EEEF EEE ee yi a ale

Aen a a

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

Tne POLARITY OF THE Compass Plant. By W. F. Whitney,

THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES. By J. A. Allen, f . .

THE BARNACLE Goose. By G. N. Lawren

SoME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT. rk By George

H. Perki

ims,

THE PRINCIPLES OF ee PEN by Fr amerik William Forel

HABITS or THR PRAIRIE Doc. Jilustrated. By B. C. Jillson,

Tar Fuicut or Birps AND Insects. Illustrated, . . :

THE SPRING FLOWERS OF — yE: b: Ai

SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS. By i w. bales

Taer LONDON Fog. . By J. Vila Blake,

Tur Game FALCONS or New ENGLAND. By William Was

A HEARTH OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE. m Nature,

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. With a plate and cuts. By A

S. Packard, Jr., x ; : ; ‘ ‘

BRAZILIAN Rock PE S TOM With nine plates. By Ch. Fred.

Hartt, i $ è .

Dr. Kocn’s Hoori RIUM. yYrP.R AIT. 3 : :

FLYING SPIDERS. ii By J. peor

THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. ae “a Elliott Gaa., è

CUBAN SEAWEEDS. Illustrated. By W. G. Farlow,

THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER. By William Lebaron,

June RAMBLES IN THE Rocky MouyxTtarxs. By E. L. ne, :

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE STRIPED SQUASH BEETLE. sari

By Henry Shimer,

PEE LIFE IN THE Rocky Horini OF CoLoRaDo. Py w. H.

Te ponai Dona Peres OF ae bie. Itustrated.

y Ch. Fred. Hartt,

Pence ATION OF FLOWERS BY ae. Mase ra ted, .

A NEW SPECIES OF ERYTHRONIUM. Illustrated. By Asa Gray x.

THE Stupy oF MINUTE FUNGI. icant By J. S. Billings, -

Tue TOAD AS AN poh aetna nig pai Ritchie, . ,

-FRESH WATER SKETCHES. yL W.B

MODE OF PRESERVATION OF Veer pad IN OUR p

Coat Measures. By Leo Lesquere

Sea ZOOLOGY AND Noumea By essieler Agassiz,

at I Founp at Hampton Beacu. By J. W. E Jr., -

Winer or THE Brack Bass. By S. T. Tisdale, -

Gti)

‘iv CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

Notes ON THE RANGE OF SOME OF THE ANIMALS IN AMERICA AT

THE TIME oF THE ARRIVAL OF THE Warre Men. By W. J.

Hays,

LIFE AT Giir Darras. By P: M. Suntan :

ON THE re AND HABITS OF SOME OF pemi Midias TEN By

A: B. Verili,

POLYMORPHIC Fonds: "By M. c. AACR + aidera,

Address of the retiring President of the Pes oon for the

Advancement of Science.. THE GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS

AND THE ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE Rocks. By as Sterry Hunt,

THE on THE UNIVERSAL TYPE OF SEEDS. ig Thos

M :

Rem eke by Asi rey: 512; T ws Hilgara, p: 513

MECHANISM OF a AND EXTENSION IN BIRDS Wendin: By

Elliott Cou i

ON THE Ghia inont OF THE Gai OF Mention: ‘By E. Wi

` Hilgard, . : 5 ; ‘ ‘ s 3 A é = :

Remarks by C. Whittlesey, p. 518; by C. A. White, p. 519; by A.

ee 520; by G. Little, p. 520; by J. B. Perry, p. 521; by E:

C. Andrews, p. 522; by R. Owen, p. 522; by E. W. Hilgard, p. 523.

REMARKS ON THE AGE OF THE Rock pie DEPOSIT or PETITE ANSE.

By E. W. Hilgard, . ;

ON THE CARPAL AND TARSAL Hokio OF Dikha. By F. s. Möre,

Remarks by T. C. Hilgard, p. 525; by C. A. White, p. 525

ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRIMARY GROUPS OF THE CLASS

OF MAMMALS. By Theodore Gill,

ON THE RELATIONS OF ANOMIA. ByE. s. Mone e,

On Eozoon CANADENSE IN THE CRYSTALLINE Piwestonns or

ank

E0zoon LIMESTONE OF EASTERN Massacuusetts. By J. B. Perry,

REMARKS ON THE GEOLOGICAL MAP AND SECTION OF THE ROCKS OF

Missourt. By G. C. Swallow,

` Remarks by E. W. Hilgard, p. 541

THE GREAT MOUND ON THE ecw acs RIVER NEAR peat sm

Ga. By C. Whittlesey,

Remarks by W. C. Kerr, p. 543; by G. c. Swallow, p. B44.

Tas Rock Inscriretionsin Onto. By C. Whittlesey, .

rks by W. C. Kerr 546 ;

a De by E. D. Cope, p. 546; by c.

WESTERN our MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. By E. T. Cox,

Remarks by A. H. Worthen, p. 558; by G. C. Sine p. 558.

NUMERIC RELATIONS OF THE VËRTEBRATE SYSTEM mey Ter

Hilgard, . :

ON THE EARTHQUAKE OF rdia, 1870. ‘By c. Whit ittles bey,

Remarks by J. H. McChesney, p. 561; by Œ. Whittlesey, p. 561;

by E. B. Andrews, p. 562; by y A. Winchell, p. 562.

589

CONTENTS OF VOL. V. - v

TORTOISES OF THE CRETACEOUS OF New JERSEY. By E. D. Cope, 562

THE EMBRYOLOGY OF CHRYSOPA, AND ITS BEARINGS ON TEE CLASS-

IFICATION OF THE NEUROPTERA. y AzS: Fackard Jr; s 564

THE ORGANIC IDENTITY OF THE ALBUMEN AND oaia OF ALL

THE PHANEROGAMÆ. By T. C. Hilgard, j 568

Paean y LEAVES. Illustrated. By W. j: Beal, . : é 571

N E OIL WELLS OF TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA. By T. Sterry

ae t, A 5 : i r x f 7 à i i š 576

Tur DEVELOPMENT OF AMBLYSTOMA LURIDA. Illustrated. By P. l

Ri Hoy, EREE $ $ 5 3 P ‘ 4 ‘ x 578

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF THE FISHES.

E. D. Cope, . x ; 579

Remarks by F. W. Pathe: p. 5 t

THE LAWS OF ORGANIC PAS do By E. D. Cope, " i 593

ON A NEW MICRO-TELESCOPE. y R. H. Ward, 608

ie WITH VIBRATING CILIA. Illustrated. By J effries Wy-

ma 611

THE pane By W: wW. Bailey á 616

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL Ae OF THE Vartit. OF

ITO 1. By James Orton, à á š 619

THE Genus HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS pees With =

. Billings, . 4 626

Some DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Wasteek AND Baarit ang By

T. Martin Trippe, . 632

SYMMETRICAL FIGURES IN api Fa ATHERS. ideetats. Ras jepe as

Lewis, 675

BULLOCK’S itere Mustrated. By Elliott Coues, k i j 678

THE CHINESE WHITE x INS y B. Silliman, n 683

INSTRUCTION TO a TEACHERS aT SOUTH poe Eok i 685

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF

Quiro. No. II. By James Orton, . x : ‘ ‘ ‘ 693

NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS. By Geo. H. Perkins, . í 698

Tue MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. By the Editors, . 739

ON THE CRUSTACEANS AND INSECTS OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE.

a i : ‘ ` > T44

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. With music. By Samuel Lockwood, . 761

THE LONG-CRESTED Jay. Illustrated. By Elliott Coues, . š 770

REVIEWS.

The Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil, p. 33. The Classifica-

tion of the Eared Seals, pp. 37, 238. The Early Stages of Ichneumon

Parasites. Ilustr ated. p. 42. Muscular Homologies, p. 108. Forms

The ord of Ent ane? pp. Dea 422. aes of European

ras ae kana in 1868, p. 158. The Genesis of Species, p. 223.

Medical Microscopy, p. 226. Recent uate ener Publications, p. 234.

Vi CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

The Geology of Iowa, p. 243. The Geology of Michigan, p. 244. Geo-

logical Survey of Illinois, p. 300. New Fossil Crustacea, p. 303. Age o

si tal Delta, p. 804. Peabody Museum of American Archeology

Ethnology, pp. 304, 705. Peabody Academy of Science, p. 305. Cor-

and Polyps of the West Coast of erie p. 806. Economical

aae in Canada, p. 307. Progress fi American Ornithology, p.

4 e Tenebrionide of the United ais, p. 374. The a adian En-

s tianee p. 874. Zoological Literature, p. 375. Parasites of Man and

the Domestic Animals, p. 375. Proceedings of the Essex Seta p. 375.

The Earthquakes of New England, p. 376.. Honduras, p. 376. Inland

Fisheries, p. 412. The May Flies, p. 417. Arrangement of the Families

of Mollusks, p. 420. Asymmetry in Insects, p. 420. New Ornithological

rks, p. 422. Economic Entomology in Massachusetts, saa

p. 423. The Geology of Wyoming, p. 637. Geographical Distribution o

the Beetles, p. 644. The Brachiopoda of the Coast Survey Expedition, p.

646. Seaside Studies in Aaea History, p. 646. Catalogue of European

Lepidoptera, p. 646. The Early Stages of Brachiopods, p. 647. Position

of the Caddis Flies, p. 707. n to the Catalogue of Ophiuridæ

of the Cambridge Museum, p. 713. Gray’s Hand List of Birds, p. 775.

Origin of Lowest Organisms, p. 779.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Botany. — Transpiration of Aqueous Vapor by the Leaves of Plants,

p. 52. Male Flowers on the ear of Indian Corn, p. 54. Flowering of the

Victoria regia in the Open Air, p. 54. Isoëtes in the Detroit River, p. 54.

Climbing Fern, p. 115. Parasitic Fungi in the Human Ear, p. 116. Red

Snow in Washington Territory, p. 116. Fertilization of Fumariacee, p.

117. Fertilization of Dichogamous Flowers, p. 117. Lichens, p. 118.

The Jardin Des Plantes, Paris, p. 158. Ascent of the Sap in Pines,

160. Dimorphism in Deutzia, p. 161. Contrivance in the Corolla of Sal-

via involucrata, p: 161. Albino Flowers, p- 161. Re-spindling of Cor

p- 245. The Earliest Known Coniferous Tree, p. 245. The Chestnut

Tree, p. 245. Wasps carry off Stamens. Bodily, p. 246. Darlingtonia

Californica, p. 307. A Monstrosity in Anemone patens, p. 309. juga

reptans L., p. . The Number of Plants and Animals, p. 427 Sponta-

neous Double Flower of Nymphæa tuberosa, p. 430. Cross Fertilization

of Plants, p. 647. Wolffa Braziliensis in tieka aa p-.-649. Anthers of

Parnassia, p. 649. Geographical Distribution of Sea Grasses, p. 650.

The Structure of Bog Mosses, p. 650. Peloria in Labiatæ, p. 651. Lem-

na trisulca in Flower, p. 651. Lemna polyrrhiza in Flow «662.

Vitality of oan

Influence of the Period of Fecundation on the

Sex of Plants, p. 715. Diatoms in the Hot Springs of Nevada, p. 716.

On the Lever-like Anthers pi sran p. 782. Petals in Abeagene, p. 783,

Transpiration of Leaves, p. 7

ZooLocy. — A New Genus of Brachiopods, p. 55. Embryology of Lim-

we Ss

CONTENTS OF VOL. Y. vii

ulus, p.55. The Pigeon Hawk, pp. 56, 253. Parthenogenesis in the Pupa

State of Insects, p. 57. Notes on American Deer, p. 118. Occurrence of

. 120. Ringneck Duck, p. 121. Mocking Bird in Maine, p. 121.

am bie. not Red, p. 121. Poison of the Cobra, p. 162. Distribution

of Animals in the South Seas, p. 165. Sexes of the Lobster, p. 167. Oc-

currence of Land Birds far out at Sea, p. 167. Iowa Birds, p. 168. The

Colorado Potato Beetle in Niles, Michigan, p. 170. Destructiveness of

the White Ants, p. 171. Singing Mice, p. 171. The European Hornet in

America, 172. The Migration of esd p. 173. Longevity of a Ma-

rine Shell, p. 173. The Wing of Bats, p. 174. Differences between

Young and Adult Fishes, p. 175. Cardinal Grosbeak, p. 176. Arrival of

irds, p. 176. The Chitons, p. 176. Cattle Tick in the Human Ear, pp.

176, 314." Anatomy of the Skunk, p. 246. The Nest of the Pigeon Hawk,

p. 248. Spike Horned Deer, p. 250. Albino Swamp Blackbird, p. 251.

Pelicans, p. 252. Preservation of Sea Fowl, p. 253. Identity of the Amer-

ican and European Bison, p. 254. The Humming Bird, p. 309. Position

of the Brachiopods, p. 310. A Zoologist on the Pacific Coast, p. 312.

arae on of Moths, p. 313. Rapid Growth of the Pickerel, p. 313.

e Star-nosed Mole, p. 314. White Spotted Muskrat, p. 314. Mimetic

Kereta p. 377. Entomological Items, p. 377. A Strawberry Cut Worm,

p. 878. Euphonia, p. 378. Fis se z or Ambiacu River, p. 378. Origin

of api p. 430. Parasites, p. he Theory of Natural Selection,

5. Mode of Life of f the whe San and Pilot-fish, p. 436. Afri-

can Ant Cats, p. 437. American Birds in Great Britain, p. 437. Wild

Rabbit , p. 487. Two Ornithological Items, p. 437. The Notes of the

Whipp Slt p. 438. The Bill-Fish in Fresh yfi p. 439. New Eng-

land Ascidians, p. 439. Fighting Beetles, p. 440. Immature Sexuality

in Insects, p. 440. The Embryology of Scorpions, p. 440. A South

American Bird in the United-States, p. 441. Shad Eggs, p. 441. Discov-

f the Animal of the Spongiadæ Confirmed, p. 441. Aquaria Studies.

ei ah p. 653. ene between Cat and Raccoon, p. 6 Orni-

thological Notes from Maine, p. 662. The Duck Hawk, p. 662. A New

‘Species of Alligator, p. 662. erst Mesozoic Mammals, p. 67 Former

Eastward Range of the Buffalo, p. 719. Land Shells of Western pe

chusetts; p. 720. Conchological Notes, p. 722. The Fau Lake

Superior at Great Depths, p. 722. Sensitive Surface in soars io p.

723. Development of Noctiluca, p. 723. Relations of ppg to

Pathology, p. 723. Cause of Phosphorescence in Animals, p. T i

rape parasite, p.724. The Fauna of Madagascar, p. 725. wae

Cocco-

p. 728. New Habitat of Helix lineata, p. 728. New Entomological

Books, p. 728. Spawning of the Goose Fish, p. 785. How Living Toads

may occur in Limestones, p. 786. Young Worms feeding on Eggs of the

viii CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

Same Brood, p. 787. Black Varnished Insect Pins, p. 788. Hymenop-

terous Parasites in a Beetle, p. 788. Madness in a Horse, p. 789.

GEOLOGY. — Cave Mammals in Pennsylvania, p. 58. Remains of the

Mammoth in Europe, p. 58. Fossil Meteorites, p. 59. Devonian Rocks

in the Amazonian Valley, p. 121. Origin of Diamonds, p. 122. Discovery

of et Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, p. 123. Eozoon Canadense,

The Bottom of the Sea off the Eastern United States, p. 124.

To a Whale in the Drift, p. 125. Some Physical Features of the A Appa-

lachian System and the Atlantic Coast of the United States, especially

near Cape Hatteras, p. 178. Natural History of Deep-sea Soundings

Aurora Island, pp. 184, 379. Geography of the Sea Bed, p. 184. Colossal

Fossil Sea-weed, p. 185. Eozoon andits Allies in Later Formations, p. 255.

omega of Mastodon Remains at Mott’s Corners, near Ithaca; N. ole p

314. he i of a Skull of a Musk-ox i n Utah, 315. Fossil

Walrus, p. 316. he Pterodactyl in America, p. 316. Hooks polished by

sand, p. 442. eed Reptiles from the Rocky Mountains, p. 443.

Facts in Fossil Botany, p. 444. Crinoids injected by Silicates, p. 445.

Remarks by E. W. Hilgard on the “alluvial” lands of the Lower Miss-

Worthen on the Remains of the Mastodon in Illinois, p. 606,

toriais on Fossil Vertebrates from Wyoming, p. 664. The Drift Period,

e Structure of Fossil Cryptogams, p. 731. Supposed Vegetable

Fossils, p 732. The Geology of the White Mountains, p. 732. Origin of

ean Cubreiiie. p. 732. New Carboniferous Spider, p. 733. Singular

eine 733. Geological Expedition to Kansas, p. 792.

ANTHROPOLOGY. — Did Man exist in the ToMu Age? p. 59. Mounds

near Princeton, Illinois. Illustrated p. 60." Probable Important Arch-

379. The Quissama Tribe of Angola, p. 380. The Patagonians,

The Flattest Tibia on Record, p. 663. The Tanis Stone; a new Trilingual,

p. 6 Where are the bones of the Pre-historic Men, p. 789.

Discoveries of Platycnemic Men in Denbighshire, p, 792. x

MIcRosc PY. —Photo-micrographs for the Stereoscope, p. 125. Mi-

croscopy at the Army Medical Museum, p. 127. Improvements in the

p. 185. Committee for Testing Objectives, p.

188. Eyesight and the Microscope, p. 189. Monochromatic Ilumina-

tion, p. 316. The Foot of Dytiscus and the Fly, p. 3 Submersion

ence,

of the Sub-section and General Résumé, p. 607.

Titles of Papers Read in the Sub-section, p. 609. Proceetiings of the

pet

fecal noc cb Sar igri nasa i malin: EE

AP SS Pee ea

Ree Ss we

ra eee

Byer) STE se

See ee S

CONTENTS OF VOL. V. 1x

Section of leseni of the Boston Society of Natural History, Oct. 11,

Ep State ei ait Society of Illinois, p. 735. The

Mieroscope in Studying the Embryology of the ene ll, p. 735. Ahrens

Binocular, p. 795. Nature of Ciliary Movement, p. 796. Combination of

the ÁSRA and Polariscope, p. 796. A High One-fifth, p. 797.

Fresh-water Algæ, p. 797. Photographing Histological Preparations, p.

797. Nobert’s Lines, p. 797. Stanistreet’s Lines, p. 798. Microscopy in

Paris, p. 798.

MISCELLANEOUS. — American Association for the Advancement of Sci-

ence — Indianapolis Meeting, p. 177. Papers read in Section B, of which

abstracts have not been given in this Volume, p. 605.

only read by title in Section B. p. 605. Papers gi

eral Session, and the Subjects of Lectures given in connection with the

meeting, page 605. Papers read in CS sare A of special interest to mem-

bers of Section B, p. 605. Remarks on Section B, and List of Officers of

the Section, p. 607. General Shake of the Meeting, p. 610. Papers

entered and read, p. 610. General Remarks, Excursions, Invitations, etc.,

p. 610. Officers elected for the Meeting of 1872, p. 610. Chicago Acad-

emy of Sciences, p. 671, 801. Science Teaching in Boston, p. 798. Ger-

man Museums, p. 800.

Notes. — pp. 61, 127, 192, 256, 317, 382, 448, 667, 737, 798.

ANSWERS TO CoRRESPONDENTS. — pp. 64, 128, 194, 258, 321, 386, 673, 738.

Books RECEIVED. — pp. 64, 128, 194, 258, 322, 674, 738.

List OF PLATES AND CUTS. — Pa

List OF CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V.— p. Xi.

INDEX. — p. 803.

ERRATA.

L. IV. — Page 723, line 11 from bottom, insert more than before one. Page e 668, line

4, for upper read outer, and line 12 from bottom, for Lichena read L Page 674,

line Z L Sperm PEE read Spermogonia. e 675, line 7, for Prodromv ad

1, = Athrocarpa read Athroocarpa. Parietina, wherever it oc-

odro and line

Curs, shonli read Pe

VoL. V.—Page 493, for ner Vat read Emacs Jour. Sci. IT, xvi, 218. Page 526,

line 19, for Micrencepha ws read se warege Aaj 531, last line, md: page 532, line

si for condyloid, read glenoid. e 532, lin “mm æ abdominal” insert

after

ically (in deka p pts a 33, vie Todint goa (haar ; line iE for

yeaa read Tardigrada, and for Doricata, read

6, for ventral read dorsal; line 27, dele and y iba mei

Coleoptera; line 8, dele Donacia. Page 566, line 9, for unlike read like.

Page 596. i 5 fad —_— com open. Page 596, line 11

d e prese 15

S tas cf ‘ds and

age 593,

orm ae

divided read undivided. Page 601, line 10, for corner read cornea; line 21, for enj

egg Page 604, line 3, for might read should; line 4, for would read had; line 5,

omit ha ve, line 1, for compulsory choice read compulsion. Page 720, line 13,

for tiliga read belong.

ILLUSTRATIONS,

LIST OF PLATES.

a pe

Page.

Species of Hysterium, e

twenty-one figures,

LIST OF WOOD-CUTS.

Plate. Page. a

$ Thysanura, nine fi 96

2-10. Dreis Rock _lnseribtions,

hundred fi 146

No. Pa

1,2. Indian Potte $ 14, 15

3-6. Indian Implem ents, . - 15,16

7,8. Burrow of Prairie Dog, 27, 28

9-13, he cil of baie: and In- i

? Da

14-20. Embryoiogy “of Tehneu-

mons, . $ ‘ 9

» 22. Indian Pottery, eae ee

ge Of Bootle, <i cer gg

> solifugus digesta 9G

j. Campodea a staphylinus, Š 96

j. Smyn Sings CLA

l, 28. eeri, $ AE |! 34

)-33. T lumbeus, « ae es AE

3d icant <b

St. ripe and o oviposition, bees

aye: 107

: otr A Rock Inscriptions, 144

43. Flying Spider, . . E 3S

: rellow Headed Blackbird, | 195

j= Cuban Sea By Fei -207

) Tachina diabroticæ,. . 2

f Diabrotica vittata, 215

-72. Brazilian pot ery, 269

z Scales on wings of Culex, 292

" oh hrogieatt propullans,. . 299

ue Valsa me ar te ie sige

-80. Po rp) xi; . $ Ji

ý = ear n cenum, 423, 426

3 aniperari ae

š Deia thuiell a, oie a

-87. Pierisrape, . . - 424, 495

3-89. Nematus IPS E N T

, 92. Liopus xanthoxyli, . 425, 426

i Liopus facetus, - 426

7 Larva of Cordulia Ur - 426

iL, 95. Galerita Janus,. . +0 46

» I. pees ter ug bilineatus, . A E

). Larva of Didymop A S

o. he

100. Compound leaf, : 71

101. Leaf of Tilia Americana, : 73

102. Pog of p eed y= rginica, 5T4

103. pe of Fraxi mbuc

574

104. Leaf ‘Of “Ailanthus glandulo- dis

105. Leaves 0 of Euphorbia macu- ms

Die

106. Involuere of Carpinus Ameri-

107. P ir ‘of Fagopyrum

esculentum, 57

108-109. Egg and young of ‘Amblysto-

a lurid: 578

110. Diagram aga Ciliary

Mot 615

111. Amoeba 654

12. baiia Gaons, $ 654

113, 114 Epistylis flavicans, 656

115. Volvox globator, 357

116. Stentor polymorphus, . 657

17. Aoter ey udatum, - 658

118. Cyclops quadricornis, 659

119. Crystals in ron feathers, . + 676

120. Bullock’s kan 679

121. Noctiluc 123

122. Anthomyia of ‘Mammoth

one eee 745

123. ra of Ma h Cave, 745

124. Anoptialmus s Tellkampi, 745

125. Natt irt 45

126. Raphi ohara. su bierranea, . - 746

127. Campodea staphylinus, 4T

128. Anthrobia Monmouthia, 748

129. Acanthocheir armata, = e eee

130,130a. Spirostiephon Copei, a 749

131. Cambarus pellucidus, . . . 750

132, 183. Cæcidotæa 242 a ra Gr *

134. Long Crested Jay, . | | T70

CONTRIBUTORS.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V.

A. AG pepe Cambridge

ce EN, Cambridge

Prof. L. W. BAILEY, Frederiet'n, N.B.

W. W. ae Provid

Prof. J. W- CHICKERING, j gt Exeter,

M. C. Cooke (from Popular Science

Review

Prot: B: D. COPE, A oe N. J.

T. Cox, Indiana apo bs

. Duncan (from Proceed-

ings Ror yal Society. is

J. H. EM ag pe Sale

Dr- Wes RLOW, Cambri.

Dr. THE ivoire GILL, W ashington.

Dr. E. R. LANKASTER Gys Nature).

G. N. LAWRENCE, New York.

Wm. Le Baron, Springfield, Il.

Prof. L. LESQUEREUX, Columbus, O.

a GRACE abe LEWIS, Phila.

v. S. LOCK D, Freehold,

taois Meek fg Ges mantown, “>

Pro ORSE

Prof. J. ORTON, Poughkeepsie, N- X.

Dr. A. S. PACKARD, jr.,

Prof. R. L. PACKARD, Washington

Bea i

f. G. H. PERKINS, u gto Ni

B Pentavir Dig re).

f. J erg Cambridge.

EW “eer UTNAM,

A. S. Rr TCHIE (trom “Ciaiealas Nat-

uralist and Geologist).

Dr. Henry SHIMER, Mt. a ng Til.

Prof. B. SILLIMAN, New n.

. TISDALE (f

ARTIN TR

mi Haven.

. W. VOGEL (from Annals of Bee

Cisa re

Dr. R. H. Warp, Tro oy.

Prof. e k. WHITE, Iowa City.

W. F. WHITNE

Dr. Wm. Woop, Winsor Hill, Ct.

Prof. JEFFRIES WYMAN, Cambridge.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE REVIEWS.

J. A. Allen, Cambridge.

Dr. Eons Cones, U. S5. Arm

Ay Theo ll, Washin

A. S. p om dada Je alee

F. W. Putnam, ooo

Dr. “ge H. Ward, T

Prof. B. G. Wi id Teiaes, N. Y.

CONTRIBUTORS.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE MISCELLANY, ETC.

Dr. C. C. Abbott, Trenton, N. J.

Alexander Agassiz, Cambridge,

J. A. Allen, Cambridge

= pres = 5; "An g ihe 5, Marietta, Ohio.

Prof. A

Richard i Bliss, Cambridge

G.A ardman, Calai o:

Boston’ Bockety of N attal History.

Dr. ba rendel, aoa > W

Dr. rewer, Bòst

aa ranba a ai

mee

L. E. Chittenden, New Yor

8. ©; ‘Ciarko, Jamaica Plain, Mass.

A. S. Collins, Roches

Co nchological "Section a. Nat. Sci. of

Haddonfield, N. J.

cda W. Montreal.

Essex Inalt Sieta.

George E, Emer ,

“Fairfax,” Vir irginia.

. Thomas Fetnam, U. S. Consulat St. Helena.

W. G. Freedley, Meola pna.

Otis Fuller, Needham, M

etroit.

Dr. G. L. ale, Brunswick, Me.

ta Asa Gray, Cambri idge.

E. L. Greene, Golden City, Colorado.

. Dr. E. M. Hale, Chicago.

Prof. C. F mils pe Doaa, Ne Es

W.J. H Hays, ork.

ee Hace. Daréawort: Towa.

Col. T. W. Hig: inson, Newport.

- Prof. E. W. Hi lg d, Ox or, Miss,

Dr. T. C. Hilgar aS.

W. O. Hiskey, Minoapalis, ‘Minn.

Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Montreal.

Prof. A.

hdc Jarvis, Hanover, N. H.

J. Gwyn Jeffreys, London

Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, apices. , Mass.

Bra

_ S. Kneeland, B

Prof. J. Leidy, Philadelphia.

FAs Lin tner, Albany, N

ney, yor lag

ho omas Meehan, ‘Gernantown, ig

Microscopical Section of Boston Society

History.

E w York.

New York ‘Jiles Om of rekin History.

Dr. Charles Palmer, I

rof. H. W. Parker, Amhers t, Mass.

Prof J. B. Perry, Cambridge, Mass.

F. W. Putnam, Salem

Prof. J. to Russell, , Salem. =i

George Sceva, Bos

S. H. Scudder, ee inii

Aror N. 8. Shaler. ee.

S. I. Smith, New H

Smithsonian Tastitation.

irar w, Lawrence, Kansas.

or Spr: e, Bost

Hon. "Ge 8 Sa uier, Rew Yo rk.

a i E. er encase sag) per

Prof. A. . Verrill, New Haven.

B. Walker, Detroit.

oe 3 ra Wari , Troy

A. White, Io a City.

Col. ç. Whittlesey, Cleveland.

H. Willey, New Bedford.

Prof. Alex. Winchell, Ann A

Charles Wright, Cambrid dge, Mas

J.J. Woodward, U. S. A. ; Menon:

Pror. AR Worthen, a Ill.

COPIED FROM.

Nature, London.

Academy, London.

as oats and Magazine of Natural History,

Girdenis Chronicle, London

Monthly rae ca. fy Journal, London

ren Set Journal of Mier op, Loain:

opular oe Review, a oan

Newman’s inert dat London

Proceedings of the Royal Boctety, London.

Land and mas, London.

Field, Lond

Pall Mall Budy t, Lond:

evue des Cours helensghoues, Patil.

Siebold and Kélliker’s Journal, Berlin.

iy ana Naturalist and Geologist, Mon-

American Journal of Science and Arts,

New Haven.

gg rgi. A the Torrey Botanical Club}

ew Y

Geological Survey of Illinois.

"a oS 0 a geen Commissioners of

T EE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— MARCH, 1871.— No. 1.

eces eR DD

THE POLARITY OF THE COMPASS PLANT.*

BY W. F. WHITNEY.

Tue first mention of the so-called ‘ polarity” of the Compass

Plant, Silphium laciniatum, was made in communications ad-

dressed to the N tea Institute, by General Benj. Alvord, then

Brevet Major, U. S. A., in August, 1842, and January, 1843;

although the fact was well known to many hunters and others, as

subsequent letters have shown. The truth of his statement hav-

ing been doubted, General Alvord presented another communica-

tion at the second meeting of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science, held at Cambridge, August, 1849, in

which he confirms his own observations by those of other officers,

all agreeing in the conclusion that the radical leaves of the plant

really present their edges north and south, while their faces are

turned east and west, the leaves on the developed stems of the

flowering plant, however, taking rather an intermediate position

between their normal or symmetrical arrangement on the stem and

their peculiar meridional position.

General Alvord’s first conjecture, that the leaves might have

taken up so much iron as to become magnetic, having been neg-

atived by analysis, he suggested that the resinous matter, of which

the plant was full, and from which it was sometimes called “ Rosin

Weed,” might have some agency in producing electrical currents.

As to its geographical distribution, he stated that it extended

* Read before the Harvard Natural ery Society, at Cambridge, Dec. 6, 1870.

FOE NENT

Entered wosoweinng to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Office of the Libraro f Congress, at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. pi

2 THE POLARITY OF THE COMPASS PLANT.

from Texas on the south to Iowa on the north, and from Southern

Michigan on the east to three or four hundred miles west of Mis-

souri and Arkansas ; its chief habitat being rich prairie land. *

At the same meeting, Dr. Gray stated that ‘‘ there were plants

then growing in the Botanic Gardens here, and these did not pre-

sent the edges of their leaves north and south, or in one plane

more than another.” He thought ‘‘ that the hypothesis of electri-

cal currents was hardly probable, as rosin was a non-conductor of

electricity ; but that it was due to the fact that the leaves were

inclined to be vertical, and the direction of their edges north and

south was the one in which their faces would obtain an equal

amount of sunlight.”

The statement of General Alvord was confirmed by the Rev.

Mr. Morris, ‘‘ who had observed the fact while running lines for

surveys on the prairies.”

-= At the nineteenth meeting of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science, Rev. Dr. Hill presented a paper

on ‘“‘ The Compass Plant,” in which he gives additional evidence

for the truth of General Alvord’s statement. +

In November, 1870, Dr. Gray received a letter from Mr. Charles

E. Bessey, of the Iowa State Agricultural School, in which he

Says: ‘fwe have the curious ‘Compass Plant, S. laciniatum,

growing in great abundance throughout all this region. The

polarity of its leaves is very marked. Use is made of it by the

settlers when lost on the prairies in dark nights. By feeling the

direction of the leaves they easily get their bearings.”

From the record of these observers there can be little doubt that

the leaves on the prairies do assume a meridional bearing; and

the cause assigned for this by Dr. Gray is undoubtedly the correct

one, viz.: that both sides of the leaf are equally sensitive to

light. It only remains to be shown what renders its two sides

thus equally sensitive. It is well known that the two sides of a

leaf usually differ in structure, that the number of stomata, or

breathing-holes, is much greater on the under than the upper sur-

face; and that the tissue of the upper is denser than that of the

lower stratum. As the two surfaces of the leaf of S. laciniatum ap-

peared somewhat alike, Dr. Gray suggested that it would be well to

ee T .

*For his paper see the Proceedings of the Second Meeti A

si eeting of the American Asso-

ciation for the Advancement of Science. * j ei

For an abstract of his paper see the AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. IV, p. 495.

THE POLARITY OF THE COMPASS PLANT. 3

examine the leaf microscopically in order to see if it corresponded

with ordinary leaves in the above respects, or with truly vertical

leaves, the two surfaces of which are usually similar or nearly so;

also to compare with it the leaves of other species of Silphium,

in which no tendency to assume a north and south position is

shown. The species observed were the S. laciniatum, or Compass

Plant in question, S. perfoliatum, S. compositum and S. terebinthi-

naceum; the magnifying power used was about four hundred di-

ameters; and the results obtained may be tabulated as follows :

Average’number of stomata in the field of

the microscope at one time, on the

NAME OF SPECIES. >

UPPER SURFACE. | UNDER SURFACE.

S. laciniatum, vers ene wee ; 20 20

S perfoliatum s si oe enile a 10 30

S. compositumy, ans veg eR e 3° 9

S. terebinthinaceum,. ... +. +4 10 20

The cellular structure of the leaf of S. laciniatum, on making

a traverse section, appeared to be homogeneous throughout; but,

in the herbarium-specimens this could not be determined with cer-

tainty. For this, and for more extensive comparison of the sto-

mata of the two surfaces, further examinations should be made in

summer upon the fresh plant.

But the observations here recorded- appear to show: that the

meridional position of the edges of the leaf is to be explained by

the structure of the two surfaces, which being identical, at least

in the important respect of the number of the stomata, seek an

equal exposure to the light ;—the mean position of equal exposure,

in northern latitudes, being that in which the edges are presented

north and south, the latter to the maximum, the former to the

minimum of illumination.

NoTE.—In Longfellow’s reference to this plant, in “ lnm or 7

ee at thia Aallaata nt, that lifta ita h Af

See how its leaves all ern to the north, as true as the aguas

ot is the a cise wih, mar the finger of God has suspended

th HL hT ws oy

Over p t waste of the desert,” >

it is enrions ti } } } . pi a ddi a

and stout plant. — Eps.

pect of this coarse

THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES.

BY J. A. ALLEN.

ENN

In an article in a previous number of the NATURALIST, * atten-

tion was invited to some of the distinctive features of the primi-

tive flora of the prairies. In the present paper, which forms in

some measure a sequel to that, will be noticed the more prominent

peculiarities of the fauna of the same region. f

The general facies of the fauna of the prairies, as well as of

the flora, are determined by a few predominating species. The

diversity of the animal and vegetable life of a given region being

dependent upon the diversity of its physical. features, one at all

versed in the general principles of zoological and botanical geog-

raphy, would hence never anticipate finding on level plains the

highly varied life one constantly meets with in regions broken by

mountain chains and valleys. Woodless regions being also far

less prolific in species than wooded districts, the prairies, with

their level surface and general absence of timber, hence present

conditions in a high degree conducive to the production of the

slightly varied fauna and flora they are found to naturally support.

On entering upon the prairies from the eastward, a marked

change is met with in the mammalian fauna. Whilst few of the

eastern species wholly disappear,{ many of them become re-

stricted to the narrow belts of woodland that border the streams,

so that they thus cease to be either prominent or characteristic.

This is eminently true of the wood-inhabiting Rodents and Car-

nivora, and also especially so of the bats. On the other hand, a

few other species, which find their congenial homes in an open

country, become at once numerously represented, some of them

being peculiar to the prairies. A marked difference between the

mammalian life of the prairies and that of the wooded region

to the eastward thus results. Although the bats are generally

wide-ranging species, most of those inhabiting the Northeastern

* Vol. IV, pp. 577-585, December, 1870.

{ Northern Mlinois, and Central and Western Iowa.

{See the writer’s “Catalogue of the Mammals of Iowa.” Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat.

Hist., Vol. XIII, pp. 178-194, January, 1870,

(4)

THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES. 5

States being found throughout nearly the whole continent, they

are dependent for shelter upon the forests, or the caverns here and

there afforded by a somewhat broken country. On the prairies

they are hence primitively few in number, in respect to individ-

uals, and locally restricted, forming no important element in the

fauna. As settlements increase, they soon multiply and become

more uniformly distributed, the outbuildings of the farms afford-

ing them their required shelter.

The feline and ursine Carnivora, as the Bay Lynx (Lynx rufus),

the Panther (felis concolor Linn.), and the bear, are likewise rare

on the prairies, as are also apparently the weasels. But the

skunks, minks, foxes and wolves, being less dependent on a for-

est shelter, not only maintain their relative abundance, but,

through the addition of a few strictly prairie species, are repre-

sented in more than their usual ratio at the East. Two species of

the Western Canide, the Prairie Wolf (Canis latrans Say), and the

Swift or Kit Fox (Vulpes fulvus Aud. and Bach.), here make their

first appearance, as does also the Badger (Taxidea Americana

Waterh.) and, especially at the southward, the little Striped Skunk

(Mephitis bicolor Gray). *

The luxuriant and highly nutritious prairie grasses afford am-

ple sustenance to the Herbivora, and in addition to the common

Deer of the East (Cervus Virginianus Bodd.) the prairies were

once preéminently the home of the elk and the buffalo, which

have but recently been driven beyond the Missouri.

Of the Rodents, one or two species only are known to disappear

near the prairie border. These are the little Chickaree, or Red

Squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius Pallas), which is to a great extent a

northern and. a pine-wood species, and the Woodchuck (Arctomys

monax Gmel.), which seems to be almost unknown much to the *

westward of the Mississippi. A Vesper Mouse (Hesperomys Michi-

ganensis Wag.), the Mississippi Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Ludovicianus

Custis), —the latter, of course, a woodland species—two Ground

Squirrels (Spermophilus tridecem-lineatus Aud. and Bach., and S.

Franklini Rich.), and the Pouched Gopher (Geomys bursarius

ich.),— a singular and strictly prairie animal—add at least five

* This fae has but recently been made known as an inhabitant of a bk

(see AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. IV, p. 376, August, 1870), whence the writer

ceived two skins of this animal from Professor H. W. Parker, of Grinnell. The ee

has also recently learned of its occurrence as a rather common species in Missouri

and in Southern Ilinois

6 THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES.

of the most characteristic and most numerous species of the

prairies. The peculiar habits of the three last named render them

also among the most interesting.

The Bird fauna of the prairies presents peculiarities similar to

the mammalian. Whilst nearly all the birds of eastern North

America occur here,* most of the woodland species exist only as

either sparse residents or casual visitors during their migrations,

a few either wholly western or strictly prairie species, making up

the bulk of the summer residents. The narrow timber belts that

intersect the prairies are hence in summer comparatively quiet

and tenantless. Even such widely distributed and generally abun-

dant species as the robin, the blue bird and the chipping and song

sparrows, are rarely met with in the breeding season in the unset-

tled districts. The swallows are also rare, as are all the species

that depend upon, forest shelter for nesting places. The field

sparrows of the East, as the Yellow-winged (Coturniculus passer-

inus Bon.), the Field (Spizella pusilla Bon.), the Bay-winged (Pæce-

tes gramineus Baird), and the Savanna (Passerculus savanna), and

especially the Black-throated Bunting (Euspiza Americana Bon.),

and the Western Lark Finch (Chondestes grammaca Bon.), are char-

acteristic and predominant kinds which almost alone enliven the

broad stretches of the wild prairie. Not less characteristic than

either, however, are the Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), and

the Meadow Starling (Sturnella Ludoviciana Swain.), whose song

is here wilder and far more musical than at the East. Of the

blackbirds inhabiting the grassy marshes, one, the Yellow-headed

Troupial (Xanthocephalus icterocephalus Baird), is also strictly a

bird of the prairies.

Other birds not usually common at the East are the Cerulean

“Warbler (Dendreeca coerulea Bd.), perhaps the most common

warbler of the prairie woodlands, and the beautiful Swallow-

tailed Kite (Nauclerus furcatus Vigors), whose graceful flight and

elegant form one never tires of watching as it skims over the prai-

ries in search of its reptile food. The Prairie Hen forms the chief

game bird, and is nowhere else so thoroughly at home. The slug-

gish Turkey Buzzard (Cathartes aura Ill.) is also conspicuous

here, and the Sand-hill Crane is also more or less frequent.

: c

i the writer’s lists of the summer birds of Western Iowa and Northern Illinois,

published in the Memoirs of the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. I, pp. 493-503

; A ;

Also a nominal list of the birds of Iowa, in th :

e Report of the Geolo; that

, Vol. II, Appendix, January, 1871, Repo gical Survey of tha

THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES. 7

The reptiles afford mainly negative features. In consequence

doubtless of the annual fires that have swept over the country for

centuries, all the land species, including the turtles, the snakes

and the lizards, are extremely scarce, and form but an insignifi-

cant feature.

the fishes, doubtless several species are more or less pecu-

liar to the prairie streams and ponds, but I am unable to give at

present any facts respecting them. `

The land Mollusca have suffered similarly with the reptiles from

the fiery ordeal to which for long ages they have been subjected,

and are equally scarce and confined chiefly to the timbered river

banks and bottoms. The fluviatile species are numerous, but do

not appear to, essentially differ specifically from those of the

western waters generally.

The Insect fauna* presents peculiarities similar to those of the

flora, on which their existence is so intimately dependent. Cer-

tain groups are represented in an unusual variety of species and

abundance of individuals, but the most numerous forms are often

exceedingly localized. Other groups are again but sparsely repre-

sented. No country, however, it is to be hoped, is richer in

Orthoptera (grasshoppers), either in species or individuals; and a

few species of butterflies are also especially numerous, of which a

small proportion seem to be strictly prairie forms. The Hemip-

tera and the Neuroptera exist in great abundance, the dragon flies

being richly represented, both as respects the number of the

species and the gorgeousness of their colors, many of which are

rarely or never seen in the Atlantic States. The Hymenoptera,

on the other hand, are comparatively few, especially the bees

and wasps, notwithstanding the abundance of the flowers. If

the Diptera, however, do not make up the equilibrium, it is not

because mosquitoes and blood-sucking flies (Tabanide) are de-

ficient either in variety of species, in number of individuals, in

size, or in voracity.

As regards Crustacea, the single family by which this class is

mainly represented, the craw-fishes, or Astacide, seems here to

almost find its metropolis; and as for worms, the ponds and

streams afford leeches of gigantic size.

In the above sketch, reference is had exclusively to the wild or

* For a partial list os the Butterflies see the Transactions of the Chicago Academy,

Vol. 1, pp. 326-337, 1

8 THE FAUNA OF. THE PRAIRIES.

unreclaimed prairies; but in the long-settled parts of the prairie,

great modifications of the original fauna have already taken place.

No sooner does the pioneer encroach upon these districts of unri-

valled agricultural resources than the larger mammalia at once

and forever disappear. The elk, the buffalo and the beaver are

the first’ to be exterminated, and soon after them must follow the

deer and the wolves.* The small rodents perhaps for a time in-

crease in numbers, especially the ground squirrels and probably the

field mice, as the farmer’s crops afford them abundant sustenance,

their great fecundity and reclusive habits further protecting them

from diminution. The Pouched Gopher, from its remarkable

subterranean habits, defies all means, except poison, that may be

used for its extermination. Rarely coming to the surface, and

only at night, the settler finds it nightly throwing up its little

hillocks of earth in his garden, and even around his very door, as

with the boldest impunity it digs its extensive galleries, uprooting

` the farmer’s favorite plants, and destroying his fruit trees by feed-

ing in winter upon their roots. The bats, everywhere in our

country beneficial to the agriculturalist, soon domicile themselves

in his outbuildings, and rapidly increase in numbers. i ;

Scarcely less marked changes in the bird fauna likewise occur,

although few of even the larger species are as yet either wholly ex-

terminated or even much reduced in numbers, whilst many of the

smaller kinds have rapidly increased. The artificial groves, the

orchards and the fields become soon peopled with the half-domes-

tic species that likewise fre ient cultivated grounds at the East.

The swallows, no longer restricted to the hollow trees of the lim-

ited forests for nesting sites, confidingly occupy the numerous

boxes erected for their use, or take advantage of the shelter

afforded them by barns and outbuildings. The martin and the

barn swallow thus soon become numerous, and colonies of the

cliff swallow, migrating perhaps from distant regions, soon con-

struct their nests beneath the eaves of barns and of public build-

ings, and are not only undisturbed but cordially welcomed. The

poor chimney swifts alone seek in vain for a home, for bricks and

stone being scarce, the necessary stove-pipe substitute for chim-

neys, or the various patented devices invented to take the place

*The Prairie Wolf (Canis latrans) is well known to have been formerly abundant as

far east as Illinois. (See “N LO as `

July, 1861.) ( otes on Ilinois,” in the Ilinois Monthly Magazine for

THE FAUNA OF THE PRAIRIES. 9

of bricks and mortar, ee rarely afford them convenient

nesting places.

In traversing a new country, one is often struck with the differ-

ences in the habits that many of the birds present, from those

familiar to him as characteristic of the same species in long settled

districts. The unsuspiciousness of the blue jay and the crow at

the West, teaches us that the distrustfulness of man, exhibited by

these birds at the East, is an acquired trait, while one is surprised

to see the meadow lark, so wild and cautious in the older states,

singing with the utmost confidence from the roofs of the houses in

the enfbryo villages on the newly settled prairies.

In regard to the changes in the numerical proportions of the

species of the lower classes of animals, especially of the insects,

space would fail, even if they were known, as unfortunately to a

great extent they are not, to fully detail the disturbances that fol-

low man’s occupation of the country. e destructive influence

of the swine upon certain species, when these animals are allowed

to run at large, is, in some cases, too patent to be passed over

unnoticed, even in the present cursory sketch. The grasshoppers,

during their times of periodic abundance, afford them, by no

means unsavory meals; but their fondness for the river mussels

(Unionide) is excessive. These they systematically hunt in the

shallower parts of the rivers, especially in dry seasons, till for

miles, in some cases, they seem to have thoroughly exterminated

them ; and they also search for the craw-fishes, which everywhere

abound in the marshes, with similar: >tidity, and must soon greatly

diminish their numbers. It may be remarked, in conclusion, that

the fauna of the prairies is not of sovhigh a type as that of the

adjoining, more diversified, wooded districts situated under the

same parallels. There are fewer carnivora and more rodents, the

preponderance of the latter being greater than at the eastward.

In other classes, especially among insects, the lower groups, as

compared with the higher, are there both relatively and absolutely

more numerously represented. In short, as in the flora,.so also

in the fauna, there is a simplicity and uniformity that gives to

both a comparatively low and uniform character.

THE BARNACLE GOOSE.

BY G. N. LAWRENCE.

Durme the winter I was much surprised to see at the store of

Mr. J. Wallace, Taxidermist, New York, a fine specimen of this

species, which he had recently mounted. On inquiry, he stated

that it had been sent from Currituck Sound, North Carolina, by

a friend of mine, Mr. Elias Wade, Jr., who was there on af shoot-

ing excursion. Mr. Wade wrote that he considered it very rare,

and wished it carefully preserved.

As it was of much importance to ascertain all the facts concern-

ing it, I immediately wrote to Mr. Wade, for more precise informa-

tion as to whether it was alone or with others of the same species,

or in company with any other kind of geese, etc. I have received

his reply, and as his letter gives the desired information, also

other interesting facts connected with the locality where the speci-

men was killed, I have thought best to add a transcript of it.

“Currituck Crus Howse, Dec. 15th, 1870. ©

Your favor of the 9th inst., was duly received, and I thank you

for the information contained in it relative to the oose I sent to

o regret that I can learn nothing here, about the

character or habits of the bird, no one, even amone the oldest

the oldest people. It, of course excited great curiosity amon

. : a s of absurd conjectures rela-

tive to its origin, mongrel character, etc.

The bird was killed on the 31st day of October,

cannot be told.

Our locality is in Currituck Sound, about 60 miles: south of

Norfolk, and 30 north-east of Roanoke Island. We have nearly

(10)

FE ee F PE I eS ee Tee Kee TT ee

SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT. 11

all the varieties of ducks, which frequent the waters in the neigh-

head, some forty miles north of us, and for a considerable distance

below us, is very nearly fresh, being very slightly brackish, and is

avery ars filled with a species of grass, which serves as food for

the birds, and for which they seem to have a great fondness.

They begin to congregate the last of September, and remain,

usually, from the first to the middle of March, oe generally

the finest kind of shooting during the whole interv

E. Wane, >I j

The first announcement of the occurrence of this goose in North

America, was made by Prof. Baird, in the NaruraLrist for 1868

(Vol. II, p. 49). A specimen was received at the Smithsonian

Institution, from Mr. B. R. Ross, who obtained it in the Hudson’s

Bay region. Its acquisition was considered by Prof. Baird a_

most important one, as thereby its claim to be considered Ameri-

can was fully established. A second specimen now having been

procured on the Atlantic coast, thus bringing it within the limits

of the United States, it is deemed worthy of record.

SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT.

BY GEORGE H. PERKINS, PH.D.

TuHovucH more rarely found now, Indian relics were formerly

very abundant in many parts of Vermont. Especially favored in

this respect are the borders of streams emptying into Lake

Champlain, and the higher lands near by, as well as the shores of

the lake and its islands. In a few localities the number of do-

mestic implements found indicate the site of a village, or at least

of a frequently occupied camping ground. Near some of these,

burying grounds have been found, in which the dead were placed

in a sitting posture according to the Indian custom

Remains of ancient fortifications have been fonital near which

multitudes of flint stones and arrow and spearpoints strewed the

ground. ‘Here and there the number of unfinished articles, as well

as the trimmings of stone, show where „they were manufactured.

12 SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT.

On Grand Isle in the lake there was such a place, and in this case

the stone used by these primitive workmen was unlike any exist-

ing in the neighborhood.

We are told that the country about Lake Champlain was occu-

pied mainly by the Iroquois and Coosucks, though- undoubtedly

other tribes visited these regions not unfrequently. How many

of the implements found were made by members of these tribes

is not known, but some of them must date farther back than the

occupation of the ground by these tribes, as the style and char-

acter of the work is unlike any they have produced.

The greater portion of the relics which have been discovered

were made from stone found in Vermont, either in place or as

drift, but a few are of different material from anything found in

New England.

Pestles and mortars for pounding corn are not uncommon ; the

latter being usually mere shallow cavities in some hard rock ; but

sometimes they are deeper. The pestles are usually well made

and taper from the middle, toward each end, though the larger.

ones taper only toward one end. They are usually of compact

material, as trap or granite, but some are of softer mateérial,* as

slate or schist. I have seen only one that had any kind of orna-

ment upon it. This is a large one, over two feet long, in the

Museum of the University of Vermont. It is cylindrical as usual,

and is rounded at one end, while the other is carved to resemble

the head of some animal, it may be a wolf. +

Small triangular articles are found, which, from the roundness

and smoothness of the edges, seem made to rub down the seams

in garments. Here, as in every locality in which Indian relics

are found, great numbers of arrowpoints and spearheads have

been picked up. Many are made of milky quartz and many more

of flint or chert. They vary greatly in form and workmanship.

Gouges and chisels are rather common all over the state. The

ese long implements of soft or slaty stone

8 ; generally called “ pestles,” were

probably used for mashing grain on a flat stone or log, by a rolling process rather

aeea pounding, as the en material from which they are made, would, if used as a

pestle, give rather more grit to the “ Indian cake” t i

to realtek ae ae than even an Indian would be likely

t In the collection of the New York State Museum at si g

of identical pattern and same rough caryi yal a ap

Museum hese are the only ones that have come

handle carved to represent an animal,

cha t h FPhah at dha i 31.

under my observation, having the

‘though most of the longer implements of this

¥ if purpose of suspension, — F. W. P.

PREEN AEE ENDE N N ETNEA E E A EISA EAA C ERR E

EN FEE N E F CEN EES

a oot a Ne a a a

SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT. 13

former vary in shape, some being rounded on each side and some

angular; some are grooved throughout the whole length, and

some only for a short distance. They are from six inches to a

foot in length, and are usually one and one-half inches to two

inches broad. The chisels are smaller and less common. Both

are made of various kinds of stone, some being of trap, others

of granite or syenite, while others are of taleose and mica-schist,

and could be of use only in working quite soft substances, or in

dressing skins.

Axes and hatchets of various kinds are found, but not very

often. Ornaments or amulets of stone, disc-shaped, with a hole in

the centre, are sometimes met with. They are an inch or so in

diameter, and one-fourth of an inch thick.

A very pretty pipe is in the Museum of the University at Bur-

lington, and was dug up not far from Burlington. It is shaped

like a common clay pipe, but the bowl is smaller and thicker, and

the stem shorter. It is wrought from ‘a piece of dark clouded

gypsum, and is nicely polished. The stem is two and two-fifths

inches long, and one-third of an inch thick at the end, and three-

fourths of an inch thick next the bowl. The sides are somewhat

angular, and the bore quite large, being one-fifth ‘of an inch in

diameter at thé end, and growing very gradually smaller towards

the bowl. The bowl is one and one-half inches high and nine-

tenths of an inch in diameter. It is encircled by two rows of ob-

long cavities, about one-fourth of an inch broad, and from three-

tenths to one-half of an inch long, and one-eighth of an inch deep,

no two being exactly alike. There are seven of these in the lower

row and eight in the upper,.and they were probably inlaid with

some ornamental substance.

Pots of various sizes and shapes have been found ; one holding

twenty quarts. All these are made of burnt clay. There are a

few articles of Indian workmanship in the Museum of the Uni-

versity of Vermont which are peculiar and worthy of special

- notice. One of the most interesting of these is the jar (Fig. 1).

This curious relic was found about six miles from Burlington, in

the town of Colchester, in 1825. It was found some distance

below the surface and covered by a stone over which a root of a

own; this tree was quite decayed, and the stone

itself considerably decomposed. The jar is made of a kind of

clay made very coarse by small bits of mica, quartz, an and felspar,

14 SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT.

and obtained, it may be, by pulverizing granite. This is quite

brittle, and inclined to crumble, but is made firm by a coating both

on the outside and inside of the jar, of a fine smooth clay which

Still bears the marks of some smoothing instrument. The jar is

very rudely burned, and is much harder near the top than at the

bottom. The color varies with the degree of exposure to fire.

The bottom is reddish brown, which grows darker toward the top

where it is almost black. The interior is considerably darker than

the outside, being of a uniform black. The general form is very

symmetrical. The lower third is hemispherical, and without orna-

ment. Above this the form is compressed so as to be quadrilate-

ral, and the sides taper towards the top and are quite elaborately

ornamented. This ornamentation is entirely made up of straight

lines and rings. Beginning below, we have first a row of deeply

Fig. 1.

i IMR N

SSN

impressed rings, running around the jar. These are .37 of an

inch in diameter, the width of the ring itself .08 of an inch, thus

leaving a centre of .29 of an inch in breadth. They are all of

very nearly equal size, though some are more deeply imprinted

than others, but were evidently made with the same instrument, a

cylinder of bone probably; then come two lines very near to-

gether. Above these the sides are covered with a series of

straight lines running in various directions. Three of the sides

are very nearly alike, but the remaining side, instead of having

the V-shaped centre «filled with horizontal lines surrounded by

oblique and perpendicular lines, has the lines differently arranged,

as may be seen in Fig. 1, A. The upper edge of each side is bev-

elled and ornamented by a series of short parallel lines, and a row

of four or five rings occupies each corner. Above this the body is

much constricted to form a neck. This is circular and about half

SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT. 15

an inch wide, and has a row of the same rings around it. Above

this neck the top again swells and becomes square like the sides,

and the edge curves from the corners to- Fig. 2.

ward the centre. It is ornamented with E

a somewhat different arrangement of

lines from that of the sides, as is shown

in Fig. 1, B. The sides from b to ¢ are

2.5 inches high, and at the bottom about

six inches broad, and five at the top.

Two of them are a little broader than

the rest. Around the inner edge of the =

top there is a band of short parallel lines, but with this exception

the interior is destitute of markings. All the lines Fig. 3.

are very distinct, indeed they are narrow grooves

rather than lines, being on the average .06 of an inch

wide and from .02 to .04 of an inch deep. None

of them are exactly straight, though very nearly so.

The rings are twice as deep as the lines. The

thickness increases from the bottom upwards, a

piece broken from the bottom shows a thickness

of .22 of an inch; at the neck, where a corner is

broken off, it is .32 of an inch, and at the top .37.

Other measurements are as follows: whole height

7.5 inches; diameter of top 5.1 inches (inside) ; di-

ameter of neck 4.6 inches; length of curve, a to b,

11 inches; circumference of neck 16.5 inches; circumference

Fig. 4. around a, b, i.e. the largest part, 27

inches ; length of one side of top, i.e.

from c to d, 5.4 inches ; height of c, d,

1.75 inches. When filled to the very

brim, it holds nine pints.

Another larger jar, Fig. 2, was found

in Bolton, Vermont, about fifty years

ago. It is not ornamented except by

a ring about the neck. The general

form is spherical, the top being con-

tracted to form a neck. The mouth is

wide. The color is a drab, and the whole surface is entirely |

smooth except the brim. Around this is a band about an inch

wide, made up of oblique lines. Below this is a line of notch-like

16 SOME RELICS OF THE INDIANS OF VERMONT.

grooves, and around the top is a narrow band and inside, another,

both made up of short parallel lines. This jar is 9.5 inches in

diameter at the largest part, and 7.5 at the mouth. The depth

Fig. 5. is 9.5 inches. It is about one-fourth of an inch

thick at the bottom, and half an inch at the top.

It is in the ee ober of J. N. Pomeroy, Esq., of

^ Burlington.

| Fig. 3 represents a singular implement resem-

"| bling a pick. It is made of a greenish sand-

7 stone, and is as smooth as the material allows.

The length is 8.25 inches. The ends are broad

J and thin, but at the middle the thickness rapidly

, increases, and at this point it is 1.75, while

the breadth is 1.6 inches. The blunt points are

| F smoother than the rest, bearing evidence of consid-

erable use. This relic was found half a mile south of Burlington.

Fig. 4is an implement the use of which can only be conject-

ured.* Itis made from a light colored talcose slate, and is quite

smooth. The middle is much thickened and perforated by a large

hole .55 of an inch in diameter at the base, and somewhat less at

the apex. From this central portion the sides diminish in thick-

ness towards the edges where they are quite thin. The whole

length of the implement is 4 inches ; the breadth at the top is 3.87

inches, and at the bottom 1.5 inches.

Fig. 5 is an arrow or spearpoint of unique style. The mate-

rial is peculiar, being, instead of flint or some hard stone, of a

compact, but not very hard, mica slate ~ a gray color. The

surface is covered

with the marks of the

instrument used in

making it, and is not

at all smooth. The

_ sides are straight, the

point rather blunt, SO PD

the barbs short, sharp and angular. The shank is thick and the

edges bevelled. The sides of the shank are scalloped sharply and

These perforated stones are often found and are of various shapes and sizes.

Squier a decd aes te mounds, on page 240 of their work, and we have

one in the Museum of the Peabody Aca

though made of different materi Squier and Davis place them under the » head of

ornaments, or gorgets.—

THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING, 17

regularly. The whole length of this instrument is 2.75 inches,

and the greatest breadth 1.33 inches. The shank is .8 of an inch

broad and .3 of an inch thick. It was found at Corinth, Vermont.

Fig. 6 seems to be a badge of office, amulet, or something of

the sort.* It is made of a very pretty breccia composed of light

and dark material. It is finely wrought and very smooth, though

not polished. The upper side is worked to a sharp edge, from

which the sides round outwards towards the rectangular base,

which latter has a hole at each end running obliquely through the

ends. The length of the relic is 4.5 inches and the height nearly

2 inches. This was found about a mile north of Burlington, Vt.

All these articles, except Fig. 2, are in the Museum of the Uni-

versity of Vermont. Besides such remains other traces of the

Indian tribes are seen in the hieroglyphics. At Bellows Falls two

rocks were found many years ago on which were rudely traced

heads, a large group on one and asingle head on the other. Some

of these had rays coming from the top. Near Brattleborough, by

the side of the river, a large rock was found which was covered

with tracings of animals, as snakes, birds, etc., in all, ten figures,

some not recognizable as representing any animal.

Such are some of the works which tell us of the former occu-

pants of Vermont.

THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING.+

BY FREDERICK WILLIAM VOGEL.

On the programme of the Sixteenth Annual General Convention

of German Bee Keepers, held in the City of Nuremburg, on the

14th, 15th and 16th days of September, 1869, the first question

was as follows:

ee ~ this singular form and high = meee been found both in the

ut never to my knowledge

have they been mentioned from any New England State before. They are always

two

are alike in in their finish, though all AA A a

above. Squier and Davis is (S. E Contr. Şi 39) sive figures of three of stones under —

the head of ly for that F.W.P.

t Translated from the German by Samuel Wagner, Editor of the American Bee Jour

nal. From the Annals of Bee Culture, for

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 2

18 THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING.

What is the value of mixed breeds of bees produced by crossing

the Italian, the Egyptian, the Carniolian or Heath Bee, with the

common Black Bee

‘On the general subject of bee breeding thus introduced, but

with incidental reference also to the production of improved

breeds, Mr. Vogel, an experienced and accomplished bee keeper

and breeder, of the Province of Brandenburg, in Prussia, who

probably has more diversified, practical and experimental knowl-

edge of it than any other apiarian, submitted the following re-

marks :

-~ If we carefully consider the topics embraced in No. 1 of our

programme, we shall recognize, as the substance of them, this

query, “‘Is it possible to produce an improyed breed of bees?

And if so, what are the principles of breeding which we must

adopt?”

I do not deny that on this question I shall speak with a certain

degree of complacency, for that which I have to communicate is

not derived from the indulgence of an idle fancy, but is based on

observations made at the hive— the only sure, living, and pure

source of apistical science.

In a discourse on the production of an improved breed of bees,

we have to fix clearly in our minds the distinction between variety

and race, for the two ideas are not unfrequently confounded, or

used in a very arbitrary sense. The idea of variety includes a cer-

tain amount of constitutional properties. In bees there are among

others, good or bad temperaments, swarming propensity or the

want of it, disposition to build drone comb, etc., etc. Allow me to

include all such constitutional properties under the general term

characteristics. Variety, accordingly, is based on the character-

istics. Corporeal markings, size and color, do not come into con-

sideration in determining the idea of ‘ variety.” If the bees of any

particular district are distinguished by a marked propensity for

swarming; or by any other special characteristics, we are warranted

in designating them as a“ variety.” Thus, in my estimation, the

heath bees of Luneberg, those of Lower Austria, etc., etc., are

simply new varieties of our well-known black bee. The peculiar

constitutional properties which characterize varieties are rooted in

the psychical or spiritual nature of the insect, and are elicited by

the kind or quality of the pasturage, by particular modes of man-

agement, by diversity of climate, or some other dominating pecu-

THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING. 19

liarity of the district. Accordingly these constitutional properties

disappear or are lost by lapse of time, by removal to a different

locality, and thus subjecting the insect to other climatic influences

and other conditions of management or pasturage. Hence, it is

obvious that for the production of an improved breed mere varie-

ties are of very subordinate account. At the same time, however, I

contend that the production of an improved breed of general value

— that is, one equally suited to all parts of an extensive country—

is an impossibility. On the other hand, I am clearly of opinion

that, for each particular district possessing marked peculiarity of

climate and pasturage, an improved breed specially suited to those

conditions may be produced. And in this aspect, the existing

varieties of the honey bees are of high significance and value.

The meaning and extent of the idea expressed by the term race

have long since been settled by science. The term embraces a

certain amount of external corporeal markings, among which are

size and color. When the bees of any extensive region, or even

of a limited district, are found to be strikingly distinguished by

their large or small size, by the color and quality of their pubes-

cence, or of the tint of their dorsal bands, from the common type

of the honey bee — assuming as such, for the present, our common

black bee, we are warranted in designating them as a distinct Jari-

ety or race ; and that each variety or race has its own distinguishing

constitutional characteristics is generally known.

Iam not of opinion, however, that in order to produce or im- n

prove breed, recourse must necessarily be had to the foreign races

which have been introduced among us, though it is often alleged

that we should, from the start, have availed ourselves of them, and

have endeavored: thus to originate an improved breed. But had

that course been adopted, we should hardly ever have reached a

satisfactory result. The pure races would have disappeared under

our hands long before we could have succeeded in substituting an

improved breed for them. It was much wiser to labor primarily to

secure an ample stock of pure races, while at the same time the

peculiar characteristics of each were assiduously studied. And

now that both these points have been attained, we are placed în a

position favoring and furnishing means and facilities, for the orig-

ination and production of an improved breed.

Permit me now to communicate the results of a series of experi-

ments, all of which had for their object to ascertain the principles

which should guide and govern us in the endeavor to produce and

20 THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING.

establish an improved breed of bees. The experiments instituted

were so numerous, that they might be told by fifties or hundreds.

1. Crossing the black bee with the Italian.— When the Italian

bee was introduced by Dzierzon, it was supposed that the workers

produced by the Italian queen, fertilized by a black drone, would

show an intermingling of the external markings of the parents.

But this was soon found to be a mistake. In the second genera-

tion already, degeneration became apparent — the hybrids divided

numerically, one portion resembling the Italian, and the other the

k bees. For the purpose of experiment, I continued breeding

in these two directions, and in the fourth or fifth generation

reached again on the one hand the pure Italian bee, and on the

other in the fourth degree, the pure black bee. The hybridism was

thus again resolved into its ataval elements. The facts thus experi-

mentally ascertained are, however, of very subordinate significance,

elucidating only the coloration of the hybrids. Of higher and

much greater practical value, on the other hand, is the solution of

the inquiry :—“ Do the constitutional characteristics of the two

become commingled in the black-Italian hybrids? Or are those of

the one variety or race simply transmitted to the other?” It is

well known that very different answers have been given to these

questions. Some breeders state that the hybrids of the black and

Italian bees possess the constitutional properties of the Italians;

while others allege the direct contrary. Some assert that the

hybrids are more irascible than the black bees; others again say

they are less so. Some declare that they will store more honey,

while others say that they will store less, etc. ‘The truth is, the

constitutional properties of the two are of an exceedingly subtile

nature, which makes it extremely difficult to base a reply on the

results of a cross between them. It is only by crossing the black

bee with the Egyptian that we can obtain any clear light on the

point under consideration. :

2. Crossing the black bee and the Egyptian. — When the Egyp-

Yan: bee was consigned to me by the Berlin Acclimatization

Society, I was of opinion that this bee was of little, or at most of

only slight importance in a scientific point of view, for I supposed

then that whatever was to be learned of the proposed mysteries of `

fi had — been revealed by means of the Italians.

‘ow, however, I feel assured that the future of apistical theo 4

tains to the Egyptian bee. - ne _—

Very soon some of the Egyptian queens became fertilized by

THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING. 21

drones. The workers produced by these queens were not percept-

ibly larger than the pure Egyptian workers, and in other respects

still resembled the Egyptian type very much. The drones pro-

duced by these queens — since impregnation exerts no direct influ- `

ence on them—vwere still pure Egyptian. I now raised some

oung queens from these impurely fertilized mothers, and em-

ployed.the Kohler process to secure their fertilization by black

drones. According to the experience derived from crossing the

black bee and the Italian, the workers produced by such queens

should have been numerically one-half black bees, and the other

half Egyptian. But when the hybrid workers made their appear-

ance our anticipations were not realized. The hybrids diverged

in two directions indeed, but the parental markings showed them-

selves mingled or melted into each other, in a portion of the pro-

geny. A portion of the workers resembled the Italian workers so

perfectly, in color, size, and characteristics, that no expert could

distinguish them from pure Italians. Another portion of them

still resembled the Egyptian bees, showing a black body covered

with a grayish pubescence, and manifesting the constitutional char-

acteristics of the Egyptians. These observations led me to suppose

that, probably ages ago, the Italian bee may have originated from

a cross of the black bee with the Egyptian. I communicated

this conjecture to, Dr. Gerstaecker of Berlin and other friends.

The latter received the suggestion with great disfavor, regarding

it as derogatory and dishonoring the Italian bee, and it required

no inconsiderable labor to convince them that the conjecture had

no reference whatever to any supposed value or want of value of

any variety of the honey bee, but was of a purely scientific nature ;

and that one variety might in economic value still rank high above

another, though it be clearly demonstrated to be of hybrid origin.

Dr. Gerstaecker informed me that he was unable to distinguish the

workers produced by a cross of the black bee with the Egyptian,

from the pure Italian workers ; but that I had assigned no reason

for my hypothesis, and that the geographical distribution of the

honey bee militated against it. I then again carefully studied the

excellent little treatise by Dr. Gerstaecker, on “‘ The Geographical

Distribution of the Honey Bee,” and found that the geographical

for or against my views. Here the idea occurred to me that the

conjecture would attain to the highest degree of probability, if a

22 THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING.

hybrid queen of the second or third generation should be found to

produce drones which could not be distinguished from Italians.

Impatiently did I await the return of spring. The drones finally

made their appearance and diverged likewise in two directions ;

one portion could not be distinguished from Italian drones, while

another portion resembled the Egyptian drones in size, but having

black bodies with grayish pubescence. I then raised young

queens from an Egyptian hybrid queen of the second degree of

degeneration, and arranged to have them fertilized by drones de-

rived from the same mother, but bearing Italian markings. The

workers produced by these queens resembled the Italians, while

the drones diverged in the two directions adverted to. I now pro-

ceeded to breed in-and-in from the hybrids thus obtained, and in

the third and fourth generations all the drones bore the Italian

markings. It might here be objected that on ataval principles,

these hybrids must revert to their distinct parental or primal races,

as is the case with hybrids of the black bee and the Italians. But

I have now before me black Egyptian hybrids of the nineteenth

generation, and these still retain their characteristic markings

unchanged alike in queens, and drones, and workers, though rather

intensified in degree and permanence. Firmly established, there-

fore, do I regard this fact — From a cross of the black bee with the

Egyptian, a hybrid is produced which no man can distinguish from

the Italian bee.

Now what do these observations teach? For brevity’s. sake I

will express the question thus :— Did Divine Omnipotence, when

placing the animal creation upon the earth, provide in each case

only one primitive pair? Or did He create each race at once in

larger groups? And if the latter, were all the animals of the

same class perfectly alike as regards size and color? Or did God

create directly the different races of the honey bee? When we

reflect that no mortal eye witnessed the grand act of creation, and

further consider that no reply can be deduced from any known laws

of nature, they may be regarded as highly presumptuous. But

the arrogance apparently involved in them vanishes at once, when

I state that I have not deduced the reply from my own mental cog-

itations, but from facts with which I became acquainted when

crossing the common black bee with the Egyptian. My observa-

tions constrained me to accept two primitive races for the honey

e. A portion of each of these races certainly existed since the

THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING. 23

dawn of history, and these I denominate original or primary races.

In the course of. time others arose from the crossing or intermix-

ture of the primary races and these I call derivative or secondary

races, or varieties. The black bee and the Egyptian I regard as

primary races. The Italians, Crecropians, Syrians, Chinese, etc.,

etc.—‘* Who can count the peoples? who name their names?” all

these are nothing more than the hybridous products springing from

the two original races— mere derivative or secondary races. I

venture to say that if all these mixed products be entirely removed,

leaving me only the pure black bee and the pure Egyptian, I could

speedily reproduce any desired secondary race, by crossing those

two primaries. Possibly, the strikingly black honey bee of Mad-

agascar may yet prove to be another primary race

3. Crossing the Italian bee and the Egyptian. — What has hith-

erto been said is of subordinate importance, so far as regards the

production of an improved breed, because it refers only to the

color or markings which it may be thought desirable to give to the

improved breed. But of higher and more practical importance is

the solution of the questions, Is the constitutional temperament .

of one race transmissible to another? And if so, is this to be

effected by means of the queen or drone? Or, again, do the con-

stitutional properties of the two races or varieties become so com-

mingled or melted into each other by the cross, that new and

special constitutional properties are the result? In breeding we

have hitherto relied mainly on the queen. We said —‘ this is a

choice, populous colony with a fine prolific queen, therefore we must

use some of its blood for raising queens.” But I do not believe

that, inthe endeavor to procure an improved breed, it is sufficient to

have regard only for the qualities of the queen. According to my.

observations, those of the drone, too, must be taken into account.

n order to accumulate facts, it became necessary to cross the

Italian bee with the Egyptian, because these two are the exact coun-

erparts of each other, as regards constitutional characteristics —

the Egyptians having a fiery temperament, while the Italian is of

a placid and gentle disposition. The first inquiry was :— Does

the temperament reside in the seminal filament, or in the egg?

In other words, is the seminal filament the germ of the young bee,

or is the egg?

When first the seminal filaments were discovered in the genera-

tive fluid, it was thought that each was the incipient germ of a

24 ‘HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG.

nascent creature; and that the young animal is nothing more than

a fully developed seminal filament. Accordingly, it was assumed

that the egg only contained the requisite nutriment for the suste-

nance and development of the seminal filament. Now, if this

were in reality the germ of the nascent creature, the constitutional

properties must be inherent in the drone. But every bee breeder

is aware of the fact that an unimpregnated queen lays eggs which

produce drones exclusively ; and he further knows that worker bees

occasionally lay eggs from which living creatures are developed,

and that these are invariably drones. From these facts it is evi-

dent that the egg contains the germ of the young bee. Let us now

inquire what observation and experiment further teach. I crossed

pure Egyptian queens with Italian drones. In the hybrid progeny,

the constitutional properties — the temperament — of the Egyp-

tian seemed completely obliterated, as it were, and those of the

Italian substituted. I next crossed the Italian queens with Egyp-

tian drones, and the progeny displayed the Egyptian characteris-

tics wholly. Hence, it was manifest that the temperament of the

_ bee resides in the seminal filament. Accordingly, in our endeavors

to provide an improved breed, our attention must be preéminently

directed to the drones by which the selected queen is to be ferti-

lized. We come now to the question whether drones possess di-

versities of temperament; but the elucidation of this branch of

our topic would oceupy too much time at present. I may per-

haps have occasion hereafter to discuss it.

Some may dissent from the views I have here expressed, but we

cannot disagree in our object, namely, by steadfast endeavor and

close scrutiny to attain to the knowledge of the truth which the

Omniscient has embodied in that very diminutive member of ani-

mated nature, the Honey Bee.

HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG.

BY PROF. B, Ç. JILLSON, PH.D.

Ocroser 26th, 1869, I received two Prairie Dogs, which irs

been forwarded from Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. The

about the same size, each measuring thirteen inches in length, "a

HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 25

tail being three and an eighth inches long. For want of a better

place they were kept until spring in one‘of the large rooms of the

university building, where a box was assigned for their especial

use, with full permission to run about as they chose, provided

they remained on their good behavior. Hardly had they been

placed in their new quarters when they began to make a foraging

expedition about the room, and discovering several boxes of

choice mineralogical specimens wrapped in soft paper, pronounced

the latter article confiscated, and proceeded to appropriate it to

their own use. Seizing the paper with their teeth they would

soon strip the specimen, and sitting on their hind legs, and using

their paws as hands, would cram their mouth and cheek pouches

with the plunder—the long ends protruding—and then with a

peculiar ambling gait cross the room, and, having deposited their

load under a case of apparatus, quickly return for more. This

was continued for several days, till they had gathered an immense

quantity of warm material composed of every scrap of wood or

paper that could be obtained. Not satisfied with this wholesale

plundering, they commenced an indiscriminate gnawing of table

legs, cabinet cases, boxes, ete., in fact everything upon which they

could exercise their sharp incisors except.the stove, which I

noticed they carefully avoided after once trying their skill upon it.

So troublesome did they at length become, that they were confined

to their box, and only occasionally permitted to run at large

under a watchful eye. At such times they would amble about the

room, occasionally stopping and whisking their tail in a most

amusing manner. At the slightest noise they would raise them-

selves upon their hind legs, with their fore legs hanging down in

front, and with a quick, sharp, intelligent look in all directions,

endeavor to discover the cause of the disturbance. They soon

became very tame, coming when called, and eating from my hand,

though they would sometimes give strangers who were too familiar,

a pretty sharp nip. Their food consisted of the blade, stock, and

grain of corn, the blades and roots of grass, cabbage leaves,

celery tops, apples, nuts, etc. Of peanuts they were very fond,

but of nuts with a hard shell they seemed to have no conception -

whatever. Taking them in their paws, they would try their teeth

upon them, and then let them drop in apparent disgust ; in this re-

spect acting very differently from their near relatives, the squirrels.

When the nuts were cracked, however, they seemed to enjoy them

as a great luxury. Their peculiar, short, quick and sharp voice

26 HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG.

was often exercised for the amusement of my friends. At a

peculiar chirrup of mine, they would quickly assume an erect post-

ure, their fore paws hanging in front, their heads raised as high as

possible, and with mouth turned upwards, give forth a sound so

nearly resembling the yelp of a domestic puppy, as to confer on

these peculiar animals, the familiar, though by no means appropri-

ate, name of Prairie Dogs. At each cry they jerked their tails, as

if it cost them an effort to speak so loud. They were very affec-

tionate, seldom quarrelling, and often standing with their fore paws

on each other’s shoulders, rubbing their noses together. I once

discovered that one of them had crawled through a small hole,

and was wandering about between the laths and outside of the

building. As often as I called, it would answer, and at length

discovering that it had found its way to the ceiling, I removed a

board from the floor of the room above and releasing it, returned

it to its companion. The demonstrations of affection which fol-

lowed would put to shame many a couple of higher intelligence.

The next day the other one had not been released ten minutes,

when it too passed through the same hole, and probably following

the track of its predecessor, was finally removed from the same

opening. On being returned to its quarters, demonstrations were —

indulged in, similar to those of the, preceding day. During the

greater part of December, January and February, they lay in a

dormant state, although there was usually a fire in the room six

days in each week. They were generally found occupying the

centre of their paper heap, coiled up in such a way as to resemble

two small parcels of fur. Their temperature was so much reduced

that they seemed cold to the touch, and often provoked the remark

from strangers ‘‘’They are dead, stone dead.” They never opened

their eyes, and showed by their actions that they desired nothing so _

much as to be let alone. Towards the close of February they

began to exhibit signs of returning life, occasionally leaving their

box, to which, however, they would soon return. Early in the

spring I took them to my home a few miles from the city, and

placed them in a large pen where they had abundant opportunity

of enjoying their well known digging propensities. Having $€- -

lected a corner they commenced their labors and were soon out of

sight. In a few days they had raised a mound around the en-

trance one foot and a half in height and two feet in diameter.

Their under-ground work, however, seemed never completed, for.

they were constantly throwing dirt from the hole. In digging:

eee

HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 27

they used their fore feet, throwing the dirt some distance to the

rear with their hind feet. Sometimes they turned around and

pushed the dirt before them with their paws. They had a singu-

lar habit of using their noses as miniature battering-rams, and

were constantly bunting the earth about their pen in this manner.

They spent much of their time — sometimes one, and sometimes

both — sitting erect on their mound with their paws hanging down

in front, apparently taking a survey of their narrow quarters. At

the slightest noise, they would dart into their hole shaking their

little tails in a most comical and derisive manner. Hardly had

they disappeared, however, when their heads would stealthily reap-

pear with a gaze of curiosity and impertinence. Though ap-

parently so timid, they sometimes exhibited an adventurous spirit,

as shown by their frequent climbs to the roof of the adjoining

coal-shed, while their hasty and awkward scrambling to get down

was sometimes amusing to behold. Wishing to examine their

under-ground habitation, I commenced November 24th, to dig

them out. As their burrow passed under the coal shed, its depth

was probably modified by this circumstance, and the task was not

so great as I at first supposed.

Fig. 7

Burrow of the Prairie Dog.

In the above sketch, A B C represents the outline of that cor-

ner of the pen in which their hole was commenced, and C BD

the sides of the coal-shed wunder which they burrowed. The

passages were about three and a half inches in diameter, and

nearly round, being slightly flattened from above, downward.

28 HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG.

Their depth is indicated in inches by the figures in the cut, the

measurements being taken from the top of the passage to the

surface of the ground. shows the position of a side excava-

tion, spherical in shape, and twelve inches in diameter, which,

when opened, was found filled with dried grass, corn fodder, ete.

F was also spherical, nine inches in diameter, and empty.

was a blind passage, or cul de sac, three feet in length, packed

solid with grass and little masses of dirt, the object doubtless

being to keep moist the winter’s supply of food; the packing

being accomplished by the bunting process already described.

The burrow passed under E as indicated by the dotted lines, and

Fig. 8. as shown by the section in the margin,

where œ represents the surface of the

ground, b one side of the granary FE, and

c the passage way beneath. The distance

from a to b was eight inches, the width of

b at this point six inches, and the distance

from b toc four inches. The total length

of under-ground excavation was about

twenty-five feet. The question is often

asked, does the Prairie Dog require any

water? The gentleman who brought mine on, said he had had

them two months, during which time he had given them nothing

to drink. I received them October 26th, 1869, and from that

time to the 1st of May, 1870, I am sure they drank nothing.

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. From the 1st of May to the last of Novem-

ber, they occupied their summer quarters, and though always

rejecting the water placed before them, they may have received

an abundant supply from the falling rain, the dew, and the

moist earth. During the month of December, 1870, one of them

drank four times, viz., on the 7th, half an ounce; the 9th, two

ounces; the 14th, one and a half ounces; the 20th, one and a half

ounces, and on the 22d, commenced its winter nap.

It is often recorded in the books, that the Prairie Dog, owl and

rattlesnake live lovingly together in the same hole. I have seen

many ‘‘dogtowns” with owls and dogs standing on contiguous,

and in some cases, on the same mound, but never saw a snake in

the vicinity. I have conversed with many frontiersmen and have

Section of Burrow.

FLIGHT OF BIRDS AND INSECTS. 29

yet to find one who will acknowledge his belief in this singular

phenomenon. In a region of country, where snakes are so abun-

dant as in some parts of the West, it would be very strange if

they were not occasionally found in “ dogtowns ” as well as else-

where. In the room in which my dogs were confined, was a cage

containing two full-grown, living rattlesnakes. This gave me an

excellent opportunity for testing the friendship of these animals

for one another, but my cautious skepticism exceeded my curiosity,

and my little friends did not, this time at least, fall victims to

scientific experiments.

THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS AND INSECTS.

Tue few last numbers of the French “ Revue des Cours Scien-

tifiques” (Nos. 36, 38, 40, 1870), which has been suspended since

the siege of Paris, contain the reports of a course of lectures

by M. Marey on this interesting subject. The distinguished lec-

turer has brought to bear on this difficult theme rare experimental

and mechanical tastes, added to a nicety of manipulation charac-

teristic of his countrymen.

Who of us, as remarked to the translator by an eminent orni-

thologist, can even now explain the long sustained, peculiar flight.

of the hawk, or turkey buzzard, as it sails in the air without

changing the position of its wings? and, we would add, the some-

what similar flight of a butterfly? It is the poetry of motion, and

a marvellous exhibition of grace and ease, combined with a won-

derful underlying strength and lightness of the parts concerned in

flight.

Before we give a partial account of the results obtained by the

delicate experiments of Professor Marey, our readers should be

reminded of the great differences between an insect and a bird, re-

membering that the former is, in brief, a chitinous sac, so to speak,

or rather a series of three such spherical or elliptical sacs (the

head, thorax and abdomen) ; the outer walls of the body forming

a solid but light crust, to which are attached broad, membranous

wings, the wing being a sort of membranous bag stretched over a

framework of hollow tubes, so disposed as to give the greatest

30 FLIGHT OF BIRDS AND INSECTS.

lightness and strength to the wing. The wings are moved by pow-

erful muscles of flight, filling up the cavity of the thorax, just as

the muscles are largest about the thorax of a bird. Moreover in

the body of insects that fly (such as the bee, cock-chafer and dragon

fly), as distinguished from those that creep exclusively, the air

tubes (tracheæ) which ramify into every part of the body, are di-

lated here and there, especially in the base of the abdomen, into

large sacs, which are filled with air, when the insect is about to

take flight, so that the specific gravity of the body is greatly di-

minished. Indeed, these air sacs, dilatable at will by the insect,

may be compared to the swimming bladder of fishes, which enables

them to rise and fall at will to different levels in the sea, thus

effecting an immense saving of the labor of swimming. In the

birds, as everybody knows who has eaten a chicken, or attended

the dissection of a Thanksgiving turkey, the soft parts are exter-

nal, attached to the bony framework comprising the skeleton, the

wing bones being directly connected with the central back bone;

so that while these two sorts of animated machines are so differ-

ent in structure, they yet act in much the same manner when on

the wing. The differences are clearly stated by Marey, some of

whose conclusions we now give almost word for word.

The flight of butterflies and moths differs from that of a bird,

in the almost vertical direction of the stroke of their wings, and

Fig. 9. in their faculty of sailing in the air without

making any movements; though sometimes in

the course they pursue, they seem to resemble

birds in their flight.

The flight of insects and birds differs in the

form of the trajectory of the wing in space; in

the inclination of the plane in which the wings

| beat; in the réle of each of the two alternating

(and in an inverse sense) movements that the

wings execute ; as also in the facility with which

the air is decomposed during these different

movements. As the wings of a fly are adorned

with a brilliant array of colors, we can follow the trajectory,

‘figure, that each wing writes in the air; it is of the form of 4

figure of eight (Fig. 9), first discovered by Professor J. Bel

Pettigrew of Edinburgh.

By an ingenious machine specially devised for the purpos®s

FLIGHT OF BIRDS AND INSECTS. 31

Marey found that a bird’s wing moves in an ellipse, with a pointed

summit (Fig. 10). The insect beats the air in a distinctly horizon-

tal plane, but the bird in a vertical plane. The wing of an insect

is impervious to the air; while the bird’s wing

resists the air only on its under side. Hence,

there are two sorts of effects ; in the insect, the up

and down strokes are active; in the bird, the low-

ering of the wing is the only active period, though

the return stroke seems to sustain the bird, the air

acting on the wing. ‘The bird’s body is horizontal

when the wing gives a downward stroke; but

when the beat is upward, the bird is placed in an inclined plane

like a winged projectile, and mounts up on the air by means of the

inclined surfaces that it passively offers to the resistance of this

fluid.

In an insect, an energetic movement is equally necessary to

strike the air at both beats up and down. In the bird, on the con-

trary, one active beat, only, is necessary, the down beat. It cre-

ates at that time all the motive force that will be dispensed during

the entire revolution of the wing. This difference is due to the

difference in form of the wing. The difference between the two

forms of flight is shown by an inspection of the two accompanying

figures (11, 12). An insect’s wing is small at the base and broad

at the end. This breadth would be useless near the body, because

at this point the wing does not move swiftly enough to strike the

air effectively. The type of the insectean wing is destined, then,

simply to strike the air. But in the bird the wing plays also

a passive role, i. e.,

it receives the pres-

sure of the air on its

under side, when the

bird is projected rap-

idly onward by its ac-

quired swiftness. In .

these conditions the Trajectory of an insect’s wing.

Fig. 11.

whole animal is carried onward in space; all the points of its

wing have the same velocity (vitesse). The neighboring regions

of the body are useful to press upon the air which acts as on a

paper kite (cerf-volant). The base of the wing also in the bird, is

broad and provided with feathers, which form a broad surface on

32 FLIGHT OF BIRDS AND INSECTS.

which the air presses with a force and method very effi cacious in

supporting the bird. Fig. 13 gives an idea of this disposition of

the wing at the active and passive time in a bird.

The inner half of the wing is the passive part of the organ,

while the external half, that which strikes the air, is the active

part. <A fys wing

makes 330 revolutions

Fig. 12.

in a second, executing

consequently 660 sim-

ple oscillations ; it

ought at each time to

impress a lateral devi-

Trajectory of a bird’s wing. ation of the body of

the insect, and destroy

the velocity that the preceding oscillation has given it in a Con-

trary direction. So that by this hypothesis the insect in its flight

only utilizes fifty to one hundred parts (or one half) of the resist-

ance that the air furnishes it.

In the bird, at the moment of lowering the wings, the oblique

plane which strikes the air in decomposing the resistance, produces

a vertical component which resists the weight of the bird's body,

and a horizontal component which imparts swiftness. The hori-

zontal component is not lost, but is utilized during the rise of the

wing, as in a paper kite when held in the air against the wind.

Thus the bird utilizes seventy-five out of one hundred parts

of the resistance that the air furnishes. The style of flight of

Fig. 13.

birds, is, therefore, theoretically superior to that of insects. AS

to the division of the muscular force between the resistance of the

air and the mass of the body of the bird, we should compare the

sre made in walking on sand, for example, as compared with

walking on marble. This is easy to measure. When a fish strikes

REVIEWS. 33

the water with its tail to propel itself forward, it performs a double

task; one part consists in pushing backwards a certain mass of

water with a certain swiftness, and the other in pushing on the

body in spite of the resistance of the surrounding fluid. This last

portion of the task only is utilized. It would be greater if the tail

of the fish encountered a solid object. Almost all the propelling

agencies employed in navigation undergo this loss of labor (travail)

which depends on the mobility of the point d'appui. The bird is

placed among conditions especially unfavorable.

Professor Marey ends his first lecture with a discussion of the

division of the muscular force between the resistance of the air

and the mass of the body of the bird. His second and third lec-

tures are on the resistance of the air, illustrated by mathematical

and physical data, and the exhibition of his peculiar and delicate

machinery for solving these problems by actual experiment.

REVIEWS.

Tur GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY or BRAZIL. *—In

eleaning after some of the most notable of ‘the world’s travellers

who have visited Brazil, little enough would seem to be left for

another explorer in the same field. By steadily pursuing, however,

for the most part one line of study, though a most comprehensive

one, our author as a geologist has brought together in this read-

able book a simple, clear, philosophic account of Brazilian geology

in its widest sense, which, while doing justice to the preceding

writers, contains a vast deal of novel information and does de-

cided credit to American geographical and geological science.

Our really good, carefully prepared books of travel can be

counted on the fingers’ ends. This new candidate for favor may

well be included among the select few. In Humboldt’s famous

“Travels” and “ Views of Nature” we have the results of years of

travel by a natural philosopher; in Bates’s and Wallace’s narra-

* Thayer Expedition. Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil. By Louis Agassiz

and his travelling Companions. Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil. By

Professor C. F. Hartt. With illustrations and maps. . Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.,

1870. 8vo, i i i :

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 3

34 REVIEWS.

tives we receive the impressions of single-minded zoologists as to

the natural scenery, the customs of the people, the habits and

strange ways of beasts, birds and insects ; the works of Herndon,

Gibbon, and Orton, are contributions to the geography of the

Amazon valley; and in Fletcher and Kidder, and Burton, we see

the human aspect of Brazilian life. To fill up these sketches,

more or less fragmentary and random, we need a faithful study

by a master with the details elaborated with scrupulous care.

To begin with, we need to know how the South American con-

tinent was built up, and the history of the changes by which it

became so rich and fertile, as well as the physical and climatic

peculiarities which have determined the genius of its inhabitants,

and will hereafter influence their progress in civilization. The

materials for such a work have been most industriously gathered

by Professor Agassiz and his assistants, and the present volume,

which we owe primarily to the liberal spirit of Mr. Thayer, and to

Professor Hartt’s ardor in making a second, independent visit,

assisted by generous friends in New York, is the first fruits of

these new explorations.

The volume before us does not touch specially upon the physi-

cal geology of the Brazilian Andes and head waters of the

Amazon. The author confines his studies mainly to the geology

and geography of the coast provinces from Rio de Janeiro to

Pernambuco. Meanwhile, he gives the results of others who have

written on the geology of the whole empire, so that the work grad-

ually and naturally enough expanded into a general view of the

subject. As a necessary part of the author’s especial researches,

the marine fauna of the shores between Rio and Pernambuco was

quite fully investigated, and the animals collected were placed

in the hands of experts for identification. Coral reefs of consid-

erable extent were discovered midway between the cities of Rio

and Bahia, the few reef-building species of corals being closely

allied to those of the West Indiés, while the crabs, star-fishes and

sea-urchins scattered over the reefs were largely West Indian spe-

cies, showing that the whole asseinblage of these animals was &

southerly extension of the West Indian fauna. Indeed, there is

scarcely a break in the continuity of life as we go from the penin-

sula of Florida to Cape Frio. The differences between the two

extremes are often great, but the passage from the one to the

o is graduated. The two American continents grew up like

REVIEWS. 35

twin brothers under the same laws; and with the same treatment

at nature’s hands, and stand to-day not rivals, but complements

of each other. We do not find those strong contrasts in their

physical and biological features, that we do in the opposing lands

of Asia and Australia, where two continents almost join hands,

and yet are most strangely opposed.

For instance, Professor Hartt, seconded by the decision of Dr.

Sterry Hunt, finds that the fundamental gneiss rocks of Brazil are

the exact repetition of the Laurentian rocks of Labrador, Canada

and the Adirondacks. The gold bearing rocks of the province of

Minas, of probable Lower Silurian age repeat (oddly enough even

to their geographical names) the characters of the auriferous strata

lying about the basin of Minas in Nova Scotia. “The coal basins

lie just south of the tropics, but within the range of the palm,

and they are a coast formation, corresponding in this respect to

the coal basins of Acadia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.” To

continue the wonderful parallelism, at a later chapter in the geo-

logical history of Brazil, the Triassic Period, were deposited rocks

agreeing precisely in physical characters with the New Red sand-

stones of the Connecticut valley. The Cretaceous rocks embrace

species of Ammonites considered by Prof. A. Hyatt as identical

with Texan forms, which flourished on both sides of the Andes-

Rocky Mountain chain, and lived in a sea which covered Brazil,

Peru, and Texas alike, before the appearance of the Isthmus of

Panama. The reptilian remains examined by Professor O. C.

Marsh indicate crocodiles and gavials and others of the same

genera as those found in the marls of New Jersey. The Tertiary

clays and sands are less like those of other lands, so far as re-

gards their fossils, the types being more specialized, ushering in

the present tropical life of Brazil.

The close analogy to the geological history of our northern

continent, is, in the author’s view, farther carried out by Agassiz’s

supposition of a continental Brazilian glacier. Here geologists

differ, and most of them dissent from such a startling view. Pro-

fessors Agassiz and Hartt do not know otherwise how to account

for the presence of their “ unstratified” ‘‘ drift” clays and sands,

often gold bearing, which are spread over the whole coast area

from Rio to Pernambuco, and “in the valley of the Amazonas

westward to the confines of Peru.” Geologists will more’ gener-

ally credit the truth of the theory of the glacial origin of this thin

36 REVIEWS.

sheet of clay and sand, when the rocks beneath are found to be

grooved and polished, when the coast clays are found to contain

glacial, arctic shells, and the transported boulders described by

the authors are more numerous and unmistakably of ice origin.

But the grand objection to the theory of the former existence of

a continental glacier in tropical America, is the unbroken conti-

nuity of tropical life since the close of the Tertiary period. While

_the coral reefs of Florida were slowly rising above the waves of a

heated, equatorial sea, the waters of New York bay, and Massa-

chusetts bay were the home of the walrus, the great auk, and the

arctic seals, and the ocean depths were peopled with a truly arctic

assemblage of animals and plants. At Charleston, however, the

seas, as indicated by the fossils of the post-tertiary period, were

not much colder than now, and the Floridian fauna was as tropical

as now. Meanwhile in Brazil flourished giant sloths, and other

quadrupeds, which roamed over the Pampas, while their ally, the

Hairy Mammoth, braved the snows of the northern woods and

prairies. It would be difficult for us to imagine that the valley of

the Amazon differed so greatly in its climate at that time, and not

leave behind the usual marks (at least more than Agassiz and

Hartt here indicate) of an ice period. The deposit of Tertiary

shells at Pebas, about two thousand miles from the mouth of the

Amazon, described by Conrad, and discovered by Professor Orton

in Professor Agassiz’s Amazonian ‘ drift,” must effectually settle

the question of the Amazonian beds at least. There may have

been loeal glaciers on the Organ mountains about Rio.

An interesting sketch of the Botocudos, a very degraded In-

dian tribe, without a belief in a supreme God, is appended to Mr.

Hartt’s narrative, of which we would not take leave without refer-

ring to its value to the colonist and capitalist, from its full

accounts of gold and diamond mines, and other natural produc-

tions. The Brazilians will remain under lasting obligation to the

author, who has given them a most compact and accurate account

of the geology and mineral wealth of their magnificent country.

Since its publication, Professor Hartt has led a new expedition to

Brazil, accompanied by a large corps of assistants, to make fresh

explorations about the mouth of the Amazon. The Emperor of

Brazil, who has already done so much towards developing the

natural resourees of his empire, might do much for its advance-

ment by instituting a geological survey under the direction of one

so familiar with the subject as our author.

REVIEWS. 37

Tue CLASSIFICATION OF THE EARED SEALS. — In the review of m

paper on the “ Eared Seals” * by Dr. Theodore Gill, published in

the January number of the Narurauisr,+ I was pleased to see that

this accomplished zoologist found in it a few things to commend,

nor was I surprised to find, knowing his opinions previously, that

on a few points we still somewhat differ. I regretted to observe,

however, that notwithstanding his accustomed accuracy, Dr. Gill

had, in the present article, fallen into several by no means unim-

portant errors. He quite severely criticises my provisional differ-

entiation of the Otariade into two subfamily groups, and in so

doing has not only questioned the value ascribed by me to the

characters alleged to be distinctive of the two groups, but also the

existence of such distinctions, at least to anything like the extent

claimed for them.

The distinctions given as characteristic of the two groups were

differences in the character of the pelage, in size, form, the rela-

tive length of the ear and the swimming membranes or toe-flaps.

Without discussing here the taxonomic value of these distinctions,

I propose to examine briefly whether any of them have been shown

by Dr. Gill “ to be degraded to absolute nullity.”

First, in regard to the pelage. The Oulophocine were charac-

terized as having “thick under fur,” and the Trichophocine as

being ‘‘ without under fur.” As showing that this character is

not a trenchant one, Dr. Gill cites the observation of Dr. Peters

that the Arctocephalus antarcticus ( Otaria pusilla Peters) has very

thin under fur, and the remark of Dr. Gray that in Zalophus loba-

tus (Z. cinereus Gill) the young are ‘‘ covered with soft fur which

falls off when the next coat of fur is developed,” both of which

objections I had already noticed. {| To go over the ground again,

however, I may state that since Dr. Peters wrote, it has been: as-

certained that both the Arctocephalus antarcticus and the A.

cinereus are richly provided with under fur, so well so, at least,

that these animals are pursued for their fur, which forms an arti-

cle of high commercial value.g The remark respecting the tem-

* Bulletin ai the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. II, pp. 1-108, 1870.

t Vol. IV, pp. 675-684.

Bull. ie. “Comp. Zool., Vol. IT, i

§ Ann. and Mag. N.: t: Hist., 4th ser., cil I, p. 219, March, 1868. Dr. Gray describes the

a sinere og having the “under fur abundant” (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser.

Vol. XVI : aa animal

in the March Pees of Cielvbiniave Zoology. |

d by J

38 REVIEWS.

porary under fur possessed by the young of Zalophus lobatus was

made nearly half a century ago, and though often quoted since,

has never yet been confirmed, so far at least as I have been able

to ascertain. Since such a fact, however, would be contrary to

analogy, to say the least, the accuracy of this observation seems

to require confirmation. While in the hair seals the homo-

logue of the under fur of the fur seals may be considered to exist

in the short, stiff, crisp under hairs, — which are so few as only

to be discovered by the most careful search, at least in old males

of Eumetopias, and apparently also in Otaria and Zalophus, —

they do not accord at all in their nature with the fine, soft, abun-

` dant, silky under fur of the fur seals. The under fur of the fur

seals is known to vary more or less in amount with the season,

which variations may have given rise to the observations of Dr.

Peters cited by Dr. Gill.

In regard to size, the hair seals were characterized as “large,”

and the fur seals as “smaller.” As the representatives of Otaria

and Eumetopias are several times larger, in respect to bulk, than

any of the representatives of either Callorhinus or Arctocephalus,

and the representatives of Zalophus are considerably larger than

any of the fur seals, I fail to see that the difference in size

“seems to be more than reduced to a mimimum and to be de-

graded to absolute nullity.”

In regard to form, the fur seals were described by me as being

‘‘more slender” than the hair seals. This observation was based

upon a comparison of the skeletons of two of the leading genera

— Eumetopias and Callorhinus — and the figures and descriptions

of the other species. Not only are all the bones smaller in com-

parison to their length in Callorhinus than in Eumetopias, but the

limbs are also slenderer and longer in proportion to the size of

the body - In the comparison Dr. Gill has attempted to make, in

his review, of the form of Eumetopias with that of Callorhinus, in

order to determine whether there was any difference in form in the

~~ groups, a singularly improper basis was adopted, namely, the

ratio of the skull to the length of the male skin.” His rather

obecao —" ative table serves only to represent the individual

variation in the specimens of the same species, as exaggerated in

stuffed specimens. Had he computed the ratio the length of

the skull bears to that of the whold skeleton, data equally at his

command, instead of between the skulls and skins, his table

}

ETAETA SEENA

Pe a ep, oe EI E EN

REVIEWS. _ 39

would have had some value as showing the variation in respect to

this ratio that obtains between specimens of the same species.

But the idea of determining the relative slenderness of two ani-

mals by the number of times the length of the head is contained

in the total length of the body, is, to say the least, a novel one to

me, since slenderness and robustness of form usually involve, as

is well known, the head as well as the trunk, as a little reflection

will doubtless at once convince my reviewer. ` That the expression

‘**form more slender’ of the former [Oulophocine] implies a

greater relative total length for these animals than the head alone

_ would indicate,” is an announcement for which I was quite unpre-

pared.

In regard to the length of the ear in the two groups, it appears

that Dr. Gill has also been unfortunate in his generalizations. Ac-

cording to his quoted measurements, the ear in the longest-eared

species of: the hair seals (Eumetopias) scarcely equals that of the

shortest-eared species of the fur seals, but he seems to haye for-

gotten that the bulk of Eumetopias is several times that of the.

largest of the fur seals, so that while the ear is absolutely but

little longer in the fur seals than in the longest-eared hair seals, it

is relatively very much longer.

Having said this much in regard to the validity of the charac-

ters I gave as distinctive of these two groups, I desire to add a

word in respect to the matter of ‘‘ conservatism.” Dr. Gill says,

‘t In the case of doubtful species — at least of those which have

tangible characters, but the value of which may be dubious — some

naturalists refer such at once to species which they appear in their

judgment to most resemble, while others — probably most — retain

them with reserve, awaiting future information. Of the former

school, Mr. Allen is an ardent disciple, and finding a certain

range of variation in some known form, he concludes that analo-

gous variations are only of like value.” In reply to this, I will

only say that my practice is to never reduce to a synonyme any

species presenting ‘“ tangible characters,” or even those which ap-

. pear to have such characters, or where the probability seems to be

that it may be distinct, though not as yet properly characterized.

When no evidence of the validity of a given species has been

advanced, which in the light of present facts can be so considered,

I deem it subservient to the interests of science to refer them to

the species to which they seem evidently to belong; as in no

40 i REVIEWS.

other way will their true character be more likely to be eventually

made evident; for those authors who have recognized them as —

valid will be likely to reinvestigate the subject before submitting —

to their being dropped from our systems. All zoologists, I think,

will admit that the tendency is to a multiplication of nominal

species; and all likewise know how difficult it is to eradicate a

nominal species from our systems. Probably few naturalists now —

doubt that many currently received species rest solely on char-

acters of individual variation, and it seems to me unwise to retain

such species as are unquestionably of this character in the hope that

through some fortunate circumstance they may be some day proved

valid. It séems to me impossible, in fact, that any one who has

compared a large number of specimens of any well known species

with each other, can resist the conviction that, as the number of —

specimens in our museums increases, the number of species will

be greatly reduced, notwithstanding that in the mean time nota

few really new ones may be discovered. I have myself found that —

the more common species of both the birds and mammals of east- —

ern North America—of which I have examined, in many instances,

hundreds of specimens of each—vary in size, and even in propor- —

tions, in specimens from the same locality and of the same sex, —

from twelve to twenty per cent. of their average size and form for

that locality, and to a corresponding extent in color. Add to this

the: ortun range of the geographical variation each species €x- —

hibits, which ordinarily fully equals that of the individual varia-

tion, * and it becomes at once evident that with the custom of —

zoologists to describe species from a single specimen, and often

an imperfect one, and their usual want of familiarity with the ex-

tent of variation within specific limits in the common species of

their own country, the liabilities to an undue multiplication of

species have been, and still are, very great. This to many may be —

3 matter of small moment, but to the philosophical zoologist, who -

esires to carefully Investigate the varied phenomena of animal :

life, it is one of high importance,

pei: said thus much in reply to the strictures of Dr. Gill, I

now reluctantly turn critic, and pass in review the classification of

‘ =

See on this subject a paper in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ;

and Geographical Variation among —

e Value of Certain Assu

- (Vol. I, pp. 186-250) entitled, “ On

. i k

Birds, considered in Respect to its ton ayie man

Characters,” 5

D MPE u

REEE in iin

AT es

REVIEWS. 41

. the eared seals proposed by this author in his above-cited paper.

While still agreeing with him in regard to the comparatively wide

separation of Zalophus from its nearest allies, and in regard to its

being intermediate between the fur and other hair seals in respect

to size, but only in this point, I am compelled to still differ with

him in respect to its constituting a primary group coordinate with

that of all the other eared seals.* Whilst a somewhat aberrant

form, it seems to me to be by no means very far removed from

Eumetopias and Otaria. I can, in fact, scarcely comprehend how

it has happened that the author in question has overlooked the

presence of a well developed sagittal crest in all the genera of

the Otariade except Zalophus, as he seems to have done in the

differentiation of his two primary groups of this family. The

supposition that he has examined only the skulls of females or

young males of the other genera is hardly sufficient to explain this

oversight, since figures indicating its presence in the males of the

other genera have been long published, to say nothing of the many

distinct allusions to it by authors. While familiar with the distinc-

tive characters of Zalophus, he has failed to indicate them in his di-

agnoses, the comparatively unimportant character furnished by the

rostral outline being far less characteristic than its slender elon-

gated muzzle and other features, which had previously been well

pointed out by Dr. Gill, as well as by other writers. The sagittal

crest reaches, it is true, its maximum development in Zalophus;

but any one who has seen the high sagittal crest possessed by old

males of Eumetopias Stelleri, in which as a thin solid plate it at-

tains the height of 38 mm., or an inch and a half; and the rela-

tively scarcely less developed sagittal crest in old males of Callo-

rhinus ursinus; and the figure of old male skulls of Otaria jubata,

and some of the species of Arctocephalus, in which a high sagittal

crest is represented; cannot but be surprised to find in what is -

assumed to be an enumeration of ‘‘the most obvious and dis-

tinctive characters” of the genera Callorhinus, Arctocephalus,

Otaria and Eumetopias, a diagnosis contrasting “‘ a sagittal groove

from which are reflected the low ridges indicating the limits of the

temporal muscles” in these genera, with ‘‘a solid, thin, and much

elevated sagittal crest” in Zalophus! The females of Callorhinus

ursinus and Otaria jubata, and, so far as at present known, of all

*See American Naturalist, Vol. IV, p. 681.

42 REVIEWS.

the eared seals, have the ‘‘ sagittal groove,” etc., as above de-

scribed, as do also the males till they have attained nearly their

full size. The sagittal crest in the males of Eumetopias and

Callorhinus rises at first as a double ridge on each side of the

sagittal suture, beginning at the hinder part of thé skull. It

develops most rapidly in its posterior part, and gradually ex-

- tends anteriorly to a point opposite the orbital processes. Grad-

ually the laminæ of this double plate become soldered into one,

uniting first posteriorly, while anteriorly the crest remains com-

posed of two closely applied thin plates, which, in old age, be-

come firmly united the whole length. The sagittal crest in old

male skulls of Zalophus hence differs from the corresponding crest

in Eumetopias and Callorhinus, only in being relatively somewhat

higher, and in being more produced anteriorly. I am not sure,

however, .that in very aged animals even this slight difference

would be constant. In one of the skulls of Zalophus I have seen,

the two plates were not entirely soldered at their anterior end,

thus indicating their development primarily as a double plate, as

in Eumetopias and Callorhinus. The only other character given

48 separating these two groups—that of the rostral profile —I

deem too trivial to require more than the incidental remark already

given to it.

In concluding, I may add that the deservedly high standing of

my critic as a naturalist seemed to demand from me, in justice to

myself, some notice of his sweeping criticisms, especially since

not merely the assumed value of the characters given by me as

distinguishing what I considered to be two primary groups of the

Otariadæ were questioned, but also even the existence of such

distinctions ; but more especially it was due to the interests of sci-

ence that his incorrect diagnosis of one of the two groups he con-

siders as the two primary groups of this family, should not pass

unnoticed, since on this error was based a new classification of the

Otariade. Having done this, the writer will here let the subject

rest.— J. A. A.

Tue EARLY STAGES OF ICHNEUMON Parasrres.*-—These em-

bryological studies were made by Prof. Ganin on the eggs of

Platygaster, Polynema, Teleas and Ophioneurus, which are minute

, w. Diebold and Kölliker: : 2 i

plates. Leipzig. ` ws Zeitschrift. 1869, pp. 381-451, with 4 .

REVIEWS. 43

ichneumon egg-parasites of the hymenopterous family Proctotry-

pide, of which the Platygaster of the Canker worm (Fig. 14) and

Platygaster error Fitch (Fig. 15, copied from the ‘Guide to the’

Study of Insects”) are familiar examples. It has been generally

supposed that the larve of these egg-parasites were little foot-

Fig. 14. less, white maggots, like the young of other ich-

VS neumon flies. In the valuable and well illustrated

memoir before us, however, the author, a Russian

* professor who pursued these studies under the direc-

Egg-parasite ot ON OF the distinguished Leuckart of Giessen, shows

Canker Worm. that the insects pass through a series of remarkable

changes before assuming the final, and more normal larval state,

the series of changes indicating a succession of metamorphoses,

comparable, as Ganin says, to the hyper-metamorphosis of Meloé

and Sitaris. |

The earliest stages of the embryo of Platygaster were observed

in the youngest specimens of Cecidomyia larvæ, or dipterous gall

maggots, which live exposed on

young willow leaves. The female

sometimes lays from twelve to fif-

teen eggs in the body of the larval

Cecidomyia, though usually not so ¥

many. When they are numerous

they are not all laid at one time,

as the embryos are found to be in

different stages of development.

Usually only one out of the whole

number of embryos leaves the bod

of its host as a fly. The eggs are generally laid in the masses of

cells composing the “fatty body,” and in the interior of (or be-

neath, im innern) the supracesophageal ganglion of the Cecidomyia

larva. Not one species only, but sometimes three species of Platy- `

gaster oviposited in the body of a single gall-fly maggot. These

differed from each other in the size of the egg, and very strik-

ingly in the form of their first larval stages. One of these Platy-

gasters lays its eggs (from one to six) almost exclusively in the

intestines of the gall maggot. The eggs of the other species of

Platygaster are usually found in the body-cavity of their host. It

is sometimes impossible to find a Cecidomyia larva which is not

infested by these parasites. The death of the host oceurs shortly

Platygaster error.

44 REVIEWS.

before pupation, at least Ganin could never find any Platygaster

in any other situation than in the larva of Cecidomyia.

` The eggs of Platygaster taken from the ovary of a female two

or three days after leaving the pupa, are long, oval, with a long

thin stalk, and a very elastic shell (chorion). During the develop-

ment of the embryo the egg increases in size from ten to fifteen

times its original bulk. The eggs of this and the other genera

mentioned below, differ from those of other insects in wanting the ` |

nutrient yolk-cells (ernihrungsdotter). The entire egg consists

of the formative yolk-cells (bildungsdotter). This formative yolk

appears as a pale, thick, structureless protoplasm, in which the

so-called yolk cellules, or nuclei (dotterkérnchen), are wanting. In

the central part of the egg we find in the direction of its longer

axis, a considerable number of transparent molecular cellules ; but

at the periphery of the egg, these most minute of all organized

histological structures are wanting. The protoplasm of the egg is

wholly structureless.

The ovarian egg is formed by the growth of a cell lying at

the hinder pole of the egg tube. This egg-cell has at first no

membrane ; its transparent, viscid protoplasm gives origin to the

yolk. The small, sharply contoured nucleus of the egg is no other

than the primitive vesicle of the egg. The primitive vesicle dis-

appears when the imago leaves the pupa. Its ground substance, as

also that of the granular portion, resembling the white of an egg,

is converted into a fine, molecular mass, which is found in the

central part of the ripe egg. The number of egg tubes in each

ovary is thirty, corresponding to the number of eggs in each tube.

‘The ovary of Platygaster differs from that of all other insects

in that it is a closed tube, or sac. Hence it follows that at every

time an egg is laid, the egg tube is ruptured. This was also ob-

served in the Sheep tick (Melophagus) by Leuckart, and in certain

flies (Limnobia, Psychoda, and Mycetobia) by Ganin.

The earliest stage observed after the egg is laid, is that in which

thè egg contains a single cell with a nucleus and nucleolus. Out of

this cell (Fig. 16 A, a) arise two other cells. The central cell

(@) gives origin to the embryo. The two outer ones multiply

by subdivision and form the embryonal membrane, or ‘ amnion,”

which is a provisional envelope and does not assist in building up

the body of the germ. The central single cell, however, multiplies

by the subdivision of its nucleus, thus building up the body of the

ae)

REVIEWS. 45

germ. Fig. 16 B, g, shows the yolk or germ just forming out of

the nuclei (a) ; and b, the peripheral cells of the blastoderm skin, or

“amnion.” Fig. 16 C shows the yolk transformed into the embryo

(g), with the outer layer of blastodermic cells (b). The body of

the germ is infolded, so that the embryo appears bent on itself.

Fig. 16 D shows the embryo much farther advanced, with the two

pairs of lobes (md, rudimentary mandibles; d, rudimentary pad-like

- organs, seen in a more advanced stage in Æ), and the bilobate tail

. Fig. 16.

OGL,

ers!

FSS

VOY T

CRUD

(PAH

di-

condition it clings to the inside of its host by means of its hook-

like jaws (md), moving about like a Cestodes embryo with its

46 REVIEWS. =

well known six hooks. The tail moves up and down, and is of

but little assistance in its efforts to change its place. Singularly

enough, the nervous, vascular, and respiratory systems (trachezx)

are wanting, and the alimentary canal is a blind sac, remaining in

an indifferent, or unorganized state. How long it remains in this

stage could not be ascertained. E

The second larval stage (Fig. 18; œ, esophagus ; ng, supraœso-

phageal ganglion ; n, nervous cord ; ga, and g, genital organs; ms,

bands of muscles) is attained by means

of a moult, as usual in the metamor-

phoses of insects. . With the change of

skin the larva entirely changes its form.

So-called hypodermic cells are devel-

oped. The singular tail is dropped,

the segments of the body disappear,

and the body grows oval, while within

begins a series of remarkable changes,

like the ordinary development of the

embryo of most other insects within the

egg. The cells of the hypodermis mul-

tiply greatly, and lie one above the

other in numerous layers. They give

rise to a special primitive organ closely

resembling the “ primitive band” of all

insect embryos. The alimentary canal

is made anew, and the nervous and

vascular systems now appear, but the

trache are not yet formed. It re-

mains in this state for a much longer

period than in the previous stage.

The third larval form only a few live —

to reach. This is of the usual long,

oval form of the larvæ of ichneumons, and the body has thirteen:

segments exclusive of the head. The muscular system has greatly

developed and the larva is much more lively in its motions than _

before. The new organs that develop are the air tubes and fat

bodies. The “imaginal dises” or rudimentary portions destined

to develop and form the skin of the adult, or imago, arise in

i the pupa state, which resembles that of other ichneumons. These

dises are only engaged, in Platygaster, in building up the rudi-

Fig. 17.

First larva of Platygaster.

. REVIEWS. 47

mentary appendages, while in the flies (Muscidse and Corethra)

they build up the whole body, according to the remarkable dis-

covery of Weismann.

The origin of the sting is clearly ascertained. Ganin shows

that it consists of three pairs of tubercles, situated respectively

on the 7th, 8th, and 9th segments of the abdomen* (Fig. 19, tg).

The labium is not developed from a pair of tubercles, as is usual,

but at once appears as an unpaired, or single, organ. The pupa

state lasts for five or six days, and when the imago appears it eats

its way out through a small

Fig. 18.

round opening in the end of the

skin of its host, the Cecidomyia æ CoS

larva. i AE `

Not less interesting is the his-

tory of the development of a spe- F

cies of Polynema, another egg- EB

parasite, which lays its eggs & Şi z

(one, seldom two) in the eggs of | Be 004 2%

a small dragon fly, Agrion virgo, 1 20058 p 9,2

which oviposits in the paren- R me ) oye oak

chyma of the leaves of water- È D o“

lilies (Nymphea). The eggs de- RNG

velop as in Platygaster. The <a LOO

earliest stage of the embryo is 9%--------& 0 PNY

very remarkable. It leaves the - ITTA,

egg when very small and immoy-

- able, and with scarcely a trace of Beeomi Tarva ot TETERE

organization, being a mere flask-shaped sac of cells.} It remains

in this state five or six days.

*The riod in his “ Guide to the Study of Insects,” p. 14, and previously, in the

Pr f the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. xi, p. 393, 1868, has shown

that the ovipositor of Bombus s-arises from three pairs of garg like ge dp by

zanin, but the two anteri oth ing from the’same(pennl-

ate) he abdomen. It is mot improbable ie at an ges pero each

pair arises from a hirer ate segment, as in Platygaster. Later inced

e reviewer that these organs are ROMO | with Pe abdominal Jointed s stylets of of

many insects, outh; and e

wae _ % spring mor Poduræ.

minds us (th in d tion it) of the pieng of the em-

bryo of Julus, the Thou sand legs, dom pera: to Newport, hatches the 25th day

er the egg is laid. At this period the embryo is partially organi: aar re om faint

traces of Barini ts, and it is ae forelopen, in its embryona UE and retains

its connection with the shell. en it

throws off its em Aie l oana Tna ab cy Ae Ie th

48 REVIEWS.

” In the second stage, or Histriobdella-like form, the larva is, in

its general appearance, like the low worm to which Ganin compares —

it. It may be described as bearing a general resemblance to

the third and fully developed larval form (Fig. 19, tg, three pairs

of abdominal tubercles destined to form the sting ; l, rudiments of »

the legs; fk, portion of the fatty body ; at, rudiments of the an- .

tenn; fl, imaginal discs, or rudiments of the wings). No

trachee are developed in the larva, nor do any exist in the

Fig. 19. imago (Ganin thinks, that as these insects are

somewhat aquatic, the adult insects flying over

the surface of the water, the wings may act

as respiratory organs, like gills.) It lives six

to seven days before pupating, and remains

from ten to twelve days in the pupa state.

The development of Ophioneurus, another

fj? and Polynema. This egg-parasite passes its

early life in the eggs of Pieris brassice, and

two or three live to reach the imago state,

though about six eggs are deposited by the

G cx

Sey Gees,

R, 3°

5 4

Sue

w The larva is at first of the førm indicated by

Fig. 20 E, and when fully grown becomes

of a broad oval form, the body not being

divided into segments. It differs from the

genera already mentioned, in remaining within

its egg membrane, and not assuming their

strange forms. From the non-segmented, sac-like larva, it passes

directly into the pupa state.

First larva of Polynema.

` The last egg-parasite noticed by Ganin, is Teleas, whose devel- :

opment resembles that of Platygaster. It is a parasite in the

eggs of Gerris, the Water Boatman. Fig. 20 A represents the

egg ; B, C, and D, the first stage of the larva, the abdomen (or pos-

terior division of the body) being furnished with a series of bris-

tles on each side. (B represents the ventral, C the dorsal, and D

the profile view; at, antenne; md, hook-like mandibles; M90,

mouth; b, bristles; m, intestine; sw, the tail; ul, under lip, oF

labium). In the second larval stage, which is oval in form, an

non-segmented, the primitive band is formed.

In concluding the account of his remarkable discoveries, Ganin

egg-parasite, agrees with that of Platygaster — |

female. The eggs are oval, and not stalked.

m oni Faas IEEE eT ee araa cis ee:

sh ee RR a ag SS EIE E a E T al os ea Ra eee ea eer Seema ee

See

REVIEWS. 49

draws attention to the great differences in the formation of the

egg and the germ of these parasites from what occurs in other

insects. The egg has no nutritive cells; the formation of the

primitive band, usually the first indication of the germ, is retarded

till the second larval stage is attained; and the embryonal mem-

brane is not homologous with the so-called ‘‘amnion” of other

insects, but may possibly be compared witb the skin developed on

the upper side of the germ of the low, worm-like acarian, Pen-

tastomum, and the ‘larval skin” of the embryos of many low

Crustacea. He says, also, that we cannot, perhaps, find the ho-

mologues of the provisional organs of the larva, such as the

singularly shaped an-

tennz, the claw-like

mandibles, the tongue- -

or ear-like appendages,

in other Arthropoda

(insects and Crusta--

cea); but that they

may be found in the

parasitic Lernean crus-

taceans, and in the

leeches, such as His-

triobdella. He is also

struck by the similarity

in the development of fi-

these egg-parasites to IB;

that of a kind of leech

a ) ance Development of Egg-parasite. : F

with ciliæ, recalling the larva of Teleas (Fig. B, C,), while in the

true leeches (Hirudo) the primitive band is not developed until

r they have passed through a provisional larval stage.

This er metamorphosis of the nee peaniien; Ganin

also compares to the so-called ‘‘ hyper-metamorphosis

insects (Meloe, Sitaris, and the Stylopidz) made kaom by Sie

bold, Newport and Fabre, and he considers it to be of the same

nature.

Fig. 20.

DOVOO GN

DWOOOE

Jinan id dibsivg eetipeses such early larval, fortes es these

given in Figs. 17 and 19 to the free swimming Copepoda. Finally,

he says a few words on the theory of evolution, and remarks

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 4

50 REVIEWS.

‘there is no doubt that, if a solution of the questions arising

concerning the genealogical relations of different animals among

themselves is possible, comparative embryology will afford the first

and truest principles.” He modestly suggests that the facts pre-

sented in his paper will widen our views on the genetic relations

of the insects to other animals, and refers to the opinion first ex-

pressed by Fritz Miller (Fir Darwin, p. 91), and endorsed by-

Heeckel in his “ Generelle Morphologie,” that we must seek for the

ancestors of insects and Arachnida in the Zoéa form of Crustacea.

He cautiously remarks, however, that “the embryos and larva ob-

served by me in the egg-parasites, open up a new and wide field

for a whole series of such considerations; but I will suppress

them, since I am firmly convinced that a theory which I build up

to-day, can easily be destroyed with some few facts which I learn —

to-morrow. Since comparative embryology as a science does not

yet exist, so do I think that all genetic theories are too premature, —

and without a strong scientific foundation.”

_ The reviewer is perhaps less cautious, but he cannot refrain from

making some reflections suggested by the remarkable discoveries

of Ganin. In the first place, these facts bear strongly on Cope

and Hyatt’s theory of evolution by “acceleration and retardation.”

In the history of these early larval stages we see a remarkable ac-

celeration, or hurrying up, of the embryo. A simple sac of unor-

ganized cells, with a half-made intestine, so to speak, is hatched,

and made-to do the duty of an ordinary, quite highly organized `

_larva. Even the formation of the “primitive band,” usually the

first indication of the organization of the germ, is postponed

to s comparatively late period in larval life. The different ana-

tomical systems, the heart, with its vessels, the nervous system,

and the respiratory system (tracheæ), appear at longer or shorter

intervals, while in one genus, the tracheæ are not developed at all.

Thus some portions of the animal are accelerated in their develop- -

ment more than others, while others are retarded, and in others

still certain organs. are not developed at all. Meanwhile all live

in.a fluid medium, with much the same habits, and surrounded

with quite similar physical conditions.

The highest degree of acceleration is seen in the reproductive

organs of the Cecidomyian larva of Miastor, which produces &

summer brood of young, alive, and which live free in the body of

the child-parent ; and in the pupa of Chironomus, which has. been

REVIEWS. 51

recently shown by Von Grimm, a fellow countryman of Ganin, to

produce young in the spring, while the adult fly lays eggs in the

autumn in the usual manner. This is in fact a true virgin repro-

duction, and directly comparable to the alternation of generations

observed in the jelly fishes, in Salpa, and certain intestinal worms.

We can now, in the light of the researches of Ganin, Siebold,

Leuckart, and others, trace more closely than ever the connection

between simple growth and metamorphosis, and metamorphosis and

parthenogenesis, and perceive that they are but the terms of a sin-

gle series. By the acceleration of a single set of organs (the repro-

ductive), no more wonderful than the acceleration and retardation

of the other systems of organs, so clearly pointed out in the em-

bryos of Platygaster and its allies, we see how parthenogenesis

under certain conditions may result. The barren Platygaster-

larva, the fertile Cecidomyia larva, the fertile Aphis larva, the

_ fertile Chironomus pupa, the fertile hydroid polyp, and the fertile

adult queen bee, are simply animals in different degrees of organi-

zation, and with reproductive systems differing not in quality, but

in the greater or less rapidity of their development as compared

with the rest of the body.

Another interesting point is, that while the larvee vary so re-

markably in form, the adult ichneumon flies are remarkably simi-

lar to one another. Do the differences in their larval history seem

to point back to certain. still more divergent ancestral forms?

These remarkable hyper-metamorphoses remind us of the meta-

morphosis of the embryo of Echinoderms into the Pluteus- and

Bipinnaria-forms of the star-fish, sea-urchins, and :Holothuriæ ;

of the Actinotrocha-form larva of the Sipunculoid worms; of the

Cerearia-form larva of Distoma; of the Pilidium-form larva of

Nemertes; and the larval forms of the leeches ;* as well as the

acarian Pentastomum, and certain other aberrant mites, such as

Myobia, and in a less degree certain other more highly organized

mites, such as Atax, and Hydrachna, and the ticks, which may

almost be said to, pass through a byper-metamorphosis.

‘While Fritz Miller and Dohrn have considered the insects as

having descended from the Crustacea (some primitive zoéa-form),

* Leuckart, in his great work, “ Die Menschlichen Parasiten,” p. 700, after the anal-

ogy of Hirudo, which Tam a primitive streak late in larval life, ventures to con-

sider the first indications o f the germ o of Nemertes in its larval, P. Pilidinm-form as a

primitive streak. He al hat the develop t he | 1 ul fi f th

Echinoderms is the same in ‘kind.

52 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

and Dohrn has adduced the supposed zoéa-form larva of these egg-

parasites as a proof, we cannot but think in a subject so purely

speculative as the ancestry of animals, that the facts brought out

by Ganin tend to confirm the reviewer’s theory, expressed in the

last number of this journal, that the ancestry of all the insects

(including the Arachnids and Myriapods) should be traced directly

to the worms. The development of the degraded, aberrant arach-

nidan Pentastomum accords, in some important respects, with that

of the intestinal worms. The Leptus-form larva of Julus, with its

strange embryological development, in some respects so like that

of some worms, points in that direction, as certainly as does the

embryological development of the egg-parasite Ophioneurus. The

Nauplius form of the embryo or larva of all Crustacea, also points

` back to the worms as their ancestors, the divergence having per-

haps originated in the Rotatoria. In these similar modes of devel-

opment between the worms and the Crustacea on the one hand, ,

and the worms and insects on the other, have we not a strong

genetic bond uniting these three great classes into one grand sub-

kingdom; and can we not in imagination perceive the successive

steps by which the Creator, acting through the secondary laws of

evolution, has built up the great articulate division of the animal 4

kingdom ?— A. S. P. E

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

TRANSPIRATION OF AQUEOUS VAPOR BY THE LEAVES OF PLANTS:

— Professor McNab of Cirencester College, England, has recently

published an important series of experiments on this subject.

The plant experimented on was in all cases the common cherry-

ouh under the following heads :—1, Quantity of water in the

yos, The mean of several experiments gave 63.4 per cent. 2.

Quantity of water which can be removed by calcium chloride, of

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 53

sulphuric acid, in vacuo. This was found to be from 5.08 to 6.09

per cent. 3. Amount of transpirable fluid in the stem and leaves,

7.58 per cent. The remainder, from 56 to 57 per cent., was there-

fore determined to be fluid in relation to the cell-sap of the plants.

4. Rapidity of transpiration in sunlight, diffused light, and dark-

ness. The results given are:—in sunlight, 3.03 per cent. in an

hour; in diffused daylight, 0.59 per cent.; in darkness, 0.45 per

cent. 5. Amount of fluid transpired in a saturated, and in a dry

atmosphere in the sun, and in diffused daylight. In sunshine, the

experiments gave 25.96 per cent. in an hour, in a saturated atmos-

phere; 20.52 per cent. in a dry atmosphere ; in the shade the re-

sults were reversed, nothing whatever in a saturated, 1.69 per

cent. in a dry atmosphere. These results strikingly confirm the

earlier experiments of Dehérain, that evaporation from leaves is

due to light and not to heat, and that it proceeds equally in a per-

. fectly saturated atmosphere. 6. Quantity of water taken up by

leaves when immersed in it. The mean of several experiments

gave 4.37 per cent. in one and one-half hours. 7. Quantity of

aqueous vapor absorbed by leaves in a secluded atmosphere.

This was found to be nil, again confirming the statement of M.M.

Prillieux and Duchartre that plants absorb no moisture whatever

in the state of vapor through their leaves. 8. Differences in the

amount of fluid transpired by the upper and under side of leaves

in the sun and in diffused daylight. From the upper surface in

sun 1.74 per cent. in an hour, from the under surface 12.33 per

cent. ; from the upper surface in diffused light 2.82 per cent. in

forty-eight hours, from the under surface 16.08 per cent.; from

both sides when coated with collodion, 0.86 per cent. in sun, 2.56

per cent. in diffused light. 9. Relation of fluid taken up, to that

transpired, and that retained, by the plant. Increase of weight of

branch in saturated atmosphere, diffused daylight, in forty-eight

hours, 7.34 per cent., in ordinary atmosphere, 7.14 per cent., in

darkness, 3.01 per cent. 10. Rapidity of ascent of fluids. From

4 7212 inches in ten minutes to 8-7-12 inches in ten minutes. 11.

Influences of gases on transpiration. Transpiration of fluid in

. oxygen in one hour in sun, 12.77 per cent., in atmospheric air, 7.5

per cent., in carbonic acid, 4.01 per cent., in nitrogen, 1.97 per

cent. The bad weather, and the lateness of the season, terminated

the experiments before several points of interest could be fully

determined. — A. W. B. ©

54 ! NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Mare Frowers on THE Ear or Inpran Corn.—In the April

number of the American Naruratist, we expressed a desire to see

specimens with a part of the ear male, that being so very much

rarer than the case of the male panicle bearing female flowers

and fruit, which, indeed, is common enough. Our correspondent,

Dr. Henry Shimer, of Mt. Carmel, Ill., has sent us a specimen,

accompanied by a long communication, touching upon hypotheti-

cal matters which we do not care now to discuss. We will only

remark that the instance is not the one we had in view in asking.

We wanted to see male flowers on the ear, that is, male flowers in

the place of female ones, or else hermaphrodite flowers. But Dr.

Shimer’s instance is not of that sort. It is a case of a male pani- — d

cle produced from the apex of a female spike, which, as he re-

marks, is too common to excite much attention.

FLOWERING OF THE VICTORIA REGIA IN THE OPEN Arr. — Joseph

Mager, Esq., has succeeded in flowering the Victoria Lily in his

pond in England. The pond is perfectly open, but the water is

heated by hot water pipes coming from a boiler near the pond,

carefully concealed. The seeds of the Victoria were planted in

May last, and the first flower was produced Sept. 10th. After-

wards seven other flowers opened. The plant has eight leaves, of

which the largest is five feet, two inches, in diameter. Mr. Mager

has also succeeded in flowering a large number of other tropical

-lilies in his pond. The “London Field” for Nov. 26th, gives an

engraving of the pond, and an account of the treasures it con-

tains.

_ sores IN THE Derrorr River.—Though the Isoetes has been

found in the Niagara river, and in the Oswego river near the Falls,

and also at Sault St. Marie, near Lake Superior, the Lake botan-

ists had failed to find it in our vicinity. This last season, how- l

ever, after many fruitless searches, I discovered it (September

lith, 1870) at Windsor, Ontario. The specimens I at once found

to be a well-marked form of I. echinospora Durien. In a subse-

quent search (September 18th), I found the same species, but of @

distinct form, at Sandwich, Ontario, a point farther down our river.

At both points, which are about three miles apart, and opposite

the city of Detroit, the plants were taken from the river; and I

attribute their growing on that side to the soil being more grav-

elly there than on the north side.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. à 55

All of the specimens are quite small, the largest hardly exceed-

ing three inches in height. In my Windsor plant the presence of

stomata is at once apparent; the spinules on the macrospores are

short, thick, and in connected ridges ; the microspores being abun-

dant and characteristic of the species. In the Sandwich plant the

stomata, though present, are more difficult to find, being very few

and indistinct; and the macrospores, though of equal size with

those of the former plant (about 0.23 in diameter) differ in being

provided with spinules which are long, slender, and, occasionally,

slightly forked. No microspores were observed. The presence of

stomata in both these distinct forms of this species, which is a

most variable one, is worthy of note. — Henry GILLMAN, Detroit,

Michigan. ,

ZOOLOGY.

A New Genus or Bracnrorops.— Among some small shells

(supposed to be the young of Waldheimia cranium), recently re-

ceived from the Northeast Atlantic, through Mr. Jeffreys, were

three specimens of an undescribed genus of the subfamily Terebra-

tuline. The shell resembles Magasella, being smooth and with an

incomplete foramen. The loop nearly resembles that of Ismenia

sanguinea Chemn., but has no secondary attachment to the hemal

valve, and the latter is destitute of a septum. I propose, for the

genus, the name of Frenula, from the bridle-shaped loop ; and, for

the species, that of Frenula Jeffreysii. More extended descrip-

tions are in preparation. — W. H. DALL

EMBRYOLOGY or LmmvuLus. — A reviewer in the Quarterly Jour-

nal of Microscopical Science (Jan. 1871, p. 89), seems to think it

very little to our credit that the embryology of Limulus should have

remained so long unknown, “seeing that they are favored by its

_presence in abundance on their coasts.” This is hardly a charitable

view to take of the subject, and shows that the writer of the notice

has not the most remote idea of the difficulty attending researches

on the sea coast. It is impossible to make connected observations,

without extending them over a long series of years, and no one who

is not thoroughly familiar with the habits of any marine animal at

all seasons of the year, can hope to accomplish anything more than

the most fragmentary work. The time of spawning of many of

our most common inhabitants of the coast, is often very short,

56 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

and several seasons are frequently wasted in finding out this point-

alone. The difficulties are greatly increased when the workers live

at some distance from the coast, and instead of the slurs the writer

seems to cast upon the work which has been so well done as far

as it is intended to go (see paper to be issued in Memoirs Boston

Soe. Nat. Hist. 1871), he might have spent some of his ingenuity

in looking over the long list of marine animals, known to live on

the coast of Great Britain, of which the development is unknown

(many of which are fully as important as Limulus), and do what

he could to fill the gaps. We might suggest to the reviewer the

Spatangoids, the Ctenophore, the eggs of which can be more

readily supplied to him than those of Limulus, from the English

side of the Atlantic, and to come to more accessible material,

any one of the many families of marine fishes of which we as yet

know nothing, neither in England nor elsewhere.

Readers of the Journal who are informed as to the progress of

science will be astonished to hear of “ Hacken’s * law of individual

development epitomizing paleontological development!” and to

learn that A. Dohrn and E. Van Beneden are the great pioneers in

the “speculations on the phylogeny of Arthropoda.” As the

writer seems to have but a partial knowledge of what has been

done in Germany and Russia, we would refer him to Siebold’s

Zeitschrift for further information.—* *

Tur Piczon Hawx.—In the September number of your jour-

nal, Vol. iv, page 439, Mr. Winfred Stearns, of Amherst, com-

ments upon Mr. Samuel’s statement that he never saw the nest of

the Pigeon Hawk, and knows of but one instance in which it has

ever been found in New England. Mr. Stearns thinks Mr. Sam-

‘uel could not have inquired much into the matter, as he, Mr.

Stearns, has found no less than three nests in that very town of

Amherst. Unfortunately for Mr. Stearns’s statement, yet fortu-

nately as enabling one to test the correctness of his alleged fact,’

he states that these nests were all in hollow trees. This is a condi-

tion in which the nest of a Pigeon Hawk is never found, and one in

which no other hawk than the Sparrow Hawk is ever found, demon-

Sis aiies iS a A at a aa

sia i ey of individual development epitomizing paleontological develop-

count s ed sft Professor Agassiz’s teachings, as familiar to students in this

aot so : cae old words. His statement of the law appears as early as 1857, a

ia pgp on Classification being devoted to this subject. Agassiz also

i w so early as the publication of the “Poissons Fossiles,” and

Milne-Edwards referred to it in 1844 in the “ Annales des Sciences Naturelles.” ehh

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 57

strating at once that the hawks referred to by Mr. Stearns were

the latter birds, which are not uncommon in that part of the State.

I deem it of sufficient importance that an error in bird history so

serious as Mr. Stearns has made should be set right, and not be

permitted to pass unchallenged or accepted as fact.

I may be permitted to add that I have ‘‘ inquired into the mat-

ter” for the past forty years, and I have yet to know of the first

well authenticated instance of the nest and eggs of the Pigeon

Hawk having ever been found in any part of Massachusetts.

That it may breed in some mountainous and wild regions is, of

course, possible, and my inability to trace it is only negative testi-

mony. The horizon of one man is at the best very limited, and

many ornithological facts occur that are not dreamed of in his

philosophy. If any one else has “inquired into the matter” more

successfully, I shall be very glad to be informed thereof. —T.

BREWER.

PARTHENOGENESIS IN THE Pura Strate oF Insects.—In Vol. XV.,

No. 8, of the “ Memoirs of the Academy of St. Petersburg,” M. O.

von Grimm, describes a curious instance of Parthenogenesis in a

species of the dipterous genus Chironomus. Like the well-known

case of Miastor, discovered by Prof. Wagner, this is an example

of reproduction by an insect in one of its preparatory, and there-

fore sexless stages, called Poedogenesis, by Von Baer. The forma-

tion of the egg-like reproductive bodies commences in the larve ;

but the eggs are not extruded until the insect has passed into the

pupa state. It appears that in the spring the larvee, produced in

the ordinary way from eggs, grow rapidly, and after the third

change of skin, attain their full size, and show distinct traces of

the pupa within them. The eggs are produced direct from the

pupa in this condition. In the autumn the course of development

during the preparatory changes is precisely the same; the pupa,

however, changes into the imago, which deposits the eggs, prob-

ably after copulation, in the ordinary manner. he mode of

development of the eggs and ovaries, and that of the embryo in

the egg, are described by the author at considerable length, and

illustrated by good figures. The eggs are developed in the same

way, both in the spring and in the autumn, although in the one

case they will be deposited by the pupa, and in the other by the

imago; and as they present no difference in their structure, the

58 i NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

author regards them all as eggs, and rejects the distinction into

ova and pseudova. He seems inclined to adopt the notion that

- the supposed cases of Parthenogenesis may be due, to self-fecun-

dation. — The Academy.

GEOLOGY.

Cave MamMaAts IN Pennsytvanta.— Prof. Cope, at a recent

meeting of the American Philosophical Society, announced the

discovery by Charles M. Wheatley, of Phoenixville, Penn., of a

cave in the auroral limestone of Chester Co., containing remains

of Postpliocene Mammalia. The species so far recovered, are

a tapir of large size, a small horse, a very large ruminant, and a

mastodon (Trilophodon Ohioticus) ; also some very fine remains of

a Megalonyx, and the remains of a large Mylodon, and the bones

and teeth of a cave bear of large size; it is very distinct from the

Cave Bear of Europe, or the living bears of the Northern Hemi-

sphere ; it is the Ursuspristinus (Arctodus of Leidy). Remains

of serpents, turtles and insects also occur. Prof. Cope stated

that Mr. Wheatley was continuing the excavations, and that he

would make a further communication of results at a future time.

REMAINS OF THE Mammorn iy Evrore.—In addition to the

celebrated skeleton of the Mammoth from Siberia which was found

in such a remarkable state of preservation, the Museum at St.

Petersburg contains a gallery entirely devoted to the remains of

the Elephas primigenius, including probably many nearly entire

skeletons. The most perfect skeleton out of St. Petersburg is

probably one in the Museum at Brussels, found some time since

and recently put together by M. Dupont, the present keeper of

the Museum. An almost entire skull with tusks, was found some

years since at Ilford in the Valley of the Thames, and is now in

the British Museum. From the comparative height and slender-

ness of the skeleton of the mammoth as compared with that of the

existing elephant, it would appear to have been a more active and

lighter-built animal. The excavation of the fortifications around

Antwerp, has led to the discovery not only of elephants’ and mas-

todons’ remains, but of a most wonderful series of cetacean

bones. These are now arranged in a fine gallery in the Brussels

Museum, which now bids fair to be one of the most attractive of

continental institutions.— A. W. B.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 59

Foss Mereorrre.—A new meteorite has just been discovered

in the Miocene deposits of Greenland, and brought to England.

It has been offered, we understand, to the Trustees of the British

Museum for the sum of 240/. This is the first instance on record

of a truly fossil meteorite having been met with. — The Academy.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Dm Man Exist IN THE Tertiary Ace?— The evidence ad-

duced by M. Bourgeois of the discovery of flint flakes and scrapers

in the Miocene strata of Thenay, along with remains of the

hornless rhinoceros and mastodon, proves, according to M.

Hamy, that man was an inhabitant of Miocene Europe. It is,

however, rejected by most of the French and English savants,

because M. Burgeois has not shown that the implements in ques-

tion may not have been derived ultimately from the surface of the

ground, where they are very abundant. While M. Hamy acknowl-

edges this to be the case, he does not see its full bearing on the

value of the testimony. The implements are probably of a Qua-

ternary, or even of post-quaternary age, and certainly cannot be

considered decisive of the sojourn of man in Europe during the

Miocene epoch, although the climate at the time was almost tropi-

cal, and the conditions of life easy. Nor can the evidence of the

grooved bones of Halithere, found by M. Delaunay at Puancé in

Maine-et-Loire, be accepted, because it cannot be proved that the

grooves may not have been caused by some other agency than

that of man. The proof of the existence of man in Europe

during the Pliocene epoch derived from the striz in the fossil

bones found at Saint Prest, and in the valley of the Arno, accepted

by M. Hamy, is equally unsatisfactory. The flint ‘‘ arrow-head”

and other rude fragments said to have been obtained at the

former place from the same horizon as the bones of Elephas

meridionalis, by M. Burgeois, the stout champion of Miocene man,

do not afford the precise and exact testimony which is demanded

for the establishment of the case.

The presence, indeed, of man in Europe in the Miocene and

Pliocene epoch is as yet non-proven, and we must be content to

await future discoveries. The results of the labors of archzolo-

gists and geologists throughout Europe during the last ten years

has not placed the advent of man further back than the river

60 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

gravels of the Somme, and the epoch of the caves, both of which

are post-glacial or post-pliocene, or quaternary, in other words,

posterior to the great submergence and refrigeration of Northern

Kurope, through which many of the Pliocene mammalia were

destroyed.—W. Boyo Dawxrs, in Nature.

Mounps near Princeton, Intros. — In J anuary, 1870, through

the kindness of P. D. Winship, Esq., I visited a place about three

and a half miles south-east of Princeton, Illinois, where there are

several small mounds, one or two of which Mr. Winship and oth-

ers had previously opened. These mounds are very low, and are

situated along an old terrace, which is perhaps sixty or seventy

feet above the bed of a small stream. In one of these mounds

human skeletons were found in a sitting posture, but the bones so

readily crumbled that only portions could be preserved. They

Fig. 21. Fig. 22.

Indian pottery, outside, Indian pottery, inside.

showed, however, that in this mound there were buried at least

one man and one woman. Two small stone implements, some-

ape, were found with the skeletons.

ear to be greenstone, and are similar

ndian burial places,

from the low mound from which the

ments were taken, a slight excavation

EO made, fror Wi M Winship and those with him took the

piece of pottery figured in the accompanying wood-cut (Figs. 21,

NOTES. 61

22). This piece of pottery is evidently made of clay and sand.

It is comparatively smooth on the inside, but more or less regu-

larly wrinkled or ridged on the outside, the ridges undoubtedly

being intended for ornamentation. On the inside of the piece of

pottery there are two holes, which appear as if punched with a

round instrument while the pottery was yet in a plastic state;

the round instrument was not forced clear through the substance,

but so nearly through that the material was raised into a protube-

rance on the outside, just where each hole would have been had

the instrument been forced through. One of these protuberances

appears as if worn off, and thus an opening has been made from

one side to the other ; the opening on the outside, however, is very

small, as seen by the figure.* Two arrowheads, one of very fine

jasper, and the other of coarse jasper, were found with the pottery.

y rods farther down the stream, and on a much lower

terrace, Mr. Winship called my attention to what he called a ‘‘ race-

course.” It was apparently an old race-course, circular, and with

a diameter of two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet; and

the “track” is quite plain, being indicated by a well marked de-

pression. That this is no modern affair is shown by the stump of

a large oak which is standing right in the middle of the track, and

which of course shows us that the tree of which it is a part grew

from an acorn which germinated there since the track ceased to be

used. — Sanborn Tenney, Williams College.

NOTES.

Prorrssor AGassiz recently addressed the Massachusetts Legis-

lative Committee on Public Education, on the present needs and

future prospects of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He

stated that the annual income amounts to a little over $10,000.

This was insufficient to pay the salaries of the corps of twenty-six

assistants, and individuals had generously aided the institution by

gifts of from $1500, to $6000. The total amounts of these con-

tributions, including grants, was $473,000. Its immediate neces-

often ornamented with circular impressions on the outside,

Rite: made by a at hollow bone or iar but -m F the preia instance that has

come under my notice of the imp g .P.

62 NOTES.

sity, though no criterion for the future, is $50,000, for the ar-

rangement of specimens alone ; $25,000 will be needed for other

purposes.

The state of Massachusetts has been generous to Professor

Agassiz, as Director of what we may safely say, is, on the whole

the best conducted, and in many respects most liberal museum in

the world. The time is ripe for the immediate development of a

museum, that shall in all its appointments be a model for all

others, and we trust the liberal minded citizens of a state which

owes so much to science for its wealth and the ‘development of its

intellect, will not let this golden opportunity pass.

Millions have been voted for developing the material resources

of the state. Shall not a museum, which has already done so

much in elevating the standard of. scientific learning in our

country, have its thousands? From motives of simple economy

in money, and as one of the preventives against ignorance, and

crime, the result of inherited ignorance, we would as editors of a

scientific journal heartily urge liberal legislation to foster science

and education. It is by the endowment of the higher institutions

of learning, and our museums and laboratories, that popular edu-

cation will be hereafter best advanced in our country. :

Capt. C. H. Hall has his vessel on the stocks at Washington in

preparation for her work among the ice, and is carefully select-

ing the proper persons to assist in his expedition. The scientific

assistants have not yet been definitely settled upon.

We have had inquiries about “a work on Ferns, by Miss Paine,”

recently, or soon to. be, published. Can any of our readers give

us information about it?

Maj. Gen. Cunning-

- He is, according to

Tribner’s American and Oriental Literary Record, perhaps the

only one thoroughly competent for the post.

A large number of the animals at the

Jardin @ Acclimation have been sold and

A quarto work on the Texas cattle

ricultural Department, is just out,

“The History of Zoology,”

part printed.

Jardin des Plantes and

slaughtered for food.

disease prepared by the Ag-

that is, printed, not published.

by Victor Carus, is already in great

NOTES. 63

The mining volume of the reports on the survey of the 40th

parallel, by Messrs. Clarence King and I. T. Gardner, is in press

and will be the most thorough and valuable work on the mines of

precious metals ever published in America. The report of the

ornithologist, Mr. Robert Ridgeway, is already completed in manu-

script, and will contain a valuable series of most minute and care-

ful observations on the habits, distribution and variations of the

birds of the Rocky Mountain Region. These reports when finished

will be a record of by far the most thorough geodetic survey ever

carried through on this continent. Mr. King is now busy on the

geology, etc., at New Haven, having returned from a series of

mountain measurements which have engaged his attention during

the summer.

The scientists who have accompanied the San Domingo Commis-

sion, are Prof. Wm. P. Blake, principal mineralogist and geologist,

and two assistants, one from Yale and one from Harvard; Dr.

Parry, botanist, with an assistant from the Cambridge Scientific

= School; Prof. Newcombe of Cornell University, general naturalist ;

Prof. Ward, University of Rochester, assistant geologist ;- Hon.

George Geddes, ex-President of New York State Agricultural

Society, and State Engineer, in the agricultural interest.

The California Academy of Science appeals to the public for aid

in erecting a building for its museum and library. The liberal

minded citizens of San Francisco may remember that while aiding

in the advance of science in their own community, scientists else-

where will largely benefit from a generous endowment of this so-

ciety, which has already done so much in developing a knowledge

of the natural and physical history of the Pacific slope of our con-

tinent.

The lovers of Botany in Camden, N. J., have instituted “a Bo-

tanical Circle,” and publish in the local press interesting accounts

of their meetings, which are ħeld monthly. Mr. F. Bourquin has

detected two rare mosses, Diphyscium foliosum and Buxbaumia

aphylla, at Camden. The latter has also been found at Camden by

Miss C; A. Boice. © `

Capt. Hall is quietly organizing his Polar expedition, and has

abundant sympathy from the President and others in his work.

Gen. Sherman has been appointed one of the Regents of the

Smithsonian Institution in place of Gen. Delafield, resigned.

64 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

ANSWERS TO ee A:

ane . M.— The parasitic fungus on the common brake is Xyloma aquilinum Fries.

he fn ragrant fern fs Aspidium fragrans Swartz. We conid: not tell you what the bright

green j jelly-like moss is, without a specimen; a dried specimen is better than none. —

O.—The Bruchus reared from the Olneya is Bruchus nigrinus of Leconte, and ac-

sarang to Dr. Ho orn, who named the specimen, is an Le ub suite irl 8 es.

ed them. rank Forr i ogist as an

authority on matters of "a age ed nomenclature. At the pr ps to time the only Štandard

work on the Birds of Nor merica is that of Baird, Cassin and Law This

work was reissued by ibe Naturalists Aone cy in 1870.’ “oy par ans ppb ‘in this

number. This book will also give you in What you wish to know about the Geese.

J. H. P., Bedford.— The Birda. you es are: 1. Lesser Redpoll Linnet, Zgiothus lin-

aria; 2. Tree Sparrow, Spizella monticola. È

——oe

OKS RECE 7 VED.

"Bulletin de la Societe des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel. Tome 8, Part 3, 1870.

Genres et Especes d’ Insectes S s dans diferents ge ages, par iA - Supple-

ment au Vol, 6 des Hore Soc, Ent Korsica t. Petersburg, 1

Horæ Societatis Entomologicæ a Tom 6. No a T, Nos. L 8 N 870.

Report on the Geological Age Li he dississippi Deita, Ey Protessor E. W Hilgard to Gen.

. A. Humphreys, Wa sh rE A 0. pp. 16.

Characters of undescrib epidoplera Meteracer a, By F. Walker. London. 1869, 8vo. pp. 112.

Tert Book of Natural History, By A.J. Ebell. Pt. 1. 12mo. pp. 9. N. Y. E ngs 1870,

Sitzungsberichte der konigl, ba ayer. Akadem nen ‘der Wissenchaften zu Munch ls39. II. Hett.

iv. 1870. I. Heft, i, ii, iii, iv. Svo. Munchen. aata

Jahrbuch der K. K. Geolo ogischen Reichsanstalt, xix Band. No 4, SEINA Norab De- '

C x os. 1,2. April, May, June, HETA Im r: wp, Wien. üi

Verhandiungen der K. K. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, 1869, . 14-18, Nos. 1, 6-9, 1870.

en.

4 — over det seed Videnskabernes Selskabs. 1868, No. 6. 1869, Nos. 3 and4. 1870, No.

Butletin sa wih Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Mos 1869, No. 4. 1870, No.1. 8yo.

Tra wails &. the Literary and Historical Society of ‘Ghebec, e000, 8vo. Quebec. 1870.

Peabo: y Me morial. Maryland Historical Society. 8vo. pamph. 1870

Synopsis of the Family em By Isaac Lea. 4th edition. Very greatly enlarged and

iy ved, 4to. pp. 1st, Phila. 1

a, 3

ayer Expedition. Geology and Physical Geograph . Fred. Hartt, Ilus-

trations Aul Maaa D EN " end Fields, Os d vaprad A si As

Transactions Americnn Intomological Society. Vol. 3

; Ci Oi

A Discussion of Sund? o Ge ka ; mph, 1870,

Catalogue of yp st A 0 Chenu g Co., N. F. W. Won (20m, B. Rorya Aro pema

ogue of Can

a Gregg, M.D. [elmira oe Bel eiJ 1870,

Catal of a lode, hoe oe

woi Ross, M. D. l 1870, cts and Squirrels, collected in the ity of Be

e moore the later Tert los Hee $

ings Phila dohia Academ tiary 9 Peru E. T. Nelson. New

et y of Natural Science. 3870.

Catalogue of the Recent too Fossil Marginellide, B; s y nn ae

tice and Review

‘onchologica ater a By r. ? e- are 1870.

Annual pr of the Dieser of e Clacinnast Oh i ae: Je pay h.

skett Microscopical Cl is. ma i rh ae Isc. .

y ie Ui

Journai of w Queckett Microscopic 5 Ciub, 2 = pease

arenie of of flow Pour zens s rome Hy the riie a Society atural pate Vol. 1,

t m pper Amazon, By T. A. Conrad.

Tidsskri Jor Popu e Fremstillinger of urvidenskaben, benhavu. 1870.

Couronnes et ae an i Eiran

Memoires Son

des Lettres etdes Beaux de felyique. sty ge tag md ecm mende

Annales oire al = Brussels, tie 1, 1867-9.

Annuaire de ye he Sarah Sve le des Tolone. s Lettre. : s et des g kag Arts de Belgique.

Memoires Couronnes et autres Mem de’. Lettres et des

eau 4 Ps a elles, pate rii Academie Royale des Sciences, des Le

ae “ts de Academie Roya des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Art de Belgique, Brux-

Bidrag tit Kandskab om Fuglenes Bendelorme af H. Kr rabbe, to. nhavn,

Thermochemiske serait pie ved Julius Thomsen, rf T ne wot vn.

; ning oj aldyrene enes Bygni Dr. D 1 t. 4to. benhavn.

Third. Annual EA Trustees ly the ried Muse Bechet rican pereen and

na bingy 3 iggy aus Seinen Review, ae Scienc: ce re

gardon Pie d. Land and Dor. Pre. poe gD om npr a i ugh f a. c amo =

om Sci ‘osmos, Rev

= cademy. American aa of Obstetrics. American eto Jour-

nal Science can Arts (Third Series x

Le Naturahste Canadien. Bulletin Series). fanadian raaior ak ent Quarterly Journal of Science

TEL E

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— APRIL, 1871.— No. 2.

ece TORI TDN

THE SPRING FLOWERS OF COLORADO.

` BY E. L. GREENE.

Ir is the tenth of April, and although the skies are clear, and

the sun’s rays warm enough for early June, yet the Colorado land-

scape shows no indications of spring. The mountain range

which fills the western horizon, is still clad in all the dazzling

white of wintry snows, and remains a picture of beauty and sub-

limity quite indescribable. The plains are brown and bare, as

they were during most of the winter. Here and there, tufts of the

evergreen Soap-weed (Yucca angustifolia), or matted masses of

Prickly Pear, show their perennial verdure, and furnish the only

conspicuous signs of plant life. No April showers have fallen to

revive the grasses, and the herds of long-horned Texas cattle graze

contentedly upon the sere remains of last year’s growth. Yet at

this early date, there are wild flowers, modest, and lovely April

flowers, for the eye that knows where to look for them.

Extending all along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains,

is a series of high and picturesque table-lands, and below and

among them, numerous grassy hills and knolls, all destitute of

trees, often rocky, and apparently as barren as are the plains

around. On sunny slopes, and in sheltered nooks among these

foot-hills, we find our earliest flowers. By the first week in April,

there appears on the very summits of these grassy knolls a real

beauty, which, as it yet lacks an English name, may bear its Latin

one, Townsendia (T. sericea). The plant belongs to the family

" Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in tl Mee of the Caregen of Congress, at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V- 5 (65)

66 = THE SPRING FLOWERS OF COLORADO.

of Composite, an order which has not the charm of furnishing

many early flowers, but which displays its beauties in late summer

or in autumn. Even our Townsendia forms its flower buds and its

foliage in the fall. The plant is almost destitute of a stem, and

the narrow silky leaves form a dense tuft two or three inches broad,

just upon the surface of the ground. Nestling closely among the

pretty leaves are five or six rather large daisy-like flowers. The

rays are either white or rose-color, and the center of each head is

yellow, as is commonly the case in the compound flowers. There

grows with this another species of Townsendia (T. Fendleri),

smaller and more delicate, with more numerous heads, but it flow-

ers nearly a month later. These very pretty plants are well

worthy of a place in our gardens, though they would perhaps be

difficult to rear in any other than their native localities. By the

fifteenth of the month Viola Nuttallii appears on the sunny hill-

sides, a fine yellow violet, with its petals prettily painted outside

with reddish brown. With it Mertensia obtusifolia hangs out its

pendant clusters of light blue.

Passing beyond the foot-hills and entering some mountain gulch

or cañon, we find the rocky slopes all yellow in some places with

the flowers of the Rocky Mountain Barberry. Though a con-

gener of the barberry of the Eastern States and Canada, it is a

trailing evergreen shrub, and the flowers are succeeded by hand-

some blue berries like frost grapes. This is Berberis aquifolium of

the authors. Higher up among the rocks are the large pale purple

flowers of Anemone patens, one of the finest of Rocky Mountain

plants, but it is quite common as far eastward as Wisconsin, on

bleak, gravelly hills. With it in the mountains of Colorado, grows

a modest little cruciferous plant with white flowers (Thlaspi

Fendleri) ; also a peculiar species of crowfoot (Ranunculus glaber-

ninus), all of which are among the first flowers to, appear.

By the twentieth of April, the zealous flower hunter will be am-

ply rewarded for his toil, if he ventures to the top of some one of

the table mountains. The task will indeed not be an easy one, for

many tiresome stages must be made, up steep declivities, and

among sharp and rugged rocks, and over what from the base may

seem almost insurmountable, the high and almost unbroken wall

of perpendicular rock, which invariably encircles the summits of

these table mountains. High among these sublime formations,

which stand pictured against the sky, like giant castle works, wild

THE SPRING FLOWERS OF COLORADO. 67

birds of bolder wing construct their homes securely, and from

many a dark recess the melancholy owl pours forth her plaintive

wailings upon the ear of night. Yet these mighty barriers are

not altogether impassable. Among the irregularities of their out-

line are places where little streams bordered with shrubs and bushes

-come singing down among the rocks, from the table land. Even

broad and easy passage ways may be sought out by the eye before

commencing the ascent.

These table lands, when reached, are usually found to present

an uneven surface of bare rock, or, in places, of shallow soil.

There are even extensive meadows on some of them with occasion-

ally a pond of water. In sheltered situations opening toward the

south where the spring sun first drove away the snow, there are al-

ready some real treasures for the botanist’s portfolio. In every

crevice and hollow, where there is a little soil, we find a very

handsome cruciferous plant which has yet no name by which to be

known, save the Latinized Greek one, Physaria didymocarpa. Its

pretty rosettes of broad whitish leaves, which lay all winter close

to the frosty rock, have now sent up a number of spreading stems

with golden yellow flowers. A small variety of Thermopsis faba-

cea, with fragrant lupine-like blossoms, will be found where the

soil is deeper, but the larger and more common form of this plant

flowers a month later, on the plains below.

The most interesting tenant of these heights is the Echinocactus

Simpsonii. As its name would indicate, it belongs to the cactus

tribe. It is remarkable among the cactaceous plants of this lati-

tude for its early flowering. Not less than a dozen species or va-

rieties of these plants, grow upon the adjacent plains, but none of

them are in flower before the first of June. This one may be

found in perfection before the last of April. It is globose in form

and very thickly armed with whitish spines, so that, when out of

flower, the plants seem like mere balls of bristles scattered about

among the rocks. The flowers are five or six in number, of a

bright purple, forming a circle around the centre, or rather, apex

of the plant. It is an object of very singular beauty, alone well

worth the trouble and fatigue of an hour’s climbing.

As the first of May draws nigh, the general aspect of the coun-

try becomes more springlike. The grasses are beginning to grow,

and the number of flowers begins to increase so that to enumerate

them would be tedious. However, we must not fail to notice a

68 PRAIRIE FIRES.

very beautiful, low liliaceous plant with grassy foliage and crocus-

like flowers, which now begins to whiten the hill-sides nearest the

plains. Its name is Calochortus venustus, and it deserves its name,

which, equally for the species and the genus, refers to its beauty.

PRAIRIE FIRES.

BY DR. C. A. WHITE.

——+9-+—__

Every dweller in the great interior region of North America, is

more or less familiar with prairie fires, or rather, they have often

at nightfall seen their lurid light in the distant horizon, or by day

their huge volumes of smoke rising and blending with the clouds,

and many are even familiar with the consuming march of the

flames themselves. Strangers visiting these regions, between Oc-

tober and May, are often alarmed at the first sight of these illumi-

nations, being impressed with the belief that they emanate from

urning buildings.

' - Usually, these fires are harmless, but there is always danger that

they will cause destruction of property, and even of life, and the

settler in sparsely inhabited districts watches with anxiety until

the almost inevitable annual scourge has swept all the uncultivated

prairie in his neighborhood. The greater part of the combustible

materiał which feeds these fires is grass, the remainder being the

dried remains of those annual plants so well described by Mr. J.

A. Allen, in the Naturauisr for December, 1870. These together

cover the ground every season, for the fires of one year do not at

‘all impair or prevent their abundant growth the next. Stringent

laws are enacted in all the prairie states, against the setting of fires

to the prairies, yet each year’s growth of grass upon at least the

larger ones, is somehow almost invariably burnt. The progress of

the fire is usually slow, and is often arrested by a few furrows

plowed around the field for that purpose, by small rills or even by

a slightly beaten road. But when the wind is high upon the great

prairies, the case is very different. Then nothing can withstand the

-fury of the fire, and it often runs an unchecked course of more

than a hundred miles, sometimes leaping rivers of more than 4

TTT AES gi 3 CS Be

PRAIRIE FIRES. 69

dozen rods in width, since their valley sides are often grassy down

to the water’s edge. In such cases, woe to the traveller who may

be unprepared for, or may lack nerve to meet the emergency. If

he has a box of matches and ordinary coolness of judgment he is

in no personal danger, for he has only to stop and set another

fire, extinguish that part of it upon the windward side before it

has increased beyond his control, and pass into the space that has

been burnt free from grass by his own fire, where he is safe from

the advancing flames that have given him the alarm. Some dan-

ger, however, always remains that his animals may take alarm

from his own fire, and become unmanageable, but usually their in-

stinctive dread, and a sense of dependence upon their masters,

which horses constantly feel and manifest upon those lonely jour-

neys, render them usually quite tractable under such circumstances.

hile prosecuting the Geological survey of Iowa, we were often

exposed to danger from fires when having occasion to cross the

broad prairie region of the western part of the state. One Octo-

ber day after the first frosts of the season had killed the herbage,

and the subsequent warm days had rendered the prairies almost

like oné vast tinder-box, the approach of night found us a few

miles from a stream, the valley of which was distinctly in view as

well as the broad prairie stretching beyond it. Mosquitoes are

abundant in the valleys at this time of the year, and being appar-

ently conscious that their end is approaching, they seem determined

to get the greatest amount of blood in the shortest possible time

from every living thing that comes in their way. We, therefore,

stopped as usual, upon elevated ground, to camp where the breeze

would prevent their visit. . Procuring water for the camp, and

watering our horses at a rill near by, we pitched our tent where we

could overlook the surrounding country, and mowed the grass from

a space of a few square yards upon which to build our camp fire of

the few sticks we had brought from our last camping ground. Our

supper over, and the horses picketed upon the grass that was still

fresh by the rill, we lay down to sleep. The wind had been high

all day, and did not abate upon the approach of night as it. usually

does. As it began to grow dark, I had observed in the distant

horizon the light of a prairie fire. It was directly to the windward,

and the face of the country in that direction was known to be such

that nothing would be likely to arrest its progress towards us, ex-

cept the stream before mentioned, and this I feared was too narrow

70 PRAIRIE FIRES.

for that purpose in so high a wind. An hour was passed nervously

watching the progress of the light and listening to the moaning of

the wind, as it roughly swept the newly frost-killed grass. At last

I could distinctly see the fire making its way down to the stream

upon the further valley side; then for a time its light seemed

. to be gone, and I hoped its progress had been stayed by the water

of the stream, but in a few moments more it had gained the

top of the hither valley side. No time was now to be lost, so

quickly arousing my companions, and bidding them follow me with

their blankets, I seized a brand from the camp-fire and running a

few rods to the leeward, a moment sufficed us to start a new fire

from our camp, its progress towards it (for it will sometimes work

its way slowly against the wind) being arrested by the beating of

our blankets. One man then leading the horses into the burnt

space, we followed, dragging tent, bedding, harness and camp-

chest ; then seizing the wagon, which was fortunately upon inclin-

ing ground, we rolled it safely in by the light of the fire we had

kindled and also of that which was fast approaching us. Scarcely

had we secured the last article and passed within the charmed

circle, when the dense flames, leaping high in the air and rolling

like surf upon the sea-shore, gathered around us, and enveloped us

with their hot and suffocating smoke. We all, horses and men,

stood there motionless ; conscious of our safety it is true, but with

an instinctive feeling of terror at the danger we had escaped.

We were upon a hollow island in a sea of fire. A moment more,

and it was a peninsula, for the advancing fire-flood parted around

us; andshen we were left in the darkness, intensified by the black-

ness of the charred earth, while the flames swept on over the dis-

tant prairie, like a troop of flying fiends.

Gathering our scattered equipage together, we lay down again

for the night, with no regret except that our faithful horses could

not have their accustomed grazing. Next morning found us in the

midst of a dreary blackened waste, not “without the smell of fire

“pon our garments,” but we were free from similar danger until we.

. should reach a region of unburnt prairie.

SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS. *

BY W. W. BAILEY.

By simply calling attention to the many beauties of these little |

organs, I hope to induce the youthful student to follow further in

that pleasant path which I shall merely indicate.

A few months since I was reading with a tear in one eye for

the misfortunes of the French, and a twinkle of merriment in the

other, at the adventures of their ubiquitous war minister, when my

breath disturbed the seed of an Asclepias (A. incarnata), by acci-

dent reposing on my table, and it floated on a voyage of discovery

_ to a distant corner of my room. ‘Monsieur Gambetta!” I ex-

claimed, “Here is your original aéronaut! No balloon or para-

chute of man’s invention can compare with the tufted silk which

floats this little voyager! Fearlessly he trusts himself to the

breezes, now for a moment touching on some interposing obsta-

cle, then lightly sailing off again to bear his freight of life to the

position chosen for its home.”

And now the flossy seedkin has come into our lines, and shall

not be released until he passes a satisfactory examination. Where

are you travelling, little stranger, and what is the cause of your

hurry? Can you not tell us something of your balloon itself, and

of your purpose in trusting to the winds? After an ineffectual

effort to soar beyond my reach, the imprisoned seed reveals his se-

cret, and in so far as I can interpret his peculiar language, his

story is as follows :— è

The seed of Asclepias, or milkweed, is thin, flat, and of a brown-

ish tint. The embryo is devoid of that store of albumen which

many plants provide for the early sustenance of their young. It,

with its fellows, is imbricated upon a papery placenta, its plumy

tufts reposing in gill-like processes of the same until the perfec-

tion of the fruit, when they become disengaged by the lightest

touch, and waft the attached seed to its destined resting-place.

Nothing can be more soft and satiny than is the so-called coma

of Asclepias. Under the microscope the hairs are found to be

exceedingly smooth and regular in outline, and undistinguished

+ A paper read before the Franklin Society, of Providence, R. t

(71)

T2 SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS.

by the spiral twisting which characterizes many similar fibres.

The evident design of the plumes, as in other cases where seeds

are provided with such appendages, is to assist in the wide-spread

distribution of the species. Many seeds probably fall quite near

the parent plant, but chance breezes carry others often to a very

great distance.

Some one is already wondering, doubtless, why I have not taken

the more familiar dandelion for illustration. It is simply because,

as I have said, the Asclepias happened to be upon my table. As

every one knows, the dandelion (Taraxacum), the groundsel (Sene-

cio), the thistle (Cirsium and Onopordon), and many other genera

of Composit, the willows (Salicaceæ), some of the buttercups

(Ranunculacez), the evening primrose family (Onagracez), to-

gether with members of many other orders, are similarly endowed

with silky tufts to assist the seed in its migrations. The exe-

cution may differ in diverse species, but the plan remains the ~

same. This is the commonest, yet other methods are adopted to

obtain the same end, as we notice in the key-like samara of the

maple and the winged seeds of the trumpet creeper (Tecoma radi-

cans), of the pines and the elms. All these are charming objects

viewed by the unassisted eye, or more closely examined by means

of the microscope.

I cannot dismiss this portion of my subject without dwelling

for a few moments upon the means provided for the scattering of

seeds. Some plants, like the balsam (Impatiens) and the gera-

nium, by a sudden contraction of portions of the capsule, expel

the contents with a jerk, which often throws them to a consider-

able distance. Others are provided with little hooks, claws, fine

Hħirs, or some other mechanical means of attaching themselves to —

moving objects and availing themselves of their involuntary aid.

There is no American botanist, probably, but has expostulated

mildly with the chain-like pods of Desmodium, which will persist `

in adhering to one’s clothing, and the removal of which is no

small task. The barbed achenium of Bidens frondosa is another

pest to man, as are the burs of Lappa major, or burdock, to sheep

and cattle, but we must bear in mind that in the case of these

plants, we are merely mediums of conveyance, and have tempo-

rarily resigned our proud position at the head of nature.

Animals and birds often distribute seeds which have passed

through the system undigested ; currents of water in the ocean

SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS. 73

bear them from one island or continent to another, while commerce,

often unintentionally, scatters them over distant lands. In this

latter way, many of the most pernicious weeds have spread from

Europe into Australia, America and India, where they make them-

selves perfectly at home, and evince frequently even more vitality

than the native plants. To take one or two instances of this pecu-

liar method of spreading, the Rudbeckia hirta is said to have come

into New England with hay seed from the West, and is evidently

increasing, while in New Brunswick I have heard it claimed that

the white-weed (Leucanthemum vulgare) has spread with other

Yankee notions from the neighboring states. It has certainly

proved a successful invader and has taken possession of half the

cultivated country.

I cannot refrain from inserting here.a note from Sir J. E. Ten-

nent’s “ Ceylon” in relation to the curious seeds of Spinifex squar-

osus, the “ water-pink” as it is sometimes called by Europeans.

“The seeds of this plant are contained in a circular head, com-

osed of a series of spine-like divisions, which radiate from the

stalk in all directions, making the diameter of the whole about

eight or nine inches. When the seeds are mature, and ready for

dispersion, these heads become detached from the plant, and are

carried by the wind with great velocity along the sands, over the

surface of which they are impelled by their elastic spines. One

of these balls may be followed by the eye for miles as it hurries

along the level shore, dropping its seeds as it rolls, which speedily

germinate and strike root where they fall. The globular heads

Spines acting as sails, they are thus carried across narrow estuaries

to continue the process of embanking on newly formed sand-bars.

uch an organization irresistibly suggests the won

ordained by Providence to spread this valuable plant along te

_ sisting the encroachments of the sea,

tion by conferring on it the name of M

great beard of Rawana or Rama.’ at

As to the duration of seeds there are many conflicting accounts.

All are familiar with the old story of the grain found with

tian mummies, which vegetated after its disinterment and gave

rise to a peculiar kind of wheat. This was a pleasant tale with

which to point a moral, but it is now discredited by those most

familiar with the facts. Still, it holds its place in many popular

books, and shows the ease with which incorrect statements may

74 SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS.

gain credence, and with what difficulty they are refuted when once |

proclaimed. That some seeds do live for a long time cannot be

doubted, but no such extreme limit is authenticated as that cited

for the mummy wheat. There are too many opportunities for error

and even fraud, where a story is received at second hand from the

Arabs. The largest of the accepted statements look a mite apoc-

ryphal. With most seeds the principle of life is evanescent, and it

is with extreme difficulty that many can be transported from one

climate or country to another. Even those that preserve their ap-

pearance unchanged and remain suitable for food, are often found

to have lost their power of germination. It is claimed, and prob-

ably with truth, that when the thorn-apple (Datura stramonium)

springs up in a place where it has not been seen before for many

years, or even during the life-time of the observer, that the seeds

` have been lying dormant in the soil until some favorable condition

has caused them to vegetate. So also when weeds, hitherto un-

known in the vicinity, spring up along the embankments of a

newly opened railway, or upon the ruins of extensive conflagra-

tions. But these are only exceptions to the general rule, that to

insure the vegetation of seed, it is necessary to plant it within a

limited space of time, and that the preservation of it indefinitely

is hazardous. The conditions necessary for the retention of vital-

ity are not as yet certainly known, but it is thought that a partic-

ular amount of dryness, together with the exclusion of light and

air, are essentials to success.

The total amount of seed produced by some plants is very re-

markable. Linnzeus Says that a single stem of tobacco yields

forty thousand seeds, and we all know how well provided with

them are our commonest plants. It follows, then, that while, may

be, a portion remain as I have said, dormant for a certain time,

yet many are destroyed by unfavorable conditions, or as food for

animals and man. We are thus reminded of the suggestive lines

of Holmes :

“ Look at the wasted seeds that Autumn scatters

e myriad germs that Nature shapes and shatters.”

I have already spoken of the dissemination of seeds and the

means by which it is effected. We will now examine with the mi-

croscope the seeds themselves, Those of Stellaria are always

pretty objects, as are likewise those of the clove pink (Dianthus

caryophyllus) and other genera of Caryophyllacew. The seed of

SOMETHING ABOUT SEEDS. 75

Collomia linearis is a very remarkable object. It is, in its normal

condition, dry and hard, but when moistened and placed beneath

the microscope, we are astonished to find it covered with myriads

of little threads, which project” into the water, and keep it in con-

stant motion. These are spiral fibres, which when dry, remain

closely attached to the surface of the seed. The seed of Gerani-

um appears as if enclosed in a net, that of Hypericum is crested

upon one side, and is aptly compared by Lindley to an ancient

helmet, while the tiny black fruit of Polygala is covered with white

hairs, and is provided with a curious appendage called a caruncle,

This seems to be composed of light cellular tissue, which, when

Magnified, owing to its beautiful whiteness and the distinct demar-

cation of its cells, resembles frost-work ; or to the chemist, suggests

more. strikingly the appearance of a glass rod which has been

heated, and suddenly cooled by immersion in water. Corydalis is

furnished with an aril, or accessory appendage, as is also the

Euonymus, and many other plants. The aril in Euonymus, is red,

and is one cause of the extreme beauty of this plant in autumn,

when its colored pods expand and reveal the deeper tinted ee

of the seed within.

With the beautiful colors often assumed by seeds, all are of

course acquainted who in childhood have arrayed the gayly tinted

beans in military order. Nearly all the primary colors are brought

into play to ornament the different seeds, while some, more regal

in their fancies, are bedecked with bronze and gold. The mention

. of beans, suggests the use of seed to man, the Graminez and Le-

guminos furnishing a very large proportion of our food. Then,

too, when we think that all our fruits have a direct relation to the

seeds, we must feel how absolutely dependent we are upon these

unborn plantlets for our sustenance and comfort.

Yet there are many seeds that are not edible, and others that

are extremely noxious. The most deadly substance known, per-

haps, is prepared from the seed of Strychnos nux-vomica. From

this fact alone, and the knowledge that even here destructive seeds

surround us, we learn that the study we have been engaged in, is

not a profitless occupation. It teaches us, not only the hidden

beauties that encompass us, but how to discriminate between the

hurtful and the beneficial fruits — the worthless and the advanta-

geous,

THE LONDON FOG.

BY J. VILA BLAKE.

Apropos of the dense fog which recently enveloped the English

metropolis, the news and some details of which have crept from

the English press into our own, the following extract from a

private letter describing this rather rare occurrence as seen (and

felt also) by American eyes, will probably be read with interest,

especially as we have here no similar phenomenon which can be

compared with a genuine London fog : —

‘One of the many things that I enjoyed in London was a Lon-

don fog — only think of it! It was a great piece of good fortune;

for, although at this season of the year it is always foggy, yet

one of these very dense ones is not of very frequent occurrence.

Really, it was a thing well worth the seeing, and for nothing, too, ©

without a fee. It had been very foggy for about twenty-four

hours, though not so much so but that we could get about well

enou six, after tea, H. proposed that we should go to

hear Trovatore ; so we went, and such a sight I never saw as that

stage. It was really ludicrous, trying to peer through the smoky

mist to see what was going on. Scenes, dresses, sparkling jew-

elry, all were thrown away ; nothing could be seen, and the atmos-

Phere, in addition, was so irritating to the eyes, that although there

men knocked against each other, and we clung tightly to each oth-

er’s arms and strove to keep each other in sight. On crossing the —

ide an

(76)

THE LONDON FOG. 77

pletely, if never before. Milton speaks of the ‘palpable obscure.’

have had a London fog in his mind, when he described

the flight of the cursed angel through the misty, murky air. Fi-

nally we reached home in safety, fully appreciating what we had

been through. The next day the papers were full of it, and,

strange to say, reported but few accidents. Some women actually

spent the whole night in the streets, afraid to stir, and no police-

man, or watch, could be bribed to guide them home. H. passed

quite a number clinging to the rails of Charing-Cross Hotel, and

an hour afterwards, on his return, they were still there, and there,

the paper said, the morning found them.”

That the foregoing description of this remarkable feature of the

meteorology of London is not at all exaggerated, appears from

the account of many of the more noteworthy fogs recorded in

Howard’s “Climate of London.” That authority mentions fogs,

in the forenoon, of such density that drivers could not see their

horses’ heads; and in the evening of such opacity that “* the most

brilliant gaslight could scarcely penetrate the gloom.”

Describing a very thick fog occurring in November, 1828, and

remarking upon its physiological effects, the author says : —

“It began to thicken very much about half-past twelve o'clock,

from which time, till nearly two, the effect was most distressing,

making the eyes smart, and almost suffocating those who were in

the street, particularly asthmatic persons. ..... - n the great

thoroughfares, the hallooing of coachmen and drivers to avoid

each other, seemingly issuing from the opaque mass in which they

were enveloped, was calculated to awaken all the caution of riders,

as well as of pedestrians who had to cross the streets.

These vaporous visitations are commonly very limited in extent.

Often while the city is in more than midnight obscurity, and men

and horses are groping their invisible way, step by step, only four

or five miles from town the sky is unclouded and the sun shining

brilliantly. The authority before referred to, records :—

“The fog of Wednesday (Dec. 31, 181 7) seems to have been con-

fined to the metropolis and the immediate vicinity. No further

northward than the back of Euston Square, the weather was clear

and even bright. A gentleman, who came to London from Enfield,

Saw no fog till he approached London. Southward of London,

it extended as far as Clapham, and it was rather worse in some 0

the environs than in the metropolis itself. Upon an average, ten

feet was the distance at which objects ‘became invisible, out of

q Within doors it was impossible to read without a candle.

But while this fog was thus limited at London; there was a sim-

78 THE LONDON FOG.

ilar one the same day in Dublin which was probably a part of the

same meteorological phenomenon, as appears from the following

paragraph quoted from a Dublin journal of Jan. 1, 1818 :—

“The oldest person living has no recollection of a fog so thick

as the one which enveloped this city last evening, between the

hours of six and nine. It was more dense in some streets than

in others, and where this was the case it was impossible to pass

with convenience without the aid of opened lanterns.”

The occurrence of these fogs in frosty weather, is often the occa-

sion of rare and exquisite displays of wintry beauties on shrubs,

trees and buildings. Howard writes : —

“1814. January 4th. The mists, which have again prevailed

for several days, and which have rendered travelling dangerous,

are probably referable to stratus clouds. The air has been, in

effect, loaded with particles of freezing water, such as in a high-

er region would have produced snow. ‘These attached themselves

to all objects, crystallizing in the most regular and beautiful man-

ner. A blade of grass was thus converted into a pretty thick

stalagmite ; some of the shrubs, covered with spreading tufts of

crystals, looked as if they were in blossom; while others, more

firmly incrusted, might have passed for gigantic specimens of

white coral. The leaves of evergreens had a transparent varnish

of ice with an elegant white fringe. Lofty trees, viewed against

the blue sky in the sunshine, appeared in striking magnificence ;

the whole face of nature, in short, was exquisitely dressed out in

frost-work.”

As an example of a similar beautiful phenomenon in a distant

latitude and very different climate, I extract the following from

Knox’s “ Overland through Asia,” just published : —

and the head of every nail, bolt, and screw, buried itself beneath

e. Ou

horses were of the color, or no color, of rabbits in January; Ít

was only by brushing away the frost that the natural tint of their

hair could be discovered, and sometimes there was a great de of

frost adhering to them. .

ring my stay at Irkutsk I noticed the prevalence of this fog

or frost cloud. It usually formed during the night, and was thick-

near the river. In the morning it enveloped the whole city;

THE LONDON FOG. 79

but when the sun was an hour or two in the heavens the mist

began to melt away. It remained longest over the river, and 1

was occasionally in a thick cloud on the bank of the Angara when

the atmosphere a hundred yards away was perfectly clear. The

moisture congealed on every stationary object. Houses and fences

were cased in ice, its thickness varying with the condition of the

weather. Trees and bushes became masses of crystals, and glis-

tened in the sunlight as if formed of diamonds. I could never

wholly rid myself of the impression that some of the trees were

fountains caught and frozen when in full action. The’ frost played

curious tricks of artistic skill, and its delineations were sometimes

after a period of severe cold. The red granite columns of St.

Isaac’s church are apparently transformed into spotless marble by

the congelation of moisture on their surface. In the same manner

Thave seen a gray wall at Irkutsk changed in a night and morning

to a dazzling whiteness. The crystalline formation of ‘the frost

had all the varieties of the kaleidoscope without its colors.”

Lest some Yankee, whose study of Latin has not robbed him of

his birth-right utilitarianism, should ask of the London fog, cui

bono ?, I will quote in conclusion, a pleasing little speculation of

Howard, which may serve as an answer in some sort. Thomas

Hughes remarks that he considers the power and glory of England

to be due in no small degree to the prominence and virtues of the

family of “ Brown.” Our meteorologist seeks to explain one way

in which those same “ Browns” are developed, and traces the con-

nection between that illustrious family and a London fog (and

other forms of moisture) thus :— aks

“ Since man includes in his composition the elements of the

inferior natures, and among these the vegetable, it is probable that

the very growth of our bodies may so depend on moisture, that it

could not go on in air of a certain degree of dryness. It is at

least plain, that mankind is of a larger growth in rainy countries

_ (whether these be warm or cold) than in those that are subject for

a great part of the year to the dry extreme. In like manner, and

from like causes, in part, we see that the inhabitants of crowded

cities, and manufacturing towns, arrive at a less growth than those

in even worse circumstances, as to diet and clothing, in the coun-

try; the latter being so much more exposed, in childhood and

during adolescence, to the weather.”

THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY WILLIAM WOOD, M.D.

In the April number of the Naturauisr, for 1870, I published

an article on Falconry. I now propose to describe, in this and

some future numbers, all the falcons found in New England, that

were formerly used, or can be trained to capture game, with an ac-

count of their habits, manner of nesting, and their eggs.

there are nine of the subgenus Falco found within the limits of

North America, only three are found in New England, if I except

the gerfalcon, which, if found at all, must be wholly accidental. - In

this genus, we find birds of smaller size and strength, yet posses-

sing all the courage and swiftness of the eagles. These were the

birds used in falconry, and called noble because of the high pre-

rogative of those who followed this amusement. In these, the bill

is short, sharp, and curved from the base; the nostrils are circu-

lar with a central tubercle. They are easily distinguished from

all other hawks by a prominent tooth in the upper mandible,

shaped like the letter V, and a notch in the lower one to receive it.

This genus is considered by naturalists as “ the typical, or most

highly or completely organized of rapacious birds.”

I will first describe the Falco peregrinus Wilson. This is very

commonly called the Peregrine falcon, and is inferior to none of

| its genus in beauty, courage and rapacity. There seems to be

some diversity of opinion as to the identity of this and the Euro-

pean species. Bonaparte, DeKay and others, consider them dis-

tinct, while Nuttall, Pennant, Audubon and others, believe them

identical. Audubon remarks that “ once when nearing the coast

of England, being then about one hundred and fifty miles distant

from it, in the month of July, I obtained a pair of these birds

which had come on board of our vessel and had been shot down.

I examined them with care, and found no difference between them

and those which I shot in America.” This is the bird that was 50

highly prized and mostly used in England for falconry, and among

the many hundreds owned by the Grand Khan, once Emperor of

Tartary and China, the Peregrine falcon was considered second to

none, except the gerfalcon. ‘They are much more common now

THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND. 81

than formerly. Audubon remarks “ that within his remembrance

it was a very scarce species in America, and if he shot one or

two in the course of a winter, he considered himself fortunate ;

whereas, of late years, he has shot as many in a day, and perhaps

a dozen in the winter.” This bird is sometimes called the .Great-

footed hawk, on account of the large size of its feet, which, are

enormous considering the size of the bird. Those not aware of

this fact would think it a deformity. On the seashore it is known

by the name of the Duck hawk, from its habit of capturing and

feeding upon ducks, and the stories relating to its exploits, as nar-

rated by the hunters, are too marvellous to be entitled to credit.

It is said that this bird will follow after the gunners, knowing that

the report of their guns will start the ducks, and thus afford an

opportunity for capturing them, and if not successful, will some-

times seize the game shot by the sportsmen before they can reach

it, and fly off with it; but as “it is a poor rule that does not work

both ways,” the hunter as often secures -water-fowls captured by

the hawks, before they can carry them away or devour them.

Until quite recently, it has been supposed that the Rocky Moun-

tains were the extreme western limit of this falcon, and that its

congener, the Falco nigriceps, was its representative in the western

portion of this continent, but more recent investigations have

given this bird a much larger range. In a letter from Professor

S. F. Baird, of Dec. 24th, 1870, he says, “ the duck hawk, by

our latest researches, is found from Labrador around the entire

northern coast to Behring’s Straits, and Alaska, of precisely the

` same general nature as the bird of eastern United States. The

western Falco nigriceps is, I am now satisfied, simply a smaller

race of the duck hawk, and occurs from Puget Sound southward

to Chili.”

This falcon is bold and powerful, and not excelled by any bird

in rapidity of flight. One belonging to Henry I. of France, which

flew after a little bustard at Fontainebleau was captured at Malta

the next morning and recognized by the ring which it wore; con-

sequently it must have flown one thousand three hundred and fifty

miles. One sent to the Duke of Lerma returned in sixteen hours

from Andalusia to the Island of Teneriffe, a distance of seven

hundred and fifty miles. In the British Zoology, there is an ac-

count of one that escaped from its master, in the shire of Angus,

a county on the east side of Scotland, with two heavy bells at-

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 6

82 THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND.

tached to each foot, on the 24th of September, 1772, and was

killed on the morning of the 26th near Mostyn, Flintshire.

They live to a great age. In 1793, one was caught at the Cape

of Good Hope, and brought to England with a golden collar about

its neck, with the date 1610, and an inscription indicating that it

belonged to James I. of England. This falcon must have been

at least one hundred and eighty-three years old, yet it still ap- -

peared lively, but its eyes were dim, and the feathers about the

collar were changed to white.

It seldom is seen sailing like most other hawks, but either as-

cends with a broad spiral circle till it gains ‘a suitable height to se-

lect its prey, or perches upon a tree that overlooks some swampy

ground where snipe and rail abound, and darts down upon its

game with such swiftness that destruction is inevitable. If the

bird is too heavy to fly with, it is forced to the ground, otherwise

it is carried to the woods and devoured at leisure. In the vicinity

of their breeding places they are a terror to the poultry as well as

a dread to the farmer, for there they usually hunt in pairs, one fol-

lowing directly after the other, and if the first one misses the

game, the other is sure to pick it up; there is no escaping the two.

This is the universal testimony of all the farmers living in the

vicinity of the cliffs where they breed. One of my collectors

went over one hundred miles to get a nest of their eggs, from only

hearing a farmer in the vicinity of a cliff describe their manner of

hunting ; knowing from this circumstance alone, that it must be

the duck hawk. ;

It is stated “ that it preys chiefly upon sea-ducks, and therefore

is, for the most part, met with on the coast, —is rarely found in-

land, and its migrations and wanderings are influenced by the

flight of its favorite game.” This was not the experience of Wil

son and Ord along the coast of New Jersey. ‘To behold this

hero, the terror of the wild fowl and the wonder of the sportsman,

~ was the chief object of our wishes. Day after day did we traverse

the salt marshes, and explore the ponds and estuaries, which

the web-footed tribes frequent in immense multitudes, in the

hope of obtaining the imperial depredator ; even all the gunners

of the district were summoned to our aid, with the assurance of a

great reward if they procured him, but without success.” Some

time after this, Mr. Wilson received a specimen from Egg Harbor-

Most of the observations made on this continent relative to the

THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND. 83

duck hawk and its habits, have been made along the coast of Lab-

rador and Newfoundland, where the shores and islands abound with

rugged cliffs, affording them the very best place to be found any-

where on our Atlantic coast for nidification. This, in connection

with an abundance of sea fowls, makes it the favorite resort of

this bird; yet, it is nevertheless a fact, that all along our moun-

tainous ranges, whether inland or not, wherever precipitous cliffs

are found, they do live and breed, probably resorting to the sea-

shore in the winter, as game is more abundant there. It is said

that they are not uncommon in Kansas, and are found in Iowa. I

do not find the duck hawk included in Mr. J. A. Allen’s list of

the birds of western Iowa, yet Mr. L. E. Ricksecker writes me that

“he has a fine specimen of the eggs, collected in Iowa, March 21st,

1868.”

Manner of nesting. —Ord says, that the duck hawk breeds on

trees in the gloomy cedar swamps which are almost inaccessible to

the foot of man. This is probably only his belief, for I am un-

able to learn from his writings that he ever saw a nest, and further-

more, he acknowledges that Wilson and himself faithfully, yet un-

successfully searched the cedar swamps of New Jersey where they

were supposed to breed. Neither Audubon, nor Nuttall ever saw

a nest within the limits of the United States, and the former had

some doubts as to its rearing young within the above named

limits, yet says, ‘‘I think they breed in the United States, having

shot a specimen in the month of August, near the falls of Niagara.”

About the year of 1850, I was aware that a pair of these hawks

nested on Talcott Mountain,. about ten miles west of Hartford,

from the fact that they frequented this place in the spring, sum-

mer, and fall months, and I had also seen an adult and young

that were shot there in June. Not being aware at that time, that

the nest had ever been found within the limits of the United

States, I determined, if possible, to settle the question of their nest-

ing, and the manner of their nesting, in Connecticut. For this

purpose, I visited the mountain several times, and offered a liberal

reward to those living in the vicinity for finding the nest, but it was

not until 1861 that my efforts were crowned with success. Four

young were taken from the nest alive, and the parent bird shot.

This, as I stated in a series of articles which I was then publishing

on the “ Rapacious Birds of Connecticut,” was about the first of

June, but on getting the exact date from the captor, I find it was

84 THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND.

May 25th that they were taken from a cliff on Talcott mountain,

about twenty feet from the summit. It was with inexpressible de-

light that I viewed these birds, for I then supposed that I was the

first to settle the mooted question, and in the article above referred

to, I stated that this settles beyond dispute three points ; first, that

they breed on cliffs; second, that they breed in Connecticut ; and

third, that they nest very early. These young birds were evidently

from four to six weeks old when captured, and allowing three weeks

for incubation, it must bring the time of nesting the latter part of

March. This was the first nest of the duck hawk ever taken in

New England so far as is known to naturalists.. The young were

kept alive, and two of them were given to Professor S. F. Baird in

the fall of 1862, when on a visit to E. W. Hill, and were kept

alive at the Smithsonian Institution until the spring of 1863. A

few years after this, my attention was called to a note in Dr. Brew-

ér’s North American Oology, part Ist, page 9, in which it appears

that Prof. S. S. Haldeman had found the nest and captured the

young on a high and almost vertical cliff on the banks of the Sus-

quehanna; the account of which was published in the ‘Proceed-

ings of the Academy of Natural Sciences,” vol. 1, page 54, 1841.

Prof. Haldeman says, in that article, “it is asserted in the works

on American ornithology that the Falco peregrinus builds its nest

on trees, and not in the clefts of rock as in Europe. So far as my

observations have gone this remark is incorrect, inasmuch as they

build in the cliffs which border the Susquehanna. This species re-

mains in Pennsylvania ten or twelve months in the year.”

It is now universally admitted that duck hawks nest on cliffs

and never on trees, and that they select places difficult to get at

and often inaccessible, which is, no doubt, the reason that the

eggs have been so seldom found. Says Audubon, in speaking of

the nests found on the high and rocky ghores of Labrador and

Newfoundland, “ they were placed on the shelves of rocks, a few

feet. from the top, and were flat and rudely constructed of sticks

and moss.”. The nest on Talcott Mountain was of the same con-

struction. The nests found by Mr Bennett in Massachusetts and

Vermont were entirely ‘destitute of sticks and moss. Mr. B. in

describing to me the several nests which he has been fortunate

enough to find, says, “ they’are built a little below the summit of

tlie ledge, on a projection of rocks, which in one instance was not

more than one foot in width, without sticks, grass, moss, or the

THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND. 85

least vestige of a nest except a slight hollow in the earth, there

being barely soil enough to keep the eggs from rolling out. In

one instance where there was a little grass on the projection, it was

all removed, and nothing but the bare earth left for the nest.”

Mr. J. A. Allen, in his “ Notes on some of the Rarer Birds of

Mass.,” gives Mr. Bennett the credit of being the first to find the

eggs (April 19, 1864), so far as is known to naturalists, within

the limits of the United States. I have received letters from two

different sources, claiming to have found the eggs in Pennsylvania

and Maryland some years prior to that date. If so, oölogists

would not have been any the wiser had it not been for Mr. Ben-

nett’s persevering labors. So far as I am able to find any pub-

lished account of it, Mr. B. is entitled to priority.

