returne

The expedition as a whole was very successful, and the large collec-

tions made will be placed in the Peabody Museum of Yale College. The

more important scientific results will soon be published.

apt. Wheeler, who explored in Nevada last year, has an expedition

nén started or about to start. Mr. H. A. Green, late of the Illinois

Geological Survey, is Geologist and Mineralogist. d Bischoff,

who was an indefatigable member of the Scientific Corps the Western

Union Telegraph Expedition, is to make the zoological police Capt.

Wheeler is to ascend the Colorado Cafion from below with a steamer.

His party will have abundant facilities for transportation, and the Com-

mander is much interested in the scientific part of the work. Mr. P owell

got an appropriation of $12,000 to make a second descent of the Cañon

of the Colorado, and will do so some time this winter. He has alread

been on to that part of the country, and arranged his details. Alto-

gether the Cañon is in a fair way of being thoroughly explored.

The French Académie des Sciences has held its sittings regularly since

the beginning of the siege, and the Comptes rendus has been published

regularly every week. — Nature.

INDEX TO VOLUME FOUR.

DE sense i rad , 690.

Acalypha Virginica, 355

Acceleration, theory of, ‘932.

Accipiter, 711.

Acer, 2h

Achorion e eg 343.

Acidalia, 229

Acidaspis Whitfleldi, i 568.

Acontia metallica,

Vtde Luna, pr toe 52.

Agaricus muscarius, 344.

Alaria — EN 295.

Alaska,

‘Albino edu: 58.

Albino snow bird, 376.

Albino barn swallow, 121.

Tbino woodchuck, 252.

a, 58.

Amphiroa, 288.

Anas boschas, 49.

Anas obscura, 49.

Andes, 358.

Andi

igena, 712.

Androgynous inflorescence, 46, 355.

Anemones, sea, two-mouthed, 256.

An a, 391

Anomis xylina, 52.

Anser, Tos

Ant lion

Apelte dae Oe

s, 115.

Aphrodederus, Sayanus, 105, 107, 719.

em rx ec a.

Arcella. 379.

cath gp Masc", 319.

Arch

aote rl

Arctomys monax, 252.

Areas of prese ogg. 4.

Arion fuscus, 170

pm! Korn "d the South, 52.

pvo xc em

‘Asteroceras, 233.

AEN: ‘479.

k, great, 57.

Bas

Bathybius, 50

reap a, skull of, 505.

Beaver, extin ct, 504.

Bees, A tilization of ag by, 689.

Belone lon ngi rostris,

Bernicia; i

idens ue santhemo des. 352.

Bidens fr rmt p

Bik ia, 313, m^

ill

Binocular microscope, 573, 633, 695.

Birds, classification of, 746.

Birds of Alaska,

irds of 37 365.

lackbird, 52

Blood, hum man, 704.

Bluefish, 519.

Boleosoma Olmstedii, 113.

Bone caves o Lo altar, 255.

Cito ai, ot

Borers,

“hanes , geology of, 238.

Brachiopoda, 510.

hiopoda, position of, 314.

aape a a 713.

Brazil, carboniferous fossils of, 694.

azil, i en of, 128.

rustacea, 435.

Bryo pais,

Bryttus epia APE 102, 106.

Garbontiecaas fossils, 190.

Custodes Oben S of Brazil, 694.

Catarrac

Ca:

me ag

(769)

770

Cat-fish, 694.

ertum A 8, 390

Chondriopeis Baileyana, 291.

Chondrus crispus,

Chorda filum.

rior a anthemum, 392.

Circus gA aa 377.

Clathrus, 349.

Goccohitia, ; 767.

Cock of as Rock, 715.

y Coane, sense organs of, en.

Codiich,

OIAR A, biguttatus, 229.

Co ue rd

Coniferz, leave:

Connecticut, penta reptiles of, 444.

Corallina officinalis, 287.

rals, ^

: Corals, development of, 39.

Corn weevil, 6

Gabe. imo hism in, 616.

Crab, H rseshoe, 257, 498.

King, 25 7, 754.

INDEX.

Cyclostigma, 478.

Cyprinus atr ‘omaculatus, 1H.

Dadoxylon

Dafila acuta, on

Daisy, 392.

Dakota, ee mammals of, 307.

Darter, 113, 114

Dasya elegans, 291.