It would seem that the duck hawk is not a very pugnacious bird,

as other birds are often found nesting quite near it. Says Au-

dubon, ‘in several instances we found these falcons breeding

on the same ledge with Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo).” Says

Mr. G. A. Boardman, “ the cliffs on which the duck hawk breeds are

very high, and often when above you cannot tell where to go over,

as you cannot see the nest from above or below unless the bird

flies off. It is so with the ravens. They breed within a few rods

of one another in one place.” They become very much attached

to their nests, and will occupy them as long as they live if not

repeatedly robbed of their eggs and disturbed. If one of the pair

is shot the surviving one will secure a mate and return to the

game nest. In the north of Scotland they breed on the precipitous

cliffs of that mountainous region, and some of the eyries have been

known traditionally, as far back as the annals of the district ex-

tend. Mr. Bennett informs me that a farmer residing in Vermont,

under a precipitous cliff, told him that a pair of eagles (duck

hawks), had occupied the same nest on the ledge ever since he

owned the farm, thirty-seven years, and how much longer he could

not tell. Mr. Bennett, with great effort, secured for me from that

nest a set of four of the handsomest and most uniformly marked

eggs of the duck hawk that I have ever seen. From the same source

I learn that this falcon defends it eyrie several weeks prior to oc-

cupying it, with as much and even more tenacity than during incu-

bation. This peculiarity is not exclusively confined to this bird,

for I haye observed the same in some others of our rapacious birds

while building their nests. They nest very early and are much

86 THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND.

more cleanly in their habits than most birds of prey. Audubon

says, “their season of breeding is so very early that it might be

said to be in the winter.” This needs a little explanation. At

the time this was written the only eggs of the duck hawk known

to oologists on this continent were found north of the limits of

the United States, where the season is so much later than in our

latitude, that snow is frequently on the ground when the eggs are

collected. One of my collectors in that locality writes, “I got a

nest last spring as early as the first of April, when the snow was

a foot deep.” This certainly would appear like winter to one ac-

customed to see the frost out of the ground and the roads settled,

as it often is here at that time. The usual time of nesting is from

the last of March to the middle of April; sometimes earlier, and

sometimes later, but no more irregular as to time than most of

our rapacious birds. They will nest two and possibly three times

during the season if the eggs are taken as often, as appears from

the observations of Mr. Bennett.

If the arbitrary law of James I. of England, relative to rob-

bing the peregrine falcon’s nest (“the taking of the eggs, even

on a person’s own ground, was punished with imprisonment for a

year and a day, together with a fine at the king’s pleasure”), had

been in force in the United States, until quite recently, there could

not have been a much less number of their eggs found in our

odlogical cabinets that were obtained within our own territory.

The common number of eggs found in a nest is three or four.

Audubon once found five. The size and markings vary consider-

ably according to the observations of different writers upon the

subject. The first set obtained by Mr. Bennett were quite different

in size and markings. Audubon remarks, “the eggs vary CoD-

siderably in size and markings, which I think is owing to a differ-

ence of age in the females; the eggs of the young bird being

smaller.” This certainly cannot account for the unusual differ-

ence in the set obtained by Mr. Bennett, for they were all taken

out of the nest at one time, and must have been laid by one bird.

Mr. G. A. Boardman writes that “the duck hawk’s eggs I find

vary much in size and color, the last nest I got from the cliffs at

Grand Menan were very oddly marked ; one looks very much like

the fish hawk’s, only differing in size; in another, half the egg is

white, with brown blotches on each end.” I think the set of Mr.

Bennett and that of Mr. Boardman are exceptional cases, as before

THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND. 87

me are thirteen eggs of the duck hawk obtained in very different

localities, viz: Massachusetts, Vermont, Labrador and Alaska,

which are quite irregularly marked, yet as uniform in size and

markings as any of the blotched eggs of our rapacious birds. In

my collection are fifty-seven eggs of the Red-shouldered hawk

(Buteo lineatus), and the variations both in size and markings are

fully as great and rather more so than those of the duck hawks

referred to above. The measurement of one egg from each set

will be sufficient (as those belonging to the same set in my own

collection are very uniform in size) to show that the difference in

size is not very great, although they were collected in widely.

separate localities. ‘

Massachusetts,—Size of egg, long diameter, 2.15 in.; short diameter, 1.80 in.

Vermont, e dese ae T i eoa eB"

Labrador, iE ee NAO i e wik

Alaska, ej chert OM RA age. TOA fe a EE

The eggs are oblong—larger at one end than the other. The

egg from Labrador is, quite pointed; those from Massachusetts

and Alaska are less so, while those from Vermont are but slightly

smaller at one end than the other. The ground color is light red-

dish brown, mottled with darker shades of the same color in irreg-

ular blotches, most abundant at one end, usually the larger end,

but occasionally the markings are more delicate and quite evenly

distributed. There is now and then an egg in which the ground

color is dirty white.

Length of bird, 16-20 inches; alar extent, 36-42 inches; com-

pact and firmly built; neck short, feet remarkably large, upper

mandible with a tooth-like process, and a corresponding notch in

lower. Adult, head and hind neck dark brown, upper parts bluish

gray with darker bands, lower part yellowish white with breast

and sides transversely barred with black, cheeks with a patch of

black ; tail brownish black with eight transverse bars of pale cine-

reous ; legs and toes yellow, bill light blue, eyes hazel. Younger

specimens, entire upper parts brownish black, space on cheek black,

with long longitudinal stripes of brownish black on the under

parts, instead of transverse as in the adult ; legs bluish lead color.

A HEARTH OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE.*

Ox the summit of a steep hill between the valley of the Bas

Roches and that of the Dheune, overlooking the immense plain of

the Saône, and commanding a view of the Jura, the Alps, and the

mountains of the Maconnais and the Morvan, and surrounded by

numerous other camps, is the camp of Chassey, which occupies an

area of about eight hundred yards in length by a breadth varying

from about one hundred to two hundred yards. So commanding

and important a spot was not only taken possession of by the

Romans for a castellum, and by the Gauls for an oppidum, but was

also occupied in prehistoric times. Several collections of antiqui-

ties belonging to different periods have been formed upon the

spot, but it was reserved for M. Perrault to make the interesting

discovery which he has recorded in so simple yet so complete 4

manner in the pages now before us. A terrace, sheltered by rocks

from the north and east winds and facing the morning sun, seemed

to him well adapted for early habitations, while a depression in

the ground in front proved, on examination, to contain the re-

mains of a large hearth, or it might be termed kitchen, and here

he instituted excavations. `

Beneath a few inches of soil he found a bed rather more than

two feet in thickness, made up of ashes, bones, and pottery,

and containing numerous instruments of various kinds. The

whole reposed on a platform of rough slabs of stone, blackened

like the soil beneath them by the action of fire. Not a trace of

metal was discovered, and in describing the objects found, M. Per-

rault divides them into (1) instruments of stone, (2) those of

bone, and (3) pottery.

Exclusive of fragments, some one hundred and fifty stone in-

struments were found, consisting for the most part of hatchets,

arrowheads, flakes, borers, scrapers, hammers, mealing stones and

polishing stones. No less than eight perfect stone hatchets

were found, as well as fourteen broken, and of those that were

(ae

* We copy from Nature of Jan. 19th the following interesting summary of @ recent

work by Ernest Perrault, entitled “Note sur un Foyer de l’Age de la Pierre polie de-

couvert au Camp de Chassey en Septembre, 1869.” 1870. 4to. pp. 32, and 8 plates.

London: Williams and Norgate. 4

(88)

A HEARTH OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE. 89

uninjured two were still mounted in stag’s horn sockets, similar

to those with which the discoveries in the Swiss Lake dwellings

have made us so well acquainted.

‘Only two are of flint, and one of fibrolite, the others being of

chloromelanite, serpentine basalt, and diorite. They seem to

have been formed from pebbles brought down by the Saône, and

it is interesting to observe that the same process of manufacture

was in use in this part of Burgundy as in Switzerland, the split-

ting of the pebbles into the required form having been partly ef-

fected by sawing. That some of the spare hours of those who

frequented the hearth were employed in preparing their hatchets

is proved by the large number of grinding or polishing stones, of

which, counting fragments, upwards of sixty were present. M.

Perrault regards one of the smallest of the cutting instruments,

a little triangular celt, as a religious emblem, but it seems more

probable that it was used as a hand-tool, like a chisel, of one of

which the sharpened end was also found.

’ The arrowheads of flint, twenty-three in number, present a va-

riety of forms, leaf-shaped, triangular, lozenge-shaped and tanged,

the latter both with and without barbs. Their general aspect

is such as might have been expected from the locality, most of

the forms occurring also in Switzerland. There are, however,

one or two shaped like small hatchets, with a broad, sharp base,

formed by the original edge of the flake from which they were

made, and rounded, or truncated at the other end. It is stated

that this sharp edge was intended for insertion in the wood, but

more probably it was the other end that was thus secured, and

the arrows were, so to speak, chisel-pointed, like the flint-tipped

arrows which survived in use, probably for fowling purposes, after

metals became known to the ancient Egyptians. Similar arrow-

heads, if such they be, have been found in considerable numbers

in Sweden, and a few in Denmark, as well as in some other parts

of France. It seems by no means impossible that some of the

sharp-based instruments from the. Yorkshire Wolds may have

served a similar purpose.

The mealing stones consist of a large block, usually of hard

sandstone or porphyry, and a smaller stone as muller,.and are of

the same character as those still in use in Central Africa. They

must have been gradually eaten together with the flour they pro-

duced, and no doubt tended to promote that wearing away of

90 A HEARTH OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE.

the crown of the teeth, so common in ancient times. None of the

grain has been found, but probably most of the cereals known to

the old Swiss Lake dwellers were also known at Chassey.

The objects in bone and horn are almost identical with those

from the earlier Swiss Lake dwellings, and consist of the sockets

already mentioned, awls, chisels, etc. The pottery, which is ex-

tremely fragmentary, is much of the same character as the Swiss.

It has been ornamented both by punctured dots and by a sort of

pillar moulding, as well as by incised lines. In one instance there

seems to have been an attempt to represent the outline of a boar

by lines scratched in the clay when still moist. In another, the

ornament consists of bands of triangles alternately cross-hatched

and plain, a style more in accordance with the bronze age than

with that of stone. Most of the pottery seems to have been

adapted for suspension. The number of small ears or handles

found exceeded two hundred. A few spindle-whorls and beads

were also found, but the most curious objects are the spoons, ex-

actly similar in form to those of wood in common use in our

kitchens at the present day, but formed of clay. It is true that

several wooden ladles and at least one earthenware spoon were

found in the settlement of Robenhausen, but one can hardly re-

prehistoric archæology, a regret must þe expressed that the ani-

mal remains discovered in the refuse heap have not, apparently,

-as yet been submitted to proper scientific examination, so as to de-

termine the species, and which of them were domesticated, though

some human remains from neighboring tumuli and interments: are

the bones seems to afford an argument in favor of their absence,

which, if established, would be a remarkable fact. Some teeth of

reindeer are mentioned gs haying been found on the plateau, and

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 91

it would be of great interest to ascertain their relation to the

other remains. Let us trust that ere long there may again be a

season in France when a thought may fairly be bestowed on other

camps and other earthworks than those on which attention is now

so unfortunately concentrated.

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M.D.

Tue Thysanura, as the Poduras and their allies, the Lepismas,

are called, have been generally neglected by entomologists, and

but few naturalists have paid special attention to them. * Of all

those microscopists who have examined Podura scales as test ob-

jects, we wonder how many really know what a Podura is?

In preparing the following account I have been under constant

indebtedness to the admirable and exhaustive papers of Sir John

Lubbock, in the London Linnean Transactions (vols. 23, 26 and

27). Entomologists will be glad to learn that he is shortly going

to press with a volume on the Poduras, which, in distinction from

the Lepismas, to which he restricts the term Thysanura, he calls

Collembola, in allusion to the sucker-like tubercle situated on the

under side of the body, which no other insects are known to

possess.

The group of Bristle-tails, as we would dub the Lepismas in

distinction from the Spring-tails, we will first consider. They are

abundant in the Middle States under stones and leaves in for-

ests, and northward are common in damp houses, while one beau-

MR ee to re ee EET

* Nicolet, in the “ Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France” (tome v, 1847), has

given us the most comprehensive essay on the group, though Latreille had previously

l 0 i edes Thysanoures ” in the

is, 1832,” which I have not

a useful account of them in the third volume of “ Ap-

teres” of Roret’s Suite a Buffon, published in 1844. j j

Abbe Bourlet, Templeton, Westwood, and Haliday have published important

hys. ra d ei d Ol fers, a German

anatomis rtant

country Say and Fitch have described less than a dozen §

described a new species of Campodea, while Humbert a

entific ia 1 ; f Japvx (J. Saus ii) from Mexico

92 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

tiful species that we have never noticed elsewhere, is our “ cricket

on the hearth,” abounding in the chinks and crannies of the range

of our house, and coming out like cockroaches, at night, shunning

the light. Like the cockroaches, which they vaguely resemble in

form, this species loves hot and dry localities, in distinction from

the others which seek moisture as well as darkness. By some

they are called “ silver witches,” and as they dart off, when dis-

turbed, like a streak of light, their bodies being coated in a suit of

shining mail, which the arrangement of the scales resembles, they

have really a weird and ghostly look. i

The Lepisma saccharina of Linnæus, if, as is probable, that is

the name of our common species, is not uncommon in old damp

houses, where it has the habits of the cockroach, eating cloths,

tapestry, silken trimmings of furniture, and doing occasional dam-

age to libraries by devouring the paste, and eating holes in the

leaves and covers of books.

In general form Lepisma may be compared to the larva of

Perla, a net-veined Neuropterous insect, and also to the narrow-

bodied species of cockroaches, minus the wings. The body is

long and narrow, covered with rather coarse scales, and ends in

three many-jointed anal stylets, or bristles, which closely resemble

the many-jointed antennze, which are remarkably long and slender.

The thermophilous species already alluded to may be described as

perhaps the type of the genus, the L. saccharina being simpler in

its structure. The body is narrow and flattened; the basal joints

of the legs being broad, flat and almost triangular, like the same

joints in the cockroaches. The legs consist of six joints, the tarsal

joints being large and two in number, and bearing a pair of ter-

minal curved claws. The three thoracic segments are of nearly

equal size, and the eight abdominal segments are also of similar

size. The trachee are well developed, and may be readily seen

in the legs. The end of the rather long and weak abdomen is

Pr opped up by two or three pairs of bristles, which are simple, not

jointed, but moving freely at their insertion; they thus take the

place of legs, and remind one of the abdominal legs of the Myria-

pods; and we shall see in certain other genera (Machilis and Cam-

podea) of the Bristle-tails that there are actually two-jointed bris-

tles arranged in pairs along the abdomen. They may probably be

directly compared with the abdominal legs of Myriapods. Further

study, however, of the homologies of these peculiar appendages;

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 93

and especially a knowledge of the embryological development of

Lepisma and Machilis, is needed before this interesting point can

be definitely settled. The three many-jointed anal stylets may,

however, be directly compared with the similar appendages of Per-

la and Ephemera.. The mode of insertion of the antennz of this

family is much like that of the Myriapods, the front of the head be-

ing flattened, and concealing the base of the antennæ, as in the

Centipedes and Pauropus. Indeed the head of any Thysanurous

insect seen from above, bears a general resemblance in some of its

features to that of the Centipede and its allies. Soin a less degree

does the head of the larve of certain Neuroptera and Coleoptera.

The eyes are compound, the single facets forming a sort of heap.

The clypeus and labrum, or upper lip, is, in all the Thysanura, car-

ried far down on the under side of the head, the clypeus being

almost obsolete in the Poduride, this being one of the most essen-

tial characters of that family. Indeed, it is somewhat singular

that these and other important characteristics of this group have

been’ almost entirely passed over by authors, who- Fig. 93.

slight and inconsiderable characters. The mouth-

parts of the Lepismatide (especially the thermoph-

ilous “Lepisma, which we now describe) are most

readily compared with those of the larva of Perla.

The rather large, stout mandibles are concealed at their tips,

under the upper lip, which moves freely up and down when the

creature opens its mouth. The mandible is about one third as

broad as long, armed with three sharp teeth on the outer edge,

and with a broad cutting edge within, and still further within, a

lot of straggling spinules. In all these particulars, the mandible

of Lepisma is comparable with that of certain Coleoptera and

Neuroptera. So also are the maxille and labium, though we are

not aware that any one has indicated how close the homology

is. The accompanying figure (23) of the maxilla of a beetle

may serve as an example of the maxilla of the Coleoptera, Or-

thoptera, and Neuroptera. In these insects it consists invari-

ably of three lobes, the outer being the palpus, the middle lobe

the galea, and the innermost the lacinia; the latter undergoing the

greatest modifications, forming a comb composed of spines and

hairs varying greatly in relative size and length. How much the:

94 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

. palpi vary in these groups of insects is well known. The galea

sometimes forms a palpus-like appendage. Now these three lobes

` may be easily distinguished in the maxilla of Lepisma. The pal-

pus instead of being directed forward, as in the insects mentioned

above (in the pupa of Ephemera the maxilla is much like that

of Lepisma), is inserted nearer the base than usual and thrown off

at right angles to the maxilla, so that it is stretched out like a leg,

and in moving about the insect uses its maxille partly as sup-

ports for its head. They are very long and large, and five or six-

jointed. The galea, or middle division, forms a simple lobe, while

the lacinia has two large chitinous teeth on the inner edge, and

internally four or five hairs arising from a thin edge.

The labium is much as in that of Perla, being broad and short,

with a distinct median suture, indicating its former separation in

embryonic life into a pair of appendages. The labial palpi are

three-jointed ; the joints being broad, and in life directed back-

wards instead of forwards, as in the higher insects.

There are four American species of the genus Lepisma in the

Museum of the Peabody Academy, which contains, so far as we

are aware, the only collection, small as it is, of Thysanura in

the country. Besides the common ZL. saccharina? (Pl. 1, fig. 1)

there are three undescribed species ; one the heat-loving form, per-

haps an imported species, found in a kitchen in Salem, and appar-

ently allied to the L. thermophila Lucas, of houses in Brest,

France; and two allied forms, one from Key West, and another _

from Polvon, Western Nicaragua, collected by Mr. MecNiel. These

three last species are beautifully ornamented with finely spinulated

hairs arranged in tufts on the head; while the sides of the body,

and edges of the basal joints of the legs are fringed with them.

The most complicated genus, and which stands at the head of

the family, is Machilis (Pl. 1. figs. 8, 9), of which there are spec

imens in the Museum of the Peabody Academy, from Albany,

N. Y., Virginia, and Oregon, indicating two species. They affect

dry places, living under leaves and stones. They all have rounded,

highly arched bodies, and large compound eyes, the pair being

united together. The maxillary palpi are greatly developed ; but

the chief characteristics are the two-jointed stylets arranged in nine

pairs along each side of the abdomen, reminding us of the abdom-

inal legs of Myriapods. The body ends in three long bristles,

asin Lepisma. The interesting genus Nicoletia stands at the bot-

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 95

tom of the group. . It has the long, linear, scaleless body of Cam-

podea, in the family below, but the head and its appendages are

like Lepisma, the maxillary palpi being five-jointed, and the labial

palpi four-jointed. The eyes are simple, arranged in a row of seven

on each side of the head. The abdomen ends in three long and

many-jointed stylets, and there are the usual ‘“ false branchial feet”

along each side of the abdomen. There are two European species

which occur in green houses. No species have yet been found in

America.

The next family of Thysanura is the Campodeæ, comprising the

two genera, Campodea, and Japyx. These insects are much

smaller than the Lepismide, and in some respects are interme-

diate between that family and the Poduridz (including the Smyn-

thuride).

In this family the body is long and slender, and the segments

much alike in size. There is a pair of spiracles on each thoracic

ring. The mandibles are long and slender, ending in three or

four teeth, and, with the other appendages of the mouth, are con-

cealed within the head, “ only the tips of the palpi (and of the

maxillee when these are opened) projecting a very little beyond

‘the rounded entire margin of the epistoma,” according to Haliday.

_ The maxille are comb-shaped, due to the four slender, minutely

ciliated spines placed within the outer tooth. The labium in

Japyx is four-lobed and bears a small two-jointed palpus. The

legs are five-jointed, the tarsi consisting of a single joint, ending

in two large claws. The abdomen consists of ten segments, and

in Campodea along each side is a series of minute, two-jointed ap-

pendages such as have been described in Machilis. These are

wanting in Japyx. None of the species in this family have the

body covered with scales.

The more complicated genus of the two is Japyx (Fig. 24, Japyx

solifugus Hal. ; a, the mouth from beneath, with the maxillæ open ;

b, maxilla; d, mandible ; c, outline of front of head seen from be-

neath, with the labial palpi in position), which, as remarked by the

late Mr. Haliday (who has published an elaborate essay on this

. genus in the Linnzean Transactions, vol. 24, 1864), resembles For-

ficula in the large forceps attached to its tail.

Campodea (C. staphylinus Westw., Fig. 25, enlarged ; a, mandi-

ble; b, maxilla), otherwise closely related, has more rudimentary

mouth-parts, and the abdomen ends in two many-jointed bristles.

96 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

Our only American species of Campodea (C. Americana Pack.)

lives under stones in damp places. It is yellowish, about a sixth

of an inch in length, is very agile in its movements, and would

easily be mistaken for a very young Lithobius. Haliday has re-

marked that this family bears much resemblance to the N europ-

terous larva of Perla, as previously remarked by Gervais; and

the many points of resemblance of this family and the Lepismide

to the larval forms of those Neuroptera that are active in the pupa

Japyx. 3 Campodea.

state (the Pseudo-neuroptera of Erichson and other authors) are

-very striking. Campodea resembles the earliest larval form of

Chloéon, as figured by Sir John Lubbock, even to the single-jointed

be re-

Fig. 24. Fig. 25.

tarsus; and why these two Thysanurous families should

moved from the Neuroptera we are unable, at present, to under-

stand, as to our mind they do not diverge from the Neuropterous

type any more than the Mallophaga, or biting lice, do from the

type of Hemiptera.

Haliday, remarking on the opinion of Linnæus and Schrank, who

GOW KER 50.

vie ules

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 97

referred Campodea to the old genus Podura, says with much truth,

“it may be perhaps no unfair inference to draw, that the insect in

question is in some measure intermediate between both.” This is

seen especially in the mouth-parts which are withdrawn into the

head, and become very rudimentary, affording a gradual passage

into the mouth-parts of the Poduride, which we now describe.

The next group, the Podurelles of Nicolet, and Collembola of

Lubbock, are considered by the latter, who has studied them with

far more care than any one else, as ‘less closely allied” to the Le-

pismidee “than has hitherto been supposed.” He says “‘ the pres-

ence of trachez, the structure of the mouth, and the abdominal

appendage, all indicate a wide distinction between the Lepismide

and the Poduride. We must, indeed, in my opinion, separate

them entirely from one another; and I would venture to propose

for the group comprised in the old genus Podura, the term Collem-

bola, as indicating the existence of a projection, or mammilla, en-

- abling the creature to attach or glue itself to the body on which it

stands.” Then without expressing his views as to the position

and affinities of the Lepismidz, he remarks “as the upshot of all

this, then, while the Collembola are clearly more nearly allied to

the Insecta than to the Crustacea or Arachnida, we cannot, I think,

regard them as Orthoptera or Neuroptera, or even as true insects.

That is to say, the Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Lepidop-

tera, etc., are in my opinion, more nearly allied to one another

than they are to the Poduride or Smynthuride. On the other

hand, we certainly cannot regard the Collembola as a group equiv-

alent in value to the Insecta. If, then, we attempt to map out

the Articulata, we must, I think, regard the Crustacea and Insecta

as continents, the Myriapoda and Collembola as islands — of less

importance, but still detached. . Or, if we represent the divisions

of the Articulata like the branching of a tree, we must picture the

Collembola as a separate branch, though a small one, and much

more closely connected with the Insecta, than with the Crustacea

or the Arachnida.” Lamarck regarded them as more nearly al-

lied to the Crustacea than Insecta. © Gervais, also, in the “ Histoire

Naturelles des Insectes : Apteres,” indicates a considerable diver-

sity existing between the Lepismide and Poduride, though they

are placed next to each other... Somewhat similar views have been

expressed by so high an authority as Professor Dana, who, in the

‘‘ American Journal of Science ” (vol. 37, Jan., 1864), proposed a

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V.

98 _ BRISTLE-TAIKS AND SPRING-TAILS.

classification of insects (based on the principle of cephalization),

and divided the Hexapodous insects into three groups: the first

(Ptero-prosthenics, or Ctenopters) comprising the Hymenoptera,

Diptera, Aphaniptera (Fleas), Lepidoptera, Homoptera, Trichop-

tera and Neuroptera ; the second group (Ptero-metasthenies, or Ely-

tropters) comprising the Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Orthoptera; .

while the Thysanura compose the third group. Lubbock has given

us a convenient historical view of the opinions of different authors

regarding the classification of these insects, which we find useful.’

Nicolet, the naturalist who, previous to Lubbock, has given us the

most correct and complete account of the Thysanura, regarded

them as an order, equivalent to the Coleoptera or Diptera, for ex-

ample. In this he followed Latreille, who established the order in

1796. The Abbe Bourlet adopted the same view. On the other

hand Burmeister placed the Thysanura as a separate tribe between

the Mallophaga (Bird Lice) and Orthoptera, and Gerstaecker

placed them among the Orthoptera. Fabricius and Blainville -

put them with the Neuroptera, and the writer, in his ‘ Guide to

the Study of Insects,” and previously in 1863, ignorant of the

views of the two last named authors, considered the Thysanura as

degraded Neuroptera, and noticed their resemblance to the larve

of Perla, Ephemera, and other Neuroptera, such as Rhaphidia and

Panorpa, regarding them as standing “in the same relation to the

rest of the Neuroptera [in the Linnean sense], as the flea does to

the rest of the Diptera, or the lice and Thrips to the higher Hem-

iptera.”

After having studied the Thysanura enough to recognize the

great difficulty of deciding as to their affinities and rank, the writer

does not yet feel prepared to go so far as Dana and Lubbock, for

reasons that will be suggested in the following brief account of

the more general points in their structure, reserving for another

occasion a final expression of his views as to their classification.

The Poduridee, so well known by name, as affording the scales

used by microscopists as test objects, are. common under stones

and wet chips, or in damp places, cellars, and about manure heaps:

They need moisture, and consequently shade. They abound most

in spring and autumn, laying their eggs at both seasons, though

most commonly in the spring. During a mild December, such as

just experienced, they may be found in abundance. Nearly ®

dozen species were found on the grounds of the Museum of the

ee Sesh einige ean earns

Sere DE e E hie aust en or Se, ieee

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 99

Peabody Academy, affording ample material for study until nearly

Christmas time, and again, late in February. About, a hundred

species are found in Europe, and nearly a quarter of that number

I have, with the aid of my friend Mr. C. A. Walker, observed in

this country, though paying little attention to them previous to

last autumn. ;

The body of the Poduras is rather short and thick, most so in

Smynthurus (Fig. 26), and becoming long and slender in Tomo-

cerus and Isotoma. The segments are inclined to be of unequal

size, the prothoracic ring sometimes becoming almost obsolete, and

some of the abdominal rings are much smaller than others; while

in Anura and Lipura, the lowest forms of the group, the seg-

ments are all much alike in size.

The head is, in form, much like that of certain larvee of Neurop-

tera. The basal half of the head is marked off from the eye-bear-

ing piece (epicranium) by a V-shaped suture (Fig. 28, head of

Degeeria), and the insertion of the antenne is removed far down

the front, near the mouth, the clypeus being very short; this

piece, so large and prominent in the higher insects, is not distinct-

ly separated by suture from the surrounding parts of the head,

thus affording one of the best distinctive characters of the Podu-

ride. The eyes are situated on top of the head just behind the

antennæ, and are simple, consisting of a group of from five to eight

or ten united into a mass in Smynthurus, but separated in the Po-

duride (Fig. 41, e, eye of Anura). The antenne are usually

four-jointed, and vary in length in the different genera. The

mouth-parts are very difficult to make out, but by soaking the in-

sect in potash for twenty-four hours, thus rendering the body

transparent, they can be satisfactorily observed. They are con-

structed on the same general type as the mouth-parts of the Neu-

roptera, Orthoptera, and Coleoptera, and except in being degraded,

and with certain parts obsolete, they do not essentially differ. On

observing the living Podura, the mouth seems a simple ring, with a

minute labrum and groups of hairs and spinules, which the ob-

server, partly by guess-work, can identify as jaws, and maxilla,

and labium. But in studying the parts rendered transparent, we

can identify the different appendages. Fig. 29 shows the common

Tomocerus plumbeus greatly enlarged, and as. the mouth-parts of

the whole group of Poduras are remarkably constant, a description

of one genus will suffice for all. The labrum, or upper lip, is sepa-

100 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

rated by a deep suture from the clypeus, and is trapezoidal in form.

The mandibles and maxille are long and slender, and buried in

the head, with the tips capable of being extended out from the

ring surrounding the mouth for a very short distance. The man-

dibles (md, Fig. 30) are like those of the Neuroptera, Orthoptera

and Coleoptera, in their general form, the tip ending in from three

to six teeth (three on one mandible and six on the other), while

below (Fig. 41, md) is a rough, denticulated molar surface, where

the food seized by the terminal teeth is triturated and prepared to

be swallowed. Just behind the mandibles are the maxilla, which

are trilobate at the end, as in the three orders of insects above

named. The outer lobe, or palpus, is a minute membranous tuber-

cle ending in a hair (Fig. 31, mp), while the middle lobe, or galea,

is nearly obsolete, though I think I have seen it in Smynthurus

where it forms a lobe on the outside of the lacinia. The lacinia, :

or inner lobe (Fig. 31, lc; 32, the same enlarged), in Tomocerus

consists of two bundles of spinules, one broad like a ruffle, and the

other slender, pencil-like, ending in an inner row of spines, like _

the spinules on the lacinia of the J apyx and Campodea, and, more

remotely, the laciniæ of the three orders of insects above referred

to. There is also a horny, prominent, three-toothed portion (Fig.

31, g). These homologies have never been made before, but they

seem natural, and suggested by a careful examination and com-

parison with the above-mentioned mandibulate insects.

The spring consists of a pair of three-jointed appendages, with

the basal joint soldered together early in embryonic life, while the

two other joints are free, forming a fork. It is longest in Smyn-

thurus and Degeeria, and shortest in Achorutes (Fig. 36, b), where

it forms a simple, forked tubercle; and is obsolete in Lipura, its

place being indicated by an oval scar. The third joint varies in

form, being hairy, serrate and knife-like in form, as in Tom

cerus (Fig. 30, a), or minute, with a supplementary tooth, ag

Achorutes (Fig. 36; ¢). This spring is in part homologous with

the ovipositor of the higher insects, which originally consists of

three pairs of tubercles, each pair arising apparently from the

seventh, eighth, and ninth (the latter the penultimate) segments

of the abdomen in the Hymenoptera. The spring of the Podura

seems to be the homologue of the third pair of these tubercles, and

is inserted on the penultimate segment. This comparison I have

“been able to make from a study of the embryology of Isotoma.

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 101

Another organ, and one which, so far as I am aware, has been

overlooked by previous observers, I am disposed to consider as an

ovipositor. In the genus Achorutes, it may be found in the seg-

ment just behind the spring-bearing segment, and situated on the

median line of the body. It consists (Fig. 36) of two squarish

valves, from between which project a pair of minute tubercles, or

blades, with four rounded teeth on the under side. This pair of

infinitesimal saws, remind one of the blades of the saw-fly, and I

am at a loss what their use can be unless to cut and pierce so as to

scoop out a place in which to deposit an egg. It is homologous in

situation with the middle pair of blades which compose the oviposi-

tor of higher insects, and if it should prove to be used by the

creature in laying its eggs, we should then have with the spring,

an additional point of resemblance to the Neuroptera and higher

insects, and instead of this spring being an important differential

character, separating the Thysanura from other insects, it binds

them still closer, though still differing greatly in representing only

a part of the ovipositor of the higher insects.

But all the Poduras differ from other insects in possessing a re-

markable organ situated on the basal segment of the abdomen.

It is a small tubercle, with chitinous walls, forming two valves

from between which is forced out a fleshy sucker, or, as in Smyn-

thurus, ‘a pair of long tubes, which are capable of being darted

out on each side of the body, enabling the insect to attach itself —

to smooth surfaces, and rest in an inverted position.

The eggs are laid few in number, either singly or several to-

gether, on the under side of stones, chips, or, as in the case of Ts-

otoma Walkerii Pack., under the bark of trees. They are round,

transparent. The development of the embryo of Isotoma in gen-

eral accords with that of the Phryganeide and suggests the near

relationship of the Thysanura to the Neuroptera.

Sir John Lubbock has given us an admirable account of the in-

ternal anatomy of these little creatures, his elaborate and patient

dissections filling a great gap in our knowledge of their internal

structure. The space at our disposal only permits us to speak

briefly of the respiratory system. Lubbock found a simple sys-

tem of tracheze in Smynthurus which opens by “ two spiracles in

the head, opposite the insertion of the antenne,” i. e., on the

back of the head. (Von Olfers says, they open on the prothorax.)

Nicolet and Olfers claim to have found tracheæ in several lower

102 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

genera (Orchesella, Tomocerus, and Achorutes, and allied genera),

but Lubbock was unable to detect them, and I may add that I

have not found them either in living specimens, or those rendered

transparent by potash, though careful search was made for them.

Having given a hasty sketch of the external aspect of the Po-

duras, I extract from Lubbock a synopsis of the families and

genera for ‘the convenience of the student, with the names of

known American species, or indications of undescribed native

forms.

SMYNTHURID#.

Body globular or ovoid; thorax and abdomen forming one

mass; head vertical or inclined; antenne of four or eight seg-

ments. Eyes eight on each side, on the top of the head. Legs

Fig. 26, long and slender, Saltatory appendage with a sup-

plementary segment.

Smynthurus Latreille. Antenne four-jointed, bent

at the insertion of the fourth, which is nearly as long

as the other three, and appears to consist of many

small segments. No conspicuous dorsal tubercles.

(In this country Fitch has described five species: S.

arvalis, elegans, hortensis, Noveborucensis, and sig-

nifer. Fig. 26 represents a species found in Maine.)

Dicyrtoma Bourlet. Antenne eight-jointed, five

before, three after the bend. Two dorsal tubercles on the ab-

i Smynthurus.

Papirius Lubbock. * Antennæ four-jointed, without a well-

marked elbow, and with a short terminal segment offering the

appearance of being many-jointed.

PODURIDÆ.

This family comprises those species of the old genus Podura, in

which the mouth has mandibles [also maxillæ and a labium], and

the body is elongated, with a more or less developed saltatory ap- .

pendage at the posterior extremity. í

Orchesella Templeton. Segments of the body unequal in 51zê,

*Lubbock considers that Papirius should be placed in a distinct family ee

Smynthurus, because i wants trachesw. Their presence or absence searcely me al

us to be a family character, as they'are wanting in the Poduridæ, and are not one

to the life of these animals, while in other respects Papirius differs but slightly

Smynthurus.

heey

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 103

more or less thickly clothed by clubbed hairs. Antenne long,

six-jointed. Eyes six in number on each side, arranged in the

form of an S. (One or two beautiful species live about Salem.)

Degeeria Nicolet. Segments of the body unequal in size, more

Fig. 27. or less thickly clothed by clubbed hairs. An-

tenn longer than the head and thorax, filiform,

four-jointed. Eyes eight in number, on each side

of the head. (Two species are figured on PI. 1,

figs. 2-5. Fig. 27 represents a species found in

Salem, Mass., closely allied to the European D:

nivalis. Fig. 28, head of a Degeeria, showing

the parts of the head. Five species are already

known in New England.)

Seira Lubbock. Body covered with scales.

Antennæ four-jointed; terminal segment not

ringed. Eyes on a dark patch. Thorax not

projecting over the head. Abdominal segments

Degeeria. unequal.

Templetonia Lubbock. Segments of the body subequal, clothed

by clubbed hairs, and provided with scales. Antennz longer than

the head and thorax, five-jointed, with a small basal segment, and `

with the terminal portion ringed.

Isotoma Bourlet (Desoria Nicolet). Four anterior abdominal

segments subequal, two posterior ones small ; body clothed with

simple hairs, and without scales. Antenne four- Fig. 28.

jointed, longer than the head; segments sub-

equal. Eyes seven in number on each side,

arranged in the form of an S. (Three species

are found in Massachusetts, one of which is

figured on Pl. 1, figs. 6, 7.)

Tomocerus Nicolet. Abdominal segments une-

qual, with simple hairs and scales. Antenne

very long, four-jointed, the two terminal segments

ringed. Eyes seven in number on each side. (The European F.

plumbea Linn., Podura plumbea of authors, is one of our most

common species. Fig. 29, greatly enlarged, copied from Temple-

ton; fig. 30, side view, see also fig. 31, where the mouth-parts are

greatly enlarged, the lettering being the same, md, mandibles ;

mæ, maxille ; mp, maxillary palpus; lb, labium ; lp, labial palpus ;

Ic, lacinia; g, portion ending in three teeth ; l, lobe of labium ; sp,

Head of Degeeria.

104

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

Fig. 29.

—

A ara ate ‘

Tomocerus Plumbeus.

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 105

. ventral sucking disc; the dotted lines passing through the body

represent the course of the intestine; b, end of tibia, showing the

tarsus, with the claw, and two accessory spines; @, third joint of

Fig. 34. the spring. Fig. 32, lacinia of maxilla

ə greatly enlarged. Fig. 33, different

forms of scales, showing the great vari-

ation in size and form, the narrow

ones running into a linear form, be-

coming hairs. The markings are also

seen to vary, showing their unreliable

character as test objects, unless a

single scale is kept for use.)

Lepidocyrtus Bourlet. Abdominal

segments unequal, with simple hairs

and scales. Antenne long, four-

jointed. Eyes eight in number on

Lepidocyrtus albinos. each side. Fig. 34, L. albinos, an

European species, from Hardwicke’s *‘ Science Gossip.” Fig. 35, a

scale. Two species in New England.)

Podura. Abdominal segments subequal. Hairs simple, no

scales. Antenne four-jointed, shorter than the head. Eyes eight

in number on each side. Saltatory appendage of moderate length.

Achorutes Templeton. Abdominal segments subequal. An-

tennæ short, four-jointed. Eyes eight in number on each side.

Saltatory appendage quite short.

Fig. 36 represents a species of this genus very abundant under

the bark of trees, ete., in New England. It is blackish lead color ;

a, end of tibia bearing a tenant hair, with the Fig. 35.

tarsal joint and large claw; b, spring; ĉ, the ae

third joint of the spring, with the little spine at

the base; fig. 37, the supposed ovipositor ; 4,

the two blades spread apart ; b, side view. ek

mouth-parts in this genus are much as in Tomo- W

cerus, the maxillæ ending in a lacinia and palpus.

The two remaining genera, Lipura and Anura,

are placed in the “family” Lipuridæ, which

have no spring. Lubbock remarks that ‘this

family contains as yet only two genera, Lipura (Burmeister), in

which the mouth is composed of the same parts as those in the

preceding genera, and Anura (Gervais), in which the mandibles

106 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

and maxille disappear.” Our common white Lipura is the Euro- ,

pean L. fimetaria Linn. (fig. 38, copied from Lubbock). The

site of the spring is indicated by an oval scar.

Fig. 39 represents a common species of Anura found under

stones between tide marks at Nantucket. Compared with Acho-

rutes, the body is rather longer and slenderer and more hairy, while

the front of the head is much prolonged, almost forming a beak.

The legs (fig. 40) end in a large, long, curved claw. On examin-

Fig. 36. Fig. 37. Fig. 38.

f Y

Achorutes, Lipura fimetaria.

ing specimens soaked in potash, I have found that the mouth-parts

(fig. 41, md, mandibles ; ma, maxille ; e, eyes, and a singular ac-

cessory group of small cells, which have not been noticed hereto-

fore as far as I am aware) are exactly like those of Achorutes and

Lipura. The mandibles, like those of other Poduras, end in from

three to six teeth, and have a broad, many-toothed molar surface

below. The maxillæ end in a tridentate lacinia as usual, though

the palpi and galea I have not yet studied.

For the reason that I can find no valid characters for sopis

ting these two genera as a family from the other Poduras, I am in-

clined to think that they form, by the absence of the spring, only

a sub-division (perhaps a sub-family) of the Poduridæ.

The best way to collect Poduras is, on turning up the stick or

stone on the under side of which they live, to place a vial over

them, allowing them to leap into it; they may be incited to

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS. 107

leap by pushing a needle under the vial. They may also be col-

lected by a bottle with a sponge saturated with ether or chloro-

form. They may be kept alive in vials for weeks by keeping -

moist slips of blotting paper in the vial. In this way I have kept

specimens of Degeeria, Tomocerus and Orchesella, from the middle

of December till late in January. During this time they occa-

Anura,

sionally moulted, and T. plumbea, after shedding its skin eat it up

within a few hours. Poduras feed ordinarily on vegetable matter,

such as dead leaves and growing eryptogamic vegetation.

These little creatures can be easily preserved in a mixture of

whiskey and glycerine, or pure whiskey, though without the glye-

erine the colors fade. The writer would be thankful for specimens

both of Poduras and Lepismas, for study.

REVIEWS.

—oo——

Muscurar Homoxoairs.* —It is now nearly a century (1774)

since Vicq d’ Azyr made the first detailed comparison between the

anterior and posterior limbs; in doing which he was truly said to

have “founded a new kind of comparative anatomy involving a

study of the relations which exist between different parts of the

body of the same animal.” His special method of comparison was

very defective and has been followed by few; but his general idea

of the limbs as similar and parallel parts which repeat each other

in a serial manner one behind the other, has been adopted by

nearly all those who have since examined the subject ; the excep-

tions being Gerdy, Foltz, Wyman, and three of the latter’s

pupils, Folsom, Coues, and the writer of this notice; all these

have recognized a symmetrical relation between the anterior and

posterior regions of the body and the limbs, which was first

clearly and impartially discussed by “the most accomplished as

well as the most distinguished anatomist of this country,” ț three

years before the present series of papers began to appear.

Dr. Coues’s first paper is occupied with a very clear and intelligi-

ble discussion of the general ideas involved in the subject; clear,

that is, to those who are already familiar with the “tools of

thought” peculiar to this department of knowledge, which is some-

times, with a shade of derision, called “transcendental” anatomy ;

Dr. Coues accepts the adjective in so far as it expresses ‘‘ the tran-

scendent importance of investigations that can alone bring order

out of a chaotic mass of observed ‘facts, and make a philosophy of

anatomy possible.” There was some ground for the ridicule

heaped upon Oken and Carus and St. Hilaire, who were the pio-

neers in this, till then unbroken, wilderness of homologies; no

wonder the marvellous things which they for the first time beheld,

so charmed and excited them that they became, as it were, intoxi-

* Antero-posterior Symmetry, with especial reference to the Muscles of the Limbs.

By pHo Coues, A.M., M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Surgeon United States Army. The Med-

ical ord, N. Y., June Ist, July Ist, July 15th, August 15th, September: Ist, October

e prone 15th, 1870. t.

_tOn Symmetry and Homology in Limbs. By Jeffries Wyman. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nal

Hist., June, 1867.

(108)

REVIEWS. 109

cated with new ideas, and painted what they saw in fantastic and

impossible shapes; even in later times there is much that is

apparently if not really fanciful in the views of the great English

anatomist, whose archetype skeleton made each man a “ potential

Briareus as to limbs,” and it is doubtless true that other cultiva-

tors of this field of anatomy have become so entangled in the com-

plicated machinery of their own devising, as to see in the fruitful

soil only stones to be cast out, stumps to be uprooted and streams

of error to be turned from their channels; all of them facts, for

which “so much the worse if they do not accord with my theory.”

But the last ten years have brought new laborers into the har-

vest ; crude anatomical speculations have been gradually corrected

by the severe criteria of embryology, and such men as Gegenbauer

in Germany, Cleland and Flower, Huxley and Humphrey, Mivart

and Parker* in England, are carefully reviewing all previous

works and sifting the grains of truth from the Okenian chaff. In-

deed, the science of homologies now fills more or less space in

every anatomical periodical, and here in America we are encour-

aged to this kind of research not only by the general bearing of

the works of Agassiz, Dana, and Wyman, but in particular by the

paper on ‘‘ Symmetry and Homology,” above named.

In his second paper, Dr. Coues considers the symmetrical

homology of the bones of the limbs and adopts the determinations

of Prof. Wyman with queries respecting the correspondence of the

Shoulder and pelvic girdles; a subject which now demands careful

revision in the light of Parker’s splendid monograph.¢ The most

important of these determinations is one upon which, in fact, the

whole matter rests, or which rather expresses the result of the en-

tire investigation, viz.: that the little finger (minimus) is the

symmetrical homologue of the great toe (hallux or protos), on

the ground of their relative position upon the inner borders of

hand and foot respectively, when the former is supinated and

brought into its more normal position.

That this is the true morphological way of comparing the hand

and the foot, and that the difference in the numerical composition

of the thumb and little toe would be of very little morphological

Consequence; even were it constant in the vertebrates, was first, so

Ree ee ee

*The late Prof. Goodsir

t Structure and evelopment of the aderi and Sternum. W. Kitchen Par-

P. Ray Societ:

110 REVIEWS.

far as we know, insisted upon by the writer of this notice in a

brief communication in 1866* which Dr. Coues appears not to

have seen; we allude to it here from our sincere conviction that

the recognition by anatomists of the morphological inconsequence

of numerical composition as compared with relative normal positien

will not only aid the solution of many other problems in homology,

but will especially enable us to remove what Professor Wyman, as

late as 1867,+ regards as “the greatest difficulty in the way” of

those who adopt a symmetrical homology of the limbs.

The third paper opens as follows: ‘‘ From what has preceded, it

is evident that corresponding muscles are to be sought upon anti-

typically (or symmetrically) correlated aspects of the limbs, and

determined mainly by relation ;” but the difficulties found in the

application of the principle to the bones are increased tenfold by

the complexity of the muscular apparatus, and, at the outset, the

author is forced to admit the present impossibility of making sat-

isfactory determinations of the muscles acting upon the humerus

and the femur ; the triceps humeralis, however, and the quadriceps ©

Jemoralis are seen to be homologous in the light of symmetry, even

more clearly than they haye been previously with the common idea

of serial homology ; Owen and Goodsir, being apparently the only —

anatomists who have denied this correspondence.

The outer and inner ham-string muscles give much trouble both

on account of their number and their origin from the pelvis, and Dr.

Coues finds himself obliged to dissent from previous determinations

of their relation to the two flexor muscles of the fore-arm (biceps

and brachialis anticus) ; his discussion of the homologies of these

muscles and of the popliteus, and that respecting the latissimus

dorsi, and the supinator longus, are admirable examples of pure

morphological argument, and while the reviewer is not yet fully

convinced of the correctness of the conclusions upon these and

other mooted points, he is ready to acknowledge, that the general

presentation of the muscular homologies is far more ably and fairly

presented in this series of papers than in the memoir} to which

their author so kindly refers; which, by the way, like most theses

of anatomical beginners, attempted to cover too much ground, and

really accomplished only one thing, the statement of the law of

eee

* On a Cat with Supernumerary Digits. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., May 16th, 1866.

t Op. cit. p. 276. : ;

tOn Morphology and Teleology. Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 1.

REVIEWS. 111

“Jong” and “ short” muscles. Dr. Coues alludes in several places

to the necessity of distinguishing between single muscles or muscu-

lar organs in different animals, and the muscular * morphological

integers ” which really ought to be determined before any final de-

cision can be reached respecting symmetrical homologies in the

muscular system. He recognizes the fallacy of conclusions drawn

from the structure of that singular animal, man, who is in one

place described “as the only true biped; no brute has such

shoulder-pads, no brute such buttocks.” He accepts the re-

viewer’s suggestion* that the present flexores and eatensores carpi

are morphologically extensores and flexores respectively. He also

adopts the opinion of Wyman and others, that the patella is a

** Sesamoid” bone; but he unfortunately also adopts unquestioned

the Owenian theories of the vertebrate skull, and the morpho-

logical position of the scapular arch, which are now to be regarded

as doubtful, if not altogether disproven.

We have not space here for a detailed account of the author’s

determinations ; the result of the investigation may be given in his

own words: “ few muscles have not been shown to have correla-

tives in the opposite limb; of some of these now seeming to have

none, correlatives will probably be found ; some of the correspond-

ences here laid down are obscure or doubtful; some others are

provisional, subject to further revision; most are demonstrably

symmetrical, and have been demonstrated so to be.”

We would call attention to the very apt and striking compari-

sons often made by the author; as, for instance, when the stunted

caudal segments are styled “larval” vertebre, and the cranial

segments “ neural imagines.”

But there are a few matters of general interest connected with

these papers which ought not to pass unnoticed. First, they ap-

pear in a strictly medical journal, and this may pave the way for

discussions which must aid both the practitioner and the morpholo-

gist ; for the principles of symmetry have already been shown to

underlie many of the phenomena of disease in men and animals ;

and there must be constantly occurring cases which will illustrate

and confirm or correct the ideas drawn from pure anatomy. Sec-

ond, the papers themselves evince a closeness of anatomical obser-

vation and a logical power, which promise well for the future of

SENS a E E E N A S a era at

* Comparative Myology of the Chimpanzee. Bost. Sour. Nat. Hist. 1861. p- 383.

112 REVIEWS.

philosophical anatomy in America. And third, these papers are

absolutely free from covert flings and sarcasms at opposing theo-

ries, and their author has done ample justice to the labors of those

whose works he has employed; we must regret the lack of refer-

ence to other, and later papers upon limb-homologies, especially

those in the ‘Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.” But this was

to some extent unavoidable with one who is serving in the army,

and is at least atoned for in one way by the assiduity with which

the author has made dissections of animals which he could pro-

cure, *

This hasty notice has done scant justice to Dr. Coues’s work.

Let us urge upon all, who are, or wish to be interested in the study

of homology, to read this series of papers; we hope before long

to publish elsewhere + a more complete review of these productions

of our morphological brother; to include therewith a notice of

the remarkable paper of Professor Wyman, who is in limb-homol-

ogies our common progenitor ; .to add some suggestions respecting

terminology as to both the objects of our study, and the ideas in-

volved therein; to indicate as far as possible, the various minor

problems which will occupy us for the half century prior to the

probable acceptance of these views by all anatomists ; and finally,

to append a list of all works and papers bearing upon the question

of the homology of the anterior and posterior limbs of vertebrate

animals. —B. G. WILDER.

Forms or Anima Lire. t{—In its plan, arrangement, and the

great mass of details and its useful illustrations, this work on com»

parative anatomy, is the most convenient manual we now have in

the English language. Were we going away from libraries, for a

sojourn by the sea-side to pursue anatomical studies, we sho

take with us Gegenbaur’s incomparable “ Grunziige der Vergleich-

enden Anatomie” (Principles of Comparative Anatomy), Huxley’ 7

‘Introduction to the Classification of Animals,” and his “ Ele-

mentary Lessons in Physiology,” but if deprived of these, and ,

one book was to do the work of all, our choice would be Professor

Rolleston’s excellent compendium.

eam asian

* The Opossum'‘and the Ornithorhyncus, among others, have received Dr. Coues’s at

tention and were especially useful in this particular line of research.

t American Journal of Science and Arts.

t Forms of Animal Life. - Being Outlines of Zoological Classification based upon Ane

tomical Investigation and illustrated by Descriptions of Specimens and of. Figures

By George Rolleston. Oxford, 1870. 8vo. pp. elxviii, 268.

REVIEWS. 113

We miss a chapter giving directions to the beginner in the diffi-

cult art of dissection. A figure to accompany the explanation of

the parts of the skeleton of a rat in order to illustrate the verte-

brate skeleton, would also add to the value of the manual.

The classification is mostly taken from the anatomical system

of the Germans. In a lineal arrangement, such as the author is

obliged to adopt in a book, the Mollusca follow the Vertebrata,

then succeed the third sub-kingdom, Arthropoda; the fourth,

Vermes; the fifth, Echinodermata ; the sixth, Coelenterata; and

the seventh and last, Protozoa.

In looking over the chapter on Arthropoda (Insects and Crusta-

cea) we find some things to criticise. The Cladocera are spoken of

on p: cv. as a “family.” By some naturalists of high standing,

such as Claus and others, this group is considered as a suborder.

On p. cix. where certain larve of insects are mentioned as having

the digestive canal “ aproctous,” we might add that the larva of

` Stylops has the intestine ending in a blind sac. On p. 112 it is

stated that the “ telson, or terminal so-called segment of the crus-

tacea does not appear to possess the characteristics of a true seg-

ment.” In Limulus, the ninth segment of the abdomen, well

marked in the embryo, forms the caudal spine, or telson. It is

a small thing to criticise, but throughout the work all the specific

names, with very rare exceptions, begin with a capital; thus ©

marring the typography of the book.

Ber Currure.* — Mr. Adair has succeeded in collecting for his

annual a number of articles by our leading apiarians comprising

much valuable information, both to bee keepers and to students of

animal psychology. A proof of this is seen in the first article by

Vogel (which we reprinted on p. 17), which contains so much bear-

ing on the theory of evolution, and the principles of breeding.

No art has profited more from the most abstruse researches of

purely scientific men, than the art of bee keeping. Huber’s hive,

the prototype of all our modern hives, was constructed by that

philosopher, solely that he might the better watch the habits of

bees to gratify his wonderful desire for knowledge for its own

sake. The discovery of Parthenogenesis by Siebold and Berlepsch

was a purely scientific one, but of the greatest value in the art of

Cell a edt ete satis tales ee ae

* Annals of Bee Culture for 1870, A Bee Keepers’ Year Book. D.L. Adair, editor.

Louisville, Ky., 1870. 8vo. p 50 s a

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. —s_‘ 8

114 _ REVIEWS.

raising bees. Vogel’s article shows how much the future of bee

keeping depends on the application of physiological knowledge,

obtained by the most difficult and abstruse experiments. So much

is said by “ practical” men of the futility of studying bugs, or

cutting up dead or dried plants, or the cruelties of vivisection, or

of “ scientific toys,” such as the microscope or spectroscope, that a

reminder of what the world owes to the scientific recluse, is natu-

rally suggested.

In some remarks on “ Apicultural Progress” Mr. Elisha Gallup,

contrasting the abundant bee literature of the present year with the

dearth of bee books in 1846, says “we now have three monthly

journals: the American Bee Journal, the Illustrated Bee Journal,

the Bee Keepers’ Journal, the Annals of Bee Culture [under -re-

view]; while there is “ scarcely an agricultural paper of any note

in the land, that has not its bee department, and all are edited with

truthfulness and ability.” Mr. Charles Dadant in a ‘Glance at

European Bee Culture,” after reviewing its progress in France,

Italy and Switzerland, says: “ As for Germany, it would take a

book to record all the improvements, inventions and discoveries

made in that country in the last fifteen years; suffice it to say,

that in 1868, there appeared four hundred and twelve publications

on bee culture in Germany. This would show that Germany is `

now the most advanced country in Europe in theoretical bee cul-

ture; but in practical bee culture, it is safe to say that Young

America is ahead of all.” a

Regarding the enemies of the bee, other than insects, Professor

A. J. Cook says : —

cious gourmands.

“ But some of our readers have been thinking of, and fearing toads

ever since commencing to read this article. Now, as we cil

firm friendship for the toad, loving to watch him in our room an

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 115

garden, as he throws out his slender tongue with lightning quick-

ness, taking in the thieving insects which rob us of our delicious

fruits, we love to speak a word in his defence. From our observa-

tions, we deduce the following: Toads usually seize those bees

which fall to the ground; so it is the freighted honey-gatherer,

which aims amiss for the alighting board, and thus falls to the

ground, that is entombed in the stomach of his Toadship. So from

what we have already said, we believe, despite the opinion of some

of our best apiculturists, that it is the bees in hives high from the

ground which suffer from his Batrachian majesty.”

On the subject of breéding in-and-in, Mr. E. Gallup tells us

that in “ three cases he has known bees to be bred in-and-in with-

out any cross from other stocks, until they became mere dwarfs,

and entirely ceased to swarm, or be of any profit to their owner.”

At the meeting of the German bee keepers at Nuremburg, Dr.

Pollman exhibited a collection of bees illustrative of their natural

history. ‘It was composed of two boxes, containing workers,

queens, and drones of the different kinds of bees, such as black,

Italian, Greek, Egyptian, etc., and of different parts of the bodies

of bees, hermaphrodites, insects hostile to bees, scales of wax of

all sizes, broods, foul broods, combs, &e.”

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

Cummme Fers. —The beautiful Climbing Fern (Lygodium pal-

matum) exists and flourishes in its wild state within the borders

of “old Essex.” The writer discovered this rare and attractive

plant in 1869, while exploring “Lynn Woods” in the vicinity of

the famous “Penny Bridge.” The locality of its haunt is within

the limits of Saugus, and not far from that romantic spot known

as the Pirates’ Glen. Specimens have been obtained having a

_ Stalk or “vine” nearly four feet in length. As the climbing fern

is one of the most rare, graceful and attractive plants found in

this country, it is a matter of satisfaction to know that we have it

growing in our woodland valleys. This fern has been found,

though rarely, in Florida, Kentucky and Massachusetts. In Vir-

ginia it is often seen, and it has been found in several localities

116 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

between that state and our own. Some very fair specimens have

been obtained in Concord, not far from Thoreau’s favorite Walden

woods. At East Windsor Hill, Conn., at one time abundant sup-

plies were obtained for decorative purposes, but so careless were

the people who sought this dainty “vine” that the Legislature

passed an act forbidding its heedless and wanton extermination.

The name Lygodium is from the Greek signifying flexile or flexible;

palmatum suggests the resemblance of the outlines of the fronds

to an outspread hand. Success in transplanting the ‘Climbing

Fern” depends much upon the care exercised to obtain good roots.

Having these, little complaint will be made of the difficulty at-

tending the culture of one of Nature’s daintiest eccentricities. —

Gero. E. Emery.

Parasitic Funer iy tHE Human Ear. —In the “ Bulletin de la

Société Imperialé des Naturalistes de Moscou” for 1870, No. 1,

just received, is a paper by Dr. Karsten on the parasitic fungi

found in the human ear, accompanied with beautiful illustrations.

The author confirms the statements of Hallier and other previous

observers, that when the spores of these parasitic fungi are sown

elsewhere, the plants which result from them assume very different

forms, according as the substance on which they are sown is rich

or poor in material for nutrition; and that fungi described as dis-

tinct species, or even as belonging to different genera, are merely

different genetic forms of the same plant.—A. W. B.

Rep Snow 1x -Wasnincton Terrrrrory.—In the summer of

1858, when employed on the survey of the boundary between the

Territories of the United States and those of Great Britain (the

49th parallel of north latitude), I ascended the main range of the

Cascade Mountains, a little south of the line and at an elevation

of about 6500 feet. While looking for a camping place, one of

my men, with an expression of horror, brought me a han

red snow which he had picked up on a higher neighboring point,

and asked what it was. His disgust can be imagined when

inquiring where he had obtained it, I eat it. Accompanying him

back I found that the color was, so to speak, “sheeted” over a

considerable space on the northern side of a point of rocks. AS

it lay in place, it was of a pink color, beautifully contrasting with

the white bank on which it lay. Compressing it in the hand, it

gave a bloody tint to the water which oozed from it. The taste

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 117

seemed somewhat earthy. I had no other means of examining it

than a pocket lens, under which the coloring matter seemed to con-

sist of tadpole shaped bodies, with rounded heads and attenuated

tails, perhaps two lines in length. I afterwards met with the same

phenomenon on the range dividing two branches of the head

waters of the Similkameen mountains, a little east of the Cascades,

and at the height of, about 6000 feet. The coloration of the snow

was unequal — somewhat in bands or clouds, or, as I have above

expressed it, “ sheeted,” and it rarely penetrated above a few

inches. I believe this is the first notice of the occurrence of the

“red snow” within the territories of the United States. — GEORGE

GIBBS.

FERTILIZATION OF Fumartace®.— Professor Hildebrand of Bonn

contributes to Pringsheim’s ‘Jahrbuch für wissenschaftliche Bo-

tanik” for 1870, a continuation of his observations on the mode of

fertilization of different races of plants, referring especially to the

order Fumariaceæ. He finds that in all plants belonging to this

order the access of pollen to the stigma of the same flower is una-

voidable, with the exception of Hypecoum, in which the stamens

are distinct. In the genera with diadelphous stamens (Fumaria,

Corydalis, Dicentra, etc.), the pollen falls immediately on to the

stigma, which is in close proximity to the anthers, and is devel-

oped precisely at the same time. This does not, however, necessa-

rily imply self-fertilization, as insects carry off the pollen to other

flowers to fertilize them. By artificial impregnation Prof. Hilde-

brand obtained similar results to those published by Darwin in the

case of other plants, that a pistil fertilized by pollen from its own

stamens does not produce so many seeds as one fertilized by for-

eign pollen. Hypecoum is somewhat protandrous (stamens ripen-

ing before pistil).—A. W. B.

_Fertmization or Dicnocamous Frowers.— While Professor

Hildebrand has been prosecuting his researches in Germany, Pro-

fessor Delpino of Florence (now Botanical Professor in the For-

est Institute at Vallombrosa) has been following up similar lines

of inquiry in Italy, with equal success. In his recent papers, en-

titled Ulteriori Osservazioni sulla Dicogamia vel Regno Vegetale—

of which the first part fills almost two hundred and fifty octavo

pages, and the first fasciculus of the second part, forty pages

more — he has illustrated the very diversified arrangements in many

118 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

natural orders with hermaphrodite blossoms, which secure cross-

fertilization as effectively as if the flowers were of distinct sexes.

This treatise is a treasury of observation upon this subject. We

have also from the same author an Italian version of a lecture by

. Miller, on the application of the Darwinian theory to flow-

ers and to the insects visiting the flowers, with extended notes —

the whole of which is worthy of an English version. — Eps.

Licnens.— Since the article entitled “ Lichens under the Micro-

scope” was written, I have met with a notice in Krempelhuber

(Geschichte der Lichenologie, vol. 1, p. 431) of three fossil lichens,

one related to Ramalina, a second to Verrucaria, and a third to

Opegrapha ; the first two found in the “ Eri ” or upper new

Red Sandstone, and the third in chalk.

In regard to the number of the species, it ought perhaps to

have been stated that Krempelhuber’s enumeration includes all

synonymes and doubtful species, in short everything to which a

separate name has been attached. Nylander (Synopsis, 1859) gives

the number of species at 1361, which is probably considerably be-

low the real number. — H. W.

ZOOLOGY.

Nores on American Drer.—I wish to make an early correc-

tion through the Naruratist of an error in my observations as

given in my paper entitled ‘“ American Cervus.” On page 7 of

that paper, I stated that the elk (C. Canadensis), like most other

quadrupeds, has but one pelage a year. I can now state that it

‘sheds its coat twice a year like all the other species of that genus,

which I have had an opportunity of studying.

The shades of color, and the length of the hairs, of the summer

coat and its successor, are so nearly alike, and the former is sh

and replaced by the latter so gradually, that it is exceedingly diff-

cult to detect the change even when the attention is called directly

to it.

In anticipation of some more extended observations on this

branch of natural history, allow me to notice a very marked physi-

ological difference between the elk and the three smaller species

of the same genus which I now have in my grounds (C. ad?

ginianus, C. macrotis and C. Columbianus Rich). In the elk the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 119

theca extends along the abdomen to within three inches of the

umbilicus, and has no pendant prepuce, almost precisely as is ob-

served in the Bos family. In the three smaller species named the

theca is suspended from a point so near the scrotum that when

the animal is standing it occupies a vertical position within, half

an inch of it, the posterior measurement of which is three to four

inches, anterior measurement half that length. The lower half

may be described as an exaggerated prepuce, which is ‘entirely

wanting in the elk. In this regard but little difference is observed

in the three smaller species.

It would be interesting to know to which of these species the

moose (C. alces) most conforms in this particular, and I hope that

you, or séme of your correspondents will be able to inform us. —

J. D. Caton, Ottawa, Ill., Nov., 1870.

Occurrence or Krttanp’s Own Ix Mame. — A characteristic

specimen of the Nyctale albifrons Cassin, was shot at Norway,

Me., September 14th, by Mr. Clarence M. Smith, and by him

presented to the museum of Yale College. It has not been hith-

erto recorded from New England. So far as known to me, the

specimen taken at Racine, Wis., by Dr. Hoy, is the only one pre-

viously recorded from the United States. Prof. Baird mentioned

another specimen collected by Dr. A. Hall, near Montreal, and in

a recent number of the “Canadian Naturalist” (vol. v, P- 103) a

specimen is recorded as obtained near Quebec, by Rev. D. Ander-

son. The early date would indicate that the specimen taken at

Norway was resident there, as it was before the southward migra-

tion had commenced. In a recent letter Prof. Baird expresses

doubt whether the albifrons may not prove to be the young of N.

Acadica. But if so, it is singular that the young of the latter has

not oftener been observed in localities where it is eommon, as in

many parts of New England. This question is well worthy of

thorough investigation. — A. E. VERRILL.

SPAWNING- or THE CapELin.—The Capelin (Mallotus villosus),

an inhabitant of the northern seas of the Atlantic coast of Amer-

ica, is well known as a bait for cod-fish. It visits the shores dur-

ing August and September, for the purpose of spawning, when it

is so abundant as to darken the sea for miles. There me ERT

peculiarities abont the method of its spawning ; the females, on

approaching the beach, being attended by two males, who hol

120 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the female between them, by means of the ridge of closely set,

brush-like scales with which the males alone are provided, so that |

she is almost entirely concealed. In this state the three run to-

gether with great swiftness upon the sand, and in this act the

spawn issues from the female, which is simultaneously fertilized.

An immense business is carried on in the capture of the capelin

as bait for the cod; the French fishermen alone obtaining from

the fishing ground off Newfoundland, from sixty thousand. to sev-

enty thousand hogsheads annually for this purpose.

ORNITHOLOGICAL Nores.—In J. A. Allen’s ‘ Notes on Some of

the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts,” in the Narurauist for Jan-

uary, 1870, he says of the Glossy Ibis (Tbis Ordii), “ It, was also

taken, as I learn from Mr. Vickery, in New Hampshire, in October,

1858, by Dr. Palmer.” I have the specimen in my collection now,

an old bird, in full plumage, taken near Lake Winnipiscogee, in the

town of Alton, N. H. -I have also the Canada Jay (Perisoreus

Canadensis), and Black-backed, Three-toed Woodpecker ( Picioides

arcticus), both taken in Strafford, N. H. The jay I shot in winter,

and the woodpecker was taken late in the fall. I believe the

Canada Jay is not mentioned by Mr. Allen as occurring in Massa-

chusetts. It is not improbable that it may be an occasional winter

visitant. The Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola Canadensis) has appeared

in Ipswich during the winters of 1867-68, and 1868-69. I secured

one in red plumage, but they were mostly young birds. —.CHARLES

PALMER, Ipswich.

Mimicry in Insects. — At a recent meeting of the Scientific

Committee of the Horticultural Society, a remarkable paper was

read by Mr. Andrew Murray, on the subject of Mimetism, espec-

ially as exhibited in the instances of the South American butter-

flies, which have already been discussed in our columns. Mr.

Murray adduced a number of arguments which he considered told

against the theory that the mimicry had been produced by Natural

Selection, and attributed it to hybridization. — Nature.

PaRasire ON tHe Wasp.—Mr. F. Smith exhibited to the Ento-

mological Society of London, Phora florea, a dipterous parasite in

the nest of the wasp. We have figured and noticed in the Nat-

URALIST, vol. 2, p. 196, a similar parasite in the cells of the honey

bee living in Europe. Similar flies should be looked for in thi

country by our enterprising bee keepers. ,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 121

Riveneck Duck.— Mr. G. A. Boardman of Calais, Me., writes

that he found several flocks of the Ringneck Duck, Fulix collaris,

breeding on the river, near Calais, the past season, and that he

secured the old and ‘ chicks.” He states that he knows of no

other instance of this duck breeding in New England.

Mocxıxe Bieb m= Maine.—I found a mocking bird, Mimus

polyglottus, in the woods up the river this past season. This is

the first time the bird has been found in Maine, to my knowledge,

and I think it could not have been an escaped cage bird.—G. A.

BoarpMan, Calais, Maine.

Rep SQUIRRELS not Rep. — I received in November last a very

pretty black specimen of the Sciurus Hudsonius, and also a pure

white specimen of the same species. —G. A. BOARDMAN, Calais,

GEOLOGY.

Devonian Rocks IN THE Amazonran VALLEY. — At the foot of

the celebrated Serra do Ereré, rechristened Monte do Agassiz by

Dr. Silva Continho, in the Province of Grao Para, Brazil, is an

extensive plain on the northern side, composed of coarse shaly

sandstones of a reddish color, red, white, and black shales, and very

hard cherty beds, all lying quite horizontally, but broken through

by a perfect network of heavy trap dykes, which appear on the

surface of the plain like ruined walls. The sandstone beds con-

tain fossils of which I secured a large collection. They comprise

one or more species of Dalmanites of which I have fragments

kindly determined for me by Professor James Hall, Chonetes?, Spir-

ifer, Leptocelia, Orthisina, Orthis?, Lingula, Discina, Tentacu-

litz, ete. In a relatorio published in the “ Diario do Grao-Paré”

of Pará, January 5th, 1871, I referred this series of beds to the

Devonian. A small collection of the above fossils was referred to

Professor Hall, who writes me that “ the forms and associations are

of Devonian character, and the impression produced from the tout

ensemble is that they are of the age of the Upper Helderberg

group.”

We have now the Devonian age of the Ereré beds, I think, defi-

nitely settled, and it is interesting that these are the only Brazil-

ian rocks that we can satisfactorily refer to that age.

t23 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

These Devonian rocks, lying quite horizontally, reach close up to

the base of the Serra do Ereré, and run along it for some distance.

The Serra is composed of heavy beds of coarse sandstone, with a

slight admixture of feldspathic clay, and so exceedingly compact

that a fracture passes through the grains of sand. This is the gen-

eral character of the rock; some is not so compact, and there are

one or two comparatively thin beds of hardened feldspathic clay.

The rock is without fossils. 'The whole series dips towards the

southeast approximately, the angle being in some cases as high as

15°-20.° I studied this locality for a month, and I came away

with the only conclusion that seemed legitimate, viz.: that the

-Serra was older than the Devonian rocks of the plain to the north.

It is not a table-topped Serra, and does not belong to the same

system as the table-topped hills of Almeirim, Paratiquéra and

Santarem, which I believe to be Tertiary. The group of hills of

Ereré and Paittina, is entirely different from anything else I have

seen on the Amazonas, and it seems quite unique.

I did not find the geological structure of the Amazonian

valley as simple as I expected. Along the line of the main

river it is very monotonous. So it is along the lower Mississippi,

but the valley is bordered by older rocks, Eozoic, Silurian?, De-

vonian and Carboniferous. Nor are the clays, etc., so uniform in

their distribution as I expected to find them. I have seen clays

from the Devonian, Carboniferous and Tertiary so exactly alike

that it would be impossible to distinguish them, in the hand speci-

men, from the recent clays.

I am preparing a report on my geological studies on the Ama-

zonas, which I shall publish as soon as possible. — Cm. FRED.

Hartt, Jan. 17th, 1871.

Oricix or Dramonps. — Professor Morris has started a new

theory as to the source whence diamonds are derived. Hitherto

they have been looked upon as coming from igneous and meta-

morphic rocks, like garnets, rubies, and many other precious

stones; a better knowledge of the geology of the diamond dis-

trict of South Africa, leads us to conclude that these stones ooa

from certain stratified beds containing, besides reptilian remains,

numerous plants and much fossil wood. These beds are known

as the “ Karoo” or Dicynodon beds. Professor Morris calls to

mind the remarkable fact (well known to botanists and mineralo-

ny AE Sas Gea a

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. : 123

gists) that in the stems of the bamboo small erystals of quartz

are found, known by the name of tabasheer; he suggests, whether

it may not be possible that the diamonds yielded by these old

plant beds similarly owe their origin to vegetable growth. The

idea is well worthy the attention alike of the chemist, the miner-

alogist and the botanist. — The Academy.

DISCOVERY OF ÅCTUAL Cerne ON THE Rocky MOUNTAINS.—

Mr. Clarence King announces in the March number of the “ Amer-

ican Journal of Science and Arts,” the fact that while “extinct

glaciers, equalling in all respects the former grandeur of the alpine

system,” were discovered by Prof. Whitney and his corps, there

are still in existence glaciers on the northern side of Mt. Shasta

in Northern California, “ the largest about four and a half miles in

length, and two to three miles wide.” Glaciers have also been

found by Mr. Emmons on Mt. Tachoma, or Rainier, and on Mt.

Hood by Mr. Hague. On the former mountain (Rainier) :—

“The main White ecg ~~ the grandest of the whole, pours

straight down from the rim of the crater in a northeasterly direc-

tion, and pushes its cai farther out into the valley oar Bnd

of the others. Its greatest width on the steep slope of the

tain must be four or five miles, narrowing towards its biteni to

about a mile and a half; its length can be scarcely less than ten

miles. The great eroding power of glacial ice is strikingly illus-

trated in this glacier, which seems to have cut down and carried

away on the northeastern side A hi isan ee fully a third of its

mass. The thickness of rock cut away, as shown by the walls on

either side, and the isolated treet a the heid of frei triangular

of the ice of the glacier, I have no data for making estima ae

though it may probably "be reckoned in thousands of feet.”

Eozoon Canapense.— Some doubts having been thrown on the

organic origin of this oldest known geological form of life by a

correspondent in “Nature,” Dr. Carpenter has been induced to

recapitulate the arguments in favor of the organic theory; and

has also brought from Principal Dawson of Montreal, in “ Na-

ture” for February 9th, an account of recent explorations and ob-

servations in the Laurentian rocks of Canada, which seems dully

to establish the claims of Eozeon to the character of a veritable

fossil.— A. W. B.

124 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Tue BOTTOM or THE SEA OFF THE Eastern UNITED STATES. —

At the meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, Nov.

16, the President introduced Count L. F. de Pourtales, who spoke

on the constitution of the bottom of the ocean off the east coast

of the United States, south of Cape Hatteras, as developed by

the soundings and dredgings of the United States Coast Survey.

The chief constituent, he said, is silicious sand, from the coast

line to about the one hundred fathom line, a limit which also coin-

cides nearly with the inner edge of the gulf stream for a great por-

tion of its course. Outside of this line the whitish, calcareous ‘*Glo-

bigerina” mud prevails and extends probably under the greater

part of the ocean. The silicious sand is replaced to the south-

ward of the Vineyard Islands, and off the eastern end of Long

Island, by a greenish or bluish mud, known by the navigators as

the Block Island soundings. Similar mud is found off Sandy

Hook in a range of depressions known as the mud-holes, which

form a leading mark to find the port of New York in thick

weather. In the neighborhood of New York a few rocky patches

are found which require investigation. Near Cape Fear, also,

rocky bottom is. sparingly found, affording a foothold to some

corals, gorgonias and sponges. Otherwise the sand is pretty

uniform in constitution, varying only in the size of the grain.

A remarkable deposit of green-sand is found on the inner edge

of the Gulf Stream, off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.

The bottom consists here chiefly of living and dead foraminifere,

the chambers of the latter becoming filled with a silicate which

injects even the finest ramifications of the canals of the shell.

At first yellow, it gradually turns green, at the same time the shell

proper decays and breaks off, leaving a cast, which by attrition

and conglomeration with others often loses the characteristic form

of a cast. Sometimes black pebbles are found, of which a sec-

tion shows plainly the origin due to an agglomeration of casts of

foraminiferz, ’

The dredgings made by the Coast Survey in the Straits of

Florida have revealed the existence of a large bank, or deep sea

platform off the Florida Reef, consisting of a highly fossiliferous

limestone still in process of formation from the numerous shells,

echinoderms and corals, mostly new to science, which live on it, at

a depth of from one hundred to three hundred fathoms. Between

this platform and the reef, the bottom consists of the detritus of

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 125

the reef, more or less finely comminuted and not rich in animal

life. In depths beyond the three hundred fathom line, but with

considerable variation in its limits, we find again the Globigerina

mud which also fills the greater part of the Gulf of Mexico in

deep water.

The Coast Survey intends to prosecute these researches next

year with increased means.

_ Foss WHALE IN THE Drirr.— The bones of a whale closely

allied to the White Whale (Beluga leucas) of the Gulf of St. Law-

rence, have been discovered at Cornwall, Ontario County, Canada.

It seems to be the same as the B. Vermontana of Thompson.—

Nature.

MICROSCOPY.

Puoto-MIcroGRAPHS FOR THE STEREOSCOPE. * — Before the sug-

gestion in Carpenter’s last edition on the Microscope, that stereo-

scopic pictures might be obtained by photographing a microscopic

object alternately with the two sides of an objective, I had been

working on the subject with some degree of success. Dr. Carpen-

ter, however, seems to mention the fact rather as a means of

convenient illustration, or a scientific curiosity, than as the expe-

dient of great practical utility that I conceive it to be.

Two or three methods seem to be applicable to the pr oduction

of such pictures. Some objects, somewhat equal in width and

depth, and visible under a lens of long focus, may be tilted by

a simple, graduated, and carefully centred mechanical arrange-

ment, first toward one side, and then equally toward the other,

photographing each aspect by the same power and under essen-

tially the same conditions: or, of certain objects under low and

medium powers, a conception of solidity may be gained, by using

photographs which are identical, except that, by a slight change of

focus, they represent different planes of the object: or, the object

and lens remaining unchanged, the lateral halves of the objective

may be alternately stopped off, either directly, or by means of stops

under the achromatic condenser, or by means of an achromatic

condenser (of very small angular aperture) inclined first toward

*From remarks by Dr. R. H. Ward, at ting of the Troy (N. Y.) Scientific Asso-

ciation, Feb. 20th, 1871.

126 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

one side and then toward the other, so that each picture shall rep-

resent the view actually taken of the object by each side of the

objective. The latter method of the three, is doubtless the one

most generally applicable in practice. ;

Pictures formed in this manner, and mounted upon cards ready

for use in the ordinary stereoscopes, would greatly excel in ele-

gance and definiteness any present means of disseminating results

in many branches of microscopical study. As a means both of

popularizing the familiar facts of microscopy, and of interchang-

ing among microscopists the knowledge of novel results of inves-

tigation, they would be invaluable. Few objects, for instance,

would be more interesting to persons of general, if not scientific

culture, than excellent stereoscopic views of the structure of plants,

insects, and other familiar natural objects; and almost any micro-

scopist would be glad to possess similar views representing the

latest researches into the structure and relations of tissues, the

micro-chemistry of poisons and adulterations, or the anatomy of

typical species in any family of microscopic organisms. Such pic-

tures might be usefully prepared by any public institution, and

distributed to scientific institutions and societies ; or, preferably,

prepared by some scientific, not sensational, private source, and

furnished to buyers, like Dancer’s micro-photographs, through the

ordinary channels of trade.

In order to photograph, without delay, any field of view which a

working microscopist deems worthy of preservation, he should

have a camera mounted on a plank which is blocked at one end

for the feet of the stand used as a “ working instrument.” Then,

whenever desired, the eye-piece is removed, the instrument lev-

elled into a horizontal position and placed accurately on the plank,

and the magnified image instantly thrown upon the focussing plate

of the camera. Finding the usual band, passing around pulleys

and over the fine-adjustment wheel, to be a slight annoyance in

carrying out this plan with the stand I ordinarily use (a large

stand of the “ Jackson ” model), I make the fine adjustment by 4

somewhat soft cylinder of India-rubber lying upon the wheel.

This cylinder is rather more than three inches long, is an inch and

a half in diameter, and weighs about four ounces. It is open

through its centre, like a tube with thick walls and small bore,

and is mounted upon one end of a straight, light, wooden rod, the

other end of which is supported on or near the top of the camera.

Sy en-

eet

NOTES. 127

It is prevented from rolling off from the fine-adjustment wheel by

a horizontal wire, transverse to the axis of the apparatus, attached

by a hinge-joint to a post at the side of the plank, and to a pin

in the end of the wooden rod which just passes through the cylin-

der; and being retained not over the centre, but somewhat to one

side of the wheel, loss of motion is simply impossible, and an ex-

tremely fine and manageable motion is secured. The unequalled

facility and certainty with which this apparatus can be instantly

laid upon the fine-adjustment wheel or turned back from it, is suf-

ficiently evident.

Microscopy at tHe Army Mepicat Mvuseum.—The Medical

Society of the State of New York, one of the largest and most

influential organizations of the kind in this country, at a recent

meeting adopted a series of resolutions expressing its interest in

and appreciation of the microscopical work of the United States

Army Medical Museum at Washington. The Society approves,

with some degree of enthusiasm, the methods of investigation,

and of disseminating results, employed at the Museum, especially

in regard to the study of healthy and diseased tissues; believing

that the progress attained is of material use to the profession, and

that it would be unattainable at present without the unusual facil-

ities furnished by the Government. —R. H. W.

NOTES.

—oo———

Mr. Boucard, the well known dealer in specimens of N atural ,

History, and traveller, formerly living in Paris, but now resident

in London, proposes the publication of a work on the Coleoptera

of Mexico and Central America, including the adjacent portions of

the United States, especially the Pacific region. He earnestly

desires contributions of specimens, whether named or not, to be

used in his investigations, and will return such as he is not per-

mitted to keep, suitably identified, and will render an equivalent in

other specimens, if desired, for such as are sent to him to

retained. Any specimens intended for him may be sent through

the Smithsonian Institution, or direct to his establishment in Lon-

don, 55 Great Russell street, Bloomsbury, W. G. _

128 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

A rare opportunity of securing specimens of insects from Texas

and Southern New Mexico, is now open to those interested. By

reference to the advertising pages it will be seen that Mr. Belfrage

is to make a long collecting journey through the above named

region. We can recommend him as a faithful and excellent col-

lector. His specimens arrive in excellent condition.

The excrements of bats from Egypt have recently become an

article of trade as a sort of guano for manure.

It has been announced at the Royal Geographical Society that

Livingstone has arrived at Ujiji on his return journey.— Nature.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDEDTS.

E. S. M.—The plants are:—1, Utricularia purpurea ; 2, probably ~ one Virginice

(poor ‘specimen); 3, Sagittaria rh fone var. spongiosa; 4, Spir ii ydrocotyle

Seago 6, Phaseolus trilobus

A. G. H.—The cocoon of Platysamia Cecropia was filled with the cocoons (containing

the perfect pnts of an Ichneumon

Wit. treal.—Professor J. Leidy; Philadelphia, Professor A. E. Verrill, New ;

Haven, Aer Professa r H. J. Clarke, Lexington, Ky., are the only persons in this coun

try who are engaged on the subject of internal parasites, so far as we are informed.

Dr. Weinland has been in Germany for many yea

—_+o2—__.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

A Concise Analytical and Logical Development of the Atmospheric System, and of the Elements

o RA dape i dk by which the weather may be forecasted, eaagied 4 the Practical Mind pane the

‘country. By Thomas B. Butler, author of the *‘ Philosophy of ae Weather.” Rev

tion. Andrew Selleck, Norwalk, Conn. 1870. 12mo, pp. 405. he

Bulletin o ‘of the fuseum aptare ot Zoology, Vol. II, No. a Preliminary Report on the

Crustacea Dredged in the Gulf Stream in the Straits of Florida. By L. F.de oe Cssist.

. S. Coast Survey. Part I, Brachyura. By Dr. Wm. Stim pron, i870. 'Bvo pa mpri "hae

Annual Report of the Surgeon General Ui en s Army. 1870. 8yo pamph. 1870.

«Che jong uake of October 20, 1870. By Prine val Dave: LL. D., F.R.S., sda Drs il,

or ety ao gk Won of the State Geological s urvey of Michigan. By Ala xander Winche

Š 8vo pamp!

Descrip wo naof rag e New England VEA, ibranchiata, By A. E. Verrill. 8v0, p Nov., tae

he Geological Surve the State K Towa, to the 13th General pleat Jan.

ontaining nie ha of examinations pathy within the yea P 3 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1 e Baii ‘Charles A.

Report of an Inquiry in regard to Schools i. Plate a Science in os tain partons s of he the

Toro _ 1870.

United States. By J. G A. T. Machattie u a

ird Annual Report of the i Natural H Hist oe: hiladelphia. a Pg 8vo pamph., pp: 24,

Fourth eer aa Ar? tory € y fe. s aye the ‘Sta te of ‘Maine for the year 1810.

vo pamph., pp. 56. 2 plate ary

Fifth goes Sf 0 the Commissioners rf Inland Fisheries [of Massachusetts]. Janua

ye 8vo ph.. $

cea den Jenesis of 8 pan s8 By "e one Mivart, F.R..S 12mo, cloth, pp. 296, illustrated.

“Ho ondi tras Descriptive itistorica’ and Statistical. By E. G. Squier, M.A., F.S.A. ete Issued

by permission of the author, and under the authority of His ‘Bxcetcnes Don Carlos Gutierez,

nvo rdinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Ho nduras in Grea

Britain. 12mo, cloth, pp. 278 and ma nan n. rrabier Ei Co. the

Travels in Central mina dtr including Accounts of Some Regions Ui EN since Miia

west. From the French of The raet, Arthu r Morelet. By Mrs. F. Squier: eypoldt,

et p Williams, i E. Geo. Squii oth, pp. 430, illustrated. New Yor

e Fruit Growers? Association of or Ontario for the eger 1870, [Including 1s

‘oxious Insects. pamph., pp. 130. Toronto, 1871, (Gov. Doc.]

¿ Annual

APPENDIX, AMERICAN NATURALIST, APRIL, 1871.

NATURAL HISTORY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

THINKING that a strong effort should now be made for the encourage-

ment of the study of Natural Science in the Public Schools of the country,

eminent educators) recently asked the Legislature of Massachusetts to

grant a small aig ta for the purpose of supplying T the

higher schools of the State with copies of the NATURAL , believing

that beneficial Fades both to the teacher and scholar, Sac follow the

perusal of its pages, and that by presenting the subject to the scholar in

this form, a love for the study would be awakened, which it is impossible

to secure ra a from text books, that are in themselves repellant to

the beginne

The aaau of Massachusetts referred the petition to its Committee

on Education, and that Committee, with full appreciation of the import-

ance of the subject, gave a hearing to those interested, on the ninth of

March, when the following letters were read, and remar rks were made by

several gentlemen on the importance and probable ina to results

o n

ret that no report was made of the remarks of Hon. Joseph

White, gt a of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. This

gentleman endorsed the proposition as one well wort hy of being tried

by the State, and while believing that good results would follow, said that

the plan was an experiment, but as it was an experiment in the right

direction he thought it should be tried, and as Secretary of the Board of

Education he was soit that the copies could be distributed advan-

tageously among the schoo

The decision of the ula oe has not yet been given,* but believing

that the plan will meet with advocates in other rene as well as in Mas-

sachusetts, and hoping to see it tried elsewhere, we have concluded to

print such portion as we have in writing of ie ‘testimony given before

the zopp Committee,’ for the perusal of those in other States

who may be friendly to the cause.

Avoiding iA n this place, we will only remark, : anticipation

of some replies, that the NATURALIST Was not established as a pec

speculation, and is maintained by the fostering care of t ret Trustees of

the Seahody Academy of Science, as one of the means of carrying out

the wishes of the founder of the Academy, who, ever thoughtful of the

benefit of mankind, distinctly enjoined upon his trustees the promotion

st Science and Useful Knowledge, not only in his native county, but in

our Commonwealth and common country.”

*Since thi t in type the Committee on Education have reported favorably.

cytes = wot beast

130 APPENDIX.

[ Letter from Professor Agassiz. ]

EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN NATURALIST :

CAMBRIDGE, March 6, 1871.

Dear Sirs: — The time seems to have come when to the

received methods and approved topics of popular education

such branches of physical and natural sciences should be

added as have acquired real importance for the business of

life during the last fifty years. There is only one difficulty

in the way of this most desirable object. There are no

teachers to be had—not-enough to be found in the whole

State of Massachusetts simply to provide the Normal Schools

— whatever efforts might be made to introduce these studies

at present, and the demand is likely to become more press-

ing every day. It would seem, therefore, to be the part of

wisdom to consider what may be done to prepare the way.

For years past I have been urging upon the educational sec-

tion of the Social Science Association, the desirableness of

introducing a complete course of scientific instruction in our

Normal Schools, not from text books, but with experiments

and demonstrations by special teachers ; and I now hold that

it would be still better to organize a special Normal School

for the training of scientific teachers. The world will re-

quire them everywhere before many years are passed, and

it would be fitting that, in the United States, Massachusetts

should set an example, timely, in the right direction. But

even this must be heralded in some way or other, and I see

no better or more efficient way than the circulation of soun

information upon the topics regularly to be taught. Your

desire, therefore, to give to the American NATURALIST 4

wider circulation among the schools, and throughout the

State, meets fully my approval, and I will support your

efforts in every way that may appear practicable. It would

be a step in the right direction if you could secure for your

periodical the same facilities and aid which are granted to the

“Massachusetts Teacher,” as the AMERICAN NATURALIST !

APPENDIX. | 131

doing, in an able manner, in the department of natural his-

tory, what the Massachusetts Teacher is aiming at in the

general field of school instruction. Moreover, it can fairly

be said that the volumes of the AMERICAN NATURALIST thus

far published would afford to teachers most desirable in-

formation in their preparation for the new task.

Wishing you ever so much success in the furtherance of

your enterprise,

I remain, very truly yours,

L. AGASSIZ.

[Letter from Professor Gray. |

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 7, 1871.

Dear Mr. Putnam: —It unfortunately happens that I

have a lecture on Thursday at 11 o’clock, which I cannot

postpone, and which will prevent my going in to meet your

committee. I wish you would say, in my behalf, that

I think your application one eminently fit to be made, and I

hope it may prevail. As you know very well, I have fol-

lowed your journal with interest and attention, and I must

say that you have achieved a great and rare success in

making the American NaruratisT at once truly scientific

and truly popular, and I have good occasion to know that

this is.a thing not often done. Yet in an educational view

this is all important. Then your typography and illustra-

_ tions are first rate and you deserve encouragement for that.

I know that while your journal does efficient service at

home, and aims simply at that, it is very highly thought of

in Europe, as well it may be.

If there should be a second hearing, and you think I

could be of any use, I should like to say what I think of it

to your committee.

I can write only this hurried line.

Believe me to be yours, most sincerely,

Asa GRAY

132 APPENDIX.

[Letter from Mr. Hagar, Principal of the State Normal School.]

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, SALEM, MASS.,

March 9, 1871.

F. W. Putnam, Esq»:

Dear ir: —I regret that my school duties will not allow

me to be present to-day at the legislative hearing in refer-

ence to the AMERICAN NATURALIST. I should be glad to

say a word in behalf of that most valuable publication.

Having taken it from the first, I have had an opportunity to

judge of its merits, and I am clearly of the opinion that it

is admirably adapted to awaken and promote in the minds of

those who peruse it a lively intérest in the study of Natural

History.

It seems to me that if the Legislature of Massachusetts

should furnish the means of placing the Naruratist in the

several school libraries of the State, or, at least, in the

hands of the teachers of high schools and the principal

grammar schools, it would do much toward building up ê

department of education which is now generally neglected,

though of great importance.

I earnestly hope that the Committee on Education will

regard with favor your application in behalf of the NATU-

RALIST, and that the Legislature will aid you in your labo-

rious efforts to introduce more of practical science into our

public schools.

Yours truly,

D. B. HAGAR.

[Remarks by George B. Emerson, LL.D.]

Mr. Chairman: —I think it of the utmost importance, in

the education of every child, to open his eyes, as early -

possible, to the beauty, properties, and curious structure of

the objects around him. This will lead him to form the habit

of observation upon the simplest objects, will add to his

capacity for observation and thought, and will open to him @

APPENDIX. 133

source of great and inexhaustible happiness throughout life.

A person whose habits of observation are thus formed, will

be insensibly led to occupy himself more with the works and

thoughts of God, than with man’s works and thoughts; and

he will see and learn a thousand things, which, without these

habits, would have remained unseen and unknown. ‘To the

future farmer these habits will be of special use. Every

farmer ought to be an observer. He cannot otherwise un-

derstand the management of the earth he tills, or of the veg-

etables and fruits he cultivates, nor how to provide for his

friends, the birds, or against his enemies, the insects. The

American Narura.ist seems to me admirably well adapted

to form this habit of observation, and to awaken and gratify

a love of the beautiful. I should be glad to put it within

the reach of every teacher in all the schools of the state.

For more than half a century I have had no higher ambi-

tion than to be a successful teacher.

Not many years after I came into this town, in 1821, to

be the first Principal of the English High School, I was one

of a few, who, meeting first in the office of Dr. Walter

Channing, united to form the Boston Society of Natural

History. After a few years I became president of this so-

ciety, and continued in the office for some time. I did not

feel as if I were neglecting my chosen work in giving a

portion of my time to Natural History. Ineeded recreation ;

and in what more suitable form could I find it than in taking

long walks with Dr. Charles T. Jackson, or A. A. Gould,

or D. H. Storer, to Roxbury or Malden Hills, or Chelsea

Beach, or a drive with Prof. J. L. Russell, to see Wm.

Oakes at Ipswich, or with Oakes himself, to the Essex

woods, or to examine the trees in West Cambridge? This

was recreation in the open air, with an interesting object

in view. I wish that every teacher, worn with confinement

and anxious toil, could get refreshment in the same way.

The subject of suitable exercise and refreshment for the

teacher is of vital importance. Many of the best and most

134 APPENDIX.

devoted teachers, especially females, are breaking down,

from time to time, for want of air, exercise, and sunshine.

The looking for objects for their lessons in Natural History

would give them the very variety they want, for it would

oblige them to take long walks over hills and through woods,

in the sunshine and in the shade, to get these objects.

Knowing the great value of something of Natural History

in the earliest stages of education, I should be glad to see it

introduced into every school, not in the shape of lessons to

be learned, but as forming the subject for many general

lessons given in a conversational way, and leading to con-

versation in the school and at home.

It is now common, in many of the very best schools, for

the teachers to give instruction — not merely to hear lessons

— but to give real instruction; and there are few subjects in

which more interesting and valuable instruction can be given

than the several departments of Natural Histon "y; and few

sources from which the best materials may be drawn more

surely than they may from the numbers of the AMERICAN

NATURALIST.

Very valuable instruction on these subjects has now for

several years been given in the Normal Schools at Westfield,

Bridgewater and Salem; and many of the teachers that have

gone out from these schools are prepared to use, to excellent

purpose, the knowledge given in most of the numbers of the

American Narurauist. I have no doubt that, if the work

were favored by the Legislature, the editors would see to it

that there should be something of special interest to the

teacher in every future number.

[Remarks by W. H. Niles, Lecturer Mass. State Teachers’ Inst.]

Mr. W. H. Niles spoke of the Narurauisr as adapted to

the use of the teachers of public schools. It differs materi-

ally from a text-book, and therein it has a feature of excel-

lence. Text-books are condensed compilations, and are

often written by those who have little or no experience âs

APPENDIX. 135

original investigators. Frequently facts which are clearly

related in nature are widely separated in such books, and

thus, instead of elucidating the grand laws of nature, they

too often become only volumes of disconnected statements.

The teacher who assigns lessons from such books with no

experiences of his own to add, can never lead his pupils to

love and study nature. But in the articles of the NATURAL-

Ist we have original papers from professional naturalists,

the direct results of the study of nature herself. These

articles, in the hands of the teachers, would bring them gen-

uine science fresh from its discoverers.

Again, the Naturauisr gives the latest results of scien-

tific research. Natural History is advancing so rapidly that

a text-book a few years old is necessarily wanting in many

most important particulars. There must, therefore, be some

medium of communication between the investigating natu-

ralists and the teachers, to enable the latter to teach the

science as it advances. The Natura.ist is the only publi-

cation in this country which furnishes such a medium.

But how are teachers to use the Narura.isr in schools?

To assign lessons to be memorized from these or any other

books on Natural History is useless. Many of the subjects

presented in the NATURALIST are excellent topics for object

lessons, and the articles would be very useful to the instruc-

tor in oral teaching. It is through such lessons and teaching

that Natural History is to take her appropriate place in a

thorough system of elementary education. To secure fresh

knowledge, and scientific accuracy in teaching it, the Natu-

RALIST should be used by the teachers of public schools.

[Letter from Mr. Bennett. ]

; Lonvon, Dec. Ist, 1870.

To THE EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Sirs: —In the number of your admirable magazine for

November, I observe that you do me the honor of reprinting

136 APPENDIX.

an article of mine, on the Cultivation of Foreign Trees and

Plants, which appeared in the “Quarterly Journal of Sci-

ence.”

It has occurred to me that you might be glad to receive,

from time to time, items of intelligence from this country,

and the Continent of Europe, in Botany, Geology, and other

branches of Natural Science, somewhat earlier than you

would obtain them by reprinting from our journals. If so,

I shall be happy to act as your correspondent in the matter.

I may mention that I have unusual opportunities of re-

ceiving such early intelligence, being sub-editor of “ Nature,” |

editor of the Scientific Department of the “Academy,” and

contributor of the botanical intelligence to the “Quarterly

Journal of Science,” which you have also often quoted in

your journal. |

Believe me to remain,

Yours faithfully,

ALFRED W. BENNETT.

[Letter from Mr. Hiskey, Supt of Public Schools, Minneapolis.]

OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOLS,

Mrinnearouis, Miny., Aug. 10th, 1870. |

Editors American Naturalist: —Allow me to thank you

for the August number of the Naruratist. The numbers

have seemed to me to be growing better and better and bet-

ter, but this number is so admirably written that I have

stopped to write you this letter after reading the first three

articles. You, without doubt, have frequent expressions of

commendation, still I imagine you have discouragements, and

hence it gives me pleasure to express thus spontaneously,

my congratulations that the Narurauisr is so admirably sus-

tained. ,

Allow me to extend to you my best wishes,

And believe me, ever,

Yours truly,

W. O. HISKEY-

APPENDIX. 137

The following Notices of the Press were taken from several hundred notices

of a similar character and laid before the Committee.

“ The leading men of science in America are among its contributors,

anc in every way worthy of the great nation which it is intended to

interest and instruct.” — Quarterly Journal of Science (London).

7 It deserves a wide patronage among teachers.” — Michigan Teacher.

‘ The AMERICAN NATURALIST for June contains several excellent papers

of a kind ge are ie pare and valuable to others besides men o

ence. |W: that a publication so useful and so well conducted — so

Apa to eke country in every way — should not be supported liberally,

s appears to be the The an itors represent their expenses to be in

excess of their revenue. We lad to repeat that the NATURALIST

deserves long life and the ou aaa and we especially regard

as of service to the Bisse. for inducing habits of careful and precise

observation.” — The

“ We rejoice to see this beautiful magazine, and hope it will be the

pioneer in a much-needed educational reform, and do good service in

spreading a love and taste for the study of Natural History, now so utterly

neglected.” — Massachusetts Teacher.

s a means of educating the people, e8pecially the young, its efforts

will certainly meet the approbation of all interested in the great cause of

education, and we wish it abundant success.” — Maine Farmer.

“& This very ably conducted periodical is edited by a corps of young and

enthusiastic naturalists, who, without departing from scientific accuracy,

aim to make the study of Natural History so attractive as to win to it a

more general and popular attention. It ought to be in every family and

in every school library.” — R. I. Schoolmaster.

“This Monthly Magazine of Natural History has won for itself a high

t knows how to ee pR sci-

ence without degrading it. Many of its articles are by so

zoologists of the country, and contain the results of plead observation.

The illustrations are always excellent.” — Prof. J. D. Dana in American

Journal of Science and Arts, Jan., è

“ Science made easy is generally made absurd, and we have little pa-

tience with the somewhat capper oes that even small boys may be prof-

itably dosed with science. e are departments of Natural History,

which can be treated ‘ae bey yet scientifically. e have never had

in our country a magazine giving accurate information on subjects of Nat-

ural History and, at the same time, bringing the information within the

range of all, until the appearance of the AMERICAN NATURALIST.

tors are themselves accomplished naturalists, and devote their whole ike

to the study of nature. Hence their statements are entitled to entire con-

138 APPENDIX.

dence. That the magazine is popular, and constitutes a charm for the

whole family circle, we know from personal observation. Not only is

definite knowledge gained from it, but habits of careful observation are

fo The young folks bring in their queer bugs and butterflies, and if

they can not find out all about them and their habits in the magazine, they

oh, how eagerly, for the next number. The same with flowers or birds or

shells. It matters little what enkindles thought and enthusiasm in the

young mind. Once kindled they give light and power through the whole

li We can not too earnestly urge upon our friends to subscribe for the

ATURALIST, and, having read the numbers, to bind and preserve them

for future sueectice They are as equally “aie ieee and profitable for

the “old folks” as for the boys and Jae — E. B. A., in The National

Teacher for March, 1871.

on ae

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— MAY, 1871.— No. 3

CTEGSOCKVOD DY

BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS.

BY PROF. CH. FRED. HARTT.

Ir is a great shame that the antiquities of Brazil have so far re-

ceived little or no attention, yet the country is one whose eth-

nology is extremely interesting, and it is very desirable that the

history of its many tribes should be traced out. The neglect of

Brazilian antiquities has arisen, no doubt, from the comparative

rarity of the relics and the difficulty of exploring the country.

Stone implements are found all over the empire, ancient pot-

tery occurs in many localities, especially in burial stations, and

Kjokkenméddings exist on the coast as at Santa Cruz in the

Province of Espiritu Santo, on the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, at

Santos and elsewhere. But they have attracted very little atten-

tion, though they are occasionally mentioned by travellers.

During my expedition last summer to the Amazonas, I lost

no opportunity of studying the antiquities of the country, and I

was successful in collecting a few facts of importance. On the

Rio Tocantins near the lower falls, I found figures engraved on

rocks, and from the cliffs of the Serra do Ereré I copied a great

number of rude figures and signs drawn in red paint. My good

friend, Senhor Ferreira Penna, at Pará, was kind enough to give me

a series of drawings from the Serra of Obidos, which locality I did

not visit, together with the original MS. and drawings of a Gov-

ernment report on certain Indian drawings on the Rio Oyapock.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Offee of the Librarian o of Congress, at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V.

140 BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS.

I sent one of my assistants, Mr. Barnard, to examine a burial

station on the Island of Marajó, and he brought me a small collec-

tion.of pottery presenting some interesting features. In this arti-

cle I shall confine myself to a description of the inscriptions I

have collected, hoping in another article to describe the pottery

and other relics.

The Tocantins inscriptions occur at Alcobaça, a point on the

left bank of the river, near the first falls, and about one hundred

miles from the mouth of the river. Here are exposed on the

banks during the dry season beds of a fine-grained, very hard,

dark red or brown quartzite, the strata having only a slight dip.

Joints divide the beds into large blocks which often lie in place,

but along a part of the shore they are piled up in confusion. Dur-

ing several months of the year, when the river is high, the locality

is under water, as is the case with similar incised rocks at Serpa

on the Amazonas. My guide told me that here were letreiros, oF

Indian inscriptions, and I was fortunate enough, not only to find

several, but to be able to bring away with me two small incised

blocks. The figures are pecked into the rock by means of some

blunt pointed instrument. They are so rude and irregular, that I

see no reason why a pointed stone may not have answered the pur-

pose. The grooves are usually wide and not very deep. Occa-

sionally the unskilful hand missed its mark and marred the figure.

ese figures are usually cut on the sides of the blocks of

rock and show much wear; many are hard to trace, and the

majority are more or less covered by a shining black film of

manganese deposited by the water. The surface of one of my

specimens, Pl. 2, fig. 5, has a metallic lustre, like that of a well

blackened stove.

Of these inscriptions, Pl. 2, fig. 1, which is about sixteen inches

in length and is somewhat badly preserved, appears to represent a

human figure, but it has a decapitated look. It may perhaps be

intended to represent some lower animal. The position of the

arms and legs conforms to the type of ordinary Indian representa-

tions of the human form, as we shall see further on.

The other figures are, for the most part, more or less complicated

spirals. Pl. 2, figures 2, 4, 5,7, and 11. One of these, Pl. 2, fig- 4,

may represent the human face, the upper diverging lines being the

eyebrows, the medial descending loop the nose, and the spiral the

eyes. Equally rude representations of the face occur elsewhere-

BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. ` 141

About half a mile above the locality where the figures occur, I

found on the upper surfaces of several masses of sandstone, places

worn by grinding. Some of these were circular, about a foot in

diameter, quite shallow, and with a convex prominence in the mid-

dle showing that a tool, probably a stone axe, had been ground

with a circular motion. One of these hollows is represented in Pl.

2, fig. 6. Others were shallow, oval hollows, a foot or more in

length, made by rubbing the tool backward and forward. I saw

also a long, narrow, and rather deep groove worn in the same way,

perhaps in the grinding of arrowheads. These grinding surfaces

looked to me totally unlike those made in sharpening metal tools.

It is important to note that on the Tocantins, this is almost the

only place where sandstones occur. There is a great want of

sharp sandstones suitable for whetstones or grindstones, not only

on the Amazonas, but in Brazil generally, as I have already else-

where remarked. This locality would be likely to be frequented

by savages for the purpose of grinding and manufacturing stone

implements. I saw no chips on the spot. It will be borne in mind

that the locality is swept annually by floods.

At Jequerapud, a few miles farther down on the same side of

the river, I found on the rocks the spiral represented on PI. 2, fig.

3, near which was a conical hole.

Engraved figures occur elsewhere in Brazil, on the lower part of

the Rio de Sao Francisco (Williams and Burton), in the Province

Parahyba (Koster), on the Rio Negro, etc.

The Serra do Ereré is situated on the northern side of the valley

of the Amazonas at a distance of fifteen or more miles from the

main river, but a short distance from the Rio Gurupatuba, a few

miles west of the Villa de Monte Alegre. It is a narrow, very 1r-

regular ridge, about 800 feet high, running approximately east

west, and about four to five miles long. The rock is sandstone m

very heavy beds inclined to the southeastward. These sandstones

form a broken line of cliffs running along the western side near the

top, below which is a very irregular rocky slope. On these walls

of rock, at and near the western end of the Serra, sometimes near

their base, sometimes high up in conspicuous situations difficult of

access, are great numbers of rude characters and figures, for the

most part in red paint, some isolated, others in groups- Some

rock surfaces are thickly covered with them, many being s° washed

by rains and defaced by fires as not to be traced out, others being

142 BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS.

bright and fresh, suggesting that they were not all executed at the

same time. Standing just in advance of the line of cliffs at some

distance east of the western end of the Serra is a tall, tower-like ©

mass of sandstone painted not only on the base but high up on

the sides, while the cliffs behind and on both sides are covered

with figures. All these localities are very conspicuous and some

of them are so large as to be visible at the distance of more than

a mile.

Not far from the eastern end of the Serra there is on top an

enormous isolated mass of sandstone, the remains of a bed almost

entirely removed, which mass is distinctly visible from the plain

below on the northern side. The irregular western wall of this

mass is covered with figures.

The drawings of Ereré comprise several classes of objects. The

most important among these appear to be representations of the

sun, moon and stars. At the western end of Ereré, on the cliff

near the top, is a rude circular figure Pl. 4, fig. 17, nearly two

feet in diameter. The general color is a brownish yellow. In the

centre is a large ochre red spot, while around the circumference

runs a broad border of the same color. Some of the civilized

Indians at Ereré called this the sun, others the moon.

On a very prominent cliff some distance east of the tower-like

mass of sandstone above described, is another similar figure about

three feet in diameter. In this there is a central spot of brick red,

then a broad zone of a dirty yellow, followed by a zone of brick

red, outside which is another of a dirty ochre yellow. To the right

of this are two smaller circular figures, in the upper of which the

lines and centre are red, the innermost zone being of a dirty

yellow tint. These figures are situated some ten feet from the foot

ef the cliff. Similar drawings, composed of two or more COn-

centric circles with or without. the central spot, occur in great

numbers at Ereré. I am disposed to think that they are intended

to represent the moon, since they are not furnished with ray af Ait

figure, Pl. 4, fig. 2, on the cliff at the western end of the Serra,

undoubtedly represents this heavenly body.+ Besides the above

forms there are rayed figures in abundance. Sometimes they con

, as

*I found a report afloat in Pará that some of these figures had been mutilated

Major Continho, Prof. Agassiz’s companion on the Amazonas. The reporti

the figures are not mutilated. ji

t Similar figures occur elsewhere. Seeman, Memoirs Anthrop. Soc., London, ho! š

p. 279, gives two examples, one from Veraguas, New Grenada, another from England.

BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. 143

sist of a single circle, or several concentric circles, the outer one,

only, being rayed, but on the side of the great rock on the top of

the Serra is a figure a foot in diameter (Pl. 5, fig. 10), and very

distinct, fermed of two concentric circles, each with a few lange,

tooth-shaped rays. Part of this figure is obliterated. At the same

locality is another figure consisting of a circle with serrated rays

with only a spot in the centre.

Not infrequently, on the painted rock at the western end of the

Serra, occur circles, single or double, sometimes nucleated, which

bear rays only on the upper side, Pl. 5, fig. 12, Pl. 6, fig. 1.

There are rayed spirals as well, Pl. 4, fig. 3. Some of these

appear to represent stars. They are either drawn or impressed.

In some cases the palm and fingers were covered with wet paint

and then pressed upon the rock. Whether these figures always

represent stars is doubtful. At the western end of the Serra is a

curious rayed head, ornamented on top with what looks like a

queue, suggesting a comet. At the same locality is the remarkable

figure, Pl. 4, fig. 9, three and one-half feet high, which looks as

though it might represent the impersonation of the sun. Just

west of the tower-like mass is a rock face covered with a large

group of what are apparently figures of the heavenly bodies.

They are represented in Pl. 5, fig. 1, and are large and distinctly

drawn. The whole group is some six or seven feet long. Of

animate objects the human form and human face are very fre-

quently delineated. They are all exceedingly rude and are just

such figures as children are fond of drawing. Sometimes

body and limbs are represented each by a single line, as in Pl. 3,

figures 3 and 8.

It is noticeable that human figures are never drawn in profile,

which is the rule with similar drawings by North America Indians

(Catlin).. The eyes and mouth are usually alone represented, one

eye being often smaller than the other. There is often no nose,

or a heavy V-shaped curve is drawn over the eyes, the apex pro-

jecting down more or less between them, representing the nose, as

in Pl. 3, fig. 1, Pl. 4, figures 12 and 15.

In some ancient pottery to be described in a future paper the

same peculiarity is observable in the representation of the human

head, the eyebrows and nose forming a prominent T-shaped ridge.

As the most of the busts in terra cotta show the head flattened

from before backward, I would suggest that the Indians who made

144 BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS.

the drawings at Ereré, and the pottery in Marajó may have flat-

tened the head as the Omaguas and Flatheads do to-day, which

would give a greater prominence to the brows than in the normally

shaped skull.

The stiff angular position of the arms and legs of the figures is

interesting, the upper arms being held at right angles to the body,

the forearm bent at a similar angle and usually upwards. The

legs are wide apart, the thigh extending often straight out from

the body. The figures are usually erect, but there is one on

the west end of the Serra represented as lying on the side, Pl. 7,

fig. 2. Below it is a figure of a snake, the whole appearing to

commemorate the death of some one from snake-bite. Some of the

heads are rayed as in the case of Pl. 3, fig. 1. These may per-

haps represent the sun or moon. Some rough drawings of the

human face are made on

angular projections of

the rock, as is the case

with that figured in Pl.

10, where the

sharp edge represented

the nose. Another face

is made by drawing lines

around two contiguous;

circular depressions, CON-

verting them into eyes,

and drawing a straight

line below for a nose.

It is interesting to ob-

serve that the hands and

feet are always represented by radiating lines, usually only three

digits being drawn for each hand and foot. The number of digits

represented rarely reaches four, and never five, so far as I have ob-

served. An explanation of this may perhaps lie in the fact that

many tribes of Brazil are unable to count beyond three or four. O

the lower animals, several kinds are represented, but so rudely that

it is, in most cases, difficult to determine the species. ‘The large

figure, Pl. 5, fig. 6, my Indian guide pronounced a muc úra, & Spe-

cies of opossum, and he called the four-legged and long-tailed ani-

mals, Pl. 9, alligators. Birds appear to be rarely represented. On

Pl. 9, are two figures, b and d, that may be intended for these ani-

Group of Rock Paintings at Ereré.

BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. 145

mals. There are several drawings of the ywaraud, or sea cow, Pl.

4, fig. 3 (?), Pl. 5, fig. 3, Pl. 7, fig. 7. Of fishes, there are two at

least, Pl. 5, fig. 8, and Pl. 6, fig. 4. It is worthy of remark that

there are no drawings of the dog, ox, or horse, and I have seen no

figures of plants. Senhor Penna, in a MS., says that trees are

sometimes represented, together with “ canoes, oars, benches, and

other objects of common use,” but I have seen no such figures at

Ereré, though they may occur elsewhere.

In the accompanying plates, I have given many examples of

drawings of doubtful significance. The scroll, Pl. 4, figures 5

and 7, Pl. 5, fig. 4, Pl. 7, fig. 5, occurs frequently, and also the

design Pl. 7, fig. 8, which varies somewhat in different drawings.

The complicated rectilinear figure, Pl. 6, fig. 2, is painted on the

side of the isolated rock mass on the top of the Serra and is about

sixteen inches in height.* The Greek fret occurs once or twice at

Ereré and quite frequently on the Marajé pottery.

The red paint used in the inscriptions, is, I believe, annatto, per-

haps also clay. It is very rudely smeared on the rough surface of

the sandstone, sometimes when quite dry. There are some draw-

ings in which the paint was laid on as a thin wash which dripped

over the rock. I think the painting was largely done with the

ers. In some places the rock is soiled where the Indian as-

sisted himself by the hand in climbing. The yellow color was

prepared from clay.

The drawings of the Tocantins and of Ereré were carefully

copied. The figures on the plates were transferred directly to the

wood from my original sketches. I do not claim for them photo-

graphic accuracy, but I am sure they give faithfully the Indian

idea. The original inscriptions are even more rude in finish than

might be inferred from the plates. Precisely similar figures to

those of the Tocantins and Ereré occur on the Rio Uaupés (Wal-

lace) scraped on hard granitic (gneissic?) rock.

I have given on Pl. 9, accurate reductions of the copies of

the figures on the Serra da Escama, kindly placed in my hands by

Senhor Penna. A note, accompanying the sketches, says that the

drawings were found on seven stones on the top of the Serra da

Escama, about 400 bracas distant from the city of Obidos. The

most of these are wholly unintelligible to me. One, fig. 2, appears

to represent the sun, and another the moon or sun.

* In the plate the right is the lower side of this figure.

146 BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS.

According to traditions, Bento Maciel, the first donatory of the

ancient Capitania do Cabo do Norte, set up marks fixing the lim-

its between his Captaincy and French Guayana, but these marks,

when the boundary question afterward arose, could not be found.

In 1727 the Captain, Joao Paes do Amaral, who had been on service

in the north, reported having discovered them on the Rio Oyapock.

So important was this announcement that the Governor of Para

immediately sent the Alferes Palheta with a party to report on the

discovery. This expedition proved ,unsuccessful, and in 1728

another expedition under Captain Pinto da Gaya was sent out.

This officer discovered the supposed marks on the top of a hill

called Mont d’Argent and was disappointed to find them nothing

but Indian drawings. These he had all carefully copied in ink, his

drawings being submitted to the government, with his report. The

original papers and sketches Senhor Penna has been so kind as to

place in my hands. Of one of the sets of drawings I have made

an accurate reduction on Pl. 10, by the aid of photography. Fig-

ures 2, 3, and 4, on the same plate, are from another set of sketches

accompanying the above report. These figures resemble in many

points Indian drawings from Brazil, but the square spiral recalls

some Mexican ornaments.

The antiquity of the rock paintings and sculptures of Eastern

South America is undoubted, and they are mentioned by many of

the ancient writers, as well as by Humboldt and others in more

recent times. It is well known that the drawings of Ereré, and

those of Obidos, about to be described, existed more than two

hundred years ago. There can be no doubt that they antedate the

civilization of the Amazonas, and there is a strong probability

that some of them, at least, were drawn before the discovery of

America.* I kold it most probable that the rock paintings

sculpturings were made by tribes which inhabited the Amazonas

previous to the Tupi invasion. The sculpturings are supposed to

be older than the paintings. This is also, I believe, the opinion of

Senhor Penna. I think the Ereré figures have a deep significance

A people that would go to so much trouble as to draw figures of

the sun and moon high up on cliffs on the tops of mountains must

Ks an

* At Ereré occur the half obliterated sign, I. H. S., and the date 1764 (Pl. pb

dently the work of the Jesuits. These last inscriptions are very fresh and are

in a lighter red on the lichen-blackened or whitened surface that obscures the 0

inscriptions.

American Naturalist.

ENGRAVED FIGURES LOWE TOCANTINS.

American Naturalist.

ROCK PAINTINGS AT ERERE.

American Naturalist.

American Naturali

ROCK PAINTINGS AT ERERE.

American Naturalist.

ROCK INSCRIPTIONS AT ERERE.

American Naturalist.

ROCK PAINTINGS

American Naturalist.

ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. SERRA DA ESCAMA OBIDOS

American

ROCK

Naturalist.

INSCRIPTIONS,

Fon.

an “ctl

cal

MONT D’

rea. E ~ e

ARGENT

RIO

DR. KOCH’S MISSOURIUM. 147

have attached a great importance to these natural objects, and I

think that these figures point to a worship of the sun by the tribes

which executed them. The clustering of the inscriptions in prom-

inent places, and especially on and in the vicinity of the rock

tower at Ereré, seems to me to indicate that these places had

something of a sacred character and were often resorted to. Many

of the figures seem to be the capricious daubings of visitors, as,

for instance, the human faces drawn on angular rock projections.

Some of the animal forms may have had a sacred character.

I know of no trace of sun worship among the uncivilized Indians

of Pará to-day, nor do they make rock paintings or inscriptions.

The greater part of the Brazilian Indians, such as the Tupis, -

Botocudos, etc., appear to have had no idea of a God, and no form

of worship. We have no historical account of the practice of

sun- worship among the ancient Indians of the Amazonas. In

the burial stations of Marajó small clay figures occur which ap-

pear to be idols. The probabilities are, that the tribes anciently

inhabiting the Amazonas were more advanced in religious ideas

than those Brazilian Indians of which history gives us an account.

DR. KOCH’S MISSOURIUM.

BY P. R. HOY, M. D.

——10e————

In March, 1840, I visited the spot on the Pomme de Terre,

Benton county, Missouri, where Dr. Koch had recently disinterred

the skeleton of that large male Mastodon now in the British

Museum, which the Doctor mounted and named Missourium tetra-

caulodon. Owen subsequently remounted the specimen and made

a Mastodon giganteus out of Dr. Koch’s distorted work.

The excavation was about fifteen feet in diameter and six feet

deep, half filled with water. I was told by one of the men who

assisted in the excavation, that they did not get all the bones out,

as the water was so deep as to interfere materially with their

work. So TI hired a negro to go into the pit and fish about, while

I from the bank, felt around with a hoe. In this way we suc-

ceeded in procuring one molar tooth, two pieces of a tusk, and

10* ‘

148 FLYING SPIDERS.

several pieces of the skull, long bones, etc., etc. The larger piece

was from the base of the left tusk, two feet in length, and flat-

tened on the inner side, evidently produced by the friction of his

trunk. This specimen retains the fine polish as perfectly as when

worn by the living animal. This interesting specimen I recently

presented to the Academy of Science of Chicago.

Dr. Koch’s report, in the ‘* Proceedings of the St. Louis Academy

of Science,” is unreliable in every particular, saving the locality.

The Doctor certainly exercised a lively imagination when he stated

that “the bones were found in a layer of vegetable mould which

was covered by twenty feet in thickness of alternate layers of

- sand, clay, and gravel,” and that under this extensive stratifi-

cation he found the identical flint arrowhead that the Mound

builders used in slaying this giant of past ages, taking advantage

of his helplessness, being mired hopelessly ! ! !

This skeleton was discovered by a man who scooped out a hole

_ in the “lick” for the purpose of obtaining drinking water. He

struck upon the scapula at a depth of two feet. This discovery

was reported to-Dr. Koch, at Warsaw, and he visited the locality

and secured the prize.

I am pained to record this evidence of Dr. Koch’s want of accu-

racy in this matter, but the cause of science seems to demand the

truth. Dr. Koch’s report has been quoted in proof of the antiq-

uity of man. The position and state of the bones rather go to

show that the Mastodon lived in an age not so remote as usually

supposed. I should not be surprised if the evidence were speedily

found to prove that man was contemporaneous with the Mastodon,

but, certainly, the Missourium affords none.

FLYING SPIDERS.

BY J. H. EMERTON.

OO ji

Oner of the most curious habits of spiders is that of flying, 33

it is often called. This has no resemblance to the flight of birds

or butterflies, for spiders have no wings nor any organs which

could answer the purpose of wings. ‘Their ability to rise in the

FLYING SPIDERS. 149

atmosphere depends entirely upon currents of air acting upon

their bodies. or upon threads of cobweb attached to them. By

this means they are blown about like the down of thistles or any

light objects, rising sometimes to a great height and again, upon a

change of weather, falling, often far from the place whence they

rose.

In the autumn of 1870 I received a letter from an officer on one

of the United States vessels, in which he stated that one day

while at anchor near Montevideo, after a strong wind, the rigging

was filled with cobwebs, and little niente dropped down on all

parts of the deck.

Mr. Darwin, when in the same region during the voyage of the

Beagle, several times noticed the same occurrence. He says in

his narrative of that voyage :* —

“On several occasions, when the vessel has been within the

mouth of the Plata, the rigging has been coated with the web of

he gossamer spider. One day (November Ist, 1832) I paid par-

ticular attention to the phenomenon. The weather had been fine

to be produc ced by the entanglement of the single threads. The

spiders — all of one species, but of both a together with

VOCE ODOR) 465.6: e ede 3 While watching s e that were sus-

pended oe a single thread, I several A ae pera that the

Hn gee miy of air bore them away out of sight, in a horizon-

tal line. On another occasion (Nov. 25th) under similar circum-

PER I teeters observed the same kind of small —

lateral course, but with a rapidity that was quite unaccountable.

I thonght I gona perceive that the spider, before performing the

tory steps, connected its legs together with the most

: pant, Gras but I am not sure whether this observation is

m “One day at Santa Fé I had a better opportuni

similar facts. A spider, which was about three-tenths of an inch

* Journal of the Voyage of the Beagle, p. 187.

150 FLYING SPIDERS.

in length, and which, in its general appearance, resembled a Citi-

grade (therefore quite different from the gossamer spider), while

standing on the summit of a post, darted forth four or five threads

from its spinners. These, glittering in the sunshine, might be

compared to rays of light. They were not, however, straight,

but in undulations like a film of silk blown by the wind. The

were more than a yard in length and diverged in an ascending

direction from the orifices. The spider then suddenly let go its

hold and was quickly borne out of sight. The day was hot and

apparently quite calm; yet under such circumstances the atmos-

phere can never be so tranquil as not to -affect a vane so delicate

as the thread of a spider’s web. If during a warm day we look

either at the shadow of any object cast on a bank, or over a level

plain, at a distant landmark, the effect of an ascending current

of heated air will almost always be evident, and this probably

would be sufficient to carry with it so light an object as the little

spider on its thread.”

In Temple’s Travels in Peru* it is mentioned that, when sailing

up the river Plate, “the rigging of the ship, from top to bottom,

was literally covered with long, fine cobwebs that had been blown

off the shore, having attached to them their insect manufacturers,

who dispersed themselves in thousands over the deck.”

Such showers of cobwebs are common in Europe, especially in

the autumn. They are said to be usually preceded by a great

quantity of web upon the ground, which afterwards rises, and

when the wind changes, or the sun begins to go down, falls again:

Mr. Blackwall,+ who has devoted many years to the study of

English spiders, gives the following interesting account of one

of these showers of gossamer : —

ever, notwithstanding their great abundance, that they must have ,

i n

been produced in a very short space of time, as early in the

morning they were not sufficiently conspicuous to attract my

notice, and on the 30th of September they could not have ex-

Cee

*Temple’s Travels in Peru, Vol. i, p. 49.

t Researches in Natural History, 1832. Linnæan Transactions, Vol. XV-

FLYING SPIDERS. 151

isted at all; for, on referring to my meteorological journal, I find

that a strong gale from the south prevailed during the greater

part of the day. A circumstance so extraordinary could not fail

to excite curiosity ; but what more particularly arrested my atten-

tion was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs of an irregu-

lar, complicated structure, resembling ravelled silk of the finest

quality and clearest white. They were of various shapes and

to th ound, acted with much f to arate

them from the objects to which they were attached, raising them

into th here to'a perpendicular height of at least several

hundred feet. I collected a number of these webs about midday,

rent had ceased to support them, and they were falling ; but

scarcely one in twenty contained a spider, though on minute in-

spection, I found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, entangled

in most of them.

‘From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my

thoughts were naturally directed to the animals which produced

it; and the countless myriads in which they swarmed created al-

most as much surprise as the singular occupation that engrossed

them. Apparently actuated by the same impulse, all were intent

upon traversing the regi

mmi i

ing just described was repeated.”

152 FLYING SPIDERS.

I do not know of any published account of similar flights of

cobwebs in this country, but on almost any fine morning in sum-

mer the grass and shrubs may be found covered with threads con-

necting the extremities of the twigs and leaves in every direction,

and floating horizontally from them sometimes to a distance of

several yards. I have often seen the short grass in the Salem

pasture so covered that every leaf seemed to have several threads

passing from it. One morning in June, 1868, I noticed some little

spiders about one tenth of an inch long rambling about on the top

of a low fence partly shaded by horse-chestnuts and apple-trees.

At intervals they would stop, raise the back part of their bodies,

and straighten their legs until they stood on tip-toe in the ridicu- —

lous position shown in the figure. (Fig. 43.) After a few sec-

onds they would retake their customary position and travel on.

I went to the same fence and watched them on several successive

Fig. 43. mornings, and finally saw one, on the edge of the

fence-cap, raise itself as in the figure and imme-

diately after a thread extended upward from its

spinners. In a few seconds the thread increased

to nearly a yard in length, when spider and all

rose slowly upward until the thread became en-

tangled in the branches of the apple-tree above,

which were already connected together by nu-

merous threads and occupied by several spiders of the same kind.

This took place soon after sunrise on a warm, and apparently per-

fectly calm morning.

At another time, on one of the first warm days in March, I saw

a little crab-spider running about on the ends of a barberry bush

and dropping from twig to twig until it hung from the most pro-

jecting branch by a thread about a foot long. It swung back and

forth for some minutes when a gust of wind blew it away 8°

quickly that I could not follow it with my eyes. It had, however,

spun a thread as it went which passed from the bush to a juniper

about six feet off.

Mr. R. P. Whitfield of Albany, N. Y., tells me that once when

passing through a field of oat stubble on a warm day in autumn,

he observed great numbers of threads floating upwards in the air,

the lower extremity being attached to the upper ends of the stub-

ble, and on examining some of the stalks he found numbers of

small spiders busily running up and down them. When a suit-

able place was found the spider would attach a thread to the

ies

FLYING SPIDERS. 153

upper end of the stalk and then descend one or two inches and

return, allowing the air to carry upward the loose thread. At the

same time it elevated its abdomen and the current, acting on the

loop already formed, drew out the thread from the spinnerets until

a sufficient quantity had passed, when it broke off the end attached

to the stalk and floated away with the web. In this way he ob-

served several individuals ascend. At the time there was no per-

ceptible current in the atmosphere except the upward current

caused by rarefaction.

In the autumn of 1865, in Northwestern Iowa, passing along the

smooth surface of the river in a boat, he observed something cross-

ing the river with a skipping motion, striking the surface of the

water at irregular intervals. Looking about he saw that the same

thing was taking place at other points. Upon intercepting one,

which he had watched almost from the opposite bank, he found it

to be a small spider (Attus), from the abdomen of which threads

of web extended several feet into the air, by which it was floated

along. As it crossed the water, the air being cooler, it had de-

scended, allowing the spider to touch the surface of the river.

-~ To account for the ascent of threads and spiders various the-

ories have been proposed. It was formerly supposed that the

threads were thrown out from the spider as water is from a syr-

inge, independently of any outside force, and that the threads

were afterwards blown into the air carrying the spider with them.

Some have thought that the spiders actually flew in the air with-

out help from webs or from the wind, using their legs as wings. *

Mr. Murray t believed that a spider could shoot its threads in

any direction without reference to the wind. He says :—

“ Contrary to the assertion that ‘spiders have no power of pro-

lling their webs without assistance from the wind,’ I fearlessly

assert that they can do so in an a mr, ee in which the oe leaf

obe n

in favor of the opinion of Mr. Blackwall. The aéronautic spider

_ can propel its threads both horizontally and Aira and at all

relative angles, in motionless air, and in an neste se agitated

by winds ; nay, more, the aérial traveller can even dart its thread,

to use a ‘nautical phrase, in the ‘wind’s eye.’ My opii and

observations are based on many A of experiments. Q:

- Virey, Ferussac’s Bulletin Sciences Naturelles. Tom

t Memoirs Wiine erian Soc.,Vol. v, pt. 2,1826; and Loudon’s Mie a. Hist., Vol. i, 1829.

154 FLYING SPIDERS.

favorable occasions I am constantly extending their amount, and

as often do I find my deductions supported, namely, that the entire

phenomena are electrical. In clear, fine weather the air is invari-

ably positive; and it is precisely in such weather that the aëro-

nautic spider makes its ascent most easily and rapidly, whether it

be summer or winter. I have often seen this in winter, during an

intense frost, a circumstance which renders the action of warm

currents of air, as accessory to its flight, something more than

questionable. Our aëronaut may be met with in its descent over

the Mer de Glace as well as over the Lake of Geneva; and it will

take flight as readily from a point over the frozen sea as from the

heated surface soil of the valley of Chamouny.

“Several circumstances concur to shew the phenomena of as-

cent to be electric. The propelled threads do not interfere with

each other; they are divellent, and this divergence seemed to pro-

ceed from their being imbued with similar electricity, and the

character of that electricity appeared to me to be an interesting

subject for subsequent research. ...... When a metallic con-

ductor is brought near to the suspended spider, it disarranges its

projectiles, and the insect, conscious of some counteracting agency,

coils up its threads.

repulsion supervened; and when one was brought in momentary

n s

contact with the other, it immediately fell lower in the perpen,

dicular plane.

The manner in which the thread starts from the body is difficult

to determine, on account of the small size of the spiders. One

theory is that the spider must attach one end of its thread ~ a

fixed object, so that the wind may have a loop to blow against.

Some think it more probable that a small quantity of gummy

material is emitted from the spinnerets and drawn into a thread

by the current ;* others, that the spinnerets of opposite sides are

he ee

* Rennie’s Insect Architecture, p. 881.

REVIEWS. 155

brought in contact and then drawn apart, forming a little web

between them which offers enough surface to the wind to be blown

away, carrying out the thread with it.

REVIEWS.

GRAVE-MOUNDS AND THEIR. Contents.* — In this concise and

remarkably interesting little volume, made doubly valuable by its

489 wood cuts, which show that the author took pencil and en-

graver to his work as well as his pen, pick, and spade, the student

in archeology will find much to instruct and aid him in his labors.

The author calls attention to the fact that the grave-mounds of

most ancient date are found in the mountainous districts, while

those of a later time, though in part associated with the earlier

mounds, are spread throughout the country.

In this country the term mound has been almost universally

given to all our ancient tumuli, and to an American reader the

multiplicity of British terms in common use for the same kind of

ancient works is at first confusing. Hence, while the term barrow

is in general use, tump is given as the synonyme in Gloucester-

shire, koue in Yorkshire, and low in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, ete.

The term low is so universal in some districts, that about two hun-

dred places in Derbyshire alone have the affix of “low,” this affix

being a sure indication that a ‘‘mound” exists or has existed in

the immediate vicinity.

In the second chapter our author gives an account of the con-

struction of the mounds and the various modes of burial, both by

inhumation' and cremation. In the former, the bodies were most

usually placed in a contracted position, lying generally on the

side with the hands in front of the face and the knees drawn up,

though almost every other position of the body, such as sitting,

kneeling, or extended, has been noticed. In burial by cremation,

the bones left after the _ of the body were pinos tii up and

* A Manual of Archæology, as exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-

itish, and the Anglo-Saxon ~— By pple Jewitt, F.S.A., etc. With

nearly five hundred illustrations. London: Groombridge and Sons, 1870. 12mo, pp.

306, cloth, full gilt.

156 REVIEWS.

either placed in a small heap, sometimes ‘‘ covered with a small

slab of stone, or wrapped in cloth or skin (the bronze pin which

fastened the napkin being occasionally found), or enclosed in cin-

erary urns, inverted or otherwise. In some instances, even when

placed in urns, they were first enclosed in a cloth.” In regard to

the disputed point as to the form of the barrows, ‘‘long barrow,”

“round barrow,” etc., which some authors have considered as

indicating a difference of race in the occupants, and have even

gone so far as to give as a rule, “long barrows, long heads, and

round barrows, round heads,” our author’s observations lead him

to the following conclusions :—

« An examination of a very large number of barrows leads me

m ss SERERE that the original form of all was circular, and that

iation from that form and no difference in section, can

k ken as indicative of period or of race.’

In the third chapter, in giving an account of the places where the

burning of bodies has taken place, he says that :—

“« Wherever the burning has taken place, there is evidence of an

immense amount of heat being used; the soil, for some distance

most like brick. Remains of charcoal, the refuse of the funeral

pyre, are very abundant, and in some instances I have found the

lead ore, which occurs in Son in the limestone formation of Der-

byshire, so completely smelted with the heat that it has run into

the crevices among the soil and-loose stones. .... .- Is it too

much to s Suppo se that the discovery of lead may be traced to the

funeral pyre of our early forefathers? I think it not improbable

that the fact of seeing the liquid metal run from the fire as the ore

which lay about becamé accidentally smelted, would give the peo-

ple their first insight into the art of making lea ad.”

The several facts that have been brought forward to prove that

the earliest races of men were, if not habitually, occasionally can-

nibals, have, perhaps, not been so very conclusive as to secure

general belief, but the testimony that the early races indulged to

a very extensive degree in the equally degrading custom of human

sacrifice has accumulated to such an extent, that it can now hardly

be doubted that all races which have risen to a state as high, even,

as “semicivilized,” have passed through the stage of human sacri-

fice. That the ancient Britons were no better than the ancient

Americans in this respect is suggested by the following sentence

from Mr. Jewitt’s work :—

REVIEWS. _ 157

of bones were those of people who had been sacrificed at

him.”

Much has been written, and many popular superstitions are ex-

tant, regarding the Stone, or “‘Druidical” Circles, and Cromlechs,

or “ Druid Altars.” These our author disposes of, at least in part,

by considering the smaller circles to be simply the outline or

commencement of the mound raised over the place of burial, and

the cromlechs as sepulchral chambers, denuded of the earth that

once formed a mound over them. That such is the case, his own

and other excavations seem most conclusively to show, bút while

thus reducing popular superstition to simple facts, the mystery as

to the means by which the, in many instances, gigantic cromlechs

were erected, is left, and it is nearly as great a one as the build-

ing of the pyramids.

In this notice we have called attention to only a few of the

points treated of by Mr. Jewitt in the first chapters of his little

book, relating especially to the Ancient British, or Celtic Period.

He also gives an equally instructive account of more recent

mounds and burials under the headings of the Romano-British

and the Anglo-Saxon Period, thus bringing archeological research

well into the domain of history, and in many instances getting

from the graves of the dead facts with which to elucidate the his-

tory of the living.

Crustacea DREDGED IN THE GULF STREAM OFF FLORIDA.* —

The rich materials dredged by M. Pourtales, in the Gulf Stream,

under the auspices of the United States’ Coast Survey, are gradu-

ally being published in the Bulletin of the Museum of Compar-

ative Zoology at Cambridge. The brachyurus Crustacea, of which

many new forms, both generic and specific, were discovered, are

now enumerated by Dr. Simpson, with notes on their bathymetrical

distribution, though most of the species were from shoal water.

a second part, the general result will be given, to which we

Shall allude when issued.

*Preliminary Report on the Crustacea dredged in the Gulf Stream in the Straits n

Florida; by L. F. de Pourtales. Part1, Brachyura. Prepared by Dr. William Stimp-

son. 8vo. pp.109-160. Cambridge, 1870.

158 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Tur Recorp or Enromoiocy for the year 1870 will be soon is-

sued, and it is hoped that subscribers to the previous parts will feel

inclined to support this undertaking another year. 3

Synopsis or EUROPEAN COLEOPTERA DESCRIBED IN 1868. *—This

is a most convenient work for European coleopterists, and is of

considerable value to American entomologists. Each species, de-

scribed as new, is briefly characterized in Latin, so that entomolo-

gists of every nationality can read it. When will the time come

for the publication of a similar yearly synopsis in America for all

the insects?

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

Tue JARDIN pEs Puantes, Parts: Feb. 20.— To-day we drove

round to the house of M. Decaisne, whose celebrity as a botanist

is too well known for any further comment to be necessary, and

under his kind and most interesting guidance I visited a scene

which was full of painful interest. The gardens had apparently

been a point of especial bombardment, and no fewer than eighty-

three shells had fallen within their comparatively limited area.

We went out to the glass-houses to judge for ourselves of the ef-

fects. On the nights of January 8th and 9th, four shells fell in-

to the glass-houses and shattered the greater part of them into

atoms. A heap of glass fragments, lying hard by, testified to the

_ destruction, but the effect of the shells was actually to pulverize

the glass, so that it fell almost like dust over the gardens.

consequence was that nearly the whole of this most rare and val-

uable collection was exposed to one of the coldest nights

year, and whole families of plants were killed by the frost.

of the plants suffered the most singular effects from the concu-

sion; the fibres were stripped bare, and the bark peeled off i

many instances. One house into which we went presented a most

lamentable appearance of bare poles; scarcely a leaf was left.

a eoe es

* Synopsis Coleopterorum Europæ et Confinium, anno 1868, descriptorum. Anew”

G. R. Crotch, M. A. London: Williams & Norgate, 1870. 8vo. pp- 68

oasis CERTANEI

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 159

All the Orchids, all the Clusiacez, the Cyclanthex, the Pandane,

were completely destroyed, either by the shells themselves or by

the effects of the cold. The large Palm-house was destroyed,

and the tender tropical contents were exposed to that bitter cold

night; yet, singularly enough, although they have suffered se-

verely, not one has yet died. Imagine Kew Gardens under a

heavy fire, and Dr. Hooker standing disconsolate in the midst of

them, his most cherished plants in ribands, and his glass-houses a

mass of powder, and we can form some idea of what M. Decaisne

suffered during those fifteen nights, when shells came bursting un-

der his windows, sending splinters into his flower garden and

shaking his house to its foundations with every explosion. Feel-

ing that, at all costs, he was bound to stick to his post, he passed

the whole of his time actively engaged in covering up his plants

in blankets, and straining every nerve to keep the cherished favor-

ites of a lifetime from the ruthless missiles that were searching

every nook and corner of the establishment. Two shells fell into

the zoological gallery, one into the gallery of mineralogy, where it

destroyed some beautiful pieces of paleontology. Three fell into

the laboratories and museum, destroying a valuable collection of

rare shells, which had just been classified. The houses, historical

as having been the residences of Cuvier and Buffon, did not escape,

but fortunately, although several of the shells were found to be full

of combustible material, nothing was set on fire. All through the

whole of the fortnight during which these gardens were subjected to

this rain of shells, Messrs. Decaisne, Chevreuil, and Milne-Edwards

remained at their post, unable to rest, and have since, at their own

expense, repaired the damage done, trusting that, whatever form

of government France may choose, it will not repudiate its debt

of honor. The British public have nobly come forward to relieve

the distress of the suffering population of Paris; I would now

make an appeal to the comparatively small section of society

whose glass-houses may perhaps be supplied with plants which

may replace those which have been destroyed. M. Decaisne is

making out a list of his losses, a large proportion of which might

possibly be supplied from Kew, while owners of private collec-

tions might also be glad to testify their sympathy and interest in

the cause of science by contributing whatever they may be able to

spare as soon as the amount and nature of the loss is ascertained.

I feel no doubt that it will be enough to make the facts known for

160 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the British public to respond with the same generosity which they

have manifested in other instances. The animals fared better

than the plants — not only have none of them been eaten by the

population of Paris, as the latter fondly suppose, but, although

several shells burst among them, they have escaped uninjured.

Of course, when food was so scarce for human beings, the mon- —

keys and their companions were put upon short allowance. This

fact, coupled with the extreme rigor of the season, increased the

rate of mortality among them, and one elephant died, but was not

eaten. The two elephants and the camel, that were eaten, belonged

to the Jardin d’Acclimation, and had been removed in the early

stage of the siege from their ordinary home in the Bois Boulogne,

for safety, to the Jardin des Plantes, where, however, it would ap-

pear, it was not to be found. The birds screamed and the animals

cowered, as the shells came rushing overhead and bursting near

them, as they do when some terrific storm frightens them ; latterly,

they seemed to become used to it ; fortunately, the part of the gar-

den which they inhabit is somewhat removed from the museums, at

which the fire seemed more especially directed. The gates of this

favorite resort were kept closed, because the price of firewood is

so high, and the scarcity of it such, that the people are unable to

_ resist the temptation of coming into the gardens in search of fuel,

and, for the present, it is found wise to shut them out; indeed, 50-

much greater is the necessity for fuel than for food at present, that

the provision trains have been stopped by order of the Gover-

ment to allow the coal trains to pass. — Special Correspondent of

“ The Times,” quoted in the ** Gardeners’ Chronicle.”

ASCENT OF THE SAP IN Pines. — Some years ago, my gardener

pointed out to me that some Austrian and Scotch Pines, which

had been completely girdled by mice, still continued to grow, as if

no such injury had been received. In order to test this matter, I

took an Austrian Pine about five feet high, and girdled it for®

space of two inches, at about three feet from the ground. P

was five years ago, and the upper portion is still alive. The w i

attracts much attention from visitors to my grounds. When g-

dled, the branch was about one and one-half inches in diameter-

The whole portion of stem between the tier of branches above

and that below — a space of about fifteen inches — has since rè-

mained of that size, and is dry and hard as a ‘pine knot.” The

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 161

parts above and below this dead space increase annually in girth.

The upper portion is now about nine inches in cireumference. There

are branches above and below the girdled portion ; the lower ones

growing much the stronger. The upper portion makes only two

or three inches of growth a year, and the “ needles” are of a

brighter green than the lower. — Tuomas MEEHAN.

Dimorpuism 1x Devurzta.— My friend, Edward Tatnall, of Wil-

mington, Del., once called my attention to the fact that there

appeared to be two kinds of flowers on the Deutzia gracilis, a

dwarf shrub now common in gardens. I have a plant now in flow-

er by forcing in a greenhouse. One class of flowers is of nor-

mal form, with well developed pistils, and the ten stamens with

their somewhat petaloid filaments. The other class has the pistils

scarcely developed ; the anthers seem quite as large and as perfect

as in the others, but are quite destitute of filaments. I cannot tell

with certainty whether this is an arrangement for cross-fertiliza-

tion of separate flowers, because the anthers in the hermaphrodite

flowers, as we suppose them to be, appear perfect; but when the

season comes for observing the flowers in the open ground, May

or June, no doubt the facts could be definitely ascertained. I

make note of these little things now, so that botanical students

can observe for themselves when the time comes round. — THOMAS

MEEHAN.

CONTRIVANCE IN THE COROLLA or SALVIA INVOLUCRATA. —In

most Salvias, part of the anther develops into a lever which closes

‘ the throat, and, when lifted by an insect, causes the pollen to be

thrown on its back. Some suppose, and with apparent good rea-

son, that this is to aid in cross-fertilization. In Salvia involucrata,

the lever arrangements are remarkably well developed, but the

arched upper lip curves inward, and prevents the anthers from

acting in the manner above described. It would seem as if the

plant, after “making” its arrangements for TE

repented,” and “made” another to contradict it. — THOMA:

MEEHAN.

_ Avsrxo Frowers.— During the summer of 1869 I observed,

in the University campus, quite a number of specimens of Trifo-

lium pratense, with perfectly white flowers. During the past sea-

son, although I searched diligently, I was not able to find any white

flowers of that species, not even = stalks which I believe to

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL.

162 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

have sprung from the same roots that bore the white flowers ob-

served the year previous, they having apparently resumed their

specific color.

During the autumn of 1868 I discovered in Northern Iowa a

specimen of Liatris cylindrica with perfectly white flowers, all the

flowers upon the three stalks from the same root being white.

This seems more remarkable than that of the white clover men-

tioned, because the usual color of the latter is at best only spe-

cific, while rose-red is regarded as the invariable color of all the

species of Liatris. In other words, the color is a generic char-

acter. —C. A. WHITE.

[We print this notice, with the remark, once for all, that occa-

sional white flowers may be expected in any species, so that it is

hardly worth while to specify numerous particular instances.—

Eps. }

ZOOLOGY.

Poison or THE Copra.—At the meeting of the Boston Society

of Natural History, January 18th, Mr. George Sceva gave the re

sults of an experiment which he had recently made in connection

with Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., with the poison of the Cobra di

Capello, Naja tripudians. >

January 8th, one quarter of a grain of the dried poison, which

had been kept a little more than seven months, was put into twenty

drops of water, the poison dissolved, and the liquid reduced by

evaporation at a temperature of 85° F., to four drops. This was

exposed to the air at a temperature of 22°, and was completely

frozen in four minutes, the warmth of the porcelain vessel retard-

ing the process slightly. The poison was allowed to remain in the

frozen state for sixteen hours, during which time the temperature

fell to 8°, or 24° below the freezing point, On the following 48y» _

January 9th, the poison was thawed and diluted with three or four

drops of water, and two drops of the liquid injected with a fine-

pointed syringe into the pectoral muscle of a pigeon, about half an

inch from the keel of the sternum, the point of the syringe pene

trating the muscle about one eighth of an inch. This part of the

pigeon’s body was selected in order to avoid wounding Ny of

the viscera or large blood vessels. ae

» NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 163

The poison was injected at 4.32 P.M. At 4.34 there was a

motion of the bowels. Although this almost invariably occurs, as

the first symptom of the action of the poison in the lower animals,

yet it cannot be fully relied on in the case of birds, as it fre-

quently occurs from fright.

At 5.10 another motion of the bowels, followed by slight trem-

ors and convulsive movements, clearly indicating the action of the

poison.

At 5.15 no further symptoms of importance appeared. At this

time he left the room for about two hours, and on returning, at a

few minutes past 7, found the pigeon dead; its death having oc-

curred in less than two hours and a half from the time of being

poisoned.

Mr. Sceva then made some general remarks on the habits of the

Cobra, and on the action of its poison. He said he had been

much surprised, in looking over some works on natural history, at

the erroneous statements on this subject which many of them con-

tained. He thought these errors might be attributed, in a great

measure, to the general aversion which people felt for all poison-

ous reptiles. This .seems to account, when combined with the

usual credulity shown in such matters, for the many strange sto-

ries and absurd reports that had been published of the poisonous

snakes of distant countries, such as India; and in many instances

he had found that men holding high positions in the Government

civil service and physicians residing in that country, had published

statements which had been accepted here and in Europe, as facts

-well established by their personal observations and careful investi-

gations ; whereas they were founded merely on the stories told by

the jugglers, snake-charmers and other ignorant people. In some

popular works on natural history recently published, which on

many subjects appeared to be carefully written, there seemed, in

this matter, a great want of careful discrimination. In J. G.

Wood's “ Natural History of Reptiles,” several pages were devoted

to accounts of antidotes, such as the leaves and roots of the Aris-

tolochia Indica, the ‘‘ Snake Stone,” etc. These, with a great many

other reputed antidotes, had been found by recent investigation to

be utterly worthless.

_ Mr. Sceva, during the past three years, while attached to the

Indian Museum at Calcutta, had assisted Dr. Fayrer, the Profes-

sor of Surgery in the Medical College there, in his numerous ex-

164 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. -

periments with the venom of poisonous snakes. Among those

made to test the value of. local applications was that of the actual

cautery by plunging pointed red-hot irons deeply into the flesh in

the places where the fangs had entered, but this failed to destroy

the poison.

This result, however, would not surprise one who fully under-

stood the rapidity with which the blood passes through the soft —

tissues of the body, and the instantaneous action of the poison

upon it.

To show the rapid effect of the poison on the blood, Mr. Sceva

read one of Dr. Fayrer’s experiments that he had witnessed, in

which the inguinal fold of the skin of a dog was held by two pairs

of long-bladed forceps in such a manner as to include a triangular

piece of about three inches in length. The Cobra’s fangs were

applied to the middle of the free edge, and with a sharp scalpel,

held in readiness, the fold of skin was at once cut out, and yet the

dog died from the effects of the poison in fifty-nine minutes. Dr.

Fayrer, in his report, made the following comments : —

‘This was a very interesting and instructive experiment, most

ond after the bite ; for the knife had entered almost before the fangs

had left. In fact, it could not have been done more rapidly,

yet, within one hour, the animal was dead from the effects of the

poison. The infinitesimal portion of time during which the Cobras

fangs were inserted in the tissues was sufficient to have sent the

poison through the circulation beyond the reach of incision, and

yet how very small must that portion have been.” l

Mr. Sceva exhibited on the table a living specimen of the Cobra,

which he had brought with him from India. It was about five feet

in length, and of the variety known in India as the Keuteah.

It had eaten nothing while it had been in his possession (since

Sth of June last), a period of seven months and ten days. He

had also kept others in India for over five months without food.

He said the common belief that the Cobra would seek to exer-

cise ‘its deadly power by biting any person who should come within

its reach, was quite erroneous. On the contrary, it avoids using its

fangs as much as possible, except when securing its food. When

f ta

eer eee

fae ate ee ae ee Ra eee Ree

NE eS OE es PEE PG See N A ay A

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 165

two Cobras were placed together in a cage, they would sometimes

strike at each other for hours with their noses, and would blow

their venom and saliva from their mouths; but he had never seen

one bite another, although he had kept a large number of them

in cages convenient for observation.

Of the great numbers of deaths (some thousands) occurring an-

nually from Cobras, the bites were almost always received when

people stepped upon them.

Until very recently it was almost universally supposed that the

poison of the Cobra had no effect on the mongoose, an animal re-

sembling the weasel. It was well known that the mongoose would

attack and kill the Cobra, and would sometimes eat a large part of

the body, but in these encounters the mongoose, by his great agil-

ity, could easily avoid being bitten; and Mr. Sceva had found, on

examining a Cobra-which had been killed by a mongoose, that all

the wounds had been inflicted back of the head. When, however,

the mongoose was secured, and a Cobra was compelled to bite its

leg, by having it put into the snake’s mouth, the mongoose died in

a very short time.

Mr. Sceva added, that since making the experiment with the fro-

zen poison, he had found that a similar one had been made on the

venom of the rattlesnake by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia.

Dr. Mitchell also found that neither boiling nor a putrefactive

change destroyed its poisonous action. These experiments have

also been made with the venom of the Cobra with like results.

DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS IN THE Sourn Seas. — Having pre-

viously explored nearly every South Sea group, I was surprised at

the superior richness of the Viti Islands, as compared to the other

locations. Of shells alone, I got about fourteen hundred species,

and new ones were occurring, up to the time of my departure.

have not the least doubt but that the group will produce six hun-

dred species more. At the Navigators I found nearly eight hun-

dred species. Tahiti produced five hundred. So it is evident that

the nearer we approach the East Indies the richer the Islands be-

come in shells. The same rule applies to every other department

of Natural History. :

Since I have been collecting in the South Seas I have ascer-

tained that nearly every group has some species of marine shells

peculiar to that one location, and which do not occur elsewhere.

166 ` NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Again, certain species are abundant at some particular group, and

gradually become more and more rare as we recede from their

metropolis, or specific centres.

Each group of islands has distinct species of land shells, and,

in fact, every island in a group possesses its peculiar species. For

small species of land shells, Stenogyra juncea and Vertigo pedicu-

lus range over the South Sea Islands, and are the only exceptions

to the rule. What is most surprising, in most cases, is that we

find the species confined to particular valleys, or certain parts of

the islands. The small islands are generally richer in species than

the larger ones. Succinez, so abundant at the eastern groups,

do not occur at the Viti Islands, while the latter possess many

species of large Bulimi, belonging to the section Charis and Pla-

costylus, which are not found at the former islands. Another

marked feature in the Viti land shells is the large ground species

of Navini. Its mangrove swamps swarm with many species of

Auriculidee, and the rivers abound in large Butisse.

Fresh water shells are more widely diffused than land shells.

Three of the Tahiti Neritine (Tahitensis, dilatula, and sp?) occur

at Samoa, but not at the intermediate groups. Several species of

the Samoa (Navigator Isles) Neritina, Navicella, and Melania are

common at the Viti group. The fresh water shells of the Sand- |

wich Islands are all peculiar.

The Viti Islands are extraordinarily rich in Mitride and Pleu-

rotomide. Of the former I found one hundred and thirty, and of

the latter one hundred species.

Most of the Viti fish, crustaceans and echinoderms, are identical

with Tahiti species, though many new species were obtained. Na-

ture has been rather chary of her entomological gifts to her east-

ern groups; but in the Vitis it is quite the reverse. I found aà

great variety of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, some of the latter of ‘

great size and beauty. Macrotoma heros, a beetle, attains a

length of four and a half inches, and a large Dorcus abounds.

The larvee of both species are considered a delicacy by the natives

and relished by some of the foreigners.

At the Vitis I found many new species of reptiles, and, for the

first time, met with frogs and land snakes. One lizard, Brach

phus fasciatus, attains a length of three feet. Every species of

reptile is eaten by the natives. |

While I was in the group, the natives killed the Rev. Mr. Baker 2

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 167

and eight native teachers. Cannibalism is still common at the

islands, and many parts of the group are too dangerous to

explore. — A. GARRETT.

Sexes OF THE Losster.— A Correspondent of “Land and

Water,” makes an announcement, which is endorsed by the editor

of that paper, to the effect that the sex of Lobsters can be read-

ily determined by the character of their claws, since, in nearly

fourteen hundred specimens examined, it was ascertained that in

the male, the blunt, tufted claw is always on the left side, and the

sharpest serrate claw on the right, a condition of things exactly re-

versed in the female. This, however, has been subsequently

denied, and the question of determining the sex by means easily

understood by the laity, yet remains open.

Occurrence oF Lanp Brrps Far our ar Sea.— We are in-

debted to the Smithsonian Institution for the following extract

from a letter received from the Hon. L. E. Chittenden, in refer-

ence to certain birds which came on board the vessel in which he

was proceeding to Europe. Frequent mention is made, in the

writings of travellers, of birds having been seen far out at sea;

but it is not often that so satisfactory an identification of the

species is supplied, as that furnished by Mr. Chittenden’s letter.

tt STEAMER LAFAYETTE, 12 M., Oct. 19th, 1869. *

Latitude 41° 40’; longitude 64° 9’; distance sailed last twenty- `

four hours, 310 miles, Distance from New Yor k, eee miles. To

Brest, 2441 miles. There has been a strong wind from the north-

west the last twenty-four Koai Shortly after daylight this morn-

ing, land birds began to alight on the ship. oa sailors have caught

many, some twenty-five or thirty. They seem very weary and dis-

inclined to move after having alighted, sad are easily caught.

They must have been blown off the land, but it is singular that so

many should have been blown away by a wind which is far from be-

ing that of a ng They fly straight to the ship and alight ; do not

circle around at all. I have been showing the sailors what to feed

i "They saa pone several cages, and are having

(probably Passerella iliaca); a creeper, probably Brown Tree

Creeper. A flycatcher, either the common Pewee or the aa

168 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Pewee, I think the latter; and two warblers, which I could not

recognize, as they were both probably females with no special,

distinctive marks.

“ This is the entry, with the portions in parentheses added now.

The route of the French ships is far to the southward of a the

other steamers. _You will see from the map that” t we came about

So you ed ries of the discovery of several new species in the

north of Fra

“I told er ‘that I thought there was a ae among the birds that

came on board ship; such is my recollection. But it is not men-

tioned in my note, and I think I must have e qe PE +d

Iowa Birps. — The following species, not catalogued in J. A.

Allen’s excellent “ Notes on Iowa Birds” (Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat.

Hist., Vol. 1., Pt. rv.), have been collected by me in Iowa, and are

mostly preserved in the cabinet of Iowa College, Grinnell. When

no locality is given, the central adjoining counties of Poweshiek

and Jasper are to be understood. In two cases of doubt, an in-

terrogation point is added. The word “ summer” for summer res-

ident, is used when justified by recorded dates of capture. ,

Turdide :— Hermit Thrush (T. Pallasii Cab.) ; seen but twice. —

Olive-backed Thrush ( T. Swainsonii Cab.) ; common in a locust —

nursery last year; wholly absent this year. Ruby-crowned Wren

(R. callendula Licht.) ; seen as late as May 2d. Troglodytide :

— Short-billed Marsh Wren (C. stellaris Cab.) ; summer. Sylv

colide : — Black and White Creeper (M. varia Vieill.). Yelow-

rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata Gray); common. Chest- |

nut-sided Warbler (D. Pensylvanica Baird); summer. N ashville |

Warbler (H. ruficapilla Baird) ; summer. Hirundinide: :— Rough-

winged Swallow (C. serripennis Bon.) ; summer. Liotrichide:—

Mocking Bird (M. polyglottus Boie); June 25th, August 4th,

and October 21st; in both the central counties mentioned ; but no

song heard. Vireonidæ : — White-eyed Vireo (V. Noveboracensis

Bon.); June Ist. Yellow-throated Flycatcher (V. flavifrons

Vieill.) ; summer. Red-eyed Flycatcher (V. olivaceus Vieill. J;

summer. Fringillidæ :— Harris’s Finch (Z. querula Gamb.) ; t

twice, the latest May 19th. Black Snow-bird (J. hyemalis Sclat.) ;

abundant in early spring. Snow-bunting (P. nivalis Mey er);

Clinton county, and, I think, Poweshiek. Purple Finch (C. pu-

pureus Gray); Clinton county. Red Crossbill (C. Americana

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 169

Wils.) ; Lee county.. White-throated Sparrow (Z. albicollis Bon.) ;

October 7th. Tree Sparrow (S. monticola Baird); common in

March and April. Swamp Sparrow (M. palustris Baird) ; taken in

October. Indigo Bird (C. cyanea Baird) ; summer ; very common.

Cardinal Bird (C. Virginianus Bon.) ; Lee county. Icteride : —

Rusty Blackbird (S. ferrugineus Sw.); Clinton and Poweshiek

counties. Tyrannide :— Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (E. flaviven-

tris Baird) ; summer ; not rare. Cuculide :— Yellow-billed Cuckoo

(C. Americanus Bon.) ; summer ; only taken in a grove in Kellogg,

Jasper county. Picide:—Pileated Woodpecker (H. pileatus

Baird) ; Lee county. Strigide : —Short-eared Owl (B. Cassinii

Brewer). Falconide :— Duck Hawk (F. anatum Bon.) ; Clinton

county. Sharp-shinned Hawk (A. fuscus Bon.) ; Clinton county.

Golden Eagle (A. Canadensis Cass.). Bald Eagle (H. leucocephalus

Savig.). Columbide : — Passenger Pigeon (E. migratoria Sw.) ;

few seen ; one taken young, June 26th. Gray or Red-breasted Snipe

(M. griseus Leach) ; Clinton county. Tell-tale or Stone Snipe (G.

melanoleuca Bon.); Clinton county. Yellow-legs (G. flavipes

Bon.) ; common in prairie sloughs. Solitary Sandpiper (R. solita-

rius Bon.). Marbled Godwit (L. fedoa Ord.). Gruide:—

White or Whooping Crane (G. Americanus Ord.) ; Tama county.

Rallide : — Sora, or Common Rail (P. Carolina Vieill.). Coot (F.

Americana Gm.). Anatide :— Trumpeter Swan? (C. buccinator

Rich.) ; young. Brant (B. brenta Steph.) ; large flocks, doubtless

this species. Spoonbill (S. clypeata Boie) ; Clinton county. Gad-

wall (C. streperus Gray); Polk and Clinton counties. Ringnecked

Duck (F. collaris Baird); young. Redbreasted Merganser (M.

serrator Linn.) ; Lee county. Hooded Merganser (L. cucullatus

Reich.) ; Lee county. Snow Goose (A. hyperboreus Pallas) ; Lee

county. Pelicanide : — Rough-billed Pelican (P. erythrorhynchus

Gm.) ; Lee county. Laride :—Ring-billed Gull (L. Delawaren-

sis Ord.). Forster’s Tern? (S. Forsteri Nutt.) ; Clinton county.

To this list I may add the Prothonotary Warbler and the Magpie

(a straggler), known to have been taken in Lee county. All of the

above from Lee and Clinton counties were not taken by myself,

but I have no reason to doubt the correctness of the locality given.

I thus add fifty-four species to one hundred and eight of Mr. Al-

len’s list, which were observed in seven counties of Western Iowa.

Mr. Allen speaks of the scarcity of certain birds. Of these,

the Robin, Blue Bird, Chipping Sparrow, Cat Bird, Yellow War-

170 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

bler, Warbling Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Bobolink and Great

Horned Owl, are abundant in the district now especially reported

from. I have not met with Wilson’s Thrush, Winter Wren, Tit-

lark, Tennessee and Blue Warblers, Grass Finch, Henslow’s Spar-

row, Arkansas and Great-crested Flycatchers, Yellow-bellied

Woodpecker, Least, Pectoral and Spotted Sandpipers and Sooty

Tern. — H. W. PARKER.

Tue CoLoraDo Poraro BEETLE IN Naes, Miıcureax. — While

in Niles, Michigan, this winter, I took somewhat special: pains to

gain information in regard to the Colorado Potato Beetle, as it had

been observed on one farm in that town. On the farm of James

Hudson, of whom I made my inquiries, not a bug of this sort was

seen before or during the year 1868; but a very few were seen on

a farm about half a mile to the west. In the summer of 1869,

this beetle appeared on Mr. Hudson’s potatoes, when they were

about a foot ‘high; when he first saw them only two or three

were on a hill, but they increased all through the season.

In April, of 1870, Mr. Hudson in plowing his fields, ploughed

up the full grown beetles, and they walked about, being very lively.

He planted Early Rose potatoes about April first, and as soon as

they were fairly up these beetles commenced their attacks upon

them. He began to kill them by squeezing them between two

paddles, going over the ground daily, but apparently without check-

ing them. He then mixed Paris Green with ashes and sprinkled

the mixture on a dozen rows, the vines at this time being à foot

high, and from these rows he secured a fair crop of potatoes.

Where the mixture was not sprinkled, the bugs ate all the leaves,

and in many cases they ate the stalks to a considerable extent.

They now began on a new field hitherto untouched, appearing m

such numbers as almost literally to cover both the leaves and the

stalks. They were so numerous that in less than an hour one man

gathered about twenty quarts of them! They readily drop from

the vines and then feign death. The beetles swept right through ‘

this field, going at the rate of about ten or twenty rods mn? —

week. Their yellowish eggs were always abundant on the under

side of the potato leaves; but they also laid their eggs °”

weeds, spires of grass, and even on dry sticks! While the havo, ——

above described, was going on, no other species of insects attacked

the potatoes. At this time the Colorado bugs were abundan

Sais, sues

fe ea

4 Sd ea $ eS

Des eS ae

ee RT AE IEE en fC Sr Fo On a ema yt See Dict T ns Cra OM” rer Ue Pate a ot

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NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 171

about the farm-buildings, and even entered the house. Toads

are their natural enemies, eagerly devouring them. But on this

farm the hens were never seen eating them.

On the farm above mentioned, the bugs disappeared suddenly

in the early part of September.

It may be added that they seem to prefer Chenango potatoes

to the Early Rose; and that they would hardly touch the Early

Goodrich, though growing side by side with the Chenango, which

they eagerly devoured. I would also add that these insects do

not confine themselves to the vines, but enter the hills and attack

the potatoes themselves. — Sansorn Tenney, Williams College,

February, 1871.

DEsTRUCTIVENESS OF THE Warre Ants.* — Having to repair and

paint my office a year ago, my boy put my stationery for a few

days on the floor, when, to my surprise, I found it all eaten

through by the white ants, which are destructive of everything

upon this Island. Nothing but teak, and not always that, escapes

their fangs. Numbers of houses in Jamestown are fairly gutted

by them — doors, window sashes, floors and roofs are all eaten

up—so that nothing but the bare walls are now standing, their

owners being too poor to rebuild with iron and teak.

I send a volume of Allison’s History of Europe, to show you

the destructive powers of this extraordinary insect. — THomas

Fernam, United States Consul at St. Helena.

Sixers Micr.— A communication in the NarturaList some

time ago in regard to musical mice, prepared me for a phenomenon

which recently came under my observation,*which otherwise would

have astonished me beyond conception. I was sitting a few even-

ings since, not far from a half-open closet door, when I was star-

tled by a sound issuing from the closet, of such marvellous beauty

that I at once asked my wife how Bobbie Burns (our canary) had

found his way into the closet, and what could start him to singing

such a queer and sweet song in the dark. I procured a light and

found it to be a mouse! He had filled an over-shoe from a basket

of pop-corn which had been popped and placed in the closet in the

morning. Whether this rare collection of food inspired him with

song I know not, but I had not the heart to disturb his corn,

* Communicated by the Smithsonian Institution. ~

172 - NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

hoping to hear from him again. Last night his song was renewed.

I approached with a subdued light and with great caution, and had

the pleasure of seeing him sitting among his corn and singing his

beautiful solo. I observed him without interruption for ten min-

utes, not over four feet from him. His song was not a chirp, but

a continuous song of musical tone, a kind of to-wit-to-wee-woo-wo0-

wee-woo, quite varied in pitch. While observing him I took for

granted that he was the common house-mouse (Mus musculus), but

when he sprang from the shoe to make his escape he appeared like

the prairie mouse (Hesperomys Michiganensis), a species I had

not, however, observed before indoors. I have thus far failed to

secure this little rodent musician, but shall continue to do all I

can in the way of pop-corn to entertain him, and if his marvellous

voice gives him the preéminence in mousedom which he deserves,

by the aid of Natural Selection I shall presently have a chorus of

mice, in which case you shall receive their first visit. — W.

Hisxrey, Minneapolis, Minn.

Tue European Horner IN America. — This wasp (Vespa

crabro Linn.) is very common here, and has been to my knowledge

for the past twenty-five years, or ever since I have been in this

place. I think it is something over twenty years since there was

an immense colony in the roof of an old ice house, at the gable

end of which was a round hole for air about four or five inches in í

diameter. This hole formed the entrance to their abode. Both

their brood cells and the outer covering are very brittle, so much

so, that it is impossible to preserve them whole. The paper seems

to be made of green wood, in procuring which, they girdle great

quantities of the branches of our lilac bushes.

The mass of comb which I send you, was taken, I think, two

years ago last fall. The following are the dimensions of the com),

independent of the outer covering, at the time I secured it:—

Eighteen inches long, twenty-three inches in circumference. There

were eleven stories or sets of comb. The circumference of each;

commencing at the top, was as follows :— 17, 23, 27, 27, 27, 28, 28,

27, 23, 19,7, inches, making a united circumference of about twenty-

one feet. Width of largest cells four lines, making six and 4

quarter cells to the square inch. This, I believe, makes about

one thousand five hundred and eighty-one cells. This nest was

between the weather boards and the inner lining of boards, in W?

torr bal e Oe ee

A os

TE ena

e pIE iS

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 173

was once an ice house. This cavity was at one time filled with

hay, but the hay in many places had settled down, leaving large

vacant spaces, in one of which this nest was formed, about four

or five feet from the ground. The entrance was by a knot hole.—

J. Ancus, West Farms, N. Y.

[Mr. A. J. Olmstead writes us that this hornet has been seen

since 1863, at Morristown, N. J., and that the nest is made of the

green wood of the lilac. “It does much damage to fruit, but at

the same time destroys many insects.” — Eps. ]

Tue Micration or Hawks. — The solitary habits of the Hawks

are so frequently referred to in general works, treating of the nat-

ural history of these interesting birds, as being especially distinc-

tive of the birds of this family, as to fully indicate the general

prevalency of the opinion that they are in no degree gregarious,

in confirmation of the observations of Dr. William Wood, published

in the February number of the Narurauist (1871), in which he

states he and some of his ornithological friends had repeatedly no-

ticed considerable companies of hawks passing over in early spring-

time. I may add that I have myself observed numerous similar

instances, in the autumn as well as in the spring. At Spring-

field (Massachusetts), I for several years noticed ‘it as a quite reg-

ular occurrence, and I have since observed similar flights of hawks

in Iowa. On one occasion (in April, 1862) I noticed hundreds

slowly sailing over in the peculiar gyratory manner of these birds.

They formed a long loese flock, extending both to the northward

and the southward as far as could be seen, the whole company oc-

cupying more than an hour in passing a given point. Though

soaring at a considerable height, it was easy to see that the com-

pany was composed of representatives of several species. While

this mode of migration is more characteristic, perhaps, of our Bu-

teones (the Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Broad-winged Hawks)

than of other species, the common Accipiter Cooperi is frequently

associated with them.—J. A. ALLEN.

Longevity or A Marie SHELL. — Mr. Tryon (Conch. Sec.

Acad. Nat. Sci., Philad.) read a letter from Mr. W. M. Gabb, who

collected Littorina muricata in the first week in September, speci-

mens of which were now living, although having been out of

water not less than four months. This he believed was the first

case, on record, of the longevity of life illustrated in marine

species.

174 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY:

Tue Wine or Bars.—In Max Schultze’s “ Archiv,” Band vii.,

1"* Heft, is a most exhaustive and interesting paper on the struct-

ure of the bats wing, by Dr. Joseph Schébl, of Prague. Long

ago Spallanzani discovered that bats which had their eyes put

out were able, nevertheless, when allowed to fly about in a room,

to avoid threads stretched across it. This faculty he attributed to

some highly developed sense of touch possessed by the wing. Dr.

Schobl has ‘repeated these experiments ; but for the putting out

of the eyes he has substituted the less painful method of covering

them with sticking plaster. He has kept bats, thus treated, for a

year alive in his room, and has entirely confirmed Spallanzani’s

results. To account for these phenomena, the wings of bats have

been examined for peculiar nerve-endings, by Cuvier, Leydig, and

Krause, but without any success. The author’s discoveries are

therefore quite new to science. The following is a short abstract

of his results. The bat’s wing membrane consists of two sheets

of skin, the upper derived from that of the back, the lower from

that of the belly. The epidermic and Malpighian layers in each

sheet remain separate, whilst the true skin is inseparably fused.

In this fused medium layer are imbedded the muscles, nerves, ves-

sels, etc., of the wing. A complicated arrangement of delicate

muscles is described, which have their tendons formed of elastic

tissue instead of the usual white fibrous tissue. There are also

present numerous long elastic bundles stretched in different direc-

tions in different regions of the wing. The arteries are each ac-

companied by a single vein and a nerve, the three keeping company

as far as the commencement of the capillary system. With regard

to the pulsation in the wing, Dr. Schébl has nothing new to add to —

the observations of Wharton Jones and Leydig. The whole wing

is covered, both on the upper and under surface, with extremely

fine, sparsely scattered hairs. These hairs are most numerous on the

inner third of the hinder part of the wing, and they gradually de

crease in number towards the tip. The two wings, taken together,

contain from eight thousand to ten thousand of them. They

have a general resemblance to those on the body, but are simpler

in form. Their length is about 0.2500" in Vesperugo serotinus,

the species principally made use of in these investigations. Each

hair sac has from two to seven sebaceous glands, according to the

species, and one sweat gland opening into its sac. The two outer

fibrous layers of the hair sac have no sharp line of demarcation

EE E =

a ta IR AR ee ee

Sic cnc SS ae a, AR

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 175

to separate them from the surrounding connective tissue, but the

inner or hyaline coat is highly developed, and, after being con-

structed beneath the hair bulb, wider’s out and encloses the sense-

bodies (Tastkorperehen), one of which organs is connected with

each hair.

The nerves of the wing may be considered to consist of five

layers, i. e., there is one occupying the centre of a transverse sec-

tion of the wing, which gives off on each side of it four others,

and these are successively finer and finer as they approach the op-

‘posite surfaces. The inner layer and the one immediately on

each side of it, consist of nerve fibres with dark borders, the other

layers of pale fibres only. The tastkorperchen are connected

with the second layer. The fifth layer of finest fibres ends as

a network between the innermost layer of cells of the Malpighian

layer of the epidermis. The tastkérperchen are shaped like a

fir-cone with a rounded apex turned inwards. They lie imme-

iately below the root of the hair; and their core or central sub-

stance is formed of a prolongation of the cells forming the two

root sheaths of the hair. Their length is 0.0259 and their breadth

0.0175™". A nerve containing about six dark-edged fibres is

distributed to each kérperchen. Just before the nerve reaches

this organ it splits into two, and three fibres pass to one side of

it, three to the other. The fibres are then wound round the body

o as to sheathe its cellular core. Dr. Schöbl thinks it proba-

ble that the fibres on one side are continuous with those on the

opposite side, and that there is thus a bipolar arrangement here.

He attributes to the fine network of pale nerve fibres belonging

to the fifth layer the appreciation of temperature, pain, etc. ;, to

the tastkérperchen the highly exalted sense of touch. It is

curious that both kinds of nerve endings are connected with the

Malpighian layer of the skin. In conclusion, the author states

t he believes he has found similar bodies in peculiarly sensitive

places in other mammals, and promises an early account of them.

=e Academy.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUNG AND Aputt Fisnes.—Mr. R. Bliss,

at a meeting of Bost. Nat. Hist. Soc., spoke of some of the mark-

ings which distinguish young from adult fishes. He had recently

examined some specimens from India which had a double line on

the median space; or rather a single line starting from the gill-

176 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

covers, running to the tail and then returning to the gill-covers. l

He found this to be the young state, and this the manner in which —

a dark, solid band was formed and became perfect when the fish

reached the adult state. Another species forms a band which dis-

appears, leaving only one spot at the head and another at the tail.

A third species begins with a band and ends with cross striæ,

the band disappearing. These examples, he said, show the neces-

sity of studying fishes in all stages of their growth.

CARDINAL GrosBEAK.—On the 31st of January last, a day to

be remembered as one of the coldest of this very cold winter, à

specimen of the female Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis Virginia-

nus Bonap.) was shot in the spruce woods at Point Pleasant, about

one mile from Halifax. The plumage of the bird forbade the idea

of its having escaped from confinement, while its shyness, coupled

with the fact of its being found on skinning to be actually fat and

in good condition, precluded the possibility of its being a storm-

blown waif, brought by a revolving gale from the south. Its crop

contained a few partially digested seeds, cereal in appearance. —4J.

Matruew Jones, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

ARRIVAL oF Birps.—On March 9th the first Bluebirds and

Robins made their appearance in Salem, and on March 10th two

flocks of geese passed over the city on their northern journey.

The White-bellied Swallow was not noticed before April 2d.

Tue Currons.—Dr. P. P. Carpenter, of Montreal, made a ver-

bal communication to the Boston Society on the family of Chitons ;

but, as his Monograph of the group is now in the press, and will

shortly be published by the Smithsonian Institution, it is not nec

essary to anticipate his results. If any naturalists have species

which they wish reported on, he will be happy to name them from —

the typical series, which (with his other collections) he has pre

sented to the Museum of McGill College.

Carrie Tick in tHe Human Ear. — Enclosed you will find a tick

the history of which is this: — A young man applied to Dr. Bou-

cher, of Iowa City, for a trouble of the ear. Four months before

he had been in New Mexico and had slept out of doors many

times. The trouble of the ear commenced about that time. His

ear pained him many times but not severely. On looking into his

ear foreign material was seen, and on removal proved to be the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 177

bug enclosed. It was alive and lived three days thereafter.—E.

H. Hazen, M. D., Davenport, Iowa.

[It is a species allied to Ixodes bovis Riley, or common cattle

tick. — Eps. ]

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. —

The Board of Trade of Indianapolis recently held a meeting for

the purpose of making arrangements for the next meeting of the

A. S., which will be held at Indianapolis in August next,

beginning on Wednesday, the 16th. The meeting was largely

attended and a Local Committee of one hundred persons was ap-

pointed and divided into sub-committees on Reception, Finance,

Lodging, Excursions, Rooms, Invitations, and Railroads. Arrange-

ments were made for two excursions during the session of the

Association. One to Terre Haute, a distance of seventy-three

miles from Indianapolis, where the Association will remain over

night and partake of the hospitality of the citizens. On this ex-

cursion a visit will be made to the celebrated Block-coal field (iron

smelting coal) and Blast furnaces, of Clay County. This coal is

now attracting much attention and the visit will be most interest-

ing geologically. The other excursion proposed is to New Albany,

on the Ohio River, where there are a number of interesting manu-

factories, among Gare the only plate glass works in the United

States. One of the largest railroad bridges in the world is also

located there. The Association will also remain at New Albany

over night.

The people of Indianapolis and vicinity seem to be resolved to

make the forthcoming meeting a success, and every facility and

accommodation will be secured to the members of the Association.

The following are the officers of the Local Committee :— Chair-

man, Hon. Dante. Macautey; Vice Presidents, Tuomas McGuire,

Esq., and Joun C. Wricut, Esq.; General Secretary, T. B. ELLI-

otr, Esq.; Corresponding Secretary, Professor E. T. Cox; Treas-

urer, F. A. W. Davis, Esq.

The following are the officers of the Association for the fide

apolis meeting : — Retiring President, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Mon-

treal ; President, Professor Asa Gray, Cambridge ; Vice President,

Pilar G. F. BARKER, New Haven; Permanent Secretary, Pro-

fessor JosepH Lovertnc, Cambridge; General Secretary, F. W.

Purnam, Salem; Treasurer, W. S. Vaux, Philadelphia.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 12

178 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

We understand that the sub-section of Microscopy, so well

started at the Salem meeting, and developed at Troy, will be well

represented at the next meeting, and we beg to suggest to the

Local Committee the importance of providing a room with proper

light and substantial tables for the use of this sub-section, and a 4 a

safe place for the deposit of the instruments that undoubtedly will -

be taken to the meeting if members are notified in the general

circular that such arrangements have been made.

We also trust that some change will be made by the Association

in relation to the Proceedings on the first day, and the time of

delivery of the President’s address, which certainly should come

off before he resigns the chair to his successor, and there seems no

more appropriate time for the delivery of the address than the first

evening, which it would be well to have permanently allotted to

this purpose by vote of the Association. The organization of the

meetings of the Association could be very much facilitated by &

complete change of the present irregular and confusing mode of

proceeding, and we trust the next meeting will inaugurate a de

cided change in this respect. _

_ Members will remember that the titles of their papers must be

sent in advance to the Permanent Secretary. a

In this connection we call attention to a circular, which has

been mailed to the address of every member from the office of the

Narora.ist, in relation to the early publication of the papers to

be read at the meeting, and to request any person, who has not

_ received a copy and who intends to read a paper in any of the

Natural History Sections, to send to the office of the AMERICAN

Narvraist for one. k

GRU LOG I. i

Some Puystca, FEATURES or THE APPALACHIAN SYSTEM AND

THE ATLANTIC Coast OF THE UNITED STATES, ESPECIALLY NEAR

Care Harreras. — At the meeting, February 1st., of the Boston

Society of Natural History, Professor N. S. Shaler gave an AC

count of the coast line in the neighborhood of Cape Hatteras and

the Chesapéake Bay. He thought it important in view of the A

ological as well as the physical history of the continent, to aem

mine the causes which had given the existing form to the sha

line of this continent. The coast between the Rio Grande and the

Chesapeake, presents but two considerable prominences. The first,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 179

that of Florida, is probably entirely the product of organic life, and

as such, probably the most considerable geographical feature on

our earth’s surface the product of that agent alone. Cape Hat-

teras, however, cannot be regarded as in any way the result of

reef building animals, though it has been suggested that possibly

the banks so like the reefs of Florida, may rest upon ancient

coral deposits. Sections through the reefs show that they are

built on clay bottoms. The Delaware and Chesapeake bays may

be, in part, at least, accounted for by supposing that the vast ice

streams which during the glacial period passed down the main

rivers which lead into them, just as they poured down the Hudson

and the Connecticut, had eroded the soft rocks upon which they

descended from the harder rocks of the Appalachian Mountains

just as the streams of the Rhone and Rhine had cut away the soft

rocks making the lake basins of Geneva and Constance. We can-

not, however, in this way account for the formation of Pamlico and

‘Albemarle sounds, though the mud and sands which form the out-

lying banks are probably derived from the excavation of the Chesa-

peake, just as the similar deposits, which enclose the broad water of

the peninsula of Eastern Virginia, are derived from the excava-

tion of the Delaware Bay.

It is likely that the promontory of Cape Hatteras is the result

of the elevation of an outlying ridge of the Appalachians near

Richmond, Virginia. At that point there is a ridge of syenite

appearing from beneath the tertiary clays. This ridge clefts to

the east; beneath the clays to the north, is similarly hidden, but,

towards the south, extends as far as near Weldon, where it may

give place to other similar ridges which continue the elevation to

the southward. The height of this ridge can be ascertained by

following it to the westward, where we find it sinking beneath the

coal, the syenite lying more than a thousand feet deep, at a dis-

tance of ten miles from the summit. So we see that Richmond is

` on a mountain one thousand feet or more high, though covered by

subsequent accumulations after having been much eroded. The

mining sections through the beds of the Liassic coal field give us

the best of evidence on this point. This ridge is parallel to the

Alleghanies, and must be regarded as part of that system. We

must modify our theory of the elevation of the Appalachian chain,

so as to admit that, instead of having been altogether the product

of forces acting during and just after the carboniferous time

12*

180 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

alone, this elevation continued to go on until after the formation of

the Liassic rocks of the Richmond coal field which are much dis-

turbed by the elevation of the syenite ridge to the eastward. —

While the Appalachians have this comparatively recent outline to —

the eastward, they have an ancient ridge in a comparable position

about as far to the westward. The Cincinnati and Nashville

Silurian domes are only the highest points of a low ridge which

was elevated on a position parallel to the subsequently created

Appalachian system. This ridge was elevated as early as the

period of the Calciferous sand rock. This is proven by the traces

of beaches and broken shells in beds of the Hudson River Period, >

and by the existence of great deposits of salt in the Calciferous

sand rock which could only have been formed when that rock was

out of water. We have, in this ridge, the first of the folds of the

Appalachian system, which built continually towards the east

ward. ?

The Hatteras projection was due to the elevation of the Rich-

mond element of the Appalachiahs. The border tertiary rocks

were thrown up and have resisted:the wearing action about Hat-

teras. This ridge was possibly of the same age as the Connecti-

cut River dislocations of the Tom and Holyoke series, and of the

Martha’s Vineyard series, to which it is approximately parallel,

‘The history of the Appalachian chain showed that they, 1

most mountains, tended to grow by successive parallel additions.

Mountains are characteristically shore phenomena, rarely being a

Weldon. Its character cannot be explained by the ordinary at

tions. The topography near the coast is purely submarine, 38

formed by the action of the sea. Passing inland, the evidences '

the action of the atmospheric agents appear. He thought the

whole of this shore indicated a recent origin, an emergence anda

slight sinking within the period of man’s remembrance. There

had been in the most recent geological period a rising and sink-

ing of the coast, as at Charleston, of fifty or sixty feet; Maine,

two hundred feet; and greater on the coast of Labrador, as Dr-

Packard has shown. These alternations of sinking and elevation

could be- accounted for by supposing that the sea flows in n

central regions, more constantly sinking the land areas, Tistg

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 181

when the pivot point of this rotation was at the shore, the sinking

of sea bottom and rising of the land could go on without changing

the position of the shore line; if, however, this pivot point were

to the seaward of the shore, the movement would cause the land

to gain on the sea; if the pivot point were to the landward of the

shore, the sea would seem to gain.

e spoke of the great influence which Hatteras had exerted in

deflecting the Gulf Stream from its course.

r. C. T. Jackson said that the syenite at Richmond, Virginia,

must have been elevated in a cold state; there was no evidence of

its having interpenetrated the coal measures. He agreed with Pro-

fessor Shaler in regard to the elevation of the ‘coast, the pivot

point being in Virginia. In Carolina a cannon placed in one of

the streets is now under water. In the eastern parts of the State

of Maine fishermen had noticed what they call the growth of

rocks; those which, within their recollection, were submarine, now

appearing above the surface.

Mr. Shaler referred to Mr. Heinrichs, who was now working in

the coal measures at Richmond, and hoping soon to get down to the

the syenite. He expected valuable results from the investigations.

Perry said, in regard to the syenite underlying the

coal, that there was no evidence of intrusion. The syenite was in

existence before the coal was laid down. In regard to the for-

mation of the coast, he alluded to the observations of Elie de

Beaumont, that the elevations of a particular period were parallel.

The oldest uplifting, that on the west of Hudson’s Bay in N. N.

W. and S. S. E. direction, called in Europe the elevation of Fin-

isterre, is earlier than the Laurentian, and crosses it. Suppose

there were such an elevation under the surface of the water, corals

would form upon that ridge, and an easy explanation is afforded

of the extension of Florida in this direction. Supposing parallel

elevations, another might have had a bearing upon Hatteras. He

was satisfied that Martha’s Vineyard was elevated at the close of

the Pliocene period. Mount Etna was elevated at the same time.

The earlier elevations of the Alleghanies occurred during

Longmynd period, at the end of the Silurian period. The axis of

Cincinnati was the beginning of this uplifting.

He had studied the coal measures in the neighborhood of Rich-

mond, and differed from the general conclusions in regard to them.

Some of the fish from Virginia, New Jersey, and the Connecticut

182 : NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

valley, are identical, and have a character intermediate between a

those of the Permian and the Jurassic. The same formation ex- _

tends from South Carolina to Nova Scotia. The character of the

fossiliferous portion of the Connecticut valley shows it clearly to

be Triassic. The Permian was a cold period. The Triassic, a

warm period, followed. He thought it was neither Permian nor —

Jurassic, as many supposed, but Triassic.

Mr. W. H. Niles said the question which Professor Shaler had

brought forward was one of great interest. He objected to the

view taken by Mr. Perry of the formation of Florida and Hatteras.

Professor Shaler’s view, he said, was consistent with all the phys-

ical features of our Eastern coast. The deepest portion of the sea

bed lies opposite the highest mountains, showing a parallelism be-

tween the Atlantic valley and the Appalachian system. The Cin- —

cinnati axis, he said, was instructive because showing that all

parallel chains were not raised at the same time. The long terrace

of the Atlantic plain forms another parallel. The streams also

conform. The depositions are parallel with the mountain chains.

He accepted Professor Shaler’s explanation of the elevation and

depression of land in connection with water deposition.

Mr. Perry remarked that when one line of upheaval crosses a

another, it will be modified ; and a very old one will be largely dis _

guised, yet may have had its effects and been a cook ne ke

Florida, affording ground for the corals to work. :

Mr. Hyatt remarked, that besides the general westerly and caste

erly motion described by Professor Shaler, there were evidences of

a motion transverse to this along the coasts. Thus the north of

Greenland, as shown by various arctic explorations, has beaches _

` recently elevated ; and historical records, as well as direct observa

. tions, have proved that the south of Greenland is sinking. Dr

Packard’s observations i in peng give the evidence of a compar-

SUR

Rt:

estuary, or mouth of a brook, where the water had formerly been

fresh. There were two cliffs stretching around the southern shore

of this island, each about fifty feet high. The present sea level,

however, at high tide, now reached the foot of the inner re a

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 183

flowing the outer cliff to the depth of two or three feet or more, in

different localities. The shores of Nova Scotia, according to the

observations of Professor Marsh and others, were, if the speaker

remembered rightly, sinking. The shores of Maine, as shown by

Dr. C. T. Jackson, Dr. Packard and others, were rising. At Mar-

blehead Neck he had observed a water-worn cliff elevated eight or

ten feet above high-water mark, and protected by a ridge of shin-

gle, which forms the back of the present beach. This beach now

intervenes between the cliff and the water’s edge, which is between

thirty and forty feet distant.

Observations made by the Coast Survey show that the coast

in Long Island Sound and southward in New Jersey has been

sinking. The formation of Florida Keys shows that that state is

rising. These and other facts which proper investigation would

undoubtedly bring to light, indicate a series, or perhaps many se-

ries, of transverse waves of elevation and subsidence running

down the coast at right angles to the direction of the great waves

which elevated the Appalachians.

Mr. Niles showed that from the earliest times, in the Adirondacks,

and at different points southerly, there had been peninsulas cor-

responding in position with Florida, which was the most southern

and latest

Naturat History or DEEP-SÈA SOUNDINGS BETWEEN GALLE

AND Java, BY CAPTAIN Cutmmo.—The ooze dredged up from a

depth of two thousand three hundred fathoms, where the temper-

ature was found to be 35° F., consisted to the extent of ninety per

cent. of organic matter, Foraminifera, chiefly Globigerinz, to-

gether with Polycistine, with a few broken sponge-spicules. In

the shallow water near’Sumatra, the animal life has decreased to

only about five per cent. of the ooze, the Globigerine having en-

tirely disappeared. The water brought up from great depths was

found to contain a large proportion of salts in solution, pers

crystallized out immediately on exposure to the air. Mr.

remarked on the great interest and importance of the tar

of the low temperature of the deep water in a latitude within a

few degrees of the equator, strongly confirming the conclusions

as to a general circulation of the water between the equator and

the poles drawn from similar observations in the Atlantic. —

Nature.

184 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

DISAPPEARANCE OF AURORA IsLanp. — Referring to the state-

ment of the disappearance of Aurora Island (one of the New

Hebrides group), recently printed in the newspapers, Mr. Tryon

exhibited to the Conchological Section of the Academy of Nat-

ural Sciences of Philadelphia, at their meeting January 5th, 1871,

two species of shells from the collection, supposed to be peculiar »

to this island, remarking that in the event of the reported sub-

mergence of the island being confirmed, these must be classed

among the lost species. In his report on the mollusca collected

by Wilkes’s U. S. Exploring Expedition, Dr. Gould gives the fol-

lowing account of Aurora Island : —

“ The little island of Metia, or Aurora Island, to the northeast

ward of Tahiti, is one of peculiar interest. It is a coral island 2

which has been elevated two hundred and fifty feet or more, an

has no other high island near it. On it were found four small

land shells belonging to three genera, viz. :—Helix pertenuis, Heliz

paratively modern times.” '

GEOGRAPHY or THE Sea Bep.— At the meeting of the Royal

Geographical Society, held on Nov. 29, a paper was read ‘On the

Geography of the Sea Bed,” by Capt. Sherard Osborn, R. N. The

author gave an account of our present knowledge of the configura-

tion of the bed of the ocean, as derived from Admiralty surveys

and submarine telegraph expeditions during the last fifteen you

His explanations were illustrated by a number of diagrams shor i

ing sections of the North Atlantic and other oceans. It hasbeen

definitely ascertained that the greatest depth of the ocean aan

~ not reach 3,000 fathoms in any part where telegraphic lines ve i

been laid. The bed of the North Atlantic consists of two valleys,

the eastern extending from 10° to 30°, the western from 30° to 50°

West Longitude. The extreme depth of the eastern valley is under

13,000 feet, which is less than the altitude of Monte Rosa. THS —

valley has been traced southward to the equator. It is separated :

from the western valley by a ridge in 30° West Longitude, in Wi”

the average depth is only 1,600 fathoms. This ridge termins?”

to the north in Iceland, and southward at the Azores, 8° that gee

volcanic in its character at both extremities. Its extreme breadth

appears to be under 300 miles, and the Atlantic deepens from it of

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 185

both sides. Explorations carried on in the Mediterranean, the

Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, showed similar uniformity in the

level of the sea bottom; and the general conclusions arrived at

by Capt. Osborn were, that in the deep sea there is an absence of

bare rock, and that there are no rough ridges, cations or abrupt

chasms; moreover, that the bed of the deep sea is not affected

by currents or streams, even by those of such magnitude as the

Gulf Stream; but that it rather resembles the prairies or pampas

of the American continent, and is everywhere covered with a

sort of ooze or mud, the débris of the lower forms of organic life.

Corossar Fossi Sra-WrEep.—From the microscopic examina-

tion of the structure of specimens of the fossil trunks described

under the name of Prototaxites Logani, and which Principal Daw-

son affirmed in his Bakerian lecture before the Royal Society, to

be the oldest known instance of Coniferous wood, Mr. Carruthers

has discovered that they are really the stems of huge Algæ, be-

longing to at least more than one genus. They are very gigantic

when contrasted with the ordinary Alge of our existing seas,

nevertheless some approach to them in size is made in the huge

and tree-like Lessonias which Dr. Hooker found in the Antarctic

seas, and which have stems about twenty feet high, and with a

diameter so great that they have been collected by mariners in

these regions for fuel, under the belief that they were drift-wood.

They are as thick as a man’s thigh. — The Academy.

MICROSCOPY.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LENSES OF MicroscorEs.— For some time,

people in England have been content to let the improvement of

the optical powers of the microscope remain entirely in the hands

of the makers, believing, apparently, that Mr. Lister had effected

all in his suggestions and improvements that could be desired.

Dr. Royston Pigott, an able mathematician, formerly fellow of St.

Peter’s College, Cambridge, and a Doctor of Medicine of that

niversity, was not, however, inclined to look at the matter in

this way, and for many years has been working and experimenting

with a view, first, to test the accuracy of our best object-glasses,

and, secondly, to suggest means for their improvement. It should

be remembered that Oberhauser, Nachet, and especially Hart-

186 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

nack, on the continent, not satisfied with the old system of combi-

nations for object-glasses, and not having the benefit of Lister's

researches, have made excellent objectives on a totally different

system, and during the last few years the last-named maker has a

carried his system of ‘“‘ immersion lenses”to such a point of excel- a

lence as really to surpass the best glasses on Lister’s system, in @

definition, penetration, working distance, and illumination. Those

who do not admit the excellence of these objectives, whieh are

now used by nearly all German histologists, have probably seen

older glasses, made at a time when Hartnack had not reached his

best. It is worth stating, now that the Parisian opticians ar

inaccessible, that Gundlach of Berlin has succeeded in making

excellent glasses of high power at astonishingly small prices, some

of his 1-12ths and 1-16ths, immersion 1-16ths (so called), being

admirable in their performance. They are not, however, equal to

Hartnack’s glasses, which, though costing far less than what simi-

lar English glasses cost, yet are more expensive than Gundlach’s-

It is only fair to all parties concerned to state that the terms

1-8th, 1-12th, 1-16th, etc., as now applied to an object-glass, appear

to have no definite meaning, but depend on the caprice of

maker, since the magnifying power of glasses, with the same frac-

tion assigned to them, differs enormously. Eo

_ To return to Dr. Royston Pigott. He found the usual means

testing an object-glass by trying if it gave some particular appear-

ance with a “test-object,” such as the Podura-scale, very unsatis-

factory, since we have no certainty to begin with as to what is the

true appearance of such an object. He therefore examined minute

images of objects of which he knew the true form, such -o

watch-face or thermometer-scale, forming these images by aid or

mercurial globules and the condenser properly adjusted below the

microscope-field. By this means he has found that object-glasse*

corrected so as to show dark, sharply marked spines (like!! 1) on

the Podura-scale— a favorite test-object with our microscope-mak-

ers — give false, blurred, and distorted appearances with his kno’ š

images, and on making such corrections of the objective as to show

the known images in their true form, he finds that the Podura-

scale, examined with the corrected objective, is not really marked 7

at all, as supposed, but is beset with a series of bead-marki"e” —

which by intersection, when improperly defined, give the curious —

appearance like notes of exclamation. This important discovery

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 187

of the falsity of our high powers (1-8th to 1-16th) has led Dr.

Royston Pigott to pay more attention to the lower powers, and he

finds that though you may not get so much actual amplification,

you yet get a truer effect, and greater clearness of detail, by

employing very carefully made low powers (1-2d to 1-5th), and

increasing the magnifying power at the other end of the micro-

scope, 7. e., the eye-piece. We have in this way seen the beaded

structure of the scales of the Podura more satisfactorily than with

very high objectives, even’ when corrected so far as they would

admit, and we may say the same of some Diatom-valves, e. g., Pl.

formosum. It would be most important to know how far such a

change of combination would be useful in histological work.

The general upshot of Dr. Royston Pigott’s investigations ap-

pears to be that it is desirable to shift the burden, hitherto cast

almost wholly upon the objective, to the other parts of the instru-

ment. We should be content with an objective as high as a fifth,

or even less. A very deep eye-piece is to be used; and to correct

residuary aberrations of the objective, and at the same time ampli-

fy, Dr. Pigott has introduced an important adjustable combination

between the eye-piece and the object-glass. There seems to be consid-

erable reason for the step proposed by Dr. Royston Pigott. Just

as great results were obtained in passing from the single lens or

combination to the compound microscope of eye-piece and objec-

tive, so by adding distinct integral factors to these two, such as

Dr. Pigott’s “ aplanatic searcher,” we may obtain excellences quite

impossible by any amount of attention bestowed on the objective

alone, or only with difficulty reached by long labour, leading to

very high price for high powers.

Dr. Pigott has, during the past year, published some account of

his researches in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,

» and has communicated papers to the Royal Society, one of which

is about to appear in the Philosophical Transactions

Naturally, at first, the makers in London and the Mascieveien!

Society were sorely tried by Dr. Pigott’s exposure of the Podura-

scale, but we hear, as one good result already obtained, that

Messrs. Powell and Lealand have constructed a new 1-8th, both

dry and immersion, with great care, which is declared to be the

best glass yet made. It has been proposed to form a committee

for the purpose of examining carefully as to penetration, defini-

tion, and angular aperture, the best glasses of our English makers,

188 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the best American glasses, and the best of Hartnack’s, Gundlach’s

and others; the glasses being mounted similarly, with private

marks only for recognition, so as to prevent all possibility of

prejudice on the part of the committee. Were this done, the re-

sult, whichever way it tended, would be eminently satisfactory.

Of this the writer is sure, that many persons—even eminent

microscopists—have made up their minds about the qualities of

_ foreign objectives, without having seen any, or only very poor ex- `

amples, and then when a really fair specimen of such a glass is

placed before them, they exclaim with astonishment “ Why this is

the finest glass I have ever seen.” We shall be glad to receive

Suggestions or assistance, in carrying out the proposed comparison

of objectives. Dr. Royston Pigott has expressed his willingness

to aid in such an undertaking. — E. R. L., in Nature.

CÓMMITTEE FOR Testine Opsectives.— Dr. G. W. Royston

Pigott proposes (Monthly Microscopical Journal, London, March,

1871) the appointment of a committee for the examination and

comparison of objectives by different makers. Both dry and im-

mersion lenses should be tested ; and, to avoid prejudice, they

should all be mounted in a uniform and simple style, marked in

cipher, and identified as the work of known makers only after the

final report of the committee. They should be tested in reference

to the following properties :— Resolution, Penetration, Magnifying

power, Spherical and Chromatic aberration, and Angular aperture.

Dr. Pigott also judges that “ deep” eye-pieces should be employed, —

and a very limited and unusual illumination, points which might be

left to the judgment of the committee, who would probably prefer

to use all kinds of eye-pieces and various methods of illumination, a

not forgetting, of course, the separate testing of the different parts

of the same objective, by the methods lately introduced by Dr

Pigott. (The writer has excellent lenses by the best makers;

in which not only are the different zones of angular aperture une-

qually corrected, probably a more or less unavoidable error, but

also the correction is distinctly unequal [from imperfect center- — l

ing?] at equal distances from the axis; a pencil, say, at 40° from

the axis, being better corrected than one at the same distance 02

the other side of the axis.) í

As this subject is largely an international one, though not %

sufficient importance to call for the meeting of a committee repre! -

aia i

Piia

ee re (Ae

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 189

senting the different countries chiefly interested, any movement,

if made at all, in reference to it, should be a concerted movement

in England, Germany, France, if practicable, and this country, the

same lenses being sent for study from one country to the other.

Microscopists might thus be informed, not as to which objectives

are the “best,” but as to which desirable qualities are possessed

in an eminent degree by the lenses of the various makers.—R.

H.W.

Eyesight AND THE Microscorpr.—In using the microscope I

have found that the best system is that recommended by Dr. Car-

penter, who has probably had as much experience in this matter

as any person I know of. It is to alternate the use of the eyes,

always keeping the unemployed eye open. But I feel confident

that it is of no use to keep the unemployed eye open if it be made

to stare at a dead-black surface. It is the exclusion of light from

one eye, and the consequent unequal action of the visual organs,

that is thus produced, that causes the mischief that we dread ;

and it matters not whether this unequal action be produced by

covering the eye with the eyelid, or by excluding the light from it

by other means,—the result is the same. In making observa-

tions with the microscope, all extraneous light should be excluded

from the eyes. Hence the value of a properly arranged shade.

Such a shade, however, should consist of more than a mere flat

sheet of pasteboard covered with velvet. It should have a per-

pendicular portion, rising up in front of the face, and cutting off

all light except that which comes through the microscope. And

now, having provided a shield of this kind, which, by the way, is

easily made of pasteboard blackened on the inside with dead-

black varnish (made of alcohol, lamp-black, and a very little

shellac), if we punch an inch hole at such a point that the unoc-

cupied eye can see it in the same way that the other eye looks

through the instrument, we will find that the fatigue experienced

by that eye is vastly less than when it is exposed to the dead-

black surface. A few trials will set at rest all questions on

this head, and the change from light to darkness is easily made

by simply slipping a piece of blackened paper or card over the

hole.

With few exceptions, we use altogether too much light with the

microscope. Where a full flood of light is passed through a

190 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

transparent object, the finer points are apt to be “drowned” out

entirely; and it is only by modifying the amount of light by

means of the diaphram, that we are enabled to make out the more

delicate details. Hence it will be found that the use of the bull’s-

eye condenser, for concentrating the light on the mirror, and con-

sequently augmenting the amount of light passing through the

object, is, in general, totally unnecessary. This arrangement of k

the illuminating apparatus is totally different in its effects from

that of the achromatic condenser, and cannot be substituted for it,

as some persons seem to think. | |

No man can have worked long with the microscope without be-

ing led to a very careful consideration of the relative value of the —

various sources of illumination at his command. Much thought, —

and considerable experience, have led me to the following conclu- a

sions on the subject :— “a

The first requisite in the light that we use is whiteness. Hence, —

daylight, the light of a white cloud, the artificial white cloud ilu-

minated by daylight, the light from the old-fashioned argand lamp —

burning sperm oil, the modern student lamp burning kerosene oil,

and its various modifications, and the argand gas-burner, arè —

good— their excéllence being about in the order here laid down.

Common gas-light, candles, and kerosene lamps are inferior just

about in the order we have named. White light is not nearly 80

fatiguing to the eyes as the reddish glare from a half-smothered —

combustion. Hence in all cases we must seek to have the most

perfect combustion and highest possible temperature of flame mi

our sources of artificial light. It is true that this gives rise to

great heat, but this difficulty is easily obviated by the use of a :

proper screen or shade, and none will be found better than the

one previously described. Indeed, when working by artificial

light, it will be found that the heat is one of the most efficient

causes of injury to the eyes, and the screen that we have men: ’

tioned is, perhaps, quite as useful, from the fact that it cuts "m

heat, as from its excluding unnecessary light. -

The second requisite is steadiness. Nothing is more trying w

the eyes than a flickering light. Sah EE

Another requisite is that the instrument should be so steady

that the object shall be retained in view and in focus without ?

change. Any tremor is injurious to the eyes, and especially ie? a

this the case when that tremor produces a continual change m +%

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 191

relation of the object to the focus. This difficulty is met chiefly

in the use of small, single lenses, that are held in the hand, and

it may be safely said that a single hour’s work, with a lens of this

description held in the hand, or mounted on an unsteady stand,

will cause more injury to the eyes than weeks of work where a

first-class instrument of far higher power is used. It has always

seemed to us that watch-makers, engravers, and those who use

lenses, do not sufliciently appreciate this fact. They, in general,

mount their lenses on wire stands, which tremblingly respond to

every footstep that falls upon the floor, and thus cause continual

demands upon the eye for re-adjustment of focus. So, too, we

have seen students of botany poring over plants by the hour, and

using a small hand-lens, which must have been utterly destructive

to the eyes. Wherever a microscope— single or compound —is

used for more than a few seconds, it ought to be mounted upon a

stand so firm that all vibration, and especially all disturbance of

the focussing, will be avoided.— Good Health.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

PROBABLE Important ARCHÆOLOGICAL Discovery. — In these

days of archeological humbugs we hardly venture to copy any

account of a reported discovery, but feeling confident that Mr.

Meehan would not have printed Mr. Douglas’s letter unless he

knew him to be a reliable observer, we give the following :— Mr.

H. Doveras, of Waukegan, Ill., writes to Mr. Meehan (who has

published the letter in the February number of the ‘ Gardener's

Monthly”), that during a recent dry season he was enabled to dig

to the very bottom of his peat bed, or “ muck hole,” some six or

seven feet below the surface. Under the peat he found “what

appeared to be the bottom [shore] of a lake, showing clear sand,

gravel, and small shells, exactly like the shores of the lakes so

common in this country. Imbedded in this gravel we found a

boulder, and around it were charred sticks, looking to all appear-

ances like the remains of a camp fire, and near it we found sev-

eral poles that had evidently been pointed at the thickest end

with an instrament not very sharp, proving, at least to my satis-

faction, that Indians had camped there, and that the

saplings were their tent poles cut with a stone hatchet. While

digging last summer about three rods from the spot named, we

192 NOTES.

found the bones of the elk,—the horns, a jaw-bone, a leg, ete.,

and would have got them all, but the water prevented.” &

These bones were sent to Chicago, and were pronounced to be

of an extinct species of Elk, and probably identical with the spe- a

cies found fossil in the Irish bogs. We do not know to whom

these bones were submitted for examination, but we trust that the

Chicago Academy will not let this sub-peat deposit remain long

without a thorough investigation, and that both bones and fire-

tained. Our peat beds have not yet received the attention that

they demand, when we remember how rich those of some parts of

Europe have proved to be in relics of great archeological impor-

tance. No opportunity of investigating our peat deposits it

be allowed to pass unheeded.

NOTES.

MEROPE

Some fifteen scientific gentlemen houisctind with the old saan

can Ethnological Society gathered last evening at the residence 0f

the Honorable E. G. Squier, No. 135 East Thirty-ninth street, to

consider the propriety of changing the title of the Association t0

that of the Anthropological Institute, and the adoption of more —

serviceable by-laws. Mr. Squier, in introducing the subject. of we

meeting, said that in the similar organizations of London

Paris the functions of Ethnology had been long since exchange

for the broader ground of Anthropology, so as to embrace U

that general title the codperative labors of the anatomist,the P

lologist, and archeologist, and combine in one scheme of study

whatever relates to historic man. The latest records of the old

society having been read by the secretary, Dr. H. A A. Stiles, T

ing, among other things, the transfer of the effects to the Hi

cal Society of this city, the proposal of change of name was then

made by the Chairman, Mr. Alexander J. Cotheal, and ad sat

unanimously. The “ Anthropological Institute of New Yo

went into session under the same temporary officers Ho

E. G. Squier was then elected President of the Institute,

NOTES. 193

Messrs. J. G. Knox and George Goden, Vice-Presidents. Mr.

Squier generously offered to undertake the printing of the records

for one year.

Mr. G. R. Crotch, whose annual synopsis of European Coleop-

tera we have noticed elsewhere, writes that he is hoping to bri

out a Nomenclator Zoologicus, which shall be, not a continuation

merely, but a revision of Agassiz’s ‘ Nomenclator,” and completed

to the present day. He promises to bring out the Coleoptera soon.

Such a work, if any one can be found to do it, is invaluable to the

student, and we hope the proposal will meet with every possible

encouragement in this country.

Mr. Crotch’s leisure is now devoted to a study of the Coccinelli-

dæ of the world. He wants American species, especially some of

the common yariable species. He would be glad to exchange or

purchase. He has large numbers of English and European dupli-

cates, especially in the difficult groups of Staphylinidz and Necro-

phaga generally, which he would exchange for any American

Coleoptera.

Professor A. Rohde gave a very interesting and instructive

entertainment in Salem, recently, under the auspices of the Essex

Institute. His Geological Pictures give correct and lasting im-

pressions, and should be exhibited before every college and school

in the country.

The College Courant, copying from the New York Times, has

given circulation to the story of a “great discovery” near Du-

buque, Iowa, consisting of a chamber cut out of stone and con-

taining important relics of a past race, ete. We are sorry that

our friend, the ‘‘Courant,” has got so decidedly “sold” in this

story of the “ark and the dove” in America, but it turns out that

the chamber exists only in the cavernous head of a local editor.

A Zoological Record Association has been established for the

purpose of continuing the ‘‘ Record of Zoological Literature” (an

annual volume containing an abstract of, and an index to, all

that has been done in zoology during the previous year), which

has been held in such high esteem by working zoologists that for

some time past the British Association has been induced to vote an

annual grant of 100/. in its support. Owing, no doubt, to the fact

of its utility not being sufficiently known to the public, the under-

194 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

taking has not proved a financial success. The new association,

which includes, we understand, all the leading zoologists of Eng-

land, hopes to have better luck, and in a few days it is expected

that its programme will be before the world. Mr. Seain

F.R.S., is the Secretary.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

C. E. B., Iowa State Agricultural College, Ames. — The worms you found on the apple

tree are probably those of the oe moth, and the lest os to my - to den them

all off the and look under the bark for others. The wings hese

cocoons ce "easily found after a little experience, and the ol deel o

spring is the best time to look over the trees for the cocoons of ron and other moi s

so to remove the bunches of eggs of the paenan Tent Caterpillar, and the Canker >

jat oni if you have the e ay caterpillar in low

e larve which you —“‘ were exceedingly abundant on cabbages last season

du Sea wet the hotter portions. ‘and phen ogy on the kapir bep A thon in ce holes,

gs spoiling their fl pd wth, the crop; an rm on i under side

of the leaves, or on shaded portions sor the Ae js Juries ‘ace, comeing D little € ti

the caterpillars of “og Aas A Tin nea (T. tella). It also ory th :

common all over durop aiba are two broods, o

the end of summer. ° The lary “ye spindl e-shaped, and of a delicate é green e iaai i

gray head. We have found the larva on cab age leaves late in September. W

give a farther roau id fo caterpillar on another occasion

— The mouse you say is common at the house |

mountain is, erea aranin Gapperi, hup praos description’ oe full enough to

sure. Specimens would be very acceptabl

BOOKS RECEIVED. ;

merica n Journal seg onchology. Vol. 6. Parta. Philadelphia. March, 1871. Hin-

The School Physical ag Vol.1, No.1. March, 1871. | Professor G.

richs, Baot. lows Uhl, owa. $1.00 a year.

Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique we Acclimatation. Mome vil, Nos. 8,9, 10. Aug-Dee. 187

Revue des des Cours Scientifiques de la France et de? Etranger. Nos. 42-50. Sept. 1s70-Marel,

T Pisiosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1869. Vol. 159. Part 2. sto.

med ad Fellows of the Royal Society, Nov., 1869. 4to. London. :

Proceedings of the Royal Society.’ June 17, 1869-Mareh 24, 1870. Vol. xviii. "a

Proceedings Royal Society, Edinb ER 1869-70. Vol, vii. No.80. 8v0. part.

ee the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science. Vol. il.

% Orleans County Society of Natural Sciences.

poe pee Energy A, At oe etait

of the Trustees of the Free Public Library of New 2 on,

ifie Review. Vol. ii. Nos.1-2. 8vo. Bruns

"aa Torrey. Botanical chu, Vol. ii. ao, ® arch, eM Seo. New rior

rita to eNi ectly Known Forms among the Brachiopoda, etc. nee

Orie jin of Species. ew Theory. N. Y:

Proe prd Bi y Pet kt K4 Pako Ra ae ype ore eean o., 3. Sepi pa

Celebration of the Humboldt Centennial and Opening of the Iowa Tnatitute of Si jce

ly Meeti (1869 of the Iowa Institute o Scie nd Arts, Newspaper slip. Dubi

è i Pyramia of Jizeh. The Plan tad Object of its Coah u. Pivo gma

the Commissioners a of O the State of New York. 8yo, Albany

American Journ Asad Se oe shag a r. Vol. Li Do4 April, „187. 39

ature

Land and Water. Eondon Hos for Mare ular Science Review, London.

The Field. London. Nos. for March, sy Popian Scie London. March and AP

T EL E

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Lc eGCRY OO

THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U.S.A.

— eo

We are indebted for the discovery of this beautiful species to

Major Long’s memorable .expedition, which largely increased our

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 13 195)

196 THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

then imperfect knowledge of the zoology of the West. Bonaparte

first published an account of the bird, with a good figure, in his

continuation of Wilson’s Ornithology, in 1825. It is not so strict-

ly a western species as is generally believed; for in its partial

northward migration it ranges obliquely to the eastward, until

in British America it reaches a meridian of longitude which it is

not known to attain in the United States. It inhabits the region

about the Saskatchewan and Red River of the North; and we have

Prof. Reinhardt’s authority for its presence even in Greenland. —

Sir John Richardson mentions its abundance at the fifty-eighth

parallel, where, however, it is found only in summer. It is singular

` that it should breed in these almost hyperborean regions, and in —

the warm parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and California; yet such —

is the fact. The partial migration just mentioned, which occurs

with many birds besides this one, may be explained in two ways.

Either the birds bred at the north retire before winter, and return

again in the spring, while those reared further south remain sta-

tionary, or else there is a north and south oscillation of all the

individuals, not of sufficient length to carry them away from any

localities except at the extremes of their range.

The Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, as this species is called, 8

one of our handsomest blackbirds, the body being glossy black,

the head, neck and breast rich yellow, and the wings having 2

white spot. The female is smaller than the male, and plain dark

brown, with the yellow of the head restricted and clouded ove

Together with the Lark Finch (Chondestes grammaca) and Pral-

rie Hen, it is one of the earliest indications that the westward

bound traveller has of approaching a different ornithological ed

gion. I saw some on the prairies of Wisconsin, and a great many

in Kansas, at a place called Salinas, supposed by courtesy to be?

town, although it consisted chiefly of a very dirty shed for a 7

ble, and another smaller one, a shade cleaner, for a hotel. The

birds were the most agreeable inhabitants of the place, and I

' the stable yard, with some Cowpen birds and Doves. They were

very tame, and would only fly off a few yards when shot at.

nas is not far from Junction City and Fort Riley, a locality whe

so many Eastern and Western birds are found together, that it 18

particularly interesting, as the following extracts from my no

book will show. The memoranda were made during a week's stay

in which time over a hundred specimens were secured.

THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 197

“ Republican Fork, near Fort Riley, May 22, 1864. — Large

numbers of Semipalmated and Bonaparte’s Sandpipers (Hreunetes

pusillus and Actodromas Bonaparte’) along the river, mixed to-

gether in close flocks. Not fat at this season. Plenty of Balti-

more and Orchard Orioles, in the high trees; Yellow-breasted

Chats in the bushes; Yellow-winged Sparrows and Black-throated

Buntings everywhere ; Meadow Larks in the open, and Partridges

in the woods. Shot a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers, breed-

' ing. Saw for first time the Clay-colored Bunting. May 23. —

Found two very interesting birds I never saw alive before— Bell’s

Vireo, and Nuttall’s Whippoorwill (Vireo Belli and Antrostomus

Nuttalli). The former seems quite common; shot several speci-

mens; it inhabits thickets and clumps of bushes, like V. Novebo-

racensis, but has a different song, the peculiarity of which first

attracted my. attention. The Whippoorwill was flushed in thick

cover, and looked very much like a woodcock as it got up; its

night cry is like that of the Eastern species with the first syllable

omitted. Familiar Eastern birds about here, not noticed yester-

day are: — Indigo bird, Redstart, Kentucky Warbler, Golden-

crowned Thrush, White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, Great-crested

= catcher, Pewee (S. fuscus), Wood Pewee, Kingbird and Downy

pecker. Shot and skinned twenty-three specimens. May

hg a Slender-billed Nuthatch, the first one seen. . Large

flights of Night-hawks at dusk. A Pectoral. Sand-piper in the

grass near the stream. . Shot an Olive-backed Thrush (T. Swain-

sonii), and several Lark Finches; these last were first observed

about St. Louis, Mo., as I was riding in company with Dr. Engel-

mann of that city. May 25.—There are a great many Bartramian

Tatlers now on the prairie. Had no trouble in shooting a good

bag, their tameness being in remarkable contrast to their usual

shyness in places where they are much hunted. May 27.— More

Eastern birds occur; the Warbling Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo,

and Scarlet Tanager. Shipped a box of specimens, and shall

leave to-morrow, troops having arrived to escort the stage, in view

of possible Indian hostilities. May 29.—Salinas, K. T. —Saw

first antelope yesterday, and to-day abundance of Yellow-headed

Blackbirds.”

The Journal goes on to state, that the next day we had pesi-

rie zodlogy in earnest ; the Lark Bunting, Burrowing Owls, Prairie

Dogs, and Buffalo. The Blackbirds were seen almost every day

198 THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

while crossing the Plains. They would collect about camp in

the evening, with flocks of Cowpen birds, and ramble about for

food among the mules and horses turned out to graze. In spite of

the season of the year, I noticed that a large part of them were in

imperfect plumage, the inference from which is, that more than

one year is required for them to become perfectly black and yellow.

I saw them at various points along the Rio Grande, and first

found them breeding a short distance west of that river, near the

Pueblo of Laguna. A small stream there spreads into a marsh, —

overgrown with reeds and tall rank weeds ; a favorable spot, that

thousands of the birds had selected as a nesting place, and were

then busy with the duties of incubation. Pretty much all these

birds seemed to be in perfect plumage, and no young of the year

had yet made their appearance. pois

The nest of this species is a compact, substantial structure,

measuring five or six inches across, and but little less in depth.

Unlike the true Agelwi, or Marsh Blackbirds proper, these birds

use no mud in the construction of the nest— perhaps because its

weight would then be too much for the slender reeds to bear; the

nest being placed in a tuft of upright flags or rushes, the stems of —

which pass through the substance of its walls, and securely fasten

it, though it is liable to sway back and forth in the wind. Itis

plaited and woven entirely of bits of dried reeds, and long, coarse,

aquatic grasses, and is not lined with different material, though the

inside strands are finer than those outside. The brim of the nest —

is usually thickened, and folded over a little, to form a firm edge.

The eggs may be from three to six in number. They resemble the

` eggs of the Scolecophagi more than those of the Agelei, lacking

the curious straggling zigzag lines. The ground color is 4 pale

grayish or olivaceous green, which is spotted all over with se

shades of reddish-brown, sometimes so thickly, especially towards

the larger end, that the ground color is scarcely perceptible. The

eggs vary to a moderate degree in size and shape; two sel

specimens measured respectively 1.04 X .75 and 1.15 X .76.

_ The duties of incubation devolve mostly upon the female, and

while she is setting, the male is fond of mounting the highest pereh

near the nest, and giving free expression to his joyful anticip®

tions. He twists and turns about in a curious way, and sings, es

a manner still more amusing, a queer melody of guttural notes,

broken at intervals by an odd grating sound, and again by afew

THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 199

clear syllables that sound like the tinkling of a bell. When meal

time comes around, he goes off, and forages with other Benedicts

about the marsh, paying, I suspect, little attention to his mate,

although should she be disturbed from the nest, her cries of dis-

tress soon bring him back. It is not likely that he brings any

food home; and while she is setting, she gets anything to eat that

she goes after herself.

These were among the few birds 1 saw in the arid regions about

Jacob’s Well and Navajo Springs, on the confines of New Mexico

and Arizona. This was in July; some were birds of the year in

their first plumage, and the rest were all moulting. There were

some in a marsh near Fort Whipple, but not to be compared in

numbers with the vast hordes of Brewer’s and Redwinged Black-

birds that live there. In this latter locality there were more of

them between April and October than during the rest of the year.

Such a mountainous region as that about Fort Whipple is not

exactly to its liking; although, like the true Agel@i, it gathers

in marshes to breed, it is emphatically a prairie bird, delighting in

broad, open, dry land. It is more decidedly terrestrial than most

of its allies, and spends the greater part of its time on the ground.

Compared in this respect with the Redwinged Blackbird and the

Quiscali, it bears much the same relation to these that the species

of Harporhynchus—the Thrasher, for instance—do to the true

Mocking-birds. It is admirably adapted for a terrestrial life by its

long and strong feet; on the ground, it usually walks or runs, but

frequently hops along, like Insessores in general. In its mode of

flight it closely resembles its many allies; and like these may

be called omnivorous, although various seeds probably form the

greater part of its

Jacob’s Well, that I Treitos just now, is a queer piii and

one always associated in my mind with these birds. Here is what

I find in my note-book about it :—

“ July 8.—We read of the delightful and equable climate of New

Mexico; but we live and learn. Last night we shivered under

blankets, and blew our numb fingers this morning. By ten o "clock

it was hot; at eleven, hotter; twelve, it was as hot as—it

be. The cold nights stiffen our bones, and the hot days blister

our noses, crack our lips and bring our eye-balls to a stand-still.

To-day we have traversed a sandy desert; no water last night for

our worn-out animals, and very little grass. The ‘sand-storms’

200 THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

are hard to bear, for the fine particles cut like ground glass; but

want of water is hardest of all. For some time it has been a long )

day’s march from one spring or pool to another; and occasionally

more; and then the liquid we find is nauseating, charged

alkali, tepid, and so muddy that we cannot see the bottom of a

cup through it. Here at our noon-day halt there is not a tree—

scarcely a bush—in sight, and the sun is doing his perpendicular

best. In the Sibley tent the heat is simply insupportable, and

are lying curled up like rabbits in the slight shade we can find

the rain-washed crevices of the ‘Well.’ Jacob’s Well is an uno

guised blessing, and, as such, a curiosity. It is an enormous

in the ground, right in the midst of a bare, flat plain; one n

pass within a hundred yards and never suspect anything abe

The margin is nearly circular, and abruptly defined ; the sides

steep — almost perpendicular in most places ; but a path, evidently

worn by men and animals, descends spirally, winding nearly ħ

way around before reaching the bottom. It is, in fact, a great

nel, a hundred yards wide at the brim, and about half as ¢

and at the bottom there is a puddle of green, slimy water. 4

dition goes, of course, that this is a ‘bottomless pit;’ and as

` what it is worth. The water is bad enough— warm, and pro

muddy, though the mud is not visible, owing to the rich ¢

color of the dubious liquid. It contains, however, some §

cious looking creatures, ‘four-legged fishes,’ said the man

caught several with hook and line. They suck the bait like

fish, and look something like them, barring the legs and lot

fringe-like gills.* j

‘It is a scene of utter desolation ; our bodily discomfort }

vague fears, and a sense of oppression weighs us down. —

leaden minutes creep on wearily and noiselessly, unbroken e1

the hum of an insect; two or three blackbirds, hopping listh

about, as if they wished they were somewhere else but had

energy enough to go there, are the only signs of life msi

our faithful animals and ourselves.”

* They are the Ambilystoma nebulosum, a kind of batrachian related me sais!

ey can live pep stn dees out of water, as their skin seems to

perspiration that keeps them cool and moist. One that was quite dry and

dead, revived on being placed in a bucket of water

CUBAN SEAWEEDS. .

BY DR. W. G. FARLOW.

Wi ee

In 1865-66 Mr. Charles Wright, then engaged in collecting the

pheenogamous plants of Cuba, upon visiting the seashore in search

of maritime plants, gathered and preserved such alge as came

within hisreach. This collection, which was kindly given to me

for examination by Professor Gray, contained forty-six species

which could be identified, besides a few which, from absence of

fruit and other causes, could not be made out. Of these forty-six

species, eight were Melanosperms, nineteen Rhodosperms, and

nineteen Chlorosperms. These numbers probably nearly repre-

sent the actual proportion of species of Chlorosperms and Me-

lanosperms growing on the shores of Cuba, the latter being few

in number and aiiai mostly either to the genus Sargassum of

the Fucaceæ, or to the tropical order Dictyotaceæ. That the

number of Rhodosperms, collected by Mr. Wright, is considerably

less than the actual proportion is owing to the fact that the Me-

lanosperms and Chlorosperms are generally littoral, and could be

easily reachèd by Mr. Wright, while the Rhodosperms are mainly

found after storms, or brought up by the dredge. The present ar-

ticle is limited to the Chlorosperms of Cuba as illustrated by

this collection.

n our own coasts, the Chlorosperms, or green seaweeds, be-

long mainly to the Ulvaceæ and Confervaceæ. To the former order

belong the grass-green apron-like weeds (Ulvæ) attached to the

rocks all'along our shores, and the Porphyra (Fig. 45, structure of

a plant of the group) of a similar structure but smaller, and of a

dark purple color, very exceptional amongst the Chlorosperms,

which make the large round pebbles of our beaches so slippery at

low tide. To the Confervaceæ (Fig. 46, structure of a plant of

this group) of our shores, belong a multitude of species formed

of small, generally microscopic, cylindrical cells placed end to

end, forming sometimes branching, sometimes straight filaments.

In Mr. Wright’s collection is an alga (Cladophora luteola Harv.)

belonging to this order of a most brilliant yellow color, forming

tufts scarcely two inches high. Some of our own Cladophoræ are

of a greenish yellow color, but we have nothing approaching in

(201)

2)? CUBAN SEAWEEDS.

brilliancy this little Cuban plant which possesses a color unique

among the alge.

Besides these two orders, so fully represented on our own coast,

Figures showing diagram of structure in

Confervacex., Dasycladee.

Valoniacez.

Ulvaces,

+ Ag 7 $ a . f P i s ept

but so Comparatively insignificant in Cuba, we have, 1 Ws eet:

" è m i @ ‘ > hieh have

Vaucheria, a microscopic alga, the American species ot W hich A

CUBAN SEAWEEDS. 203

been but little studied, a solitary species of a third order, the

Siphonacez, to which the most striking Cuban Chlorosperms be-

long. This plant is the Bryopsis plumosa, which grows in rocky

pools and looks like a small tuft of delicate green feathers.

The order Siphonaceæ (Fig. 47, structure of a plant of this

group) contains plants formed of a single large and generally

branching cell, or of several such cells united into a frond. The

mode of reproduction, as far as is known, is by zoospores formed

from the whole contents of the cell and discharged by the rupture

Fig. 50.

Fig. 51.

gfe

RAG

SAA

SS).

ASSY

phe

(lL

Caulerpa ericifolia, 2-3 nat. size.

Caulerpa Mexicana, nat. size.

of the cell-wall. In Vaucheria, antheridia* have been seen. The

largest and most beautiful genus of Siphonacex is Caulerpa.

This genus has representatives in all tropical seas, some species,

as Caulerpa clavifera, being cosmopolitan. The single cells of

which these algæ are composed are very large, being amongst the

largest vegetable cells known; in C. prolifera, for instance, four

or five inches long. The cell-wall is thick and membranous, and

lined with several layers of cellulose. The sac thus formed is

filled with a semi-fluid endochrome.+ The peculiar character

which marks the genus is the presence of branching threads which

*Certain organs answering to the anthers of flowering plants.

t The coloring matter of the cells.

204 CUBAN SEAWEEDS.

float in the endochrome and fill a good part of the cell. These

threads are merely prolongations of the external cell-wall, and

are not newly formed cells, as they contain no endochrome.

Harvey has compared the Caulerpz to loose sponges surrounded

by a membranous sac.

The specific distinction depends on the outline of the frond.

Most of them resemble Lycopods or true mosses. In all, there

is something which looks like the subterranean stem of a Lycopo-

dium, from which fibrils resembling roots are given off. These

have not the functions of roots, but only serve to fix the plant, and

stems, the Caulerp are able to

in consequence of these trailing f

almost no other alga will grow.

flourish on a sandy shore where

Fig. 53.

Fig. 52.

Halimeda tridens, 300 diam.

Trdat flabellata. 1-2 natural size.

From these underground stems, or surculi, grow the fronds propel

consisting of a single cell, as we have described. In C. prolifer

the frond is simply flat and leaf-like. In C. plumaris it 1s finely

pinnate, resembling little feathers. In C. Mexicana (Fig. 50, nat

ural size) we have some resemblance to a Jungermannia ; while

in C. Lycopodium and ericifolia (Fig. 51, 3 natural size) we have

forms presenting a striking similarity to Lycopodium clavatum and

dendroideum. In fact in the dried state many would mistake them

for faded Lycopodia. The Caulerpx grow near the shore in great

patches as densely clustered as the mosses on shore. They form

the lawns of the ocean, but far excel, in brilliancy of color and

delicacy of form, the lawns which the most skilful gardener Cat

produce. They are also said to form the chief food of the gree

turtle of our markets.

CUBAN SEAWEEDS. 205

Nearly allied to Caulerpa, are Halimeda and Udotea, which are

composed, not as in Caulerpa, of a single cell, but of several sim-

ilar cells packed together into a frond. These genera would

hardly be called plants at all by the Fig. 54.

common observer, as they are coated

with carbonate of lime and resemble

corals. In fact, they are corallines or

algee with a calcareous covering. In

some species this coating surrounds

ach filament separately, in others it

surrounds the collective mass of fila-

mentous cells of which the plant is

composed. Referring to these plants,

Cuvier wrote, ‘il existe dans la mer

des corps assez semblables aux poly-

piers par leur substance et leur forme

générale aù lon n’a pu encore aper-

cevoir les polypes.” Lamouroux, how-

ever, went farther, and described the

polyps which, it is needless to say, existed only in his own imag-

ination. At present, there is no doubt of their vegetable nature.

After soaking in dilute hydrochloric acid, they can be sectioned

and examined, the coating, sometimes- peeling off like a shell, is

occasionally perforated like a sieve, or it may gradually dissolve

away. Having removed the coating, we find in Halimeda, a series

of unicellular filaments which are constricted at intervals. At

these constrictions, the cells branch out laterally, something like a

fan. and the final ramifications of adjacent filaments, approxi-

mating each other, form the surface on which

the carbonate of lime is deposited. Besides

these constrictions in each filament, the

whole mass is also constricted at intervals.

making a necklace in which the joints grow

gradually smaller. The different forms of

these articulations mark the species. In the

Neomeris dumetosa, 250 diam.

Fig. 55.

Codium tomentosum, 200 k

diam. Wright collection were Halimeda opuntia,

a tropical cosmopolitan, named from this resemblance to a prickly

pear, and H. tridens (Fig. 52, magnified 300 diameters), in which

the upper edge of each joint is three-toothed.

The Udoteæ look like green fans with a short handle. The type

206 CUBAN SEAWEEDS.

of the genus is U. flabellata (Fig. 53, 4 natural size), where the

stem is formed of filaments surrounded by a calcareous coating,

but, as soon as these filaments reach the expanded part of the

frond, they divide indefinitely into root-like branches, the ends of

which are placed, as in Halimeda, to form the surface. It is the

misfortune of the genus Udotea, that very few of the species con-

form to the type, and it is to be feared that plants, having an

external, but not a microscopic, resemblance, have been huddled

together into this very convenient, but not well defined genus.

U. conglutinata seems to me nearly related to Penicillus of an-

Fig. 57.

Fig. 56.

Acetabularia crenulata, nat. size.

oo nat. nang

other order. Amongst Mr. Wright’s plants was what appears t0

me a new species, nearly related to U. flabellata, but having =

much longer stipe, and the filaments in the stipe branching 4 well

at the upper part.

The genus Codium strongly resembles a single joint of aH

meda, except that it has no calcareous covering, but is of about

the same texture as the sponge. It consists of unicellular fila-

filaments:

grow large, obovate cells, which, lying side by side, form the sui

; ; i ` - + ome species:

face of the frond. From the sides of these cells, in some SP€

* and after-

— st

—

ali-

ments forming an intricate mass, from the side of which

smaller cells are evolved and in them the sporangium

*Spore-case, with spores produced in the centre.

CUBAN SEAWEEDS. 207

wards the zoospores,* are formed. The only species brought by

Mr. Wright was C. tomentosum (Fig. 55, magnified 200 diameters),

which is found almost everywhere, in the tropics and temperate

zones except on our own coast. It is com-

mon in Europe and California, but, on our

Atlantic coast, it has not been found north of

Key West.

The two orders, Dasycladeæ and Valon-

iaceæ, are sometimes regarded as forming a

Fig. 58.

part of the Siphonacese. Harvey considers

them independent orders. The Dasycladex

(Fig. 48, structure of a plant of this group)

comprise plants of a single axial cell sur-

rounded at intervals by whorls of branching

cells. It is a small order, represented in

the Wright collection by only three species,

Dasycladus claveeformis, Neomeris dumetosa,

Acetabularia crenulata. The first named

looks remarkably like a small sized, dried

up, birch catkin, devoid of all interest. It

consists of a large central cell, from the

sides of which whorls of cells are given off,

dividing trichotomously and bearing spores

: . m = Penicillus Phoenix, nat. size.

in the axils. > The two last species are calca-

reous. Neomeris dumetosa (Fig. 54, magnified 200 diameters) as

far as external appearance is concerned, is insignificant enough,

Fig. 59. color and a granulated surface.

Viewed with a low power, as half

an inch objective, it is extremely

beautiful. The central cell is sur-

rounded by rings, from which the

secondary cells are given off with a

remarkable uniformity. These after

a while divide, and each division

bears a large, obovate sporangium

with a double outline, filled with the

most beautiful zoéspores. Enveloping the whole is a membrane

composed of hexagonal cells, on which is the calcareous deposit.

Anadyomena flabellata, 10 diam.

* Locomotive spores (or seeds) of the alge.

208 CUBAN SEAWEEDS.

If the two species just mentioned were insignificant at first sight,

the Acetabularia (Fig. 56, A. crenulata, natural size) cannot fail to

delight any one. It seems as though it were a most delicate par-

asol made for some of the smaller crustaceans, or like a minute —

toadstool, except that its color and texture are much too delicate.

It has a stem composed of filaments surrounded by a calcareous

coating, at the extremity of which is a disk formed of radiating —

cells filled with zoéspores. Our species is exactly like Acetabu-

laria Mediterranea, except that the edge is always crenate. There

is a third species in Australia, in which the radiating cells form a

shallow cup instead of a disk. In Polyphysa the cells do not co- —

alesce at all. At some seasons of the year, tufts of green fila-

ments grow from the summit of the stem. These are never seen

in herbarium specimens.

The Valoniacese (Fig. 49, structure of a plant of the group), =

the last order which we shall mention, although regarded by —

some as only a sub-order of Siphonacez, bears, perhaps, an

equally strong resemblance to Confervaces, only the cells ate

swollen and short, rather than narrow and rectangular. Some —

genera are calcareous, while others are filamentous or membra- ;

naceous this order, Harvey places the Penicilli, or salt water —

shaving brushes, which, were they not quite so calcareous, wowe —

answer their supposed purpose very well. Their microscopic struct-

ure seems to me to place them next to Udotea, that is, if U. con-

ylutinata properly belongs to the latter genus. The present genus s

is not in the least related to the genus Penicillium, to which the —

yeast plant belongs, as might be supposed from the resemblance

of the names. The latter genus belongs to the Fungi, not to the

Alge. Wright’s two species were P. capitatus (Fig. 57, 3 n3 o

size) and P. Phoenix. The former would make a capital shavi

brush. The stem is hard and solid, and three or four inches 10

The separate filaments then diverge, and each receives & saloa:

reous coating. The spores are probably borne in the root-like

processes given off laterally from the filaments in the stipe. i

Phenix (Fig. 58, natural size) is very much smaller, and the tare

minal filaments are united in threes, so that the plant looks

much like one of those remarkable trees found in the toy villag®

with which children exercise their imaginations. va

Anadyomena flabellata (Fig. 59, magnified 10 diameters), i

this order, appears membranous like a small Ulva, but it g

THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER. 209

in reality, only a net-work of cells. The frond begins with a

single oblong cell terminating in from five to seven similar but

smaller cells which in turn divide in like manner. In this way,

a fan-like frond is formed. When moistened, the cells swell up

and appear to be connected, but, on drying, the adjacent cell-

walls separate leaving a net-work. In Mr. Wright’s collection

were specimens of the very curious Blodgettia confervoides, whic

Harvey at first supposed was a Cladophora, and which is now tem-

porarily placed amongst the Valoniacez awaiting further develop-

ments. Dictyospheria favulosa, found in all tropical seas, and

Valonia cegagrophila, looking like a Cladophora which has been

living too highly and become bloated, oe our list of Cuban

Chlorosperms.

THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER.

BY WM. LEBARON, M.D.

In the course of my investigations respecting the noxious insects

of the State of Illinois, during the summer of 1870, my attention

was attracted to a small, and so far as I can learn, undescribed

species of moth, belonging to the genus Tortrix, the larva of which

is extremely destructive to young nursery apple trees. It may be

called the Lesser Apple Leaf-folder. (Tortrix malivorana, mihi.

First Annual Report upon the noxious insects of Illinois, page

ibi 2)

Most of my observations upon this insect were made during a

visit to the fruit farm of Mr. B. D. Wier, of Lacon, in the north-

ern central part of the State, on the 22d of July, 1870. At

*H: ion t fer to thi port, I will take this opport ty to state, in reply

to a suggestion of the Editors of the NATURALIST, that this report, being the writer’s

first annual Report as State Entomologist of Illinois, was published at Springfield, in

. aecordance with a provision of the law of the State, under date of Dec. 15th, 1870. The

whole edition, numbering five thousand copies, was destroyed by the burning, on the

23d of February, Bret) of | the Public Bindery in which these reports and other State

documents ; purp f being t in convenient form for distri-

bution. A tion has | taken, up p eneral Assembly

hahi

In this event, such parts of th port d i most worthy of preservation will

210 THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER.

some distance from the place, my attention was arrested by the

blasted appearance of his apple nursery, the foliage looking, at a

distance, as if it had been scorched by fire. Upon entering the

inclosure, the authors of the mischief were readily detected. Up-

on putting apart the two halves of the folded leaves, a little worm

could oceasionally be seen, but at this date, most of them had

passed into the pupa state, and many of the moths had already

emerged, so that a flock of them could be put to flight almost any-

where, by brushing against the plants. Mr. Wier says that, little

known as this insect seems to be, this is not the first year that it

has injured his nursery, and that other nurseries in his neighbor-

hood have been equally infested.

This little insect furnishes a remarkable iaie of the sudden

appearance and rapid multiplication of noxious species. The

moth is so rare that I cannot learn that it has ever before been

seen, even by entomologists. There is not a specimen of it in

the collection of either Mr. Walsh or Mr. Riley ; and Mr. Glover

of Washington, who is himself an experienced lepidopterist, and

is familiar with most of the eastern collections, and to whom

had an opportunity of showing my specimens, said he had never

seen it, and remarked that the species is so conspicuous, notwith-

standing its small size, on account of its bright orange color,

that he felt confident that he would recollect it if he had ever seen

it; and since then I have received a letter from Mr. Glover, in

which he says that he has recently had occasion to examine several

of the large collections of insects in Philadelphia and Boston, and

that he could find no specimen of this moth. And yet this sum-

mer, in a single nursery of young apple trees, specimens enough

could have been captured, in a short time, to supply all the cab-

inets in the wor

The larva of this moth is a small greenish naked caterpillar

with a pale amber-brown head and pale incisions. In some indi-

viduals the whole body is of a pale brownish tint. These caterpil-

lars occupy the upper side of the leaves, usually singly, but some-

times two or three in company, eating off the upper cuticle and

curling the sides upwards till the edges nearly or quite meet, and

tying them together with a web. In this inclosure the little cater-

pillar goes through its transformations. It lines the opposite

sides of the leaf, where the pupa lies, with fine white silk.

The pupa is three-tenths of an inch long or a little less, termi-

THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER. 211

nating anteriorly in a little knob, and posteriorly in a pair of

hooks bent downwards, by means of which it works itself half way

out of the closed edges of the leaf before the moth emerges.

There is also a series of minute spines on the edge of some of .

the segments which assist in this operation.

The moth is three tenths of an inch long, the average expanse of

wings being half an inch. _Antennz brown annulated with whitish

on each joint, most distinctly on the under side ; first joint densely

clothed with orange scales. Palpi orange, horizontal; the scales

project around and beyond the end of the penultimate joint so as

to form a little cup in which the small ultimate joint is inserted.

Tegule more than half the length of the thorax. Head, thorax and

fore wings bright orange. The orange scales which cover the wings

are observed, when seen under a lens, to be mixed with numerous

whitish, almost silvery scales so arranged as to form about tem

indistinct, transverse, sinuous*or wavy lines. Hind wings, abd

men and legs whitish, with a silken lustre. There is a little plume

of divergent scales at the end of the abdomen.

There are at least two broods of this insect in a season. The

first brood of moths make their appearance early enough to de-

posit their eggs in the folds of the young leaves as soon as they

begin to open. Another brood was just emerging, as I have

above stated, in the third week of July. This brood, as Mr. Wier

afterwards informed me, by letter, began at once to deposit its

eggs upon those leaves which had escaped the ravages of the first

brood of larvee.

According to my own observation, the caterpillars of the earlier

brood draw the edges of the leaf upwards by means of their

web, till they meet, thus forming a roof over the insect which pro-

tects it from the weather, and must also in a great measure serve

to conceal it from birds and other enemies. It must also form a

serious barrier to the effective use of any destructive applications

on our own part. But Mr. Wier informs me that the young of

the last brood, hatching as they do, on the surface of the mature

and rigid leaf, do not draw its edges together, but simply protect

themselves by constructing a web over the surface of the leaf. In

what form they pass the winter has not been determined. Mr.

Wier affirms that he has seen the worms on the leaves so late in

the fall that they were actually frozen to death.

From the above account it is evident that this insect resembles,

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V- 14

’

212 THE LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER.

in most of its habits, the larger Tortrix (Lozotenia rosaceana) of

the apple and the rose.

If this insect should spread so as to infest other nurseries, as

. it has that of Mr. Wier, and others in that section of country, it

would prove itself a pest of the most serious character ; and, as

far as we can judge from present appearances, it will be a difficult

matter to reach them with destructive agencies, both on account

of the closure of the leaf in which they dwell, and their webby

covering. Fortunately, as is the case with most other double-

brooded insects, the first brood is comparatively limited in num-

bers; and Mr. Wier thinks that it would have paid him well to

have gone through his nursery, early in the season, and picked off

the folded leaves.

The importance of combating evils in their incipient stages

can find no more apt illustrations than in the department of eco-

nomic entomology. Many noxious insects can be substantially

eradicated in their infancy, which, if permitted to attain a larger

growth and a wider range, are wholly beyond our control. This is

emphatically the case with the present species. It is evident that

whatever applications we may make use of here, must be made be-

fore the young insects have time to close the leaf above them, in the

case of the first brood, and before they have covered themselves

with a web, in the second. These periods will probably be found

to be about the first week of May and the first week of August.

But the time will vary somewhat with the character of the season,

and must be determined by actual inspection. These little worms

are so tender, and so unprotected by any hairy covering, that I

should expect them to be easily destroyed by any of the ordinary

applications, such as lime, ashes or soapsuds, provided we can find

when the substance applied will really reach them. Mr.

Wier informed me that he discovered a bug with many bright

stripes, preying upon these caterpillars, which, from his descrip-

tion, I suppose to be the Harpactor cinctus, a well-known preda-

ceous insect of the Hemipterous order. But this tribe of predaceous

insects is not usually sufficiently numerous to check the increase

of such a locally abundant species as the Tortrix malivorana.

JUNE RAMBLES IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

BY E. L, GREENE.

In the latitude of central Colorado, there is not a more charming

season for botanizing among the lower mountains, than the first of

June. The snow-drifts which lingered so long in many places

have now entirely disappeared ; and the few impatient flowers that

came out in defiance of April’s frosts and chilly winds, have given

place to an almost innumerable host of others. The pines and

spruces are sending out their fragrant shoots with tender foliage,

and a number of most beautiful deciduous shrubs are.in their per-

fection of flower and leaf. In passing among the foot-hills, toward

the mountains, one cannot fail to notice the abundance of Legu-

minous plants. Our flora is peculiarly rich in them. The Oxytropis

Lamberti is one of the most showy, and is also exceedingly varia-

ble in size, as well as in the color of the flowers. On the high

plains of the Platte, the scapes are only a few inches high, and the

corollas of the richest purple. We meet it again, at the base of

the mountains, a foot high, bearing yellowish white blossoms.

These varieties appear so remarkably different, that we might well

regard them as distinct species, but that among the higher mountains

we find many intermediate forms. The closely allied genus As-

tragalus is represented by not less than ten or twelve species.

None of these call to mind the common eastern one (A. Canaden-

sis) with its tall stem and homely greenish blossoms, but most of

them are low-stemmed, with flowers large, and more or less gaily

colored. A. caryocarpus, a very common plant, has white and

purple flowers, which are succeeded by large round pods. These,

lying upon the ground under the intense rays of the summer sun,

assume a fine purple tinge, which gives them the appearance of

grapes or plums, hence the plant is commonly called Ground Plum.

A: Missouriensis and A. Parryi are beautiful plants; the former,

with deep purple, and the latter, with white flowers. The legumes

of both species are thick and fleshy, and lying on the ground, sage

curved upwards. Other fine Astragali ought to be mentioned

here, as well as plants of other genera, but we must hasten to the

mountains. (218)

214 JUNE RAMBLES IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

We desire the reader, whether he be a botanist, or a lover of

scenery, to accompany us for a few miles up the canon of Clear

Creek; assuring him at the outset that if he has any due appre-

ciation of any of these things he will not regret, in after days, a

few hours’ toil among the picturesque wilds of this grand gateway

to the higher mountains.

Following the stream for the distance of half a mile above

Golden City, we quite suddenly find ourselves shut in on either

side by a rocky wall of prodigious height, and either so nearly per-

pendicular, that to ascend would be impossible, at least in many

places. In most hilly and mountainous countries, rivers have

their valleys. Not so here; for since the mountains are almost

solid masses of rock, the waters, during the lapse of ages, have

worn out for themselves, narrow and deep gorges or cafons in-

stead of broad valleys.

On the north side of the stream, there is left sufficient space for

a narrow wagon road, and along this sort of terrace we pursue our

way. At this season of the year, swollen by the rapid melting of

snow in the higher altitudes, Clear Creek is a torrent; and asit ,

comes boiling down over the rocks and forcing its passage through

narrow defiles, it seems to jar the foundations of the very moun-

tains. The constant roar drowns all the voices of the hundreds of

song-birds that occupy the trees and shrubs which grow among the

rocks, and would be tiresome indeed, did we not forget our ears,

while admiring with our eyes the manifold beauties of the scenery

around and above us.

But at length we issue forth upon a broader pathway, and the

mountain sides become less precipitous. We may now begin

the work of filling our portfolios. In the more open situations,

there grows among the rocks, a fine liliaceous plant, with a large,

whitish, tulip-like flower, and narrow, grassy leaves. It is the

Lencocrinum montanum. Three or four very ornamental shrubs,

all with snow-white blossoms, are conspicuous along the water's

edge, and under the shade of overhanging cliffs; a raspberry

(Rubus deliciosus) with smooth stems and entire, roundish leaves,

with solitary flowers as large as wild roses; a dwarf, and pro-

fusely flowering variety of Spiræa opulifolia; and more beautiful

than either, the Jamesia Americana.

From almost every crevice in the rocks, Campanula rotundifolia

hangs forth, on thread-like stems, her toneless bells of deepest

JUNE RAMBLES IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 215

blue, and with this grows a very pretty yellow flowered Senecio

which we cannot now name with certainty. We notice several

kinds of wild currants among the more common shrubs. The one

known in cultivation, as the Flowering Currant (Ribes aureum) and

justly esteemed for its showy and fragrant yellow blossoms, is the

only one in flower now, the others being earlier.

We have now come to a rude wooden bridge, apparently con-

structed some time ago, for the accommodation of some company

of gold seekers ; for, on the other side, are various indications that

mining was once undertaken there, but with short-lived success.

The mountains on either side are now gradually drawing very

close to the creek, and it is evident that we cannot proceed longer

up the stream, for want of a path. We cross the bridge. A deep

ravine, shaded by tall spruces, and filled with a variety of under-

brush, leads up the mountain at the left. We follow this ravine in

the hope of finding yet other novelties. Having climbed up for

some distance, over the lichen-clad rocks, and having scratched

our hands to a painful extent, among wild gooseberry bushes, we

reach at last a kind of broad terrace, where we find a delightful

spring of water, whence a clear and laughing streamlet runs musi-

cally down to join the noisy flood below. Strawberry plants, and

pale Canada violets are blooming abundantly along the streamlet,

and among the bushes is a handsome composite with large yellow

flowers on stems a foot high, the leaves clothed with soft woolly

hairs. This proves to be Arnica cordifolia. But what is this lit-

tle gem of a plant, growing all over the wet, mossy surfaces oi the

shelving rocks? The delicate stems are only two or three inches

high, each supporting three or four pendulous flowers of a deep

purple. A nearer view shows the flowers to be those of the shoot-

ing star (Dodecatheon Meadia). But how very different the whole

plant seems from the specimens one sees on the borders of woods,

east of the Mississippi, where they grow tenfold larger, and have

white or rose-colored flowers. However, the proper authorities

have pronounced the Rocky Mountain plant to be only ean

of the original Dodecatheon Meadia. Following the siete

gather, as we ascend, Clematis alpina, Antennaria Carpathica, and

three specimens of the very rare and interesting Ranunculus

Nuttallii.

In the midst of all this wildness of scenery,

accessible solitude, where it might well be supposed no human

in an almost in-

216. JUNE RAMBLES IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

foot, not even of an Indian, had ever trod before us, we are sur-

prised all at once to meet with a veritable log cabin. It stands

under the spreading branches of a giant fir-tree, and covers an

area just about large enough to furnish lodging room for two per-

sons. From the earth floor to the flat roof of hewn timbers, the

height is not more than six feet. A large fireplace has been dug

in the bank immediately in front of the broad doorway. Such

were doubtless the winter quarters of some hermit hunter and trap-

per.

Finally, we reach the comparative level of the mountain top,

and find ourselves at once in a pleasant grove of stately pines.

Several hours have passed since we left the bridge, and now we

can only hear a soft deep breezy murmur from the torrent. far be-

low. The number of flowers has gradually diminished from the

gay profusion of the lower part of the cañon, until on this cool and

airy height, we find but a single species. It is Erigeron composi-

tum, a pretty little alpine composite, with white, daisy-like flowers.

We have not met it before, though here it is abundant.

` But the day is fast declining, and we must seek refuge from the

chill dews of approaching night. The monotonous din of a cow-

bell assures us that we are not far from the haunts of men, so

we may yet take a little time to admire the scenery of this new

place. Passing from the pine woods we enter upon the most beau-

tiful of pasture lands, where a numerous herd are grazing and

slowly wending their way along what seems their homeward path.

Little groves of birch and aspen scattered here and there, are re-

joicing in their young and tender foliage, while amid their branches,

a harmonious choir of robins warble their vespers.

But how shall pencil trace, or pen describe the glory of this sun-

set? A line of snowy peaks, canopied by clouds of purple

tinged with gold, extends along the western sky, while southward,

all seems an undulating sea of rich dark forest. The plains below

are already darkening in the shadows of the mountains. To them

the sun is set, and we must hasten to the nearest * ranch ” and se-

cure lodgings for the night.

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE STRIPED SQUASH

BEETLE.

BY HENRY SHIMER, M.D.

———_-o0-—_

Durme the past ten or twelve years I have continued every

summer to make observations on the habits of the Striped Squash

beetle, or Cucumber beetle (Diabrothica vittata Fabr.). Since I

discovered and published the account of the breeding place of

these insects, in the roots, chiefly, of squash, cucumber, melon and

similar plants, I have looked long and closely for some natural

enemy of the insect. Almost all insects are liable to be preyed

upon by some kind of parasite, which is most efficient in checking

their undue multiplication, and far more useful in restraining them

than anything that man is capable of doing.

But what insect preys on the Striped. Squash beetle it ap-

peared difficult to discover. The young appears quite safe from

such enemies, living as it does either Fig. 60.

on or in the roots of the vines, and,

I presume, is almost free from such

annoyances. The eggs are deposited

on the root at the surface of the

ground, or on the root just below the

` upper loose particles of earth, for al-

though the perfect beetle does not

burrow into the compact ground, yet

it often is found down along the stem

or root, just below the surface, under

the loose, dry clots or finer particles of earth which are not

pressed closely, or beaten down by rains and hardened in drying,

“baked,” as farmers say. In this situation the egg, before it is

hatched, may be, and doubtless is, sometimes preyed upon by pre-

-daceous, ground beetles, but by what insects and to what extent I

have no means of knowing from actual observation.

Last May and June we were annoyed by an unusual number of

Striped Squash beetles that had developed from the larve that

entered the ground the previous autumn. As the, season was

uncommonly dry, we expected, judging from past experience, that

(21

Parasite of the Squash Beetle.

218 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE STRIPED SQUASH BEETLE. °

in spite of the best directed preventative efforts, we should have

the roots of these vines greatly injured by the larve. I looked

frequently but found scarcely any larve on the roots. The proper

time to look for the first young larvæ is when the vine is about be-

ginning to run out over the ground. If the root is and has been

free from them, it will be smooth and white, but if affected, its

surface, and the surface of the lower part of the stem beneath the

ground will appear rough and rust colored. We might speak of

all that part of the plant beneath the surface of the ground as

root without much impropriety, for in due time it assumes a true

root structure, but at this early age the true root is only found

below where the seed lies, and above this point it is stem.

I was greatly surprised at finding no larvæ, inasmuch as the per-

fect insects were swarming among the squash and other vines, now `

so largely grown as not to require close precautions against the

perfect insects, on account of what they might eat themselves. A

Fig. 61. few of these beetles will soon ruin

the plants by their own feeding

bn : mi when the seed leaves alone are

il developed, but after the third or

res I fourth set of true leaves appear,

a “. the growth is so rapid that many

beetles may be supplied with

Striped Squash Beetle, larva and pupa. food without great damage to the

vines. But still at this time the larve often do great damage to

the plants, and therefore the perfect insects must be kept away if

possible (hungry bugs, however, are very hard to manage, and

will brave much opposition rather than starve), especially if the

plants are scarce, for where the perfect insects abound we usually

expect that eggs will be deposited.

But on this particular occasion there was an abundance of vine

plants, four or five times as many as were needed for the ground.

The prudent gardener who is acquainted with the depredations of

these notorious pests, will always plant ten times as many seeds as

the plants he needs, so that he will have not only enough for the.

parent insects that he may not have time or ability to keep away,

but also for the larve that they will thrust upon his unwilling care.

We had then an abundance of good healthy vines, but still it ap-

peared necessary to keep an observing eye upon them lest the larve

should destroy too many of them, the weather being so dry and

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE STRIPED SQUASH BEETLE. 219

therefore the most favorable for their development. But I could

find few or no larvæ, which seemed to me very unusual and re-

markable. I searched the ground about the roots long and care-

fully. I closely and frequently watched for the inexplicable cause

of this paucity of larvee, but all in vain; I could find no enemy

about the roots or on the ground that might be destroying the

eggs. Thus baffled in my attempts to discover the hidden treas-

ure, I thought of directing my observations to the bodies of the

perfect insects themselves. Accordingly, upon dissecting a large,

apparently pregnant, female I discovered the secret I so anxiously

sought. Instead of a well filled ovary I found a large, dipterous

larva filling almost the entire cavity of the abdomen. Others were

examined with like results; instead of eggs I found larvae, one in

each female beetle. Some of the larve were still small. .

On still other beetles I found attached to the surface another

species of parasite, drawing its nourishment by penetrating the

abdomen. It was apparently some species of mite. ot

find time to study it any further, and have no specimens at com-

mand now. I bottled forty or fifty beetles for the purpose of

breeding the dipterous lary. This was done on the 7th of July,

18 Twelve days afterwards, that is on the 19th, I was re-

warded with five small black flies in my breeding bottle, belonging

to the great family Muscide, genus Tachina Fabr., or more cor-

rectly according to the later arrangement of flies by Dr. Loew,

family Tachinide. I sent one of these flies to Dr. Lebaron, state

entomologist of Illinois, who locates it in the particular Tachina

genus Melanosphora Meigen.* The maggot comes out of the

body of the fly and forms its brown seed-like pupa on the sur-

face of the ground.

The abdomen of the beetle that has been well eaten out by one

of these parasites often appears whitish yellow beneath, instead of

black, as do many others.

On the 22d I found other beetles in the field infested with small

* Tachina (M \ diabroti (Fig. 60). Pitch black. Eyes and probosci:

light brown. Halteres pale brownish. ‘a crescentric line on each side

face, i in eae n Body moderately clothed with stiff black spines. at pert

with a smoky yellowish shade towards the base. Expanse of wings,

24 of an tak? pasion of wing .06 of an inch; length of body .13,—.14,—.15 of an in

from five dry specimens

220 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO.

red mites attached to the posterior extremity, not very unlike those

often seen about the roots of the wings of grasshoppers, except

that these were smaller. These also interfere greatly with the re-

production of the species. I am not aware of any other instance

where a perfect Coleopterous insect is so infested with Tachina

parasites. A much larger species has been bred from maggots

found in the larva of the Colorado potato bug.

Par Rane

ANIMAL LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF

COLORADO.

‘BY PROF. W. H. BREWER.

— Oe

In the summer of 1869, I accompanied the Harvard Mining

School Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, under Professor J. D.

Whitney, and during the trip, I made some notes that may be

worth putting on record, although very imperfect from my igno-

rance of the specific characters of the animals.

' Our explorations were principally in the region about South Park,

Colorado, and along the crest extending to beyond the head waters

of the Arkansas, and north to Gray’s Peak. The altitude of those

parts of South Park where we spent most time is from 9,600 to

9,900 feet. I was on the following peaks in fine weather, and on

some of them more than once.

Gray’s Peak, 14,145 feet; Irwin’s Peak, about the same height;

‘Mt. Lincoln, 14,123 feet; Horse Shoe, 13,806 feet; Silverheels,

13,650 feet; Mount Yale, 14,078, besides numerous points over

11,000 feet. . (Mt. Harvard, the highest point of the Rocky

Mountains, 14,270 feet, was ascended by other members of the

party on a very unfavorable day.)

On these peaks, the limit of tree vegetation, as had been al-

ready shown by Dr. Parry, is a little over 11,000 feet, and on all

the peaks named, there were considerable masses of snow at the

time of our visit, which was from the middle of July to the first of

September. , :

_ In South Park, deer are abundant. Elk were occasionally seen

(we saw but three). Mountain sheep are found on the ridges

ANIMAL LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO. 221

which extend into the Park, and on: all the peaks around, partic-

ularly above the limits of tree vegetation their trails were very

common, and their traces abundant to the summits of the less

known peaks. The streams in the Park abound in trout.

Buffalo are said to have been abundant in South Park, and adja-

cent mountains previous to 1862; then came the rush of miners,

when the buffaloes were speedily exterminated. A few were shot

in 1867 ; one was said to have been shot (near Pike’s Peak) in

1868 ; but we heard of none in 1869. They were frequently de-

scribed to me as a marked variety known to the hunters as Moun-

tain buffalo, and quite unlike the buffalo of the plains, smaller in

Size, the hair longer, more shaggy, and blacker, with other well-

marked differences.* I found their skulls up to 11,000 feet, both

in the grassy valleys (called parks) and in the forests. All the

skulls seen were smaller than those common on the pla in

Grizzly Bears are quite common, and range to above 18, 000 feet

at this season. Six were seen above this altitude on Gray’s Peak

and Mt. Yale, and their traces seen in other places. Judging from

the few seen, and from skins examined in Denver, they are smaller

than those of California, the hair not so long and shaggy, the color

more silvery, or truly grizzled, than with the Californian animals.

Coleoptera were wonderfully sparse compared with any other

region I ever saw, this applying not only to the portions of the

mountains visited but also to the plain near the base of the moun-

tains. I always carried a bottle of strong alcohol in my pocket

for preserving such as I found but the collection was a ridiculously

small one. It is probable, however, that a skilled collector would

have been more successful. But few were collected feeding upon

herbage, the most being seavenger beetles, found by examining

the dung or dead bodies of animals. Some of these latter were

found at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet, but they were few.

On the high Sierras of California certain herbivorous beetles are

found abundantly ; on the summits of similarly high peaks in Col-

. orado they were looked for, but not one was found. i

Lepidoptera were very abundant above the forest line, partic-

ularly on sunny slopes at 12,000 or 13,000 feet, and where there

was an abundant alpine vegetation. In such localities they were

vastly more numerous than I ever saw them in similar situations

* See Mr Hayes’ remarks on this subject on p. 118. Sint:

222 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO.

in the high Sierra Nevada. The kinds most abundant in individ-

uals were specifically (and, I think, even generically) distinct from

the more abundant butterflies of the High Sierras. They ranged

up to the highest points visited, but were most abundant both in

species and individuals above the forest line, but below the ex-

posed rocky summits, flying near the ground, very agile, alighting

often, and after short low flights, and concealing themselves in the

low herbage, their concealment being more easily effected, as well

as more effectual, from the brilliancy of the alpine flowers, which

constitute a marked feature of these heights.

Crickets are very abundant, several species are found at 12,000

to 13,000 feet, and in favorable localities the number of indi-

viduals is very large ; some are very brightly colored.

The most striking feature of insect life, however, there,.is the

number of grasshoppers. They are numerous at all altitudes

visited, and to me appeared to embrace a number of species, of

which at least two ranged to the highest points. They fly much

more than our eastern species, both as regards the length and

height of their flight, and on warm days they fill the air, even to

the highest summits. If they chance to alight or fall on the snow,

‘they soon become chilled, and perish there in numbers that chal-

lenge belief until seen. It is no exaggeration to say that tons of

them may be seen. When large snowbanks melt in the summer,

the number of dead grasshoppers left on the rocks is so large,

that the stench caused by their decay often pollutes the air for a

great distance. At altitudes of about thirteen thousand feet, the

conditions are most favorable for this to take place, and we saw

frequent examples. Mr. Bowles speaks several times of the abun-

ance of grasshopper life. I quote but one passage :—

- “ The only life was grasshoppers, —here they were still, by thou-

sands, by millions, sporting in the air and frisking over the snow,

but the latter’s chill seemed soon to overcome their life, for oer

ay dead in countless numbers on its white surface. In s

places the dead grasshoppers could have ing shovelled up by the

bushels, and down at the edges of the organ cold grasshopper

bears, but we could see none enjoying it.” (Parks and Mountains

of Colorado, p. 93.)

The day (August 4th) I was ‘upon gree Lincoln (14,123 feet)

was very clear during the three and a half hours we were on the

summit. It is well known that by shading the actual disk of

REVIEWS. 223

the sun, and looking into the atmosphere very near it, solid par-

ticles in the air can be seen most plainly, and doing this at that

place, the air seemed filled with grasshoppers in flight, myriads of

them, extending high enough to appear as the finest specks, even

with a field-glass. They certainly ranged some hundreds of feet

above that summit in immense numbers. An occasional butterfly

was seen also on the summit, but they were few.

Several species of flies are peculiarly abundant at 8,000 to

12,000 feet, which at times nearly set our animals frantic, but the

most voracious kinds were troublesome only when the sun shone

—even a passing cloud would drive them out of sight.

REVIEWS.

THe Genesis or Species.*— Among the works called out by

Darwin’s epoch-making work, as the Germans happily style it,

the present volume stands preéminent. It is a series of criticisms

by a thorough evolutionist, and one who was originally a Darwin-

ian. It will interest-the genera] reader, the style being clear and

attractive, and the spirit of the author thoroughly candid and calm.

The author is well known in scientific circles by his original papers

on the anatomy of certain of the vertebrates.

The object of the book is ‘‘to maintain the position that ‘ Nat-

ural Selection’ acts, and indeed must act, but that still, in order

that we may be able to account for the production of known kinds

of animals and plants, it requires to be supplemented by the ac-

tion of some other natural law or laws as yet undiscovered.” Far-

ther on he says “The view here advocated, on the other hand,

regards the whole organic world as arising and going forward in

one harmonious development similar to that which displays itself

in the growth and action of each separate individual organism.

He thus sums up the difficulties against Darwinism, or the doc-

trine of “survival of the fittest” maintaining : —-

* On the Genesis of Species. By St. George Mivart, a pea London. Macmillan &

Co. 1871. 12mo, pp. 296. With numerous wood cuts.

224 REVIEWS.

«That ‘Natural Selection’ is incompetent to account for the’

= stages of useful structures

t it does not harmonize with the co-existence of closely

similar ee of diverse ori

there are grounds for thinking that specific differences

may be developed suddenly instead of gradually.

“That the opinion that species have definite though very differ-

ent limits to their variability is still tenable.

“ That certain fossil ana forms are absent which might

have been expected to be p

si Sit some facts of erap Na distribution supplement other

difficultie

i That itie objection drawn from the physiological difference be-

om ‘species’ and ‘races’ still exists unrefuted.

« That there are many remarkable phenomena in organic forms

upon which ‘ Natural Selection’ throws no light whatever, but the

explanations of which, if they could be attained, might throw light

upon specific origination

“ Besides these objections to the sufficiency of ‘Natural Selec-

tion’ others may be brought sy the hypothesis of ‘ Pangene-

sis,’ which, aper aing as it does to explain great difficulties

seems to do so by presenting pee not less great — almost to be

the ition of obscurum per obscurius.”

These theses are the subjects of successive chapters in which

they are maintained and defended with much acumen, and with

many references to facts, easily comprehended by the general

reader, but on which we have not room to dwell. In Chapter IV.on .

“« Minute and Gradual Modifications,” he réfers to the conception of

Mr. Galton in his work on ‘‘ Hereditary Genius” that ‘‘ new spe-

cies have from time to time manifested themselves with sudden-

ness, and by modifications appearing at once (as great in degree

as are those which separate Hipparion from Equus) the species

remaining stable in the intervals of such modifications: by stable

being meant that their variations only extend for a certain degree

in various directions, like oscillations in a stable equilibrium.’ ied

Mr. Mivart gives among other examples of this sudden varia-

tion, the cases of young oysters, ‘‘ which were taken from the

shores of England and placed in the Mediterranean, and at once

altered their mode of growth and formed prominent diverging rays,

like those of the proper Mediterranean oyster; as also the twenty-

nine kinds of American trees, all differing from their nearest

capri views were previously entertained by Messrs. Cope and Hyatt, as will be

seen farthe

REVIEWS. : 2925

European allies similarly — ‘‘ leaves less toothed, buds and seeds

smaller, fewer branchlets, etc.” i

In his sixth chapter on ‘ Species and Time” he maintains with

- much reason that “ the mass of palæontological evidence is indeed

overwhelmingly against minute and gradual modification,” and that

there is “ no evidence of past existence of minutely intermediate

forms when such might be expected œ priori.” “ All the most

marked groups, bats, pterodactyls, chelonians, ichthyosauria, an-

ura, etc., appear at once upon the scene. Even the horse, the ani-

mal whose pedigree has been probably best preserved, affords no

conclusive evidence of specific origin by infinitesimal, fortuitous

variations; while some forms, as the labyrinthodonts and trilo-

bites; which seemed to exhibit gradual change, are shown by fur-

ther investigations to do nothing of the sort.” ‘‘ Now all these

‘difficulties [of time, and the absence or rarity of fossils in the

oldest rocks, etc., etc.,] are avoided if we admit that new forms

of animal life of all degrees of complexity appear from time to

time with comparative suddenness, being evolved according to laws,

in part depending on surrounding conditions, in part internal —

similar to the way in which erystals (and, perhaps from recent re-

searches, the lowest forms of life) build themselves up according

to the internal laws of their component substance, and in harmony

and correspondence with ‘all environing influences and conditions.”

The latter clause is unnecessarily vague, substitute embryological

laws, or changes (for the differences between species, and espec-

ially genera, arise in all probability for the most part during the

growth of the embryo), and we would agree with the author’s

meaning.

This is as far as the treatise goes, the author’s aim being simply

to show that ‘‘ species have been evolved by ordinary natural laws

(for the most part unknown) controlled by the subordinate action

of ‘Natural Selection, ” acting with the Divine concurrence.

What are these natural laws? The author has evidently over-

looked the writings of certain naturalists in this country, who have

endeavored to show that Natural Selection is insufficient to ac-

count for the origin of generic and specific forms. Professor E.

D. Cope in his “Origin of Genera”* has attempted to show, and-

we think with much success, that genera are produced by the ac-

* Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia, 1868.

226 REVIEWS.

celeration and retardation of certain parts of the animal, during

its growth, and Professor Hyatt previously * showed that the de-

velopment of the individual Cephalopod is an epitome of the devel-

opment of the cephalopods generally, and that the successive forms

were produced with comparative suddenness.

Previous to the appearance of Mivart’s work in this country the

reviewer, in the present journal (vol. iv, p. 755), while remarking on

the ancestry of the King Crab, Trilobites and other Branchiopoda,

accounted for their origin rather by a process of acceleration and

retardation, involving a more or less sudden formation of generic

forms, than by the theory of Natural Selection, and offered several

of the objections against Darwinism which appear in the work

under review. The former law, probably in active operation dur-

ing the earlier portion of embryonic life, accounts for the origin of

the differences, while Mr. Darwin simply assumes an inherent ten-

dency to variation. Cope’s law may account for the origin of the

new forms, while Natural Selection apparently plays an entirely

subordinate role, and even may be found to account merely for the

preservation (as suggested by the Duke of Argyll) of the specific

form, keeping it within limits by the survival of the fittest, and

the lopping off of monstrosities and oe the checking of all ten-

dencies to variation in a useless direction

Mepicat Microscory.t— Dr. Richardson’s book is an exper-

iment in an absolutely unoccupied field. Other works of somewhat

similar nature are books for microscopists who are physicians ;

this is a book for physicians who are not microscopists. Meagre —

in its account of apparatus and inaccurate in its scholarship as

it must be confessed to be, it is an earnest, straightforward and

successful attempt to enable the practicing physician to make the

microscope useful in his daily work. Some who use it for this pur-

pose will be disappointed, for successful microscopical work requires

a delicate tact and a mechanical ingenuity which are possessed by

very few persons, and which are wanting to many even among

physicians. Good microscopists, too, are developed, not made;

Dp. Welt 5 aap esr

th in the T iate Ce opods;

Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural spay 1866, and AMERICAN ea ape

_ Vol. IV, pp. 230

tA Hand- Biok: pe oti Microscopy. By pig G. erg M.D., Micr

scopist to the Pennsylvania Hospital. 12mo, pp. 333. Philadel : J.B. Lippincott &

review was prepared for a A date number, m its iiris was

accidentally delayed. — Eps.]

REVIEWS. 227

and a high success can rarely be attained except by those whose

dexterity and skill in effecting mechanical and optical results have

been matured by long use before the exigencies of a full medical

‘practice rendered abundant drilling in the work impossible. For

these reasons, Medical Microscopy will always remain to some ex-

tent a specialty, most conveniently referred to the few physicians

more particularly devoted to it. But for the microscopical work

which physicians, as such, can do to advantage, for the using of

the microscope, like the stethoscope and the test-tube, as an ey-

ery-day aid to diagnosis,.a really available guide book is now

for the first time published. For the general reader it is too

technical and uninteresting to be compared with other works that

are available; to the scientific physician it is a valuable aid.

Students of this book should begin in the middle of it; reading

the first part last, if at all. Nothing less than the author’s excel-

lent success as a microscopist could save a beginner who had waded

through the opening chapters from abandoning the work in con-

fusion and disappointment. The first two chapters are devoted to

a description of instruments, apparatus, etc., and it is astonishing

that so good a microscopist could be so bad a critic in regard to

his own tools. Aside from the tediousness and general confusion

prevailing’ in this part of the work there is much that is liable,

unless corrected, to seriously mislead the beginner.

The simple microscope is described as one of a single lens;

and the compound microscope, by way of contrast, as one in which

. lenses are so arranged that each adds to the power of the other.

This is precisely what occurs when a doublet or a triple combi-

nation is used as a simple microscope, and is radically different

from the action of the compound microscope where one lens, or

set of lenses, by magnifying the image formed by the other, mul-

tiplies its power instead of adding to it.

Three or four of the microscopes first mentioned are described

as furnished with sets of separating objectives like those on cheap

European instruments, and these lenses are spoken of with some

approval, although it would be more safe to state hat to render

such instruments really available it is necessary to discard such ob-

jectives and furnish at least second-class lenses by some respect-

able maker. The objectives of Tolles’ students’ microscopes are

very properly called by their honest name, for they are soona-

quality lenses and nothing else, but it should have been intimated

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 15

1228 REVIEWS.

for the information of beginners that the lenses previously

mentioned are, by the same accepted standard, far less than sec-

ond quality. The one-inch lenses furnished lately with Tolles’

students’ microscopes have been too cheap to be good; but his

second-quality one-fourth, one-sixth, ete. (which are most used by

physicians), as well as similar powers by Zentmayer, Grunow, etc.,

are incomparably ial than the cheap lenses, often called trip-

lets, mentioned aboy

It is stated that oe ieii objectives are each composed of three

pairs of lenses or doublets, properly arranged ; although it is un-

derstood by microscopists that the posterior combination is often

a triplet, and that the anterior pair is often replaced by a triplet

or BY a single lens.

In regard to the qualities of the objective there is an unfortu-

nate want of clearness and sharpness in the author’s use of terms;

‘penetrating power being used sometimes in reference to that re-

solving power which is the joint result of definition and angular

aperture, and sometimes as descriptive of that depth of field to

which its use seems to be generally and usefully confined.

But the most astounding assertion in regard to’ objectives is

this, that the lenses of various opticians are almost equally suc-

cessful up to powers as high as one-eighth inch! If "those opti-

cians, whose names are familiar words, have achieved eminence

anywhere it has been in the eacellence of their low and medium

powers. Tolles’ most remarkable lenses are probably from one-

fourth to one-eighth inch focus; and Wales’ four-teriths (one-.

fourths?) and one-fifths are nearly equally famous powers. Ross’s

lenses, of which none are of very high power, have enjoyed a con-

ceded preéminence ; Smith and Beck’s four-tenths has been classi-

cal for years, while their high power, one-twentieth, has been of

very moderate use ; and Powell and Lealand’s one-eighth and one-

-sixteenth have doubtless contributed more renown than their one-

twenty-fifth and one-fiftieth. And it is probably safe to predict,

as the opinion of most microscopists, that the progress of the near

future belongs to those opticians who shall use the most extraor-

dinary skill in perfecting and utilizing lenses of moderate focal

length.

The subject of test-objects is treated at some length for the

‘avowed benefit of such students as might find it difficult to secure

the assistance of an expert in selecting their lenses. Doubtless

it would have been safer to advise the student in such cases to

REVIEWS. 229

trust entirely to the honesty of a responsible dealer or to the re-

spectability of the maker of the lenses required. The “‘ testing”

of first-class lenses, by a person unfamiliar with their use, is sim-

ply a delusion.

The binocular microscope certainly merits more than the half

page of careless notice given to it. Although its chief use, as yet,

is in other departments of study, yet its real value to the phy-

sician is not even hinted by the passage referred to. Wenham’s bi-

nocular, the one in actual use, is almost indispensable in studying

opaque injections, vegetable and animal parasites, etc. At the Troy

meeting of the American Association last August, the writer showed

specimens of animal and vegetable tissues (such as transparent

injections, etc.) under this arrangement with good definition, -an

even light over both fields, and the stereoscopic effect vivid and

useful though perhaps somewhat exaggerated, under the ordinary

first-class objectives as high as one-fifth inch focus, and up to 120°

ang.ap. Probably, however, satisfactory substitutes for Mr. Wen-

ham’s arrangement will be in general use for all powers above one-

half inch at no distant day.

In giving directions for estimating the magnifying powers, and

the amplification of camera-drawings of objects, the author fol-

lows respectable authorities into an error of grave practical con-

sequence. To measure the magnified image at the exact distance

of the object is plausibly borrowed from the usage of the telescope

where the object is at a fixed distance — its apparent size being al-

‘ways its angular extent at that distance, and the image being meas-

ured by the object itself, of course at the same distanee. But

the microscopic object is at no necessary and invariable distance

from the eye, and its apparent size, 7. e., its angular extent, varies

with that distance, and is with no more propriety used as a standard

at the distance of the stage, than at any other distance. Would

any person measure the image in a simple microscope at the exact

distance of the object on the stage? or if, for any purpose, a com-

pound microscope six feet long were constructed, would its image

be measured according to the same rule? Or, of two dissimilar

microscopes containing similar objects, say Maltwood finders, the

stages being concealed so as to be at an unknown distance, would

any microscopist hesitate an instant before deciding which instru-

ment magnified the most, such decision depending, Gf course; on

the certainty with which the magnifying power of each could be de-

230 REVIEWS.

termined without the least knowledge of the position of its stage?

The fact that the apparent size of the object or image is simply

a question of angle, and that, if expressed in linear measure, that

measure must be taken at a uniform distance for all observations

liable to be compared with each other, — in other words, that to use

sines and cosines intelligently it is indispensable to assume a uni-

form radius — would seem to be too simple for argument, were it

not that a misunderstanding in regard to it is a common and con-

fusing error. Ten inches having been generally adopted as the

standard distance of measurement in microscopy, and being a

the same time a most convenient distance, there seems to be no

reason for reconsidering the choice; or, for assimilation to the

metric system, 250 millimetres mer be substituted without any

considerable error.

f the minor errors and inadvertencies in this part of the book,

may be mentioned the following :— The use, as a condenser in stu-

dents’ microscopes, of the concave mirror transferred to a separate

stand (it may often be mounted on the stage for the same purpose),

is mentioned, but without the special commendation which it de-

serves. It is not stated that Tolles’ students’ microscope can be

obtained with the usual form of fine adjustment which is to be pre-

ferred to the “new method” mentioned ; nor that ‘the fine adjust-

ment on the stage ” of some of the same instruments, and of those

prepared by some other makers at the present day, is so firm as to

be reasonably satisfactory, while similarly situated adjustments on

a lighter class of instruments are usually so insecure as to be en-

tirely worthless. Following the lead of some of the dealers, the

fine-adjustment screw is called a “ micrometer screw,” an unfortu-

nate phraseology which, to the writer’s knowledge, has often proved

confusing to students. Powell and Lealand’s splendid No. 1 mi-

croscope is mentioned as the ne plus ultra of instruments, whereas

it is only fair to admit that the choice between such instruments as

a ee Ross’ large stands, ete. ) and the best stands of the

Jackson” model, is a fair field for the use of taste and judgment,

neither form enjoying a conceded and unqualified superiority. Most

eye-pieces are said to be composed of achromatic lenses, a mistake

which is liable to mislead beginners. The student is advised, un-

der some circumstances, to increase his power by removing the

field-lens of his eye-piece, a worse than questionable procedure ; nor

is he reminded to blacken the inside of the pasteboard draw-tube

RS ie ea le SM tee +> <r

REVIEWS. i 231

recommended for the same purpose. Wenham’s binocular arrange-

ment, notoriously consisting of a single prism, is mentioned as an

arrangement of prisms. The use of unground glass slips is men-

tioned with indifference, though the student should never use them,

unless they are to be covered with paper, without rubbing off the

cutting edges on a grind-stone or on any wet piece of soft sand-

stone. As a convenient substitute for the mounted needles whose

preparation is directed by the author, crochet needles may be

bought of suitable size and style, deprived of their hooked ends

and sharpened on an oil-stone or hone; or the form may be pur-

chased in which the needle is removable and easily replaced by a

common needle, being clamped into the handle by a screw-move-

ment. Likewise the conical glasses, scratched with a file, for esti-

mating the bulk of sediments, may be replaced by 4 oz. grad-

uated measuring glasses, which, sold by the dealers in druggists’

glassware, can often be obtained of exactly the desired shape.

“ Healthy blood,” on page 39, should read hene human blood.

Such objects as the “various species of acari” should not be

mounted in the dry way, much less received as typical of a class of

specimens peculiarly adapted for such -preparation ; nor should a

book of the present day reproduce from the old authorities the

abominable direction to place a dry object upon the slide and pro-

tect it by a cover carefully laid upon it and fastened down by

gummed paper. Glycerine is, perhaps wisely, recommended to

the beginner in mounting wet specimens, although a more difficult

medium to manage than Farrant’s Gum and Glycerine or Walms-

ley’s Glycerine Jelly.

The use of blue glass (spectacles, etc.) is casually noticed as a

means of correcting the yellow glare of artificial light; but the

position of the blue glass is not so unimportant a consideration as

would reasonably be inferred from the text; in the writer’s experi-

ence the best results are obtained by a flat piece of glass lying

upon the diaphragm or below the achromatic condenser; a curved

plate (deep-blue chimney) near the flame, or flat plate in the cone

of light over the achromatic condenser, or over the eye-piece,

being much less satisfactory : a very pale-blue chimney, just tinted,

may be used to take off the glare without whitening the light ; and

the white, translucent ‘ porcelain ” chimneys, recently introduced,

may, if quite thin, often be used to advantage. The author, in

his enthusiasm for high powers, scarcely urges with sufficient dis-

232 REVIEWS.

tinctness that the beginner should. confine himself to low powers,

not over one-fourth, until great skill has been obtained by long

practice. He advises that high-power lenses be sent “to an opti-

cian ” for cleaning, etc., instead of saying that they should be sent

to the maker, or at least to a person accustomed to make the same

class of work: imagine a Ross’ one-twelfth or a Tolles one-tenth

sent to a local ‘‘ optician” for repairs! Dr. Beale’s directions for

adjustment of objectives by measuring the covering glass by the

screw-collar movement, are given without an intimation that good

performance by lenses made at the present time cannot be obtained

in this way. The amplifier is named as a means of increasing pow-

er, but without the caution that some of the cheaper kinds sold are

not achromatic and are perfectly worthless. Polarized light is

mentioned, on authority of an obsolete remark by Dr. Beale, as

an expedient of equivocal value; whereas the medical expert

finds it of great use in detection of poisons and adulterations, and

in some other investigations; and the polarizing apparatus is too

carelessly described as consisting of two crystals of Iceland spar.

The micro-spectroscope is properly mentioned as a promising

means of research, and appreciative mention is made of recent

work in photographing microscopic objects. Finally, the list of

microscope makers and dealers is rather less than satisfactory.

In regard to the main body of the book, relating to the practical

work of the microscope in medicine but little need be said. A

single expression of unqualified approval will apply to nearly all

of it. With fewer inaccuracies than usually fall to the lot of first

editions, such as speaking of ether as “ sulphuric ether,” mention-

ing ‘fibres of flax from — muslin fabric” ete., an excellent and

available summary is given of the subjects treated ; adequate study

being devoted to the literature of the science, and important addi-

tions being contributed from the author’s experience. The identity

of the white blood corpuscles with the similar bodies of mucus,

pus, and saliva, more fully and fairly maintained than by any pre-

vious authority, is not a theoretical, but a practical question ; as

students have been for years past perplexed and retarded by their |

hopeless efforts to distinguish between these bodies, while most mi-

croscopists of experience were ready to express themselves unfamil-

iar with any available distinction. The equally practical questions

of the early detection of phthisis, and the detection of blood dises

in dried stains, are relieved of much of their former obscurity and

E E RENET e ee ee

; REVIEWS. 233

doubt, and the study of morbid growths is exceedingly well sim-

plified and systematized. Cautious microscopists would probably

fail to go as far as the author in the recognition of the dises of hu-

man blood, as distinguished from those of some of the domestic

animals, since differences so minute, so subject to variation, and so

liable to mismeasurement on account of slight differences of illu-

mination, adjustment of lenses, etc., are justly deemed untrust-

worthy in cases involving important interests; but, taken with

some allowance for the author’s enthusiasm, the treatment of the

subject is eminently useful as well as novel and interesting.

The almost total absence of engravings is the first feature which

attracts attention on opening the book. This, in the chapters

which treat of instruments and apparatus, is a sign of maturity,

not of poverty. The works of Carpenter and of Beale, first is-

sued at a time when illustrations of stands and accessories were

indispensable, very properly retain these illustrations and add to

them according to the progress of the times, in order that they

may continue to be encyclopzdic to all microscopical students of

English-speaking countries; but the time has passed, when new

works need encumber themselves with such pictures. Stands and

lenses and prisms are sufficiently familiar to all except beginners

who may well be referred to the elaborate, and often excellent cat-

alogues of the opticians. Beck’s catalogue, for instance, studied

in connection with two or three others to suggest an idea of the

individual differences in the style of different makers, would give

a better conception of the various kinds and classes of apparatus

than all the illustrations which could reasonably be crowded into

a Hand-book of Microscopy. In regard to the latter part of the

book, however, the paucity of engravings is an evident fault.

The exact appearances of diseased tissues, morbid growths, and

abnormal deposits, are not yet completely familiar to the mass of

physicians and medical students: if they were, then this book

would occupy a crowded, not an open field. In his ambition to

reduce the illustrations nearly to a standard of original contribu-

tions, the author has strained a point which will probably be

yielded in later editions by the introduction of a liberal assort-

ment of wood-cuts, which will relieve the student of the necessity

of searching the literature of his profession for exactly the light

which this volume is designed to give.

On the whole, the faults of this volume are mostly those of

234 REVIEWS.

hasty preparation or of the occupancy of an unfamiliar field — er-

rors which a second edition, sure to be wanted, will easily correct ;

while its advantages are so manifest that it cannot fail of an ex-

tensive usefulness. — R. H. W.

Recent ORNITHOLOGICAL Pustications. — With the close of the

year we have two papers of interest. Dr. H. M. Bannister,

whose name is associated with the late explorations in Alaska,

offers * “A Sketch of the Classification of the American Anse-

rine,” which renders our information more precise, if not more

extended. Excluding the genera Dendrocygna and Chenalopex,

he divides the Geese proper into two sections, Anseree and

Philactee. The former of these includes the two typical genera,

Anser and Branta,+ in which the sexes are alike, and the plumage

nowhere metallic; and three sub-typical genera, all South Ameri-

can, viz.: Oressochen, n. g., Chlotrophus, n. g., and Chloephaga

Eyt., in which either the sexes are dissimilar, or else the plumage

has iridescent tints. The Philacteæ are marked by the presence

“of deep rough superorbital depressions, and reversed relative pro-

portions of tarsus and middle toe [the former shorter or not longer

than the latter], together with an exclusively sea-coast habitat, and

a carnivorous diet, corresponding in some of these respects with

the Oidemiæ and Somateriæ among ducks” (p. 130). This section

embraces one North American species usually called Chlaphaga

canagica, here made the type of Philacte, n. g.; and the South

erican Tænidiestes antarctica. Of the naturalness of this

arrangement, as well as of its convenience, there is probably no

doubt, and though division genericé may seem pushed to an ex-

treme, yet this conforms to the usage of the day; the only ques-

tion is, whether corresponding subtilty would not demand the

recognition of Chen, and even Exanthemops, as distinct from

Anser. We regret that the paper is defaced by too numerous and

inexcusable typographical errors, for which, however, we happen

to know that the author is not responsible.

In the list of North American species we notice the absence of

Anser albatus and Branta leucopareia ; the former, if only indeed

a small race of A. hyperboreus, we should judge entitled to recog-

nition ; but the latter has doubtless no such claims; nor should

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., Sept. on , 1870, p

t Scopoli, 1769, ex Klein, type A. bernic Ribi Finch Soe 1922, type Anas rufina Pall.;

thus equal to, and EPT Bernicla Boié, 1 1922,

REVIEWS. 235

we be surprised if B. Hutchinsii itself were finally resolved into a

conspecies with B. Canadensis, despite the nearly constant discre-

pancy in the number of rectrices. A. cærulescens, on the contrary,

appears perfectly distinct, as Dr. Bannister has it; and B. leu-

copsis has lately been twice authenticated as American. The

author queries A. ferus and A. segetum as American; we do not

know upon what authority, having had no previous suspicion of

their occurrence in this country. A comparison of the North

American and European Anseres, given below,* which we are, in

part, enabled to make through the personal attentions of Prof. A.

Newton, offers some interesting points : —

Thus it appears that while Anser proper is essentially European,

and Chen as decidedly North American, they have both been devel-

oped in a parallel series, as it were, to an equal number of species,

that may be regarded as strictly analogous, each for each. Such a

division of the geese is in remarkable contrast to the great number

of species as well as genera of ducks that are common to bot

countries. But without space to pursue the subject, we turn to

the second paper above alluded to.

Mr. Ridgway very creditably maintains{ the position he se-

cured by his first contribution to ornithology, in this more elabo-

rate paper, which is, nevertheless, only “‘ preliminary to a ‘mono-

graph of the North American Raptores,’” upon which he has been

long engaged. We trust it may soon appear, since, to judge by

this forerunner, it promises to be of high interest and importance.

*Genus ANSER auct. :

SERRES ] e [Europæi.

b. ANSER ipse.

a.’ Variegatus, aiie colloque albis.

Cerulescens L. Ferus L. hn oa rostri albo, campterio pal-

b.' Nivei, rem. primar. nigris. lidè :

Hyperboreust Pall. Major; long. tot. pfe pm gue nigro, N fus-

ae alis fer® 11-ped., rost. 2ł}- cogriseo, ei aurantiac

on s Cass. Minor; ge! tot. bipe- Brachyrhynchus Baill. Rost. breviss., ungue

B alis 1}-ped., rost. bipoll. nigro, p p ped. incarnatis

i Bd. Minimus; rost. verru- Erythropus ec auct. ; minutus N.,

AA inal similis A niaii.

peep ‘

(b. ANSER ipse.)

Gambeli Hartl. Simillimus A. albi- Albifrons Gm. Ungue albo, campterio fusco-

fronti; rostro longiore (1ł—2-poll.). griseo, sear aurantiacis, rostri long

14—1}-po.

221.)

tChen hyperboreus also occurs in Europe. Laat Naum. V, D., xi,

tA New Classification of the North American Falconide, vin eee of three

New Species. Proc. acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., Sept.Dec., 1870, p. 138

236 REVIEWS.

The present paper witnesses his laborious and conscientious appli-

cation, rewarded with gratifying results in the elucidation of a

difficult subject. Hitherto, we are bound to say, our Raptorial

birds have been investigated with only moderate success, and, in

fact, their technical details of form, etc., have never before been

properly worked out, nor adequately presented. To this is due

much of the prevalent and acknowledged confusion, for which, for-

tunately, there will hereafter be little excuse. Mr. Ridgway’s

analyses and diagnoses are drawn with care and precision, and

carried to such circumstantial detail, that his paper is really

the next best thing after specimens themselves. He shows a

“hawk’s eye” for differences, and skill in rendering them antithet-

ically ; if his generalizations keep pace with his analysis, he will

not be in danger of losing the broad bearings of a subject in the

very richness of detail that he elaborates. But a certain embar-

rassment in this respect may be found, as a matter of typographi-

cal execution; at least, we confess that we studied out the inter-

relation of some of the numbered and lettered paragraphs with

difficulty. Besides this small point, the omission, in treating of

external characters, of. any reference to the ear-aperture of Circus,

and mention, in several places, of the tibio-tarsal joint as the

“knee,” call for criticism.

The classification is based upon a character that has hitherto re-

ceived little or no attention :—the condition of the os lachrymale,

that, in most Faleconide, forms a projecting superciliary shield,

or “eye-brow,” and mainly confers the decided and threatening ©

gaze of these birds. This, with the shape of the nostrils, the

toothing or lobing of the tomia,* some points in the structure of

the feet, and the facial disc of Circus, furnish a basis for six sub-

families — Falconide, Circine, Accipitrine, Haliaetine, Milvine

and Polyborine. If reliance, primarily, upon any single charac-

ter seems always more or less arbitrary, it is often surprising how

well it works, in marking off sections already determined upon

other grounds. Thus the absence of a superciliary shield distin-

guishes Milvine and Polyborine from all the rest. -To those of

us, however, who always associate Pandion with Haliaetus, it is a

novelty to find the genus placed in Milvine; although, as the sur-

prise wears off, we may well ask why not, seeing how many char-

acters Mr. Ridgway shows that it shares with Elanus, among them

*Tomia (Gr. Towos, a Cutting, from yewve); “the cutti d f the mandibles.”

ò =>

REVIEWS.

the peculiar formation of the claws, and the reticulated tarsi: Per-

haps, however, we may escape a dilemma, by compounding with

Mr. Ridgway upon his own suggestion (p. 143), that ‘‘ most of the

characters of this genus are so unique that it is almost entitled to

the rank of a subfamily.” We are glad to see a certain ‘‘ subfam-

ily” Aquiline, done away with; for the Eagles proper seem to be

nothing but overgrown Buteones, and it might puzzle one to find,

for instance, very striking generic characters between Aquila

chrysaetus and Archibuteo lagopus. We willingly relegate them to

Buteonine, even if, in consequence, we must leave the Fishing

Eagles alone to support a subfamily Haliaetine, as Mr. Ridgway

does. The only point about which we take serious issue with the

author, is in placing Astur and Accipiter with Buteo, etc., in a sub-

family Accipitrine. Aware that it is hard to draw a technical line

between the hawks and the buzzards, we are yet persuaded that

there is an essential difference. The Astures are only less “noble”

than the falcons themselves, whose spirit they share, if, indeed, in

a weaker frame, yet in one almost equally fitted for dashing action ;

while in their mode of preying, the nature of their prey, and their

general habits, they are removed from the lymphatic buzzards to

such a degree, that we would willingly accept any technical excuse

—if it be only the relative length of the wings and tail—to sub-

stantiate in the closet our field observations.

Although Mr. Ridgway’s classification may be, as he says, “* one

based upon comparatively artificial characters,” we regard it as

the best we have, and think it probable that whatever modification

may ultimately prove necessary will result mainly from the con-

sideration of exotic material that is not here taken into account.

A judicious conservatism marks Mr. Ridgway’s handling of spe-

cific matters, in the recognition of geographical races, which has

now become imperative, and in due allowance for variation in

plumage, not only with sex and age, but in the more puzzling ways

of melanism, etc., to which hawks seem specially susceptible. A

number of nominal species of Tinnunculus are reduced to regional

races; all the gyrfalcons are treated in the same way; our Pan-

dion, Archibuteo, Craxirex and Polyborus, with Falco anatum, are

referred, as varieties, to their respective analogues. Accipiter

Mexicanus is dropped; and the silence regarding that somewhat

celebrated bird, Haliaetus Washingtonii, is expressive. (By the

way, as neither H. albicilla nor H. pelagicus has been actually

taken in our country, leucocephalus is our only species.) The

238 REVIEWS.

agitation in the difficult genus Buteo, raised some years since by

Dr. Bryant, is quieted by an unequivocal confirmation of the

general tenor of that gentleman’s views ; elegans, calurus, monta-

nus, Bairdii, insignatus, oxypterus, and albonotatus being all sup-

pressed. Those that he gives as valid are, 1 (with four outer quills

emarginate), Cooperi, Harlani, borealis, lineatus, zonocercus ; and 2

(with three quills emarginate), Swainsoni, Suliginosus, albifrons,

Pensylvanicus. Of these, Harlani and Cooperi, will bear further

investigation ; neither fuliginosus nor albifrons really occurs within

our limits ; so that the total number of our unquestionable species

is only five. The northernmost Asturina (A. plagiata) is allowed ;

so is Ictinia Mississippiensis. Falco polyagrus Cass., is properly

referred to Mexicanus Schl.; certain differences that we pointed

out some time since proving dependent upon age. Our Aquila is

not mentioned, apparently through an oversight.

The three new species are: 1. The Cuban and Haytian Tinnun-

culus, called Falco leucophrys. 2. The American analogue of the

European Merlin, figured and described by Richardson and Swain-

son as Falco esalon, and subsequently spoken of by Cassin, our-

selves, and others under the same name. Mr. Ridgway finds it

quite distinct from @salon, as it certainly is from columbarius, and

dedicates it to Dr. Richardson. 3. Onychotes Gruberi, n. g. et.

Sp., is said to be “ utterly unlike any other American species. So

much does it differ in structure, that we do not feel sure that it is

not from some portion of the Old World, instead of from Cali-

fornia” (p. 150), its reputed habitat. —E. C.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE EARED SEALS.— Having been kindly

apprized by Mr. Allen that he would be obliged to answer my

review of his esteemed work ‘On the Otariade,” I awaited with

interest the number of the Naturaist containing it. A few

words in justification of the review seem to be called for.

I cannot perceive that Mr. Allen has met the objections urged

against the exclusive applicability and consequently the diagnostic

value of the characters used in his diagnoses of the Oulophocine

and Trichophocine, and after a careful perusal of Mr. Allen’s

comments, I cannot admit that the significance of the tables * and

*The cause of the ‘‘rather obscure comparative tables” is due to the way the

printer was obliged to express the “ irregular” fractions (in the small type used) in

connection with the whole numbers,.and I may add to the same cause is due the unu-

sual presentation of the dental formule.

REVIEWS. 239

my remarks are at all diminished. I, therefore, again refer to

them in justification of my criticisms, and have only to meet cer-

tain statements and objections urged against them.

I. Trichophocine, * without under fur ;” vs. Oulophocine, ‘* with

under fur.”

I must repeat my original remarks : —‘* We may at once concede

the applicability of the distinctions based on the pelage, remark-

ing, however, that the character is not as absolute as might be

-inferred from the expressions used.” Mr. Allen has reluctantly

admitted the existence in Trichophocine of sparse hairs homolo-

gous with the under fur of Oulophocine. Dr. Peters especially

distinguished the Oulophocine A. antarcticus (O. pusilla Peters)

by the very thin under fur. ‘Since Dr. Peters wrote, it has been

[also] ascertained that” the “‘ young, about eighteen inches long”

has the “under fur brown, very sparse,” and adults, apparently

supposed by Mr. Allen to belong to the same species, “are so

nearly destitute of under fur, except just on the crown of the head,

that [Dr. Gray is] convinced they could not be dressed as fur-

seals,” and he believes “they are a most distinct species,” which

he calls A. nivosus.* Dr. Muriet has also shown that in Otaria

jubata, there “is a reddish underwool, but very sparsely scat-

tered.” It may, therefore, be thought that I have conceded even

too much value to the character in question.

II. “Size large and form robust,” in Trichophocine ; vs. “ size

smaller; form more slender,” in Oulophocine.

A distinction appears thus to be plainly made between absolute

length and comparative stoutness or slenderness. Mr. Allen, at

least, has not attributed the appearance to tautology. Under the

heads, then; first, of length; second, of stoutness, the objections

of Mr. Allen must be met.

1. Length. As Mr. Allen remarks, “‘slenderness and robustness

of form usually [but by no means always] involve the head as

well as the trunk.” Mr. Allen, then, at least, cannot object to the

consideration of the length of the head as a fair meter and expo-

nent of the total length of the animal.

Observations on the Fur-seals of the Antarctic seas and the Cape of Good Hope,

with the deseription of a new species. By Dr. J. E. Gray. Ann. and Mag., Nat . Hist.

4th s., 1, 1868, p. 2

+ Report on er Eared aaia collected in the Falkland Islands. By James Murie.

Proc. Zool. -» 1869, p. 1

t See, for example, pt E

240 _ REVIEWS.

The following examples will then suffice to prove “that the

difference in size seems to be more than reduced to a minimum,

and to be degraded to absolute nullity.”

Callorhinus ursinus (A “ Oulophocin”) .275 millimetres.

Zalophus Gillespii (A ‘* Trichophocin”) .270 millimetres.

“The length of a full-grown male [of C. ursinus] is between

seven (7) and eight (8) feet.”* ‘*The mounted skin of an adult

male [Z. Gillespii| preserved in the Museum of the Pays-Bas

[Schlegel] says, is ‘six (6) pieds et deux (2) pouces en totale lon-

gueur?” + The skeleton of an unusally large specimen of Z. Gil-

lespii measures less. than seyen (7) feet; its skull, 330 millimetres.

Comment is unnecessary.

2. Stoutness or slenderness. Knowing the materials, specimens

as well as literature, at the command of Mr. Allen, Iwas at a loss

to know how he had obtained the data which enabled him to clas-

sify all the species ‘into two groups, distinguished by comparative

robustness or slenderness. I carefully examined his work, and

finally noticed the apparent characters deducible from the skins,

and recalling the case of some animals (especially the small wea-

sels) in which the slenderness of the body is due to the elongation

of the vertebra, I inferred that such hints might have induced Mr.

Allen to use such data. I was, indeed, surprised at such a stand-

ard, and intimated by the remark that “no data are given con-

cerning the ratio of the girth to the length,” what £ considered to

be a better criterion of robustness or slenderness.

Mr. Allen has, however, at length remarked that his “ observa-

tion was based on a comparison of the skeletons of two of the

leading genera— Eumetopias and Callorhinus—and the figures

and descriptions of the other ‘species.” I must confess that I am

more surprised at this than when I suspected that I had detected —

Mr. Allen’s meter of slenderness in the relative elongation of the

skins; in the one case, he had measurements of all the species,

such as they were; in the other, he had only two species, out of

the eight admitted (with reserve, however,) by himself, illustra-

tions of the skeletons of two others, and figures foreshortened or

from stuffed specimens of others. Now, if Mr. Allen can select

from such data evidence in favor of his views, I can select. that

*On the Eared Seals (Otariadæ). By J. A. Allen. p. 76.

tOp. cit.. p. 69.

REVIEWS. 241

which will rebut them. Whether he is really right or wrong, how-

ever, I do not pretend to say. I merely say that the evidence is

insufficient, and.I only object to his taking for granted what may

be a question in dispute.

HI. ‘Ears short and broad,” in Trichophocine ; vs. ‘the ears

much longer than in Trichophocinee,” in Oulophocine.

Thinking that no fairer meter of the length of the ears could be

found than in their ratio to the head, I gave, after the measure-

ment of the skulls, those of the ears.

Mr. Allen, in answer, remarks that I seem “to have forgotten

that the bulk of Eumetopias is several times that of the largest of

the fur seals. So that, while the ear is absolutely but little longer

in the fur seals than in the longest-eared hair seals, it is relatiy ely

much longer.”

I will only reply in the expressive language of Mr. Allen, that

the idea of determining the slenderness of the ears — rudimentary

structures, too— by their ratio to the *‘ bulk” of is animal, “is,

to say the least, a novel one to me.”

Mr. Allen has declined to discuss the taxonomic value of these

distinctions, 7. e. to prove that they are of sub-family value. I

shall not attempt to prove that they are not. Every well-informed

therologist, from his own knowledge of the differences éxhibited

by otherwise homogeneous genera in the character of the pelage,

the variation in size, and the comparative smallness of very small

ears, the only characteristics still urged for the differentiation of

the “ sub-families,” will decide for himself.

I felt constrained—my great respect for the abilities of Mr.

Allen constrained me—to examine the basis of Mr. Allen’s classi-

fication before dissenting from it and exposing my own, views.

The great respect which I entertained I endeavored to manifest in

my review of his work; in the mode of presentation of objections,

Mr. Allen has furnished abundant precedents.

As to my own views, I shall leave to others to decide whether

they are more tenable than Mr Allen’s or othérwise. I shall only

add that after mentioning the combination of characters common

to Zalophus (which Mr. Allen has apparently overlooked), I pre-

sented a dichotomous synopsis exhibiting the subordination of the

groups, making special use of the form of the profile, whether

decurved, or whether straight or incurved, and the dev elopment of

the sagittal crest.

242 REVIEWS.

To both, Mr. Allen objects; “the comparatively unimportant

character furnished by the rostral outline being far less character-

istic than its slender elongated muzzle and other features,” he

says, and he deems the character of the rostral profile to be “too

trivial to require more than the incidental remarks already given

to it.” How, may I ask, is the “slender elongated muzzle” -pro-

duced if not by the “straight or incurved fronto-rostral. profile,”

i.e. the compression of the maxillary and nasal bones, and what

is “the slender elongated muzzle” but the expression of such

structural characteristic? *

As to the “sagittal groove from which are reflected the low

ridges” of most of the species as opposed to the ‘‘ solid much el-

evated crest” of Zalophus, the characters, it must be remembered,

are comparative and only to be considered with relation to each

other (like the comparative diagnoses of Mr. Allen). Although

backed by Mr. Allen,t I however admit that my language has not

been happily selected and may mislead.

It need only be added, however, in the language of Mr. Allen,

that ‘‘ Zalophus, so far as the skull is concerned, is the most dis-

tinct generic form of the family Otariade, it being thoroughly

distinct from all the others. Whether such distinct characters are

more than counterbalanced by such as Mr. Allen has used for the

differentiation of his subfamilies, may safely be left, without

further argument on my part, to the judgment of others.

A word as to “conservatism.” I used the term ‘‘extreme con-

servatism” because the reduction of species is popularly consid-

ered to be an evidence of conservatism. But Mr. Allen’s ‘‘ extreme

conservatism ” degenerates into radicalism in his attack on the cur-

rent views with respect to the limits of the species. The Otaria

Hooperi, for example, has characters sufficiently ‘‘ tangible” to

have deceived all authors who have examined specimens (among

them some of the first of living naturalists), as to its affinities, and

it has been separated generically from what (with Mr. Allen) I am

disposed to consider its nearest ally and congener, and yet Mr.

Allen (without having seen it) referred it to Otaria jubata as an

* Mr. Allen apparently having at first recognized this relation of cause and effect,

in his diagnosis of Zalophus described “ the superior profile from the postorbital proc-

ess anteriorly, gently declined.” Allen, op. cit., 48.

t“ The sagittal crest (of Zalophus) forms a remarkably high, thin, very bony plate,

leled in its great develop in any other g of the family.” — Allen op. cit.

p. 48.

REVIEWS. 243

individual variation. Mr. Allen may be right, but the evidence

and weight of authority are decidedly against him.

In conclusion, I would renew my testimony as to the great merit

of Mr. Allen’s work, and I only regret that I cannot entirely con-

cur with him. Although Mr. Allen has not really met the objec-

tions urged against his views, it might not be obvious to all that

he has not, and there might be those who would take for granted

the proposition that I had “fallen into several by no means unim-

portant errors.” I leave the decision on this charge to the scien-

tific public. And as there seems to be some danger of the real

questions at issue being obscured by side issues, I beg to restate

them. They are :—

Ist. Are the groups Trichophocine and Oulophocine entitled to

the rank of subfamilies on account of the characters assigned ?

2d. Is Zalophus a natural associate of Otaria and Eumetopias

in a homogeneous and natural group to be contrasted with the

Oulophocine ?

Everything not bearing on these is irrelevant.

As may be perceived, the consideration of the question of the

values of characters has been distinctly varied by Mr. Allen, and

the discussion shifted to the question of the existence of some of

the distinctive characters employed for the differentiation of the

Trichophocinee and Oulophocine. I will therefore repeat my orig-

inal admission that the Trichophocine (after the elimination of

Zalophus) and the Oulophocine are natural combinations, but not

subfamilies, definable by the characters used by Mr. Allen. — THE-

ODORE GILL.

-~ Tue Gerorocy or Iowa.*— These two elegant volumes are the

‘results of examinations and observations made within the years

1866, 1867, 1868, and 1869.” The first volume contains in the first

part an account of the physical geography and surface geology by

Dr. White, with a chapter on the climate by T. S. Parvin.

The second part describes the general geology of the state, in-

cluding the Azoic, Lower and Upper Silurian, Devonian, Carbon-

iferous, and Cretaceous Systems, the chapter on the middle Coal

Measures by O. H. St. John. The third part embraces the county

and regional geology, which is completed in the second volume,

* Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Iowa. By Charles A. White, M.

D.; Orestes H. St. John, assistant; Rush Emery, chemist. 2 vols. 1870. Royal 8vo,

Des Moines. With plates and maps.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 16

244 REVIEWS.

part first. The second part of the volume is taken up with chap-

ters on the mineralogy, lithology and chemistry. In the appendix

is a catalogue of the birds of the state contributed by Mr. J. A.

Thongh the survey was cut short by the mistaken policy of the

state legislature, many valuable results were obtained that demon-

strate the necessity of a still more detailed survey in the future,

as the geologist was obliged to suspend work, just as important

discoveries of direct value to the state seemed to be imminent.

Among the results thus far attained however, is the “ satisfactory

solution of the question as to the relative position of the strata

that underlie and overlie the coalbearing formations, and the de-

terminations of their dips and trends. As a result of this, the opin-

ion is confidently expressed that coal may be sought for over the

whole of Southwestern Iowa with reasonable hope of finding

plentiful supplies at a not unusual depth as mined in other coun-

tries and in other parts of our own. Thus we have reason to hope

that -the present known coal area of the state, amounting to

about seven thousand square miles, will be doubled by the discov-

ery of coal at some depth beneath the surface of an equal area of

Southwestern Iowa.” The existence of large quantities of excel-

lent peat and gypsum are indicated, and the survey demonstrates

the value of some of the magnesian limestones for the preparation

of hydraulic lime.

The work is evidently thoroughly done and the details presented

in a clear and systematic manner. The geological map-model,

facing page 32, is most excellent in its plan and one which will

prove of great use in lectures. The different rock formations ap-

pear in relation to each other and in their relative extent just as

they do in nature. We trust the state may yet finish the work so

well begun, and that the fossils, ang animals and plants of Iowa

may be described and figured.

Tae Gereorocy or Micnrean.* —In his report of progress Prof.

Winchell gives an interesting sketch of his projected final report.

Should the state finish the survey, which can be done in two

years, the publications of the results will be invaluable for the

future development of this rich and influential commonwealth.

*Report on the Progress of the State Geological Survey of Michigan. By A. Win-

chell, Director. Lansing, 1871. 8vo, pp. 64,

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

RE-SPINDLING OF Corn.—I cannot send you a specimen, but I

can give you a fact in reference to tassels at the end of the ears of

corn.

In the year 1863 I lived about seven miles from Chippewa Falls

in this State. There was an acre of corn directly before our cabin

door. On the night of the 11th of July of that year a severe frost

killed all the tassels which were then just shooting distinctly above

the leaves. Though checked in growth the corn finally set for ears,

put out its silks (pistils), and also sent forth a new tassel or spindle

from the end of the ear. This spindle at the end of the ear was a

common thing over the whole acre. Mrs. C. and myself often

remarked about it at the time as a curious effort of nature to

repair damages. The early frosts.again in the fall cut off the corn

before it matured, but there were cases which we thought would

have fructified and matured from this attempt had the season been

longer. In most instances, however, the silks were dry before the

spindle at the end of the ear shed its pollen. — CHARLES CAVERNO,

Lake Mills, Wis.

Tue Eartiest Known Contrerous Tree.— Allow me to say,

with reference to a notice copied in your May number from the

“ Academy,” that the opinion respecting the plant above named

attributed to Mr. Carruthers is an entire mistake. Prototaxites

Logani is an exogenous tree, with bark, rings of growth, medul-

lary rays and well-developed, though peculiar woody tissue; and,

if Mr. Carruthers has made such a blunder as that attributed to

him, this can only be excused by defective observations or imper-

fect specimens. —J. W. Dawson.

Tur Curstnut Tree. — Have we two species of Chestnut here

in New England? Irefer to the common Castana vesca, Var.

Americana. My friend F. J. Kingsbury Esq., informs me that

lumbermen distinguish two very marked varieties by the wood.

One white, the other red and less hard and strong. I conjecture

that this difference depends solely upon the manner of growth,

(245)

246 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

young and vigorous trees furnishing the whiter wood. —H. F.

Bassett. i

[These differences in the wood, in this and other trees, are not

accompanied by recognizable differences in their foliage, ete. ; they

are not even botanical varieties: the cause of the difference is un-

known. —Eps. 3

Wasps Carry orr Stamens Bopiry.—Ch. Morren, of Belgium,

is the authority for the statement, that, having noticed that the

stamens and pistils of certain Fuchsias were unaccountably re-

moved, he set a watch and found that they were carried off by

wasps; and the wasps were observed flying about the garden with

the stamens in their mandibles. Vespa nidulans was the culprit.

What use they make of them is not explained.—Gard. Chronicle,

April 15.

ZOOLOGY.

ANATOMY OF THE SKUNK. — As lizards, toads and snakes had be-

come nice playthings, I had a desire to test the virtues of a skunk

with the dissecting knife. Boys and others had skinned the ani-

mal by the thousands ; so I thought that task not very formidable,

and at it I went. The truth is it was not the nicest job I ever did

in my life, and the fellow was as fat as his skin could hold; for I

got four pounds of the purest, most pliable oil I ever saw. It was

mainly pure oleine, with a little margaric acid— as good as neat’s

foot oil for harness and boots, but with no medical virtue.

I approached the vital organs of the Mephitis with suitable care.

I first examined the teeth, as being furthest off. Next I cut off

the shoulder and breast just back of the ribs. The lungs were

large, the heart fully developed, and the liver enormous.

stomach contained the crop and intestines of at least one of my

Thanksgiving pot-pie chickens ; so it gave no light on its usual food,

except that chickens’ corn, oats and flesh were there. The intes-

tines were very broad, and seemed as if mainly made of colon,

with hardly a trace of jejunum or ileum. ‘The kidneys were

remarkably large, but neither by odor nor by the microscope,

showed any singularity; their internal portions were very like

those in man.

I approached the pelvis with great caution, and almost supersti-

tious fear. I disjointed first each femur, and left bare the innom-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 247

inata, with the posterior fleshy attachments that contained the

essential virus. I examined the cavity of the pelvic bones, with-

out any peculiar result, and at last detached all except the hard,

muscular pouches and the common fundamental aperture. These I

carefully cut loose, and thus reduced the formidable animal to the

last and least parts possible, and they seemed totally inadequate to

explain the well known effect this animal produces. I next boldly

severed, longitudinally, the rectum and anus; nothing was to be

seen worthy of remark, except two teat-like projections in two

volcanic or crater-like cavities that seemed suggestive of what

might happen. So I cut away all the remaining superfluous parts,

and at last had the anal lips, two muscular pouches, and several

small glands connected with them. My fortitude here giving out,

and it growing dark, I adjourned the matter to the next day.

hen I resumed operations, on the parts now weighing only

about two ounces out of a Mephitis of nine pounds, I had a strip

of skin with the anal lips, the suspicious calices or cones in

their cup-like cavities, and the pouches. Microse scope was at

hand, magnifying glasses, spectacles, and dissecting case that had

done much human duty. I began by severing the two muscular

pouches, and found no connection between them. Books say,

“The animal gives its peculiar and penetrating odor from two

glands, situated external to the pelvis.” I found the ‘ glands” to

be clear muscular fibre, with not a particle of smell, or a trace of

any glandular structure. So much truth there is in old sayings,

repeated for years or ages past! Further to test the matter, I cut

slowly to the middle of the mass of muscular, not glandular,

fibres, and came upon a thick, white, leathery capsule, like the

crop of a chicken, with the source for the contents, provided by

the little glands about it. Now putting on old clothes, and sit-

ting to the windward, I cut through this white capsule; a bright

yellow fluid came out, and I instantly felt that ‘distance would

lend enchantment to the view.” But I was not to be baffled. So

I dipped the point of my scalpel in the yellow fluid, put the tenth

or twentieth of a drop of it on a glass, covered it with another

strip of glass, and placed it under a power of forty diameters in

my microscope. The appearance was peculiar. It looked like

molten gold, or like quicksilver of the finest golden color. Pres-

sure on the strips of glass made it flow like — of melted

gold.

By a power of sixty diameters the same color still appeared,

248 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

but seemed as if it would by a higher power resolve itself into

globules, with some peculiar markings. I tried all the combina-

tions of lenses I had, but could only say: “ Oh, that I had a friend

to give me a five hundred dollar microscope! Oh, for a lens that

would show what this almost resolvable gold is made of!” To the

eye, the peculiar and odoriferous secretion of this animal is of a

pale bright or glistening yellow, with specks floating in it. By

the microscope it looks like a clear fluid, as water with masses of

gold in it, and the specks like bubbles of air, covered with gold,

or rather bags of air in golden sacks. The air I take to be the

gas nascent from the golden fluid. Had I known that my inter-

est in the dissection would have rendered me so forgetful of the’

pungent surroundings, I would have had chemical reagents to test

the substance so easily obtainable.

Another thing was a matter of interest. If I correctly made out

the capsule of fluid, the commonly called “glands” are the mus-

cular tunic enveloping and capable of compressing the reservoir,

and their sole use is to eject the liquid. The teat-like projections

have one large orifice for a distant jet of the substance, and also a

strainer, with numerous holes—like the holes in the cones in the

human kidney — for a near but diffusive jetting of the matter.

The substance is secreted by small glands, dark in color, and of

small calibre, connected with the capsule by narrow ducts.—J. S.

Parker, M.D., in Country Gentleman.

Tue Nest or tHe Pigeon Hawx.—In the March number of

the American Narturatist, Vol. V. page 56, Dr. Brewer ques-

tions a statement of Mr. Winfred Stearns concerning the. position

of the pigeon hawk, and says that “in hollow trees” ‘is a condi-

tion in which the nest of a pigeon hawk is never found.” On

page 537 of Vol. IV. of the American Narvratist, I mention that

‘in May, 1863, a nest of this species (Hypotriorchis columbarius)

with young birds just able to fly, was found in a large sycamore,

on Duch Island, Delaware River, near Trenton, N. J.” Now

then stated in the tree, not on it; and such was the exact truth of

the matter, and I can hardly see how so widely different birds as

this and the Tinnunculus sparverius could be confounded. Possi-

bly Mr. Stearns may have done so; but I did not. The syca-

more in question is a very large tree, with a hollow in it some

eight feet from the ground, in capacity about equal to a flour-

barrel, and with an opening not over six inches in diameter, situ-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 249

ated nearly in the centre; corresponding very well to the bung-

hole of an ale cask. The irregular floor of this hollow was slightly

smoothed with a large mass of twigs; the finer at the surface, and

intermingled with hair, feathers and grass. The bottom of the

nest was about a foot below the lower edge of the opening. Once

since 1863, the pigeon hawks have occupied this tree; and twice

since, the sparrow hawk. During the other five seasons, I did not

visit the locality, or, at least, have no notes of having examined

the tree, but seeing no pigeon hawks elsewhere, doubt if they have

occupied the locality since 1865. Should they reappear during

the coming spring, I shall endeavor to secure birds and eggs to

settle the question of the species I have designated ‘ pigeon”

hawk.

“The nest with eggs, discovered February 22d, 1865, in an

elm tree” was more properly on the tree, but so sheltered by a

curious twisting and overlapping of branches, that its situation

would incline one not conversant with the bird’s habits, to believe

that it usually built within the body of a tree, rather than upon

the branches or in an open situation.

Dr. Brewer very truly states, “ the horizon of one man is at the

best very limited, and many ornithological facts occur that are not

dreamed of in his philosophy.” Indeed, considering the influ-

ence that circumstances surrounding an individual must exert, I

feel surprised at times at the apparent regularity of habits; but

have nevertheless given up every text book as an infallible expo-

nent of the manner of this or that animal’s life. I have re-

corded many instances of peculiarity in bird nesting which I

have hesitated to publish, as they might to others seem to border

on the Munchausen order of narratives; but when they occur to

others, to my knowledge, then I am ready to corroborate, by giv- .

ing similar cases as occurring in my own experience. As a sam-

ple of what seems really incredible, and yet was witnessed by

myself, I will mention that I once saw a pair of wrens drive

off a pair of song sparrows from their nest which was just fin-

ished, cover it with a leaf from a Pawlonia, which they fastened by

Perforating it with the ends of the upper twigs of the nest, and then

cut a hole in the leaf for an entrance. In a few days the leaf with-

ered, became brittle, and finally was broken up and seattered ; and

the wrens reared a brood of seven in an open nest. Curious as

such instances may be, they have no instruction in them, that I

250 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

can see, and therefore is it desirable to jeopardize one’s reputation

by giving them publicity ?

The past winter has been unusually cold, and the effect on the

ornithic fauna perceptible. The great white owl (Nyctea nivea)

has been quite abundant, seven having been killed near Trenton

and sent to one taxidermist. The snow bunting (Plectrophanes

nivalis) has been more abundant with us than ever before ; and so

with other northern species that in winter visit us in varying num-

bers.—Cuas. C. Assort, M. D., Trenton, N. J., March 9, 1871.

[As Mr. Stearns has stated that he was mistaken in the identi-

fication of his bird (see p. 253), and thus thrown doubt on the sup-

posed variation in habits of the Pigeon Hawk, we trust Dr. Abbott

will settle the identity of his birds beyond question should they

occupy the hole in the tree again. — Eps. ]

SPIKE Hornep DEER. — As the impression seems still to exist

in the minds of some persons, that the spike horn deer is a dis-

tinct variety, I must ask for a little more space in your pages

to give a few more facts in relation to them, and I have done.

In the first place, I have found, in my study of natural history,

that the statements of hunters, both professional and amateur,

must be taken with allowance, not so much from their desire to

misrepresent, as to their want of knowledge of natural history,

anatomy, and the habit of trained observation. They jump at con-

clusions which upon careful investigation prove to have no founda-

tion

one e years ago, when I was inveotiggting the question of the

Pronghorn Antelope shedding its horns, I wrote to a gentleman, a

great sportsman, connected with the army, and who had been sta-

tioned for many years on the Plains, for any facts that he could .

give me in relation to it. He wrote back, that he had hunted the

antelope at all seasons of the year, for twelve years, and he knew

that they did not shed their horns. Before the letter reached me I

saw an antelope, that had been kept in confinement, shed its horns.

en I was on the Plains, the hunters told me that there were

two kinds of bison,* one on the Plains and one which they called

the wood buffalo, which was never found in herds, but singly ;

* See reference bed = = p. = of ae Number. ae sages ta given on that page

ut by mistake a reference

is given to another page. — EDS.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 251

this animal they said was larger than the others. Upon investiga-

tion these proved to be old bulls, who had separated from the

herd and lived by themselves.

The hunters in Maine used to assert that there were two kinds

of moose, a grey moose, and a black one. This difference has

proved to be only the effect of age and condition.

Some years since, while hunting in Nova Scotia, I was told by

some of the most experienced hunters that there were two kinds

of carribou; one they called the sword carribou, from the shape

of its horns. It was my good fortune to procure a fine large spec-

imen ; upon careful examination I found that it was simply a three

year old carribou, whose horns had not yet become palmated; I

have the head and horns in my collection. While on this same

expedition one of the party shot a moose whose horns were only

prongs; this animal measured six feet, nine inches in height to

the top of the shoulder. I should think that any one would have

said that it was a full grown animal, and yet it proved upon ex-

amination of teeth, etc., to be only three years old. I have the

head, and it is a little larger than another moose head that I have,

whose horns spread five feet and have twenty-four points.

These facts prove that it is possible for a deer to get his full

growth before he acquires a full pair of horns. The differences of

length of leg, shape of horn, fineness of coat, color, etc., are

only individual peculiarities, and are to be found among all spe-

cies of deer. The Cervus leucurus of the Plains is only the Cer-

vus Virginianus, and not a distinct species, the difference of name

originating with an English Naturalist who had not seen the deer

of the Atlantic States. Careful observers will find as much in-

dividuality among deer as are found among horses and other

animals. These facts should make us careful not to jump at con-

clusions from mere outward appearance, without patient anatomi-

cal examination. — W. J. Hays, New York.

ALBINO Swamp BLACKBIRD. — A beautiful specimen of an al-

bino Swamp or Red-wing Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus Vieillot)

was shot in July, 1870, on the Detroit river, near Lake St. Clair.

Its entire plumage was white with the exception of a patch of

crimson feathers on each shoulder. It was a young bird, and of

small size, and seemed to me sickly-looking. — HENRY GILLMAN,

Detroit, Michigan.

252 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Perrcans. — In the February number of the AMERICAN NATURAL-

ist (1871) is a communication from Detroit, describing a remark-

able specimen of the White or Rough-billed Pelican, which was shot

on Lake Huron, and the writer appears to think that the occur-

rence of this bird on the great lakes is a very rare thing. The

size of the specimen described by Mr. Gilman was certainly re-

markable, far exceeding anything in my experience. The largest

specimen that I ever measured was ninety inches in alar extent,

less by eighteen inches, than Mr. Gilman’s specimen. This was

killed during the present winter in East Florida, and was consid-

ered by hunters who saw it, as very large. It was a male in full

nuptial plumage and was a magnificent bird.

The White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchus, was formerly not

uncommon at the South end of Lake Michigan. I myself pos-

sessed a fine male which was killed within the present limits of the

city of Chicago in 1840, by Dr. John T. Temple, then of that city,

when we were shooting ducks together on the river. I stuffed and

mounted the bird and had it for several years in my collection. At

that time the white pelican was frequently seen on those waters,

though like the swan, it has now disappeared before the march of

settlements.

In East Florida, the Brown Pelican, P. fuscus, a smaller bird,

is most numerous ; you will see twenty of these to one of the white

species. They both breed in that region, and lay their eggs on

the sand bars and lonely islands. At the Inlets of the Hillsboro

and the Indian rivers, I have seen flocks of the brown pelican

which must have contained several hundreds. They roost on the

mangrove trees in the creeks, almost breaking down the branches

with their weight, and covering the ground with their droppings.

Regularly at young flood they wing their way to the Inlet to fish.

This the brown pelican does by diving from a great height, while

the white species swims with open bill upon the Sairi of fish,

which it scoops up as with a net into its capacious pou

In the Indian river is an island upon which the spe breed

in vast numbers. A party of hunters visited it this year in March,

and found it covered with eggs and young birds, which were being

fed by the old ones with fish. Some of these were shot, and most

of the others driven away, when suddenly the island was invaded

by multitudes of the Fish Crow, Corvus ossifragus, which began to

devour both the eggs and the callow young, deprived of their nat- ;

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 253

ural protectors. The hunters then turned their guns upon the

crows, and slaughtered them in heaps, before they would abandon

their prey.* — S. C. CLARKE.

Tur Picron Hawk. Correction. — When first finding the nest

and eggs of which I sent notice to the NATURALIST (September

number), I was fully convinced I had discovered a new ornithologi-

cal fact, and I was confirmed by several persons to whom I told the

facts and showed the eggs; I hastened to report, and to call forth

facts from other quarters in regard to this hawk. I have since

carefully investigated. the case, and find I was in the wrong — that

the nest was that of the Sparrow Hawk, which breeds quite often

here. To be sure I also sent one of my eggs to Dr. Brewer, Bos-

ton, for identification. He states that the egg is unquestionably

that of the Sparrow Hawk, of full size, and unusually well marked ;

that the parent must have been an old bird, and much in heat

when the egg was laid. Mr. Brewer compared it with a number of

eggs of the Sparrow Hawk and Pigeon Hawk, and states that it

has no resemblance to the latter, and compares with a great num-

ber of the former. There can be no question that I have made a

great mistake, but I beg that it will be taken only as a mistake.—

WINFRID A. STEARNS.

PRESERVATION OF Sea-FowL.— The rapid diminution in the

number of sea-fowl on the coast of Great Britain, of the gulls es-

pecially, in consequence of the wanton destruction of the birds

and their eggs by summer tourists, induced Parliament to pass a

law, a few years ago, imposing a heavy fine upon all offenders, dur-

ing certain months. The economical argument adduced in favor

of this restriction, was that the birds themselves destroyed great

quantities of insects in the fields, and served as scavengers for the

removal of putrid flesh on the shore; and also, that by their

* We copy the A origin from “The Birds of North America,” by Baird, Cassin and

and 8

White anaien boat nth, 70 inches, wing 24.50. Habitat. Throughout the United

Fur countries up to

States, rare on the coasts of the Middle and Northern States. ]

61st parallel. There is no observable difference between specimens from the Pacific

and Atlantic coasts. The species breeds in the fur countries, ge

cessible places in the papait of cheese They also bit throughout the

O untains and in California. In winter they are very abundant on our south-

ern sari from as to Flori

Brown Pelican. Length of male H hnas, wing, 22. Habitat. From Texas to North

scone. California coast.

ast and shores of the Gulf of Mexico; also of California. Theirnests are placed on

aiin, and also on the ground.—

254 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

cries over their feeding grounds, usually in shallow, rocky places,

the sailors were warned during fog, of their approach to such

localities, and thus enabled to act accordingly. Of the reason-

ableness of the first mentioned plea we have ample evidence in our

own country, since, on more than one occasion, the crops in Utah

have been saved, by means of the immense flocks of gulls, which

came to the rescue from their different abodes on the Great Salt

Lake, and other bodies of water of the central basin. The result

of the enactment is just beginning to make itself manifest in a

greatly increased abundance of sea-fowl on the English coast,

where they are said to be many times more numerous than hereto-

fore, and to be much more tame, coming close to the fishermen

while cleaning their fish, almost as familiarly as domestic fowl;

swimming freely among the boats within reach of the hands and

enjoying a gratifying immunity from disturbance. It is even as-

serted by some, that before the passage of the act, they were

much tamer on Sunday, seeming to be aware that by the customs

of society, and the restriction in regard to the use of guns, they

were safer on that day than any other.

IDENTITY OF THE AMERICAN AND European Bison. — Professor

Brandt of St. Petersburg, in a recent paper, renews the expres-

sion of his opinion in regard to the identity of the American and

European Bison, both of them in his view being the lineal descend-

ants of the fossil Bison of a noW extinct form. The only appreci-

able differences between the American and European races,

according to Professor Brandt, are in the much larger mane and

‘the more developed beard of the American animal, a characteristic,

which, in view of similar differences in the manes of lions in differ-

ent regions, not otherwise distinguishable, he considers of little

importance. It may be proper, however, to say that a careful

comparison of the crania of the two forms, exhibits differences of

a much more tangible character; the relationships of the nasal

bones not agreeing at all, and the muzzle of the American animal

being much broader than that of its European Congener. Ac-

cording to Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins also, while the tail of the

American Bison has the hairs close pressed, with a bushy tuft at

the end only, that of the European animal is full and rather bushy

from the root, being much the same difference as that existing be-

tween the tails of the American Mule or Black-tailed Deer (Cer-

vus macrotis), and our common eastern Virginia Deer. — ,* x

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 255

GEOLOGY.

Eozoon AND irs Autres IN Later Formation. —I have for some

time been pursuing investigations of Primordial and Silurian fos-

sils akin to Eozoén either in structure or mode of preservation.

When these investigations are completed, I hope to show that

Eozoon has several foraminiferal successors in the older palzozoic

rocks of Canada, and that fossils of various kinds occur in those

rocks infiltrated with mineral matter in a manner not dissimilar

from that observed in the Laurentian Eozoon.—J. W. Dawson, in

Nature.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Tue [ĪNHABITANTS or THE NILE WATERSHED. — Perhaps the most

important advance which has been made in geographical discovery

during the past year has been the exploration of a large portion

of Central Africa, lying to the northwestward of the great equa-

torial lakes, by Dr. Schweinfurth, already known through his bo-

tanical studies in the lower Nile valley, the first practised traveller

who has penetrated far into this region. The ruling tribe of the

inhabitants of the Nile watershed here; is that of the Niam-Niams,

who are described by the Marquis Antinori as men of powerful

form and stately carriage, bronze-colored skin, and long sleek

hair. On crossing the water-parting into a fertile country, where

the oil-palm gives a new character to the landscape, Dr. BaT

furth came upon a race differing from these in every resp '

Abanga and Monbuttu of the inner watershed are peep a

by the lighter color of their skin, and their blonde and frizzled

hair is worn by both sexes in a high chignon. Though inhabiting

a richer land than the Niam-Niams, and in advance of them in

agriculture, and the arts, cultivating the banana and other fruits,

trading in copper, and forging weapons in iron, the Monbuttu

rank far beneath them in the scale of humanity, since they indulge

in cannibalism to an extent which appears to be unparalleled on

the globe, a practice in no way explicable here by necessity, since

the land abounds in game of all kinds. To the south of the Mon-

buttu is a dwarf race named Acka or Ticki-Ticki; the average

height of the men of this tribe is five feet, but many do not reach

this measure. — The Academy.

NOTES.

Governor HorrMman has approved the act, recently passed by the

New York Legislature, authorizing the Board of Commissioners

of the Department of Public Parks in the city of New York ‘‘ to

contract, erect and maintain, in and upon that portion of the Cen-

tral Park formerly known as Manhattan square, or any other

public park, square or place in said city, a suitable fireproof build-

ing, for the purpose of establishing therein, under suitable rules

and regulations to be prescribed by the said Board from time to

time, a Museum and Gallery of Art,” and also a suitable fireproof

building for a “ Museum of Natural History, at an aggregate cost

not exceeding a sum of which the annual interest, at the rate of

interest at which a fund or stock shall be issued, is thirty-five

thousand dollars for each of said buildings,” and adding that “it

shall be the duty of and lawful for the Comptroller of the city of

New York to create and issue, in the manner in this act provided,

such additional amounts of a public fund or stock, to be denomi-

nated the “ Museums of Art and Natural History Stock,” as shall

be necessary to provide the money required for erecting said

buildings, to an amount not exceeding the aforesaid limitations.”

Capt. Hall will leave for the Arctic Regions in the steamer Peri-

winkle, which will probably be rechristened the Polaris, about the

first of June or as much earlier as he can get away. He will be

well fitted and provisioned with every thing which can be devised

for carrying a large amount of nutriment in a small space. One

of the boilers of the vessel which uses steam and sails indif-

ferently, is being fitted to burn animal oil or blubber. He will be

accompanied by Dr. Emil Bessels, well known as the naturalist

of the last Spitzbergen Expedition, and the author of several valu-

able papers on the development of articulate animals, as natural-

ist. Morton, formerly of Kane’s expedition, and others well

acquainted with the Arctic Regions will accompany the Captain

in his search for the North Pole. The Secretary of the Navy and

other officials have done their best toward forwarding the objects

of the Expedition, and as far as can be foreseen it will possess

all the necessary elements of success.

(256)

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aE EO A AETA E

eee eA TA

NOTES. 257

A new scientific organization has been established at Wash-

ington under the name of “The Philosophical Society of Washing-

ton.” The following is the list of officers :— President, Prof.

Joseph Henry (Sec’y Smith. Inst.). Vice presidents, Gen. Horace

Capron (Comm. of Agric.), Prof. J. E. Hilgard (Asst. Sup. Coast

Survey), Gen. M. ©. Meigs (Quart’mast. Gen. U.S. A.), and Wm.

B. Taylor (Principal Examiner Pat. Off.). Treasurer, Rev. Peter

Parker, D. D. Secretaries, Dr. B. F. Craig (Chemist, Surg. Gen-

eral’s Off.), Prof. Theodore Gill (Asst. Libr. of Congress). Eg-

ecutive Committee, Prof. Thomas Antisell (Chemist Dep. Agric.),

Maj. Gen. J. K. Barnes (Surg. Gen. U. S. A.), Prof. S. F. Baird

(Asst. Sec’y Smith. Inst.), Col. T. L. Casey (Eng. Dep. U.S. A.),

Prof. J. H. Coffin (Nautical Almanac), Adm’l Thornton Jenkins

(U. S. Navy), Prof. Simon Newcomb (Naval Observatory), Gen.

W. T. Sherman (U. S. A.), and Dr. J. J. Woodward (Army Med.

Mus. Surg. Gen. Office). A

In a late number of this journal, we called attention to the ex-

pedition of Mr. G. W. Belfrage of Waco, Texas, to New Mexico,

for the purpose of collecting insects. We may say, here, that

during his absence, shares in his collections may be had at any

time by paying the money ($25.00) to Swenson, Perkins & Co.,

80 Beaver street, New York.

While Mr. Belfrage is industriously collecting in the extreme

south, a good, neat and careful collector is needed for the north-

ern and western states. Specimens of the smaller moths, care-

fully mounted, of the rarer and smaller beetles, hymenoptera, and

diptera are wanted by entomologists, who would pay a fair price

for them. College students and others could more than pay the

expenses of a summer trip by careful and minute collecting.

Messrs. J. A. Allen and Richard Bliss, jr., of the Museum of

Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass, with Mr. C. W. Bennett

of Holyoke, Mass, started late in April on a six months collecting

trip to the Plains and the Rocky Mountains. The primary object

of the expedition is to collect the larger mammals of the West.

Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, has received

the decoration of ‘“* Commander of the Order of St. Olaf,” from

Charles King of Sweden and Norway. A joint resolution has

been offered in Congress to enable the Professor to accept the

honor.

258 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, ETC.

At arecent meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard Uni-

versity, the President presented votes of the corporation electing

Francis Parkman, Professor of Horticulture, and Daniel D. Slade,

Professor of Applied Zoology in the Bussey Agricultural Institu-

tion, which is a department of the University.

Mr. F. G. Sanborn has been appointed instructor in practical

entomology in the Bussey Agricultural Institution of Harvard

University.

Congress recently appropriated $40,000 for the annual expenses

of the U. S. Geologist, Dr. F. V. Hayden, who is surveying the

Rocky Mountain region of Colorado.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

r does as well as anythin i keep insects out, but the best st tning is to

me that your | ae ots s are not infested before © pl acing them in very tight t box raw-

This, s, mie bg igo remo lnces; Ben eep our insect free from hart i

gay W. e have a favorit which by our cocker has killed in her

“day, telat: tina aoa ton veins old, Bry lone than three thousan ‘cher 1 rats hnd M

a either

itching humor which bred lice, or becoming lousy her constant ay ae causes inet

to jah, pear as if having some itching disease. However it may be, I end you some 0

The Tic e are probably the common cat lice of this a, thought by Dr. W. I

nett to be probably the same as the European species, Trichodectes subrostratus fi Hee

They probably — the “itching disease.”

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Bericht uber die io or der St, Gallischen naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft wahrend de

Vereinsjahres. 1868-69. 8vo. St. Posie peg 1869, uly-

Jahrbuch der Kaiserlich-Koeni ichen geologischen Reichsanstalt. xx Band, Nos. 34, July

Dec., i870, Royal 8vo. Wien. 8

ye n der k. k. riogan Reichsanstait, a ne Nos, 10-18. ands bots

ien.

dress of Geor rge Bentham, Pien of the Linnean Society. May 24, 1867. 7S ee

2, Abhandlu pee ai eg hil tom vom naturwissenschafilichen Vereine zu Bremen.

remen,

' Memoire si sur les te, sur les nc de la Chaleur de la Lumiere et de?’ Electricite. Par M.

wn. VO. S.

emoire sur? aviation ou Navi n Aerienne, Par M. Sequin. Paris. 1866.

Cephalopodes Siluriens de la sine podia: Par J. iparvande. 8yo. Paris, 1

I. Reapparition du genre Arethusina, II, Faune Silurienne des environs de Hof, en

Par J. Barrande, 8yo. Paris. 1 le aux

De Ta he vtec Ii, aes tude wig a sur nos etages G—H, avec eer specia

environs “de H ‘ubocep, Faby s Pra rJ.Barrande. 8yo. Paris. 1865

Journal of the Quec. ett Microscopical Club. April, 1871. London. loth

Die Mineralien in 64 colorirten abbildungen nach der natur. Von J.C. Weber. 16mo, 010%

pp. 100. Munchen, 1 1871. Christian Kaiser, n J

Die Fische Deutschlands und der Schweiz in 61 colorirten abbildungen nach der natur. Von 2.

C. Weber. 16mo, cloth, pp. 61. Munchen, 1871. te Se! Kaiser. [$4. eo he publie

Nelumbium luteum, or the Great American Water Lil Its value as an orn A

parks of Chicago. With illustration, By E.M. Hale, XD. 12m mo, pp. 15. Chica i oi By T.

Notes on the genus Pineria, and the nk eg dentition of Pineri iequensis Pfeiffer.

Bland and W.G. Biniey.. pf he AA - 6, Feb., 1871.

ciety (ie recular], Jan, 28, 1871,

May, The Field, London. Nos. for April and MATY

The Academy, London. Nos. for AP:

Nature, London. ‘See: for April and May. May.

Land and hea London, Nos. for April. Science Gossip, London. May.

ESS $ ER. ane

a E o E ey Se l a

‘ec WEG

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

—TEDORDOD D> |

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJ Ó, BRAZIL.

BY PROFESSOR CH. FRED. HARTT.

Fig. 62 (Face). 3 Fig. 63 (Back of Head).

CART |

Head of Idol, Marajo.

Tne existence of Indian burial places at various localities, in

the Valley of the Amazonas, in which the dead were interred

in earthen vases or pots, seems to have long been known. Von

Martius* mentions the occurrence of these vases near Manáos,

at Fonte Bôa and Serpa, on the Rio das Trombetas, and elsewhere.

He besides incidentally refers} to the recent discovery of large

collections of them at a place on the Island of Marajé, or Johannes,

ur Ethnographie Amerika’s zumal Brazilien, p. 440.

t Op. cit., p. 178.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY oF

SCIENCE, in the Office of the Librarian of Gonera, at Washington;

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 17 (259)

260 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

called Os Camutins.* These last he supposed to be of Tupi

origin. The same author says that the Tupis sometimes buried

their dead in vases which were rude and unornamented. The

Omaguas still use this mode of interment, but the vases are buried

in the huts. I was informed at Rio das Contas, in the southern

part of the Province of Bahia, that the Patachos bury their dead

‘in earthen jars.

I do not know that any systematic examination has ever been

made of any of the ancient Amazonian burial places. Last sum-

mer, while at Pará, Senhor Ferreira Penna, late Provincial Sec-

retary, and the author of a very excellent little book t on the west-

ern part of the Province, called my attention to the fact of the

existence of the Marajó pottery at Lake Arary. Being unable to

visit the locality in person, I sent one of my assistants, Mr. W.

S. Barnard, to examine it. Mr. Barnard reports that Indian burial

stations are quite numerous in the centre of the island. The prin-

cipal ones are, however, the Island of Camuti in the Rio Anajas,

near the Fazenda de Sao Luiz, and probably the same called Os

Camutins, by Von Martius; another near the Fazenda da Forta-

leza, consisting of a mound from eight to twelve feet high, built

up on the flat campos, forming an island during the annual over-

flow, and full of vases; another on the campo near Lake Guajará,

which Mr. Barnard thought might contain four or five acres; but

the most interesting appears to be the Ilha das Pacovast in Lake

Arary, which was visited by my assistant.

The Ilha das Pacovas lies close to the western side of the lake,

opposite the beginning of the Rio Arary, which forms the outlet

to the lagoa, and just to the south of the mouth of the Iga-

rapé das Armas. It is oblong in shape, about ninety paces in

length from north to south, and about forty paces in width. In

the month of November, when the water was low, it was somewhat

over ten feet in height above the level of the lake. It is for the

most part covered with large forest trees. Situated at the northern

end of the island, and separated from it by a narrow channel, is a

little crescent-shaped islet apparently built on as an addition,

the mae is the Tupi brs: for pot. The Portuguese ae fol it Camutim. Treated

asa P rtuguese word, the plural would, in this case, be Ci

faites, “ A Regiaio Occidental da Provincia do Pará” a rr published by the gov-

ernmen

t rora Portuguese form for bir — abanana. The island takes its name

from the banana trees growing upo:

N sia aaa Si ea a

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL. 261

and not so high as the main island. Both were evidently raised

artificially, and are full of burial vases and pottery of all kinds.

The vases, which are about three feet in height, are, in some places,

buried as many as three or four above one another, but they are

more or less scattered. ‘The waves have worn away the edges of

the island making a sloping shore full of broken burial jars and

prea strewn over with fragments of pottery.

Mr. Barnard made no excavations. He, however, collected speci-

mens, in a more or less broken state, of what was at hand. His

collection consists entirely of pottery. Bones were very rare, and

very much broken up. I regret exceedingly, that of these re-

Fig. 64.

Indian Burial Jars, Marajo.

mains, none were brought home, but I may state here, that an ex-

pedition is on foot to thoroughly explore this, as well as some of

the other localities.

f jars or vases used for burial purposes (ygacaua, * ygacaua-

oct, camuti, Lingoa geral) there are two in the collection, large

specimens which show quite well the form, together with a number

of fragments. The two more perfect specimens (Figs. 64 and 65),

are of the same general shape, but they differ in the style of

ornamentation. Both consist substantially of two truncated cones

united by their bases, the apicial angle of the lower cone beii

much more obtuse than that of the upper, so that the greatest

* Ygacaua (igagaba of T pi 3s na: . ly means a larg waterpot

42 + J

262 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

diameter of the vessel would be at about one-tenth its height,

measuring from its base. The vase represented in fig. 64, judging

from the curving outwards of the upper broken edge, as well as

from the ornamentation, must have been little less than twenty

inches in height. The diameter of the mouth I cannot give; the

greatest diameter, measuring inside, is fourteen and three-fourths

inches ; that of the base is about five inches inside. The sides of

the upper part of the jar slope regularly. Those of the lower part

are slightly concave. Though skilfully made, it is nowhere ex-

actly round, and bears no marks of having been shaped on a wheel.

_ All the Marajó pottery: was made by hand. The material is a

rather fine clay with little or no sand. I have not observed, in the

ancient Marajé pottery, any admixture of the ashes of the Caraipé

tree (Licanea utilis), which are extensively used, at present, both

by Indians and whites. The vase under discussion has broken with

a very irregular fracture. The thickness at the base is about half

an inch, at the top about a quarter. The outside of the vase ap-

pears to have been shaved down smooth, probably with a piece of

wood, and washed with a fine whitish clay which has darkened in

burning. The surface is very smooth, but quite irregular. The

base and inside have not been polished. The ornamentation is

unique and is well shown in the engraving. The lines are deeply

have been roughly scraped, apparently by a stick with a broad

flat end. ese portions, as well as the lines of the figure, have

received a wash of red clay laid on very daubily. The broad line,

just above the base, is colored in the same way, but the double -

lines, separating the figures, are uncolored. As will be seen from

the engraving, there is considerable variety in the rendering of the

design.

The other vase’ (fig. 65) differs from that just described, in being

a little larger, and in having the sides of the basal portion more

concave. The material and the surface finish are the same, but the

wash of cream-colored clay is of a somewhat lighter color, and

the surface has a hard, glazed look. The pattern is quite as sin-

th of these vases were probably furnished with projecting

knobs or ears (namb) around the mouth. These are often in the

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL. 263

form of heads of animals and men. They are readily broken off,

and large numbers of them were picked up on the shore amongst

the broken pottery. In the collection is a fragment of another

burial urn, whose greatest diameter must have been about two feet.

It appears to have been made on the same pattern with fig. 64.

The design was substantially the same, but the chair-shaped figure

was more drawn out and disposed horizontally. The surface of

the vase has the same creamy wash, and the engraved design is

painted red. The bounding lines are treble or quadruple, and not

colored. "

Anothèr fragment is of quite a small vase about eight or ten

inches in diameter. The upper part, for apparently somewhat less

than one-third the length, is swollen out, and ornamented with

-seroll-shaped bosses, curious knobs, and engraved figures. The

part immediately below this raised portion is cylindrical, and

ornamented with figures thrown into relief by deep, wide, engraved

lines. The upper bulging portion received a wash of creamy

white clay, and the lower part a similar coat of red clay. The

whole surface was evenly smoothed, and the line-figures were

cut in, or scraped out. One of the tools, used in cutting, had a

narrow chisel-like edge, and was probably the tooth of some

rodent. Where large surfaces have been cut down, the parallel

marks of the tool are very distinct. The mouth of this vase was

slightly funnel-shaped, and the lip probably bore ornaments.

In addition to the above vases there are two other fragments of

less interest. One indicates a vase, the body of which must have

been about eight inches in diameter, and over a foot high. It is

rudely smoothed inside, but the outside is rough and without orna-

ment. The other was, in the body, at least, cylindrical, and about

five inches in diameter. The outside was washed with red clay.

A sort of geometrical pattern is cut through this into a lighter

material below. -

It is just possible that some of the smaller vases, above de-

scribed, may not have been intended for burial purposes. The

largest are too small to accommodate a skeleton, even if dis-

articulated. All the bones found in the urns were fragmentary.

The probabilities are that the bodies were burned, and that only

the ashes and charred bones were placed in the urns. An analysis

of a small amount of black ash-like earth, found adhering to one

of the jars, was made for me by one of my students, and found

to contain a very large percentage of phosphate of lime.

264 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

There are two or three disk-shaped objects in the collection,

which were probably used as covers to the jars. One of these

has on one side curious engraved figures, which do not appear to

be mere ornaments, but to be of a hieroglyphic character. This I

am unable to figure here, but I shall describe it in another paper.

Of images or idols there are several in the collection, the most

being in a more or less fragmentary condition. The largest of the

specimens is represented in fig. 67. The body is nearly cylindri-

cal, with two projecting knobs at the base for feet. A constriction

represents the neck. The head was made quite round at first, but

the after application of a high, wide, and angular ridge of clay,

running completely over it from side to side, gives it a flat look.

This ridge ends abruptly on each side at the neck and is there pro-

Fig. 66. Fig. 67. duced slightly outward. The

brows and nose are represented

by a T-shaped ridge of clay, ap-

plied in the same way as the

crest; the eyes and mouth are

simply round prominences. The

brow and nose and the right eye

have scaled off from this figure.

The material is red clay with a

wash of white. The surface is

á very rough, and the whole is very

Tudien: Ioi Marao. rudely made. The figure, from

its weight, is evidently hollow, as were most of the others. The

height is five and a half inches.

The figure represented in outline in fig. 66, is solid.. It is ex-

ceedingly rudely made of coarse clay, full of sandgrains. The

features are very indistinct. The brows and nose are represented

by a T-shaped ridge. Slight projections from the shoulders hint

at arms, and at the base are two irregular prominences as in fig.

67. The extreme flatness of the head is remarkable. In front

is a hole, but whether accidental, or purposely made, I cannot

determine. The height of the figure is about three and a half

inches.

The same type of head and features recurs in the larger and

more artistically finished head, of which fig. 68, is a represen-

tation. This last is also flattened, and shows the same trans-

verse crest which, just opposite the eyes, is bent forward on each

side. The united brows and nose form a wide, prominent, T-

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL. 265

shaped ridge as in the other figures, the alz of the nose being,

however, well formed, though unsymmetrical. The eyes are round

and very prominent, the pupil be-

ing represented. The mouth is a

low, rounded elevation. The face

received a wash of white clay.

Around the brows and nose runs a

wide, shallow groove painted red ;

side of the mouth are also painted

red. The other lines represented

in the eut are engraved with a

sharp point. The pattern enclosed

in the rude circles occurs on other pieces of pottery from the same

locality, as we shall see farther on. The back of the head is

smooth and unornamented. The figure was hollow, the body

- probably resembling that of fig. 67. It was built from the base

upward, the top of the head being the last part formed. Layers

of clay were laid on one above the other, overlapping inside,

and then pressed into shape by the fingers, which were introduced

through a hole in the top of the head. The imprints of the fingers

preserve sharply the impressions of the striz of the skin, showing

the direction from which the fingers

were applied. Finally, a cap of clay

was applied above, closing the open-

ing, and the figure was worked into

shape from the outside. The height

of the head is three inches; breadth,

four inches. Another head, also sep-

arate from the body and represented

in figs. 62, 63 and 69, is larger than

the others and in some respects more

elaborately executed. It resembles _

them, however, in its being flattened,

in its being furnished with the trans-

Side view of the head of idol repre- VeTSe crest, which, in this case, is low

sented in Figs. 2 and 63 and rounded, and in the T-shaped

combined brows and nose. It, however, differs from the images

just described in the grotesque ornamentation of the eyes, cheek

Head of Idol, Marajo.

Fig. 69.

266 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

and forehead, and in the figures on the back of the head. All

these are so well shown in the engravings as to need no descrip-

tion. The form of the mouth is peculiar. This figure was made

in the same way as the last described, being built up from be-

low, the top of the head being the last part formed. Instead of

heavy, irregular layers of clay seen in the inside of fig. 68, the

inside of this head shows fashioning by the aid of a narrow, flat-

pointed instrument of wood or bone, which was introduced from

above and before the head was finished, and turned round and

round leaving shallow, irregularly concentric furrows, which ex-

tend nearly to the top. The outside was moulded so as to give

the transverse crest, the brows, nose, eyes and mouth prominence.

The surface then received a re

wash. After this the ornaments

were left in relief by the cutting

down of the surface. The prin-

cipal tool used had a narrow,

chisel-like edge, slightly hollowed, ,

which left a little elevation run-

ning along the middle of the

groove cut by it. This instru-

ment, I believe to have been the

tooth of some rodent. The marks

it made are very distinct, but it

has been difficult to represent

them satisfactorily in the engrav-

ings. It is hardly necessary to

add, that all the features and the

ornaments in relief are red, while

the background is the color of the light, unpainted clay. A frag-

ment of the body below the neck is preserved, showing part of a

red figure in relief, so that, without doubt, the whole idol was or-

namented in the same general style as the head. The height of

this specimen is four and a half, and the breadth four inches.

The ornamentation of the head just described might be re-

garded as capricious, were it not for the occurrence in the collec-

tion of the head of another idol (Figs. 70 and 71), which resem-

bles it very closely. This last has not only the same shape of

head, but the same pattern of ornamentation, though the latter is

expressed in a more simple manner. There are, besides the same

Fig. 70. *

Head of Idol, Marajo. Front view.

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL. 267

broad raised lines bordering the crest, brows and nose. The

mouth is not represented. The ornament about the eye is sub-

stantially the same in both, but in the smaller head it has only two

salient parts, or rays. It is interesting to observe, that the little

eye-like figure of which in the larger head there are four about

each eye is not wholly forgotten in the smaller head, but it makes

its appearance in the lower outer corner of the right cheek, as an

irregular hollow square. The central boss on the back of the

smaller head (Fig. 71), and the W-shaped figure in which it stands,

form manifestly the same design as that seen on the back of the

larger head. The two upper eye-shaped ornaments on the back

of the larger head appear on the smaller as hollow squares. The

two lower in the smaller head correspond to ornaments, which, in

the larger are attached to the border. More of the body of this

second image is preserved than of the other. Fig. 71.

The specimen (Fig. 70) is about three LF

inches in length. The ornamentation con-

sists of raised lines forming hollow, angular

figures unsymmetrically disposed both in

front and behind. Part of the crest is

broken away. The ornamentation was un-

skilfully executed with a very coarse tool.

Since these two heads were found lying

loose, and at a distance from one another,

there is little probability of their having Back view or Head EENI

been made by the same hand. The points eae

of resemblance between them indicate the existence of a -

nized and common design, which cannot but have a significance.

Which is the elder of the two, and which corresponds more nearly

to the original pattern, it is impossible to say. These images ap-

pear to have been of a sacred character, but whether they were

used as idols during the life time of the individual, and buried

with his ashes, or were sacred figures used only in burial, is

not clear. I am unable to describe the mode of association of

these images with the burial urns, as the former were picked up

loo

In connection with the vases and images, pottery of various

kinds occurs. There are flask-like water-bottles, quite like those

in use in Brazil to-day, cups, flat dishes and pots of various kinds,

some very coarse, others highly ornamented with painted and en-

~ 268 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

graved lines, and with ears representing animals’ heads or human

In Fig. 72, n, is represented a fragment of what may have been

aladle. The fragment is slightly concavo-convex and three and

one-half inches long. Both sides were scraped down to a very

smooth surface, which received a very thin coat of cream-colored

clay, giving it a glazed look. The convex or outer side is traced

with a rather elegant line-pattern in dark red, not engraved, which

appears exceedingly well in contrast with the light background.

Near the pointed extremity is a hole, showing wear, doubtless in-

tended for a string. A shallow dish, of which I have a fragment,

is painted inside very much in the same way as that just de-

scribed, while another has a coarse figure drawn in dark umber on

a light ground. I may remind the reader, that the variegated

clays of the Amazonian deposits furnish very vivid tints, as reds,

purples, browns, blues and yellows.* With these colors, the In-

dian women of Monte Alegre and elsewhere paint elegant designs

on drinking cups of gourd (cuias), upon a background of Cumati

(‘‘ Apocynea vel Asclepidea follicularis ?” Mart.). I have observed

no trace of the use of the resin of the Yutahy-sica (Hymenee

sp.) extensively used to-day on the Amazonas, for glazing vessels

intended for use over the fire.

The Indians of the Amazonas use`an earthen utensil for broil-

ing or smoking various articles of food. It is like a large, deep,

heavy basin somewhat wider at the mouth than at the base but

with no bottom. This is inverted over a slow fire, the food to be

cooked being laid on green stems of taboca (Bambusa), placed

across the opening. This utensil the Brazilians call a muqueador. t

A broken one ornamented with human features in high relief, was

found at the liha das Pacovas.

There is a little cup in the collection about an inch and a half

in height, ornamented with the design, e, fig. 72. In the engrav-

ing it is placed horizontally, but on the cup it is upright. The cup

* The iri clay is called Tauá, the white, taud tinga or white taud. The Portu-

guese form is Tabatinga.

+The aa is muquear. This is one of the few Portuguese verbs derived from the

Tupi. The same process is carried out by making a framework of green sticks sup-

ported on ee se stakes, On this, mie turtle’s eggs, etc., are smoked and half

cooke

n the

apparatus is pam muquem. L Stade and the old writers give the word bucan.

Many words now pronounced with an initial m or b had originally an initial mb. Thus

on the Amazonas one finds to-day mboia, and boia (boa constrictor).

THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL. 269

is washed white, both inside and out, and the lines are engraved,

together with the S-shaped design, which corresponds with the

chair-shaped figure on the burial vase represented in fig. 65. This

pattern, with its various modifications, resembles so closely the

design occurring on the face of the image, fig. 68, and elsewhere,

that all seem to be but different. expressions of the same pri-

mary idea, which, in the beginning, at least, probably had some =

nificance. The S-shaped design like that on the head, fig. 68,

sometimes formed by regular curves, but these are occasionally an-

gular, in which case, the figure resembles the Greek fret. The op-

posing curves are always drawn with a double line, but the curves

. a, a,” Ornaments on fragment of pottery; b, b', Fragment of a flat dish; e, Ornament on

a tie cùp; F and 9. Ornamer oie on fray gments of pottery; hy, Bead of pottery; k, engraved

objec , Fig. 65; n, Fragment of ladle

are either not united at all in the middle of the figure, or if united,

it is by a single line. In a@ and a, fig. 72, from the same piece of

pottery, and f, same figure, we have three modifications of the de-

sign, with curves united. In b and b’, fig. 72,* showing both sides

of a fragment of a flat plate, they are not united. In some cases,

as in f, b, and b’, fig. 72, the figure is ornamented by coarse shad-

ing between the double lines or by perpendicular loops or lines.

On b’ is a cross of the ordinary Christian type, but it is well known

that this emblem is one of the simplest of ornaments in use, not

only among pagan nations long before the Christian era, but to-day.

* The longest di ter of this specimen is four and a quarter inches.

270 THE ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY OF MARAJO, BRAZIL.

If the maker of the pottery had attached the Christian significance

to the figure he was drawing, he would not have represented it on

the opposite side of the same vessel without the transverse bar, and

if the Indians, who made the Marajé mounds had been christian-

ized they would not have buried their dead in jars. It seems to

me that the Indian artist, finding he had a large space to fill up

on one side, drew a transverse line across the perpendicular one

to make the figure larger. The cross also appears on a’, fig. 72.

The question of the primary significance of the S-shaped design

I must leave to the student of the philosophy of art, together with

the question of the independent origin of ornament, which also

arises in the study of this pottery. The observant reader will

detect the same pattern that I have just been describing, in use in

carpets, ornamental borders and a hundred other places to-day.

Among other relics from the Arary mound is a large bead of

clay roughly represented in fig. 72, h. It is very irregular in shape,

rudely made, and the ornamentation is badly executed. It is

much broken. Its length is two and a quarter inches.

Fig. 72, k, represents the end of an object cylindrical in the mid-

dle, and suddenly swelling out at both ends, one of which is bro-

ken. The design is deeply engraved, and the object was perhaps

used as a stamp, but it is so irregular that it would have served

very indifferently for that purpose. The width across the face is

about an inch and three-quarters. A somewhat similar figure to

that on the end is engraved on the side. The perforation extends

nearly through from one end to the other. It might be taken for

an unfinished bead were it not that two other partially perforated

objects of a somewhat similar character are found in the collection.

One of these is a lens-shaped piece of pottery, an inch and three-

quarters across the flat face, which appears to have been ground

into its present form. A hole is bored through it in a direction

perpendicular to the centre of the flat face. The other is a pear-

shaped object, about the size of a large marble, perforated in like

manner from the smaller end.. Its use I cannot divine.

We have no historical record of the tribe that built the Marajé

mounds. Senhor Penna has had the kindness to examine care-

fully into the subject for me, and it would appear that the

mounds antedate the discovery of America. We have no record

of the existence of any tribe in the lower Amazonas within his-

toric times, that buried its dead in jars. I do not feel like coin-

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 271

ciding with Von Martius in the supposition that the Marajé

mounds were made by Indians of Tupi descent. There are

many resemblances between the pottery of Marajé and that of

Peru and North America that will be worth study. I hope that

future explorations will enable me to clear up some of the doubts

expressed in this paper, and cast much needed light on the ancient

races of the Amazonian valley.

APPLICATION OF THE DARWINIAN THEORY TO

LOWERS AND THE INSECTS WHICH

VISIT THEM.*

Tue first impression which flowers make upon us with the beauty

of their radiate and symmetrical forms, their luxuriant display of

colors and the variety and sweetness of their odors, easily begets

in us the idea that they were created for delighting and gratifying

our senses.

This, however, is a pleasing fancy which the Darwinian doctrine

speedily annihilates. This doctrine teaches us that all the species

of animals and plants now in existence are only the result of the

same laws which, starting from the beginning of organic life on

the earth and coming down to our day, have governed and continue

to govern all animated things ; and these are the laws of hereditary

transmission and variation, of the struggle for existence and the

consequent necessity that only those forms survive which best

respond to external circumstances.

According to the Darwinian doctrine all the characteristics and

properties of animals and plants appeared at first only as simple,

individual variations, which were a necessary consequence of deter-

minate physical and chemi¢éal actions,t and which, if they have

urse delivered by Dr. ERM. MULLER of asa at the 26th General Assem-

vy of the parne orischen Verein für Rhein land un d Westphalen, 1869. Translated

m the German with A f. FREDERIC DELPINO. Trans-

rahe for eas NATURALIST from the Italian by R. E PACKARD.

+ The lively sense of fı

discourse cannot dissuade me from expressing my own views whenever they rarae

hl +h, aft thi:

from his

nomena of individual ‘variations subsequently fixed Dy the la the laws of hereditary Goa,

272 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

been perpetuated, owe it to the circumstance that, in the struggle

for existence, they were advantageous to those individuals in which

they appeared. From the Darwinian doctrine, then, there springs

the following thesis, which is of general application; that in all

animals and in all plants there is not a single characteristic, a single

property, which is not either useful to its possessor, or at least is not

inherited from ancestors more or less remote, for whom, at some time,

it procured a decided advantage in the battle of life.

Therefore, if we wish to apply the Darwinian doctrine to the

rich and varied kingdom of Flora, we should, in the first place,

answer this question: in what manner and by what means have

the brilliant colors, the diverse odors, and the variegated structure

of their flowers been of use to plants? The solution of this ques-

tion cannot be obtained from a consideration of the flowers alone,

for their properties are not immediately useful, but only mediately ;

and the mediation is accomplished by insects.

That flowers are visited by insects in various ways, and that

many of them— bees, for example—are constrained to visit them

for food, is well known; but this fact does not suffice to explain

how these visits can be advantageous to the plants. Colors,

odors, pollen, and honey seem at first sight to be of utility only to

insects. If, as did C. C. Sprengel towards the close of the last

century, we should propose to consider how insects act upon plants,

and the wonderful. conformity of floral structure which certain

plants have with certain insects, we, like Sprengel, would easily

fall into the belief that such harmonies are the cause of the insects

effecting, without either knowing or willing it, the transfer of pol-

len from the anthers to the stigmas, while seeking their food in the

flowers. But why should nature have entrusted to insects the

but can 3 no away admit that the causes of these variations were only determinate

chemico- For who has eyer been able to determine them, and who will

ever be able? I should — woud = the causal princi ple of these variations is an

intrinsic and not: external one p p hole of life

ing to

deny the action or influence of external ci reums tances; but I think that crn as long

as life lasts, and within rtain limits, are ruled over byt hat internal principle, intelli-

gent and free, which I candi idly seat that uy

mode of thinking i is purely and simply theoretical; but th the sara rary thesis mainta

by Miiller and all the naturalists of our age, is ran Toe and simply sbbondeteet ‘asi

soon wil be! and theory for paramo I prefer m.

f the tw

the

victory, I think I do not err in saying that the question iy: ana always has been insol-

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 273

accomplishment of this transfer, when it would have been much

more simple to dispose the organs in such a way that the anthers

might cast the pollen immediately upon the stigmas? The reason

of this Sprengel failed to comprehend, nor should we be more

successful without recognizing an important natural law recently

detected by the author of the doctrine of natural selection.* :

Charles Darwin saw, what Sprengel failed to see, that the princi-

pal effect of the action of insects upon plants is the transfer of

the pollen of one individual to the stigma of another. To this

conclusion he was led by his beautiful researches on the floral

structure and the fecundation of Orchids. And from these he

subsequently inferred that it is advantageous to every vegetable to

have its pistils fecundated by the pollen of other individuals of the

same species, rather than by its own. As soon as observation had

made Darwin master of this great truth, he resorted to the control

of experiment. The experiments made by him with unwearied

diligence through a long series of years— scattering upon the

stigmas of plants of the same species, sometimes their own pollen,

sometimes that of others—placed it out of doubt that the impol-

lination of the stigmas with the pollen of other individuals, or the

intercourse between distinct individuals, produces an offspring more

numerous, more robust, and capable of greater development than if

Jecundation had been produced by its own pollen; a thesis which

subsequently became amply confirmed by the numerous a

ments of Hildebrand, my brother Fritz, and others. The enigma

of floral structure is then solved, and we will now pass to the

*The author e to Charles Darwin the merit of having mio formulated the

law of 2 necessity of cross-fertilization even for hermaphrodites; but this law, al-

ready partially seen a Keelreuter, was comprehended in nearly all its vigor by C. C

Spreng

"Reuter having i in 1761 made tho apa that in the page e Gone and ikse

anthers, and the

uae with pollen from other flowers, makes pen following Aioni iin esis ss re id

aliquid in proprio suo pulvere sed

semper eo aliorum suz speciei impregnentur, merito queritur. Certe natura nil facit

frustra.”

C. C. Sp: ent further, and on p. 43 of his bii “Das entdeckte Geheimniss

der Natur i in Doa a und in der Befruchtung der Blumen ” (1793) uses these memorable

words: “ Since there are so many unisexual flowers, and since among

fl th 1 female organs at the same

time, it appears that nature does not wish that each flower should fecundate with its

pollen.” And h de by him upon the flowers

of Hem ouie al aid. after being fecundated artificially with with their own pollen

never perfected the seeds.

274 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

principal applications of the foregoing thesis in the explanation of

the forms and properties of flowers.

If it is true that intercourse between distinct individuals produces

a more vigorous and numerous offspring, it is equally true that

every variation in the flowers which favors the transfer of pollen

from one individual to another secures a notable advantage to the

individual in which it takes place, and therefore cannot fail to be

fixed and perpetuated by means of natural selection.

Now, as far as we know, there are only two external agents

which can effect this transfer, namely, the wind and insects ;—

naturally with the contingence of very different floral structure.*

The different species of plants, as concerns the variations which

first appeared in them, would, by natural selection, accommodate

themselves to the wind or the visits of insects, by suitably model-

ling their flowers either upon an anemophilous or an entomophilous

type.t The action of the wind is simple and uniform, while that

of insects is extremely varied: therefore their self-adaptation to

the action of the wind presupposes a variation in a single and

definite direction ; whereas that to the visit of insects takes place

in as many different ways as there are differences between individ-

ual insects; that is to say, differences in size, form, structure, |

habits, modes of life, sympathies, antipathies, seasons, etc. There-

fore, from the Darwinian point of view, we should expect to find :

first, that the variations of plants arising from adapting themselves

to the multiform actions of insects should have taken place far

more frequently than those due to their adapting themselves to the

uniform action of the wind ; second, that plants modified to receive

* mh p a + 3

1 by me in this field of biological study put me in

littl hat tł y Th he feeu undating agents

of irra kaen insects and th e wind I

The hum bir ah sag Ornismya, Pipa pee a 2 for a great variety of

tropical ne snails for Rhodea Ji ica and some Aro water for Vallisneria

spiralis, probably for all ie asteka. and all the Plorides patie ee to the recent

and beautiful observations of Thuret and Bornet).

As to humming birds, ne ble to pical countries I was obliged

to limit myself to conjectures, which have subsequently been partly confirmed by let-

from Charles Darwin as regards the fecundation of the genus Strelitzia, and from

Fritz Miiller as regards that of certain Passiflore, Salviæ and other Brazilian plants.

The

ternas befrutkning oy ada 1869) and by some others. That is why I permit

to translate with such words the compound -a Wind-blüthen and Insect-bl

used by the author, which cannot be literally translated.

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 275

the visits of insects should offer a much greater variety of floral

forms than plants adapted to the wind.

These two propositions which are necessary consequences of the

Darwinian doctrine are effectually confirmed by observation, for

ariemophilous flowers are not only less numerous than entomophi-

lous,* but are also much less varied in their conformation.

The transfer of pollen by means of the wind demands thaf the

anthers and stigmas be well exposed to the air, and it is also

necessary for the pollen to be subtile and very light and dry, so as

to be more easily carried by the air, and to be produced in enor-

mous quantities so as to insure fixing upon the stigmas some one of

its grains. Remarkable examples of such a disposition are afforded

by the Cupuliferse, Coniferæ, Graminaces, Juncacer and Plantagi-

nacer.t If, for example, a bush of hazel in flower is shaken, or if

* If we think of the i 1 ti

ophilous families of the enia Amentaceæ, Gra rami naceæ, Sheen er te “Junca-

cex, and of the great number of flowers which gang individual of ‘inal ust. bears,

the statement that anemophilous flowers are less numerous than aragna ia is

pn to dispute

yapapi however, the POE maintained by Müller is most just; and the only

change w) s to substantiate er his kap sate other; anoppi:

lous ii h less numerot

their flowers than entom ophi ilous i li

explains why in cold countries where the generation of insects is opposed by the cli-

mate, the whole of = vegetation i is compose mni v Aer and gregarious plants

(firs, birches, Grami 4 erefore devii i onotonous and

poor in form; while in warm countr rie’ where m piee of insects abound, vegetation is

most rich in diversity of forms and therefore composed of species not gregarious but

ilous

t The genus Plantajo furnished me a most interesting subject of stady, since x ex-

amining some of it how by g

can change to an entomophilou

Plantago b as far as f could observe, develops i in three forms. One of these

as a t with which are quite broad and tre

ble in the wind, ikabit niondiowe mai is exclusively anemophilous, as I have never

seen it visited ‘byt insects. p

in the first. t il I saw, how wever, occasi ionally a a spe-

cies of Halictus light upon its spikes and ty to gather the pollen; but the structure of

` the flower is so ill-adapted to such a purpose that the greater part of the pollen fell

to the earth h without being of use either to the insect or ‘the plant. The third form is of

small size. t, and the filaments shorter than

in the others. In the he pastures 1 upon th je Ajpeniitnies of Chiavari I saw a great number of

boss fiying diligently from one spike to ya ome pollen with perfect success

p e Oran the plants. There

is, therefore, a form of Plant fectl t E

mophilous forms, and equally apani o of f veing! fecundated by the wind or bees.

Now if we suppose to become rigid and co. colored, the pollen

unctuous and sticky, and the proline to Yoon" their special tremulousness, we erar

witness the formation of an entomophilous from an anemophilous species. Eeay

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 18

276 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

we blow upon one of its mature catkins, we see at once small

clouds of pollen emitted and carried away, and if immediately

after we examine the surrounding stigmas we find very few which

have not some granules of pollen attached to them. In this exam-

ple, as a condition of the easy dispersion of the pollen by means

of the wind, we have the excellent form of inflorescence of the

male flowers arranged in catkins freely suspended in the air, and,

as a condition of an inevitable intercourse between individuals, we

find a separation of the sexes, which is a quite general phenomenon

in anemophilous flowers. In other cases, for example in the Plan-

taginaceæ, the parts shaken by the wind are the anthers which

hang suspended from long and very weak filaments, and the inter-

course between individuals is obtained not by a separation of the

sexes, but by a difference of time in the development of the sexual

organs. In these plants, while the anthers are yet immature and

enclosed within the floral envelope, the stigmas, perfectly mature,

have already appeared in the form of long, plumose stalks; and

only when the stigmas have passed maturity do the anthers ap-

pear. Such are the principal characteristic differences of anemo-

philous flowers.

The flowers fecundated by the intervention of insects are far

more highly differentiated in the disposition of their parts. Yet

here, too, some general conditions necessary to secure the visits of

insects, and the transfer of pollen by their means can easily be

determined. And in the first place, it is necessary that the insects

should be able to distinguish such flowers at a distance. Now this

can only obtain in three ways, either by means of the colors, or

the odors, or both colors and odors at the same time. And this @

priori deduction from the Darwinian doctrine is in harmony with

„the facts ; for entomophilous flowers are either colored, or odorous,

or colored and odorous at the same time. In like manner, odors

and colors are œ priori perfectly useless to anemophilous flowers,

or those fecundated by the wind, and are not, therefore, properties

which can be fixed by natural selection. With this, too, the real-

ity corresponds perfectly, for anemophilous flowers have neither

colors nor odors.

. ‘what we here merely suppose, takes Place in reality. ‘The Plantago media is a pict

which has

ulousness of the anthers is lessened, the pollen has lost its anpami and the pianti is

normally visited by 2: s terrestris, as I ascertained in the mountains above men-

tioned.

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. . Sn

A second condition which is absolutely necessary to obtain a

regular and indefectible visit of insects is, that the flowers furnish

them some substance which is agreeable and of use to them. In

the more simple cases, for example in Anemone and Clematis,* such

a substance is the pollen which the insects feed upon, or gather as

food for their larvæ. In other cases it is not only the pollen whiċh

is presented to them, but also honey, as in the Ranunculi, the Ros-

aceæ and many other plants. In still other cases the stamens

withdraw themselves more or less from the depredatorial action of

insects which then take from the flowers only honey. This takes

place in the genera Salvia, Pedicularis, and Iris. ¢

* Not all the Anemoneæ nor all the Cl ria, hor-

ensis, pavoni emorosa, and Hepatica are without nectaries, or to

so, but in A. probably in all the forms of the subgenus Pulsatilla, the

r row of stamens show different ness of atrophy, and e ers more or les

abortive and changed nectaries. As to Clematis, it is true that ge of the spe-

cies are without honey, at least none a yet been found in pory b . Balearica

and esy: aaen, the more external filaments are transm ar into real

intrors ney-bearing receptacles, which Bombi and Sylocope n ae 0 in C.

integrifolia, although the va v stamens; which are hairy and , have n nec-

"I is very difficult to determine whether a flower has or has not honey. It is fre-

quently found where least Petia and sec songs by entirely different organs. I have

been frequently mistaken in the search. For instance, although I have had oceasion

for three or four years to study me flower of Cali ha palustris, it is only a ron time

since I discovered that from lags s.s = its carpels at trameudes through two

small rhomboidal space urface. The discovery was made nadi ob-

serving the deportment of a Halictus i in one of the flowers. I peior pee it not only

gathered the pollen g ; ards th

tre of the flower. Th en, instructed by i I fl

found that its nectaries secreted a very dense and white honey. Itis an incontestable

fact that, in this kind of search honey-bees show r sagacity sy we mae

The same, however, cannot be said of Diptera, which are in general of obtuse

gence. And, in fact, all se Sor wers beeen Ane destined an pe preferably visited os

impollinated by I lidæ, Syrphidæ

and open nec taries, easily discovered.

It is singular how hon secreted by the most diferent organs. Thus, in the sin-

gle pone pen of the Ranuneulacew the honey is secreted, 1, by ~ reddish margins of the

e Pwonie ; 2, by the petals in Ranun s Mygsurns, Trollius,

Fx ily sala Nigella, Delphinium, Aconitum, Coptis; 3, by the abortive an-

thers in Anemone pratensis; 4, by the filament s in some Clematiden; 5, by the carpels

= ba n gentis Caltha. th example of all

a ti

ptis sepals rp 0 and carpels i

secreting honey. for the advan tage of in

fThis does not Lae with a SAY, observations, _ Our species of Salvia are visited

almost exclusively by bees. ey h

to suck. th Pg i ge gi a of a onions eae eee the

pollen.upon their backs. Now the honey bees and Bombi collect this pollen carefully,

with their legs time to time. The is.

have frequently i Bombus (I EET B. hortorum or terres-

) and Xyloc entering one of the three mouths of the flowers of this

plant, and covering its back with pollen; after visiting two or three flowers it would

278 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

In much rarer instances, insects seek in the flowers neither pollen

nor honey, but a different substance. Some Coleoptera which are

of comparatively little importance in the fecundation of flowers,

suck the tissues of the floral organs. In the case of a small orchid

from Brazil, according to my brother Fritz, the lip becomes filled

with a kind of flour. In other Brazilian flowers there are fleshy

excrescences which the insects visiting those flowers gnaw.* A

rest ~ short time in order to brush itself with its legs and collect vod Dn, a accu-

mula mes ib Amirabl hani of Ped-

icularin by means of which bees in thrusting the proboscis cae otk shies rous

areas ape cause all the pollen to fall upon their backs, which without doubt they

ber with great diligence.

s the Sewers in mnortion:; far from having dispositions tending to Ea pol

r abundance. Nor are the flowers of Salvia, Pedicularis and Iris alone in t this, , bu

almost all those belonging to the ishinte or papilionaceous types, , which are ¢thatacter:

ae + L

by! g pendent.

The flowers o I part and the pollen-

food o that insects visiting such flowers get the saline upon their backs.

To this type belon ng Fa ll the plants which rum næus pirani er us, that is to

say, act all the Labiatz, a dorsi æ, Acanthacex, Lobeliac

e flowers of the papilionaceo s type “have re yout ition “a es ‘tool curiously in-

verted; for we pon is ai paar lower put ana tap honey at the upper, so that insects

e back with pollen, A large me 4

sa sae arg of this type, which in also ital = some Polygale, Fumari

initia vntis among IL nie -

ae =

Tn pont be the labiate type the anthers are guarded above wd one or more petals

like a helmet; in those of the papilionaceous type they are guarded below by

one or more ‘petals onset like a keel. mina (avan which is very excusable, comes

nthers

which instead « of keeping pollen from ‘insects rather favors giving them the whole.

And what iy the purpose of this lagen ? eis is ‘ey very important one of protecting

e upon t this I think i it worth amon A pass we — the fact that the ered

of the bono and papilionaceous types are, at least in desig

bees, flies g too í stupid to discover where the ninio and honey are, and ses Lepi-

al),

and thus contribute to cross fecundation. These plants, therefore, belong to aki nu-

merous- class which I call melittophilous

*In the flowers of Serapias there is a large, dark-purple protuberance, which I ¢

jecture is designed to © be attacked by some insect specially active in fecundating this

plant. But ine eastern Liguria, w where this plant and Ss. }. cordigera aboun d, I never me

or stigmas fecun undated. ‘But my friend Luigi Ricca, the distinguished botanist, suc-

ceeded in in surprising a bee on S. th its head loaded

len-masses; but he did not notice whether it gnawed the aas sase r not

One of the , Iilictum religiosum, as I recently observed, p s in the

centre of its Doper a group of f very juicy - erased papillæ, which ‘don p

have seen C. aurata, stictaca and others eagerly licking the stigmatic pe re aa

matic papillæ of "Magnolia grandiflora, of which they are the real and peculiar fecun-

In the same way the Ceteniæ, which are the normal fecundators of Peonia montana,

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 279

small bee, formerly noticed by Réaumur, the Anthocopa papaveris,

cuts from the flower of the wild poppy pieces of the petal for

lining the walls of its cells.

A third condition is a suitable conformation of the pollen gran-

ules and the stigmas. The pollen should be able to attach itself

to the bodies of insects, and the stigmas should be able to detach

it therefrom.

This affixing the pollen to the bodies of insects could not occur

except by means of a spinose surface of the pollen granules, as is

the case in the genera Malva and Taraxacum, or a light viscous

coating as in most plants: or unless, as in the Orchidacem and the

Asclepiadacer, there is a singular mechanism which attaches

to the bodies of the insects the entire mass of pollen contained in

the anther-lobes. Hence we see why we should not expect to find

in entomophilous flowers the dry and smooth pollen of the anem-

ophilous.*

Instead of plumose stigmas, fitted to collect pollen diffused in

the air, and appropriate to anemophilous plants, we find the stig-

mas of entomophilous flowers smooth or papillose, but ee

more or less visci P

All the many differences’ in colors, odors, pollen and honey, i

in the structure of the pollen and the stigmas, which characterize

entomophilous flowers, can be explained with entire ease if we

think how infinitely varied is the mode in which the numerous pha-

lanx of anthophilous insects can transfer pollen from one

to another. Therefore we should not expect to find perfection

reached in this or that individual flower, for we see that different

plants, in their relations with insects occupy different grades of

perfection, which is in entire accord with the Darwinian doc-

apparently suck by preference the red, fleshy disk ( me cricre md nature of which

is som — in Controversy) which encloses its carpe

*S is found pollen per-

fectly smooth, pulverulent, and light. But kah these cases it is easy to acconnt for the

phenomenon

~ genera Borago, Cyclamen, Galanthus, eto. The flowers os nd and the connivent

The bees i and

a ere it, sprinkle the breast t with pollen. It is clear that if the pollen had not been

h and pulvyerulent, its discharge an not have been effected and the flora!

pra in question would be of no

For the same reason the pollen o f Rhinanthus is pav dry, as i it

has to be scattered upon the backs of bees.

Lik i and the genera Solanum,

Casali, Erica and —

others, the pulverosity ¢ of the pollen is in evident relation with the dehiscence of ns

anthers, having pores at their summits.

280 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

trine. It has not yet been satisfactorily shown whether or not

there is any plant subject to a perennial self fecundation (selbst

befruchtung), that is to say, any plant with hermaphrodite flowers

where the stigmas are constantly and exclusively fecundated by

their own anthers. This seems the most simple case, and was

probably at first general.*

However it may be with many plants, in the case of the Ranun-

culaceze, Papaveraceze and Cruciferse, the visits of insects effect

with greater facility the impollination of the stigmas with the

pollen of their own flowers (homoclinous or homogamous impollina-

tion) than the transfer of pollen from one flower to another (hete-

roclinous impollination).

Among primordial and homogamous plants every slightest va-

riation which might open a way to the possibility of the transfer

of pollen constituted a signal advantage; and therefore the vari-

ations of color, secretions of honey and viscosity of pollen, became

fixed in the flower by natural selection. In other and more nu-

merous cases to these simple dispositions others more complicated

were added, and of such a nature as not only to favor the eventu-

ality of heteroclinous fecundation, but render it inevitable and

necessary. The sexes, for example, began to separate themselves

as individuals or distinct flowers, as in the genus Salix and the

* Charles D i the first t jecture that primordial plants wore essentially

h Į hradit li d that dicli were later and had deyeloped

- unisexual flowers in obedience to the grand principle e of the division of physiological

labor. Frederic Hildebrand wane Geschlichter-Vertheilun g bei den Pflanzen. Lips.

ence gi ight to my argu-

ment, but as it is not a suitable place to develop it here, I ion only mention that the

families of plants received as primordial instance, t phe ying Cycadex, and

Amentacee are unisexual and a anemophilon PEN r excelle: Aa while those which have

experienced PTENT evolution. and are. more perfect, tor rogar ance, ry ‘Banunciilacee,

Leguminose, g e eminently hermaphrodite

and entomophil

Diceci oan and n morenoi plants form the primordial group (essentially anemophi-

lous); anem-

aiia ‘and atori, and from these again the hermaphrodite plants (essen-

ny entomophilo

A Raxmemises with palcontological data; but this important PONES T re-

f facts and argumen)

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 281

Cucurbitacese. Here it is obvious that the transfer of pollen by

means of insects is rendered absolutely indispensable. In other

plants, as in Cerastium arvense, the Umbelliferæ and Composite,

although both sexes are united in the same flower, yet they are

not developed contemporaneously ; wherefore it is equally neces-

sary for insects to transfer the pollen from one flower to another.

Finally in many other plants the flowers are formed and disposed

in such a way that the transfer of pollen by the agency of insects

is greatly favored and frequently even rendered necessary

From among the great number of floral arrangements which

render heteroclinous impollination necessary, and which have been

brought to light by the researches of Darwin, Hildebrand, Delpino

and my brother Fritz, I will mention two which not long since

ppeared sufficiently enigmatical, which enigma, however, has

recently been solved by direct observation of the indi ting

insects; I mean the floral arrangements of the Orchis of our

meadows, and Cypripedium Calceolus.

Orchis Morio, mascula, latifolia and maculata have a spur in

their flowers in the cavity of which no honey is found. This

absence of honey is a phenomenon without parallel in the vegetable

kingdom. Sprengel on that account called them plants with false

nectaries (Scheinsaft pflanzen), imagining that the insects which

visit them are deceived by the odors, colors and form of the spur

into inserting their heads into the fauces of the flower with the

expectation of finding honey. He was never able, however, to

observe how the fecundating insects conduct themselves in the

flowers of these Orchises. He observed, indeed, frequently, masses

of pollen displaced and sticking upon the stigma, and occasionally

came upon dead flies in the flowers, whence he concluded that flies

are the fecundators of these plants. Nevertheless, the floral ar-

rangement of the Orchises remained somewhat mysterious to him.

“It is inconceivable to me,” he says on page 404 of his work,

“how it is that such flowers produce no honey, when, as it seems

to me, it would be much better for them to produce it with a view

to enticing flies to visit them repeatedly and fecundate them.”

It is clear that Sprengel himself was conscious of not having

completely deciphered the enigma. Darwin, too, as we read in his

work on the Orchids, never succeeded in surprising insects in the

field Orchis, although he had observed’ them diligently not less

than twenty years. Nevertheless, he proceeds to expose in detail

282 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

the process of their fecundation, because his theory of natural

‘selection, according to which only useful qualities can be fixed and

preserved in living things, placed him in a condition to infer from

simple inspection of the flowers, the details of the fecundative

process.

As far as concerns the Orchis of our fields, Darwin had come

to the conclusion that the insects visiting them might suck

the honey enclosed between the inner and outer membranes of the

spur, piercing the latter with their proboscis ; that such an opera-

tion required the precise time necessary for the viscous stalks

of the pollen-masses to attach themselves firmly upon the heads of

the insects; and that the time occupied by the pollen-masses

securely attached to the insects in becoming depressed upon their

stalk. so as to be able to rub against the stigma, corresponds

nearly to the time employed by the insects in visiting one plant

and passing to another. In this way, intercourse between two

individuals would necessarily take place.

However, when we consider the immense number of such Orchids

in the meadows, and reflect that insects have to perform several

. Operations in order to fecundate them, it seems strange that they

should never havé been surprised at work by any one. Fortu-

nately, I am able to fill up this gap and at the same time fully

confirm Darwin’s conclusions.

Towards the close of last spring I had taken a good many Bombi

and some honey bees with several masses of pollen upon their

heads, and I saw a Bombus sylvarum fly to the flowers of Orchis

Morio, stick its proboscis into the spur and fly away with pollina-

ria upon its head. On another occasion, I saw at a distance a

Bombus lapidarius fly to the flowers of Orchis latifolia ; and I also

saw a dipterous insect, Volucella bombylans, with the pollen-masses

of Orchis maculata upon its head. However, during the spring I

was not able to observe these insects closely enough to note exact-

_ ly their movements and deportment.

But subsequently, on the sixth of this month (May, 1869) upon

the heights of Stromberg, very abundant in Orchis, both I and

my son Hermann were enabled with ease, and close at hand,

to observe many Bombi at work. At a place full of Orchis mascula

we saw a Bombus which appeared to be B. terrestris fly to the low-

ermost flower of a spike of this Orchis. It inserted its head into

the flower, remaining about four seconds, and then withdrew it with

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. A 283

two pollen-masses attached. Ascending from the bottom towards

the top, it visited the second and third flowers of the same spike.

After withdrawing its head from the third flower, it stopped a

short time and endeavored to brush off the pollen-masses with its

legs, but without success. It then continued its visit, climbing up

the spike, and visited a fourth flower. At this point I tried to

catch it in the net, but failed, and it flew away. After standing a

short time we saw a Bombus hortorum visit three or four flowers

from base to summit of a spike of Orchis mascula, after which it»

flew to another individual of the same species, visiting its flowers

in the same way. Upon examining the stigmas of this second

individual we found pollen scattered upon them, and the anther

lobes emptied of their pollen-masses. In the space of about two

hours, which we spent in observing this fecundation of Orchis mas-

cula, we noted two visits of Bombus lapidarius and one Psithyrus

campestris. The Bombus lapidarius did not remain-in the flowers —

longer than from two to three seconds. We captured the Psithyrus

and one Bombus lapidarius. Both.had a quantity of pollen-masses

upon their heads, some of which were already depressed upon their

respective stalks, and therefore in a condition to rub against and

fecundate the stigmas, while others were yet erect and therefore not

in a condition to effect fecundation. Of ninety-seven bees collected

by us in this excursion, thirty-two had pollen-masses stuck upon

their heads. Sometimes we observed that the bees succeeded in

freeing themselves from some of the pollen-masses, either by tear-

ing them off with their mandibles or brushing them off with their

fore-legs. Possibly, it is in this way that sometimes in the flowers

of Orchis, pollen-masses are found in greater or less proximity to

the stigma, out of place and, as it were, wasted.

At least a good third, then, of the bees collected on the heights

of Stromberg were engaged in the fecundation of Orchises, and

we can obtain an approximate measure of their activity by the

_ following figures. At seven o’clock, A. M., in a meadow contain-

ing several thousand individuals of Orchis mascula, I collected

ten spikes which had one hundred and seyen open flowers, only

three of which had the stigma smeared with pollen, and one alone

was without pollen-masses. Towards five o "clock, . F: M., I collected

with pollen, two of which still preserved the pollen-masses in

284 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

place while the remaining twelve no longer had any. Two had a

couple of pollen-masses stuck upon the edge of the stigma, and

three were without any pollen-masses at all though the stigma was

devoid of pollen. Thus at seven o’clock in the morning the fecun-

dated flowers were in the ratio of two and one-half to one hundred,

and at five o’clock in the evening the ratio had reached fourteen

to one hundred.

Thus the conclusions of Darwin are fully confirmed by my ob-

servations. The bees must seek something in the spur of the flow-

er or else they would not stop to visit them repeatedly. Since

the honey is not free in the interior of the spur but is contained

between its inner and outer membranes, the insects have to pierce

this latter, which is very delicate and cannot offer the least difficul-

ty.* Direct observation has shown that a stay of three or four sec-

” die fi would lead me to different seoda

from those of Darwin and “Mill ler. In the ac f the Italia: wormen of Natural Sci-

ences of Milan (vol. 12, 1869, pt 129) I said; “ a asserted deficiency ve feenndaton,

together with the phenomenon of the absence of honey in m any spec f Orchis

i ave - ERER development of Sani il rie apne; formerly honey beating a

forms and more

w dry, p

less near extinct

There is he ere - a manifest wayne of imperfection or rather, ee degeneration,

which are very obvious if we compare t anty number of

capsules in orchids, with the p thors im neva of ‘Spiranthes autumnalis, Loro-

t flui

g Or rchids

and Se, eet ae

the i

a secretion of nectar between the inner and

outer ERA of the spur. pow, ip all my observation, I never could see this

honey. I indeed saw frequently $ f the spur is meartig

lar, but when examined by the e found that there is absolutely no trace of

that glandulose tissue which is a constant characteristic of nectar-producing surfaces.