Deer, 442, 7

Does. pad homed, 188, 762.

n, 230.

rphi

ides npe in ng ee 55.

Dimorphism in worms, 55.

grandis, 254.

ssa, 561

Docophorus buteonis, 93.

Docopho x hamatus, 94.

Dog, prai 316.

ragon tly, m

Dredging, ane sea, 464, 744.

Drit Epi wr jo sea, in ihe Gulf stream, 38.

548

: eed, 311.

Eagle, Msi rige D24.

Easte Fro ay 'images in, 381.

Echinocyst

Kel pout, 951.

Elacate, 694.

rer, 588. |

El pyet trix,

Embryology of pens

apre of artionlates; 122.

jron amre

Entomology ceonomical, 610.

En uator. glacial epoc "x 2 ; 566.

Eremnetes pusill x , 303. :

formation, 475.

Eskimo Janguage, 581. ; .

‘Esquimo, 433.

74.

Fascia in plants, 511.

une, alterations in, 100.

INDEX. TIL

Fauna of the Alleghanies, 392. Goniocotes Burnetti, 94.

Fauna of Lake Michigan, 403. Goniocotes hologaster, 94.

Ferns, 121. Goniodes stylifer, 97.

Fertilization of vin 08 Ur Graculus, 371.

Fertilization of salvi : Graculus "Idahensis, 311.

icus, 417. Grape insect, 614.

Fis „ 127. Grape

Fish culture et Gra pes 6

o foss “i, 6 Grass, bur, 682.

Fishes of '" New Jersey, 99, 717. Premi “fertilization of, 239.

Fishes of Florida, Gregar “ag

Fishes, a of, 505. Grinnellia’ 3

Flesh fly, Grus "Hayden, 311.

Flight of birds Ae insects, 439. Grystes, 6

Flora, arctic, 1 Gymnogo et, 290.

Siom pii Gymnostichum Hystrix, 351.

Flora of fambo Rd rts 91. Gyropus ovalis, 9

Flo = a of prairies, 5 Haddock, 518.

Flora of shore d Lak ze Michigan. 355. Hemiatonines vituli, 93.

Piece doao sea dredging off, 38. Hemuton, 694.

Florida, fishes of, o = Halidrys siliqua, 293.

Florida, pisces of, 5 Halimeda, c

Flowers, alpi Hanburya, 413

la fertilized by insects, 242. Hawk, ny i, 439, 537, 559, 759.

ansformations of parts of, 45. num organs 8 of, in insects, 127, 690.

Ns cree . 339.

Fly, black, 435. Hanas, 581.

Fossil birds, 310. Heo 685.

Flycatcher, 539. Helmitherus, 543.

Fossil mammals of Dakota and Nebraska, ieee. 2D.

in ron, 377, 550.

Foss sil plan nts, 310. Herring, 520.

Fowls, hybrid, 53. Hibernation of ig a 311.

Fragaria, 4: Hirundo horreo

Fragaria 'Gillmani, 312. : Hololepis, 8.

Fraxinus Americana, 355. Hom ne! ae edusa, 229.

Ix nerve contend of, 250. op,

fish, 108. Hor e fly , 686.

vite a 293. pee ,T

Fulix marila, 49. Horse, fossil, 60

Fundulus multifasciatus, 105. gels I ngs of Humboldt Valley, 32.

Fun

"oe db ed Humboldt Valley, 27

Fungi in insects, 241. Humming bird, grt 576.

Galeichthys, 694 yalina cellaris

Gallinago, 547. Hyalonema, 17.

Gallinula martinica, 253 Hybognathus osmerinus, 117, 718.

Gambetta, 547. Hybrid Fowls, 53. 374, 375.

anoid fishes, 127. Hybrid Rabbit, 375.

l4. Hydrodictyon — 281.

Gas in protopiasm; 379 Hylomys u^ M

Geese, 374. Hyper

Ppt i 37 : Hypsil n im j

Geography of plants, 372 ypsuepsts.

Gonos change, 444. Hypsilophodon, 103.

ological survey of Iowa, 317 p yodectes,

Geology, advances in, 449. hyosaurus, 127.