Besides, reasons deduced from how analogy are against such a condition of things.

Gymnadenia and Platanthera, w which are agan rated to them, have a ner spine

analogous to that of the Orchids, y they

ular hypodermis, but transudes in a n

I willingly admit ar some liquid i frequently mit panis in such pores. In the ves-

cicular parts of plants, e. g., in the s of the i petals of Dielytra, in the

bladdery fruits of Cation Ves me ee ug gets, of fiqnid a re found, but these are

only won be of tra népiration, or eae Hmbh; but never honey. It may happen that

this lymph, which was found in abundance by Darwin in Orchis pyramidalis alone,

ith $ 8 bosci

doptera. But on the whole it seems impro) vle pis me that a porta altho

orem yet not homey Demme, of Orchis is morio, latifolia, maculata, etc., aT siai

t bees es, according to the positive observations of Miiller, frequent and fecundate

i ‘seus of Orchis. This fact signifies, according to my view, that they resort to

to co

loaded with bundles + payee: they are soon freed by their PRENE from t

noyance they experie:

Sprengel calls the ere of Orohis a false nectary. Although in some plants I have

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 285

onds is sufficient to stick the pollen-masses firmly upon the heads

of the insects, and any one can easily convince himself of the

fact by introducing into the flower a sharpened pencil, and holding

it for three or four seconds when, upon withdrawing it, pollen-

masses will be found adhering to it. It will also be found that in

about forty seconds after drawing it out, these masses will have

completed that movement of declination by virtue of which they

can come in contact with the stigma. Now, as a bee, from what

we observed, does not remain on a given spike longer than twenty

or twenty-two seconds, it is clear that it cannot fecundate it with

its own pollen, but only with that of spikes previously visited.

On the 11th of May, 1869, in the neighborhood of Lippstadt

near Overhagen, I repeatedly saw bees effecting the fecundation

of Orchis latifolia, but I observed nothing new, or in any way diff-

erent from what I ia in the case of Orchis mascula.

Towards the close of last year I published in the acts of this

Society an observation made in May, 1867, upon the fecundation

of Cypripedium, which was in many respects incomplete because

made under unpropitious circumstances, although I succeeded with

the aid of the Darwinian theory, in completely explaining the part

the different floral organs play in securing the fecundative process.

But on the 16th of May, 1868, in the same locality, I was able to

make a greater number of observations, and confirm all my con-

clusions. This place which was of limited extent had only six

flowers of Cypripedium. Passing and repassing in the examina-

tion of the slipper-like flowers peculiar to this plant, I found in

one of them, which half a minute before was empty, an Andrena

pratensis which by its violent agitation could be perceived at the

distance of several feet. Visibly disquieted by its imprisonment

it tried at least twenty times to climb up the walls of the slipper,

but these are so contorted, and of such a shape, that after every

attempt the Andrena slipped back again into the flower. Finally,

it retired to the base of the flower and pushed its head into one of

the two small apertures there; but this being too narrow, it at-

tempted to scale the walls anew, and not succeeding, ran back

come upon organs or parts of organs, Novae really merit this a ae it does not

seem to me applicable here. I ascri to Orchids an illusory spur, once

me ae but now now dry, and I eink th that is the better view. It is in favor of thi this

+ ee EA

and ofer an incredibly small eshte, of per em pollen-masses and fecundated

ovar:

286 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

again to the small aperture, and then again climbed up with no

‘better success than before. Then, after a short pause, it ran with

greater impetus to one of the small apertures (to the left) and

using all its strength, at length succeeded in pressing down the

lip and pushing its head, thorax, fore legs, and finally its whole

body through this aperture, and so was again at liberty. In this

passage, its right shoulder rubbed against the anther overhang-

ing the aperture and carried away a good deal of the pollen.

The flower of Cypripedium, then, must be considered as a trap

for Andrenas which enter it, allured by a sweet exhalation, and the

minute drops of honey exuding from the apices of certain hairs in

the lip. If an Andrena visits this snare during the warmer hours

of the day, that is to say, when it possesses its maximum vital

energy, it easily succeeds after a few minutes in freeing itself

from its prison, but not without first getting some pollen upon its

back which will fecundate the stigma of the next flower it visits.

But if it is caught in the cool of the evening, it must perforce

make up its mind to take lodgings there for the night, and be con-

tent to escape from its unwelcome quarters during the warm hours

of the next day.*

If small Andrenas falling into this trap have not strength enough

to push aside the lip so as to escape through the small apertures,

*The structure of the flowers of yaiany Tetel to the mode in which pro

miscuous intercourse is effected b ns of insects, has been studied, in order of

i in .M pag

rtai sects wh

holes of the sac, became covered with pollen which was then communicated to the

Gra m after, from an examination of some American ine concluded s

Prik iana was effected by

leaving it covered with pollen by the small ones.

In 1866 I examined some exotic Cypripedia in Florence, and, though ignorant of

Gray’s observations, reached the same conclusion (On the arrangements for fecund.

of anthoc., plants 1867, p. 20, 22

The next ae ar E. Müller (Beobacht. an West fiilisch. Orchidera p.1-6), sean

the dh of m Conjectures, observing and a 03 mode of action of certai

andrenas in q f C.

In 1868 and 1869, having had occasion to study anew ait ow wers of some foreign Cy-

pripedia (C. barbatum and others), I observed the manner in which large flies are

imprisoned in them. It should be noted that not unfrequently in the Boboli botani

gardens the ovaries of Cypripedia ripen, without Sout, in aaa ake of the visits

y Darwin (notes on the sass of Orchids, 1869, p. 16 and 17) cited the

y, myself, and Müller, fully admitting the re-

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 287

they die with hunger; and on the 17th of May, of this year (1869)

I saw two dead individuals of Andrena parvula in the flowers of

Cypripedium. `

I here leave the first part of my subject, the application of the

Darwinian doctrine to flowers, and pass to the second, which is

the application of the same doctrine to the insects which visit the

flowers.

As flowers are accommodated to the visits of insects, and as the

meaning of the structure of flowers can only be comprehended by

thoroughly knowing their entomological relations, so the insects

which derive nutriment from flowers are accommodated to them,

and the structure of their bodies cannot be well understood except

in the relation of adaptation to flowers. And since, according to

the Darwinian doctrine, the adaptations of insects to floral food

can only be considered as characteristics slowly acquired by heredi-

tary descent, we are necessarily led to distinguish inferior or `

primitive, and superior or posthumous forms. We are. thus led to

some indications of a genealogical tree of the insects which visit

flowers.

These insects belong principally to three orders, the Hymenop-

tera, Diptera and Lepidoptera. The incentives, however, which

urge them to visit flowers are different for each. The Lepidoptera

suck honey exclusively; the Diptera devour pollen and are in

the habit of sucking not only honey, but any sort of liquid; and,

finally, the Hymenoptera which visit flowers, that is, bees, feed ex-

clusively on honey and pollen, not-only in their perfect state, but

also as larvee, so that they suck honey, eat pollen, and collect both

for their young.

Of the three orders cited, that of Lepidoptera is the only one

which is composed of families all of which are adapted to floral

food, although only in the perfect state. Hence, it is that their

buccal organs have a very uniform structure. The labrum and

mandibles are entirely atrophied ;* the maxille are transformed

into two tubular [nearly], cylindrical and spirally twisted fila-

ments which perform the function of a sucking tube; and at the

base of these filaments are two rudimentary palpi. The inferior

lip or labium is atrophied, and as a compensation its palpi are

ie developed.

*Their rudiments are ae sige ear peers certain silk-worm moths, in which the

Geny is eonia] atrophied. —

288 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

If we turn from those Lepidoptera, which, endowed with a long

proboscis, hover without alighting, and suck honey from the bot-

tom of flowers with the longest tubes, and regard those which

are of an inferior grade of adaptation, we find all possible grada-

tions from a long proboscis to a rudimentary one, where the buc-

cal parts are yet recognizable under the form of small fleshy

papille equally unsuited either to bite or suck. According to the

Darwinian doctrine, all Lepidoptera are derived from a single

stock, and their characteristic spiral proboscis must have been

formed gradually by slight and innumerable variations, which in

the struggle for existence, were advantageous to those individuals

in which they appeared, and were, therefore, able to accumulate

and become fixed in their posterity in accordance with the laws of

hereditary transmission. Therefore, as a necessary consequence

of this doctrine, we should expect to find that the order Lepidop-

tera offers in its lowest stage this characteristic of a spiral pro-

boscis, and -possesses those fleshy protuberances or rudimentary

buccal organs which we see to-day possessed by not a few of its

representatives. This conjecture, strictly deduced from the Dar-

winian doctrine, accords wonderfully with the opinion of entomol-

ogists of great authority, who admit that there is the closest af-

finity between the Phryganeidz and Lepidoptera; and the Phry-

ganeidz have the buccal organs precisely in that rudimentary State

which we should pre-suppose appropriate to the primordial race or

type of Lepidoptera. And, further, to consider this affinity of the

Phryganeide with butterflies, Réaumur deduced it from general

considerations upon the analogies of the insects; De Geer from

the analogous form of the wings, and from the internal struc-

ture of the larvee ; Kirby from analogies in the buccal organs, and

Westwood from the habits of the case-bearing larve of the genera

Psyche and Tinea, from the analogous covering of the wings

in the Phryganeide and some Papilios, and from the tibiæ analo-

gously spinose in the two groups.

The expression, ‘‘ close affinity,” employed by these entomolo-

gists is changed and resolved, in the language of the Darwinian

doctrine, into close relationship, and signifies that both Lepidoptera

and Phryganeide proceed from a single stock, which, both in the

internal structure of its larvee.and their habit of dragging a sheath

about with them, in the venation and covering of the wings, the

spinose character of the tibiæ, the buccal organs reduced to fleshy

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 289

protuberances, and in the long antennæ, would quite closely re-

semble the Phryganeide of to-day. The posterity of this stock

separated into two parts. One of these continuing to live either

in, or near the water, diverged little from the primitive cus-

toms, habits and forms, and came to constitute the group of Phry-

ganeidæ. The other accustomed itself to suck the honey of flow-

ers, withdrew itself little by little from the water, and, finding

its new diet entirely acceptable, adapted itself to it completely,

modifying the buccal organs, step by step, by successive variations

always more convenient and more in harmony with its new mode

of life, until in this way it gradually acquired a proboscis suffi-

ciently long and dexterous to suck honey. It moreover, greatly

developed its esthetic sense of colors, at first in correspondence

with the lively coloring of the flowers, and then in reference to

sexual election. As soon as the hairy system of wings and

y began to vary, which can happen the more easily the

greater the surface of the hairs themselves becomes, until their

complete conversion into variously tinted scales, the females

would prefer those males which were adorned with the liveliest

colors, and, vice versa, the males would select the most brilliantly

adorned females.*

* The relations of one and odors which occur between flowers np Pesala fertilizers,

may to many appear a chimerical product of the imagination. But a along series

of vi aioe I m sleet that; however unexpected and Marlee they may be,

ey a 4

It is creat by many | that tł theti bel oth-

ing is more oegi Toe MENE seg music ic alone, however much it has clay and

perfected in th

the senses of taste and smell man is, ioe a sii ingular coincidence, like bees and but-

rflies. Sweet things please our young not less,than bees, and the ancient poets des

ignated with the same word, non s the food o f the gods and the honey of bees. By

1 butterflies allure us too,

and those which repel us repel bees. The greveolent flower of rue, which is so exces-

‘sively disagreeable s us, although visited by flies, repels bees and Lepidoptera al-

pastel it produces honey.

As to the æ tol sense of Pci and form, then, if we speak the plain truth, man

is inferior to many living thin;

Passing in review the most beautiful rege ond those adorned with the most attrac-

tive colors, weh their fertilizers, that is, birds,

flies, humming birds, Nectarine, lepidoptera, Bombylii, Syrphida and — 1

The most beautiful forms and b

the humming birds. They visit the paster t splendid and beautiful $ flowers on the

pein and the reason why moan atesearemt rs of the tropical zone do not enter our

limate is certainly correlative da an aaa Ae exclude from temperate and cold

countries the humming birds and gorgeous lepidoptera which are peculiar to warm

regions.

But not all flowers are beautiful; there are some which have livid and repulsive

290 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

As to flies, it has: been until now generally admitted that they

are exclusively destined to fluid nutriment. But in the summer of

1867, I was somewhat surprised while observing in my garden an

Eristalis tenax upon a flower of Gnothera media, to discover that

it was eating the pollen. Resting upon its middle and hind legs, it

thrust out its fleshy proboscis like an arm, seized a morsel of

pollen with the two valves which terminate the proboscis, and tore

it away from the anther. Since the pollen granules of Ginothera

are tied together by elastic threads, that bit of pollen torn from

the anther was attached to others by a band of threads, and the

insect, in order to free its mouth from that inconvenient appen-

dage began to use its fore-legs. Raising both together towards its

mouth, it seized between them the cordon of threads, and rapidly

rubbing them one against the other, much as we do in washing

our hands, succeeded in cutting the threads and clearing them

from its mouth and legs. Then it raised them again, and seized

the two valves of the proboscis, thoroughly cleaning them of

pollen, and the threads yet adhering to it; and in about three

seconds this work of cleaning. was complete. At the same time

the valves of the proboscis, by rubbing against each other, had

masticated the morsel of pollen, and had conveyed the single

granules into the channel of the labium, whence they were pushed

into the mouth. It had hardly finished cleaning its proboscis and

eating the first mouthful of pollen, when it seized another portion

and repeated each and all the operations I have described. It was

so intent upon its meal, that I was able to observe it in the closest

proximity without its manifesting the slightest fear.

The quantity of pollen which an Eristalis can devour in this

way is surprising. Upon making a section of one and examining

colors. Nor do all flowers - a RENAA odor, since some have a fetid smell, or one

iké that of decaying animal matter.

All the flowers bogre soe this (those, e. g., of Arum, Dracanculus, of the Stapeliz,

of some American Aristolochiz, of the Rafflesiz, Saprie, Brugmansiz, Sapranthus,

etc.) have without ae livid colors, and, like the skins of some serpents, are

e Ceropegiæ, one Aristolochia, saree and Ambrosinia Bassit, are

Pita eo paises by gnats (Phora, Ceratopogon, Cecydomya, Oscinis, ete.). All

these have a generally livid tint speckled or striped ay dark-purplish spots, and a

putrid odor, for the most part like that of urine.

These few instances suffice to give an idea of. the wonderful ‘relations while occur

5 “o

Er E AE EERE ENR

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 291

` the stomach, it appeared very large and was full of a yellow sub-

stance which consisted of hundreds of thousands of pollen-grains.

T have had since then many opportunities to observe this eating of

pollen, not’ only in all the species of Eristalis, but also in the

genera Rhingia, Syrphus, Volucella and Scatophaga. This chew-

ing of pollen alternates with sucking honey if the flowers have

any, and I am of the opinion that the singular structure of the

proboscis of flies cannot be fully explained without taking into

account its double function of sucking honey and eating pollen.

In the Tipularize and also in those flies which do not eat pollen but

live exclusively upon juices, for instance, Bombylius, the two

valves of the proboscis serve no other purpose than to protect

and guide the sucking tubes, but in the flies which devour pollen

besides this function there is also that of grinding the pollen, for

which they have special adaptations, for the margins of the two

valves at the point of union are transversely dentate with fine and

parallel bands of chitine. Probably the greater or less distance

of these bands in different species is related to the different size of

the pollen upon which they feed.

Since the proboscis of the Tipulariz often possesses one simple

function and has in accordance with that a very simple organiza-

tion, we may consider these Tipulariz as the most ancient branch

of the stock from which Diptera are derived. A fact casually dis-

covered by me and of which I find no mention hitherto, seems to

me of great importance in the systematic disposition of this order.

In the spring of 1868, while engaged in examining the head of a

gnat, with a view to ascertain whether or not the valves of its

proboscis had the transverse bands of chitine, I was surprised to

discover that the proboscis and palpi were clothed with scales en-

tirely like those of butterflies.

I find no mention of this important fact in the special works

of Meigen and Schiner which are in my possession. Meigen

simply points out that in Culex, Anopheles, and Corethra, scaly

productions are observed on the venation of the wings, and he

figures some of them which, however, being quite narrow and

ae two sharp points, have no analogy with real lepidopterons

The gnat-scales observed by me and accurately

ae TD closely resemble the most characteristic lepidopterous

scales. They suddenly dilate from a short and narrow peduncle

to a large scutiform surface which is traversed longitudinally

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 19

3292 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

by a few parallel ridges between which, when more highly mag- °

nified, transverse wavy lines, very fine and numerous, are seen.

The only difference which these scales present compared with

those of butterflies is, that in the former the transverse lines are

not so fine, so regular, nor so regularly distributed over the whole

surface ; also these lines are entirely wanting upon the scales of

some species of Tipulariæ. Finally, while the real lepidopterous

scales are always deeply crenate at their truncated extremity, the

scales of gnats are not; and their truncated extremity terminates

in a very fine margin, from which the points of the longitudinal

ribs sometimes project.

eg Swe a

Lr oe ee

SS ae e

Scales of R species of Culex.

a, è, Suarga g rag veins of the

Í,

ce argins of aa wings.

a, a (23 ct (13 si

b, 0, HAREE proboseig ma palpi

OSE RE aia: f the second species of Culex.

These scales are partly i. and opaque, partly colored and transparent. It is in

the latter that the transverse striæ frequently appear. All the figures are magnified

400 diameters.

I have examined several species of gnats and have found the

proboscis, palpi, legs and abdomen clothed with scales of the same

sort, while the thorax and the veins of the wings had forms in-

termediate between hairs and scales. I observed this in a mag-

nificent Tipula from Brazil given to me by my brother Fritz.

Besides this it had as a particular ornament a long tassel of scales

upon its legs.

The presence of these scales upon the Tipulariz shows that

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 293

there is a close relationship between them and Lepidoptera, a rela-

tionship which is further attested by the lepidopterous appearance

of the genus Psychoda, the tipulaceous habits of Pterophorus, the

similar venation of the wings in many Tipulariz (Limnobia, Cten-

ophora,) and the Phryganeide, the aquatic habitat of the larvae

of the Tipul, and, finally the circumstance that it is far easier to

deduce morphologically the proboscis of the Tipule from the buc-

cal ae of the Phyganeide than from those of any other order

of inse

dione according to my opinion, the stock or kindred com-

mon to the Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Phryganeide, in its manner

of life, and the structure of its body would be very closely allied to

the Phryganeidee of to-day, living in water in the form of sheath-

bearing larvee, and in the perfect state remaining in the vicinity of

the water. Its posterity divided at first into two branches, to wit,

the conservative one par excellence, of the Phryganeide, which con-

tinuing in the same mode of life as its ancestors, has undergone

very few variations ; and the branch of those insects which suck

the honey of flowers, which have gradually removed from their

aquatic abode, have developed by natural selection the sense of

colors, and acquired through sexual selection a squamose cover-

ing. This second branch again divided into two, one of which

accustomed itself to feed exclusively upon the honey of flowers

and produced Lepidoptera; while the other, less exclusive in its

tastes adapted itself to imbibe all sorts of fluids as well as to

pierce the more tender tissues, and produced the Tipulariz. One

part of these besides sucking different juices, grew accustomed to

eating pollen and thus little by little the proboscis of the Tipulæ

was transmuted by natural selection into that of flies equally well

adapted to suck honey or eat pollen.

The Hymenoptera which visit flowers, the bees, being given

exclusively to floral food not only in the perfect state but also

while larvæ, present the greatest possible variety of adaptation.

Starting from the mouth of the fossorial Hymenoptera adapted

only to bite and provided with a very short tongue, we arrive,

through numerous transitions, to the highly developed proboscis of

the Anthophore and Bombi which can extrude their tongue to a

length equal to that of their body, and then coiling it up, draw it

back again into its cavity so as to give free play to the action of

the mandibles. Furthermore, in different ways, according to the

294 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

different species, this or that part of the body has undergone

special adaptations so as to be able to collect pollen with greater

ease and in greater abundance. A sure criterion by which to com-

prehend these differences thoroughly as well as to estimate cor-

rectly the different grades of affinity between forms so varied, can

be given only by the Darwinian doctrine. But we have no space

_ to particularize.

We will conclude by discussing some objections which can be

urged against the explanations of facts, and against the general

principles advanced in this discourse.

It may be asked, what advantage can flowers and insects derive

from having elongated respectively the melliferous tube and the

proboscis instead of having them remain of a constant length? I

answer that in order to comprehend the advantage of this elonga-

tion, it is necessary to consider in one view the benefits and the

injuries which different tribes of insects bring to plants. The Lep-

idoptera are the only insects which, while aiding the plants by

transferring pollen from one flower to another, do not cause injury

by devouring the pollen. Therefore a plant which has modified its

flowers so as to exclude bees and flies while admitting Lepidop-

tera, has obtained a signal advantage.

Suppose a plant develops a floral tube longer than usual so that

the honey remains at a lower level; this variation will be an ad-

vantage for that tribe of insects which lives on honey alone and

can therefore adapt itself more diligently to this variation. The

advantage in this case is for the Lepidoptera and will last until the

proboscis of certain bees and flies equals that of the Lepidoptera.

When this equalization has been completed, a further elongation

of the floral tube will be useful to the plant, which will immediately

be followed by a corresponding elongation of the proboscis of the

Lepidoptera, and so on. In this way, by means of the rivalry be-

tween the Lepidoptera, bees, and flies, the fact that the Lepidoptera

do not consume pollen and can sooner adapt their proboscis to the

variations of the flowers than their rivals coéperating, a gradual

augmentation in the length of the tubes and spurs of flowers would

become established, followed by a proportional elongation of the

proboscis, concomitant in the Lepidoptera, later in bees and last of

all in flies. It may be well to give in this place the measure of the

longest proboscides of some of the Lepidoptera, bees and flies of

our country.

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS... 295

Among flies the proboscis of Bombylius discolor is 10 millime-

tres long ; that of Rhingia rostrata from 11 to 12 ™: ; among bees

that of Bombus hortorum is 21 ™™, and that of Anthophora pilipes

25™"; the proboscis of Sphinx Elpinor among the Lepidoptera is

from 20 to 24 ™: long, that of Sphinx pinastri from 28 to 32 ™™,

and that of Sphinx ligustri from 37 to 42 ™™ But the Lead

proboscis is that of Sphinx convolvuli which is from 70 to 80 ™:,

This exceptional size led me to infer that Sphinx convolvuli may

have acquired its long proboscis by competition with the flies and

bees with a long proboscis inhabiting warm climates. This con-

jecture is confirmed by information as to the geographical distri-

bution of Sphinx convolvuli afforded me by Dr. Speyer.

In order to eliminate the visits of bees and flies which prey

upon pollen and permit only those of Lepidoptera, a variation still

more advantageous than the elongation of the melliferous tube is

manifestly that of flowering at night. And this is precisely what

many plants do, which keep their flowers closed during the day and

open them in the evening when with the disappearance of the sun

the activity of bees and flies is entirely destroyed. It is in the

hours of the evening and night that the flowers of such plants by

the brilliancy of their colors and the pungency of their odors at-

tract sphinxes and other moths, showing in an eloquent way how

advantageous to themselves is the preference they show for

the visits of insects which are only useful to those of insects which

are at the same time useful and hurtful. But it will be said; why

cannot bees and flies as well as Lepidoptera adapt themselves part _

passu to the noctifloral variations of plants? It is not difficult to

see why. Lepidoptera feed only upon honey, and hence are obliged

to follow pari passu the variations of the plants which nourish them

with analogous variations on their part. Flies, however, do not

live exclusively upon honey, but suck by instinct any sort of liquid,

and bees after collecting honey and pollen have to make compli-

cated manipulations in the hive. Whence it is plain why Lepidop-

tera only and not bees and flies as well, can acquire al

habits, and adapt themselves to night-flowering plants.*

* However ingenious and seductive may be the theory here developed by the author

to explain the genesis of evening or nocturnal flowers, so flowers with a long,

honar Verne tube, it nevertheless seems contradicted by a multitude of facts col-

and by argumen

The whole theory of the author reposes upon the fact that Lepidoptera do not feed

296 FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS.

There is yet a general objection which can be advanced against

the application of the Darwinian doctrine to flowers and insects.

Even conceding, it may be said, that this doctrine can be applied

to all the phenomena of the organized world, and that in many

points its a priori deductions are confirmed æ posteriori by obser-

vation, it does not follow from that that it should be preferred to

the teleological mode of view which explains every property of

organisms as created with a view to the nai of a given indi-

vidual or of other individuals as well.

upon the pollen, A am their visits are consequently of greater utility to plants than

those of bees and fl

If th vie theory is in harmony ith t th tł foll i 5 phemonena 1d ily be

ve .

t, th a p, Eoi . i 1

flowers, as contrasted with flowers fecundated by bees . les wanes onstantly m

fest a consi iderable saving in e pooni of pollen t us see if "og saving ‘alike

place in t examp ight-flowering aad Mirabilis jalapa and M.

Orta for every ovule to be fertiinéd offer not less than five anthers furnished with

numerous pollen-grains. nothera biennis, furnished with eight large anthers, offers

to the aiast of the Lepidoptera festoons of pollen, ee Fader part of which is of use

neither to the insects nor the plant. Cereus grandifloru s an excessively large num-

er of stamens and consequently of ara Siei a mean of these and other lepi-

ha moan of frapar flowers it must

f pol n-saving i m the r

r T

a ee ee a, ee ee +}

ta + or

Secondly, the flowers with long tubes, o fertil

kitas if the author’s theory is true, Rr constantly harbor the anthers within the

be so as to withdraw them from the depredation of bees and flies. Now this is pre-

rotrude beyond the tube, evidently to make bees and flies, as well as Lepidoptera, con-

tribute to the transfer of api pemi bas Siete whioh can be said er be a

lutely wanting to the flora of Europe, Į

dly, if the theory in question is k ants optero

philous would take, or would tend to me he isla ao over plants with exclave

melittophilous or myophilous flowers. But precisely the opposite of this is true, an

limiting myself uropean flora, while not more than from ten to twenty species ase

pearing ee (species of ct cage ma Calystegia, some Caryop hylla-

ceæ, and t pak em a myophilous species are numerous (almost all the

m ie , Aristolochiaceæ, pesee enir Celastrinex, etc.), and

most numerous o og ye are thes e which are prne melittophilous, that is, all the

Legumino yei greater partof the Labiatæ, Personatæ, Rorragineæ, Cynaroceph-

aie, Lactuee, o

d t the tl of See author of the harp of horem

philous flowers; eins ingenious, does n eem admissible. I am as profoundly

pursuaded as Erm. Miiller that both the e possession of long, honey-bearing ‘abel, and

the eas of flowering at night in plants, stand the Lepidoptera

and eg proboscis; beds not that the reason of this reciprocal adaptation only has to

eater or less P on of pollen on the part of the insects; since it

cg k be beste to gine Com

Decree opportune to state ae result of the studies I have made with a view to

el iiio he genesis of topidoptetóphlions f owers; but as this special theme is con-

nected with the ogy e theo mA e me oet = —— of anemophilous, ornithophilous,

iore o refer to my other writings, as there is

no space here to a Aa

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 297

Without stopping to mention that every teleological explana-

tion involves an absurdity inasmuch as it suppresses in the order

of the phenomena the bond between cause and effect, I will here

briefly adduce some facts which render the acceptance of the

doctrine of final causes impossible. I have already touched upon

the errors into which Sprengel fell in thinking that the arrange-

ments in flowers were so disposed for the benefit of insects. Nor

can a single example be adduced of a living being whose proper-

ties are advantageous to other species and not to its own.

The other supposition then, that every property of individuals

has been created for their well-being, in the greater number of in-

stances answers as well for the interpretation of phenomena as

the Darwinian system. But there are cases in which it does not

answer at all. The abortive stamens and the anthers without

pollen in some flowers of Glechoma, Thymus, and other polyga-

mous Labiate, the tibie of Apathus dilated like those of Bom-

bus, although the former do not collect pollen, the retrorse teeth

of the sting of bees which cause the death of those insects if

they use it, are a few examples drawn from an inexhaustible mine

of facts, all easily explained by the Darwinian doctrine, and in-

explicable by the teleological.

All the numerous instances where the functions and conditions

of life have been changed in such a way that many of the inher-

ited properties become of no use or even injurious, offer an insol-

uble difficulty to the teleological doctrine, while they are in full

harmony with the Darwinian theory.*

* I must here, as alw: If a tel vitalist. Now teleology and

vitalism, far from E ea aioe by the Darwinian doctrine, aa in it their most

solid support. What do teleology and vitalism mean? They mean that we believe

that there is in all living things an innate, specific principle, intelli ent, free and

teleological. This principle is the hidden cause of the variability of organized beings,

as well as the wonderful harmonies which have been established between one being

an other

man nis conscious of aginst: spg a determinate end for his actions

best means attaini Th

sophisms of terialists of the present da inst h I d against

the verdict of consci An is teleological and free, how can other living

t s, each in its pro sagt ng i alg aa il atlas him by a more or

Man and other living lags rans baras thar ors feo and are free because, if they

had not varied they fi ; if they had not been free, they could not

have varied. Liberty and li joined. The different worlds,

stones, and crystals obey ipa indeclinab le, mathematical laws. Therefore they do

not vary. They are n ot free because they do not vary, and do not vary because they

A NEW SPECIES OF ERYTHRONIUM.

BY PROFESSOR ASA GRAY.

ORDINARILY it is hardly worth while to make a separate article

for a single new species of plant, even when discovered in a dis-

trict in which a new flowering plant is unexpected. But the spe-

cies of Erythronium are so few, and the present one is so peculiar,

and its habitat so closely bordering the region included in my

Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, that I need

not apologize for bringing it at once to notice.

The specimens before me, accompanied by a colored drawing,

are just received from Miss S. P. Darlington (a daughter of the

late Dr. Darlington, long the Nestor of American botanists and

one of the best of men), and were collected at Faribault, Minne-

sota, by Mrs. Mary B. Hedges, the teacher of Botany in St.

Mary’s Hall, a school of which Miss Darlington is Principal.

The flower is much smaller than that of any other known spe-

cies, being barely half an inch long; and its color, a bright pink

or rose, like that of the European Æ. Dens-Canis, reflects the

meaning of the generic name (viz. red), which is lost to us in our

two familiar Adder-tongues, one with yellow, the other with white,

blossoms. The most singular peculiarity of the new species is

found in the way in which the bulb propagates. In E. Dens-Canis

new bulbs are produced directly from the side of the old one, on

which they are sessile, so that the plant as it multiplies forms

close clumps. In our E. Americanum long and slender offshoots,

or subterranean runners, proceed from the base of the parent bulb

and develop the new bulb at their distant apex. Our Western

albidum does not differ in this respect. In the new species an off-

shoot springs from the ascending slender stem, or subterranean

sheathed portion of the scape (which is commonly five or six inches

long), remote from the parent bulb, usually about mid-way be-

are not free. Invariability and necessity are inseparably united. Opposed to worlds,

crystals, and all inanimate matter, which is neither free nor variable, there appears 4

h and variable. Itis, then, perfectly logés to presuppose

in e last a principle peculiar to them and sui generis, the animistic principle, and

it is is entirely ilke ogical to deny it

PTEN MY T A to Darwinism and hath dAnetrines. illus-

, ’

MUS Sec LOW 5y

trating Faa J ti i ll ý mutually p t h other.

(298)

Fig. 74.

Erythronium propullans Gray.

(299)

300 REVIEWS.

tween it and the bases or apparent insertion of the pair of leaves:

this lateral offshoot grows downward, sometimes lengthening as

in the foregoing species, sometimes remaining short, and its apex

dilates into the new bulb.

This peculiarity was noticed by Mrs. Hedges, the discoverer of

this interesting plant, to whom great credit is due. Most lady

botanists are content with what appears above the surface ; but

she went to the root of the matter at once. I learn that E. albi-

dum abounds in the same locality. E. Americanum is also found

in the region, but is scarce.

It is not easy to find or frame a specific name which will clearly

express the most remarkable characteristic of this new species.

But I will venture to name it

ERYTHRONIUM PROPULLANS.—E. s scapo infra rms eos ama foliis oblongo-lan-

ceolatis acuminatis parum culatis ; neers lio r 0-purpureo (semipollicari), seg-

mentis acutis basi luteo tinctis omnino ap fai porai eg nec sulcatis);

antheris es as ; nie fere equabili ai, stigmate parvo vix tridentato;

ovulis in loculi

Scape bulbiferous from its sheathed portion below the developed leaves; these

chong lanceolate, acuminate, slightly mottled; perianth rose- -purple or pink (half an

inch long); the segments ac ute, all with a yellow spot but plane at the base, the inner

like ba ala gf eo of either groove or Rag -like appenda — i a little more

narrowed at base; anthers merely oblong; tyle hardly at all narrowed downward,

entire, the small stigma even barely three- fest ovules few 8) ik in each cell.

EXPLANATION oF Figure 74.

a. Flowering plant, just producing offset from the side of the slender stem 0

3. gar mach of a small plant out of flower, with slender, ania offset Sisi at

apex in ulb.

é tive part of a larger plant, with bulb formed without elongation of stalk.

REVIEWS.

GEOLOGICAL Survey or Inxivors. * — This splendid volume is a

fit successor to the three preceding, and in every way a credit to

the great state that has so liberally provided means for Mr. Wor-

, then to lay the results of his labors, and those of his efficient corps |

of assistants, before the world. ‘

ope SRW aM Re Aa LEVON Ne SNS A LR EAR

*Vol. iv. Geology and Palzontology. A.H. pipea Director. Imperial 8vo, pp-

508, 31 Plates. By authority of the State of Illinois, 187

REVIEWS. 301

The geological survey of Illinois was inaugurated by vote of

the Legislature in 1851, and was continued for several years with-

out any very important results having been made public. Soon

afterwards a strong opposition was made to the survey, but thanks

to the stand taken by the Hon. Richard Yates, at the time Govern-

or of the state, a bill discontinuing the survey was vetoed, and

in 1858, Mr. Worthen was appointed by Governor Bissell as State

Geologist, and from that date the survey has had the continued

and liberal support of enlightened legislators, Mr. Worthen being

thus enabled to furnish a series of volumes that will rank second

only to those of the New York survey, which has been contin-

ued for so many years, and has embraced the kindred departments

of Zoology and Botany. May we not hope that Illinois will

also continue her survey until not only her geology and palæ-

ontology are thoroughly reported on, but her Zoology and Botany

as well, and a State Museum established that will have within

its walls a complete representation of the Natural History of

the state. Alas that the building for such a museum was delayed

a moment after Mr. Worthen had called attention to its necessity

in his first report, for his fears have proved true, and the fine

museum of geology and palzontology which had been brought to-

gether by the survey has been, since the publication of the last

volume, subjected to the fate that sooner or later seems to be the

destiny of all museums not placed in fire proof buildings.

The first volume of this survey was published in 1866 and con-

tains a general account of the geology of the state.

The second volume, published in the same year, is devoted to

the paleontology, and has fifty plates on which are figured several

hundred species of fossils. Especially important is this volume

to the student of the fossil fishes and plants of our Coal Measures,

in which the strata in Illinois are most remarkably rich.

The third volume of the survey, published in 1868, contains a

continuation of the detailed geology of portions of the state, and

description of many more fossils, illustrated by twenty plates and

many cuts.

The fourth volume, published late in 1870, contains first a con-

tinuation of the special geology of thirty-three of the counties in

the state, by the Director of the survey and his assistants, Messrs.

Bannister, Bradley and Green; and secondly, the continuation of

the palzontology of the state, in two sections; first, the fishes by

302 REVIEWS.

Prof. J. S. Newberry and Mr. Worthen, second, the plants by Prof.

L. Lesquereux.

In the 2d volume of the survey, Messrs. Newberry and Worthen

described and figured one hundred and eighteen species of fossil

fishes, and in this present volume they add descriptions and figures

of thirty-two new species and four new genera, “ embracing some

of the most remarkable forms yet found in the Carboniferous Sys-

tem” while investigation is being continued on a mass’of speci-

mens that will probably “add at least fifty or sixty more species

to the list,” making a total of over two hundred species of fishes

from the Carboniferous System alone, “showing that the western

localities of Coal Measures and Lower Carboniferous limestone

strata, are far more productive in this interesting group of fossils

than any other portion of the earth’s surface hitherto explored.”

In Prof. Lesquereux’s report on the fossil plants, after describ-

ing the species that have been discovered since the publication of

the second volume of the survey, and giving a systematic table

of two hundred and fifty-six species of fossil plants from the Coal

Measures of Illinois, he states that the list of species “is more

than double that given in the second volume, and that of the re-

cently discovered species, seventy-nine are considered as new, and

forty, though known already from Europe, had not been recog-

nized before from our American Coal Measures.”

Prof. Lesquereux, in concluding his report on the plants, gives a

very interesting account of the ‘ Mode of Preservation of Vegeta-

ble Remains in our American Coal Measures” which is of such

general interest that we shall reprint it in full in the NATURALIST.

He also devotes a number of pages to “ The Flora of the Car-

boniferous Measures of Illinois, considered in some of its affin-

ities” and to “ The Stratigraphical and Geographical Distribution

of the Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures.”

The thirty-one plates illustrating the paleontological portion of

the volume are engraved in a very superior manner by the Wes-

tern Engraving Company, from drawings made by Prof. Lesque-

reux, Prof. Newberry and Mr. C. K. Worthen, and the whole exe-

cution of the volume is most creditable in all its departments.

From the letter of the Director of the survey, transmitting the

manuscript to the Governor for publication, we obtain the gratify-

ing intelligence that the manuscript for the fifth volume is ready

for the printer, and the plates for the engraver; and that the

REVIEWS. 303

materials for the sixth volume are being prepared for publication

as rapidly as possible. These two volumes will include the reports

on the remaining counties in the state, and will complete the sur-

vey in accordance with the plan hitherto pursued.

New FossıL Crustacea.*— Mr. H. Woodward, who has brought

to the notice of naturalists so many crustacea of the older forma-

tions especially, describes and figures a new species of Scyllaridia

( llii) from the London clay. The genus is allied to the

modern Scyllarus, an ally of the Spiny lobster (Palinurus). An-

other interesting form, also figured, is allied to the fish louse, Aga.

It is called the Palega Carteri, and is from the Cretaceous forma-

tion.

Of the greatest interest, however, are the figures and descrip-

tions of several species of Cyclus from the Carboniferous formation

of Great Britain. These singular and puzzling forms are round,

hemispherical, with the body trilobed, and with well marked seg-

ments and deep sutures between them. They are from two to five

lines in length. Goldfuss originally figured one species as a

trilobite (Olenus serotinus), and afterwards Miinster referred it to

Limulus ; while Von Meyer believed it to be neither. Koninck,

however, placed it among the aberrant trilobites near Agnostus.

In 1868 Woodward said of it, ‘“ we must differ from M. de Koninck

in referring this form to the Trilobita. If truly an adult, it must

be placed near to Apus, with the other shield-bearing Phyllopoda ;

if a larval form, it may have been the early stage of Prestwichia

or some other of the Coal Measures Limulide.” In the present

notice Mr. Woodward reiterates his opinion that “these forms

may indeed be the larval stages of Prestwichia, Bellinurus, etc.,

the antetypes in Carboniferous times of the modern king crab.”

In agreeing, so far as we can judge from the figures, with this

view, we may say that Limulus sometime before hatching passes

through a globular, hemispherical form, with deeply marked sut-

ures, like those observed in several species of Cyclus. Thus

‘the embryonic condition of the modern king crab, was, during the

Carboniferous period, probably the mature, or at least larval (not

embryonic) condition of the Cyclus. A study of these highly

interesting forms will undoubtedly throw light on the affinities of

both the king crabs and the trilobites, and indicate that they are

* New British Fossil Crustacea. Extracted from the Geological Magazine, London,

1870. Nos. 11 and 12. With two plates and wood-cuts. pp. 5 and 7.

304 REVIEWS.

more nearly related than naturalists haye supposed. We trust

paleontologists will be on the lookout for these fossils in our Coal

Measures.

Ace OF THE Mississiprr Detta.*—In his ‘‘ Principles of Geol-

ogy,” Sir Charles Lyell objected to Gen. Humphrey’s view in his

“ Report on the Mississippi River, p. 99,” “that this river is flow-

ing through it [the delta region] in a channel belonging to a geo-

logical epoch antecedent to the present,” stating that the bed of

the river might belong to the delta formation. Prof. Hilgard, how-

ever, from a reexamination of the borings made at the artesian

well in New Orleans, states that the strata are of marine origin,

containing numerous shells of probably quaternary age, so that

at that time the mouth of the present river was an estuary. “A

river doubtless emptied into the great estuary during the Cham-

plain period of slow depression, but it was not the Mississippi

river of to-day, which excavated its bed, partially into these very

strata, and acquired its identity during the terrace epoch of eleva-

tion.” The absence of drift wood, or its debris, ‘which meets the

eye in every microscopic examination of the Mississippi delta de-

posits,” is a “capital objection to the delta-deposit character of

these strata.”

PEABODY MUSEUM or American ArcH&OLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY.

—Few people are aware of the value and interest of the collec-

tions brought together is this unique museum. Besides the col-

lections already purchased in Europe and previously noticed in

this journal, the well known Clement collection of remains from

the Swiss Lake dwellings has been lately added.

“It contains, in all, eight hundred and sixty-five specimens.

Of these, six hundred and eighty-seven, assigned to the age of

stone, are chiefly from localities near Concise and St. Aubin, and

were mostly collected by Dr. Clement himself. Of the remains of

animals, wild or domesticated, there are those of the ox, hog,

sheep, goat, dog, deer, cat, fox, lynx, bear, weasel and squirrel.

Among the implements of stone are spear and arrow points, borers,

chisels, axes and other kinds of cutting instruments. Many of the

stone tools are still retained in their sockets made of the antler of

*Report on the Geological Age of the Soe Delta. By Prof. E. W. Hilgard to

Gen. A. A. Humphreys. Washington, 1870. 8vo

+ Third Annual Report of the Prustess of the e Peabody Museum of American Archæ-

ology and Ethnology. Boston, 1870. 8vo

REVIEWS. 305

the deer, and a few of the axes are provided with handles restored

after the original patterns, these last having been, in almost every

instance, too much decomposed for preservation. There are one

hundred and seventy-eight objects belonging to the Age of Bronze,

consisting of fragments of pottery, various implements of bronze,

such as axes, spear and arrow points, sword blades, fish hooks, pins

of various dimensions, pendants and other personal ornaments.”

Besides these have been added the collection of the Boston

Marine Society, the Thoreau collection, made chiefly about Con-

cord, Mass., a collection of about a hundred objects of stone and

pottery from Nicaragua, and a vast collection of Alaskan objects,

mostly the work of coast Indians, known as Thlinkets, or more

commonly as Kalooshes. ‘Nearly all the carvings in bone, horn

and wood are of the most elaborate and skilfully wrought pat-

terns.” These carvings are of unusual interest in connection with

the pre-historic carvings by the Reindeer Folk of the caves of

France, of which there are specimens in this museum. Indeed,

we now have in this country a remarkably full series of the pre-

historic remains of Europe, and with the magnificent series of

American remains, within the last two or three years placed on

exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution, we have nearly as good

materials as in Europe for the study of pre-historic man.

Prof. Wyman gives a brief account of his explorations in Flor-

ida, especially among the shell heaps. Among the bones, some of

the tibiæ ‘‘ were very much flattened from side to side, as has been

observed to be the case with some from other parts of the United

States, and in the Old World, from the caves of Dordogne and

Gibraltar.”

Peasopy Acapemy or Scrence.*— The second and third annual

‘reports contain an account of the dedication of the Museum in

1869. In an appendix to the reports of the Director, is a note by

Mr. Hyatt on a cuttlefish (Rossia palpebrosa Owen?) found at

Manchester, Mass., where this species has long been used for bait

by fishermen. It oe not before been met with except in the Arc-

tic regions. The appendix also contains a “‘ Catalogue of Batra-

chia and Reptilia obtained by J. A. McNiel in Nicaragua,” in

which Prof. Cope seegeiber as new to science, a lizard, Tretioscin-

R the Peabody Academy of Sci-

ence, for the years 1869 and 1870. Pro 1871. 8vo, pp. 109.

306 REVIEWS.

cus levicaudus, and a new genus and species of snakes, Enulius

murinus. In the “ Catalogue of Reptilia and Batrachia obtained

by C. J. Maynard in Florida,” Prof. Cope describes a new lizard,

Plistodon onocrepis Cope, and a new salamander, Manculus remi-

Jer. Dr. Packard in a ‘‘ List of Insects collected at Pebas, Equa-

dor, and presented by Prof. James Orton” describes as new

Attacus Amazonia. Mr. Smith in the “ List of the Crustacea col-

lected by J. A. McNiel in Central America,” describes a number

of new crabs: Leptopodia debilis, Ozius integer, Arenceus bidens,

Gebia spinissima, Atya rivalis, A. tenella, Evatya (n. g.) crassa,

Leander gracilis and Paleemon tenellus.

CoraLts AND Potyps or THE West Coast or America. *—Of

this elaborate work, with its careful and detailed descriptions and

most excellent illustrations, we can only give the author’s general

results, both from want of space, as well as a knowledge of the

subject. Two years ago Prof. Verrill called attention to the re-

markable contrast between the assemblages of polyps found on

the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America, and the bear-

ing of these facts upon the supposed former connection between

the two oceans, across the Isthmus of Panama. He is now able

to state that ‘‘the additional forms now presented make these con-

trasts still greater and more remarkable, and add greater force to

the evidence then brought forward to show that no deep or exten-

sive water connection, sufficient to modify the ocean currents, can

have taken place since the existence of the species now living

upon each coast.”

“ The polyps of Panama prove to be remarkably rich in sea fans

aA no et than forty-three species having been already

se the genus Muricea appears here to attain to

ie adit paretei since fifteen species, besides several

peculiar varieties, perhaps distinct, are in our collection from Pan-

ama Bay, and others from Acapulco and Peru, while from the

West Indies there are but four well-ascertained species.” ‘‘ The

occurrence of two peculiar, gigantic species of Pavonia, a genus

* Notes on Radiata in the Museum of Yale College. By A. E. Verrill. No. 6.— Re-

view of the Corals a fakin of the West Coast of America (with 6 plates). No. 7.—

hic n of the Polyps and of the West Coast of America.

No. 8. — Additional Okaidi on Echinoderms, chiefly from the Pacific Coast of

ica. No. 9.—The Echinoderm-fauna of the Gulf of California and Cape St. Lu-

. (From the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol.

1 D March 1871. 8vo, pp. 219.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 307

of corals hitherto known only in the Indo-Pacific faunæ, is note-

worthy, and also the presence of a peculiar new form of Dendro-

phyllia.”

In the seventh part, on the geographical distribution of the

polyps, lists of the species found in the five provinces, between

and including the Arctic region and Panama, are given.

Economica, Enromoioey IN Canapa.* —This subject is wisely

taken in hand by the farmers and fruit raisers of Canada and the

report on the insects injurious to the apple, grape, and plum, can

not but be hailed with joy by those desirous of distinguishing

these pests, of knowing their habits, and how to combat them.

The information is prepared by those thoroughly acquainted with

the subject, and the work is well illustrated, though not so well

printed as desirable, a common failing of public documents on this

continent. Mr. Saunders’ report on the plum weevil, in the same

pamphlet, contains an interesting account of the efforts made to

capture the plum weevil in large numbers, by the offer of prizes.

One person sent in twenty-two hundred and eighty weevils taken

by jarring twenty plum trees, ten English cherry and thirty peach

trees, between the 24th of May and the 19th of June!

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA.— It is now more than sixteen years

since that distinguished botanist, M. Alphonse De Candolle, pub-

lished in the Bibliothèque de Genève some remarks on the genus

Darlingtonia, a translation of which appeared in a horticultural

journal of Philadelphia.

M. De Candolle states that the figure of the plant exhibits a

character not mentioned by me in the description, and which is

very remarkable if it be real; that is, if it be not an error of the

* First Annual: Report on the Noxious Insects of the Province of Ontario

for the

” Associations of

the Entomological Society of Canada. T S

and E. B. Reed. “Toronto, 1871. 8yo, pp

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 20

308 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

draughtsman. The five cells of the ovary are represented as alter-

nate with the sepals; but in Sarracenia, which he had seen living,

the cells of the ovary are opposite the sepals. The artist who

executed the drawing is the well known Mr. Isaac Sprague, who

made all the illustrations for Dr. Gray’s Genera of the Plants of

the United States, and in that work the cells of Sarracenia are

correctly represented as opposite the sepals. M. De Candolle

asks, “Has he committed an error in the plate of the Darlingto-

nia? Considering his usual accuracy, I doubt it. On the other

hand, it is difficult to believe in contrary symmetries in genera sọ

closely allied. I have discovered a similar fact in the family of

Campanulacez, and it has enabled me to establish several genera,

which are, besides, indicated by their external appearance. The

thing, then, is not without a parallel, though it is very rare, and

should be well examined before being admitted. I would, there-

fore, point out to American botanists, and particularly to M.

Torrey, the great importance of verifying fig. 1 of Sprague’s

plate.”

In making the details of the original drawing, Mr. Sprague had

at his disposal only a single flower of a dried specimen, and it was

not until recently that I have been able to test, in a satisfactory

manner, the accuracy of his analysis. It is known to most of our

botanists, that after waiting many years to see the plant in a living

state, we have, through the kindness of the brothers Messrs. Hen-

ry, who reside near where it grows abundantly in California, and

by the liberality and prompt action of Messrs. Wells, Fargo &

Co.’s Express, received fresh, living specimens, several of which

have flowered. I am now able to state that Mr. Sprague has

shown ‘‘ his usual accuracy” in all the details of his drawing. The

cells of the ovary are alternate with the sepals. Indeed, I have

found scarcely anything to add or alter, now that we have the liv-

ing plant for comparison.

The theoretical structure of the flower of Darlingtonia, we think,

accords with what is actually the case. The stamens are in a sin-

gle series, and are mostly about fifteen in number. If we assume

that they represent only five, each by collateral chorisis increased

to three, they will form a verticil alternating with the petals, so

that they will necessarily alternate with the carpels also. In Sar-

racenia the stamens are in a double series, and probably, as in

Darlingtonia, multiplied by chorisis; the two yerticils alternating

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 7 309

with each other, so that the carpels, in this view, will be opposite

the sepals. —J. Torrey, in Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club.

A MONSTROSITY IN ANEMONE PATENS.— While on a recent bot-

anizing tour in the Rocky Mountains, I found a flower of Anemone

patens, var. Nuttalliana, in which all the numerous pistils are

thoroughly transformed into organs resembling petals, so as to

give the flower the appearance of being perfectly double.

The five petal-like sepals, and also the stamens, are present in

their normal state. The transformed pistils are somewhat longer

than the sepals, but of the same pale purple color. The outer-

most, or those next the stamens, are three parted, as if to repre-

sent the leaves of the plant, while the central ones are entire, like

the sepals. The root which produced this beautiful anomaly, bore

three other scapes, each with a flower perfectly normal.

The specimen I have carefully preserved, as a most interesting

instance of a wild flower becoming double without the aid of cul-

tivation. But why were not the other flowers which grew from the

same root also double ?— Epwarp L. GREENE, Golden City, Colo-

Why not? Quien sabe? By the way, full double Thalictrum

anemonoides is found now and then in perfectly wild plants, and

sometimes in Anemone nemorosa.— Ep

AsuGa REPTANS L.—I have detected this plant growing abun-

dantly in a field in Saco, Maine, where it appears to be well estab-

lished. It resembles Brunella vulgaris so closely in its habit, that

I think it may have been overlooked elsewhere. It has been be-

fore (1851) found near Montreal, but not, so far as I can learn,

in the United States. —G. L. GOODALE.

ZOOLOGY.

Tae Hummie Brrp.—In the month of June, 1870, we discov-

ered a Ruby-throated humming bird building its nest near and a

few feet below our chamber window. We observed carefully the

building of the nest, the period of incubation and the time that

_ the young left the nest. On the 14th of June we first saw the bird

building the nest on top of a horizontal branch of a pear tree;

the branch was about quarters of an inch in diameter under

the nest. The bird built up the side farthest from the house first,

310 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

and built one-half of the circle its full height; the last half of the

nest she built in one day with the exception of finishing the out-

side with lichens. June 16th she laid the first egg and was busy

at work all day covering the outside of the nest with lichens, and

was one week longer finishing the outside of the nest. June 17th

she sat on the nest all day; on the 18th the second egg was laid

and was larger than the first egg. On the morning of the 3d of

July both of the eggs were in the nest and at noon there were

two young birds; this makes the period of incubation fifteen

days from the time the last egg was laid. J uly 10th, we examined

the nest, and found but one young bird; it had a little down on

it, but no feathers. July 13th, I examined the young bird and

found it covered with pin feathers. On the 15th it picked its

feathers and had quite a long bill. The 19th, after being fed

it stood up in the nest and made its wings move rapidly, as

though it was trying to fly. On the 23d of July the bird left

the nest, which made twenty days that it remained in the nest.

We did not see a male humming bird near the nest at any time,

but a neighbor’s cat caught and killed two or three male birds, and

it may be that it caught the mate to our bird. The old and young

birds remained in the garden until late in the autumn and were

quite tame; the young bird would allow me to walk within four

feet of it and examine it. You will see by this that both the

period of incubation and the time that the young bird remained

in the nest are longer than given by Audubon and Samuels. —

Lazsurton Jounson, Bradford, Mass.

PosiTION OF THE BRAcHIopops. — At the meeting of the Boston

Society of Natural History held March 15, Prof. Edward S. Morse

referred to the communication of Mr. Wm. H. Dall, “On the Re-

lations of the Brachiopoda” read at the preceding meeting.

Prof. Hyatt said his objections to Prof. Morse’s classification of

the Brachiopoda had heretofore rested wholly upon the presumed

affinities of the Polyzoa and Ascidia. He had been led by the

similarities of the adult animals of the two groups to partially fol-

low Prof. Allman in his opinion that these two groups were closely

related. In a paper on the Fresh Water Polyzoa (Proceedings

Essex Institute, vol. iv.) he had compared them, but had at the

same time shown that the differences were much greater between

the Polyzoa and Ascidia than between the former and the Brachio-

pods. Thus, there is no muscular system in the Ascidia which

SR eS | RE Se E g et ee een ere) ane ee Ee

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 311

can compare in any sense with that of the Polyzoa; and in trans-

forming the Polyzoon into an Ascidian, Prof. Allman is obliged to

violate this obvious difference, as well as to effect many sai’

which are not consistent with their organization. The ne

affinity of the Polyzoa and Brachiopoda is hardly inal

since the investigations of Koraleusky, who has shown us that

the young Ascidians are apparently more like young vertebrata

than they are like the young of the Polyzoa. The importance

and value of the resemblances existing between the adult Poly-

zoon and the adult Ascidian, so far as they may be supposed to

indicate any close affinity or community of origin are thus doubly

denied by the differences of form and structure, both in the adults

and in the larvee.

The Ascidians are also likely to be removed by these new dis-

coveries, not only entirely away from the Polyzoa, but to an equal

or greater distance from all the rest of the Mollusca; and even if

we could in the face of embryology still maintain our comparison

between the two structures, we should be contrasting the Polyzoa,

not with a typical Mollusk but with an animal whose own position

is very uncertain. I can think of no fundamental molluscan char-

acteristics, either in the Brachiopods or Polyzoa, which ally them

with the Lamellibranchs (clams), except those which join them

still more closely to the Ascidians. Therefore it seems clear, that

if we separate the Ascidians from the Lamellibranchs, which they

so closely resemble in their general adult characteristics, on ac-

count of their different developments, we must also, in turn, remove

the Polyzoa from the Ascidians, and should logically regard the

similarities of the two as analogies arising in different structures,

and not as affinities derived from some common ancestor. Thus

cut off from its quondam molluscan allies our Polyzoon has but

one refuge ; its development points concisely to a vermian ances-

tor, and to this source we must relegate both it and its nearest

ally, the Brachiopod.

Prof. Morse called attention to the fact that Koraleusky, Heckel,

Darwin and others had pointed out the relationship apparently

seen in the embryo of certain Tunicates, and the typical idea of

the vertebrate embryo. Without expressing an opinion for or

against this view, it was interesting to remark that many eminent

naturalists had seen reason to include the Tunicates with the Ver-

mes; and in the supposed relation, on the other hand, of the Tu-

312 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

nicates with the Vertebrates, it was interesting to recall two prom-

inent features of the Vermes that are likewise prominent characters

of the Vertebrates, namely: hairs or setæ secreted by follicles,

and genitals in pairs, with infundibuliform orifices, suspended free-

ly in the perivisceral cavity. ;

A Zoo.ocist ON THE Pacrric Coast.—Dr. S. Kneeland gave

an account at the same meeting of a trip which he made in 1870,

by sea, from San Francisco to Panama, and presented a few spec-

imens which he had collected. He described the climate, the gen-

eral appearance of the coast, and incidents of the voyage, and

referred to the habits of some of the sea birds and of the flying-

fish. Large petrels (Puffinus cinereus) he said, began to appear

and followed us on the second day out. On alighting in the water,

which they often do, they put forward their webbed feet, check- -

ing their headway in this manner, backing water as it were with

the wings spread, before settling on the surface. They came

round and near the steamer in considerable numbers, but never

alighted on it as the booby of the Atlantic does. On account of

the great length of their wings and the shortness of their legs,

they cannot rise, like the gulls, directly from the water, but are

obliged to run along the surface like the smaller petrels, beating

the water with their feet until sufficiently elevated to use their

wings

Flying-fish also began to appear, but neither so numerous nor

so large as in the Southern Atlantic. The ventrals were expanded

just like the pectorals in the act of flight, the former being much

the smaller. They rose out of a perfectly smooth sea, showing

that they are not mere skippers from the top of one wave to an-

other; they could be seen to change their course, as well as to

rise and fall, not unfrequently touching the longer, lower lobe of

the tail to the surface, and again rising, as if they used the tail

as a powerful spring. While the ventrals may act chiefly as a

parachute, it seems as if the pectorals performed, by their almost

imperceptible but rapid vibrations, the function of true flight.

Another reason which led him to think they perform a true

flight is the way in which they reénter the water. After reaching

the end of their aerial course, they drop into the water with a

splash instead of making a gradual and gentle descent, like the

flying-squirrel, flying-dragon, and other vertebrates with mem-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 313

branes acting as parachutes. The drying of the flying membrane

in the air would prevent the small but numerous motions neces-

sary for true flight, and the animal, therefore, suddenly drops when

the membrane becomes stiff. He could not see how the drying of

the pectorals would effect their action as parachutes.

At the same time there were seen small Portuguese men-of-war

(Physalia) no larger than an olive, and without the purple reflec-

tions of the larger ones so often met in the Atlantic. Whether

these were the young, or full-grown individuals, he did not know.

He saw none larger than these, and they were not numerous.

As he approached the coast off the Gulf of California the pe-

trels disappeared and were replaced in an hour or two by white

gulls, about the size of Bonaparte’s gull, but either entirely white

or with a very slight lavender-blue tinge on the back and wings.

These had an entirely different way of alighting and rising from

the water; they did not push forward their feet to arrest their

course, but circled round like pigeons until their headway was

stopped, then quietly settled upon the water immediately folding

their wings. They also rose directly from the surface without

running along as the larger winged petrels did.

Mierations oF Morus.—Our readers are familiar with migra-

tions of butterflies, and now we see noticed in ‘‘ Nature” the mi-

gration in “amazing numbers” of Urania Leilus, which mimic

butterflies not only in their size, and disposition and colors of their

scales, but also in this habit of swarming, which we do not remem-

ber to have seen noticed in other moths. This Urania was seen

flying in swarms across the Isthmus of Panama, and also by anoth-

er person near- Para, Pernambuco, and Rio Janeiro. ‘From an

early hour in the morning until nearly dark these insects passed

along the shore in amazing numbers, but most numerously in the

evening. It was very seldom that one was seen in the opposite

direction.”

The Urania is sects, as “ Nature” suggests, “something be-

tween a skipper [Hesperia] and a hawk moth,” but a true Geome-

ter. A careful examination of the structure of the moth shows

us that it is nearly allied to Cherodes and Urapteryx. To this

position Guenée has also assigned it.

RAPID GROWTH or THE Pickerex (Esox reticulatus). — This fish,

x ey bad characters, makes a worse show the more he is studied.

. L. Sturtevant investigated their powers of eating, in the

314 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

following manner. He put two young pickerel, about five inches

long, in a trough with a great quantity of little minnows of about

one inch in length; and these two pickerel ate one hundred and

twenty-eight minnows the first day; one hundred and thirty-two

the second; and one hundred and fifty the third! and they in-

creased one inch in length in forty-eight hours! They were mere

machines for the assimilation of other organisms !— Fifth Report

of Mass. Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, 1871.

Ticks In THE Ear.— I can tell a tale about a tick in my ear

(see Naruraxist, May, p. 176). In Cuba I was lost in the woods.

I slept one night on the ground. A day or two thereafter feeling

a curious buzzing in my ear I lay down on the opposite side and

filled the ear with water. It was not very long before the tick

loosened its hold and was taken out. I know nothing of the spe-

cies but suppose it was the common horse or cattle tick of that

island. —C. WRIGHT.

Tue Star-Nosep More. — In J anuary, 1869, I noticed mole

tracks and burrows in the snow in Niles, Michigan, and soon saw

the star-nosed mole making similar tracks and burrows. He was

apparently as lively as if it had been summer. Is it common for

this animal to be abroad thus in the winter?—Sansorn TENNEY.

Warre Srorren Muskrat.—I have a muskrat skin that has a

narrow white spot upon the back, between two and three inches

long; also two patches of white upon the head. There was also

white about the mouth.— W. C. Fisa.

GEOLOGY. y

Discovery oF Mastopon REMAINS at MorrT’s CORNERS NEAR

IrHaca, N. Y.—A few days ago a son of Mr. J. P. Allen, of

Mott’s Corners, in digging a ditch to drain a small peat bog, dis-

covered two teeth of Mastodon. With more than ordinary good

sense, he immediately stopped digging and the specimens were

carried to Cornell University. A party consisting of Mr. Cornell,

Pres. White, Dr. Wilder, Prof. Brown, a student and myself vis-

ited the spot and made further excavations which furnished only

fragments of bones. Since then other parties have secured three

more teeth and a considerable quantity of broken bones.

locality is situated in the deep valley of Six Mile Creek,

excavated in Chemung rocks. The bottom of this valley has been

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 315

filled up with a great thickness of drift, through which the creek

has cut here and there down to or into the solid rock. At the

mastodon locality the stream met with a little knob of Chemung

rocks which appears to have formed at one time an island, but the

creek afterward cut its way through the rock to a lower level on

the left side and the channel on the opposite side was deserted.

Springs, one of which is said to be salt, have kept this deserted

channel wet and a bed of peat has formed which once supported

some large trees. The layer of peat varies from a few inches to

two feet or more and is full of sticks, pine knots, bark, etc., more

or less decayed. Beneath this is a layer of variable thickness,

rarely more than a few inches, composed of clay mixed with peb-

es and pieces of shale. In this were found small fragments of

bones and teeth, the former in a very decayed condition showing

that the skeleton had been completely broken up and scattered.

The whole rests on a bed of blue arenaceous clay with large peb-

bles and fragments of rock of all kinds, in fact, a modified drift.

In most cases the bones were merely scattered over the surface of

this bed between it and the peat. The teeth are in very good

condition and not at all waterworn. The animal probably became

mired near the spot. The skeleton, exposed to the action of the

elements, went to pieces, and the fragments were scattered, partly

by water action and partly through the agency of wild animals.—

Cu. FreD. Harrr, Cornell University, May 25th, 1871.

Tue Discovery or A SKULL OF A Musk-ox ry Utan.— The skull

referred to in the “Salt Lake Tribune” this morning, is quite dif-

ferent from the skull of a buffalo. The long, heavy, drooping horns

mark it as the skull of a musk-ox—an animal now found only

within, or near, the arctic regions. It is an exceedingly interest-

ing relic to the geologist as an aid in reading the ancient history

- of this valley. The skull, which is in a good state of preservation,

was imbedded about eight feet below the surface in a layer of

coarse, stratified gravel, with layers of sand and finer gravel above

and below it.

Much of the work of filling the valley had been accomplished be-

fore this relic was deposited, but it found its resting place long

before the work was completed, and long before Salt Lake wore

water lines in the mountains above the “benches.” Musk-oxen

and the foot-prints of glaciers left on the quartz rocks of some of

these canyons, suggest a former climate quite unlike that which

316 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

now makes the valley such a fruitful garden.— P. A. CHADBOURNE,

May 16,1871. From the Salt Lake Tribune.

Foss Watrus.— At a meeting of the New York Lyceum of

Natural History, held during last autumn, Prof. Newberry, the

President, exhibited the anterior portion of the cranium of a wal-

rus which had been found during the summer at Long Branch by

a gentleman whose foot struck against it while bathing. It was

strongly silicified, but exhibited no appreciable difference from

modern specimens. The precise age of this fossil could not, of

course, be ascertained, although it is well known that its range

was formerly much south of its present habitat. It is not unfre-

quently brought down on floating ice off the coast of Newfound-

land; and although Labrador is at present the southern limit of

its residence, it was once very abundant in the Gulf of St. Law-

rence, and its remains have been found in the shell-heaps of the

Bay of Fundy. It is probable that the specimen exhibited by Prof.

Newberry is a relic of the glacial period, although it was suggested

that it might have been of the tertiary age, which probably cannot

be verified. Other specimens of similar character are recorded as

having been found on Martha’s Vineyard ; in Monmouth Co., New

Jersey ; and in Accomac Co., Virginia.

Tue Preropacry: IN America.—Prof. Marsh states in the

American Journal of Science and Arts, that the Yale College party

obtained in addition to the cretaceous fossils already spoken of,

several specimens which indicate a huge flying reptile, which he

names Pterodactylus Owenii. The bones discovered “ indicate an

expanse of wings not less than twenty feet.” The remains were

found by Prof. Marsh in the upper cretaceous formation of West-

ern Kansas. This is the first occurrence of the Pterodactyl in

America.

MICROSCOPY.

MONOCHROMATIC ILLUMINATION. — Whenever I want to make out

some of the minutest details of any organism, or to get over any

difficult test, and I see that my microscope, after all due prepara-

tion, and with the best prospect of light, fails to answer my ex-

pectation, I refer, as a last resource, to my prism, and get from

it a colored sunbeam. Blue or green are the colors which I pre-

fer; they are the most suitable for the purpose.

NOTES. 817

The elimination of every, even the slightest, chromatic aberra-

tion obtained by this means increases, in my opinion, the defining

and penetrating power of the microscope, and enlarges its domin-

ion on the field of observation. Different other means have been

now and then suggested, such as an alcohol light saturated with

chlorine of iodine, or a light passed through a stratum of cupreo-

ammoniacal solution, or even through a glass of cobalt; all these

lights may be very useful and for some special purpose even pref-

erable to any other, as Dr. Woodward observed, speaking of pho-

tography; but for direct observations with the microscope, the

effects obtained by them are by no means to be compared with

the marvellous results of a mono-chromatic illumination. And I

do not think it absolutely necessary for this purpose to have

recourse to a beam of the swn,.which in many countries less fa-

vored than Italy is not rarely a mere desideratum, and very often a

dim, cloudy thing. A brilliant luminous point of electric light —

a light obtained from oxhydrogenic flame — acting upon lime,

magnesium, or zirconium, perhaps also the magnesium-wire lamp,

may supply the deficiency of the sunbeam. Each of these simply

white lights decomposed through a prism, will give a mono-chro-

matic illumination sufficient to reveal the best structural details,

which up to this day have baffled the keenest researches of the

student.— Count Casrracane, Monthly Microscopical Journal.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Supposep Inpran Corn Huskers.—In the museum of the

Smithsonian Institution are several Indian stone implements like

that noticed on p. 16 of the present volume of this journal, which

are said to bear a striking resemblance to iron corn huskers now in

use in the West. —Eps.

NOTES.

At the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Mr.

Boyd Dawkins exhibited a number of casts in plaster of Paris of

various objects of natural history, and explained the process by

which any one can make them for himself. The material of the

318 NOTES.

mould is artists’ modeling-wax, which is a composition akin to

that used by dentists ; and, as it becomes soft and plastic by the

application of heat, though in a cold state it is perfectly rigid, it

may be applied to the most delicate object without injury. As it

takes the most minute markings and striations of the original to

which it is applied, the microscopic structure of the surface of the

- original is faithfully reproduced in the cast. This method is briefly

this: 1. Cover the object to be cast with a thin powder of steatite

or French chalk, which prevents the adhesion of the wax.. 2. Af-

ter the wax has become soft, either from immersion in warm water,

or from exposure to the direct heat of the fire, apply it to the orig-

inal, being careful to press it into the little cavities. Then care-

fully cut off the edges of the wax all round, if the undercutting of

the object necessitates the mould being in two or more pieces, and

let the wax cool with the object in it, until it is sufficiently hard

to bear the repetition of the operation on the uncovered portion

of the object. The steatite prevents the one piece of the mould

sticking to the other. The original ought to be taken out of the

mould before the latter becomes perfectly cold and rigid, as in that

case it is very difficult to extract. 3. Then pour in plaster of

Paris, after having wetted the moulds to prevent bubbles of air

lurking in the small interstices; and, if the mould be in two

pieces, it is generally convenient to fill them with plaster sepa-

rately before putting them together. 4. Then dry the plaster

casts either wholly or partially. 5. Paint the casts in water-col-

ors, which must be fainter than those of the original, because the

next process adds to their intensity. The delicate shades of color

in the original will be marked in the cast by the different quantity

of the same color, which is taken up by the different textures of

the cast. 6. After drying the cast, steep it in hard paraffine.

The ordinary paraffine candles, which can be obtained from any

grocer, will serve the purpose. 7. Cool, and polish the cast by

hand with steatite. The result of this process is said to be far

better than that obtained by any other.— The Manufacturer and

Builder.

The American Museum of Natural History held an exhibition

of its collections in the Arsenal building, in the Central, Park, to

invited guests, April 27th. This Association was incorporated

some two years since, and has made excellent progress in estab-

lishing a museum. The cases are said to contain nearly one thou-

ERME i AA A ee er A A

ESNE PNIL EATA E N

ee ace ee E E T

NOTES. 319

sand mammals, ten thousand birds, and two thousand fishes and

reptiles. There are also nearly four hundred mounted skeletons

of the various orders. The insects number more than ten thou-

sand, and shells about that number. Also a few geological

specimens of no great value. There are no mineral collections as

yet. The insects were presented by Baron Osten Sacken, R. A.

Witthaus, and Coleman T. Robinson. The shells are the gift of

Albert S. Bickmore and William A. Haines. The remainder

of the collections was obtained by purchase in this country and

Europe. The Department of Public Parks, under the authority

granted by the last Legislature, will commence in the autumn the

erection of a permanent building in Manhattan Square, for this

collection. The cost of the new building will not exceed five

hundred thousand dollars.— American Chemist.

Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, who was last spring

‘appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate as United

States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, will visit the coast of

New England during the coming summer, making his head quarters

at Wood’s Hole. The act of Congress under which the Commis-

sioner is appointed makes it his duty to prosecute investigations-

with a view of ascertaining whether any and what diminùtion in

the number of valuable fishes has taken place, and if so, to what

causes the same is due. He is also to report to Congress whether

any and what protective prohibitory or precautionary measures

should be adopted in the premises.

We understand that Prof. Baird will dredge extensively both at

the surface and at the bottom, and the investigations will be of

great interest to naturalists, several of whom will join him in his

explorations.

The Providence Franklin Society celebrated its semi-centennial

anniversary on May 9th. This society has been more active in the

past than of late years, but seems now to show unusual activity.

Several scientists of eminence have been active members, and we

trust a new life and energy will be infused into its present work-

ing staff.

Silk worm eggs from Japan, to the amount of one hundred and

thirty-five thousand cards, costing in that country six hundred

and seventy-five thousand dollars, lately arrived in San Francisco.

— American Chemist.

320 NOTES.

We are sorry to learn that the Government of Nova Scotia, in

resorting to the retrenchment system, has withdrawn the small,

annual grant heretofore made to the Institute of Natural Science,

the only scientific society that colony possesses; and, moreover,

one which for the past eight years has struggled to maintain a

position creditable to itself and the country in which it is estab-

lished. Surely the trouble and expense of publishing, setting

aside the gratuitous mental labor of those members who have

furnished the interesting papers which together form the eight

annual parts, comprising two volumes of over one thousand pages,

should have been considered by the authorities of the colony

before they acted in such an illiberal spirit. We trust, neverthe- —

less, to see the Institute still progress in its career of usefulness.

— Nature.

Prof. Agassiz has accepted an invitation extended to him by

the Coast Survey Bureau to take passage on the iron coast survey

steamer, which has just been built near Wilmington, Del., and

which sails for the Pacific coast in September next. The expedi-

tion will take deep sea soundings all the way, and extensive collec-

.tions of specimens will be made for the Museum of Comparative

Zoology at Cambridge. _

Secretary Boutwell has written to the Secretaries of State and

Navy asking that naval and other officers may be instructed to

afford such courtesy and assistance to the exploring party as may

be desirable.

We learn that Count Pourtales of the Coast Survey and Rev.

Dr. Hill will accompany the expedition.

The Legislature of Arkansas*has passed a bill providing for a

geological survey, and making an appropriation of fifteen thousand

. dollars for beginning the work. The position of chief geologist,

salary two thousand eight hundred dollars per annum, was ten-

dered to Prof. Edward Orton, of Antioch College, one of the as-

sistant geologists on the Ohio survey, but has been declined by

him.— American Chemist.

The President of the Geological Society of Glasgow thinks the

phosphate deposits of South Carolina are of Eocene Tertiary age.

This is quite a mistake, as they are of Quaternary age. a

bones he refers to were washed out of Eocene strata, but they are

ee e a TE a aa Aol ey E aa

A EE Wastes A T gh AEREN TE r I a

ee et er E ee

rine [tae Sina LN

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 321

associated with Quaternary mammals such as the tapir, horse,

mastodon, mammoth, megatherium, dinotherium, etc.

The Maryland Academy of Sciences held its annual meeting in

May, electing Rev. Dr. J. G. Morris, President, and Rev. E. A.

Dalrymple, Corresponding Secretary, with the usual officers. This

society holds field meetings, and otherwise shows considerable ac-

tivity.

The State Geological Rooms at Springfield, Illinois, were burned

on the twenty-second of February, and the state collections were

greatly damaged by water and hasty removal.

The Record of Entomology for the year 1870 is now published.

The design of this useful annual is to collect from various periodi-

cals and transactions of societies, the titles of articles and notices

of new discoveries in entomology, thus giving a record of the

progress of American entomology each year. In this way the iso-

lated descriptions of new species, and notes about the habits of

insects are indicated so that the working entomologist is greatly

aided in collecting the materials for study. It also gives foreign

entomologists a summary of what has been done in this country,

and thus brings the working entomologists of both hemispheres

into closer relations. The work is advertised in the present num-

ber.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

. Hudson, Mass.—The plant you send is the Habenaria virescens. It belongs =

the’ a family and is not uncommon in wet places where the skunk cabbage grow:

C. G. A., Au ugusta, Me. — The specimens you send from the pine tree of about ay

ods in eights are pronounced pg Hie 3 hie to be unquestionab Reigate. the Pinus Bank-

supposed. Your s remarkable for its

aT Bi ri ~ Speakin of the enemies o; aaa oyster a correspondent writes : ong

the and sounds of East Florida are vast beds of oysters, many ror whi

are seen when n the tiae falls to haye hee n opened and the animal removed. It was difi-

cult to understa what agency this was done. oa ghee of an intelligent native

shell-fish is v common on 8, insert

e oyster with e

rat long, puts out a foot upon which it oon eae El walks $0

oyster bed, deliberately pries open the oyster, and Fer rg on on m the _ shen? a a

k eed, asteropod.” We submitted this co munica-

tion to an eminent ist, who has spent much time th ther in k

i “orate open oy

t northers,

when the animal deco; the siasticity of the carti-

lage. No fish has teeth Veron ee ono Fk DAAN O — opens they frequent the beds

for the smaller shells and crustacea h harbor t

$22 BOOKS RECEIVED.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

First Annual Report on the Injurious and Beneficial Insects of Massachusetts, By A.S. Pack-

ard, jr., Huenda to the State Board of Agriculture. Fonon; ie o pp. ka 24 figures,

Canadian erai and Quarterly Journal of Science. Vo L5 , No. "Sep +, 1870, (April,

1871.) Mon

Proceedi and Communications of the Essex Institute. Vol.6. Part2. 1868-71 (March,

T “(Concluding the yon k] Salem,

ib ort of the raar Supervisors of the Louisiana Sta e University for i870. New

orleans, ia 8vo, pp. aoe E born 2d Annual righ vd the Topographical pers! of La.,

by Col. S. H. Lockett, pp. 55; 3 ual Report of the G cal Survey of La., by F. V. Hop-

kins, M. D., pp. 35 and map; Re Sor Ft of Botanical pev ey nat uthern and Central La., by Prof.

A. Featherman, pp. 1313; and a list of the shells,

Museum Godefroy. Catalogue IV. Ham amburg, 1869. sed

ce the Physics yA ‘ae ce, as Explanatory of the acial Remains in Scotland, By Robert

rown. 8yvo, pp. n

Descriptions of og new or Htdte-known species of Oaks from North-west America. By Robert

Bro 0, pp. 8. Londo:

Bulletin of Museum of Compara ative Zoology. Vol. 2 T>? cer to the Preliminary Report

i 0. riales. By Alexander Agassiz.

pp.3. April, 1871. Gambr. ridge,

emoirs Boston Society of Natural History. 2, No.1. January [May], 1871. Contains

Historical poren on the Earthquakes of New En, Aka 1638-1869, by Wm, T. Brigham,

The Discovery P i Force which in the A put all the Heavens and the Earth in Motion.

By Jaco > Ennis. p. 23. e —

Annales Acade emici., pe ie ugduni-B: atavorum, 187

y soon H auf 0. E i Som "Meyer, von ©. A. Zittel, ate, pp. 50. Munchen, 1870.

Memoirs de la Societe a E PAPIO et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. Tome xix, lst part, 1867.

Tome xx, 2d part, 1870. 4to. Geneve

5 a ae a der k. k. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Munchen. Jahrgang, 1870. Band II.

Journal of the American waa: and Statistical Society. Vol. 2, Nos. 1, 2; 1860 and 1870.

8vo. Ni oy York.

ondon.

The jim irii of the p AE, or Dynamical Engineer. An BIEGA Address by W. P.

rowbri 8

Anesthetics, By E. R.S noD, M. D. pamph. 8vo. New Yor

Notes on Radiata in the um of Fale College. ty a Corals and Pol of

the West Coast of America ( (with 6 plates). wg Te Heview o Distribution of the Polyps

and Corals of the West Coast of America. a bag, al Observations on Echinoderms,

chiefly from the Pacific Coast of America, i al Rohnnctertn towns of piae Gulf of Cali-

fornia pie gh bem Cape ia ie cas. we nye E. Verrill. iey 8vo. [From the Trans. Conn.

ol. 1,

on the Geole of the Eastern Uintah Mountains, f. O. C. Marsh. 8vo. 8. Mch., 1871.

otice of a Fossil Forest in the Tertiary of Cath fete, By Prof. O.C. Maren; 8v0, pp. 4.

1871

pre ee, od vray shea from the Tertiary of Wyoming. By Prof. O. C.

Esthetic radia in the "Troy Fem Fem. e Sem minary. B By Mrs rs. John, H, ilara, and Plan for Im-

ation. y 8vo a

‘Amazonian Dri Britt By Prof. 0. F. dere 8v0, ig A il, et

ine on the Action of Cochituate Water upon Lead ipes. By W. R. Nichols. 8vo, pp. 27.

n, 1871

iais rela ating t ta thé Physical G ra, and Geol Terrestrial

Mollusca — certain of the West Tn ia po ai By Thee of yy aes a a J = eny 1871.

Notes on Chalcidiæ. Part I— Eurytomide, Py irao aneis beh cong 8vo, pp. m n, 1871.

y 0, pp. Lon

Genres des Poissons de la sae de Cu tak igm cidæ. Par Felipe Poey

ant a $ r Felipe >

8v0, pp. 79 and piste. New York. [From Ann. ppe Nat. x D g iig m 2

rran: he Families 4 "Mollusks PO oa et e Smithsonian vielen: By Theo.

. l. Coll,

Annals of the Lyceum of ‘Natural ys i ory of New 4 se Vol.x. WNos.1-3. Feb.- mest.

cru. k

— 1870. (Communicated to the Ett Frat avid Bah ing ee pamp ss:

chem

fe of Progress from sa

ical Topographical Maps. Alfred R.C. Aip Director. irector, 8v0; P 475, OE ical. 1800.

Conchological No. VI. Preli. 0, pp. 475 ipecies from the P West

ode ae te, et ati May 18, 1871, nt pate. 17

outs, ty ot Pei a urytomide, aoa i a 8vo pamph., "E

ird Annua Insects of the State of Missouri

huenda Q fizper iments ty ‘Blue t o Color Ceat tha $ Sky in Deve. mal and cee table gee ma geet

Fleasonton. Ph eag 1871. pamph., pp:

ps 1870. 4to. Braunschw 1871.

Poustie des Jaunas stn fe "vi No.7. May 1, 1871.. Dornach, elg,

ogue, etc. Columbia College.. 1871. Bee Journal, May, June.

Bowdoin Scient jew, Nos. for Ma; Bulletin ervey Botanical April,

American Journal of Microscopy, Voli, No.l. May. saa rr

Journal of the Franklin Institute, nc June, Te Natur iste Canadien, ril, May.

Ame Jou of Science and A "June. ature, Won e tind Jane.

Land and Water. Nos. for May. The Field. Nos. ie ae

The Academy. Nos, for May and June, Science Gossip,

Sa ee ee ee cent. heen

e we.

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— AUGUST, 1871.—No. 6.

eca CORRIDO

THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI.

_BY DR. J. 8. BILLINGS, U.S.A.

THERE are probably a number of microscopists, or, perhaps it

would be better to say, possessors of microscopes in this country,

who would gladly turn their attention to the minute Fungi, if they

only knew how to begin, or could obtain any one book or treatise

which would furnish the necessary guidance. As there is no such

book in existence, the literature of Mycology being confused and

scattered in the highest degree, it may be that a few words of

advice as to the best mode of study of this subject will be of some

interest.

As a text for my remarks, I will take one of the commonest

of the minute Fungi, which can be found everywhere and at all

times of year, namely, Valsa stellulata Fr. The Valse form a

genus of the great order Spheriacei, which in their various states

comprise the majority of the black specks or dots which will be

found upon almost all decaying wood, and dead twigs, leaves, and

herbaceous stems. To obtain specimens, you need only step into

the yard and examine minutely a few twigs, pieces of old board,

or dead stems of flowers or weeds, on some of which you will be

certain to find little black, shot-like bodies, varying in size, from

that of a large pin’s head to a mere point hardly perceptible to the

naked eye, while half an hour’s stroll in the woods, and an exami-

nation of two or three decaying stumps or logs, and some of the

Entered according to Act of in the year 1871, the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Office of the Librarian of Gonorea a npor the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 21 i (823)

324 THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI.

dead branches lying about, and especially an overhauling of one

of the little piles of drift wood about the roots of some tree on

the bank of a creek, will furnish you material for a year’s work, if

properly used. On one or more of the branches you have picked

up you will find a portion thickly dotted with black spots, which,

under a hand magnifier will be seen to be little black bodies,

closely united and bursting through the bark. These are really

the ends of as many tubes, which are the necks of globular, oval

or retort-shaped flasks buried in the bark or wood beneath. By

slicing off with a sharp knife, thin horizontal sections of the bark,

through one or two of these little pustules, you will be able to se

Fig. 75.

pear black and

empty with

thick walls.

With the

point of a knife

pick out one or

two of these

flasks, put them

ae on a glass slide

a, Valsa on a fragmentof branch, natural size. b, perpendicular sec- with a drop of

tion. c, Asci and p hyses. d, spores, e, ho -

ceptaculum and perithecia. shg T ESE O

water, and a

rather thick cover, and crush them out flat by pressure. Examin-

ation of the object thus prepared, with a power of about two hun-

dred and fifty diameters, will show that the contents of the flasks

are little colorless delicate sacs, in each of which are eight minute

colorless, curved, sausage shaped spores.

The little sacs are called thecæ, or more usually asci, the flask i

which encloses them being called the perithecium. And the Spheer-

iacei are Fungi in which the. Spores are contained in asci (as-

comycetes) and the asci are produced in perithecia, which are

more or less globose, at first entirely closed, at length opening by

a neck (ostiole), or pierced by a small hole or pore at the summit.

If each perithecium is by itself, or solitary, not imbedded in a

crust or stroma, but either on, or in the bark or wood, it is called

a simple or true Spheeria.

THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI. 325

If the perithecia are associated in little clusters of from two to

twenty, imbedded in the bark or wood, with long necks which con-

verge to form a bundle or dise which pierces the bark, it is a Valsa.

If the perithecia are buried in a brown or black carbonaceous

mass or stroma, which grows like a cushion on the bark, the necks

of the perithecia being short and not converging, it belongs to

the genus Hypoxylon. If this stroma is more developed, grow-

ing up like a miniature club from one to four inches high, black or

brown, corky or brittle, with the perithecia immersed in it at the

upper part, it forms the genus Xylaria. If this club or stalk be

fleshy, white or red it is a Cordyceps. This genus for the most

part grows up from dead caterpillars or insects, giving rise to the

newspaper stories of the vegetable bug.

Let us now return to our Valsa. Having determined that it is

a Valsa, we next wish to know its specific name. And, just at

this point is where the great difficulty in the study of mycology

commences, where the student is most apt to be discouraged and

demoralized, and where a little assistance is most needed. To

determine the species of a Valsa we must first ascertain whether

the perithecia are in a special stroma, and next whether this

stroma has a distinct limiting wall or conceptaculum.

If there is a black, ventricose conceptaculum, pyriform or co-

noidal in shape, the apex being upwards, with the perithecia scat-

tered through the stroma, and their long converging necks bursting

through the conceptaculum, and then through the bark, it belongs

to the subdivision Circumscripte. Slicing across one of the pus-

tules of our Valsa, and examining the cut surface we see a black

ring ; the cut edge of the conceptaculum, within which is a spongy

mass, the stroma, in which are the perithecia. Of the Valse

circumscripte, about forty species have been described by my-

ecologists. To decide which of these species you have before you,

you next examine the spores. About a dozen species have spores

like those described above, namely, colorless curved rods. Your

next step, then, is to ascertain accurately the length of the spores

before you. And by “ accurately” I mean that you should deter-

mine their length to within the ;5459 of an inch. The easiest way

to do this, is by means of an eye-piece micrometer, but if you

have not this you must rule a scale on a card by aid of your stage

micrometer and camera lucida.

On a line across one end of the card, mark off the length of

326 THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI.

‘three or four one-thousandths of an inch as they appear through

the camera. At each of these points draw a line perpendicular to

the base. The most convenient length for these lines is 24 inches.

Now divide these lines into ten equal parts, by lines ruled parallel.

to the base line, and then draw a line diagonally from one of the

zoo inch marks on the base line to the next 5/55 inch mark in

the tenth line above. You will thus have constructed a diagonal

scale which will measure to the ten-thousandth of an inch. To

use it, you lay it on the stage beside the object, and view it with

one eye and the object with the other. You will with a very little

practice see the object projected on the card and can read off its

length at once. '

On measuring the spores of your specimen, you find that they

are .0004 of an inch long. The spores of all the species in this

division of the Valsæ are shorter than this, with the exception of

Valsa stellulata Fr. Fr. stands for Fries, a great Swedish mycolo-

gist who named and described this species and this is his descrip-

«9. stellulata.—Subrotunda, immersa, stromata albo circum-

scripto, ostiolis ovato globosis, brevibus radiato stellatis” ..-

The “ Systema Mycologicum” of Fries from which the above de-

scription is taken, was published in 1822, and, of course, at that

time there was no microscope at his command by which he could

define the fruit. The first description of the spores of this spe-

cies was given by De Notaris, in 1853, in the Memoirs of the

Academy of Science in Turin. :

But the mere giving a name to our fungus, or finding out what

name somebody else has given to it, amounts to very little, except

as giving the same sort of mental exercise and amusement, as the

putting together a puzzle of any kind would do. What we want

to know, is, how did the Valsa get there under the bark? What

is its life history, and what is its use or purpose, if it has any ?

And the first question of all to occur to you, if you have become @

little impatient of the very minute points by which one of the s0-

called species differs from another is, how do you know that these

points indicate specific differences? In other words why do you

practically assert that the fungus with spores exactly like, but

with spores the one ten-thousandth of an inch shorter than an-

other fungus, may not be merely a stunted specimen of the latter?

To the latter query I must reply, that at present we have no satis-

THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI. 327

factory basis on which to discriminate species in the minute Fungi,

and this is true even as regards some genera, and it is with a

faint hope that some of my readers will aid in establishing such

a basis that I have called their attention to this subject. The prac-

tical test of a good species is, that it will produce its like, subject

to variations which are usually limited in degree. Now this test

has not been applied to any of the species of Valsa, nor, indeed,

to any of the Sphæriacei; and the observer who will take a spec-

imen of Valsa stellulata or of any other species, and propagate

it, watching its development under varying conditions of place,

moisture and temperature, and honestly and accurately report the

results, will do more to advance our knowledge of these plants

than if he had collected and ticketed a thousand or two of them.

This field is almost entirely unexplored, and I know of no re-

ported results of culture of any of the Spheeriacei. All that has

been done has been in a few cases to observe the succession of

forms and to conclude on the principle of ‘‘ post hoc ergo propter

hoc” that these forms necessarily belong to the same plant.

That some of the minute Fungi in the various stages of their

development assume different forms—so much so that these forms

have been classed under different orders and classes, there is no

doubt— but in very few cases have these various stages been made

out with anything like precision. The Brothers Tulasne, in the

second volume of their great work, the ‘‘Selecta Fungorum Car-

pologia,” attempt to specify the various stages and forms of the

Sphæriacei—and upon these to base a new system of classifica-

tion. Splendid as is their work, it will very soon be manifest to

any one who attempts to make use of it to classify species which

they have not named—and although the book is a thick quarto, it

does not refer to one-tenth part of the forms known— that it. will

afford him little or no assistance.

The attempt at a physiological classification of these organisms

is as yet premature, the mere morphological classification being

still so very incomplete, that it is impossible from published de-

scriptions to identify much more than half of the minute Fungi

which have been described, while a vast number have been col-

lected and named which have never been described at all. I do

not, therefore, recommend the microscopist who proposes to un-

dertake this study, to try to do more at first than to recognize

genera, and I furthermore advise him to confine his work for a

| 828 THE STUDY OF MINUTE FUNGI.

time to half a dozen species which he can get named for him by

some one who has the necessary facilities for so doing in the shape

of identified specimens. For instance, having ascertained that

he has a specimen of Valsa stellulata, let him first see whether he

can get the spores to germinate. First, he may try them with a

little water on some form of growing slide, the simplest form of

which is to take the slide with the spores on it covered with a

piece of thin glass just as he has been examining it under the

microscope, and laying it across a narrow dish of water (a soap

‘dish or toothbrush dish is just the thing) let two or three threads

lead from the water to the edge of the thin glass cover. The

growing slides of Hoffman, De Bary, Dr. Maddox, and those de-

scribed by Dr: Curtis and the author in their report on Fungi in

connection with the Texas cattle fever, are all good and useful.

The spores should be tried not only in water, but in fluids which

will afford them some nutriment, such as juice of fruits or plants,

Pasteur’s fluid, or on such media as a slice of potato, blotting

paper soaked in lemon juice, ete., ete.

But the most essential, and what will prove to be the most

interesting, experiments will be the culture of the fungus in its

native habitat, viz., on, or in the small branches of the tree on

which it is found. Cut off a small branch of oak and cut it into

lengths, say a foot long. Examine these carefully to make sure

that the bark is smooth and unbroken, and then on half a dozen

of these pieces plant your Valsa by placing it both on and under

the bark at marked points. Plant the same Valsa in like manner

on similar pieces of branches from other trees, for instance, elm,

beech, and blackberry or green-brier (Smilax) or on the grape-

vine. For purposes of comparison, keep half a dozen similar

pieces of each kind of wood without planting anything on them.

Now place your pieces of wood, two of them in a miniature hot-

bed, two of them under glass over water, and two of them simply

on the ground in the open air, where they will not be disturbed.

Observe that wherever you put a planted specimen, you must put

an unplanted branch of the same wood under the same circum-

stances. i

Having planted this new kind of garden you have to watch for

results. If the theories of Tulasne are correct you ought to find,

preceding the true Valsa, little perithecia which however will con-

tain no asci, but minute colorless bodies embedded in a sort of

THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST. 829

gelatine which have an active swarming motion when placed in

water, and which he calls spermatia; these he says will not ger-

minate, but I advise you to try for yourself. These bodies are

usually referred to the genus Cytispora or Nzemaspora, belong-

ing to a totally different order of Fungi, the Spheronemei of the

Coniomycetes. You will probably also find various moulds ap-

pearing on the sticks, some of which are very curious, and have

received very long and hard names, and your experience will differ

from mine if you do not find a number of forms which you will not

expect and which will puzzle you very much. Note and draw them

all, and combine your results in a paper for the Narurauisr, which

shall give the life history of the particular Hypoxylon, Diatrype,

Valsa or Spheria, with which you have experimented

The field is very wide, and the experiments of one man must be

checked by those of another to get our knowledge of the subject

established upon a satisfactory basis.

I feel sure that any one who gets fairly started in this field of

investigation will find it infinitely more amusing, interesting and

satisfactory than looking at specimens purchased ready mounted

and labelled.

There is another, and the usual mode of studying this subject,

namely, the collecting all the specimens you can get and having

ascertained their specific names put them in an herbarium. This

kind of work very few can have the necessary facilities for doing,

for it is absolutely necessary to have access to authentic speci-

mens and good libraries to obtain valuable and satisfactory re-

sults. It is work which must be done by somebody, but it in-

volves a good deal of uninteresting labor, and is not at present so

desirable as the mode of investigation which I have indicated.

THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST.

BY A. S. RITCHIE.

Tue principal object of the following notes on the toad as a col-

lector of beetles, is to show how useful some of the lower animals

are to man in his search after knowledge. Before entering on the

330 THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST.

subject, a few remarks on the habits of the toad may not be unin-

teresting.

From the earliest accounts relating to this creature it has always

been looked upon by the people as ugly, hideous, and venomous,

while even supernatural powers have been attributed to it. Thus

an old author says: “If the toad burrowed near the root of a

tree every one who ate a leaf of that tree would die, and if he

only handled it, would be struck with sudden cramps.” Some of

the antidotes recommended for toad venom are the following :

Black hellebore, powdered crabs, the blood of the sea-tortoise

mixed with wine, the stalks of dogs’ tongues, the powder of the

right horn of a hart, cummin, the vermet of a hare, the quintes-

sence of treacle and the oil of a scorpion, mixed and taken ad lib-

itum. '

Even in those days when these elaborate prescriptions were in-

vented some good was acknowledged to exist in the toad. The

“ toad-stone” is alluded to by Shakespere in the passage :

“ Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which like a toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in its head.”

During the middle ages the stone found in the head of this rep-

tile was popularly believed to be possessed of the power of giving

warning of the presence of poisons. Fenton, writing in the year

1569, says: ‘There is to be found in the heads of old and great

toads a stone they call borax or stelon. This worn in a ring gives

a forewarning against venom.” Another recommendation the toad

had in those days was “ its power as a styptic.” Supposing any

one to fall down and knock his nose against a stone, he could in-

stantly stop the bleeding if he only had in his pocket a toad that

had been pierced through with a piece of wood and dried in the

shade or smoke. All he had to do was to hold the dried toad in

his hand and the bleeding would immediately cease. The reason

for this effect is, “ that horror and fear constrained the blood to

run into its propet place, for fear of a beast so contrary to nature.”

In our day, however, the properties of this animal are better.

understood, although to a great extent it is still held to be venom-

ous by the people, and generally killed wherever it is found.

Recent investigations go to prove that an acrid secretion covers

the body of the toad, which is the cause of sore mouths in dogs

attacking it. One of the great uses of the toad is its propensity

THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST. 331

for destroying insects injurious to vegetation. Our gardeners

ought to introduce them imto their gardens and cultivate the ac-

quaintance of these creatures, their little trouble in so doing would

be amply compensated.

The toad is of a retiring dlaspouldliiiny loving dark corners and

shady places.. It has a slow, jumping motion, and is of a very

timid disposition. Numerous instances might be cited of pet

toads, and of their becoming quite tame.

The toad differs in some respects from the nearly related frog.

The structure of the mouth is, however, nearly the same; the

tongue is attached by the root, as it were, to the base and front

of the mouth, the tip being reversed and pointing down the throat

when the animal is at rest.

_ The moment it sees an insect its eyes brighten and sparkle, the

toes ‘twitch and quicker than the eye can follow, the tongue is

thrown out, the insect transfixed, and withdrawn into the mouth.

Unlike the frog, the toad does not spring after its prey, but re-

mains seated. Having kept frogs in the aquarium, I have noticed

that they will spring two or three times their own length from the

moss to catch a fly on the glass, using their tongue, as it were, on

the jump. They seldom miss their mark. As far as my experi-

ence goes, neither of these animals will eat anything without life

or motion. I have, however, often deceived a frog by moving a

dead fly in the sight of the creature, which it always took readily.

Many stories have been told of toads in rocks, and reasons

have been given by authors as to the way in which they became

so embedded. My subject has, however, nothing to do with these

“old great toads,” but to one of our own day and generation.

After this digression, I shall now introduce my friend, the toad, in

his capacity as a collector of beetles.

The true naturalist, in the pursuit of his study, is a very teach-

able individual; he never refuses assistance from any one, what-

ever his station in life is, or however meagre his knowledge of the

science may be. The many ways he uses the animal creation to

advance his knowledge in the particular branch of study, may be

illustrated as follows : —

The conchologist wearies for pleasant "e of summer, to

take a trip to the sea-side, with his dredges and lines, his bottles

and store boxes, where he adds to his i Si interesting

and perhaps new forms of molluscan life.

332 THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST.

A trip to the sea-side is not always easily obtained; but the

naturalist may be seen in the markets buying the several species

of flat fish, such as flounders and other species which live and

feed at the bottom of the sea. Knowing them to be good col-

lectors, he takes advantage of this fact to procure many and

sometimes rare species, and thus adds to his cabinet, without the

trouble of dredging for them.

The entomologist, likewise, has recourse to different methods to

obtain the objects of his interesting study. The following is one

of many:

Starting at six o’clock one morning, in the summer of 1864,

for a walk to our beautiful mountain to collect insects, provided

with the requisite apparatus, a wide-mouthed bottle, with spirits,

for beetles, and a small flat box, lined with cork, for butterflies,

etc., my success was particularly good. The first captures were

eleven specimens of carrion beetles, comprising three species, viz.,

Silpha peltata, Silpha marginalis and Silpha ineequalis. These

were obtained from the body of a dead hawk-owl (Surnia ulula).

Having secured them in the bottle, and while walking leisurely '

along, I noticed a toad (Bufo Americanus) sitting contentedly at

the root of a basswood tree (Tilia Americana). Having never

made use of my dingy friend as an insect collector, although aware

of his propensity that way, my mind was made up to press him into

the service—but how? He must be dead first. As he sat looking :

at me with his beautiful eyes (for although his appearance is not

very prepossessing, still those beautiful, bright, yet languid eyes

go a great way to improve his appearance), I had certain qualms of

conscience about taking his life ; still it was in the cause of ento-

mology, and for the furtherance of science his life was sacrificed.

Now he was dead ; how was I to proceed? I had cut up and dis-

sected many insects as well as birds; but to cut up a toad, and

before breakfast—“there’s the rub ”— that grey, warty toad, no

beautiful eyes now. One slash of the knife through the skin,

another through the walls of the stomach, and the poor creature’s

breakfast was exposed.

I was a little disappointed at first, as one or two common forms

of beetles presented themselves, that might have been obtained

without sacrificing the poor animal; still, I reasoned as he had

been up nearly, or perhaps all night, collecting, and I had not, he

must have taken some species not in my collection. Having —

FE yee en ty oh eee Meine a hae eee Rene ne euler A Eo eae Fe ee mE D cee a

THE TOAD AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST. 333

scraped the contents of his stomach into my bottle of spirits, I

started home, resolved to see what the insects were before break-

fast.

I spread them out on a sheet of blotting-paper and counted

them, the result being as follows, naming them for the benefit of

my entomological S who have not made use of the toad as a

collector of insects

There were kaiti perfect specimens, viz., —

No. of Specimens.

Cymindis pilosa, ra i ORG

latynus hamein com two

Bembidium Coe tiikoatiin nidbiadion,’

Cercoyn, undetermined, ` y three

s jocosus, common, PAOR E a one

Pæderus littorarius, rare, . AEE e e a DA

Ips faciatus, common, AE a Uke a0 Sa a E a O,

Ips sanguinolentus, common; eta cig y NEY eS el ec unos tw) o

Besides these, there was one elytron each of Hippodamia and

of Brachycantha ; also vestiges of legs and wings of other insects.

I have killed several toads since, with similar results; one, I

may mention, had the stomach filled with a species of Chrysome-

lide, Doryphora trimaculata, amounting to eleven specimens. He

had evidently come across a colony of that insect, and made a

hearty breakfast. I may state that this insect was in great abun-

dance, during 1864, on the Island of Montreal. The same may be

said of last summer, 1868; taking them by the score on the

Mountain, also along the river at Hochelaga.

The earlier you go out in the morning the better; before sun-

rise, if possible, ere the process of digestion has gone too far.

s are also very useful as collectors of insects, as may be

seen by the following from one of the daily papers, being only

one of many thousand examples :—

BIRDS THE FARMER’S FRIENDS. — An intelligent yrim boy in e me oie a

small flock of quails, commencing at one side of a cornfield, five rows

regularly 1d. nd

and taking another five ep until thinking they were pulling up the corn, he shot

one and then examined the field. On the ground they had been over, he found but one

stalk of corn disturbed, but in the quail’s crop he found one cut worm, twenty-one

stri vine bugs, over a hundred chintz bugs that he could distinctly count, and a

mass apparently consisting of hundreds of chintz bugs, but not one kernel of corn.

During the a ee wiciidhy mare diodi Gane wae Oe

chintz bug in g

It will thus be seen, from what has been said regarding the

habits of those humble animals, toads and birds, what great ser-

334 FRESH WATER SKETCHES.

vices they render to man in the economy of nature, and will, it is

hoped, tend to show that it is the duty of all, especially of agricul-

turists, to preserve such valuable animals.— Canadian Naturalist

and Geologist.

FRESH WATER SKETCHES. *

BY PROFESSOR L. W. BAILEY.

Ir must not be inferred, from the title above given, that it is the

purpose of the author, in the following “ Sketches” to impose upon

the readers of the Naruratist, either a temperance tract, or a trea-

tise on hydropathy, a fisher’s manual, or even a guide to the lakes.

The disciples of Isaac Walton will find that like Buller, I have

tabooed the whole subject of angling, ‘and all its endless bothera-

tion about baskets and rods, and reels and tackle—salmon-trout,

sea-trout, perch, pike, etc.,” — nor must the tourist look here for

descriptions of the picturesque, the beautiful, and the grand, as

displayed in the scenery of our unrivalled rivers, lakes and cata-

racts. My object, on the contrary, is to allude but slightly, if at

all, to the charms of our inland aquatic scenery, or even to such

objects of natural history, as may meet the eye of every ob-

server, but rather to present, in a familiar way, some account of «

the minute, but marvellous wonders, which may be found by the

aid of the microscope in every pool, pond, lake or river in our

country. As the sketches in question have not the formality of a

scientific treatise, and are divested to a considerable degree of

technical language, I hope they may find some readers among

those who might be repelled by a more pretending title or a more

ponderous theme. If they serve to recall to the accomplished

microscopist, some of the pleasures which have often ‘lent a

*The idea of these sketches was first suggested by some manuscript notes, left

among the papers of my father, the late Prof. J. W. Bailey, of West Point, and which

had been written with a view to the preparation of a small volume, similar in its gen-

eral character to “ the Sea-side Book” of Harvey, but relating exclusively to the more

to carry out the intention originally entertained, he has, in the following pages, embod-

ied a portion of the notes in question, in a modified form, with the results of such ob-

servations as he has himself b ble t ke upon the subjects alluded to.—L. W. B-

FRESH WATER SKETCHES. 335

charmed loneliness ” to my own pursuits, or if they shall succeed

in awakening in any that curiosity and desire for more intimate

knowledge, which can only be gratified by original research, I shall

feel that I have not misapplied that labor to which I have been

urged by

“That fond desire which dwells in human breasts,

When pleased, their pleasures to extend to those

Of kindred tastes.”

I. THE POND AND ITS FLOWERING PLANTS.

A por 3

Can the wild aama restore. ”—-CAMPBELL.

Is there any New Englander, any Northerner, to whom these

words do not recall some favorite haunt of his youth, some of those

beautiful and bright sheets of liquid crystal, which are so profusely

scattered over the northern portions of our country, lending beauty

to many a landscape, which, without these ornaments, would be

dull and uninteresting? All who remember such scenes, will agree

that what the lakes are to the landscape, the lilies are to the lake,

adding a charm which we never fail to miss when they are not

present. Without them there is always felt a loneliness, a want

of animation and cheerfulness, the cause of which we may not be

conscious of, but the contrast to which is at once perceived if we

chance to find a pond

. “ Where in the midst, upon her throne of green

Sits the large lily, as the water’s queen.” — CRABBE.

We then feel that she it is who apparently lends life and light to

all around, and we can but acknowledge that she well deserves her

aquatic throne.

In company with this queen of the waters, there is usually found

a bright bevy of maids of honor well worthy to grace her court.

The delicate little Floating Heart (Limnanthemum lacunosum),

the curious Water-shield (Brasenia peltata Pursh) the purple and

yellow Utricularia are among her train; while the coarse but

curious Yellow Lily (Nuphar advena Ait), the slender Pipewort

(Eriscaulon septangulare), the white Arrow-head (Sagittaria vari-

abilis) and the purple Pickerel-weed (Pontederia cordata L.) stand

as sentinels around. But, as I have said, it is not my-inten-

b tion to dwell upon those charms of lake scenery which must be

obvious to every observer. Let us then turn not unlovingly from

336 FRESH WATER SKETCHES.

what he who runs may read, and armed with the microscope seek

out new sources of pleasure in its wonderful revelations.

The plants to which reference has been made, though in them-

selves far from being microscopic, afford many points of interest

to the microscopical botanist. In the Nymphzea, Nuphar and Lim-

nanthemum, for example, are presented vessels of an unusual form,

marked like the ordinary dotted ducts so common among land

plants, but singularly branched in a manner quite unlike what is

usually met with in the latter. These vessels may be easily seen

in a thin slice of the stems of the leaf or flower, or they may be

obtained completely isolated by letting portions of the plant mac-

erate in a glass of water for a few days in summer, until partial

decomposition has taken place, when the vessels in question may

be easily picked out with the point of a needle and examined by

themselves. In the pure limpid jelly which invests the younger

. parts of the Water-shield (Brasenia peltata) is another object

` which cannot fail to attract the attention of the botanical student.

If this be examined under the microscope, it will be found that

the plant is not surrounded, as it appears to the naked eye, by a

mass of homogeneous unorganized jelly, but that it is covered with

minute hairs, each one of which is the axis of a cylindrical mass

of jelly excreted by itself. In the Pickerel-weed (Pontederia cor-

data) an interesting subject of study may be found in the slender

crystals (raphides) contained within the large ellipsoidal cells, of

which this plant contains such great numbers, both the crystals

and the cells being much like those which have been called

“ Biforines” and which occur in Calla, Arum and other plants of

the natural family Aracee. The true biforines when separated

from the other tissues in water, rapidly discharge the crystals from

one or both ends of the cells, and often with such force as to drive

the cells backwards like a rocket, but this action is Rose

wanting in the crystalline bundles of Pontederia. The

phragms or thin plates of cellular tissue, met with in the stem si

petioles of this plant will also be found to afford very beautiful

objects for the microscope.

The Water Lobelia (L. Dortmanna) is an interesting plant,

oad recognized by its naked stem flowering above water, W.

ts base is surrounded by a bunch of radical leaves reduced to

mere petioles. This plant, like all of its tribe, has a milky juice,

and the latex vessels in which it circulates may be found in the

K ee SR eee eee Oe eee ete Bese. | Ae ee

ue Ce eee ati

a eee ee

Pe A oe

FRESH WATER SKETCHES. 337

leaves, and be isolated with great ease by the method of macera-

tion and partial decomposition above mentioned. A better plant

for exhibiting this peculiar form of vegetable tissue can scarcely

be found.

Among the most interesting of the aquatic plants are the Duck-

weeds (species of Lemna) some of which are the smallest of all

flowering plants, and yet possess every essential organ. The leaf

and stem are confounded while the root is reduced to one or more

capillary fibres, in the centre of which minute spiral vessels may

be detected. On the surface of the pond, are stomates or breath-

ing-pores of the usual form, and among its cells may be found

starch globules and a few cylindrical and stellate groups of crys-

tals. The flowers are the simplest possible, consisting of two

staminate and one pistillate flower, supported by a scale-like

to maturity, and discharges its pollen in advance of the other.

The pollen, when received upon the stigma, develops pollen-tubes

as in other plants. In short, no structure or function of the

larger plants is wanting in these dwarfs of Flora’s kingdom. The

Duck-weed is one of the plants which often form “‘ the green man-

tle of the standing pool,” which is often considered as the evi-

dence of impurity, but which, like all growing vegetation in such

situations, by absorbing nitrogenized matters and evolving oxygen

serves to purify and sweeten the water. Any one may convince

himself of this important agency of growing plants by putting

a little decaying organic matter in two vessels of water, one of

which has growing plants immersed in it, and the other has not.

The last will be putrid and offensive in a few days, while the for-

mer may be kept for months in a pure condition. The Lemna

may be easily kept in a glass of water with a little pond mud at

the bottom, and may be thus watched in all its stages of develop-

ment. It will be found that it has the singular habit of hiberna-

ting. On the approach of cold weather, it will be seen to sink to

the bottom of the vessel where it will remain all winter, but will

rise again to float on the surface as soon as it feels the warmth of

the vernal sun.

Let us now quit the earface of our pond, and, looking below, see

what we can find in its “green and glassy gulfs.” True to our

plan of only attending to the microscopic, I shall not stop to de-

338 FRESH WATER SKETCHES.

scribe the various interesting submerged plants which will natu-

rally attract the attention. The beautiful feathery Myriophyllum

and Naias, the interesting Ceratophyllum, the submerged leaves of

the white and yellow Ranunculus (N. aquatilis and N. Purshii) re-

duced to a mass of branching vessels, with a mere trace of paren-

chyma; the various species of Potamogeton, the Hippuris, etc.,

etc., will all prove of great interest to the botanical student, but —

we will at present attend to those plants only which afford good

views of the motion of the sap.

Among the best plants for studying this circulation are those of

the Chara family, a group of plants formerly included among the

Algze, but now regarded as occupying a separate and somewhat '

higher position. _They are very common in ponds, streams and

ditches in all parts of our country, and may easily be recognized

by their leafless stems and branches composed of long joints

which are scarcely larger around than a common knitting-needle.

Each of these joints is a single cell, within the walls of which are

seen minute green particles, arranged in parallel: lines, which go

obliquely around the joint, leaving at one place a narrow colorless

band. It does not need a very high magnifying power to see in

these tubes a most beautiful display of the phenomena of circula-

tion. The fluid may be seen

‘in fluent dan

and lively PiE ETETE mounting”

along one side of the colorless band, and proceeding along the

whole length of the joint until it reaches the extremity, where it

turns down on the other side of. the same band. The large starch

globules and other masses which are borne along by the current,

enable us to follow its course and even to measure its velocity.

A very full account of the observations made on the circulation

in Chara and Nitella, by Amici, Slack, Varley, Dutrochet and oth-

ers, will be found in Hassal’s Fresh Water Algæ. p. 78. These

plants may be kept in glass vases without any trouble and will

prove of great interest to the microscopist not only for the phe-

nomena of circulation but also for the curious structure of their or-

gans of reproduction. These organs are known by the name of the

nucule and the granule, the former being considered by some au-

thors as the female and the latter as the male flower. The nucule

consists of a globular body surrounded by fine spirally-twisted

Sai pba UV An tale ele a

FRESH WATER SKETCHES. 839

tubes which closely envelop it. It contains numerous starch glob-

ules and is capable of germination. These nucules when ripe are

quite hard and not being readily decomposed are often met with in

a fossil state in fresh-water deposits. Lamarck mistook them for

the shell of a mollusc and called them Gyrogonites. The granule

differs much from the nucule. Its exterior presents a number of

triangular plates with radiating cells and indented edges. Each

one of these plates supports in its interior a cluster of fine artieu-

lated threads, in each joint of which is coiled up a spiral cileated

filament. Upon the bursting of the globule, these filaments (sper-

matozoids) escape into the water, where their wonderfully active

movements have led to their being looked upon as true animal-

eules. They are, however, merely agents in the fertilization of the

germ-cell, and are analogous to the singular bodies discovered by

Meyen in the antheridia of mosses.

The Nitella (Chara) presents such curious phenomena that it

is certainly worth the trouble of keeping it, and nothing is easier

than to effect this. Each cell of the plant seems to have its own

independent life, so that if any portion of the plant be thrown

into a glass of water with a little pond mud, it will continue to

grow and flourish. “I have sometimes known it in winter to

separate at its joints, so as to give a number of completely

isolated cells, each one of which continued alive all winter, dis-

playing the ordinary circulation, and in the spring developing

a whorl of new joints.” *

Another plant also easy of cultivation is the Water-tape ( Vallis-

neria spiralis L.) which shows the circulation not less beautifully

than does the Nitella. This plant grows in immense quantities on

the flats in the Hudson River, and sometimes to such an extent as

to afford a serious obstacle to the passage of a boat. Its singular

mode of fecundation is thus described by Dr. Gray in his excel-

lent “ Botany of the Northern States.”+ The staminate flowers

being confined to the bottom of the water, by the shortness of the

scape, the flower-buds themselves spontaneously break away from

their short pedicels and float on the surface, where they expand

and shed their pollen around the fertile flowers which are raised to

the surface at this time; fertilization being thus accomplished,

the thread-form fertile scapes coil spirally, and draw the ovary

#3. W. Bailey. tp. 463.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 22

340 FOSSIL PLANTS.

under the water to ripen.” It is to these phenomena that the fan-

ciful Darwin alludes in the following lines —

« As dash the waves on India’s breezy strand

rli

Her flushed upon her lily hand

Vallisner sits, upturns her tearful bite

”

—LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

In future “‘ sketches” we shall endeavor to obtain some further

glimpses at the marvels of pond-life.

NOTE pian r ai i bron fluids may be seen in many land as well as water

plants. “The urrents oniliform hairs on the anthers of me ae mon Spider-

wort ( Tradesc iti Pig TS: are well known to microscopists, and, indeed, it has been

ascertained that the hairs of most plants in some stage of their ma “exhibit similar

phenomena. Among our native land plants few ex vape aa display of these phe-

nomena than may be seen in the young hairs on the fruit of the Enchanter’s Night-

shade (Circeea Lutetiana L.). Currents bearing along ad albuminous ? ? mas

much resembling those in Chara will be found in e of

the flower and fruit of this plant. TuTh more li ke those of Tradescantia may be

n the hairs within the corolla of the common Foxglove of the gardens. Lindley

states that the large cells of the rhizoma of the Scouring Rush (Equisetum) show very

distinct currents, and the writer has seen beautiful displays of these phenomena in the

cells of the root of the common Asparagus,

MODE OF PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE REMAINS

IN OUR AMERICAN COAL MEASURES.*

BY LEO LESQUEREUX.

Rematys oF Piants 1N Coar. —It has been erroneously asserted

that the coal itself does not contain any recognizable vegetable

remains, it being merely a mass of bitumen, independent of any

of the plants which are found in the shales overlaying or under-

laying it. Our bituminous coal is generally a compound of sup-

posed layers of crystalline matter, about one-eighth of an inch in

thickness, separated by a thin coat of pulverulent coal, or mineral

charcoal, which is a mere compound of cellular tissue and of ves-

sels of plants. f

eke hai

* From the Fourth yolume of the Geological Survey of Illinois. A.H. Worthen,

Director. 1870

t This fact is * caatty ampera by microscopical examination, Prof. J. W. Dawson,

of Montreal, has closely ex eas this charcoal, and published, as results of his inter-

esting researches, numerous forms of vessels of plants. The same kind of researches

had been already pursued by Prof. Goppert, who had recognized, in this nine

coal, remains of plants of a family hitherto known to occur fossil

(Quar. Geol. Jour., vol. 5, m

F naear oead

See A

rie CF

aitai

P EEE EE S OR EA EEEN

FOSSIL PLANTS. 841

Generally, this agglomeration of broken tissue preserves some

outline by which the genera, even the species to which the remains

belong, can be recognized at first sight: leaflets of ferns, stems of

Calamites, bark of Stigmaria, Lepidodendron, etc. But besides

this, the coal itself, though more rarely, is marked with distinct

prints of the plants of which it isa compound. This case is espec-

ially observable in a kind of hard, laminated, flint coal, obtained

in Mercer county by Mr. H. A. Green, which bears on the hori-

zontal surface of its crystalline lamellae, however thin they may be

cut, the outline and nervation of leaves and branches of ferns,

and other vegetables of the coal; and these are so distinctly

marked, that the most delicate parts are as easily identified as

those of plants preserved in shales

The great abundance of these remains show that the whole mass

of this coal, which is true coal and burns freely, is a compound of

them. In the cannel coal which has been formed under water

from more decomposed vegetables, the forms are more rarely rec-

ognizable. Yet the cannel coal of Breckenridge, Ky., is marked

through its whole mass by stems and leaves of Stigmaria and

Lepidodendron, rendered distinct by infiltration of sulphuret of

iron. Even in the anthracite coal of Penn., whose matter has

been subjected to heat and fused to cohesion ‘ise the transforma-

tion of vegetable matter into coal, one can easily discover an

abundance of remains of plants whose genera and even species are

sometimes recognizable. These facts, which cannot be overlooked,

may be taken into account in examining new theories in relation

to the formation of coal.

VEGETABLE REMAINS PRESERVED IN SHALE.—It is in the clay

or silicious shale that the fragments of plants of the coal epoch

have been more generally preserved. When a bed of vegetable

matter heaped for the formation of a coal has begun to cease its

growth, its top indicates a greater scarcity of vegetable remains,

mixed with a larger proportion of earthy or clayey matter. The

coal then becomes a less homogeneous mass, easily separating in

layers of heaped fragments of vegetable and foreign matter. By

and by, the vegetation becoming scarcer by superabundance of

water upon the surface of the bogs, the clay is more thickly depos-

ited, and the vegetable remains, more rare and scattered, are more

_ distinct, and more easily recognizable. When preserved in that

342 FOSSIL PLANTS.

way, the plants or their fragments have been first slowly decom-

posed and softened by humidity, and then more or less flattened

by compression. All the naturalists who have examined the coal

formations are well acquainted with the appearance of the remains

found in shale, and sometimes admirably preserved. Generally,

the woody tissue of the plant has been destroyed, and the surface

of the stems and branches only are preserved in a thin coat of

coaly matter, bearing impressions of scars of the bark, etc. For

the leaves, the coaly matter represents the whole substance, and

for the ferns, especially, it preserves the exact form of the vege-

table, and is marked by the impression of veins and veinlets, mostly

distinct to their last divisions. Some leaves of a coriaceous text-

ure have their epidermis hardened by mineralization, and separa-

ble from the shale like a transparent pellicle. It can then be easily

examined under the microscope, and all the details of structure

recognized. It is especially the case with our Dictyopteris rubella

of Murphysborough, as also with the leaves of Whittleseya elegans

Newb., of Ohio. Sometimes the leaves of Neuropteris hirsuta

have been heaped and compressed together in such quantity, that

the pinnules are separable from each other as a carbonaceous cuti-

cle, preserving traces of the primitive organism.

The shales, according to the amount of vegetable matter mixed

in them, and the depth at which they have been formed under

water, are of a more or less dark color; whitish or yellowish when

of fresh water origin, and with few remains of plants; black and

generally more homogeneous when formed in deep water, and hay-

ing for a larger proportion of their compound, broken remains of

organized beings. In this case the remains are either animal or

vegetable mixed together, both fragments of molluscs and fishes

with fragments of plants recognizable on the same piece of shale,

or mere remains of animals, or only plants. These various appear-

ances are easily explained in considering the phenomena accom-

panying the formation of the coal strata, from deposits analogous

to those of our existing peat bogs. For the surface of these bogs,

even in our time, shows the same differences in the superposed de-

posits, according to the depth and chemical compounds of the

water by which they become covered, either by casual inundation

in the interior of the land, or by slow immersion near the borders

of lakes or sea shores. Even where the coal and shales, from the

amount of remains of fishes which they contain, appear to have

FOSSIL PLANTS. 343

been formed in water of a certain depth, the matter always bears

evident traces of its origin from land vegetation, and never from

marine plants. The lower part of a bed of coal, worked near

the mouth of Yellow creek, Ohio, is a kind of cannel coal, or very

bituminous compact shale, full of the remains of fishes, whose en-

tire skeletons vary in length from one inch to one foot. Yet this

shale has an abundance of the remains of land plants mixed in its

compound. The same case is observable in Kentucky — for exam-

ple, at Airdrie, on Green river, where the upper coal (No. 11 of

the Kentucky section) is overlaid by a bituminous laminated

shale, containing teeth of large fishes with trunks of Sigillaria,

Lepidodendron, etc., and branches and leaves of ferns. Those

who have examined our immersed peat bogs along the shores of

New Jersey, have seen in activity a formation of the same kind,

where logs of large trees are fished from a depth of ten or fifteen

feet, out of beds of peat submerged in water deep enough to feed

a variety of fishes; while here and there, small islands, half float-

ing fragments of wood or heaps of mud, are covered with a luxu-

riant growth of ferns, reeds, or bushes, which throw their debris

to the surface, to be conveyed to the bottom and there mixed in

the bed of mud, an incipient shale, with animal remains.

Among the various metamorphoses to which remains of plants

have been subjected in the shale by compression, decomposition

and other chemical and mechanical agencies, one peculiar phenom-

enon is worth noticing here. In the shale covering the bed of

anthracite of Rhode Island, the whole carbonaceous matter of the

plants has been destroyed by heat, and the mere skeleton of

the leaves and other remains is marked upon the shale as a more

or less distinct mould, often covered by a whitish incrustation of

selenite. In this process of fusion, the vegetable fragments have

been distorted in such a way that they often present an appear-

ance far different from that of the species to which they belong.

For example, in some branches of ferns, the leaflets have been, on

one side of the pinne, extended to double their original length,

and narrowed in proportion, while on the other side they have been

relatively contracted and widened. Wi thout an examination of

the shale at Newport, it would be difficult to account for such a

metamorphosis. At this locality, the shales present along the

shore a series of low undulations, resembling slightly elevated

wayes; and there one can see that, in the state of fusion of the

344 FOSSIL PLANTS.

whole mass, the remains of plants, following the force of upheaval,

have been, at peculiar places, drawn upwards and therefore elon-

gated on one side, and of course drawn on the other towards the

rachis. It is peculiar that the rachis and stems do not show any 4

appearance of flexure and of deformation, and it is remarkable _

also that the same phenomenon of dimorphism is not observable _

on the plants found in the shale of the anthracite basin of Penn-

sylvania, where the flexures of the veins of coal are often abrupt,

and where traces of tortion are frequently seen upon fragments of

the combustible mineral. This deformation of vegetable remains

may give an idea of the difficulties encountered by the palæontolo-

gist in studying, as he has to do, mere fragments of plants in their

fossil state. Not only do these remains generally insufficiently

represent the whole vegetable, but often they are deformed by

various forces and influences, to which they are subjected in the

process of mineralization. E

VEGETABLE REMAINS PRESERVED IN FerruGIxous Concretions.

—As far as we know, from the specimens abundantly found in

Illinois, the mode of preservation of fossil plants in concretions

is somewhat different from what it is in argillaceous shale. These

concretions are found, especially in the shale of Grundy county,

irregularly scattered from top to bottom of the strata, in the form

of oval, more or less elongated, generally slightly flattened cons

cretions. They appear to have been formed by superposition of

concentric layers of slowly deposited carbonate of iron or ferrugi-

nous clay around central nuclei, which are most commonly parts

of plants, bones of fishes or the remains of insects and crustacea:

Their size and form vary according to that of the body around

which the deposit has been made. Some small leaflets of ferns are

found

FOSSIL PLANTS. 345

nutlets for nuclei, are round or exactly oval, while they are flat-

tened for pieces of ferns, in proportion to the breadth of the frag-

ments which they have entombed

The origin of these concretions has been explained in admit-

ting a general tendency of some mineral bodies to concentrate

around centres, whether solidifying from fusion, solution, or vapors.*

This explanation may be satisfactory in regard to other kinds of

concretions, but from their peculiar position, their form and size,

varying according to the nature and outline of the bodies which

they contain, the nodules of Mazon creek rather seem to be the

work of infusoria or Bacillaria concentrating molecules of iron

around some centres, as it now happens in the formation of the

bog iron ore, or in other deposits, in springs or pools, whose

waters contain a solution of iron. This supposition appears con-

firmed by the manner in which the bodies in concretions have been

preserved and selected for preservation. ough generally mere

fragments, their integrity is complete, and yet some of them are of

very soft texture. The pinne or leaflets of ferns are always found

in them in a flattened positi their axis or rachis extending

through the centre of the elongated nodule, with the divisions on

both sides ; the surface of the pinnules, slightly swollen, as when in

their living state, is marked by recognizable hairs or fruit dots,

with distinct veins and veinlets, and their appendages, like the

scales, are seen in the various modifications which they present in

living specimens; for example, long, straight, flat, diverging, on

primary rachis, and becoming shorter, ruffied and curled on their

upper divisions. e small organs of plants appear, therefore, in

a better state of preservation than in the shales. With small ani-

mals like crustaceans, scorpions, insects of a fleshy and very deli-

cate texture, the preservation of form is still more remarkable.

They are found entombed in the middle of the nodules just as if

they were in life, or as if they had been transformed into stone

while still living. The fruits or nutlets are not flattened. By the

section of the nodules, which generally break into two equal halves

by hard strokes upon their edges, the middle and internal part of

the fruit is exposed to view, while the outside surface is immersed

in the stone. The numerous cones also of Lepidodendron found

in these concretions are equally well preserved, either whole or in

part, by horizontal cross sections. Some specimens not only

*Dana’s Manual of Geology, p. 626.

346 FOSSIL PLANTS.

show distinctly the pedicels of the sporanges and the blades in

their natural position, but even sporanges with their seeds have

been found in them, without perceptible alteration. In the cross —

section of these Lepidostrobi the sporange cells form a central

row, which is surrounded by the blades in the form of a star. E-

Peculiar species of plants and animals, or their fragments, seem

to have been selected as the nuclei of these nodules. They con-

tain, for example, an abundance of leaflets of various species of

Neuropteris, especially N. hirsuta, of Alethopteris Serlii, of Pe-

- copteris villosa, P. abbreviata, Hymenophyllites Clarkii, Annularia —

longifolia, Stigmarioides, ete., which are either rare or have not yet

been found in the shale at Morris, while these shales are rich in ;

the remains of Odontopteris Schlotheimii, Alethopteris erosa, Ulo- a

dendron, Carpolithes multistriatus, scarcely or not at all preserved 4

in concretions. As the bank of shale bordering the bed of Mazon —

creek has not yet been opened, these differences may result from

geographical distribution. Yet, as the animals and plants of soft a

texture, like the species of the genus Sigillarioides, have not yet

been found in the shale of our American Coal Measures, it is evi-

dent that these remains have been generally destroyed by macera

tion, and only escaped total destruction by their entombment in

these nodules. The same can be remarked on the remains of

small animals. The remains of fishes found in these concretions

are merely bones, scales and coprolites; while of molluscs, they

have afforded only some agglomerations or very small shells.

VEGETABLE Remains PRESERVED BY MINERALIZATION OR TRUE

Perrirication.— This kind of fossilization is performed by slow

infiltration of mineral matter into the substance of the vegetable, —

when in a soft state of decomposition. The phenomenon is pro-

duced either by a total destruction of the vegetable substance, 10r

which sand, clay or oxyd of iron is substituted by infiltration, OT

by a slow, still unexplained mineralization of the vegetable sub-

stance, by silex or lime. By the first process, the whole texture

of the vegetable is destroyed, except the surface, preserved as in

a mould, which shows the original outline of the vegetable, and

bears the cicatrices of the bark and other external :

which often render it recognizable. These moulds, generally ¢

ered by a coat of coaly matter, are rarely flattened by compres

sion, and mostly represent trunks or branches of large size, Some

deal

FOSSIL PLANTS. 347

times fruits of a hard consistence, rarely branches and leaves of

ferns. They abound in the sandstone beds of our Coal Measures,

and some of our new species of Lepidodendron and of Sigillaria

have been described from specimens of this kind. In the second

case of petrification, on the contrary, the surface or outside of the

vegetables is generally obliterated, as if it had been more or less

decayed while subjected to mineralization, while the internal struct-

ure is preserved in its minutest details, and so distinctly, that it

can be studied under the microscope when lamelle of the fossils

are detached, and polished thin enough to become transparent.

Specimens of wood fossilized in this way, though often remarked

in the Carboniferous formations of Europe, and very common in

the more recent formations of this continent, have rarely been

found in our Coal Measures, and none as yet have been obtained,

except from Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Both these

processes of fossilization have acted upon vegetables already sep-

arated from their support, and more or less decayed, or upon trees

still standing or still living, when they were surrounded by the

mineral substances which caused their petrification. Though not

quite as abundant as prostrated fossil trunks, petrified standing

trees are not unfrequently obtained from the sandstone of our Coal

Measures. Near New Harmony, Ind., some petrified trees, vary-

ing in size from six to twelve inches in diameter, have been ob-

tained from a sandy shale, and transferred to his museum in their

standing position, and with their roots attached to the trunks, by

my lamented friend, D. D. Owen. Though entirely metamor-

phosed into sandstone, their mould preserves remarkably well the

scars of the point of attachment of the leaves, the wrinkles of the

bark, ete., and show the gradual variations which modify the form

of the cicatrices in passing from the stem to the roots. True pet-

rified forests have been observed in banks of sandstone of the

Coal Measures of Pennsylvania and of Kentucky. This phenome-

non should, therefore, demand but a passing notice, if it did not

give rise to some discussions concerning the mode and cause of

dislocation or fracture of these fossil trees, and also concerning

the causes and agents of their petrification.

Fossil trees, except when observed in their standing position,

still half inclosed and sustained in the matter in which they have

been originally buried, are always found in pieces or broken.

This is observable as well in the fossil wood of the Carboniferous

348 FOSSIL PLANTS.

measures as in that so abundantly found in more recent formas

tions; for example, in the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds of our

continent. The fracture of the pieces is of two kinds: either ir- :

regular, in various directions, like the breaking of mineral sub- 4

stances produced by hard strokes, or horizontal, as if by a kind of, J

cleavage, the separate pieces forming disks or regular cylinders

of various lengths. Generally, in both cases the fractured surface a

is clean, smooth, distinctly angular, and showing that in most

forests of Egypt, south of Cairo, and has published the result of 2

his researches,* has found there the trunks subjected to a kind of a

multiple fracture, produced at various times and in various ways; 4

some of the trunks having their fractured surfaces obliterated as

if by decay, others showing on their fragments, still closely ap-

proached to each other, evidence of recent separation. He there-

fore explains their fracture as due to mere atmospheric influences,

especially to sudden changes of temperature, which are not rare —

in those regions. This explanation could be admitted for the .

regular fragments of silicified wood, found in connection with our

recent formations, and which, in some countries —in Arkansas-

and Mississippi, for example—are in some places strewn upon

the ground in profusion. Agglomerations of silex are rarely

homogeneous or regularly compact throughout. They are inter-

spersed with fissures or soft veins which, when penetrated by

water, expand under the influence of frost, and determine frac-

tures in various directions. But fossil wood broken in that way

rarely found in our Carboniferous measures. Generally, the fossil

trees of this formation, when separated from the mineral

* Der Versteinerte Wald bel Cairo, &¢.; Acad. der Wiss. zu Wien, vol. 33, 1888

FOSSIL PLANTS. 349

of superposition, to rebuild the vegetable in its original position.

At Carbondale, in Pennsylvania, a true forest of Calamites has

been crossed in the opening of an inclined tunnel through a bank

of sandstone to a bed of coal underlying it. The fragments of

petrified stems taken out of this passage are in such abundance

that they have been used for the construction of a kind of gang-

way for running the coal cars out of the mines. These fragments,

nearly without exception, are mere disks, varying in length from

one to four inches, without relation to the size or diameter of the

stems, which measure from three to six inches; the differences in

the length of the sections being as marked for the large as for the

small stems. All these fragments represent only as far, at least,

as I could determine from the examination of hundreds of speci-

mens, two species of Calamites, O. Suckowii and O. approxima-

tus Brgt. The walls of the tunnel are adorned by a number of

these trees, still in their standing position and half imbedded in

the sandstone. hough these stems are continuous, they show,

at various and irregular distances, horizontal fractures where they

break or are dislocated at their separation from the surrounding

sandstone. Some of these trunks of Calamites, which in their

natural state were evidently hollow, have been abruptly folded or

crushed, like hollow cylinders in bending under their own weight,

or by some external force; but even at the point of inclination or

tortion of these stems, the fracture is horizontal or perpendicular

to their erect position. At Paintsville, Johnson county, Ken-

tucky, the bottom of the river, which at some places has been

cleanly washed, is marked, as in a kind of irregular mosaic work,

by the broken tops of large trunks of Sigillaria, still in their

original standing position, all EAOa fractured. One of these

trunks measures twenty-two inches in diameter. The same pecu-

liar kind of horizontal pera is generally observable on the

silicified trunks so abundantly found in some parts of Southern

Ohio, especially in the bed of Shade river, near Athens. They

are, most of them, pieces of stems of fern trees (Psaronius), vary-

ing in diameter from three to twelve inches, broken in disks from `

two to fourteen inches long. A few of these pieces of silicified

wood are irregularly broken and disfigured on the outside by mac-

eration; but generally they preserve their cylindrical form, and

when of some length show here and there, at various distances,

horizontal splits, uninterrupted all around the trunk, where a dis-

350 FOSSIL PLANTS.

ruption is easily produced by a hard stroke. From the great bedof —

sandstone overlying the, Pittsburg coal, near Greensburg, I have —

received, from Rev. W. D. Moore, large specimens of fossil wood, 4

most of them long, irregularly broken, much decayed pieces, evi- —

dently, representing sections of trunks broken lengthwise. These d

were found in various positions in the sandstone, and were mostly —

broken before they were imbedded in it. But among them thereis

one which bears, attached to a short stem, three diverging branches _

of its roots, a proof that it has been buried in its original stand- ! t

ing mer and this one has its top horizontally broken and flate

m these data and a number of others, which it is useless to ]

mah being all of the same kind, and bearing the same evi- 4

dence, it appears that the fracture of the fossil wood is of two

kinds: irregular, for trunks fossilized after prostration or in a dez

caying state, as they are generally found in our Tertiary and Cre:

taceous strata ; and horizontal, by splits perpendicular to the natu-

ral direction of the stems and the roots. If the cause of fracture

in the first case is, without doubt, essentially due to atmospheric

agency, that of the second, which has acted upon the vegetable

while it was still subjected to the process of petrification, is cer-

tainly different, and can be explained, I think, by the difference of

density of both the surrounding mineral matter and the imbedded”

vegetable. Evidently, all the stems in the process of fossiliza-

tion have been subjected to a softening process of their whole

mass. The outside pressure of the surrounding mineral ie

must have been felt, and can have acted only in one way, that is,

verticaily, as it happens in the forcing of a body of less density.

out of water; and the result of that action cannot but have been

a tendency to dislocation, and therefore to splitting of the rae

in a horizontal direction. It might be supposed, perhaps, that

gradual accumulation of sand or other mineral matter

standing trees, in burying them, has formed layers wed differ

density, whose action may have produced, in the fossil ve

_ zones of petrification also varying in density, tending, theref

to cleave from each other, and horizontally separable. But

roots of fossilized trees which tend downwards in an

FOSSIL PLANTS. 351

noticed above as marked by horizontal splits, are of the same com-

pound in their whole length.

The silicified wood of the Coal Measures of Ohio, as that also

of more recent formations of our continent, furnish us some valu-

able data for the examination of another vexed question : concern-

ing their mode of fossilization, or rather the origin of the silica

which has produced their transformation. Two opinions, above

all, have been advanced on this subject. Prof. Goppert thinks

that the process of petrification has been very slow, of long dura-

tion, and that to explain it, it is not necessary to suppose that the

water in which the vegetable substance has been transformed, was

richer in silica than it may be now in its normal state. Prof.

Schimper, on the contrary, asserts that the water in which wood

has been silicified should have been of a higher temperature, more

abundantly saturated with silica, and therefore, he concludes that

the kind of mineralization has happened in a much shorter time

than is generally supposed, and by volcanic agency, as is now the

case in the vicinity of the Geysers of Iceland.* To sustain this

assertion, the celebrated professor says: that the progress of

the fossilizing process should have been rapid enough to reach the

whole substance of the wood before its decomposition by putrefac-

tion. But the woody tissue, when entombed and protected against

atmospheric influence, is unalterable for a considerable period of

time, and slowly passes, by emerecausis, into coal. It is, there-

fore, conceivable, that in the first stage of this slow burning, when

the whole vegetable has been reduced to a soft matter, it may be

penetrated by mineral fluids which, by crystallization, transform it

into stone. In the valley of Locle, Switzerland, large prostrate

trunks, more than fifty feet long, were discovered some years ago

in a bed of sandy clay of the upper Tertiary. These trees, most

of them Dicotyledonous, had their bark still in a good state of

preservation, their woody tissue admirably preserved, and looked,

- indeed, as if they had been recently buried. Yet their wood was

soft enough to be cut through with the knife without effort, like

butter. Beds of lignites, in Germany, where the emerecausis is

in a more advanced stage, contain large trunks of wood, softened

in the same degree, and already blackened. In that state, the

woody tissues are easily impregnated by dissolved mineral sub-

*Traite de Pal. Veget., p. 38 and 39.

352 FOSSIL PLANTS.

stances. But to omit theoretical discussion and merely consider

facts observable around us, it is evident that our silicified wood;as

well in our Coal Measures as in the more recent formations, is a

found in connection with strata which show no trace of volcanic a

agency. The silicified trunks of Southern Ohio have been washed F:

out by the creeks from the Mahoning sandstone. The area cov- 3

ered by this formation, and over which the trunks are found in 4

greater or smaller quantity, extends from Athens southward, to |

the Ohio river, and in Virginia, as far up the great Kenawha river E

as Charleston, or about one hundred miles in a direct line.

There is no trace of any volcanic agency in that country. No —

disturbance of any kind is observable in the strata, which have —

their normal, slightly marked dip to the eastward; nor does the E

sandstone itself indicate, in its appearance, by a variation of its a

compounds or of its density, any trace of metamorphism. At —

Gallipolis, near the mouth of the great Kenawha, a number of a

fossilized trunks, still buried in the sandstone, are seen protruding

from the bank, in which they have been petrified in a prostra a

position. As these trees have been examined already by other-

geologists, and mentioned as indicating a peculiar direction of the |

current, by which they have been brought and deposited, a short

account of them here may not be uninteresting. ‘There are five of

them, from four to fifteen inches in diameter, their length unknown,

lying, two in a southeastern direction, one due east, and the two

others due south. The part seen out of the sandstone is much

decayed, the outer surface, where it is preserved, is covered by

coat of coal varying in thickness from one-half to one-fourth of

an inch. What is most remarkable, and bears directly on the

texture has been destroyed, and the woody tissue is replaced

by a hard calcareous sandstone or clay, separating in layers of

about one-fourth of an inch in thickness. A second is a com-

pound of small crystals of iron flint, its interior being perforatet

lengthwise by a number of irregularly [placed cylindrical aper-

tures, filled with small iron crystals, forming regular stars of

more than twenty rays. A third, of which I have obtained large

pieces, it being of smaller size, four inches in diameter, is trans-

formed into a compact, opaque, black silex, which does not pte

SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY AND NOMENCLATURE. 353

serve any trace of organic structure. * As these trees, of course,

have been petrified where they are found now, it would appear as

if different mineral substances, held in solution in the water, had

acted upon the woody tissue in different ways, according to its

nature. In any case, it is evident that the petrification has been

performed in various ways, by the slow action of the liquids pene-

trating the sand, and not by the uniform crystallization of silica

as it is now produced in the hot springs of volcanic origin. This

is more evident, in considering silicified wood of our more recent

formations.. Neither in the plains of Kansas and Nebraska, nor

in Eastern Arkansas, nor in Mississippi and Ohio, where fossilized

wood is found generally associated with a ferruginous argillaceous

sandstone, is there any trace of volcanic agency. There is merely

an evident relation of this kind of fossilization with the deposition

of iron. In Ohio and Virginia, that part of the Mahoning sand-

stone containing silicified trunks, borders, and perhaps overlays in

part, the area where the richest and most numerous beds of iron

ore have been deposited. In the recent formations, the fossilized

wood is generally associated with the red or ferruginous clay.

Even in the small area occupied by our Post Tertiary formation

at Barlow, Ohio, disks of silicified fossil wood of dicotyledonous

species are found in a bed of red ferruginous clay, associated with

species of shells of the genus Anodonta, entirely transformed into

a compact mass of oxyd of iron.

SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY AND NOMENCLATURE.

BY ALEXANDER AGASSIZ.

Tue first requisite for the accurate discussion of any subject is

an appropriate nomenclature. . The great influence Linnzeus exerted

upon the progress of Zoology is due to the universal acceptance of

the binomial system as a most concise and convenient method, a

tool admirably adapted to bring order into the chaos of names of

eae Wome eww okie On 6 ES apo o E ROE

*Itis marked by inflated articulations, like a species of Anarthrocanna. Gopp., and

is as yet the only specimen found in our Coal Measures which might be compared to

the trunks seen by - Brongniart in the coal mines of St. Etienne, France, and com-

pared to Bamboos, from their inflated articulations. (Lyell. Manuel, 4th ed., p. 319.)

whatever credit there may be in the original description of 4

354 SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY AND NOMENCLATURE.

innumerable animals and plants previously known in each country —

simply by their vernacular names. In the hands of Linneus it —

was the expression of vast erudition, the statement of the — q

ties of animals and plants, the formula for the classification of the —

organic world as he understood it. - In the hands of his followers —

and disciples it has become too often the end instead of the means; — j

and, in the last years, the laws requisite for the establishment of d

the correct name of an animal, or of a plant, have become often as a

difficult to establish as the most intricate legal question. The —

greater part of recent systematic works are, of necessity ?, filled n

with pages of synonymy, for the most part taken at second hand;

which have been handed down for years with all the errors of quo- a

tations. It certainly is an absolute necessity that the units —

with which zoologists work should be well defined. But has syn-

onymy, as now understood, the value which has been given to it? ~

The history of the present confused condition of nomenclature is

an interesting one; it is the attempt to show by the binomial

system, not only the correct name of any animal, but, at the same ¥

time, give a short historical sketch of the changes the name has

undergone. The name of an animal or plant, is that binomial com-

bination which it has first received, let us say A b from Linnæus;

[A (generic) b (specific) ]. ewe changes, such as the trans-

fer of this to a different genus, B by Cuvier, are simple- matters

of registration, a part of the history of the science, showing what —

Cuvier thought of the affinities of the species named A b by Lin-

næus. When then we speak of this species as B b Cuvier, we arè

recording his views as an investigator, and this does not lessen

by Linnæus. If afterwards Blainville comes and says that Cuvier ;

should have referred A b to the genus C of Latreille and quotes

this species hereafter as C b Blainville, he is only recording his

progres of science render necessary in the position of Abo

who proposes then as expressing the actual condition of our

knowledge of the affinities of the species A b of Linneus. Un-

fortunately the writing of the authority after such a change is often

considered as an honor by naturalists, and much valuable time #

lost in ransacking old books to find out incorrect combi

which are subsequently corrected with great flourish of trumpets,

SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY AND NOMENCLATURE. 355

as if this process advanced our knowledge of the affinities of the

animals under discussion. No naturalist ignores wilfully what

others have already done before him ; it is generally from absolute

impossibility to obtain the desired information, and if the question

of nomenclature were generally regarded simply as a matter o

registration; it would help to rid our systematic treatises of a

mass of useless lumber. * G

But systematic Zoology used as it should be, as the connecting

link between all the branches of sciences forming the great whole

of Zoology has a totally different meaning. It becomes an epitome

of years of study, the concise expression of the thoughts of the

writer on the affinities of the animals he is discussing. System-

atic zoologists have until lately laid claim to be recognized ex-

clusively as zoologists, we should remember, now at least, that

Physiology, Comparative Anatomy, Morphology, Embryology, Pal-

seontology, Histology, Psychology and Geographical Distribution

are as much a part of Zoology as the mere questions of classifica-

tion and nomenclature. Great as have been the benefits derived by

following the principles of Linnzeus we must nowadays return to

old Aristotle and take him for our guide. The Aristotelian view

of the whole knowledge of the life of an animal is the true con-

ception of what Zoology should be. The convergence towards this

broad base of Zoology, by workers in the different fields mentioned

above, shows the necessity of some element in common to express

the variable quantities constantly obtained from a closer and more

accurate examination of nature. This element systematic Zo-

ology furnishes, it gives us the quantities to make our equations.

and when it takes this broad form is no longer a mere dry collec-

tion of meaningless names, but becomes our interpretation of

nature. The facility with which, in a new country, unknown ani-

mals can be described and the notoriety thus readily obtained, is a

strong incentive to go on with descriptive work, not that I would,

as is frequently done, deny all value to systematic Zoology, but it

* The rules of nomenclature generally adopted are by no means satisfactory. The

exceptions constantly taken to their application only increase the confusion, and

the attempts made by the British Association to recommend a set of rules for the guid-

a N. lists ł t I ccessful. The recent revision of these rules shows

how impossible it is to lay down general instructions intended to be retrospecti d

Ne Ais: +

Sah aik

the exclusion of all others.

pever~ Ury ? PPY ee p >. > y

from ourown. All that we can with any justice demand is that the original name by

which a speci first baptized, should t ized t

if it is po ihla t, Jat i +h? sih y

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 23

356 BEACH RAMBLES.

should not be forgotten that the true purpose of systematic work

must be to increase our knowledge of the relationship of animals

of any special group already known, and serve in some way as

connecting link in the chain of the various branches of Zoology,

We have our memoirs of systematic Zoology, of Psychology, of —

Paleontology, of Comparative Anatomy, of Histology, ete.,

ing of their respective sciences as isolated departments and

strongly biassed by the characteristics of the sciences from which

they originated. Comparative Anatomy, and Physiology as well as

Histology, are the children of Human Anatomy, and this, in

turn, was gradually developed from the needs of medicine.

bryology and Paleontology, though so intimately connected,

rarely treated together, the latter being considered to belong,

birthright, to Geology. Psychology is but now becoming emanci-

pated from speculative Philosophy. We have, however, no recent

memoir on Zoology in the Aristotelian sense ; the sciences formi =

the branches of Aristotelian Zoology stand upon separate pedes-

tals. They have grown up independently of one another, yet th

all converge towards a common point, each an important part

the life history of every animal, and the common link whieh is

unite thém all is (when rightly understood) systematic Zoology:

Working in this spirit, systematic Zoology helps us in our at-

tempts to undergtand the laws of nature; these must remain

intelligible to him who is busy with naming and classifying

rials, reducing his science to an art, merely accumulating !

to be stored in museums, forming as it were a library of nat re,

To him its books will be inaccessible and its laws as inexplica

as are the laws of the motions of the planets to one who has

knowledge of the existence of gravitation.

WHAT I FOUND AT HAMPTON BEACH.

BY PROF. J. W. CHICKERING, JR.

A ee

Axovr fifty miles northeast from Boston, on the coast

Hampshire, juts out into the ocean the bold headland k

Boar's Head, perhaps half a mile long, a quarter of « mile

BEACH RAMBLES. 357

and rising by a gentle slope to the height of perhaps a hundred

feet, where its abrupt sides are washed by the waves; a mass of

drift with alternate layers of gravel and water-worn stones of va-

rious sizes, gradually wasting away under the encroachments of

wind and tide; the old fishermen telling of the time, when many

rods farther out, they used to see :

“ The Head of the Boar,

Toss the foam, from his tusks of stone.”

To the north, a long, sloping, sandy beach stretches away in a

sweeping curve to Little Boar’s Head, three miles distant, and to

the south a similar beach curves around for two miles to the banks

of Hampton River, and those Rivermouth Rocks, whereof Whit-

tier sings. On beyond, lies Salisbury Beach, and farther on, low

down in the horizon, appears the blue outline of Cape Ann.

At the northern end, the beach is covered with huge boulders

as far as a granite ledge lying midway between high and low water

mark, hollowed into caves and recesses and surrounded with little

pools full of life and beauty. From this point a hard, smooth and

level beach stretches away for a mile, till, approaching the rocks

and the river, it is by cross currents rippled and furrowed, afford-

ing a fine opportunity to study the effects of tidal and wave action.

Back of this, rise a number of sand hills, fifteen or twenty feet

high, raised into fantastic shapes by the wind, from which, when

the west wind blows, the fine white sand drifts across the beach

like snow in winter. Back of these hills, are marshes, interlaced

by a network of small streams and ditches, attractive both to the

sportsman and the naturalist.

Suppose on a pleasant morning in July we rise with the sun

and start on a voyage of discovery. The smooth, shining beach

is half covered with the advancing or retreating tide, and with our

eyes wide open, we walk down the sand. Our attention is soon

attracted by a number of curious tracks, sometimes circling around

the small pools found in the hollows surrounding every large rock ;

sometimes leading for many rods in a straight line towards the

water. Let us follow one to its termination. í

If in the sand, digging a few inches turns out a little crab

(Cancer Sayi?) who if set at liberty, either writes his curious

hieroglyphics as he retreats along the sand, or more probably

. commences at once to bury himself again with marvellous rapidity.

The size of the animal will be found to vary the appearance of his

358 BEACH RAMBLES.

track. If it terminates in a pool, a close examination will detect

a little depression in the bottom, with a slight but constant motion, —

and a stick will reveal his crabship quietly twiddling his thumbs, —

and greatly averse to being disturbed. They are largely used

bait for Blue-fish, not often hereabouts for food. They require

careful handling as their claws have a savage nip. 4

A different track, finer and broader, leads to the deep burrow of —

a most unsightly worm, perhaps a foot long, with myriads of legs.

Yet another to a large, slow moving Natica heros, taking his

morning walk, his huge foot and distended mantle causing doubt

whether they can all be contained in the shell; another still í

covers the beautiful little Natica triseriata. |

Nearing the water, lines of sea-weed mixed with larger or smal

shells, mark the receding waves. After storms, immense heaps

are thrown up, and collectors may obtain beautiful specimens

sea-mosses, the Irish moss (Chondrus esculentus) being quite abun-

Large and fine specimens of the mussel (Modiola modiolus

are found attached to the roots of the Devil’s apron, Lamin

which is often seen twenty feet in length, with specimens of Saxi-

cava, and now and then a Chiton. i

On the beach are scattered, often thickly, the large shells of

Cyprina Islandica, and Mactea gigantea, or hen clam, often us

as milk skimmers, and occasionally perfect specimens of the b

tiful little Machera costata. The common sun-fish or jelly

Aurelia aurita, is very abundant, and the larger, darker-co!

Cyanea Postelsii is not rare.

But it is in the little pools, upon and around the ledge of |

at the northern end of the beach, that the lover of nature

most richly repaid for careful search. Sometimes they are |

hung by the arched rocks, forming deep and dark recesses; $

times in the full light of the sun, revealing the minutest ot

upon the bottom.

Delicate sea-weeds of various colors, with minute C0

growths, encrusting the rocks, cover the floor of these pools

a carpet of richest tapestry. Swimming about, may be see

ous smaller fish, here finding a safe retreat from the vorae

their bigger relatives, while the crabs are sidling about

awkward yet nimble way, and now and then a dark-green 1

glides about, skilfully eluding any attempt to capture him,

BEACH RAMBLES. 359

the little sand-fleas leap in all directions, like so many grasshop-

sS.

The rocks are covered, in every direction, by an encrustation of

barnacles, Balanus ovularis and elongatus, whose tentacles waving

to and fro in the water, were supposed by the ancients to be the

feathers of the young barnacle geese ; and creeping about may be

found in great abundance the common cockle, Purpura lapillus, in

all varieties of color, white, yellow, slate, banded, and often prom-

inently marked by its lines of growth. The writer has one speci-

men, pure white, heterostrophed, the only one he has ever seen

among thousands.

The animal is carnivorous, and may often be seen boring his

way through some other shell, making those round holes often

seen in dead shells, and then at his leisure sucking out the unfor-

tunate inhabitant, so that it seems poetical justice, when he in his

turn has his shell summarily cracked, that he may be used as bait

for the cunner or sea-perch, with which the coast abounds.

The three species of Littorina, L. rudis, L. tenebrosa, L. palli-

ata, are seen travelling on all sides, and of all colors, white, black,

red, yellow.

Tumbling over each other in eager haste, are various dead shells,

each tenanted by a hermit crab, Eupagurus, having no covering

for the posterior portion of his body, and so seeking protection in

some empty shell, brandishing his claws at the entrance most

fiercely, but often overcome and driven out by some stronger rela-

tive attracted by the superior accommodations of his tenement.

Here also may be found a stranger lately arrived upon our shores,

but which has been for several years working its way south, from

Halifax, whither it seems to have been imported from Europe,

Littorina litorea, the common periwinkle. The shell is black, and

very thick, and the animal may yet become of commercial value, as

in England, where everything edible is used for food, one London

firm sells annually seventy thousand bushels of this mollusk.

Looking closely into the miniature caverns worn in the rocks by

the action of the waves, we see great numbers of the star-fish or

five-finger, Asterias vulgaris, of every variety of size and color,

and may with interest study their slow locomotion as they put in

action their myriads of suckers, on the under side of the body.

The sea-ege, Echinus granulatus, is found in company, moving its

long spines and sending out hundreds of thread-like suckers be-

Reap E A ee a eee A oy es Se eae ES

. leathery cases of the skate with their four long spines, are not —

360 BEACH RAMBLES.

tween them, by which it draws itself along. The sea-anemone, —

Metridium marginatum, occurs here, and with a little care in the

search, may be seen expanding its yellowish, leathery disk ‘into 4

ocean flowers of great beauty and varied hues. Small sponges are —

not uncommon. The eggs of various fishes, as the square, black, —

uncommon, and to the careful observer, every hour reveals some —

new form of life, or discovers interesting and curious habits

forms already familiar.

In the ocean are found in abundance the cod, the haddock,

the pollock, the hake, the mackerel, the cunner or sea-perch, the

flounder, the dog-fish, the fisherman’s special enemy, driving away

all other fish, and even eating from the hooks fish already caught

on the trawl, the sculpin, that marvel of ugliness, and more

the skate, the cusk, the blue-fish, and occasionally the huge,

misshapen, abbreviated, sluggish, worthless, shorter sun-fish,

thagoriscus mola, looking as if it might be one of Darwin’s d

opments, that had not yet attained to a tail.

In the marshes back of the beach, all sorts of water-fowl a

and the hunter’s gun is often heard.

The flora of this locality also, is full of interest, especially s

one unfamiliar with the curious forms of the spiny Salsola a

the thick, apparently leafless stems of Salicornia herbacea, and

cheerful colors of the beach pea, Lathyrus maritimus, flowering

intervals all through the season. All these and many others

found growing in the pure, white, dry sand, apparently incapable

furnishing either moisture or nourishment to any sort of a

tion.

To the lover of nature, accustomed only to the verdure

beauty of inland woods and fields, or the majesty of mow

scenery, a residence of a few days or weeks at Hampton F

could hardly fail to bring much Ae novelty and constant ini

while the cool sea-breeze, and the glorious surf-bath, bring

vigor to the wearied frame, and the everlasting diapason of

Ocean, thundering against his rocky shores, can hardly fail

even the undeyout mind with thoughts of the great and

Maker of all this beauty,

; HABITS OF THE BLACK BASS.

BY S. T. TISDALE.

I wILL now give some account of the growth and habits of this

fish, derived from twenty years’ experience and observation. Af-

ter stocking a pond no fishing should be permitted for five or six

years. This gives ample time for a large increase, after which the

observing angler may class them as to size with some accuracy.

In waters adapted to their growth they will increase as rapidly as

perch. In six years after being spawned they will reach three

pounds, and gradually increase to the maximum size, which may

be set at five to six pounds, at the rate of about half a pound a

year. Very many fish from two to three and a half pounds, have

been taken from the ponds stocked in 1850 to 1852, and but few,

_comparatively, of five to six pounds. One of seven and a half

pounds was taken late in May, 1864, which I had placed in a new

pond, two years previous, then weighing three and a half pounds ;

but it was a female fish, from which I took a sack of spawn weigh-

ing two pounds. Another of equal length taken from another

pond in June, after it had spawned, weighed five and three-quar-

ters pounds. This would indicate a growth of one pound a

year after reaching three and a half pounds, food being abundant.

I cite these as facts, with some doubt as to their general applica-

tion. The absence of more large fish may result from free fishing,

and the greediness of the larger growth of fish to take the angler’s

tempting bait. It is noteworthy that the largest fish yet taken

appear to be those which were transplanted. They spawn in May,

and appear to occupy their spawning beds for nearly two months,

being found thereon late in April, disappearing in June. Large,

clean places are scooped out in four to eight feet depth of water,

verging on the shore of the pond, and some four to ten feet diame-

ter. These beds are made on sandy or gravelly bottom, are dis-

tinctly visible with fish thereon, from a boat as it passes over or

near them. The trunk of a sunken tree, a shelving rock, or beside

a lone rock, or bed of rocks, or other hiding place, is a favorite loca-

tion for a spawning bed. They lie in one or more couples over

their beds, and here for the period of incubation they keep watch

(361)

pepe arenes ie bic i ah cut oe ee E

362 THE BLACK BASS.

and ward with constant fidelity. Around their beds may be seen

perch, suckers, eels and catfish in plenty, ready to devour a por- 4

tion of the ova. The bass are constantly at war with these vora- —

cious depredators, driving them off from moment to moment, —

‘t under the current of a heady fight.” Young bass are not seen i

in large numbers like the herring and some other fresh-water fish ‘7

swimming near the surface a prey to their enemies. i

In embryo life they seem to come in a moment! From close

observation in a small pond where I placed several fish in April

and May, and where I could daily watch their movements, beds

were made by several pairs, over which the female hovered contin-

ually. Here they remained until the 24th of June. Every hour I

watched them without any evidence of young fry. In the after-

noon of this day, after an hour’s absence, I returned and discov-

ered several hundreds of minute young bass hovering at the

surface of the water, while the parent fish was moving around

bed as usual. These young fish were darting about with activity —

— about three-eighths of an inch long, looking like black motes

the water. For three or four days they kept in this position, a

then scattered about the edge of the pond among the grass, af

being thus seen for some two or three weeks, when all sight of

them was lost till September, at which time a few only were dis-

covered of about two inches in length, with the tail marked with a

cross-bar

The above refers to the first show of life from one bed. On the

28th of June two other beds in the same manner developed

young. Most of these died or were devoured by the old oa

precise time these fish spawn, or the duration of their s

season, I have not yet fully discovered. I incline to ed op

the male fish. The act of emitting their spawn I have never

and repeated efforts to express it from these fish in May, `

supposed to be ripe, for the purpose of artificial impregn:

proved abortive. The ova of this fish are small, about onet

the size of salmon or trout spawn, very compactly laid in @

THE BLACK BASS. 363

and if alarmed moves from it a few feet, but soon returns. This

probably is the female exercising her maternal care of the young.

The young fish begin to be visible in June and July close in shore

among the gravel, pebbles or grass, darting with some activity,

and near the surface, for the double purpose of food and protec-

tion. They are marked with a small black stripe across the tail,

distinctly visible through their first summer; after the first year

this disappears, and they assume the general character of this

fish, varying according to season, water and food. They are about

an inch long when they first disport themselves, and reach about

three inches in five months.

They are caught by trolling with an artificial bait in imitation of

a fish like a minnow, or a fly, the murderous spoon, or a strip

of perch or pickerel, or any other fish, with line extended twenty-

five to two hundred feet—or, by still fishing from a boat, with

minnow, worm, or other bait, and from the shore with a rod-line at

long cast. When hooked they plunge deep, and then come with

velocity to the surface, breaching some two to four feet out of

water, repeating this several times with a shaking motion, as if to

shake the hook from their mouth. Their capture affords un-

equalled attraction to the angler. Often two will strike at once, if

bait and fly, with long leader, are used. They are hardy, tena-

cious of life, and will live a long time out of water. They can be

transported in a barrel half-filled with water in cool weather, fifty

miles by rail, by once changing the water, say twenty of medium

size, with entire safety ; and in warm weather ice must be used to

cool, not chill, the water (say to a temperature of fifty-five to sixty

degrees). In this manner they can be carried to England with

proper care, especially the smaller fish. They do not feed much

at large in winter, as it is rare to catch them through the ice, and

the belief is that they will not bite at this season, as a gen-

eral rule. Indeed, this is the result of present experiments, as

those wintered in a small artificial pond recently, show that they

go into winter quarters by December, where they select some lone

deep place, near or under the shelter of rocks or roots, and remain

in a torpid state till spring, emerging to all appearance in fine, ac-

tive, vigorous condition. They feed much on flies in summer, and

the calm surface of the lake is often agitated with their breaking

for this purpose. They range wide in quest of food, often driving

small fish ashore. In August, September and October, they are in

864 REVIEWS.

the best condition for the table, and a baked black bass of four t

five pounds, in September, with every appropriate condiment, is

rich dish, which all who taste will fully appreciate. — Fifth Repo

of the Massachusetts Commissioners of Fisheries, 1871.

REVIEWS.

Procress or Americas Ornrrno.ocy. — Mr. Allen’s* lates y

and in all respects his most valuable, memoir embraces several

distinct essays, for which the Mammals + and Winter Birds

Florida seem to furnish merely the occasion, and are, at any

overshadowed by the importance of the general questions

cussed. He has worked long and faithfully upon a subject

broad interest, and his labors will receive attention, no less f

those who differ from him, than those whom he convinces. St

ing squarely opposed to the great majority of ornitholog

his arguments must be refuted, or his position endorsed. In

present character of unwilling critic, we endeavor to speak in

same earnest spirit of inquiry that tempers Mr. Allen’s page;

may possibly succeed in showing how trivial is the real poin

issue between Mr. Allen and those of us from whom he appe

differ so widely.

Mr. Allen’s lists and field notes, which result from

months investigation, are collated with Mr. Maynard’s and

n’s, and “ may be considered as equivalent collec

to the labors of a single observer constantly in the field fe

least four or five winters.” (p. 161.) They are properly pre

with a sketch of the physical features of the country, from

* On the Mammals and Winter Birds Florida, with an examination of

Amecice, By 3-A Ieee Meee aay ls:

ica. By J. A, i Co

No. 3 161-451. pla. 4-8. 1871. A T

Mam: ve species, among them the

atus, “ still quite common in the Indian River,” and a large bat, probably

egatermatide new to but unfortunately not identified.

, the conspicnons in the

would not admit U. Americanus to be

REVIEWS. 365

we gather two interesting points. The irregularity which Audu-

bon noticed in the pairing and breeding of some resident species,

corresponds to the gradual and protracted development of the

vegetation; the mildness of the winter causing an almost peren-

nial verdure, and four weeks in February and March being re-

quired to accomplish the work of one in May at the North. The

other fact, of diminished vivacity of the birds during the breed-

ing season is of similar significance. ‘In spring, at the North,

the woods . . are vocal with bird-music ; but in Florida no such

outburst of song marks the vernal season; . . the songs of

some are much abbreviated, and so different from what they are

at the North as to be sometimes scarcely recognizable.” (p. 166.)

The list of birds, considered as simply such, shows the same.

care and fidelity that mark all Mr. Allen’s papers, and supplies a

special desideratum. Our local lists of the Atlantic coast may

now be considered nearly complete, and they collectively afford a

very perfect ornithological map from Labrador to Florida. To

the one hundred and eighty-three species here given either as per-

manent residents or winter visitors — these two classes being

carefully discriminated — a few perhaps will be hereafter added,

but certainly not may remain unnoticed. We do not observe any

name previously unrecorded, or, at least, not to have been antici-

pated from the known range of habitat. Aside from the critical

dissertations, and the tables of measurements, that the list con-

tains — neither of which are essential to its integrity, and which,

therefore, we shall presently notice in another connection — its

chief value rests upon the copious and accurate field-notes, which

are always reliable, and generally represent important items of in-

formation. The extensive lists of synonyms, however interesting

as indices of the writer’s peculiar views, or valuable as biblio-

graphical compilations, are nevertheless, we regret to think, of

little consequence in some respects, and in others positively inju-

rious. Some of them must tend, we feel sure, to bring Mr.

Allen’s general work into disrepute. When, for instance, we see

(p. 300) Chordeiles Texensis given as a synonym of C. popetue, it

is certain, that however truthful the author may be in the gen-

eral tenor of his way, he sometimes exceeds the utmost limits of

propriety. One who wields so free a lance as Mr. Allen’s, should

be sure his own vizor is well down: and a blunder like this looks

still worse from its inconsistency. For, in another place (p. 355),

Jh> S i Comet ee 4k ae ee a wh Mette fee

Ks Pcie aoe De RATERS R A RENE EN PERE rae à

366 i REVIEWS. si

he does us the honor (his endorsement in such a case is an honor)

to recognize our Pelidna Americana — a bird that cannot stand a

moment upon Mr. Allen’s platform; and in one or two other in-

stances — that of Graculus Floridanus, for example, unquestiona-

bly a southern form of G. dilophus—he is similarly untrue to his

principles. š

Among the critical discussions that we mentioned just now, is a

highly satisfactory elucidation of the several interesting modifica-

tions in size, form and color that result from climatic and other

physical influences upon the birds. The decrease in stature, coin-

cident with lowering of latitude, was perhaps already sufficiently

known ; but the other points needed the excellent exposition they

receive at Mr. Allen’s hands. He shows a singular tendency to

increase in the size of the bill of Floridan birds. This corres-

ponds exactly to the remarkable elongation of theetail of many

southwestern forms ; and his explanation— greater activity of per-

ipheral circulation—is doubtless as applicable to one as to the

other. The third characteristic of Floridan forms is an intensity

of coloration, as compared with Northern broods of the same spe-

cies. This is well illustrated in the Quail, and several other species,

particularly the curious little Pipilo in which the white markings of

the wings and tail are at a minimum, though the iris, singularly

enough, is white instead of red.* It would be difficult to over-es-

timate the importance that attaches to this admirable elucidation —

of the peculiarities that collectively distinguish the Floridan birds. _

Interesting in itself, additional value is gained in its affording data

for a similar exhibit of the relationships of the birds of the Lower —

Rio Grande and Colorado rivers. Numerous forms from these —

regions, as well as from the peculiar Cape St. Lucas locality, can —

be better interpreted now that we have analyzed that portion of

the Eastern Province lying within corresponding degrees of lat- —

itude ; and many that have been named as positive specific forms;

and taken to be such, may prove merely indices of g

variation oecurring in strict accordance with laws that Mr. Allen

* PIPILO ALLENI, nob. — P. erythrophthalmo similis, eed minor, alis caudaique minus

albo-plagiatis, et iridibus albis. This interesting ‘ ‘form,? remains

unnamed,

An ticles on our birda in in Aeon Joun sane

Civ, p. 250) ays: Aedia h tora is perhaps the most © s instance of ;

the color of ‘oa ite, whieh Wink ac came aera cote no ee ie

the change taking place sometimes first in one eye, and then in the other, during

autumn moulting.” This, if so,

_ process of the autumn

REVIEWS. 367

has demonstrated. In some cases indeed, Floridan forms furnish

exactly intermediate links, as when the Floridan Thryothorus

grades from Ludovicianus proper into Berlandieri ; and again there

are cases, like that of the Quail, where the Floridan form, although

unnamed, is as different from average Northern samples as Q.

Texanus is. Promulgation of data so pertinent to the general

question of variation in feral animals is a service of great moment

to ornithology, and Mr. Allen’s careful handling of the subject

elevates his “ Winter Birds of East Florida” to a place that no

mere annotated catalogue, however good, could claim.

Still keeping away from the main issue, we will note certain

discussions, some relevant and others not so, that the Floridan

list affords. rams somewhat celebrated ‘* Sacred Vulture”

certainly needed the overhauling it gets; Mr. Allen finds it a

myth, based upon Sarcorhamphus papa, with a dash of Polyborus

tharus, and an infusion of Bartram’s imagination ; which is pretty

much as was to have been expected. The origin of the domestic

turkey is handled at some length. After fusing M. Mexicana with

M. gallopavo, Mr. Allen attempts to refute LeConte’s and Baird’s

theories, arguing that the domestic bird was reimported from

Europe, whither it was originally carried from Mexico. Among

other discussions, are those upon the species of Cathartes, Buteo,

Parus, Passerculus, Quiscalus and Turdus, in which the writer

pleads for a much less number of species than are usually ad-

mitted, and presents some astonishing lists of synonyms.

have no other objection to these disquisitions, than that they si

to nothing tangible, for they seem to us to be merely a recapitula-

tion of what was before known of the close resemblance, and wide

limits of variation, of the species in question; the opinion that

Mr. Allen offers of their specific identity being, of course, a fore-

gone conclusion from his premises. It seems to us unnecessary

for Mr. Allen to raise the Hylocichla question for the third time,

merely to repeat, with some expansion, the remarks that appeared

in his “Birds of Massachusetts” and “Birds of Iowa”; no good

can result, we conceive, from rehearsal of items already the com-

mon property of ornithologists, or from reiteration of individual

opinion.

The many extensive and elaborate tables of measurements that

enrich the ‘ Winter Birds of Florida,’ and show not only the dis-

crepancy in size between Floridan and Northern birds, but also the

368 REVIEWS.

variations in each of these, may be regarded as collateral with, or

supplementary to, Mr. Allen’s highly interesting and suggestive a

“ Examination of Certain Assumed Specific Characters in Birds.” a

This constitutes Part IIT of the memoir, and is the nucleus of the a

whole. Every paper of Mr. Allen’s which we have had the pleas- A

ure of studying has plainly disclosed the drift of his views, and in 3

this one his energies are focussed on an attempt to show that a a

very large proportion of the forms we commonly designate by

means of the binomial nomenclature ought not to be so designated. :

The proposed reduction in our nominal lists is to be effected a

mainly by discarding all names imposed upon “ geographical dif- a

Jerentiation” among birds. We say this advisedly ; for, since no

ornithologist upholds the practice of naming individual variations, —

local or other climatic varieties are all that he has to fight against —

in his present crusade. The attack is first made, very judiciously, —

with an elaborate and interesting exposition of purely individual —

variation in birds, based upon an examination of extensive series _

of specimens.

Mr. Allen says (p. 188), that he has the material to “ disclose

a hitherto unsuspected range of purely individual differentiation ;”

but this we are not prepared to admit. Fully aware ourselves of

the extent of variation that he demonstrates, we cannot presume

that other ornithologists are less informed. Still we must, in the J

same breath, do Mr. Allen the justice to add that he shows the —

known wide range of both individual and climatic variation to be

more extensively applicable than we practically consider it; ‘in —

lustrates the fact with many examples. This is so true, that we

wonder how Mr. Allen can unite Chordeiles Texensis with C. pop

etue, while he keeps Rallus elegans and R. crepitans apart; for, in

the latter case, the difference is solely in intensity, while in the

former it is largely in style of coloration! Other color-varia-—

tions, as those dependent upon age and season, are faithfully pre-

sented ; but these have not, perhaps, on the whole, so much impor- —

tance as the differences in size and proportion of parts, to which —

he justly gives special attention. His admirable tables of meas

REVIEWS. 369

urements demonstrate what he claims— that many or most species,

vary in total stature, in the length of different members, and in

the relative proportions of different parts, from twelve to eighteen

per cent. of the meandimensions. This, it should be remembered,

is independent of geographical differentiation ; and it will, we trust,

be enough to put us on our guard, against too ready acceptance of

slight discrepancies in size as an element in our diagnoses of spe-

cies. To cite but a single case in point :— twenty-seven speci-

mens of Parus atricapillus, taken in the same locality and at nearly

the same time, differ over an inch in length; that is, they grade

between the extremes of P. septentrionalis and P. Carolinensis.

‘* Climatic differentiation,” like individual variation, is shown to

occur under three principal phases: — in total size, in length and

stoutness of bill, and in color. The first of these is well known

and need not detain us. The second consists in the curious fact

above mentioned, of development of the bill in inverse ratio to the

size of the bird, with decrease in latitude. Climatic variation in

color, Mr. Allen holds, may be in respect of both latitudinal and

longitudinal conditions. In the matter of latitude, he shows a

gradual increase in intensity of color to the southward, probably

dependent upon the greater energy of the sunlight ; and in this way

disposes of several West Indian forms, commonly reputed as spe-

cies, pointing out that they are not more different from their Flori-

dan analogues, than these are from New England examples. As

to longitudinal variation, Mr. Allen brings prominently forward

the fact that ‘‘the general tendency from the East westward, is

to darker or deeper colors in specimens of the same species” (p.

237), and supports this by numerous unquestionable cases, many of

which will readily occur to the reader. The very notable excep-

tions afforded by the bleached specimens of the Colorado desert,

furnish the occasion for what we regard as decidedly the most im-

portant point in the whole discussion, and one that we do not re-

member to have seen in print before. Under head of ‘ Causes of

Climatic Variation” (p. 239), Mr. Allen takes humidity of the at-

mosphere, as determined by the mean annual rain-fall, to be the

real cause of this intensity of color. In examining Dr. Foster’s

“ The Mississippi Valley,” some time since, we were struck with

the determinations there made of the hygrometric influences result-

ing in the production of forest, prairie and desert, according to

mean annual water-supply, and, at the same time, perceived the

370 REVIEWS.

exact relations that subsist between the average intensity of col- —

oration of the birds that collectively inhabit the regions so defined.

We are gratified to find ourselves endorsed by Mr. Allen’s inves- —

tigations, as appears from the following paragraph :— )

“ I had long suspected that hygrometric conditions had much to —

do with local variations w color in oe at a the same spe-

cies, but I was not a little surprised when I ¢ compare the

known areas most prolific of dark or light toca rs with rain-

charts — which may be assumed as indicating relatively the hygro-

metric conditions of different regions — to find the distribution of

the light colored races so strictly coincident with the regions of

espe ell mean annual rain-fall, and the dark forms with those

of maximum mean annual rain-fall, as seems to be the case.

a has he ence pete more to do with climatic variation

than solar intensity.” (p. 240.)

Part III concludes with a vehement protest — certainly not

lacking in the force that comes of conscientious and earnest be-

lief—against the custom of naming forms, however distinct, that

are found to intergrade; and at the risk of protracting this no-

tice beyond due bounds, we cannot, in justice to our author, refuse

to follow him further, although by so doing we must defer (pet

haps to take up in another connection), what we should wish to

say respecting Part V, in which the several bird-faunz of eastern

North America are defined.

Mr. Allen undertook a laborious and not entirely grateful taste

and has won enviable laurels in its execution. It is so discourag>

ing to the strongest swimmer to feel that he is breasting the tide-

of nearly universal opinion, that moderate success must be corres-

pondingly acceptable. If it be something to deserve thorough

criticism it is more when close scrutiny detects nothing worse than

indiscretion. From the nature of his’ task, he was peculiarly €x-

posed to the danger of over-doing; and in using the old maxim, —

ne quid nimis, we indicate the pith of what adverse criticism We

feel compelled to make. In contributing invaluable material, care-

fully elaborated and forcibly presented, Mr. Allen seems neverthe-

less to have viewed his theme through the medium of enthusiasti¢ —

iconoclasm so refractive that he has lost some of his bearings, and —

reached a position so extreme, that we fear ornithologists must —

able and his conclusions untenable. And what does he offer —

instead of the idols he deposes? After being shown what is not &

ths atte ee eRe ee aM oe oes

REVIEWS. Sit

species, we have a right to demand that he should say what a spe-

cies is. But this is all we have: —‘‘ The question of species and

of specific synonymy is simplified to this : that whenever two forms

which have both received specific names are found to intergrade,

the more recent name shall become a synonym of the older.” (p.

245.) Simple and easy as this seems, it presents great if not

insuperable obstacles ; and we will add just here, that this shifting

of the question from the vital point, namely, the discussion of

what a species is, to a superficial issue, namely, the propriety of

imposing names upon this or that form, is not what we should

have expected from a naturalist of Mr. Allen’s position.

Following his rule we hold our nomenclature by a frail tenure

indeed ; for nothing in biology is more certain than that the mul-

titude of animals and plants now existing, are the ramifications of

comparatively few trunks; and nothing is more unstable than in-

tergradation which he proposes as a crucial test. To speak roundly,

verything runs into something else ; not necessarily just now (though

this is frequently the case), but at some period. ‘‘Species,” like

some plants, are stoloniferous; they produce offsets that finally

separate from their parent stock, and appear like distinct entities.

Our positive specific forms — those that alone we should recognize,

according to Mr. Allen — are simply those whose wide divergence

has concealed or broken their connections with the original stem ;

while all debatable forms (and these constitute a great part of our

lists) are merely those that are in visible process of separation.

When a form has diverged to the slightest appreciable degree,

some ornithologists, like Brehm, for instance, label it with a bino-

mial; most ornithologists, probably, wait till they think that this

divergence is a settled thing not likely to revert; but nearly all

will name with the connecting links before their eyes. Mr. Allen,

however, like Prof. Schlegel, would virtually ignore the proc-

ess of divergence, until it has reached a certain, or rather an un-

certain, point, and effaced connections that once existed. We

are opposed to this, and still plead for names, if only as ‘‘ conven-

ient handles for facts” that it is of the last importance to bear in

mind. Pure synonyms are pure trash, of course, and none detest

them more cordially than ourselves ; but we insist upon the advis-

ability, in the present stage of our science, of recognizing geograph-

ical and some other differentiations by name.* No stronger

* Not gap g” " apeetie » name, but some one additional word, with or without

NATURALIST, VOL. V. 24

372 REVIEWS. > i

evidence of the utility of this could be desired than is afforded by 1

the advance of our knowledge of American birds within the last a

ten or fifteen years; for it is undeniable that the searching seru- t

tiny to which they have been subjected has been facilitated by the :

custom of Prof. Baird and others of naming all recognizable

“ forms,” without the least reference, even by implication, to the —

abstract question of species. Mr. Allen himself admits that these j

geographical binomials ‘‘ have furnished stepping-stones to later —

generalizations ;” a very proper admission, for the road he has —

just travelled with signal success was first opened, and afterward

smoothed by them. The present is no time to discard such useful —

adjuncts: let the scaffolding stand till the building is finished. j

= We hold that the whole matter at issue between Mr. Allen and

most of the rest of us is a war of words—a mere difference of

opinion as to what a binomial may properly be used to express.

To illustrate : Assume that Sturnella magna, neglecta, Mexicana,

hippocrepis and meridionalis are climatic differentiations, and that

very likely they all came from one pair of birds. Mr. Allen would

of course be the first to disclaim any more information than Dr.

Sclater, for instance, possesses. Both these gentlemen know ey-

actly how the case stands; but one of them chooses to predicate

Sturnella magna upon a diagnosis wide enough to include without —

specifying the five forms; while the other chooses to sort out the —

five lots and label each of them with a different name. We repeat

Mr. Allen’s own words; it does ‘depend entirely upon individual

predilection whether two, three or four ‘species’ or ‘binomial —

forms’” shall be recognized ; and to argue the point, under color —

of discussing the origin and nature of species, is to saw the air.

A species, as far as naming it is concerned, is quite as much an

opinion as a genus or a family is; for it is certain that genera 4 and

proposes for species be applied to higher groups, our nomenda

falls to the ground; and if it be not thus applicable, it is equally |

inapplicable to species. By what rule would Mr. Allen 7

Trupialis militaris trom Sturnella magna? In spite of the fact that

these are not known, at present, to intergrade, there is no eet”

the sign ' # var. ~ that shall stamp the form we wish to signalize. Perhaps this

ble to the present state of the

if use of a regular binomial for geographical oo be oo Ai Jumping them all under

one name, as re oe onyms, with no hint of the reaper hades of meaning they tep-

ter evil, and one that seriously 'militates against the wor

ress of etarsen if, indeed, it does not tend to thro ack.

REVIEWS. 313

ance that if the difference in climate, etc., between Kansas and

Pennsylvania has differentiated S. neglecta from S. magna, greater

yet parallel discrepancies in physical conditions have not in the

course of time changed yellow to red, and made Trupialis out of

Sturnella. Refusing to name one short offset, we must refuse to

name another, if a longer one ; and must add Trupialis militaris

to the synonyms of Sturnella magna. The instability of “ spe-

cies ” (which are practically our units of zoological computation)

once admitted — and it is admitted by leaders in all branches of

natural history — it becomes a logical necessity to admit a corre-

sponding instability of all groups based upon an aggregation of

these units; and if we are not to name Sturnella neglecta, because

it is only a little differentiation of S. magna, we cannot consist-

ently name a king-crab because it is great differentiation of a

trilobite. All differentiations are or were once, gradual and im-

perceptible; all are of degree only, not of kind; to name, or not

to name, is a matter of individual discretion. Mr. Allen’s plan,

fully carried out, renders our nomenclature simply an index of our

skill or luck in tracing links between species; and if our efforts

could be commensurate with his enthusiasm, we could not con-

sistently name anything.

To our mind, this forcibly illustrates the inefficiency of the Lin-

næan nomenclature as an adequate method of formulating our

knowledge. It answered, when a thing was either square or else

it was round—when species were held for fixed facts as separate

creations ; but now that we know a thing may be neither square

nor round, but something between, it is lamentably eA

Not many years hence, we trust, naturalists will have discarde

for some better method of notation; and then the wonder will k

that we advanced so far with such a stumbling-block in the way.

Who shall say how much the advance of chemistry, for instance, or

of philosophic anatomy, has been facilitated, or indeed rendered

possible, by the invention of expressive symbols and apt formulas?

or how much of the acknowledged confusion in zoology and botany

flows from our cramped method of expressing our views? If we

must continue to use a tool so blunt and unhandy as the binomial

nomenclature, all cannot be expected to use it with equal skill and

effect. — ELLIOTT Coues.

Fn ease awe Uy e Tee E ARER ged Rye ALE a Ne Oe a gs |e =e 7 eens

rae ee ry Suede saa re X ih A

874 REVIEWS.

Tue TENEBRIONIDZ OF THE Unitep Srares. * —This long neg-

lected family of beetles, of which the meal worm is the type, have

at length obtained justice at the hands of Dr. Horn. This exten-

sive group is remarkably developed in California, where the author

devoted four years of field work before sitting down to work up

the family. As the result he has succeeded in bringing before ‘the

student of our fauna as nearly a correct list, with synonymy, of

all our species as possible, with short descriptions and synoptic

tables whereby all our known species can be readily recognized,

rendering it necessary to refer only doubtful or new ones to those

having typical collections for proper comparison.”

The author states that the classification adopted is substantially

that of Dr. LeConte, with such alterations as the further study of

the family seems to indicate, “ and while the systems adopted by

LeConte and Lacordaire are so widely and fundamentally different,

‘the arrangement of the genera is very strikingly similar.” Dr.

Horn finds what seems to occur throughout the animal kingdom,

a remarkable parallelism between the ‘ individual genera of many

widely separated tribes.” In concluding, the author gives a bit of

criticism of much significance at the present day. ‘‘ If this paper

can in the least aid those whose collections are in disorder, in prop-

erly systematizing their species and appreciating the difference be-

tween the genera and species, and above all, if it will succeed in

preventing them, should they ever aspire to authorship, from cre-

ating genera and species unnecessarily, I shall feel that I am am-

ply repaid.”

Entomologists are under great obligations to the author for this

elaborate revision, and its publication will undoubtedly infuse a

greater interest in this and other families of less known beetles.

sat Canaptan Enromoroarst t has entered upon its third vol-

th improvements in its size, paper and illustrations. We

pers i in the assured success of this useful and interesting journal

and trust it will be liberally sustained on this side of the border. —

It will interest readers in the Northern States as much as in Can-

ada.

aye

Snerision of ee America, North of Mexico. ps Png 9

M.D. From the sactions of the American Philosophical Soc ete

1870. 4to. pp. a "wien D plates:

t Edited by Rey. C. J. 8. Bethune, Port Hope, Ont. Remittances to be sent to E.

Baynes Reeds, London, Ontario, Canada. Price $1.00 per annum.

REVIEWS. ~ 375

ZOOLOGICAL LITERÀTURE.* — After a long delay, owing wholly

to the tardiness with which zoologists have come forward to its

support, the sixth volume of this important work has been pub-

lished. This volume covers the literature for the year 1869, and

consists of 683 closely printed large 8vo pages, showing that zo-

ologists were as active during that year as in any preceding.

With this volume Dr. Giinther retires from the editorship and the

future volumes will appear, as we understand, under the direction

of the “ Zoological Record Association,” to which we have previ-

ously called attention. The British Association have liberally

aided the publication of the Record by another grant of £100,

and the several recorders have continued to perform their labors

without compensation. They are Günther, Newton, Dallas, Rye,

Marshall, Kirby, M’Lachlan, von Martens, and Wright.

For the benefit of those of our readers who have not seen the

previous volumes, we will state that the volume does not consist of

simple lists of names with references to the books where the spe-

cies are described, but that a short résumé of each important work

and paper is given as well as references to all the new genera

and species described during the year in all countries.

PARASITES OF Man AND THE Domestic Antmats.t— This is

an admirable treatise on a subject of great importance to agricul-

turists. It would make an excellent text book on this subject for

use in, our agricultural colleges, or, at least a book of reference. It

begins with the insect parasites, and then treats of the internal

parasites of the domestic animals as well as man, giving especial

attention to the tape worms and trichina. It also gives a full ac-

count of the gape worm of the domestic fowl which we shall re-

produce elsewhere, as the disease is wide spread, and correspond-

ents have made inquiries regarding it.

The remarks upon the mode of treatment and remedies are

practical, and give the treatise additional value.

Proceepines Essex Insrirure.—The second part of vol. 6 of

the ‘t Proceedings and Communications of the Essex Institute,” re-

*The Record of Zoological egos 1869. td ol. VI. Edited by Albert C. L. G.

Giinther. London. Van Voor 1870. 8yo. h, pp. 683. [Though bearing date

1870 our gre ere not aes Fit the very jae of June, 1871.] For sale at Natu-

e External and Internal Torann of Man and Domense Animals. From the re-

t of tl g Hartford, Conn. 1870. 8vo. pp.

140. With many wood cuts,

376 - REVIEWS.

cently published, contains several papers of unusual interest. The —

continuation of the late Horace Mann’s “ Flora of the Hawaiian

Island” comprises seven pages only. The editor finds it impos-

sible to complete this important work, and accordingly the * Flora”

is closed at the end of the Umbellifere. He announces that the

government of the Hawaiian Island have made an appropriation

for the publication of the completed work with illustrations. The

other papers are “Notes on the Birds of Minnesota,” by J. M.

Trippe, “ Note on the Earth worm,” by R. T. Knight, “ Synop-

sis of the Primary Subdivisions of the Cetaceans,” by Theodore

Gill, ‘‘On the Myology of the Ornithorhynchus,” by Elliott Coues.

Tue EARTHQUAKES or New Encianp.* —This is a useful list

of the earthquakes that have occurred in New England since 1638.

The author is dependent for his material upon M. Alexis Perrey’s

series of local catalogues, containing a tolerably complete list of

the earthquakes which are said to have taken place in the central

and eastern part of North America. Prof. Williams, also, in

the Memoirs of the American Academy, has collected much val-

uable material; and Prof. Mallet’s catalogue, and many fragmen-

tary scientific and historical papers contain nearly all the rest that

is known. The list comprises 231 earthquakes.

Honpuras. tf — This is a timely guide book to the geography : and

natural resources of a portion of Central America, which will derive

new interest and importance from the great interoceanic

which is to cross Honduras between the Gulf of Honduras and

the Bay of Fonseca on the Pacific coast. It is reprinted as a :

“ service to the British public” from a work entitled the “ States of

Central America” by Mr. Squier, who has revised the reprint, “80

as to give a clear and accurate view of the condition of Honduras

at the present time.”

* Historical Notes on the Earthquakes of New England. 1638-1869. By W. T. Brig-

ham. (From the Memoirs of the Boston Society agen gs TED áto. 1871. pp28

t Honduras; descriptive, historical, and statistical. By E. G. Squier. London, Trib

* ner & Co., 1870, 12mo, pp. 278. With a map.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ZOOLOGY.

Mimete Anatocy.— At a recent meeting of the shal of

Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Prof. Cope described a new

genus and species of snake, from the Museum of the Smithsonian

Institution, which was interesting in several respects. It was

called Nothopsis rugosus, and was said to be in structural charac-

ters near to the family of Achrochordide, but apparently nearest

the genus Xenodermus Reinhdt., all which forms are natives of

the East Indian Archipelago.

The description indicated how closely this serpent resembled in

coloration the young examples of Trigonocephalus atrox from the

same country, and the Trigonocephalus Newidii of Brazil. This is

so marked as to constitute a case of mimetic analogy. But few

cases of mimicry of the Crotaline venomous snakes are to be ob-

served in South America, the imitations being chiefly of the other

venomous group of Proteroghypha as represented by Elaps.

In this connection was made a reclamation of the discovery of

this, perhaps the most extensive example of mimetic analogy known

in Zoology. Alfred R. Wallace, in his admirable work * Contribu-

tions to the Theory of Natural Selection,” London, 1870, gives

Dr. Giinther as his authority for the facts of the case with regard

to the genera Plicocerus, Oxyrrhopus, Erythrolamphrus, etc., and

refers to his own previously published account of it in one of the

British reviews for 1867. Wallace is quoted by Darwin in his

“Descent of Man,” to the same effect. The first published ac-

count of the case will be found in the “Proceedings of the Acad.

Nat. Sci., of Phila.,” 1865, p. 190, in a paper by the author. It

was ager and extended in “Origin of Genera,” 1868, but had

been already pointed out in conversation with Dr. Wallace and

probably Dr. Giinther also, when in London in 1863, a fact which |

had probably escaped his memory.

ENTOMOLOGICAL Irems.—The Lachnosterna fusca, the Maybee-

tle, or Dorbug, has appeared unusually early in Freehold, N. J.

April 22d, I found numbers of well developed specimens in the

streets under the maples, which as io had their foliage not over

(377)

378 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

an inch long. The insects, however, were very stupid. On the —

11th, the cherry blossomed, and on the 9th, the peach. On the 11th, —

I saw several specimens of the Pieris rapae, the new cabbage but- _

terfly. Since ao I regret to say, this fearful pest has appeared

in alarming numbers. On the 28th, I saw the first specimen

of Colias Philodice, the sulphur butterfly. The plow is turning —

up now (May 10) great quantities of chrysalids of the Carolina —

Sphinx, the dreaded potato worm. — S. Locxwoon, Freehold, N. J. —

A Srrawserry Cur Worm.—Mr. Hooper, of Marblehead,

brought us the full-sized larvie of the Dorbug, Lachnosterna fusca,

about the middle of June, at which time they were cutting off his

strawberry plants to considerable extent.

Correction.—On page 714, Vol. iv of the Naruraxist, it is

stated that the Euphonia elegantissima in the Vassar Cabinet has

a bright yellow forehead. This is true only of the female, and the

specimen is very likely young. So that the discrepancy exists —

only in the throat of the male.—James ORTON.

Fisnes or tae Ampyracu River.—At a recent meeting of the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Prof. Cope read a

paper on the ichthyology of the Ambyiacu River, a tributary of

the Amazon, in Eastern Equador. The results of the investigation

were summed up as follows. The fishes in the collection examined

were referred to nine families, fifty-one genera, and seventy-five

species, distributed as follows:

Genera. Species. Genera. Species.

Tetraodontide, ł 1 Erythrinidæ, 2 2

Chromididæ, 7 15 Characinidæ, 21 29

Clupeidæ, 1 1 Siluridw, 15 d

Osteoglossidæ, 1 1 Symbranchidæ, 1 1

ý 2 3

Forty-seven of the above species, and nine of the’ genera are

new to Science, and are referable to the following families:

Genera, Species. Genera. Species.

Chromidida, 0 9 Characinidæ, 3 16

* Erythrinide, 0 1 Siluridw, 6 20

The general character of this list is that of any other part of

the Amazon basin, presenting local peculiarities in peculiar spe

cies and in genera not found in the Lower Amazon. Such genera

among Characinide are Triportheus, Megalobrycon, tier

Tyuanodectes and Stethaprion ; among Siluride, Dianema, Brochis, —

=p Sahat ds AT

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 379

Zathorax, Physopyxis, Otocinclus and Pariolius. A genus (Chara-

cidium) previously only known by one small species from a Bra-

zilian coast stream, has its range greatly extended by the discov-

ery of a species in the Ambyiacu.

GEOLOGY.

Avrora IstAnp.— With reference to the alleged disappearance

of Aurora Island, one of the New Hebrides group, to which we

alluded some weeks since on the authority of a paper read before

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, a correspon-

dent of the “Shipping and Mercantile Gazette” affirms that the

whole story is a fable. The original statement rested on a notice

by Captain Plock, of the French ship Adolphe, bound from Iqui-

que to London, that he passed over the position of the Hes de p

Aurore, as marked on his French chart of the South Atlantic, and

saw nothing of them, from which he concluded that they had dis-

appeared It appears, however, that the Iles de PAurore (Aurora

Islands) never existed. They were formerly placed between lat.

52° 38’ and 53° 15’ S., and between long. 47° 43’ and 47° 57’ W.,

of Greenwich. The first reporters of the islands probably saw

icebergs in the given locality, and mistook their character. Au-

rora Island, in the New Hebrides group, has been confounded

with the Aurora Island in the Paumotu, Tuamotu, or Low Archi-

pelago. Aurora, Makatea, or Metia Island, lat. 15° 50’ S., long.

148° 13’ W., one of the Low Archipelago, has not been visited for

some time, but its elevation would lead to the inference that it

could not disappear suddenly ; it is fertile and inhabited. This is

the island visited by Wilkes, and on which the unique specimens

of mollusca were found. It is upwards of 2,500 miles eastward of

the New Hebrides. — Nature.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Suprosep Mexican Ipot.—We have received from Dr. C. U-

Shepard, jr., a stereoscopic view of an idol made of Mexican lava,

presented to him by a Mr. Toomer of Charleston, S. C. The

image is about three and a half inches high, and is at present

deposited in the collection of Prof. Shepard, sr., at Amherst Col-

lege, Mass. The image was said to have been found a few inches

380 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

under ground by a child, and Dr. Shepard was told that arrow-

heads have been found in that neighborhood, but he was unable to —

obtain any. The locality, where the idol was found, is a swampy —

tract some twelve to fifteen miles southwest of Sommerville, and

from thirty to thirty-five miles from Charleston.

An eminent archæologist to whom we submitted the photogr ;

considers this as undoubtedly a Mexican idol, and threw out the

suggestion that it might have been brought by some soldier from 1

exico during the Mexican war.

THE QUISSAMA TRIBE OF Ancota.— At a meeting of the An- |

thropological Institute (May 29), Mr. F. G. H. Price read a paper —

on this tribe, which inhabit that portion of Angola situated on the —

south bank of the Quanza river. The country had lately been vis- _

ited by Mr. Charles Hamilton, well known for his travels among

the Kaffirs. The Quissama bear the reputation of being canni-

bals, but cannibalism, although undoubtedly practised by them to

some extent, does not largely prevail. The men are well formed,

and average about five feet, eight inches in height, they are cop-

per-colored, have long, coarse, and in some instances, frizzled

hair; their heads are mostly well developed, and the Roman nose

is not unfrequently met with. Their weapons are spears, bows

and arrows, and occasionally guns, the latter being rude copies

from the Portuguese article. Mr. Hamilton was well received K

the chief, who told him that he was the first white man who

seen the tribe at home. The men and women of the Quissama are

addicted to hunting ; they are virtuous, practice monogamy, marry

young, and are very prolific. The men largely preponderate in

numbers over the women, the result, it is supposed, of infanticide,

but of that practice Mr. Hamilton had seen no evidence.

Quissama believe i in the existence of a Supreme Being. — Nature.

Tur Paracoxtans.— A paper was also read at a meeting of the

Anthropological Institute by Lieut. George C. Musters, R.N., on

the races of Patagonia inhabiting the country between the Co

lera and the Atlantic, which the author had traversed during the

years 1869 and 1870. The Patagonians consist of three races dis-

tinctly differing in language and physique, and partially differing

in religion and manners, Tehuelches or Patagonians, Pampas a

Manzaneros, the latter being an offshoot of the ‘Arancanians of

Chile. The Tehuelches and Pampas are nomadic tribes subsisting

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 381

almost entirely by the chase. The proverbial stature of the Pat-

agonians was so far confirmed by the observation that the Tehuel-

ches give an average height of five feet ten inches, with a corre-

sponding breadth of shoulders and muscular development; the

Manzaneros come next in order of height and strength, the Pam-

pas being the smallest of the three races. The Manzaneros are

remarkable for their fair complexions, while the Tehuelches are,

literally speaking, Red Indians. Lieut. Musters had visited all

the various tribes of those races, from the Rio Negro to the Straits

of Magellan, for political purposes, and he estimated the popula-

tion, which he described as diminishing, as follows :—Tehuelches

1,400 to 1,500, Pampas 600, and the remainder Manzaneros,

amounting in all to about 3,000.— Nature.

MICROSCOPY.

Tar Foor or Dytiscus anb THe Fry.— Mr. B. T. Lowne (in

a paper read before the Royal Microscopical Society, London,

May 3, 1871), gives a very interesting and conclusive study of

this familiar and interesting object. The tarsi of the anterior feet

of the males are furnished with some two hundred sucker-like

disks, one of which is about one-sixteenth of an inch wide, another

a thirty-second of an inch, and the rest one hundred and fiftieth

of an inch each. These disks, more properly called pulvilli, are

evidently designed for purposes of adhesion, and being believed

by the majority of persons to act by atmospheric pressure, are

popularly called suckers. They are evidently comparable to the

pulvilli of many insects. The tarsi of some diamond beetles are '

furnished with tubular, bulbous hairs whose bases open into a

gland in the tarsus, a viscid fluid from which fills the hair and

exudes through the walls of the bulb. In flies the same structure

is found, except that the minute organs are furnished, instead of

bulbs, with flattened disks, which, by bearing an equal strain sup-

port the individual, though they are easily removed from their

attachment by the insect, which separates one row at atime. In

the male Dytiscus we observe an extraordinary modification of the

same organs; the tarsus being mainly occupied by a large, glan-

dular sac, into which open, by apertures visible under the micro-

scope, the columella of the so-called suckers. ‘These ‘‘ suckers”

are disk-bearing hairs, greatly modified in size but little in struct-

SB Bi foe Ns ola ase re a aed LL aa a a

MORE Brees re mr KEY, I $ AR $ :

382 NOTES.

ure, and analogous to some caterpillars’ hairs which have poison i

glands at the base. A viscid secretion from the sac fills the hair —

and exudes from its surface. The escape of this fluid when not —

in use is perhaps prevented by a change in shape of the — ;

when in a state of rest.

As announced by Blackwall in 1816, a viscid fluid, not atmos-

pheric pressure, is the cause of adhesion in such cases. The the-

ory of suction or atmospheric pressure, still popular, is disproved

the facts that a Dytiscus, chloroformed to prevent a voluntary —

relinquishment of his hold, still adheres to the surface of glass in —

a receiver exhausted of air; that every foot-step leaves a micro-

scopic print upon the surface of a clean glass slide; and that the —

suckers in action are applied evenly to the surface, or are partially —

filled with water, so that any attempt at suction would cause, and A

would be defeated by, a flow of the viscid fluid from the sac. ;

The tenacious fluid which is the means of adhesion, coagulates —

readily, does not mix easily with water, and is extremely insoluble.

It sometimes hardens so thoroughly as to glue the disks insepara- —

bly to their object of attachment, the insect escaping only at the

expense of mutilation, somewhat as flies in autumn often become

so firmly adherent to the window-panes that the enfeebled insects 2

are abla to escape.— R. H. W.

NOTES.

_ At a meeting of the Faculty of the Museum of Comparative }

Zoos, held May 6, 1871, the Humboldt Scholarship was awarded —

to J. A. Allen, in consideration of his paper upon the ‘* Mammals

and Winter Birds of East Florida,” and the proceeds of the Hum-

boldt Fund for one year, granted to him in aid of his anen

of the Fauna of the Rocky Mountains.

The Albany Institute and the Troy Scientific Association èn-

joyed a field meeting of rare interest at North Adams on the 27th

of May, visiting the Natural Bridge and the Hoosac Tunnel, and

receiving throughout the day an enthusiastic reception. They

want to go to North Adams again.

NOTES. 383

Prof. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist, writes us, May 30th, from

Cheyenne, Wyoming: “We start from this place to-day with

twenty-eight persons and five freight cars loaded, and hope to

camp at Ogden on the evening of June Ist. We start north from

that point to Fort Ellis, Montana, and examine the Yellowstone.

A few weeks ago the “Explorador” made her trial trip on the

Thames. She is a little iron craft drawing thirty inches, and was

built for the Robinson Navigation Company of New York. She

is designed for a most interesting expedition which cannot fail to

increase the commerce of the west of South America and develop

its natural history. Ascending the Amazon, the “ Explorador”

will be rolled around the rapids of the Madeira, and will then

penetrate far into the interior of Bolivia by the Manu-tata and

into the rich region of Matto Grosso by the Itenez. Peru is

busily exploring its oriental side by the noble Ucayali. The

“Tambo” has been up over eight hundred miles, nearly reaching

the fort of Chanchamayo on the tributary Rio Tambo, only three

days from Lima.

The Troy Scientific Association, accompanied by the Albany

Institute and the Dana Societies of Troy and Albany, held a mem-

orable field meeting on the Helderberg Mountains on the seven-

teenth of June, visiting the Indian Ladder, Tory House, Rock

Mine, Thompson Lake, ete. There are few more really enjoyable

spots in America, and none more suited for a scientific field-day,

than this comparatively unknown locality, which is reached via

Guilderland Station on the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad.

Among the signs of the scientific life of the present day one of

the most encouraging, is the increasing frequency and enthusiasm

of these delightful occasions of scientific study, intercourse and

recreation called Field Meetings. A day upon the mountains is

worth a week among the books.

Prof. Marsh of Yale College, with twelve other gentlemen, has

started for the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast. He will be

absent until winter, and will continue his investigations of the

Tertiary and Cretaceous formations which his explorations last

year proved to be very productive in new species of vertebrates.

Mr. Albert H. Tuttle has been appointed instructor in the use

of the microscope at Harvard University.

— 884 NOTES.

University Lecturer on “ The Life of the Primordial Era.”

Government is continuing the survey of the Great Lakes, and

it is expected that the survey of Lake St. Clair will be completed —

this year, and that of Lake Michigan well begun before winter

stops operations. ee

The American Journal of Science and Arts for July, has a short E

article by “ B. S.,” stating how the “ Cardiff Giant” was cut out — 4

of a block of gypsum quarried near Fort Dodge, Iowa. The block d

was carried to the workshop of Mr. Burckhardt, a well known

marble worker in Chicago, who contracted to furnish the origina-

tors of the scheme with a gigantic recumbent figure of a man.

The newly made “ antique” was then conveyed to the Newell -

Farm and buried; after seven months it was “ accidentally” dis-

covered and thousands of parena were, and still are being hant

bugged.

The University of Pennsylvania have just laid the corner stone

of the new buildings for its scientific school, in a plot of about

eight acres purchased from the city. Provost Charles J. Stillé, to

whom this new movement is largely due, gave an historica ad-

dress, tracing the fortunes of the University from the organiza-

tion of the College of Philadelphia as the sixth American College,

just one hundred and sixteen years ago, an event largely due to

the public spirit of Benjamin Franklin.— Independent.

A hydrographic party under Mr. W. H. Dall, acting assi

U. S. Coast Survey, will leave San Francisco in the course of a few

weeks to undertake a reconnaissance of the Aleutian Islands an

the adjacent islands. The work is directed by the U. 5.

Survey, in accordance with a plan submitted a year and a half se

by Mr. Dall to Prof. Pierce, which was approved by the

of the Treasury, and for the execution of which an appropriatio

was made by Congress at its last session. The work will include

astronomical determinations of position, corrections of the

charts as far as possible, deep sea soundings and dredgings, !

collections of Natural History and geology. Prof. M. W. Har

rington of Ann Arbor, accompanies the party as astronomical

server. A

NOTES. 385

M. Octave Pavy proposes to leave San Francisco in August, and

to leave Petropavlovski, in Kamtchatka, in winter to reach Cape

Yakan, N. E. Siberia, and try to get across Long’s Strait to Wran-

gell Land, in a rubber boat like the ‘$ ‘ Nonpareil” which crossed

the Atlantic. It will be carried to Cape Yakan by reindeer, and

his small party of five or six will take sledges to cross the ice,

and their boats for open water, and try to get across Long’s

Straits. After reaching Wrangell Land they will push as far

north as possible, and return at the end of the season. The plan

is good though difficult, and the explorations between Anadyrsk

and Cape Yakan will be very valuable even if they get no farther.

INDIANAPOLIS MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT or Scrence.—In the May number of the Narvu-

RALIST we gave the list of officers for the next meeting of the Asso-

ciation, and called attention to some of the arrangements that had

been made for the meeting ; we now give the |

cular of the Local Committee.—‘The objects s of the American Association for

eae ment of Science are, “ =f periodical and migratory meetings to promote

t So

ce in

sapien to give a stronger and more general impulse, and a more, systematic direc-

tion to scientific research in our country, and to procure for the labors of scientific men

incr bea taattities and a wider usefulness.”

The follo th oe: re from the Constitution and Resolutions of the Association

tita t

“ RULE 1,— Any person may | a member of the Association upon mmen-

dation in writing by two members, nomination i iba Standing Committee, a aaa

w a Sse te nh ri eo present.”

AN eke e members id be admitted for one, two, or a years,

as ator bape h f adm ; to be elected in is same way as perma-

nent shan ora and to pay the same Pe ae shall wats “is the social and AAS

privileges of members, without taking part in ini business

The ntieth Annual Meeting of the Association will be held at es ca Indi-

ana, ones cing WEIN = DAY, AUGUST 16, 1871, at ten o’cloc or

t at the organiza ion of i eeting.

On the afternoon of the first day, the Association will meet at the oy Gan of Music,

wie areception will be extended to t by his Excellency, Con 1 Baker, pete

of Indiana; to which, Prof. T. Sterry "Hants President of the jabai will r

enri

Members, and those who wish to become members, are requested, immediately upon

their arrival, to register their names at the office of the Local Committee, at the State

House, where they will be furnished with members’ tickets, and such information as

may be desired i in regard hod accommodations, ee

d borpianty to the members. iaria

otel and boarding house proprietors for red uced rates. It is pogre paring

lil i le hat east K ea RR |

requested that persons intending to be cto will notify the Local Sec ary. by let-

j as early as practicable, and when p ossible, state the day they will ari

t is believed that the Committee will b with all

Aa railroads.

The members of the Local Committee will be known by & badge of ribbon.

witli aha |, Meee El TANS a aa ana OR ie gs DT tke ON ne Rea Ne eg

Se Do eh

386 NOTES.

Microscopists will please confer, as soon as possible after their arrival, with Dr. W.

W. Butterfield at the Reception Room in the State House, in relation to the exhibition

and care of any instruments or apparatus they may bring.

A suite of rooms have been secured in the State Hotse for the special use of Micro-

scopists.”

By order of the Committee.

DANIEL MACAULBY, Chairman.

E. T. COX, Secretary.

Indianapolis, Ind., June, 1871.

We can give the following additional information to that con-

tained in the Circular of the Local Committee. The meetings of

all the sections, and the reception room and offices of the Local

and Standing Committees will be at the State House, Sections A

and B having allotted to them the Senate Chamber and the Hall

of Representatives. The address of Prof. Hunt, the retiring pres-

ident, will be delivered on Wednesday (the first) evening at the

Music Hall, and we understand that President Gray will not take

the chair until after the address, thus introducing one of the much

desired reforms, which we hope will be followed by other needed

changes. All the Railroads terminating at Indianapolis have agreed

to furnish free return passes to members, and the Local Committee

are endeavoring to obtain similar concessions from connecting

roads. Prof. Cox, the Local Secretary and State Geologist of —

Indiana, in answer to our letter of inquiry, has given us a most

favorable account of the health and comfort of the city, and

assures us that if members wish to get sick they must go else-

where, but if they want to enjoy a pleasant vacation and return

to their duties fat and hearty he advises them to attend the Indi-

anapolis meeting. We have in a previous number called atten-

tion to the proposed excursions of the Association. Prof. Cox

also assures us that perfect safety will be guaranteed to the micro-

scopes that are taken to the meeting, and that a suite of rooms,

properly furnished, have been secured at the State House for the

use of the section of microscopy, and that postal and telegraph

facilities will be provided at the reception room. In fact, nothing

will be omitted by the Local Committee to make the meeting an

agreeable reunion and scientific success,

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

a P., Bedford, Mass. — Your bird is the Red-eyed Vireo, Vireosylvia olivacea—

E EL

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— SEPTEMBER, 1871.— No. 7.

CREED DA

NOTES ON THE RANGE OF SOME OF THE ANIMALS

IN AMERICA AT THE TIME OF THE AR-

RIVAL OF THE WHITE MEN.*

BY W. J. HAYS.

In the present condition of this country, since civilization has

reached half way across the continent, few persons think of the

prodigious changes that have taken place in the animal life in the

comparatively short time since the discovery of the country. At

that time the whole country was an unbroken wilderness, through

which roamed the Indians and countless numbers of animals, many

of which are now so rare as to be unknown to many and objects

of curiosity to all. The moose which has now been driven almost

entirely out of the United States, was then found as far south as

New Amsterdam, now New York City.

In Sir Martin Frobisher’s account of his second voyage to New-

foundland and adjacent land, 1577, he says “ There is no wood at

all, there is a great quantity of deer, their skins like unto asses,

their heads or horns do far exceed any, both in length and breadth,

their feet are great as oxen, which measured were seven or eight

inches in breadth ; there are also hares, wolves, etc. ts

Anthonie Parkhurst in 1578, says of the Island of Newfound-

land, “ I saw mighty beasts, like to camels in greatness, and their

eae ets TO

* Recently read before the New York Lyceum of Natural History.

— i ml ec E Re STEVIE onto ate Tat en ccaraa RE

Entered according to Act of in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the Office of the p tite shper, Congress, at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 25 (887)

388 RANGE OF AMERICAN MAMMALS.

feet cloven.” Vanderdonck in his ‘‘ History of the New Nether-

lands,” 1642, says, ‘‘ There are also white bucks and does, and

others of a black color; the Indians aver that the haunts of the

white deer are much frequented by the common deer, and that

those of the black species are not much frequented by the common —

deer.” The same peculiarity is noticed now, the moose and com- —

mon deer are rarely found near each other. 5

James Hall, in his fourth voyage, July 22d, 1563, saw “in lat.

65, the tracks of some great deer as big as an ox.” This shows |

the extent of the range of the moose at this period. They are not —

found now in Newfoundland, although they are still abundant in

some parts of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Alaska.

The reindeer still exists in large numbers from the Arctic regions —

to the south end of Hudson’s Bay, an average of five thousand —

horns being annually shipped from Greenland to Europe. te

The carraboo abounds now south of Hudson’s Bay to the United,

States, and from Newfoundland to the Pacific; and although fossil

remains have been found as far south as the Ohio, its range ab

the time of the arrival of the white men was no more extensive —

than at present; the settlers of New Amsterdam knew of it only |

from the Indians, and from their description of it wrote back to

their friends in Europe that the fabled Unicorn had been found. —

The musk ox is not mentioned by the early travellers, but some

of them mention having seen in Greenland the track of some big

beast like an ox. The musk ox is not found now in Greenland. ‘

The common deer (Cervus Virginianus) was everywhere repre —

sented as existing in incredible numbers ; this animal is still found,

although in greatly diminished numbers, all over the

portions of the United States, a portion of Mexico, Central Amer-

ica, and South America to the Orinoco. It exists in immense

numbers on the savannas of the northern part of South gy

although there it is known by another name (Cervus campestris).

As many as two hundred and fifty thousand have been shipped

from Angostura in one year, and one hundred and seventy-five

thousand from Para, i

The Wapiti deer (Cervus Canadensis) was found all alo

coast from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Vanderdonck mentio

them as being plenty around New Netherlands in 1642. In 1

Father LeMoine made a journey to the western part of New Yor

and speaks of the astonishing number of the deer, and of the great

RANGE OF AMERICAN MAMMALS. 389

numbers of elk, many of which were killed while crossing the riv-

ers. Brickell says that the elk were plenty in the Carolinas as

late as 1737. As late as 1826 a few elk were killed on the Sara-

nac, in New York; a few were in the mountains of Virginia in

1847 ; several were seen in the mountains of Pennsylvania in 1864;

now it is probable that not one could be found east of the Great

Lakes.

The Bison (improperly called buffalo by the early settlers on

account of its fancied resemblance to the European buffalo) also

ranged along the coast from the valley of the Connecticut to

: Florida. When Hendrick Hudson landed on the island of Man-

hattan, he found some of the Indians clothed in bison robes ; they

had also moccasins made of these skins.

When he sailed up the river which now bears his name, he

landed at what is now the entrance to Newburg Bay ; he was well

received by the Indians, and one of the sailors happening to show

some of the Indians an almanac in which were the signs of the Zo-

diac, they knew how to explain that it was the head of an animal

with which they were acquainted; and gave the whites to under-

stand that it could be found in what is now known as the valley

of the Ramapo; the Indians also explained that the animal had

already begun to retire from the coast before the white men came

here. The river Titicus, in Connecticut, formerly bore the name of

Mutighticos, which Indian tradition signified to mean bison creek.

Vanderdonck, in ‘‘History of New Netherlands,” 1642, says

‘¢ Buffaloes are also tolerably plenty; these animals keep towards

the southwest where few people go. These animals are not very

wild, and some persons are of opinion that they may be domesti-

cated. Persons who have got them when young, say they become

very tame as they grow older.” It is remarked that the half of

those animals have disappeared and left the country. The set-

tlers of James River in Virginia also found them, and made an at-

tempt to domesticate them.

Father Simon LeMoine in his journey to the Iroquois in 1654, in

which he discovered the Onondaga sand springs, says ‘that* they

saw immense herds of cows and bulls.” On a map of the Fron-

tiers of the Northern Colonies with the boundary line established

between them and the Indians at the treaty held by Sir William

Johnson at Fort Stanwix in November, 1768, the west branch of

the Susquehanna, and Toby’s Creek, a branch of the Ohio, are

represented as arising in a swamp called buffalo swamp.

i")

390 RANGE OF AMERICAN MAMMALS.

Lawson says that “great plenty of buffaloes, elk, etc., existed

near Cape Fear River ;” and Purchas says that “in 1613, the ad-

venturers in Virginia discovered a slow kind of cattle as big as

king, which were good meat.”

Brickell says that two were taken alive in 1730, near where

Newbern now stands; and those who settled the Abbeville dis-

trict in South Carolina in 1756 found the buffalo there.

Bernard Romans, who wrote in 1774, speaks of the buffalo as a

“ benefit of nature bestowed upon Florida.”

Alvar Nunez, about the year 1535, saw them not far from the,

coast, and Ioutel in 1685 saw them at the Bay of St Bernard.

De Soto, who traversed the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from

Florida to the Mississippi, from 1539 to 1543, saw no buffalo, but

frequently saw the skins, and was told that the animal was to the

north of them.

Gomara says, that in 1591, they were in great numbers in what

is now New Mexico.

Herrera states, that they roamed as far south as the river

Yaquinie (supposed to be the Rio Gila).

The buffalo is not found now west of the Rocky Mountains, ex-

cept a few on the head waters of the Columbia river, but the In-

dians have a tradition that shortly before the visit of the first

explorers destructive fires drove the bison east of the mountains.

Thus, it would seem that the bison once roamed over the entire

country, now known as the United States, and extending as far

north as the sixtieth parallel in British America. They are! not

found now east of the Missouri river, nor south of Colorado; at

the rate at which tliey have been driven back and destroyed, it is

probable that they are soon to be known only in history.

For many years, the annual number of robes brought to market

has been about fifty-five thousand, and when it is known that the

skin of the cow only is preserved, and that only in the winter 56a-

son, and that the cows are generally with calf at this season, and

that the skin is not taken from more than one in ten of those ani-

mals that are killed, some estimate may be formed of the rapid

destruction of these animals at the hand of man; and without

APR

into consideration the deaths from natural causes, acci-

dents, etc., it is a low estimate to place the number of bison de-

stroyed by man each year at not less than half a million.

It is a little strange that, while the harmless animals have been -

driven so far back from the Atlantic coast, the carnivorous still

Sig

RANGE OF AMERICAN MAMMALS. 391

remain, although scarce; the black bear, the cougar, the lynx,

wolf, fox, and the smaller animals are still found occasionally.

The jaguar is not now found east of Texas. Brickell states that

they were found in the mountains of North Carolina as late as

1737.

` It has been asserted that the red fox was an importation from

Europe, and not a native ; it is a fact that the European red fox

has been imported and turned loose at different times, by English

gentlemen for sporting purposes, but the red fox existed here be-

fore the arrival of the white men. Capt. James Hall, in the ac-

count of his fourth voyage 1563, says, “ there are store of foxes

in the main and islands, of sundry colors.” Capt. Luke Fox found

an island near the mouth of Hudson’s Bay, where he killed several

dun colored foxes, and on this account called the island “Dunne

Foxe Island.”

Carver 1763, says, “there two sorts of foxes in North America,

one being of a reddish brown and the other of a gray

Bartram 1761, says, ‘ — foxes of Carolina and Florida are of

the smaller red species.”

Wolves are everywhere mentioned, and as late as 1820, the

State of New York alone had expended thirty-eight thousand two

hundred and sixty dollars in bounties for killing these animals

during the preceding five years. ;

Stevens, 1708, says, ‘‘some years ago there were killed five hun-

dred bears in two counties of Virginia.”

The beaver was very abundant. Vanderdonck 1642, says,

‘That in the New Netherlands, and in the adjacent country,

about eighty thousand beavers have e ae annually during

my residence of nine years in the coun

The dog was found in all parts of the evaiehry: and from the de-

scription must have been the same as those now found with the

Indians of the plains.

Columbus, in his second voyage, 1494, says, * no four-footed

animal has ever been seen in this (Hispaniola) island or any other

islands except some dogs of various colors, as in our own country,

but in shape like large house dogs.” These semi wild dogs have

followed the Indians, and are only to be found with them in the

far west. The wild animals having been removed in the march of

civilization to make room for the domestic varieties that are more

useful to man, it will, perhaps, be in place to say a word about

their introduction to this coun

392 RANGE OF AMERICAN MAMMALS.

The first known to have been brought here, was by a colony of

Northmen, in 1023, who settled in a portion of New England

which they called Vineland; they brought with them a variety of

stock, but as the colony afterwards broke up and returned to Ice-

land, and none of the subsequent settlers have ever seen any-

thing like our domestic animals, it is to be presumed that they

were destroyed. Columbus, in his second voyage 1493, brought to

the islands horses and other domestic animals. ‘The first horses —

brought to the mainland, were those brought to Florida in 1527, by

Cabeca de Vaca, forty-two in number, but these all perished. The

next were three hundred and fifty horses landed by De Soto on the

25th of May, 1539, on the coast of Florida, at the bay of Spiritu

Sancto

In 1604 L’Escarbot, a French lawyer, brought horses and other

domestic cattle into Acadia; they were the Norman and Breton

reeds.

In 1609 six mares and a horse were brought to Jamestown.

In 1629 horses were brought to Massachusetts from England.

In 1625 New Amsterdam received some Dutch horses.

The animals thus imported increased very rapidly, for Gent, who

wrote in 1655, says “ In the island of Hispaniola and (’tis likewise

the same in many parts of the Continent, and other islands beside), _

there are many thousands of cattle that live wild in herds upon

the mountains having no certain owners, so that it is free for any

one to kill them that will, and thousands of them are every year

killed only for their hides and tallow, and yet it is strange to con-

sider what great multitudes of them are in private men’s posses-

sion. The Bishop of Venezuela only is said to have had at one

time sixteen thousand head of cattle feeding upon his own pam:

tures.”

In the year 1587 there came from St. Dominique thirty-five thou-

sand four hundred and forty-four hides, and from New Spain sixty-

four thousand three hundred and fifty. At this time it was said

that in the islands of Hispaniola, Jamaica, Marguerita and Domin-

ica ‘there were so great troops of horses, oxen, kine, dogs, and

hoggs which have increased to such an extent that any one may-

kill them, the dogs have so increased that they travel in e

and kill many cattle.”

These few facts from history will show how entire races of an-

imals can be swept from the earth to be replaced by others.

LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS.

BY PROFESSOR P. M. DUNCAN,

Tue researches of Hooker, who obtained Polyzoa and Foramin-

ifera in soundings at a depth of nearly four hundred fathoms off

the icy barrier of the South Pacific, of Wallich in the Atlantic,

and of Alphonse Milne-Edwards in the Mediterranean, have h

much influence upon geological thought in this age, which, so far

as geologists are concerned, is remarkably averse to theory. For

many years before any very deep soundings had been taken with

the view of searching the sea-bottom for life, geologists had more

or less definite opinions concerning the deposition of organisms

in sediments at great depths. Certainly more than thirty years ,

ago deep-sea deposits were separated by geologists from those,

which they considered to have been formed in shallower seas.

The finely divided sediment of strata containing Crinoids, Brach-

iopods, Foraminifera, and simple Madreporaria, was supposed to

have been deposited in deeper water than formations containing

large pebbles, stones, and the mollusca whose representatives

now live in shallows. The relations of such strata to each other

during subsidence, the first being found occasionally to overlap the

last, proved that there was a deeper sea-fauna in the offing of

the old shores which were tenanted by littoral and shallow-water

species. The deposition of strata Coil ate Foraminifera, Mad-

reporaria, and Echinodermata, whose limestone is remarkably free

from any foreign substances, has been considered to have taken

place in very deep water; this theory has been founded upon the

observations of the naturalist and mineralogist. Indeed no geol-

ogist has hesitated in assigning a great depth to the origin of

some deposits in the Laurentian, Silurian, or in any other forma-

tion. The “flysch,” a great sediment of the Eocene formation,

has been considered to have been formed at a very great depth

and under great pressure. Its singularly unfossiliferous charac

was supposed to be due to the absence of life at the depths of the

ocean where the sediment collected. But this was a theory of

the early days of geology, when the destructive influence of chem-

ical processes in strata upon the remains of organisms in them

was hardly admitted.

(398)

394 LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS.

The great value of such researches as those so ably carried out

by Thomson, Carpenter, and Jeffreys is the definite knowledge they

impart to the geologist, who is theorizing in the right direction,

but whose notions of the depth at which the sediments contain-

ing invertebrata can be deposited are indefinite. These researches

contribute to more exact knowledge, and they will materially

assist the development of those hypotheses which are current

amongst advanced geologists into fixed theories. I do not think

that any geological theory worthy of the term, and which has

originated from geological induction, will be upset by these care-

ful investigations into the bathymetrical distribution of life and

temperat The theories involving pressure and the intensity of

the hardness of deep-sea deposits will suffer from the researches;

but many difficulties in the way of the paleontologist will be re-

. moved. The researches tend to explain the occurrence of a mag-

„nificent deep-sea coral fauna in the Palæozoic times in high lat-

itudes, and of Jurassic and Cainozoic faunas on the same area, 7:

and they favor the doctrines of uniformity. They explain the

cosmopolitan nature of many organisms, past and present, which

were credited with a deep-sea habitat, and they afford the founda-

tions for a theory upon the world-wide distribution of many forst

during every geological formation.

It is not advisable, however, to make too much of the intooeatial

identities and resemblances of some of the deep-sea and abyssal

forms with those of such periods as the Cretaceous, for instance.

In the early days of geological science there was a favorite theory

that at the expiration of a period the whole of the life of the globe

was destroyed, and that at the commencement of the succeeding —

age a new creation took place. There were as many destructions

and creations as periods ; or, to use the words of an American geol-

ogist, there was a succession of platforms. This theory held back

the science, just as the theory that the sun revolved round the

earth retarded the progress of astronomy. Moreover it had that

armour of sanctity to protect it which is so hard to pierce by the

most reasonable opposition. Nevertheless every now and then &

Geologist recognized the same fossils in rocks which belonged to-

different periods. A magnificent essay by Edward Forbes on the

“Cretaceous Fossils of Southern India,” a wonderful production

and far before its age * gave hope and confidence to the few palæ-

* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. i. p. 79.

LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS. 395

ontologists who began to assert that periods were perfectly artificial

notions — that it did not follow, because one set of deposits was

forming in one part of the world, others exactly corresponding to

it elsewhere, so. far as the organic remains are concerned, were

contemporaneous — and that life had progressed on the globe con-

tinuously and without a break from the dawn of it to the present

time.

The persistence of some species through great vertical ranges

of strata, and the relation between the world-wide distribution of

forms and this persistence, were noticed by D’Archiac, De Ver-

neuil, Forbes and others. The identity of some species in the re-

mote natural-history provinces of the existing state of things was

established in spite of the dogmatic opposition of authorities ;

and then geologists accepted the theories that there were several

natural-history provinces during every artificial period, that some

species lived longer and wandered more than others, and tha

some have lasted even from the paleozoic age to the present.

Persistence of type was the title of a lecture delivered by Pro-

fessor Huxley * many years ago; and this persistence has been

admitted by every palzontologist who has had the opportunity of

examining large series of fossils from every formation from all

parts of the world.

Geological ages are characterized by a number of organisms

which are not found in others, and by the grouping of numerous

species which are allied to those of preceding and succeeding

times, but which are not identical. Certain portions of the

world’s surface were tenanted by particular groups of forms dur-

ing every geological age; and there was a similarity of arrange-

ment in this grouping under the same external physical conditions.

To use Huxley’s term, the ‘‘ homotaxis” of certain natural-history

provinces during the successive geological ages has been very

exact. The species differed; but there was a philosophy in the

consecutive arrangement of high-land and low-land faunas and

floras, and those of shallow seas, deep seas, oceans and reef-areas.

he oceanic ł conditions, for instance, can be traced by organic

remains from the Laurentian to the present time, and the deep-sea

corals now under consideration are representative of those of older

deep seas.

* Royal Institution. See also President’s ee Geol. Soc., 1870.

P. M. Duncan, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., No.

396 LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS.

It is not a matter for surprise, then, that there being such a —

thing as persistence of type and of species, some very old forms —

should have lived on through the ages, whilst their surroundings

were changed over and over again. But this persistence does not —

indicate that there have not been sufficient physical and biolog- —

ical changes during its lasting to alter the face of all things enough

to give geologists the right of asserting the succession of several :

periods. The occurrence of early Cainozoic Madreporaria in the —

deep sea to the northwest of Great Britain only proves that cer-

tain forms of life have persisted during the vast changes in the 3

physical geography of the world which were initiated by the up-

heaval of the Alps, the Himglayas, and large masses of the Andes.

To say that we are, therefore, still in the Cainozoic or Cretaceous

age would hardly be consistent with the necessary termine ME

geological science.

During the end of the Miocene age and the whole of the Pliocene;

the Sicilian area was occupied by a deep sea, The distinction be

tween the faunas of those times and the present becomes less, :

year after year, as science progresses; and it is evident that &

great number of existing species of nearly every class flourished

before the occurrence of the great changes in physical geology

which have become the artificial breaks of tertiary geologists.

That the Cainozoic deep-sea corals should resemble, and in some

instances should be identical in species with, the forms now in-

habiting vast depths, is therefore quite in accordance with the

philosophy of modern geology. Before the deposition of the Cain-

ozoic strata, and whilst the deep-sea deposits of the Eocene age

were collecting. in the Franco-British area, there was a

rarian fauna there, which was singularly like unto that which fol

lowed it, both as regards the shape of the forms and their gi

Still earlier, during the slow subsidence of the great Upper Cre-

taceous deep-sea area there was a coral fauna in the north and

west of Europe, of which the existing is very representative. Te i

is replaced in the present state of things by a branching

lia. The similarity of deep-sea coral faunas might be carried st

further back in the world’s history ; but it must be enough for ny

purpose to assert the representative character and the ho

of thé Upper Cretaceous, the Tertiary, and the existing deep-sea

FOOD OF MARINE FISHES. 397

coral faunas. This character is enhanced by the persistence of

types; but still the representative faunas are separable by vast

intervals of time. — Proceedings of the Royal Society.

ON THE FOOD AND HABITS OF SOME OF OUR

MARINE FISHES.

BY PROFESSOR A. E. VERRILL.

—~.oe———

Wuen we consider the great importance and extent of our fish-

eries, it seems very remarkable that so little reliable informa-

tion has been recorded concerning the habits, even of our most

common and important species of fishes. It is certainly true

that the habits of fishes, and especially of marine fishes, are more

difficult to observe than those of birds and beasts, but this ought

not to be a sufficient excuse at the present day, for the marked

neglect of this department of Natural History. The nature of

the food of the more abundant species, even including those that

are most commonly sold as food, is still very imperfectly known.

Observations must be made in great numbers in various localities

and at all seasons of the year before we can obtain adequate

knowledge of this subject. _

During several years past I have improved such opportunities

as have occurred to make observations of this kind, and although

they are very incomplete, and often isolated, I am induced to

present some of the facts thus ascertained ; hoping that the atten-

tion of others may be directed to the same subject.

While spending a few days at Great Egg Harbor, on the coast

of New Jersey, in April of this year, I dissected the stomachs of

many specimens of the common fishes, which were at that time

being taken in seines in the shallow waters of the bay, near

Beesley’s Point. The following were the principal results, in re-

gard to their food. The Striped-bass or “t Rock” (Roceus lineatus

Gill) had its stomach filled with large quantities of shrimp (Cran-

gon vulgaris) unmixed with any other food. This shrimp is very

abundant on all sandy bottoms in shallow water along the whole

coast, from Labrador to Cape Hatteras, and seems to contribute

very largely to the food of many of our most valuable fishes.

398 FOOD OF MARINE FISHES.

White ee (Merone Americana) contained the same i in

abun: e

Wesk-tuh (Cynoscion regalis Gill), called “ Blue-fish” at that

locality had its stomach filled with the same Crangon. :

Kingfish ( Umbrina regalis), called “ Hake” on the New Jersey 1

coast, contained nothing but Crangon vulgaris. ba

Toad-fish or Oyster-fish (Batrachus tau). This fish is almost

omnivorous. The stomach is large and usually distended with a a

great variety of food. Young edible crabs (Callinectes hastatus

Ordw.) up to two inches across, Orangon vulgaris, and the com-

mon prawn (Palemon vulgaris Say), were the principal articles of

diet at that locality ; but pipe-fishes (Syngnathus Peckianus) six in- i

ches long, and the common black Nassa (Hyanassa obsoleta) were

often found in their stomachs, as well as various young fishes.

Among the latter were specimens of the Anchovy (Engraulis

vittata). The toad-fish is, therefore, a fish that should not e

encourage i

The Shad (Alosa tyrannus Gill) contained large aunt a

of fragments of small crustacea, chiefly a small shrimp-like species

(Mysis Americanus Smith) which was also captured alive in tide-

pools on the salt marsh. The shad from the mouth of the Con-

necticut River, taken in May, contained the same, or another

allied species of Mysis. Some of the shad also had fragments of

eel-grass (perhaps accidental) mixed with the crustacean tay

The “Hickory Shad” (Meletta Mattawocea), the young called

“ Herring” at the locality, were also filled with comminuted crus-

tacea, among which the common shrimp (Crangon vulgaris) ont

recognized most commonly.

The Moss-bunker or Menhaden (Brevoortia Menhaden Gill),

‘invariably had its stomach and voluminous intestine filled with

the soft, oozy mud, containing a large proportion of organic mat-

ter, which abounds in the quiet part of this and all similar bays

along the coast. This fish appears, therefore, to obtain its nutri-

ment by swallowing the mud and digesting the organic particles

contained in it,—a mode of feeding for which its complex di-

gestive apparatus and toothless mouth are specially ada

Many marine worms, bivalve mollusks, and echinoderms feed upon —

the same kind of food, which is everywhere abundant. ‘The moss

bunker is often infested by a large parasitic Lernean (Lérnocera

radiata Les.) which buries its star-shaped head deeply in the flesh.

FOOD OF MARINE FISHES. 399

The ‘‘ Summer Flounder” (Cheenopsetta ocellaris) contained abun-

dance of shrimp (Crangon vulgaris and Mysis Americanus).. In

one specimen we found a full-grown Gebia affinis Say.

The Spotted Flounder (Lophopsetta maculata Gill) feeds largely

upon crustacea of various kinds. any specimens contained large

quantities of shrimp and prawns (Crangon vulgaris, Palemon vul-

garis and Mysis Americanus). The latter often made up the bulk

of the contents of the stomach. In addition to these Gammarus

mucronatus Say and Gebia affinis Say were sometimes found. ‘The

Gebia we obtained in considerable numbers by digging them out

of their long, crooked burrows at low-water mark, near Mr. Pea-

cock’s hotel at Beesley’s Point. The burrows, which are made in

a tenacious clay soil, often with decaying sea-weed beneath, are

from half an inch to nearly an inch in diameter, with smooth walls.

They are several feet in depth and very long and tortuous. The

Gebia has a distant resemblance to a young lobster about two or

three inches long. The real lobster was not found on the New

Jersey coast. The other species of crustacea found in the fishes

above named, are all common in the shallow waters of the bay

among eel-grass, with the exception of the Crangon vulgaris,

which frequents the open sandy bottoms, living half buried in the

sand, with which its color exactly accords, furnishing an excellent

illustration of imitative adaptation for protection.*

Ophidium marginatum DeKay. This species appears to be

very rare and its habits little known. We dug two specimens out

of the sand near low-water mark, where they burrowed to the

depth of a foot or more. When placed upon moist sand they bur-

rowed into it tail foremost with surprising rapidity, disappearing

in an instant. :

At Fire Island on the southern side of Long Island, Mr. S. I.

Smith observed last August a species of worm (Heteronereis) of

a reddish color and two or three inches long, swimming in large

numbers at and near the surface. These were at that time the

favorite food of the Blue-fish (Temnodon saltator).

* Many other crustacea of our coast afford seen instances. Palemon vulgaris by

its transparency and peculiar tints is scarcely distinguishable among eel-grass; Ido-

tea irrorata imitates in allits varied patterns of color the eel-grass and sea-weeds on

which it lives; I. ceca imitates the color of sand; two species allied to imi-

tate the colors of the rocks and white a ‘aa which they live; Crangon bo-

reas of the northern coast, imitates the colors of the red Nullipores among which it

seeks concealment, as do also several species of Hippolyte, Chiton ruber and C. mar-

moreus, Ophiopholis aculeata and Ophioglypha robusta. Numerous other instances

might be given.

Ve ee) oP eG a or > Ry ees ar oe ee

400 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

At Eastport, Me., and Grand Menan during several years past,

I have made many observations on this subject, but mostly relating

to fishes of which the habits are better known, like the cod, hake,

haddock, ete. oa

The Wolf-fish (Anarrhicas vomerinus) is not at all particular as -

to its food. At Eastport I took from the stomach of a large one

at least four quarts of the common round sea-urchin (Huryechinus a

Dribachiensis V.), most of them with the spines on, and many of `

them quite entire. From another, I took an equal quantity ofa i

mixture of the same sea-urchin and the large whelk (Buccinum un-

dulatum). Many of the latter were entire or but slightly cracked. A

The Sculpins not unfrequently swallow entire large specimens

of several crabs (Cancer irroratus, Hyas coarctatus, etc.). eon

The Haddock is addicted to the same habit, but is a very gen-

eral feeder, swallowing all sorts of mollusca, worms, fishes, ete. — .

The Herring (Clupea elongata) in the Bay of Fundy feeds very a

extensively, at least during all the months when I have observed i

them (June to November), upon several species of Mysis and Thy =

sanopoda, called “shrimp” by the fishermen. These swim free —

at and near the surface in extensive “schools” and are persist-

ently pursued by the Herring. The commonest species, apparently

a Thysanopoda, is about an inch and a half long, of a pale reddish

color. The species of Mysis are smaller and paler. The two gen-

era often occur together. Young Pollock or Coal-fish, four to ten

inches long, pursue the same species in large schools, often com-

ing around the wharves of Eastport in great numbers in eager pur-

_ suit of their prey, and by leaping out after them produce a great —

commotion in the water. When thus pursued the Thysanopoda

will leap out of the water to the height of a foot or more. The

common Sebastes, or * Red Perch” at Eastport, feeds upon the same

species when they come around the wharves, but probably does

not pursue them to the same extent as the herring and oe

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

BY M. C. COOKE.

hat

Ir is now generally admitted that a great many fungi, formerly

regarded as good and distinct species, are in reality, only conditions

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI. 401

or stages of other forms. It has been proved beyond doubt that

many species of fungi are truly polymorphic, appearing under dif-

ferent phases. It is, notwithstanding all this, most premature

and unjustifiable to conclude, as some have done, that there are

no good species at all, or that there is no certainty whatever in

the study. Whilst admitting that many of our old notions have

been overturned, that what at one time we hardly deemed possible

has been proved to take place, we are not prepared to go the

length of some, whose knowledge of the subject falls far short of

their assumption. It is not very long since that one writer gravely

asserted his opinion that all the British species of cidium, for

instance, would be reduced to a single species; that, in fact, there

was no sound specific distinction between them. This opinion

originated probably rather in prejudice than as the result of study

and investigation. Others have lumped together a host of unasso-

ciated species, without satisfactory evidence, and declared them to

be only the same thing under different conditions. Hasty general-

izations in this, as in other cases, produce more harm than good.

It is exceedingly difficult to trace such minute organisms as

fungi, especially moulds, and to prove, without doubt, that they

are conditions, the one of the other. It is easy enough to sow the

spores of a certain Mucedine on paste, or potato, or any other

matrix, cover them carefully, and watch the result; then, if the

common Aspergillus or Penicillium makes its appearance, to some

minds it is at once conclusive that the said Mucedine is only a

condition of Aspergillus or Penicillium. Such a conclusion is not

only rash, but mischievous, and far from the truth. There is no

evidence that the Aspergillus or Penicilliwm originated from the

spores of the Mucedine which were sown, but perhaps never ger-

minated. When two moulds proceed aaewatly from the self-

same mycelium, judgment may be pronounced too hastily, for the

mycelium of both may be distinct, though interlaced together ; the

safest conclusion being based on two forms of fruit when devel-

oped upon the same thread. Beyond this, there is always room

for doubt. Hence it will be seen how difficult it is to prove di-

morphism in moulds under such conditions. In many cases it is

more presumption than proof. These remarks are not made with

the view of discrediting the conclusions of such observers as Prof.

De Bary and the brothers Tulasne, but wee as a caution against

assuming as fact that which is only conjectur

fessrs. Tulasne, in their splendid on ey «Selecta Fungorum

402 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

Carpologia,” have given a great number of instances of polymor-

phism. We have no reason to doubt that in many cases, perhaps

most, they are quite correct, but even some of their conclusions

require verification before they can be accepted as established fact.

As an illustration of the results determined with regard to one

species by these authors, we may instance the very common Sphe-

ria (Pleospora) herbarum. It occurs on the dead stems of herba-

ceous plants, on the leaves of some trees, and even sometimes on

decaying Alge. On pea and bean stems it is usually plentiful.

In fact, it is almost the commonest Sphæria, and easily reco

The sporidia are, of course, contained in elongated, transparent,

membranaceous asci; they are of a yellowish-brown or

color, ovate-oblong, and divided by numerous septa, with trans-

'verse divisions. The asci are enclosed within carbonaceous peri-

Equally as common, and even more so, is a mould which forms

sooty or dark olive spots, or patches, on all kinds of decaying

vegetable substances. This is called Cladosporium herbarum. It

may be characterized as cosmopolitan, and one of the commonest,

if not the commonest, of fungi. Under the microscope this

mould consists of a profuse mycelium, from which arise tufts of

jointed threads, mixed with elliptical or elongated spores, ulti

mately septate. This mould is one condition, according to -

Tulasne, of Spheria herbarum. i

Another condition of the same plant is a very pretty mould

found mixed with, or parasitic upon, the Cladosporium, and know?

as Alternaria tenuis. This species is figured in Corda’s “ Pracht-

flora,” and consists of chains of spores resembling inverted

clubs. The joints are also transversely divided, as in the

sporidia.

A third form of the same species is that named by I

Berkeley, Macrosporium sarcinula, which is develope

. The spores are clavate, at length somewhat

with numerous septa, constricted, and very "E

and in the number of cells, ‘ ie

Besides these, there are certain ‘ distinct 0

shaped cysts, which contain naked spores, capable.

So that altogether we have five different form:

which are but stages or conditions of one and the same thing. “Itis

very probable, that, in addition to these, spermatia may also ber

after be discovered, or traced to some already known Coniomyce |

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

403

tous species. From this example it will be readily understood

what we mean when writing of ‘ poly-

morphic fungi.”

Having thus, as it were, defined our

terms, we will proceed to notice two

instances of apparent polymorphism

which have come before us. We say

“ apparent ” advisedly, because in the

second instance only suspicions can be

predicated. Some two or three years

ago, we collected a quantity of dead

box-leaves, on which grew a mould

named by Link, Penicillium roseum.

This mould has a roseate tint, and oc-

curs in patches on the leaves; the

threads are erect and branched above,

bearing oblong, somewhat spindle-

shaped, spores. When collected these

leaves were examined, and nothing was

observed or noted upon them except

the Penicillium. After some time, cer-

Fig. 7

vicillium

r Pe c

ainly between two and three years, ably magnified;

E ï of spores

during which the box remained undis-

zm, consider-

a. Di portion of chain

turbed, circumstances led to the examination again of one or two

Fig. 77.

of the leaves, and afterwards of the greatér

number of them, and the patches of Penicil-

lium were found to be intermixed with an-

other mould of a higher development and far

different character (Fig, 77). This mould or

rather Mucor, for it belongs to the Mucorini,

consists of erect branching threads, many of

the branches terminating in a delicate, glo-

bose, glassy head, or sporangium, containing

numerous very minute subglobose sporidia.

This species has been named Mucor hyalinus.

The habit is very much like that of the Peni-

cillium, but without any roseate tint. It is

Fertile thread of Mucor almost certain that the Mucor could not have

lagen bearing sporan-

amined, and the leaves on which it hac

been present when the Penicillium was ex-

1 grown were enclosed in the

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. YV. 26

404 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

tin box, but that the Mucor afterwards appeared on the same

leaves, sometimes from the same patches, and from the same my-

- celium. The great difference in structure of the two species lies

in the fructification. In Penicillium, of which fig. 76 is a good

illustration, the spores are naked, and in moniliform threads,

whilst in Mucor the spores are enclosed within globose membra-

nous heads or sporangia, as shown in fig. 77. The moulds, or

Mucedines to which Penicillium belongs, are included in one of

the large families of fungi termed Hyphomycetes, and the Mucors |

belong to another family, the Physomycetes. We entertain no —

doubt whatever, that the Mucor, to which we have alluded as —

growing on box-leaves, intermixed with Penicillium roseum, is no

other than the higher and more complete form of that species, and

that the Penicillium is only its conidiiferous state. The presump-

tion in this case is strong, and not so open to doubt as it would

be, did not analogy render it so extremely probable that such is

the case, apart from the fact of both forms springing from the

same mass of mycelium. In such minute and delicate structures —

it is very difficult to manipulate the specimens so as to arriveat

positive evidence. If a filament of mycelium could be isolated

successfully, and a fertile thread, bearing the fruit of both forms,

could be traced from the same individual mycelium thread the

evidence would be conclusive. In default of such conclusive evi-

dence, we are compelled to rest with the assumption until farther

researches enable us to record the assumption as fact.

In Lewis’s recent “ Report on Microscopie Objects found in

Cholera Evacuations” (Calcutta, 1870), a similar instance of pre

sumed dimorphism between precisely the same genera is thus Te —

corded. ‘‘@n a preparation preserved in a moist chamber, on the

numerable ‘ yeast’ cells with some filaments, branching in all di-

rections. On the fourth day, tufts of Penicillium had developed

— two varieties, P. glaucum and P, viride. This continued until

cases they seemed to be derived from the same filament as others

bearing the ordinary branching spores of Penicillium, but of this

I could not be positive. This kind of fructification increased rap-

idly, and on the fourteenth day spores had undoubtedly developed

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI. : 405

within the pellicle, just as had been observed in a previous culti-

vation, precisely similar revolving movements being also mani-

fested.” Here we have another example of a Mucor developed

from a Penicillium, and one observation strengthens and confirms

the other

Before entering upon the details of the second apparent poly-

morphism, it may be as well to give some particulars of the cir-

cumstances under which the fungi appeared. It was our fortune —

good fortune as far as this investigation is concerned — to have a

portion of wall in our dwelling persistently damp for some months ;

it was close to a cistern that became leaky. The wall was papered

with ‘“ marbled” paper, and varnished. At first there was for

some time — perhaps months — nothing worthy. of observation

except a damp wall; decidedly damp, discolored, but not by any

means mouldy. At length, and rather suddenly, patches of mould,

sometimes two or three inches in diameter, made their appearance.

These were at first of a snowy whiteness, cottony, and dense, just

like large tufts of cotton-wool, of considerable expansion but of

miniature elevation. They projected from the paper about a quar-

ter of an inch. In the course of a few weeks the color of the

tufts became less pure, tinged with an ochraceous hue, and resem-

bling wool rather than cotton, less beautiful to the eye or a lens,

and more entangled. Soon after this, darker patches made their

appearance, smaller, dark olive, and mixed with, or close to, the

woolly tufts ; and ultimately similar spots of a dendritic character

either succeeded the olive patches, or were independently formed.

Finally, little black balls, like small pinheads, or grains of gun-

powder, were found scattered about the damp spots. All this

mouldy forest was more than six months under constant observa-

tion, and, during this period, was held sacred from the disturbing

influences of the housemaid’s broom, being consigned to the mas-

ter’s care with little compunction, but occasionally it became the

subject of remarks not altogether flattering either to the wall or

the moulds, or the master who was protector and patron of such a

wretched mess.

Curiosity prompted us from the first to submit the mouldy deni-

zens of the wall to the microscope, and this curiosity was in-

creased week by week, on finding that none of the forms found

vegetating on nearly two square yards of damp wall could be

recognized as agreeing specifically with any described moulds with

406 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI,

which we were acquainted. Here was a problem to be solved un-

der the most favorable conditions, a forest of mould indoors, within

a few yards of the fireside, growing quite naturally, and all stran-

gers; could they all be related, or if not, why should all of them

appear on that wall for the first time? Whence could these new

forms proceed? Were they a new creation? Were they only

other conditions of very common things ? Certainly here was ma-

Fig. 78 terial for much reflection, per-

haps some speculation. Some

of the prob ems are still un-

solved.

The cottony tufts of white

mould which were the first to

appear had an abundant my-

celium, but the erect threads

which sprung from this were

all for some time sterile (Fig.

78, a); they were slender, very

delicate, jointed, and branched ;

so interlaced that it was dif-

ficult to trace the threads

throughout their length, or to

separate them from each other.

Fertile threads were then de-

veloped in tufts mixed with

the sterile threads, or individ-

ual fertile threads appeared

amongst the sterile. These lat-

a, Barren reed of Rhinotrichum lanosum: $ nonpa * pie . ter and

, Fertile thread; c, Portion of fertile thre ad, ter were rather shorter

showing one of tae brane ri Sea Py ith terminal m4 le k: >e

spic ules bearing the sp i, a spore des stouter, also sparingly branch

een ed, but beset throughout nearly

their whole length with short, patent, alternate (mostly) branch-

lets. The branchlets were broadest towards the apex, so as to be

almost clavate, and the extremity was beset with two or three

short spicules (Fig. 78. b). Each spicule was surmounted by an

obovate spore (Fig. 78, d) attached to the spicule by its smallest

end (Fig. 78,¢). The presence of fertile threads gave the pale

ochraceous tint to the tufts already alluded to. This tint was 5°

slight that perhaps it would have passed unnoticed but for the

proximity of the snow-white tufts of barren threads. The fertile

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI. 407

flocci, it may be from the weight of the spores, were decumbent,

hence the fertile tufts were not much elevated above the surface of

the matrix.

‘This is a most interesting mould belonging to the order of Mu-

cedines, but it seemed to agree so little with the characters of any

known -genus, that, on distributing specimens last year, it was

placed provisionally in a new genus under the name of Clinotri-

chum lanosum ;* since then, with the advice of some mycological

friends, it has been referred to the old genus Rhinotrichum, as

Rhinotrichum lanosum. Without entering here upon the reasons

which led to this course, or attempting to discuss generic and

specific distinctions, it is sufficient to indicate that the mould in

question possessed such positive characters, and was so different

from all recognized forms, that it not only = claims to be re-

The mould above described having — $

week or two, small blackish spots made their a

paper, sometimes amongst thin patches of the migala and some-

times outside them. These spots, at first cloudy and indefinite,

varied in size, but were usually less than a quarter of an inch in

diameter. The varnish of the paper was afterwards pushed off

in little translucent flakes or scales, an erect olivaceous mould

appeared, and the patches extended to nearly an inch in diameter,

maintaining an almost universal circular form.

This new mould sometimes possessed a dirty reddish tint, but-

was commonly dark olive. There could be no mistake about the

genus to which this mould belonged ; it had all the essential char-

acters of Penicillium: erect jointed threads, branched in the

upper portion in a fasciculate manner, and bearing long beaded

threads of spores, which formed a tassel-like head, at the apex of

each fertile thread (Fig. 76). For the benefit of the mycologist,

we may observe that, although at first reminded of the Penicillium

olivaceum of Corda by the color of this species, it differs in the

spores being oblong (Fig. 76, a), instead of globose, and the ram-

ifications of the flocci are different. Unable again to find a de-

*CLINOTRICHUM, gen. nov. Hyphasma creeping; fertile flocci septate mbent

simple, or branched; branchlets alternate, patent, short, bearing at i a a few

spores attached to short ee spores simple. Type, Clinotrichum lanosum.—

Cooke, Fungi Brit. Exs. No.

408 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

scribed species of Penicillium with which this new mould would

agree, it was named Penicillium chartarum.

Almost simultaneously, or but shortly after the perfection of

the spores of the Penicillium, other and very similar patches ap-

peared, distinguished by the naked eye more particularly by their

dendritic form (Fig. 79, e). This peculiarity seemed to result

from the dwarfed habit of the third

fungus, since the varnish,

though cracked and raised,

was not cast off, but remained in small

angular fragments, giving to the spots their

dendritic appear-

ance,

the dark spores of the fungus protruding through the fis-

Fig. 79. sures. This same mould

was also found in many

cases growing in the

same spots amongst

Penicillium chartarum,

but whether from the

same mycelium could

not be determined.

The distinguishing

features of this fungus

consist in an extensive

mycelium of delicate

threads, from which

arise numerous erect

branches, bearing at

a, Part

Preuss: 6, spores of

early conditio n of spor res of the same: :

of Spori dé smium aiternaria, showing myee lium | with erect times the branches are

threads and spores; ¢, dendritic pateh of Sporide

the apex dark brown

of chain ot spores of A `

naria char f

7 me

, suppos seq] opaque spores. Some

1 ‘

ê: d. mode: growth

alternaria, natural size, showing its habit, again shortly branched,

but in the majority of instances are single. The spores are sep-

tate, sometimes with two, three, or four divisions, many of them

again divided by cross septa in the longitudinal direction of the

er ee ee to give a muriform appearance. As far as the struct-

ure and appearance of the

> aro very

spores are concerned, they are Ve

similar to those of

Sporidesmium polymorphum p consequently

specimens were published as a variety of that species, but toem

curacy of this determination is open to very grave doubts. The

mycelium and erect threads are much too highly deve sloped for #

good species of Sporidesmium, and cert: ainly 50 for the spec ies to

f h

which they were referred, so that in the ** Handbook of Britis

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI. 409

Fungi” it is named Sporidesmium alternaria, for reasons here-

after detailed (Fig. 79, d).

Preuss has described, in ‘‘ Sturm’s Flora,” a species of Alterna-

ria in which the spores are attached end to end in a beaded man-

ner, as in other species of that genus, and the spores themselves

are just of the character of the spores of our Sporidesmium, as

will be seen by reference to, and comparison of, Figs. 79, æ and b.

Preuss’s Alternaria, which he calls A. chartarum, was also devel-

oped on paper, and it is not improbable that it is a more highly

erfected form of the Sporidesmium in question. This view is

strengthened by the appearance of freshly collected specimens of

the Sporidesmium, in which, as seen by a half-inch objective,

the spores seem to be moniliform; but if so, the attachment is

so slight that all attempts to see them so connected when sepa-

rated from the matrix have failed. On one occasion a very imma-

ture condition of the Sporidesmium was examined, containing

simple beaded spores (Fig. 79, ¢), connected by a short neck.

There is therefore some foundation for believing that the spores

of this species are at first hyaline, simple, and connected to-

gether in a moniliform manner by a short apiculus; but, as sub-

sequent search did not reveal any further corroborative evidence,

it can only be considered probable. Finally, Mr. C. E. Broome,

to whom specimens of the Sporidesmium were submitted, con-

firmed the observation that, when seen in situ, the spores seemed

to be beaded.

The last production which made its appearance on our wail

paper burst through the varnish as little black spheres like grains

of gunpowder. At first the varnish was elevated by pressure from

beneath, then the film was broken, and the little blackish spheres

appeared. These were, in the majority of instances, gregarious,

but occasionally a few of the spheres appeared singly, or only two

or three together. As the whole surface of the damp paper was

covered by these different fungi, it was scarcely possible to regard

any of them as isolated, or to declare that one was not connected

with the mycelium of the others. The little spheres, when the

paper was torn from the wall, were also growing from the under

surface, flattened considerably by the pressure. We shall call this

species, for the sake of distinction, Spheria cyclospora. i

spherical bodies, or perithecia, were seated on a plentiful color-

less mycelium. The walls o the perithecia, rather more carbona-

410 POLYMORPHIC FUNGI.

ceous than membranaceous, are reticulated, bringing to mind the

same structure in Erysiphe, to which the perithecia bear consider-

able resemblance. The ostiolum is so obscure that we could not

be satisfied of its existence, or whether the perithecia are ruptured

when mature. It is rather from analogy than positive evidence

that the name of Spheria is given (Fig. 80, a). The interior of

the perithecia is occupied by a gelatinous substance consisting of

long cylindrical sacs or asci, each containing eight globose, color-

less sporidia (Fig. 80, b). These are accompanied by slender

branched threads, called paraphyses, supposed to be abortive asci.

At first, and for some time, the perithecia contain only a granular

mass, at length mixed with paraphyses. The contents of the fer-

tile asci are also at the first granular, and

Fig. 80,

finally the sporidia are perfected.

We have now described, as fully as

seemed to be necessary, the four forms of

fungi which vegetated during last winter and

spring on our damp wall. What presump-

tion have we that they belong to one and

the same fungus—direct evidence there is

none —or should they be regarded each as

autonomous? We have already intimated

the difficulties which beset all attempts to

obtain positive evidence in such cases. Al-

ready too many theories have been based on,

a, Peritheciumof Sphe- OY supported by, supposed results from the

with sporlaia > para. Cultivation of fungi spores. Many ridicu-

ae lous assertions have been made by those

who have thus exhibited their thorough ignorance of even generic

distinctions, to say nothing of more complex relations in mycol-

ogic science. Still we are by no means prepared to doubt that

many of the recorded cases of polymorphism will ultimately be

proved to be fact, and that many more will yet be discovered.

We would admit that it is possible that none of the species, now

included in the two great families of Coniomycetes and Hyphomy-

cetes are autonomous. But, because it is possible, it by no means

follows that we are prepared to condemn them by wholesale, or to

admit that there is at present, any evidence for doubting the auton-

omy of some entire genera. In the present condition of the

study, and in the face of some startling facts, it is important that

POLYMORPHIC FUNGI. 411

all observations should be recorded which bear upon the subject

of polymorphism, whilst great care ought to be exercised in the

declaration of positive judgment.

Reviewing the instances of association aboye recorded, and we

should prefer, for the present, calling them association only, the

mind naturally reverts to other and similar recorded instances.

Supposing the whole of the four forms described above to be con-

ditions of Spheria cyclospora, there is no greater faith needed to

believe it true than in the case of Spheria herbarum. If Alterna-

ria tenuis is really a condition of a Sphæria, why not Alternaria

chartarum? If Alternaria be associated with Cladosporium, why

not with Penicillium?” Or if Sporidesmiwm epochnum, why not Spo-

ridesmium polymorphum? And as for Rhinotrichum and Penicil-

lium, it is just as possible for these to be polymorphic, as for

Dactylium, Dendryphium and Verticillium. When the presump-

tion is confirmed by repetition, and more positive relations, there

can be no doubt of a much more ready acceptance of their poly-

morphism than there would have been prior to. the investigations

of the Messrs. Tulasne and De Bary.

We are unable, within the limits prescribed for this article to

explain the relations which subsist between such fungi as the

“red-rust” and ‘¢mildew” of corn, and the barberry ‘‘ cluster-

cups ;” or between the “yellow rust” and the “ black brand” of

the bramble and rose. In other words, the polymorphism of the

Uredines and their allies. This is less to be regretted, since

there has not, during the past four or five years, been any impor-

tant additions to our knowledge on this subject and what had

previously been discovered and illustrated is very generally known.

If we are asked what deductions we are to make from the facts

proved and the presumptions admitted, but not proven, we may

answer briefly—that the tendency of recent discoveries, in the

relations of one form to another amongst fungi, is to demonstrate

that reproduction is not so simple a process in these low condi-

tions of plant life as had hitherto been supposed. “This it is and

nothing more.”

At one time the word “spore” represented the only recognized

organ associated with the multiplication of fungi. Male organs

or fecundative power was now and then mysteriously alluded to,

but until recently all reproduction was supposed to be confined

to a kind of germinative bud which was termed a spore. Each

fungus was held to be perfect in itself, and reproduced itself, with

412 REVIEWS.

no relation to any other individual, by this means, The change of —

opinion amongst mycologists is manifested, as much as anything, j

in the new terms, or the appropriation of terms from other cryp- _

ams, now in vogue. Conidia, spermatia, oospores, zoospores,

pycnidia, protospores, etc., all relate to organs but recently rec- 4

ized i i. And however much we may qualify the fact,

however much we may doubt the evidence in special cases, we

cannot ignore the conclusion that reproduction is very compli- a

porium, the Alternaria, bottle-shaped cysts, and minute sperma- —

tia are all so intimately related with a certatn species of Spheria, —

that they can no longer be regarded as plants with a distinct au-

tonomy and independent existence, we are unable to explain the —

relations which one bears to the other, or by what means each ex-

erts its influence. The field for observation and research is a —

large one and promises a rich reward; all that is required is ear- A

nest and careful workers, in which this, of all European coun- —

tries professing to be scientific, has hitherto been most lamentably

deficient. How long shall such a reproach continue ?— Popular

Science Review.

itn

—

REVIEWS.

INLAND Fisnertes.—The Report of the Massachusetts Com-

missioners * contains many items of encouragement for those who A

advocate ng our rivers with salmon, trout, shad, alewives; —

bass, ete. Indeed the great run of shad in the Connecticut in the

spring of 1870, has been by popular voice attributed to the arti- —

ficial hatching of the fish in that river in 1867,—undoubtedly —

aided, however, by the law prohibiting the small mesh of the pre

formerly used, which, being only two and a half inches, caught

the fish of one and two years of age and of course at once ;

ished the catch of large fish. Under the new regulation a mesh

of not less than five inches is allowed, and thus only the full

Dita ayia. a el:

*Fifth Annual Report of the Commissioners on Inland Fisheries. 8yo pamph. PP:

77. January, 1871, State Document,

REVIEWS. 413

grown three year old fish can be caught in any number. The

close time of thirty-six hours (it ought to be forty-eight), in each

week will give these fish a chance to spawn up the river, now that

the fish ways are open, and we congratulate our Connecticut

fishermen on the good days that are before them, owing to the

affection of “Green’s shad” (as they have been called, as Mr.

Green was the person who stocked the river in 1867) for their

place of birth.

Many thousand young fry of the salmon, St. Croix salmon,

Sebago salmon, togue and common trout have been placed in

the rivers and ponds of Massachusetts and adjoining states during

the past year, and we confidently expect to live to see good salmon

and trout again abundant in our waters.

Much of the present report is taken up with the work of the

Commissioners in bringing the owners of the Holyoke Water Co.

to realize the fact that the fishes have a legal as well as natural

right to a free passage in our rivers, and the Supreme Court hav-

ing decided in favor of the fishes we trust that this case will

settle all opposition to fish ways, which, as the commissioners

state, the owners of dams are fast discovering, practically take

little or nothing from their water power.

An account of the breeding and habits of the Black Bass by

the late Mr. Tisdale (which we reprinted in our last number), and

the valuable remarks made by Capt. Atwood, the veteran fisherman

and Senator, on the habits and modes of capture of our sea fishes,

conclude this very satisfactory report.

r. Atkins in his report as Commissioner of Fisheries of the

State of Maine* enters very fully into the subject of fish ways,

and in a most practical and common sense manner tells us what

has been done, and still better, of the decided success of all the

fish ways that were completed in time for the fish ascending during

the season of 1870. From this report it can no longer be a mat-

ter of doubt but that properly constructed fish ways can be made

at no very great cost, which not only will furnish a free passage

to the fish, but also without materially injuring the water power

of the parties owning the dams. Now that these points are secured

practically, we shall hear but little about the “ theory” regarding

fish ways. Their construction on every salmon, shad and alewife

EIN os er

+Fourth Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries of the State of Maine, for the year

1870. Svo pamph. pp. 56. 2 plates. State Document, 1870.

414 ; REVIEWS.

river and stream in the country is now only a matter of time, for

as it is proved that their construction is now simply a matter of a

dollars and cents, and also that the interest received by the com-

munity is very large on the small capital required to be invested, =

the most penurious of dam owners will be forced by public senti-

ment to keep the fish ways, which the laws oblige them to n :

Mr. Atkins also enters into the question of ‘‘close time” ai d

shows that far better results would be attained by giving up the

close time at the mouths of rivers and genap Win a law ropu 4

it is impossible to enforce the present law without breaking up —

the fisheries, this proposed change seems to us a very wise and

practical way of aiding the unjustly treated fishes in their eternal —

“ struggle for existence.” ee

An appendix to the Report gives an account of the fish breeding

establishment of the Canadian Government, situated on Wilmot’s ©

Creek and under the charge of Mr. Samuel Wilmot. The two —

plates illustrating the various plans of fish ways in use in this

country and in Ireland, will be found of much practical benefit to

persons engaged in their construction. 5

Mr. Robert B. Roosevelt, who, of the three an

seems to be the “ writing man,” assisted by Mr. Seth Green, who

is preéminently the practical ‘“ fish breeder” of the United States,

has given an interesting report of the work accomplished by the

New York Commissioners during 1870, * |

Mr. Green was sent up the Hudson in May, for the purpose

obtaining shad spawn for stocking the river above the Troy dam,

but owing to there being no “close time” on this river, and the

consequent capture of about all the shad at its mouth, Mr. Green

only succeeded in obtaining a few ripe fish (many days not get

any, and the best day’s fishing only brought him twelve). Fr

what he did get he hatched out and put in the river about. two.

and a half million of young fry, or “more than double the

yearly yield of shad on the whole river.” Asa commentary

the condition in which Mr. Green found things on the Hudson,

simply states that unless a weekly close time of one or two

“SReport of the Commissioners of of Fisheries of the State of New York, for they

ending Dec. 31, 1870, 8yo pamph. pp. 32. Side Dotumest. 1871.

REVIEWS. 415

is enforced a net might as well be stretched entirely across the

river and the fishery declared extinct. In which we think he is

about right, for what use will it be to restock the rivers unless

we have laws prohibiting excessive fishing, either by allowing the

fish an unobstructed passage up the river for one or two days each

week, or by not allowing the use of anything smaller than five

inch mesh, and limiting the depth of all set nets, as proposed by

Mr. Atkins.

During the year a large state hatching house was erected at

Caledonia and placed under the charge of Messrs. Green and Col-

lins, who very successfully carried out a number of experiments

and hatched a large number of fish of various kinds. The a

tempt was made to hatch the spawn of the pike perch (Lucio-

perca) of Lake Ontario, but with little success, owing to the eggs

being surrounded by a sticky substance and adhering so firmly

together and to the sides of the pans as to prevent their being

detached without destroying them. By constantly stirring the

eggs for forty minutes after impregnation, Mr. Green succeeded

in hatching a few. In a natural state he thinks the eggs are scat-

tered as laid and adhere singly to the gravel, ete.

The experiment was tried of impregnating the eggs of the sal-

mon trout with the milt of the white fish, and the eggs were

hatched, bringing forth hybrids that have characters of both par-

ents, which, at the time of writing the report, were thriving

well. These fish will probably grow to good size, and may prove

avery acceptable table fish, but it is hardly probable that they

will be capable of continuing the race, as they are generic and not

specific hybrids.

The Commissioners have hit upon the following expedient for .

obtaining young black bass and several other (they write it hun-

dreds) species of fresh water fishes.

‘ Although no means of hatching black bass and hundreds of

other species has yet been discovered, another method was found

for sr cate meen the same end. very year large num-

bers of various kinds of bass and other fresh water fish pass into

six inches during the summer and the fall, yaen the canals

have to be drawn off preparatory - the cold weat

tofore, when the latter event occurred, the se fish were

taken from the holes and anidar i in the bottom by the fisher-

416 REVIEWS.

men, with their nets, and sent to market, while the smaller fry —

were left to perish on the shore, or, when the holes dried up, to be

frozen to death by the increasing severity of the winter.

Inste aa of permitting this terrible waste of valuable material, the a

commissioners made arrangements for saving a greater :

these little fish, and for distributing them throughout the waters

this State, whenever they are needed or can be used a

In this way they have te what bids fair to be a xhausti-

ble supply of fish that have heretofore defied the eE) art.” . i”

This grand supply ground has been, by vote of the Canal Com- a

missioners, placed entirely at the disposal of the Fish Commis-

sioners.

~ The Fish Commissioners have also received authority from the

Park Commissioners to use the ponds in Central Park for the pur-

pose of experimenting on foreign fresh water fishes with the hope

of introducing valuable species to this country. With this end

in view they have started the experiment with the carp, 80

extensively used for food in Europe, Mr. Frank Buckland, the

English Fish Commissioner, having promised his services. Mr.

Roosevelt’s letter to Mr. Buckland, however, shows that the New

York Commissioners are not very well informed as to !

ENESA eiA as the oaee extract will exhibit.

Perhaps in ji next report we shall be informed what anti

fishes are intended under the names of the carp of all the eastern

waters, and the little known western carp that has never been

scribed scientifically! As there are no species of the true carp

genera (Oh? ed Gren) ingens to Norte AE

*There are two distinct species of fisi own as tga Europe. pr

to F

of fishes kn

carp, Cyp degt 8 Linn., which isa native of Asia and w

has always been

eties and hybrids, pened rien nese of the early writers.

is the Carassius ee ee a caraseius of Linnæus. This

called the “ Crucian ” or Crucian Carp, ete., and is a native of

Gold fish or Golden carp, Carassius auratus, which has been in

and domesticated in all civilized countries

REVIEWS. 417

and as the Western fishes usually called carp belong to the sucker

family and are pretty well known to ichthyologists, we are some-

what surprised at the broad statement made by Mr. Roosevelt to

the contrary. Then the Commissioners seem to be quite neglect-

ful in not looking up the stock of carp which, according to a letter

published in DeKay’s “ Fishes of New York” (p. 189), were in-

troduced in 1831 and ’32 by Henry Robinson, Esq., of Newburgh,

Orange Co., N. Y. Mr. Robinson states that he put some six or

seven dozen carp, which he brought from France, into his ponds, and

that ‘‘ they increased to a superior = ” and (in 1841) he had

“« more than sufficient for family use.” It is hardly possible that

the Robinson fish could have become exterminated, as they seem

to have thrived well, and Mr. Robinson also states in his letter

that “For the last four years past, I have put from one to two

dozen carp every spring in the Hudson river near my residence.

They have increased so much that our fishermen frequently take

them in their nets. They are larger than those in my ponds.”

In “ Frank Forester’s Fish and Fishing” (1851) p. 166 an ac-

count of these carp is given, and mention made of a law of the

state protecting them for five years, ete. This is certainly a

matter worth looking into by the State Commissioners.

The Report closes with several characteristic letters from Mr.

Green.

Tue May Frtes.*—This elaborate work is of use to entomol-

ogists generally as it gives a list, with brief descriptions, of many

foreign species, and hence will be of much use in America. It

will evidently prove, when completed, to be the standard work on

this interesting family, and with its excellent plates, full synonomy

and many critical notes, is a great step in advance of any paper

yet published on this group. The author finds that the study of

alcoholic specimens is absolutely necessary for characterizing the

species, as the bodies shrivel in drying. We hope the students of

other groups of delicate-bodied insects will follow Mr. Eaton’s ex-

cellent example, and that insects preserved in alcohol will be

found in all our entomological collections.

The number of described recent species of this family is about

one hundred and seventy-eight, of which fifty-three are found in

aor on the Ephemeride. By the Rey. A. E. Eaton. Part I. The No-

mencla bane of the Ephemeridz. (From the eni meh te, of the Entomological Society

a London, aL ) 8vo. pp. 164, with six plates.

418 REVIEWS.

the United States and British North America. There are three

fossil species determinable, the oldest being from the Oolite forma- —

tion at Solenhofen. The author gives a list of species of fossil in- =

sects which have been at various times and by different observers —

referred to this family. They are from formations older than the A

Tertiary, mostly the Carboniferous. Among them are the strange 4

forms described as Dictyoneura, Eugereon, Miamia, Hemeristia,

Haphlophlebium, Platephemera, Homothetus, Xenoneura, Gerephe- —

mera and Lithentomum. He says that “ Platephemera and Homo |

thetus may possibly be of the Ephemerids, but there is nothing in :

the figures to make this certain, and there is no reason for consid-

ering that Xenoneura belongs to this family.” He then ré-

marks :— ' :

‘ Palæontologists have adopted a ridiculous course with regard

e insect fossils. Whenever an obscure fragment of a well-

often n

the rite

An insect allied to phemeridæ which chirped like a Locust

(such as Xenoneura is imagined to have been) is a tolerable

sample of these synthetic types. When a fossil comprises ont

ent, or even a complete wing of an Ephemerid, it is

possible to determine the genus, and impossible to assert the

species. The utmost that can be learned from such a specimen 18 —

the approximate relations of the insect. Neuration by itself ip

not sufficient to define the species or even the genera of o

Ephemeridæ. .

This criticism on the labors of

considering the great difficulties of the su

with, scarcely fair, though perhaps in part deserved.

palæozoic fishes; and others among the radiates and molluscs, our

critic would not probably deny. And among the palæozoic insects,

genera such as Eugereon, Dictyoneura, and Palephemera, are not

considered as generalized types simply as a device of the puzzled

and distracted entomologist for a means of escape from coming to

any decision. These “random conjectures” are, if such, due to the

REVIEWS. 419

singularly comprehensive character of many of the fossil remains

of Carboniferous and Devonian times; and it is by the study of

these fragments of wings that we are gradually coming to a better

knowledge of the links uniting the families of the Neuroptera (in

the Linnzan sense) and that the great differences in opinion be-

tween entomologists regarding the classification and position in na-

ture of the Orthoptera and Neuroptera are to be settled. e

would inquire what would recent zoology be without the “ obscure

fragments” left us of Paleozoic life? The inference forced upon

us from their study is that the earlier forms of life were more gene-

ralized than now, and thus, in all probability, were the primitive

stock or ancestral forms, which have been by evolution differ-

entiated into the forms now living.

e would inquire also whether one is not safe, or whether it

would not be safer in practice, to consider a fragment of a Pa-

leozoic, or earlier Mesozoic insect’s wing as belonging to a dif-

ferent species or genus from any now living, if the fragment does

actually differ from corresponding portions of any living species

with which it may be compared?

We quote the following useful remarks on the preservation

of these insects for study. ‘In drying, the color and form of

Ephemeridz soon change. Color is of little importance, even in

fresh examples ; but form is necessary to the distinguishing of the

species. They are, therefore, best preserved in a liquid. It is

sufficient for ordinary purposes to dip the freshly killed specimen

into dilute spirits, and then transfer it to a tube, or homeopathic

globule bottle, partly filled with water. Next, Price’s glycerine is

added to the water—one or two drops a day—until the bottle

is gradually filled. A small drop of acetic acid may be added

finally, to prevent the growth of mould. The name of the species

may be written on the disk of the cork, the date and locality of

capture round its side. Hind-wings of the species of Baetis and

Centroptilum should be mounted on slips of grass, for microscopi-

cal examination. Pinned specimens are often difficult to deter-

mine, in consequence of their shrinking ; to card them is to render

them fit for nothing.”

Why does our author always call the larva a canine ” Does

not this term apply to the pupa alone? The remarks on the princi-

pal points to be studied in the young and adult of these insects

are capital.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. Be rg

Pe, Wh are, hig ae dang

420 REVIEWS.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE Faminies Or MorLusks.* — This list

the families, orders and classes of mollusks, “prepared at the

= of the Smithsonian Institution, for the purpose of facili-

ing the arrangement and classification of the mollusks and

so of the National Museum” is an exceedingly useful one, and

pe conchologist will find it indispensable in arranging his spec-

imen r. Gill states in the introduction, that ‘it must be

cE i simply as a provisional list, embracing the results

of the most recent and approved researches into the ‘systematic

relations and anatomy of those animals, but from which, innova-

tions and peculiar views, affecting materially the classification,

have been excluded.”

Those who have attempted the compilation even of a list of

the groups of a class or higher division, know well enough the

difficulties attending its preparation, and our author has not at-

tempted it without giving the result of researches covering a num-

ber of years. He is assisted in some groups by Mr. Dall. Dr.

Gill admits the division of the mollusks into two primary grouj

the Mollusca vera and Molluscoidea, the latter embracing the

Brachiopoda and Polyzoa, |

Now that several continental zoologists, among them Leuckart

and Gegenbaur, have placed the Polyzoa among the worms,

Prof. Morse has considered the Brachiopods as a division of A

lids, a change alluded to by Dr. Gill, the time may come-

these two classes will not be mentioned in conchological works:

But as it will be long before such revolutionary views, ;

they prove correct, will be adopted, it is most expedient in-

an arrangement as this to let them go under the provisional

of Molluscoidea.

Malacologists will be interested in the remarks on the differe

a lan, sio containing as they do many '

as to the general classification of the sut

pi We trust that similar lists will be prepared by speciali

other departments, and published by the Smithsonian Institu

ASYMMETRY IN INsrors.t— While many of the molluses are

examples of asymmetrical animals, as seen in the shells s as

Arrangement of the mer of Mollusks. By Theodore Gill, M. D. Sm

Stddtansons Collections, 227. Washington, D.C. Feb. 8, 1871. 8yo. PP:

tOn Asymmet i tas APERAS NASD ANA, By

8S. H. Seudder

Burgess, the Proceedings of the Boston Society of nde History

Svo, pp. H, with a plate,

REVIEWS. 421

the bodies of these animals, and while in most of the radiates it is

difficult to detect any line dividing their body into halves, the

insects, and indeed all the articulates, are as a rule symmetrical,

one-half of the body, together with its appendages, exactly repeat-

ing the opposite. As our authors remark, however, some of the

Crustacea are asymmetrically developed, and they give as exam-

ples, the entire body of Bopyrus and Peltogaster, low parasitic

forms, and the claws of many Decapods, such as the lobster and

many species of shrimps. They further remark :—

“We are not aware that any cases of asymmetry have been

recorded among the worms ; and certainly very few among insects ;

there are occasionally slight differences in the right and “left man-

dibles of some mandibulates [such as beetles], and Coccus has

culidz is unsymmetrical.

A figure of this organ, belonging to a species of fly, Phora, is

given in illustration, with the left clasp very much stouter and

somewhat longer than the right one.

In studying the external genital organs of the males of Nisoni-

ades, a genus of butterflies belonging to the skippers, a most

remarkable asymmetry was detected between the opposite clasps

of the same individual. This is found more or less marked in all

the species yet known, the left clasp ‘‘ with some minor excep-

tions,” being always more highly developed than the right.

It is difficult to account for this asymmetry. The males are

much more numerous than the other sex, and the authors are in-

clined to think that ‘‘the excessive development of these parts in

the male, is in correlation with their superior numbers, ensuring

beyond doubt, the impregnation of every female; we do not, how-

ever, see how asymmetry gives any superior advantage.” A de-

scription of these parts in the different species follows, and eleven

new species are described. It is a pity that other than these

secondary sexual characters were not added for the better discrim-

ination of the species of so large and difficult a genus — but fur-

ther descriptions of the new forms are probably reserved for

another occasion.

422 REVIEWS.

index to our entomological literature published during the

1870, forms a much thinner pamphlet than its predecessors.

are not, however, to infer from this that entomology is on the

decline in this country, as we must expect some variation from

year to year in the degree of attention to this study. The num-

ber of entomologists who have published articles of varying 1

is thirty-five, while three hundred and one new species of inse

have been described in American journals during the year. We

hope entomologists will continue as before to give this enterprise

a cordial support, as the “ Record” is by no means self supporti

Public libraries should have these annual records, as they

valuable for reference and relate to a large and growing dep:

ment of zoology. |

New OrxrrHoLocIcaL Works.—A new edition, the fourth, 0

“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,” is now in course of pubi f

cation by Van Voorst, under the editorship of Prof. Alfred New

ton, the well known ornithologist, and Professor of Zoology in

University of Cambridge. The work is issued in monthly p:

of eighty pages each, at 2s 6d a part. It is expected that twe

five parts will complete the work, which will be comprised in

‘octavo yolumes containing nearly six hundred illustrations. .

names used by Yarrell in the former editions will be retain

at the same time the nomenclature will be brought up to the

` ent requirement’ of ornithological science, and all birds that Hay

been found to be inhabitants of the British Isles since the ti

Yarrell will be given. sag

A much larger and more pretentious work is the “ Histo

the Birds of Europe, including all the species inhabiting the ¥

ern Palwarctic region,” by R. B. Sharpe and H. E. Dresser.

This work, of which two parts are now ready for delivery

be issued in monthly parts of quarto size with colored

All the birds of Europe, amounting to about six hundred §

will be figured in their different stages of plumage, a plate

devoted to each species. Each annual volume will con

hundred plates, with full descriptions of the species and T

on the habits, geographical distribution, synonymy, etè- —

The unrivalled facilities at the command of the authors, |

*Published by the Naturalists’ Agency, 1871, 8vo. pp. 27. Price 50 cet

REVIEWS. 423

assistance guaranteed them by all the leading ornithologists of

Europe, with the support of a good list of subscribers, will make

the work a decided success in every way. Both the authors are

well known as practical field naturalists, and the successful man-

ner in which Mr. Sharpe has just completed his ‘*‘ Monograph of

the Kingfishers” is sufficient evidence that the work will be carried

through the press in the best manner possible.

As the work will hardly be accessible for the private libraries

of most of the ornithologists of our country, owing to its necessa-

rily high cost, it should have a place in all our large libraries,

where those who cannot afford to own the work, can at least have

a chance of consulting its pages: and as many of our birds are

identical with those of Europe, and many others very closely al-

lied, it will become the duty of every one engaged in the study of

birds to consult this splendid monograph. The work is published

by the authors, by special permission, at the office of the Zoologi-

cal Society of London, where we should be Boars to forward the

names of subscribers.

Economic Entomontocy 1x Massacuusetts.* — This first report

on the injurious and beneficial insects of Massachusetts opens

with some general remarks on the losses sustained by insects. In

this country alone they are estimated at not far from five hundred

Fig. 81.

py)

age HES i

ies ui)

million dollars annually, of which amount, at least one-tenth, or

fifty millions, could probably be saved by human exertions, were

* First Annu t d Beneficial Insects of Massachusetts. By

A. B, lpr ie M. D. pestinprae to the State Board of Agriculture. Boston,

1871. es vo. pp. 3l. Extracted from | we Annual apari of the PET of the Mass.

Board of Agriculture, fi ere tak

424 REVIEWS.

farmers made better acquainted with the habits of insects and the

best means of combating them. z

Fig. 83. Then follows an account of the Euro-

pean saw-fly (Nematus ventricosus, fig.

88, larva, a, enlarged; 89, a, male; b,

female) doing so much damage in the

state. It is stated that June 29th the

worms of the second brood were spinning

their cocoons. It might be added that

in the first and second weeks of August

the worms were still on the bushes in

Salem, and the females of the second ` —

brood were laying eggs for a third brood

of worms. ‘This destructive saw-fly is

now pretty well distributed over New

England. At Fig. 84.

destructive, and

ad been so the

bes tee hence year previous,

juniperaria, Another very

destructive insect, the Rape caterpillar,

Pieris rape, (Fig. 86, male ; 87, female ;

Fig. 85 85 a, larva, b, chrysalis)

which annually does two Cedar Bucculatrix. —

hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of dam.

age to the cabbage crop about Quebec alone, 15 is |

now abundantly distributed over New England,

and southward as far as New Jersey. :

the last two years it has been common at Orono,

Maine.

A new insect is described as infesting the

limbs of the apple tree. It is the Leiopus

of Say (fig. 91). ‘The larva can scarcely be aie

tinguished from that of a species infesting the

ckly ash, the L. wanthoryli Shimer re *

90 a, larva, b upper, and ¢ under side of the head.) A some mewhat

similar borer which injures the grape vine is noticed. This is

425

REVIEWS.

female,

Rape Butterfly,

Rape Butterfly, male.

Fig. 88.

aian

Larva of Currant Saw Fiy.

Fig. 89.

Knl

Currant Saw Fly.

426 REVIEWS.

Fig. 91. Fig. 92.

Leiopus facetus.

Fig. 94. Fig. 96.

Larva of Galerita Janus.

Galerita Janus.

Fig. 98.

Callidium amenwm

Larva of Telephorus bilineatus.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 427

the Callidium amenum Say (fig. 98). Its larva is represented by

figure 81, b, upper, c, under side of the head.

One of the most wonderful cases of mimicry is that of a new

span worm Drepanodes juniperaria Pack. (fig. 82 ; 83, larva and

chrysalis) which can with difficulty be distinguished from the twigs

of the juniper tree on which it feeds.

The cedar also has been found to be infested by a small Tinean,

closely allied to the Apple Bucculatrix. This is described as the

B. thuiella (fig. 84, enlarged; a, cocoon, nat. size). The trans-

formations of Telephorus

bilineatus Say (fig. 96;

larva, enlarged, and ad-

joining fig. 97 showing a,

upper, and b, under side

of the head) are also de-

scribed. The larva was

identified by Mr. P. S.

Sprague, who found it

Fig. 99.

where it changes to a

pupa, and early in May

becomes a beetle, when

it eats the leaves of the

birch.

Among beneficial insects are mentioned the ground beetle, Ga-

lerita Janus Fabr. (fig. 95) whose singular larva (fig. 94, a, upper;

b, under, side of the head), was discovered by Mr. J. H. Emerton

undér stones early in July. The larve of two dragon flies, Cor-

dulia lateralis (fig. 93) and a species of Didymops? (fig. 99) are

also noticed.

T Did ns?

J Y

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

Tur NuMBER or PLANTS AND Antmats.—The days of a Sys-

tema Nature, or single work containing a synopsis of the genera

and species of organized beings, are long since passed away.

Rema ies, T PES enc, Wee ee eer on Petes, NG a Ce Sa nen a ah i ra Bei ORERE

Y oh it d S 7 js a} f E

428 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Even a Species Plantarum, now that their number at the lowest _

estimate exceeds one hundred thousand, has become almost hope-

less. The last attempt, De Candolle’s Prodromus, has been nearly

forty years in progress, the first portion has become quite out of

date, and all we can hope for is that it may be shortly completed

for one of the three great classes of plants. Animals might have

been more manageable were it not for the insects. Mammalia esti-

mated at between two and three thousand living species, birds at

about ten thousand, reptiles and amphibia under two thousand,

fishes at about ten thousand, crustacea and arachnida rather above

ten thousand, malacozoa about twenty thousand, vermes, actinozoa,

and amorphozoa under six thousand, would each by themselves not

‘impose too heavy a tax on the naturalist experienced in that

special branch who should undertake a scientific classification and

diagnosis of all known species. In one important branch, indeed,

the fishes, this work has been most satisfactorily carried out in Dr.

Giinther’s admirable Genera and Species of all known fishes pub-

lished under the misleading title of “Catalogue of the Fishes in

the British Museum,” and recently completed by the issue of the

eighth volume. The sound philosophical views expressed in his

preface to that volume (which, by some strange inversion, bears a

signature not his own) can be appreciated by us all, and zoologists

are all agreed as to the care with which they have been worked

out in the text. Insects are, however, the great stumbling-block

of zoologists. The number of described species is estimated by

Gerstaecker at above one hundred and sixty thousand, viz. : Co-

leoptera, ninety thousand; Hymenoptera, twenty-five thousand;

Diptera, twenty-four thousand ; Lepidoptera, twenty-two to twen-

ty-four thousand. Mr. Bates thinks that, for the Coleoptera at

least, this estimate is too high by one-third, but even with that —

deduction the number would exceed that of plants, and it is prob-

able that the number of as yet undiscovered species in proportion —

to that of the described ones is far greater in the case of insects —

than of plants. We can therefore no longer hope for a Genera —

and Species of insects, the work of a single hand, or indeed guided —

by a single mind. The great division of labor, however, now

prevalent among entomologists may procure it for us in detail,

with one drawback only, that the smaller the portion of the great

natural class of Arthropoda to which the entomologist confines his

attention, the less he will be able to appreciate the significance of |

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 429

distinctive characters, and the more prone he will be to multiply

small genera—that is to enhance beyond their due value the races

of the lowest grades—to the great inconvenience of the general

naturalist who has to make use of the results of his labor.

Genera Plantarum is still within the capabilities of a single

botanist, although he must, of course, trust much to the observa-

tions of others, and it therefore cannot be so satisfactory as if he

had examined every species himself. The last complete one was

Endlicher’s, the result of several years’ assiduous labor, but now

thirty years old. Dr. Hooker and myself commenced a new one,

of which the first part was published in 1862, and which might

have been brought nearly to a close by this time had we not both

of us had so many other works on hand to deter us, although the

researches necessary for these other works have proved of great

assistance to the Genera. As it is, the part now nearly ready for

press carries the work down to the end of the Compositie, or about

half through the Phenogamous plants. In regard to works of a

still more general description, the exposition of the families or

orders of plants, we have nothing of importance since Lindley’s

“Vegetable Kingdom,” dated 1845, but republished with some

additions and corrections in 1853, and Le Maout and Decaisne’s

‘¢Traité Générale,” mentioned in my address of 1868, and of which

Mrs. Hooker is now preparing an English translation, under the

supervision of Dr. Hooker. Dr. Baillon has also commenced a

“ Histoire des Plantes,” containing a considerable number of use-

ful original observations, and illustrated by excellent woodcuts,

but as a general work, one portion is of too popular a character,

and in some cases too diffuse to be of much use to science, and

the generic character too technical for a popular work without any

contrasted synopsis, and its great bulk in proportion to the infor-

mation conveyed will always be a drawback. I cannot believe

that the author can have been a party to the unblushing announce-

ment of the French publisher, that it is to be completed in about

eight volumes. If carried out on the plan of the first one, it must

extend to four or five times that number. In Zoology, Bronn’s

most valuable “ Klassen und Ordnungen der Thierreichs,” contin-

ued after his death by Keferstein and others, which I mentioned in

my address of 1866, has advanced‘but slowly. The Amorphozoa,

Actinozoa, and Malacozoa, forming the first two volumes, were

then completed, and Gerstaecker has since been proceeding with

430 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the Arthropoda, commencing with the Crustacea for the third vol-

ume, of which only the general matter and the Cirripedia and —

Copepoda are as yet published, and three or four parts of a sixth

volume for birds have been issued by Selenka, treating the ana- —

tomical and other matters in great detail. Another general work —

of merit, although on a smaller scale, has been proceeding as

slowly. Of Carus and Gerstaecker’s ‘‘ Handbuch der Zoologie,”

the second yolume, containing the Arthropoda, Malacozoa, and 4

lower animals, had been already published in 1861, and to this E

was added in 1868 the first half of the Vertebrata for the first —

volume, with a promise that the remainder should appear in the —

autumn, but which promise has not yet been fulfilled. Among the —

other recently published systematic zoological handbooks of which

I have memoranda as published in various Continental states, the —

most important are said to be Harting’s, published at Kiel, in the

Netherlands, of which up to 1870 only three volumes had ap-

peared, containing the Crustacea, Vermes, Malacozoa, and lower

animals; A, E. Holmgren’s “Swedish Handbook ;” Zoology, of

which Mammalia were published in 1865, and Birds in 1868 ©

1871; and Claus’s “ Grundzüge,” and Troschel’s “ Handbook

(7th edition) for University Teaching in Germany.— BENTHAM, —

Annual Address to Society, published in Nature.

SPONTANEOUS DOUBLE FLOWER or NYMPHÆA TUBEROSA. — Dr.

E. M. Hale of Chicago sends a flower of the Western White Wa-

ter-Lily, having apparently only the ordinary number of petals,

- but no stamens and pistil whatever. If cared for it is likely that

the root would soon send up flowers with an increased number ot

petals, like a full double rose. Unfortunately this species lacks

the perfume of N. odorata.

ZOOLOGY.

Ortaix or Species. — Professor Hyatt alluded at a late meet-

ing of the Boston Society of Natural History, to the color of the

common Unios and Anodons as probably protective, and the We™

known case of the Melaniæ of the Western rivers, which are hardly

distinguishable to the unpractised eye, and to the peculiar APA —

marked’ variations of the siluroid fishes of the same region, which

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 431

agree very Closely with the ground on which they live. Professor

Hyatt added that he by no means desired to indorse the Darwin-

ian doctrine of natural selection. A belief in evolution and the

derivation of all higher forms from lower and simple organisms,

perhaps from inorganic matter itself, by means of secondary nat-

ural forces, is perfectly consistent with opposition to the Darwin-

ian theory. According to this theory, new characteristics and

therefore new kinds and species of animals arise by the survival

of the fittest; as in a recent instance cited by the AMERICAN Nart-

URALIST, where a new race of deer is supposed to be in course of

‘formation in the Southern Adirondacks. Tn this case certain full-

grown bucks about thirteen years ago were produced with short,

stabbing horns like the young deer. These were thus enabled to

drive away the branching-horned forms during the rutting season,

and to leave a larger number of descendants. These and their

descendants, in turn enjoying similar advantages, are, it is stated,

gradually supplanting the branching-horned deer in this locality.

The facts have been disputed, and need the confirmation of further

observation and experience; but they form, perhaps, one of the

best illustrations of the theory of natural selection ever recorded.

Assuming, however, that it is true, and that a new species of deer

is now being evolved in this region, what does natural selection

really account for? It must account for the preservation and per-

petuation of the branching-horned variety, as well as the rise of

the straight-horned.

The Anoplotherium of the Eocene, which has always been consid-

ered by Owen and others as the probable ancestor of the Cervide,

had no horns, even in the adults. The young deer, when it is

born, has none and the process by which they are acquired takes

place subsequently. The general characteristics of the deer ant-

lers of the Miocene and Pliocene were simple, with only one tyne

or prong like those of the young deer, and the palmate and exten-

sively pronged were not brought out fully until the post-pliocene.

To-day a decline seems to be taking place, since neither the rein-

deer, nor the moose equals the extinct Irish elk in the complexity

and rise of its horns.

If Darwinism can account for the propagation of this new race,

by the advantage which the short stabbing horns gives to the

bucks, how could any branching antlers ever have arisen from

the Miocene deer? In accerdance with the theory of natural or

432 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

sexual selection the horns should have become longer and sharper, —

and have dropped their tynes, thus making them better weapons. —

The reverse has certainly occurred, and antlers developed of extra-

ordinary size, cumbersome and useless in comparison with the

short dagger-like horns of the Miocene deer. According to Dar-

win’s latest modification, in his Descent of Man, the increase in

the size would be accounted for by sexual selection ; namely that

the females would select the males having the largest horns, and

thus the size of the horns would be increased by successive gen-

erations. If this be the explanation, how shall we account for the

rise of the short-horned variety at the present time? Darwin

quotes this instance as an example of natural and sexual selection,

in his last book, “ The Descent of Man,” vol. ii. p. 243, Am. ed.

Presuming, however, that natural selection does account for —

the evolution of the branching horns, and also for the preserva-

tion and gradual increase in numbers of the present spike-horned —

buck, as it may be fairly assumed in many instances to act in th

preservation and perpetuation of many characteristics, it neither

does nor can account for the first appearance of horns, or the first

appearance of a full-grown buck having the spike-horns. This —

inadequacy of the theory of natural selection to show us how —

characteristics arise has been repeatedly insisted upon by several

authors. Professor Cope and himself, in two widely separated E

departments, among the Reptiles on the one hand, and the Mol-

lusks on the other, have repeatedly pointed out the mode in which

characteristics, races, species and genera have arisen. Several

writers on the continent, and Mr. St. George Mivart, in his “+ Gene-

sis of Species,” have lately taken similar views. The latter contin-

ually alludes to the sudden-rise of species or races, and gives aP —

instance of the sudden appearance of the black-shouldered pes- —

cock. This variety, previously known in India as a separate SP

cies, speedily increased to the extinction of the original form. —

Here, a$ St. George Mivart points out, under different geograph- —

ical influences, the same species has suddenly arisen in India and —

in England. Here are no slow changes similar to those perpetu

cited by Darwin and Wallace, no gradual fading of one gi

into another, but a sudden evolution of a new distinct forme: =

Mivart, too, states that the view here advocated piss.

whole organic world as arising and going forward in one harmoni- :

ous development, similar to that which displays itself in the growth

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 433

and action of each separate individual organism, This apparently

is the keynote of his book. This was the view advocated by the

speaker, some four years previous in the Memoirs of the Society,

in a paper written to establish the fact that all characteristics had

arisen suddenly among the ammonites and nautili of past geolog-

ical epochs. This paper was a short, preliminary statement of

facts observed, and it did not excite his surprise that Mivart had

overlooked it. He could not however help wondering at the ab-

solute silence preserved with relation to the essay of Professor

Cope of Philadelphia. This had been issued at about the same

time and independently, but advocated nearly the same views as

regarded the sudden production of characteristics among the Rep-

tiles, and must have been well known to Professor Huxley, with

whom Mivart seems to have taken council. This omission is by

no means creditable to the author of a work written to refute such

books as Darwin is in the habit of producing, and contrasts unfay-

orably with that writer’s evident acquaintance with the essay al-

luded to above. This is shown most by the manner in which he

is obliged to rest the proof of his assertion, that species arise sud-

denly, upon a number of isolated facts ; whereas either Professor

Cope’s paper, or the speaker’s, especially the former, would have

furnished him with a number of reliable and serially connected

illustrations of the quick evolution of species.

Parasites. — Prof. Van Beneden, as we have before noticed,

has distinguished true parasites, which live on their host, from

commensals, those which. live merely with their host, the thieving

impostor from the respectable lodger. In an admirable work on

the “ Fishes of the coasts of Belgium, their Commensals and Par-

asites ” published by the Academy of Sciences of Brussels, he now

further classifies parasitic organisms. The commensals are either

1, Oikosites, fixed; or 2, Coinosites, free. The Oikosites fish for

their own living, and merely ask a free passage from their hosts.

They are either fixed in perpetuity, as Coronula, Cochliolepis,

Modiolaria, Mnestra, and Loxosoma, temporarily as the Remora

nilocra, Praniza, or only in the young state, e. g., Caligus and

Anodon. The Coinosites, on the other hand, never give up their

liberty ; they.occasionally leave their host, and between Coinosite

and host there is often an exchange of good offices, one furnishing

a solid house or a strong claw, the other a sharp eye, and they

434 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

may share their prey in common. The digestive canal is oceu-

pied by the following Coinosites : —Fierasper, Stegophyle, Stylifer,

Phronimus, Hyperia, the mantle by Pinnotheres and Pagurus, the

exterior ds Myzostoma, Cyamus, Pycnongonon, Caprella p

Cheetogaste

-~ The true psa e cannot live without assistance ; they are di

visible into several categories. Some, such as the leech, fleas,

and some dipterous insects, suck the blood of their victim, and

then quit him to take their after-dinner nap in the open air;

others, such as the ichneumon flies, do not quit their host till they

have become adult, and have in the process exhausted the last

drop of blood of their unfortunate prey. The greater number

lead a free life when young and merely attach themselves to a host

at the time of TS such are the Bopyrian and Lernæan

Crustacea. There is a further very interesting group, who enter

a host while ‘yet Seii simply in order that they may get car-

ried by its means into a second host, where they will ripen

their eggs. Often whilst waiting in their first host (sometimes

vainly waiting, no doubt) for him to be devoured by their second

and ultimate victim they reproduce agamically. Such parasites

are the Flukes and many Tapeworms. ‘These divisions are p

tabularly set forth :—

Parasites free. bi

7 a ice DS ae

during all their life. during a part of their life they pass through

~—— F $m

Leeches. ` a single host. several hosts whilst immature.

Fleas and Flies. —— = ~

Caligus. gims im- = ma-

Distomata.

Cestoids.

Barera errei,

Mermis. Lernæans. x

` The parasites of the first category which i free during al

their life, Professor Van Beneden calls Ph s, and co wale

them to the habitués of a hotel who avail asiti of the

@héte, but do not have a bedroom in the building. The oe

parasites which have both board and lodging are divisible in

three principal categories. 1st. Xenosites—who are pil

transit — voyaging with a distinct but distant object os r

ns as t

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 435

The stomachs and appendages of fishes swarm with parasites, and

those which have the largest clientèle are by no means the least

healthy or thinnest. Often one fish, having swallowed another, is

swallowed by a third, and thus Xenosites find themselves set free

in the wrong fish’s stomach, for the stomach acts like a filter,

straining out and retaining the parasites, while the flesh is di-

gested. Such erring Xenosites merely wait and may often pass

through several “hotels” before they reach their destination.

2nd, Nostosites—those who have reached their destination, and

now can abandon themselves to generation. Whilst the Xenosite

was obliged to put up often with an uncomfortable cramped lodg-

ing, biding his time, the Nostosite occupies the most eligible organs

for parasitism — in fact, the most vast and commodious chambers

of the hotel. The 3rd division are the Pilgrims, who have lost

their way hopelessly, and are in worse plight than even in Giant

Despair’s castle. Such are the agamic worms which are found

often in the Plagiostomous fishes, and who ought to have got into

some Teleostean fish, there to fructify—a happy fate forever lost

to them when by unlucky chance the host in whom they trusted

was swallowed by a remorseless shark. They never quit this re-

treat.

Prof. Van Beneden gives directions for searching an animal

for its parasites, and justly claims a high interest for the study of

« the fauna of individual species, and urges such neat and sharply-

limited zoological inquiries on those who do not feel prepared to

study the fauna of a geographical region—to the philosophy of

which, indeed, the study of parasite-faunz may furnish important

suggestions. Ninety-three species of fish, with their parasites

and commensals, are cited in this work from the author’s own o!

servation. Eight plates illustrate it.— E. R. L., in Nature.

Tue THEORY or NATURAL Serectrion.—In ‘‘ Nature” for Noy. 10,

Mr. A. W. Bennett discusses the theory of natural selection, which

he holds to be inadequate to account for the origin of species.

Taking as his starting point the two principles laid down by Mr.

Darwin himself, that natural selection always operates through the

perpetuation of exceedingly small changes, and that every change

thus perpetuated by natural selection must be directly beneficial

to the individual, he applies these principles to the phenomena of

Mimicry, as illustrated in Mr, Wallace’s ‘‘ Contributions to the The-

AMER. NATURALIST. VOL. V. 28

ache COR oll Nh The ig ea Tee ee a DR A ie ae

a nei, aaah eel IGANG, tas

` a x

436 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ory of Natural Selection.” Mr. Bennett maintains that in those

cases where a butterfly mimics exactly the external facies of a

species belonging to a different tribe, the amount of change in the

direction of the species ultimately mimicked which can have been

established in a single generation, is so small as to be absolutely

useless to the individual, and hence, according to one of the car-

dinal principles of the Darwinian hypothesis, cannot have been

brought about by natural selection. He then traces a connection,

which he believes to have been overlooked hitherto, between the

development of the power of mimicry or protective resemblance,

and that of instinct, in the various classes of the animal kingdom,

and argues that their parallelism must result from some connec-

tion between these phenomena. In conclusion, he contends that

Mr. Wallace’s abandonment of the theory of natural selection, in

accounting for the development of man and of the various races

of mankind, is inconsistent and illogical, and that whatever “ intel-

ligence,” as Mr. Wallace expresses it, has been operative in the

origination of man, the same principle must have been at work

also in the various lower races of animals. In reply, Mr. Wal-

lace and other naturalists maintain that the steps necessary to

transform a butterfly from its normal facies to one imitating 6x-

actly an entirely different butterfly of another genus, need not be

so numerous as is generally supposed; and that each step may —

be proved to be directly beneficial to the individual; and hence-

natural selection is amply sufficient to account for the whole phe —

nomenon. In a subsequent number (Dec. 22) Mr. A. Murray” ;

attributes the phenomenon of mimicry to an entirely different

cause, that of hybridization, drawing a parallel between the hy-

bridization which he assumes in Lepidoptera and that which is —

known to take place in plants. This theory is strongly opposed

by other entomologists, mainly on the ground that it is unsup-

ported by observed facts, and that from the crossing of plants

belonging to different species of the same genus, no assu

can be made that butterflies belonging to entirely different genera

and even orders can possibly hybridize. — The Academy.

Move or Lire or tae Sucktne-Fisn AND Priot-Fiset. — Pro

fessor Van Beneden has ascertained the nature of the food of

these two forms of fishes. The sucking-fish has § ee

supposed to derive its nourishment from the sharks, to whieh

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 437

attaches itself by the curious apparatus on the crown of its head.

M. Van Beneden finds that the common sucking-fish (Hcheneis

remora) feeds upon small fishes. From an examination of the

contents of the stomach in several examples of the pilot-fish ( Nau-

crates) —it would appear that this fish is omniverous — the food

consisted of portions of fishes, crustacea, fucoid plants, and, in

one instance, parings of potatoes. These observations have been

communicated to the Royal Academy of Belgium.— The Academy.

AFRICAN Ant Cats.—The plains of South Africa are character-

ized by numerous, animals generally known to the Boers as ‘‘ mier-

katjes,” or ant cats. Most of these are Viverra, Herpestes,

Luricates, etc., and all have nearly similar habits. Early in the

morning these pretty animals may be seen in numerous groups

sitting upon their hind legs warming themselves in the sun, and

when startled, scampering away to their holes, with their tails

cocked high up in the air. They all feed on mice, small rep-

tiles, grasshoppers and locusts. They likewise greedily devour

birds’ eggs. They are more or less colored like the Karoo soil.

Mr. Weale also gives in the same letter to ‘‘ Nature,” an interest-

ing account of the protective resemblances of animals in that part

of the world.

American Birps 1x Great Brrrary.— Mr. H. E. Dresser ex-

hibited to the Zoological Society a specimen of the American Yel-

low-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus Americanus) recently killed in Eng-

land, and Sir Victor Brooke a specimen of the Raninin Curlew

(Numenius borealis) lately killed in Ireland.

Witp Rassrrs.— Seventy years ago some domestic rabbits were

introduced upon Sable Island, a small, sandy islet lying about a

hundred miles off the Nova Scotia coast, and being left alone and

not crossed in breeding, they have entered their feral state in

liveries of beautiful silver grey, with white collars, intimating some

remote affinities with bygone races.

Two ORNITHOLOGICAL Irems.—On the twelfth of last January

I shot here a female Evening Grosbeak, out of a flock of about a

dozen individuals which was observed several times at Ann Arbor.

On the fifteenth of April following, I found the young of the Shore

Lark already fledged.—B. Watxer, Detroit, Mich.

[Although the Hesperiphona is usually quoted as a western bird,

438 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

it ordinarily reaches eastward to the Lake Superior region. We

have various accounts of its oc¢urrence in Ohio, Illinois, etc., and

even in Canada (MclIlwraith). In the West, the Eremophila breeds

anywhere on the plains suited to its wants, much further south

than on the Atlantic border; thus we have found it in New Mex-

ico, in June. But the fact that it nests and lays in March, in

Michigan, may not be generally known. —E. C. i

Tux Nores or THe WnarroorwiLL. — Several pairs of Whip-

poorwills nest near my house. One male bird sits night and morn-

ing on the roof of my front piazza, and, sings there by the half

hour, or even by the hour together. From windows opening upon

that roof I observe him at the distance of ten, eight, often of only

six feet. The same bird, or his ancestor, has occupied the same

post in summer, morning and evening, for several years.

I am not aware that any writer ascribes to the Whippoorwill

more than a single note. Wilson, quoted by Samuels, indeed

says “ When near, you often hear an introductory cluck between

the notes.” Besides this “ cluck” which can scarcely be called 4

note, the Whippoorwill has three distinct notes. There is the

common, well known note of Whip-poor-will ; heard close by, this

note is more nearly “ Quipo-o-Will,” —the first and last syllables

being very quickly and sharply uttered, the last almost like the

cracking of a whip; while the second syllable is somewhat pro-

longed. Accompanying or preceding the first syllable is a sound

like the striking of the bird’s beak upon a board. The negroes

affirm that the noise is so made; but after pretty careful obser-

vation, I think they are mistaken. How the sound is made Iam

not prepared to assert ; possibly it is by the snapping of the beak.

bas is, I suppose, the “cluck” of Wilson and Samuels.

yet often uttered also while at rest. It is soft and sweet as possi-

ble. Besides these, the bird has a low, harsh, discordant note like —

“ Gor-gor-gor,” or occasionally, “Go-ror, go-ror, go-ror.” T have —

by.

with ite head raised as high as possible, and its feathers ruffled

While singing “ Whip-poor-will” it always lies with its breast fat

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 439

to the roof, or fence or whatever it is sitting on.— Famrax, Vir-

ginia, July 3d, 1871.

Tue Bitiriso 1N Fresh Water.—Mr. G. Brown Goode of the

Museum of the Wesleyan University, informs us that a fine speci-

men of Belone truncata, ‘Green bone,” ‘‘ Billfish” or ‘Salt water

Gar,” measuring twenty inches in length, was taken, in June last,

in the Connecticut River about thirty miles up, and that he has

heard of several other specimens having been taken in the fresh

waters of the river, though all the authorities he has been able to

consult, give the habits of the species as strictly marine.

There are about fifty species of the genus Belone described, and

though they are essentially marine fishes of the tropical and tem-

perate regions, yet many of the species are known to live, in great

part, at the mouths of rivers, and to ascend to, and thrive in, the

fresh waters. It is probably a characteristic common to the

whole genus and to the allied genus Hemiramphus. Many fishes,

generally classed as marine, enter the rivers in pursuit of their

food, or for the purpose of spawning, and our local authorities do

not always mention such facts in their works, being often more

taken up with describing and identifying the species, than in

giving accounts of the habits of the fishes that come under their

observation. — Eps.

New Enexianp Ascrp1ans.— Prof. Verrill is publishing a se-

ries of illustrated articles on our ascidians in the “American Journal

of Arts and Sciences.” The number for June contains descrip-

tions of some of our compound ascidians which have heretofore

been sadly neglected. Several new genera and new species are

described. He s that the young of Lissoclinum aureum

from Eastport, Maine, contained ‘ tadpole-shaped embryos in

an advanced stage of development,” while in another species

. tenerum n. sp.) from Newfoundland, the eggs were few an

relatively very large. ‘t The development of such eggs is direct,

without passing through a tadpole-shaped larval state.” This is re-

markable, though paralleled in the crustacea, where, for instance

the craw fish and several other crabs undergo no metamorphosis

while the majority do pass through transformations. In a note

Verrill says “ with alcoholic specimens it is not possible to trace

completely the early stages of this development, or to be per-

fectly certain that these egg-like bodies are.genuine eggs, al-

440 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

though some of them appear to contain, at first, a germinal vesicle.”

The subject is one of great interest, in connection with the sup-

posed kinship of ascidians with vertebrates, if there is anything

in the fancied resemblance, which is much doubted by the most

cautious and learned comparative anatomists. f

Fıcnrixe BeerLes.— Mr. Lewis exhibited to the Entomological

Society of London, an earthen jar, like an ordinary tobacco ‘jar,

of Chinese manufacture. It had an enormously thick porous

bottom, and it was stated that the inhabitants of Pekin use these

jars for the purpose of confining large beetles, which they keep

for fighting. The beetles are allowed no food but water, and be-

come extremely ferocious. Prof. Westwood reminded the

that the Chinese were already known to keep Mantides for fight-

ing purposes. : a

IMMATURE SEXUALITY IN Insects. — Mr. Lowne read a paper on

this subject before the London Entomological Society. The author

thought that species sometimes originated from the maturity of

the sexual organization before the acquirement of adult characters; —

a conclusion he had arrived at in consequence of the early develop-

ment of the organs in the embryo and larva. He further stated, —

that, in his opinion, the larval and pupal conditions were probably

acquired and not direct stages of development. ;

Tue EmeryoLocy or Scorrions.—Dr. Elias Metschnikoff has

recently published in Siebold and Kélliker’s Journal, an elaborate

account, highly illustrated, of the embryology of the Scorpio Ital-

icus and of a species from Tyrol. The embryology of insects and

crustacea as pursued at the present day by zodlogists, who are

directing especial attention to the provisional membranes of the

egg and embryo, depends almost as much on the skilful use of

chemicals as the microscope itself. ‘The author says “ the methods

which I employ in these researches are not complicated. I study

the eggs removed from the ovarian tubes; or, place the living

embryo in a drop of a weak solution of salt (salzlésung) ; or 1

first submit them to the influence of solutions of chromic acid of

different strengths, and then examine them either with a simple oY

-~ compound microscope. Out of embryos hardened in this way *

ean make sections. Much of the time I have to work with dissect

-ing needles, whilethe embryos or portions of them treated in this

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 441

way, and in an equal mixture of fresh and salt water, afford very

good objects for study.” i

The embryology of scorpions was sketched out in a general way

by the distinguished German embryologist Rathke. Metschnikoff

extends these researches very greatly, and considers as the most

important results of his studies the discovery that ‘‘in the embryo

of the scorpions three embryonal membranes are developed, which,

in many respects ‘are very strikingly similar to the Remackian em-

bryonal membranes of the vertebrates.”

A SOUTH American Brrp IN THE Unitrep Srares.— The speci-

men of Erismatura Dominica, the gift of Mr. Thure Kumlien of

Bussyville, Wisconsin, having been presented, Dr. Brewer called

the attention of the Boston Society of Natural History to the

interest attaching to this specimen. It is a South American bird,

and this specimen is the second obtained in the United States.

The first, a male, was shot at Lake Champlain, and was presented

to the society by Dr. Samuel Cabot. This specimen, the second

ever obtained north of Mexico, was shot at Rock River, Bussyville,

Wisconsin, November, 1870. It is a female; its total length is

fourteen inches; alar extent twenty and one-half inches. The

tail consists of twenty very narrow feathers, of which the first is

the shortest. The tail extends only three inches beyond the

folded wings. Bill one and one-sixteenth inches from base to tip

above; one and nine-sixteenths depth at base, and three-fourths

of an inch wide. Wing with second primary longest; third and

first, even. Iris, brown.

Snap Eces.— When shad eggs are first impregnated they are

very small, but after a short time they swell greatly and the water

in the impregnating pan becomes about 10° colder. — A. S. COLLINS.

[Can any one give us an explanation of this fact?— Eps. ]

DISCOVERY OF THE ANIMAL OF THE SPONGIADA CONFIRMED. —

Just a line to tell you what you will be glad to learn, viz., that I

have confirmed all that Prof. James Clark of Boston, [now of the

Kentucky University] has stated about the sponge-cell, and much

more too.

It is, after all, only what was published and illustrated in the

+‘ Annals” in 1857. Indeed, I am astonished now at the accuracy

and detail of that paper (“Ultimate Structure of Spongilla,”

ete.), now all confirmed by an examination of a marine calcareous

442 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the cilium attached and the indigo still in the cells. x

This, I think, will break down Hackel’s hypothesis, which is

imaginative and incorrect as it is beautiful.

His “ Magospheera,” too, is figured in the “ Annals” (1856), and

described in extenso as the ameeboid cell which inhabits the mucus

of the cells or internodes of. the esar great Nitella. rb

novelties now.—H. J. Carrer, in Annals and Mag. N. History.

‘GEOLOGY.

Rocks Po.isuep py Sano. — Dr. Kneeland, at a meeting of the

Boston Society of Natural History, exhibited several specimens:

of glass, marble and hard stones engraved, carved and grooved |

by the action of sand driven by a blast of air or steam. The

supposed, by the elasticity of the paper or metal. He drew at-

tention to this industrial process as illustrating the advantage i: ;

pare ' the industrial arts, is simply carrying out what natural

forces have heen doing to the surface rocks of our continent for

been protected by garnets, projections were left, tipped ge

bar garnets, pointing like ngere inthe direction of th

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 443

On the surface of the Great Colorado desert the pebbles are

finely polished by the drifting sand, or variously grooved, accord-

ing to the hardness of their substance. Prof. J. man also

mentions that glass windows on Cape Cod have holes worn in them

by the drifting sands blown by the winds. '

It is the tendency, Dr. Kneeland remarked in conclusion, of

modern education to pay less attention to the dead languages and

to ancient history as a means of culture, and more to the practical

and living issues of the day, and especially to combine a knowl-

edge of natural phenomena with the elementary instruction of the

schoolroom. In this particular instance it is altogether probable

that, if the grooving of rocks by the wind-driven sands, long

known by geologists and physicists and by them turned to no

practical account, had been equally well known to our intelligent

and skilful mechanics, the process here illustrated would have

been invented years ago, and by this time have attained a high

degree of perfection. The same reasoning will apply to other de-

partments of natural and physical science, and goes to show the

wisdom of those educators who are endeavoring to diffuse a knowl-

edge of scientific principles and phenomena among the people.

Fossi REPTILES FROM THE Rocky Mountains. — Prof. Marsh

is continuing in the ‘American Journal of Arts and Sciences”

his descriptions of the reptiles obtained during his recent expedi-

tion to the Rocky Mountains. He remarks that “the specimens

from the Cretaceous formation are of great interest as they further

illustrate the remarkable development in this country, both in

numbers and distinct forms, of the Mosasauroid reptiles, which ap-

pear to have been comparatively rare in other parts of the world.

Fortunately, moreover, some of these remains serve to clear up

several obscure points in the structure of these reptiles, and prove

conclusively that they had a well developed pelvic arch and pos-

terior limbs; although up to the present time no satisfactory in-

dication of this had been discovered, and the eminent palzontolo-

gists who have recently made these animals an especial study, con-

sider them probably destitute of these extremities. The remains

found in the Tertiary deposits are also of importance, since they

show that types of reptilian life, almost unknown hitherto from

that formation in the West, were, in one of the ancient lake-

basins, at least, abundantly represented during that period.” The

444 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

cretaceous reptiles are Edestosaurus dispar and velox and

dastes Wymani and pumilus. Five new species of crocodiles,

land lizards belonging to a new genus (Glyptosaurus nodo

ocellatus, and anceps) were found in the Tertiary deposits.

New Facts 1s Fossi Borany.—The first point mentioned

the occurrence in the Devonian Shales of Kettle Point,

Huron, of beds containing immense quantities of spore-cases,

ably of Lepidodendron. These beds are referred by the Geo

ical Survey to the horizon of the Genesee shales of New Yorl re

and are stated to be twelve or fourteen feet in thickness, and to

extend over a considerable area of country. Specimens in the

collection of the Survey show that the bituminous matter w

causes the combustible quality of the shale, is due entirely to

immense quantities of spore-cases present, which, under the mi

scope, appear as flattened discs scarcely more than one hundre

of an inch in diameter. Specimens of the trunks of

dron Veltheimainum and Calamites inornatus occur in the

beds. This is probably the oldest bed of fossil spore-cases kno

but in later geological periods similar beds occur, the T

nite, or ‘white coal’ of Tasmania, which consists of spore-cé

He had received from Prof. Newberry of New York, a specim i

showing the upper part of a stem with five leaf stalks attached to

it. This he had named Caulopteris Lockwoodi. Three other spe

imens collected by Prof. Newberry in Ohio indicated the exis

important had been named by Prof. Newberry Caulopteris a

and Protopteris peregrina, They are from the Corniferous bimi

stone, and thus carry down tree-ferns to the bottom of the mi

Devonian. One of them has the cellular structure and v

bundles in such preservation as to show their ERRE y ;

ae ton ia PA ROD AmE man

Dawson, in Nature.

his: Panasiai E Pii od. ide ORARIA.

dredging expedition which searched the sea-floor in the t

the Gulf Stream of 1868, yielded, amongst other interesting:

reporaria, a form which has been described by Count r

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 445

under the name of Haplophyllia paradoxa, and which was decided

by him to belong to the section Rugosa.

The last expedition of the Porcupine under the supervision of

Dr. Carpenter and Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, obtained, off the Adven-

ture Bank in the Mediterranean, many specimens of a coral which

has very remarkable structures and affinities. The species is de-

seribed by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, under the name of Gwynia

annulata Dune. The necessity of including it amongst the Ru-

gosa and in the same family, the Cyathoxonide, as Haplophyllia

paradoxa, is shown by him in a paper read before the Royal So-

ciety of London. Having this proof of the persistence of the |

rugose type from the Palzozoic seas to the present, the affinities

òf some so-called anomalous genera of Midtertiary and Secondary

blances with the Rugosa is determined to be allied to the Stauridee

and especially to the Permian genus Polyceelia. The Secondary

and Tertiary genera with hexameral, octomeral, or tetrameral and

decameral septal arrangements are noticed, and the rugose char-

acteristics of many lower Liassic and Rhetic species are examined.

The impossibility of maintaining the distinctness of the Paleozoic

and Neozoie coral faunas is asserted; and it is attempted to be

proved that whilst some rugose types have persisted, hexameral

types have originated from others, and have occasionally recurred

to the original tetrameral or octomeral types; and that the species

of corals with the confused and irregular septal members, so char-

acteristic of the lowest Neozoic strata, descended from those Ru-

gosa which have an indefinite arrangement of the septa. The

relation between the Australian Tertiary and recent faunas, and

those of the later Paleozoic and early Neozoic in Europe, is no-

ticed, and also the long-continued biological alliances between the

coral faunas of the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.— Nature.

CRINOIDS INJECTED BY Siiicates. — Dr. T. Sterry Hunt made a

communication to the Natural History Society of Montreal, April

24th., on a Mineral Silicate injecting Paleozoic Crinoids.

The author described a gray granular Paleozoic limestone from

New Brunswick, which had been examined by Dr. Dawson, and

found to consist almost entirely of the comminuted remains of

brachiopod and gasteropod shells, crustacea, and the joints and

446 : NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

plates of crinoids, cemented with a little calcareous spar. The

crinoidal remains were, however, found to have their pores filled

with a peculiar silicate, which is exposed in relief when the sur-

face of the limestone is attacked by an acid, and then appears as-

a congeries of small cylindrical rods or bars, anastomozing and

forming a beautiful net-work, which, under a magnifying glass, ex-

hibits a frosted crystalline surface, and resembles the variety of

arragonite known as flos ferri. This silicate, which also fills small

interstices among the other calcareous fragments making up the

limestone, is greenish in color and forms about five per cent of the

_ rock. Though insoluble in dilute acids, it is completely decom-

posed by strong acids, and is found to be a hydrous silicate of

ferrous oxide and alumina, with some magnesia and a little alkali,

closely allied to fahlunite and to jollyte. The results of its analy-

sis appear in “ Silliman’s Journal” for May.

Dr. Hunt remarked that this process of infiltration, by which

the minute structure of these Palæozoic crinoids has been pre-

served, was precisely similar to that seen in the glauconite casts

of more modern foraminifera, and in the Eozoon of older times.

This ancient caleareous rhizopod, though most frequently preserved

by serpentine, had been shown by himself in Canada and by Hoff-

man in Bohemia, to be in some cases injected by silicates related

in composition to that of these crinoids. He then proceeded to

speak of the great class of silicates of which serpentine, loganite,

pyrosclerite, fahlunise, and jollyte are members, and which are

generally described as the results of pseudomorphic changes of

preéxisting silicates or carbonates, but which he, since 1853, has

maintained to be original aqueous depositions, similar in their ori-

gin to the related mineral glauconite; a view now adopted by

such investigators as Naumann, Scheerer, Gumbel and Credner.

He noted in this connection the bearing of these facts on the Eo-

zoon Canadense of Dawson, the organic nature of which, though

almost universally admitted by zoologists and mineralogists, WaS

nevertheless still questioned by Messrs. King and Rowney. These

gentlemen object that the ancient rocks in which Eozoon is found

are what are called metamorphic strata, which have been, accord-

ing to them, subjected to pseudomorphic changes, and therefore, the

Eozoon may be the result of some unexplained plastic force, whic

has fashioned the serpentine and other mineral silicates into forms

so like those of foraminiferal organisms as to deceive the most

im 4 f S} “ ae az, ii h = ed

a oS NE De Ref es EEEN aN T PPETI

ip ee + i

eS eta CE ee ee he

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. i 44T

practical observer. This, said Dr. Hunt, was going back to the

notions of those, who, rather than admit that mountains had been

formed beneath the sea, imagined that the fossil shells which they

often contain were not the real shells of animals, but the result of |

some freak of nature. The argument of Messrs. King and Rowney

that the Eozoon rock is a result of pseudomorphic alteration be-

cause it contains serpentine, is a begging of the question at issue,

by asking us to admit that the presence of serpentine is an evi-

dence of metamorphic change, which is denied. He then remarked

that the specimens of this organic limestone, with its injected cri-

noids, differed from Eozoonal rock only in containing at the same

time recognizable fragments of other organic remains, and in pre-

senting in its injected portions the differences which distinguish

the minute structure of a crinoid from that of a calcareous rhizo-

In conclusion, he again adyerted to the views which he had

long maintained as to the origin of great masses of silicated rocks

by a direct process of deposition from watery solutions, in which

they were formed by chemical reactions.

Dr. Dawson spoke, confirming the observations of Dr. Hunt,

which he had yerified by microscopic examinations. He alluded

to the structure of crinoids, which in the fossil state were gener-

ally filled with carbonate of lime so as to obliterate their pores.

The infiltrating silicate in the present case however, showed, es-

pecially in decalcified specimens, that these ancient crinoids closely

resembled in their minute structure, the modern forms lately

studied by Dr. W. B. Carpenter and Professor Wyville Thompson,

especially Comatula. Figures of these decalcified specimens were

exhibited and will be published. Dr. Dawson alluded further to

the process of filling up the porous calcareous skeleton of the cri-

noids, which was clearly shown to be prior to the cementing and

consolidation of the fragmentary limestone.

MICROSCOPY.

Tur Susmersion Microscope.—R. E. Dudgeon, M.D., de-

scribes under this name, in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical

Science for July, 1871, a contrivance by which the objective of an

ordinary microscope can be plunged in water without affecting its

optical qualities. A brass tube with its lower end closed water-

tight by a flat disc of glass is slipped over the objective from

. 448 ` NOTES.

below so far that the glass disc is considerably within the working

focus of the lens: Thus protected the lens can be lowered into

water, syrup, glycerine, etc., to a depth limited only by the mech-

anism of the microscope or the length of the protecting tube, and

used to view objects floating in the liquid or lying on the bottom

of the vessel containing it. While the common ‘tank micro-

scope” can be worked best somewhat horizontally, through the

side of the tank, this arrangement, besides being applicable to

much higher powers, is adapted to give a more or less vertical

view, being entirely free from any tremor on account of the motion

of the top of the water, and is therefore especially useful for dis-

secting purposes. Its object, though not its method, is identical

with that of Tolles’ immersion objective for low powers, published

more than two years ago; though the latter naturally possesses,

being constructed especially for this use and dispensing with two

unnecessary surfaces of glass, some optical superiority as well as

a much longer working focus. The submersion tube, being appli-

cable to ordinary lenses, only slightly lowering their magnifying

power and considerably shortening their working focus, will doubt-

less be extensively useful; though the statement that it may be

always retained in position as a protecting cover to the lens with-

out impairing the definition or illumination in ordinary work, must

be considered as too enthusiastic. It is especially applicable to

lenses of from one inch to one-quarter inch focus (the latter lim-

ited to a very small angle), and the objects should be placed ina .

jar or tank having the bottom and at least one side quite smooth

and transparent.—R. H. W.

cae is

—_—

NOTES.

AERA

Prof. C. F. Hartt, who has already become identified with Bra-

zilian geology, zoology, and archæology, from his three former

expeditions, in the first being an assistant to Prof. Agassiz on the

Thayer expedition, left New York on July 24th for another ‘and

more extensive exploration of the eastern part of the valley of

the Amazons. He will continue the series of geographical and

geological investigations begun on his last journey, and expects 0n

his return to be able to publish a detailed account of the region

Tt ae eR aa A ey,

Se P

NOTES. 449

examined. The principal points to be investigated are the fol-

lowing :

1st. The character and distribution of the Palzeozoic rocks bor-

dering the valley on both sides. Last summer he found Carbonif-

erous rocks on the Tapajos, and Devonian beds near Monte Alegre.

More complete suites of the fossils afforded by both these forma-

tions will be made, so that the faune of the Carboniferous and

Devonian of Tropical America may be illustrated and compared

with those of North America and Europe.

2d. A search for Mesozoic rocks will be continued, none having

yet been discovered east of the Puris.

3d. The Tertiary beds forming the Table topped hills will be

carefully studied at Almeyrim and the Serra da Paranáguára, and

the height of these hills will be measured.

4th. The deposits of the lower plain will be reéxamined, and in

this connection a journey will be undertaken across the Island of

Marajó.

5th. The shell banks, terraces, etc., on the borders of the val-

ley will be explored to determine, if possible, the character and

amount of the last uprise of the Amazonian region.

6th. The Indian mounds of Marajó will be explored.

7th. He will employ native guides, and continue the study of

the Lingoa Geral, or Modern Northern Tupi.

- Mr. Orville A. Derby, who distinguished himself on Prof. Hartt’s

last expedition, accompanies Prof. Hartt as special assistant. -

The latter has already had several months’ experience in photog-

raphy and goes furnished with apparatus for taking a series of

views with which to illustrate his next volume. A popular illus-

trated sketch of the journey will appear immediately after his

return, as we understand, in the columns of ‘‘ Every Saturday.”

As extensive a collection of zoological, geological and ethnolog-

ical specimens will be made as possible.

The expedition, though in the interest of Cornell University,

has been’ privately gotten up. The greater part of the fund has

been furnished by Col. Edwin Morgan of Aurora, N. Y., who also

bore a large part of the expenses of his last expedition, and, in

recognition of the kindness of this gentleman, Prof. Hartt has

given to this exploration the name of the Morean EXPEDITION.

Prof. Hartt has received considerable pecuniary aid from private

individuals, and the Peabody Museum of Archæology has placed

450 NOTES.

five hundred dollars in his hands to be used for archzeological pur-

poses. As the expedition will be limited by the amount of funds

subscribed for the purpose, we trust that some of our liberal coun-

trymen will contribute to keep Prof. Hartt in the field as long as

possible. Subscriptions will be received by Major O. C. James,

P. O. box 6001, N. Y., or by Mr. E. G. Putnam, Business Manager ,

of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

From Prof. Hartt’s very extensive knowledge of the country

and native languages, his well known accuracy of observation and

former extended field work in the geology of North America, we

believe that his return will make known many facts of the greatest

importance to science, and that both Mr. Morgan and the Cornell

University will be proud of the pesults attained by their indefati-

gable worker.

None of the entomological collections in Paris, says Petites

Nouvelle Entomologiques, have suffered much. Those of the

Museum were unharmed, and those of MM. Chaudoir, Sallé, Bois-

duval were also uninjured.

Mr. G. R. Crotch is to spend a year collecting insects in Cali-

fornia and Oregon, and thence proceed to Australia and other

places in the East. Dr. LeConte is to work up the American

beetles collected by him.

Dr. Boisduval has been at work during and since the siege of

Paris in finishing his work on the Sphinges of the world. This

` work, which will fill up one of the gaps in the Suite à Buffon, will

form the fourth volume of the Histoire Naturelle des Lepidoptères; _

it will comprise the Sphingidæ, Castniæ, and Agaristæ.

The great work by the Messrs. Felder on the Lepidoptera of the

Novara (the Austrian) exploring expedition will be completed this

year. It will contain a complete classification of the moths, and

will supplement Guénée’s work on them.

Our next issue, which will probably be out by the middle of the

month, will constitute Nos. 8 and 9, containing the Address of

President Hunt before the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science, and the papers read before the Natural History

Sections of the Indianapolis meeting. The publication of this

double number will enable us to close our volumes with the close

of each year; an end as much desired by our subscribers as by the

proprietors.

TELE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V. — SEPTEMBER, 1871. — Nos. 8 and 9.

ASSOCIATION NUMBER.

ec CCORI DD

The Geognosy of the Appalachians and the Origin of Orystalline Rocks.

ADDRESS OF THOMAS STERRY HUNT,

ON RETIRING FROM THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE-

MENT OF SCIENCE :—

In coming before you this evening my first duty is to announce

the death of Professor William Chauvenet. This sad event was

not unexpected, since, at the time of his election to the presidency

of the Association, at the close of our meeting at Salem in August,

1869, it was already feared that failing health would prevent him

from meeting with us at Troy, in 1870. This, as you are aware,

was the case, and I was therefore called to preside over the Asso-

ciation in his stead. In the autumn of 1869, he was compelled by

illness to resign his position of Chancellor of the Washington Uni-

versity of St. Louis, and in December last died at the age of fifty

years, leaving behind him a record to which science and his country

may point with just pride. During his connection of fourteen years

with the Naval Academy at Annapolis he was the chief instrument

in building up that institution, which he left in 1859 to take the

chair of Astronomy and Mathematics at St. Louis, where his re-

markable qualities led to his — in 1862, for the post of

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. (451)

452 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

chancellor of the university, which he filled with great credit and

usefulness up to the time of his resignation.* It is not for me to

pronounce the eulogy of Professor Chauvenet, to speak of his pro-

found attainments in astronomy and mathematics, or of his pub-

lished works, which have already taken rank as classics in the

literature of these sciences. Others more familiar with his field

of labor may in proper time and place attempt the task. All who

knew him can however join with me in testifying to his excellencies

as a man, an instructor and a friend. In his assiduous devotion

to scientific studies he did not neglect the more elegant arts, but

was a skilful musician, and possessed of great general culture and

` refinement of taste. In his social and moral relations he was

marked by rare elevation and purity of character, and has left to

the world a standard of excellence in every relation of life which

few can hope to attain.

In accordance with our custom it becomes my duty in quitting

the honorable position of president, which I have filled for the

past year, to address you upon some theme which shall be ger-

mane to the objects of the Association. The presiding officer, as

you are aware, is generally chosen to represent alternately one of

the two great sections into which the members of the Association

are supposed to be divided; viz., the students of the natural-his-

tory sciences on the one hand, and of the physico-mathematical

and chemical sciences on the other. The arrangement by which,

in our organization, geology is classed with the natural-history

division, is based upon what may fairly be challenged as 4 some-

what narrow conception of its scope and aims. While theoretical

geology investigates the astronomical, physical, chemical and bio-

logical laws which have presided over the development of our

earth, and while practical geology or geognosy studies its natural

history, as exhibited in its physical structure, its mineralogy and

its paleontology, it will be seen that this comprehensive science 18

a stranger to none of the studies which are included in the plan of

our Association, but rather sits like a sovereign, commanding 1

turn the services of all. i

As a student of geology, I scarcely know with which section of

the Association I should to-day identify myself. Let me endeavor

‘Lge cee

* Amer. Jour, Sci., III, i, 233.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 453

rather to mediate between the two, and show you somewhat of the

two-fold aspect which geological science presents, when viewed

respectively from the stand-points of natural history and of chem-

istry. I can hardly do this better than in the discussion of a

subject which for the last generation has afforded some of the most

fascinating and perplexing problems for our geological students ;

viz., the history of the great Appalachian mountain chain. No-

where else in the world has a mountain system of such geographi-

cal extent and such geological complexity been studied by such a

number of zealous and learned investigators, and no other, it may

be confidently asserted, has furnished such vast and important

results to geological science. - The laws of mountain structure, as

revealed in the Appalachians by the labors of the brothers Henry

D. and William B. Rogers, of Lesley and of Hall, have given to

the world the basis of a correct system of orographic geology,*

and many of the obscure geological problems of Europe become

plain when read in the light of our American rience. To

discuss even in the most summary manner all of the questions

which the theme suggests, would be a task too long for the present

occasion, but I shall endeavor to-night in the first place to bring

before you certain facts in the history of the physical structure,

the mineralogy and the paleontology of the Appalachians; and

in the second place to discuss some of the physical, chemical and

biological conditions which have presided over the formation of

the ancient crystalline rocks that make up so large a portion of

our great eastern mountain system.

I. The Geognosy of the Appalachian System.

The age and geological relations of the crystalline stratified rocks

of eastern North America have for a long time occupied the at-

tention of geologists. A section across northern New York, from

Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence to Portland in Maine, shows the

existence of three distinct regions of unlike crystalline schists.

These are the Adirondacks to the west of Lake Champlain, the

Green Mountains of Vermont, and the White Mountains of New

Hampshire. The lithological and mineralogical differences between

the rocks of these three regions are such as to have attracted

the attention of some of the earlier observers. Eaton, one of the

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxx, 406.

454 ADDRESS OF T.:STERRY HUNT.

founders of American geology, at least as early as 1832, distin-

guished in his Geological Text book (2d edition) between the gneiss

of the Adirondacks and that of the Green Mountains. Adopting

the then received divisions of primary, transition, secondary and

tertiary rocks, he divided each of these series into three classes,

which he named carboniferous, quartzose and calcareous ; meaning

by the first schistose or argillaceous strata such as, according to

him, might include carbonaceous matter. These three divisions in

fact corresponded to clay, sand, and lime-rocks, and were supposed

by him to be repeated in the same order in each series. This was

apparently the first recognition of that law of cycles in sedimenta-

tion upon which I afterwards insisted in 1863.* Without, so far as I

am aware, defining the relations of the Adirondacks, he referred to

the lowest or carboniferous division of the primary series, the crys-

talline schists of the Green Mountains, while the quartzites and

marbles at their western base were made the quartzose and calca-

reous divisions of this primary series. The argillites and sandstones

lying still farther westward, but to the east of the Hudson River,

were regarded as the first and second divisions of the transition

series, and were followed by its calcareous division, which seems to

have included the limestones of the Trenton group ; all of these

rocks being supposed to dip to the westward, and away from the

central axis of the Green Mountains. Eaton does not appeal

to have studied the White Mountains, or to have considered their

geological relations. They were, however, clearly distinguished

from the former by C. T. Jackson in 1844, when, in his report on

the geology of New Hampshire, he described the White Moun-

tains as an axis of primary granite, gneiss and mica-schist, Over-

laid successively, both to the east and west, by what were design®

ted by him Cambrian and Silurian rocks ; these names having; since

the time of Eaton’s publication, been introduced by English geol-

ists. While these overlying rocks in Maine were unaltered, he

conceived that the corresponding strata in Vermont, on the western

side of the granitic axis, had been changed by the action of intrusive

serpentines and intrusive quartzites, which had altered the Cam-

brian into the Green Mountain gneiss, and converted a portion of

the fossiliferous Silurian limestones of the Champlain valley int?

white marbles.+ Jackson did not institute any comparison P

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxxv, 166.

t Geology of New Hampshire, 160-162.

eee aa ee se a De: Lila

EG i

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 455

tween the rocks ofthe White Mountains and those of the Adiron-

dacks; but the Messrs. Rogers in the same year, 1844, published

an essay on the geological age of the White Mountains, in which,

while endeavoring to show their Upper Silurian age, they speak of

them as having been hitherto regarded as consisting exclusively

of various modifications of granitic and gneissoid rocks, and as be-

longing ‘‘to the so-called primary periods of geologic time.” *

They however considered that these rocks had rather the aspect of

altered paleozoic strata, and suggested that they might be, in part

at least, of the age of the Clinton division of the New York

system ; a view which was supported by the presence of what were

at the time regarded by the Messrs. Rogers as organic remains.

Subsequently, i in 1847,} they announced that they no longer consid-

of organic origin, without however retracting

their opinion as to the paleozoic age ofthe strata. Reserving to

another place in my address the discussion of the geological age

of the White Mountain rocks, I proceed to notice briefly the dis-

sei characters of the three groups of crystalline strata just

mentioned, which will be shown in the sequel to have an impor-

ae in geology beyond the limits of the Appalachians.

I. The Adirondack or Laurentide Series. The rocks of this,

series, to which the name of the Laurentian system has been given,

may be described as chiefly firm granitic gneisses, often very

coarse-grained, and generally reddish or grayish in color. They

are frequently hornblendic, but seldom or never contain much mica,

and the mica-schists, (often accompanied with staurolite, garnet,

andalusite and cyanite), so characteristic of the White Mountain

series, are wanting among the Laurentian rocks. They are also

destitute of argillites, which are found in the other two series.

The quartzites, and the pyroxenic and hornblendic rocks, asso-

ciated with great formations of crystalline limestone, with graph-

ite, and immense beds of magnetic iron ore, give a peculiar

character to portions of the Laurentian system.

he Green Mountain Series. The quartzo-feldspathic rocks

of this series are to a considerable extent represented by a fine-

grained petrosilex or eurite, though they often assume the form of

a true gneiss, which is ordinarily more micaceous than the typical

* Amer. Jour. Sci., I, i, 411. °

t Ibid, I, v, 116.

456 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

Laurentian gneiss. The coarse-grained, porphyritic, reddish vari-

eties common to the latter are wanting in the Green Mountains,

where the gneiss is generally of pale greenish and grayish hues.

Massive stratified diorites, and epidotic and chloritic rocks, often

more or less schistose, with steatite, dark colored serpentines and

ferriferous dolomites and magnesites also characterize this gneissi¢

series, and are intimately associated with beds of iron ore, generally :

a slaty hematite, but occasionally magnetite. Chrome, titanium,

nickel, copper, antimony and gold are frequently met with in this se-

ries. The gneisses often pass into schistose micaceous quartzites,

and the argillites, which abound, frequently assume a soft, unctuous

character, which has acquired for them the name of talcose or na- ~

creous slates, though analysis shows them not to be magnesian,

but to consist essentially of a hydrous micaceous mineral. They

are sometimes black and graphitic.

Ill. The White Mountain Series. This series is characterized

by the predominance of well defined mica-schists interstratified

with micaceous gneisses. ‘These latter are ordinarily light colored

from the presence of white feldspar, and, though generally fine in

texture, are sometimes coarse-grained and porphyritic. They are

` less strong and coherent than the gneisses of the Laurentian, and

pass, through the predominance of mica, into mica-schists, which

are themselves more or less tender and friable, and present every

variety, from a coarse gneiss-like aggregate down to a fine-grained 7

schist, which passes into argillite. The micaceous schists of this

series are generally much richer in mica than those of the precet-

ing series, and often contain a large proportion of well defined crys-

talline tables belonging to the species muscovite. The cleavage

of these micaceous schists is generally, if not always, coincident

with the bedding, but the plates of mica in the coarser-grained ;

varieties are often arranged at various angles to the cleavage and a

bedding-plane, showing that they were developed after sedimenta-

tion, by crystallization in the mass; a circumstance which distin-

guishes them from rocks derived from the ruins of these, which are

met with in more recent series. The White Mountain rocks algo

include beds of micaceous quartzite. The basic silicates in this

series are represented chiefly by dark colored gneisses and schists,

in which hornblende takes the place of mica. These pass occ

sionally into beds of dark hornblende-rock, sometimes holding ee

garnets. Beds of crystalline limestone occasionally occur in the 2

ase ERO 2

ae 2 ee eee re oa eee 5 ene

Pee alt

Sane aN

RFS a .

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 457

schists of the White Mountain series, and are sometimes accom-

panied by pyroxene, garnet, idocrase, sphene and graphite, as in

the corresponding rocks of the Laurentian, which this series, in its

more gneissic portions, closely resembles, though apparently dis-

tinct geognostically. The limestones are intimately associated

with the highly micaceous schists containing staurolite, andalusite,

eyanite and garnet. These schists are sometimes highly plumbag-

inous, as seen in the graphitic mica-schist holding garnets in

Nelson, New Hampshire, and that associated with cyanite in Corn-

wall, Conn. To this third series of crystalline schists belong the

concretionary granitic veins abounding in beryl, tourmaline and

lepidolite, and occasionally containing tinstone and columbite.

Granitic veins in the Laurentian gneisses frequently contain tour-

maline, but have not, so far as yet known, yielded the other min-

eral species just mentioned. *

Keeping in mind the characteristics of these “ihe series, it will

be easy to trace them southward cal the aid of the concise and ac-

curate descriptions which Prof. H. D. Rogers has given us of the

rocks of Pennsylvania. In his iojuit on the geology of this state

he has distinguished three districts of various crystalline schists,

which are by him included together under the name of gneissic -

or hypozoic rocks. Of these districts the most northern, or the

South Mountain belt, to the northwest of the Mesozoic basin, is

said to be the continuation of the Highlands of New York and New

Jersey, which, crossing the Delaware near Easton, is continued

southward through Pennsylvania and. Maryland into Virginia,

where it appears in the Blue Ridge. The gneiss of this district

in Pennsylvania is described as differing considerably from that of

the southernmost district, being massive and granitoid, often horn-

blendic, with much magnetic iron, but destitute of any consider-

able beds of micaceous, talcose or chloritic slate, which mark the

rocks of the southern district. These characters are sufficient to

line rocks. The gneiss of the middle district of Pennsylvania, to

the south of the Mesozoic, but north of the Chester valley, is de-

scribed by Rogers as resembling that of the South Mountain or

* Hunt, Notes on Granitic Rocks; Amer. Jour. Sci., III, i, 182.

458 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

northern district, and to consist chiefly of white feldspathic and

dark hornblendic gneiss, with very little mica, and with crystalline

limestones.

The gneiss of the third or southern district, that lying to the

south of the Montgomery and Chester valleys, comes from beneath

the Mesozoic of New Jersey about six miles northeast of Trenton,

and stretching southwestward, occupies the southern border of

Pennsylvania, extending into Delaware and Maryland. It is sub-

divided by Rogers into three belts; the first or southernmost

of these, passing through Philadelphia, consists of alternations of

dark hornblendic and highly micaceous gneiss, with abundance

of mica-slate, sometimes coarse-grained, and at other times so fine-

grained as to constitute a sort of whet-slate. To the northwest-

ward the strata become still more micaceous, with garnets and

beds of hornblende slate, till we reach the second subdivision,

which consists of a great belt of highly talcose and micaceous

schists, with steatite and serpentine, and is in its turn succeeded

by a third, narrow belt resembling the less micaceous members

of the first or southernmost subdivision. The micaceous schists of

this region abound in staurolite, garnet, cyanite and corundum,

and are traversed by numerous irregular granitic veins containing

beryl and tourmaline. All of these characters lead us to refer the

gneiss of this southern district to the third or White Mountain

series, with the exception of the middle subdivision, which presents

the aspect of the second or Green Mountain series.

Above the hypozoic gneisses Rogers has placed his azoic oF

semi-metamorphic series, which is traceable from the vicinity of

Trenton to the Schuylkill, along the northern boundary of the

southern hypozoic gneiss district. This series is supposed by

Rogers to be an altered form of the primal sandstones and slates,

and is described as consisting of a feldspathic quartzite or eurite,

containing in some cases porphyritic beds with crystals of feldspar

and hornblende, together with various crystalline schists ; includ-

ing in fact the whole of the great serpentine belt of Montgomery,

Chester and Lancaster counties, with its steatites, hornblendic,

dioritic, chloritic, and micaceous schists (often garnet-bearing)s

together with a band of argillite, affording roofing-slates. With

this great series are associated chromic and titanic iron, and ores

of nickel and copper. Veins of albite with corundum also inter-

sect this series near Unionville. We are repeatedly assured by

a aes

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 459

Rogers that these rocks so much resemble the underlying hypozoic

gneiss, as to be readily confounded with them ; and when compared

with the latter, as displayed in the southern district, it is difficult

to believe that we have in this so-called azoic or metamorphic

series of the Montgomery and Chester valleys, anything else than

a repetition of these same crystalline schists which have been de-

scribed along their southern boundary, representing the Green

Mountain and the White Mountain series. We thus avoid the dif-

ficulty of supposing that we have in this region two sets of ser-

pentinic rocks, and two of mica-schists, lithologically similar, but

of widely differeit ages,—a conclusion highly improbable. It

should be said that Rogers, in accordance with the notions then

generally received, looked upon serpentine as an eruptive rock,

which had altered the adjacent strata, converting the mica-schists

into steatitic and chloritic rocks. `

This so-called azoic series, according to Rogers, underlies the au-

roral limestone of Pennsylvania, thus apparently occupying the

horizon of the primal paleozoic division or Potsdam series. We

find, however, in his report on the geology of the state, no satis-

factory evidence of the identity of the two series. On the con-

trary, a very different conclusion would seem to follow from certain

facts there detailed. The azoic or so-called metamorphic primal

strata are said to have a very uniform nearly vertical dip, or with

high angles to the southward, while the micaceous and gneissic

strata of the northern subdivision of the southern district of so-

called hypozoic rocks, limiting these last to the south, present

either minute local contortions or wide gentle undulations, with

comparatively moderate dips, for the most part to the northward. *

From this, I think we may infer that the nearly vertical strata must

be, in truth, older underlying rocks belonging, not to the paleozoic

systeth, but to our second series of crystalline schists. We con-

clude, then, that while the gneisses to the northwest, and probably

those along the southeast rim of the Mesozoic basin of Pennsyl-

vania are Laurentian, the great valley southward to the Delaware

is occupied by the rocks of the Green Mountain and White Moun-

tain series. The same two types of rocks, extending to the north-

east, are developed about New York city, in the mica-schists of

Manhattan and the serpentines of Staten Island and Hoboken ;

* Rogers, Geology of Pennsylvania, I, pp. 69-74, and 154-158,

460 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

while in the range of the Highlands, the gneiss belt of the South

Mountain crosses the Hudson river.

The three series of gneissic rocks which we have distinguished

in our section to the northward have, in southeastern New York,

as in Pennsylvania, been grouped together in the primary system,

and may thence all be traced into western New England. In Dr.

Percival’s geological report and map of Connecticut, published in

1840, it will be seen that he refers to the gneiss of the Highlands

two gneissic areas in Litchfield county ; the one occupying parts of

Cornwall and Ellsworth, and the other extending from Torrington,

northward through Winchester, Norfolk and Colebrooke into Berk-

shire county, Massachusetts. Farther investigations may confirm

the accuracy of Percival’s identification, and show the Laurentian

age of these New England gneisses, a view which is apparently sup- —

ported by the mineralogical characters of some of the rocks in this

region. Emmons informs us that primary limestones with graphite,

(perhaps Laurentian), are met with in the Hoosic range in Massa-

chusetts east of the Stockbridge (Taconic) limestones. -

The rocks of the second series are traceable from southwestern

Connecticut northward to the Green Mountains in Vermont, and

the micaceous schists and gneisses of the third or White Mountain

series are found both to the east and the west of the Mesozoic val-

ley in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They also occupy a Con-

siderable area in eastern Vermont, where they are separated from

the White Mountain range by an outcrop of rocks of the second

series. To the southeast of the White Mountains, along our line of

section, the same mica-schists and gneisses, often with very mod-

erate dips, extend as far as Portland, Maine, where they are inter-

` rupted by the outcropping of greenish chloritic and chromiferous

schists, in nearly vertical beds, which appear to belong to the sec-

series.

I find that the strata of the second series appear from beneath

the Carboniferous at Newport, Rhode Island, in a nearly vertical

attitude, and also in the vicinity of Boston and Brighton, Saugus

and Lynnfield. Their relations in this region to the gneisses with

crystalline limestones of Chelmsford, ete., which I have referred to

the Laurentian series,* have yet to be determined.

We have already mentioned that the crystalline rocks of Penn-

sylvania pass into Maryland and Virginia, where, as H. D. Roger?

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xlix, 75.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 461

informs us, they appear in the mountains of the Blue Ridge. It

remains to be seen whether the three types which we have pointed

out in Pennsylvania are to be recognized in this region. A great

_belt of crystalline schists extends from Virginia through North

and South Carolina, and into eastern Tennessee, where, according

to Safford, these rocks underlie the Potsdam. It is easy, from the

reports of Lieber on the geology of South Carolina, to identify in

this state the two types of the Green Mountain and White Moun-

tain series. The former, as described by him, consists of talcose,

chloritic and epidotic schists, with diorites, steatites, actinolite-

rock and serpentines. It may be noted that he still adheres to the

notion of the eruptive origin of the last three rocks, which the ob-

servations of Emmons, Logan and myself in the Green Mountains

have shown to be untenable. These rocks in South Carolina gen-

erally dip at very high angles. The great gneissic area of Anderson

and Abbeville districts is described by Lieber as consisting of fine-

grained grey gneisses with micaceous and hornblendic schists, and

is cut by numerous veins of pegmatite, holding garnet, tourmaline

and beryl. These rocks, which have the characters of the White

Mountain series, appear, from the incidental observations to be

found in Lieber’s reports, to belong to a higher group than the

chloritic and serpentinic series, and to dip at parame mod-

erate angles.

Professor Emmons, whose attention was early turned to the ge-

ology of western New England, did not distinguish between the

three types which we have defined, but, like Rogers in Pennsylva-

nia, included all the crystalline rocks of that region in the prim

system. Itis to him, however, that we owe the first correct no-

tions of the geological nature and relations of the Green Mountains.

These, he has remarked, are often made to include two ranges of

hills belonging to different geological series. The eastern range,

including the Hoosic Mountain in Massachusetts, and Mount

Mansfield in Vermont, he referred to the primary ; which he de-

scribed as including gneiss, mica-schist, talcose slate and horn-

blende, with beds and veins of granite, limestone, serpentine and

trap. He declared, moreover, that there is no clear line of de-

marcation among the various schistose primary rocks, and cited,

as an illustration, the passage into each other of serpentine, stea-

tite and talcose schist. His description of the crystalline rocks of

this range will be recognized as comprehensive and truthful.

464 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

have broken the strata, given them an eastward dip, and caused the

newer beds to pass successively beneath the older ones, thus pro-

ducing an apparently inverted succession, and making their present

seeming order of superposition completely deceptive. In speaking

of this supposed arrangement of the members of his Taconic sys-

tem, Emmons alluded to them as “ inverted strata ;” while by Mr

Marcou, the strata were said to be “overturned on each side of the

crystalline and eruptive rocks which occupy the centre of the chain,

producing thus a fan-shaped structure,” etc.* I have elsewhere

shown that this notion, though to Some extent countenanced by

his vague and inaccurate use of terms, was never entertained

by Emmons, whose own view, as defined in his Taconic System (p.

17),t is that just explained.

The view of Emmons that there exists at the western base of

the Green Mountains, older fossiliferous series underlying the

Potsdam, met with general opposition from American geologists.

In May, 1844, H. D. Rogers, in his address as President, before the

American Association of Geologists, then met at Washington, crit-

icised this view at length, and referred to a section from Stock-

bridge, Massachusetts, to the Hudson River, made by W. B. Rogers

and himself, and by them laid before the American Philosophical

Society in January, 1841. They then maintained that the quartz-

rock of the Hoosic range was Potsdam, the Berkshire marble iden-

tical with the blue limestone of the Hudson valley, and the asso-

ciated micaceous and talcose schists, altered strata of the age of the

slates at the base of the Appalachian system ; that is to say, pri-

mal in the nomenclature of the Pennsylvania survey.

In 1843 Mather had asserted the Champlain age of the same

crystalline rocks, and claimed that the whole of the division was

there amenna including the Potsdam, the Hudson River group,

and the intermediate limestones. The conclusion of Mather was

_ cited with approbation by Rivets, who apparently adopted it, and

oduan

mptes Rendus de PAcad., LII, 804.

ya my farther discussion of the matter, Amer. Jour, Sci., II, xxxii, Side xxxiii,

135,281. Itis by an ti ht that I have, in the latter Piae, page 136, repres! sented

Barrande as shar e misconception of ahi although his language, without

er s crutiny, Bi lead us to such a conclusion. In fact in the Bull. 500. Geol. de

France (II, xv "i, 261), in an elaborate study of ra Taconic question; Barran a se

a section us, * and then procee eeds

that the renversoment or overturn is only apparent, by explaining, in the an p

Emmons, the view already set forth above.

t Geology of the Souther District of New York, p. 438

;

T DEA E = Ser ee won a Me E AAE a et eo

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 465

claimed that Hitchcock held a similar view. It will be seen that

these geologists thus united in one group, the schists of the Hoosic

range (regarded by Emmons as primary), with those of the Ta-

conic range, and referred both to the age of the Champlain divis-

ion, the whole of which was supposed to be included in the group.

In the same address Professor Rogers raised a very important

question. Having referred to the Potsdam sandstone, which on

Lake Champlain forms the base of the paleozoic system, he in-

— ‘Is this formation then the lowest limit of our Appalachian

asses generally, or is the system expanded downward in other

pnp by the introduction beneath it of other conformable sed-

imentary rocks?’ He then proceeded to state that from the Sus-

quehanna River, southwestward, a more complex series appears at

the base of the lower limestone than to the north of the Schuylkill,

and in some parts of the Blue Ridge he includes in the primal di-

vision (beneath the Calciferous sandrock) “at least four indepen-

dent and often very thick deposits, constituting one general group,

in which the Potsdam or white sandstone (with Scolithus) is the

second in descending order.” This sandstone is overlaid by many

hundred feet of arenaceous and ferriferous fucoidal slate, and un-

derlaid by coarse sandy shales and flagstones; below which, in

Virginia and East Tennessee, is a series of heterogeneous con-

glomerates, which rest on a great mass of crystalline strata. The

accuracy of these statements is confirmed by Safford, who, in his

recent report on the geology of Tennessee (1869), places at the

base of the column a great series of crystalline schists, apparently

representatives of those of southeastern Pennsylvania. Upon

these repose what Safford designates as the Potsdam group, in-

cluding, in ascending order, the Ovocee slates and conglomerates,

estimated at 10,000 feet, and the Chilhowee shales and sandstones,

2,000 feet or more, with fucoids, worm-burrows and Scolithus.

These are conformably overlaid by the Knoxville division, con-

sisting of fucoidal sandstones, shales, and limestones, the latter

two holding fossils of the age of the Calciferous sandrock. It is

noteworthy that these rocks are greatly disturbed by faults, and

that in Chilhowee Mountain the lower conglomerates are brought

on the east against the Carboniferous limestone, by a vertical dis-

placement of at least 12,000 feet. The general dip of all these

strata, including the basal crystalline schists, is to the southeast.

The primal paleozoic rocks of the Blue Ridge were then by Rog-

466 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

ers, as now by Safford, looked upon as wholly of Potsdam age, in-

cluding the Scolithus sandstone as a subordinate member, so that

the strata beneath this were still regarded as belonging to the New

York system. Hence, while Rogers inquires whether the Taconic

system “‘may not along the western border of Vermont and Mas-

sachusetts include also some of the sandy and slaty strata here

spoken of as lying beneath the Potsdam sandstone”’* he would still

embrace these lower strata in the Champlain division.

Thus we see that at an early period the rocks of the Taconic

system were, by Rogers and Mather; referred to the Champlain divi-

sion of the New York system, a conclusion which has been sus-

tained by subsequent observations. Before discussing these, and

their somewhat involved history, we may state two questions which

present themselves in connection with this solution of the problem.

First, whether the Taconic system, as defined by Emmons, includes

the whole or a part of the Champlain division ; and second, wheth-

er it embraces any strata older or newer than the members of this

portion of the New York system. With reference to the first

question it is to be remarked that in their attempts to compare the

Taconic rocks with those of the Champlain division as seen farther

to the west, observers were led by lithological similarities to iden-

tify the upper members of the latter with certain portions of the

Taconic. In fact, the Trenton limestone, with the Utica slates

and the Loraine or Hudson River shales, making together the upper

half of the Champlain division (in which Emmons moreover in-

cluded the overlying Oneida and Medina conglomerates and sand-

stones), have in New York an aggregate thickness of not less than

three or four thousand feet, and offer many lithological resem-

blances to the great mass of sediments at the western base of the

Green Mountains, to which the name of Taconic had been applied.

It is curious to find that Emmons, in 1842, referred to the Medina

the Red sandrock of the east shore of Lake Champlain, since show?

to be Potsdam ; and, moreover, placed the Sillery sandstone of the

neighborhood of Quebec at the summit of the Champlain division,

as the representative of the Oneida conglomerate ; while at the

same time he noticed the great resemblance which this sandstone,

with its adjacent limestones, bore to similar rocks on the confines

of Massachusetts, already referred by him to the Taconic system. t

a a

* Amer. Jour. Sci., I, xlvii, 152, 153.

t Geol. Northern District of New York, pp. 124, 125.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 467

This view of Emmons as to the Quebec rocks was adopted by

Sir William Logan, when, a few years afterwards, he began to

study the geology of that region. The sandstone of Sillery was

described by him as corresponding to the Oneida or Shawangunk

conglomerate, while the limestones and shales of the vicinity,

which were supposed to underlie it, were regarded as the repre-

sentatives of the Trenton, Utica, and Hudson River formations. *

By following these rocks along the western base of the Appalach-

ians into Vermont and Massachusetts, they were found to be a

continuation of the Taconic system, which Sir William was thus

led to refer to the upper half of the Champlain division, as had

already been done by Professor Adams in 1847. As regards the

crystalline strata of the Appalachians in this region, he, however,

rejected the view of Emmons, and maintained that put forward by

the Messrs. Rogers in 1841, viz., that these, instead of being older

rocks, were but these same upper formations of the Champlain

division in an altered condition ; a view which was maintained dur-

ing several years in all of the publications of those connected with

the geological survey of Canada.

This conclusion, so far as regards the age of the unaltered fos-

siliferous rocks from Quebec to Massachusetts, was supposed to

be confirmed by the evidence of organic remains found in them in

Vermont. Mr. Emmons had described as characteristic of the

upper part of the Taconic system, two crustaceans, to which he

gave the names of Afops trilineatus and Elliptocephalus asaphoides ;

the other fossils noticed by him being graptolites, fucoids, and what

were apparently the marks of annelids. In 1847 Professor James

Hall, in the first volume of his Paleontology, declared the Atops of

Emmons to be identical with Triarthrus (Calymene) Beckii, a char-

acteristic fossil of the Utica slate; while the Elliptocephalus was

referred by him to the genus Olenus, now known to belong to the

primordial fauna of Sweden, where it is found in slates lying be-

neath the orthoceratite limestone, and near the base of the paleo-

zoic series. Although, as it now appears, the geological horizon of

the Olenus slates was well known to Hisinger, this author in his

classic work, Lethea Suecica, published in 1837, represents, by

some unexplained error, these slates as overlying the orthoceratite

*Geol. a eae RO T and Amer. Jour. Sci., II, ix, 12.

t Amer. Jour. Sci., II, v,

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 30

468 * ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

limestone, which is the equivalent of the Trenton limestone of the

Champlain division. Hence, as Mr. Barrande has remarked, Hall

was justified by the authority of Hisinger’s published work in as-

signing to the Olenus slates of Vermont a position above that lime-

stone, and in placing them, as he then did, on the horizon of the

Hudson River or Loraine shales. The double evidence afforded by

these two fossil forms in the rocks of Vermont, served to confirm

Sir William Logan in placing in the upper part of the Champlain

division the rocks which he regarded as their stratigraphical equiv-

alents near Quebec; and which, as we have seen, had some years

before been by Emmons himself assigned to the same horizon.

The remarkable compound graptolites which occur in the shales

of Pointe Levis, opposite Quebec, were described by Professor

James Hall in the report of the Geological Survey of Canada for

1857, and were then referred to the Hudson River group; nor was

it until August, 1860, that Mr. Billings described from the lime-

stones of this same series at Pointe Levis a number of trilobites,

among which were several species of Agnostus, Dikelocephalus,

Bathyurus, etc., constituting a fauna whose geological horizon he

decided to be in the lower part of the Champlain division.

Just previous to this time, in the Report of the Regents of the

University of New York for 1859, Professor Hall had described and

figured by the name of Olenus, two species of trilobites from the

slates of Georgia, Vermont, which Emmons had wrongly referred

to the genus Paradoxides. They were at once recognized by Bar-

rande, who called attention to their primordial character, and thus

led to a knowledge of their true stratigraphical horizon, and to the

detection of the singular error in Hisinger’s book, already noticed,

by which American geologists had been misled.* They have

since been separated from Olenus, and by Professor Hall referred

to a new and closely related genus, which he has named Olenellus,

and which is now regarded as belonging to the horizon of the Pots-

dam sandstone, to which we shall presently advert.

Farther studies of the fossiliferous rocks near Quebec showed

the existence of a mass of sediments estimated at about 1200

feet, holding a numerous fauna, and corresponding to a

development of strata about the age of the Calciferous and

formations, or more exactly to a formation occupying position

Pe ee La a ke Sealer

*For the correspondence on this matter between Barrande, Logan and Hall, 8°°

Amer. Jour. Sci., Il, xxxi, 210-226.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 469

between these two, and constituting, as it were, beds of passage

between them. In this new formation were included the grapto-

lites already described by Hall, and the numerous crustacea and

brachiopoda described by Billings, all of which belong to the Levis

slates and limestones. « To these and their associated rocks Sir

William Logan then gave the name of the Quebec group, including,

besides the fossiliferous Levis formation, a great mass of overlying

slates, sandstones and magnesian limestones, hitherto without fos-

sils, which have been named the Lauzon rocks, and the Sillery

sandstones and shales, which he supposed to form the summit of

the group, and which had afforded only an Obolella and two species

of Lingula ;* the volume of the whole group being about 7000 feet.

The paleontological evidence thus obtained by Billings and by

Hall, both from near Quebec and in Vermont, led to the conclusion

that the strata of these regions, so much resembling the upper

members of the Champlain division, were really a great develop-

ment, in a modified form, of some of its lower portions. Their

apparent stratigraphical relations were explained by Logan by the

supposition of “an overturned anticlinal fold, with a crack and a

great dislocation running along the summit, by which the Quebec

group is brought to overlie the Hudson River group. Sometimes

it may overlie the overturned Utica formation, and in Vermont

points of the overturned Trenton appear occasionally to emerge

from beneath the overlap.” He, at the same time, declared that

“from the physical structure alone, no person would suspect the

break that must exist in the neighborhood of Quebec, and, without

the evidence of fossils, every one would be authorized to deny it.” ¢

The rocks from western Vermont, which had furrlished to Hall

the species of Olenellus, have long been known as the Red sand-

rock, and as we have seen, were by Emmons, in 1842, referred to -

the age of the Medina sandstone, a view which the late Professor

Adams still maintained as late as 1847.{ In the mean time

Emmons had, in 1855, declared this rock to represent the Cal-

ciferous and Potsdam formations, the brown sandstones of Bur-

lington and Charlotte, Vermont, being referred to the latter. §

Billings, Paleozoic Fossils of Canada

epikoa letter to Barrande, Amer. Jour. Boi., B xxxi, 218. The true date of this

letter was December 31st, 1860, but, by a misprint, it is made 1831

t+ Adams, Amer. Jour. Sci., II, v, 108

§ Emmons, American Geology, II, 128.

470 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

This conclusion was confirmed by Billings, who, in 1861, after vis-

iting the region and examining the organic remains of the Red

sandrock, assigned to it a position near the horizon of the Pots-

dam.* Certain trilobites found in this Red sandrock by Adams

in 1847, were by Hall recognized as belonging to the European

genus Conocephalus (= Conocephalites and Conocoryphe), whose

geological horizon was then undetermined.; The formation in

question consists in great part of a red or mottled granular dolo-

mite, associated with beds of fucoidal sandstone, conglomerates

and slates. These rocks were carefully examined by Logan in

Swanton, Vermont, where, according to him, they have a thick-

ness of 2200 feet, and include toward their base a mass of dark

colored shales holding Olenellus with Conocephalites, Obolella,

etc.; Conocephalites Teucer, Billings, being common to the shales

and the red sandy beds.{ Many of these fossils are also found at

Troy and at Bald Mountain, New York, where they accompany

the Atops of Emmons, now recognized by Billings as a species of -

Conocephalites.

A similar condition of things extends northeastward along the :

Appalachian region. On the south side of the St. Lawrence below 3

Quebec a great thickness of limestones, sandstones, and slates,

formerly referred to the Quebec group, is now regarded by Billings

as, in part at least, of the Potsdam formation; while on the coast

of Labrador, and in northern Newfoundland the same formation,

characterized by the same fossils as in Vermont, is largely devel-

oped, attaining in some parts, according to Murray, a thickness of

3000 feet or more. Along the northern coast of the island it is

nearly horizontal, and appears to be conformably overlaid by about

4000 feet of fossiliferous strata representing the Calciferous sand-

rock and the succeeding Levis formation.

Mr. Billings has described a section from the Laurentian of

Crown Point, New York, to Cornwall, Vermont, from which it ap-

pears that to the eastward of a dislocation which brings up the

Potsdam to overlie the higher members of the Champlain division,

the Potsdam is itself overlaid, at a small angle, by a great mass of a

limestones representing the Calciferous, and having at the summit a

some of the characteristic fossils of the Levis formation. Next™ Hi

eee

ae Pere Cae ee eee a

P ER ee ee ee OR

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxxii, 232.

tIbid., II, xxxiii, 374.

t Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 281. Amer. Jour, Sci., II, xlvi, 224.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 471

ascending order are not less than 2000 feet of limestones with

Trenton fossils (embracing probably the Chazy division), while to

the east of this the Levis again appears, including the white Stock-

bridge limestones.* We have here an evidence that the augmen-

tation in volume observed in the lower members of the Champlain

division in the Appalachian region extends to the Trenton, which

to the west of Lake Champlain is represented, the Chazy included,

by not more than 500 feet of limestone. The Potsdam, in the latter

region, consists of from 500 to 700 feet of sandstone holding Cono-

cephalites and Lingulella, and overlaid by 300 feet of magnesian

limestone, the so-called Calciferous sandrock. In the valley of the

Mississippi these two formations in Iowa, Missouri, and Texas,

are represented by from 800 to 1300 feet of sandstones and mag-

nesian limestones, while in the Black Hills of Nebraska, according

to Hayden, the only representative of these lower formations is

about one hundred feet of sandstone holding Potsdam fossils.

striking contrast to this it has been shown that along the

Appalachian range from Newfoundland to Tennessee these lower

formations are represented by from 8000 to 15000 feet of fossil-

iferous sediments. It has been suggested by Logan that these

widely differing conditions represent deep-sea accumulations on

the one hand, and the deposits from a shallow sea which covered a

submerged continental plateau, on the other ; the sediments in the

two areas being characterized by a similar fauna, though differing

greatly in lithological characters and in thickness. To this we may

add that the continental area, being, probably submerged and el-

evated at intervals, became overlaid with beds which represent

only in a partial and imperfect manner the great succession of

strata which were being accumulated in the adjacent ocean. ł

In a paper which I hope to present to the geological section

during the present meeting of the Association it will be shown

from a study of the rocks of the Ottawa basin that the typical

Champlain division not only presents important paleontological

breaks, but evidences of statigraphical discordance at more than

one horizon over the continental area, which, as the result of

widely spread movements, might be supposed to be represented in

the Appalachian region. In the latter Logan has already observed

* Amer. Jour. Sci., 227.

Ibid., I, xxv, 439, xxxi, 234.

t Ibid., II, xlvi, 225.

472 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

that the absence of all but the highest beds of the Levis along the

eastern limit of the Potsdam, near Swanton, Vermont, while the —

whole thickness of them appears a little farther westward, makes

it probable that there is a want of conformity between the two;

and I have in this connection insisted upon the entire absence in

this locality of the Calciferous, which is met with a little farther

south in the section just mentioned, as another evidence. of the

same unconformity.* There are also, I think, reasons for sus-

pecting another stratigraphical break at the summit of the Quebec

group, in which case many problems in the geological structure of

this region will be much simplified.

It should be remembered that the conditions of deposition in

some areas have been such that accumulations of strata, corres-

ponding to long geologic periods, and elsewhere marked by strati-

graphical breaks, are arranged in conformable superposition ; and

moreover that movements of elevation and depression have even

caused great paleontological breaks, which over considerable areas

are not marked by any apparent discordance. Thus the remarka-

ble break in the fauna between the Calciferous and the Chazy is not

accompanied by any noticeable discordance in the Ottawa basin,

and in Nebraska, according to Hayden, the Potsdam, Carbonifer-

ous, Jurassic and Cretaceous formations are all represented in

about 1200 feet of conformable strata.; In Sweden the whole

series from the base of the Cambrian to the summit of the Upper

Silurian appears as a conformable sequence, while in North Wales,

although there is no apparent discordance from the base of the

Cambrian to the summit of the Lingula flags, stratigraphical

‘breaks, according to Ramsay, probably occur both at the base and

the summit of the Tremadoc slates, { which are considered equiva-

lent to the Levis formation.

We have seen that, according to Logan, a dislocation 4 little bac

the north of Lake Champlain causes the Quebec group to overlie

the higher members of the Champlain division. The same uplift,

according to him, brings up, farther south, the Red sandrock of

Vermont, which to the west of the dislocation rests upon the up-

turned and inverted strata of various formations from the Calcif

erous sandrock to the Utica and Hudson River shales. These

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xlvi, 225.

t Ibid., II, xxv, 440.

+ Quar. Geol. Journal, xix, page xxxvi.

So apea st cake r ne ase gly Sap a re a TE eae

Se Lee eae ke E AA EAI E 7A E E eke E he ene

}

_GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 473

latter, according to him, are seen to pass for considerable distances

beneath nearly horizontal layers of the Red sandrock, the Utica

slate, in one case, holding its characteristic fossil, Triarthrus Beckii.

This relation, which is well shown in a section at St. Albans, fig-

ured by Hitchcock,* was looked upon by Emmons and by Adams as

evidence that the Red sandrock was the representative of the Me-

pas sandstone of the New York system. When, however, the

rmer had recognized the Potsdam age of the sandrock, with its

oe which he supposed to be Paradoxides, this condition of

things was conceived to be an evidence of the existence beneath

the Potsdam of an older and unconformable fossiliferous series

already mentioned.

The objections made by Emmons to Rogers’s view of the Cham-

plain age of the Taconic rocks were three-fold : first, the great dif-

ferences in lithological characters, succession and thickness, be-

tween these and the rocks of the Champlain division as previously

known in New York; second, the supposed unconformable infra-

position of a fossiliferous series to the Potsdam ; and third, the dis-

tinct fauna which the Taconic rocks were supposed to contain. The

first of these is met by the fact now established that in the Appa-

lachian region, the Champlain division is represented by rocks

having, with the same organic remains, very different lithological

characters, and a thickness ten-fold greater than in the typical

Champlain region of northern New York. The second objection

has already been answered by showing that the rocks which pass

beneath the Potsdam are really newer strata belonging to the upper

part of the division, and contain a characteristic fossil of the Uti-

ea slate. As to the third point, it has also been met, so far as

regards the Atops and Elliptocephalus, hy showing these two

genera to belong to the Potsdam formation. If we inquire farther

into the Taconic fauna we find that the Stockbridge limestone (the

Eolian limestone of Hitchcock), which was placed by Emmons near

the base of the Lower Taconic, (while the Olenellus slates are

near the summit of the Upper Taconic), is also fossiliferous, and

contains, according to the determinations of Professor Hall, species

_ belonging to the genera Euomphalus, Zaphrentis, Stromatopora,

to the

Chaetetes and Stictopora.t Such a fauna would lead con-

Geology of Vermont, p. 37:

t Geology of Vermont, 419, a Amer. Jour. Sci., I, xxxiii, 419.

474 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

clusion that these limestones instead of being older, were really

newer than the Olenellus beds, and that the-apparent order of suc-

cession was, contrary to the supposition of Emmons, the true one.

This conclusion was still farther confirmed by the evidence ob-

tained in 1868 by Mr. Billings, who found in that region a great

number of characteristic species of the Levis formation, many of

them in beds immediately above or below the white marbles,*

which latter, from the recent. observations of the Rey. Augustus

Wing in the vicinity of Rutland, Vermont, would seem to be

among the upper beds of the Potsdam formation. Thus while

some of the Taconic fossils belong to the Potsdam and Utica

‘formations, the greater number of them, derived from beds sup- `

posed to be low down in the system, are shown to be of the age

of the Levis formation. There is, therefore, at present, no evi-

dence of the existence, among the unaltered sedimentary rocks of

the western base of the Appalachians in Canada or New England, `

of any strata more ancient than those of the Champlain division,

to which, from their organic remains, the fossiliferous Taconic

rocks are shown to belong.

Mr. Billings has, it is true, distinguished provisionally what he

has designated an upper and a lower division of the Potsdam, and

has referred to the latter the Red sandrock with. the Olenellus

slates of Vermont, together with beds holding similar fossils at

Troy, New York, and along the straits of Bellisle in Labrador and

Newfoundland ; the upper division of the Potsdam being repre-

sented by the basal sandstones of the Ottawa basin and of the

Mississippi valley. In the present state of our knowledge of

the local variations in sediments and in their fauna dependent on

depth, temperature and ocean currents, Billings, however, Con-

ceives that it would be premature to assert that these two types of

the Potsdam do not represent synchronous deposits.

The base of the Champlain division, as known in the Potsdam

formation of New York, of the Mississippi valley and the Appa-

lachian belt, does not, however, represent the base of the paleozole

series in Europe. The Alum slates in Sweden are divided into

two parts, an upper or Olenus zone, and a lower or Conocoryphe

zone, as distinguished by Angelin. The latter is characterized by

* Amer. Jour, Sci TI, xlvi, 227

t Report Geol. of Canada, 1863-66, p. 236.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 475

the genus Paradoxides, which also oceupies a lower division in the

primordial paleozoic rocks of Bohemia (Barrande’s stage C),

the greater part of which are regarded as the equivalent of the

Olenus zone of Sweden and the Potsdam of North America. The

Lingula flags of Wales belong to the same horizon, and it is at

their base, in strata once referred to the Lower Lingula flags, that

the Paradoxides is met with. These strata, for which Hicks and

Salter, in 1865, proposed the name of the Menevian group, are

regarded as corresponding to the lower division of the Alum slates,

and, like it, contain a fauna not yet recognized in the basal rocks

of the New York system. We here approach the debatable land

between the Cambrian and the Silurian of the British geologists.

The Cambrian, as originally claimed by Sedgwick, included in its

upper division the Middle and Upper Lingula flags, with the over-

lying Tremadoc slates, to the base of the Llandeilo rocks, and may

be regarded as equivalent to the Potsdam, Calciferous and Levis

formations ; while in the Lower Cambrian were embraced the Lower

Lingula flags and the Upper and Lower Longmynd rocks, corres-

ponding respectively to the Harlech grits and the Llanberis slates.

A portion of the Cambrian has, however, been claimed for the

Silurian by Murchison, who draws the dividing line at the top of

the Longmynd rocks, leaving the three divisions of the Lingula

flags in the Silurian. Lyell, on the contrary, remarks that the

Menevian beds, which were, on lithological grounds, made by

Sedgwick a part of the Lower Lingula flags, have been shown

by Hicks and Salter to be very distinct from these paleontologi-

cally; and, while he includes the Menevian in the Lower Cam-

brian, refers the whole of the Lingula flags to the Upper Cambrian.

Lyell therefore admits the whole of the Cambrian system as

originally defined by Sedgwick, and the same classification is now

adopted by Linarsson, in Sweden, where in Westrogothia, the Cam-

brian rocks, (resting unconformably on the crystalline schists to be

noticed farther on), are overlaid conformably by the orthoceratite

limestones, which are by him regarded as forming the base of the

Silurian, and as the equivalent of the Llandeilo rocks of Wales.

The total thickness of these lower rocks in Sweden, including the

representatives of the Lingula flags, the Menevian beds and an

underlying fucoidal (Eophyton) sandstone, is only three hundred

feet, while the first two divisions in Wales have a thickness of

five to six thousand, and the Harlech grits and Llanberis slates

476 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

(including the Welsh roofing-slates beneath) amount to eight thou-

sand feet additional. Recent researches show that these lower

rocks in Wales contain an abundant fauna, extending downward

some 2800 feet from the Menevian to the very base of strata re-

garded as the representatives of the Harlech grits. The brachio-

poda of the Harlech beds appear identical with those of the Men-

evian, but new species of Conocephalites, Microdiscus and Parda-

doxides are met with, besides a new genus, Plutonia, allied to the

last mentioned. Mr. Hicks, to whom we owe these discoveries,*

remarks, that the Menevian gives us, for the present, a well

marked paleontological horizon for the summit of the Cambrian,

corresponding with the Lower Cambrian as defined by Sedgwick.

The Upper Cambrian in North America would thus include the

lower half of the Champlain division from the base of the Potsdam

to the summit of the Levis (including perhaps the Chazy), while

the Lower Cambrian, (the Cambrian of Murchison and Hicks) is

represented by the strata holding Paradoxides in Newfoundland,

New Brunswick and eastern Massachusetts. Although no strata

marked by these fossils have yet been found in the Appalachians,

it is not improbable that such may yet be met with. In May,

1861, I called attention to the fact that beds of quartzose con-

glomerate at the base of the Potsdam in Hemmingford, near the

outlet of Lake Champlain on its western side, contain fragments

of green and black slates, “showing the existence of argillaceous

slates before the deposition of the Potsdam sandstone.” f The

more ancient strata, which furnished these slaty fragments to

the Potsdam conglomerate, have perhaps been destroyed, or arè

concealed, but they or their equivalents may yet be discovered

in some part of the great Appalachian region. They should

not, however, be called Taconic, but receive the prior designation

' Cambrian, unless, indeed, it shall appear that the source of

these slate fragments was the more argillaceous beds of the still

older Huronian schists. Emmons regarded his Taconic system

as the equivalent of the Lower Cambrian of Sedgwick, but when

in 1842, Murchison announced that the name of Cambrian had

ceased to have any zoological significance, being identical with

Lower Silurian,t Emmons, conceiving, as he tells us, that

* Geol. Mag., V, 306; and Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1868, p.69; also Harkness and Hicks iA

Nature, Proc. Geol. Soc., May 10, 1871.

t Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxxi, 404,

t Proe. Geol. Soc., London, III, 642.

de a Ce et ee ee ee ee ey

yet

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 477

Cambrian rocks were not Silurian, instead of maintaining Sedg-

wick’s name, which with the progress of paleontological study is

assuming a great zoological importance, devised the name of

Taconic, as synonymous with Lower Cambrian ;* although, as we

have seen, there is as yet no paleontological evidence to identify

any portion of the Taconic strata with the well-defined Lower

Cambrian rocks of our eastern shores.

The crystalline infra-Silurian strata, to which the name of the

Huronian series has been given by the Geological Survey of Cana-

da, have sometimes been called Cambrian from their resemblance

to certain rocks in Anglesea, which have been looked upon as al-

tered Cambrian. The typical Cambrian rocks of Wales, down to

their base, are however uncrystalline sediments, and, as pointed out

by Dr. Bigsby in 1863,7 are not to be confounded with the Huron-

ian, which he regarded as equivalent to the second division of the

so-called azoic rocks of Norway, the Urschiefer or primitive

schists, which in that country rest unconformably on the primitive

gneiss (Urgneiss),and are in their turn overlaid unconformably by

the fossiliferous Cambrian strata. This second or intermediate

series in Norway is characterized by eurites, micaceous, chloritic

and hornblendic schists, with diorites, steatite and dark colored

serpentines, generally associated with chrome ; and abounds in ores

of copper, nickel and iron. In its mineralogical and lithological

characters, the Urschiefer corresponds with what we have desig-

nated the second series of crystalline schists. It is, in Norway,

divided into a lower or quartzese division, marked by a predomi-

nance of quartzites, conglomerates and more massive rocks, and

an upper and more schistose division. Macfarlane, who was fami-

liar with the rocks of Norway, after examining both the Huronian

of Lake Superior and the crystalline strata of the Green Moun-

tains, had already, in 1862, declared his opinion that both of these

were representatives of the Norwegian Urschiefer, į thus anticipa-

ting, from his comparative studies, the conclusions of Bigsby.

The crystalline rocks ọf Anglesea and the adjacent part of

Caernarvon, which have been described and mapped by the British

Geological Survey as altered lowest Cambrian, are directly over-

laid by strata of the Llandeilo and Bala divisions, corresponding

Ls in 6 deel RO S

* Emmons, Geol. N. District of New York, 162; and Agric. of New York, L 49.

t Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., XIX, 36.

į Canadian Naturalist, VII, 125.

478 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

to the Trenton and Hudson River formations. If we consult —

Ramsay’s report on the region, it will be found that he speaks of —

them as “probably Cambrian,” and states as a reason for that

opinion, that they are connected by certain beds of intermediate

lithological characters with strata of undoubted Cambrian age.*

These, however, as he admits, present great local variations, and,

after carefully scanning the whole of the evidence adduced, I am

inclined to see in it nothing more than the existence, in this

region, of Cambrian strata made up from the ruins from the great

mass of pre-Cambrian schists, which are the crystalline rocks of

Anglesea. Such a phenomenon is repeated in numerous instances

in our North American rocks, and is the true explanation of many

supposed examples of passage from crystalline schists to uncrys-

talline sediments. The Anglesea rocks are a highly inclined and

much contorted series of quartzose, micaceous, chloritic and epi-

dotic schists, with diorites and dark colored chromiferous serpen-

tines, all of which, after a careful examination of them in the

collections of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, appear to

me identical with the rocks of the Green Mountain or Huronian

series. A similar view of their age is shared by Phillips and by

Sedgwick, in opposition to the opinion of the British survey. The

former asserts that the crystalline schists of Anglesea are “ below

all the Cambrian rocks ;”+ while Sedgwick expresses the opinion

that they are of “ a distinct epoch from the other rocks of the dis-

trict, and evidently older.”

Associated with the fossiliferous Devonian rocks of the Rhine,

is a series of crystalline schists, similar to those just noticed, seen

in the Taunus, the Hundsriick and the Ardennes. These, in opp°-

sition to Dumont, who regarded them as belonging to an older

system, are declared by Romer to have resulted from a subsequent

alteration of a portion of the Devonian sediments. § me

Turning now to the Highlands of Scotland, we have a similar

series of crystalline schists, presenting all the mineralogical chat- —

acters of those of Norway and of Anglesea, which, according t0

Murchison and Giekie, are neither of Cambrian nor pre-Cambrian

age, but are younger than the fossiliferous limestones of the wenke

* LT ei X

* Geol. of North Wales, pp. 145, 175.

t Manual of Geology (1855) 89.

t Geol. J lf 449,

+ bd

§ Naumann, Geognosie, 2d edition, IJ, 383.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. ' 479

ern coast (about the horizon of the Levis formation) which seem

to pass beneath them. Professor Nicol, on the contrary, maintains

that this apparent super-position is due to uplifts, and that these

crystalline schists are really older than either Cambrian or Silurian,

both of which appear to the west of them as a stalline sedi-

ments, resting on the Laurentian. He doe t, however, con-

found these crystalline schists of the Sabttink Highlands with the

Laurentian, from which they differ mineralogically, but regards

them as a distinct series.* In the presence of the differences of

opinion which have been shown in this controversy, we may be

permitted to ask whether, in such a case, stratigraphical evidence

alone is to be relied upon. Repeated examples have shown that

the most skilful stratigraphists may be misled in studying the

structure of a disturbed region where there are no organic remains

to guide them, or where unexpected faults and overslides may

deceive even the most sagacious. I am convinced that in the

study of the crystalline schists, the persistence of certain mineral

characters must be relied upon as a guide, and that the language

used by Delesse, in 1847, will be found susceptible of a wide ap-

plication to crystalline strata. ‘Rocks of the same age have

most generally the same chemical and mineralogical composition,

and reciprocally, rocks having the same chemical composition and

the same minerals, associated in the same manner, are of the same

ag a” f `

In this connection the testimony of Professor James Hall is to

the point. FEE of the crystalline schists of the White Moun-

tain series, he sa

“ Every eA student of one or two years experience in the

Soran of minerals in the New England States, knows well that

trace a mica-schist of peculiar but varying character from

R through central Massachusetts, and thence into Ver-

mont and New Hampshire, by the présence of staurolite and some

other associated minerals, which mark with the same unerring cer-

tainty the geological relations of the rock as the presence of Pen-

tamerus oblongus, P. galeatus, Spirifer Niagarensis, or S. macro-

pleura, and their respectively associated fossils do the relations of

the several rocks in which these occur.” į

*Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc.; Murchison, XV, 353; Giekie, XVII, 171; Nicol, XVII, 58,

Bull. Soc. Geol. de Fr. (2), IV, 786.

Arla gs p New York, Vol. III, Introduction, page 93.

480 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

I am convinced that these crystalline schists of Germany, Angle-

sea, and the Scotch Highlands, will be found, like those of Nor-

way, to belong to a period anterior to the deposition of the

Cambrian sediments, and will correspond with the newer gneissic

series of our Appalachian region. There exists, in the Highlands

of Scotland, a great volume of fine-grained, thin-bedded mica-

schists with andalusite, staurolite and cyanite, which are met with

in Argyleshire, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and the Shetland Isles.

Rocks regarded by Harkness as identical with these of the Scottish

Highlands also occur in Donegal and Mayo in Ireland. Throug

the kindness of the Rev. Prof. Haughton of Trinity College, and

Mr. Robert H. Scott, then of Dublin, I received some years since,

a large collection of the crystalline rocks of Donegal, which

I am thus enabled to compare with those of North America, and

to assert the existence in the northwest of Ireland, of our second

and third series of crystalline schists. The Green Mountain rocks

are there exactly represented by the dark colored chromiferous

serpentines of Aghadoey, and the steatite, crystalline tale and

‘actinolite of Crohy Head; while the mica-schist of Loch Derg;

with white quartz, blue cyanite, staurolite and garnet, all united

in the same fragment, cannot be distinguished from specimens

found at Cavendish, Vermont, and Windham, Maine. The fine-

grained andalusite-schists of Clooney Lough are exactly like

those from Mount Washington; while the granitoid mica-slates

from several other localities in Donegal are not less clearly of the

type of the White Mountain series. Similar micaceous schists,

with andalusite (chiastolite), occur on Skiddaw, in Cumberland,

England, the relations of which have been clearly defined by Sedg-

wick, who groups the rocks of Skiddaw into four divisions. 7

rocks, not described lithologically, with mineral veins, “ having

some resemblance to the ròcks of Cornwall,” and including

towards the summit, “ chiastolite schists and chiastolite rocks.”

These are followed in ascending order by two great series of slates

and grits, succeeded by a fourth division of schists, sometimes

carbonaceous, holding in parts facoids and graptolites, which are

apparently overlaid discordantly by sundry trappean conglomer

ates and chloritic slates.* The graptolites of the Skiddaw slat .

+ Synopsis of British Paleozoic Rocks, p. Ixxxiy, being an introduction to MeCoy’s

Brit. Pal. Fossils (1855),

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 481

are found to be identical with those of the Levis formation,* and

it is worthy of notice that although Sedgwick places the mica-

schists with andalusite (chiastolite) so far below the graptolitic

beds, he elsewhere, in comparing the rocks of North Wales

Cumberland, states that the chloritic and micaceous rocks of

being distinct from the other rocks of North Wales, and much

older.t

In Victoria, Australia, the position of the chiastolite schists, ac-

cording to Selwyn, is beneath the graptolitic slates. Boblaye, it

is true, asserted in 1838 that the chiastolite schists of Les Salles,

near Pontivy in Brittany, include Orthis and Calymene,{ but when

we remember that even experienced observers in the White Moun-

tains for a time mistook for remains of crustacea and brachiopods,

certain obscure forms, which they afterwards found not to be

organic, and that Dana, in this connection, has ealled attention to

the deceptive resemblance to fossils presented by some imperfectly

developed chiastolite crystals in the same ion, § we may well

require a verification of Boblaye’s observation, especially since we

find that more recently D’Archiac and Dalimier agree with De

Beaumont and Dufrenoy in placing the chiastolite schists of

Brittany at the very base of the transition sediments, marking the

summit of the crystalline schists. ||

With regard to the crystalline schists of Lakes Huron and Su-

perior, to which the name of the Huronian system has been given,

the observations of all who have studied the region.concur in plac-

ing them unconformably beneath the sediments which are supposed

to represent the base of the New York system, while, on the other

hand, they rest unconformably on the Laurentian gneiss, fragments

of which are included in the Huronian conglomerates. The gneissic,

series of the Green Mountains had, however, as we have seen, been,

since 1841, regarded by the brothers Rogers, Mather, Hall, Hitch-

cock, Adams, Logan, myself and others, as of Silurian age. Eaton

and Emmons had alone claimed for it a pre-Cambrian age until, in

1862, Macfarlane ventured to unite it with the Huronian system,

and Salter, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., xix, 135.

te et ae ee ek, 664.

482 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

and to identify both with the crystalline schists of a similar age in

Norway. Later observations in Michigan justify still farther this

comparison, for not only the more schistose beds of the Green Moun-

tain series, but even the mica-schists of the third or White Mountain

series, with staurolite and garnet, are represented in Michigan, as

appears by the recent collections of Major Brooks, of the Geolog-

‘ical Survey of Michigan, kindly placed in my hands for examina-

tion. He informs me that these latter schists are the highest of

the crystalline strata in the northern peninsula.