Geology, orane cal, Idaho, 1 — te 641. -

Geology o: Jolorado. 119, 767, 768. a,

Geology of ndiana, erred eology of,

eology of Mississippi Pu 193 Indian 80.

logy of New 567, 619. Indians of C. liforn:

Geology of New 1 Indian stone implements. 483.

Geology of North Carolina, 570. Inflores , an 8, 355.

logy of South Carolina, 571. Insecticide, 313.

deg "Mis ari, oi, Tét, 768. Insecte dimorp oe init ca

gi Insects, fertilization of plants by, 242, 512.

Germs, destroyed by boiling, 318.

Glacial Epoch p arne 566, 765. ill ; OL.

ac at: E

Glacial Period 508. : Insects, organs of hearing. 1 =

Glaciers, ancient 550, 560, 623, 765, 766, 767. D, oe d prd

Glyptemys sculpta, 53. organs o:

112 INDEX.

Insect parasite, 443.

Melanura limi, 107, 385, 388.

eig: bind, ies survey of, 317.

Meleagris altus, 317.

ur is iras e 371

r, pomarine, 253. Menura

Taa Ja ‘weeds, $13. Me ephitia bicolór, 876, 761.

Kallim cnr Mesoprion, 693.

ia latifolia, 373. Mesoteras noh 128

King Crab, 498, 754. run lover,

ing-fish, 6 0, New, salt "itt in, 695.

Kinglet, 376, 542. Michigan, geology o € oe

Kogia, pcd. t E jeune ur iron ore,

Lakes, a ‘ge of Western America, 641.) Michigan, Lake, Pity water fauna of, 403,

Miehizan’ Lake, ds 288; e flora of, 356.

imals in , 465. Microleus Mg n

Ire civ peered outlet of, 505. Micropogon,

Lamprey, 719. Microp a 5

ped 2 Edwardsianus, 310. Meo 22, 445

Latex circulation of, 317.

. Lathyrus, 418.

Laurentian plants, 483.

Lava ducts, 567. EN 105,107

Mississippi, delt

Lecanium, 686. of, 6

L 2,911. Mississippi Valley, hec of, 193.

— m Virginicum, 237. Missouri, fossil ne d n

Lepidodendron, 479. Misso ouri , geolo; f, 65

Lepidoptera, DaDa of, 441. Missouri, reat moun )

Lepidosteus osseus, 114. Missouri, lead mines j

Leptus, 756. Missouri, beacon d deposits in, 61.

Lesbia, 712 Missouri river, geology of, 41.

Lessoni $ Molacanthus

estris Pomarinus, 57, 253 oles,

Lichenine, 670. Mollusks, 16

Lichens, 665, 720. onohammus, 5

Lichia, 693. Monstrosity in Trillium, 125.

Limbs, reproduction of, 376. erey, animals of, 7:

Limax Sa a ts 170. Montrose sandstone, 563, 639.

Limax ma 169, 170. Moo , 035.

Limpets, 361. Morrhua zeglefinus, 517.

Limulus, 257, 498, 754. rrhua Americana, 116, 516.

v borer, 592. sauroid reptile, 62

T 520. Mougeotia, 281.

tee Mound builders, 40, 461

Lipeurus aas. 95. Moxostoma, 389.

ipeurus is, 95. Moxostoma oblongum, 113.

Littorina litorea, 250. M y 115.

sa, 407. Mulle

: Muscles, striated, in mollusks, 691.

T permum, 409. Mussel climbing, 331.

Lota compressa, 251. Myiodioct E

«Myriapod, 621.

Lychen agrius, 343. Myrmeleo, 705.

Lycoperdon, 347. Mysis, 404.

baa 478. Mytilus

Lycosa., sanea extinct mammals of, 307.

: > ystis,

Lyngbya, 283. anae salt marsh in, 567,

- Tey i. Dm Eo omg bu acon gg M

ird, . ew ven, geolo

Nesecrsis, du J sey, bird UC A

acrocy ew Jersey, fossil s

ror dti ree ig 488. ew Jer: sey, ed water —— ob 99, 717.

Mallophaga, New Mexico, geo of, 11

ls, 'Nirmus [ere vert z

; Menon. M 148, gm -— llum, 292.

Man, antiquity —— geology of, 570.

Man, anti wd x in in North America, 40.

Man, paes poia dA. bate,

Maple, 214. Nyetiardea, 550.