To the north of Lake Superior, as I have already shown else-

where, the schists of this third series, which, as early as 1861, I

compared to those of the Appalachians, are widely spread ; while

in Hastings County, forty miles north of Lake Ontario, rocks hav-

ing the mineralogical and lithological characters both of the

second and third series are found resting on the first or Lauren-

tian, the three apparently unconfermable, and all in turn overlaid

by horizontal Trenton limestone.* ;

We have shown, that in Pennsylvania, while some of these schists

of the second and third series were regarded as altered primal

rocks by H. D. Rogers, others, lithologically similar, were referred

by him to the older so-called. azoic series, which we believe to be

their true position. Professor W. B. Rogers has lately informed

me that in Virginia the gneissic series having the characters of

the Green Mountain rocks, is clearly overlaid unconformably by the

lowest primal paleozoic strata of the region. Coming northward,

the uncrystalline argillites and sandstones holding Paradoxides at

Braintree, Massachusetts, + and St. John, New Brunswick, overlie

unconformably crystalline schists of the second series, and in t

latter region, in one locality, rocks which are by Bailey and Mat-

thew regarded of Laurentian age. In Newfoundland, in like

manner, a great series of crystalline schists, in which Mr. Murray

recognizes the Huronian system as first studied and described by

him in the west, is unconformably overlaid by a group of sand-

stones, limestones, and slates holding Paradoxides. The peculiar

gneisses and mica-schists of the White Mountain series appear to

be developed to a great extent in Newfoundland, which has led

me to propose for them the name of the Terranovan system. }

GM BB eco tags more

* Amer. Jour. Sci., TI, xxxi, 395, and 1; 85.

t Hunt, Proc. Bost. Nat. Hist. Soc., Oct., 19, 1870.

t Amer. Jour. Sci., II, 1, 87,

ade Pe ke ass Sh

pg se ens oi

Ee te eee yg TE ae Ce Ee

Mees ee ty ace a

ty ois ot tae ete ugh) SAT Ones es es

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 483

From the part which the ruins of these rocks play in the produc-

tion of succeeding sediments it is not always easy to define the limits

between the ancient mica-schists and the Cambrian strata in these

northeastern regions. It is not impossible that the two may grad-

uate into each other, as some have supposed, in Newfoundland and

Nova Scotia, but until farther light is thrown upon the subject I

am disposed to regard the relation between the two as one of der-

ivation rather than of passage.

We have already alluded to the history of the rocks of the

White Mountains, formerly looked upon as primary, and by Jack-

son described as an old granitic and gneissic axis uplifting the more

recent Green Mountain rocks. Their manifest differences from the

more ancient gneiss of the Adirondacks, and their apparent super-

in 1846 to look upon the White Mauntains as altered strata be-

longing to the Levant division of their classification, correspond-

g to the Oneida, Medina and Clinton of the New York system.

In 1848 Sir William Logan came to a somewhat similar conclusion.

Accepting, as we have seen, the view of Emmons that the strata

about Quebec included a portion of the Levant division, and re-

garding the Green Mountain gneisses as the equivalents of these,

he was induced to place the White Mountain rocks still higher in

the geological series than the Messrs. Rogers had done, and ex-

pressed his belief that they might be the altered representatives

of the New York system from the base of the Lower Helderberg

to the top of the Chemung ; in other words, that they were not

Middle Silurian, but Upper Silurian and Devonian. This

adopted and enforced by me,* was farther supported by eaii ii in

1860, and has been generally accepted up to this time. In 1870,

however, I ventured to question it, and in a published letter ad-

dressed to Professor Dana, concluded from a great number of

facts that there exists a system of crystalline schists distinct from,

and newer than, the Laurentian and Huronian, to which I gave the

provisional name of Terranovan, constituting the third or White

Mountain series, which appears not only throughout the Appalach-

ians, but westward to the north of Lake Ontario, and around and

beyond Lake Superior.¢ Although I have in common with most

"Geol. Survey o f Canada, Report 1847-48, p. 58; also Amer. Jour. Sci., II, ix, 19.

t Amer. Jour. Sci., II, 1, 83.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 31

484 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

other American geologists, maintained that the crystalline rocks

of the Green Mountain and White Mountain series are altered

paleozoic sediments, I find, on a careful examination of the evi-

dence, no satisfactory proof of such an age and origin, but an

array of facts which appear to me incompatible with the hitherto

received view, and lead me to conclude that the whole of our crys-

talline schists of eastern North America are not only pre-Silurian

but pre-Cambrian in age.

In what precedes, I have endeavored to discuss briefly and

impartially some of the points in the history of the older rocks,

and of the views which during the past thirty years have been

entertained as to their age and geological relations, both in Amer-

ica and in Europe. I have said some things which will provoke

criticism, and at the same time, I trust, lead to farther study of

‘these rocks, a correct knowledge of which lies at the basis of

geological science. s

I cannot, however, conclude this part of my subject without

referring to the views put forth in 1869 by Professor Hermann

Credner of Leipzig, in an essay on the Eozoic or pre-Silurian for-

mations of North America.* With Macfarlane, he refers to the

Huronian the gneissic series of the Green Mountains, but includes

with it, as part of the Huronian system, the so-called Lower Ta-

conic rocks of Vermont, ‘* with remains of annelids and erinoids.”

Credner thus falls into the very error against which Emmons

warned American geologists, namely, the confounding in one sy

tem the ancient crystalline schists with the newer fossiliferous

sediments. Resting unconformably on these, he places, first, the

Upper Taconic, corresponding, according to him, to a part of the

Quebec group, and second, the Potsdam sandstone. In this he

has copied, for the most part, Marcou, who, however, groups the

whole of these various divisions in the Taconic system, while

Credner, rejecting the name, unites a portion of the Taconic of

Emmons with the Huronian system, and refers the other portion,

together with the Potsdam, to the Silurian. These same views are

set forth in a more recent paper, by the same author, on the Alle-

ghany system, which is accompanied with sections and a geologi-

cally colored map.+ In this, not content with including in the

Huronian both the fossiliferous strata of the Levis formation and

* Die Gliederung der Eozoischen Formationsgruppe, u. 8. W., pp. 53. Halle, 1869.

+Petermann’s Geographische Mittheilungen. 2 Heft, 1871.

GEOGNOSY OF THE APPALACHIANS. 485

the crystalline schists of the Green Mountains, he refers the

gneisses and mica-schists of the White Mountains to the same

system; while the broad area of similar rocks from their base to

the sea at Portland, is regarded as Laurentian. This, on Credner’s

map, is also made to include, with the exception of the White

Mountains themselves, all the rocks of the third or White Moun-

tain series which cover so large a part of New England. Those

who have followed the historical sketch already given, can see how

widely these notions of Credner differ from those of Emmons, and

from all other American geologists, and how much they are at

variance with the present state of our knowledge. It is much to

be regretted that so good a geologist and lithologist should, from

a too superficial study, have fallen into these errors, which can

only retard the progress of comparative geognosy, for which he

has done so much. In England, again, Credner confounds the

Cambrian and Huronian, referring to the latter system the whole

of the Longmynd rocks with their characteristic Cambrian fauna,

a view which is supported only by the conjectured Cambrian age

of the crystalline schists of Anglesea, which are probably pre-

Cambrian and veritably Huronian, like the Urschiefer of Scan-

dinavia ; which Credner correctly refers to the latter system, as

Macfarlane and Bigsby had done before him. He, moreover, rec-

ognizes in the similar crystalline schists of Scotland, the Urals,

and various parts of Germany, including those of Bavaria and

Bohemia, a newer system, overlying the primary or Laurentian

gneiss, and corresponding to the Huronian or Green Mountain

series of North America, while he suggests a correspondence with

similar rocks in Japan, Bengal, and Brazil. In a collection of

rocks brought from the latter country by Professor C. F. Hartt, I

have found, as elsewhere stated,* what appear to be representa-

tives of the three types of crystalline schists which have been

distinguished in eastern North America.

Ft will be noticed that I have not, in the preceding pages,

referred to the Labradorian (Upper Laurentian) system, which is

characterized by a great predominance of norites and hyperites

Although occupying a considerable area in the Adirondack ragos

it is not certainly known in the Appalachian range, and was,

therefore, omitted in the discussion. In addition to the facts

* The Nation, Dec. 1, 1870, and Hartt’s Geology of Brazil, p. 550.

486 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

given by me in 1869,* it may be added that the observations of

Mr. Richardson, during that season, on the north side of the Gulf

of St. Lawrence, confirm the previous conclusions, and show that

the rocks of the Labradorian (or rather N orian) system there re-

pose transgressively, and often at comparatively moderate angles,

on the nearly vertical Laurentian gneisses.— We may, I think, in

the present state of our knowledge, regard these norites or Norian

rocks as portions of a pre-Huronian system.

Ul. The Origin of Crystalline Rocks.

We now approach the second part of our subject, namely, the

genesis of the crystalline schists whose history we have just dis-

cussed. The origin of the mineral silicates which make up a great

portion of the crystalline rocks of the earth’s surface is a ques-

tion of much geological interest, which has been to a great degree

overlooked. The gneisses, mica-schists and argillites of various

geological periods do not differ very greatly in chemical constitu-

tion from modern mechanical sediments, and are now very gene-

rally regarded as resulting from a molecular re-arrangement of

similar sediments formed in earlier times by the disintegration

of previously existing rocks not very unlike them in composition ;

the oldest known formations being still composed of crystalline

stratified deposits presumed to be of sedimentary origin. Before

these the imagination conceives yet earlier rocks, until we reach

the surface of unstratified material which the globe may be sup-

posed to have presented before water had begun its work. It is

not, however, my present plan to consider this far-off beginning of

sedimentary rocks, which I have elsewhere discussed. ¢

Apart from the clay and sand-rocks just referred to, whose com-

position may be said to be essential] y quart 1 alumi ilicates

chiefly in the forms of feldspars and micas, or the results of their

partial decomposition and disintegration, there is another class

of crystalline silicated rocks which, though far less important in

bulk than the last, is of great and varied interest to the litholo-

gist, the mineralogist, the geologist and chemist. The rocks of

this second class may be defined as consisting in great part of the

silicates of the protoxyd bases, lime, magnesia and ferrous oxyd,

*On Norites, etc., Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xlviii, 180,

t Geol. Survey of Canada, Report 1866-69, p. 306.

t Amer. Jour. Science, II, 1, 25,

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 487

either alone, or in combination with silicates of alumina and alka-

lies. They include the following as their chief constituent mineral

species :— pyroxene, hornblende, olivine, serpentine, talc, chlorite,

epidote, garnet and triclinic feldspars such as labradorite. The

great types of this second class are not less well defined than

the first, and consist of pyroxenic and hornblendic rocks, passing

into diorites, diabases, ophiolites and talcose, chloritic and epi-

dotic rocks. Intermediate varieties resulting from the associa-

tion of the minerals of this class with those of the first, and also

with the materials of non-silicated rocks, such as limestones and

dolomites, show an occasional blending of the conditions under

. which these various types of rocks were formed.

The distinctions just drawn between the two great divisions of sil-

icated rocks, are not confined to stratified deposits, but are equally

well marked in eruptive and unstratified masses, among which the

first type is represented by trachytes and granites, and the second,

by dolerites and diorites. This fundamental difference between

acid and basic rocks, as the two classes are called, finds its ex-

pression in the theories of Phillips, Durocher and Bunsen, who

have deduced all silicated rocks from two supposed layers of molt-

en matter within the earth’s crust, consisting respectively of acid

and basic mixtures ; the trachytic and pyroxenic magmas of Bunsen.

From these, by a process of partial crystallization and eliquation,

or by commingling in various proportions, those eruptive rocks

which depart more or less from the normal types, are supposed by

the theorists of this school to be generated.* The doctrine that

these eruptive rocks are not derived directly from a hitherto uncon-

gealed nucleus, but are softened and crystallized sediments, in fact

that the whole of the rocks at present known to us have at one

time been aqueous deposits, has, however, found its advocates. In

Support of this view, I have endeavored to show that the natural

result of forces constantly in operation, tends to resolve the various

igneous rocks into two classes of sediments, in which the two types

are, to a great extent, preserved. The mechanical and chemical

agencies which transform the crystalline rocks into sediments, sepa-

rate these more or less completely into coarse, sandy, permeable

beds on the one hand, and fine clayey impervious muds on the other.

The action of infiltrating atmospheric waters on the first and more

silicious strata, removes from themi lime, magnesia, iron-oxyd and

* Hunt on Some Points of Chemical Geology, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., XV, 489.

488 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

soda, leaving behind silica, alumina and potash — the elements of

granitic, gneissic and trachytic rocks. The finer and more alumi-

nous sediments, including the ruins of the soft and easily abraded

silicates of the pyroxene group, resisting the penetration of the

water, will, on the contrary, retain their alkalies, lime, magnesia

and iron, and thus will have the composition of the more basic

rocks. *

A little consideration will, however, show that this process, al-

though doubtless a true cause of differences in the composition of

sedimentary rocks, is not the only one, and is inadequate to ex-

plain the production of many of the varieties of stratified silicated

rocks. Such are serpentine, steatite, hornblende, diallage, chlorite,

pinite and labradorite, all of which mineral species form rock-masses

by themselves, frequently almost without admixture. No geologi-

cal student will now question that all of these rocks occur as

members of stratified formations. Moreover, the manner in which

serpentines are found interstratified with steatite, chlorite, argillite,

diorite, hornblende and feldspar rocks, and these, in their turn,

with quartzites and orthoclase rocks, is such as to forbid the notion

that these various materials have been deposited, with their present

composition, as mechanical sediments from the ruins of preéxist-

ing rocks; a hypothesis as untenable as that ancient one which

supposed them to be the direct results of plutonic actiop.

There are, however, two other hypotheses which have been pro-

posed to explain the origin of these various silicated rocks, and

especially of the less abundant, and, as it were, exceptional species

just mentioned. The first of these supposes that the minerals of

which they are composed, have resulted from an alteration of pre-

viously existing minerals, often very unlike in composition to the

present, by the taking away of certain elements and the addition

of certain others. This is the theory of metamorphism by pseu-

domorphic changes, as they are called, and is the one taught by

the now reigning school of chemical geologists, of which the

learned and laborious Bischof, whose recent death science deplores,

may be regarded as the great exponent. The second hypothesis

supposes that the elements of these various rocks were originally

deposited as, for the most part, chemically formed sediments, OF

precipitates ; and that the subsequent changes have been simply

od yi

Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., xv, 489; also, Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxx, 133.

ál

rei

aut

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 489

molecular, or, at most, confined in certain cases to reactions be-

tween the mingled elements of the sediments, with the elimination

of water and carbonic acid. It is proposed to consider briefly,

these two opposite theories, which seek to explain the origin of

the rocks in question respectively by pseudomorphic changes in

preéxisting crystalline rocks, and by the crystallization of aqueous

sediments, for the most part chemically formed precipitates.

Mineral pseudomorphism, that is to say, the assumption by one

mineral substance of the crystalline form of another, may arise in

several ways. First of these is the filling up of a mould left by

the solution or decomposition of an imbedded crystal, a process

which sometimes takes place in minera? veins, where the processes

of solution and deposition can be freely carried on. Allied to

this, is the mineralization of organic remains, where carbonate

of lime or silica, for example, fills the pores of wood. When sub-

sequent decay removes the woody tissue, the vacant spaces may,

in their turn, be filled by the same or another species. * In the

second place, we may consider pseudomorphs from alteration,

which are the result of a gradual change in the composition of a

mineral species. This process is exemplified in the conversion of

feldspar into kaolin by the loss of its alkali and a portion of sil-

ica, and the fixation .of water, or in the change of chalybite into

limonite by the loss of carbonic acid and the absorption of water

and oxygen.

The doctrine of pseudomorphism by alteration as taught by Gus-

taf Rose, Haidinger, Blum, Volger, Rammelsberg, Dana, Bischof,

and many others, leads them, however, to admit still greater and

more remarkable changes than these, and to maintain the possi-

bility of converting almost any silicate into any other. Thus, by

referring to the pages of Bischof’s Lehrbuch der Geognosie, it will

be found that serpentine is said to exist as a pseudomorph after au-

gite, prre TEM divine; chondrodite, garnet, mica, and probably

also a and even orthoclase. Serpentine rock or oph-

iolite is prieten to have resulted, in different cases, from the al-

teration of hornblende-rock, diorite, granulite and even granite.

Not only silicates of protoxyds and aluminous silicates are con-

ceived to be capable of this transformation, but probably also

quartz itself; at least, Blum asserts that meerschaum, a closely re-

ey iia eg aie

* Hunt on the Silicification of Fossils, Canadian Naturalist, new series, I, 46.

490 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

lated silicate of magnesia, which sometimes accompanies serpen- -

tine, results from the alteration of flint; while according to Rose,

serpentine may even be produced from dolomite, which we are

told is itself produced by the alteration of limestone. But this is

not all, — feldspar may replace carbonate of lime, and carbonate

of lime, feldspar, so that, according to Volger, some gneissoid lime-

stones are probably formed from gneiss by the substitution of

calcite for orthoclase. In this way, we dre led from gneiss or

granite to limestone, from limestone to dolomite, and from dolo-

mite to serpentine, or more directly from granite, granulite or

diorite to serpentine at once, without passing through the inter-

mediate stages of limestone and dolomite, till we are ready to

exclaim in the words of Goethe : —

“ Mich iingstigt das Verfingliche

Im sAr a } PTY

Won ichts verharret, Alles flieht,

Wo schon verschwunden was man sieht,”*

which we may thus translate : —‘“ I am vexed with the sophistry in

their contrary jargon, where nothing endures, but all is fugitive,

and where what we see has already passed away.”

By far the greater number of cases on which this general theory

of pseudomorphism by a slow process of alteration in minerals, has

been based are, as I shall endeavor to show, examples of the phe-

nomenon of mineral envelopment, so well studied by Delesse in

his essay on Pseudomorphs,+ and may be considered under two

heads :— first, that of symmetrical envelopment, in which one

mineral species is so enclosed within the other that the two appear

to form a single crystalline individual. Examples of this are seen

when prisms of cyanite are surrounded by staurolite, or staurolite

crystals completely enveloped in those of cyanite, the vertical axes

of the two prisms corresponding. Similar cases are seen in the .

enclosure of a prism of red in an envelope of green tourmaline, of

allanite in epidote, and of various minerals of the pyroxene group

in one another. The occurrence of muscovite in lepidolite, and

of margarodite in lepidomelane, or the inverse, are well-known

examples, and, according to Scheerer, the crystallization of serpen-

tine around a nucleus of olivine is a similar case. This phenome

non of symmetrical envelopment, as remarked by Delesse, shows

arte ee RE

*Chinesisch-Deutsche Jahres und Tages Zeiten, xi.

t Annales des Mines, V, xvi, 317-392.

Re ee EE eS

ee ri te Pe

Peter ta sea Fas ores

ee ty ee pa ee ow n

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 491

itself with species which are generally isomorphous or home@omor-

phous, and of related chemical composition. Allied to this is the

repeated alternation of crystalline laminz of related species, as

in perthite, the crystalline cleavable masses of which consist of

thin, alternating layers of orthoclase and albite.

Very unlike to the above are those cases of envelopment in

which no relations of crystalline symmetry nor of similar chemi-

cal constitution can be ‘traced. Examples of this kind are seen in

garnet crystals, the walls of which are shells, sometimes no

thicker than paper, enclosing in different cases, crystalline carbon-

ate of lime, epidote, chlorite or quartz. In like manner, crystal-

line shells of leucite enclose feldspar, hollow prisms of tourmaline

are filled with crystals of mica or with hydrous peroxyd of iron,

and crystals of beryl with a granular mixture of orthoclase and

quartz, holding small crystals of garnet and tourmaline, a compo-

sition Hentieal with the enclosing granitic veinstone.* Similar

shells of galenite and of zircon, having the external forms of

these species, are also found filled with calcite. In many of these

cases the process seems to have been first the formation of a hol-

low mould or skeleton-crystal (a phenomenon sometimes observed

in salts crystallizing from solutions), the cavity being subsequently

filled with other matters. Such a process is conceivable in free

crystals found in veins, as for example, galenite, zircon, tourmaline,

beryl and some examples of garnet, but is not so intelligible in the

case of those garnets imbedded in mica-schist, studied by Delesse,

which enclosed within their crystalline shells irregular masses of

white quartz, with some little admixture of garnet. Delesse con-

ceives these and similar cases to be produced by a process analogous

to that seen in the crystallization of calcite in the Fontainebleau

sandstone ; where the quartz grains, mechanically enclosed in well-

defined rhombohedral crystals, equal, according to him, sixty-five

per cent., of the mass. Very similar to these are the crystalloids

with the form of orthoclase, which sometimes consist in large part

of a granular mixture of quartz, mica and orthoclase, with a little

cassiterite, and in other cases, contain two-thirds their weight of

the latter mineral, with an admixture of orthoclase and quartz.

Crystals with the form of scapolite, but made up, in a great part, O of

mica, seem to be like cases of envelopment, in which a small pro-

portion of one substance in the act of crystallization, compels in-

* Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1866, page 189.

499 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

to its own crystalline form a large portion of some foreign material,

which may even so mask the crystallizing element that this be-

comes overlooked, as of secondary importance. The substance

which, under the name of houghite, has been described as an al-

tered spinel, is found by analysis to be an admixture of véllknerite

with a variable proportion of spinel, which, in some specimens, does

not exceed eight per cent., but to which, nevertheless, these crystal-

loids appear to owe their more or less complete octohedral form. *

The above characteristic examples of symmetrical and asymmet-

rical envelopment are cited from a great number of others which

domorphists regarded as results of partial alteration. Thus, in

the case of associated crystals of andalusite and cyanite, Bischof

does not hesitate to maintain the derivation, of andalusite from

the latter species by an elimination of quartz; more than this, as

the andalusite in question occurs in a granite-like rock, he sug-

gests that itself is a product of the alteration of orthoclase. In

like manner the mica, which in some cases coats tourmaline, and

in others, fills hollow prisms of this mineral, is supposed to result

from a subsequent alteration of crystallized tourmaline. 50 in

the case of shells of leucite filled with feldspar, or of garnet en-

closing epidote, or chlorite, or quartz, a similar transformation of

the interior is supposed to have been mysteriously effected, while

the external portion of the crystal remains intact. Again the ag

gregates of tinstone, quartz and orthoclase having the form of the

latter, are, by Bischof and his school, looked upon as results of a

partial alteration of previously formed orthoclase crystals. It

needed only to extend this view to the crystals of calcite enclos-

ing sand-grains, and regard these as the result of a partial alter-

ation of the carbonate of lime. There is absolutely no proof

that these hard crystalline substances can undergo the changes

supposed, or can be absorbed and modified like the tissues of @

living organism. It may, moreover, be confidently affirmed that

the obvious facts of envelopment are adequate to explain all the

cases of association upon which this hypothesis of pseudomorphism

by alteration, has been based. Why the change should extend to

some parts of a crystal and not to others, why in some cases the

exterior of, the crystal is altered, while in others the centre alone

ot ae, eae

* Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1866, pp. 189, 213. Amer. Jour. Sci., II, i, 188.

ol Fe

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 493

is removed and replaced by a different material, are questions

which the advocates of this fanciful hypothesis have not explained.

As taught by Blum and Bischof, however, these views of the al-

teration of mineral species have not only been generally accepted

but have formed the basis of the generally received theory of rock-

metamorphism.

Protests against the views of this school have, however, not been

wanting. Scheerer, in 1846, in his researches in Polymeric Iso-

morphism,* attempted to show that iolite and aspasiolite, a hy-

drous species which had been looked upon as resulting from its al-

teration, were isomorphous species crystallizing together, and, in

like manner, that the association of olivine and serpentine in the

same crystal, at Snarum in Norway, was a case of envelopment of

two isomorphous species. In both of these instances he main-

tained the existence of isomorphous relations between silicates in

which 3HO replaced MgO. He hence rejected the view of Gustaf

Rose that these serpentine crystals were results of the alteration

of olivine, and supported his own by reasons drawn from the con-

ditions in which the crystals occur. In 1853 I took up this ques-

tion and endeavored to show that these cases of isomorphism

described by Scheerer, entered into a more general law of isomor-

phism pointed out by me among homologous compounds differing

in their formulas by nM,O, (M=hydrogen or a metal). I in-

sisted, ‘moreover, on its bearing upon the received views of the

alteration of minerals, and remarked, “ The generally admitted no-

tions of pseudomorphism seem to have originated in a too exclu-

sive plutonism, and require such varied hypotheses to explain the

different cases, that we are led to seek for some more simple ex-

planation and to find it, in many instances, in the association and

erystallizing together of homologous and isomorphous species.” t

Subsequently, in 1860, I combated the view of Bischof, adopted

y Dana, that “ regional metamorphism is pseudomorphism on a

grand scale,” in the following terms :—

sible alteration of mineral species by the acti various saline

and alkaline solutions, may pass for what aii are worth, although

we are satisfied that by far the greater part of the so-called cases

of pseudomorphism in silicates are purely imaginary, and, when

“ The ingenious speculations of Bischof eren rps rin on the pos-

* Pogg. Annal., Ixviii, 319.

+ Pogg. Annal., Ixviii, 319.

494 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

point from a plutonic basis.”

I then asserted that the problem to be solved in regional meta-

morphism is the conversion of sedimentary strata, ‘derived by

chemical and mechanical agencies from the ocean-waters and pre-

existing crystalline rocks into aggregations of crystalline silicates,

These metamorphic rocks, once formed, are liable to alteration

only by local and superficial agencies, and are not, like the tissues

of a living organism, subject to incessant transformations, the

pseudomorphism of Bischof.” *

I had not, at that time, seen the essay by ,Delesse on Pseudo-

morphs already referred to, published in 1859, in which he mam-

tained views similar to those set forth by me in 1853 and 1860,

declaring that much of what had been regarded as pseudomor-

phism had no other basis than the observed associations of miner-

als, and that often ‘‘ the so-called metamorphism finds its natural

explanation in envelopment.” These views he ably and ingeni-

ously defended by a careful discussion of the whole range of facts

belonging to the history of the subject.

My own expression of opinion on this question, in 1853, had

been privately criticised, and I had been charged with a want of

comprehension of the question. It was, therefore, with no small

pleasure, that I not only saw my views so ably supported by

Delesse, but read the language of Carl Friedrich Naumann, who

in 1861 wrote to Delesse as follows, referring to his essay just

_noticed :—

“You have rendered a veritable service to science in restricting

pseudomorphs to their true limits, and separating what had been

erroneously united to them. As you have remarked, envelop-

ments have, for the most part, nothing in common with pseu

orphs, and it is inconceivable that they have been united by 50

that they commit an analogous error, w they regard gneisses,

amphibolites, etc., as being, all of them, the results of amor-

phic epigenesis, and not original rocks. It is precisel use

i y becat

pseudomorphism has been so often confounded with metamorphisti

that this error has found acceptance. I only admit a pseudomorp

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxx, 135.

einai. pie A T 0. Fay ce Soh E ee A E T E

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 495

have never found its way into the science. I think, with you, that

the enyelopment of two minerals is most generally explained by

a contemporaneous and original crystallization. Secondary envel-

opments, however, exist, and such may be callec pseudomorphs

or crystalloids, if they reproduce exactly the form of the crystal

enveloped, whether this last still remains, or has entirely disap-

eared.” *

It is unnecessary to remark that the view of Delesse and Nau-

mann, viz. : that the so-called cases of pseudomorphism, on which

the theory of metamorphism by alteration has been built, are,

for the most part, examples of association and envelopment, and

the result of a contemporaneous and original crystallization, — is

identical with the view suggested by Scheerer, and generalized by

myself long before, when, in 1853, I sought to explain the phe-

nomena in question by “the association and crystallizing together

of homologous and isomorphous species.’

Later, in 1862, I wrote as follows :—

‘‘Pseudomorphism, which is the change of one mineral species

into another, by the introduction or the elimination of some ele-

ment or elements, presupposes metamorphism (i. e., metamorphic

or crystalline rocks), since only definite mineral species can be the

subjects of this process. To confound metamorphism with pseu-

om is

fore an error. It may be farther remarked, that, although certain

pseudomorphic changes may take place in some mineral species,

Thus this unproved theory of pseudomorphism, as taught by

Bischof, does not, even if admitted to its fullest extent, advance

us a single step towards a solution of the problem of the origin

` of the various silicates, which, singly or intermingled, make up

beds in the crystalline schists. Granting, for the sake of argu-

ment, that serpentine results from the alteration of olivine or

labradorite, and steatite or chlorite from hornblende, the origin of

* Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, II, xviii, 678.

+ Descriptive gue, Cry , p. 80, don Exhibition, 1862 ;

also, Dublin Quar. Journal, July 1863, and Amer. Jour. Sci., I, xxxvi, 218.

496 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

these anhydrous silicates, which are the subjects of the supposed

change, is still unaccounted for. The explanation of this short-

sightedness is not far to seek; as already remarked, Bischof,

although a professed neptunist, starts from a plutonic basis.

When the epigenic origin of serpentine and its related rocks was

first taught, these were regarded as eruptive and unstratified, and

it was easy to imagine intruded masses of dioritic and feldspathic

rocks, which had become the subjects of alteration. As, however,

the progress of careful investigation in the field has shown the

stratified character of these serpentines, diallage-rocks, steatites,

etc., and their intercalation among limestones, argillites, quartz-

ites; gneisses, and mica-schists, and even among feldspathic and

hornblendic strata, we are forced to reject, with Naumann, the

notion of their epigenic derivation, and to regard them as original

rocks,

This view brings us face to face with the problem of metamor-

phism as defined by me in 1860 * (ante, page 46). We must either

admit that these crystalline schists were created as we find them,

or suppose that they were once sands, clays, marls, etc. ; in

a word, sediments of chemical and mechanical origin, which

by a subsequent process have been consolidated and crystallized.

Whence, then, come these silicates of magnesia, lime, and iron,

which are the sources of serpentine, hornblende, steatite, chlorite,

etc.? This is the question which I proposed in that same year,

when, after discussing the results of my examinations of the ter-

tiary rocks near Paris, containing layers of a hydrous silicate of

magnesia related to tale in composition, among unaltered lime-

stones and clays, I remarked that it is evident “ such silicates

may be formed in basins at the earth’s surface, by reactions

between magnesian solutions and dissolved silica ;” and, after

some farther discussion, said “farther inquiries in this direc-

tion may show to what extent certain rocks composed of calca-

reous and magnesian silicates may be directly formed in the

moist way.” + Subsequently, in a paper on “The Origin of

some Magnesian and Aluminous Rocks,” printed in the ‘‘ Cana-

dian Naturalist” for June, 1860, I repeated these considerations,

referring to the well-known fey that silicates of — magnesia

*Amer, Jour. Sci., II, x 135.

t Ibid., IT, xxix, 23t; jay tT, xl, 49.

t Ibid., II, xxxii

oe eli ok ee I lige Oh

eget

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 497

and iron-oxyd are deposited during the evaporation of natural

waters, including those of alkaline springs and of the Ottawa

River. Having described the mode of occurrence of the mag-

nesian silicate, sepiolite, in the Paris basin, and the related

quincite, containing some iron-oxyd and disseminated in lime-

stone, I suggested that while steatite has been derived from a

compound like sepiolite, the source of serpentine was to be sought

in another silicate richer in magnesia; and, moreover, that chlo-

rite, unless the result of a subsequent reaction between clay and

carbonate of magnesia, was directly formed by a process analogous

to that which (according to Scheerer) has,in recent times, caused

the deposition from waters of neolite, a hydrous alumino-magne-

sian silicate approaching to chlorite in composition,* ‘‘ the type of

a reaction which formerly generated beds of chlorite in the same

way as those of sepiolite or tale.” Delesse, subsequently, in 1861,

in his essay on Rock-Metamorphism insisted upon the sepio-

lites or so-called magnesian marls, as probably the source of

steatite, and suggested the derivation of serpentine, chlorite, and

other related minerals of the crystalline schists, from deposits -

approaching these marls in composition.y He recalled, also, the

occurrence of chromic oxyd, a frequent accompaniment of these

magnesian minerals, in the hydrated iron ores of the same geo-

logical horizon with the magnesian marls in France. Delesse did

not, however, attempt to account for the origin of these deposits

of magnesian marls, in explanation of which I afterwards verified

Bischof’s observations on the sparing solubility of silicate of

magnesia, and showed that silicate of soda, or even artificial hy-

drated silicate of lime, when added to waters containing magne-

sian chlorid or sulphate, gives rise, by double decomposition, to a

very insoluble magnesian silicate. {

To explain the generation of silicio like labradorite, scapo-

lite, garnet, and saussurite, I suggested that double aluminous

silicates allied to the zeolites might have been formed, and subse-

quently rendered anhydrous. The production of zeolitic minerals

observed by Daubrée at Plombiéres and Luxeuil by the action of

a silicated alkaline water on the masonry of ancient Roman baths,

was appealed to by way of illustration. It had there been shown

* Pogg. Annal., Ixxi, 288.

t Etudes sur le Minnoch, quarto, pp. 91. Paris, 1861.

į Amer. Jour. Sci., IT

498 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

by Daubrée that the elements of the zeolites had been derived in

part from the waters, and in part from the mortar and even the

clay of the bricks, which had been attacked, and had entered into

combination with the soluble matters of the water to form chaba-

zite. I, however, at the same time pointed out another source of

silicated minerals, upon which I had insisted since 1857, viz.:

the reaction between silicious or argillaceous matters and earthy

carbonates in the presence of alkaline solutions. Numerous ex-

periments showed that when solutions of an alkaline carbonate

were heated with a mixture of silica and carbonate of magnesia,

the alkaline silicate formed acted upon the latter, yielding a sili-

cate of magnesia, and regenerating the alkaline carbonate ; which,

without entering into permanent combination, was the medium

through which the union of the silica and the magnesia was ef

fected. In this way I endeavored to explain the alteration, in the

vicinity of a great intrusive mass of dolerite, of a gray Silurian

limestone, which contained, besides a little carbonate of magne-

sia and iron-oxyd, a portion of very silicious matter, consisting

apparently of comminuted orthoclase and quartz. In place of

this, there had been developed in the limestone, near its contact

with the dolerite, an amorphous greenish basic silicate, which had

PATIRA resulted from the union of the silica and alumina with

on-oxyd, the magnesia and a portion of lime. By the crys-

niidi of the products thus generated it was conceiv ed that

minerals like hornblende, garnet and epidote might be developed

in earthy sediments, and many cases of local alteration explained.

Inasmuch as the reaction described required the interv ention of

alkaline solutions, rocks from which these were excluded would

escape change, although the other conditions might not be want-

ing. The natural associations of minerals, moreover, led me to

suggest Son alkaline solutions might favor the cry stallization of

aluminous silicates, and thus convert mechanical sediments in

gneisses sin mica-schists. The ingenious experiments of Dau-

brée on the part which solutions of alkaline silicates, at elevated

temperatures, may play in the formation of crystallized minerals,

such as feldspar and pyroxene, were posterior to my early publi-

cations on the subject, and fully justified the importance which,

early in 1857, I attributed to the intervention of alkaline baie

in the formation of crystalline silicated minerals. *

*Proc, Royal Soc., May 7, 1857. Amer. Jour, Sci., I, xxiii, 438, and xxv, 289 and 435.

i À

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 499

While, however, there is good reason to believe that solutions of

alkaline silicates or carbonates have been efficient agents in the

crystallization and molecular re-arrangement of ancient sediments,

and have also played an important part in that local alteration of

sedimentary strata which is often observed in the vicinity of intru-

sive rocks, it is clear to me that the agency of these solutions is

less universal than once supposed by Daubrée and myself, and will

not account for the formation of various silicated rocks found

among crystalline schists, such as serpentine, hornblende, steatite

and chlorite. When I commenced the: study of these crystalline

strata I was led, in accordance with the almost universally received

opinion of geologists, to regard them as resulting from a subse-

quent alteration of paleozoic sediments, which, according to differ-

ent authorities, were of Cambrian, Silurian or Devonian age. Thus

in the Appalachian region, as we have already seen, they have, on

supposed stratigraphical evidence, been successively placed at the

base, at the summit, and in the middle of the Lower Silurian or

Champlain division of the New York system. A careful chemical

examination among the unaltered paleozoic sediments, which in

Canada were looked upon as the stratigraphical equivalents of the

bands of magnesian silicates in these crystalline schists, showed

me, however, no magnesian rocks except certain silicious and

ferruginous dolomites. From a consideration of reactions which

I had observed to take place in such admixtures in presence of

heated alkaline solutions, and from the composition of the basic

silicates which I had found to be formed in silicious limestones

near their contact with eruptive rocks, I was led to suppose that

similar actions, on a grand scale, might transform these silicious

dolomites of the unaltered strata into crystalline magnesian sili-

arther researches, however, convinced me that this view was

inapplicable to the crystalline schists of the Appalachians, since,

apart from the geognostical considerations set forth in the previous

part of this paper, I found that these same crystalline strata hold

beds of quartzose dolomite and magnesian carbonate, associated in

such intimate relations with beds of serpentine, diallage and stea-

tite, as to forbid the notion that these silicates could have been

generated by any transformations or chemical re-arrangement of

mixtures like the accompanying beds of quartzose magnesian car-

bonates. Hence it was that go in 1860, as shown above, I

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V

500 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

announced my conclusion that serpentine, chlorite and steatite had

been derived from silicates like sepiolite, directly formed in waters

at the earth’s surface, and that the crystalline schists had resulted

from the consolidation of previously formed sediments, partly

chemical and partly mechanical in their origin. The latter being

chiefly silico-aluminous, took, in part, the forms of gneiss and mica-

schists, while from the more argillaceous strata, poorer in alkali,

much of the aluminous silicate crystallized as andalusite, stauro-

lite, cyanite and garnet. These views were reiterated in 1863,*

and farther in 1864, in the following language, as regards the

chemically-formed sediments: <« steatite, serpentine, pyroxene,

hornblende, and in many cases, garnet, epidote and other silicated

minerals are formed by a crystallization and molecular re-arrange-

ment of silicates generated by chemical processes in waters at the

earth’s surface.” Their alteration and crystallization was com-

pared to that of the mechanically formed feldspathic, silicious and

argillaceous sediments just mentioned.

The direct formation of the erystalline schists from an aqueous

magma is a notion which belongs to an early period in geological

theory. Delabeche in 1834 conceived that they were thrown

down as chemical deposits from the waters of the heated ocean,

after its reaction on the crust of the cooling globe, and before the

appearance of organic life. This view was revived by Daubrée in

1860. Having sought to explain the alteration of paleozoic strata

of mechanical origin, by the action of heated waters, he proc

to discuss the origin of the still more ancient crystalline schists.

The first precipitated waters, according to him, acting on the anhy-

drous silicates of the earth’s crust, at a very elevated temperatire,

and at a great pressure, which he estimated at two hundred and

fifty atmospheres, formed a magma, from: which, as it cooled, were

successively deposited the various strata of the crystalline schists.$

Chis hypothesis, violating, as it does, all the notions which soun

theory teaches with regard to the chemistry of a cooling globe;

has, moreover, to encounter graye geognostical difficulties. The

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 501

ification. The whole history of these rocks, moreover, shows that

their various alternating strata were deposited, not as precipi-

tates from a seething solution, but under conditions of sedimen-

tation very like those of more recent times. In the oldest known

of them, the Laurentian system, great limestone formations are

interstratified with gneisses, quartzites and even with conglom-

erates. All analogy, moreover, leads us to conclude that even at

this early period, life existed at the surface of the planet. Great

accumulations of iron-oxyd, beds of metallic sulphids and of

graphite, exist in these oldest strata, and we know of no other

meee seo that of organic matter, capable of generating these

produe

cans had already arrived at the conclusion, which in the

present state of our knowledge seems inevitable, that “all the car-

bon yet known to occur in a free state, can only be regarded as

a product of the decomposition of carbonic acid, and as derived

from the vegetable kingdom.” He farther adds, ‘‘living plants

decompose carbonic acid; dead organic matters decompose sul-

phates, so that, like carbon, sulphur appears to owe its existence

in a free state to the organic kingdom.”* As a decomposition

(deoxidation) of sulphates is necessary to the production of me-

tallic sulphids, the presence of the latter, not less than that of

free sulphur and free carbon, depends on organic bodies; the part

which these play in reducing and rendering soluble the peroxyd of

iron, and in the production of iron ores is, moreover, well known.

It was, therefore, that, after a careful study of these ancient rocks,

I declared in May, 1858, that a great mass of evidence ‘ points

to the existence of organic life, even during the Laurentian or so-

called azoic period.” +

This prediction was soon verified in the discovery of the Eozoon

Canadense, of Dawson, the organic character of which is now ad-

mitted by all zoologists and geologists of authority. But with

this discovery, appeared another fact, which afforded a signal veri-

fication of my theory as to the origin and mode of deposition of

serpentine and pyroxene. The microscopic and chemical re-

searches of Dawson and myself showed that the calcareous skel-

eton of this foraminiferal organism was filled with the one or the

other of these silicates in such a manner as to make it evident that

* Bischof, Jaen, lst. ed., Il, 95. English ed., I, 252, 344.

ur. Science, II, xxv, 436.

502 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

they had replaced the sarcode of the animal, precisely as glauco-

nite and similar silicates have, from the Silurian times to the pres-

ent, filled and injected more recent foraminiferal skeletons. I re-

called, in connection with this discovery the observations of

Ehrenberg, Mantell and Bailey, and the more recent ones of Pour-

tales, to the effect that glauconite or some similar substance oc

sionally fills the spines of Echini, the cavities of corals and mille-

pores, the canals in the shells of Balanus, and even forms casts

of the holes made by burrowing sponges (Clionia) and wore

The significance of these facts was farther illustrated by showing

that the so-called glauconites differ considerably in composition,

some of them containing more or less alumina or magnesia, and,

one from the tertiary limestones near Paris being, according t0

Berthier, a true serpentine. *

These facts in the history of Eozoön, were first made known by

me iri May, 1864, in the American Journal of Science, and subse-

quently more in detail, February, 1865, in a communication to the

Geological Society of London. t They were speedily verified by

Dr. Gümbel, who was then engaged in the study of the ancient

crystalline schists of Bavaria, and soon recognized the existence,

in the limestones of the old Hercynian gneiss, of the characteris- -

tic Eozoin Canadense, injected with silicates in a manner precisely

similar to that observed by Dawson and myself. { Later, in 1869,

Robert Hoffmann described the results of a minute chemical exam-

ination of the Eozoon from Raspenau, in Bohemia, confirming

previous observations in Canada and Bavaria. He showed that

the calcareous shell of the Eozoén, examined by him, had been eg

jected by a peculiar silicate, which may be described as related iD

composition both to glauconite and to chlorite. The masses of

Eozoén he found to be enclosed and wrapped around by thin al-

ternating layers of a green magnesian silicate allied to picrosminê,

and a brown non-magnesian mineral, which proved to be a hy-

drous silicate of alumina, ferrous oxyd and alkalies, related to

fahlunite, or more nearly to jollyte in composition. §

Still more recently, in the course of the present year, Dr. Daw-

son detected a mineral insoluble in acids, injecting the pores of

* Amer. Jour. Sci., Il, xl, 360, Report Geol. Survey Canada, 1866, p. 231, and Quar.

Geol. Jour., XXI, 71. s

ł Amer. Jour. Sci., IY, xxxvii, 431. Quar. Geol. Jour., XXI, 67

} Proc. Royal Bavar. Acad. for 1866, and Can. Naturalist, new series IFI, 81.

§ Jour. fur, Prakt. Chem., May, 1869, and Amer. Jour. Sci., III, i, 378.

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 503

crinoidal stems and plates in a paleozoic limestone from New

Brunswick, which is made up of organic remains. This silicate

which, in decalcified specimens, shows in a beautiful manner the

intimate structure of these ancient ser I have found by analy-

sis to be a hydrous silicate of alumina and ferrous oxyd, with

magnesia and alkalies, closely related to fahlunite and to joll

The microscopic examinations of Dr. Dawson show that this sil-

icate injected the pores of the crinoidal remains and some of the

interstices of the /associated shell-fragments, before the introduc-

tion of the calcite which cements the mass. I have since found a

silicate almost identical with this, occurring under similar condi-

tions in an Upper Silurian limestone said to be from Llangedoc in

Wales.

Gümbel, meanwhile, in the essay on the Laurentian rocks of Ba-

varia, in 1866, already referred to; fully recognized the truth of

the views which I had put forward, both with regard to mineralogy

of Eozoön and to the origin of the crystalline schists. His results

are still farther detailed in his Geognost. Beschreibung des östbayeris-

ches Grenzegebirges, 1868, p. 833. Credner, moreover, as he tells

us,ł had already from his mineralogical and lithological studies,

been led to admit my views as to the original formation of serpen-

tine, pyroxene and similar silicates (which he cites from my paper

of 1865, above referred tot), when he found that Gümbel had ar-

rived at similar conclusions. The views of the latter, as cited by

Credner from the work just referred to, are in substance as fol-

lows :— The crystalline schists, with their interstratified layers,

have all the characters of altered sedimentary deposits, and from

their mode of occurrence cannot be of igneous origin, nor the result

of epigenic action. The originally formed sediments are conceived

to have been amorphous, and under moderate heat and pressure to

have arranged themselves, and crystallized, generating various

mineral species in their midst by a change, which, to distinguish it

from metamorphism by an TE process, Gümbel happily des-

ignates diagenesis.

It is unnecessary to remark, that these views, the conclusions

from the recent studies of Gümbel in Germany and Credner in

orth America, are identical with those put forth by me in 1860.

* Amer. Jour. tile TH, i, via

_ t Hermann Credner; die d i F i Nord Amer-

Halle 1869. į pian in the Quar. . Geol. Jour., XXI, 67.

504 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

At the early periods in which the materials of the ancient crys-

talline schists were accumulated, it cannot be doubted that the -

chemical processes which generated silicates were much more ac-

tive than in more recent times. The heat of the earth’s crust

was probably then far greater than at present, while a high tem-

perature prevailed at comparatively small depths, and thermal

waters abounded. A denser atmosphere, charged with carbonic

acid gas, must also have contributed to maintain, at the earth’s

surface, a greater degree of heat, though one not incompatible

with the existence of organic life. * These conditions must have

favored many chemical processes, which, in later times, have

nearly ceased to operate. Hence we find that subsequently to

the eozoic times, silicated rocks of clearly marked chemical ori-

gin are comparatively rare. In the mechanical sediments of later

periods certain crystalline minerals may be developed by a process

of molecular re-arrangement — diagenesis. These are, in the feld-

spathic and aluminous sediments, orthoclase, muscovite, garnet,

staurolite, cyanite and chiastolite, and in the more basic sedi-

ments, hornblendic minerals. It is possible that these latter and

similar silicates may sometimes be generated by reactions between

silica on the one hand, and carbonates and oxyds, on the other,

as already pointed out in some cases of local alteration. Such a

case may apply to more or less hornblendic gneisses, for example,

but no sediments, not of direct chemical origin, are pure enough

to have given rise to the great beds of serpentine, pyroxene, stea-

tite, labradorite, etc., which abound in the ancient crystalline

schists. Thus, while the materials for producing, by diagenesis,

the aluminous silicates just mentioned, are to be met with in the

mud and clay-rocks of all ages, the chemically formed silicates;

capable of crystallizing into pyroxene, tale, serpentine, etc., have

only been formed under special conditions.

The same reasoning which led me to maintain the theory of an

original formation of the mineral silicates of the crystalline schists,

induced me to question the received notion of the epigenic eri

of gypsums and magnesian limestones or dolomites. The inte

stratification of dolomites and pure limestones, and the aa

of pebbles of the latter in a paste of crystalline dolomite, arè

themselves sufficient to show that in these cases, at least, dolo-

mites have not been formed by the alteration of pure limestone?

* Amer, Jour. Sci II, xxxvi, 396

En Op ATOR EE RET ON gee ene

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 505

The first results of a very long series of experiments and inquiries

-into the history of gypsum, were published by me in 1859, and

farther researches, reiterating and confirming my previous conclu-

sions, appeared in 1866.* In these two papers, it will, I think, be

found that the following facts in the history of dolomite are es-

tablished, viz. : first, its origin in nature by direct sedimentation,

and not by the alteration of non-magnesian limestones; second,

its artificial production by the direct union of carbonate of lime

and hydrous carbonate of magnesia, at a gentle heat, in the pres-

ence of water. As to the sources of the hydrous magnesian car-

bonate, I have endeavored to show that it is formed from the

magnesian chlorid or sulphate of the sea or other saline waters in

two ways :— first, by the action of the bicarbonate of soda found

in many natural waters ; this, after converting all soluble lime-salts

into insoluble carbonate, forms a comparatively soluble bicarbon-

ate of magnesia, from which a hydrous carbonate slowly separates :

second, by the action of bicarbonate of lime in solution, which,

with sulphate of magnesia gives rise to gypsum ; this first crystal-

lizes out, leaving behind a much more soluble bicarbonate of mag-

nesia, which deposits the hydrous carbonate in its turn. In this

way, for the first time, in 1859, the origin of gypsums and their in-

timate relation with magnesian limestones were explained.

It was, moreover, shown that to the perfect operation of this re-

action, an excess of carbonic acid in the solution, during the evap-

oration, was necessary to prevent the decomposing action of the

hydrous mono-carbonate of magnesia upon the already formed

gypsum. Having found that a prolonged exposure to the air, by

permitting the loss of carbonic acid, partially interfered with the

_ process, I was led to repeat the experiment in a confined atmos-

phere, charged with carbonic acid, but rendered drying by the

presence of a layer of dessicated chlorid of calcium. As had

been foreseen, the process under these conditions proceeded unin-

rruptedly, pure gypsum first crystallizing out from the liquid,

and subsequently, the hydrous magnesian carbonate. f This ex-

periment is instructive as showing the results which must have

attended this process in past ages, when the quantity of carbonic

acid in the atmosphere greatly exceeded its present amount.

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxxviii, 170, 365; xlii, 49.

Proceedings Royal Institution, May 30, 1867, and Canadian Naturalist, new series,

Til, 231.

506 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

As regards the hypotheses put forward to explain the supposed

dolomitization of previously-formed limestones by an epigenic.

process, I may remark that I repeated very many times, under

varying conditions, the often cited experiment of Von Morlot, who

claimed to have generated dolomite by the action of sulphate of

magnesia on carbonate of lime, in the presence of water at a some-

what elevated temperature under pressure. I showed that what

he regarded as dolomite was not such, but an admixture of carbon-

ate of lime with anhydrous and sparingly soluble carbonate of

magnesia ; the conditions in which the carbonate of magnesia is

_ liberated in this reaction, not being favorable to its union with the

carbonate of lime to form the double salt which constitutes dolo-

mite. The experiment of Marignac, who thought to form dolomite

hy substituting a solution of chlorid of magnesium for the sul-

phate, I found to yield similar results, the greater part of the mag-

nesian carbonate produced passing at once into the insoluble

condition, without combining with the excess of carbonate of lime

present. The process for the production of the double carbonate

described by Ch. Deville, namely, the action of vapors of anhy-

drous magnesian chlorid on heated carbonate of lime, in accord-

ance with Von Buch’s strange theory of dolomitization, I have not

thought necessary to submit to the test of experiment, since the

conditions required are scarcely conceivable in nature. Multiplied

geognostical observations show that the notion of the epigeni¢

production of dolomite from limestone is untenable, although its

resolution and deposition in veins, cavities, or pores in other rocks

is a phenomenon of frequent occurrence.

The dolomites or magnesian limestones may be conveniently

considered in two classes ; first, those which are found with gyp-

sums at various geological horizons; and second, the more abun-

dant and widely distributed rocks of the same kind, which are not

associated with deposits of gypsum. The production of the first

class is dependent upon the decomposition of sulphate of magne-

sia by solutions of bicarbonate of lime, while those of the second

class owe their origin, to the decomposition of magnesian chlorid

or sulphate by solutions of alkaline bicarbonates. In both cases,

however, the bicarbonate of magnesia, which the carbonated

waters generally contain, contributes a more or less important

part to the generation of the magnesian sediments. The carbon-

ated alkaline waters of deep-seated springs often contain, as ÍS

A 53 E;

E AT es NOA E O ELAN AE a T E ae

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 507

well known, besides the bicarbonates of soda, lime, and magne-

. sia, compounds of iron, manganese, and many of the rarer metals

in solution, and thus the metalliferous character of many of the

dolomites of the second class is explained. The simultaneous

occurrence of alkaline silicates in such mineral waters, would »

give rise, as already pointed out, to the production of insoluble

silicates of magnesia, and thus the frequent association of such

silicates with dolomites and magnesian carbonates in the crystal-

line schists is explained, as marking portions of one continuous

process. The formation of these mineral waters depends upon

the decomposition of feldspathic rocks by subterranean or su

aërial processes, which were doubtless more active in former ages

than in our own. The subsequent action upon magnesian waters

of these bicarbonated solutions, whether alkaline or not, is de-

pendent upon climatic conditions, since, in a region where the rain-

fall is abundant, such waters would find their way down the river-

courses to the open sea, where the excess of dissolved sulphate of

lime would prevent the deposition of magnesian carbonate. It is

in dry and desert regions, with limited lake-basins, that we must

seek for the production of magnesian carbonates, and I have ar-

gued from these considerations that much of northeastern Amer-

ica, including the present basins of the Upper Mississippi and St.

Lawrence, must, during long intervals in the paleozoic period,

have had a climate of excessive dryness, and a surface marked by

shallow enclosed basins, as is shown by the widely spread magne-

sian limestones, and the existence of gypsum and rock-salt at

more than one geological horizon within that area.* The occur-

rence of. serpentine and diallage at Syracuse, New York, offers a

curious example of the local development of crystalline magne-

sian silicates in Upper Silurian dolomitic strata under conditions

which are imperfectly known, and, in the present state of the

locality, cannot be studied. f

Since the uncombined and hydrated magnesian mono-carbonate

is at once decomposed by sulphate or chlorid of calcium, it fol-

lows that the whole of these lime-salts in-a sea-basin must be

converted into carbonates before the production of carbonated

magnesian sediments can begin. The carbonate of lime, formed

Tes on eee

* Geology of Southwestern Ontario, Amer. Jour. Sci II, xlvi, 355.

t Geology of the 3d district of New York, 108-110, and Hunt on Ophiolites, Amer. Jour.

Sci., I, xxvi, 236

508 ADDRESS OF T. STERRY HUNT.

by the action of carbonates of magnesia and soda, remains at first

dissolved as bicarbonate, and is only separated in a solid form,

when in excess, or when required for the needs of living plants

or animals; which are dependent for their supply of calcareous

matter, on the bicarbonate of lime produced, in part by the proc-

ess just described, and in part by the action of carbonic acid on

insoluble lime-compounds of the earth’s solid crust. So many

limestones are made up of calcareous organic remains, that a

notion exists among many writers on geology that all limestones :

are, in some way, of organic origin. At the bottom of this lies 3

the idea of an analogy between the chemical relations of yege-

table and animal life. As plants give rise to beds of coal, so ani-

mals are supposed to produce limestones. In fact, however, the

synthetic process by which the growing plant, from the elements

of water, carbonic acid and ammonia, generates hydrocarbonace-

ous and azotized matters, has no analogy with the assimilative 4

process by which the growing animal appropriates alike these or- :

ganic matters and the carbonate and phosphate of lime. Without :

the plant, the synthesis of the hydrocarbons would not take place,

while independently of the existence of coral or mollusk, the car-

bonate of lime would still be generated by chemical reactions, and

would accumulate in the waters until, these being saturated, its l

excess would be deposited as gypsum or rock-salt are deposited.

Hence in such waters, where, from any causes, life is excluded,

accumulations of pure carbonate of lime may be formed. In 1861

I called attention to the white marbles of Vermont, which occur q

intercalated among impure and fossiliferous beds, as apparently

examples of such a process.*

It is by a fallacy similar to that which prevails as to the or-

ganic origin of limestones, that Daubeny and Murchison were led

to appeal to the absence of phosphates from certain old strata as

evidence of the absence of organic life at the time of their accu-

mulation.t Phosphates, like silica and iron-oxyd, were doubtless

constituents of the primitive earth’s crust, and the production of

apatite crystals in granitic veins, or in crystalline schists, is @ proc-

ess as independent of life as the formation of crystals of quartz

or of hematite. Growing plants, it is true, take up from the soil

or the waters dissolved phosphates, which pass into the skeletons

Booo eea a

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xxxi, 402.

t Siluria, 4th ed., pp. 28 and 537.

a RY io NN Mie e mae Ne gph cite a

ie il ean ie >

ORIGIN OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 509

of animals, a process which has been active from very remote pe-

riods. I showed in 1854 that the shells of Lingula and Orbicula,

both those from the base of the paleozoic rocks and those of the

present time, have (like Conularia and Serpulites) a chemical com-

position similar to the skeletons of vertebrate animals.* Th

relations of both carbonate and phosphate of lime to organized

beings are similar to those of silica, which, like them, is held in

watery solution, and by processes independent of life is deposited

both in amorphous and crystalline forms, but in certain cases is

appropriated by diatoms and sponges, and made to assume organ-

ized shapes. In a word, the assimilation of silica, like that of

phosphate and carbonate of lime, is a purely secondary and acci-

dental process, and where life is absent, all of these substances

are deposited in mineral and inorganic forms.

I have thus endeavored to sketch, in a concise and rapid man-

ner, the history of the earlier rock-formations of eastern North

America, and of our progress in the knowledge of them; while

I have, at the same time, dwelt upon some of the geognostical

and chemical questions which their study suggests. With the

record of the last thirty years before them, American geologists

have cause for congratulation that their investigations have been

so fruitful in great results. They see, however, at the same time,

how much yet remains to be done in the study of the Appalachians

and of our northeastern coast, before the history of these ancient

rock-formations can be satisfactorily written. Meanwhile our ad-

yenturous students are directing their labors to the vast regions of

western America, where the results which have already been ob-

tained are of profound interest. The progress of these investiga-

tions will doubtless lead us to modify many of the views now

accepted in science, and cannot fail greatly to enlarge the bound

of geological knowledge.

* Amer. Jour. Sci., II, xvii, 236.

ABSTRACT OF PAPERS READ BEFORE SECTION B.

THE MONOCOTYLEDON THE UNIVERSAL Type or Sreps.— By

Tuomas MEEHAN.

Ir must be evident to those who heard my paper on “ Adnation

in Coniferze” at the Chicago meeting of the Association that the

observation there detailed, could scarcely be accounted for, if the

belief be true which is generally held by botanists, that the leaf orig-

inates at the node from which it seems to spring. It is not, however,

an object with me to attack existing theories, or establish new

ones ; but simply to present facts as I see them. The origin of

the leaf will no doubt prove a question which will in time take

care of itself. But this generalization cannot be avoided by the

readers of that paper, that the whole plant is originally a unity;

and that the subsequent formation of elementary organs, and their

complete development, or absorption into one another, is the result

of varying phases of nutrition. ‘The leaves in Coniferse were

found to be free or united with the stem in proportion to the

vigor of the central axis. Following up the subject I now offer

some facts which will show that all seeds are primarily Monocoty-

ledonous ; and that division is a subsequent act, depending on cif-

cumstances which do not exist at the first commencement of the

seed growth.

It is well known that in some species of Coniferous plants the

number of cotyledons varies. I have noticed in addition to this

that whether the cotyledons are few or many, there is no increase

in the whole cotyledonous mass. In the Norway spruce, Abies ex

celsa, there are sometimes as many as ten cotyledons, in others

only two. In the latter case they are broad and ovate, while in the

former they are narrow and hair-like; in short, when in the tw?

cotyledoned state it is not possible to note any difference betw een?

seedling Norway spruce and a Chinese arbor vite, Biota orientalis,

except by the lighter shade of green. The twò leaved condition i

not common, but spécimens of threes and others I exhibited to Drs

Torrey and Gray at the Troy meeting. Any one who will exam! r

sprouting seeds of the Norway spruce will agree to the proposition

(510)

THE MONOCOTYLEDON THE UNIVERSAL TYPE OF SEEDS. 511

that the cotyledons are not original and separate creations, but a

divided unity. My next observations were on some acorns of

Quercus agrifolia the division into cotyledons was numerous and

irregular. Cut across vertically some representing the letter C,

others the letter N, and again, with four cotyledons the letter M.

Here again it was clear that whatever the form and number of the

cotyledons there was no increase of the original cotyledon mass.

Examining sprouting peach kernels, the variations in form and

number were of the most remarkable character. I need not repeat

them in detail here, as they are reported in the April and Ma

“ Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel-

phia.” In addition to the fact of no increase in the whole coty-

ledon mass, it was here clear that when the cotyledons were dupli-

cated, the duplications at least were subsequent to the original ones.

Still so far nothing had been seen to indicate when the first pair

of cotyledons were formed. Quercus macrocarpa and Quercus pa-

lustris were silent to my questions. In a large number I found no

variations whatever. Each mass was divided smoothly and ex-

actly into two cotyledons. Quercus robur, the English oak, how-

ever gave some curious evidence. Two germs under one seed

coat were numerous and often three, and the cotyledons took on a

variety of forms. But there was never any more increase in the

cotyledonous mass, than if but two lobes had been formed and

there was no more rule in the division than there would be in the

sudden breakage of a piece of glass. A detailed account of these

will also be found in the “ Proceedings of the Academy of Natu-

ral Sciences of Philadelphia” for May. Quercus rubra, the Amer-

ican red oak, furnished the one link wanting to connect the first

division into lobes with the other phenomena. All the acorns ex-

amined had three or four sutures on the cotyledon mass, and ex-

tending all along the longitudinal surface externally, without

any reference to cotyledonal divisions. These sutures extended

sometimes but a line in depth, at others almost to the centre

of the mass, always accompanied by the inner membrane, as is,

the case in ruminated seeds. The whole mass was divided only

in two parts in any that I examined of this species, but the

division was always in the direction of the sutures. Hence each

cotyledon was very irregular. Sometimes one-third the mass

only went to one while the other had fwo-thirds of the whole

mass. It was easier to burst in the weaker line of resistance. But

512 THE MONOCOTYLEDON THE UNIVERSAL TYPE OF SEEDS.

the interest for us is to note that originally the cotyledonous mass

was a unit—then the sutures or fissures were formed; and

ultimately the two divisions of the lobes followed in their direc-

tion. The division was the last condition, not the first. I know how

much we should guard against generalizing on a limited supply of

facts, but it requires an effort to believe that oaks, pines, and

peaches, as we have seen primordially monocotyledons, are in

this respect different from other so called dicotyledonous plants ;

and if we grant that all seeds are primarily monocotyledonous,

may we not ask why in any case are they divided? We have seen

that there is no increase of mass in the division, the same amount

is furnished in one asin many. Would it in any way injure the

Indian corn to have its mass divided into two lobes? or would not

the plantlet be as well provided for if the acorn were in one

solid mass? Division would seem to be a necessity, occurring

subsequent to organization, and existing from the position of the

plumule alone. In monocotyledons, as we know, the plumule

is directed parallel to, or away from the cotyledonous mass, when

of course, on this theory it remains an undivided mass. But in

the dicotyledonous selection, the plumule is directed towards the

apex of the mass and as we know in the case of roots against

stone walls, or mushrooms under paying stones, the disposition in

the growing force of plants is to go right forward, turning neither

to the right nor the left ; so in this mass of matter the development

of the germ would make easy work of the division ; and no dou

often at so early a stage as to give the impression we have been

under hitherto, that the division is a primary and essential proc

ess.

Prof. Gray remarked that he was not disposed now, in the absence of

Mr. Meehan, and upon the consideration of a paper upon a wholly indè-

1 ;

doubtedly be regarded as correct. This view was satisfactorily P

by Duchartre, ten or fifteen years ago, and is adopted by Parlatore in the

elaboration of Conifers for De Candolle’s Prodromus, published three OF

four years ago. But Prof. Gray thought that the appearances in the em-

bryo of oaks, which Mr. Meehan had brought up as evidence that the

dicotyledonous embryo was a mere deviation of the monocotyledonous,

dhe Re aT tere Oe ey Te ee ee eg oes kee eg Ebi =

a 7 3 fee Sanat 3

MECHANISM OF FLEXION AND EXTENSION IN BIRDS’ WINGS. 513

and especially that the two cotyledons originated as it were from the

one, and he would leave to him the undertaking of reconstructing mor-

piinlony and phyllotaxis upon such a basis.

Dr. de OF cE LGARD remarked, that the whole question came back to the

laws of phyllotaxy. The very fact of these ‘ genetic” numbers, as he

had called ii ooieoe Á second element to be derived from the first

one; as all radial organs t be derived from their predecessors. The

fact itself was raa in re far too much neglected phenomena of cryp-

togamous developments (or ‘‘ embryology” of authors). “he moss-spore

of its thread-like “ prothallium.” Each of its cells is generated out of a

preceding one. A terminal cell enlarges into a conical leaf. Out of that

leaf springs the second, at its base. It is in fact only on the supposition

re — alte ng from either border n the case of th -

leaves, producing fertile ovules), that the whole o ph

nomena, of organic numbers in general, becomes explicable. The

condition. , Cotyledons already formed do not divide. Lobes of fissures,

folds, etc., of cotyledons are no divisions, but are due to unequal enlarge-

ent. New elements are not formed by division, but by sprouting.

MECHANISM OF FLEXION AND EXTENSION IN Birps’ Wixes.— By

Dr. ELLIOTT Covers.

Dr. Coves’ proposition is, that flexion of the forearm upon the

humerus produces flexion (adduction) of the hand upon the

forearm, by osseous mechanism alone, and conversely: exten-

sion of the forearm causes extension (abduction) of the hand.

The point of the article consists in a demonstration of the

fact that, in spreading and folding the wing, the radius slides

lengthwise along the ulna to a certain extent. Recapitulating

certain points in the anatomy of the elbow and wrist, the author

shows that this sliding is produced by the relative size, shape

and position of the humeral surfaces with which the radius and

ulna respectively articulate; these being such, that in flexion

of the forearm the radial surface is nearest the wrist-joint, and

in extension the ulnar one; and consequently the two bones of

the forearm occupy different relative positions in flexion and ex-

514 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.

tension. In flexion, the radius is pushed forward, and pro-

jects somewhat beyond the end of the ulna, impinging upon the

radio-carpal bone (scapholunar), and pushing the pinion around

the centre of motion of the wrist-joint so that it is more or less

flexed. In extension, the reverse motion takes place, from the

pulling back of the radius. The proposition is carefully demon-

strated, illustrated with three figures, and likewise shown to be

susceptible of ocular proof by direct experiment. Several inter-

esting corollaries are also drawn. Some such mechanism is shown

to be an anatomical necessity, from the structure of the wrist-

joint, to provide for the extremes of adduction and abduction that

take place in the wrist, without straining the joint. Another

obvious purpose subserved is equalization of muscular power, by

relegating a part of the work, that the hand muscles would other-

wise have to perform, to the larger flexors and extensor of the

upper arm; and an actual saving of a certain amount of muscular

effort, this being replaced by automatic movements of the bones

themselves. Having seen no account of this mechanism, the

author is inclined to think it may be unnoticed.* It is at any rate

a new explanation of the design of the peculiar shape and position

of the radial articulating surface of a bird’s humerus, far more

important than that hitherto assigned, viz.: its causing simply the

well-known obliquity of flexion of the forearm.

ON THE GEOLOGICAL History or THE Gute or Mexico.—Byr

Pror. Eve. W. HILGARD.

Tuis paper, accompanied by a geological map, treats of the

formations that have gradually filled up the ancient Mississippi

embayment, existing after the upheaval of the Palæozoic rocks;

whose vertex, a few miles above the junction of the Ohio and Mis-

sissippi, is marked by the small Tertiary area in Illinois. The au-

thor hopes that a close comparison of these deposits with those of

the Far West, with which they were and partly still are connected,

may lead to the more accurate parallelization of the latter with the

marine deposits of more distant regions. Most of the subject

* It is indeed not mentioned in th ks of Cuvier, Meckel, Tiedemann, Wagner, and

other distinguished authors; but Dr. Bergmann, of Gottingen (Archiv. fur Anat- 188%

296), speaks of essentially the same thing, although the results of the mechanism are

not so fully shown,

bee

Poise

ohio arnt

oo ae Se 2 AA : $ i ae tee

fas a See A ae 5 SD RS ee ow ME TE Pein) Cp RM Se Ee ipa ey ay

EN Ay Se a Sa ee et

Py EEN a ee pee ee

fo ee a ae eee ee a

aap STs SB

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 515

matter here referred to is embraced in the author’s publications for

ten years past. *

The most ancient shoreline of this embayment is formed chiefly

by the Carboniferous rocks. The oldest formation cropping out

within these limits is the Cretaceous, which east of the Mississippi

traverses the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee,

reaching a short distance into Kentucky, along the Carboniferous

ridge which borders the Tennessee river. The dip is 20-25° at

right angles to the trend of the formation, which in its southerly

portions is very distinctly subdivided into three chief groups, whose

equivalents seem to be readily traceable in the Northwest. But

towards the northern, narrow end of the outcrop, the distinctions

become less defined, and the character more or less lignitic.

West of the Mississippi, in Arkansas, the outcrop does not ex-

tend so far north by some one hundred and fifty miles. It there

corresponds to the middle group, the lowest not having thus far

een recognized ; while the upper one appears to be represented

in the series of Cretaceous outliers existing in Louisiana, forming,

apparently, a Cretaceous ‘‘ backbone” to that state, whose south-

ernmost point is, probably, the rock-salt mass of Petite Anse.

The sulphur and gypsum of Calcasieu, likewise, seem to belong to

this epoch, but their precise mode of formation can at present

only be guessed at.

During the Tertiary period, the shoreline receded from its ex-

treme head in southern Illinois, to near the latitude of Baton

Rouge, running nearly parallel to the present one. This seems

to show comparative shallowness ; and this point is confirmed by

the predominantly lignitic and lignito-gypseous character of the

deposits, especially in the upper part of the embayment, where

small outliers only of a marine character exist. The lignitie

feature repeats itself throughout the predominantly marine de-

posits of the later times; less so in Alabama than in Mississippi,

while in Louisiana it largely predominates, owing probably to the

marine

_presence of the Cretaceous “backbone.” In general each

group has its lignitic equivalents; and since lignitic outliers con-

nect across Texas, with the great basins of the interior, a close

— of their flora (and possibly fauna) may, it is hoped, enable

p. on the Geology and Agriculture of pager oe bs Am. J. agin rra

ma July 1866; Ibid. Nov. 1866; Ibid. Jan. 1867; Ibid. 859; Ibid. Nov. 1869.

U. S. Engin. Dept. 1870; Am. J. Sci. Match, April and ‘ad:

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 33

516 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.

us to determine the equivalents in time of the marine Tertiary

groups.

The Vicksburg series of rocks, ends the marine Tertiary of the

Southwest ; the transitions between its fauna and the older Eocene

are so cogent as to render any great separation in time or space

inadmissible. The Vicksburg deposits are rather of a deep-sea

character, less lignitiferous than the stage next below. But the Mio-

cene and Pleiocene deposits, observed on the Atlantic coast, are

unrepresented on the waters of the Gulf, save by beds equally de-

void of a marine or fresh water fauna, and with but very few and

poorly preserved remains of plants. A single fragment of a

turtle has been found in a clay stratum filled with calcareous con-

eretions, possibly the remains of a fauna destroyed by maceration.

These “ Grand Gulf” beds lack all analogy outside of the

basin, unless it be in the interior, perhaps, in the Bad Lands of

Nebraska, whose analogues have now been found so much farther +

south than heretofore supposed, that a connection may have been

possible ; the lithological resemblance is very great— at all events,

since the Grand Gulf rocks alone represent the period between

the Eocene and Drift, they include the equivalents in time of the

White river beds as well as others. .

It seems impossible fo account for the character, thickness and

position of these beds, without assuming that after the close of

the Eocene period, the Gulf was either cut off from the Atlantic, oF

communication was so slight as to cause the continental waters to

freshen the brine so much as to destroy the marine fauna, without ,

rendering it fit for fresh water life. An upheaval of the northern

border of the Caribbean would even now readily produce such an

isolation, were it not for the deep channels excavated by the Gulf

stream, in the straits of Yucatan and Florida. Since on the far-

ther Antilles Miocene and Pliocene beds have been found, it is evi-

dent that this state of things was confined to the Gulf basin.

The geology of Cuba and Yucatan is too little known to determine

how far they were concerned in the same. on

The Grand Gulf as well as the older rocks are almost every-

where overlaid by the “Orange Sand” or stratified Drift; W ile

on the Palæozoic territory it is more or less localized in conform-

ity with the larger valleys. On the area under consideration, it

forms a huge delta-shaped mass, consisting mainly of ferruginous

and variegated sand and subordinate clay beds, and traversed by

Ln EES Save eT Met es gs Soe, Sy, ey Se et oa gaat ee er Peed

N 3 i

Pa eee ae ee ad ane ey Pe Ee ner ie

4 : £

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 517

several pebble streams, the largest of which occupies the axis of

the embayment. Its beds disappear beneath those of the Port

Hudson era almost concurrently with the Grand Gulf rocks.

The phenomena offered by these deposits, as heretofore shown,

require the assumption that prior to its deposition the Gulf coast

suffered an elevation of at least four hundred and fifty feet above

its present level, accompanied by a much greater one at the head

of the waters. Then there occurred a slow depression to about

twice that amount, and finally, during the Terrace epoch, a reëleva-

tion to at least the extent of four hundred and fifty feet. The

northern derivation of the pebbles, their size, and the extensive

plowing-up of older beds, prove a southward flow of waters, of

considerable violence.

These events were of no local character; they are intimately

connected’ with, and the complement of, the Drift phenomena of

the Northwest. It is time that the facts of the case were generally

understood and taken into account by American geologists, and

that the Ohio should cease to be proclaimed the southern limit of

the Drift. Its southern representative has mostly, heretofore,

been erroneously associated with contiguous formations of every

age.

An understanding should be come to as to what is meant by the

word “ Drift.” In New England it means chiefly moraine mate-

rial; in the West, what is presumed to be iceberg drift; in the

South, materials clearly stratified and transported almost exclu-

sively by water. All are properly included in the Drift Epoch,

defined as embracing the time between the termination of the

Tertiary, and the beginning of the Champlain era of quiet deposi-

tion and slow depression.

The next succeeding formation is the Port Hudson series of

swamp, lagoon, fluviatile, estuarian and littoral deposits, formed

during the slow depression of the continent. It underlies not

only a wide littoral belt, now partially covered by iia waters of

the Gulf, but also the entire alluvial area of the lower Mississippi,

Red, and other larger rivers, then constituting extensive fresh

water estuaries; their general valleys areni evidently, already

been impressed upon the surface during the later peri

though not always coincident with their sat ones. Late s.

servations made in the Yazoo and Tensas bottoms confirm the

statement, made by Gen. Humphreys in 1860, that the Mississippi

MEELT fe, MOR Th ee

518 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.

and its bayous have mostly cut their channels into a clay forma- y

tion foreign to the alluvium, from which some of the best soils of

these bottoms are also directly derived; the alluvium being, on

the whole, of little thickness.

These clays form the lower division of the Port Hudson beds.

The upper consists chiefly of yellow and whitish silts which at

some points form a terrace along the edge of the bottom; while on

the hilltops of the adjoining uplands lies the calcareous, silty

loam (Loess), of the Bluff formation, differing from its equivalents

farther north by the total absence of stratification, and the exclu-

sive prevalence of terrestrial fossils. How this state of things was

brought about, it is not easy to imagine, unless perhaps the tidal

flow was instrumental therein. ,

Above the Loess we find usually a stratum of loam or bric

clay, which near the larger rivers is sometimes 15-20 feet in thick-

ness. It is devoid of stratified structure as well as of fossils, and i

forms the sub-soil of most of the uplands of the Gulf States.

The Terrace epoch has not left any marks in the way of beach

lines or terraces distinctly referable, to that era. As regards

the modern epoch, the Mississippi Delta presents the anomaly of

progressing, not by simple alluvion, but through the singular

agency of the Mudlumps, discussed in a paper lately published.*

a E A

- Col. CHARLES WHITTLESEY said he was gratified to find so many facts

conspiring to sustain a theory of his own and a favorite theory of fifteen

years standing, that the Quaternary of the Lower Mississippi is cotemp0-

rary with the later epochs of the Northern Drift.

He-thought it was now demonstrated that the bluff or Loess beds of the

upper and lower Mississippi are identical. At the north there are in-

stances of coarse transported materials overlying and underlying the

Loe e blue, variegated, and red clays of the upper beds are closely

allied in age with the Loess and are probably cotemporary with it and the

Champlain clays.

This Loess or bluff stratum extends from above the Falls of the Missis-

STE a

fen

ie]

i=]

as it was gradually drawing to a close. Such a vast accumulation of ice

and nevè, exceeding two thousand feet in thickness, required a long period

for its dissolution, and in dissolving produced a vast fresh water sea,

covering a country nearly flat, but having a drainage to the south.

* Am. JoursSci,, March, April and May, 1871.

iene’ ps Sete rae

a Se es! ah A ELE iets N

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 519

The currents must have been broad, powerful and deep, and operating `

be carried indefinitely. Agates and cornelians, whose home is in trap

rocks above the Falls of St. Anthony, are found scattered along pen valley

to the mouth of the Ohio. If they travel at the rate of only a

year, three hundred and twenty years would find them saved a mile

gulfward, and ten thousand years more than thirty miles. A current of

four miles an hour, extending from the western base of the Cumberland

Mountains in Tennessee to the foot of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri

would fill tee a space equal to a large state in a century

It appeared to the speaker that here is a simple and ‘sufficient explana-

tion for hie translation, in the later parts of the ice period, of so much

northern gravel non loam, and even of small boulders to the ieres of

the gulf and into

Below the states north of the Ohio, pieces of the native copper o

Lake Superior are not found in the Quaternary gravel. The water forces

netic iron boulders and gravel. Both the copper and the heavy iron ores

of Lake Superior are common in the Drift of the Lake country, but they

required the propelling force of moving ice to send them along. Beyond

the ice or glacier field, deep and persistent currents of water were able to

take up and move forward the lighter materials to places many hundred

miles distant, provided the element of time is sufficiently great.

1 this way we may synchronize the whole field of the Quaternary of

the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and perhaps that of the

Pacific slope.

Dr. C. A. Warre was much interested in the able paper of Pro-

fessor Hilgard, especially as hitherto so very little has been brought

ena

valley have not been mistaken in ours. In Iowa we have a very different

set of Post-tertiary phenomena, and yet I believe true explanations of

both may, and ultimately will be, completely harmonized by careful study

of the broad region intervening between fhose that he and I have res-

pectively studied.

The Post-tertiary deposits of Iowa consist of the true, unaltered, un-

stratified Drift, so well known in that region and elsewhere, through the

more or less distinctly stratified gravelly or pargi drift observable in the

oods, to

valley sides above the rea fi alluvium of their flood-

plains esides this, we,have, in West owa, that very kt ae

deposit resting u e drift which Professor Swallow has called t

B sit. This deposit, doubtless, ind essentially the same orig

as that to which Professor Hilgard has given ae same name in Louisiana,

namely, in the muddy waters of the Missouri river, although the deposit,

doubtless, never had direct continuity, but was interrupted by broad

= Ree ae ee (a SSD ET aia “ nA eTe AE eee

. .

520 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.

barrier elevations of the apres through which the river cut its valley

during the Terrace epoch, as I have defined it for our region. I have been

able to recognize there only ccd epochs of the Post- -tertiary period,

nameiy, the Drift aad Terrace epochs; but, at the same time, I fully con-

terraces I understand to be parts of flood-plains abandoned from time to

time as the valleys were deepened by the action of the waters of their

own streams, for I can see no evidence that they were produced, even in

rt, by any aa or depressions of that part of the continent. At

the close of the Drift epoch, we may assume that Iowa had a nearly

level surface, aan as it does now, about eight hundred feet above

the level of the sea, the highest point being about seventeen hundred

feet above, and the lowest, the southeast corner, four hundred and forty-

four feet above that level. The valleys have all been eroded out of this

terraces are found in the Bluff deposit as well as in the altered Drift, show-

ing that the Bluff deposit must have originated early in the Terrace epoch.

The deposit was formed in a large lake-like expansion of the Missouri

river, caused by a broad depression that was left in the ead of the

Drift at the close of the Drift epoch, eth ee filled with the silt of the

muddy stream that flowed into and from it, which, finally Aeneid its

valley below, had only to sweep out a aan we the silt, which became t the

Bluff deposit, leaving the terraces, as it did, in the Drift

Professor A. WINCHELL felt prepared to hla fully Dr. Hilgard’s

views in reference to the absolute continuity of the upper portion of the

Drift deposits in the Northern and Bounin States. He had studied these

deposits from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior, and in the Southern

States, especially along the Black Warrior and Alabama rivers, and had

expressed the conviction to Prof. Tuomey as long ago as 1852, and

ad published it in the ‘‘Cleaveland Proceedings of the Ass ociation ” in

1853, that he found no grounds for assigning the semistratified deposits of.

the Southern sede to a different age from the so-called ‘ altered Drift,”

higher of the continent at tho same rt and by agencies of a

seats pete

Dr. G. Lirrie had studied this subject for a quarter of a century:

When a small boy it was his custom with his pfaymates to “fight rocks 5” i

‘avi

alogy, he soon discovered that those pebbles which were clear and glass-

like (Quartz) proved the hardest to break — they were sometimes half as

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 521

large as a boy’s head, more frequently of the size of the fist — very

smooth on the surface, and often egg-shaped. It was a matter of curios-

ity to him to inquire whence these rocks came and how they became

these beds fr adalot o a“ Miss., to Batport, Tent , and

along the edge of the Carboniferous to the The same beds h wW

along the northern 1 From e high northern latitudes came

t kes. t

then the materials of what is called Drift in the Southern States by Dr.

Hilgard, in his paper. Quartz, from its hardness, furnishes the largest

pebbles and the sand grains. The coloring matter of the Red Clay which

forms so much of the surface of the Gulf States comes from the iron

beds of Lake Superior.

Professor Perry, having recently made a somewhat detailed examina-

tion of the principal geological formations in Mississippi, was happy to

be able to say that he had not become acquainted with a fact which mili-

ed by

gar

While all geologists are familiar with eel three series of Cretaceous

formations in Alabama and Mississippi, it may be proper for me to men-

tion that Cretaceous deposits of peculiar ionii have been recently dis-

covered by Professor Kerr, at Snow Hill in North Carolina. Under his

guidance, I had the pleasure of visiting the locality, last spring, shortly

after t

After a rather careful BT E of the Tertiary beds £ Mississippi,

I have *found no occasion to take exception to the main conclusion

reached by Dr. Hilgard and Bies in his Geological Report of the sek

n aah to the existence of Mississippi Drift, the subject of more es-

pecial interest at this time, I may say that I find no room for doubt.

prominent features of this formation, as it occurs in Mississippi and Ala-

bama, I had opportunity to study between the years 1847 and 1850. I

then became acquainted with the phenomena, while their explanation has

been only gradually reached by the continued studies of subsequent years.

522 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.

During the past season, I desired, as occasion was afforded, to verify or i

disprove, by an actual list of facts, the previous views in regard to the

question of southern Drift. Taking the circuit of the Atlantic and Gulf

wept and thence proceeding up the valley of the Mississippi, I discovered

t almost every step what to me is unmistakable evidence e glacial

agency, all the way around from Virginia to Illinois. I have studied

the Drift of New England for years, I think I know it in its main one

—typical Drift and modified Drift in most of its varying forms. Now, in

all the states referred to, I found that which I could not distinguish, after

making the necessary allowance for local differences, from New England

rift.

As to the direction in which the agency worked, I find variations which

were, no doubt, eagerly AREN by the face of the country; variations

e indicate that the deposits assumed the form which they now have,

in what was the closing part of the Glacial period, in the Southern States.

The beds seem to go'out in rays from the Appalachian mountains, from

the Blue Ridge towards the Atlantic, in the Gulf States for the most part

southward, and in the Basin of the Mississippi towards the southwest.

Reference having been made to a supposed elevation and depression of

elie

bering that, in the formation of the immense ice-mass that spread over

much of the continent, there must have been a considerable depression of

vat

‘Sion, and a cause sufficient to account for all the manifestations of glacial

agency with which we mee

Prof. E. C. ANDREws said that in the prosecution of the geological sur-

vey of the State of Ohio by Prof. Orton, he found in the Drift deposit,

buried beneath eighty feet of drift material, a peat-bed and a buried forest

Hinincin Ohio. The formation there is coarse gravel and drift aterial,

and I think not stratified.

Prof. Rırcaard OWEN mentioned that it has not been adverted to, that

on the north shore of Lake Superior the rocks which have furnished the

Drift that we find in the whole Mississippi Valley are in sight. Then, 48 .

we go south, these detached boulders are found at first in large, then in

many hundred tons weight down to a ton or two in this region, and final-

ly, south of the Ohio river, weighing only perhaps from one hundred to

one hundred and fifty pounds and those giving place in turn to deposits

in the form of sand, ending finally in beds of sand on the shores of the

Gulf of Mexico. Now, without stopping to advert to the great theory a$

ies Ss as

Tee Cm nga SMe Paty Saas A Aiea oe

80 ae

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 523

to the elevations which brought up the Apallachians and the Rocky Moun-

of Lake Superior, the northern and southern Drift are continuous, becom-

ing smaller as you go south, borne there by the oceanic currents, and

afterward, as the land rose, dropped in the form of fresh water deposits,

accounting for the large boulders in the north, the beds of gravel in the

south, the beds of peat and all the varied et gai that have been ob-

served in connection with the subject of the Dr

Professor HimGarp remarked, in reply, that, in Pe South at least,

achi

ing positio n i

southern stratified Drift corresponded to the ‘ modified Drift” of the

West, though on a very large scale; but it would not do to call it by that

name, which could apply only to a small rtion in the axis of the em-

baydient: Elsewhere it was modified CUNG ola Cretaceous and Ter-

tiary; the materials of these formations having been s aA plowed up

and redeposited farther south by the Drift waters. No na e could be

altogether distinctive and characteristic, yet in this case the PARER

a very great degree, and he thought the name of * Stratified.

Drift” might properly be made to embrace the southern Drift as we ell as

the ‘‘ modified” Drift of the Western States.

t the present time, the winter ice of the ge i frequently runs

past Vicksburg. How much more must the ice-floes and bergs of the

Glacial period have reached at least shat latitude, ae to which we find,

even though rarely, boulders of northern derivation, too ponderous and

too little worn to have been transported by water alone. Quartzite peb-

bles of a couple of pounds weight occur even at the island of Petite Anse,

together with other smaller ones of northern rocks; and a profusion of

those derived from the Grand Gulf rocks, whose nearest outcrop lies

about sixty miles due north.

In ly to a question as to what he now thought of the age of the rock-

salt sépa of Petite Anse, Prof. HıLearD stated that he thought it of the

militated against its connection with any of the Tertiary stages. On the

other hand, the Cretaceous of northern Louisiana was es salt-

524 CARPAL AND TARSAL BONES OF BIRDS.

bearing, and Petite Anse lay right in the line of a series of Cretaceous

te A reov ë

of Calcasieu, between which ee the sulphur bed, are pobre repre-

sented in the Cretaceous of northern Louisiana, while totally foreign to

any of the Tertiary stages; erie although the great gypsum bed has not

aey sen at oe Anse, it lies in the proper line of dip, and seems to .

mplement to be looked for, of the great rocksalt bed. These

‘iia mins hae of proof, it is true, but weigh heavily when we

consider the simplicity of the geological structure of the Mississippi em-

ayment; where departures from the general rule are so unlikely as to

throw the burden of proof upon whosoever maintains their existence.

On THE CARPAL AND ena, Bones or Birps.—By Pror. En-

WARD S. Morse.

Tue author stated that he had followed with great interest the

work of Huxley, Cope, and others in tracing out the ornithic char-

acters in the Dinosauria. While following these relations he had

noticed a marked difference in the characters of the carpus and

tarsus of the two classes. It seemed strange that a group of

bones so persistent in the reptiles as well as in the mammalia

should be so obscure or wanting in birds. Owen objects to the

term tarso-metatarse as he believes the existence of a tarsus has

not been demonstrated. W. S. Parker, in 1861, on the osteology

of Baleeniceps, questions if the lower articular portion of the tibia

is not the homologue of the mammalian astragalus and not an epi-

physis. Gegenbaur has now shown that in one stage of the young

bird there is a proximal tarsal ossicle, and a distal tarsal ossicle,

the first one anchylosing with the tibia, the distal one likewise an-

chylosing with the metatarse. Thus, the term tarso-metatarse is

quite proper. While this was a great step toward a proper under- —

standing of these parts, Mr. Morse believed that a nearer relation

would be found in the discovery of another proximal tarsal bone.

In those reptiles he had examined, whatever the number of tarsal

- bones, there were always in the proximal series one corresponding

to the tibia, and another corresponding to the fibula. He had

found this feature in birds. In studying the embryos of the eave

swallow, bank swallow, king bird, sand piper, black bird, cow

black bird, blue bird, chirping sparrow, yellow warbler, and Wil-

son’s thrush, he had found three distinct tarsal bones, two in the

proximal series answering to the tibia and fibula, and one in the

A RY, Mn ee ee Ee

CARPAL AND TARSAL BONES OF BIRDS. , 325

distal series. The first two early anchylose, and present an hour-

glass-shaped articular surface as Prof. Cope has described in the

astragalus of Lelaps. The final anchylosis of these conjoined

ossicles with the tibia, formed the bicondylar trochlea so peculiar

to the distal end of a bird’s tibia. The distal tarsal ossicle became

united with the proximal ends of the metatarse as has been shown.

In the carpus he had found four perfectly distinct ossicles, the dis-

tal carpal bones becoming united to the base of the mid- and outer

metacarpals, the other two remaining free, though the ulnar carpal

in some cases anchylosed with the ulna. In the king bird and

yellow warbler, he had found a fifth carpal on the radial side.

Mr. Morse also described the pelvic bones of an embryo spar-

row, though he supposed these had already been worked up.

When Professor Morse mentioned his doubt about the natural position

of the ischium of a certain saurian with reference to a lateral process

of the same, Dr. HinGarp remarked that every pelvis consisted, be-

sides the sacrum, of five, not three only, separate bo on either side;

the crista ilei being, in mammals (i.e. young dog), a separate, c ted

(ischium) and second (ileum), respectively, to which they adhere. The

third bone was the os pubis. In birds, the ghana forms a gristle,

which, in ‘‘ spring-chickens,” is seen oaod. a a bone or process, ete.,

connecting the ischium sidewise with the aiia prolongation of the

ileum, and forming a recess for the attachment of a pelvic muscle. In

chickens this bone takes the shape of a PEAR and perhaps the Poly-

nesians found that instrument ready made in the ‘‘spring-dinornis.” It

forms various processes according to the poe location-of its nucleus.

Dr. C. A. Wurre, asked if no care had been made to gion

homologize these carpal and tarsal bones of birds. Since those ad-

jacent both distally and kak had been thus homologized, m seems

as if it would not be pen dificult W do the same for the smaller bones of

the carpus and tars Perhaps they may, just before they anc EET

present Buet viani facettes nek will give a valuable clue ir

special homologies by comparison with similar parts of limbs a mam-

mals, *

526. PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS.

On TAE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE Primary GROUPS OF THE CLASS

or MamMats. By Dr. THEODORE GILL.

Ar the last meeting of the Association, the author made a com-

munication on the classification of mammals, based on facts in

part already become the common property of science, and in part

hitherto unpublished. An abstract-giving the conclusions arrived

at has been published in the American Narurarisr and in the

Proceedings of the Association. Continued researches into the

same subject have confirmed the propriety of the ordinal groups

and the limits then admitted; but have necessitated a different com-

bination of those groups.

The divisions into sub-classes first solidly established by Hux-

ley are retained.

The Placental or Monodelphian mammals are with more propri-

ety combinable into two major groups which correspond; on the

one hand, to the Epucasri1a of Bonaparte, the combined ARCHEN-

CEPHALA and GYRENCEPHALA of Owen, and the combined AR-

cHonts and Mecasruenss of Dana; and on the other hand, to the

Inepucasiria of Bonaparte, the MicrencerHata of Owen and the

Microstuenes of Dana. The characters hitherto used to distin-

guish those groups are however either vague and difficult of appli-

cation, not characteristic, or generally regarded as erroneous. But

positive and easily recognizable characters appear to exist in the

brain which confirm those groups, but which have not hitherto

been regarded, at least in respect to their systematic application.

There has also'always existed cause to deplore the insufficiency

of the characters assigned in the diagnoses of some of the orders

of mammals. After an attentive study of most of the known

forms, the author believes that he has succeeded in finding charac-

ters which at the same time confirm the groups already recognized

and supplement the teleological characters (sometimes of doubt-

ful application or entirely failing) by morphological characters of

more constancy. The revised diagnoses of the orders and -other

primary divisions are submitted in advance of a work now being

printed by the Smithsonian Institution; that work will give the

characters, contrasted in dichotomous tables, of all the groups of

mammals as low as subfamilies and lists of the genera, recent and

extinct. While the author has been dependent, for the most part,

PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS. 527

on the collections of the Smithsonian Institution for his investiga-

tions, he has also visited the museums of the Academy of Natu-

ral Sciences of Philadelphia, the Peabody Academy of Science of

Salem, the Boston Society of Natural History, and the Museum

of Comparative Zoology at.Cambridge.

The relations of the several primary groups of the class may be

more readily understood from a glance at the subjoined table,

which will also serve as a genealogical table for those who accept

the doctrine of evolution. The more generalized forms—and

therefore the quasi-eldest—are represented by the left branches.

It may not be entirely superfluous to remark that adaptive special

modifications must be subordinated to morphological in every

case: it will therefore be understood that although the Cetacean

is, in a teleological sense, the most specialized form of mammals,

it is a divergent from the same common stock as the Carnivores

and other Educabilia, and must be contrasted morphologically with

them alone and not with the rest of the mammals; the bat, an-

other extremely specialized form, is in like manner a derivative

from the same common stock as the Insectivores, and therefore to

be contrasted with them alone.

o> `

ee om

ORNITHODELPHIA. |

DIDELPHIA.

aera >

m |

et ee ` ane ETS

E | E

(Edentate Series.) (Mutilate Series.)

BRUTA. -—-_ooo |

p a A

| I

(Insectivorous Series.) (Rodent Series.)

GLIRES.

(Primate Series.)

PRIMATES.

2 x $ BIRENIA. CETE.

| |

INSECTIVORA. CHIROPTERA. ‘

ARE heer `

| : l.

(Ungulate Series.) (Feral Series.)

| FER.

| | | pE

PROBOSCIDEA. HYRACOIDEA, TOXODONTIA. UNGULATA.

CLASS MAMMALIA.

Abranchiate Vertebrates with a brain whose cerebral hemispheres are

more or less connected (and in nearly inverse ratio) by an anterior com-

528 PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS.

missure, and a supeyior transverse commissure pul SRE the

oe more or anne rooting in ess Mtg cles: the s and heart in the

thora th pa ee paene PEE

aorta minea and reflected over the left beaientis: blood with red non-

maleated blood-corpuscles undergoing a complete circulation; entirely re-

eived and transmitted by the right half of the quadrilocular heart to the

ungs for aeration soy thus warmed), and afterwards returned by the

se half through the system. Skull with two condyles, chiefly devel-

oped on the Said elements (one on each side of the foramen mag-

ith the malleus and incus superadded as specialized auditory

rami) a

ped as hai ev T

minute egg: young nourished a birth 2 a fuid a secreted in pe-

culiar glands (mammary) by the mother.

SUB-CLASS MONODELPHIA,

Brain with the cerebral hemispheres connected by a more or less well-

developed corpus Sonate composed of a body as well as a folded psal-

` terial pai and a reduced anterior commissure; with a well pbs!

ay Sternum ik no element in front of the manubrium or prester-

Coracoid not connected with the sternum, but early satoi

<i and developed as a simple process of the scapula. Oviducts de-

bouching into a single vagina. Testes variable in position, but the vasa

deferentia open directly or indirectly into a distinct and complete uretha,

(and not into a cloacal cavity). Ureters discharge directly into the blad-

der the renal secretion, which thence passes into the uretha. Mammary

oo epee from the allantois) till birth. Scrotum never in front of

penis

Super-Order Educabilia.

Brain with a relatively large cerebrum, behind overlapping much or

all of the cerebellum, and in front much or all of the olfactory lobes;

corpus callosum (attypically) continued horizontally backwards to or be-

yond the vertical of the hippocampal sulcus, developing in front a well-

defined recurved rostrum.

(EDUCABILIA QUADRIPEDIA.)

Posterior members and pelvis well developed. Periotic and tympanic

bones articulated with the squamosal.

(Primate Series.)

I. ORDER PRIMATES.

embers almost or entirely exserted outside of the common abdominal

reas. Digits with corneous appendages developed as claws (i. €.

PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS. 529

compressed) or, attypically, as nails (i. e. depressed). First digit (great

rise toa hippos pus minor within the posterior cornu of t Caii

by which the posterior lobe of the cerebrum is traversed. us of three

namel; mola ooted. Incis four w: etypically, two

all — in upper jaw suppressed. Placenta EAS disco

Contains eight families, representing two sub-or APAE

with five families, and LEMUROIDEA with three nanittie. S.

(Feral Series.)

II. ORDER FER.

Legs with the proximal joints (humerus and femur) more or less

inclosed in the common abdominal integumen. Digits with corneous

appendages developed as claws: first digit of hind foot attypically re-

ee kin

molars settee adapted E carnivorous diet, o Pms ormore in e

jaw being sectorial, followed by tubercular ones. yee rah ovpicalty

six in each jaw, szaupann sity two or more suppressed. Placenta de-

ciduate, zonary. Scaphoid and lunar consolidated into one bone.

Contains twenty families, representing two sub-orders : CARNIVORA Or

Fisstpep1a, with seventeen fa oe four of which are extinct, and

PINNIPEDIA with three familie

(Ungulate Series.)

Legs with the nage joints more or less inclosed in the common

abdominal integu Digits with corneous ,appendages developed as

hoofs. r SSAB accu Teeth of three kinds (canines and incis-

ors oO set exceptionally in part undeveloped), all encased in

f ond

mel: PEREA attypically with grinding surfaces. Scaphoid and lunar

III. ORDER UNGULATA.

Incisors ADOTE $. often, PERON in the upper jaw, re-

duced in number or wholly suppressed : implanted by simple roots) with

incisorial crowns. at with inferior (or, rather, posterior) surfaces with

e cuboid as well as navicular: toes (not more than four —d 2 to d5—

completely developed) with terminal joints encased in thick hoofs. Pla-

centa non-deciduate (diffuse or cotyledonary).

530 PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS.

Contains twenty-nine magic ul Se two sub-orders; ARTIO-

DACTYLI, With nineteen families ich eight are extinct, and PERISSO-

DACTYLI With ten families, of wettest seven are extinct.

IV. ORDER TOXODONTIA.

Incisors (£ or 4, variable as to insertion), with incisorial crowns.

Feet? carpal bones? hind foot with the astragalus at its anterior portion

piney obliquely eres articulating in front only with the navicular;

(calcaneum with an extensive upwards surface for the articulation of t

fibula, a with a large niera process DEEDAR in front with the as-

tragalus. Molars of upper jaw, broad and extending into an externo-

anterior angle; of lower jaw, narrow and acs. in a uniform row).

Contains two families, both of which are extinct

V. ORDER HYRACOIDEA.

Incisors G) of upper jaw next to symphysis (with persistent pulps)

long and curved; those of lower jaw straight and normal. Feet with

(and articulating with magnum), and affording an enlarged surface of at-

tachment forwards for the "Wigs (which is antrorsely twisted) ; unciform

and lunar separated by the interposition of the cuneiform and magnum

ular; toes (four to the front feet, three to the hind) with terminal pha-

langes encased in hoofs (inner nail of hind foot curved). Placenta

"aaa nary

tains one hin,

VI. ORDER PROBOSCIDEA.

neisors (3, or, in extinct forms, $ or 2, renewed from persistent

pulps,) developed as long. tusks auriei outwards. Feet with palmar and

plantar surfaces invested in extended pad-like integuments, which also

underlie the toes: carpal bones in two regular (not inte Hocking) rows,

broad and short; cuneiform extended inwards —broad, and furnishing an

enlarged surface of attachment forwards for the ulna (which $ e e

ed). Unciform dire in front of cuneiform, um

uced eiform, and mag

directly in front of lunar: hind foot with the astragalus at its anterior

portion very short (convex,) and not deflected inwards, articulating in

onary. nout

produced into a very long proboscis. Legs mostly exserted outside the

abdominal integument; and with the proximal and succeeding joints ex-

tensible in the same line.

Contains two families, one of which is extinct.

(EDUCABILIA MUTILA TA.)

. (Mutilate Series.y

Posterior members and pelvis more or less completely atrophied; the

PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS. 531

form of the body being fish-like, aerate with a horizontal tail, and

specialized for progression in the water. Periotic and tympanic bones

anchylosed together, but not with sie squamosal.

VII. ORDER SIRENIA.

Brain narrow. Skull with the foramen magnum bream pmnp

what downwards: supra-occipital nearly vertical and not extending

T T the parietals meeting and interposed between it nae é fron-

iotic with a posterior et rounded part; tympanic an-

ie orm. Lower jaw with well-developed ascending rami and normal

transverse condyles and coronoid processes. Lateral teeth. molar, and

e m

aed

» With the adjoining ones; and with normal digits. Mamme two, pectoral.

Heart deeply fissured Neca the vent ri icles

Contains four families one of which i$ datadi; and another probably,

extinct.

VIII. ORDER CETE.

rain pae Skull with the foramen magnum entirely posterior,

directed somewhat upwards BREE very large, sloping ee

ae (attyp PONE sition ti torwa rds, over or between the fronta Peri-

otic attenuated backwards; tympan e solia, entire. Lower ee with no

ascending ramus, with its n UBTOW PERS s at the posterior extremities

de u

bones and phalanges often separated by cartilage; and with the sec-

ond digit composed of more than three phalanges. Mamme two, in-

guinal.

Contains ten families, representing ret gr ZEUGLODONTIA

with two families, both extinct; DENTICETĖ with six families, one of

which is extinct; and MYSTICETE with es aii

Super-Order Ineducabilia.

Brain with a relatively small cerebrum, leaving behind much of the

cerebellum exposed, and in front much of the olfactory lobes: corpus

the vertical of the hippocampal sulcus, with no well defined rostrum in

front. -

(Insectivorous Series.)

Teeth encased in enamel: incisors (very variable as to number) without

persistent pulps: canines present (but sometimes modified in form) : mo-

lars attypically with pointed cusps. Lower jaw with condyles transverse,

received into special condyloid sockets. Placenta discoidal deciduate.

scenester emda VOL. Y. 34

532 PRIMARY GROUPS OF MAMMALS.

IX. ORDER CHIROPTERA.

Anterior members adapted for flight: the ulna and radius being

united, and the metacarpal bones and phalanges — 2d to 5th — much elon-

sides of the body, and extending backwards on the hind members, down

to their tarsi. Mamme pectoral.

Contains nine families representing two sub- aoa FRUGIVORA with

one family, and INSECTIVORA With eight famili

X. ORDER INSECTIVORA.

Anterior as well as posterior members adapted for ae on land:

the ulna and radius entirely or adad separated: metacarpal bones and

yi normally developed. ` Mammæ abdominal.

Contains ten families referable to ie sub-orders; DERMAPTERA, With

one Aay and GRADIENTIA, With nine families, one of which is extinct.

(Rodent Series.)

XI. ORDER GLIRES.

Teeth encased in enamel: incisors (2; exceptionally, also two sup-

plementary posterior teeth, ) ale rena ar from persistent.pulps

growing in a circular direction: canines null: molars attypically with

ridged surfaces. Lower jaw with condyles longitudinal and not received

in special condyloid antics! but gliding freely bac eines and forwards.

Members and feet ambulatorial. Placenta discoidal econ

: ontains sixteen families, representing two sub-orders: cee

TATI, with fourteen families, and DUPLICIDENTATI, with two families.

: (Edentate Series).

XII. ORDER BRUTA.

Teeth (when developed) not encased in enamel: incisors typically

absent (lateral present in Dasypus): molars variable: members and feet

ambulatorial (modified often for grasping and digging). Placenta vari-

able Scene — in Orycteropodide and Dasypodide ; diffuse decid-

uat Manididæ de

and coyledonous non-deciduate? in "Bra dypodide).

ns nine finitinn: Scien five sub-orders ERMILINGUIA,;

with one family ; SQUAMATA, with one family ; PONENT, with one family ;

TORDIGRADA, with two ionien, one of which is extinct, and DORICATA,

with three families, one of which is extinct; also one extinct family of

undetermined affinities.

SUB-CLASS DIDELPHIA.

Brain with the cerebral hemispheres chiefly connected by a well-devel-

oped anterior co corpus callosum being rudimentary, and

with a moderately developed septum. Sternum with no element in front

of the ma coid not connected with the sternum, but early

anchylosed with and developed as a simple process of the scapula. Ovi-

ducts debouching into separate vaginas. Testes chiefly abdominal; vasa

RELATIONS OF ANOMIA. 533

deferentia opening into a distinct urethra. Ureters discharge directly

into the bladder the renal secretion, which thence passes into the ure-

centa with the mother, but attached by her to the nipple when born, from

which the milk is forced by herself into the mouth of the young. Scro-

tum in front of penis.

XIII. ORDER MARSUPIALIA.

Only order of the sub-class. Contains thirteen families, sae to

four sub-orders: RHIZOPHAGA, with one family; SYNDACTYLI, with seven

families, two of which are extinct; SarcormaGa, with two fa iaeoe

CHIROPODaA with one family; also two extinct families of doubtful mnt.

ties. :

SUB-CLASS ORNITHODELPHIA.

Brain with the cerebral yoppa chiefly connected by a well de-

veloped anterior commissure, the corpus callosum being very rudimen-

tary, and with no defined psalterial bund with the septum very mu

reduced in size. (Flower.) Sternum with a peculiar ame sal

(the episternum or interclavicle) in advance of the manubri ale

rnum. oracoid extending from the clavicle to the ene Tado

towards maturity anchylosed with the scapula. The oviducts, alad

below into uterine pouches, but opening separately from one another, as

in oviparous vertebrates, debouch, not into a distinct vagina, but into a

cloacal chamber, common to the urinary and genital products, and to the

fæces. Testes abdominal in Sethe throughout life, and the vasa defer-

entia open into the cloaca, and not into a distinct urethral passage. Ure-

ters pour the renal secretion, not into the bladder, which is connected with

the upper extremity of the cloaca, but into the latter cavity itself. Mam-

mary glands with no distinct nipples. (Huxley.)

XIV. ORDER MONOTREMATA.

Only order of the sub-class. Contains two families.

On THE RELATIONS or ANomrA.— By Pror. EDWARD S. Morse.

Tuts peculiar genus of Lamellibranch mollusks included also

Terebratula according to the early writers on the subject. Misled

by external characters, Linnæus, Lamarck and others believed

these two forms closely related. While not the slightest ground

existed for bringing them together, yet the mere fact of these two

animals being enclosed within a limy shell composed of two pieces,

held to the rock by a process which passed out through that ele-

ment of the shell which was below, was sufficient proof of their

kinship, at least to those who were ready to judge everything

534 RELATIONS OF ANOMIA.

by external characters. The whales among fishes, the barnacles

among mollusks, were only some of the many blunders made by

this superficial way of comparison. And now after the structure

of Brachiopods is well known, and all admit the valves to be dor-

sal and ventral, while the valves of Anomia are right and left,

and after the splendid memoirs of Lacaze-Duthiers on the anatomy

of Anomia has shown that the nearest relations are with the oyster

and pecten, there are still several zoologists who vaguely imagine

that some sort of relationship exists between Terebratula and

Anomia. This brief communication is made to settle the ques-

tion with those who never care to go more than shell deep in the

subject, for unfortunately the author had only the empty shells to

work upon. It will also verify the statement made by Forbes and

Hanley in their standard work on the British Mollusca, where the

shelly plug which escapes from the sinus in the flat valve to hold

the body to its base of attachment is compared to a byssus.

They say ‘‘ When the very young fry of this genus shall have been

carefully observed, we believe they will be found spinning a

byssus, which passing through this sinus fixes the shell in the first

instance, before a portion of it becomes attached, eventually be-

comes detached with a part of the adductor muscle and forms

the opercular process.” Lacaze-Duthiers in his examination of the

adult form refers to these statements and oe his belief in

their correctness.

In examining some sea-weed éotlectel by a friend last spring

I found a lot of the young of Anomia. In these the sinus was

not closed, but open toward the anterior margin. The nucleus

presented an elongate oval shell larger behind ; the beaks nearer the

anterior, and no sign of a perforation. The shape was more like

that of Montacuta, and the lines of growth were regular and dis-

tinct. On the right valve at its lower margin was seen a slight

notch, and the few last incremental lines indicated that the notch

was made in the last stages of the nucleus. It can only be con-

ceived that the animal before this was a rover, that it then com-

menced to fix a byssus, the animal dropping to one side and the

notch caused by the lowermost valve growing around it, the other

valve showing no signs of this notch. So soon however as the shell

rested upon one side a different growth took place, a loose-tex-

tured, colorless deposit rapidly formed, the outline becoming grad-

ually circular and the lowermost or right valve growing rapidly

EOZOON CANADENSE. 535

behind and downward, then forward and upward, the byssal attach-

ment soon became enclosed in a wide foramen, this extension ulti-

mately reaching the umbones of the larval shell to which it unites.

From these facts it will be seen that it presents not even the re-

motest resemblance to the Brachiopods, but that the young shell

has all the proportions of a Bimyarian, and its affinities may be

quite remote from Ostrea or Pecten. A study of the early stages

of these last named genera would easily settle all these points.

Ox Eozoon CANADENSE IN THE CrysTALLINE LIMESTONES OF

Massacuusetts. By L. S. BURBANK.

Tue limestone deposits here referred to, occur in the band of

granitic gneiss which extends in a southwesterly direction from

near the mouth of the Merrimack river through the.entire breadth

of the State, and includes the well known mineral localities of

Bolton, Boxboro’ and Chelmsford.

Soon after the discovery of Hozoon Canadense by Mr. Bicknell,

in the serpentine limestone of Newbury, it was also identified by

Dr. Dawson in specimens collected by me at Chelmsford; as no-

ticed by Dr. Hunt in the “ American Journal of Science” for Janu-

ary, 1870. The specimens then examined were not from the rock in

place, but were obtained from some outlying masses near one of

the quarries. These discoveries led me to make a further exami-

nation of several of the old limestone quarries in the same for-

mation. The eozoonal rock was then found in place at several of

the quarries, and its position in relation to the other rocks ob-

served.

At all the quarries the limestone has been so thoroughly ex-

hausted, that the limits of its extent at the surface can be readily

traced. The relations of the limestone to the enclosing rocks can

thus be easily seen. `

By the careful study of these relations, and by reference to

many specimens collected and facts observed, the following con-

clusions have been reached.

1. These limestones are not true stratified rocks laid down with

the gneiss, but are subsequent deposits of a vein-like character.

The fact that some of the deposits appear to be interstratified

with the gneiss, and also are found along a line apparently coin-

ciding with the strike of the strata, may seem to indicate that

536 EOZOON CANADENSE.

they are parts of original strata included in the gneiss; but their

position may also be explained in accordance with another theory,

in support of which. I shall offer some evidence.

2. The principal deposits occur along the line of an anticlinal,

filling cavities produced by the folding and the falling, down of por-

tions of the included strata of the gneiss. The anticlinal position

is most clearly shown at Chelmsford, where there are four veins

or. masses of the limestone, in two lines coinciding with the strike

of the gneiss.

These lines are about half a mile apart; extending in a north-

east and southwest direction ; the strike, as observed by the com-

pass, being north 65° east. The strata of the gneiss dip in

opposite directions from these lines; toward the northwest at an

angle of about 65°, to the southeast at an angle varying from about

70° to a nearly vertical position.

The deposits are all of very limited extent, the largest being

at the surface not more than two hundred and twenty feet in

length, and about sixty feet in width, including the intervening

bands of gneiss.

The aggregate length of all the limestone deposits that occur

along a line of some twenty-five miles in length, is probably less

than one thousand feet.

The vein-like character of the limestone is most plainly shown

in one of the abandoned quarries in Chelmsford. The deposits |

here occur in two principal veins extending in the direction of the

strike of the strata to about two hundred feet in length. The

structure here plainly shows that cavities which ‘have become

filled with the limestone were formed by the folding and faulting

of the strata of gneiss. The masses of limestone are separated

by strata of gneiss which are also folded and arched over, en-

closing cavities filled with the limestone. :

At one of the quarries it can be seen that the limestone rested

against the irregularly fractured ends of strata of gneiss, which

fill a small space in one of the excavations, completely dividing

the limestone into two masses.

That the limestone was deposited in cavities mostly closed at

the top, which have since been uncovered and exposed at the sur-

face by the denuding action of the drift, seems to me a reasonable

deduction from the facts observed.

It is worthy of note that the gneiss of the enclosing walls of

EOZOON CANADENSE. 537

the cavities, and that of the dividing bands and the projecting

masses nearly enclosed by the limestone, —is all of the same char-

acter with that of the surrounding strata’not adjacent to the

quarry.

In the direction of the strike of the strata also, at a few yards

distance from the quarries, the common rock of the region is found

with apparently no traces of calcareous matter. In the line along

which most of the quarries occur, there are intervals of several

miles where no traces of limestone have been found, though the

ledges are exposed at the surface in numerous places.

The central and principal part of the mass which filled the veins

and pockets.and constituted the bulk of the deposit, was a coarsely

erystalline magnesian limestone, homogeneous in structure and show-

ing no traces of stratification. In examining numerous specimens

of this limestone from the different quarries, I have found in it no

traces of the eozoonal structure.

The various silicates which form the large number of distinct

minerals for which these localites are noted, occur only attached to,

or near, the enclosing walls of the cavities, and generally in bands

or layers, though sometimes irregularly distributed. They are

found generally in pretty regular succession. A network of inter-

lacing crystals of actinolite, with smoky quartz, calcite and phlog-

opite, may be seen attached to the walls; and passing inward

_ there are found pyroxene, scapolite, apatite, boltoyjte, fine fibrous

tremolite, etc.: and also green serpentine in irregular bands or

layers, traversed by narrow seams of chrysotile; or scattered

through the rock in irregular rounded grains and masses, with in-

tervening spaces filled with calcite.

In these portions of calcite are found the radiating and branch-

ing forms that have been identified and described as belonging to

thé structure of Eozoon. The granules of serpentine are some-

times arranged quite regularly in concentric lines, but more com-

monly appear irregularly scattered and varying indefinitely in form

and size.

Some of the. specimens from Chelmsford show masses of the

serpentine intersected by narrow seams of chrysotile, and attached

to portions of the rock in which the decalcified spaces show the

tubuli in great abundance, attached to the serpentine grains as

if growing out from their surfaces. Some of the grains are sur-

rounded by a fibrous layer, closely resembling the “true celj

538 EOZOON CANADENSE.

wall” of Eozoon as I have seen it in the Canadian specimens.

The surfaces of many of the grains are covered with acicular crys-

tals penetrating the calcite. Some of these, as they extend into

the calcite, become rounded and curved, losing the acicular

character.

In nearly all the specimens examined, bundles of acicular fibres,

apparently of tremolite, are scattered abundantly in the calcite.

n some portions of the rock the serpentine appears embedded

in the limestone in definite crystalline forms, apparently pseudo-

morphs of chrysolite, or boltonite. In the quarries of Boxboro

and Carlisle, cinnamon garnet is abundant, associated with scap-

olite and green pyroxene or coccolite, with calcite. L have exam-

ined the calcite of many of these specimens for traces of. the

eozoonal structure, but, so far, with negative results. In fact, so

far as I have observed, the tubuli invariably occur in the rock as-

sociated with serpentine.

Some facts have been stated in this communication for which

I offer no theories in explanation. I do not claim a sufficient

knowledge of the Foraminifera to found any argument upon the

microscopic appearances that I have observed, nor do I mean now

to enter into a discussion of the general question as to the true

character of the Hozoon Canadense, as described by Carpenter

and Dawson.

I am unable, however, to reconcile the facts here stated with —

the theory that the form in these rocks which have been identi-

fied as belonging to the structure of Eozoon, are of organic origin.

On the other hand, it appears to me not unreasonable to infer

that the so-called “tubuli” that are so abundant in these rocks,

are semi-crystalline forms that have been deposited with the serpen-

tine and other minerals on the walls of the cavities, by infiltration

of waters charged with mineral matters.

Professor Perry said :—I desire to bear testimony to the PARA cor-

rectness of the statements made by Mr. Burbank.

Tn addition to the evidence given by hin, I would refer tothe fact that

the limestones under consideration cpt ee with breaks and

other irregularities in the enclo. osing mass of gnei I may also state

that in some places calcareous veins which Diny. aronended from the

main masses of limestone, may be seen ramifying portions of the walls

that form the cavities.

As geologists have generally supposed that all thnaa are stratified

rocks, a few words may be needful on this point, especially, as serving to

Soe p e

EOZOON LIMESTONE OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 539

meet the objection in this direction which is likely to occur to many

minds. Dr. Emmons, as most no doubt are aware, endeavored to show

that limestones occur as intrusive masses as well as in stratified bed

Commencing my study of the limestones connected with the foliated se-

ries of rocks in the light of this view, I finally became convinced in

and during the same year set forth in a series of lectures, that some of

these limestones have a vein-like structure, and should be regarded as

true vein-stones.

Such limestones are to be met with in association with the foliated rocks

both of eastern and western Vermont, and in various parts of Massa-

chusetts. They also occur among the Adirondacks. Limestones of this

character, hand-specimens of which cannot be distinguished by the naked

eye from specimens of stratified Silurian limestones, are likewise found

in Vermont and elsewhere in the form of dikes. In most of these cases

“

vein-like way by gradual deposition extending from the enclosing walls

toward the centres of what once were cavities. Similar masses of cal-

careous vein-stone are to be met with in St. Lawrence County, N. Y.,

and in some other places, penetrating beds of sandstone.

These, and similar cases which might be readily cited, are suited to re-

move the objection that limestones are always stratified rocks. At the

same time the occurrence of undoubled Eozoon Canadense in calcareous

‘vein-stones of eastern Massachusetts tends not only to disprove the an-

imal origin of the specimens from the localities under consideration, but

also to involve in doubt the organic character of the Eozoon generally.

On tHe Eozoon LIMESTONE OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. — By

Pror. J. B. Perry. :

Havine about ten years ago, made out that some of the lime- —

stones associated with the foliated rocks in Vermont and New

York, are vein-stones, I have eyer been skeptical in regard to the

supposed organic nature of the Eozoon. As I had more recently

satisfied myself that limestones in Stoneham, Newbury, and sev-

eral other places in eastern Massachusetts are also vein-rocks, I at

once, on the announcement of the discovery of Eozoon in the

limestones of Newbury, discredited its assumed organic charac-

ter, on the ground of its occurrence in calcareous masses of a

vein-like origin. On hearing of a like discovery in Chelmsford,

and seeing a specimen, I had‘ a similar conviction ; and this I im-

mediately expressed in one of the lectures which I was then de-

livering in course, and was able fully to confirm by personal exami-

nation, on visiting the quarry a few months later, in company with

my friend Mr. Burbank, of Lowell, who had before and has since

540 EOZOON LIMESTONE OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS.

devoted himself assiduously to the study of the roeks-in his neigh-

borhood. ;

The limestones in which the so-called Eozoon is found, as

should be borne in mind, do not occur in a continuous line, as is

usual in stratified rocks. They are isolated masses, often having a

lenticular shape, and are found only at irregular intervals. Those

at Chelmsford occupy, or rather occupied (for they have been

largely removed) cavities, or oven-shaped spaces, formed by the

disturbance of the overlying gneiss. In places, the gneiss now so

overarches some of the cavities, and it evidently once so over-

arched them all, as to make it impossible that fossils, or any other

solid foreign bodies, could have been carried in and deposited in

a continuous series, beneath the summits and all along the sides’

of the arches.

Again, these calcareous masses have that banded structure

which is peculiar to veins. There is, moreover, connected with

this structure a succession of minerals, showing that the deposi-

tion must have taken place gradually, one layer succeeding another

from the sides of the cavities toward the centres, until the central

Spaces were finally filled. Once more, these layers exactly con-

form with the most abrupt irregularities of the enclosing gneiss,

while portions of the limestone in given instances clearly ramify,

in a vein-like way, the walls which form the cavities.

Such are some of the points characteristic of these calcareous

vein-stones. That the limestones of Chelmsford have truly a

vein-like structure should be evident from what has been said, and

especially, from an examination of the same and of similar rocks

_as they occur in place. The question as to their origin, whether

by infiltration, segregation, or sublimation, I leave undiscussed for

the present.

Now it is a fact, that genuine Eozoon — Eozoon which is recog-

nized as genuine by those who hold to its organic nature — actu-

ally occurs in these limestones.

Thus, an enigma is asking for solution — an enigma involving

difficulties not easily answered, and imposing a task not readily

performed, in consistency with the‘commonly received views of

this strange fossil form. Indeed, the fact that genuine Eozoon

occurs in these calcareous vein-stones, under the conditions indi-

cated, raises an important question which I leave those conversant

with Eozoon structure to solve as best they are able. While it in-

chee

jers

GEOLOGICAL MAP AND SECTION OF THE ROCKS OF MISSOURI. 541

dicates that the so-called Eozoon of Chelmsford is not of animal

origin, it at the same time casts discredit upon the organic char-

acter of the ‘‘Eozoon” generally, and fixes the burden of proof

upon its advocates. It also certainly suggests that the resem-

blance which the ‘‘ Eozoon” has to animal structure is, like that

of Dendrites to vegetable forms, merely the result of chemical

agency.

REMARKS ON THE GroLoGIcAL MAP AND SECTION OF THE Rocks

or Missourt.— By Pror. G. C. SwaLttow

Ir was his object to put on record some of the general results

of the Geological Survey of Missouri made by himself and his able

assistants (one of whom, Dr. B. F. Shumard, is now dead.) Since

the interruption of the survey by the late civil war there has been

no opportunity offered for the publication of the results.

The survey was most minute and carefully made, and the re-

sults the same as represented by the section and map before us.

The boundaries of the formation save in eight or thirteen counties

are accurate and all the formations are as delineated by the section

running through all the great systems known to American geology.

Some of the results in Economical Geology were mentioned.

There are twenty-seven thousand square miles of Coal Measures

containing at least twenty coal beds, one at least of the block

coal. Large deposits of specular, hematite, bay and spathic

ores were mentioned. The mineral regions containing mines of

lead, zine, cobalt, nickel and copper cover an area of about eight

thousand square miles; all but two hundred square miles in the

Magnesian Limestone series (of the Potsdam and Calciferous ages)

and two hundred square miles at Granly in the lower Carbonif-

erous rocks. Lead and zine often cut the coal beds in their

vertical veins.

The Potsdam Sandstone rests nonconformably upon the Azoic

stratified slates of Pilot Knob. Hence Pilot Knob.

Prof. E. W. HILGARD inquired of Prof. Swallow whether the chalky

siliceous beds in southeastern Missouri, conjectured to be of cretaceous

age, did not occasionally contain grains of glauconite, black sand and

obscure casts of shells.

Upon Prof. Swallow replying in the affirmative, Prof. HILGARD S tated

that while such materials were altogether foreign to the Cretaceous pars

of the adjoining states of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, a narrow

542 THE GREAT MOUND ON THE ETAWAH RIVER.

of pagi such deposits frequently bordered the zk Tertiary

the tter states. Occasionally, they expand into larger out-

ae eg aie the lithological character ee fossils of the Buhr- ie

group, the lowest of the marine Eocenes which he considers as the equiv-

alent in time, of the lignitic beds of Tennessee, Arkansas and North Mis-

sissippi.

THe Great Mounp on THE Erawan RIVER, NEAR CARTERSVILLE,

Grorcia.— By Cor. CHARLES WHITTLESEY.

Tis mound is situated on the river bottom, on the north bank,

about three miles below where the railroad from Chattanooga to

Atlanta crosses the Etawah river. Its base is an irregular figure,

five hundred and eighty-five poles in circumference, covering about

three acres. The bottom on which it stands is elevated eighteen

to twenty-three feet above low water, and is seldon invaded by

high water in any'part. The mound is truncated, nearly flat on

the top, which embraces about an acre of ground. This area is

elevated fifty feet above the base, and seventy-three feet above low

water. There is no high land within a quarter of a mile on either

side of the river. Its slopes are very perfect and steep. Bushes,

grass, vines, shrubs and trees grow luxuriantly on its sides and

the level space on the top is annually planted in corn or cotton.

There is a broad ramp or road fifty feet wide, commencing at the

southeast corner which winds around the southerly face bending to

the right, and reaches the summit on the west side. It has an

easy grade for footmen and horses, but is too steep for vehicles.

The mass of this mound I estimate at about one hundred and

twenty thousand cubic yards, or about four-fifths of the contents

of the British earth pyramid raised on the field of Waterloo. Ris-

ing over the alluvial valley where it is isolated it has an impres-

sive aspect, like that of the pyramids of Egypt on a sandy desert.

This valley, however, is everywhere rich and beautiful.

Like some of the larger pyramids it has two smaller ones which

appear to be tenders. One is a square, truncated pyramid which

stands one hundred feet east of the foot of the ramp and is

twenty-two feet high, its flat top being about eighty feet on a side ;

its slopes, steep and perfect like the great mound. To this one

there is no ramp or place of ascent.

The other is about one hundred feet due south of the southwest

corner of the great mound, and is of about the same dimensions

THE GREAT MOUND ON THE ETAWAH RIVER. 543

but has on its east side a ramp or graded way by which to ascend

to the flat space on the top. Its sides and that of the other ten-

der are from five to ten degrees west of the magnetic meridian.

All of this group are composed of the rich black alluvial earth

of the adjacent bottom, with occasional lumps of red clay which

constitutes the base of the river terraces that border the valley.

About two hundred yards from the mounds on the north there are

the remains of a ditch which has been mostly obliterated by culti-

vation and which encircles the group in a circular form a distance

of about one-fourth of a mile, coming to the river below but not

ove. Within and without the trace of this ditch which the

owner says had an interior embankment, there are low mounds

partly plowed down. Near its upper or the easterly end, there are

two large, oblong pits from which a part of the earth of the

mounds may have been taken.

There are other small mounds in the valley below on both sides

of the river. The valley is bordered by limestone bluffs about

two miles apart which rise two hundred to two hundred and fifty

feet above the river. On a rocky summit about two miles west of

the great mound is what is called the ‘* Stone Fort.” It consists

of a wall or heap of loose blocks of limestone surrounding the

summit in an oval form, the largest diameter of the enclosure

being two hundred and twenty poles. There are numerous open-

ings in it at irregular intervals, some of them fifty feet broad.

The space around the crown of the hill is clear of loose stones and

this explains the existence of the wall, which has the appearance

of a stone fence fallen down.

It does not have the appearance of a fort or stronghold, but of

a high place dedicated to imposing ceremonies to which the people

came up in all directions through the openings or passes in the

line of stones. Probably, it was then as now covered with oaks.

The crown of the hill is about fifty feet above the encircling wall,

and presents from its summit a view of the valley and the country

opposite that is hardly equalled for scenic beauty.

It is probably the work of the red man of our times and has no

connection with the great mound or its builders.

Professor W. C. Kerr said there is a mound quite similar to the one

just described by Col. Whittlesey, in the valley of the Tennessee river,

in Macon County, N. C., with sides equally steep, and outlines equally

well preserved, of its use, date of construction, or its builders there

544 ANCIENT ROCK INSCRIPTIONS IN OHIO.

exists no tradition in the region. Its form is the frustum of a cone,

whose base is about seventy-five feet in diameter, and top about fifty, and

its height thirty or forty feet. It stands on the alluvial river-bottom, and

was doubtless built of the same material, although all signs of excavation

for this purpose have been entirely obliterated by subsequent deposition.

On digging into this pile, nothing was found which could throw any light

on its history. Bi

Prof. G. C. SWALLOW remarked that Hon. Godfrey Lesceur, grandson

Indians had a curious tradition respecting the mound b s ey said

“ We did not build the mounds, we came is (Mississippi) valley fr

the nor

st. Here we found a quiet, peaceable people cultivating

the soil and living in communities, and having mounds for the Great

Spirit and burial. They begged us to leave them, as there was eountry

to the northeast. We went, but found the country poorer, and after a

time returned and drove out the mound builders, who went to the south-

by fire; at least those in North Madrid, Mexico, as remains of the

charred wood-work still exist in the mounds.

Ancient Rock Inscrivrions 1N Ono. — By CoL. C. WHITTLESEY.

SEVERAL diagrams were presented to the section representing

rock sculptures in Ohio, that are presumed to be ancient and to

have some significance. The largest is a tracing made by Dr. J.

H. Salisbury, of Cleveland, with the assistance of Mrs. Salisbury,

from a mural face of conglomerate, near the famous “ Black

Hand” in Licking County, O. Once there was a space of ten or

twelve feet in height, by fifty or sixty feet in length, covered by

these inscriptions. Most of them have been obliterated by the re-

cent white settlers.

In 1861, Dr. Salisbury took copies from a space about eight by

fifteen feet, by laying a piece of coarse muslin over them, and

tracing such as remain uninjured, life-size, on the cloth. In this

Space there are found to be twenty-three characters, most of which

are the arrow-head or bird-track character. These are all cut on

the edge of the strata, presenting a face nearly vertical, but 4

little shelving outward, so as to be sheltered by the weather.

Another copy of the remnants of similar inscriptions was taken

by Col. Whittlesey and Mr. J. B. Comstock, in 1869, from the

“Turkey Foot Rock,” at the rapids of the Maumee, near Perrys-

SEES Ron |

Reh Sei eR! Ste re l

eee EA a TSE A ENE

E ON E h Viae = A A EE E T

ANCIENT ROCK INSCRIPTIONS IN OHIO. 545

burg. These are on a block of limestone, and in the course of the

twenty-five past years have been nearly destroyed by the hand

of man. What is left was taken by a tracing of the size of nature.

On the surface of a quarry of grindstone grit at Independence,

Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a large inscribed surface was uncovered

in 1854. Mr. B. Wood, Deacon Bicknell, and other citizens of

Independence, secured a block about six feet by four, and built it

into the north wall of a stone church they were then building. Col.

Whittlesey presented a reduced sketch, one-fourth size of nature,

taken by Dr. Salisbury and Dr. J. M. Lewis, in 1869, which was

made perfect by the assistance of a photographer. Some of the

figures sculptured on this slab are cut an inch to an inch and a

half in the rock, and they were covered by soil a foot to eighteen

inches in thickness, on which large trees were growing. Like all

of the others they were made by a sharp-pointed tool like a pick,

but as yet no such tool has been found among the relics of the

mound-builders or of the Indians. The figures are very curious.

Among them is something like a trident, or fish-spear, a serpent,

a human hand, and a number of track-like figures, which the peo-

ple call buffalo-tracks, but Dr. Salisbury regards as a closer repre-

sentation of a human foot covered by a shoe-pack or moccasin.

Another figure somewhat resembles the section of a bell with its

clapper.

Near the west line of Belmont County, Ohio, Mr. James W.

Ward, then of Cincinnati, now of New York, in'1859, took a sketch

of two large isolated sandstone rocks, on which are groups of

ures similar to those already noticed. Here are the bird-track

characters, the serpent, the moccasin or buffalo-tracks, and some

anomalous figures. These are plainly cut, with a pick, into the

surface of the rock, which, like the Independence stone, is sub-

stantially imperishable. Here we have also the representation of

the human foot, and thé foot of a bear. Another figure, which

appears to be the foot of some animial with four cluinpy toes,

Professor Cope thinks may be the foretrack of a Menopome. One,

peculiarity of these sculptured human feet is, a monstrously en-

larged great-toe joint, even greater than is produced by the modern

process of shoe-pinching. This has been observed in other ancient

carvings of the human foot upon the rocks near St. Louis, Mis-

souri. These feet range in size from seven to fifteen inches in

length. Of all these representations, the bear’s foot is closest to

546 ANCIENT. ROCK INSCRIPTIONS IN OHIO.

nature. The bird-track, so called, presents six varieties, none of

which are anatomically correct. The human hand is more perfect

than the foot.

Dr. Salisbury finds, on comparison of these symbolical figures

with the Oriental sign-writing, or hieroglyphical alphabets, that

there are many characters in common. Some 800 years before

Christ, the Chinese had a bird-track character in their syllable

alphabet. The serpent is a symbol so common among the early

nations, and has a significance so various, that very little use can

be made of it in the comparison.

These inscriptions differ materially from those made by the

modern red man. He is unable to read that class of them which

appears to be ancient.

_ Lieut. Whipple has mentioned in the ‘‘Government Report on

the Pacific Rail Road Surveys,” an instance of the bird-track

character inscribed upon the-rocks of Arizona. Professor Kerr,

of North Carolina, states that he has noticed similar characters

cut in the rocks of one of the passes of the Black Mountains, at

the head of the Tennessee river. .

These facts indicate wide-spread universality in the use of this —

style of inscription, and it indicates something higher than the

present symbolical, or picture writing of the North American

Indians.

Professor W. C. Kerr said it may be a matter of some interest in

this connection to state that on a recent tour among the mountains of

North Carolina, I found, at the foot of the Black Mountain, at an elevation

of some 2800 feet, in a gap which was doubtless traversed by an Indian

trail, a slab of chloritic rock, about six feet by three and a half, which is

covered all.ove x with carvings, Seite the tracks of the animals

milar markings. These foot-prints are very distinct, and readily

santa sition doubtless, the lines are not so sharp as when first cut.

Professor Cope remarked that one of pay ESPR on the dia-

ind of the

contemporaneous existence of man and that now extinct animal, was in

fact but a rude figure of a human head.

f SE pn

E AV NE e Sah S Es a aE

A WN ie e E NER a A ETE AAE

Ph ae

WESTERN: COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 547

Colonel WHITTLESEY stated that the representations of Central Ameri-

He could not say, however, how true to the originals the copies were.

Western Coat MEASURES AND InpIANA Coat. —By PROFESSOR

Cox.

Tue study which I have given to the geology of the West, has

led me to conclude that the Carboniferous rocks embracing the

coal beds, both of the Appalachian and Western coal fields, were

formed in two great depressions that gave rise to large inland

seas. These seas communicated on the south and west with the

ocean, which then extended far up the Mississippi valley and coy-

ered most of the southern states as far north as the thirty-fifth

parallel.

A high ridge or plateau of Silurian rocks, capped in places

with the Devonian, and lying in a northeasterly direction across

the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, and along the western bor-

der of Ohio and the eastern border of Indiana, separated these

two seas from each other, and spreading out over the northern por-

tion of the two latter states, extendéd into Pennsylvania on the

east, and Illinois and Iowa on the west, forming an almost unbroken

chain along their northern shores.

In these seas were formed the Sub-carboniferous rocks, and, as

the water became shallow from the accumulated sedementary ma-

terial that went to build them up, a barrier was formed, which

shut out the ocean and cut off the source of salt water supply.

Facilitated, also, by the drainage from a large surface area, the

waters of these seas became less and less brackish, and the condi-

tions necessary for the accumulation of the coal vegetation were,

in this way, brought about so gradually that many marine forms

of life continued to exist and by degrees accommodated them-

selves to the new condition of things

That marine forms of life are brought to adapt themselves to

fresh water habitudes, under favorable conditions, has been shown

by the researches of Dr. William Stimpson, who found by deep

dredgings in Lake Michigan, species of marine crustacea in great

abundance; and similar discoveries had previously been made of

marine forms of life by dredging in the large fresh water lakes of

Europe.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 35

548 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

From this, we may readily infer that the North American lakes

communicated at one time with the ocean, and that their fauna and

flora, were to a certain extent brought to accommodate themselves

to the gradual change from salt to fresh water.

The position of the oceans, relative to the land, and the great

preponderance of water on the American continent, during the

Carboniferous epoch, must have had a decided influence in modify-

ing the temperature and increasing the humidity of the atmos-

phere, thereby rendering it in every way adapted to the luxuriant

growth of the tropical plants which furnished the carbon so prov-

identially stored away in the fossil fuel, for we find that many of

these coal producing plants, whose dwarfed prototypes are now

confined to the tropics, flourished then as far north as the arctic

zone. j

There could have been no necessity for any increase of carbonic

acid or other material change, as some have supposed, in the

composition of the atmosphere beyond a slight increase in its

humidity, and the probability is that none existed.

The two great coal fields being separated from each other from

the very beginning, as I have endeavored to show, by a barrier of

rocks, which present no evidence of any subsequent submergence,

and which long antedate the carboniferous era, renders it difficult

to comprehend how an equivalency in the coal beds of the Appa-

lachian field, can be found in .those of the West, as many of our

eminent geologists have maintained.

It is true that the fluctuations in level which served to build up

the various strata, may have been, and in all probability were,

synchronous over the two basins, but the special requirements for _

the productioh of coal beds could hardly have proved uniform over

istricts so widely separated.

Though once a firm believer in the magai valency of coal seams

throughout the Western coal measures, I have seen much of late

to shake my faith in the possibility of determining an entire agree-

ment in the coal beds, even in the limited area of the coal fields

of Indiana.

From a marked irregularity in the thickness of the Carbon-

iferous beds over any great extent of territory, we have good

reason to believe that these inland seas, like all other great

bodies of water, were of unequal depth, and consequently, did

not present at all times, over their entire area, the conditions

WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 549

alike favorable for the formation of coal, and that, while the ocean

was excluded from the Appalachian sea, where the material for

coal beds was forming. The sea on the Western side was still

filled with salt water, where the sediment was accumulating which

was subsequently changed to rock, and the conditions favorable to

the production of coal had not yet been reached. Such a state of

things will serve to account for the great discrepancy in the aggre-

gate thickness of the strata in‘the two coal fields. The Appala-

chian, being estimated at twenty-five hundred or three thousand

feet, whereas, in the Western coal field, the greatest depth will

hardly exceed one thousand feet; and in Indiana, not more than

seven hundred feet, if so much; though we include, in the latter

estimate, every stratum from the Archimedes limestone upward.

From observations made in the Western coal field, during the

past three years, extending over portions of southern Illinois,

western Kentucky, and Indiana, so many errors have been found

in the sections of the coal strata given in the third Kentucky Re-

port, and which were pretty generally copied by other geologists

in more recent reports, that I have found it necessary to make an

entirely new classification of the coals in the west.

In the connected section of the Western coal beds, given at pages

18-24, 3d vol. Ky. Report, the measures are divided into upper

and lower coal measures, and this arrangement, with some local

modifications, has, until recently, been generally adopted by geol-

ogists. Now, so far as my observations go, either in Kentuc

Illinois or Indiana, I can find neither lithological nor palzeontolog-

ical evidence which can be relied upon for cutting up the Western

coal measures into separate epochs. The Anvil Rock sandstone,

which was brought into requisition for this purpose, can hardly be

depended upon as a horizon, beyond the small district in which it

was first discovered, and the equivalency of the Mahoning sand-

stone of the Pennsylvania geologists, as designated by Owen and

Lesquereux, has also proved totally unreliable as a basis for divi-

sion, even though it should be found necessary to establish one.

In the 3d vol. Ky. Report, and in the Report of a Geologi

Reconnoisance of Indiana, 1859, the latter stone is at one place

referred to the horizon of the Anvil Rock sandstone, and at

another locality to that of the Millstone grit.

Indeed, so unfortunate has been the effort to transplant the Ma-

honing sandstone of Pennsylvania into our western coal measures,

550 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

that I can recall no prominent locality where it is distinctly refer-

able to one or the other of the above sandstones. For the equiv-

alency of sandstones in the Western coal field I have, as yet, been

unable to find any lithological or paleontological evidence which

can be relied upon as a guide to identity.

In the Indiana Report by Prof. Richard Owen, 1859-60, Prof. -

Lesquereux refers, from paleontological evidence, the sandstone

above the ‘‘ Knob” coal in Spencer county, to the Mahoning sand-

stone, and appears undecided, whether the position of the ‘‘ Mar-

tha Washington ” sandstone, which forms the bluff at Rockport and

presents a vertical face of thirty to fifty feet on the side fronting

the river, should be referred to the Mahoning or the sandstone

above coal No. 2 of his general section given at pages 299-305,

(column No. 1 of diagram). At these localities, from my own ex-

aminations, I find the Rockport Sandstones to be the Millstone

grit, and the ‘“‘ Knob” coal to be coal L of my general section of

the coals in Clay county (column No. 3 of the diagram). Conse-

quently, the sandstone which overlies it, in the hill, if referred at

all to an equivalency in the Kentucky section, will be at least

about the place of the Anvil Rock sandstone.

At Washington, in Daviess county, Mr. Lesquereux found a

paucity of paleontological evidence, nevertheless it was believed

to be sufficient to warrant him in referring the main coal of that

place to No. 1, B, of his section. In his account of the measures,

in Daviess county, no mention is made of the heavy bed of sand-

stone, two miles northeast of Washington, which is overlaid by

the ‘ Washington Coal” which he refers to No.1, B. This sand-

stone is quite a marked feature in the geology of this part of

Daviess county and is underlaid by two workable beds of coal—

the upper three feet thick, and the lower three to six feet thick;

the space between the two, varying from twenty to forty feet.

The lower coal has usually a limestone over it; and being the

second coal, in the descending order, below the ‘* Washington

coal” is represented as K in my section. ‘A coal fourteen miles

north of Washington, overlaid by limestone, is, from its position,

referred by him to coal No. 1, C. I suppose the coal in the bed

of the river below Edwardsport, in Knox county, is the seam here

referred to; if so, it is the second seam below the ‘‘ Washington

coal.” Now the ‘ Washington coal” is at least as high up in the

measures as coal L of my section. The first coal below L, in.

WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 551

Daviess county, was not recognized in Clay county, and at the

time of making my section it was thought that no coal would be

found intervening between L and K, consequently, I am now com-

pelled to make an interpolation of a letter and provisionally des-

ignate this coal as X ; the coal, with the limestone above it, as K,

- and the five foot coal bed near the top of the hill at Edwardsport,

which is equivalent to the ‘ Washington coal” as L.

Passing on northward into Clay county, coal I, of my section,

refers to No. 1, A, and K to No. 1, C, of Lesquereux’ section.

Now it is clearly demonstrated in this county that there are

two workable block coal beds in a space of fifty to sixty feet be-

low the seam reported by Mr. Lesquereux as No. 1, A, or the low-

est workable seam.

At Garlick and Collins’ mine, on Otter creek, in Clay county,

coal K is seen in the side of the hill in the road cut; I, is worked

by a drift, and G is worked by a shaft sunk at the foot of the hill

on the bank of Otter creek. Both I and G are here loaded in the

cars from the same coal tip.

In my first report, 1869, I pointed out the existence of a sec-

ond workable seam of block coal below the seam then generally

worked ; its position in the column was determined from imperfect

outcrops, and for a time, an error was committed in confounding

it with a still lower seam F. Previous to my survey of Clay coun-

ty, no other person who had examined the ground, dreamed of

finding another workable bed of coal below what was called the

“ Brazil seam” (I). On the contrary, it was universally believed

that the strata at Brazil, indicated the latter seam to be the lowest

workable coal in the coal measures proper, and, consequently, that

no seam of any economical,value could be found below it. Since

the publication of my first report, the second seam has been reached

by shafts and worked at a number of localities in the county, and

the existence of the third seam is fully proved by bores.

At Highland, two miles west of Brazil, L of my column, is the

rincipal coal worked, and probably the only seam in the basin, at

that locality, which is of a suitable thickness to be mined with

rofit

rofit.

Notwithstanding the high position which it undoubtedly occu-

pies in the measures, we find that it is referred by Mr. Lesquereux

to No. 4 of his column, the same seam at Williams’ to No. 3, an

the sandstone which is seen above the coal at Highland he refers,

552 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

without doubt, to the Mahoning sandstone. In fact, the mis-

placing of coal seams, and confounding of sandstones at all levels

with the Mahoning sandstone, of Pennsylvania, and the Anvil

Rock sandstone of Kentucky, I might continue to trace through-

out the entire coal field of Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. In

the Kentucky reports, and the Report of a Geological Reconnois-

sance of Indiana, 1859, as well as in the reports of other geolo-

ists, who have written on the western coal measures, the

distinguished authors appear to have satisfied themselves that the

western coal beds and sandstones are synchronous with the Ap-

_ palachian strata, and that the Mahoning sandstone, there a con-

spicuous horizon, must, as a matter of necessity, have a place in

the western field, and divide here, as there, the measures into up-

per and lower coal measures, and that the coal beds should con-

form thereto.

Having pointed out a few of the errors committed in the stratjg-

raphy of the Indiana coals, at localities where their position can

be proved beyond a doubt, I will now proceed to show some of

the errors that exist in the Kentucky column, from observations

made at the same localities that furnished the data upon which it

was constructed, and which column has heretofore served as a

basis for the arrangement of the coal beds and sandstones of all

other districts in the west.

The column of the coal measures given at pages 18—24, 3d vol.,

Geology of Kentucky, presents us with thirteen hundred and fifty

feet of strata, above the Millstone grit or Careyville conglomerate.

From the sandstone under coal No. 18, down to the Anvil Rock

sandstone, there is a repetition of the strata, including the latter.

rock, probably as far down as No. 7.. This part of the column

was constructed from bores that started on the Carthage lime-

stone, which, in Union county, Kentucky, is, I now believe, the

equivalent of the limestone over coal No. 11. Though the details

of strata passed through in these bores can hardly be relied upon,

and in no two instances do they fully agree, as to the character of

the rocks, still the place of the coals, and probably their full

thickness, is given with considerable accuracy. Therefore, in the

arrangement of this part of the column, it was erroneously as-

sumed that the bottom of the lowest bore in Union county, start-

ing from the horizon of the Carthage limestone, stopped just be-

fore reaching coal No. 11. From No. 17 down to No. 13 by ref-

WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 553

erence to the diagram you will observe the close agreement in the

spaces between the coals above, and those below No. 11. In the

former, they are thirty-five, one hundred and two, one hundred and

fifteen, and seventy-seven feet respectively, while in the latter

they are forty-six, sixty-seven, eighty-six and one hundred and

_twenty-seven feet; the aggregate distance from No. 17 to No. 13

being three hundred and twenty-nine feet, and from No. 11 to No.

6, three hundred and twenty-six feet. In giving the space from

No. 8 to No. 6, I have omitted No. 7, which, at best, is but a

streak of coal, and has no existence in Union county, where the

principal data for the section was obtained. We are thus carried

own to about the place of the “ little coal” at Mulford’s, now

Shotwell’s mines, or No. 6 of the Kentucky column.

From No. 5, passing down, there is but one thin coal seam in

the space intervening between it and Bell’s coal or No. 1, B.

The Curlew sandstone that is referred to a horizon just below

the Mahoning sandstone of Pennsylvania, is the equivalent of the

Anvil Rock sandstone. No. 4 coal is No. 11, and No. 3 is

the equivalent of No. 1, B, or Bell’s coal, which lies just above the

Millstone grit or Caseyville conglomerate. In Union county, Ken-

tucky, there is a thin coal in the conglomerate below Bell’s coal,

but there appears to be no workable seam.

The total thickness of the strata in the Kentucky column, ex-

clusive of the Millstone grit, is thirteen hundred and fifty feet;

now strip it of the above errors of repeated strata, and we have,

as the depth of the Carboniferous rocks in Union county, Kentucky,

only six hundred and twelve feet, including the Millstone grit.

The above errors are, in a great measure, to be attributed to too

great a reliance on paleontological evidence, and to an apparent

desire to make the measures conform to the Pennsylvania sections

of the Appalachian coal field.

Though there are some striking analogies, so far as relates to

the character and peculiar arrangement of their accompanying

rocks, which were first pointed out by myself in a lecture on the

western coals in 1857, between the Pittsburgh seam of Pennsyl-

vania, and the mammoth seam of western measures (No. 11 of

Owen’s, and which may prove to be K'of my column), yet, from

the undoubted disconnection of the two fields while the coals

were being formed, it is difficult to conceive how any reliable

equivalency can be established.

554 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

More especially are we led to doubt the equivalency; if we

take into account the great preponderance of coal measure strata

in the Pennsylvania district, which goes to show that the condi-

tions necessary for the production of coal extended over a much

greater period of time in the ies ae than in the western

“field.

Though I have assumed that the greatest depth of coal strata in

the western measures will not exceed one thousand feet, in In-

diana it will not be found greater than six hundred and fifty feet,

including the Millstone grit. In a few localities in this State

there are one or more very thin seams of coal below the Archime-

des limestone, but no coal of any economical value has yet been

s lower than the base of the Millstone grit.

' There are in Indiana two well defined zones of coal, the east-

ern and western zone, and though an equivalency in some of the

seams is clearly traced, from one to the other, yet the quality of

the coal is quite distinct in each.

The area of the eastern zone is about four hundred and fifty

square miles, or two hundred and eighty-eight thousand acres, and

the included coals belong to the bituminous variety characterized

as non-caking or free-burning.

The cherry-coal or soft coal of England is a non-caking coal, but

the non-caking coals of Indiana differ somewhat in physical struc-

ture from the English coal and from a similar class of coals found

in the Mahoning valley, Ohio, and the Shenango valley, Pennsyl-

vania ; the latter two being the only other localities in the United

States where non-caking coal is formed in any quantity. The

Indiana coal from this zone has received the local name of Block

coal; a name given to it by the miners on account of the facility

with which it can be mined in blocks as large as it is possible to

handle. The beds are crossed nearly at right angles by joint

seams that greatly facilitate the operation of mining, which is us-

ually carried on without resort to blasting. Blocks are taken out

the full depth of the seam and leave a zigzag, notched outline, on

the face of the mine, resembling a Virginia worm fence.

Block coal has a laminated structure and is composed of alter-

nate thin layers of vitreous, dull black coal, and fibrous, mineral

charcoal. In the direction of the bedding lines it splits readily

into thin sheets like a slate, but breaks with difficulty in the op-

posite direction, and when struck with a hammer emits a sound

WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 555

like that given by wood. Chemically it does not appear to differ

from the caking-coals, but in burning behaves quite differently.

Unlike the latter, it does not swell and shoot out jets of gas, nor

form a cake by running together, neither does it leave an ash

mixed with clinker, but retains its shape like hickory wood, until

entirely consumed to a small quantity of white ash, which contains

no trace of clinker. I have not yet had time to make an ultimate

analysis of the block coal, but I believe that, when so examined,

its superior heating properties which have been determined in

practice by actual work done, though mainly due to its physical

structure, will be found partly owing to its containing less oxygen

and relatively more hydrogen than is commonly found in bitumi-

nous coals. The block coal, in a great majority of the mines

` that have been opened, is remarkably free from sulphur and phos-

phorus.

A specimen, taken from Garlick and Collins’ new shaft, coal G

of my section and which has a specific gravity of 1.232, gave in

one hundred parts: Water, 2.10, Gas, 37.35, Fixed Carbon, 57-95,

Ash, white, 2.40, Phosphorus, 0.22, Sulphur, 0.073.

At the White River Valley Rolling Mills, in this city, I was in-

formed by the Superintendent, Mr. Sims, an experienced iron

master from Pittsburgh, Pa., that it not only required a less quan-

tity of block coal than of any of the coals in use around Pitts-

burgh to make a ton of wrought iron, but that they were likewise

enabled to bring off the heats in a much shorter space of time,

and the resulting iron is of a superior quality —three important

advantages that cannot be overlooked by iron-masters ; and it

must be conceded, that the good behavior of a coal in the puddling

furnace is one of the very best tests of purity and effective heating

properties to which it can be subjected ; for, here, its good quali-

ities are brought into requisition, and the bad ones are soon made

manifest in the poor quality of the iron produced.

Though the Blast furnaces of Clay county cannot be looked

upon as filling all the requisites of an iron furnace best adapted

to the use of block coal, still they are enabled to make a ton of

No. 1 foundry iron that will, in quality, compare favorably with

charcoal iron, by the use of less than two tons of coal; and I

feel fully satisfied that by materially increasing the width of these

furnaces across the bushes, and raising the temperature of the

blast to 1200°-1500°, the make will be greatly increased and the

consumption of coal very much reduced.

556 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

In the Block-coal zone of the Indiana coal field, there are as

many as eight seams of non-caking coal, four of which are of

good workable thickness over a portion of the field. These are I,

G, F and A, which, together, have a maximum thickness of fifteen

feet, and by including the other four seams, we have six feet more,

making a total of twenty-one feet of block coal.

The superior excellence of the block coal for smelting, and

working iron and steel, in all the varied departments of their man-

ufacture, has been fully established by practical tests. Pig iron

made with this coal is in every respect equal to charcoal iron

` made from the same ores; it is a soft gray iron of a highly erys-

talline structure, contains a large percentage of combined carbon,

with but a mere trace of sulphur and phosphorus ; properties which

render it admirably adapted to the manufacture of Bessemer steel.

For steam and household purposes it likewise has an unrivalled

reputation. It burns under boilers with a full and uniform flame

that spreads evenly over the exposed surface, thus securing a more

uniform expansion of the boiler plates and greater freedom from

leaks that are so common when caking coals are used. No clink-

ers are formed, and owing to its freedom from sulphur it has but

little detrimental effect upon the boilers, grates or fire boxes.

The western zone of coals in Indiana comprises by far the

greatest area of measures, being somewhat over six thousand

square miles, and contains three or more very thick beds of coal,

besides a number that are too thin for working. Its eastern boun-

dary, which is formed by the zone of block coal, is irregular in

outline, and with my present knowledge of the geology of the

country, it cannot be well defined. It is evident, however, that

the block coal beds, as we go west, are changed in character and

pass into caking coal. The lower members thin out, and are no

longer of workable thickness, even before reaching the Wabash

river. Of this we have abundant proof by the three deep bores

at Terre Haute.

These bores commence about forty feet above low water of the

Wabash river, and after passing a few feet of alluvium deposit,

were in strata of gravel, sand and hard pan, peculiar to the drift

epoch, for a depth of about one hundred and fifty feet, and though

they penetrate the Silurian rocks, the records show that but five

seams of coal were passed; only the top one being of workable

thickness, while the lowest is but two hundred and eer hem

and three-quarters feet below the surface.

WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL. 557

Two and a half miles east of Terre Haute, coal N, which is

worked by a shaft at Seebyville, crops out; this indicates a rise of

the strata to the west, and, as a still further means of accounting

for the absence of the upper part of the coal measures in these

bores, it is possible that the great bed of drift which is found on

the east bank of the Wabash river, at Terre Haute, filled up a

ravine or valley from which some of the upper coal beds were re-

moved by abrading forces.

On the west bank of the river, coal L is mined in a number of

places from shafts, thirty to fifty feet deep.

From the foregoing data, therefore, I am enabled to correct the

error into which I fell in my First Report, 1869, of making the

top coal in the Terre Haute bores, coal L., and now place it at

least as far down as coal I.

Though from the records that were kept of these bores, it is

difficult to point out the base of the coal measures, or that of the

Millstone grit, with any degree of accuracy, it is, nevertheless,

my opinion, that the latter epoch commenced at about the depth

of five hundred feet.

This thinning out of the coal seams as we go west towards the

centre of the basin, is a remarkable feature which I first pointed

out in 1867. A few miles west of the Indiana line in Clark

county, Illinois, bores have been made in searching for petroleum,

to the depth of eight hundred feet, without passing a single work-

able seam of coal, and the two or three thin seams reported, in

some of these bores, are in the upper part of the measures.

Judged by the dip of the coal on both sides of the river, the

Wabash runs on a slight anticlinal axis, and I believe this to be

the case from Attica, in Fountain county, to its mouth in Posey

county, and that along its course it cuts through the same strata

of rocks, from the bluffs at Merom to its confluence with the Ohio

river.

Near the eastern boundary of the zone of caking coals, in Indi-

ana, we find K and L, and sometimes N, of good, workable thick-

ness, averaging from four to eight feet, and in one locality at Pike

county, there is a bed not yet studied, but thought to be K, that

attains to the thickness of ten feet or more. Taken all together,

the maximum thickness of these beds may be estimated at twenty

feet, and will yield an average, over the greater part of the dis-

trict, of ten feet of coal. At some localities the caking coal is of

558 WESTERN COAL MEASURES AND INDIANA COAL.

inferior quality, and largely contaminated with pyrites, which is

so generally disseminated through the seam that it is impracti-

cable, in mining, to entirely separate it from the coal. In many

of the counties, however, within this zone, the caking coals will

compare very favorably with the caking coals of the Pittsburgh,

Pa., district.

From her geographical position, and more especially on account

of the extent and value of her coal beds, and the peculiar adapta-

tion of this coal to the metallurgy of iron and steel which now

forms one of the leading industries of the world, we can safely

predict for Indiana a bright future as a manufacturing state. The

commerce of the new far west, which is increasing with a rapidity

unprecedented in the growth of empires, will just as naturally

look to Indiana for its supply of iron and steel, with which to

keep up the system of railroads traversing the great plains to the

Pacific Ocean, as the old west formerly looked to Pennsylvania.

In Indiana we find the last great belt of timber, suitable for man-

ufacturing purposes, and after crossing her borders, thence to the

Pacific ocean, no coal has yet been found that can successfully be

used in the manufacture of iron.

Professor A. H. WorrHen remarked, we have found the same difficulty

in Minois in reconciling our section of the Coal measures strata with

those of Kentucky, that has been alluded to by Professor Cox, in the

aminations I became satisfied that the Kentucky section was erroneous,

and that by giving distinct names to different outcrops of the same sand-

stone, in its outcrops at different localities, they had duplicated the num-

ber of their workable coals, and also the thickness of the coal strata.

the Geological Survey of rein published in 1866, where, by placing

these two sandstones on the s me geological level, it was found that the

strata ee them anes sections, as nearly identical as they could

anywhere in the coal series, at points twenty miles asunder. By

arns their section in this way, we find there a general correspondence

between the strata in Illinois and Kentucky, as nearly complete, perhaps,

as could be expected in opposite portions of the same coal-field. e

coal-seams of Western and Northern Illinois are usually continuous over

large areas, as much so indeed as the limestones, shales, and sandstones,

with which they are associated.

Professor SWALLOW remarked that he had greatly enjoyed the examina-

Aige ea a ee

ea a S oe

ERSA LE PE P S om re, TASNA CEST ee A G EET

Fois

NUMERIC RELATIONS OF THE VERTEBRATE SYSTEM. 559

tion of the Indiana ‘‘Block Coals.” He believed they would become

sources of vast wealth. But his friend Prof. Cox must not be sure other

states would not furnish the same quality of coal.

Ie ha for many years burned a coal which is so much like Indiana

Block Coal, that Prof. Cox himself could not distinguish them

But no opportunity had been offered for publishing the reati of the

Missouri Survey.

Numeric RELATIONS OF THE VERTEBRATE System.—By Dr. T.

C. HILGARD.

THERE are five (not four only) complete neural rib arches to the

cranium of all vertebrate animals, to wit: (1) The condylar or

sensitive belt with the condyle plates for side ribs and the lower

arch of the transversely bipartite occiput for its vault piece; (2)

the petrosal or acoustic, containing the auditory nerves in its side

beams (easily detected by removing the ear drum of Felines,

etc.), and overarched by the anterior belt of the occipital squama ;

(3) the parietal belt originally containing the true gustative nerve

of fixed tastes (sour, sweet, salt and bitter, the glosso-pha-

ryngeal), in an incision; from which it is, however, soon crowded

out by the internal carotid artery and the overlapping ‘acoustic

rib blade.” The next (4) is the optic or frontal, visibly succeeded,

in fishes, by (5) the ethmoidal or olfactory vertebra. The rest of

the cranium is formed by its “extremities” or prehensile appen-

dages.

The same numeric law which pervades the entire vegetable king-

dom reoccurs in the human fabric in a very marked manner.

The number of “radiating elements” in a coil or whorl, or of

whorls in a cycle, or in cycles generally speaking, as in pine cones

and flower buds, etc., are the following:

1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 138, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc., progressing by the

summation of the last two numbers.

The bands or parallel coils of flowers or scales in pine cones,

sunflower discs, ete., embody these numbers successively, as they

grow steeper and steeper, alternately on the right and left. The

vertical bands, or columns, give the number of parts of the cycles

involved.

The explanation heretofore given by me is this, that one element

generates the other.

e elements are radiai; they are bilateral rays, with a rift, so

to speak, on the opposite side. It is there, where, in a like manner

560 NUMERIC RELATIONS OF THE VERTEBRATE SYSTEM.

as the seed-leaves of flowering plants produce prolific ‘* ovules,”

new radial organs are developed from the preceding ones —later-

ally at alternate heights and toward the wider spaces.

This igo. referred to the radial organs of plants in an early

stage, will yie

1. The saoiri of parts in question, successively.

2. The peculiar law of interpolations or of ‘‘ divergence,” viz. :

by a number of interstices represented by the second preceding

one of each cyclar number.

3. It will conclude the cycles, if it be supposed that the activity

of each junior member depends on that of its progenital one; as

in all cases of simple branch developments.

These numbers occur in like manner in the human frame, as

follows :

Inclusive of the terminal (ossified or gristly) coccygeal element,

we have exactly thirty-four spinal vertebre.

Classifying nerves by their work, or “function,” we find-——

3 pairs of cervical nerves (neck).

5 pairs of bracchial nerves (arms).

8 pairs of pedal nerves, composed of 3 crural (lumbar) and 5

ischiadic (sacral) ones.

pairs of nerves to the rump.

5 specific ones of the cranium. 5

34 in all; whereas the number of the spinal vertebræ, which in-

close the spinal cord is exactly 21..

There are five pairs of “ extremities,” organised after a com-

mon plan: (1) the lower, (2) the upper, (3) the temporal, (bear-

ing the lower jaw for a ‘‘member,”) (4) the palate-facial, with the

upper jaw for its “member,” (5) the opercular or hyo-tympanic

one, forming the gill-lid in fishes or the tympanic ossicles in man};

and the digital extremity of which is gradually converted into the

(hand-like) crimped (external and internal) cartilages of the ear.

e five pair of hemal arches of the cranium, 7. e., the gill

arches of fishes, are gradually transformed into the gristles of the

gullet, etc.

The main variation consists in the varying, but “ cyclar” num-

ber of ‘‘rays,” —fingers, etc. ; the varying cyclar number of their

joints (1, 2, 5, 8, 13 i in a dolphin, with five carpals,

instead of eight, as in man) and the varying cyclar number of

EARTHQUAKE OF OCTOBER, 1870. 561

“loose” ossicles, such as carpals, tarsals, teeth, etc. The num-

ber of spinal vertebrae, is also variable, but not that of the cranial

ones.

The vertebral blocks, as well as the ribs, are the product of the

primitive axial series of (intervertebral) discs, which, when com-

pletely arrayed, each bear five branches, viz.: two pair of hemal

arches, two pair of neural arches, and a fascicle of parallel cleets,

so to speak, which being cemented together, both in the front and

rear, by the superficial ossification of the discs at either end are

fused into the block pieces, as found, e. g., in the young hog; the

cementing slab covering the big neural rib head likewise, and

not only the pentagonal prismatic block. The first disciform

ossification we find in the corals, forming cribrose ethmoidal discs,

such as the closely set “ sigillate impressions” of the Astraea, and

afterwards left behind as the coccyx, e. g., of Cyathophyllum.

On tHe EARTHQUAKE or OCTOBER, 1870. — By Cor. CHARLES

WHITTLESEY.

Tue writer confined his attention to what he pronounced the

only remarkable feature of the earthquake, which was its occur-

rence at far distant points almost at the same moment of absolute

time. Out of thirty odd observations made at as many different

points in the United States, four were known to be accurate to

within fifteen seconds, so that the total error could not exceed

thirty seconds. Making the necessary allowance for difference

of longitude, it occurred at Cleveland, Ohio, at 10 hours 43 min-

utes 30 seconds; at Albany, New York, 10 hours 43 minutes 9

seconds; at Boston, Mass., at 10 hours 43 minutes and 25 sec-

onds; and at Bangor, Maine, at 10 hours 43 minutes and 19

seconds. The difference, therefore, was only in seconds. The

ordinary rate of progression of earthquakes is from twenty to

thirty miles an hour; while this one, if it progressed at all, must

have moved at the rate of a thousand miles an hour. The paper

was intended to raise the question: What kind of an earthquake

as it! :

Professor MCCHesNEY asked whether the author of the paper had given

any attention to the subject in connection with the repulsion theories of

Dr nslow of Boston.

Colonel WanrrtLESEY stated that he had made very little progress toward

a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon; he believed, however, that

562 EXTINCT TORTOISES

the earthquake in the case in question was not progressive at all, but that

it was produced by some force within the earth, acting outward.

Professor ANDREWS stated that he had observed the earthquake at Co-

lumbus, Ohio, and was struck by the fact that the motion, instead of being

a sudden shock or jar, as is commonly the case, was like the gentle undu-

lation of a boat in the water. He thought if the ear on mad been the

result of a sudden IOR directly beneath, there would have been a

sudden jar instead of this undulatory motion. It e possibly be ac-

counted for by the fact that there is a blanket of cog shies from eighty

to one hundred feet in thickness eran tne Columbus, which might serve

to break the force of the concussio

Professor WINCHELL thought iiè suggestion of Professor Andrews

would be applicable to the sharon in connection with this earthquake,

if those phenomena had not had an existence over so wide an area. It

seemed incredible that pai like an arthquake wave should have

been transmitted from any superficial piires along the earth’s surface

with BeA like te rapidity that was indicated.

There must have been a deep-seated force exerted, the results of which

achat iis surface at remote points nearly at the same time. It would

m to indicate that the seat of earthquake activities is at some point

ota e earth, far removed from its surface. He thought evidence

might possibly be found in this phenomenon, tending to corroborate the

theory of some geologists in reference to the fluid condition of the earth’s

interior, and the comparative thinness of the solid crust upon which the

mountains have been reared.

On THE Extinct TORTOISES OF THE CRETACEOUS or New JERSEY.

By Proressor E. D. Core.

His object was to explain two cases of “ generalized groups,”

such as are not common, comparatively speaking, and are of much

importance in the history of life. Generalized or synthetic groups

of naturalists were explained to be those which combined the

characters of others. They were generally found in earlier geo-

logic time, while the more widely differing groups occurred later

in time. The cases were as follows. It was explained that the

existing division of the marine turtles (Chelontide) possess ster-

nal bones united by but few sutures, or with wide intervals;

straight humerus and femur, and flat limbs, with truncate finger-

bones incapable of flexion. It was shown that the existing

snapping tortoises possess a narrow cross-shaped. sternum with

the bones everywhere united to each other, the femur and humerus

curved, and the toes with hinge-jointed phalanges capable of much

flexion. It was then pointed out that in the New Jersey Green

OF THE CRETACEOUS OF NEW JERSEY. 563

sand a type of turtles is found, embracing several genera and spe-

cies, in which the sternum has the elements generally united by

sutures, except two central fontanelles, being thus intermediate

between that of the Cheloniide and that of the Chelydras (snap-

pers) ; that the femur and humerus are curved, as in the snappers,

but the limbs are oar-like bodies with truncate phalanges, as in

the sea-turtles. This family he called the Propleuride.

The second case was presented by tortoises of a character like

those now inhabiting fresh waters. The Emydide, or common

river tortoises of the northern hemisphere, were shown to possess

ten horny shields on the plastron (or lower shell), had a pelvis

freely suspended from the carapace (upper shell), and a series of

cervical vertebrae which can be curved in an S, and the head there-

by drawn into the shell in a vertical plane. The southern hemi-

sphere division of the Pleurodira, possesses eleven scuta of the

plastron, a pelvis, of which the pubis and ischium unite by

sutures with two corresponding elevations of the plastron, and a

neck which can not be sigmoidally flexed, but is thrown round

to one side, like that of a bird, when it is necessary to conceal the

head. ‘

It was shown that in the Cretaceous of New Jersey there existed

a family (the Adocide) which combined the features of these

groups. It had eleven scuta of the plastron (the extra one being

large and anterior), but the lower bones of the pelvis were not

codssified with the plastron, though the latter rose in two corres-

ponding elevations. The latter were evidently rudiments of the

articulating knobs of the Pleurodira.

Professor Cope stated, moreover, that the Adocide possessed a

row of scuta across “the bridge,” within the marginal row, such

as existed in modern times in the sea-turtle, and in the Mississippi

snapper, thus adding very much to the generalized character of

the Adocide.

Turning to the tortoises of the Eocene beds of Fort Bridger,

Wyoming, he showed that these were true Emydide, but that

many of them retained the inter-marginal series of scutes, above-

mentioned (Baptemys, etc.), so far resembling the Adocide.

Among existing typical Emydide, but one genus presents the

character, viz., the Dermatemys of Mexico.

The value of these generalized groups was pointed out as con-

sisting in their correction of our views derived from the great

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 36

564 EMBRYOLOGY OF CHRYSOPA.

constancy of specific characters. These, he showed, remained

unaltered throughout great extents of time and space, and other

slight structural characters endured through many geologic ages.

Hence the value of cases where the association of characters is

evidently in a transitional condition.

Tur EMBRYOLOGY or CHRYSOPA, AND ITS BEARINGS ON THE CLAss*

LFICATION OF THE NeuROpTERA.—By A. S. PACKARD, JR., M.D.

Ix a paper presented at the Burlington meeting of the Associ-

ation in 1867, I gave a brief sketch of the embryology of Diplax,

especially in the later stages. Those observations, with the far

more carefully elaborated studies of Brandt * on Caloptéryx, an-

other member of the family Libellulidz, have made us acquainted

with the embryology of the type of one important division of Neu-

roptera, and now I have to offer a partial history of Chrysopa, the

representative of another important division of the group. I

did not observe the formation of. the blastoderm, but the blasto-

dermic skin (‘‘amnion”) of Chrysopa, is of the same structure as

in Calopteryx. At the posterior end of the egg the round nucle-

ated cells are crowded together in the same way as in Calopteryx.

The primitive band is of the same general form, and floats in the

yolk as in Calopteryx, but more as in Aspidiotus, though it rests

more on the outside of the yolk than in those genera, and the end

of the abdomen rests on the outside of the yolk, rather than,

rolled in within the yolk ; but that the germ is an endoblast (so far

as that condition has any special significance) is shown by the

fact that the ventral side of the primitive band points inwards

towards the centre of the yolk, as in the Libellulide, the Hem-

iptera, and some Coleoptera (Telephorus and Donacia) in contra-

distinction to the Phryganeide and the Poduræ (Isotoma) in which

the germ or primitive band floats entirely on the outside of the

yolk. After the procephalic lobes and rudiments of the appen-

dages of the head and thorax have begun to develop, a second

moult (visceral layer) of the blastoderm is made, which envelops

the head and under side of the body much as in the Libellulide

and Hemiptera. At this time the embryo is much like that of the

last named insects. The germ does not revolve in the egg, as

* Beiträge zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Libelluliden und Hemipteren. St. Peters-

burg. 1869.

(echo tales ti

Sj SRS Sema sa ahs

Cha On) ee Teal

EMBRYOLOGY OF CHRYSOPA. 565

in the Libellulide, but the head remains throughout embryonic life

next the micropyle. At the next stage observed, the appendages

of the limbs had appeared, the embryo being situated on the out-

side of the yolk, the end of the abdomen curved around on the

opposite side of the yolk. At this time the inner or “ visceral

layer,” forming a second moult of the blastoderm, envelops the

germ, much as in the Libellulide, and Hemiptera, and Coleoptera

(Donacia). It is evident that this faltenblatt of Weismann (or

visceral layer of Brandt) is shed at a later stage than the “‘ amni-

on” proper. This stage corresponds with that of Calopteryx

figured by Brandt (Pl. 1. fig. 11). At this time the germ of

Diplax and Calopteryx (Libellulidee) floats within the yolk, but

this ‘difference I would regard as having no special importance, as

in the Hemiptera the germ at the same stage of development rests

on the outside of the yolk in Corixa, while in the Pediculina,

according to Melnikow’s researches, the germ floats within the

yolk, and we shall see farther on that in the Curculionide (Attela-

bus) the germ rests on the outside of the yolk (ectoblast), while

that of Telephorus is a decided endoblast, 7. e., floats in the inte-

rior of the yolk. After this period, the embryo of Chrysopa

exactly corresponds to that of all the Libellulidse whose develop-

ment is known (Agrion, Calopteryx, Perithemis, and Diplax.)

embryogeny of Chrysopa is identical, then, with that of the

Libellulide. What becomes, therefore, of the distinction between

‘** Pseudoneuroptera” and “true” Neuroptera, insisted on by

some of the leading entomologists, since Erichson’s day? Never

believing that the differences were great enough to Separate the

innzan Neuroptera into two independent orders or suborders

(whichever we may choose to call them), I now ask if embryology

does not give independent testimony as to the close alliance at

least of the Libellulide and Hemerobidve, even if we go no farther?

The only Coleoptera with whose development we are acquainted

is Donacia, worked out more carefully by Melnikow than any one

else. During this summer I have studied Telephorus fraxini and

Attelabus rhois in nearly all their embryonic stages. They are

developed in the same manner as in Donacia. There is a parietal

(‘amnion’) and a visceral membrane in Attelabus; (it was not

observed in Telephorus, though it doubtless exists), as in Donacia.

In Attelabus, however, the primitive band rests on the outside of

the yolk, while in Telephorus it floats in the yolk, and farms a

566 EMBRYOLOGY OF CHRYSOPA.

sigmoid band, extending back to the posterior pole of the egg.

But after the rudiments of the limbs appear, the embryology of

both genera accords with that of Donacia. I have found that

the embryology of Gastrophysa ceeruleipennis in its later stages

also agrees with that of Donacia, (both being Chrysomelids.) A

study of the development of Nematus ventricosus, shows us that

its embryology accords with that of Apis mellifica. The forma-

tion of the blastoderm is as described by Biitschli in Apis,* and

quite unlike that of the Formicide as studied by Ganin. It also

agrees with that of the Diptera in most particulars

There is indeed a remarkable uniformity in the mode of devel-

opment of the Hexapoda, as much so perhaps as in the Crustacea

(Malacostraca), and it is difficult to determine what embryologi-

cal characters may be set down as distinguishing even the different

suborders. These characters, whatever they may be, do not prob-

ably reside in the embryonal membranes, or in the relation of the

primitive band to the yolk. Perhaps they will be found in the form

of the advanced embryos. For example, we now know that the

embryos of the Isopod Crustacea only differ from those of the

Amphipods while in the egg by having the end of the abdomen

bent over the back, while in the latter (Amphipods) it is curved

beneath the body, as pointed out by Fritz Miiller. The spiders

and scorpions also pass through a similar course of development,

and the Mites (Acarina) are developed in a manner either iden-

tical with the spiders in some genera, or more like the Hexapods

in others. We know almost nothing of the embryology of the

Myriapods, but Newport’s observations on Julus indicate that it

is developed in an entirely different mode from the Hexapoda or

Arachnida, a remarkable feature being the persistence of the larva

in its inner(?) embryonal membrane (faltenblatt of Weissmann)

for many days after it is hatched.

There are, however, two modes of development in the Hexapoda,

depending on the position of the primitive band in relation to the

yolk. The Hymenoptera, Diptera, and certain Coleoptera (Cur-

culionide), and the Phryganeide and Poduræ (Isotoma) are ecto-

blasts, | while the Hemiptera and certain Neuroptera (Libellulide

O. Biitschli. Zur ee der Biene; Siebold and Kolli-

Da Snag 1870. p. 519.

+ I omit any reference to the Lepidoptera, which Dr. Dohrn regards as endoblasts but

which ri am inclined from some eggs (probably = an Arctian) I have studied to regard

as developing like the Hymenoptera and Dipte

EMBRYOLOGY OF CHRYSOPA. 567

and Hemerobidz) are endoblasts, to use Dr. Dohrn’s terms. -On

inquiring how far these two modes correspond to the degree of

development of the insect on leaving the egg, and the degree

of metamorphosis of the insect before becoming adult, it seems

that the endoblasts occur in those ametabolous insects (Hemiptera

and Neuroptera) with flattened, leptiform larvae, and also in those

——— with similar larve, as distinguished from the weevils,

ich have eruciform larvee, i. e., resembling the maggots of Dip-

ks and Hymenoptera. The two modes of development, then, do

not fully accord with the two different degrees of metamorphosis

of insects, but more probably depends simply on the form of the

larva when hatched. Now there are two forms of insectean larvæ

which are pretty constant. One we may call leptiform, from its

general resemblance to the larvæ of the mites (Leptus). e lar-

væ of all the Neuroptera, except those of the Phryganeidæ and

Panorpidæ (which -are cylindrical and resemble caterpillars), are

more or less leptiform, i. e., have a flattened or oval y, wi

large thoracic legs. Such are the larvæ of the Orthoptera and

Hemiptera, and the Coleoptera (except the Curculionidæ ; possibly

the Cerambycidæ and Buprestidæ, which approach the maggot-like

form of the larvæ of weevils). On the other hand, taking the cater-

pillar or bee larva with their cylindrical fleshy bodies, in most

respects typical of the larval forms of the Hymenoptera, Lepidop-

tera and Diptera, as the type of the eruciform larva, we find that

those insects with such larve are ectoblasts. (The Podure which,

as in Isotoma, are ectoblasts, and are certainly leptiform when

hatched, form an apparent exception.) Thus the two modes of

development (ectoblastic or endoblastic) perhaps simply depend

on the form of the insect when hatched, and its mode of life.

The leptiform larvæ of insects may be compared with the nau-

plius form of Crustacea, and in a much less degree the eruciform

to the zoea form. The three higher suborders of insects may be

compared to the Malacostraca with their zoez form larva, and the

four lower suborders (Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera and Neu-

roptera) with the Entomostraca,* in which certain forms, as in

some Phyllopods, and Limulus, and the Trilobites, are hatched in a

subzoea condition (corresponding to the eruciform larve among

the-Neuroptera and Coleoptera). The larve of the earliest insects

Entomostraca J fi i not that they

* The terms Malacostraca

are entirely natural divisions.

568 ORGANIC IDENTITY OF THE ALBUMEN

were probably leptiform, and the eruciform condition is conse-

quently an acquired one, as suggested by Fritz Miller.* His sug-

gestion, followed up by Brauer, that the insects have descended

from some zoea does not seem of much value, as the leptiform

larva more exactly parallels the nauplius of the lowest Entomos-

traca (Copepoda). We have already suggested that the Insects

and Crustacea probably arose by two distinct lines of develop-

ment from the worms, rather than that the Nauplius gave rise to

the Insects, as Miiller has suggested ; an important reason for this

view being that the three pairs of appendages of the Nauplius do

not homologize with the distinct cephalic and three thoracic ap-

pendages of the Leptus.

Tae ORGANIC IDENTITY or THE ALBUMEN AND ENDOPLEURA OF

ALL THE PHANEROGAM&.— By T. C. Hirearp, M. D.

ALL seeds of the flowering plants (the net-leaved, blade-leaved

and the pine tribes) are collectively described as consisting of a

germ or “embryo,” enclosed within two separate seed-coats.

A great many seeds, like those of the mustard, nasturtium,

buck-eye, bladder-nut, the ailanthus, sumach, china-tree, orange,

camellia; the gum-pod (“gumbo”), hibiscus, the cocoa-bean,

almond, pea and rose-tribes, the brazil-nut, walnut, chestnut;

the cockle-bur, sun-flower and melon all conform to this descrip-

tion, and the natural tribes to which they belong form a connected

region of the flowering plants generally speaking.

It is likewise understood that a great many seeds have their

germ proper imbedded in a bulky, nutritive lump called the ‘ albu-

men”; which thus forms the main bulk of the seed, e. g. of the

ivory-nut, the date-kernel,’ the cocoa-nut, the pepper, paw-paw

and nutmeg, and all the grains no less than the well known

coffee-bean. In water, the latter will swell and protrude its stub-

ble-like embryo out of one end of its horny, enveloping mass, Or

“ albumen.”

It has, however, hitherto remained an unnoticed fact that all

seeds which have two so-called seed-coats, are all alike destitute of

Pieters. esi as: ee

ig “Tt is my opinion that the ‘incomplete metamorphosis’ of the Orthoptera iè the

pane tae inherited from the original parents of all insects, and the ‘complete

amorphosis’ of the Coleoptera, Diptera etc 3 ired dne. ”— Für

Darwin. Eng. Trans: p.121. » Miptera, etc., a subsequently acquir

Seas

AND ENDOPLEURA OF ALL THE PHANEROGAM. 569

an ** albumen ;” and that all seeds provided with an albumen, have

only one solitary seed-coat, aside from the albumen itself.

In, many other seeds, as in those of the Osage orange (Maclura)

and several Cactacez, etc., the albumen is thinned out, in some

places, into a so-called “ endopleura” or interior seed-coat, while

in other parts of the seed the sheet of this self-same “ internal

seed-coat” thickens up into a bulky albumen, conformably to the

configuration of the germ it encloses and of the testa which con-

tains both.

An inspection of the immature seed of all the so-called ea-albumin-

ous forms, i.e. those which, like the pea-nut, peach, and almond, are

destitute of an albumen, discloses the fact, that in this juvenile

condition, all these seeds, have, like all the rest (viz. the ‘* albumi-

` nous seeds”) a large succulent albumen-zone, wherein the germ

(‘embryo sac” etc.) is developed, at the expense of the former.

During the process of ripening, in all the nutty, or ‘ ex-albumi-

nous ” seeds, the primitive. albumen becomes gradually exhausted,

leaving its entire cell-tissue compressed and empty behind, as the

delicate endopleura or internal seed-coat. In all the other seeds,

on the contrary, this succulent albumen-zone remains the store-

house for the germinating seed to draw its substance from. In

the honey-locust and the allied coffee-nut tree (Gymnocladus) in

germination, the flinty albumen dissolves into a sort of gum, like

gum arabic.

In point of fact, the “ endopleura” and the ¢ ‘* albumen” are one

identical organ.

This evident identity of the original albumen and subsequent

second seed-coat, settles at once the old and perplexed question

about the erroneously supposed “ gymnospermism,” whether of La-

biatee, Conifere and their allies, the Taxinew, Gnetacer, Casu-

arinæ and Cycadez.

Since we now know, what parts all seeds consist of, these tribes

are by no means to be considered as “ abnormally” or even

“ monstrously ” organized (as a prevalent theory still holds) but

that e. g. alb the edible pine-nuts contain, each, a complete seed ;

which loosely adheres to the capsule (like the mature cocoa-nut

Rad et f awt

* The take, or exterior seed-coat, frequently e

nal and an urfaces. In the seed of the pce that of the grape, etc, the ex-

teri otherwise bony seed-coat, which encloses the albumen, is ae

as is the pict testa of the Aa cobosh (Caulophyllum.)

570 ORGANIC IDENTITY OF THE ALBUMEN, ETC.

kernel) and is encased within a one-seeded pistil, as is the case

e. g. with all grasses, grains and the knot-weeds; their true ovules

being mostly sessile (as in the entire orders of Polygonacee

and Nyctaginacez, with only few exceptions) and considerably co-

herent with the true pistil (or stigmatiferous “utricle”). In the

above-mentioned coniferous tribes, these one-seeded pistils are

provided with a pervious, “open” stigma; a case correspondingly

represented in the duck-weeds (Lemnacez) which however have

their seeds borne upon a funiculus.

The seed itself, of Conifers, is a complete one, consisting (1)

of a germ; (2) an (oily) albumen and (3) one thin, brown, mem-

branaceous seed-coat (the testa), readily separating from the utri-

cle or nut-shell which surrounds it, as in the well-known cases of

the pine-nuts of California, Italy and that of Switzerland (Pinus

lembra).

Thus, it is clear that the pine-scales are only a woody cup or

cob, of indurated “ saucers” or involucres (as with acorns) that

arise in the axils of delicate and sometimes colored bracts. Sim-

ilar involucral cups we find in the harsh cones of the alder, and in

the sterile aments of the wild hemp tribe.

The wing-like appendages of the pine-nuts represent so many

palee or floral chaff (like that of grains and bulrushes, etc).

In the remarkable case of Welwitschia, the ‘‘ kettle-drum pine”

of western tropical Africa, no such indurated scales, but only the

purpureous bracts, as are those of flowering larch-trees, are devel-

oped. The true perianth—judging by Dr. J. D. Hooker’s plate

viii—being here a delicate, foliaceous two-winged one, epigy-

nously concrete with the nut, as is the chaff of pines and two-seeded |

capsules of Araucariz. Nevertheless, the same identical organ

is erroneously styled ‘a pericarp” on the preceding plates, by a

OPES calami of the same author, on the uncritical bias of so-called

‘“gymnospermism.” * The so-called gymnosperms have closed

pistils !

It is thus clear, that there is no “break” in the vegetable king-

dom: all ae uniting into a complete, connected and harmonious

*The untenable theory, here referred to, considers the pine-scale as a “ pistil;” des-

titute, however, of any of the distinctive attributes of a a pistil, being without a suture

without a stigma, and without any fructification ee its instrumentali

The true (one-seeded, pluri-ovulate) ar or “ utricle,” was wrongly regarded as

(abnormally “ naked” ) “ovule”; with a sneha ally rostrate “ exostome,” viz: the

(open) stigma! Next follows (after this jao “ testa”) the true seed-coat under the

Pe es OP ae ae CL ee VE ORS gre eee eRe et Se eS oe ee eee EA

INEQUILATERAL LEAVES. 571

system of mutual typical affinities or correlations, to be discussed

in detail in a subsequent paper.

INEQUILATERAL Leaves.—By Proressor W. J. BEAL.

Tue leaves of most plants, such as those of the white oak, sugar

maple, and tulip tree are equilateral, i. e., the right and left sides

are of the same size and match each other, as the two sides of the

Fig. 100

Compound leaf. After Spencer.

nose and chin, or the right hand and foot match the left. Some

simple leaves and many leaflets of compound leaves show a marked

denomination of an “ endopleura”,—and an “albumen” besides, which contains the

embryo.

Mh SN 134, + me > PE oh ketti éhia chennkan Ih will often be

= 1

found lying loose inside.

Th ontended fruit tof the well-known yew-tree contains a) an RRR

Ww Th

mange to de yaksa capsule, which is it tself covered b va thick, calycine layer !—in the

xact liken f an acorn, a hazelnat, or the ner a sweet gale (Myrica; the sia

pa or nia nets which indeed seems to reproduce the true (epigynows) structure o

the former on a reduced ced scale; as the (Composite) Polymnia Uvedalia or “ nutted ie

cup.”

The cup of the yew-tree tams remain to be property, interpreted asa foshy eup

partiy of dry scales, lik acorn and the one, and the succu-

hb A

MAU.

5419 INEQUILATERAL LEAVES.

want of symmetry in their lobes. The Begonia is often cited as an

example. The hickory, bean and poison ivy, may illustrate the

same thing in compound leaves. In figure 100, ‘‘ The homologous

parts a, b, c, d, while they are unlike one another, are, in their main

proportions, severally like the parts with which they are paired.

And here let us not overlook a characteristic which is less conspicu-

ous but not less significant. Each of the lateral wings has winglets

that are larger on the one side than on the other; and in each case

the two sides are dissimilarly conditioned. Even in the several

components of each wing may be traced alike divergence from

symmetry, along with a like inequality in the relations to the rest ;

the proximal half of each’ leaflet is habitually larger than the dis-

tal half.” (Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology, fig. 65, p. 31.)

A. P. De Candolle says, “ This inequality generally exists only

in alternate leaves, and I cannot find in my memoranda any ex-

‘ample of an inequilateral opposite leaf. This fact tends to prove,

that this inequality ought to be referred to the position of the leaf

upon the plant favoring the development of one of its sides more

than the other; and in this case, it is always the lower one which

is developed most. This law is still more evident in the leaflets of

pinnate leaves . . . . the side most developed is always the lower,

_the upper being narrower and less prolonged. The same observa- -

tion may be made upon the stipules, which are very frequently irreg-

ular. In opposite leaves, there has been presented a curious exam-

ple of inequality in Ruellia anisophylla ; — one of two opposite

leaves is very small and narrow, and, as it were, abortive in com-

parison with the other ; but symmetry is also met with in this irreg-

ularity, for on comparing the successive pairs, the small leaf is

found alternately on both sides. Stipules [sometimes] present

analogous phenomena.” Seen

Dr. Wilder has shown that « Elm leaves have the inner or up-

per side much larger,” thus upsetting De Candolle’s theory that the

inequality is due to the position of the leaf upon the stem. Vari-

ous other reasons have been assigned for this inequality, all of

which seem to fail when applied to numerous examples in their

various stages of development.

Schleiden believes that this want of symmetry is due to unequal

pressure.in the bud. Spencer seems in doubt about the true

cause, for he says, “ How far such differences are due to the po-

sitions of the parts in the bud ; how far the respective spaces

` INEQUILATERAL LEAVES. 573

available for the parts when unfolded affect them; and how far

the parts are rendered unlike by unlikenesses in their relations to

light, it is difficult to say. Probably, these several factors oper-

ate in all varieties, of proportion.” He attributes the want of

symmetry in the leaves of the Lime tree or basswood to the shad-

ing of the smallest lobes. That this cannot be the case is proven

by an examination of the conduplicate leaves of the basswood and

elm while in the bud. When less than half an inch in length,

the lobes are plainly unequal. When much less than a fourth of

an inch long they are nearly or quite equal lobed. Since noticing

these facts, the writer was pleased to find the same views recorded

rr. Wi

On the basswood, the leaves are alternate and two ranked,

having the upper lobe fullest. This is the case even where the

Fig. 101.

Alternate two ranked leaves of Tilia Americana, Basswood, fullest at the base

on the inner side.

full lobe is shaded or where the whole leaf is well exposed to the

light. Spencer gives an illustration showing the arrangemennt of

basswood leaves, exposing nearly all their upper surface to the

light. If he should turn a young branch over, of this or almost

any other plant, he might be surprised to see how soon the leaves

would turn back again, and how nicely they would adapt them-

selves to each other, economizing all the available space.

leaves of red elm and the American elm are sessile, broad at the

base, two ranked with the upper lobe fullest. The same is true of

the blue beech, Carpinus Americana, though the lobes are often

Saran oer occidentalis has two ranked leaves with petioles

h long. The upper lobes of the leaves are very full

when weal with those of the elm. Begonia leaves are two

574 INEQUILATERAL LEAVES.

ranked with the upper lobe fullest, no matter whether they are

nearly sessile or on petioles a foot in length. The witch hazel has

Fig. 102. two ranked leaves with

a broad base on short

petioles and the lower

lobe much the fuller.

common beech,

hazel, mulberry, and

grape have two ranked,

equal lobed leaves.

It is a very common

thing to see a want of

symmetry in the lobes

Alternate two ranked | f Hamamelis Firginies, of leaflets of compound

oS leaves. The reader

will remember that De Candolle says, ‘ The upper edge of such

is always smallest.”

Of this character, we find the black ash, the hop-tree (Ptelea),

bean, hickory, elder, blad- Fig. 103.

der-nut (Staphylea), straw-

berry, poison ivy, fragrant

sumach, and Jack in the

ultimate divisions of the

decompound leaves of Her-

cules club are fullest on Two leaflets of Fraxinus sambucifolia, Black Ash,

the ] ower si d e, while th e fullest on the outer lobes.

leaves of the Kentucky coffee-tree reverse the above example. The

leaflets of Ailanthus are broad at the base, and raised on very short

Two leaflets of Ailanthus glandulosus, fullest on the inner side.

pedicels. The upper edge of their leaflets is much the fuller:

Leaflets of the Southern prickly ash are fuller on the upper side,

INEQUILATERAL LEAVES. 575

while those of the Northern prickly ash, of the same genus, are

usually fuller on the lower side. Rhus toxicodendron has the lower

edge of the side leaflets fuller; Rhus copalina has the upper edge

fuller. For some time, I thought as De Candolle wrote (though

I had not then read his book on the subject), that the unequal

lobed leaves were all alternate ; and further, I thought they were

all two ranked along the stem, and thus set off against each

other, as leaflets in a compound leaf. I was not

much surprised, however, though much interested

to find that the opposite leaves of Cornus Florida

were fuller on the lower edge, as they were all

turned horizontally on the side branches. On the

4th of July, the two terminal leaves were about half

i grown and generally equal lobed at the base, though

Two opposite not always so. I find the opposite leaves of several

leaves of Eu- A i F

phorbia, mac. of our Euphorbias, as noticed in Gray’s manual, are

on the lower fuller at the lower edge as they are turned down

horizontally. In a somewhat similar manner are

the two parts of the involucre of Carpinus Americana. These

stand with the fuller edge away from the axis. The two edges

of each are unequally serrate, more serrate on one edge than on

the other, so the involucral leaves match as well as the correspond-

ing fingers on our two Fig. 106.

hands. In the green-

house of the Michigan

State Agricultural Col-

lege, isa plant unknown

to me, presented by Dr.

Gray. Theleavesareon — tInyotucre of Carpinus Americana, Blue Beech, the upper

petioles three-fourths Roe ee ee

of an inch in length; they are probably three ranked (certainly

not two ranked). As the leaves droop, the upper lobe is much

fullest and the midrib considerably curved as in Begonia.

So we have unequal lobed leaves on stems where they are two,

` three or four ranked. The common sheep sorrel often has one

lobe longer and larger at the base, but I am unable to find any

rule with regard to this fact.

The four o’clock of our gardens Mirabilis has opposite leaves,

and when of proper size, terminates each axis with a flower.

The axillary bud on each side develops into a branch terminating

Fig. 105.

576 OIL WELLS OF TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA.

in the same manner by a flower. Thus we have four leaves in two

pairs closely sitting about a flower. As thus arranged spreading

each way they are all fuller at the base on the side next the flower,

where there is least light and least room. This is contrary to

what we should expect according to De Candolle and Spencer.

An examination of the plant for a moment will make it clear. —

Every botanist is familiar with the unsymmetrical petals on the

sides of the pea flower, violet, lobes of mint blossom, and those

Of other plants. | :

The strangest thing under want of symmetry that I have seen

in plants, is found in the cotyledons of our cultivated buckwheat.

While in the seed, they are pressed together, and rolled up from

Fig. 107. one edge. hen the co-

tyledons have acquired

their full growth, they

have petioles about half

an inch long ; each cotyle-

don is fullest on its left

side, so they would not

match each other without

turning one of them over.

Perhaps this is a puzzle

- analogous to homologizing

the hand and foot on the

Cotyledons of Teaepyrum eseutentum, Buckwheat, same side of the body.

; All our theories so far

read or imagined, such as influence of heat, light, gravitation,

number of ranks on the stem, length of petiole, pressure, natural

selection, do not satisfactorily explain all these peculiarities.

So far, we agree with Dr. Wilder, “ That such peculiarities are

true and original characteristics of the plants, and that they are

produced by the so-called vital force acting in a definite way.”

On THE OIL WELLS or TERRE Havre, Inprana.—By Dr. T. STERRY `

UNT.

In previous publications, I have endeavored to show that the

source of the petroleum in southwestern Ontario, and probably in

some other localities, is to be sought in the oleiferous limestones

OIL WELLS OF TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA. 577

in indigenous petroleum. I have, moreover, expressed the opinion

that the overlying sandstones of Pennsylvania are also truly oleif-

= erous. In a paper read to this Association last year, I showed

that the Niagara limestone at Chicago holds imprisoned in its

pores an enormous quantity of oil, and remarked that the reser-

voirs which supply the wells in other districts are fissures along

anticlinals, which fissures, though sometimes occurring in. strata

above the oil-bearing horizon, in Ontario frequently occur in the

` Corniferous limestone itself. Hence the view held by some that

the source of the oil in that region is to be sought in.the a ing

strata, is negatived. In Ontario, there intervenes between the

Corniferous and Niagara formations the great eous. series

known as the Onondaga or Salina formation. This, however, is

together, and, according to f. Cox, where exposed at North

Vernon, Indiana, are both Dein

A well lately sunk at Terre Haute, Indiana, in search of fresh

water has shown the existence of a productive source of oil in

that region. It was carried nineteen hundred feet, and yields

about two barrels of oil daily. A second well, a quarter of a

mile east of north from the first, now gives a supply of twenty-five

barrels of oil daily. After passing through one hundred and fifty

feet of superficial sand and gravel, the boring was carried to a

depth of sixteen hundred and twenty-five feet, where oil was

struck. According to Prof. Cox, the strata passed through are as

follows: Coal measures, seven hundred feet ; Carboniferous lime-

stones with underlying sandstones and shales, seven hundred feet ;

black pyroschists regarded as the equivalent of the Genessee

slates, fifty feet. Beneath, at a depth of twenty-five feet in the

underlying Corniferous limestone, the oil-vein was met with. The

oil in the first well was found at the same horizon. A third well

about a mile to the westward, was carried to two thousand feet,

but only traces of oil were found. This locality, on the Wabash

river is, according to Prof. Cox, on the line of a gentle anticlinal

or uplift, which is traced a long distance to the west of south.

This relation of productive oil-wells to such anticlinals was pointed

out by Prof. Andrews and by myself in 1861.

578 AMBLYSTOMA LURIDA.

Tue DEVELOPMENT OF AMBLYSTOMA LURIDA SAGER.—By Dr. P.

Hor.

Tuts, the largest of the North American salamanders, affords

superior facilities for studying the habits and embryonic changes

from the egg to the perfected reptile. The adult female of this

species is from eleven to twelve inches in length. The male

is rather less. They excavate holes in the ground in which they

conceal their bodies, the head only being visible. Thus they

Fig. 108. lie in wait for stray slugs and insects

on which they subsist. Late in the

fall they stray about seeking a hiding

place in which to hibernate, at which

time they frequently find their way

into cellars to the great consterna-

tion of the household.

Early in the spring they repair to

neighboring ponds, in which to de-

posit their eggs, which they place in

LIN packets of from twenty to fifty on

' blades of coarse grass. The eggs

Egg of Ambiystoma, at 13th day are one half inch in diameter, the

Lower figure of natural size,

albumen has considerable firmness,

the yolk is one eighth of an inch in diameter, color, greenish olive,

paler beneath. I will here omit reciting the development of the

embryo previous to the escape of the tadpole from the egg, as

there is no essential difference between the development within the

egg of the salamander and that of the fish which has been so

repeatedly studied with great care and the Fig. 109.

results recorded with minute exactness.

7 blystoma, 10th day

mentary. May 5, tenth d vere een, Lower figure

oo day, ina develop ed, iy poco os at time of

se g from egg.

insects. May 25, thirty days from the egg, fore feet tridactylous,

consisting of thumb, forefinger, which is greatly elongated, and

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 579

middle finger a little longer than the thumb. If there should be

an arrest of development at this stage, the track would be birti-like.

Next, the fourth finger makes its appearance, and, on the hind

feet, the fifth comes still later. What is especially interesting is

that when the legs or feet have been amputated, which frequently

occurs, the operation being performed by those miniature fresh

water sharks, the larvæ of dragon flies and water beetles, the

development of the toes is precisely in the same order, first the

three toes, then the fourth, and on the hind feet the fifth. The

gills are now beautifully plumed and when closed reach to the

centre of the entire animal ; hind legs starting. June 20, fifty-six

days, hind feet developed.

As the lungs increase the gills wither and are gradually ab-

sorbed, so that by the middle of August the gills have all disap-

peared. The time consumed in the wonderful process is a little

over one hundred days.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SysTeMATIC RELATIONS OF THE FisHEs.—By

Pror. Epwarp D.

I. PRELIMINARY.

Tue system of fishes as at present adopted in this country, is

the result of the labors of many naturalists, but chiefly of Cuvier,

Agassiz, Muller and Gill. Without going into the history of the

subject at present, it will be proper to point out the principal

modifications of Cuvier’s system, introduced by his three succes-

sors. The orders of Cuvier were the Chondropterygii, Malacop-

terygii, Acanthopterygii, Plectognathi and Lophobranchii.

Professor Agassiz, under the name of Placoids, adopted the first

division; the second he called the Cycloids, the third Ctenoids,

and then created a fourth order under the name of Ganoids, which

should embrace a portion of Cuvier’s Chondropterygii (the stur-

geons), a portion of the Malacopterygii Abdominales (the bony

gars, etc.), and the two last orders of Cuvier. Professor Müller

following, with a still more complete anatomical investigation,

especially into the soft parts, discerned three swb-classes in Cu-

vier’s Chondrostomi, which he named the Leptocardii (lancelet),

Dermopterit (lamprey, etc.), and the Selachii (sharks, etc.). In

the then recently discovered Lepidosiren he saw a fourth sub-class,

Dipnoi.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 37

580 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

Having instituted an investigation of Agassiz’ Ganoids, in an

able memoir he purged it of the Plectognath and Lophobranchiate

divisions, which are obviously not related to it. These with the

Malacopterygians and Acanthopterygians, he erected into a sixth

sub-class, the Teleostei. This sub-class containing the greater

part of existing fishes, embraced six orders, viz.: -Acanthopteri

(Cuvier’s Acanthopterygians), Anacanthini (new, for the Cod

family, ete.) ; Pharyngognathi (new, for fishes with connate infe-

rior pharyngeal bones) ; Physostomi (Malacopterygians of Cuvier,

nearly); Plectognathi and Lophobranchii of Cuvier. The great

number of facts in the anatomy of fishes added by Müller, consti-

tute him the father of modern ichthyology.

Professor Gill, in 1861, adopted many of the divisions of Müller,

and rejected some; others were newly proposed. But four sub-

classes were recognized, the Dermopteri, which includes also

Müller’s Leptocardii; the Elasmobranchii, equivalent to Müller's

Selachii; the Ganoidii, including here Miiller’s Dipnoi; and the

Teleostei. Six orders were attributed to the last sub-class, which

were quite different from those of Miiller.

Subsequent to this publication, important contributions to the

system have been made by Kner, Lütken, Gill, Huxley, etc., which

will be noticed at the proper time.

The writer having been engaged in an examination of the oste-

ology of the bony fishes, and general anatomical studies of the

whole, has proposed to point out some further modifications of the

received system, which he believes will render it a closer reflection

of nature. There are some portions of the skeleton which have

been to a great extent overlooked in seeking for indications of

likeness and difference of types, and the estimation in which many

known characters are held, may be much altered on the study of

extended material. The skeletons on which the present study is

made, are one thousand in number, two hundred belonging to the

_ Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and eight hundred

to the writer, being the collection made by Professor Joseph Hyrtl,

the distinguished anatomist of Vienna. This collection has been

long known to anatomists in Europe as the most beautifully and

reliably prepared in existence, and as valuable as any for study,

on account of the fulness of the representation of the various

types.

ata OCS ory eae wn eal ee

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 581

II. SPECIAL ON THE GANOIDS.

Recurring to Miiller’s system, the writer adopts, as characterized

beyond dispute, his sub-classes, or orders of Leprocarpu, DER-

MOPTERI, SELACHII and Drpnor, and confines himself at present to

the recent Ganoidea and Teleostei. I have shared in the doubts

occasionally expressed by icthyologists, as to the essential dis-

tinction of these latter divisions, and an examination into the

osteology, with reference to this point, confirms the doubts raised

by a study of the soft parts. As is well known, Miiller distin-

guished the Ganoidea by the muscular bulbus arteriosus contain-

ing numerous valves, and the connection of the optic nerves by

commissure rather than by decussation. He added several other

characters, knowing them, however, to be shared by various other

orders and sub-classes, and I have selected the only two which

seemed to be restricted to the division. Their restriction to it,

however, is only apparent, and Kner points out that the peculiar-

ity of the optic commissure is shared by some Physostomi, and

that the difference between the number and character of the valves

of the bulbus in Lepidosteus and Amia, is quite as great as that

existing between Amia and some of the Physostomi. After an

examination of the skeleton it is obvious that in this part of the

organism also, there is nothing to distinguish this division from

the Teleostei of Müller. It is true that each of the genera re-

ferred to it possesses marked skeletal peculiarities, but they are

either not common to all of them, or are shared by some of the

Physostomi. If, on the other hand, we compare these genera with

each other, differences of the greatest importance are observable,

which at once distinguish two gehen ine one represented by Polyp-

terus, the other by Lepidosteus and

In the first place the basal radii of sh paws fins of Polypte-

rus are observed to be excluded from articulation with the scapu-

lar arch by the intervention of three elements, which form a

pedicel or veritable arm for the fin. In Lepidosteus and Amia the

radii are sessile on the scapular arch as in ordinary fishes. The

ventral fins present a like difference ; the basal radii are long and

four in number in Polypterus. In the other two genera they are

absent, excepting one rudimental ossicle on the inner basis of the

fin (two in Lepidosteus) precisely as in the Physostomous families

Mormyride, Catostomide, etc. If we examine the branchial ap-

582 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

paratus, we find an undivided ceratohyal, three branchihyal arches,

and no inner and but two outer bones of the superior branchihyals,

present in Polypterus. In Lepidosteus and Amia we have the

double ceratohyal, four branchihyal arches, with four outer and

four inner superior elements, characters of the typical Teleostei.

The maxillary bone of Polypterus, instead of being free distally,

as in fishes generally, is united with an ectopterygoid, and with —

bones representing, in position at least, postorbital and malar.

In the other genera the relations of the maxillary are as in osse-

ous fishes.

The sturgeons (Accipenseride) agree with Amia, etc., in all of _

these points but one, differing only in having the superior cerato-

hyal and several of the superior branchihyals cartilaginous. The

one point of distinction is the extension of the basal radial sup-

ports of the ventral fin all across its basis as in Polypterus. The

pectoral fin is, on the other hand, much as in Lepidosteus. Thus

the sturgeons combine in this one respect, the features of both

divisions. Both the basal ceratohyals are cartilaginous in this

family; the superior only is cartilaginous in Polypterus, Lepi-

dosteus and Amia, while both are ossified in the old Teleostei,

except in the eels. In these the inferior is cartilaginous, while

the superior is coossified to the ceratohyal. Thus in one unimpor-

tant character Polypterus agrees with its former associates, but

differs more from others of them—the sturgeons, than from the

bony fishes.

Another character of both Lepidosteus and Amia betokens a cer-

tain relationship to Polypterus, viz., the complexity of the mandi-

ble, especially in the possession of a coronoid bone. But here

again Accipenser only possess an osseous dentary, while Gymnatr- —

chus and Gymnotus have the angular and articular bones distinct

from the dentary, wanting the coronoid and opercular. In mos

bony fishes the angular is not distinct.

It is thus evident that the sub-class Ganoidea cannot be main-

tained. It cannot be even regarded as an order, since I will show

that Lepidosteus, Accipenser, and Amia, are all representatives of

distinct orders. I hope also to make it evident that Polypterus

should be elevated to the rank of a sub-class or division of equ

rank with the rest of the fishes, and with the Dipnoi already

adopted.

The question may be discussed as to whether naturalists av

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 583

correct who regard the fishes as representing variously, from two to

four classes. One of these (the Ganoidea), having been already

disposed of, it remains to consider the claims of the remainder,

viz: The Elasmobranchii (sharks), Dipnoi and typical fishes.

If we examine the points in which the whole taken together dif-

fer from the Batrachia and other classes above it, we find that it

is confined chiefly to the structure of the limbs and the hyoid ap-

paratus. The typical fishes present, however, other important

peculiarities, viz.: 1st. The existence of two or three distinct

bones in the suspensor of the mandible, instead of one. a

attachment to these of the opercular bones. 3d. The i of

pelvic bones. 4th. The suspension of the scapular arch to the

cranium. th. The large development of the pterotic (Parker,

mastoid of Cuvier and Owen) is characteristic of bony fishes.

The types of variation, in the first point, only distinguish groups

of subordinate rank. Thus: the suspensor of the mandible in the

typical fishes consists of the hyomandibular stapes, quadrate (met-

apterygoid or incus), symplectic and mesopterygoid (quadratoju-

gal Müller, quadrate Huxley, Elm. Comp. Anat.). In the Mormy-

ride, Siluride, Polypteride, and others, the symplectic is absent ;

in the eels of several families both it and the metapterygoid are

wanting, reducing the suspensorium to arod of two pieces. This

condition exists in many of the rays; in others, and in the sharks,

the inferior element is wanting (Miiller, Stannius). An important

modification is exhibited by Chimera, where the hyomandibular,

which alone exists, is continuous with the cartilaginous cranium,

not being separated by the usual articulation.

As to the opercular bones, all are wanting in the Elasmobranchs

(sharks and rays) while the typical fishes possess four, viz: preo-

perculum, operculum, suboperculum and interoperculum. In

many of these, however, the suboperculum is wanting, and in the

sturgeons and many eels there is no preoperculum. In Polyodon

the interoperculum is also wanting. In Lepidosiren the operculum

and interoperculum are rudimental. In respect to this point also

the divisions indicated are of subordinate value. As regards the

development of the pterotic bone, its history is not yet sufficiently

made out to enable us to understand its value. It does not exist

in those with cartilaginous cranium (Elasmobranchii). The Elas-

mobranchs are well known to have the scapular arch suspended

freely behind the cranium as in higher vertebrates. It is not

584 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

always attached to the cranium, on the other hand, among true

fishes, for in the eels it is quite as in the sharks, and the spinous-

finned Mastacembelus presents the same features.

The characters presented by the pelvic bones and limbs seem to

be of higher import. Thus all the bony fishes and sturgeons lack

all the pelvic elements. In the sharks and rays they are also want-

ing; but two elements on each side appear in the Holocephali,

(Chimera) according to Leydig and Gegenbaur. In Lepidosiren

a large median pelvic cartilage exists, but which element it repre-

sents is unknown. This is evidently a character of high signifi-

cance. As to the limbs, the peculiarities of Polypterus have been

pointed out above. They mean nothing less than the develop-

ment of the elements of the arm and leg of the higher vertebrata

which intervene between the point of articulation and the distal

segments, in Polypterus and the sharks and rays. In the former

the distal segments are articulated exclusively to the extremities

of the proximal pieces, which thus resemble, as well as represent,

humerus and femur, and render the limb pedunculated. The prox-

imal pieces are not continued distally, however, into the represen-

tatives of the main axis, which, as demonstrated by the admirable

studies of Gegenbaur, consist after humerus, of radius, tarsals

and metatarsals, and thumb ; in the hind limb, of the line of the

tibia and inner toe. This continuation is observed in the Elasmo-

branchi, where, however, the divergent segments extend along the

sides of the proximal pieces to near, in some Rajide quite, to the

articulation with the scapular arch. In the true fishes, including

some of the old ganoids already considered, the divergent rays

always reach this articulation, while the number of proximal or

basal pieces is diminished. These pieces have been called by

Gegenbaur the metapterygium (humerus), mesopterygium, and

propterygium ; the first being axial, the second and third being

divergent from it. In Polypterus the propterygium and mesop-

terygium are largely developed ; in sharks and rays the proptery-

gium is sometimes small, sometimes wanting, while in the true

fishes the propteryginm and mesopterygium are both wanting, ex-

cepting in Amia, Lepidosteus, and the sturgeons, where a cartil-

aginous mesopterygium exists, according to Gegenbaur. This

author finds it rudimental in young Salmonide and Siluride.

Lastly, in the true fishes the distal elements of the axis of the

imb are wanting, just as in Polypterus.

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 585

In Dipnoi, on the other hand, we have this axis complete, or

rather with greatly multiplied distal segments, and with or without

lateral radii. In the Australian Ceratodus Günther finds numerous

lateral series on both sides of those of the axial row. Hence the

limb of this order is considered by Owen, the simplest or primary

type, and this proposition is abundantly confirmed by the beautiful

researches of Gegenbaur. The foundation laid by this author

for the history of the genesis of limbs will ever be a landmark

in the history of modern theories of creation. See his memoir,

Ueber das Skelet der Gliedmaasen der Wirbelthiere im Allgemei-

nen, etc., Jenaische Med. Zeitschr., vol. v., p. 397:

Important as are the characters that patai) the several

oups indicated by the different types of structure of the limbs

and pelvis, they do not seem to me to warrant their recognition as

classes, equivalent to those of the six already pointed out. Taking

them together there is a greater coherence also in the structure of

brain and circulatory systems than would be the case with any

other two of the classes adopted above. The peculiarities of the

limbs, important as they are, are nearly related in the want of

specialization of their parts, seen in the Butrachia and other

classes, the differences consisting rather of number and position

of similar parts. The pelvis of the Dipnoi might be regarded as

of primary importance but for its existence in the Holocephali,

whose limbs again are so near those of the shark.

It remains, therefore, to adopt the Linnzean and Cuvierian class

Pisces, and to grant as sub-classes, the groups of Holocephali,

Selachii and Dipnoi. There remain as sub-classes the groups typ-

ee by Polypterus on the one hand, and the true fishes on the

The first has been already distinguished in its external

Bta by romais Huxley, who again brought light out of ob-

scurity when he established his *“ third sub-order of ganoids, the

Crossopterygide.” This division is in my estimation a natural

one, and to be elevated to arank equivalent to that of each of the

three above named, being the only part of the original division of

Ganoids of Miiller entitled to it. Professor Huxley defined it as

follows:

“ Dorsal fins, two, or if single, multiplied or very long; the

pectoral and usually the vertical fins lobate; no branchiostegal

rays but two principal, with sometimes lateral and medianjugular

plates situated between the rami of the mandible ; caudal fin diph-

586 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

ycereal or heterocereal; scales cycloid or rhomboid, smooth or

sculptured.”

Of the above characters that which relates to the lobate fins is

the essential one, and is the expression of the external appear-

ance produced by the structure of the bones of the limbs already

pointed out by Gegenbaur. The dorsal fins of some families, it is

true, possess a remarkable structure, but in Phaneropleuron (Hux-

ley) and some others they appear to be nearly like that of the

Dipnoi. The absence of branchiostegal rays is important, but is

shared by the sturgeons. The jugular plates appear to exist in

Polypterus only among recent fishes, though several, as Amia,

Elops, Osteoglossum, etc., possess a median one. Nevertheless,

its nature would not lead one to anticipate its being a constant

feature in any group of high rank; at least, such is our usual

experience with dermal bones. The structures of the skin and

scales given by Huxley are very subordinate.

The remaining division answers then to the Teleostei and Gan-

oidei of Miller, minus Polypterus. The name Teleostei cannot be

preserved for this division, owing to its entire want of coincidence

with that division of Miiller, as well as from the fact that the car-

tilaginous sturgeons must be included in it. I propose, therefore,

to call it the Actinopteri. The character of the five sub-classes

will then be as follows:

CLASS PISCES.

The hyomandibular bone continuous with the cartilaginous cra-

nium, with a rudimental opercular bone. Two distinct pelvic bones

on each side. Derivative radii sessile on the sides of the basal

bones of the limbs, separated from the articulation. Holocephali.

Hyomandibular bone articulated with the cranium; no oper-

cular or pelvic bones. Derivative radii sessile on the sides of the

basal bones of the limbs, rarely entering articulation. Selachii.

Hyomandibular bone articulated, with rudimental opercular

bones; a median pelvic element. Limbs consisting of the axial

line only, commencing with the metapterygium and with multi-

plied segments. ipnoi.

Hyomandibular articulated, opercular bones well developed; 4

single ceratohyal; no pelvic elements. Limbs having the deriva-

tive radii of the primary series on the extremity of the basal

pieces, which are in the pectoral fin metapterygium, mesoptery-

gium and propterygium. Crossopterygia.

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 587

Opercular bones, well developed on separate and complex sus-

pensorium; a double ceratohyal, no pelvic elements. Primary

radii of fore limb parallel with basilar elements, both entering the

articulation with scapular arch. Basilar elements reduced to met-

apterygium and very rarely mesopterygium. Primary radii of

posterior limbs generally reduced to one rudiment. Actinopteri.

II. ON THE ACTINOPTERI.

In determining the primary types of this sub-class, we return

to some characters already mentioned, in which they approximate

the Crossopterygia, and adding others, follow the various diver-

gences to their specialized terminations.

Thus in Accipenser and allies, the ventral fins possess a complete

series of basal radial bones, and the pectorals each a large mesop-

terygium. In Amia and Lepidosteus the mesopterygium is small,

and the basal radii of the ventrals are reduced to their lowest

number. In none of them are the basihyals fully developed.

Most of the eels retain a character which we have only observed

heretofore in the Selachii.

We pass by a number of the lower fishes before we find the

mandibular arch furnished with a symplectic. One of the most

important modifications, which is more or less coincident with a

number of others, is that which formed the basis of Bonaparte

and Miiller’s order of Physotomi. The presence of the ductus

pneumaticus which characterizes it, is always associated with the

abdominal position of ventral fins and cycloid scales, and mostly

with the presence of the przecoracoid arch, the entrance of the

maxillary bone into the border of the mouth and the nonsepara-

tion of the parietal bones by the supraoccipital. Yet none of

these characters are precisely associated at the point of change in

each, for there are physostomous fishes with separated parietals

and ctenoid scales (some Cyprinodontide), and there are Physo-

clysti with abdominal ventrals. Nevertheless, three prominent

types stand out in the Actinopteri, the sturgeons or Chondrostei,

the Physostomi, and the Physoclysti, which may be considered-as

tribes.

An entire series of basilar segments of the abdominal ua

fins ; no branchiostegal rays. Chondrostei.

Basilar segments of ventrals rudimental, position of fins ab-

dominal, parietal bones usually united ; branchiostegal rays ; swim

588 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

bladder connected with the stomach or w@sophagus by a ductus

pneumaticus. Physostomi.

No ductus pneumaticus ; parietal bones separated by the supra-

occipital ; ventral fins usually thoracic or jugular; no basilar seg-

ments. Physoclysti.

CHONDROSTEI.

There are two orders in this division, as follows :

A præcoracoid arch ; no symplectic bone ; premaxillary forming

mouth border; no suboperculum nor preoperculum ; mesoptery-

gium distinct ; basihyals and superior ceratohyal not ossified ; in-

terclavicles present; no interoperculum nor maxillary; branchi-

hyals cartilaginous. Selachastomi—The Paddle-fish.

Similar to the last, but with interopercle, maxillary bones, and

osseous branchihyal. Glaniostomi—'The Sturgeons.

The first order embraces the single family of Spatularide, the

second that of Accipenseride. In both the chorda dorsalis per-

sists, the tail is heterocercal and the osseous cranium is little

developed. The basal and radial elements of the limbs, with the

coracoids, are not ossified.

PHYSOSTOMI.

The following key will’ express the leading features of the

orders of this division :

I. A precoracoid arch.

A. A coronoid bone.

Maxillary in many pieces; vertebra opisthocoelian. 3. Gingly-

moui— The Bony Gar. `

Maxillary not transversely divided ; vertebrae amphicoelian. 4.

Halecomorphi — The Dog Fish.

AA. No coronoid bone.

* No symplectic bone.

Pterotic simple, anterior vertebrae with ossicula auditus ; supra-

occipital and parietals coéssified. 5. Nematognathi— The Cat

ishes.

Pterotic annular, including a cavity closed by a special bone;

parietals distinct, vertebrae simple. 6. Scyphophori—The Mor-

myri,

** Symplectic present.

Anterior vertebree codssified and with ossicula auditus. 7. Plec-

tospondyli— The Suckers, etc.

eee on ed eae

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 589

Anterior vertebre,. similar, distinct, without ossicula auditus.

8. Isospondyli— Herring, ete.

No preecoracoid arch.

A. Scapular arch suspended to cranium.

A symplectic.

Pterotic and anterior vertebra meee parietal separated by

supra-occipital. 9. Haplomi— Pike, e

Anterior vertebrae modified ; cil. ed: pectoral fins. 10.

Glanencheli — Electric eel.

B B. No symplectic.

Anterior vertebrz simple; a preeoperculum and maxillary ; no

pectoral fins. 11. Ichthyocephali—Java eels.

A Scapular arch free behind the cranium.

* A. Preoperculum.

A symplectic ; maxillary well deveirant: no pectoral fins. 12.

Holostomi— Symbranchi.

No symplectic; maxillary lost on connate; pectoral fins. 13.

Taepa — Eels proper.

* Preoperculum wanting or rudimental.

No symplectic, maxillary, nor pectoral fins, no pterygoid. 14.

Colocephali — Murænæ.

the above orders the Haplomi (pike, etc.) approach nearest

the Physoclysti of the families Opheocephalide and Atherinide ;

and the Holostomi of the family Symbranchide, to the Physoclyst

family of Mastacembelide. The affinities between these families

is in both cases so close as to render the distinction of the prima-

ry divisions in question hardly worth preserving.

The complete development of the support of the caudal fin

is seen in many members of this tribe, while in others it re-

mains in its primitive condition. Among Physoclysti it is nearly

always complete, though in a few ( Trichiuride), etc., it remains

larval. In the first development of the vertebral column in fishes,

it forms a straight axis. The fin is represented by a fold of the

integument which extends equally round its extremity. In this

membrane the rays are developed, and in many fishes they remain

thus equally distributed. In this case the caudal vertebrae remain

in a straight line to the extremity, and we have a termination such

as is seen in Lepidosiren and the eels. This form of tail may be

called the isocercal.

If now the radii basal or distal, acquire a greater development

590 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

on the lower side of the column, those on the upper side remaining

rudimental, it will be necessary that such enlarged portion should

strike the water in the plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of

the body in order that the weight of the body be propelled with

the least expenditure of force. This will necessarily cause the

distal vertebrae, or end of the chorda dorsalis, to be turned up-

ward, so that the inferior rays of the fin shall be brought as near

‘to the vertical line of the superior as possible. This is the type

of tail known as the heterocercal, as called by Agassiz.

We find among the Physoclysti that the lower rays of the fin are

more and more strengthened, and the hemal spines which support

them, are more and more enlarged. Consequently the end of the

column is more curved upwards, as seen in Amia. The superior

rays and neural spines are also strengthened, and the inferior so

extended upwards as to pass round the extremity of the column

and come into contact with them. And now the vertebral centra

are successively atrophied from the extremity. Counting from the

extremity to the bases of the first supports of the outer rays of

the caudal fin above and below, we find that ten vertebra remain

in the tail of Notopterus. In the Hyodontide, Albulide, Elopide,

Alepocephalide and Salmonide, there are but two left, while one

only appears in the Osteoglossidw, Aulopide, Lutodiridw, Butyrini-

dæ, Coregonide, Clupeide and Chirocentride. In most other fam-

ilies, especially of Physoclysti, the last one has disappeared, and

the numerous hzemal arches are arranged like radii diverging up-

wards and downwards from the last caudal vertebra. In the high-

est groups, as Pharyngognathi, etc., they become codssified, and

the tail has completed specialization. This is the type called

homocereal or diphycercal by later writers.

These types are thus plainly stages in the development of this

member, the first and second being simply arrests of development

of the last. Thus the young salmon commences with an eel-like

vertebral column, or is isocercal; it presently, by the upward

curvature of the column, and unequal development of the caudal

fin, becomes diphycercal, but ceases to grow before it has quite

accomplished this stage. The Polypterus, the eels, Gymnarchus

and other fishes ossify the vertebre in the isocercal stage. The

heterocercal type is seen in the Chondrostei, where the vertebra

never ossify. In Lepidosteus and Amia, they ossify in this stage.

I further specify the characters of the orders of Physostomi and

the families they contain, in the paper itself.

SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES. 591

PHYSOCLYSTI.

The following is an analytic synopsis of the orders. They all

have the parietals entirely separated by the supra-occipital, and

. lack the pracoracoid ; the symplectic is present, except in Ostra-

cium, where it is not ossified.

Scapular arch not suspended from the cranium.

Superior branchihyals and pharyngeals developed ; inferiors and

maxillary distinct. 15. Opisthomi.

. Scapular arch suspended from the cranium.

I. Ventral Fins Abdominal.

Branchial arches well developed, the bones present, except

fourth superior pharyngeal; third much enlarged; inferior pha-

ryngeals distinct. 16. Percesoces — Mullet, ete.

Third and fourth superior pharyngeals much enlarged, inferior

pharyngeals, codssified. 17. Synentognathi—Soft gar

Superior branchials and pharyngeals reduced in number ; infe-

riors separate; interclavicles present. 18. Hemibranchi— Pipe

fishes.

Superior branchihyals and pharyngeals, and basal branchihyals

wanting; gills tufted. 19. Lophobranchi—Sea horse.

II. Ventral Fins Thoracic or Jugular.

First vertebra united to cranium by suture; epiotics united

behind superoccipital ; basal pectoral radial bones elongate. 20.

Pediculati— Goose Fish, etc.

Posterior cephalic region normal, anterior twisted so as to bring

both orbits on one side; inferior pharyngeals distinct. 21. He-

terosomita — Flounders

Cranium normal ; ‘he sieemuciilaries usually codéssified with the

anait behind, and the dentary with the pioen: pharyn-

geal bones distinct. 22. Plectognathi— File

Cranium normal; bones of the jaws anion ; ental pharyn-

geal bones distinct. 23. Percomorphi— Perch.

Cranium normal; bones of the jaws distinct; third superior

pharyngeal much enlarged, articulating with cranium; inferior

pharyngeals coéssified. 24. Pharyngognathi — Burgall, Parrot

Fish. `

592 SYSTEMATIC RELATIONS OF FISHES.

These orders will be more fully defined, and the families which

are referable to them pointed out.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

In tracing the affinities of the Physostomi, I have pointed out .

the relation between the Chrondrostei and the Nematognathi, and

between the Halecomorphi and the Isospondyli. The first named

of each of these pairs are the structural, and probably genetic,

predecessors of the second. The series commenced with the cat

fishes may be continued into the Mormyri and then to-the families

of the Plectospondyli, where the series with altered vertebrz and

with ossicula auditus terminates. The Characins have, however,

considerable affinity to the Isospondyli, especially in the type of

their branchial bones. From the latter group we pass to the Ha-

plomi, and thence to the Physoclyst groups. The eel-like groups

form a special line. The Glanencheli have cranial characters of

the groups with modified vertebra, with fins of the more typical

eels. The latter show a steady approach in some points to the

conditions characterizing the Chondrostei. The loss of the maxil-

lary, of opercular bones, and of pharyngeal elements, reminds one

of these, but in the loss of the premaxillary, and great develop-

ment of the ethmoid, in the Colocephali, we have features quite

unique. The vertebral position of the scapular arch is the only

shark character they possess; while on the other hand, the Holos-

tomi are undoubtedly related to the Mastacembelus, a real Physo-

clyst with spinous dorsal fin. These relations are as yet entirely

inexplicable.

The affinities among the Physoclysti are more clear. Omitting

the genus just mentioned, we find the four orders with ventral fins

to form a true series, with a Synentognath variation, terminating

in the greatly degraded order of Lophobranchii. The Percesoces

give us our nearest connection with the groups with abdominal

ventral fins, and lead at once to the Percomorphi. From this cen-

tre radiate many lines of affinity. One leads from the Chcetodon-

tide, through the Acroneuride and to the Plectognathi, by the

similarity in the arrangement of the posttemporal and forms of

the pharyngeal apparatus. An important division of the Perco-

morphi has the basis cranii simple and the branchials reduced

above ; viz., the Scyphobranchi. The Cottide are the most gener-

alized family of this group, and lead on the one hand to the Tri-

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LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. 593

glide of the Distegi, with which they are generally arranged, and,

on the other, to the Blenniide. Some of the latter elongate the

basal pectoral bones considerably, and lead to the Batrachide on

the one side, where the number of these bones is increased, and

on the other to the Pediculati, where the number’is diminished,

To these groups the Anacanthini and Heterosomata are less allied.

The third upper pharyngeal bone has already presented an in-

crease of mass and use in the first orders of Physoclysti with ven-

tral fins. Among the Percomorphi the same increase makes its

appearance by little beginnings in some Sciaenide. It is quite

noteworthy in most of the Carangide, a group whose separation

from the Scombride by Günther is supported by this part of their

organism. Through forms not now specified, approach to the

Pharyngognathi is made. Here the pharyngeals are modified into

a mill-like structure, which is least specialized in the rene iin:

. and most so in the Scaride.

. W. PuTNaM was not prepared to accept all the proar that

were Kapok by Prof. Cope, some of which were somewhat r: At

the same time, however, he regarded it as the nearest ea on a cor-

rect classification of the fishes that had ever been made. The points of

made, nor ina more unexpected manner. He thought Professor Cope

had found the only means wei which one can with certainty distinguish a

fish from a batrachia The way in which a number of the families had

been grouped acai. he ai approved of, though some of the groups

he thought still open to question.

Tar Laws or Orcanic DEVELOPMENT. — By Pror. E. D. Cope.

Tue discussion of this subject divides itself into two parts, viz.:

a consideration of the proof that evolution of organic types, or de-

scent with modification has taken place ; and, secondly, the inves-

tigation of the laws in accordance with which this development

has progressed

I. ON THE PROOF FOR EVOLUTION.

There are two modes of demonstration, both depending on di-

rect observation. One of these has been successfully presented

by Darwin. He has observed the origin of varieties in animals and

plants, either in the domesticated or wild states, and has shown,

what had been known to many, the lack of distinction in the

grade of difference which separate varieties and species. But

594 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

he has also pointed out that species (such, so far, as distinctness

goes) have been derived from other species among domesticated

animals, and he infers by induction that other species, whose ori-

gin has not been observed, have also descended from common pa-

rents. So far I believe his induction to be justified ; but when

from this basis evolution of divisions defined by important struc-

tural characters, as genera, orders, classes, etc., is inferred, I be-

lieve that we do not know enough of the uniformity of nature’s

processes in the premises to enable us to regard this kind of proof

as conclusive. i

I therefore appeal to another mode of proving it, and one which’

covers the case of all the more really structural features of ani-

mals and plants.

It is well known that in both kingdoms, in a general way, the

young stages of the more perfect types are represented or imitated

with more or less exactitude by the adults of inferior ones. But

a true identity of these adults with the various stages of the

higher has, comparatively, rarely been observed. Let such a case

be supposed. é

In A we have four species whose growth attains a given point,

a certain number of stages having been passed prior to its termi-

nation or maturity. In B we have another series of four (the

numbering a matter of no importance), which, during the period

of growth, cannot be distinguished by any common, i. é.,, generic

character, from the individuals of group A, but whose growth has

only attained to a point short of that reached by those of group

A at maturity. Here we have a parallelism, but no true evidence

of descent. But if we now find a set of individuals belonging to

one species, and therefore held to have had a common origin or

parentage (or still better the individuals of a single brood), which

present differences among themselves of the character in question,

we have gained a point. We know in this case that the individu-

als, a, have attained to the completeness of character presented

by group A, while others, b, of the same parentage have only

attained to the structure of those of group B. It is perfectly

obvious that the individuals of the first part of the family have

grown further, and, therefore, in one sense faster, than those of

group b. If the parents were like the individuals of the more

completely grown, then the offspring which did not attain that

completeness may be said to have been retarded in their develop-

LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. : 595

ment. If, on the other hand, the parents were like those less fully

grown, then the offspring which have added something have been

accelerated in their development.

I claim that a consideration of the uniformity of nature’s

processes, or inductive reasoning, requires me (however it may

affect the minds of others) to believe that the groups of species

whose individuals I have never found to vary, but which differ in

the same point as those in which I have observed the above va-

riations, are also derived from common parents, and the more ad-

vanced have been accelerated or the less advanced retarded, as the

case may have been with regard to the parents.

This is not an imaginary case, but a true representation of

many which have come under my observation. The develop-

mental resemblances mentioned are universal in the animal and

probably in the vegetable kingdoms, approaching the exactitude

above depicted in proportion to the near structural similarity of

the species considered.

Example 1.— It is well known that the Cervide of the Old World

develop a basal snag of the antler (see Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles,

and Gray, Cat. British Museum,) at the third year; a majority

of those of the New World (genera Subulo, Cariacus) never de-

velop it except in abnormal cases. in the most vigorous maturity

of the most northern Cariacus (C. Virginianus), while the South

American Subulo retains to adult age the simple horn or spike of

. the second year of all Cervide.

Among the higher Cervide, Rusa and Axis never assume char-

acters beyond an equivalent of the fourth year of Cervus. In

Dama the characters are, on the other hand, assumed more rapidly

than in Cervus, its third year corresponding to the fourth of the

latter, and the development in after years of a broad plate of

bone, with points being substituted for the addition of the corres-

ponding snags, thus commencing another series which terminates

in the great fossil elk, Megacerus.

Returning to the American deer we have Blastocerus, whose

antlers are identical with the fourth year of Cariacus. Corres-

ponding with the Dama-Megacerus type of the Old World we have

the moose (Alces) developing the same palmate horn on the basis

of Cariacus (7. e., without eye-snag.

Example 2. i select the following series, ais the ma-

jority of the genera of the North American Helicid

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 38

596 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

LICIDA.

1. Turns of spire very few; tae poser shell hry ag with thin aye oo’ gee:

2. Turns few, but more; see

3. Turns still more numerous; sais as alk please, ee tes Sino. E inti

4. As No. 3, but lip thickened inside, ate gromia.

5. Coiled; umbilicus closed; lip tildkenéa ER wå Jout, rts gadha tid pidhin

6. Same, with a parietal tooth f AT ies Mesodon.

7. Same, — starter mi two futero lip ton NOA ia O ier rae __Tsognomostoma.

mencing at No.4. All with op bili

5. As No. 4, =f hip ickened in in and.out,. 5. ei $ roe

6. Same as No. 5, but with parietal tooth, . . e . 1. 1. + e ss «+s Patio

“7. Same, with Sani ‘esis and lip teeth, . PS EP a, 2

The successional relation of these genera may be represented in

such a diagram as this :—

Umbilicus opened. Umbilicus closed.

* . *

TCT oto)

In the history of the growth of the genera Eioguonnoetonen and

Triodopsis, the extreme forms of the two series, it is well known

that at first the coils of the shell are extremely few, as in Binneya;

and that like it, it is very thin and with a delicately thin edge;

that the turns increase successively in number, as in Vitrina and

Hyalina, and that finally the lip thickens as in Hygromia. Then

the umbilicus may close as in Tachea, or (in Triodopsis) remain

open as in Arionta. In either case a tooth is soon added on the

body whorl (Polymita, Mesodon), and finally, the full maturity of

the shell is seen in the added width of the inside of the lip-margin.

How many of the stages of the genera Triodopsis and Mesodon

are identical with the genera of the series which represent them

I leave to more thorough conchologists, but that some now exhibit

and all have presented illustrations of the relation of exact paral-

lelism I cannot doubt.

Example 1.— An abundant race of the American deer, Cariacus

Virginianus, exists in the Adirondack region of New York, in

which the development of the antlers never progresses bey ond

the spike stage of the second year. Therefore, some individuals

of this species belong to Cariacus and some to Subulo.

Example 2.— A large part of the individuals of the common

snail, Mesodon albolabris, never develop the tooth of the body-

whorl, characteristic of the genus whose definition has to be mod-

ified to retain them.

eae at eee Ts oe

ha dee a TO

ee NE os me 9 i

LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. 597

Example 3.—Many individuals of Triodopsis tridentata from

eastern North Carolina occur without the lip-teeth characteristic of

the genus Triodopsis. Hence these specimens, though of common

origin with others of the species, must be referred to another genus.

Example 4.— Structural characters are known in many, if not all,

species which are said to be “ inconstant,” being present or absent

_indifferently, thus being useless for definition. They may be

rudimental when present or considerably developed. The pres-

ence or absence of wings in some species of insects may be cited ;

also the presence of generic characters in the male sex of many

Coleoptera and their absence in the females. The characters of

males, females, workers and soldiers in bees and ants may be

added. All these facts belong to the same category as those cited

among deer and mollusks and have a similar explanation.

Example 5. does not seem to be the law in ‘‘ retardation”

that parallelisms exhibited by the series in its rise to its highest

point of development should retrace the steps by which it attained

it, and that ‘‘exact parallelisms” should be exhibited in a reversed

order. Parallelisms, it is true, are exhibited ; but so far as I have

observed always “inexact,” often in a high degree. A marked

case of retardation occurs in the dental development of a number

of persons who have come under my observation in the neighbor-

hood of Philadelphia. It is not very uncommon to find persons in

whom the third molars in both jaws are incomplete as to number,

one, two, three, or all, being deficient. It is still more common

for them to be incompletely covered by the enamel layer, and to

become in consequence so worthless as to require early removal.

I am acquainted with two families in which the absence of the

exterior upper incisor on each side is common. In one of these

the second and third generation have inherited it from the mother’s

side, and it now characterizes many of the children. The signifi-

cance of this modification will be best understood by examining

the dental structures of the Quadrumana in general, commencing

with the highest family and the modification, we have :—

cola caka go'co caco coco cathy

WINS hn

Ppa Pat pa pelt Paid tps 1ifat

598 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

In this table we see a decline in the number of teeth of the

higher groups. Thus the premolars are one less than the nominal

number in the whole order, and they lose one in each jaw in the

Old World apes, and man. he molars maintain the normal num-

ber throughout, but the third in both jaws is in the Simiade re-

duced by the loss of a fifth or odd tubercle, thus becoming four-

lobed. In the upper jaw this is first lost in the Semnopithecus ;.

in the lower, in the next highest genus Cercopithecus. In Homo

its appearance is “retarded,” the interval between that event and

the protrusion of the second molar— six to ten years — being rela-

tively greater than in any genus of Quadrumana. Its absence is

then the result of continued retardation, not of a new and adap-

tive suppression, and is of direct systematic zoological value.

In the incisors a reduction is also plainly visible, as we pass

from the most completely furnished Lemuride to the genus Homo. —

One from the upper jaw is first lost, then in the Cebide, one from

the lower also. The number remains the same through the Simiade

and normal Hominide, but in the abnormal cases cited the process

of reduction is continued and another incisor from each side dis-

appears. That this also is truly “retardation” is also evident

from the fact that the exterior incisor is the last developed, being

delayed in ordinary growth a year later than those of the inner

pair. The same retardation is seen in the quadrumane Cheiromys

(the Aye-aye), and the whole order Rodentia. In the latter, the

rare presence of the reduced second incisors shows that here also

the external incisors are lost. This retardation is also of system-

atic importance, and, should either of the characters described be

constant in any of the species of the genus Homo, would at once

entitle it to new generic rank. The very frequent absence of the

posterior molars (wisdom teeth) has been recently found to char-

acterize a race in India. Should this peculiarity prove constant,

this race would with propriety be referred to as a new genus of

Hominide, as we’ have many cases of very similar species being

referabie to different genera. It is altogether probable that such

will, at some future time, be the condition of some race or races

of men.

II. ON THE LAWS OF EVOLUTION.

Wallace and Darwin have propounded as the cause of modifica-

tion in descent their law of natural selection. This law has been

LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. 599

epitomized by Spencer as the ‘‘ preservation of the fittest.” This

neat expression no doubt covers the case, but it leaves the origin

of the fittest entirely untouched. Darwin assumes a ‘‘ tendency to

variation” in nature, and it is plainly necessary to do this in order

that materials for the exercise of a selection should exist. Dar-

win and Wallace’s law is, then, only restrictive, directive, conser-

vative, or destructive of something already created. Let us, then,

seek for the originative laws by which these subjects are furnished

—in other words, for the causes of the origin of the fittest.

The origin of new structures which distinguish one generation

from those which have preceded it, I have stated to take place

under the law of acceleration. As growth (creation) of parts

usually ceases with maturity, it is entirely plain that the process

of acceleration is limited to the period of infancy and youth in all

nimals. It is also plain that the question of growth is one of

nutrition, or of the construction of organs and tissues out of pro-

toplasm.

The sotstsadtion of the animal types is restricted to two kinds

of increase—the addition of identical segments and the addition

of identical cells. The first is probably to be referred to the last,

but the laws which give rise to it cannot be here explained. Cer-

tain it is that segmentation is not only produced by addition of

identical parts, but also by subdivision of a homogeneous part.

In reducing the vertebrate or most complex animal to its simplest

expression, we find that all its specialized parts are but modifica-

tions of the segment, either simply or as sub-segments of com-

pound but identical segments. Gegenbaur has pointed out that

the most complex limb with hand or foot is constructed, first, of

a single longitudinal series of identical segments, from each of

which a similar segment diverges, the whole forming parallel series,

not only in the oblique transverse, but generally in the longitudi-

nal sense. Thus the limb of the Lepidosiren represents the simple

type, that of the Icthyosaurus a first modification. In the latter

the first segment only (femur or humerus) is specialized, the other

pieces being undistinguishable. In the Plesiosaurian paddle the

separate parts are distinguished ; the ulna and radius well marked,

the carpal pieces hexagonal, the phalanges well marked, etc.

As regards the whole skeleton the same position may be sadely

assumed. Though Huxley may reject Owen’s theory of the verte-

brate character of the segments of the cranium, because they are

600 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

so very different from the segments in other parts of the column,

the question rests entirely on the definition of a vertebra. If a

vertebra be a segment of the skeleton, of course the skull is com-

posed of vertebre ; if not, then the cranium may be said to be

formed of ‘‘ sclerotomes,” or some other name may be used. Cer-

tain it is, however, that the parts of the segments of the cranium

may be now more or less completely parallelised or homologised

. with each other, and that as we descend the scale of vertebrated

animals, the resemblance of these segments to vertebree increases,

and the constituent segments of each become more similar. In

the types where the greatest resemblance is seen, segmentation of

either is incomplete, for they retain the original cartilaginous

basis. Other animals which present cavities or parts ôf a solid

support are still more easily reduced to a simple basis of segments,

arranged either longitudinally (worm) or centrifugally (star-fish,

etc.)

Each segment — and this term includes not only the parts of a

complex whole but parts always subdivided, as the jaw of a whale

or the sac-body of a mollusk,—is constructed, as is well known

y cell division. In the growing foetus the first cell divides its

nucleus and then its whole outline, and this process repeate

millions of times produces, according to the cell theory, all the

tissues of the animal organism or their bases from first to last.

That the ultimate or histological elements of all organs are pro-

duced originally by repetitive growth of simple, nucleated cells

with various modifications of exactitude of repetition in the more

complex, is taught by the cell theory. The formation of some of

the tissues is as follows

First Change— Formation of simple nucleated cells from homo-

geneous protoplasm or the cytoblastema.

cond— Formation of new cells by division of body wes nu-

cleus of the old.

ird— Formation of tissues by accumulation of cells with or

without addition of intercellular cytoblastem

. In connective tissue by slight ile of cells and addi-

tion of eytoblastema.

n blood, by addition of fluid cytoblastema (fibrin) to free

dete pea corpuscles), which in higher animals (vertebrates)

develop into blood-corpuscles by loss of membrane, and by ce

development of nucleus.

LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. 601

C. In muscles by simple confluence of cells, end to end and

mingling of contents (Kölliker).

D. Of cartilage by formation of cells in cytoblast which break

up, their contents being added to cytoblast; this occurring sev-

eral times, the result being an extensive cytoblast with few and

small cells (Vogt). The process is here an attempt at develop-

ment with only partial success, the result being a tissue of small

vitality.

Even in repair-nutrition recourse is had to the nucleated cell.

For Cohnheim first shows that if the corner of a frog’s eye be

searified, repair is immediately set on foot by the transportation

thither of white or lymph or nucleated corpuscles from the neigh-

boring lymph heart. This he ascertained by introducing aniline

dye into the latter. Repeated experiments have shown that this is

the apite in great part of the construction of new tissue in the

adult m

Now, i is well known that the circulating fluid of the fetus

contains for a period only these nucleated cells as corpuscles, and

that the lower vertebrates have a greater proportion of these cor-

puscles than the higher, whence probably the greater facility for

repair or reconstruction of lost limbs or parts enjoined by them.

The invertebrates possess only nucleated blood corpuscles.

What is the relation of cell division to the forces of nature, and

to which of them as a cause is it to be referred, if to any? The

animal organism transfers the chemism of the food (protoplasm)

to correlated amounts of heat, motion, electricity, light (phospho-

rescence), and nerve force. But cell division is an affection of

protoplasm distinct from any of these. Addition to homogeneous

lumps or parts of protoplasm (as in that lowest animal, Protameba

of Heckel,) may be an exhibition of mere molecular force, or ad-

dition as is seen in the crystal, but cell division is certainly some-

thing distinct. It looks to me like an exhibition of another force,

and though this is still an open question, it may be called for the

present growth force. It is correlated to the other forces, for its

exhibitions cease unless the protoplasm exhibiting it be fed. It is

potential in the protoplasm of both protoplasmic animal mass and

protoplasmic food, and becomes energetic on the union of the

two. So long as cell division continues it is energetic; when

cells burst and discharge the contained cytoblastema, as in the

formation of cartilage, it becomes again potential.

602 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

The size of a part is then dependent on the amount of cell di-

vision or growth force, which has given it origin, and the number

of segments is due to the same cause. The whole question, then,

of the creation of animal and vegetable types is reduced to one

of the amount and location of growth force.

Before discussing the influences which have increased and lo-

cated growth force, it will be necessary to point out the mode in

which these influences must necessarily have affected growth. |

Acceleration is only possible during the period of growth in ani-

mals, and during that time most of them are removed from the

influence of physical or biological causes either through their

hidden lives or incapacity for the energetic performance of life

functions. These influences must, then, have operated on the

parents, been rendered potential in their reproductive cells, and

become energetic in the growing foetus of the next generation.

However little we may understand this mysterious process, it is

nevertheless a fact. Says Murphy, “ There is no act which may not

become habitual, and there is no habit that may not be inherited.”

Materialized, this may be rendered—there is no act which does

not direct growth force, and therefore there is no determination

of growth force which may not become habitual; there is, then,

no habitual determination of growth force which may not be in-

herited ; and of course in a growing foetus becomes at once ener-

getic in the production of new structure in the direction inherited,

which is acceleration. 7

Ill. THE INFLUENCES DIRECTING GROWTH FORCE.

Up to this point we have followed paths more or less distinctly

traced in the field of nature. The positions taken appear to me

either to have been demonstrated or to have a great balance of

probability in their favor. In the closing part of these remarks I

shall indulge in more of hypothesis than heretofore.

What are the influences locating growth force? First, physical

and chemical causes ; second, use ; third, effort. I leave the first,

as not especially prominent in the economy of type growth

among animals, and confine myself to the two following. The

effects of use are well known. We cannot use a muscle without

increasing its bulk; we cannot use the teeth in mastication

without inducing a renewed deposit of dentine within the pulp-

cavity to meet the encroachments of attrition, The hands of

LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. 603

the laborer are always larger than those of men of other pur-

suits. Pathology furnishes us with a host of hypertrophies, exos-

toses, etc., produced by excessive use, or necessity for increased

means of performing excessive work. The tendency, then, in-

duced by use in the parent is to add segments or cells to the or-

gan used. Use thus determines the locality of new repetitions

of parts already existing, and determines an increase of growth

force at the same time, by the increase of food always accompany-

ing increase of work done, in every animal.

But supposing there be no part or organ to use. Such must

have been the condition of every animal prior to the appear-

ance of an additional digit or limb or other useful element. It

appears to me that the cause of the determination of growth force

is not merely the irritation of the part or organ used by contact

with the objects of its use. This would seem to be the remote

cause of the deposit of dentine in the used tooth, in the thick-

ening epidermis of the hand of the laborer, in the wandering of

the lymph-cells to the scarified cornea of the frog in Cohnheim’s

experiment. You cannot rub the sclerotica of the eye without

producing an expansion of the capillary arteries and corresponding

increase in the amount of nutritive fluid. But the case may be

different in the muscles and other organs (as the pigment cells of

reptiles and fishes) which are under the control of the volition of

the animal. Here, and in many other instances which might be

cited, it cannot be asserted that the nutrition of use is not under

the direct control of the will through the mediation of nerve force.

Therefore I am disposed to believe that growth force may be, b

the volition of the animal, as readily determined to a locality where

an executive organ does not exist, as to the first segment or cell

of such an organ already commenced, and that therefore effort is

in the order of time, the first factor in acceleration.

Effort and use have, however, very various stimuli to their ex-

ertion.

Use of a part by an animal is either compulsory or optional.

In either case the use may be followed by an increase of nutrition

under the influence of reflex force or of direct volition.

A compulsory use would naturally occur in new situations which

take place apart from the control of the animal, where no alterna-

tives are presented. Such a case would arise in a submergence

of land where land animals might be imprisoned on an island or

604 LAWS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT.

in swamps surrounded by water, and compelled to assume a more

or less aquatic life. Another case which has also probably often

occurred, would be when the enemies of a species might so increase

as to compel a large number of the latter to combat who would

previously have escaped it.

In these cases the structure produced would be necessarily

adaptive. But the effect would be most frequently to destroy or

injure the animals (retard them) thus brought into new situations —

and compelled to an additional struggle for existence, as has, no

doubt, been the case in geologic history. Preservation, with mod-

ifications would only ensue where the changes should be introduced

very gradually. This mode is always a consequence of the op-

tional use. The cases here included are those where choice se-

lects from several alternatives, thus exercising its influence on

structure. Choice will be influenced by the emotions, the imagina-

tion, and by intelligence.

As examples of intelligent selection the modified organisms of

the varieties of bees and ants must be regarded as striking exam-

ples of its exercise. Had all in the hive or hill been modified

alike, as soldiers, queens, etc., the origin of the structures might

have been thought to be compulsory ; but varied and adapted as

the different forms are to the wants of a community, the influence

of intelligence is too obvious to be denied. The structural results

are obtained in this case by a shorter road than by inheritance.

The selection of food offers an opportunity for the exercise of

intelligence, and the adoption of means for obtaining it still

greater ones. It is here that intelligent selection proves its su-

premacy as a guide of use, and consequently of structure, to all

the other agencies here proposed. The preference for vegetable

or for animal food determined by the choice of individual animals

among the omnivores, which were, no doubt, according to the palæ-

ontological record the predecessors of our herbivores, and per

haps of carnivores also, must have determined their course of

life and thus of all their parts into those totally distinct di-

rections. The choice of food under ground, on the ground, or in

the trees would necessarily direct the uses of organs in those di-

rections respectively.

Intelligence is a conservative principle and always will direct

effort and use into lines which will be beneficial to its possessor.

Thus we have the source of the fittest—i.e., addition of parts

by increase and location of growth force directed by the will—

OTHER PAPERS IN SECTION B. 605

the will being under the influence of various kinds of compulsory

choice in the lower, and intelligent option among higher animals.

Thus intelligent choice may be regarded as the originator of the

fittest, while natural selection is the tribunal to which all the re-

sults of accelerated growth are submitted. This preserves or

destroys them, and determines the new points of departure on

which accelerated growth shall build.

Acceleration under the influence of effort accounts for the exis-

tence of rudimental characters. Many other characters will

follow at a distance, the modifications proceeding in accordance

with the laws here proposed, and retardation is accounted for by

enon or absolute loss of growth force.

Prof. Gray, Prof. SwaLLow, Dr. HILGARD, Mr. PUTNAM, and others

participated ‘a the dilseniisd eh this paper.

Tne following papers non ales read in Secrion B, but the authors

have failed to send us abstract:

Theo gitdi n the Nature of = Dainas in the Mental Capacity of High and Low Races of

Men.— By Mr. RENAS DA

Observations on the Geology. Ph ysical Features and Retrocession of Niagara Falls.— By Mr.

OLLEY.

Contributions ‘to Phy sigraphic an = pe “oe! SE — By Prof. RICHARD OWEN.

i _E. A. SM

Remarks on the Catskill Ee S ndste nie Group as it o occurs upon the sini wa of New York and

ennsylvania.— By Prof. ‘AMES

Remarks = the Snow Line in the Mountains of Montana.— By ie ai ao C. SWALLOW.

Some O bic ven el Meta gs of voy — By Prof. E. B. ANT

Notice of Te rtia v tance and by F.c - Richardson on the Gree “River in Wyoming.— By

Prof. J. H. Mc CCH briri

On Fossils and Minerals from North Carolina.— By Prof. W. C. KERR.

Tue following were read by title only : —

The Classification of Echinoderms from their Microscopic Structure.— -By Mr. A. AGASSIZ.

Observations on a i a- Ground = y Prot 29 Mr. Sarel sa a iin REGORY.

Some Questions on Geology.—

On the Entozoa Peculiar to Swine.— 5 We ae

On the Apparently One-ranked Phyiletesse of Baptisia i partotcts. ine the th . W. RAVENEL.

On the Geology of Northwestern sachusetts.— By Prof. SANBORN

emarks on the Chanter anal other Minerals from California.— By Profs LAWRENCE SMITH.

Remarks on the Abies Douglassii and anew Species, or a peculiar variety ‘of Abies balsamifera

of the Rocky Mountains.— By Prof. G. C. SWALLOW.

e of the results in Geology a ae “Pa læontology of the Geological Survey of Ohio.— By

. NEWBERR

The Li ites of the West: their Geology and Economie value.— By Prof. J. = NEWBERRY.

On the Homologies of the Rays of the Dorsal Fins of Polypterus.—By Prof. E. D. COPE,

THE following ' were given as lectures at the ate pear held at

Terre Haute :— ‘‘On the Fertilization ff. Flowers by Insect Agency,” by

Prof. Asa Gray. ‘On the Pterosauria,” by Dr. B. W ciunacitine HAWKINS.

STERRY Hunt also delive lecture at Indianapolis, “On the

Coal and Iron Resources of Indiana,” and Prof. s gave ia cer

I Pr

ture a a general session in Indianapolis, + On some of the Com

Anim

Tue following papers: Artic before Section A, were also of spec-

jal interest to members of Section B:—

On the Rainfall in the ae States.— B; ra

bo the ot Storm which perme ar in Clinton mo. Td ind. Dee <a 1870.—By Prof. J, TINGLEY.

aan eS ui oe raug in use among the i Puebla Indians of North America.—By

The reg aged aah Chemical Composition of the Meteorite that fell in May, near Searsmont,

Me.—By Prof. J. LAWRENCE SMITH.

606 MISCELLANEOUS.

Description of the exact Locality of the immense masses of Meteoric Iron in Pos Mexico,

with the senior of one recently mosis ered — Prof. J. LAWRENCE SMIT

On Dentistry as practiced by the Romans 600 years B. C.—By Dr. Ezra REA

Tuar following abstracts of remarks, ma ade in connection with several

papers, are of sufficient interest se? ae t, though the papers to which they

should have been cig tebe pb appear owing to paris failing to receive

abstracts from nee ra

Prof. Es W. D ‘remarked in the discussion of the paper by Dr.

Smith on the U aTabiDDi D ottom,” that his own observations in the

Tensas Botta m, in Louisiana, confirmed those of Dr. Piua lnk. of He

best land there, is a genuine prairie soil, full of calcare cretion

a feature entirely foreign to the tae fe er alluvium as well ik ‘the modern

paludal deposits. These calcareous concretions appear to resu ult fro

the maceration and dissolution of ‘ash iu ssi] shells, as distinctly obeetyall

in several Sbeatities: and are very characteristic of the lower portion of

the Port Huds eds. Bieg» can be no doubt that a Bs P portion

of ene celebrated “alluvial” lands of the lower Mississippi a o al-

luv all, but aatend result from the disintegration of thas

bg]

atte b ioi

ring the discussion on Prof. ArOWA, paper on the “ Geology of

Ohio,” the following remarks were made

Prof. A. WincHELL remarked that he had examined the banni

stone taken by Professor rans ing vs from a coal bed in Ohio and felt very

confident that it was a genuine boulder of Ca rhanitecisie times. “phe

fraginent showed that the rock che d been a smoothed and rounded frag-

ment of quartzi os g urky grains of quartz, and

that in Agee a it was undistimguishabie from surface boulders of

yrl

from the far north. Whatever these agencies hog t a hot We un-

likely that an occasional boulder should become mingled wit tb the vegeta-

ble and alluvial materials quietly accumulating for the formation of a

a bed of coal.

: HITE Said he igs r not a = Agere of any horn-

iade in this piece of rock under his ler It seems, to be nly a

quartzite, similar magros eth whioh ae had rie foun e n the coal-meas-

ures of Iowa. e had s of quartzite imbedded 1 in the very

so pure hpi esne of he owes Coat tae sures there, which ha d

evidently been formed as quartzite just where they are, as the lines of

c roug e soft vi

gs: THe

small, have ortpwated eed not n w be dis ped: büt i it is phat that

they did originate where we now find them. He pie not help regarding

this mass as having a similar origin.

During one of the general Daar Prof. A. H. WorTHEN said paren

the vertical range of the rem of the mammoth and mastodon i

4 À riempi

REMARKS. MICROSCOPY. 607

nine feet in length, and he inches se regen ie at the largest ex-

tremity, and entirely perfect. In additi o this, he obtained about

two-thirds of the other tusk, the lower j jaw, patent the teeth all mia |

in their places, the teeth of the upper jaw, and also some fragments o

es ith ound a pair of t

antlers of a large elk, with + _— other bones of the same animal, and also

bones of the buffalo and dee These were all embedded in a quicksand

contains Physa, Pi corbie, and Cyclas, of existing species, and beneath

four of blac ck peaty soil.

ea are, in the Illinois State Collection, some other remains of this

kind, which have been found in older deposits, among which are frag-

ments o

recent period. At Alton, Illinois, a jaw of a mastodon, with both teeth

remaining in place, was found at the base of the Loess, thirty feet below

the surface

Tue meetings of Section B were well attended, and the members while

feeling the necessity for fuller discussions of many a, forebore to do

so on ‘account of the limited time for critical work of the section

e officers of the inet were Prof. C. G. SWALLO hig St. eg

Permanent Chairman ; . J. E. Emerton of ali pallid Profe

sors COPE, MORSE and he aia Sectional Committee. e.

SUBSECTION (OF SECTION A.) MICROSCOPY.

Tar Subsection of Microscopy renewed its he ag ade by the elec-

tion of the following officers: Chairman, Prof J. E. HitGarp of Wash-

ngton; Seeretary, Dr. me W. BUTTERFIELD of indianapolis; Sectional

Committee, Messrs. Wa BICKNELL an UTTLE

The attendance was smaller bee as the two previous meetings, but the

papers and cue pre ed some points of pranda piian st. The

rhea of Prof. Ward’s S paper is th he only one we have received in time

Apre ne in this n

Am he novelties of eed tus may be noticed the ohserraton of

the p ARAW Mink on spark by the micro- -spéctroscope, by Prof. Vander

WwW e ob

yde; ique illumination of transparent objects aiie high pow-

; by me: f. lis ected from a plane mirror lying up e

and directly the mounted object—a little expedient of great prac-

1 convenience, al rof. Vander Weyde; the ado of the Wen-

Hc i lar arrangement ntmayer; an he somewhat genera

into use e-piece conde ith a wide horizontal

roduction t nsers w r

emrini (for binoculars) upon the plan proposed by Prof. Ward yi the

Troy meeting last summer, and Sabiished in the NATURALIST of Dec., 1870.

Mr. Bicknell places the Sto blate between the lenses of the condenser,

s below Prof. Ward, while

e SO a BE. pa uniform stone tae A in the powers of objectives and

eye-pieces being unprepared to report, Messrs. ard and Bicknell re-

he d

of their lenses so as to represent, as nearly as practicable, their amplify-

ing power when in actual use; and probably the rar Sorte makers in this

608 NEW MICRO-TELESCOPE.

country will freely coöperate with microscopists attaining this very de-

sirable result. The introduction already T accomplished, o of a grad-

ing of the pcs =i comparison with equiv se ara pi lenses, 2in., 1

in., etc., may render this Lava of the subject, ich seemed almost.

unattainable, ‘the cere and fi to be Senne ed. The remarks on

the subject of powers will be ace in a future number of the NaTURALIST.

On a New Micro-recescore. —By Pror. R. H. Warp.

Tus is designed especially for travelling and field use, but ap-

plicable to some of the daily work of the microscopist. It con-

sists of a stand and accessories as follows: (A) An ordinary Tank

Microscope having the body focussed by a rack and clamped at

any desired height upon a stand like that of the bull’s eye con-

densers. Probably few naturalists have any suspicion of the real

usefulness of this little piece of apparatus, not only in the study

of objects living in an aquarium or preserved in alcohol, glyce-

rine, etc., but for the hasty inspection of herbarium specimens

permanently fastened upon sheets of paper too large for the stage

of an ordinary microscope, and for the preliminary examination of

objects in jars, boxes, dissecting troughs, etc. The writer always

keeps upon his working table such an instrument carrying a double

nose-piece (the crooked form) and usually one-inch and three-inch

objectives, and uses it continually and with great satisfaction as

a substitute for a simple microscope. The brass foot-plate at

the bottom of the upright pillar should be made somewhat larger

and heavier than usual. (B) A Stage of convenient size and

simple construction, sliding upon the upright pillar and capable of

being clamped securely in any position. This stage carries 4

diaphragm and mirror below and stage forceps above, and enables

the instrument to be used as a vertical compound microscope for

ordinary work when, as in travelling or on a field-day, no more

commodious stand may be available. This combination may also

be used as a dissecting microscope, though for that purpose it is

greatly preferable to use the Tank Microscope as a magnifier only,

and to place the object, if opake, on the table, or if transparent,

on the stage of any good dissecting microscope that may be within

reach. (C) A Draw Tube sliding over the compound body from

below, and capable of being fastened by a bayonet catch to the

brass-work through which the compound body is moved by the

rack. The objective in the compound body now acts as an erec-

tor, and another is to be screwed, by means of a large adapter,

into the lower end of the Draw Tube, to act as the objective.

NEW MICRO-TELESCOPE. 609

The rack-movement now only varies the power, and may be thus

used as a fine adjustment, while the coarse adjustment must be

ained by moving the whole instrument. This combination is

extremely useful for dissecting, its great- Fig. 110.

est misfortune being that it is a mo-

nocular arrangement. (D) A Telescopic

Object Glass of one inch linear aperture

and four inch solar focus, to be screwed, ——

instead of the objective, into the bottom

of the Draw Tube. To this Object Glass

the compound body with its eye-piece

and objective acts as an erecting eye-

piece, and is focussed by means of its

rack-movement. This combination gives

a telescope of good working qualities,

and of power entirely disproportioned to

its size. (E) A brass Pillar (Fig. 110) about two inches long,

having a steel transverse bar for a handle, and at its lower end a

gimlet-screw to be fastened into a tree, post, or board. Into its

upper end may be screwed the upright pillar of the Tank Micro-

scope: The gimlet screw may be made of steel, which is some-

what durable, or a common iron screw may be used, which easily

wears out but can be replaced at a nominal expense. This fixture

adapts the instrument to field use, as a microscope or telescope.

This instrument should be furnished with a compressor and two

objectives,—a one-inch and a two-inch, two-thirds inch, one-half

inch, or four-tenths inch, according to the wants of the owner.

Either of these objectives may be used as an erector, though the

higher ones will seldom be preferred for this purpose. The four

or five inch objective usually furnished with tank microscopes may

well be dispensed with, as its effect is easily gained by means of

the erecting arrangement. Microscopists who have laid aside the

ordinary “‘erector” of the shops as an entirely unsatisfactory

affair, need not, on that account, expect a similar per, in the

use of a good one-inch or two-inch objective as an erecto

The cost of this instrument ought not to be large. Tt should

not exceed sixty or seventy dollars to those already supplied with

objectives and compressors, or one hundred dollars, complete.

Tue following papers were also read in the Subsection of So

Report on Photographing Histological Preparations by Sunlight.— By Dr. J. J.

Fee NS ca k nee bette ot nalts E a ie tac OR:

610 OFFICERS. REMARKS.

Remarks on recent improvements in Achromatic Condensers.— By Prof. R. H. WARD.

on the use of the Microscope in Chemical Analysis.— By Prof. P. H. VANDER WEYDE.

On bee observ ation of Electric Induction Spark by the Micro-spectroscope. — By Prof.

DER WEYD

On ‘Oblique Microscopic ‘Tiumination, and a new simple Apparatus for the same.— By Prof.

ANDER WEYD

On some observed chutes in Vo ella, ea H TO

On a Standard of Powers for Microscopical ‘One ctives and Ere e ap — By Prof. WARD.

On the Microscopic Structure of Eozoon Canadense.— By Mr. E. BICKNELL.

NERAL OFFICERS OF THE INDIANAPOLIS MEETING.

Presiden apana Asa Gray of Cambridge; Vice President, Prof. G. F.

BARKER oF New Ha aven; Perm anent E ai Eh ths SEPH LOVERING of

Sale

coo a Apia Secretary, F. PuT of em; Treas-

urer, AUX, Esq., of Philadelphia ‘Stoning piaeas present :—

R cy ethos, LOVERING, PUTNA UNT, J. L. SMITH, SwaL-

Low, HALL, J. E. HILGARD, WINEREE E cox, m:

Oye hundred and seven papers lg entered, of which thirty-two were

es ad in full in Section B, and eleven by title; ten were read in Subseckiee

f Micros nara thirty in full in Section RA and seven by title; two in

the nab Session; and fifteen were not entered on the daily pro-

gram

The | first morning (Wednesday, Aug. 16) soe given to opan m the

work of the sections commencing in “the afternoon. Int ening the

retiring president, Dr. Hunt, gave his ac cress and resigned he chair to

the president elect. Friday and Saturday were giv o the excursion

to the coal field of Clay county, and to Terre H: zo ‘where the Associa-

ion was most cordially welcomed. The town of Brazil also welcomed

the Association on the tri p to the ton tield, which with sev gE other cor-

dial greetings, exten asociution f r to small

num nembers, evinced the hearty appreciation in which the ob-

j Associa ced a by the inhabitants of ana. The

local secretary, Pro cers the § e, and citizens

f Cox ate Hous

who took a part in the reception, have le ft or Association in debt to them

for their untiring efforts and genero

welco i

the Mammoth Civ and the Enan Mounds on ie biais, visited

after the adjournment, we sh: os pgi in future number

e invitation to hold the next meeti n San Fi aces w a renewed

by letter Aopen deat Board of T nae : hh che Academy es eee ‘and was

accepted provided’ the necessary arrangements could be made.

Ao psema from Dubuque was > cepted conditionally t to that of San

Francisco. In preie to hold future meetings of the Association in the

followin cities were received: Pittsburg, St. Louis, aie Arbor, and

nwo

A Co mmittee on the Geological Survey of Missouri, and one relating to

Aton ions to be made at Niagara Falls, were appointed.

ERS ELECTED FOR THE M oe or 1872.

President, Prof. fw Lasrnexor Smirn of Louisville; Vice President, Prof.

ben EX. WINCHELL of Ann Arbor; Pe ak rei See rear "i Re Josera Lov-

NG om T E Gen neral Seer Prof. E x of Salem;

Trensur e SV Keme of Philadelphia: Auliting Committers: Dr.

D of Salem and Pro r H. L. Eustis of Cambridge;

Sta nding Committee Ex Of m Messrs. luvin a sree? LOVERING,

Morse, Vaux, ARKE AM.

Committee aes ‘the Standing Committee to. arange for next meeting:

Profs: J. L, Smrrn, Asa Gr: connection Peso a

H Love

committee from the Associati ; SMIT

~~ wie. 2 pipe on rh aia, consisting | of Profs. J. L.

The Association adjourned on Tuesday night, August 22d.

cae oon

beeen en eee

gE a a T

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— OCTOBER, 1871.—No. 10.

CABO) OD>

EXPERIMENTS WITH VIBRATING CILLA.

BY JEFFRIES WYMAN, M.D.

—_+4-—_—_—

Tue motions of vibrating cilia, and their action on the water

around them, are among the most beautiful sights shown by the mi-

croscope. They are best seen on the respiratory surfaces of both

land and aquatic animals, and of the last, the gills of the Mytili

are especially favorable for examination. In such cases, the effects

are confined to the movement of the secreted mucus, or of the

surrounding water, and the particles floating in it, while in

others the cilia cover the outer surface and become the chief or-

gans of locomotion, as in the Infusoria. In the eggs of Radi-

ates and Molluscs, as in the remarkable phenomenon of fhe rota-

tion of the yolk, much larger masses are moved, and among

Batrachians, the yolk, soon after impregnation and segmentation,

being large enough to be easily watched with the naked eye, is

seen to revolve steadily under ciliary influence. Even the re-

age hatched larve of frogs and toads are carried along bodily

b same agents distributed over the whole outward surface.,

a the slightest aid from the muscular system. In all of

these aniio however, although in some the mass moved is con-

siderable, the motion takes place in a fluid, of nearly the same

specific gravity as the objects, and so the forae required to give

the motion is exceedingly small. Indeed everything serves to

give the impression that cilia are capable of exerting only the

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in ain Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

TURALIST, VOL. V. 39 (611)

612 EXPERIMENTS WITH VIBRATING CILIA.

most delicate efforts. There are several ways in which their

effects may be shown without the aid of the microscope, but

the most common is that of sprinkling some light powder over

the ciliated membrane, from which the powder is soon swept away.

The object of this paper is to explain some other methods adapted

to class experiments having the same end in view, but by which

motion is imparted to much larger masses, and also to show that

in some instances a much greater resistance can be overcome than

has generally been supposed possible.

I. Experiments in water.— For these the gills of Unios and

Anodontas are well suited. Their cilia are quite active, and vi-

brate in such directions, that on the inner gill the motion is from

the free edge, and on the outer to it, facts which the experimenter

should keep in mind. If an inner gill is cut away from its at-

tachment and laid on the bottom of a flat dish, its cilia acting as

legs, it will soon begin to move with its free edge forwards, and will

in the course of time, travel the entire length of the dish. We

have seen a whole gill move ten inches in four hours. Under simi-

lar circumstances the outer gill will move with its base or cut edge

forwards. This difference depends, as will be readily seen, upon

the fact that the cilia of the two gills vibrate in opposite directions.

The result of ten experiments gaye the rate of motion of a

_ piece of gill measuring 12mm. by 14mm., 6mm. a minute. If two

outer gills are laid with their free edges towards each other they

will at once begin to approach, and it frequently happens after

meeting that one crawls directly over the other.

Another and more striking experiment which shows the reaction

of cilia on each other may be made as follows. Fasten a gill toa

piece of cork under water, and place upon it a portion of a sec-

ond gill about a half inch square. If this piece is so placed that

the cilia vibrate in the same direction with those of the gill below,

. it will remain stationary, or nearly so, since the cilia offer no re-

sistance to each other. If now the upper piece is reversed 80

that the cilia vibrate in opposite directions, the upper piece will

move with double the speed and through twice the distance in a —

given time that it would with its own cilia alone, for while the

lower cilia move the upper piece through a certain space, the cilia

of the upper piece also move this in addition through an equal

space. A third form of this experiment consists in placing the

upper piece so that its cilia vibrate at right angles to those of the

EXPERIMENTS WITH VIBRATING CILIA. 643

lower. In this case, while the lower cilia tend to move the upper

piece from side to side, those of the upper tend to move this

lengthwise of the lower. The direction which fhe upper piece

takes, is a resultant one, viz., intermediate between the two.

Experiments in air. Though the tissues of the gills of

Unios and Anodontas are quite soft and incapable of resisting

other than very light weights, they will nevertheless carry small

discs of paper supporting a bristle, on the top of which is a small

pellet of cotton or a flag of tissue paper. In order to show the

flag more distinctly, a board painted black should be nailed to the

edge of the one on which the gill rests, to make a back ground.

With this precaution the experiment may be seen over a large

room. To mark the distance traversed, a pointer of white paper

should be set up on the board supporting the gill and at the be-

ginning of the experiment, the end of the pointer brought in con-

tact with the end of the flag on the gill. When left to itself, the

disc on the gill with its flag at once begins to move to the opposite

side and the flag is seen to recede from the pointer. The distance

traversed may be increased to several inches, by placing two or

more gills side by side, the free edge of the first slightly overlap-

ping the cut edge of the second, etc.

The mucous membrane from the roof of the mouth of frogs, is

much more solid than the gills of Unios, and the cilia vibrate

with much greater force. Different ciliated membranes exert very

different degrees of force, but we have found none better suited

for experiments than that just mentioned; especially, when taken

from the mouth of the bull frog which gives a large surface. It

has the advantage, too, of keeping up its activity for twenty-four

hours or more, after being detached from its natural connections,

if only kept cool and moist. For moistening it water answers

sufficiently well, but the serum of the blood of the frog is still

better.

The attention of the writer was first called to the possibility of

moving weights much larger than was supposed possible by notic-

ing the ease with which a piece of skin which was accidentally

placed upon the ciliated membrane was swept off. By loading

the piece of skin with weights the mass moved was found to

~ unexpectedly large.

In making experiments for the purpose just mentioned we have

adopted the following method. The mucous membrane, being

614 EXPERIMENTS WITH VIBRATING CILIA.

carefully dissected from the roof of the mouth, is pinned to a

board. A piece of skin from near the throat of the frog, and

from one-third to half an inch square, is placed upon this mem-

brane with the inner surface in contact with the cilia, it being kept

in mind that these vibrate from before backwards towards the

throat. On the skin may be placed a plate of lead of somewhat

smaller size. This serves as a vehicle to which weights may be

added at will to increase the load, and also as a drag, to set in

motion the instrument described farther on. To show the distance

through which the load is carried, the flag and pointer may be

used as in the case of the gills before described. Pains should be

taken to have the board on which the experiment is made perfectly

horizontal, otherwise a sliding motion, especially when heavy

weights are used, may come in to vitiate the experiment.

Although the results are not uniform, the following will give some

idea of the force exerted, as shown by the time in which and the

distance through which the weight was carried. The mean of four

experiments shows that a weight of 1.300 grams was carried

15mm. in 61.2 seconds, or about 4mm. per second, the weight rest-

ing on a surface 12mm. square. A weight of thirty-three grams

resting on the same amount of surface, a mean of four experi-

ments gave a distance of 6.6mm. per minute. We have seen

forty-eight grams resting on a surface l4mm. square, moved,

though very slowly, across the whole length of the membrane, but

the exact time was not noted. Dr. H. P. Bowditch has repeated

these experiments in the laboratory of Ludwig at Leipsic with

even heavier loads.

Finding that so much force was exerted, the idea of utilizing it

was naturally suggested, and after various trials the following in-

strument was devised for this purpose, in which the direct motion

produced by the cilia was made to give rise to a rotary one. The

instrument consists of two light toothed wheels (see figure), the

arger 30mm. and the smaller 5mm. in diameter. To the axis of

the first is attached a small drum 5mm. in diameter, around which

is coiled a thread of the finest and most flexible cotton. The axis

of the smaller wheel is prolonged through the frame in which both

wheels move, and carries on its end an index made of two bristles

inserted into a central piece of cork, which is attached to the

axis. On the end of each bristle is a very light paper pointer.

The whole length of the index is 110mm. but may be made longer

EXPERIMENTS WITH VIBRATING CILIA. 615

or shorter than this, as may be convenient to the experimenter.

Behind the instrument there should be a small black board at-

tached to the base on which the frame rests, to serve as a back-

ground against which the pointers are seen. The instrument is of

sufficient delicacy to be moved by a weight of from one hundred to

one hundred and twenty millegrams or of from seven to eight

grains. All that is necessary to make an experiment is to attach

the end of the thread coiled around the drum to the hook on the lead

which rests on the piece of skin, which in turn rests on the mem-

rane. The proportions of the wheels are such, that when the

load resting on the membrane is carried through a space of 7mm.

the index makes two whole revolutions, and, the point of the in-

dex moves through a space of about two feet. One complete

revolution is effected in about thirty seconds. This motion may

be easily seen over a large lecture room.

Fig. 110.

Description of the diagram. a. A movable block of wood to

which the ciliated membrane is pinned. b. Ciliated membrane.

c. Piece of skin resting upon it. d. Plate of lead with a small

hook to which the thread coiled around the drum is attached. e.

and f. Pointers, one resting on the lead and the other on the

board to which the instrument is fastened ; these are made of wire

inserted into a base of wood or cork, and carry each a piece of

paper or thin card; both are movable. The wheels are toothed.

Attached to the axis of the large wheel is the drum, and to the

projecting portion of the axis of the small wheel is the index.

This figure is one-half the size of the instrument. The base on

616 THE GRASSES.

which the instrument rests, should be made longer than in, the

figure so that the block to which the membrane is attached may be

farther off from the wheels.

THE GRASSES.

BY W. W. BAILEY.

Tue earliest, as well as the latest sign of vegetable life is, per-

haps, afforded by the grasses, whose green blades form the sward

which we all so much admire. Did it ever occur to all our readers

that these humble plants which form our out-door carpet or which

are cultivated for forage, have flowers, often as beautiful in their

way as any of their proud associates? All are aware that the tas-

selled heads and silky plumes of the Indian-corn are beautiful,

and gaze with delight upon a sea of grain when rippled by the

gentler breezes or thrown into billows by the more wrathful.

When another season shall present the opportunity, let those who

are beginning timidly to woo Dame Nature, examine more closely

the beauty which the grasses offer, and we think that they will

thank us for the advice. To study them understandingly, it will

be necessary to be provided with an ordinary field microscope of

one or two lenses, and if in addition, the observer happens to

possess a compound instrument for the examination of the minu-

ter parts, he will find it very serviceable.

A few words as to the structure of grasses, and the points in

which they differ from other plants may be of interest, and while

speaking of them, we will add a word about the sedge family,—

their very next of kin. Both of these natural orders are so large,

and the species so varied, that the study of them has become a

specialty, and many men devote their whole lives to arranging

and simplifying our knowledge of the classes, learning their habits,

‘and ascertaining how the useful species may be made more ser-

viceable and the valueless eradicated. Although we are not one

of these specialists, we will try to give a familiar, and at the same

time an accurate account of the structure of both grasses and

sedges, referring, when in doubt, to those whose word is law.

THE GRASSES. : 617

The sedge family comes first in order, and includes the sedges

proper, the bulrushes, cotton-grasses, and many other more or

less familiar plants, all resembling the grasses, yet differing from

them in essential particulars. The greater part of them have

solid stems, called culms, around which the leaves form a closed

sheath. The flowers are in spikes, have no calyx or corolla, and

possess three stamens. The stem leaves, when present, are three-

ranked, and the stems sharply angled. The fruit is one-seeded

and forms what is technically known as an achene. e small

beaked nutlets heaped up in the centre of a buttercup, will give

an idea of an achene as it occurs in a totally different order of

plants. Sedges may be regarded as weeds in every sense of the

term, and their prevalence is an indication of swampy and poor

ground. Unlike grasses, they are quite devoid of nutritious proper-

ties as a rule, and are shunned by animals when any thing else is ob-

tainable. Independent of their occasional use in the manufacture

of baskets, they have scarcely any economic value. The papyrus

of the Nile, from which paper and boats were made, is a somewhat

famous exception to their general uselessness. Unfit though they

may be to minister in any way to the benefit of man, they are yet,

in their infinite variety and exceeding grace, most charming to any

one whose attention has been once directed to them.

Let us now pass to the grasses. Bearing in mind the several

points of the above description, let us see how these differ from

their near relations. Put them side by side and compare them.

It will be seen that the grasses, unlike the sedges, have hollow

stems swollen and closed at the joints, with two-ranked leaves,

having many fine veins running parallel to the central vein or mid-

rib, and split sheaths, the tops of which are prolonged into an

appendage known as a “ligule,” from a Latin word signifying a

shoe-strap. The flowers are arranged in spikes as in the timothy

(Phleum), or in panicles as in the bent grass (Agrostis). These

spikes and panicles differ greatly as to their concentration or diffu-

sion, and the flowers themselves as to their appendages. Some

are armed with long awns or bristles as in the barley and oats—

and we wish here to testify that these are about as awkward

things to swallow as in our juvenile days we ever tried. The

stamens are usually three, with anthers or pollen cases attached

only by one point, and therefore swinging freely. The styles are

mostly two, with feathery stigmas which form charming micros-

618 THE GRASSES.

copic objects. In common with sedges, the grasses have fibrous

roots. To describe the flowers, without the use of actual speci-

mens or drawings, is a difficult matter. Let the following quota-

tion supplement the above remarks :

“« A few rudimentary leaves collected at the pon of the branches

of inflorescence Poa constituting flowers, a very small number of

stamens inclosed in a thin pericarp [skin or alid" a the fruit],

are all that aatik provides to enable these plants to preserve

their race and to ptr gon their numerous kinds pta one

another. Yet with such a simple apparatus, many thousand spe-

cies are so precisely ADANA, that the natural order of grasses

is perhaps one of the easiest to study and arrange, provided the

task be commenced upon right principles.”

There is, despite the above statement, scarcely an order more

dreaded by the young student. It is a good test of his love for

science and severe application, if he persistently investigates it. It

contains three thousand or more species generally diffused over

the earth.

With us, the ai are usually small and grow close together,

forming a mat, though even here there is much diversity in the

habit of growth, the Aira or hair-grass, for instance, forming iso-

lated clumps. In the tropics the plants are often much larger

—the bamboo sometimes attaining a length of ninety feet —and

there is little or no tendency to form a sward.

It is useless to speak of the value of the grass family to man.

It is enough to say that it produces all the cereal grains, most of

the forage plants, the valued sugar-cane, and the bamboo, applied

by the natives of the East to such a multiplicity of purposes, that

we are led to wonder if they could survive without it. Man by

observing processes of nature, has in some cases usefully applied

certain species of grass to prevent the encroachments of the sea,

the fibrous and interlacing roots serving admirably to bind the

shifting sands. No injurious properties are known positively to

appertain to the order, except in the case of the darnel (Lolium

tennulentum), the fruit of which is acknowledged to be pernicious.

Of our common grasses there are many that are beautiful, none

more so to our thinking than the wild rice (Zizania), which we have

often admired on our northern rivers as it nodded over the passing

row-boat. The flowers are larger than usual in this genus, and

are elegantly marked with light bands of red. It is curious how

NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO. 619

many fanciful resemblances one sees in plants. We were lately

quite provoked to find that Winthrop, with whom we certainly

never had conversed, had hit upon an idea which we esteemed pe-

culiarly our own. It was the comparison of the heads of timothy

to cannon sponges. Many other curious similitudes have been

observed, nor has man in his architectural and ornamental work-

manship, begun to avail himself of one quarter of the lovely models

at all times displayed before him.

If one makes a bouquet consisting alone of grasses, he will soon

perceive how beautiful they really are. The panies and herd’s

grasses are especially lovely, both in the fields, which some of

them tinge with their ruddy smoke, and in the vase at home, where

their ethereal delicacy can be more closely noted.

The gras ses are so numerous that it is impossible to seth even

briefly to one quarter of them. We can only,give our advice to

“go and look them up.”

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF

THE VALLEY OF QUITO.—No. I.

BY PROFESSOR JAMES ORTON.

a e

Tue Geographical Distribution of organized beings is one of the

unfinished chapters of natural history. Much has been done within

the last twenty years in defining zoological and phytological prov-

inces; but we are still very far from knowing the precise range of

species. This has arisen partly from the failure of collectors to

give exact localities, and partly from the ignorance of home natu-

ralists, who often confound places hundreds of miles distant. The

vast collections of Fraser, e. g., are of little use in determining

distribution, as in many cases the indefinite habitat, ‘‘ Andes of

Ecuador,” is given, which may mean the Pacific slope, the head-

waters of the Amazon, or the Quito Valley —three regions quite

distinct in physical aspect.* On the other hand, those who deter-

mined his specimens have in some cases located them indiscrimi-

* term Andes strictly belongs to the Eastern range, and Cordillera to the wes-

tern; but this distinction is not always observed.

620 NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO.

` nately on either side of the Andes, from an ignorance of the

geography of the country. Our generalizations lose half their

value from this want of care and precision. ‘‘ Could we only know

the range of a single animal as accurately as Alphonse De Can-

dolle has lately determined that of many species of plants, we

might begin a new era in Zoology. It is greatly to be regretted

that in most works, containing the scientific results of explorations

of distant countries, only new species are described, when the

enumeration of those already known might have added invaluable

information respecting their Geographical Distribution.” *

The importance of every fact relating to the natural limits of

animals and plants is felt in its bearing on the great question of

the day — the origin of species. Whether “all the grand leading

facts of geographical distribution are explicable on the theory

of migration, together with subsequent modification and the mul-

tiplication of new forms,” cannot be safely answered until we

have more precise as well as more extensive knowledge of habi-

tats. We should know more thoroughly the conditions which

favor migration, as also the effect of barriers in preventing the

spread of species, and ‘‘ the narrowest limits within which animals

of different types may be circumscribed.”

The following contributions are based mainly on the writer’s

personal observations. So far as we know, no attempt has been

made to form a synopsis of the life in the region described ; and

it is hoped that this list may serve as the foundation of a more

perfect work. The Valley of Quito is selected because it is a re-

markably well-defined district, having a uniform temperate climate.

It is nearly three hundred and fifty miles in length, stretching

om 1° N. to 4°S., and has an average width of forty miles, being

walled in by the grandest group of volcanic mountains in the world.

These barriers have an average elevation of 12,000 feet above the

sea, and are broken at few points, chiefly by the narrow gorges of

the Santiago and Pastassa, and the sources of the Mira and

Esmeraldos. The valley is subdivided by ridges into three basins

— Quito, Ambato and Cuenca, having the respective altitudes of

9500, 8000 and 7500 feet, and mean temperature of 59°, 61° and

62°. At Quito the thermometric range in twenty-four hours is

* Agassiz, Essay on Classification, p. 35.

t Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 355.

ea ne tar

A Vee Cem

aa ee ae Ee

PAF Pg er

Poe aoe EE PD Oo ae eee

Pent Sea a, a Res VES ONY Re ee

PR SEAE ee

NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO. 621

about 10°; and the extremes in a year are 45° and 70°. The mean

annual fall of rain is 70 inches.

The region belongs to Sclater’s ‘‘ Neotropical” ; more particu-

larly, it is the northern part of Schmarda’s subdivision—‘*‘ the

country of llamas and condors.” When we have full returns, it

will be interesting to compare life in the Quito Valley with the

nature and relative proportion of inhabitants in oceanic islands.

Darwin has pointed out the important lessons which may be

learned from the natural history of the latter; and the study of

isolated mountain districts is of nearly equal value. It is cer-

tainly of interest to ascertain whether the organic productions of

the Andean Valley, like the endemic forms of the Galapagos Is.,

have a special adaptability for migration. The proportion of spe-

cies to genera in islands is smaller than in continents ; how in this

respect does Quito compare with Amazonia? The vertebrates of

South America are remarkably restricted in their range: does this

show that the continent has been lately split up into isolated dis-

tricts?

MAMMALS.

Nearly all the quadrupeds seen in the Valley have been intro-

duced from Europe, as the horse, ass (mule), ox,* goat, sheep

(two, four and six-horned), hog, dog and cat. The horse, ox

and dog flourish at the highest inhabited altitude, or 15,300 feet.

Quito cats are no mousers; dogs are far superior. Six orders

are represented by the indigenous forms; but the following list of

species is very incomplete. Years of observation in every part of

the valley, from Ibarra to Loja, and up to the snow-line are neces-

sary to finish the work. The largest mammal is the llama,

always domesticated. The equine and ovine races are fast super-

seding it. It is usually of a dark brown color; but one of pure

white is occasionally seen. The llama is not taken, we believe,

as high up as the Hacienda of Antisana. A deer (Coassus rufus

F. Cuy.?) occurs particularly about Lake Sn. Pablo at the foot of

Imbabura. The Tapirus Rouwlini Fisch., possibly visits the vicin-

ity of Loja; but its proper place is on the eastern slope.

` carnivores, the only certified examples are the puma which fol-

*The prevailing colors of the cattle are white mas hren =) have often ob:

served diag an old -e h resident)

ored than in England pE S has a blue cast. I have. never seen one that weak

be called jet black.” po i N of dogs are white or light brown curs.

622 NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO.

lows the deer into the valley, a large brown weasel with a light

colored belly, and the skunk, Thiosmus mesoleuca Licht. (var.

Quitensis Humb.?) called by the natives ‘‘ zoro” or Indian fox.

The last is of a grayish color with black longitudinal bars. ‘* All

the South American Canide belong to the dogs” says Murray ;

but on the slope of Chimborazo we caught sight of an animal

which had a very close resemblance to a true fox. The small

black bear of the Cordilleras is not known to enter the valley.

It does not exceed one hundred and sixty pounds in weight.

Bats are not numerous, but there are doubtless several species.

The only one we have examined appears to be a Nyeticejus. The

Cavia cobaya Schr. (domesticated) is wonderfully prolific. The

“cuye del monte” of the natives is confined, we believe, to the

warm western slope. It is four times as large as the common

guinea-pig, and covered, with a thin coat of long hair, mingled

brown and black. We observed a hare, perhaps the Lepus Bra-

siliensis Linn., the only one determined from South America. The

squirrels, which are not uncommon, are probably distinct from the

Sciurus estuans of Brazil. Compared with their number in other

regions, mice (Hesperomyinw) may be considered rare: their

scarcity may be due to the multiplication of the guinea-pigs.

opossums we obtained two species ; pideipk ys Azare Tern., and

- D. philander Linn. ?

The palæontology of the valley of Quito has not been fully de-

veloped; but enough is known to excite deep interest in the an-

cient life on the top of the Andes. At Alangasi, near Quito, 4

large mastodon tooth was found many years ago; but the most

extensive mammiferous deposit is at Punin, seven miles southwest

of Riobamba. The bones are imbedded in an uns‘ratified cliff,

four hundred feet high, of very compact silt or trachytic clay.

They were evidently drifted to the spot and deposited (many of

them in a broken state, and none in their proper relative positions)

in horizontal layers along with recent shells. In 1867, the writer

took out a large collection * which included vertebrae, patella and

femur (solid!) of mastodons, adult and young; vertebre, leg

bones and upper and lower jaws of two horses, one of ordinary

size, the other about as large as the ass; vertebrae, leg bones and

ischium of a llama or some auchenia; metatarsal like and large

Wha e T

* Now r Museum of Yale College. A erate vier similar xe

mastodo; olumne Co., Californ

OR ME i te li Y Aaa res a tg alae Re Ta

pos i a 8 i

NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO. 623

as those of the camel; leg bones, jaw and teeth of a deer; re-

mains of an unknown ruminant; and a small, hollow bone resem-

bling the tibia of a bird. We are surprised at the absence of

hollow-horned Ruminants, Rodents and Edentates which abounded

in the Pleistocene of the Atlantic side. ‘‘ Undoubtedly [says Dar-

win], the climate of the Cordilleras must have been different when

the mastodon inhabited it.” We think, however, the great pachy-

derm would have had little difficulty in thriving at the present day

at Quito, on the score of temperature or altitude. But the vege-

tation is hardly sufficient. .

BIRDS.

The avi-fauna is better known; and the following catalogue

is believed to be nearly complete. It does not include all the

emerge and other residents may be added from Loja which

has not been thoroughly explored. Introduced species, as geese

and ni are of course omitted. Those marked (*) were not

obtained by the writer but are added on good authority ; such as

are considered restricted to the valley are indicated by a dagger

(t). The further known range of the migratory ones is also added.

Turdide

“Turdus s gigas Fras.— New Granada.

sc pigaan Lafr. — Peru.

* Swainsoni Cab. — From “ine Pere,

Hydrobatide:

Cinclus reer Scl.—New Grenada.

Troglodytid

p Thry othorus Basi aa t a

lodytes solstitialis Sch ee ce slope?

t ientacres wquatoria =i Law

t Cinnicerthia peo thr.

aka vg —New Granada.

Pteroptochid æ:

Triptorhinus orthonyx Lafr.—New Gra-

[nada.

Mniotiltidæ:

Mniotilta varia Linn. — United veer <4 to

eru,

Basileuterus nigricapillus Lafr.— Bolivia.

y iien a Tsch. — Peru.

Setophaga rufico Kaup.— New Gra-

nada.

Dendroica Blackburnie Gm. -— United

[States to Peru.

Hirundinide

soe Petrochelidon murina Cass

oyanpienes, Vieill .— Bolivia,

(Chili, Brazil, Paraguay.

Coerebidæ:

ty ae: aterrima Lafr.— New Granada.

humeralis Fras. — New Gra nada.

i Boiss.—New Granada,

“ _ personata Fras.— New Granad

is Lafr.— New Gran

piap e Eens ia Dl .— New prenei A

ae Sel.

Dacnis pu

+* Oreo ab sa ig oe:

+ Se Fra:

Tan

panegra Darwini Bp. —Pern.

Pyranga æstiva Gm.— Canada to equator.

Calliste atricapilla Lafr.— New Granada,

Venezuela.

Dubusia teniata Boiss. — New Granada,

i idatate dubusia Bp. — New kiagoan

Psittospiza Riefferi Boiss. — New Granada,

(Peru,

Buarremon assimilis Boiss.--New Granada.

eer ine Du Bus. — Peru.

* pallidinuchus Boiss .—New Gra-

schistaceus Boiss.— New Beng

leucopterus Jard. —Nan: PA eg

Buthraupis E Edwardsii Ell.—New Granada.

cullata Jard.—New Granada.

tT cuioteanta Sel.

Sillescesiiene atripileus Lafr. — New Gra-

[nada.

zs superciliaris Lat — New

Granada.

s canigularis Lafr. — tae 9

ada.

Chiorochrysa calliparaea "m “a ew Gra-

ada, Peru,

t E cyanoptera C

EEN Sard

y mptuosa Less. — Peru, V:

[ezu els,

iE pA,

victo w Granada.

hie via oe ae New

Euphonia nigricollis Viei, = New Gra-

(nada, Venezuela, Brazil.

t Pæcilothraupis atricrissa Cab.

lunulata Du Bus.—N

(Granada, Para.

Fringillidz:

Catamblyrhynchus diadema Lafr.— New

(Granada,

Catamenia avaloid :

a homochroa Sc!

* Chrysomitris icterica Lic! kii

geg Magellanicus Vieill.---United

[States? South America.

624 NATURAL

* Pheuticus aureiventris Lafr.

+ chrysogaster Less.

ni DEE ocular Se Kitt.

r Lafr. et D’Orb.—Bolivia,

(Chili.

Sycalis arvensis Kitt. — Chili.

Zonotrichia pileata Bodd.

Icteride:

* Cassiculus leacorhamphus Bp.— New Gra-

ama

ti Serna bellicosa De Fil

Corvid:

Cyanocitta turcosa Bp.— New Granada.

Dendroonlaptide:

ai mae Antisiensis Sel.

arnt on .—New Granada.

Phi

$ Cinclodes aibidiventris Sei.

r Sel.

a niger Lafr.— Bolivia.

t Ochetorhynchus excelsior Scl.

Picolap' lacrymiger Lafr.— New vas

Pseudocolaptes Boissoneautii Lafr.— New

(Granada, Peru.

Formicariid

Grallaria. "hypotene a Scl.— New Granada.

onticola Tafe. — New Granada.

Quitensis Les

pines pilla Laft. — New Granada.

uamigera Prev.— ae air

Tyrannidæ

a "Agriornis audicola Sel

solitaria Sel.

*Elainia griseogularis Sel— New Granada,

(Chili.

{Mecocerculus amoenus Scl

stictoptera Scl. — New a

* Muscisaxicola albifrons Tsch. — Pe hay

a amorat Phil. — Chili,

tris Lafr.—

via and ulti,

Pere nigriceps Scl.

bius cinnamoneus Lafr.— New Gra

hada, Bolivia.

tMyiothesetes ice ae

tees yore New Granada.

A AATA Law:

E ie manus Go orig — Puna Is.

Galapagos Is.

enezuela.

— New Granada,

* Sayornis cineracea Lafr. —

Serpophaga cinerea Str.

* v parula Kitt. — pig C chile,

Cotingidæ: een

Ampelion arcuatus Lafr.— New Granada.

rubrocristata i et EDO. e art

ranada, Bolivia.

Cotinga cincta Bodd. — Gat Brazil.

Pipreola melanoluma on

* Tityra dorsali Sel. New G

ra dorsalis ew Granad.

Alcedinidz Several

Ceryie "torquata Linn. — (Brasil, Are.’ Bolivia,

Galbulidze: e

* * Galbula peer Scl.— Napo?

tamopectus ?— Brazil.

Trogonide:,

'rogon Antisianus D’Orb, — Napo? New

Granada,

personatus Gould — z Ta Drai.

nada, Brazil,

Caprimulgidæ:

Antrostomus nigrescens Cab. — New Gra-

* “

HISTORY OF QUITO.

Cypselidæ:

Chætura rutila Vieill. — New Granada,

Guatemala, Trinidad.

Trochilid

+ Or eotrochilus Chimborazo Boure.

Pichincha Boure.

*Campylopterus xquatorialis Gould. — Mar-

[anon.

Colibri iolatus Gould. ee Bolivia.

Mi Fanny Less. — Per

Laf KE has Gayi Bourc. —

Docin er ensiferus Boa — NE Gra-

nada,

Schliephackei Cab.— Nanexal.

Hetianthes Lutetiæ Delatt. — New Gra

(nada.

Boiss. —

pe ramada,

Pterophanes Temmincki

Aglaeactis

Panoplites flavescens Lođd.—

T Rhamphomicron Herrani Del

Stanleyi

micr

[New Granz

+ Adelomyia Ati Gould.

Metallura tyrianthina Lodd. — New Gra-

[nada, Pun als,

c. — New Grae

[Peru, Puna Is.

“ss

Lesbia amaryllis Bour

graons Gould,

Ort i Lawr.

Acestrura ‘Heliodori Boure. — New Gra-

(nada,

Mulsanti Boure,

t “

— New Gra-

(nada.

Chlorostilbon chrysogaster Bou — New

Granada, Pacifi ic slo ope.

Patagona gigas Vieill. — Peru, bone

Eriocnemis Luciani Bour

pe Aigre eet

mata Gould.

Cientsdee:

Coceygus melanocoryphus Vieill. — Upper

{[Amazon, Guiana, Paraguay.

Capitonidæ:

Capito Bourcieri Lafr.— New Grana

artlaubi Lafr.— ae fei

— ramphastinus Jard.

Bee te elegans Fras. — New Granada.

Strix punctat

* Bubo anat aaa PF: oo | ae

Glaucidi Tem

um infuscata Brazil, Guat-

emala?

*Speotyto cunicularia Mol. — Brazil Chile.

ss. — New Granada,

Syrnium albogulare Cas: CMfexico.

Falconidæ

t Milvago carunculatus Des Murs

Polyborus Audubonii Cass. — — Texas to Ma-

[gellan Sts.

Craxirex unicinctus Tem.— hern U.

ts. o Arg. Repub.

Geranoaetus melanoleucus eet. — nail

Hypotriorchis columbarius Linn. — — New

Le (Granada, pore America.

Tinnuneulus sparverius Lin razil,

(Guiana, } North America.

— BO

aon gee erythrocemius Gray. (Brazil:

t nigroplumbeus Lawr.

C ireus cinereus Vieill.

Vulturid

' Sarcoramphus g

*Catharista atrata

Andes

er-

Chili.

ryphus Linn. t —

tr.— Tropical Am

Bartr p Gea, C

(nada, Guiana,

yams we are much mistaken, there is another

undescribed, See Proc. Am. Assoc. Sci. 1870, p.

ee ee a eee

as of Sarcoramphus on the Andes &

NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO.

625

Columbid : Scolopacide

*Chamaepelia gravativa Bp. — New Gra- Tringa Epere Vieill.—North America,

nada.| *Tringoides macularius Linn. — N. A., Eu-

* Chloroenas albilinea Bp.— New Granada, [rope.

[Costa Rica.| * Gambetta melanoleuca Gm. — U. 8., Cen-

* Columbula cruziana Lafr. [tral America.

+ Zenaida hypoleuca Bp. avipes Bp.— North America,

Penelopidæ: Poli Eat an Aud, — North America.

* Ortalida Montagnii Sy Gallinago nobilis Sel.

* Crax x oe Spix?) — Upper Amazon, Ardeidw:

Chamaepetes Goudatii Less. — “cg Ae =" al E A kaanpte Gardeni Baird, — U. 8, to Peru.

Tinamidæ:; Rallus Virginianus Linn.— North America,

bet Meire radrid nehotus perdix Mol. atid Fulica Chilensis Des Mu.—Pern, Bolivia,

æ:

anellus “resplendens Tsch. — Peru, * Querquedula discors Liua. — <r States.

Chiontd idx * Anas moschata Linn.—

sad ‘Attagi: S Chimborazensis Sel. Colymbidx :

Podiceps occipitalis Less,— Chili, ion

LJ ts,

This list gives one hundred and eighty-four species, of which

thirty-eight are believed to be confined to the Valley.* The In-

séssores number one hundred and sixty-nine, hummers, tanagers

and fly-catchers predominating. The one hundred and eighty-

four species represent one hundred and twenty-five genera: South-

ern New England (Mass., Conn. and R. I.) with the same area

contains two hundred and forty-two species in one hundred and

sixty-three genera; Ceylon, nearly twice as large as the Valley,

has over three hundred and twenty species in two hundred genera.

The relative proportion is not very different. The majority of the

Quito birds have a northern stamp. About eighty species range

north of Quito, chiefly in New Granada; of these, twenty-one are

found in North America. About twenty-five species range south

into Peru, Bolivia and Chile; while very few indeed are found on

the Pacific or Brazilian slope. This accords with that ‘rule of

high generality” that the inhabitants of an area are much more

nearly related to those of the nearest source whence immigrants

might have come. The birds of the Quito Valley have a more

extensive latitudinal than horizontal range.

As a general rule the highland species are larger than the same

‘residing in the lower altitudes. Thus, Buthraupis cucullata, An-

cestrura Mulsanti and Metallura tyrianthina of Quito are much

larger than those of Bogota. So the Patagona gigas is larger in

Ecuador than in Chile; and the Chetura rutila of Quito eclipses

the same species in Guatemala. The Euphonia nigricollis of

Brazil, however, seems to be larger than that of the Andes. The

*Many specimens are reported from Quito which in fact come from ~ among or =

sia nh 0 Thus, Andigena inirostris, Bourcieria fulgi and Pi

janop are from the west ae and Tanagra celestis from the east. Itis trent it

either species of = — ters far into the Valley. and Jacamars

626 THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES.

birds of the high ‘Valley are essentially aerial; they show a -

greater development of wings over legs; climbers, scratchers,

runners, waders and swimmers are few. There is less brilliant

plumage than in lower, warmer altitudes. Green and brown are

the prevailing colors. Even the hummers are surpassed by those

on the Pacific slope, in the Valley of the Magdalena and along the

coast to Rio. All of the Trochilide belong to the group Polyt-

minæ ; the “ Hermit” hummers keep to the dense forests. Leaving

out the Docimaster (which properly belong to Nanegal on the west

slope), the average length of ‘the bills of Quitonian hummers is

three-fourths of an inch. Their nests are covered with moss;

never with lichens. The finches nidify in October; the condors

in February; the hummers in April.

THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF

ITS ALLIES

BY DR. J. S. BILLINGS, U.S.A.

My purpose in the following paper is to enable those who are

commencing the study of mycology, but who have not access

to authentic specimens and to the greatly scattered and often con-

tradictory literature of the subject, to identify the common species

of the genus Hysterium and its closely allied forms. My data

for this purpose are derived from the examination of authentic

specimens in. the Schweinitz Herbarium, and in the herbarium of

Mr. H. W. Ravenel of South Carolina; from specimens named

by Bev: M. A. Curtis, and from the description and figures g gee

by M. Duby in his “Mémoire sur la Tribu des Hystérinées,”

Geneva, 1861.

The genus Hysterium is one of the Ascomycetous forms of

fungi characterized by the peculiar shape and mode of opening

of its conceptacle or perithecium,* which is either elliptical or

longitudinal, opening by a slit or fissure running in the direction

of its greatest length.

he species are found upon dead wood, bark, leaves and stems

*For explanation, with figures, of the parts of fungi, see NATURALIST, VOl. iv. P.

667-674.

4% , á sy =

es grrr os

American Naturalist. Vol. V, Pi. il.

BILLINGS ON THE GENUS ILTYSTERIUM.

THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES. 627

in the shape of black specks or crusts which, under a lens, will be

seen to be small, boat-shaped bodies with a vulveform fissure

looking like minute grains of black wheat. When developed in

or on wood, their structure is usually carbonaceous and brittle.

When developed beneath the epidermis of leaves or herbaceous

stems, the perithecium is usually thin and iii Dili ace and

more or less connate with the surrounding struc

The difference in fruit is also well-marked Lr obi these latter

forms will be referred to the genus Hypoderma.

For the identification of the species of this genus in the present

state of our knowledge, we must rely mainly upon the size, shape,

structure and color of the spores, and hence a few words are nec-

essary with regard to the morphology of the spore. Spores vary

according to age and some other circumstances in all the points

upon which we rely. Thus the same spore at different periods may

be colorless or very dark colored, uniseptate or multiseptate, fusi-

form or obovate, and from .0005 to .002 of an inch in length.

The limits of this variability are not precisely known, but the

student may be guided somewhat by the fact that the development

of spores and asci is not everywhere simultaneous in the same

perithecium. When in any ascomycete we find the perithecium

fully developed, and all the spores apparently equally mature—

for instance, all yellow brown, triseptate and varying not greatly

in form and size,—we are sneShes, I think, in concluding that

these spores are mature.

If, on the other hand, we find that some of the asci do not con-

tain spores, but merely the mass of greenish colored protoplasm

which by segmentation will ultimately form them, while other asci

contain greenish spores the contents of which are divided into

two or four parts—and in none do we find colored or oleh sep-

tate spores — we may consider the specimen as immatur

The peculiar greenish hue of the spore, to which I Ea alluded,

seems to indicate that it is an immature state of a yellow or

brown spore, while a white, perfectly colorless or hyaline spore

may be in itself a perfect form. In the examination of specimens

which have been for some time in an herbarium, we should expect

to find the spores mostly mature, as in the first place it is to be

presumed that only the more perfect specimens would be thus pre-

served, and secondly, the perfecting and ripening of immature

spores will go on, even in the herbarium, to some extent.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 40

628 THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES.

Again it must be remembered that the classification of the genus

Hysterium must’ be as yet provisionary, not being based at all

upon the only real test of a true species, viz., the propagation of

its kind. But before we can attempt the true physiological clas-

sification of such forms, we must have some sort of division of

them that we may know what we are talking about. In this point L

of view it is evident that we want to name as many forms as pos-

sible to avoid confusion, and that two different forms should not

receive the same name unless the observer is very certain as to

their identity. To explain my meaning more fully I will take the —

case of one of the commonest forms among the Ascomycetes, viz.,

Hysterium pulicare Pers. The description of this species, as given

` by Persoon, Fries and the older mycologists, is entirely insufficient

to enable us to identify it, and we must have recourse to authentic

specimens to know positively which form the older authors placed

under this head. The spores shown in fig. a of plate 11 were

drawn from a specimen in the Schweinitz herbarium received from

Fries as a type specimen. Another specimen from Fries, marked

B. lenticulare has the same kind of spores. A specimen from the

Scleromycetes Suicie in Mr. Ravenel’s herbarium has somewhat

larger spores which are obovate, triseptate and very dark brown.

Duby states as the result of the examination of authentic speci-

mens that the spores of H. pulicare are oblong, two or three times

longer than wide, triseptate, clear brown, or with the terminal lo-

culi colorless. When young the spores are 1-septate and hyaline.

Corda figures the spores in like manner. On the other hand, I

find in one specimen named by Kunze, and in specimens named by

Berkeley, Curtis and Ravenel, that the spores are much larger,

darker, more opake, with longitudinal septa and obovate or pyti-

form, in short, like the fruit of H. elongatum. (Pl. 11, fig. k). The

authors last named consider the above as belonging to H. pulicare

for the reason that in one perithecium, resembling those of that

species, they find spores varying from the short, colorless, unisep-

tate form, to those described above. It is of course possible,

and perhaps not improbable, that the large cellular spores are the

fully developed fruit, but on the principles stated above (as I find

in the majority of authentic specimens that all the spores present

an equal development and yet have a simpler form), I prefer to

consider that form as the perfect type and refer the others to H.

elongatum.

THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES. 629

It will be observed that I have taken no note of the minor dif-

ferences which the perithecia present.

An examination of many varieties and specimens has shown

that in H. pulicare, for instance, the perithecia may be long or

short, wide or narrow, striate or smooth, with lips thin or thick

and more or less gaping, the variations appearing to depend on

the kind of wood, the age of the specimen, and the amount of

heat, light and moisture to which it has been subject, and hence

such characteristics are of little relative value.

t is supposed that besides the ascous form, Hysterium has

other modes of manifestation ; for instance, Tulasne affirms that

Leptostroma vulgare is a form of Hysterium herbarum; the argu-

ment being the usual one of post hoc ergo propter hoc, that is,

Hysterium herbarum has been found either coincident with, or im-

mediately succeeding to the Leptostroma on the same matrix. As

I have elsewhere insisted, the only way to settle me de coreg is

by culture of the various forms upon different matri

The germination of Hysterium spores goes on on well in an

ordinary growing slide, and the results are very interesting, es-

pecially in regard to those species with cellular spores, in which

each loculus gives rise to a mycelial filament. I have several

times observed a connection formed between neighboring filaments,

resembling very much the sexual process as it occurs in some

algæ, but as yet am not prepared to say that it is of a sexual na-

ture. I recommend the subject for observation and experiment

to those who have microscopes and no definite work on hand for

their instruments.

The best classification of the Hysteriacei is that of M. Duby,

but I think he has been premature in his effort to construct half a

dozen new genera. The old division of Lophium, Glonium, Acti-

dium and Hysterium serves well enough for identifying purposes,

although as stated in the commencement of this paper, those

forms of Hysterium, with thin membranous perithecia found in

leaves and herbaceous stems, may be Conveniently referred to the

subgenus Hypoderm

The data are a Fairs for a revision of this family with a

view to indicating their relations to other fungi and to each other.

The accompanying plate gives the figures of the spores of the

common forms of Hysteriacei magnified five hundred diameters.

Fig. l represents a very large spore from a specimen in Mr. Rav-

630 THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES.

enel’s herbarium, marked H. depressum B. and C. Other spores

in the same specimen were one-fourth less in size. ith these ,

figures and the following brief synopsis, there will be little diffi- f

culty, I think, in identifying the usual forms. q

HYSTERIUM.

A. is ag simple, colorless, minute (Aporia of Duby).

. Hysterium herbarum Fr. Spores minute, DORES, ppoe

x. Fr. in Schw. Herb.)

B. Spores filiform, colorless or greenish, lying side by side m Dandies, often appar-

vane without an investing sheath or ascus. ea Sporomega, Cocco

and Co ene g of Duby.)

2. i pee astri Schrad. . H. griseum Schw.

3. aan rundinacearum Schr. ne parities pointed B. & C.

laleucu gyz Fr. 10. s Schw.

apáta ; iy, H ainei Schw.

ën vost sch Pe

T H dr teal Fr.

very obscur: os em are almost ¢ certainly immature or aborted forms, an

pa oy would lose een it the whole were reduced to H. arundinacearum ae H. fo oii.

C. Boorse ai simple, colorless, elongate, often curved and sausage-shaped.

he ng a Spores colorless, 0015 inch long. (Fig. 20.) (Spec. ex Kunze in

13. m scirpinum Fr. Spores colorless, 0018 inch i (5p. ex Fr. in Schw. Herb.)

14. H. corni Schw. Spores rod-like, straight, .002 inch lo

(Spec. ox Kunze in Schw. Herb

15. H. Swit Schw. Spores subfusiform, colorless, .0005 inch long, in long ¢

ase

D. Spores uniseptate.

smilacis Schw. Spores colorless, -aie * Cepia .001-.0013 inch long, with a

gelatinous envelope when young. (Fi

Curtisii Duby, is probably the same. )

17. H. varium Fr. Spores brown, opake, fusiform, subacuminate, .003 inch long.

18. H. Sor Fr. iin ieee colorless, ovoid or obovate, sometimes constricted in the

e, .0005 i

19. H. aa Blox. Spores at one end elongate and hyaline, the rest dark

-.0007 inch long. (Fig. 17.)

E. ro A inept

a yes — Fr. Spores dirty brown, terminal loculi often clearer or colorless,

ng.

21. A. riag eea Schw. Spores bro .0008 inc areg

22. H. tortile Schw. Spores brownish, labor vate, 0008 | long.

23. H. flexuosum Schw. In the specimen in the Schweintz Herbarium, the spores

the distinctive flexuose poras are identical ie those of H. pulicare. in

' ecia the mg are —_ 0015 i inch long.

24. H. biforme Fr. Spores ye mo: id oe 001 - 3 inch long, sometimes CON- '

= P ape ots a apis or toru “be

R rostii Duby ores es sub orm, .0065 inch long.

26. H.rufulum Fr. (reid dium of Sprenge Oy booed’ at first reddish brown, after-

wards dark, 001 ~.0014 inch lo ong.

or ce

F. A tiseptate, ar.

i : Ok t ores curved, yellow, multiseptate, obtuse or subacumi-

: m ong.

pe Tor our Jo Schw. Spores dark yellow brown, 5-7 septate, 0011 inch long; third

. H. Mi ag pat Bante’ hw. a shore s dark yellow brown, curved, subpyriform, multiseptate,

Mg Ë. p es Sewo G ed ing nd -5 septate, .0008- .0012 inch long.

n i Pers. Spores dark k brown, elliptic or subpyriform, cellular, -0015

inch long. (Spec. ex Seu) :

32. = St sn dees Schw. Spores yellowish, broadly obovate, cellular, .0012 ine

88. H avis um Schw. Spores dark ake, constricted in the middle with

distinct cope 0015 - .002 mer dong, ene "each halt pera

H. elon Wullr. Spores bpyriform, cellular,

ees yed long (Spee: ex ex Trip ty ages E OE ; with

H. depressum s dark, Bus brown, cymbiform, cellular,

eg l distinct septum, like? H. vulvatum, .003- ,0045 inch long. (Spec. in Rav.

THE GENUS HYSTERIUM AND SOME OF ITS ALLIES. 631

36. H. decipiens Duby. Spores straw color, obovate or elliptical, .001 inch long, 4-5

stan with one or two longitudinal septa.

37. A. i Duby. apa es brownish, — oblong, constricted in the mid-

38. H. m DeN ‘Spores yeraia or chicas, 4 4-7 ‘locular, with “ore or two longi-

tudinal yrs four times as long as broad, clear, pt agr A ato +)

39. H. complanatum Duby. Spores linear lanceolate, septate, not con-

stricted, gence brown. r

Hysterium verbasci Schw. Spores colorless, KA often curved; endo-

chrome maltipartite -001 -.0015 inch oe

41. H. elatinum Pers. Spores like H. verbasci

42. H. rimincola Baiv, Spores colorless or greenish, multipartite, obovate, .001

inch long or more

43. H. vi: m Desm’g. Spores colorless, curved rods indistinctly 4-5 septate,

.0005 inch long.

Species which should be rejected as not belonging to the genus,

or as having no fruit, and therefore not to be identified :—

H. abbreyiatum Schw. Spec. in Schw. Herb. is an immature Sphwria.

H. polygonati Schw. Sp. in Schw. Herb. has no fruit,

H. oxycoccus Fr. Sp. ex Fr. has no fruit. Duby found no fruit in authentic specimens.

H. osmunde Schw. Sp, in n Sch w. Herb. is ao onia.

H. nucicola Schw.

H. librincola Schw. “ *“ 7 isa ‘ Hendersonia.

H. kalmie Schw. cece rs ee ha Kid

H. syringe Schw. a a cag d vi

H. spheroides A.S. “ % «“ inl < Fr. no oaiit Duby found no fruit in au-

The following species are rejected by Duby.

H. abietinum Pers. H. strineforme Walls.

3 oa Bese Wahl. H. samæorum Larch.

H. at = Kunze.

T Coeciferum Cast. HH. m mD.C.

H. oleæ ©

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 1l.

Fig. a. Sporan of Pd php as pulicare Pers.

L23 b.

d. tortile Sc

& e. Ascus and spores of Hysterium fern Schw.

Š spee ns Hyst omen FT

Ee 4 pine tis A Prostii Duby.

chlorinum B.

i 2 éc “ & ECG.

é j. 4t t “ ilacis Schw.

causa lg am se longatum Fr.

tt A “ depressum B. & C.

fm “4 u vat hw.

ie pi ihe yA acuminatum Fr.

é 0. L cc te varium

SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN AND EAST-

ERN BIRDS.

BY T. MARTIN TRIPPE.

Wuen the primitive prairie becomes reclaimed from a state of

nature by the pioneer and farmer, the fauna and flora undergo a

very marked change. Many plants and animals disappear, and

new ones take their places. The buffalo, elk and antelope retire

before the advancing line of civilization, and are seldom found

within the settlement; the deer, wolf and turkey gradually disap-

pear as the country becomes populated, and are finally exterminated.

Many species of Composite and other plants, found in great profu-

sion on the unbroken prairie, become scarcer and scarcer, as the

sod is broken up and cultivated, and at last disappear altogether.

With the birds, the changes are rapid and numerous; some spe-

cies are quickly exterminated, and others previously unknown, be-

come abundant. So rapid is the progress of settlement in some

portions of the west, that these changes become very marked from

their suddenness. Local lists of the avi-fauna of eastern Iowa

and Minnesota, taken twelve or fifteen years ago, would differ

very materially from those of the same localities to-day ; and these

lists would differ both in the species, and in their comparative and

actual abundance. Even the habits of the birds undergo consid-

erable modification, as it will appear in the following pages.

Every one in the Eastern States is familiar with the song spar-

row, that little brown minstrel that comes even before the blue-bird

to tell us that spring is at hand. He is our earliest bird; a sort

of ambassador from the feathered court, sent on by those princes

royal of song, the thrushes and grosbeaks, to herald their approach.

On some bright sunny day in February, when the chill of the air

is somewhat softened by the returning sun, and the woods are vo-

cal with the cry of the downy woodpecker, you hear him first, —a _

brisk, ringing strain, full of joy and hope, that speaks of warm

days to come, and whispers promises of violets and anemones.

If you wish for a nearer acquaintance, he is not a bit afraid, but

sings as unconcernedly, although you may be watching him a few

yards off, as though you were a mile away. In fact, he is semi

(632)

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN BIRDS. 633

domestic in the early days of his coming, and hovers about the

house and garden, tame and familiar, a willing dependent upon your

bounty, picking up the crumbs about the door-steps, and repaying

you a thousand fold, every morning and evening; and, having

taken up his abode with you, he likes it well enough to stay all

spring, summer, and fall, always the same, cheerful, familiar and

musical.

Very different, indeed, is the song sparrow of the transmissis-

sippistates. In March, the ornithologist who rambles over the prai-

ries and along the wooded water-courses of southern Iowa, notices

a small, brown bird, flitting among the hazel copses, shy, restless

and timid, eluding his observation so carefully, that, if he is una-

ware of its nature, he will frequently be obliged to shoot it before

he can identify it. Then to his surprise, he finds it to be the song

sparrow. For a few weeks, he meets in his daily walks, the same

shy apparition, though never very frequently, until in April it dis-

appears. Perhaps, once or twice, on an unusually lovely morning,

he may catch the familiar song that used to delight him in early

March amid the hills of New England; but to hear it even once

he must be very fortunate. During summer he may rarely meet

the bird in the thickets on the edge of the timber, or even catch

him, towards the approach of autumn, reconnoitring in some gar-

den ; but only rarely, — until in September and October, they come

back again in greatly increased numbers, more tame and familiar

than in the spring, and now he begins to recognize some resem-

blance to the song sparrow of the Eastern States.

Where have they been all summer? In Minnesota—the greater

part of them at least. The brush prairies, the thicket in the river

valleys; and the shrubbery that surrounds the lakes of western

and central Minnesota, are the summer resort of the song sparrow.

Here, hundreds build their nests and raise their young, — shy anc

timid as ever, but no longer silent. The ornithologist just from

the east, is astonished to find in the song sparrow, the wildness

that marks the meadow-lark and flicker, in New York or Massa-

chusetts, although the notes and habits are otherwise precisely

similar.

Yet it takes only a short time for the song sparrow to find out

that he has nothing to fear from men, but that on the contrary, it

is safer and pleasanter to live in their company than without it.

When a region has been settled for a few years, small birds of all

634 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN BIRDS.

kinds begin to increase in a very marked degree. In the older

settlements in Minnesota the song sparrow has already taken up

his abode, and though something of his original shyness remains,

yet it is rapidly wearing off, and he is becoming the same familiar,

confiding bird as in the east. As we progress toward the frontiers,

we find him becoming shyer and wilder, till in the wilderness he

exhibits almost the wildness and timidity of a wild-duck.

What has been said of the song sparrow, is equally true of the

bluebird and robin. In Iowa, some of these birds breed in the

timber near the streams, but the greater number pass quickly over

the prairies, and find more congenial haunts amid the woods of

central and northern Minnesota. The pine barrens seem exactly

suited to the robin; here he raises his brood undisturbed; and,

amid the dead and decaying poplars and tamaracks that cover

miles upon miles of the surface of northern Minnesota, the blue-

bird nests in great numbers. But very different are they from the

robin and bluebird of the east. They fly from your approach afar

off; they shun you as the hawk and crow do in New England;

and though they have the appearance and voice of old friends,

you cannot help feeling that they are old friends become estranged.

But as-the country becomes settled, like the song sparrow, they

soon perceive the advantage of dwelling in civilized society, and

are not slow in acting upon it. In some portions of Iowa a

Minnesota, these three birds are as domestic as in New York or

Pennsylvania.

Thus, the robin, bluebird, song sparrow, and some others of our

birds, before the prairies were settled, passed the breeding season

in the northern woods of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota;

but as the wilderness becomes civilized, and groves of trees are

planted upon the prairie, they take up their abode among the hab-

itations of men, and become residents of regions, where before

they were merely transient visitors.

But if some birds are more timid in the newly settled parts of

‘the prairies, with others it is precisely the reverse. In the towh

in which I write —a city of five or six thousand inhabitants of ~

southern Iowa, — blue jays are as common in the trees lining the —

streets as vireos among the elms of New Haven; crow blackbirds

breed as familiarly in the gardens as chipping sparrows; while s

almost any hour of the day, wild pigeons and doves may be seen

gleaning in the busiest streets. On the upper Mississippi, nea?

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN BIRDS. 635

St. Cloud, I have seen crows so tame that I walked within thirty

feet of them with a gun on my shoulder, without alarming them in

the least. The meadow-lark is as tame as the bluebird in the

east, and sings familiarly from the roofs of houses in the villages,

and the marbled godwit will let you walk up within. twenty or

thirty yards without seeming aware of your presence. In the

woods of Minnesota, far beyond the settlements, I have found

hawks, Buteo borealis and Falco sparverius, scarcely more con-

cerned at my presence within fifty feet, than the robin or bluebird

in the Eastern States. But birds are quick to learn; the mallard

and the prairie hen soon discover that it is dangerous to let a man

approach within fifty yards, while the wild goose is very discrimi-

nating as to the range of buck-shot and rifle-bullet. It is surpris-

ing to see how soon birds learn this lesson. I knew a certain corn-

field situated at the edge of a large wood in a recently settled

part of Minnesota. Here the blue jays from all the country

round were wont to forage, coming in scores every morning and

evening. Undisturbed at first, they grew so bold as to remain

quietly at work within twenty or thirty feet of a passer-by; till

finding that they were destroying a considerable portion of his

crop, the farmer commenced shooting them, killing them by the

dozen for the first few days. In two weeks, the blue jays were so

wild when in that field, that it was difficult to get within gunshot

of them; while in the woods, half a mile away, they were as tame

as ever; and while before they were very noisy and garrulous

when in the cornfield, now they never uttered a sound from the

time they entered it till they left it again. It took the blue jays

only a fortnight to comprehend the situation.

It is easy to see why some birds, as the hawk and crow, should

be tamer in the frontier settlements than in the older parts of the

country. Not being hunted as game and having few or no enemies,

it is not strange that they should have the boldness and confidence

which is the result of a sense of security and freedom from dan-

ger. On the other hand, it is equally apparent that such small

birds as the sparrows, thrishes and finches, continually persecu-

ted by their natural enemies, should learn to be distrustful, and

shun the approach of everything from which danger might be ap-

prehended. But in course of time, the larger birds being de-

stroyed as pests or for amusement become, in time, shy and sus-

picious ; while the smaller, protected in a degree and less subject

to the attacks of their former enemies, grow tame and familiar.

636 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN RIRDS.

Some birds, however, seem but little affected by the settlement

of the country. The baywinged bunting, for instance, is scarcely

more abundant in eastern Iowa than on the unbroken prairies in

the western part of the state, nor are his habits different. The

greater number breed among the pines of Minnesota, very few re-

maining in any part of Iowa during summer.

Some species increase rapidly on the first settlement of the

country, and then decrease again. Of this class are the prairie

hen and mallard. They find abundance of food in the corn and

wheat fields; while the population is sparse and larger game so

abundant, they are hunted very little; but as the population in-

- creases, they are gradually thinned out and become in some

cases exterminated. Other birds, as the quail, are wholly un-

known beyond the frontier; and only appear after the country

has been settled a short time. Still others, woodland species, ap-

pear in regions where they were never known before, as groves of

trees are planted, and thick woods spring up on the prairies, as

soon as the ravages of the fires are checked. Thus, some species

are introduced and some exterminated by the settlement of the

country, while the numbers of almost all are more or less affected.

The same changes have taken place in the Eastern States, and

are still going on there, but so slowly as to be imperceptible.

Here in Iowa, on the contrary, they are so rapid as to attract the

attention of the most careless observer.

The breeding habits of birds undergo considerable modification

on the settlement of the country. In the wilds of Minnesota, £

never saw the nest of the robin elsewhere than in the tops of the

tallest Norway pines. The crow, in similar localities, often builds

on low bushes. The chipping sparrow nests in the same places

pains to conceal their nests. So far as my pills went,

think that the robin, bluebird and some other small birds, breed

little later in the season than in the settled regions, though I ie

be mistaken.

The real influence of man upon animals and especially on binds

is scarcely yet appreciated, When the subject comes to be more

thoroughly understood we shall find that not only are they.

erned in their range and numbers through his agency, but thé

even their natures and mental characteristics are changed as well.

REVIEWS.

HE GEOLOGY oF Wyomrna.* — The first part contains a geo-

logical itinerary, while the second part is more general in its na-

ture, containing chapters giving a general view of the geology of

the Missouri Valley, of the region between Omaha and Cheyenne,

the route over the first range, the Laramie Plains and westward to

Bear River, and onward to the Great Salt Lake Valley, closing

with a chapter giving a general review of the geology of the

country from Omaha to Salt Lake Valley, and a final chapter on

the mines, ete.

Prof. Hayden’s explorations are extended over an immense ex-

tent of country, and while the work is our only authoritative guide

to the geological and agricultural capabilities of this important

area, even these preliminary reports throw a flood of light on the

geological history not only of the American Continent, but we

may venture to add that of the globe and the succession of life on

its surface. In illustration we quote as follows :—

“ That there is a connection Sinha all the coal beds of the far

West I firmly believe, and I am convinced that in due time that

relation will be worked pond Has the links in the chain of evidence

joined together. That some of the older beds may be of upper

Cretaceous age ‘Tam eens to believe, yet until much clearer

light is thrown upon their origin than any we have yet secured, I

. shall regard them as belonging to my ie a series or beds of

passage e betwee en the true Cretaceous and the lary.

the large’ collections of fossil plants fea the West n

in ne enei of Dr. Newberry are carefully studied, we shal

have a much better basis upon which to rest a conclusion. will

seen at once that one of the most important Urobia H in the

geology of the West awaits solution, in detecting, without a doubt,

the age of the coal series of the West, and the exact = of de-

mareation between the Cretaceous and. Tertiary peri

he study of this question shows the importance of ‘the contin-

o dt

aed ac

Neither can we place too rigid reliance on the teachings of the

* Preliminary Report of the U. S. Geological Survey of Wyoming, and portions of

contiguous territories (being a second annual report of progress). By F. V. Hayden,

` U.S. Geologist. Washington, 1871. 8vo, pp. 511. (637)

638 REVIEWS.

and fiora of the Tertiary deposits of this country, when compared

with those of the Ol orld, reach back one epoch into the past.

We have already obliterated the chasm between the Permian and

the Carboniferous era, and shown that there is a well-marked in-

osculation of organic forms—those of supposed Permian affinities

passing down into well-known Carboniferous strata, and admitted

Carboniferous types passing up into the Permian. We believe that

the careful study of these transition beds is destined to obliterate

the chasm between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, and that

there is a passing down into the Cretaceous period of Tertiary forms,

and an extending upward into the Tertiary of those of Cretaceous

affinities. It appears also, that every distinct fauna or flora of a

period ought to contain within itself the evidence of its own age

or time of existence, with certain prophetic features which reach

forward to the epoch about to follow. If thereis a strict unifor-

mity in all the operations of nature when taken in the aggregate,

as I believe there is, then this is simply in accordance with the law

of progress which in the case of the physical changes wrought out

in the geological history of the world has operated so slowly that

infinite ages have been required to produce any perceptible change.

The position .that I have taken, in all my studies in the West, is

on the great extended movements which I have regarded as gene-

ral, uniform and slow, and the results of which have given to the

marine. It was no fault of the fossils themselves that they were

mistaken in this instance.” ete

Prof. Hayden’s remarks on the relation of the Quaternary period

to the Tertiary are of much interest : —

. “As we have previously remarked, we believe that the Quater-

nary period, although more difficult to study, will be found to be

scarcely second in importance to any of the previous great epochs

in geology. A careful study of these modern deposits will un-

doubtedly show consecutive links by which it was united to the

Tertiary period, in the same manner as the Cretaceous and Tertiary

are connected in the case of the great Tertiary lake now indicated

y the deposits on White and Niobrara Rivers, in Nebraska, m

which the waters continued to cover a greater or less area through

most of the Quaternary period, at least, as is shown by the thick

REVIEWS. 639

deposits of fine sand, with bones of mammals and shells of exist-

ing species, on Loup Fork and its tributaries. The same may be

said of the bluff deposit, or loess, which i s so well displayed along

the Missouri from Fort Pierre down w St. sc and pro

bly, to the Gulf.of Mexico. Ata ait eriod it is probable,

ready been marked out, consequently we find the yellow marl or

loess fifty to one hundred and fifty feet thick in the immediate val-

ley of the Missouri, but thinning out as we recede ig it, or the

valleys of any of its branches. The existence of so many fresh-

water mollusca and the entire absence of any marine forms indicate

that the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri were either cut off

m the direct access to the sea, or that the influx of such a vast

quantity of fresh water as must have flowed down from om moun-

tain inte rendered completely fresh the inland portio

may suppose the temperature just prior to the eases pe-

riod és have been extremely low, and that the elevated portions of

the West were covered with vast masses of snow and ice; that as

the temperature became warmer this snow and ice melted, produc-

ing such an accession to the already existing waters that they cov-

ered -all the country excepting, perhaps, the summits of t

highest peaks ; that masses of ice filled with fragments of sale:

worn and unworn, floated off into this great sea, and melting, scat-

tered the contents over the hills and plains below ; that as the wa-

ters diminished these masses ‘of ice would accumulate on the

summits of the foot-hills of the mountains, or at certain localities

in the plains ; aad thus account for the great local accumulations

land lake, and then carried beyond the reach of currents, w

settle quietly to the peak aa almost We gg lines of stratification,

as we observe in the loess. The last act was the recession of

these waters to their present positi vey and the formation of the

terraces. We believe the terraces constitute the last change of

any importance in the surface of the western continent. We su

pose that the channels of all the streams on the meen fa of

the Rocky Mountains were at one time occupied with water from

hill to Ap and that the drainage was toward the sea. kal in the

Great Basin, which so far as we know has no outlet, the drainage

must oe been by evaporation, for the evidence points to the con-

clusion that it was entirely filled with water high up on the sides

of the mountains. There is greater uniformity in the terraces in

the Great Basin than in the valley of the Missouri, which indicates

a far more equable drainage. Still, those along the flanks of the

Wasatch Mountains number two or three principal ones, but these ,

640 REVIEWS.

formations separate into five or six; and Stansbury mentions one

locality where there are ten or twelve of them. In the Missouri

Valley and along the eastern slope generally, the terraces vary

much in height and importance.

The distant hills are composed of the yellow marl or loess, and

the surface has been weathered into the rounded, conical hills.

This portion is often covered with the drift or stray rocks, or what

I have called in a former report the erratic block deposit. Qn the

terraces these erratic masses are scarcely ever found, and in the

broad bottoms of the Missouri River seldom if ever. This fact

strengthens the opinion that the terraces are really one of the

latest features, and that they were formed during the drainage of `

somewhat to the formation of the terraces, but I am inclined to

believe that the drainage or the contraction of the waters is the

main cause. This is an important point, and I hope hereafter to

to Mexico are gashed with gullies or canons, many of which are

Any one with geological proclivities about to take a trip across

the continent over the Pacific Railroad should by all means read

this interesting sketch of the country between Omaha and Salt

ake.

The third part contains a report by Prof. C. Thomas on the ag-

ticulture of the Territory, with notes on the grasshoppers, espec-

ially the Western Locust (Caloptenus spretus.)

Part IV. contains a preliminary paleontological report by Prof.

F. B. Meek, with reports on the Tertiary coals of the West, by

James T. Hodge; on the ancient lakes of Western America, their

deposits and drainage, by Prof. J. S. Newberry (which will be

Spee SEN E ie aa ee

a A

REVIEWS. 641

found at p. 641 vol. IV of this journal) ; on the vertebrate fossils of’

the Tertiary formations of the West, by Prof. J. Leidy; on the

fossil plants of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations of Kan-

sas and Nebraska, by L. Lesquereux; on the fossil reptiles and

fishes of the Cretaceous rocks of Kansas, the fossil fishes of the

Green River group and the recent reptiles and fishes obtained by

the naturalists of the Expedition, by Prof. E. D. Cope; and final-

ly, a report on the Industrial Resources of Western Kansas and

Eastern Colorado, by R. S. Elliott.

' These reports contain matter of much general interest by the

distinguished scientists whom Prof. Hayden has summoned to his

aid, and give the volume a lasting value. From Mr. Lesquereux’s

report we select the following remarks on the discordance in the

characters of the European and American flora of the Tertiary and

Cretaceous epochs :—

cate for our country a precedence in time in the ioe of

botanical types. Large trunks of coniferous wood are already

found in our Devonian measures, while analogous species are re-

corded as yet only in the Carboniferous measures of England

Though the analogy of vegetation between the flora of the coal

measures of America and Europe is evidently established by a

number of identical genera and species, we have nevertheless some

coal measures as far down as the first coal above the millstone grit.

Even peculiar ferns of our upper coal strata have a typical anal-

e of numerous Cycadex, touches the Jurassic of Europe. But

it i is especially from our flora of the lower Cretnncids that we have

a vegetable exposition peculiarly at variance with that of Europe

where the plants have been found, could not be admitted by pale-

ontologists until after irrefutable proofs of it had been obtained.”

Prof. Cope’s report gives apa of the reptilian life which

formerly flourished over this region :

“ The species of reptiles which have been found in the Cretaceous

strata west of the Mississippi River up to the present time -num-

ber fourteen. Five of these pertain to the Sauropterygia, one to

the Dinosauria, and seven to the Pythonomorpha. In the present

report attention is confined to the species saddiceirered near the line

642 REVIEWS.

of exploration of Dr. Hayden, or that of the Kansas Pacific Rail-

` road, and that of Professor B. F. Mudge of the State Agricultural

Co lege.

During the period when the Cretaceous ocean extended from

Eastern Kansas over the present site of the ai bps

and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea, it abounded

in life. Among vertebrata, fishes and marine nib chiefly

abounded, and in varied forms. ‘Many of the reptiles were char-

acterized by a size and strength exceeding that seen in any other

period of the world’s history. The species of Sauropterygia and

Pythonomorpha were all aquatic, but the two types present very

different adapt ations to their mode of life. While the former pos-

sessed two pairs of limbs the latter “appear to have possessed an an-

terior pair only, or with the posterior pair so reduced as to have

been insignificant. They substituted for them an immensely long

and flattened tail, which they used, like the eels and sea-snakes,

as an oar. The Sauropterygia were ae tag stout-bodied and

with a very markedly distinct neck. In t e Pythonomorpha, on

the other hand, the body was snake-like, vith narrow chest and

neck scarcely differing in diameter. They were immensely elon-

gate, and might be called sea-serpents with Freri propriety.

f Sauropterygia, Polycotylus had a slender neck and very

stout limbs ; but in Elasmosaurus the neck attained dimensions ex-

ceeding that of any vertebrated animal. The species E. platyurus

was probably the longest of the order, measuring perhaps fifty

feet, but of this the neck amounted to twenty-two feet. The crea-

ure was carnivorous, and could no doubt like the snake-bird, swim

at a considerable distance’ below the surface of the water and reach

to the surface for air, or explore the depths or plunge for fishes to

the depth of forty feet.

Among the Pythonomorpha the Liodon dyspelor is the largest

species and the Clidastes intermedius the smallest. A specimen of

Mosasaurus Missuriensis obtained by William Webb near Topeka

is stated by him to measure seventy-five feet in length. Should

this be substantiated the L. Kang was at least one-third larger.

This is, ini as yet uncertai

The upper arm bones of the Clidastes are remarkably short er

wide and furnished with strong processes for the insertion of mu

cles. They are e among reptiles much like those of moles ee

quadrupeds, and, as in the latter, indicate probably great power of

propulsion in the fore limbs. The finger bones were long an d

slender and formed a a tong fin or flipper, while the upper arm was

probably concealed in the skin. The whole limb came off but 4

short distance posterior to the head. These re 80 far as

known were all carnivorous ; their food was chiefly fishes

His notes on the fossil fishes are of much interest :—

“The laminated rock from which the above species were ob- 2

;

REVIEWS. 643

tained is similar in general appearance to the clay beds of Mount

Lebanon and Mount Bolca. The first indication of the existence

of this deposit was brought by Dr. Jno. Evans, who obtained from

it a clupeoid, which was described by Dr. Leidy as Clupea humi-

lis (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, p. 256). One of the

blocks contains the remains of two shoals of the fry, probably of

C. humilis, which were caught suddenly by a slide or fall of cal-

careous mud, and entombed for the observation of future students.

S es.

two may have had a moment’s warning of the catastrophe, as

they have turned a little aside, but they are the sampon. The

fry ore from one-half to three-quarters of an inch long an d upw

e herring, or those with teeth, are chiefly marine, but they run

into ‘fresh waters and deposit their s pritke in the spring of the year,

and then return to salt waters. The young run down to the sea in

autumn and remain there till old ASIA to spawn. The size of

the fry of the Roċky Mountain herring indicates that they had not

g left the seorg gene while a. abundance of adults sug-

gests they were not far from salt water, oe native element.

To believe, thea, that the locality froin which t se specimens were

taken was neither far from fresh, nor far can salt waters is rea-

sonable ; and this pona to a tide, p phir og inlet or river.

singe of Cyprinodontide inhabit also tide and brackish waters,

Most of the apeoine of the family as reals s of the genus, are in-

neria of fresh water ; but they aided especially the cypri-

nodons proper, prefer still and muddy localities, and, often occur

in water really salt. This habitat distinguishes them especially

from Cyprinidæ (minnows and suckers) and pike. Lastly, the

The material which composes the shales indicates quiet bd goof

and not such as is usually selected by herring for spawni

while ‘the abundance of adult Clupeas indicate the proximity et

salt water.

This is far from a satisfactory demonstration of the nature of

the water which deposited this mass of shales, but is the best that

can be obtained with such a meager representation of species.

As to =i ee age the indications are rather more satisfactory.

The genus Clupea ranges from the Upper Eocene upward, being

to doubt the beds in question being of later than Eocene age,

genus.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 41

644 REVIEWS.

The position of these fishes, seven thousand feet above the level

of the sea, furnishes another illustration of the extent of eleya-

tions of regions once connected with the ocean, and the compara-

tively late period of geologic time at which, in this case, this ele-

vation took place.”

If we find so much of interest and novelty in the preliminary

report, how much has our science in store when the final report

and its illustrations appear !

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION or THE Berries.* —In this ex-

ceedingly interesting and suggestive essay, the author divides the

Coleoptera of the world into three great ‘“stirps,” or assembla-

ges:—the Indo-African, the Brazilian, and what for want of a

better name he calls the ‘“microtypal” stirps; the species com-

posing it “being of a smaller size, or, more strictly speaking, not

containing such large or conspicuous insects as the others.”

Thus all but the tropical, even including the Australian insects,

are considered as belonging to this mass of small forms. “The

coleopterous fauna of our own land [Great Britain] may be taken

as its type and standard.”

We very much question «whether this division be not too arti-

ficial to be generally received by zoologists. The primary distri-

bution of faunæ corresponding to the polar, temperate and tropical

regions, would seem to be the more philosophical, being based on

climatic causes.

r. Murray believes that the diffusion of animals and plants by

accidental means “bears no important part in the establishment

of any definite fauna or flora.” He thinks that actual continuity

of soil and subsequent isolation alone produce faunz with a defi- -

nite character. While he thinks these changes of surface took

place before the Tertiary period, and does not believe that the

new Atlantis, to take a case in point, existed during that period,

yet he is one of the most ultra in the school of writers on g

graphical distribution who take up and put down continents like

checkermen. Thus the Azores, Canary Islands and St. Helena,

Ascension Island, St. Paul and Tristan d’Acunha, are to Mr. Mur-

ray the relics of a former continent, when the Atlantic was dry

land, and Europe and America ocean beds. He puts down a

*On the Geographical Relations of the Chief Coleopterous Faunz. By Andrew

Extracted from the Linnæan Society’s Journal.— Zoology, vol. XI, London,

REVIEWS. 645

“stretch of dry land” between Old Calabar, Africa and Brazil, and

again another “‘ continental route of communication” between Pata-

gonia and the Cape of Good Hope “and which, last of all and

probably not without relation to the preceding, united Brazil and

Madagascar.” Now it seems to us this is in direct violation of

one of the best founded and grandest laws in physical geography,

as brought out by Professor Dana. He has shown that the pres-

ent continents of the globe, were each built up around a Lauren-

tian nucleus, and have gradually extended to their present dimen-

sions, being originally islands or archipelagoes, and that the present

ocean beds have never been dry land ; the borders of the continents

within the line of a hundred fathoms more or less, often involving

thousands of square miles, oscillating above or below the ocean

level, but with no intercontinental bridges. It seems to us that

this law goes hand in hand with the climatic laws regulating the

distribution of the faune of the earth, and that the writer of the

essay before us has, in a measure, violated both at the outset.

Space does not permit us to notice the many new and extremely

interesting points brought out by Mr. Murray in reference to the

smaller faunæ, except to briefly give his remarks on our own

fauna. We think that what we quote will show that while a

great mass of facts are given, the author’s broadest generalizations

will not meet with general acceptance. Thus he labors to show

that the fauna of Australia is much like that of Europe and North

America, both being “ microtypal,” namely, having small species.

from an Australian, as both are not gigantic in stature, and hence

both belong to the same primary fauna. He remarks, ‘* North

America has no special fauna or flora of its own. That which it

has is a mixture of the microtypal and Brazilian stirps intermin-

gled with fresh importations of different dates, and modified by the

advance and retreat of the glacial epoch; but, on the whole, the

preponderating element in its fauna is the microtypal.” The simi-

larity of the Californian fauna to that of Asia is accounted for by

a ‘former communication having existed between Asia and Cal-

ifornia.”

As to the European fauna and flora being the type of the “ mi-

crotypal” fauna, we wonder what would have been considered the

standard, if modern science had developed first in Japan or Aus-

tralia, rather than Europe? Is the flora of North Temperate Amer-

646 REVIEWS.

ica any more European, than is that of northern Europe, North

Temperate American? This is a species of anthropomorphism in

science that we are disposed to distrust, as facts of distribution of

life in paleeozoic times, as Mr. Murray acknowledges, tend to show

that the Silurian continental nucleus of Europe was not indebted to

that of North America for its fauna, or vice versa ; and in all prob-

ability there has been no interchange of forms between the Arctic

and Antarctic lands. Do not the known facts in geographical

distribution tend to show that the different continental nuclei have

been from the first, distinct centres of distribution and evolution

for the larger proportion of animals and plants, which may have

evolved from ancestral forms, at the outset restricted to separate

ocean beds, and separate continents ?

Tur Bracntopopa or THE Coast Survey Exreprrioy.*—In this

valuable contributjon to our knowledge of the Brachiopods, Mr.

Dall instead of being content with giving a synonymical list of the

species, with descriptions, enters as thoroughly as his material would

allow into the anatomy of these animals. He also enumerates the

characters of the class, and the two orders in which it is divided.

As a striking feature in the anatomy of Terebratula Cubensis he

also notes “the absence of that great series of sinuses in the an-

terior part of the mantle, which was termed by Hancock ‘the

great pallial sinuses.’ ” The illustrations are excellent.

Sea Sipe Srupres 1N Narurat Hisrorr.t—A second edition of

this useful book has appeared. As a preparatory note states, it is

a mere reprint of the first edition, with a few verbal changes.

brief notice of the recent deep sea explorations is added.

CATALOGUE or EUROPEAN LEPIDOPTERA. t—A catalogue of Eu-

ropean butterflies and moths is of great use to the American stu-

dent, and we are glad to see an enlarged and revised edition of

the present work, the only available catalogue we have.

hen? > + ` in charge

of L. F. de Pourtalés, with asec ‘and Discini nidee, by W H. Dall.

Bulletin of the ager os of Comes aloes Vol. 3. No. 1 with 2 plates. Bidder May

{Sea s ide Pt in Natural History, by Elizabeth C. Agassiz and Alexander Agas-

siz. etre Animals of Mas rere se s Bay. Radiates. Boston. J.R. Osgo ood & Co.

1871. 8vo pp. 157, with 186 wood

silii der Lepidopteren he tick pwischen trie genre L Masont

bearbeitet von Dr. O. cto nger; II, Microlepidoptera, bearbeitet yon Dr. M. Woe

en, 1871. 8vo. pp. 426.

REVIEWS. NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 647

Tae Earty Sraces or Bracniopops. * — The final memoir on

this subject, of which an abstract by the author is given on p. 385

vol. iii., of this journal, has at length appeared. After describing

the different stages of Terebratulina septentrionalis, which are fig-

ured with many details on two excellent plates, Prof. Morse dis-

cusses the relations of agen with the Polyzoa, and in

closing remarks as follows : —

‘** With propriety may also be suggested a certain parallelism

between the leading groups of the Polyzoa and the Brachiopods.

We have forms like Lepralia, attached by one eege of their

shell, this shell being yeni gtd and exhibiting ,minu inctures,

which have been com to similar markings in certain T

pods. So among the Txttar group do we find s attached, as

, and pecies of Productus; and generally the

pralia, while on the other hand, such genera as Pedicellina, with

its long, pliant and muscular stalk, or Loxosoma, with a stalk

highly retractile, may be compared to Lingula. The limits or in-

tentions of this paper will not allow any considerations regarding

the relations of the Brachiopods with the other groups of the ani-

mal kingdom. I have elsewhere expressed my belief that they

are gi pelt having nearer affinities with the Vermes;

and in view of the above relations of the Brachiopods with the

Pilea. it T interesting to remark that Leuckart has for a long

so placed the Polyzoa with the Vermes, and in a iga edition of

he ‘ Outlines of Comparative Anatomy’ Professor Carl Gegen

wie removes the Poly zoa from the Mollusca, ia jote them

with the Vermes.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

pit BOTANY.

Cross FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS. — Mr. Meehan exhibited some

flowers of the common Bouvardia leiantha of the green-houses,

and of the hardy Deutzia gracilis, and referred to his papers, pub-

lished a few years ago in the “ Proceedings of the Academy,” on

practical dicecism in the trailing arbutus (Epigea repens) and

*On the early stages of Terebratulina septentrionalis. By Edward S. Morse, Ph. D

(From the memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History). Boston, 1871. 4to. pp.

10. With two plates.

648 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Mitchella repens, in which he pointed out that these plants, though

apparently hermaphrodite, had the stamens and pistils of different

characters in separate plants, and were therefore subject to the

laws of cross-fertilization as indicated by Darwin. He had had

his attention called to the Bouvardia, by Mr. Tatnall of Wilming-

ton, Del., as furnishing a similar instance to that of Epigwa and

Mitchella, belonging to the same natural order in which the Cincho-

neous division of the Rubiaceæ, Bouvardia, was placed. | These

had some plants with the pistils exserted, while in others only the

stamens were visible at the mouth of the corolla tube. Mr. Tatnall

had not had the matter suggested to him early enough to say that

it was so in all cases; but he believed that these flowers, which

practically might be termed pistillate and staminate, were found

entirely on separate plants. This is a very important fact, as

Bouvardia is not raised from seeds in green-houses, but from

cuttings of the roots, and therefore, all these plants with separate

sexes must have been produced from one original individual, with-

out the intervention of seed, and thus confirm the position ad-

vanced in a previous paper on “ bud variations,” namely, that va-

riations in form, and, by logical inference, new species, may arise

without seminal intervention; and that in this way identical spe-

cies may appear in separated localities without the necessity of

supposing an emigration from one small point, as Darwinism now

does.

In the specimens of Deutzia gracilis were two forms of flowers

on the same plant. Besides the large ones with stamens and pis-

tils apparently perfect as generally seen, there were numerous

small flowers in which the petals were only partially developed.

The filaments were entirely wanting, but the anthers were as per-

fect, if not larger than in what we should call the perfect flowers.

Any one could see that these small flowers were the result of de-

ficient nutriment, and would be apt to pass the matter over with

this simple reflection; but he wished to emphasize the fact that

this defective nutrition rendered the female organs inoperative,

while the male organs were still able to exercise their functions;

thus affording another instance, if any more be needed, of the

truth of his theory of sex, namely, that with defective nutrition,

the female sex is the first to disappear ; and that only under the

highest conditions of vitality is the female sex formed.

In the case of the Bowvardia a similar law was seen. The

> = Pars

OLE en Pers

per oe

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 649

most vigorous stems, or, as they would be technically called,

woody axes, produced the female flowers.

Woxrrta Braziiensis IN Micuigan.—On June 25, 1871, I

found the Wolfia Braziliensis Wedd. var. borealis, in the River

Rouge, a tributary of the Detroit emptying a few miles below our

city. The little plants grew rather sparingly with W. Columbiana

Karsten, and Lemna polyrrhiza L. Though the W. Columbiana,

in general its associate, has been found in the east, the W. Brazil-

iensis has not, I believe, been met with there. For those not

acquainted with it, I will state that it is easily distinguished from

the former, even with the unassisted eye, by its subacute, oblong

fronds, bright green and shining above, and pale beneath. It is

further distinguished by being contracted or somewhat concave

. above, denser and less cellulose, by its more numerous stomata,

and by being marked more or less with brown dots. It is also

not so much submerged as the W. Columbiana, but floats on

the surface of the water, the intensely green upper part lifted

quite above it, bearing some resemblance to a little boat. Some

botanists take the Braziliensis to be a form of the W. arrhiza of

Europe. — Henry Giritman, Detroit, Michigan.

ÅNTHERS or ParwnasstA.—In the ‘‘Journal of the Linnzan

Society,” vol. xi, Mr. A. W. Bennett published, two or three years

ago, an interesting article upon Parnassia—its structure, affini-

ties, and its mode of fertilization. I am now to remark only upon

its anthers, which are generally described as extrorse. Mr. Ben-

nett, observing that the present writer, in the ‘‘Genera of North

American Plants Illustrated,” describes the anthers as introrse, and

gives a drawing of P. Caroliniana as an illustration, proceeds to

say: “I do not, however, find any other observer to agree with

Prof. Gray’s observation in this respect, except two American

botanists, Dr. Torrey and Mr. Chapman, who have probably bor-

rowed their descriptions from him; nor do any specimens of this

species which I have been able to examine pe any departure `

in this respect from the ordinary type of the gen

It is easy to show that Dr. Torrey’s obec at least, is

independent and original. In his “Flora of Northern and Middle

States,” published in 1824, p. 326, he described the anthers of P.

Caroliniana as “incumbent ;” in his “New York State Flora,” 1843,

650 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

as “fixed by the base, introrse.” The first volume of the ‘‘ Genera

North American Illustrated” appeared in 1848. This season I

have, for the first time, had the good fortune to see both P. palus-

tris and P. Caroliniana in flower, in the Botanic Garden of Har-

vard University, the former blossoming at the beginning, the latter

at the close of August. The difference between the two species

‘<in this respect” is obvious.

In P. palustris, the anthers are certainly extrorse as to inser-

tion; but the line of dehiscence lateral, with introrse rather than -

extrorse tendency.

P. Caroliniana, the anthers are quite as much introrse as

extrorse as to insertion, and truly introrse for dehiscence. <A

transverse section removes all doubt, showing the connective or

solid part to be posterior, and the anther to be as truly introrse es

possible.— A. Gray, American Journal of Science.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION or SEA — — Under this ti-

tle, Dr. P. Ascherson gives an account, in a recent number of

Petermann’s “ Geographische eee ” of the distribution

of the species of flowering plants native to sea water. Of these he

enumerates twenty-two, belonging to eight genera, and two natural

orders. The area of each species is generally very limited, its

distribution being mainly dependent on the present condition of

the sea in which it is found, as to temperature, etc. Those which

grow in temperate regions are frequently represented by closely

allied species in tropical seas. Although the Isthmus of Suez is of

comparatively recent geological date, the nine species found in the

ed Sea are entirely distinct from the four species of the Mediter-

ranean, and, with one exception, belong to different genera. A

good map accompanies the paper.— A. W. B

Tue STRUCTURE oF Boa Mosses. — Dr. R. Braithwaite, the

highest authority in England on the mosses, has published in a

recent number of -the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,” an ac-

count of the structure of the Sphagnine or Bog-mosses. Dr.

Braithwaite follows Schimper in considering them as a distinet

order of the same rank as the true Mosses and Liverworts; the

muscal alliance being thus formed of the three orders Bryin@,

Sphagnine and Hepaticine. The spore of the bog mosses does

not, on germination, produce the much-branched confervoid pro-

;

EPSA TE pee N EAER

MAS TIA A

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 651

thallium of mosses; but, if growing on wet peat, a lobed foliace-

ous production similar to one of the frondose Hepatice; if in

water, the prothallium is a fine filament, the lower end of which

forms roots, and the upper enlarges into a nodule, from which the

young plant is developed. The male organs of Sphagnine differ

also from those of mosses, and, in the arrangement and form of

the antheridia, resemble those of Hepatic. They are grouped

in spikes at the tips of lateral branches, each of the imbricated

perigonial leaves enclosing a single globose antheridium on a

slender pedicel. Paraphyses surround them ; but, instead of being

imple, as in mosses, they are very long, much-branched, and of

cobweb-like tenuity. The leaves of the bog mosses are very pecu-

liar and form well-known and beautiful microscopic objects. They

are remarkable from the cell-walls being perforated by holes,

through which it is common to find that infusoria have passed,

which may be seen sporting about in the cell-cavity.— A. W. B.

Peoria IN Laprat2.—In a recent number of the “ Sitzungs-

berichte der Kais. Kön. Akademie der Wissenschaften” of Vienna,

Dr. J. Peyritsch records the continuation of his investigations of

Peloria, or abnormal irregularity in the flowers of the Labiate.

finds the pelorial flower to be very commonly the terminal one in

the inflorescence, the lateral ones being of the usual bilabiate

type. The numbers of the parts of the calycine, corolline, and

staminal whorls vary from two to six, the number being some-

times uniform throughout, and sometimes varying in each whorl ;

by far the most common arrangement being four of each. The

pistil is usually quite regular, but in one instance the ovary was

found to be six-lobed, surmounted by a single style and three stig-

mas. Examples of Peloria are recorded in the following species :

— Galeobdolon luteum, Lamium maculatum, Ballota nigra, Clino-

podium vulgare (one only), Calamintha Nepeta, Micromeria rupes-

tris, Nepeta Mussini, Nepeta Cataria, and Brunella vulgaris. The

abnormal development was found more frequently in plants grown

in the Botanic Gardens than in the wild state. = paper is illus-

trated by several excellent lithographs. — A

LEMNA TRISULCA IN FLowER.— The flowering of the Cruciform

Lemna (Lemna trisulea L.) is of such extremely rare occurrence,

that my discovering it on Belle Isle, in the Detroit river, will be

652 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

deemed worthy of record. Floating on the surface of a small

pond on this island, which is opposite the east end of our city, I

found, on July 16, 1871, an abundance of the flowering trisulca,

associated with L. minor L. and L. polyrrhiza L. ; though the lat- -

ter were greatly in the minority. I enclose specimens, from which

will be perceived the remarkable difference of the plant from the

usual submerged form. The flowering plant, it appears, is always

of this small, compact, depauperate-looking type, and is provided

with air-cavities which float it to the surface.. The fronds are

mostly proliferous from but one side, and the stalks are either

much reduced or wanting, only five or six generations being con-

nected; from which it would seem that this is a young state. I

was not able to observe whether the posterior stamen opens later

in the day than the anterior one, as Dr. Engelmann has surmised ;

but I found that a large number of the flowers had both stamens

expanded at five o’clock, P. M. The exsert stamens were in such

cases quite distinguishable by even the naked eye. Many of the

plants were in bud, or about going to flower, having the anthers |

still enveloped in the spathe. I have collected a quantity of spec-

imens which I shall, be glad to distribute among my botanical

friends. I hope to be able, at a later date, to secure the fruiting

plant.

Last season (June 7, 1870) I discovered in the greatest abun-

dance L. minor L. in full flower, at Eaton Rapids, Michigan, the

locality so celebrated for its mineral springs. ‘This plant also is

rarely found flowering. — HENRY Gittman, Detroit, Michigan.

LEMNA POLYRRHIZA IN Frowrr.—I have to add to my former

discoveries of flowering Lemnas, the finding of Lemna polyrrhiza

L. in full blossom. I found it, July 30, 1871, at the west or oppo-

site end of the same pond on the Belle Isle, in the Detroit River,

Michigan, in which two weeks previously I collected the flowering

L. trisulea, Here the L. polyrrhiza was largely in the majority,

though growing with L. minor and L. trisulca; all three species

being in flower together! At four o'clock, P. m., I observed many

of the flowers of the three Species with both stamens expanded.

I was unable to reach the ground at an earlier hour. The ana-

lyzed flower exhibits two ovules. I enclose specimens. L. poly-

rrhiza was found in flower last year for the first time in America

_ by Mr. Leggett of New York—and, I believe, the first time

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 653

anywhere for twenty or thirty years—at least the first time to

give it a critical examination. The great rarity of the flower-

ing of L. polyrrhiza is almost mysterious. Though I believe I have

been enabled to throw some light on this matter, yet as I am not

positive as to the correctness of my conclusions without further

experiment, I refrain from printing them. — Henry GILLMAN,

Detroit, Michigan.

ZOOLOGY.

AQUARIA Stupres.— At the outset of the present sketch we

would premise that the glass side of our aquarium which is placed

next to the wall, is never cleaned, and in consequence of this, it

is soon covered over with a growth of what botanists call Con-

ferve. The Confervee are among the lowest forms of Alge, a

group which contains a great number of very minute microscopic

plants, which have been, of late years, specially studied by micro-

scopists. Among the lower forms of these Protophytes are the

Diatomacez, Desmidiz and Volvocine, plants of very simple orga-

nization, only lately removed from the animal kingdom. Other

orders are the Palmellacez, likewise plants of humble type; Ul-

vaceæ, plants of a rather more complex character ; Oscillatoriacez,

remarkable for a peculiar kind of motion ; Nostochaceæ, Siphon-

acez, and Confervaceæ.

First let us scrape some of the growth off the glass at the back

of the tank, then place it in the live box with a drop of water over

it, and having adjusted our microscope, what do we see?

First of all notice the vegetation contained in this drop of wa-

ter. That long pointed ribbon, having the green colouring matter

twisting and curling through the centre, is one of the Confervæ,

a species of Spirogyra, and close beside it there is another jointed

species having the chlorophyll or colouring matter in patches ;

this is a variety of Stigeoclonium. These are purely vegetable,

- and are the resort of many little creatures which revel and hide

themselves among their tiny clusters of bands.

The first intruder in the field of the microscope we would eall

a small piece of clear jelly with little black dots or granules

within. But see, it has changed its shape: it is, as it were, running

out; a finger-like process is flowing out here and there; the

654 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

granules also are moving. Again we look; it has now as-

sumed a shape something like an outline of a map of Italy. While

you are looking it has again changed. You ask what is that?

That is one of the simplest forms of animal A

life; it is called the Amceba or Proteus. (Fig

figures illustrating this article are copied from

Clark’s “ Mind in Nature.”)

In the Ameeba we see an animal that breathes

without lungs or gills, digests without a stom-

ach, moves without limbs, and contracts without

muscles. Like other animals of simple type,

which live for the most part in the deep sea,

and which from the possession of root-like feet,

are called Rhizopods, its body is composed of a

jelly-like substance called sarcode. Some of

these creatures have silicious and some calcare-

ous shells, while others have none at all.

Ameeba digiuens,

You will ask how does

the Ameeba live, and how does it feed? We shall endeavor to

show. Although without a nervous

system, it is nevertheless very sensi-

tive, as will be seen.

That other creature near it is 4

Rotifer or wheel-bearer. If you watch

you will now see how and upon what

the Ameeba feeds. As its body flows

and contracts, it is nearing the Roti-

fer which is attached by its foot to

the glass, unconscious of his fate.

Presently the little mass of jelly flows

and touches him, but too late for the

Rotifer to make his escape ; as if stim-

ulated by the contact, the Amoeba has

fairly covered him, and through its

transparent body the Rotifer’s strug-

gles for life are perceptible. All is

over with it now, the laws of absorp-

tion have so decreed it, and soon nothing will be left of it but its

silicious covering. This is the way the Amæba feeds, by absorb-

ing the juices of its victim. This creature is reproduced by fission,

—

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 655

that is, by splitting or dividing itself into pieces, each of which

becomes a perfect animal. (Fig. 112 represents a Rotifer, the

Squamella oblonga Ehr. )

The wheel animalcule (Rotifer vulgaris) will be our next subject

for examination. He is many degrees higher in the scale than

the Ameeba; his body is constructed in some degree on the prin-

ciples of the tube of a telescope; he can also draw himself into

a ball at pleasure ; he has a mouth and jaws, which are constantly

at work ; his eyes are distinctly visible. When fishing he attaches

himself by a foot or tail-like process either to the glass or to the

stems of aquatic plants and stretches himself out, when the en-

trance to his mouth opens and the cilia, or hair-like appendages

with which his mouth is furnished, commence moving or rushing,

thus causing a current or small whirlpool in the water, by means

of which monads and other animalcules are drawn in, and amongst

others our friend the Amceba falls in, so that the victor of yester-

day is the victim of to-day.

Rotifers are produced from eggs, although in one species (Acti-

nurus neptunius) we have distinctly seen the young one in the

body of the parent, and not only so, but have noticed its jaws

going as if the creature was feeding. The red eyes of the young

Actinurus could also be distinctly seen.

When swimming, the Rotifer is a very graceful creature ; with

his crown of cilia extended, he glides across the field of view

with amazing swiftness

We well remember ‘hes young at microscopy, the anxiety ex-

perienced to possess a Rotifer ; the quantities of infusion of leaves

of all sorts we made, including hay, straw and sage, but to no pur-

pose. We could get lots of monads and other varieties, but no

Rotifer. For two years this state of things went on, when we were

tempted to bottle some water from one of the street puddles,

ing some of the sediment with it. The bottle was placed un-

corked, in the window, so that the full benefit of the sun-light

might be obtained. As soon as business was over that day the

bottle was produced, the animalcule cage filled, the focus of the

microscope adjusted, and to our delight, the water was swarming

with Rotifers ; and from that day to this, we have been close com-

panions. This water was kept for nearly three years, and fresh wa-

ter now and then added to compensate for evaporation, with a little

piece of pond-weed (Anacharis alsinastrum), or duck-weed (Lemna)

656 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

to keep the water sweet. Many generations of Rotifers lived and

died in that bottle, as their silicious skeletons testified, the sedi-

ment being full of them.

Temperature has very little effect on Rotifera. We have had a

bottle of water containing these creatures frozen solid, and on

thawing them, they were as lively as ever. We

have also placed a large-sized drop of water on

a slip of glass, and held it over the flame of a

lamp, long enough for the glass to be uncomforta-

ble to the fingers, with the like result.

appeared to be a little more active

warm bath.

Fig. 113.

They only

after their

The old experiment of evaporating a- drop of ——

. : Epistylis flavicans.

water on a slide containing Rotifers we have also

tried, and on again wetting the spot, have resuscitated some of

them. We have had them the twenty-fifth to the thirtieth part

of an inch in length; about the fiftieth part of an inch is the

usual size.

A little to the left of the Rotifer, attached to a piece of Con-

ferva, is a beautiful cluster of bell-shaped animalcules, Vorticella

ee campanularia. They are attached to

= the plant by means of a stalk, which

has a contractile muscle running from

the base to the upper end: they have

a ciliated mouth. Just watch that

little cluster of crystal bells. They

have by means of the muscle drawn

back until they look like an irregular

mass of gelatine. Now they slowly

move out again, as if all were guided

by the same will. Now they are at

full stretch, with cilia revolving, fish-

ing and feeding. Again, they are all

retracted with a jerk. Some of them

look as if they were double. Repro-

ete ti E G : „se: it is

Epistylis Aavicans, magnified, duction is going on in thes

effected by fission. Bye-and-bye these

will separate and detach themselves, and swim about till matured,

when they attach themselves, to go through the same existence as

their progenitors. (Fig. 113 represents a vorticellidan, Epis

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 657

tylis flavicans slightly magnified ; Fig. 114, the same magnified 250

diameters).

A smaller species, Vorticella nebulifera, is to be found attached

—

to the bodies of some Entomostraca, as Cyclops quadricornis, an

on Lynceus. Another species (Carchesium

polypinum) is also found attached to these

creatures. We have a specimen of Cyclops,

mounted as a microscopic object, having Vor-

ticella nebulifera attached to the back of the

crustacean. The presence of the Vorticella

on the slide was accidental, as the object

was intended to be Volvox globator (Fig. 115)

Voleoz globator. = § only. It evidently PA

got in, either attached in some way to n

some of the Confervæ, or from the

water.

The stalks in Carchesium are not

retractile; the body, however has the

power of closing up by muscular ac-

tion. These we have not found in

numbers in our aquarium, but in the

ponds near the city they are to be met

with in abundance.

Another beautiful creature — the

Blue Stentor (Stentor cæruleus)—has

attached itself to a little bit of weed ;

its beautiful crown of cilia is expand-

ed, and moves rapidly, creating quite

a small whirlpool, into which the un-

fortunate monads are drawn and

engulphed into its stomach. It is of a

beautiful blue colour, and is found in

great abundance at times on the tops

of ponds, which look then as if cover-

ed with coal dust. (Fig. 116 repre-

sents Stentor polymorphus Ehr). —= pang

On taking another drop of water

from the aquarium, with more of the vegetable matter, we observe

other and different creatures, resembling snakes twisting and en-

twining each other in their folds; these are called Lurcos or Glut-

tons. They are well named, for they are very voracious, feeding

658 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

on animal and vegetable life; their bodies are annulose, or com-

posed of rings having hair-like processes on each segment, which

enables them to move about with considerable quickness; their

Fie. 117. mouth is capacious and ciliated; the in-

testinal canal is plainly seen, and their

food can be well observed through their

transparent bodies. We have seen them

devour rotifers, monads, bell animalcules

and other animals; in fact they refuse

nothing. They are produced from eggs.

That slipper-shaped species is very

common, and found in great numbers; it

can be seen by the unassisted eye as.a

tiny speck coursing across the animalcule

cage. It is called the Chrysalis animal-

cule (Paramecium aurelia.) It is ciliated

all round the sides of its body, and moves

about very swiftly; it is like a porpoise

in a shoal of herrings— dashing here and

there, devouring the smaller species, such

as monads, in all directions. It under-

goes many changes, and assumes many

shapes during its metamorphosis; it is

produced by fission as well as from the

egg. (Fig. 117 represents Paramecium

caudatum Ehr.)

That restless little fellow with four horns

Cyclops quadricornis (Fig. 118). The

only way to get a good look at him is to

bring a little pressure to bear by giving

the cover of the live-box a slight squeeze

so as to keep him still. He is very active,

and measures about the sixteenth part of

an inch in length. His head is furnished

with four antenne or horns, and the creature is provided with five

pairs of feet and a long tail, which is terminated by bristles. It

has in the centre of its forehead, a single red eye—hence the name

Cyclops, after Vulean’s workman. The legs of the Cyclops at

each of the joints, are furnished with hairs. evidently to help the

creature in swimming, as is also the case with aquatic beetles.

The female carries two ovaries at the extremity of the abdomen,

Paramecium caudatum.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 659

where the eggs are hatched, and, on the young leaving these sacs,

they fall off. The young, according to Carpenter, undergo five

changes in their development.

Besides these little creatures we have mentioned there are many

more about which much might be said.

We have monads, vibrios in great numbers, always present in

the water of our aquarium: not only there we may state, but in

the Montreal water this spring we detected shee

in two instances, living vibrios in the wi Sow

water immediately taken from the pipe.

In concluding this sketch of the inhabi-

tants of our aquarium the following re-

marks may not be out of place.

How little is known, by the great mass

of mankind, of the various creations pos-

sessed with the wonderful and unknown

principle, ‘life,’ respecting which much

more might, perhaps, be known by means

of patient microscopic research. By its

aid we may learn how admirably each little

organ plays its part, and how the various

members contribute to each of these crea-

tures’ happiness in their struggle for life,

for, for some wise purpose, every animated

being, from the monad to the whale is bat-

tling for existence.

There is not, perhaps, a single species of

animated being whose existence depends

not, more or less, upon the death or de-

struction of others.

In the plan of nature death and dissolution seem to be apei

sable for the support and continuance of animal life.

Man may be said, with a few exceptions, to have universal ‘i em-

pire over the other animals. Carnivorous animals and birds are

also engaged in this general work of destruction.

In fishes, also, as their habits demonstrate, from the least to the

greatest, their appetite is almost insatiable, and their object in

life seems to be either to devour other fishes or to avoid their own

destruction.

Insects, also, are no or to the rule.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL 42

We find the same

660 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

struggle going on among them, each preying on, or being preyed ‘

on by other species. Rog

Even in our aquarium this struggle can be witnessed, as illus- —

trated in the first part of these sketches ; also among microscopic x

creatures, the subject of the present paper. They also have their i

enemies, the fish swallow them in countless thousands, while the

smaller ones supply the larger ones with food.

In the economy of nature no creature lives for its own happi-

ness alone, but by its destruction, contributes to the happiness of

others. The balance of power is not entrusted to any particular

class or species, and He who in wisdom made them all governs

and guides the whole.— A. S. Rircnte, in Canadian Naturalist

and Geologist.

- Hysrm Between Car anb Raccooyx.—I saw yesterday (May

2d, 1871) the most interesting hybrid animal I ever examined;

and hasty as the examination was, it may be worth mentioning.

Passing through Taunton, Mass., I saw in the doorway of Mr.

Dunbar’s bookstore what struck me, at first, as being the hand-

somest cat I had ever beheld. The second glance revealed am

unmistakable look of wildness; and, for a moment, it seemed to

me that it must be some creature of the squirrel kind, at any rate

something else than a cat. On inquiry, I found it to be the of

spring of a domestic cat and a tame raccoon, kept in the same

family in China, Maine. I was informed that there had been sev-

eral litters of these hybrids, and Mr. Dunbar had before owned

one of a previous litter. That had been stolen, and he had ob-

tained this younger one, now seven months old, from Maine.

She is larger than an average cat of that age, and is at once

distinguishable both in shape and color. The color is a dark

tawny, brindled with streaks that are almost black, on body and

legs, and more obscurely on the tail. The under side of the body

is lighter, as you will see from the matted hair which I enclose, and

which was cut from the under side of one of the hind legs. (She 1s

just now shedding her hair.) All the darker tints are quite unlike

any that I ever saw in a cat. In shape she is somewhat slender,

I should say, though this is concealed by the great length of we

hair. The legs seem longer than a cat’s, and there is something

peculiar inher gait as if they were set on differently. Her walk

is neither plantigrade nor yet quite feline, while it is easy and not

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 661

ceful. I noticed no peculiarity in the paws, but the owner

aii she used them “unlike a cat, more like a squirrel.” The

head looks more triangular than a cat’s, possibly, from the pointed

and tufted ears, which are quite peculiar. The expression of the

creature’s face was so wild and formidable that I actually hes-

itated to touch her, but found her gentle and caressing, beyond

even the habit of cats; she seemed more sympathetic and human,

instead of less so, which surprised me. But the chief beauty

was in the hair which I found to be very long and silken, with a

softness such as I have rarely felt in any quadruped, except at a

very early age. This characteristic attains its greatest perfection

in the tail, which does not in the least remind one of a cat’s, but

is as bushy and ornamental as a squirrel’s—broad, and waving

and graceful. I am not well acquainted with the raccoon, though I

have seen it alive; but it seems a remarkable and interesting cir-

cumstance that a hybrid should have a softness and silkiness of

coat beyond that of either progenitor.

The owner has had this beautiful animal but a few weeks, and

had the elder specimen of the same race but a day. He says

that this one is ordinarily quite gentle and docile; but that, on

one occasion, being taken up by the tail, she turned upon the ag-

gressor with a fury far beyond that of a common cat. She also

never retreats before a dog, and the dog usually retires. She

feeds on milk and meat, like a cat; but has never yet caught a

mouse, perhaps for want of opportunity. She is peculiarly noc-

turnal in her habits ; is quite drowsy by day (which I also noticed)

but becomes playful at night, and is always found rambling about

the large shop in which she is confined.

Mr. Dunbar states that the other specimen of this breed, which

he previously owned, resembled this one in color and shape, but

not in the length of hair, having more resemblance in that respect

to the common cat. It would be exceedingly interesting to com-

pare the different offspring of this strange union. I was unable to

ascertain which of the parents—cat or raccoon— was the female;

nor could I obtain the name of the person in China, Maine, be-

neath whose roof these singular hybrids were produced. Possibly,

you may have some correspondent in that locality who could give

more accurate information. If it were possible to overcome, in

this case, the ordinary infertility of hybrids, I am confident that

there would be quite a demand for animals of this breed, for their

beauty alone. —T. W. Hicernson, Newport, R. 1.

662 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

We give the following copy of a letter received by Mr. Hig-

ginson :—

“Dear Sir ;—your favor was received on Wednesday night and

Thursday morning I went over to Taunton to see the cat. Itis

certainly a hybrid and I am very confident Mr. Dunbar is right in

believing it to be a cross of the raccoon and cat. Ist. Its tail in

markings and bushiness is strongly coon, as well as the markings

of its fore and hind legs and paws. 2d. Its walking gait particu-

larly in the handling of its hind legs is purely coon. 3d. Its dispo-

sition is astonishingly wild intermingled with tame. 4th. I um-

derstood. Mr. Dunbar that his brother-in-law brought the creature

from China, Maine, and was assured by the man of whom he ob-

tained it, that it was an intentional hybrid of the coon and cat,

and not accidental, which to my mind makes it much more proba-

ble. Mr. Dunbar promised to get the name of the original owner,

and alsd to let me have the cat to stuff, if it should happen to die.

He has also sent for a male hybrid, and if he gets it will inform

me. This cat will soon have kittens, and as I am frequently m

Taunton, I shall follow up the enquiry with interest. Thanking

ing to give you farther information as fast as I obtain any

am, Yours respectfully, 7

J. W. P. JENKS-

OrnitHoLocicaL Nores rrom Marye.—Mr. G. A. Boardman

of Calais, Me., writes us that he has a Florida Gallinule, Gallinula

galeata, that was shot near Calais this last spring. Also a black

Golden-winged Woodpecker, Colaptes auratus, black as a grackle

and breeding with a woodpecker of the usual color. An albino of

the Little Black-headed Duck, Fulix affinis, has also been added to

his collection, and he found a pair of Red-headed Ducks, Aythya

Americana, breeding near Calais. This is the first time he has

found the Red-head in summer.

A New Srecms or ALLcaror.— Dr. Schulte-Buckow, who has

travelled extensively in South America, gives in the New York

“ Zeitung” an interesting account of the habits of the alligators. —

He discovered a new species, which has been described by Prof.

E. D. Cope under the name of Prosuchus fuscus.

Tae Duck Hawx.—Mr. William Jarvis of Hanover, N. H+

writes us that he found the nest of a Duck Hawk on Eagle Cliff,

near the Profile House, Franconia Notch, last summer. fhe

young were able to fly from the nest, which was made of a few dry

sticks placed round a slight hollow on a shelf of the cliff.

;

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 663

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Tue Fratrest Tigra on Recorp.—In the Fourth Annual Re-

port of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Eth-

nology (1871), reference is made (pp. 21, 22,) to a certain

tibia obtained by me with other similar relics, in 1869, from an

ancient mound on the River Rouge in Michigan. It is mentioned

as the most extreme case of the flattening of this bone, the trans-

verse being only 0.48 of the fore and aft diameter. Tibis from

mounds in other parts of the country give the extent of this flat-

tening as 0.60; and in the “‘most marked case mentioned by

Broca, viz., in the old man from Cro-Magnon” (France), it was

0.60.—But I have lately met with several cases presenting this

flatness in even a greater extreme ; and I have now in my posses-

sion two tibiæ, evidently of great antiquity, taken from a mound

on the Detroit River, in one of which the short is 0.42 of the long

diameter, and in the other only 0.40. This last, therefore, may be

considered as the flattest tibia on record. In both, the bone is

curved, being remarkably convex forwards. A large amount of

the most interesting relics of the ancient mound-builders was as-

sociated with these bones, which were selected from among the

remains of eleven human bodies. Some of these relics give evi-

dence of the identity of this race with those of the ‘ancient

miners” of Lake Superior, or, at least, of their intercourse ; others

give evidence of traffic with the southern races— perhaps along

the Gulf of Mexico. In all of the mounds along the Detroit River

and its tributary the River Rouge, I find a large majority of the

tibie presenting this flattening. This appears to be an exception

to the facts as noted in other parts of the country where the flat-

tening has been estimated as pertaining to “ only about one-third

of all the individuals observed.” Here a tibia not flattened is

the exception. And I would further state that where this bone is

found approximating to the equilateral, it is manifestly of subse-

quent burial, and of much later date. This region, at the junction

of the Detroit and Rouge rivers, was known formerly as “the Par-

adise of the Indians,” and they TONN congregated here in

large numbers.

Prof. Wyman’s interesting comparison of the mound-builders

with the ancient races of Europe, in which the flattening of the

tibia was one of the peculiarities, as also his allusions to the same

664 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

characteristic in the corresponding bones of the ape, will not fail

to receive attention. He says—‘‘In some of the tibiæ the amount

of flattening surpasses that of the gorilla and chimpanzee, in each

of which we found the short 0.67 of the long diameter, while in

the tibia from Michigan it was only 0.48.” Similar comparisons

of the other bones, particularly of a large number of crania and

of the pelvis, are equally suggestive, and render this one of the

most valuable of the reports issued by the trustees.— Henry GIL-

MAN, Detroit, Michigan.

Tue Taxis Stone: A New Trmuimevar.— A trilingual stone

recently discovered in excavations made at Tanis, on the eastern

or Pelusiae branch of the Nile, has been deposited in the Museum

of Egyptian antiquities at Cairo. It is a perfect stela, about six

feet high, two and a half feet broad, and a foot thick, the summit

arched. The inscriptions cover one entire face and most of one

side; hieroglyphics occupy about three-fifths (the upper portion)

of the face, the Greek version the remainder, while the Demotic

translation covers scarcely more than two-thirds (the upper part)

of the left side. The letters are small, closely crowded, and all

perfect and sharply cut, the stone not having been defaced in the

slightest degree ; in the extent and perfection of the inscriptions,

it is, therefore, much superior to the “ Rosetta stone.” Plaster

casts of the Tanis stone have recently been taken, and copies

sent to the museums of London and Berlin; and through the in-

tercession of the American consul, Col. Butler, at the instance of

Rey. Dr. Lansing, one of the American missionaries stationed at

Cairo, a copy is now preparing for Monmouth College, in Illinois.

— S. H. SCUDDER.

GEOLOGY.

Remarks ox Fosstt VERTEBRATES FROM Wyominc. — Prof. Leidy

remarked that the collection of fossils presented at the meeting of

the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science, August 8, by Drs.

J. Van A. Carter and Joseph K. Corson were of unusual inter-

est. They consist of remains mainly of turtles, with those of

mammals and crocodiles, and were obtained from the Tertiary

deposits in the vicinity of Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory.

The great abundance of remains of turtles, of many species

and genera, of fresh-water and terrestrial habit, obtained in Wy-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 665

oming, indicates this region to have swarmed with these ani-

mals during the earlier portion of the Tertiary period. Crocodiles

and lacertian reptiles were likewise numerous. The many mam-

malian remains found in association with the reptilian fossils

mainly belong to tapiroid and carnivorous animals. i

The Wyoming Tertiary fauna presents a remarkable contras

with the later faunæ of the Mauvaises Terres of White River, Da-

kota, and of the Niobrara River, Nebraska. Among the large num-

ber of fossils from these two localities, rich in evidence of

mammalian life, there occur the remains of a single species of tur-

tle in each, and none of crocodiles or other reptiles.

Dr. Carter’s collection, besides containing remains of Trionyx

guttatus, Emys Jeanesianus, E. Haydeni and E. Stevensonianus,

and Bena arenosa, also adds two new turtles to the list. One

of these is a species of Emys of the largest size, and exceeds

any now living. The carapace has measured about two feet and a

half in length, and the sternum about two feet. In honor of its

discoverer, it may be named Emys Carteri.

The first and second vertebral plates of this species present an

unusual, perhaps an anomalous appearance. The first is four

inches long, and clavate in shape with the narrow part foremost.

The second is two and one-fourth inches long, and presents the

usual hexagonal form reversed. The third plate, a little longer,

is quadrate with convex sides. The first vertebral scute is vase-

like in outline, five and one-half inches long, two and three-fourths

inches wide in front, four and three-fourths inches near the middle,

and three and one-half inches at the back border. The seco

scute, of the ordinary form, is five inches long, and four inches

wide.

The second turtle belongs to the recently characterized genus

Bena, but is considerably larger than its associated species which

have been described. The shell in its complete condition, has

been upwards of a foot and a half in length, and is seven inches

and a half high. The sternum is flat, and about fifteen inches

long. Its pedicels ascend at an angle of about 45° and are seven

inches and a half broad. As in the living Dermatemys, and the

sea turtles, they are covered with large scutes, four in number, as

in Bena arenosa. The intermediate vertebral scutes are longer

than broad — the third being four inches long, and three and one-

half inches wide. A peculiarity of the species is the undulating

666 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

manner in which the costal scutes join the marginal scutes, and

the sternal scutes one another. The species may be named Bena

undata. "E

Dr. Carter’s collection also contains some fragments of bones

of a large mammal, which are so mutilated as to be hardly char-

acteristic. A jaw fragment among them, with the retained frag-

ments of the true molars, would appear to indicate a species of

Palæosyops much larger than P. paludosus. In absence of other

evidence, it might be viewed as a species of this genus, under the

name of P. major. The true molars occupied a space of four and

a half inches. The last molar measured an inch and seven-

eighths fore and aft, and an inch transversely in front.

Dr. Carter had also sent some fossils to Prof. Leidy, among

which were portions of jaws, with nearly full series of teeth of

Hyrachyus agrarius. This animal is related to the Tapir, Hyra-

codon and Lophiodon. The formula of its dentition, is the same

as in Hyracodon: seven molars, one canine, and three incisors.

The true molars are like those of Lophiodon, except that the last

lower one has a bi-lobed instead of a triple-lobed crown. Appar-

ently the same animal has been indicated by Prof. Marsh, under

the name of Lophiodon Bairdianus. A fragment of a lower jaw

containing the last premolar, and the first true molar, indicates

a larger species of Hyrachyus, which may be named. H. eximius.

The crown of the last premolar is seven and one-fourth lines an-

tero-posteriorly, and five and one-half transversely. The true

molar has measured about eight and one-half lines, fore and aft,

and six lines transversely, The depth of the jaw fragment below

the true molar is over an inch and a half. ‘

Another fossil is a mutilated incisor, indicating a species of

Trogosus rather more than half the size of 7. castoridens, which

may be named T. vetulus.

A femur of Paleosyops paludosus in the collection, exhibits the

third trochanter, characteristic of the unequal-toed pachyderms.

The astragalus of this animal almost repeats that of the living

tapirs.

Among the remains of Dr. Corson’s collection, there is the

greater part of the lower jaw of a large crocodile, but too much

. broken to attempt to give an opinion in regard to its specific char-

acter, until it is in some degree mended or restored.

Ss aes eee ae

ee eT Ee eel ee

NOTES.

Wittiam BLACKMORE, Esq., the muyunificent founder of the

‘*Blackmore Museum,” in his native town of Salisbury, England,

(which we are authorized by Mr. Squier in saying is the finest

illustration of that part of “prehistoric” archeology denominated

the ‘‘Stone-age” in the world) is anxious to obtain all possible in-

formation regarding the range of the buffalo at the time of the

settlement of this country. Mr. Blackmore purchased from Dr.

Davis his portion of the antiquities of the west which formed the

basis of the first volume of the “Smithsonian Contributions.”

Any information on the points indicated above, if sent to the care

of Mr. E. G. Squier, 135 East 35th St., New York, or communi-

cated to this magazine, will be highly appreciated.

Prof. Albert N. Prentiss of Cornell University has taken the

first Walker prize offered by the Boston Society of Natural His-

tory. The subject was “ The Mode of Natural Distribution of

Plants over the Surface of the Earth.”

The veteran Herpetologist and Ichthyologist of America, Dr.

John E. Holbrook of Charleston, S. C., died at Norfolk of apoplexy

on Sept. 8th, aged seventy-six years, eight months. Dr. Holbrook’s

principal publications were the Herpetology of North America, in

four quarto volumes containing descriptions and colored figures of

all the North American Reptiles known at the time, and the Ich-

thyology of South Carolina in similar style. The’ former work

went through two editions and is to this day the basis of our

knowledge of the reptiles of this country. Of the latter work only

one volume was published, as the war prevented its completion by

the state of South Carolina, though we have certain knowledge

that the drawings and descriptions of the concluding volume were

in an advanced state, if not even ready for the press at the break-

ing out of the war.

Mr. S. I. Smith, Assistant in the Sheffield Scientific School, has

been appointed State Entomologist of Connecticut.

(667)

668 ; NOTES.

Mr. J. A. MeNiel proposes to make another expedition (the

fourth) to the Pacific Coast of Central America. He will leave

New York about the first of December and solicits orders for spec-

imens in all departments. His address is Binghamton, Noka

It will be remembered that last year Dr. William Stimpson and

others explored the bottom of Lake Michigan at great depths with

the dredge, and with the most gratifying success. We learn that

Mr. S. I. Smith, zoological assistant of the Sheffield Scientific

School has been dredging during the past summer in the deepest

parts of Lake Superior.

Professor Henry recently, in a few remarks before the California

Academy of Sciences, presented the results of the meterological

observations which have been made and collected by the Smith-

sonian Institution. The paper will soon be published. The rain-

` fall of the United States comes from three different quarters, the

Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. Perhaps the largest

comes from the Gulf of Mexico, the bottom, as we term it, of the

trade wind. Although nothing appears more irregular than the

rains in the Eastern States, a long series of observations estab-

lishes the fact that they are very regular.

The speaker explained briefly the law controlling the movement

and precipitation of vapors, and exhibited several charts, showing

on what months the maximum and minimum of rainfall were ob-

served to occur in different localities and upon different areas.

He also displayed a number of the latest compiled charts, show-

ing by graduated colors the comparative amount of the rainfall in

various localities. He explained the fact of the rainfall being

wholly absent in California in summer.

In Florida the rainfall was light in winter and heavy in summer,

owing to the fact that in winter the trade wind which brought the

rain took its course more to the southward. The temperature of

Sitka was about seventeen degrees warmer than it would other-

wise be from the influence of the summer trade winds.

In connection with the present condition of science, Professor

Henry enlarged on the reasons why wealthy men should give lib-

erally to the cause. Large donations had been made to the cause

of education, while science was nearly neglected. This should

not be. Education is merely the diffusion of knowledge already

gained. The Chinese are highly educated, but they lack science,

NOTES. 669

and are therefore non-progressive. Science seeks constantly to

add something to the general fund.

No civilization is possible without a concentration of power.

The ancients had their power in slaves. The pyramids were built

by slave labor. Athens had four hundred thousand slaves and

twenty thousand masters. The civilization of those days was

supported by the brute forces of man. The civilization of to-day

is supported by the brute forces of nature. The latent force of

the coal puts the life of a thousand horses into an engine. One

ton of our best anthracite coal burned in one of our best engines,

is estimated as being equal to two years of labor of an able

ied slave, working ten hours a day; and counting thirty years

for his life, fifteen tons of coal would be equal to the life of an

able-bodied slave.

It is in the further utilization of these brute forces of nature

that tee fortunes of our wealthy men lie. When men of intelli-

gence understand that their fortunes depend on the advancement

of science, they will be induced to give a small portion of their

wealth to this end. Science seeks to enlarge knowledge. No

name has gained higher honor than that of James Smithson, for

the donation on which the Smithsonian Institution was founded.

The only man who has followed his example is Professor Bache

of the Coast Survey. ;

Scientific men should endeavor to impress on the wealthy that

their interest lies in the advancement of science as veil as the

diffusion of knowledge already gained.

Professor Henry referred to his recent visit to Europe and to

the rapid strides which science was making in England, and attrib-

uted it to the advantages which are given to those men who are

pioneers in original discoveries.

A great degree of success has attended the researches carried

on by Prof. Baird, the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries, at Wood’s

Hole, Mass., during the past season from June till October. He

has called to his aid several naturalists, and by their united exer-

tions much light has been thrown upon the distribution of the

fishes and the invertebrate animals which form their food. The

fishes have been collected in large numbers, and will be worked up

by Prof. Gill. Over two hundred photographs of fishes from life

have been taken, including sharks and rays in different stages of

670 NOTES.

development, affording rich material for illustration. Dredging

parties have gone out in every direction within a radius of thirty or

forty miles, and an immense amount of material, including many —

new forms and others not before known to exist on this side of

the Atlantic, has been accumulated. Among the more interest-

_ ing discoveries are two Pteropods (Cavolina tridentata and Clio

aciculus) not previously known upon our coast. The invertebrates

will form the subject of an elaborate report with numerous plates,

‘by Prof. Verrill and Mr. S. I. Smith. Among the fishes, sixteen

species, new to the state, have been obtained and much informa-

tion collected relative to the nature of the food and rates of growth

of the species used as food. We hope in subsequent numbers of

this journal to give farther information as to the scientific results

of the commission. r

Among the visitors to Wood’s Hole taking part more or less in

the exploration of the commission were Prof. A. E. Verrill, Prof.

D. C. Eaton, Prof. W. D. Whitney, Mr. S. I. Smith, Prof: W. H.

Brewer, Prof. Todd, and Mr. Thatcher of New Haven; Prof. A.

Hyatt and Col. Theo. Lyman of Boston; Prof. L. Agassiz, Dr.

Farlow and Mr. Whitney of Cambridge; Dr. A. S. Packard of

Salem, Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys of London ; Prof. Gill, Dr. Palmer,

and Mr. Rockwell of Washington, etc.

We learn from the “ Academy” that the British Government

has expressed its willingness to support Dr. Carpenter’s scheme of

prosecuting deep sea explorations throughout the Atlantic, Indian,

Southern and Pacific Oceans.