Marsh harrier, 377. Oaks, 183, 242.

» birds of, 365. Oidium fructi

Mastodon, 457. Oidium Tuckeri,

Maurandia, 409. On sandstone, =

M , 163. Onoclea sensibilis, fossil, 237.

Melania, 250. Oregon, fossils of, 647.

Orthagoriscus, 629.

Osmerus mordax, 108.

Osprey. XP :

Otolithu

Pacific pedea m polyps, 488.

P:edogenesis, 43

Palo otringa litoral, 310.

Paleotringa vetus,

Palm

Parasites

aa, 40.

sser domesticus, 54.

Passiflora, 417.

Pauropus, h

Pediculus.

6, 756

Pelasgic me tower, 8.

Pelican, brown, 58.

Pelican, rough-billed, 758.

Pencillium 350.

gy, 445.

Ph ylophóra membranifolia, 290

ora Menziesii, 294.

ts in, 511.

Plante, fe ertilization. of, by insects, 512.

red S dovere E of, 46, 126.

Plants

Piante vital force in, 312.

nen ded zous 695.

Pl Marien, OT.

I — 572.

n gi, 340.

8, 685.

hus.

Proioplasm, gis gas i in, 379.

INDEX. i18

Psilophyton, 476.

Ptilota, 289.

Punctaria, 296.

ball, 347

Puffinus Cofiradi, 31

Pyranga sestiva, 56

Quaternary deposits in Missouri, 61.

Rabbit, hybrid, 375.

Raspberry beetle, 6

Rat, albino, 376.

Reason in animals, 51.

Red bird, summer, 56.

Redhead, 693.

Regina leberis, 375.

Regulus, 542

Reproduction of limbs, 376.

Reptiles, 444

Reptiles, fo. 562.

Reptiles, mosasauroid, 62.

Reptiles, skull of, 505.

Rhinoceros

Rh not

Rhodome

Rhus, ation p^ jg TRAN of, 689

Peona scabra, 555.

Rissa, 369.

Satao, 36

Sal

Salt lakes

Salt mud of Pikes nie: 567.

Salt plains, 695.

Salvia, fertilized by pees 689.

Sand

Saperda,

Sargassum im baceiferum, 294.

lui tend d

Sar a, 43, 400.

Seurocep bien. 695.

Saurodontida, 695

Schinus, nr ag t in leaves of, 689.

Sciences, relation of mice itam to. "biological,

Sciurus Carolinensis, 58.

Sciurus striatus, 249.

Scoleco er me , 046.

Scolithus

Scomberesox r T 52.

114

Simulium, 435.

Sitta, 546.

Skunk, 316.

Smell, 375.

Smell, in insects, 690.

€ iom

Snakes, s double-headed. 375.

per.

Solanum "melon. ngena, 45.

RM deep a, 463.

Sparrow, 378.

Sparro xo house, 54.

peti variation of, 352.

Spel

Sp abe involucrata, 558.

ales, 725.

Squir "rel; 24:

tà end, irritability of, 438.

Staminody, 3

Sosa implements, s.

awberry, 312

x, 11i.

Birlopida, 439.

Sunfish, 102, rto

"Tabanus, 686.

Tamias striatus, 58

Tamus,

‘Tania, 288.

Tasmanians, 380.

Taxidermy,

Telmatornis s, 311.

Telmatornis priscus, 311

on -— = 519.

Tem earth, 470.

Teretulus, 39

Tertiary age, 450.

hr Xm iof of Dakota an Nebraska,

qot po "de

Thalassiophyllnm, 294.

'Thelosc

540.

INDEX.

Tinder, A

iles 562.

Tricho got caprz æ, 96. :

Trichodectes subrostratus, 96.

Trout. brotes , impregnation of, 601.

oo Valley, 27.

qur

Turri ites,

'Turtle, aroa, 53.

Udotea, 285.

Ustila 0, 343, 350.

Vanel us cristatus, 310.

Verteurnia. 5 504.

Vine dresser, 614.

agle, 524.

Washington iid! AR lava ducts of, 567.

Whale, 128; Spe

White Mo utin, ‘ancient glaciers in, 550.

White mountains, geology of, 567.

Woodcoc

Woodpecker, Lodbellied, 538.

pecker, Lain headed, "s

orms, dimorphism m in, 55.

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