Under the title of “ An Early Hero of the Pacific” “The Ove:

land Monthly” for August has a very readable account of the life

of Davip Doveras, the botanist, during the ten years, 1824-34,

he passed on the Pacific coast.

A new edition, the third, of ‘ Griffith and Henfrey’s Micro-

graphic Dictionary” has just commenced passing through the

press. John Van Voorst publishes it at N o. 1 Paternoster Row,

London, at 2s. 6d. per part. —R. H. W.

The French “ Cosmos,” one of our most valued exchanges before

the late war, has reappeared under the title of “ La France Scien-

tifique.” The first number appeared Sept. 10th. Victor Meunier

is the editor.

NOTES. 671

THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

WE take advantage of the delay in the aaa = this number of

the NATURALIST, occasioned by our *“ Association Number” to place on

record the dreds loss which science has met aa in the read of the

building af the Chicago Academy of Sciences with all its valuable col-

lections ” library, Bie the great fire on the 8th and 9th of October.

e had visited the Academy in August and had been fully impressed with

the aik of its Davai oseadae: and while watching the telegraphic

reports of the fire had hoped that these would at least be spared the fate

that once before had befallen the Academy, but the receipt of letters, of”

h we give abstracts below, showed that our hopes were doomed to

disappointment

HICAGO, Oct. 10, 1871,

« Among the other buildings involved, was the Chicago Academy of Sctences. It

was considered fire-proof; but, in the fiery furnace, its iron shutters warped like paste-

num o n

distant oceans, originally deposited in the Smithsonian Institution, but transferred

here for especial nyt and pescripsl ion by Dr. ANDAN; the collection of mammals

and birds made by Dr. Vaille, f labor and ij two skeletons

of the mastodon; the collections of Kennicott in the Arctic region; of Stimpson on

and the Gulf Coas

exertion

Northw ag and othe er RN of reer history. The Academy had become the re-

sort for Scientific men desirous of studying not only the waar history of the North- .

riit phe th ers = shinies Dr. ee MSS. os to the invertebrates col-

edition. illustr:

and reat for got ie tak also poe ay But a short | time ago Mr. J. Gwyn

Jeffreys spent several days in examining our collections in reference to deep sea

dredg stabi. But all are gone. The patrons through whose munificence the Academy

was built up have pee in the general calamity. Many of the specimens cannot be

replaced; but when the Academy shall arise like a Phoenix rags its ashes is a matter

f doubt. The present is not a time for consultation while the embers are yet alive,

and while the smoke is yet ascending.” —J. W. FOSTER

CHICAGO, Oct. 12.

« Please stop the sale of the books and papers in the cy

left of any of them. The Academy "e and everything in it was utterly de estroyed

—not a scrap of paper or a specim aved. My own books, collections, MSS. a

drawings —twenty years’ work all wer ”— WM. STIMPSON.

At a meeting of the Essex Institute held Oct. 16th, hen president, Dr.

Wheatland, read short sketches of the rga Go HISTO L Soctery and

CHICAGO ACADEMY OF Sciences. From the latter we E au the fol-

lowing :— In 1856 the formation of a pase for the promotion of the

Natural Sciences was proposed, and in the following year the Chicago

Academy of Natural Sciences was organized. A room was taken and a

seum commenced, but owing to the financial crash that came upon the

country, very little was done until the year 1859, when it was o ized

as a corporation under the title of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. In

1862 the lamented Kennicott returned from his three years’ exploration in

672 NOTES.

the Arctic regions, richly laden with specimens, a part of which were to

become the property of the Academy. In the winter of 1863-4 advantage

was taken of Prof. Agassiz’ Haw to Chicago to gain his opinion of the

value of the collections secured by Mr. Kennicott. His endorsement of

Mr. Kennicott’s work, and his tf the importance of the formation of

a great museum in the Northwest was so strong an incentive that money

was at once secured (a large sum being given at an impromptu pre

afterwards greatly increased by the efforts of Mr. Scammon) and the

Mr. Kennicott was appointed Director. In 1863 Mr. core x

order to add to the materials of the museum, iaten the appointm

the Russian American Telegraph Survey. From this ill- psc aa n

he never returned. At this time the charge of ae museum was given to

Dr. Stimpson. On June 7, 1866, a large part of the collection of over forty

thousand specimens, and all the plates for the first part of the ‘‘ Transac-

tions” were destroyed by fire. Soon afterwards the text of the same

volume while in the hands of the printer met the same fate. The Acad-

emy however started forward with renewed vigor, and erected what in

any ordinary fire would have been a fire proof building. Its collections

lamity it had within its walls one of the,in many respects, most valuable

collections in the country, including the larger part of the crustacea and

other invertebrates belonging to the Government and Smithsonian collec-

tions, and the crustaceans dredged by kiygan which had been sent to

the Academy for Dr. Stimpson to describe. The State collection of in-

sects made by the late Mr. Walsh, had wi been deposited at the Academy.

The Academy had published its first volume of ‘‘ Transactions” and

forty-eight pages of its “ Proceedings.” The second volume of ‘ Trans-

action a forward condition, and many pages stereotyped and

several plates aiai and stored at the Academy.

After remarks on the great loss which science had met, and a descrip-

tion of the character of the collections destroyed, Mr. F. W. Putnam,

vice president of natural history, offered the following Resolutions, which

were seconded with remarks by Drs. Bolles and Morse, the president and

others, and unanimously passed.

That _ Essex we tenders its sympathy to its sister society, the

CHICAGO A F SCIENCES, in her second trial by fire, in ane she has lost

not only her kaane | but all Da specimens, books and publication

Resolved. That the Institute hereby promises to furnish such a the publications as

the Chicago Academy of Sciences may desire, and to render such other assistance as

possible in the efforts of the Academy to arise for a second time ei the a: .

not, as editors of the NaruraLIsT, make a special pier at

ing so much for the cause of education in the great Northwest. Can we

not hope, even though so much is yet to be done for the homeless of the

great city, and the other towns that have been simultaneously devastated

by fire, that the friends of science will aid all they can in giving encour-

agement to the members of the Academy in this severe trial?

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 673

peated TO CORRESPONDENTS.

. P., Junction City, Kansas. pe ommon Columbine with full, double, Me

arden

en we wiem

C. G. A., Au antn Maine.— Your OE ty" 1, Corinia Conradiis 2, Geranium dissec-

ret 3, Myontis lustris; bg Empetrum rum; 5, Vi afi Idea.

., Cincinnati. — Ther as yet n = A that comes ge media ou want, but w

ied now, in aes a work by ‘Dr. ouss that is intended to seppy just pase wants 4

ition will a a 8y-

nopsis ot pii known birds of North erica, and an artificial key, by means of whic

any species of North American br nie an be eee ee A apa = out po revious I es

dred ent of seranalo ogy be pha geno ape “The book ill be illustrated with several h

a Va

rina; 6 Cenangtant wo tum ; XA , Leeanactis sp; ; x Lecida formia; 5, “and Lecidea cerina

fe ie the erede or eae t, 1870, mg ‘the article upon ‘ Flowerless Plants,’ th

peng speaks of a species of eras, Can yo e me any more of a descri ptio n of

o s J

ous odor appraises us of its existence. Then we “ itu on poo it; and, following

some one’s advice, I know not whose, salt the hole from wh e dug it. The writer

of the — mag Po = o, says it is ʻa pona, i Speak of see "Jeliy-iike mass of raw flesh,

just baaaik T sely-l soil? The toc abov :

about two Beal perore this jelly-like m ag Jase tell me something about

it, if you can, and if there is anything vom: pes o e pr Aasa nine recurrence. Perha

some other reader of the tanner: would like to know about it, and you would

r to answer through its pages.” — E. M.

me have referred the matter to a well- known botanist, who sends the following

reply:

“If the fungus to which you refer be a Clathrus, it begins its growth as a rounded

fleshy cell, which at maturity bursts and disc — a epii of nig red matter, having a

net-like form, with a nauseous odor. is fleshy mass emits an inconceivable quantity

o 0 :

then disappear for years. These spores are so minute that me Á float in the air uke

dust, are borne on the percolating water beneath the soil, and a read abroad by so

many natural conveyances that their deutrechion is Hap aaae eei ey do not amara

reappear. Years may pass without their recurrence, and then rrii Son toa

mgounerte influences, these spores, lying p sde in the "earth, will arantly.

There are figures of species of Clathrus in many mycological w chery ny toe of them

must be ver ert og Sho = ot hy plant reappear, I wins suggest t that you

should carefully take os ane op eserve it in alcohol. By sending it to the NATURAL-

IST = ea oan i esta

I should ose of shia acid, which is not expensive, and could be freely

ieee ey over the pepo oo the fungus ino ee be Dilute sulphuric acid would prevent

the ol a spores which it —C. J.S.

=i an pankera of the nes radii e om Cooke’s “ Plain and Easy

yaan of append a Fungi.” The second family of eset is termed peapa ytan

(gastes Gr., a stomach; mukes, a m graen A helr have the pone or cy ee spk

ing surface, enclosed within a covering inei aemm ar wrap

round) so that the spores are pay Se of pri or

tes.—Every one knows the uff ball i s pherical ‘pouch, “containing, when ripe,

Ey A nike Bo ff, and whic miachievous

e funume okt hy faces. The pouc his HAPE iain or stom:

ach, and the brown ee pe nuimerable ripen

lobo os

Becomes siap meet One of the most ore. ee in appearance, dis-

impale in a sai and noxious in properties o all fungi, is the Latticed Stinkhorn (Cla-

thrus e ncellatus) which is, however, so rare as scarcely to merit a notice here except to

eall attention to ts most comm a feature, that of the beauty and singularity of

its form. Si receptacle Conis a spherical ‘net work or lattice work of coral, but

po of so putre scent a nature, Ma its eraa tates detracts T its beauty; M. Roq-

relates of its pro) rouse emer

cheat convulsions, lost erg a ri Ter Sint a and icis fell int into a stu ba which

as ig dase S ht hours: i agea attention egg given to her, but it appears to e been

fore she was perfectly cur

674 BOOKS RECEIVED.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Report of the Curators of the University of the State of Missouri to the Governor. 8vo pamph.

St. Louis, 1871,

Bulletin of the Essex Institute. Aprii~July. Mer) ae Ri 4-7. 1871. Salem

Annual a of the Bybee Mining Compan: nessee. 8vo. 1871.

Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody a KA Fa Ps pamph. 1871.

‘in oe Annual Frigio of the Peabody a og Danvers. 8yo pamph. 1871.

ceedings of the second ont sess ip ike American pe ogical Association, held at

Roe Parma July, 18 0, 8vo pamph. S

Bulletin T a National AA of Wool Manufacturers. April, July, 1871.

Janes al Report of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology for 1870. 8vo pamph,

Cam ge,

Bulletin of the Museum ref Comparative Zoology. No.4. (Vol.2.) Directions for Dredging. By

. F. De Pourtales p.4. No. 5.— Appendix to the PERTY P ( son, sae 9, of Vol. L)

on the Echini collected by "L. F. De Pourtales, By A. Agassiz. Vol. geport o on the

pets poe irs a obtained by the U. S. Coast Survey Expedition, in ae oe) go De. Pourtales,

vision of the (réntin and Discinide. ByW.H. Dall. pp. 41. With 2 plates,

maketh. the A Life of Thomas Davidson, F. R. S. (From the Geological Magazine.

pri on.

epor on the. Iron Smelting Coals of Southern Indiana, etc. By J. W. Foster. 8vo pamph.

ttsb

pve of the Report he Mineral Resources of the Indiana North and South Railroad. By

W. Foster. Cincinnati, iS

The Eye in Hea cov and ‘Disease. By B. Joy Jeffries. 8vo cloth. Illustrated. pp. 119. Alex-

Instructions he ‘the Be, zpe dition toward the North Pole, from Hon. ats Sec’y o

y. With an ng from the National Academy of Science, eT ashington, Nett,

Catalogue of Africa: irae in the collection of R. B. Sharpe. 8vo. pp. 76. presa 1571.

ee oft A pa r Silurian Fossils found within a range of 50 miles of Cincinnati, Ohio,

y U. P, James. 8vo,

‘Botanical Notes. By D. A. Wat ` [Fro mi e Canadian Naturalist. Vol. V. ye 4,

Preliminary eedd on the Perb brata d ered in the Port Kennedy Bone Cave. By Prof.

E. D. Cope. "from Procds, Am. Philosophical ‘society, April, 1869}. hg warner cr 50.

On Grapta’ orreri gd and Fabricit of Edwards. By J. A, Lintner, pp.8. [From Trans.

Am. Ent. Soc. Dec., 1870.)

On the O, rela ps ie Family Strepomatide, By W. D. Hartman, M.D. 8vo pp. 4. 1871.

otice o ssil Mammals and Birds from tee ‘Tertiary Formation. “By Prof. O. C.

Marsh. prom pea aon r. Sei. and Arts. y and Angu

Proceedings of the eth d a4 mi aie tn of Philadelphia ti l. Jan. Feb. March,

i . art 2. 0 (Aug. 18

ogists Monthly Magazine, s. 73—85 inclusive, June 1870 to June 1871. London.

Taninin for Populære Fremstillinger pr y pirika idenskaben, III. 1—3. Kjobentavn, 1871.

Bulletin Mensuel de la Societe d'Acclimatation, VIIL, Nos, 1—8. Jan.—Aug. 1871. Paris.

doa ische e Zeitschrift t fur Medicin und Naturwissenschaft, Vols. II. to V1, pt.2. (Except V,

Ziizw arie der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch—naturwissen-

senna Cla. on gg -~ te mg ng. Ixi. Band, 2—7. Heft. 1870, Zweite Abtheilung. Ixi. Band.

— on jen der i k. hy e ERLE Gesellschaft in Wien, xx. Band, 1—4. Heft.

en.

PENRE der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wiss " tisch—naturwissen-

“Oversigt ve oa Ag oe ag 1 K 4to. Wien mere ees eens dt

versigt over de ongelige Danske Videnskaber dets medlem-

i oF jder Pya iSd No eo Eob rnes rer Forhandlinger og

elie Ee Undersoge. elser, Ved. Julius Thomsen. 4to, Kjobenbayn. 1870.

k Om Stromningsforhotdené i almindelige Ledninger og i Havet, Af A. Colding. 4to. Kjoben-

avn.

P anaa a and Standing Rules of the Philosophical Society of Washington. 1871.

Eae Pea ue et Kiermes. Ge.) a IE Sept; 5 Ta ss va nist

nan etions raf the a A È OLION

ansactions of the rican mtoomlogical 8 Vo 3. No. 2, (July, 1871.) -

New Edition. 8vo cloth. pp. 157. Cuts 186, Boston.

a ips

The Mi Origin of Lowest Organisms, Includi di the experiments of M.

Pasteur, pe a Tey ia some statements ? Pr ey pind aden ky Ae H Clrariton Bastian,

M. A. ete. 12mo cloth. pp. 109. London and New York. Macmillan re Oo. 1871.

thal Proy Ei r ane N, Pa A E CAET > hi nt of Science. Nineteenth Meeting,

9 gi * 0. pp. . u .

cathe anaitian 3 Vaturatist and Quarterly Journal of Science, Vol.5, No. 4. Vol. 6, No.l

Conchological Beige No. Vil, y

e By R. E. C. Stearns. pp. 2

an Journal of Conchology. Vol.7, Part Bowdoin $ June-Se

Jul ` June,

an fe of Mier ome oe egg y P g om if irs nenn

Journal of the Franktin insti ute, yy yon Le Tele ain ae oh e-Sept.

oo an Water. Nos for Ju June fe take a ug The Fie va ice ny Sy ist, Sept. e

The Academy. “Nos. for Jui Angus "Sept. dene. i ‘

EER d gg ped and orld of Deiene, Lon- Can ada Beto z irta Ai me Wh 2 0.1. pe

Revue T ue. June, July, An 1871. Paris, Mos

American ientifigu Suly-Oet” na # nial Paris. eo

Reports of Dep, of Agriculture, July-Sept, La France Scientifique, Nos. for Sept.

oe ae

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.-_NOVEMBER, 1871.—No. 1l.

xCD

SYMMETRICAL FIGURES IN BIRDS FEATHERS.

BY GRACE ANNA LEWIS.

In the summer of 1869, whilst examining the feather capsule of

a nestling dove, the microscopic slide was suddenly covered with

a multitude of exquisite forms. Lost in admiration of the beauty

of these brilliants, as seen under the effects of sun-light, for a

time I forgot every thing else, but presently remembering that

others might enjoy the sight as much as myself, I seized a pencil

and rapidly transferred the outlines to paper, continuing until

twilight obscured them from view. Resting for an hour, I re-

turned to my microscope, but all had vanished like a dream, —

nothing was left but a few drops, looking like perspiration on the

face of the glass.

The next day my German farmer climbed to the dove’s nest

and procured a few more pen-feathers. Some of these were cut

into fine shreds, rubbed in a drop of water, and placed under the

microscope. In a short period the figures of yesterday were again

before me. From the cut surfaces of the portions of the pen-

feathers I had placed under the lens, granules appeared to stream

forth like blood, covering the microscopic slide in countless num-

bers. Mingled with these were numerous larger cells of a glob-

ular or oval form, having a transparent centre. These and the

granules, gave to the water a slightly glutinous consistency. As

the fluids on the glass dried, lines at different angles shot across

the slide, looking much as though an unseen camel’s hair pencil

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 43 (675)

676 SYMMETRICAL FIGURES IN BIRDS’ FEATHERS.

had been swiftly drawn in opposite directions, sometimes at right

angles but frequently at angles more acute. Probably, at the

moment of trans:tion from a fluid to a solid condition, the trans- s

parent centred, or nucleated, cells assumed the form of a square,

Fig. 119.

b & & : ;

- Pie Q f

Fl ae yt yt Po

9 m Qa :

: oc gO S @ as

See

Symmetrical Figures in Birds’ Feathers.

a lozenge, a starry hexagon, a erdss, or any other beautiful figure

which could be formed of the parts which suddenly appeared in

the spherical cells, these parts seeming at first, in some instances, i

at least, to consist of m‘nute triangles. :

At the same moment the little granules moved to order, and. 73

SYMMEIRICAL FIGURES IN BIRDS’ FEATHERS. 677

there before the astonished gaze were diamonds such as Aladdin

might have envied, in form as varied, but far more symmetrical

than the frost work on a window pane of a winter’s morning.

Some of the figures, as I afterwards found on repeated trial,

retained their outlines for several hours, in a few instances for

days, even when exposed to the moisture of the atmosphere.

hen examined by lamp-light many, but not all, cast an un-

doubted shadow. The exceptions appeared to be symmetrical de-

pressions instead of raised figures

These figures must, of course, be common to skilled microsco-

pists. It is not at all probable that forms due to universal causes

should remain unseen ever since the invention of the microscope,

but to me they were a new revelation, and I watched their forma-

tion with intense interest, as the work of polarizing forces whose

operation is co-extensive with the universe, and to which all things

material are subjected. As the law of gravitation may be observed

in a drop of dew as well as in the circling orbs, so it seemed pos-

sible for these tiny jewels to elucidate principles of farthest reach-

ing power.

The frost work, annually repeated, is not less beautiful or inter-

esting because it is common, nor do snow crystals grow unlovely

because we have seen them before ;—the value of neither is lost

when they are perceived to be related to certain other symmetrical

forms, but on the contrary, all the members of the related groups

rise in importance when they are understood to be varying expres-

sions of one eternal omnipresent law of matter,—operating alike

in dead and living forms, but according to modes peculiar to un-

organized or to organized matter.

One very beautiful form is not given in the cut. It was

less distinct then the rest and I waited for a better example to

copy. It never appeared again. It was a circle with ornaments

at four opposite points, but as I cannot remember the exact style

of the ornament, I do not venture to give even a suggestion of the

figure. Other very beautiful designs were lost in the same way.

Water containing material from the feathers of the common barn-

door fowl produced, mainly, simple crosses, the lines usually cross-

ing in the middle, but even in this, some beautiful six-rayed forms

were seen. The feathers of the domestic turkey yielded more ar-

borescent forms, as those seen at b, which are larger and stronger

than those afforded by the feathers of the dove, shown at a.

678 BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.

The majority of these symmetrical figures do not possess the

sharp outline of crystals, whilst others can doubtless be referred

to the mineral salts held in solution in the composition of the

feather. There are both rounded and sharply defined figures,—

a fact which any one can verify by the microscope. If I am not

mistaken, the erystalline forms are derived from the nucleated

cells, and the rounded figures from the granular matter.

Of the conditions necessary to produce these forms I know ab-

solutely nothing. I have never yet succeeded in obtaining them

from feathers which had long been removed from the living bird.

This, however, proves nothing as I have frequently failed to pro-

cure any from freshly dropped or plucked feathers, which yield

them most readily. Of different cuttings from the same feather

made during the same minute, and apparently subjected to the

same treatment, some presented figures whilst others did not.

BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.

BY ELLIOTT COUES.

Attnoven the beautiful bird referred to in the works cited *

has been known by name for nearly half a century, no complete

biography has yet appeared; and doubtless many readers of |

the Naruratist will be glad to have such information as we can

furnish from our study of its habits. We will premise that it is

a near relative of the Baltimore oriole, or fire-bird, or hangnest,

as it is indifferently called; a bird whose striking colors and

brilliant vocal powers, together with its abundance in our streets

and orchards, have made it a well-known favorite. Like the Dbal-

timore, it is chiefly black and orange in color, but it differs in 4

having a large white patch on the wings, and the sides of the A

head and neck orange instead of black. The female, as in all the a

orioles, is smaller than the male and with hardly a trace of his -

*Xanthorthus Bullockii Sw AINSON, Phil. Mag. i, 1827, p. 436.—AUDUBON, Orn. Biog. ¥)

1839, p. 9, pls. 388, 433, and 8vo, ed. iv, 1842, p. 43, pl. 218.—Pacific Railroad Reports, a

1857, p. 87; ix, 1858, p. 549; x, 1859, p. 52; xii, 1859, p. 209, and Mex. Bound. survey, fi,

pt. 2, 1859, p. 20.—CouEs, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., 1866, p. 55.—COOPER, pe:

Birds, i, p. 278.— Psarocolius auricollis of MAXIMILIAN.

BULLOCK’S ORIOLE. 679

brilliant hues, being plain olive-grey above and whitish beneath

with pale yellow on the head, breast and some other parts. The

young male at first resembles the female. This is only one of

countless cases in which the sexes bear such relations in color.

The mother-bird, almost defenceless amidst many dangers, and

wholly incapable of protecting her young, is shielded by her hum-

ble garb, matching the foliage in which she lives, that she may

pass to and from her nest unobserved, and accomplish her impor-

tant maternal offices in safety. We may judge how well this be-

neficent design is accomplished, by a glance at any of our large

collections Fig. 120.

where this spe-

cies is repre- Ys

sented; fora Ba

dozen or more è

of the richly at- `

tired males will

be found for one

of the female.

Of the many

beautiful ori-

oles that inhabit

Tropical Ameri-

ca, only two—

the Baltimore

and the orchard

— range north-

ward through the Eastern United States. In the west, several

kinds reach our southern borders, but Bullock’s is the only one that

proceeds further north. Its distribution in the west corresponds,

in a general way, with that of the Baltimore in the east. Itinhab-

its all the wooded portions of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific re-

gions of the United States; in most of its range it is separated

from the habitat of the Baltimore by the intervening treeless Cen-

tral Plateau, though the two species approach closely, if indeed

they may not be found together, along the Upper Missouri. We

have no record of its reaching into British America, but should

not be surprised to learn that it extends its range beyond the Uni-

ted States in summer. Being strictly a migratory species, like

all of its family, it passes south in the fall, to winter in the

Bullock’s Oriole.

680 BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.

warmer parts of America. It appears in Lower California in

March, but does not complete its migration into the United States

until some time in the following month, when the forests it loves

to dwell in are clothed with verdure. In the pine clad mountains

of Arizona and New Mexico, we never saw it until about the mid-

dle of April; then, and until the cool weather of September, we

were almost daily gratified with the sight of the gaily-hued birds

gleaming through the sombre foliage like tiny meteors, and with

the sound of their musical voices awakening echoes along the

deepening aisles of the woodland.

In the countries just mentioned, the belts of thick cotton-wood

and willows that generally fringe the streams are favorite resorts,

perhaps because the pliant twigs are best suited to their wants in

constructing their nest. All the orioles are wonderful architects,

weaving pensile nests of soft pliable fibrous substances with 2

nicety and beauty of finish that human art would vainly attempt to

rival. These elegant fabrics are hung at the end of slender twigs,

out of reach of ordinary enemies; and though they may swing

with every breath of wind, this is but cradle-rocking for the cal-

low young, and it is a rude blast indeed that endangers the safety

of their leafy home.

Little time passes after their arrival before the modestly-attired

females, rambling silently through the verdure, are singled out

and attended each by her impetuous consort, who sings his choic-

est songs, and displays the prowess she admires most. His song”

is an elegant paraphrase of the Baltimore’s, with all its richness

and variety, though an ear well skilled in distinguishing birds’ notes

can readily detect a difference. Their courtship happily settled,

the pair may be seen fluttering through the thicket they have cho-

sen, in eager search for a building-place ; and when a suitable one

is found, no time is lost in beginning to weave their future home.

It is a great mistake to suppose that birds of the same species al-

ways build in the same way. Though their nests have a general

resemblance in style of architecture, they differ greatly according

to their situation, to the time the birds have before the nest must

be used for the reception of the eggs, and often, we are tempted

to think, according to the taste and skill of the builders. In the”

work of this sort, birds show a remarkable power of selection, 45

well as of adapting themselves to circumstances ; in proof of which

we have only to examine the three beautiful specimens how lying

BULLOCK’S ORIOLE. 681

before us. Each is differently constructed; and while all three

evince wonderful powers of weaving, one of them in particular is

astonishingly i na og displaying the united accomplishments of

weaving and basket making. Before proceeding, we may premise

that the idea of the sn is a sort of bag or purse, closely woven

of slender pliant substances like strips of fibrous bark, grasses,

hair, twine, etc., open at the top, and hung by its rim in the fork

of a twig or at the very end of a floating spray.

The first nest was built in a pine tree; and if the reader will

call to mind the stiff nature of the terminal branchlets, each bear-

ing a thick bunch of long straight needle-like leaves, he will see

that the birds must have been put to their wits’ end, though very

likely he will not be able to guess how they made shift with such

unpromising materials. They made up their minds to use the

leaves themselves in the nest, and with this idea they commenced

by bending down a dozen or twenty of the stiff slender filaments,

and tying their ends together at the bottom. If you have ever

seen a basket maker at work, with his upright pieces already in

place, but not yet fixed together with the circular ones, you will

understand exactly what the birds had thus accomplished. They

had a secure framework of nearly parallel and upright leaves nat-

urally attached to the bough above, and tied together below by

the bird’s art. This skeleton of the nest was about nine inches

long, and four across the top, running to a point below; and the

‘subsequent weaving of the nest upon this basis was an easy mat-

ter to the birds, though, if one were to examine a piece of the

fabric cut away from the nest, he could hardly believe that the thin

yet tough and strong felting had not been made by some shoddy

eontractor for the supply of army clothing. Yet it was all de-

signed in a bird’s little brain, and executed with skilful bill and

feet.

Perhaps the young birds that were raised in the second nest did

not appreciate their romantic surroundings, but their parents were

evidently a sentimental pair. If they did not do their courting

“under the mistletoe,” at any rate they built a cozy home there,

tinting the sober reality of married life with the rosy hue of their

earlier dreams. The nest was hung in a bunch of the Arceutho-

bium oxycedri, an abundant epiphytic plant that on the western

wilds represents the mistletoe, and recalls the cherished memories

of holiday gatherings. The nest was a cylindrical purse some

682 BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.

six inches deep and four broad, hanging to several sprays of the

mistletoe, which were partly interwoven with the nest to form

a graceful drapery. The felting material was long, soft, vegeta-

ble fibre of a glistening silvery lustre, in artistic contrast with

the dark-hued foliage. A few hairs were sewn through and

_through, for greater security, and the pretty fabric was lined with

a matting of the softest possible plant-down, like that of a button-

wood or an Asclepias.

The general shape and the material‘of the third nest were much

the same as those of the last; it was, however, suspended from

the forked twig of an oak, and draped almost to concealment with

leaves. But it had a remarkable peculiarity, being arched over

and roofed in at the top with a dome of the same material as the

rest, and had a little round hole in one side just large enough to

let the birds pass in. Such a globular nest as this is probably ex-

ceptional ; but now it will not do to say that orioles always build

pensile pouches open at the top.

The eggs of this species are four or five in number, and rather

elongated in form, being much pointed at the smaller end. They

measure on an average just an inch in length, by about two-thirds

as much in greatest diameter, which is much nearer the larger than

the smaller end. In color they are very pale bluish, or rather

whitish with a faint dull blue shade, and are everywhere irregu-

larly overrun with fine sharp hair lines of blackish brown, or black-

ish with a slight tinge of purplish. These curious zigzig markings `

are characteristic of the eggs of a majority of the birds of the

family (Jcteride). They have no definite style, but wander |

at random over the surface, and in no two specimens are they

alike. Thus in one specimen the lines, fine as hairs, are wound

round and round the butt, with such regularity that they hardly

ever interfere; in others, they are snarled up in different places;

and sometimes, particularly at a sharp turning-point, the lines

spread into little spots; and there are often a few such isolated

markings in various places over the egg.*

We need say nothing of the general habits and manners of Bul-

lock’s Oriole, for it does not differ from the well-known Baltimore

bird in these respects.

ie eee ee

*The nests and eggs above described were collected in California and are now in

the Smithsonian Institution, where we have 1 g ly all 1 to examine the

sistkce :

T ae ey ES E A

Pe O a EE T EE

THE CHINESE WHITE WAX INSECT.

BY PROFESSOR B. SILLIMAN.

We find the following note on this insect (a species of Coccus)

in an interesting volume by T. T. Cooper.* Chemists have long

known the so-called ‘‘ vegetable wax,” ‘Chinese wax” or “pela,”

also called ‘‘ vegetable insect wax,” or ‘vegetable spermaceti,”

but we have had no definite knowledge before of its history or

mode of production.

It was generally stated to be produced on certain trees by the

puncture of a species of Coccus. Byt Mr. Cooper supplies us

with the first definite statement we have seen of what proves to

be an extensive, and to us novel, industry. Unfortunately, he

does not appear to have secured specimens of the insects produc-

ing it, nor does he give us more definite information of the plant

on which they feed than that it resembles our privet.

It may be interesting to non-chemical readers to know that this

insect wax is a definite compound somewhat resembling spermaceti

in appearance but not in composition, being a Cerotic ether known

as Cerotate of Ceryl of the formula C® H™ O?. It is crystalline,

and of a dazzling whiteness like spermaceti, but more brittle and

of a more fibrous texture. It does not completely saponify by

boiling in potash water, but is completely decomposed when melted

with potash, yielding cerotate of potassium and hydrate of ceryl.

It is consumed in China for candles and also as a medicine. It

melts at about 118° F. It does not appear clearly from the state-

ments of Mr. Cooper, whether this wax is secreted by the insect

or is not rather an exudation from the stems of the trees punc-

tured by the insect. Mr. Cooper plainly favors the former suppo-

sition; but other writers of more pretensions to science entertain

the opposite view. The plant on which the Chinese Coccus lives

is stated to be Ligustrum lucidium.

There are several sorts of vegetable wax well known to chem-

ists and new to commerce, and we find it stated by Rev. Justin

Doolittle in his “Social life of the Chinese” that the “vegetable .

*Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce in siden Tail and Petticoats, on an overland Jour-

ney from China toward India. By T. T. Coo London. Murray, 1871. 8vo, pp. 471.

(683)

684 THE CHINESE WHITE WAX INSECT.

tallow” of China is obtained from the seeds or kernels which

grow upon the so-called ‘* Tallow Tree.” But he also states that

this tallow is hardened by a very hard white wax brought from the

western or northwestern provinces of China, which is the very

wax described by Mr. Cooper. The ‘tallow’ is not a wax in

chemical constitution, and is the product of a shrub known as

Stillingia sebifera. Our American myrtle wax (bayberry tallow)

is a solid fat melting at about 118° F. and contains a large quan-

tity of palmitic and a small quantity of myristic acid (Moore,

Sill. Jour: [2] xxwiii,113.)

From its high melting point and general physical and chemical

properties we might infer that the white wax of China was the

product of the Coccus, rather than of the plant on which it feeds,

seeing the properties alludéd to are more like those of bees’ wax

than of vegetable wax, known to be such. But of this we still

lack the proof. Probably some of your entomological corres-

pondents may know the wax producing, or provoking, Coccus. *

Our quotation from Mr. Cooper’s instructive volume is as fol-

lows :—

“On the third day we entered the white wax country so named

from its producing the famous white wax of Szchuan, which has

been erroneously called vegetable wax. This district was less un-

dulating than that of the tea gardens, and presented to the eye a

of Szchuan, and ranks in importance second only to that of silk.

Its production is not attended with much labor or risk to the cul-

tivator. The eggs of the insect which produces the wax are an-

“ white wax eggs.” The egg clusters which were described to me

* Westwood (Modern Classification of Insects ii. p. 449) writes thus: “The Coccus

ceriferus Fabr., described by Anderson in his letters from Madras (1781) and by Pear-

son in the Phil. Trans. 1794, is employed in the production of a white wax, the body of

INSTRUCTION TC SCIENCE TEACHERS. 685

as about the size of a pea are transported carefully packed in bas-

‘white wax tree,” which

they-are purchased at about twenty taels per basket. The trees

by the middle of March have thrown out a number of long

tender shoots and leaves, and then the clusters of eggs enclosed

in balls of the young leaves are suspended to the shoots by strings.

About the end of the month the larve make their appearance, feed

on the branches and leaves and soon attain the size of a small

caterpillar or rather a wingless house-fly apparently covered with

white down, with a delicate plume-like appendage, curving from

the tail over the back. So numerous are they that as seen by me

appear as if covered with feathery snow. The grub proceeds in

July to take the chrysalis form, burying itself in a white wax se-

cretion, just as a silkworm wraps itself in its coccoon of silk.

wax is skimmed off and run into moulds in which shape it is

exported to all parts of the Empir

It wou

and hence the necessity of importing the eggs from Yunnan. In

eggs is alone attended to, both frost and snow is experienced,

so that it would not be difficult to rear the insect in Europe, anc

considering its prolific nature, the production of white wax might

repay the trouble of acclimatizing this curious insect.”

INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS AT SOUTH

KENSINGTON.

Durme the months of June and July, a number of science

teachers from various parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland,

were assembled in London, for the purpose of attending special

classes, arranged for their instruction under the auspices of the

Science and Art Department. We propose to give some ac-

count of the course of instruction in the principles of Biology

686 INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS,

which was directed by Prof. Huxley, to whose suggestion, we be-

lieve, liberally accepted by Mr. Forster, and acted upon by the

government, this important scheme for raising the character of

science teaching in the various schools and classes at present in

relation with South Kensington is due. It had long been felt by

those who annually examined teachers and pupils for certificates

in various branches of science, under the Science and Art Depart-

ment, that the candidates displayed a sad want of practical ac-

quaintance with the subjects in which they presented themselves

for examination: many showed considerable ability and great

book knowledge, but a knowledge of the things themselves with

which science deals, a proof of personal intercourse with Nature,

which after all is the only foundation of scientific knowledge, and

without which all the ’ologies are so much book-wormery, was to

a very great extent wanting. Under the existing state of things

it seemed almost impossible to get out of this vicious condition,

for the scholars who were in their turn destined to become teachers

were for the most part taught by mer who were deficient in prac-

tical knowledge; and with the increasing demand for science

teaching there appeared to be a probability of the evil being in-

creased by the rapid accession of the book-taught students to the

position of instructors. The only way to meet this difficulty was

to find teachers who had the requisite familiarity with the ‘ solid

ground of Nature,” and set them to work to leaven the mass. The

readiest means of doing this was undoubtedly that adopted by

the authorities — namely, to summon to a central class, the ablest

of the teachers at present distributed throughout the kingdom,

and to impart to them as much practical acquaintance and per-

sonal familiarity with the things of which they had read in books,

as was possible ina given time. By annual repetition of this plan

there can be little doubt that the body of science teachers through-

out the country would be materially affected. Being already ac-

quainted with the outlines and much of the detail of their sub-

jects by hearsay, they would readily understand and appreciate

the facts and methods of investigating facts placed before them,

and after passing through such a course of instruction would be

prepared to proceed further in the same direction by their own

individual efforts, and what is more important, to teach, not at

second-hand, but from experience, not as fluent repeating machines

but as thoughtful students of phenomena.

INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS. 687

Thirty-nine students of whom one was a lady, attended the

course of instruction in the principles of Biology, their expenses

(involved in coming to London) being defrayed by the Government.

The course occupied six weeks: the students attended every day,

with the exception of Sundays, from ten in the morning until half-

past four in the afternoon (Saturdays until two). Each morning

at ten o’clock a lecture, occupying from an hour to an hour and a

half, was given by Prof. Huxley, and the remainder of the day

was employed in dissection, microscopic work, and demonstrations,

in carrying out which Prof. Huxley was assisted by Prof. Michael

Foster, Prof. Rutherford, and Mr. Ray Lankester. The students

were placed in pairs at large working tables, and each table was

provided with a microscope (with inch and one-eighth inch ob-

jectives, and two eye-pieces furnished with micrometric square-rul-

ing), with four scalpels, two pairs of scissors, two pairs of forceps,

pins, thread, dissecting needles, watch-glasses, beakers, pie-dishes,

glass-tubing, and camel’s-hair brush.

The practical instruction proceeded pari passu with the lectures,

the students at once taking their places at the tables after the lec-

ture, and setting to work at materials provided for them to dissect

or examine with the microscope in illustration of, or rather as

the sequel to, the lecture which they had just heard. Each stu-

' dent was required to send in full reports and drawings as the re-

sult of his day’s work, many of which proved very excellent; an

abstract of the lecture was also given in by each student with the

report of his practical work, and the lot were returned at the end

of the course (after due examination by the lecturers) to the stu-

dents for their future reference.

Two prizes— which were two microscopes similar to those used

by the members of the class, and provided like them with inch

and one-eighth inch objectives — were offered to the students who

should be considered to have done best during the course, especial

weight being given to excellence in the practical work, as judged

both by observation of the student when at work, and by the re-

ports sent in.

The names of the students were placed in two classes of merit

at the termination of the course, arranged in alphabetical order.

Now as to the subjects which were gone over in the time, which

though limited to six weeks, yet by dint of hard work, was made

to take in more than many a six months’ course. The yeast

688 INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS.

plant occupied the first lecture and each student was provided

with some yeast, which was carefully examined and drawn under

the microscope. Each student sowed some in Pasteur’s solution

which he had himself prepared, and on the following day stu-

died its germination. In like manner the Penicillium mould

was studied, sections being cut through the crusts, and careful

drawings made of mycelium, hyphee, conidia, etc. The latter were

sown, and their development accurately observed and drawn by

each student. A solution of hay was given to each, and the for-

mation of a Bacterium film was studied, the form and movements

of Bacteria were compared with the Brownian movements of gam-

boge rubbed up in water. The structure of the higher Fungi was

then studied in specimens of a common toad-stool, and thus a

general notion of the morphology and life-history of the Fungi was

obtained. Protococcus in its various stages, Palmella, and Volvox

next formed the subjects of lectures and practical work, and from

these simpler forms the students passed on to Spirogyra and

Chara. In Chara the advance in cellular differentiation was noted

by each student on specimens supplied to him, and the male and

female reproductive bodies examined in detail, and the Anthero-

zooids were obtained in active movement. The phenomenon of

cyclosis was also very carefully gone over, each student compar-

ing that of Chara with that seen in Valisneria and in the hair of the

nettle and of Tradescantia ; drawings and descriptions being made

and the specimens prepared by every student for himself. During

this time a certain amount of familiarity had been obtained by

all with the use of the microscope— not half a dozen of the class,

be it remembered, having previously ever used the instrument at

all, still fewer one of adequate power—and as well as the in-

strument itself, the use of various reagents had been learnt, such

as iodine-solution for demonstrating starch, and for delineating

protoplasm, acetic acid, magenta-solution, ete. From Chara the

class proceeded to the study of the Fern — the sori and sporangia

were examined in the first place, and the general form of the fern-

frond; then each student was provided with spores which had

been previously allowed to germinate, of two stages of develop-

ment, the one set with the quite young pro-embryo-like prothal-

lium, the other more advanced exhibiting numerous archegonl!

and pistillidia, the structure of all of which were examined and

drawn; and in many cases active antherozooids were obtained.

INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS. 689

The structure of the fern stem followed, exhibiting typical scal-

ariform, dotted and spiral ducts and other forms of tissue ; also the

leaf of sphagnum ; the methods of recognizing starch and cellulose

being here again used. From the fern the class passed on to the

study of a bean plant as typical of a phanerogam. Its general mor-

phology, the microscopic structure of its tissues, the minute struc-

ture of the flower and the histology of the essential reproductive

organs were examined during three consecutive days, and finally

the development of the seed and the growth of the young bean

plant were studied.

In this work each student used a razor for making sections of

the parts to be studied, and portions of turnip were made use of

for embedding delicate pieces of tissue, such as leaves, in order

to facilitate the cutting of thin sections. A few typical flowers

(e. g., Campanula, Rosa, Viola, various Orchids) were next studied

as examples of the kind of modification of parts exhibited by

phanerogamous plants and also the female flowers of a small Con-

ifer. Before proceeding to the animal kingdom, a lecture was de-

voted to a retrospect of the steps through which the class had

passed from the simple to the more complex forms, a comparison

of the various methods of reproduction, and an outline of the

physiology of vegetable life.

Amebe, the colorless corpuscles of the Triton’s blood, and

the ameboid particles of Spongilla were the first examples of an-

imal life studied. each member of the class making drawings of

the various forms due to protoplasmic movement presented by an

individual example of each of these cases of simple organism

whilst in the field of his microscope. The Gregarine of the

earth-worm next occupied a day, and every student was able to

observe and draw the actively moving nucleated Gregarina, its

simple encysted condition, and its various stages of breaking up

into pseudonavicule.

The structure of Infusoria was next examined, as exemplified

in Vorticella and Vaginicola, the nucleus, contractile vacuole,

mouth, etc., being fairly observed and drawn by all the students.

Specimens of Hydra were provided, on the following day, and the

endoderm and ectoderm, thread-cells and reproductive organs

studied. To this followed a copious supply of Cordylophora la-

custris (from the Victoria Docks), in which the class were able to

study a typical compound Ceelenterate, and to recognize not only

690 INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS.

the male and female gonophores, but the larval * planula-form”

as it escaped from the reproductive capsules. Plumatella as a

typical Bryozoon succeeded this, and then two days were given to

the dissection and histology of Anodon, of which each student

was provided with two or three specimens. The lobster as a

typical Arthropod was then examined, a fresh specimen being |

supplied to each table; the heart and vessels were first studied,

then the alimentary canal, liver, reproductive organs and green

glands. A large piece of mill-board covered with paper was used

by each pair of students for placing out in order, numbering,

naming and comparing the twenty somites and their appendages,

an instructive preparation being thus made. The corresponding

parts were again examined, and the microscopic structure of the

muscular tissue, blood, liver, and gills, in specimens of the river

cray-fish. The careful dissection of the frog next occupied some

days and to this succeeded the rabbit.

Simultaneously with the dissection of these vertebrata, the study

of the microscopic structure of the various tissues and organs was

commenced, so that whilst one student was using the microscope,

his companion at the table was dissecting, and vice versa. The

blood of the frog and of man}the movements of the colorless cor-

puscles in both cases, and the action of acids on them, the varieties

of epithelium, the various forms of connective tissue and its cor-

puscles, cartilage, bone, muscular tissue smooth and striped, nerve

fibres and cells, the termination of nerve in muscle, and the struc-

ture of the more important organs, were examined by the class,

not in already prepared and mounted “ slides,” but in specimens

which each student took for himself, usually from the animal un-

der dissection, and treated with various reagents, the methods of

cutting thin sections and embedding tissues in wax or paraffin

being learnt at the same time.

A simple injecting apparatus (formed by two Wolff’s bottles and

a large vessel of water) was put up, and the method of injecting &

frog shown to each student. The best part of a day was spent in

a thorough dissection of a sheep’s heart, and another in the dissec-

tion of the sheep’s larynx. Vertical antero-posterior sections of

the sheep’s head were supplied to the various tables, and in these

the parts of the brain and cranial nerves (already made out in

the rabbit), the tongue, the relations of the cavities of the mouth,

nose, and ear, the ducts of the salivary glands, and the muscles of

INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS. 691

the eye were studied. The structure of the eye was again exam-

ined by each student, in specimens of those of the bullock, supplied

in quantity, aud the internal ear and auditory ossicles were dem-

onstrated in rough preparations of the sheep and rabbit.

But little time could be afforded to physiology ; and, indeed, it

was hardly possible that each member of the class should perform

many physiological experiments for himself. The movements of

the heart in the frog after excision, and the localization of the

nerve-centre, was made out by each student ‘for himself; also the

phenomena of reflex action in the frog, after the destruction of the

cranial portion of the cerebro-spinal nervous system. Again, each

table was supplied with simple galvanic forceps, and the irritation

of nerve and of muscle examined, also the action of chemical and

mechanical stimuli on the nerve. The action of curare poison on

the frog (Berndrd’s experiment) was examined by every student,

and the condition of the poisoned and the unpoisoned leg com-

pared. Every member of the class was made familiar with the

simplest way of demonstrating the circulation in the frog’s foot,

tongue, and mesentery, under the microscope, and repeatedly exam- -

ined the phenomenon for himself. Rigor mortis and the artificial

rigor produced by warm water were examined. The conversion of

starch into sugar by the saliva, and the methods of proving the

presence of starch and grape sugar, were made the subject of

experiment by every individual of the class. The peristaltic move-

ments of the intestine and the absorption of the chyle by the lac-

teals were exhibited and closely examined. A model of the

circulation, consisting of india-rubber tubes and pump, was used

for demonstrating the nature of the pulse, the pressure (by means

of manometers placed in connection) in the arteries and veins,

and the effect of dilatation and contraction of the capillaries

and of rate of pulsation on this pressure. Finally, the thorax was

opened in a narcotised rabbit and the heart exposed, and each

student satisfactorily witnessed the pulsations of that organ and

the inhibitory effect of irritation of the vagus nerve; the b

pressure was exhibited to each member of the class in a aiy

narcotised dog by means of the hemodynamometer, a a tube being

placed in the animal’s carotid artery ; and as à concluding demon-

stration the important fact of the influence of nerves upon gland

secretion was demonstrated by the beautiful experiment of Ber-

nard, the chorda-tympana being irritated, whilst a canula was

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V- 44

692 INSTRUCTION TO SCIENCE TEACHERS.

placed in the duct of the submaxillary gland. Great care was

taken that none of the experiments exhibited to or performed by

the members of the class should be open to the charge of cruelty,

the animals used being either completely narcotised, or (as in the

case of the frogs), having the cerebral portion of the nervous sys-

tem destroyed in the proper manner.

Throughout the course the morning’s lecture was made prepara-

tory to or an extension of what was afterwards brought under

actual observation. The concluding lecture was devoted to a retro-

spect of the work which had been gone through, and an exposition

of the idea which had guided the scheme of study pursued, the ob-

ject having been not to make botanists, nor zoologists, nor anat-

omists of the members of the class, but to give them a practical

insight into the structures and activities of living things, in such

a way as to enable them to observe for themselves the relations

and connections of the various forms of life, and to follow from

actual examples the characteristics and increasing complexity of

different plans of structure.

The reports of work and lectures daily sent in by the members

of the class were entirely satisfactory, and the spirit and enthu-

siasm displayed throughout proved how greatly the value of the

course was appreciated. When it is remembered that with scarcely

an exception, these teachers had hitherto never used the micro- ~

scope, never dissected a single organ or organism for themselves,

nor seen one properly dissected, the advantage gained by the ex-

perience they have now obtained, even if only a portion of what

was condensed into six weeks’ work remains with them, is some-

thing very considerable, for it is something of a new kind, a form

of knowledge which they entirely failed to obtain before.

It is exceedingly interesting to find that no difficulty was expe

rienced in going over all these matters in a class which was not

confined to men alone, and most heartily do we hope to see in the

future a larger proportion of women engaged in this and other

branches of scientific study. Those who imagine that women have

some innate incapacity, and assert that if admitted to classes now

limited to men they would be unable to profit by them, or would

hinder the progress of the class by the greater attention they

would require in order to keep them to the level of male students,

_ may take this fact to heart—one of the microscopes offered as a

prize for the best work done, and the best record of the lectures

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF QuITO. 693

and the day’s work, was adjudged simply upon the merits of her

reports aud work to the one lady among the thirty-nine students

who formed the class. On the other hand, this fact will probably

stimulate that unavowed feeling, akin to the trades-unions’ hostil-

ity to competition, which is the cause of the arbitrary exclusion

of half of the community from our greatest educational institu-

tions. — E. R. L., in Nature.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE

VALLEY OF QUITO. —II

BY PROF. JAMES ORTON.

REPTILES.

Tur herpetology of mountain regions is very limited, for the

number of species diminishes rapidly as we ascend in altitude or

latitude. The reptilian life of any district, however, is highly in-

teresting, as it is more natural and well defined than that of other

vertebrates, because reptiles have a limited range* and are less

likely to be forced out of their original habitats or introduced

by man. It has been supposed that in order of altitudinal range,

lizards go highest, snakes next; and batrachians and chelonians

last. There are no chelonians in the valley as far as we know;

but we found frogs as high up as Antisana Hacienda, and no liz-

ards there. Gibbon found no snakes at La à

The only reptiles which we know to exist in the valley are as

follows: Batrachians— Atelopus longirostris Cope (a new species

found by the writer at Antisana Hacienda, thirteen thousand three

hundred feet above the sea), A. levis Giinth., Hylodes conspicil-

latus Günth., Bufo intermedius Gunth. ; Ophidicnie -ioari

carinatus Boie, Streptophorus Drozii D. B. An active little lizard

(a Pleurodont) occurs in the warm, dry parts of the valley ; but

we failed to secure a specimen.

FISHES.

—— the size of the Machangara and Pastassa Rivers

Ab elydra ser-

ki k

pentina Linn., which we found at Guayaquil on the Pacific coa EE ae equator.

694 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO.

and San Pablo Lake, it is remarkable that only one species of this

class (so far as we can ascertain) occurs in the Quito waters. This

is the Cyclopium Humboldtii Sw., one of the Siluride. It abounds

in the Machangara, but we have never seen a specimen over four

inches long. According to Dr. Gill it is generically distinct from

the Stygogenes Humboldtii of Günther ; but we cannot distinguish

it from the Pimelodus cyclopum mentioned by Humboldt* as in-

* NOTE ON THE PIMELODUS CYCLOPUM OF HUMBOLDT. By F. W. Putnam.

r James Orton, in 1870, presented to the Academy a specimen of a small Silu-

rid which he obtained at Quito, Ecuador, and which he supposed ke the same as the —

fish mentioned by Humboldt from the subterranean waters of the Andes. On compar-

ing the sor with the descriptions of the species of Arges and i sp ee oa by

Cuvier d Valenci iennes, and by Günther in kos — alight: G son

apart ters of pre eee

gre sing in every detail: with the short description given by Giinther of Arges brachy-

anae pias me additional ATACE, A ies ing a short broad spine in front of the

adip uter rays of the several fins which he men-

rar satin

f S. Humboldtii.

Our specimen has the following smears which, it ea be er are taken almost

by ach

line distinctly marked by raised pores, and extending the whole length of the body.

Maxillary barbles about one-half the length of the head. Anal and dorsal fins fold

into slight grooves

Fin formula of

A. Cc.

Academy specimen I+5. | 1+5+46 =13.

A. brachycep halus, ars ; T eai :

Günther.

S. Humboldtii. “

— af LEs

yi i 8. D.

I+6,0. I+9. 6.

6, [. ts | 6.

This slight variation in the fin rays jee he the following for the three ee

ud ctoral, 8 to 10. Ven ral,

of the three specimens reduced to the presence or absence ae cee spine of the adipose

dorsal, which could very easily be overlooked unless special search was made for it,

the fin. specimen under examination, in which it was found Guus by the skin of

th iderati Humboldt overlooked the

spine in in his specimen, and also that it is possible that Giinther overlooked it in his

specimens of A. brachycephalus. At all events I “eae regard its presence as of an

generic or even specific value on the present dat

Mase ie ft *

Pee

Nh Pe ee r y ee ar eee” Rah Nt amy) ae

(a ees

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO. 695

habiting the subterranean waters of the Andes and thrown out in

the eruptions of Imbabura and Caraguairazo. There are several

species of the same family in the Esmeraldas, as P. cinerascens,

P. elongatus and P. modestus.

MOLLUSCS.

There is little variety of molluscan life on the Andes. The

land-snails predominate, belonging to the Helicide and Cyclosto-

mide. The presence of the old world genus Clausilia, wanting

in North America, becomes a significant fact, as Woodward ob-

serves, when taken in connection with the affinities of the higher

animals of South America and Africa. ‘These imply a land-way

across the Atlantic at some very remote period.”

The known fresh-water shells in the valley are few in number,

and the exact localities of these cannot be positively given. Cas-

talia Crosseana Hid., and C. Pazi Hid., are credited to Imbabura ;

Hemisinus Pazi Tryon, H. simplex Tryon, H. Osculati Villa,

Ampullaria modesta V. d. Busch and A. solida V. d. Busch to

Quito; and A. Quitensis V. d. Busch to Ecuador. But Mr. Tryon

informs me that the locality of Hemisinus is not certain ; and as I

collected none myself, I am doubtful of all the others except

Castalia. Hemisinus Binneyi Tryon, may be added to this pro-

visional list.

The type of the genus Arges (A. sabalo C. and V.), from the position of the eyes and

ventral fins, may possib hy remain as the type of a genus under that name, distinct from

pera genus Stygogenes, which I consider as covering my specimen as ide

n chm ldtii i ss brachye cephalus, which I consider the same as Ameer

Pim cyclo;

ra puig isi k as -Günther intludes it (doubtfully) as a distinct species s his genus

Stygogenes, and as Swainson also named it Cyclopium Humboldtii, we have a singular

confusion of ents which, following the strict law of priority of names erg should

be rendered thus

niger ge (Sw.) cyrcLopum (Humb.)

; i us cyclopum Humboldt,

Aa petna Humboldtii Swainson, 1838-9.

3. Arge Cuv. and Val., 1840.

Of ihono essen nanea a se oan er 1,2; ii d 6 were unquestionably pro-

posed p from sed wholly because Humboldt

did not mention the spine gee B e 2d dorsal. No. 4 was considered as distinct, and

placed in a separate genus on account of the ong not being present. The specimen

now under examination re a feo and with it all the characters given of the species,

hence I unite them all as one under a aoa non-euphonie designation of Cyclo-

um pum, adding one more name to the list, which will be adopted, or classed as

a synonym, according to foodie eee ut which, nevertheless, is the name that

should be used to designate the species if the strict law of priority is followed.

696

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO.

The following Notes on the Terrestrial Mollusca of the Valley of

Quito, with a Catalogue of the species, have been contributed by

the eminent conchologist, Mr. Thomas Bland.

Looking at the subjoined catalogue * of the Terrestrial Mollusea

attributed to, or which are known to inhabit, the valley of Quito,

d from the

sedge

il various works to which I have had ac-

The genera and species are arranged = Ang eines given a Hea

he spec: The subgeneri

of Butimus = pad capitais and of others in italics are from oe tas edition of Albers by V.

Mart

erie

Helix

species, the names of w

J se iakat editions of Pfeiffer’s Monogra

uitensis Pfr.— Quito. (Hyalina.) §11.

lora Pfr.—Quito. EnO ) §35.

pore ra riana Hid.—Ecuador, Paz. §102

cym es Pfr.— —9 A

£ 2 OF

aes

Sac

noe

®©

Martinii ete Geko, Bernardi, j (he

anegal, Martinez and Orto

parea” py ev. et Hupe. —

: Cuzco, Hupe

bituberculata oe $

Martinez; ungu

apo? Orton.

us or Pfr, — Ecuador, Pfeiffe _ oe

lairianus Nyst.— Qui

ega

PTUS.)

Fungairinoi Hid, — Othe. Hidalgo

and Orton; Cuenca, Paz ine

— Quito, P:

aia Paz and

aaee.

Corydon Crosse. —

Aristeus Crosse. —

Fraseri Pfr.—Cuenca, Fraser; Chim-

G razo, Paz.

abscissus Pfr. ito, t, 99;

Bourcieri Pfr.— cae ey Bourcier.

Thaumastus).

coloratus Nyst.—Near Quito, Lattre;

Prov. aen Columbia, Nyst.

US). § 1

cardinalis, Pfr. — Quito, e E and

Paz Aea: and Nanegal, Orton;

apo,

Memblielinus Cros: uador, Paz

and Hidalgo; ian Bi rere ny 18.

lautus Gould.—Near Quito, Cout Er.

uy.

Nystianus Pfr. — Quit artinez;

Machache. Paz; Val alley of Pomas

Bourcier, ( Phaumastus.)

— Near Quito, Paz;

azo, Pfeiffer; Carthagena,

Lea. (Drymaeus.)

hich are in ene

aphs

have been described since the publi-

Bulimus fallax Pfr, — Tunguragua, Bourcier

Quito, Paz and Martinez. Thau-

[masius.)

Hartwegi Pfr. m

Loja, Hartwen:

Paz and Orton

Thompsoni Pir. r Quito, Pfei

fer and Orton; Pea and Cuen-

Soy Paz. (ORP

Cuencanus Pfr. a, Fras

Anthisanensis Pfr. 2S Antisanii “1000

“(Sua § 48.

nguragua an

: Chimbo-

Coto TS — Cotopax

fer p ; Al itisana and ‘Senos, po

tinez Aas Mocha and Chimbo

Paz; v ar. B. Ca paar Bourcier

(Scutalus,) § 54.

Loxens F atamaija PS6.

Loja, Hartweg. (Thawmastus. :

chameleon Pfr.— Quito, Bourcier,

La Mocha, z; Cumbaya, ty

and Nanegal rtinez; Pern, Al-

oe ( Le aparen

sequatorius *_ Sincholagua =

himborazo Bourcier; Quito, cf

Orton and Martinez; cha,

Paz ss Se $57.

Catlowie Pfr.— Near Quito, pin

ne a Paz. (Scula pa

Lim Ry. oe Lima

Orthalicus Mars Pfr.—Ecuador, "Fras ser. §3-

Achatina magnifica Pfr.—Near Quit’; apres 8

Oleacina saccata Pfr.

—Ecuador, Fraser. 3

Clausilia Bourcieri Pfr Tunguraga, Es.

[eler. Yenta)

Cyclotus area Pfr.—Qui

ton; Na gp

B P? fnada, Blan

Nen Gee mate ee Lin-

Popayanns Regn E him rand “ Bland.

granulatus Pir eet uito.

~ pe Agua-

Fisch Quito, Pazi y tinez.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF QUITO. 697

it does not appear that any considerable number of the species

have passed beyond its limits. The most interesting question re-

specting their distribution, is to ascertain if any occur both on

the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of the Equatorial Andes, and so

far as I am informed there are scarcely any. While several of the

valley species are found also to the south in Peru, and a larger

number to the north in New Granada, others are common to the

valley and the eastern slope towards the headwaters of the’ Ama-

zon. :

The species mentioned in the catalogue, which from the habitats

given appear to occur on the Pacific and Atlantic slopes, are Bu-

limulus chameleon Pfr. referred to Nanegal on the former and

Baeza on the latter, Bulimus irroratus Rv. from Guaranda and

Macas, and B. Popelairianus Nyst. from Bodegas and Napo. Fur-

ther exploration may increase the species known thus to occur,

but the difference in the land-shell faunas on the Pacific and At-

lantic slopes on the west coast of North America, warrants the

belief that such species are few.

The absence in the Quito valley, and generally on the west

coast of South America, of various New World genera is worthy

of remark, but they belong to the faunas of Brazil, Mexico, and

the West Indies, with which those of the west coast have a scarcely

appreciable alliance.

In South America generally, and the valley of Quito is no éx-

ception, the genus Bulimus has far more representatives than

Helix (using both generic terms in the wide sense employed. by

Pfeiffer in his monographs), but the reverse is the case in North

America. In the Galapagos Islands there are a number of pecu-

culiar Bulimi, but I believe no Helices, while in the islands off the

west coast of southern California species of Helix occur but none

of Bulimus. On the Atlantic side of the Continents, the islands

(Cuba, Jamaica ete,) situate on the northern margin of the Car-

ibbean sea, with numerous species of Helix, have very few of Bu-

limulus, while the islands on the eastern side, near to the South

American coast (St. Lucia and St. Vincent to Trinidad) have the

only representatives of Bulimus in the West Indies and a larger

proportionate number of species of Bulimulus.

Cyclophorus Crosseanus Hid.—Ecuador, Paz.

helicinæformis Pfr. — Quito, is

Bourciera ine os ito, Paz.:

Fraser.

C¥elophorus Cumingi Sow. — Quito, Paz. § 15

elophorus Cumin w,— Quito, Paz. b yh

it hematomma Pfr. — Quito, Paz, araqu

Hidalgoi ardeii t e er Hh Paz. | Bourciera Fa Pir. — Cuenca,

698 NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS.

The form of Helix prevailing in; and which may be said to be

characteristic of the Quito Valley is Isomeria, peculiar to the

northern portion of the southern continent. Both Bulimus and

Bulimulus are essentially characteristic of South America.

The genus Orthalicus is also South American, but belongs ra-

ther to the eastern than to the western side of the continent.

Achatina magnifica, as Pfeiffer suggests, is probably an Orthalicus.

Oleacina is most numerously represented in Mexico and Central

America, and the nearest adjacent islands of the West Indies.

One species is said to inhabit Ecuador, but the exact locality is

not given.

-Clausilia is a European genus, but has representatives in Asia,

and a few species of the sub-genus Nenia in South America,—one

only in the West Indies, C. tridens Chem. of Porto Rico. Species

of three operculated genera occur in the Quito Valley,— Cyclo-

tus, Cyclophorus and Bourciera. The latter, peculiar to Ecuador,

is placed by Pfeiffer, in the sub-family Realia of the family Cy-

clostomacea, but it would seem to belong to Helicinacea, with

which, as pointed ‘out by Troschel, its dentition agrees, although

in form of shell it is allied to Realia. Cyclotus has several species

in Mexico and Central America, more in South America, but forty-

two species in the West Indies, of which thirty-four belong to Ja-

maica. It may be mentioned that half of the species attributed

to the valley of Quito, occur also in New Granada.

Cyclophorus has its principal development in Asia and adja-

cent islands, but it is curious, as I have elsewhere noticed, that

while there are a few species found in Mexico, Central and South

America, seven occur in the West Indies, and all in Guadeloupe,

Démitnies and Martinique.

NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS.

BY PROF. GEORGE H. PERKINS.

Nor least interesting among the many localities in the Missis-

sippi valley that attract the geologist and mineralogist is the Illi-

nois Geode region. This extends for twenty-five or thirty miles

NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS. 699

along the Illinois side of the Mississippi, reaching from a short

distance above Niota on the northern border of Hancock County

southward beyond Warsaw; and indeed the formation in which

these specimens occur reaches as far south as the mouth of the

Illinois River, but by far the greater part that have been collected

were obtained between Niota and Warsaw, where they occur in

very much the greatest abundance. Very many fine specimens

have been obtained across the river in Iowa, and the region over

which they are distributed is probably larger in this state than in

Illinois. So far as my own observation goes, the geodes do not

occur in Illinois at any great distance from the river, nearly all the

best localities being within three or four miles from the banks ; but

I do not speak with entire confidence in regard to this as nearly all

my personal investigation has been confined to localities near the

river and on the Illinois side. For this reason what may be said

at this time will refer mainly to the region between Niota and

Warsaw. The geodes from this region are, many of them, very

beautiful, being often lined with most brilliant crystals of quartz,

appearing like miniature caves lined with diamonds, or, less bril-

liant but more exquisite, some are lined with a frost-work of small

white crystals of the same substance, or with satin crystals of cal-

cite and pearl spar. They are imbedded in a soft, brittle, argilla-

ceous shale, which is sometimes a little calcareous, and in a very

few instances passes into limestone, although the outer coat-

ing of the geode is always aluminous. This mass of shaly rock

forms what is called the “Geode bed,” a member of the Keokuk

group of the Subcarboniferous age. The thickness of this bed

varies in different places, but is nowhere very great. At Warsaw

it is well exposed in a railroad cut; and here, according to Mr.

Worthen, the thickness is forty feet. (Ill. Geol. Rep., Vol. 1. p-

335.) No trace of fossils has been discovered in the shale, but in

some places thin layers of limestone are intermingled with it, and

these afford the characteristic fossils of the Keokuk limestone.

Whatever the inner coating of these geodes may be, the shell, or

crust, is always siliceous. The outer surface, however, is usually

coated with the same clay-like material as that which composes

the shale in which they occur. Very often there is an outer layer

of siliceous clay which forms a part of the crust and sends out

numerous sharp, irregular projections into the next layer which is,

probably always, chalcedony. It should be remembered that these,

700 NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS.

and other not yet mentioned ‘‘layers” of the crust are so called

more for convenience, than because they exist sharply defined in

every specimen, for such is not the case; in most they shade into

each other by almost imperceptible degrees. The outer surface

is generally light colored— either yellow, or drab, or yellowish

brown; but when there is much oxide of iron present the color

deepens to chestnut brown. The general form of the geodes is

more or less spherical and in a majority of the specimens it is

quite regularly so, but the character of the interior seems to have

some influence in shaping the whole mass. In my own collecting,

at least, it has uniformly been true that those geodes that con-

tained only quartz were most regular in form and those lined

with crystallized quartz are rather more regular than those lined

with chaleedony. Those specimens that contain oxide of iron

are often quite flat, as are those with calcite, though these latter

are usually flattened more on one side than on the other and in

various ways made irregular.

Although sometimes packed almost as thickly as possible in the

shale, the geodes are for the most part entirely distinct from each

other; but sometimes two or more are found adhering to each

other, either two of nearly equal size forming a dumb-bell shaped

mass, or, more commonly, a large one is surrounded by several

much smaller. These are not often so firmly attached that a

sharp blow will not separate them entire. When broken these

smaller geodes are usually solid. Sometimes small, pocket-like

geodes are found in the crust of large and heavy ones, and some-

times these extend so far over the surface that the geode becomes

like a ball coated outside and in with crystals, with occasionally

a thin clayey crust over a part of the outside.

The geodes are not exactly alike in different portions of the

region. In some places nearly all are small, while large ones are

not infrequent in others, in one place most are regular spheres, in

another most are quite irregular, in some parts of the bed they

lie so thickly as to crowd each other, in other parts they are far

apart. Not only do these and similar differences occur in places

at some distance from each other, but in the same place upper,

lower or middle portions of the bed may differ widely in the

number, form, size and contents of the geodes. Everywhere

many of the geodes are solid, and the first thing for a collector to

learn is to judge by the weight of any given specimen whether it

NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS. 701

is solid or hollow, and also how hard a blow is needed to break it

open, if he finds it light enough to be hollow; for a heavy blow,

such as is necessary to crack a thick crust, would dash a thinner

one into small fragments. Those large geodes that contain

much calc spar are usually solid, while those that are smaller and

lined with small crystals of this material are frequently quite hol-

low. The quite large specimens are more apt to have thick walls,

or to be entirely solid, than those of less size whatever the filling.

The cavity of a geode does not often correspond with the exterior,

as the walls are constantly varying their thickness. Many are

lined with a single, plain layer of crystals, others have this crys-

talline surface raised in rounded prominences, some of them long

and cylindrical, others low and mound-like. In some, besides the

lining there is a partition, extending across the cavity, lined with

crystals on both sides. Rarely, the collector may find a thin crust

lined with small bright crystals, within which is a hollow ball, but

little larger than the cavity and attached at one or two points to

the side, covered with somewhat smaller crystals. So, in innu-

merable ways do we find these singular objects varied and, as the

outside gives little or no indication of the inside, the charm of

uncertainty is added to the excitement and pleasure of the collec-

tor. So far as my own experience’ goes those specimens that are

from one to three inches in diameter are least likely to be solid,

though very fine ones may be obtained six or even ten inches in

diameter without great difficulty. The range in size is quite large,

as very pretty specimens not over half an inch in diameter may

be found, while the largest I have seen were fully eighteen inches

across the broken halves. But these larger geodes, aside from

being very scarce, are not very desirable acquisitions as they are

very heavy, weighing fifty pounds or more in the best examples.

The geodes are most abundant, and hence most easily collected,

in the beds and along the sides of those streams which intersect

the geode bed, as nearly all those around Hamilton and Warsaw

do. The geodes are dislodged from their resting place by high

water, frost, ete., and are carried down by the streams, so that

near the mouth, or in a basin, the ground is often paved with

them, but good specimens are not rare along the sides of the

streets, in cuts, or wherever the earth has been washed or dug in

the neighborhood of the bed in which they lie. Few things are

more unpromising or unattractive than a geode when first taken

702 NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS.

from its cavity in the rock, and unless its regular form caught the

eye, it would be passed without a second glance as wholly unde-

serving of notice. A mere ball of clay would possess fully as

much elegance. But pick up that dull, dirty-looking ball, and, if

it be a good specimen, its extreme lightness attracts attention and

excites curiosity, and now the impulse is to see what there is in-

side. A few strokes of the hammer and it breaks in halves, and

as it falls apart lo! what wonders are presented to us! Who

would have imagined that so uncouth and rough an exterior con-

cealed such a splendid interior,—a crystal grotto, which flashes

and sparkles when the sunlight strikes it as if made of gems of

the first water. The geodes contain quite a number of different

minerals which are very variously arranged in different specimens.

Some of these minerals have been already alluded to, but they

deserve a somewhat fuller treatment. As all the geodes are sili-

ceous on the outside, so by far the most common variety is that

composed wholly, or nearly so, of quartz. The structure of these

is almost invariably as follows; first, the outer, earthy coating;

second, a thin layer of white or whitish chalcedony ; third, a layer

of clear quartz more or less granulated; and fourth, a layer of |

crystalline quartz, with simple, pyramidal terminations lining

the inside. The granular layer does not always extend around the

entire sphere, but often the crystalline quartz rests directly on the

chalcedony, and in some there is scarcely any or no granulated

appearance, but it is present in most that have come under my

notice. The crystals of the inner layer are usually clear and col-

orless, but many times they will be tinged a more or less deep

yellow by oxide of iron, and a few crystals have been found lying

detached in the cavity of the geode, so bright a yellow as to

cause them to resemble the topaz very closely, and some have

been cut and sold as topazes. Not infrequently the crystals have

a slight bluish tinge which, instead of the brilliaht white lustre,

gives them a soft and liquid hue, as if just ready to melt into

purest water. Crystals of smoky quartz are occasionally found,

and I once had the good fortune to break a rather clumsy speci-

men about three inches by four inches in size, the inner coating of

which was rose quartz. Instead of a simple layer of erystals,

either plain or variously convoluted, specimens are not uncommon

‘in which the crystals, many of them doubly terminated, are piled

upon each other in all directions, and sometimes these clusters are

ete

NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS. 703

loose in the cavity, or the latter may be filled with single crystals,

often so small as to appear like fine sand. The crystals are not

always clear, but may be covered with a layer of chalcedony

sometimes so thin as not to modify the form of the terminations,

sometimes thick enough to make a papillose surface. This coating

may be either light blue, flesh color, yellowish white, or a bluish

opal-white, all of them appearing semi-transparent or of an opaque,

chalk white. Many of this last color have the crystalline termin-

ations so modified as to appear cubical.’ In a few very beautiful

specimens that I have seen, a clear white chalcedonic surface was

sprinkled all over with small, perfectly colorless crystals, looking

like fine dew drops on a white flower. This coating becomes

thicker and thicker, until all trace of the crystals is lost, and then

we have a layer of chalcedony with a perfectly smooth botryoidal

or mamillary surface, outside of which is a layer of crystalline

quartz, then, usually, a granulated layer and then the outer chal-

cedony layer. The inner layer is sometimes very thick, being

twice the thickness of all the rest.

The color of the chalcedony is most often a reddish purple, but

not very seldom we find a greenish yellow or bluish white and

rarely a chalk white. In rare cases there are two layers of differ-

ent color, such as pure white over dark brownish purple. In a

few cases the surface of the chalcedony is sprinkled with crystals

of pyrites or other substances, but yet the geodes afford a marked

contrast in this respect to those lined with crystalline quartz, for

while the former are remarkably free from what might be termed

foreign substances and never, so far as I have seen, is any consid-

erable part of the cavity filled with them, in the latter variety

we find, resting upon the quartz, all the different minerals found

in the geodes, and often two or three together nearly filling the

cavity. Besides the isolated crystals of calcite and dolomite

found resting on the quartz crystals, we have some in which the

lining is made up entirely of one or the other of these substances.

Like all the rest these are siliceous on the outside. In the calcite

geodes the crystals are usually small and of rhombohedral form,

which is often obscured by their crowding together or piling upon

each other. In color they differ, some being colorless and trans-

parent, many white, or yellowish, or flesh color, and some few

dark purple or chestnut brown, and in one case a layer of dark

` brown crystals was ornamented with here and there a cluster of

pure white ones. Two or more forms of erystallization may occur

704 NOTES ON THE GEODES OF ILLINOIS.

one upon the other in the same specimen, as, for example, a scal-

enohedral crystal resting upon differently modified rhombobe-

. drons. Sometimes the cavity of the geode is filled with a mass

of white or, rarely, flesh colored calcite. Isolated crystals, or

groups of crystals of pearl spar or dolomite, are of quite common

occurrence both in the quartz and calcite geodes, but a complete

layer of this mineral is less common. The crystals are generally

quite large as compared with the size of the geode.

According to Prof. Brush (Ill. Geol. Rep., Vol. 1, p. 91), this

dolomite contains ‘‘a large per cent. of carbonate of iron with the

carbonates of lime and magnesia.” Although the usual color of

the dolomite is either a light yellowish brown or silvery gray of

different shades, it is often stained a rusty brown by oxide of iron.

The collector will once in a while meet with a geode, probably

of quite small size, filled with a fine white powder. Prof. Brush

states this to be a ‘‘ hydrous silicate of alumina.” The only metals

thus far found in the geodes are iron and zinc. The iron occurs

in the form of oxide, in small crystals and in powder öne geode

about one and a half inches in diameter lined with small quartz

crystals was filled with the powdered oxide. Besides this, long,

slender, hair-like crystals of pyrites occur as well as those of

cubical form. These are scattered over chalcedony, quartz crys-

tals and calcite, and are also imbedded in the calcite. Zinc

blende is quite common occurring either in crystals, some of them

quite highly polished, or in a mass in the centre of solid geodes

when it is associated with calcite.

In the northern part of Hancock county a few geodes, all that

I have seen being lined with quartz crystals, contain asphaltum.

Prof. Brush describes one of these as “apparently more than half

filled with asphaltum, breaking with a clear conchoidal fracture,

having a high lustre and jet black color and containing imbedded

in it detached crystals of quartz” (Ill. Geol. Rep., Vol. 1, p. 92)-

This was four by three inches in size. Instead of asphaltum

some are filled with petroleum. Besides those minerals enu-

merated, Prof. Brush reports finding in a very few cases minute

crystals of gypsum and in one of arragonite. Water is found in

some of the geodes which is bitterish to the taste, and contains,

according to Prof. Brush, a small per cent. of the sulphates of

lime and magnesia and a slight trace of silica. As the crust of

the geodes is wholly impervious to water, this must have been in,

closed when the crust was formed. As Mr. Worthen remarks

Feet S kT eee eee

REVIEWS. 705

it is worthy of notice that, while the geodes are always surrounded

by material rich in alumina, no crystallized forms of this mineral

have yet been discovered in them. Geodes of fine quality oc-

cur in Missouri, and Prof. White reports calcareous geodes, some

of them entirely free from silica, in a soft magnesian lime-stone,

in North Eastern Iowa.

Any one who for the first time sees a fine geode and notes its

regular form, its uncouth exterior and brilliant interior is sure to

ask “ How was it made?” The more specimens he sees the more

is his curiosity excited, and if he visits the locality and sees them

in situ his wonder and interest increase to the highest pitch.

There are very many difficulties to be overcome in trying to ac-

count for the presence of the geodes and their formation, and it

may be only presumption to attempt that which so many skilful

mineralogists have passed in silence. However, a careful study of

the geodes, both in cabinets and in their native bed, has convinced

me that they must have been formed in some such manner as that

here presented. What now constitutes the geode bed, was at

one time a mass of plastic clay filled with siliceous and calcareous

fluids. That it was plastic is shown by facts obvious to any

one who has ever visited the locality. If now this mass were

acted upon by steam or some other vapor, or gas, as dough is

acted upon by carbonic acid, it would like the dough be filled

with cavities of all sizes of a more or less spherical form, and

irregularly distributed through the mass. Into these cavities the

solutions of silica etc. would filter and in some cases crystallize,

in others simply deposit the solids held in solution, according to

circumstances. The form, arrangement, etc., of the various sub-

stances would be determined, I suppose, by their densities and the

laws of crystallization. After all the materials had hardened, the

soft brittle clay would easily separate from the harder filling of the

cavities and this would then fall out shaped by the mould in which

- formed.

REVIEWS.

THe PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ÅRCHÆOLOGY AND ETHNOL-

- oay.*——The fourth annual Report contains much that is of gen-

Af; af American Archæ-

* Fourth Annual Report of tt t f the P

ology and Ethnology. Boston, 1871. 8yo. p. 27.

706 REVIEWS.

eral interest. Professor Wyman, the curator, gives some exceed-

ingly valuable ‘Observations on Crania and the parts of the

Skeleton,” with comparative measurements of the fifty-six skulls

from Peru, presented by Mr. Squier, together with thirty-eight

from the mounds of Kentucky, obtained by Mr. Lyon, and

eighteen from the mounds of Florida collected by the curator. He

remarks that :—

“The average capacity of the fifty-six Peruvian crania meas-

ured agrees very closely with that indicated by Morton and Meigs,

viz., 1230 c.c., or 75 cub. inches, which is considerably less than

that of the barbarous tribes of America, and almost exactly that

of the Australians and Hottentots as given by Morton and Meigs,

and smaller than that derived from a larger number of measure-

ments by Davis. Thus we have, in this particular, a race which °

has established a complex civil and religious polity, and made great

progress in the useful and fine arts, as its pottery, textile fabrics,

wrought metals, highways and aqueducts, colossal. architectural

structures and court of almost imperial splendor prove, on the

ame level as regards the quantity of brain, with a race whose

social and religious conditions are among the most degraded exhi

ited by the human race.

this goes to show and cannot be too much insisted upon,

‘that the relative capacity of the skull is to be considered merely

as an anatomical and not as a physiological characteristic, and

unless the quality of the brain can be represented at the same

as the ntity, brain measurement cannot be assumed as an

indication of the intellectual position of races any more than of

individuals. From such results the question is very naturally

forced upon us whether comparisons, based upon cranial measure-

ments of capacity as generally made, are entitled to the value

usually assigned them. Confined within narrower limits they may

perhaps be of more importance. But even in this case the results

are often contradictory. If the brains of Cuvier and Schiller

were of the maximum size, so were those of three unknown indi-

viduals from the common cemeteries of Paris— while that of

Dante was but slightly above the mean, and Byron’s was probably

even below it.”

He also refers to the singular perforations of “the humerus,

which seems to occur in white, Indian and black races, but more

commonly in the blacks; it is also quite general though not con-

stant in the apes.

The flattening of the tibia has been noticed in the reindeer

period in Europe, and Professor Wyman finds that it prevails

largely, but in a variable degree in our Indians. In regard to the

REVIEWS. 707

bearings of these facts on the relations of man to the apes we

quote as follows : —

“ From a comparison of the skeleton of the human races, as far

as made, it is quite clear that in several respects some of them

have peculiarities which seem to assimulate them to the apes.

These peculiarities are not, however, confined to a single race, but

resemblances, and a wider distribution of them, than is n

known. The increased length of the forearm, as compared with

the humerus, is almost equally shared by the blacks and the re-

cent Indians. The Indians, from the mounds of various parts of

the country, as well as the inhabitants of the ancient cave dwell-

ings of Europe, have the flattened tibia. The Indians, ancient as

well as modern, in common with the Hawaiian Islanders, have the

most backward position of the foramen magnum, while the Negro,

on the other hand, with his lengthened forearm, has this foramen

almost as central as in the white man. The small brain is not, as

might at first well be supposed to be the case, found in the most

degraded races alone, but in these, in common with a race which

had, as already stated, risen to a semi-civilization ; nor is it con-

stantly associated with the lengthened forearm, since in the Aus-

tralians this is even shorter than in the white man. From these

results it seems obvious that we cannot give to the alleged resem-

blances between the human races and the apes their full meaning,

until we have much wider comparisons than have as yet been

made.”

Tue Position or THE Cappis Frres.* —This paper, containing

detailed descriptions with excellent illustrations, may be regarded,

as the author remarks, as the continuation of several memoirs on

exotic Trichoptera published in the « Transactions” of the Ento-

mological Society of London. Quite a number of the species are

from California, one is from the White Mountains, another from

Newfoundland, another from New York, while the remainder are

from other parts of the world. The descriptions of genera and

species are elaborated with the author's usual care and thorough-

ness, and great attention is paid to the illustration of details of

structure, which gives the paper a lasting value.

We are also indebted to the author for his views on the system-

atic position of the Trichoptera, and for a very courteous criti-

*On new Forms, etc., of Extra-European Trichopterous Insects. By Robert McLach-

lan. Extracted from the Linnzan Society’s Journal.—Zoology. Vol. xi. London,

1871. 8vo. pp. 43, with3 plates.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V- 45

708 REVIEWS.

cism of the positions taken by the reviewer as to the classification

of the Neuroptera. We will first quote the opinions of this able

and experienced observer, and show wherein and why we differ

from his conclusions :—

“ But it is necessary, first of all, just to glance at the position

generally accorded to the Neuroptera. It has long been seen that

the order as defined by Linné, is composed of most incongruous ma-

pseudo-Neuroptera, a veritable refuge for the destitute.

i added, from time to time, Maillophaga, Thysanura,

Thysanoptera, and even the Strepsiptera, for no other reason, 80

far as I can see, than that they would not fit in satisfactorily else-

where; and the characters of the order being so elastic, it was

easy to find some peculiarities which gave these outlying families

admission therein. That the Linnzean families grouped now with

Orthoptera have more affinity thereto than to the Newroptera as usu-

ally constituted, is evident ; yet I see no reason whatever why the

onata should not form an order apart, possessing as they do,

characters absolutely swi generis. The admission of them into

Orthoptera renders an already heterogeneous order an absolute

chaos. For my part, I have been content to consider the Neu-

roptera as an order, in the Linnzan sense, divisible into. three

great divisions, pseudo-Neuropteru, Planipenna, Trichoptera, —

but this only as matter of convenience ; for I am convinced that

contained therein are constituents of several orders, each of equal

value with such as Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera, and that the day

will arrive when, from an increase of knowledge in embryology

and anatomy, the order Neuroptera, as constituted by Linné, will

a dismemberment that would have occurred

certain groups more elevated, others more “ degraded” than the

rest. Acting upon this, he places the Hymenoptera as structu-

rally and psychically, if I may use the term, superior to all other

insects. Then follow Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera,

Orthoptera, and last of all, the Neuroptera, in the Linnean sense

(but including Thysanura), an order which, according to him,

‘ mimics every suborder of insects,” being ‘‘ comprehensive OF

synthetic types, combining the structure of all the other subor-

ders”. I would here particularly call attention to the relative po-

sitions occupied by Lepidoptera and Trichoptera, the latter form-

- ing nearly the last division of Neuroptera. I emphatically enter

REVIEWS. 709

my protest against such a wide separation of the two groups, con-

sidering, as I do, that, whatever may be the condition of the Tri-

choptera with regard to others of the Linnean groups of igs ical

their relationship to the Lepidoptera is close, and that an attempt

to thus widely separate them is an outrage on both. In metamor-

phosis the resemblance is nearly hpna the fact of the pupal

limbs not being enclosed within a common integument’ not avail-

taken into consideration : the poanian if mandibles by the Tri-

chopterous nymph is not of much importance, insomuch as these

organs bear no relationship to the aborted “ination of the imago ;

they simply replace the acid or mechanical means by which a Lep-

idopterous imago frees itself from its cocoon. The imago in Lep-

idoptera is almost constantly furnished with scales on “the wings

and body, scales of a peculiar nature, the analogues of which are

seen only in Lepisma; but many Trichopterous insects have, in

the male, a modification of these scales in the form of short in-

flated hairs, generally intermingled with ordinary hairs; and in

some genera this tendency towards a scaly clothing is as sca

as is its absence in some Lepidoptera. The neural arrangem

is not at all incompatible with a close relationship; nor are the

parts of the mouth, excepting the absence of a developed haustel-

um; yet many of the larger Trichoptera frequent flowers Vr the

purpose of extracting the nectar ; an though I am unable to say

by what means this is effected, it seems probable that it is ‘aon

by prolongation, at will, of the upper portion of the esophagus

into a sort of false haustellum. Perhaps the strongest are of

demarcation is the presence, in bae Lepidopterous imagos,

spine-like process near the base of the costa of the hind ace

wanting in all Trichoptera. That this process is a modification

First: we fully agree with the author that the admission of the

Odonata (Libellulide) into the Orthoptera ‘‘renders an already

heterogeneous order an absolute chaos.” But on the other hand,

we think the burden of proof that the “Odonata” are not true

Neuroptera rests on those who regard the group as an independent

order. Where respectable authorities (taking it for granted that

their characters are neither Neuropterous nor Orthopterous, which

“we do not admit), regard them as a division of Neuroptera, no one

having, as far as we know, considered them as Orthoptera before

Erichson’s time; and others equally respectable regard them as

710 REVIEWS.

Orthopterous, or Pseudoneuropterous, we would abide by embryo-

logical data to decide the question. The embryology of the Libel-

lulide is perhaps as thoroughly known as that of any other

group of insects. During the past summer the writer has observed

with considerable care the embryology of Chrysopa, a type of the

“true” Neuroptera, in the restricted sense. In the earliest and

later stages the development of this genus is almost identical with

that of the dragon flies, as regards the structure and relations of

the ‘“‘ammion” and ‘visceral membrane,” the relations of the

primitive band, the early form of the embryo, and its position

just previous to exclusion from the egg (see this journal, p. 564).

The differences are merely such as we would expect to find be-

tween two families of the same order. Thus embryology gives

us the most unexpected and independent testimony as to the

close alliance at least of the Libellulidze and Hemerobide. Should

our conclusions stand the test of the observations and criticisms

of abler naturalists, then have we not demonstrated the close re-

lationship of these two divisions of (what we regard as) Neurop-

tera? We conceive the greatest gap in the Neuroptera (in the

Linnzan sense) to be between these two families. The Libelluli-

dæ, through the Ephemeride, their nearest allies, pass into the

Perlidz and Psocide ; on the other hand, the Hemerobide are con-

nected by many characters with the Panorpide, and to the latter,

as we believe, the Phryganeidæ (Trichoptera) are more nearly

related than any other group of insects, whether we take into con-

sideration the structure of the adults, or the form of the larva

and pupa, and their metamorphoses. The gap between the Libel-

lulidze and Hemerobide is indeed a wide one, but have we not

seen that the foundations of the bridge have been laid in the em-

bryonic stages, and may we not feel authorized in view of recent

discoveries of paleozoic net-veined insects, in believing that the

superstructure, the arches and timbers of the bridge, has been

swept away by the storms and floods of past geologic ages! ? Evi-

dence is accumulating and growing stronger each year, if we in-

terpret the facts aright, that the gaps between what we consider

the families of the Neuroptera are due to the extinction of genera

and species in paleozoic and mesozoie times. So that instead of

a “dismemberment” of the Neuroptera, we shall really have å

more thoroughly compacted and natural group than as yet recog-

nized by systematists.

REVIEWS. j 711

Secondly, as to the relationship of the Trichoptera to the Lep-

idoptera. It seems to us. that we each look upon this matter

from a different standpoint. We would claim that the characters

which Mr. McLachlan relies upon as allying the caddis flies to the

moths are adaptive and of secondary importance. Let us leave

them out of sight for the moment, and look at what the reviewer

deems the more essential ones. Strip our examples of moths and

caddis flies of their wings and legs up to the coxæ, removing the

antennæ and palpi, and place the naked trunks side by side. We

shall find a wonderful uniformity of structure in the head and body

of the Lepidoptera, to which we have previously called attention. *

We shall observe that the three portions of the lepidopterous

head, the occiput, epicranium, and clypeus, always preserve much

the same relation to each other. The front of the head is formed

by the epicranium and clypeus, the latter usually being the larger

of the two parts, though in the Tineids the two pieces are of

nearly the same size. Looking at the thorax, another essential

character of the Lepidoptera is the very short metathorax, and

the absence of the præscutum. In one moth, the degraded Hepia-

lus, the metathorax is much longer than in any other moth known

to us, and the præscutum is well developed, resembling the “trae?

Neuroptera in this respect. The head of the Phryganeidæ, though

varying greatly in the different genera, differs invariably from that

of the moths in the front of the head consisting of the clypeus

alone enclosed in the broad orbits, while the broad vertex consists

of the epicranium, which is-as large as the entire front of the head ;

the head is wider and the eyes much smaller than in the moths ;

and another important character is the broad, deeply excavated

front edge of the clypeus, this part in the moths being invariably

narrower and much rounded. {

The metathorax of the caddis flies is always much longer than

in the moths, often twice as long, and the prescutum is nearly

always well developed. These characters of the head and thorax

* Notes on the family Zygænidæ. Proc. Essex Institute. IV. 1864. p- 14. oe

or further remarks and figures in illustration see our remarks On Synthetic

Boston Society of Natural History. viii. 1863.

Hallesus sp, Limnophilus des-

pectus, Philopotamus sp., and Setodes exquisita. mi an ps me ve we ass

tions of the body in these and other genera we eral ingoio whe er - a

ave not overlooked the source of most

most in use, such as the ti d sy

cies.

phara

1 varying in different sexes of the same spe-

i149 . REVIEWS.

noticed in the caddis flies are just those characterizing the Neu-

roptera. If we place our trunk of a caddis fly by the side of that

of any one of the Hemerobide we shall find a much greater simi-

larity to this family than the moths. So far as we are aware

neuropterists have never paid sufficient attention to the parts of

the trunk to which we have referred, just as lepidopterists have

uniformly overlooked the characters noticed above, and which are

of the first importance in establishing families. *

As to the less essential characters, called secondary or adaptive

by naturalists, we have gone as far as any onet in noticing their re-

markable analogy to those of the Lepidoptera. But we should not

feel authorized on this account to remove the caddis flies from the

Neuroptera, and place them in an independent group next to the

Lepidoptera. On the same principle we might remove the Psocide

and place them in an independent order next the Aphide ; or re-

move the tailed Batrachians and place them among the lizards.

Turning to the larve, we find that their most essential characters

ally them to the aquatic Hemerobide and Sialidæ, the larve of

some genera closely resembling in their essential characters that

of Corydalus; in the pupa, the limbs are as free as in those of the

two neuropterous families Hemerobide and Sialide. While in

the majority of lepidopterous pup the limbs are soldered to the

body, yet where they are partially free, as in some Tineide, the

form of the lepidopterous pupa is throughout adhered to more

strictly than would be inferred from Mr. McLachlan’s statement.

Our author says that the mandibles of the pupa ‘bear no rela-

tionship to the aborted mandibles of the imago.” May we ask

with what organs he homologizes the mandibles of the Phryganeid

pupa, if not with those of the larva and adult?

Taking up the points of resemblance to the Lepidoptera, brought

forward by our author, we would agree with him that they are for

the most part very remarkable and suggestive, but would suggest

that they are not of much value when used as ordinal characters.

He does not seem to notice the fact that insects of other groups

than the Lepidoptera and Trichoptera have scales on their bodies.

We would go farther than him and say that the scales of Lepisma.

and we would add of all the Thysanura (except in a few scaleless

genera) are truly homologous, rather than “ analogous” with those

ee ae

Be. ie

so ry, de 2?

y Zygenide,

+ Synthetic Types, ete.

REVIEWS. 713

of the Lepidoptera. Certain Diptera, such as the Culicids, have

scales mingled with the hairs on their bodies, as many years ago

shown by Mr. Jabez Hogg, and more recently by Miiller; the spe-

cies of Amphientomum of the family Psocidæ, as he is undoubt-

edly well aware, have scaly bodies ; so that this character is by no

means peculiar to the two groups mentioned by our author. Did

the Trichoptera possess the hook and bristle in the wings of the

Lepidoptera (a most inconstant character even in the moths) why

should such a trivial character be considered as of any importance

in ranking ordinal (or subordinal) groups?

Our own view, judging not only from the structure of the adults,

but also of the larve and pup, is that the Lepidoptera rank next

above the Diptera, the Tineids and Pterophoride having many

points of agreement with the Culicide and Tipulide, which seem

to us to be as deeply seated as the resemblance to the Phrygane-

ide. In an evolutional point of view we have been accustomed to

regard the moths as having perhaps sprung from these dipterous

families. Hence we have been unable to agree with the opinion

of E. Müller (see this journal, vol. v, p. 288) that the Lepidoptera

have sprung from the Phryganeids, though we can easily see that

many will be convinced by his statements. But he has, we venture

to think, erred in the same way as our author, in overlooking the

fundamental characters of the Phryganeide, and regarding the

adaptive, superficial characters, drawn mostly from the appen-

dages, as of primary value.

SUPPLEMENT TÒ THE CATALOGUE OF OPHIURIDÆ OF THE CAM-

BRIDGE Museum.*— This paper is particularly interesting from the

excellent figures illustrating the most important species dredged at

great depths between Cuba and the Florida Reef. The note on no-

menclature and classification deserves mention in connection with

the article on this subject by Mr. Alex. Agassiz, published on p. 354

of the present volume of this journal. As to the matter of changing

the authority with each change in the combination of the name of a

genus and species, Gen. Lyman opposes the view of Dr. Liitken,

the distinguished zoologist, of Copenhagen in the following terse

language :— `

“ For instance, we have, in 1854, Ophiura nodosa Ltk. I after-

A Onti

* Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, H g

No vi. Supplement to the Ophiuridæ and Astrophytidæ. By Theodore Lyman. Cam-

ridge, 1871. Royal 8vo. pp. 18. With 2 plates.

714 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

wards attempted to show that Ophiura was preoccupied, and

made a name, Ophioglypha, to take its place; and owe questign

now is, shall it be written Ophioglypha nodosa Ltk. or Ophio-

glypha nodosa Lym? Dr. Lütken has no cause for aeon nea

There are two parties to this question. That to which he belongs

when an author’s name is lost sight of. The party whose views I

hold maintains that nomenclature is a system of exact registration,

and that, with the present enormous mass and confusion of titles,

other guide is possible; and further, that the credit of a

zoologist does not rest on his monogram, but on something better.

Bias e To sum up, Astrophyton costosum Seba, and Ophioglypha

nodosa Lyman, mean ne what they should mean, and nothing

more ; to wit, that in the writings of these two persons will be

We may add that the following rule regarding this subject was

adopted (1868) by the Council of the Peabody Academy :—“ Vo-

ted: that in labelling the collections the name of the person who

first united the generic and specific appellations shall be given as

the authority for the name, and that when the name of the original

describer of the species is given it shall be in parenthesis.”

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

THE Parastie Fuxcı Founp 1N tHe Human Ear have recently

been studied by Dr. Karsten. He confirms the statement made by

Hallier and other previous observers, that when the spores of

these fungi are sown elsewhere they assume very different forms,

according as the matrix on which they are sown is rich or poor in

material for nutrition; and that fungi described by early writers

as distinct species, or even as belonging to different genera, are

frequently merely different forms of the same plant.

PE ae RERNE ey E > eee ee ee

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 715

Virauity of Camprum Layer or Bark. — Permit me to call

attention to a curious fact, relating to the ‘* cambium layer.”

While spending vacation in Andover, Mass., in July and August

of this year, I observed an apple tree upon the premises of Geo.

Ripley, Esq., from which the bark had been entirely removed in

May, 1870, for the whole distance between the ground and the

branches. The tree is about one foot in diameter, and its branches

are some seven feet from the ground. Though this tree had been

so thoroughly girdled, a new and healthy bark had formed upon

its trunk, and the tree appeared vigorous and had a good crop of

fruit upon its branches. Upon inquiry, I found that this girdling

operation had been performed from no malicious purpose, but for

the sake of improving the health and fruitfulness of the tree! I

sought the acquaintance of the botanical magician who had proved

himself so skilful in producing good from evil, and found him to

be an old man of 86 years— Mr. Joseph Davis. He showed me

several trees in an adjoining orchard, upon which the same opera-

tion had been performed some six weeks previous, each tree mani-

festing all the signs of healthful vigor and having a new, but very

thin bark already formed upon its trunk. Mr. Davis insisted that

the removal of the bark should be made about the first of June,

when the new wood is most rapidly formed, and that the hand of

the operator and every other object should be kept from contact

with the stripped trunk for several days. He also stated that a

heavy rain storm would kill the tree if occurring within a day or

two of the loss of its bark, and pointed out a dead line upon one

of the trees, running from the top to the bottom of the trunk,

caused by the trickling down of rain produced by a light shower

which fell within twenty-four hours of the girdling.

I had never before seen so clear an illustration of the wonderful

Vitality of the “ cambium layer,” a portion of which (called

“mucilage ” by Mr. Davis) must have remained upon the trunks

of these trees, and being protected from disturbance performed all

the functions of the entire bark, besides speedily restoring the lost

portions. — Frank H. Snow, Lawrence, Kansas.

INFLUENCE OF THE PERIOD OF FECUNDATION ON THE SEX OF

Pranrs.— The author of the “ Vestiges of Creation” advanced

the theory that ‘all beings are at one stage of the embryotic prog-

ress female, a certain number of them are afterwards advanced

716 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

to be of the more powerful sex ;” and Thury of Geneva believed —

that the moment of fertilization relative to the maturity of the

ovule, exercises a decisive influence on the sexuality of the prod-

uct, the ovules fertilized earliest producing females, and those

fecundated at a later period producing males. Professor Hoffmann

of Giessen has recently attempted to test the truth of this theory

in the case of dicecious plants, the species on which the experi-

ments were made being Spinacia oleracea, Mercurialis annua, Iy-

chius vespertina, and Rumex acetosella. In each case the female

plants were separated into two portions, one being fertilized arti-

ficially as early as the stigmas were developed, the other after they

had been mature for a considerable period. The result of his ex-

periments was, on the whole, decidedly opposed to Thury’s theory ;

nevertheless he found that the period of fecundation had an Ur

mistakable influence on the plant; and also that a remarkable dif-

ference exists between the results of artificial and of natural im-

pregnation which he was quite unable to account for.—A. W. B.

Diaroms 1x THe Hor Sprincs or Nevapa.— Dr. Blake exhib-

ited, before the California Academy of Sciences, under a powerful .

microscope, specimens of Diatoms from a hot spring in Nevada,

the temperature of which was one hundred and sixty degrees. Dr.

Blake said they were more numerous there than in any other local-

ity, six or eight hundred occurring in a bit of mud the size of i

a pin’s head. Most of them were identical with the fossil spece® —

described by Ehrenberg, from near Salt Lake, but many were D&W

He mentioned particularly the red alge, living in the spring ani

found in salt beds in many parts of the world. He found about

fifty-two species, of which thirty are the same as Ehrenberg’s, WHO :

mentions about sixty-eight.

| ZOOLOGY.

Fossi Mesozoic Mamas.” —The interest which in the ye

1854 centred around the important discoveries of Mr. ees T

a small and apparently insignificant seam in a scarcely noticeable

stratum of the upper Oolitic series has during the past few MOP”

risen to satisfaction at our k fact that the epee

nowledge of the m S

ERED fer r erene emea sa a E AAEE E eae ae a

* “ Monograph of the Fo olo ] i

> ssil Mammalia of the Mesozoic Formatio 3

Owen, F. R. S, D.C. L. (Printed for the Palæontographical Society. erate

y By professot

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 717

mens derived from the Purbeck beds have been at last fully and

entirely described by Professor Owen. Sir Charles Lyell elo-

quently and suggestively pointed out, with reference to the im-

portance of the Purbeck discoveries, “when the geologist inquires

if any land animals of a higher grade than reptiles lived through

any one of these three periods, the rocks are all silent, save one

thin layer a few inches in thickness. This single page of the

earth’s history has suddenly revealed to us in a few weeks the

memorials of so many species of fossil mammalia that they al-

ready outnumber those of many a subdivision of the tertiary se-

ries and far surpass those of all the other secondary rocks put to-

gether !”

In this locality Mr. Beckles worked for many years at his own

expense ; and the result was the discovery of an extensive series

of fossils, which were placed in the hands of Professor Owen for

description. Some of these in the meanwhile were described by

other paleontologists; and a controversy was carried on, both in

the “Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society” and in some

ephemeral publications, as to the nature and value of the principal

genus of mammalia that was discovered in the Purbeck “ dirt bed.”

This species, Plagiaulax, contained in itself one of those text-

examples on which the truth and verity of all our physiological

deductions may rest. And it is rather with a view of offering our

readers some notion of the intellectual canons on which a scien-

tific man may determine the affinities of a species than of describ-

ing the form itself, that we briefly call attention to what, perhaps,

is one of the most interesting genera which modern science has

unveiled to us.

The jaw of a very minute animal presented, as was thought by

Dr. Falconer, its original describer, some points of analogy with

the characters exhibited by the jaw of the kangaroo-rat ( Hypsi-

prymnus), and much controversy was expended at the time of its

discovery and shortly afterwards, as to tke precise value of those

features which led one eminent scientific man (alas! since de-

ceased) to affirm from the form of the jaw and shape of one of

the teeth that it was an herbivorous animal ; while Professor Owen,

on the other hand, declared it to be a carnivorous marsupial. That

two such eminent men could in this way differ on the most simple,

the most elementary, and the most obvious fact in the science,

naturally leads students to suspect either that the infallible can-

718 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ons of the science of paleontology must be wrong, or that errors

both of fact and of definition must have been committed by one

or other of the intellectual combatants.

Ds ee Qq a

is ait, Æmilius ; utii creditis, quirites ?

t=]

Though the species of animal, therefore, is of trifling dimensions,

` and though the technical argument is too complex to be entered -

into on the present occasion, we must examine how far the canons

of the science have been obeyed. Cuvier has said, “ La premiére

chose à faire dans l'étude d’un animal fossile, est de reconnaitre

la forme de ses dents molaires; on détermine par 1A g'il est car-

nivore ou herbivore.” The few and small molars of Plagiaulas,

however, bore no relation whatever to the like molars in any other

herbivorous animal; while many other characters— e. g. the cut-

ting and salient angle of the molar and premolar teeth ; the broad,

high, and nearly vertical coronoid process ; and the very low po-

sition of the articular condyle — amply demonstrate to the satis-

faction of Professor Owen and his disciples the absolute reverse

of Dr. Falconer’s theory. Plausible as the latter was, resting en-

tirely on the apparent resemblance of one solitary tooth (and

that one not even a molar) with the premolar tooth of the kan-

garoo-rat, the words of Owen are amply confirmed, ‘that the

prominent appearances which first catch the eye and indicate a

conformable conclusion are deceptive ; and that the less obtrusive

phenomena which require searching out, more frequently when

their full significance is reasoned up to, guide to the right com-

prehension of the whole. It is as if truth were whispered rather

than outspoken by Nature.”

The lesson, therefore which students ought to learn is that the

true affinities of an animal do not lie on the surface of the speci-

men; that one solitary premolar tooth is inadequate on which to

found a theory of the ‘ saltatory ” nature of the animal to which

it belonged ; and that the theory of Dr. Falconer, adroitly though

it has been supported by many apparent or accidental coinciden-

ces has not stood its ground before the more elaborate, more pro-

found, and at the same time more simple interpretation of the

affinities of Plagiaulax originally suggested by Professor Owen.

After the lapse of some years (in fact since 1847) the oldest

Wurtemberg. This perhaps bears some slight resemblance to

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 719

Plagiaulax, although the allegation of affinity between Plagiaulax

and Microlestes rested upon one of those “ hasty blunders” which

detract from the safe and accurate progress of any science. Profes-

sor Owen we believe on one occasion (‘‘ Palzeontology,” 1st edit., p.

302 ; 2nd edit., p. 339) pointed out that some of the teeth of Plag-

iaulax bore resemblance to some teeth in Microlestes, in a sentence

which was plainly and lucidly expressed. The incapacity as it

seems, to apprehend the meaning of an ordinary sentence leads

us also to doubt the capacity of judging of the nature or degree

of the demonstration of the affinity of Plagiaulax to Hypsiprym-

nus which a superficial observer may believe himself to find in the

more exact writings of Falconer or Flower.

Relegating, therefore, the unhappy little jaw of Plagiaulax far

away from the sect of the “Jumpers” (Saltantia) to its proper posi-

tion in the scale of insect or flesh feeding marsupials, associated

with its congener, the large marsupial tiger of Australia ( Thylacoleo

carnifex), the affinities of which as a bona fide carnivore Professor

Owen also amply proves, we have to glance at the number of new

forms of animal life described by Professor Owen in the present

memoir. Eight new genera of mammalia and seventeen new spe-

cies are described in detail, all of which afford marked points of

distinction from anything of which the palontological student in

these forms are unquestionably marsupial and allied to the pigmy

“ opossums ” of Australia, differing not only from each other, but

from anything previously. known to science. We can only won-

der at the enormous amount of variety of ‘differentiation ” which

appeared at so remote a period of the earth’s history, and the

mode in which the places which nowadays in the Dorsetshire

fields are filled by moles, hedgehogs, and shrewmice, were, at the

time of the deposition of what is now called the ‘‘ Purbeck bed ”

occupied by animals which, while they closely resembled in many

of their characters the existing opossums, yet differed from them

in retaining the more “ generalized” type, from which it is not

merely rational but probable to believe that our forms of marsu-

pial animals existing at the present day have sprung.— Pall Mall

Budget.

Former EASTWARD RANGE OF THE Burraro. — The occurrence

of the buffalo in Virginia up to the close of the last century, can

720 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

‘be substantiated beyond question. Surgeon J. Simpson, U. S. A.,

who was well acquainted with Nathan Boone (son of Daniel Boone

the pioneer, and then a captain in the service*), informs me that

he had the fact, in 1843, from Nathan Boone himself, who killed

Buffalo in Virginia in 1793-97-98.

Dr. Simpson has handed me a letter addressed to him by Dr.

Charles McCormick, Surgeon U. S. A., dated Fort Gibson, Chero-

kee Nation, August 18th, 1844, in which the particulars are given.

The occasion for that part of the letter which relates to the buffalo

arose in this way :— An officer to whom Dr. Simpson mentioned

Capt. Boone’s statements being inclined to doubt them, Dr. Simp-

son wrote to Dr. McCormick, desiring the latter to ask Capt.

Boone, who was then at Fort Gibson, to put the facts in writing.

This, it seems, Capt. Boone promised to do, but neglected to keep

his promise, owing, probably, to the singular indisposition of men

of his class to put anything on paper. The following extract,

however, from the letter in question, is sufficient : —

“I have just seen Capt. Boone,” writes Dr. McCormick, ‘‘ and

he promises to write and tell you all about it. In the meantime,

he says he killed al first buffalo, somewhere about 1793, on the’

Kenawha in Virginia. He was then quite a small boy. He has

also killed butilo. on New River and near the Big Sandy in Vir-

ginia in ’97 and ’9

I have thought best to be thus circumstantial in detail of per-

sons, places and dates, in order to fix precisely an important item

in the natural history of our country. But this occurrence of the

buffalo in Virginia is only of a part with its general former range,

as attested by accounts of other observers. — ELLIOTT Coves, Fort

McHenry, Md.

Lasp Suetis or Western Massacnuserrs.—In Vol. I, of the

NatvRAList, was published a paper on the ‘Land-Snails of New

England.” During the following summer I was myself engaged

in making a small collection of the land-snails found at West

Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., and to my surprise, many of

my results were directly at variance with those given by Mr. Morse

in the above-mentioned article. The reason for this difference was

Se anne TO En

ee of Rangers, 23 March, 1812; out of service to June 16, 1832; then made

aptain of Mounted Rangers; Lieutenant Colonel, 2d U. S. Dragoons, July 25, 1850,

and until death at Springfield Illinois, July 15, 1853.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 721

apparent when I considered my locality. Berkshire Co. occupies

the extreme western end of Massachusetts, and therefore its fauna

closely resembles that of New York; and further, it is eminently

a limestone country, and for this reason, the land-snails exist in

wonderful abundance. Frequently in a morning’s walk I have

met with twenty or thirty of the larger species and quite a number

of the smaller ones. Helix fuliginosus Binney and H. inornata

Say were found in great abundance and in nearly equal num-

bers. In some localities, near the marble quarries, I found H.

alternata Say in wonderful profusion, but in general it was an

uncommon shell. H. tridentata Say, of which Mr. Morse says,

it “occurs only rarely in the western part of Mass.,” was very

common in my immediate vicinity. Next to albolabris, inornata

and fuliginosis, it was the most common shell found. H. monodon

was rather rare; hirsuta was still more so, as between myself and

a friend collecting with me, we only obtained three or four speci-

mens. Of H. palliata, recorded as being found at ‘*Copperas Hill,

Vt.,” I found one perfect specimen; of H. Sayii, I found five or

six perfect specimens and several bleached ones. Of the smaller

shells, none could be considered common except H. labyrinthica,

and Zua lubricoides. The former I found most common on moss-

edvered rocks, comfortably packed away in the moist earth and

roots, between the moss and the rock. The latter were always

found at the base of rocks, among the moist leaves and in the

earth itself. Judging from the collections made by myself and

friend, I should say that the relative abundance of snail shells

in that locality is expressed in the following numbers: H. fuligi-

nosis, ten; inornata, ten; tridentata, five ; albolabris, four ; alter-

nata, three; monodon, three ; labyrinthica, two; Zua lubricoides,

two; H. Sayii, one; all others only occasional. This excludes

the locality where alternata was so plenty ; if that be counted, it

would place that species at two or three times all the others com-

bined. I have given these notes because they show how much

local variation may exist in the distribution of the land shells,

and how much the extreme western part of Mass. resembles the

` Middle or Western States, so far as its snail-life is concerned. —

W. G. Freepiey, Philadelphia.

CoxcHoLoGIcaL Nores — Mr Stearns called the attention of the

California Academy of Sciences to the indefiniteness and errors in

the catalogues of various families of the Mollusca, which are being

722 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

published by the Conchological Section of the Academy of Sciences

of Philadelphia; these faults occur in the habitat of many of the

species, while no new light has been thrown upon their geograph-

ical distribution. In some instances; certain West American spe-

cies which he named, had a range of a thousand miles further north

than credited in the catalogues, and in some cases species had been

credited to this coast that were exotic and whose true station was

thousands of miles away. Such errors by an American author in

connection with American species, were to say the least discred-

itable ; the errors of Reeve, Sowerby and Kiener were repeated,

while the labors of our own authors were practically ignored, and

their more accurate work though equally accessible, was over-

looked. He presented a paper upon the subject for publication.

Mr. Stearns also gave a description of the animal of Trivia Cal-

ifornica, with blackboard illustrations of the same, and of the

corals upon which it feeds; worn beach specimens of this Trivia

are the F. depauperata of Sowerby.

Tue Fauna or LAKE SUPERIOR at Great DEPTHS. — An ex-

amination of the fauna of the depths of Lake Superior has been

undertaken the past season by the U. S. Lake Survey, and dredg-

ing in different parts of the lake has been conducted by Mr. S. I:

Smith. In all the deeper parts of the lake examined, the bottom

is composed of fine clay, or clayey mud, apparently unfavorable

to a great variety of life. The principal animals obtained below

one hundred fathoms were, a species of Hydra, several worms,

species of Ostracoda, with a few other forms of Entomostraca, one

or two species of Amphipoda, a species of Mysis,* insect larve be-

longing to the dipterous genus Chironomus and a species of Pis-

idium. In the more shallow waters, a much greater variety of

animals was obtained. The species of Mysis was found at à

number of points from eight to one hundred and _forty-cight

fathoms, and Mr. Smith regards its occurrence only as evidence

that Mysis is another to be added to the list of genera common to

fresh and salt water. Dredging was carried on down to one hun-

dred and sixty-nine fathoms, the deepest known point in the lake,

and water brought up from that depth was perfectly fresh. The

temperature in all the deeper parts of the lake is near 39°, OF

about that of the maximum density of fresh water.

* Mysis relicta Lovén, and Pontoporeia afinis Lindst., both liying in Lake Wetter in

peeks a Sie ae he

DS igs} T nS

Seas a ity it pe WR I Dies LDS bene tl Se

ee eee mae

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 723

SENSITIVE SURFACE IN Movuse’s Ear. — We learn from the “ Quar-

terly Journal of Microscopy ” that Dr. Schobl, who lately published

aremarkable paper on the wing of the bat, has made similar re-

searches on the ear of the white mouse, with very interesting and

surprising results. The first thing which attracted his attention

was the immense richness of the ear in nerves. Even the bat’s

wing is but poorly supplied in comparison. Calculating from the

average size of the ear of a common mouse, he found that there

are on the average 3,000 nerve terminations on each of its surfaces,

making 6,000 on each ear, or 12,000 altogether. The function of

this elaborate arrangement would seem to be, like that in the wing

of the bat, to supply by means of a very refined sense of touch

the want of vision to these subterranean animals. .

DEVELOPMENT OF Nocrituca.—All that has been known as to

the mode of development of this minute Fig. 121.

animal (Fig. 121), that causes a great pn =

part of the phosphorescence of our seas,

is that they multiply by division and in-

ternal budding. Prof. Cienkowski, as

the “ Quarterly Journal of Microscopy”

states, has traced the ‘ormation of

spores like those of some fungi, and seen

them swimming around like the zoospores of sea weeds. He has

also observed the mode of sexual union of these animals.

RELATIONS OF EMBRYOLOGY TO PATHOLOGY.— Dr. Dohrn reviews

in the “ Academy” some observations made in the Pathological

Institute of Jena by Prof. W. Müller, and published in the ‘‘ Jena

Zeitschrift.” The papers contain a singular mixture of embryology

and pathology, and embrace a field of comparative embryology that

has hitherto remained wholly uncultivated. In regard to the chorda

dorsalis, Miiller shows that it plays a secondary part in the forma-

tion of the skeleton of Vertebrates. We can very well imagine

animals, Dohrn says, with bones in their interior, and even ani-

mals with a vertebrate skeleton, which present no traces of a

chorda, while on the other hand we may meet with the chorda in

invertebrate animals, such as the larvee of AARS, which devel-

op no trace of an internal skeleton.

Miiller’s papers also show ihat a new era in pathological anat-

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V- 46

724 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

omy is dawning, since comparative anatomy and embryology will

aid in recognizing the nature of pathological processes and for-

mations. Dohrn insists that ‘‘in addition to anatomy and physi-

ology, which are subjects of equal importance, embryology and

comparative anatomy should also be regarded as absolutely essen-

tial to the completion of medical education” and urges that a new

and special chair be devoted to these subjects in medical univer-

sities and schools; and if this be a necessity for Germany, where

the study of the history of development has of late years received

such great extension, it holds still more for England, where

scarcely any embryology is taught or made an object of study.

How lamentably deficient our own medical schools are in these

branches is sufficiently apparent.

CAUSE oF PHOSPHORESCENCE IN ANiIMALS.—M. Panceri pre-

sented to the recent congress of naturalists and physicians at

Turin (Italy) the results of some investigations as to the cause of

phosphorescence in animals, and especially in fishes. He has

come to the conclusion that the cause of this phenomenon is the

slow oxidation of fat, which he finds to be always present when

the phosphorescence is observed in animal substances. In the

case of fish the oxygen of the air very readily penetrates the skin,

and acts upon the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The phenomenon

is promoted by placing the phosphorescent substance in oxygen,

but is entirely arrested by its immersion in carbonic acid, fresh

water, alcohol, or any solution not containing oxygen. Phospho-

rescence usually commences immediately after death, and contin-

ues until decomposition sets in, with disengagement of ammonia,

when it invariably ceases.— A. W. B.

Piers RAPH Parasrre. — It will doubtless be an interesting

item of intelligence to many of the readers of the Narurarsr, that

the parasite, so anxiously looked for, as the only hope of preserv-

ing the cabbage crop of our country from the destruction threat-

ened it by the ravages of Pieris rape, has already entered upon

its labors, and in so efficient a manner as to promise immediate

beneficial results.

During the latter part of September, I was informed that a num-

ber of chrysalides of ‘P. rape which had been collected by a gen-

tleman in this city, with a view of obtaining specimens of the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 725

images for drawing, instead of disclosing the butterfly, gave out a

number of small flies from each. Some of them having been

brought to me in compliance with my request, I was delighted to

find them to be of the genus Pteromalus which includes so many

of our valued parasitic friends, and probably of the species which

has been found so serviceable in Europe, in destroying the several

cabbage butterflies there existing — viz., the Pt. puparum of Lin-

neeus.

From the close resemblance which many of the Pteromali bear

to one another, it is not safe to assert positively that we have

really been favored with the importation of the European parasite,

to aid in the work of subjugation of the European pest, but

should further examination prove this to be the case, it will be not

only a most interesting event in its scientific aspect, but also in

the pecuniary results which must necessarily follow it.

In another number, I may give your readers the observations —

quite limited, I regret — which I have been able to make on this

welcome parasite. — J. A. Lintner, N. Y. State Museum of Nat.

Hist.

[We have also raised this parasite in considerable abundance

and also received specimens from Vermont. We have likewise

reared a Dipterous parasite from the cocoons. — Eps. ]

Tue Fauna or Mapacascar.—M. Alfred Grandidier has re-

cently returned from his third voyage of discovery to Madagascar,

and has shown that the riches and eccentricities of its fauna have

not yet been exhausted. His collections, which have only recently

reached the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, although brought to

France before the political storm of last year commenced, have

not yet been fully examined. But they are said to include very

full series of several species of Lemuridæ, the comparison of

which is likely to lead to important results, besides examples of a

new genus of Rodentia, and many other mammals of high inter-

est. M. Grandidier has also paid much attention to the fossil de-

posits of Southern Madagascar, which contain the remains of the

extinct gigantic bird, Æpyornis maxima, and has arrived at some

important results (such as the former presence of Hippopotamus

in Madagascar), which may ultimately tend to modify some of the

views generally held concerning the true nature of the fauna of

this island and its origin. — A. W. B.

726 ” ‘NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

WALDHEIMIA SEPTIGERA AND TEREBRATELLA SEPTATA IDENTICAL.

To:the Editors of the American Naturalist. Sirs :— Having in the

course of a too short visit to North America been honored by re-

markable kindness and attention on the part of my brother natu-

ralists in this great hemisphere, I am rather disappointed at

seeing in your excellent periodical a notice of the report submitted

to the Royal Society of London by my colleagues and myself on

the deep-sea exploration of parts of the North Atlantic, in H. M. S.

Porcupine, during the summer of 1869. The writer of that notice,

Mr. W. H. Dall, criticises in what I cannot help considering over-

severe terms my views “‘ in regard of the specific and generic lim-

its of animals ;” and he gives as an instance, Waldheimia septigera

-and Terebratella septata, which he states belongs to different gen-

era, although I have included both under the same specific name.

I do not agree with Mr. Dall in his statement. Having had op-

portunities of examining the types or original specimens of Tere-

bratula septigera Lovén, at Stockholm, and of Terebratula septata

(Philippi), at Berlin, and having carefully compared these speci-

mens with the published descriptions and figures, I am convinced

that both belong not only to the same genus, but to the same spe-

cies. What seems to have been in the mind of Mr. Dall when he

penned his hasty critique, was that Professor Seguenza of Messina

had referred a species of Terebratella from the Sicilian tertiaries to

Philippi’s species, and a species of Terebratula found in the same

formation to Lovén’s species. The former may be the Terebratella

Marie of Mr. Arthur Adams from the J apanese seas; the latter

I have ascertained to be rather widely distributed in the North

Atlantic. I have the honor to be, Sirs, your very obedient servant,

Gwyn Jerrreys, Montreal, Oct. 6, 1871.

Arrinitres or Coccoriras AND or Sponces. — Mr. H. J. Carter

has enunciated the theory that the coccoliths and coccospheres

which are found in deep-sea mud, and have recently been identified

as a constituent of some very ancient geological strata, are not,

as held by Prof. Huxley, lowly formed animal organisms, but are

of vegetable origin. This theory will, the writer considers, ex-

plain the apparent anomaly of the presence in deep seas of a large

amount of animal life without vegetable organisms for their sub-

sistence. To the sahe magazine in which this theory is pro-

pounded, the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 727

same authority contributes a paper on the ultimate structure of the

calcareous sponges, confirming what has already been written on the

same subject by Prof. H. James Clark of Lexington, Ky. The opin-

ion of these two writers is, that the sponges as a group are most

nearly allied to the Flagellate Infusoria, and not, as Prof. Heckel

has proposed, to the Coelenterata. Mr. Carter has expressed his

opinion that they are more closely related even to the compound

Tunicata, a view which is, however, dissented from by Mr. W. S.

Kent, who regards them as a distinct group of the Protozoa, allied

on the one hand to the Flagellate Infusoria, in virtue of their uni-

ciliated and funnel-bearing cells, and on the other to the simpler

Rhizopoda, in the presence of the general pervading sarcode layer,

subservient to the secretion of the common supporting skeleton.

While opposed to Prof. Hxckel’s proposition of uniting: the Spon-

giade and Celenterata under one sub-kingdom, Mr. Kent does

not deny to the latter the position of the next round of the ladder

in the ascending scale of organized beings, though he at present

considers there are too many links missing to permit of their

fusion. — A. W. B

Lacorpatre’s COLEOPTERA. — I learn from that agreeable source

of entomological information, ‘the “Petite Nouvelles Entomolo-

giques,” that M. Chapuis has undertaken to complete M. Lacor-

daire’s great work, which was interrupted by the lamented death

of its talented author. M. Chapuis wishes to obtain specimens of

the following genera, in which he is still deficient : — Megamerus,

Prionesthis, Rhynchostomis, Atalesis, Ametella, Chiloxena, Poly-

optilus, Macrolema, Eubaptus and Ateledera, etc. I am informed

that our friend, Mr. J. S. Baly, who possesses the finest collection

of Chrysomelide in the world, has offered it to M. Chapuis to

make every use of; and I trust other entomologists will follow so

generous an example. — Newman s Entomologist.

Tue Srur SANDPIPER IN Massacuuserts.— A single specimen

of this species, Micropalama himantopus, was taken here by Albert

E. Mills, at Blacksmith pond, July 24, the present year. This is

the first recorded instance of its capture in this State, although its

occurrence had been anticipated. (Proceedings Essex Inst., Wy

294, and Amer. Nart., HOI, 639.) It was in company with a

solitary sandpiper, Rhyacophilus solitarius, which was also secured.

Both were adult females. —Orıs Furrer, Needham, Mass.

728 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

GIGANTIC SALAMANDER FROM Cunina. — Father David, a mis-

sionary priest of the order of Lazarists, for many years resident

at Pekin, and an enthusiastic naturalist, has discovered in China,

besides several new and extremely interesting species of animals,

a gigantic aquatic salamander, allied to the great Sieboldia of

Japan. The remains of a closely allied reptile (Andrias) are

found in the tertiary fresh water deposits of Central Europe.

New Hapirar or HELIX LINEATA. — Among the North Ameri-

can landshells that are remarkable for a wide range of distribu-

tion is the little Helix (Hyalina?) lineata of Say, already credited

with a range in latitude from ‘Gaspé to Texas,” with a longitude

from the Atlantic to “ New Mexico.” I was much surprised to find

specimens in a box of Helices recently collected on the banks and

in the neighborhood of Salmon River, Idaho, and sent to me by

Henry Hemphill, Esq. The internal peripheral teeth I should

judge to be coincident with varical development or periodical

growth, and rather eccentric in occurrence and number; not al-

ways being in “pairs” * — but sometimes showing only one.—R.

E. C. STEARNS.

New EnxromoLocicaL Boogs.— The 14th fasciculus of Mul-

sant’s “Opuscula Entomologica” is just published. The 3rd vol-

ume of the “Natural History of the Hemiptera of France” will

be ready in a few days, and will contain four tribes. M. Mulsant

has published the new edition of his “ History of the Lamellicorns

of France,” as well as the Ist part of the “Staphylinide.” A

new edition of the “ Iconography and Natural History of Larve —

of Lepidoptera,” by MM. Duponchel and Guenée, is about to be

issued: the work gives descriptions and figures of a great number

of the larve of European Lepidoptera, of course including Eng-

lish species; these figures are contained in ninety-three plates,

excellently coloured: the work is published in forty fasciculi, at

one franc each. Of the Iconography and Description of unpu

lished Lepidoptera of Europe, by P. Milliére, twenty-five fasciculi

have been published, and these contain more than a thousand de-

scriptions of larvee, pupe and perfect insects, with the plants on

which the larve feed, and other details of their life-history: the

work is worthy the support of all lovers of the science; nothing

*Vide eai and Bland’s Land and Fresh Water Shells of North America, Part I,

p. 82, fig. 84.—Smithson. Pub.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 729

can exceed the delicacy and finish of the figures.—Newman’s Ento-

mologist. A

GEOLOGY.

Tue Drier Pertop.—In a paper read at the Lyceum of Natural

History, New York Oct. 24, 1870, Prof. Newberry observed :— In

the sequence of events included in our Drift period there is a

marked break, a middle period, during which, over most of the

north-western states, no Drift deposits were made, and when most

of this area was covered with a forest growth and sustained many

and large animals. At a subsequent period, all parts of this area,

less than five hundred feet above the highest of our present great

lakes was submerged, and most portions of it covered to greater

or less depth, with new Drift deposits, clays, sands, gravel and

boulders, a large part of northern and remote origin. Nearly all

the large boulders of the Drift belonging to this later epoch are

sometimes of great size (one hundred tons) and have been Jloated

to their present positions, as they overlie undisturbed stratified

sands and clays, which would have been broken up and carried

away by glaciers or currents of water moving with sufficient ve-

locity to transport these blocks. Hence they must have been

floated from the Canadian highlands, the place of origin of most

of them, by icebergs. This epoch of the Drift period I have there-

fore termed the Iceberg Epoch. During this epoch the submer-

gence of the land in the interior of the continent, was greater

than in the epoch of the deposition of the Champlain and Erie

clays, and all the area north of the Ohio was covered with water

np to a height of over five hundred feet above Lake Erie, or one

thousand one hundred feet above the ocean level. The highlands

of south eastern Ohio, and most of the country south of the Ohio

river were not covered by this flood and now bear no drift deposit

of any kind. Tracing out the line of ancient water-surface, we

find that the depression was greater towards the north, so that

the Alleghanies and their foot-hills, and also a wide area of com-

paratively low country in the southern states formed not only a

shore, but a continental limit to the great interior iceberg-ridden

sea of the later Drift Epoch. In the western reaches of this sea,

which was of fresh water in the later centuries of its existence,

was deposited the Loess or “ Bluff” which I have elsewhere desig-

730 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

nated as the later lacustrine, non-glacial drift. During the depo-

sition of the Loess the interior sea was already narrowing and

growing shallower by the cutting down of its outlet or by conti-

nental elevation, or both. The descent of the water-level and

decrease of water-surface have been going on perhaps constantly,

but not uniformly, to the present time, when the area of the great

lakes is the insignificant eighty-five thousand square miles it now is.

In the descent of the water-level, retarded at certain periods, ter-

races and beach lines were formed at various places by the shore

waves. With these history begins. This then is the classification

I would suggest of the drift deposits as they occur in the valley

of the Mississippi, premising that here, as in other geological pe-

riods, the column is nowhere absolutely complete : —

PERIOD. | EPOCHS. STRATA. | NOTES.

Terraces, Sand and gravel beaches with logs,

Beaches, $ leaves, and fresh-water shells. Löess

Löess. with fresh-water and iand-shells

Iceberg Boulders, gravel, sand, and clay,

Terrace. jJ Drift, ; drifted logs, elephant and mastodon

dess. eeth and bones.

Soil-peat with mosses, leaves, logs,

Forest stumps, branches, and standing trees,

Quaternary. } | Bed: mostly red cedar. Elephas, mastodon,

Castoroides, etc.

Laminated clays with sheets of grav-

Erie el, occasional rounded and scratched

Clays. soem boulders, many angular pieces

ofn lyi .

U diea" 3 t nderlying rocks i

i Local beds of boulders and rare

preg ; boulder clay resting on the glaciated

j surface.

From the above table it will be seen that the remains of ele-

phant, mastodon, and the gigantic beaver, occur in the forest-bed

and in all the succeeding drift deposits. It should also be said

that they are found in still greater abundance in peat-bogs and al-

luvial deposits which belong to the present epoch. We have seen

that the submergence of the later drift epoch, though so wide-

spread, left a large part of the area lying between the Mississippi

and Atlantic uncovered. This area the elephant, mastodon, great

beaver, eté., inhabited during the continuance of the flood that

covered the forest bed. From this retreat they issued with the

subsidence of the water, following the retreating shore-line, till

they occupied all the region now exposed about the great lakes.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 731

By what influence they finally became extinct, we cannot yet say.

It has been claimed that they continued to exist down to the ad-

vent of man, and that he was an agent in their destruction. This

statement may be true but requires further proof before it can be

accepted with confidence. The vegetation of the forest bed in-

dicates a cold climate, thus confirming what we had otherwise

learned of the habits of the extinct elephant. He was clothed

with long-hair and wool, was capable of enduring, and probably

preferred a subartic climate, and was associated in this country as

in Europe, with the musk ox and the reindeer. We may therefore

infer that progressive increase in the annual temperature, drove

most of the animals of the Forest-bed northward, and caused to

gather on the shores of the Arctic sea, the herds of elephants

whose remains so much impress ail travellers who visit that region.

This was probably the scene of the last vigorous and abundant

life, and of the death of the species; an event consequent, per-

haps, on the action of local causes, which we shall comprehend

when we have opportunities of studying the record. One remark-

able statement in regard to the Forest-bed requires notice. In

more than one instance, parties digging wells in south-western

Ohio, have reported not only that they found a black soil and logs,

but ‘some of the logs bore marks of the axe, and were sur-

rounded with chips.” These stories I formerly rejected as pure

fabrications ; but in the light of recent observations, they seem to

me to be in part true, and not difficult of explanation.— Nature.

Tue Srructure or Fossi, Cryptrocams.—At the recent meet-

ing of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

held at Edinburgh, Prof. W. C. Williamson read a paper in which

he suggested a new mode of classification of fossil cryptogams.

He proposes to separate the vascular cryptogams into two groups,

the one comprehending Equisetaceze, Lycopodiaceze and Tsoetace, .

to be termed the Cryptogamie Exogene, linking the Cryptogams

with the true Exogens through the Cycads; the other, called the

Cryptogamiz Endogen, to comprehend the ferns, which will unite

the Cryptogams with the Endogens through the palms. He consid-

ers the fossil arborescent Cryptogams allied to Lycopods including

the Lepidodendra, Stigmariz, Sigillariz, etc., to be true crypto-

ms with an exogenous woody axis, and not entitled to the epi-

thet of Acrogens. They differ from ferns in not having closed

782 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

fibro-vascular bundles ; but their growth results from the develop-

ment, within the stem, of a vascular woody cylinder, which grew

thicker year by year, suċh thickenings being the result of addi-

tions to the exterior of the previous growth. Professor William-

son’s theory was, however, sharply contested by Mr. Carruthers

and Professors NcNab and Dyer, who adhered to the old view of

the essential identity of structure of all woody cryptogamous

stems.— A. W. B.

SUPPOSED VEGETABLE Fosstrs.— At a recent meeting of the

Geological Society of London, Mr. W. Carruthers enumerated a

number of bodies which he believes to have been erroneously

described as vegetable fossils. Among these are dendritic mark-

ings which have been treated as foliage; two genera and three

species of supposed fossil fruits which are really impressions of

air-bubbles in moist clay ; reptilian eggs in the Stonefield Slate

and Wealden of the Isle of Wight which have been considered to

be fruits; and the curious prehensile hooklets, arranged in rows

on the arms of a calamary, found fossil in the lithographic stone

of Solenhofen, which have been figured and described by Count

Sternberg as a fossil vegetable. — A. W. B

Tue GroLocy or tHe Warre Mounraixs.—The geology of

these mountains is most intricate. It is not known whether its

granite and slate rocks are of Laurentian, Silurian, or Devonian

age alone, or whether all of these formations may not be repre-

sented. Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, the state geologist of New Hamp-

shire, has made the interesting discovery of upper Silurian corals

in Littleton, N. H. The limestone containing these corals has —

been traced for about three miles, and appears to be overlaid by 4

clay slate, containing a few worm trails. The limestone rock

appears identical, as we learn from the ‘‘ American Journal of

Science,” with that cropping out upon Lake Memphremagog.

ORIGIN or OCEAN Currents.—It seems that the views of ocean

currents advocated by Prof. Carpenter were first recognized by

Prof. J. D. Dana, in 1852, in the reports of ‘‘Wilkes’s Exploring

Expedition” and the “ American Journal of Science.” Prof. Dana

remarks that facts elicited by Carpenter from deep sea explora-

tions “remove all remaining doubt with regard to the universality

of the movement and the oneness of the system. At the same

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 733

time there does not appear to be any good reason for separating

from the system the Gulf Stream, as is done by Dr. Carpenter.”

Prof. Dana also seems to agree with Croll as to the thermal work

of the Gulf Stream.

New CARBONIFEROUS Sprper.—Mr. Woodward describes, as

stated in ‘“ Nature,” from the Dudley coal field, a Phrynus-like

spider which he named Hophrynus Prestvicii. A fossil Lycosa-like

spider had previously been found, also a Phalangium-like species

from the same formation. The present animal represents a third

group of Arachnids which lived during the Coal period.

SINGULAR ALBIno.—The Museum of the Agricultural Depart-

ment at Washington, contains an “albino” Bob-o’-link (Dolicho-

nyx oryzivorus), shot in that vicinity, illustrating a rare and curi-

ous condition. It is of a uniform clear pale yellow, exactly like a

canary-bird.— ELLIOTT Cours.

MICROSCOPY.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECTION OF Microscopy OF THE BOSTON

Socrery or Narurat History, Oct. 11, 1871.— Mr. Greenleaf

stated in reference to the living Amcebze shown at the last meet-

ing, that he had not found the slightest trace of any return move-

ment in those organisms. He had seen a central forward current,

but never the two return side currents, so often described. He

considered these merely optical.

Mr. Stodder said he had tried collecting germs from the atmos-

phere. He had always found great difficulty in obtaining micro-

scopically pure distilled water. This last summer he had used a

glass vessel filled with ice, on which the moisture of the air con-

densed outside. In this manner nothing not in the air was

obtained. In his examinations he had followed the method given

Dr. Maddox in the Feb. (1871) number of the “ Monthly

Microscopical Journal.”

He first placed his germs in molasses, but subsequent examina-

tions showed that this contained germs of its own. He next took

pure crystals of sugar dissolved in the water collected, and placed

on a slide. To keep the moisture present he had used the method

given by Dr. Maddox.

734 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

His first collection, made Aug. 11, developed in a few weeks

sphores, mycelium, and spores of fungi in great abundance. Other

collections of the same date have as yet developed but little

life. He had found that in these experiments no animal life

was developed.

Mr. Greenleaf showed a slide with a small hole drilled in the

centre. By resting the slide on the edge of a shallow tray con-

taining water, so that the hole shall be below the water level,

we have a self-supplying water cell, which is completed by placing

a thin glass cover over the hole. i

Mr. Stodder said, ‘Dr. Woodward has, I think, carried micro-

photography to greater perfection than any one else. I have here

several photographs of great beauty, delicacy and accuracy, taken

with high powers and of very difficult objects.” He then showed

the following: Amhipleura pellucida, with Powell and Lealand’s so

called +g, a Tolles’ 7% and qy and another ;1,, and Powell and Lea-

land’s $, and with a Tolles’ 4, all immersion lenses, and all magni-

fied to nearly 1000 diam. Also positives on glass of the same ob-

jects with Tolles’ {920 diam. with eye-piece and 256 without. All

these show the transverse strize distinctly. Also Stawroneis Stod-

deri Greenleaf 1000 diam. and 3750 diam. and S. Baileyi with

Powell and Lealand’s 3 — 3000 diam.

Mr. Bicknell spoke of the difficulty of using the microscope

vertically, a position which is often necessary in such work as ob-

serving living animals in fluid, picking out Foraminifere from

sand, etc. He had obviated this difficulty by using an ordinary

Nachét camera lucida. By placing the camera on the eye-piece in

the usual manner, and looking into the underside of the camera,

at an angle of about 30° from the horizontal, a perfect view of the

objects on the stage of the microscope is obtained. The position

is thus very easy and entirely free from the usual constraint at-

tending the use of the microscope when in a vertical position. —

Mr. Bicknell also exhibited an achromatic condenser, made in

the form of an eye-piece. Dr. Beale in “ How to work with the

Microscope” has recommended the use of the Kellner eye-piece as

a condenser, and says “ by stopping off the greater part of the

light passing through the condenser, by placing over the upper

lens a thin plate with a very small central hole, a great advantage

results in working with high powers.” In the condenser shown by

Mr. Bicknell the amount and direction of the light is controlled

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 735

by a revolving diaphragm placed between the lenses in the place

where the diaphragm is usually placed in an eye-piece. There are

three holes of different sizes for direct light, one hole with a central

stop for dark field, which gives an admirable effect with objectives

under 30°; and two oval openings, and one oblong opening espe-

cially for the binocular. The oval openings are opposite each

other and are in use at the same time, giving two oblique pencils

of light, converging to a point, and which are very useful for the

binocular. This condenser was used with various objectives from

14 inch ta = of an inch, giving ample light for the latter with

the highest eye-pieces.

Mr. Bicknell stated that with this condenser and a 4 of only

100° aperture, he had seen the same test object which had required

al; or a 7 of 150° when used without it.

Tue Srare Microscoricar Soctrery of Illinois has issued a pro-

spectus of “ The Lens,” a Quarterly Journal of Microscopy and

the Allied Natural Sciences: with the Transactions of the State

Microscopical Society of Illinois; the first number to appear on

the first of October. It will be an octavo, each number containing

at least forty-eight pages of reading matter. Terms, two dollars

per annum in advance. Address Charles Adams, Secretary of the

Publishing Committee, 1000 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, or the

the Editor, S. A. Briggs, 177 Calumet Avenue, Chicago. Though

its appearance has been delayed by the fire, we learn that it will

soon be issued.

Tue Use or THE MICROSCOPE IN STUDYING THE EMBRYOLOGY OF

THE SKULL. — His work had not direct reference to the subject

of teleology, nor to the structure of the tissues ; but his object had

been to work out the metamorphosis of the skull, and to see the

tissues as they begin to differentiate and modify to form the em-

bryo. The subject was a very large one, and had been principally

labored at by the great German embryologists. He had spent

the last two years in studying the development of the frog’s skull,

in watching the different and numerous stages which that creature

undergoes, and the relations it bears to other creatures of the ver-

tebrate type, always remembering that the frog was essentially a

fish. He had been in some degree unprepared for the extent of

the metamorphic changes that the frog underwent. He had worked

out this subject into ten artificial stages, the first of which he had

obtained when the frog was in the egg. In the first stage of its

736 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

morphological development the animal was two stages below the

youngest described embryo of the lowest kind of fish, but one.

The larva of the lamprey was the earliest condition of a fish’s

skull with which we are acquainted. He had succeeded in getting

two stages below the larva of the lamprey. From this stage he

had worked up the development of the frog until he came to the

tadpole, which is the representation of the types of rays and

sharks. As he ascended in the various stages the likeness to the

other vertebrata became very apparent. In an adult frog (Rana

temporaria) he had obtained a metamorphic development of such

height that it bordered upon our own class,the Mammalia. At the

same time it should be stated that other parts of that frog’s skull

retained the simplicity of the adult lamprey. In the frog we had a

creature who had run across the whole circle of types, creeping grad-

ually up to the Mammalia and yet never losing his relation to the

original type, but retaining its structure and relation to the very

end, although subdividing and metamorphosing certain of the facial

arches into the very number of parts that we have in our own

inner ear. The chain of bones in the human ear (the hammer,

the anvil, the round bone and the stirrup) had caused a great deal

of trouble to anatomists in their attempts to trace the series of

metamorphic changes. He had, however, made this clear by trac-

ing the history of the facial bones of a frog, a creature which was

but a fish in respect of its earliest embryonic conditions. Suppos-

ing the doctrine of development to be true, it would seem that we

ourselves have come originally in some line sub-parallel to the frog

(he would not say from the frog itself, although man had repeated

the form tail-less). Even in the highest oviparous vertebrates no

sub-division of a facial bar to form that tiny but really important

part of the human skull, the os orbiculare, ever obtained. In

this respect the frog comes nearer to the Mammalia than any bird.

Birds have branched out in a direction quite away from the ordi-

nary line, and have culminated in their own glorious types. If it

is desired to trace the development of the Mammalia, inquiries

must commence with the Batrachia, and in such inquiries the

thought constantly occurs that between us and the Batrachia there

have been lost whole groups of creatures. We were only just be-

ginning to see the manner in which the work ‘of tracing the devel-

opment of the higher forms of animal life was to be carried on.

—From Address of H. W. Parker, before the Royal Microscopical

Society, in the Monthly Microscopical Journal.

NOTES.

r E

The death of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison occurred on the

22d of October, at the age of seventy-nine. He was not a gradu-

ate of either of the great universities, but like Faraday, Miller and

several other prominent English scientists is said to have had in

early life only an ordinary education. He studied at the Military

College at Marlow, and was an officer in the army from 1807 to

1816. In 1831 he began to study geology practically and at the

end of five years published his celebrated Silurian system. In

1836 he was employed in the geological survey of Russia. He

contributed over a hundred memoirs to scientific journals, and was

among the first to call attention to the Australian gold fields. He

was long President of the Geological Society of London, and at

the time of his death was President of the Royal Geological So-

ciety.

The U. S. Coast Survey Steamer F. R. Hassler, commander P.

C. Johnson, U. S. N., now arrived at Boston, will be despatched as

soon as ready to the coast of California for the survey for which

she is designed.

Prof. Peirce, Superintendent of the Coast Survey, to make this

long voyage by way of the Straits of Magellan as profitable as

possible to science, has offered to Prof. Agassiz the direction of a

scientific party to sail in her, and pursue during the voyage deep

sea researches and investigations in natural history at the different

points of stoppage. The party will consist of Prof. Agassiz as

director (accompanied by Mrs. Agassiz,) Ex-President Hill of

Harvard College as physicist, Assist. L. F. Pourtales of the Coast

Survey in charge of deep sea dredgings, Dr. Steindachner as

icthyologist, Mr. Blake as ichthyologist and draughtsman. Some

of the officers of the ship have also qualified themselves to assist

-in various researches. The point at which the steamer will prob-

ably stop will be Bermuda, Trinidad, Rio Janeiro, Montevideo, the

Falkland Islands, the Straits of Magellan, Juan Fernandez, the

Gallapagos. The ship is fitted out with a special view to deep sea

soundings and dredgings, and with all possible contrivances for

catching fish, etc.

(737)

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. BOOKS RECEIVED. 738

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

E. M. B.,— The Sesia pelasgus is desc ribed rR aiia Synopsis of the Lepidoptera

of U.S. published by the Smithsonian Institutio

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Newman's Entomologist. Nos. 94 and 95. Sept., 1871. London

Physical Diagnosis of Brain Biante. By R. y Vance. 8v0, pp. 8.

Err of T A and Squirrels coliected in the vicinity of y hee Canada. By A.

M. Ross. 8vo, pp.

Sixth ree of the Quekett Microscopical Club and List of Members. 8vo. pp.39. London.

July, 1871

z TGT of Quekett Microscopical Club. No. 15. July, 1871. London

Abhandlungen herausgegeben vom naturwissenschafilichen Vree. zu Bremen. 2 Bd., IH

Heft. Bremen, 1871.

Bulletin de la Soci jete Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou. 1870. No.2. Moscou, 1870,

Zitz ee de Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin im Jahre, 1870. Berlin,

Des species of Fossils from the shales of the Hudson River Group, in n the

ge A: or Cincinnati 0 io, By James Hall [advance sheets of Report New York State Cabi-

net].

ts OP of pee Maly on en Physiology and Hygiene to be delivered by Prof. B. Wilder, ‘ornell

pa nr wo with List ¢ of Prices and Rules of Health. pp.8. 1871. [Pr ice 10 cents. 4

Ey nsact soft the Literary and Historical Societ ty of Quebec. Session of 1870-71. Quebec,

First Annual Report on the Noxious Insects of the State of Illinois. By W. Le Baron, M. D.,

State En atomologist (State document.) 8vo. 1871.

tiania, I

Ld Rs keap. riti af 5te Grad. Af Dr. A. 8S. dok 8yo. Christiania, 1869.

a entation der Imaginaren der Plangeometric. Von Marius Sophus Lie, 8vo. Christi-

Nye Dybvandscrustaceer , fra Lofoten. Af G. O. Sars. ares Christiania, 1869,

Ri Om den kyrenaiske Skole, navnlig Annikeris og Theodoros, Af Dr. G. V. Lyng. 8vo. Chris-

Fortegnelse over Mynter fra Middelalderen, fundre i Aaret 1866 ved et Sted kaldet paa Huns-

CrBentve, Sy Slethetds Grund under Gaarden Thjore i Haalands Præstegjeld paa Jæderen, Af

C. Schive Ska ph hog i a bees K 1300.

ntike Philosophis Histoire, Af Dr. G.V. Lyng. 8vo. Christiania

Om et 4 majaid í ne she "pa. ved ss Aer Tider. Af J. HAD svo.

getat

ustacea e i p An ort ki aretha Auctore Š = ‘Christianls 1370.

Ertsforekomster i sondhordland og paa Karmoen. T kanka ae d. 8yo. Christiania,

e de la mer entre lisland, tecrosse et la Norvege. Par H. Mohn. 8vo. Christiania,

Magnetiske Undersogelser foretagne i 1868. Af E, A. H. Sinding. 8vo, Christiania, 1870.

Om en i Sommeren 1869 foretagen entomologisk Reise gjennem Ringerike, Hallingdal og Val-

ers. AL H. Siebke. 8vo. Christiania, 1870,

_ Zeitschrift fur die Gesammien Natu: perma paia BE pronar t von Dr. C. G. Giebel und Dr. M.

Siewert, Neu ge

h = F 0.

Zeitschrift fur Akklimatisation, Organ n des Aitlimatisations-vererns in Berlin, Heransgege-

. Nos.

ben von Dr. L i ei ol bias Jahrg. Nos. i-xii, 1870: ix Jah os. i-iv, 1871: 8yo. Berlin.

Bon ou ae schen Vereins fur Naturkunde. Jabtgang xxiii und xxiv. 8vo. W

Naturhistorisk Atlas for Sholan och Hemmet uti 623 afbildningar, hamtade ur de basta sve venska

och ee kallor, syltemation: beeen och uppstalld ur B. F. iison. Med ett forord of Prof.

C. J. Sunderyall. Sm all folio, Stockho! 1860.

Nor. E huus-kalender 1859. ia.

asser a. vore nyttige pae deres Indretning og Beboere, ved Robert Collett. 12m0.

Rug

Christianias 130 ad

Snin s-Materiel Sor Almueskolerne. mo. Christi , 1870,

Dritter 1 Beri cht ver Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Chemnite, 1368-70. Svo. Chemnitz,

Zur Erinne erung an Wilhelm Haidinger, von Franz Ritter v. H . 8vo. Wien.

Verhandlungen der k. E geologischen Reichsanstalt. Nos, 1-5, 7-10, 187 5 “ere. iis M No.6

not Sabi ee sen

py i rbuch de r k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, we 1871. xxi Band. Nos. for Jan.-June.

Bulletin of the Torr ey Botanical Clu udoin Scientific Review. Oct

Journal eared Franklin bares pt g“ 4g Get. ye "Ni í :

er Journ nt by Selenec a posh is ine a a ee ye pi Oct.

and ater, Nos.

The x ning pe r Sept. ote ees Get.

( emy. Nos. Relenee yee . Oct

La France Betentifgue. Mos: for Oct. Newman's Palomsotpiel: No. 96, Oct.

ee ey

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. V.— DECEMBER, 1871.—No. 12.

~CERAGNH)OD 2-2

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

BY THE EDITORS.

Arter the adjournment of the meeting of the American Associ-

ation for the Advancement of Science, held at Indianapolis, in

August last, a large number of the members availed themselves of

the generous invitation of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad

Company, to visit this world renowned cave, and examine its pe-

culiar formation and singular fauna.

The cave is in a hill of the subecarboniferous limestone forma-

tion in Edmondson County, a little to the west and south of the

centre of Kentucky. Green river, which rises to the eastward in

about the centre of the state, flows westward passing in close

proximity to the cave, and receiving its waters thence flows north-

westerly to the Ohio.

The limestone formation in which the cave exists, is a most in-

teresting and important geological formation, corresponding to

the mountain limestone of the European geologists, and of con-

siderable geological importance in the determination of the west-

ern coal fields.

We quote the following account of this formation from Major S.

S. Lyon’s report in the fourth volume of the Kentucky Geological

Survey, pages 509-10.

“ The sinks and basins at the head of Sinking ae exhibit

in a striking manner, the eroding effect of rains and fr — some

of the sinks, which are from forty to one hundred ant amery feet

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF

SCIENCE, in the ‘Office of the Librarian cap at Washington.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL 47 (739)

740 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

tal. Near the centre there is an opening of from three to fifteen

feet in diameter ; into this opening the water which has fallen within

the margin of the basin has been drained since the day when the

rocks exposed within were raised above the drainage of the coun-

try, and thus, by the slow process of washing and weathering, the

rocks, which once filled these cavities, have been worn and carried

down into the subterranean drainage of the country. All this has

evidently come to pass in the most quiet and regular manner.

The size of the central opening is too small to admit extraordinary

floods; nor is it possible, with the level margin around, to suppose

that these cavities were worn by eddies in a current that swept the

whole cayernous member of the subcarboniferous limestone of

western Kentucky ; but the opinion is probable that the upheaving

force which raised these beds to their present level, at the same

time ruptured and cracked the beds in certain lines; that after-

wards the rains were swallowed into openings on these fractures,

producing, by denudation, the basins of the sinkhole country, and

further enlarging the original fractures by flowing through them,

and thus forming a vast system of caverns, which surrounds the

western coal field. The Mammoth Cave is, at present, the best

known, and, therefore, the most remarkable.”

So much has been written on the cave and its wonders, that to

ive a description of its interior would be superfluous in this

connection, even could we do so without unintentionally giving

too exaggerated statements which seems to be the natural result

of a day underground, at least so far as this cave is concerned,

for after reading any account of the cave, one is disappointed at

finding the reality so unlike the picture. As the Association party

was accompanied by one, * who while a most enthusiastic collector

the geologists of the party, we can not do better in conveying to

our readers the general geological character and structure of the

cave than to copy his account.

‘“ As we expected to remain within the cave a long time, our

trusty guide, Frank, had provided himself with a well-filled can

of oil, to replenish our lamps, and with this strapped upon his

back he led the way into the thick darkness. We shall attempt

no description of the cave. Its darkness must be felt to be ap-

preciated, and no form of expression, understood by mortals who

have never descended to its cavernous depths, nor trod its gloomy

Ses aee

*W. P. FISHBACK, Esq., of the Indianapolis Daily Journal.

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 741

corridors, can convey any thing like an adequate idea of the place.

After spending fifteen hours wi ‘ithin its chambers, it is absolutely

nauseating to read the descriptions which have been current in the

letters of newspaper correspondents for a quarter of a century,

and even the vigorous and picturesque language of Bayard Taylo

becomes tame and commonplace when it attempts to describe this"

subterranean wonder of the world

How and when the cave was made, were the leading questions

in the minds of the geologists. They do not believe that the cave

was the immediate result of some violent rete of the strata,

which left these vast crevices and chambers of w the cave is

composed ; neither do they share the popular belief ‘that the rapid

and violent action of some subterranean stream of water has

worn Aims deep channels through the limestone ; on the contrary,

steadily and quietly, through vast periods of time, ssibinnadtiahhee

the marvellous wonders that now astonish the beholder. The cave

is wrought in the stratum known as the St. Louis opera , which,

in some places reaches a thickness or depth of four hundred feet.

This stone is dissolved whenever it is subjected to the Bána of

running or dripping water impregnated with carbonic acid m.

Another fact should be stated. When, during this process of so-

lution, the water becomes thoroughly impregnated with lime, it

. loses its power to dissolve the stone. The following conditions,

thén, were essential to the productions of the cave, assuming what

is not disputed by geologists, that the place where the cave now is,

was once nearly solid limestone. First, that there should be fis-

sures in the strata, allowing the ingress of the surface water.

ondly, there should be a place or places of exit for the water Gikeged

with limestone in solution. Without the latter, the water would

become charged with lime, fill up the crevices, and the dissolving

process would cease. These conditions are all present to-day, and

have remained the same during the countless ages that have passed

away while the work has been in progress. There have doubtless

at work to-day. In the Mammoth Dome, for instance — rarely

seen by visitors, on account of the dangers and fatigue incident to

the journey — where the chasm attains a height and depth of more

742 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

than two hundred and fifty feet, a cascade falls from a great height,

and keeps the entire surface of the rocks covered with dripping

water. This, falling into a deep pit below, finds an exit through

which it bears away a portion of the lime composing the rock.

After a walk of thirteen hours, our guide informed us that he would

conduct us to the Mammoth Dome if we felt able to bear the

fatigue of the journey. Foot-sore and weary, we were not in a

favorable condition for so arduous an undertaking, but Mr. Thomas

ite of Cincinnati, who had visited the locality thirty years ago,

urged us to go, and told us the sight of this Dome was worth all

the rest. Provided with magnesium and calcium lights, we crawled

and climbed our way to the brink of the pit, the bottom of which

was reached by a rickety ladder, slippery and dripping with water.

portion of the party descended, and when all were ready the

lights were ignited, and the immense dome was revealed to us in

all its majestic beauty. Upon our return, three hearty cheers were

given to the good friend at whose earnest solicitation we under-

took this part of our journey.

We are indebted to Professor Alexander Winchell, of the Uni-

versity of Michigan, for the following abstract of his views con-

cerning the formation of the cave.

‘The country of the Mammoth Cave was probably dry land at

the close of the coal period, and has remained such, with certain

them, and leaving deposited in the cave, some of the same quart-

zose pebbles which characterize the surface deposits from Lake Su-

perior to the Gulf of Mexico. Since the subsidence of the waters

of the Champlain epoch, the cave has probably undergone compar-

atively few changes. The well one hundred and ninety-eight feet

deep, at the further end of the cave, shows where a considerable

volume of the excavatory waters found exit. The Mammoth Dome

indicates probably, both a place of exit and a place of entrance

above. So of the vertical passages in various other portions

of the cave.’

We believe that the views of Professor Winchell are in harmony

with those of the other eminent geologists of the party, and when

it is considered that the geologists of this excursion stand in the

fron of the most eminent scientific men of the world, their

views up n this interesting subject are well worthy of attention.

Before dismissing this branch of the subject, we will take occasion

Fo ge Nay OE See OR ates tsa eee

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 743

to correct a popular error concerning the formation of the beauti-

ful structures that adorn the ceilings of some portions of the cave.

with a white efflorescence that displays itself in all manner of

beautiful shapes. It requires no stretch of the imagination to dis-

cover among these, the perfect forms of many flowers. The lily

form prevails, and the ceilings of many of the chambers are cov-

ered with this beautiful stucco work, surpassing in delicacy and

purity the most beautiful workmanship of man. These are not

produced, as many suppose, by the dripping of water, and the

gradual deposit of sulphate of lime upon the outer portions.

stalactite is formed in this manner, but these are neither stalacti-

form, nor are they produced in a similar way. Dripping water

is the agency that forms the stalactite, while the efflorescence

in the dryer portions of the cave cannot take place where there is

much moisture. The growth of these beautiful forms is from

within, and the outer extremities are produced first. They are

the result of a sweating process in the limestone that forces the

delicate filaments of which they are composed through the pores

upon the surface of the rock, their beautiful curved forms result-

ing from unequal pressure at the base, or friction in the apertures

through which they are forced. Mr. L. S. Burbank, of Lowell,

Mass., has kindly furnished us with the following abstract of his

y exposure to air and moisture, oxygen unites with both the

sulphur and the iron, producing sulphuric acid and oxide of iron,

which combined, form a sulphate of iron. Then a double de-

composition takes place; the sulphuric acid unites with the lime

to form the gypsum; the carbonic acid of the limestone combines

with the oxide of iron, forming a carbonate of iron, and this, on

further exposure, parts with the carbonic acid, and leaves the

brown coating of oxide, which is seen in many places on the sur-

face of the rock. ;

The gypsum is thus constantly forming in the rock, and, being

soluble, is carried by the water to the exposed surface where it

crystallizes.

The crystals appear to grow out from the fock by additions from

beneath, which continue to push the ends first formed, and if these

do not become attached to other parts of the rock, straight needle-

744 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

like fibres are often produced. - Very commonly, however, the

erystals begin to form when a small nodule of the iron ore is ex-

posed at the surface; the parts first formed become attached to

the surface around the edges, and as the chemical action proceeds

towards the centre of the nodules successive leaf-like layers are.

thrown out, and the rosette form is the result. Along lines of

fracture in the surface of the rock, the crystals are curved in op-

posite directions.

The wreaths and other figures formed by the chains of the ro-

settes, may be caused by the chemical action described taking

place around the edges of large masses or concretions of the iron

These crystalline forms occur only in the dryer parts of the

cave. Where there is more moisture, as in the ‘ Snow-ball room,

the gypsum merely forms white, rounded concretions, originating

from nodules of the iron ore on the roof and sides of the cave.”

With these general remarks on the cave we give a brief account

of its interesting fauna, comprising representatives of the Fishes,

Insects, and Crustaceans. No Mollusks or Radiates have as yet

been discovered, but the lower forms of life have been detected

by Tellkampf, who collected several species belonging to the gen-

era Monas, Chilomonas, and (2) Chilodon.

On tHE BLIND FISHES or THE Cave. By F. W. Pornam.

is part of the article is unavoidably postponed till the January number, as it was

found necessary to illustrate it with two steel plates which could not be engraved in

time for the present number. |

ON THE CRUSTACEANS AND Insrcrs. By A. S. PACKARD, JR.

Representatives of all the grand divisions of the Insects and

Crustaceans have been found in this cave, and if no worms have

yet been detected, one or more species would undoubtedly reward

a thorough search. `

We will enumerate what have been found, beginning with the

higher forms. No Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants) or Lepi-

doptera (moths) are yet recorded as being peculiar to caves. The

Diptera (flies) are represented by two species, one of Anthomyia

(Fig. 122), or a closely allied genus, and the second belonging to

the singular and interesting genus Phora (Fig. 123). The species

of Anthomyia usually frequent flowers ; the larvae live in decaying

vegetable matter, or, like the onion fly, attack healthy roots. It

would be presumptuous in the writer to attempt to describe these

orms without collections of species from the neighborhood of the

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 745

cave, for though like all the rest of the insects they were found

three or four miles from

the mouth, yet they may

be found to occur outside

of its limits, as the eyes

and the colors of the

body are as bright as in

other species. i

Among the beetles, two

species were found by

Mr. Cooke. The Anop-

thalmus Tellkampfii of

Erichson, a Carabid (Fig.

124), and Adelops hirtus

Tellkampf (Fig. 125) al-

lied to Catops, one of the

Silphidæ or burying beetle family: The Anopthalmus is of a pale

Fig. 124. reddish horn color, and is totally blind ; *

in the Adelops, which is Fig. 123.

greyish brown, there are two

pale spots, which may be ru-

dimentary eyes, as Tellkampf

and Erichson suggest. No

Hemiptera (bugs) have yet

been found either in the caves

of this country or Europe. Two wingless

grasshoppers (sometimes called crickets)

like the common species found

under stones (R. maculata Har-

ris), have been found in our

caves; one is the Raphidophora

subterranea (Fig. 126 nat. size) .

described by Mr. Scudder, and

very abundant in Mammot

Cave. The other species is 2.

stygia sige tone from Hickman’s cave, near Hickman’s landing,

Fig. 122.

Anthomyia.

Phora.

Fig. 125.

Anophthalmus Tellkampfi

Erhardt’s cave, Montgomery Co., hiye Prof. Cope T Feah or five spec-

bacon of a new Anopthalmus, the A. a

hundred feet from its mouth. The Pe ateme is a sna and all Saloon ‘ound together under

a stone. Their moyements were slow, i of

nary Carabide.” Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1869. p. 178.

746 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

upon the Kentucky river. It is closely allied to the Mammoth

Cave species. According to Mr. Scudder, the specimens of R.

stygia were found by Mr. A. Hyatt “in the remotest corner of

Hickman’s Cave, in a sort of a hollow in the rock, not particularly

moist, but having only a sort of cave dampness. They were

found a few hundred feet from the sunlight, living exclusively

upon the walls.” Even the remotest part of that cave is not so

gloomy but that some sunlight penetrates it.

The other species is found both in Mammoth Cave, and in the

adjoining White’s Cave. It is found throughout the cave, and

most commonly (to quote Mr. Scudder) “ about ‘Martha’s Vine-

yard’ and in the neighborhood of ‘Richardson’s Spring’ where

they were discovered jumping about with the greatest alacrity

Fig. 126.

Rhaphidophora subterranea,

upon the walls, where only they are found, and even when dis-

turbed, clinging to the ceiling, upon which they walked easily ;

they would leap away from approaching footsteps, but stop at a

cessation of the noise, turning about and swaying their long an-

tennæ in a most ludicrous manner, in the direction whence the

disturbance had proceeded; the least noise would increase their

_ tremulousness, while they were unconcerned at distant motions,

unaccompanied by sound, even though producing a sensible cur-

rent of air; neither did the light of the lamp appear to disturb

them ; their eyes, and those of the succeeding species (R. stygia)

are perfectly formed throughout, and they could apparently see

with ease, for they jump away from the slowly approaching hand,

so as to necessitate rapidity of motion in seizing them.”

The Thysanurous N europtera are represented by a species of

Machilis, allied to our common Machilis variabilis Say, common in

Kentucky and the middle and southern states. So far as Tell-

$ papers

ees ane

apes ee Pees

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 747

kampf’s figure indicates, it is the same species apparently, as I

have received numerous specimens of this widely distributed form

from Lexington, Kentucky, collected by Dr. Josiah Curtis.

It was regarded as a crustacean by Tellkampf, and described

under the name of Triura cavernicola.* He mistook the labial

and maxillary palpi for feet and regarded

the nine pairs of abdominal spines as feet. |

The allied species, M. variabilis Say, is

Campodea.

Fig. 127.

figured in vol. v. pl. 1, fig. 8, 9 (see also

p. 94 of this journal).

An interesting species of Campodea t of

which the accompanying cut (Fig. 127) is

a tolerable likeness, though designed to il-

lustrate another species (C. staphylinus

Westw.) was discovered by Mr. Cooke.

Both the European and our common spe-

cies live under stones in damp places, and

the occurrence of this form in the water is

quite remarkable. The other species are

blind, and I could detect no eyes in the

Mammoth Cave specimen.

A small spider was captured by Mr.

Cooke, but afterwards lost; it was brown

in color, and possibly distinct from the

Anthrobia monmouthia Tellkf. (Fig. 128) which is an eyeless form,

white and very small, being but half a line in length. The family

* Professor Agassiz in his meet noticea pi the Mampan can animals, ipes eat m

of t

upon the articulates as pai rem E that while “ Dr. Tellkampf’s account affords

rming any conclusion t ex its proximate relations,” that, however,

marka

struc ture.” kapis figure of Mackin ie entirely wrong in representing the labial

maxillary palpi as ene in kieti thus giving the creature a crustacean aspect;

ni indeed y describes them eet!

Cookei n. sp. isle allied to C. Americana, but it is much ee the an-

tennz are Sei instead of sii as in C. Americana, and reach to the basal

terminal joints are much longer than i in n that species, the penultimate Joint being one-

thitd longer ) the penul-

timate very short. not half as long as the terminal, which i is longer and edee than in

C. Americana, while the three are much narrower in proportion to the rest o ; ne pony

erica

tured in a pool of water, two or three inches deep, in company with EUO

748 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

of Harvest men is represented by a small white form, described by

Tellkampf under the name of Phalangodes armata (Fig. 129) but

now called Acanthocheir armata Lucas. The body alone is but half

a line long, the legs measuring two lines. It should be borne in

mind that many of the spiders, as well as the Thysanura, live in

holes and dark places, so that we would naturally find them in

caves. So, also, with the Myriopods, of which a most remarkable

Eig. 128. form* (Figs. 130, and 130a

X front of head) was found by

Mr. Cooke, three or four miles

from the mouth of the cave. It

is the only truly hairy species

known, an approach to it being

found in Pseudotremia Vudii

Cope. It is blind, the other spe-

cies of this group which Profes-

sor Cope found living in caves

having eyes. The long hairs ar-

ranged along the back, seem to

suggest that they are tactile organs, and of more use to the Thous-

and legs in making its way about the nooks and crannies of a per-

petually dark cave than eyes would be. It was found by Mr.

Cooke under a stone.

Prof. Cope has contributed to the “« Proceedings of the American

Philosophical Society ” (1869, p. 171) an interesting account of the

Anthrobia monmouthia,

* Spirostrephon ( Pseudotremia) Copei n. sp. Head with rather short, dense hairs; no

eyes, andn 1 q } ind tt t th fina Ate, ; j j

ean

well rounded to the antennal sockets; behind the insertion of the antenne the sides of

the head are much more swollen than in g. lactari i

ctarius. A

thick hairs; relative length of joints, the 6th being longest; 6th, 4th, 5th, 3d, 8th, 7th, Ist,

Tth join i

the t being much thicker than the 8th. Twenty-eight segments besides the head;

they are entirely smooth, striated neither ] gitudinally nor tran versely ; a few of the

anterior segments rapidly decrease in diameter towards the head. The segments are

but slightly convex, and on each side is a shoulder, bearing three tubercles in a trans-

ve giving rise to a long stiff hair one-half to two-thirds as as a

men ck, and

distinguish the species. No pores. Feet long and slender, nearly as long as the an-

tenne, being very slender towards the claws. Entirely white. Length of body .35

inch; thickness .04 inch.

It is nearly allied to Pseudotremia Vudii of Cope. It will be noticed that Professor

ope characterizes the genus Spirostrephon as having “no pores”; though we find it

difficult to reconcile this statement with that of Wood who describes S. lactarius as

having “lateral pores.” Cope separates Pseudotremia fi Spirostrephon for th

son that the have “two pores on each side the median line.” The present

Species has no pores, but seems in other characters to be a true Spirostrephon, and we

are thus led to doubt whether Pseud ia is a well founded g k

+ oa

LIG tea

g = j y zia

Se eT a le, a en a a a aaa S

}

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 749

cave mammals, articulates and shells of the middle states. He

says that “‘myriopods are the only articulates which can be

readily found in the remote regions of the caves [of West Vir-

ginia] and they are not very common in a living state.” The

Pseudotremia cavernarum which he describes, “inhabits the deep-

Fig. 129.

f m sa YS is A

Y j for A AN AN

O (7 Jem i \ ANS

S nS iad ` ~— NS

Acanthocheir armata.

est recesses of the numerous caves which abound in Southern Vir-

ginia, as far as human steps can penetrate. I have not seen it

near their mouths, though its eyes are not undeveloped, or smaller

than those of many living in the forest. Judging from its remains,

which one finds under stones, it is an abundant species, though

Fig. 130. Fig. 130a.

Sptrostrephon Copet.

rarely seen by the dim light of a candle even after considerable

search. Five specimens only were procured from about a dozen

caves.” The second species, P. Vudii Cope, was found in Mont-

gomery Co. and he thinks it was not found in a cave. Professor

` Hyatt informs me that he saw near the “‘ Bottomless Pit” in Mam-

750 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

moth Cave, a brownish centipede-like myriopod, over an inch in

length, which moved off in a rapid zigzag motion. Unfortunately,

he did not capture it.

Next to the blind fish, the blind crawfish attracts the attention

of visitors to the cave. This is the Cambarus pellucidus (Fig.

Fg. 131. 131, from Hagen’s

monograph of the

North American

\ | Astacidæ) first de-

\ i scribed by Dr. Tell-

j kampf. He re-

; marks that “the

j eyes are rudiment-

| ary in the adults,

but are larger in

the young.” We

might add that this

is an evidence that

the embryo devel-

ops like those of

the other species;

and that the inher-

itance of the blind

condition is proba-

bly due to causes

first acting on the a-

dults and transmit-

ted to their young,

until the production

of offspring that be-

L= come blind becomes

| a habit. This is

a partial proof at

Gig ka least that the char-

hd! ALA CII acters separating

the genera and spe-

: cies of animals are

those inherited from adults, modified by their physical surround-

ings and adaptations to changing conditions of life, inducing cer-

tain alterations in parts which have been transmitted with more or

Cambarus pellucidus.

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 751

less rapidity, and become finally fixed and habitual. Prof. Hagen

has seen afemale of Cambarus Bartonii from Mammoth Cave,

“« with the eyes well developed,” and a specimen was also found

by Mr. Cooke. Prof. Hagen remarks that “ C. pellucidus is the

most aberrant species of the genus. The eyes are atrophied,

smaller at the base, conical, instead of cylindrical and elongated,

as in the other species. The cornea exists, but is small, cireular,

and not faceted ; the optic fibres and the dark-colored pigments

surrounding them in all other spe-

cies are not developed.” It seems

difficult for one to imagine that our

blind craw fish was created sud-

denly, without the intervention of

secondary laws, for there are the

eyes more perfect in the young than Fig. 133.

the adult, thus pointing back to an- J

cestors unlike the species now ex-

isting. e can now understand,

why embryologists are anxiously

studying the embryology of animals

to see what organs or characteristics

are inherited, and what originate de

novo, thus building up genealogies,

and forming almost a new depart-

ment of science: comparative em-

bryology in its truest and widest

Caxcidotea stygia (side view).

Of all the animals found in caves,

either in this country or Europe,

perhaps the most strange and unex-

pected is the little creature of which

we now speak. It is an Isopod crus-

tacean, of which the pill bugs or sow bugs are examples. A true

species of pill bug (Titanethes albus Schiédte) inhabits the caves of

Carniolia, and it is easy to believe that one of the numerous species

of this group may have become isolated in these caves and modi-

fied into its present form. So also with the blind Niphargus sty-

gius of Europe, allied to the fresh water Gammarus so abundant

in pools of fresh water. We can also imagine how a species of

Asellus, a fresh water Isopod, could represent the Idoteidz in our

Cecidotea stygia (dorsal view).

752 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

caves, and one may yet be found; but how the present form be-

came a cave dweller is difficult of explanation, as its nearest allies

are certain species of Idotea which are all marine, with the excep-

tion of two species: J. entomon, living in the sea and also in the

depths of the Swedish lakes, as discovered by Loven, the distin-

guished Swedish naturalist, while a species representing this has

been detected by Dr. Stimpson at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Our cave dweller is nearly allied to Idotea, but differs in being

blind, and in other particulars, and may be called Cecidotea sty-

gia.* (Fig. 132 side view, enlarged ; Fig. 133 dorsal view ; b, in-

ner antenna; ¢, ist leg.) It was found creeping over the fine

sandy bottom, in company with the Campodea, in a shallow pool

of water four or five miles from the mouth of the cave.

This closes our list of known articulates from this and other

caves in this country, the result of slight explorations by a few in-

dividuals. The number will be doubtless increased by future re-

search. It is to be hoped that our western naturalists will thor-

oughly explore all the sinks and holes in the cave country of the

western and middle states. The subject is one of the highest in-

terest in a zoological point of view, and from the light it throws on

the doctrine’ of evolution. Professor Schiddte, the eminent Danish

zoologist, has given us the most extended account of the cave

fauna of Europe, which has been translated from the Danish into

the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London (new

series vol. 1, 1851).

He examined four caves; namely, that of Adelsberg, the Mag-

dalena and Luege caves, all in the neighborliood of Adelsberg,

> Generic characters. Head large, much thicker than‘the body, and as long as broad;

subcylindrical, rounded in front. No eyes. First antenne slend , 8-jointed (2d anten-

ne broken o: . Abdomi l seg t lidated into one piece. ffers chiefly from

Idotea, to which it is otherwise closely allied, by the 8-jointed (instead of 4-jointed) Ist

(inner) antenne, the very large head, and by the absence of any traces of the three ba-

sal segments of the abdomen usually present in Idotea.

sm e white: tegument thin, the viscera appearing

a as segment, and a little more than twice as long.

enn minute, slender, the four basal joints of nearly equal length, though the

i ‘ smaller than

thers, being one-half as thick and two-thirds as long as either of the four basal joints;

sof ints giving rise to two or three hairs; terminal joint

ending Ina more distinct knob, and bearing five hairs. e : i

tinct, sutures deeply incised; edges of segments pilose;

aajt with a very slight median projection; the entire pair of gills do not reach to

e end of the abdomen, and the inner Ig iverge posteriorly. Legs long and slen-

lst pair shorter, but no smaller than the second. Length .25 inch,

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 753

and the Corneale cave at Trieste. The only plant found was a

sort of fungus, Byssus fulvus Linn. The only vertebrate is the

singular salamander, Hypochthon (Proteus) anguinus, found in the

Magdalina river. No shells were found. Regarding the articu-

lates he writes :

“ On searching along the walls within the entrance of the caves,

among the rubbish and the vegetable debris along the sides of the

river, we meet with a considerable number of Insecta, Myriopoda,

` Arachnida aod Crustacea, of various families which shun daylight ;

being such species only as inhabit promiscuously other places,

provided they are moist and feebly illumined. We find species of

Pterostichus, inca) chus, Amara, Psd Homalota, Omalium,

Hister, Tricho opteryx, Crypt S a, Ptinus, Ceraphron,

elyta, a grasshopper of the Locust family, puAN the Raphido-

phora cavicola Fischer, as it was only seen in the larva state, Trich-

optera, Sciara, Psychoda, Phora, Heteromyza, Sapromyza, Tomoce-

rus, Ap Gamasus, Crypt ope Julus, and Asellus. In pro-

portion as we recede from the entrance the number of species as

well as individuals greatly peti and at the distance which

entirely excludes the light, only single individuals are found. In

the deepest recesses thes e species are entirely wanting, except

some few which have been transported by the Ngai only a os

Diptera are found; namely, a species of Phor ee

culata Meig., Heteromyza flavipes Zett., and avn oe nyo

talma Zett., extending also very far into the caves,

remotest accessible places in Adelsberg cave, more ges half an

hour’s walk from its entrance. Dead moths are occasionally found

far in the caves, being left there by the bats; and likewise acci-

dental specimens of the parasites of the latter. Of the five ear-

lier known animals which inhabit these caves, I found Pristonycha

elegans Dej. rather frequently, and Homalota spelea Er. in consid-

erable numbers. Besides these are Anopthalmus Schmidtii, which

is very rare, and the wood louse, Titanethes alba. s

he found were a beetle (Bathys cia ae) allied to our Adelops ;*

Stagobius troglodytes, an aberrant genus of Silphids; a Podurid,

Anurophorus Stillicidii ; and the two blind arachnidans, one a spi-

der allied to Dysdera, the Stalita tenaria, and a false-spider,

thrus speleus. Among the crustacea he found Niphargus stygius, t

* Ludwig Müller enumerates four other species 4 Pag pe ss et bog rye tude sod

three species from France, and Macherites spelæu Ver n

Wien, 1855, p. See also Heller’s s Béltrage zur bé österreich. Grotten-Fauna. (Myrio-

poda "snd Crustacea.) Vienna, 1858. He describes a myriopod with rudimentary eyes

(Trac bahia Schmidtii) allied to Glomeris, and pes blind species (Brachydesmus

terraneus) allied to Polydesmus: also a new Tithanethes (T. graniger), and notices

Monolistra ceca G a (1861) also found a new Ph d (Leiobunum t

dytes) with Cy e Pag com: og four ore agp of mites in by 9 caves of East he

. niveus,

chyspha . See also Ehrenberg’s list of

cave insects (Mona beberiohte der Akad. PAG ` 1861.)

tSev eral Species of i fats occur in the wells and hot springs in Europe. Accord-

754 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

allied to Gammarus, which lives in small pools of water and is

white and blind; and the cave pill bug, Titanethes albus (Koch.).”

In conclusion Schiödte remarks that : —

“We may with ixan apply the collective term Subter-

ranean Fauna to those animals which exclusively inhabit pete

and are bresat eee iaire for such habitations. Still t

is nothing in this name which would indicate that these apo

have any claim to be considered as a separate group, beyond the

mere peculiarity of their common place of abode. While a few

of them possess such an extraordinary structure as to stand in no

comparison with those animals which inhabit the light, there are

others, forming only more characteristic links in the groups 0

animals more or less shy of light, of which many are found common

in the localities of the caves ; and some belong to genera having a

wide local, as well as geographical, extension. rite are accordingly

prevented from considering the entire phenomenon in any other

light than something purely local, and the similarity which is ex-

hibited in a few forms (An nophthalmus, Adelops, Bathyscia) be-

tween the rink Cave and the caves in Carniola, otherwise

than as a very plain expression of that analogy, which subsists

Vort

Besides, it is clear to me that the fauna of the caves of Carniola

enS s of two divisions, of which the essential character is refer-

able on the one hand to the dark locality, and on the other to the

additional confinement to stalactitic formations ; as yet we are not

ing to Bate and Westwood (British Sessile eyed Crustacea) *“ the British examples have

ore Bs ea ani pengi artificially excavated wells connected with houses for Momnestic

In some instances the wells have been old, in others but recently dug. In

their geological ‘conditien the habitats hav ie hogy goer various. At Corsham the well

exists in the ite formation, at Rin chalk-flint grayel, at Mannamead in

slate. At pA ea and Mannamead they are re icuad on a hill, at Ringwood they lie low

F ppearance of some of als in ode Pot after ing Nt mi

the surrounding reami: in fact they perish in the light. Itis im i

ossible to und in

men asa variety, or ea A tion of our only fresh ring Amphipod, Gam-

= adap hearths Sear ainoa various parts not only differ in form, but some are altered in char-

e er; for example, the extraordinary elongation and slenderness of one of branches

wards which was found by M. Ermann in the w ~

i M. pera K ngs

orci this genus. It is curious that we should. have vibes ps the ‘Kamntechatka pesca

f | ro nin = hha tig rive i dag hae inhabit the deep artificial wells, without

= ees a thet treams, its nearest allied form is to be found

5 iii Sen

Phe ae TR rec!

“gp Fg ee 8)

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 755

able vigorously to discriminate between the two. We shall ac-

cordingly look upon the subterranean fauna, or more properly

faunas, as small ramifications which have penetrated into the earth

from the geographically-limited faunas of the adjacent regions ;

and which, as they extended themselves into darkness, have been

accommodated to surrounding circumstances. Animals not far re-

mote from the ordinary forms, prepare the transition from light to

darkness. Next follow those that are constructed for taiigats

and on of all those destined for total darkness, and whose struc-

s quite peculiar. Among these some are adapted for pooli

localities, those which inhabit dry localities or detached little

reservoirs being totally blind, while others, destined for running

streams, have eyes of imperfect ee so as to receive the

impression of rays of light, but no proper image o of illuminated

objects. e may therefore with tolerable ion arrange the

inhabitants of caverns under the following heads :—

Shade animals. — Extensive genera and species inhabiting cav-

erns near their entr cies and, generally, all cool, shady and moist

localities. Of these, those that fly occasionally. enter far into the

caverns (Diptera).

Twilight animals.—They belong to widely spread genera, but

are peculiar to the caves, and distinguished by their small eyes.

hey are principally found near the entrances to the caves, oe

although wingless, they penetrate often the whole extent of the

dark space. — ( Pristonychus elegans, Homalota spelea.)

Cave animals. — They form, a least in part, peculiar genera, are

wingless and colorless, as far as the consistency of their integu-

ments will admit, and exist exauaacnety in total darkness. The

terrestrial division is blind ; the aquatic has a perception of light.

group belong all the animals in the Mammoth Cave, and

among those of the caves of Carniola, Anophthalmus, Bathyscia,

perhaps likewise Anurophorus a Hypochthon, which, however,

may belong to the following gro

Stalactite cave animals. ar OEP Arachnidans and Crustaceans

Etnis to peculiar genera, wingless, blind, brightly colored

ccording to the nature of their integuments, either “light brown,

yellowisn white, or snow white, perhaps a according to the pre-

ponderance of the chitine ; living in total darkness, ares to

stalactite caves, in part occupying the columns and constru ructed

accordingly, either for ascent or hovering over them. Here belong

most of the animals treated of in this memoir Stagobius, Blo-

thrus, Stalita, Niphargus, and Titanethes

A pertinent question arises as to the hee of the formation of

these caves and when they became inhabitable. As previously stat-

matin all deta Repos [ie Salma), or viie aot eos

he discriminates six s

AMER. Saroka, VOL. V 48

756 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

ed, the caves of the western and middle States are in lower Car-

boniferous limestone rocks, though the Port Kennedy cave explored |

by Wheatley and Copef is in the Potsdam limestone. They could

not haye been formed under water, but when the land was drained :

by large rivers. This could not have occurred previous to the Tri-

assic period. Prof. Dana in his *‘ Manual of Geology” shows that :

the Triassic continent spread westward from the Atlantic coast “to

Kansas, and southward to Alabama; for through this great area |

there are no rocks more recent than the Paleozoic.” ‘Through the

Mesozoic period [comprising the Triassic, Jurassic, and Creta- |

ceous periods] North America was in general dry land, and on the

east it stood a large part of the time above its present level.”

Though at the close of these periods there was a general extine-

tion of life, yet this was not probably a sudden (one of months

and even years), but rather a secular extinction, and there may be

plants and animals now living on dry land, which are the lineal

descendants of mesozoic and more remotely of Carboniferous forms

of life. So our cave animals may possibly be the survivors of Mes-

ozoic forms of life, just as-we find now living at great depths in

the sea remnants of Cretaceous life. But frag the recent explora-

tions in the caves of Europe and this country, especially the Port

Kennedy cave, with its remarkable assemblage of vertebrates and

Insects, we are led to believe from the array of facts presented by

Prof. Cope that our true subterranean fauna probably does not

date farther back than the beginning of the Quaternary, or Post

Pliocene, period. We quote his “general observations” in his

_ article on the Port Kennedy fauna. :

of the |

would te

is cave will be found in the Proceedings

oo Sy iety, April, 1871. The insects there enumerated

® robably not come under the head of cave insects,

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 757

masses of rocks fall in, which interrupt the passage below. one sapi

however, exist when the strata are horizontal. Their is

changed by joints or faults, into which the excavating ana eles

found their w way.

That these caves were formed prior to the postpliocene fauna is

evident from the fact that they contain its remains. That they

were not in existence prior to the drift is probable, from the fact

that they contain no remains of life of any earlie er period so far as

h in epoch.

n extraordinary number of rapidly flowing waters must have

operated over a great part of the Southern States, some of them

at an elevation of fifteen hundred feet and over (perhaps two thou-

sand) above the present level of the sea. A cave in the Gay

Mountain, on the Kanawha river, which I explored for three miles,

has at ware ae elevation.

Th rritory experiencing such conditions was suitable for

the occupation of such a fauna as the deposits contained in these

caves reveal, is not probable. The material in which the bones

occur in the south is an impure limestone, being mixed with and

colored by the red soil which covers the gepi of the ground. It

is rather soft but hardens on exposure to the

The question then remains so far Se accel as to whether a

pliocene mammalian fau That some important change too

place is rendered ET by the fact, that nearly all the neotropi-

cal types of the animals have been banished from our ee 4

and the pren part of the species of all types have

tinct. Two facts have come under my observation which tate

a subsequent submergence. A seri ise of caves or portions of a

single cave once existing on the southeast side of a range of low

hills among the Alleghany mountains in Wythe Co., Virginia, was

found to have been removed by asp fragments of the bot-

tom deposit only remaining in fissures and concavi vities, separated

by various intervals from each other. "Thio fragments yielded the

remains of twenty species of postpliocene mammalia.* This de-

nudation can be ascribed to local causes, following a subsidence

T R nans In a cave examined in Tennessee the ossife-

be accounted for on local grounds. The islands of the eastern

part of the West Indies appear to have been separated by submer-

gence of larger areas, at the close of the period during which they

* See Proceed. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1869, 171.

758 THE. MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

were inhabited by postpliocene mammalia and shells. The caves

of Anguilla include remains of twelve vertebrates,* of which seven

are mammalia of extinct species, and several of them are of large

size. These are associated with two recent species of molluses

Turbo pica, and a Tudora near pupeformis.; As these large ani-

mals no doubt required a more extended territory for their support

than that represented by the small island Anguilla, there is every

probability that the separation of these islands took place at a

late period of time and probably subsequent to the spread of the

postpliocene fauna over North America.”

I think the reader will conclude from the facts Prof. Cope so

clearly presents, that the subterranean fauna of this country does

not date back of the Quaternary period. These species must have

been created and taken up their abode in these caves (Mammoth

Cave and those of Montgomery County, Virginia) after the breccia

flooring their bottoms and containing the bones of Quaternary ani-

mals had been deposited; or else migrated from Tertiary caves

farther south, which is not probable, as it has been previously

Shown that those blind animals inhabiting wells immediately die

on being exposed to the light. (British Sessile-eyed Crustacea, i,

p. 313.)

The case becomes much simpler when we consider the age of

the rocks in which the Adelsberg and other caves mentioned by

Schiddte are situated. The Alps were under water in the Middle

Eocene ; consequently the caves could not have been formed until

the close of the Tertiary. Hence the species of the cave fauna

were evidently created either at the close of the Tertiary, or more

probably the beginning of the Quaternary, as “even in the later

part of the Pliocene era there was an elevation of three thousand

feet in a part of the Island of Sicily” (Dana). We are therefore

led to conclude that the species of the subterranean fauna the

world over are recent creations, probably not older than the ex-

tinct mammals associated with man.

b De Rijgereman which mae A fourth species of gigantic Chinchillid has been found

which be $ ted b;

‘A 3 a lus quadr Cope. It is represen

One: jaws ge teeth of three individual Tris one of the largest species, equa

; m o pe

in section; th

the smallest.

m. .063 or 2.5

Con in the outlines of the

ae oo dwe peak agra approaches the genus Amblyrhiza.

quadrans, and Amblyrhiza inundata > >S UOWS,

mer. Phil. Soc., 1871, 58.

THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 759

Assuming on the principles of evolution that the cave animals

were derived from other species changed by migration from the

outer world to the new and strange regions of total darkness, it

seems evident that geologically speaking the species were suddenly

formed, though the changes may not have been wrought until after

several thousand generations. According to the doctrine of natu-

ral selection, by which animal species pass from one into another by

a great number òf minute variations, this time was not sufficient for

the production of even a species, to say nothing of ‘a genus. But

the comparatively sudden creation of these cave animals affords, it

seems to us, a very strong argument for the theory of Cope and

Hyatt of creation by acceleration and retardation, which has been

fully set forth in this journal. The strongly marked characters

which separate these animals from their allies in the sunlight, are

just those fitting them for their cave life and those which we would

imagine would be the first to be acquired by them on being re-

moved from their normal habitat.

On introducing the wingless locust, Rhaphidophora maculata,

into a cave, where it must live not under stones, but by clinging to

the walls, its legs would tend to grow longer, its antenne and

palpi would elongate and become more delicate organs of hearing

as well as touch,* and the body would bleach partially out, as we

find to be the case in R. subterranea and stygia. The Carabid

beetle, Anopthalmus, extending farther into the cave, would lose

its wings (all cave insects except the Diptera have no wings, elytra

excepted) and eyes, but as nearly all the family are retiring in

their habits, the species hiding under stones, its form would not

undergo farther striking modification. So with the blind Campo-

dea, which does not differ from its blind congeners, which live

more or less in the twilight, except in its antenne becoming

longer. The blind Adelops, but with rudiments of eyes, does not

greatly depart in habits from Catops, while on the other hand the

remarkable Stagobius of the Illyrian caves, which according to

pHs Ae Oe eee

3 zt £ hic views,

origin of Species to learn what he had to say on the as of cave animals. He attri-

e time an animal has reached,

berl disuse will on this view have more

or less perfectly obliterated its ane, A and natural selection will often in dars effected

other changes, such as an increase in the length of the antennz or palpi, as

sation for blindness.” “oth Amer. eg D: 143. We are glad to to find ¢ age were as to the

increase in the length of th paly g eyesight.

co ed by Mr. Darwin.

760 THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

Schiodte spends its life in crawling ten to twenty feet above the

floor over the columns formed by the stalactites, to which unique

mode of life it is throughout perfectly adapted, is remarkably

different from other Silphids. Its legs are very long and inserted

far apart (the prothorax being remarkably long), with surprisingly

long claws, while the antennz, again, are of great length and

densely clothed with hairs, making them most delicate sense or-

gans.* So also are the limbs of the false scorpion, and the spi-

der and pill bug (Titanethes) of remarkable length.

But the modifications in the body of the Spirostrephon are such

that many might deem its aberrant characters as of generic impor-

tance. It loses its eyes, which its nearest allies in other, but

smaller, caves possess, and instead gains in the delicate hairs on

its back, which evidently form tactile organs of great delicacy ;

the feet are remarkably long, as also the antenne. These are not

new formations but simply modifications apparently, by use or dis-

use of organs present in the other species. The aberrant myrio-

pod and Stagobius are paralleled by the blind fish, an animal so

difficult to classify, and so evidently adapted for its abode in end-

less darkness. And as an additional proof of the view here taken

that these cave animals are modified from more or less allied spe-

cies existing outside of the caves, we have the case of the craw

fish, whose eyes (like those of the mole), are larger in the young

than adult, indicating its descent from a species endowed with the

faculty of sight, while in the adult the appendages are modified as

tactile organs so as to make up for its loss of eyesight, in order

that it may still take its prey.

We thus see that these cave animals are modified in various

ways, some being blind, others very hairy, others with long ap-

pendages. All are not modified in the same way in homologous

organs ; another argument in proof of their descent from ancestors

rapid, piratical Arachnidans, or find adequate support on: columns,

which it is so manifestly constructed. We are led in thi pect t

næ. Whatever significance we attach to those enigmatical organs, we must admit that

they are organs of sense, in which view an animal having them so much developed a

Stagobius, must possess a great a vantage over its enemies, if these be only Arachni-

8. Its cautious and slow progress, and its timid reconnoitring demeanor, fully

indicate that it is conscious of life being in perpetual danger, and that it endeavors to

the t to avoid that danger. Darkness, which always favors the pursued more

cum seeped, comes to its aid, especially on the uneven excavated surface of the

columns.

for inhabiting

P| +h +

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. 761

whose habits varied as their out-of-door allies do at present. Had

they been specially created for subterranean life, we should have

expected a much greater uniformity in the organs adapting them

to a cave life than we actually find to be the case.

Another fact of interest in this connection is the circumstance

that these cave species breed slowly, being remarkably poor in in-

dividuals ; they are nearly all extremely rare. Did they breed as

numerously as their allies in the outer world the whole race would

probably starve, as the supply of food even for those which do

live is wonderfully limited.

It is now known that animals inhabiting the abysses of the sea are

often highly colored: light must penetrate there, for we know that

were the darkness total they would be colorless like the cave insects.

In view of the many important questions which arise in relation

to cave animals, and which have been too imperfectly discussed

here, we trust naturalists the world over will be led to explore

caves with new zeal, and record their discoveries with minuteness,

and the greatest possible regard to exactness. The caves of the

West Indian Islands should first of all be carefully explored.

Also those of Brazil, those of the East Indies, and of Africa,

while fresh and most extended explorations of our own Mammoth

Cave should be made, perhaps by a commission acting under gov-

ernment or State authority, in order that the most ample facili-

ties may be afforded by the parties owning the cave.

A SINGING HESPEROMYS.

BY REV. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH. D.

Some twenty years ago, it was, that the ‘‘ London Charivari”

shot its shafts of ridicule at a singing mouse on exhibition in the

metropolis. Thus put upon the scent, the firm of Pooh, Pshaw

& Co., whose merciless power is alike feared by philosopher and

peasant, ‘‘ went for” the showman and his ‘‘ phenomenon.”

And so hard was the punch-ing,

To that musical mus!

762 A SINGING HESPEROMYS.

Albeit the miserable end of poor Mus musculus, we are bold to

declare our knowledge of the existence of singing mice of the

above domestic sort; and farther, our belief that they are not

very uncommon. But we now propose to introduce to the readers

of the Naruraxisr an aristocratic, and entirely new candidate for

their consideration—a musical wood-mouse.

Last spring, my friend Philip Ryall, Esq., brought from Florida

a mouse which he had captured in his residence there. He

says that for a number of nights, a low sound of a more or less

musical nature, had been heard proceeding, as was supposed, from

the chimney, and which very naturally was attributed to the chim-

ney swallow. One day a small mouse came from under the hearth

into the middle of the floor of the sitting-room, sat up, and sang

for about a minute, and retired. This explained the mystery. Its

nightly music and its daily visit were continued, almost invariably,

the visit being limited to the same small area of the floor. It was

determined to capture the little stranger ; which after many unsuc-

cessful efforts was finally accomplished. Last June the interesting

little fellow was very kindly passed into my custody. My first

concern was to add to its comfort by enlarging its cage, also to

provide for it in every possible way a condition of things suited to

its nature. For all this I was amply rewarded in the fine health,

and the musical performances that followed.

A little study soon determined that the pretty creature belonged

to the vesper mice. It is known by the popular names of jumping

mouse, wood mouse, and white-footed mouse. Our specimen is one

of the smallest of its own genus, for the precise species is the one

known to naturalists as the Hesperomys cognatus Leconte. This

fact, so novel, once determined, gave additional zest to my purpose

to make it the object of especial study. To give it individuality,

as it was fast becoming a pet, I named it Hespie ; which name, as

its object was a female, was certainly appropriate. I thought she

soon learned to know me, and certainly I soon came to regard her

with attachment. Yet, the truth told, she was a pretty, pert and

unamiable little miss, and would permit no familiarity, always bit-

ing the finger that attempted to touch her. Her animation, agility

and gracefulness of motion were wonderful. Sometimes a fly would

enter the cage, when she would spring at, and catch it, sometimes

with her mouth, and at others with her hands. This she would eat

with great relish. So uniformly quick were her motions, that on

e aE A E ESE E ES AEN Ee tee AESA ES A aN SE

enaa a eo ee

TETEN

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. 763

one occasion my little boy said: “ Papa, I would like to see mousie

walk just once.” Her taste was quite omnivorous ; although unlike

the domestic mouse, she did not care much for cheese. But meat,

bread, corn, nuts, sugar, and even pudding and fish were all accept-

able. A little sod of fresh grass and white clover was occasionally

put into the cage. This she enjoyed greatly, eating the greens like

a rabbit; only always insisting on sitting up to do it. It was in-

teresting to witness how ready she was for emergencies. Sitting

on her hind feet, she would take hold with her hands of a blade of

grass, and begin eating at the tip. The spear would rapidly

shorten, and seemingly she must now stoop to finish it, or do it in

the ordinary quadrupedal style. Now that was just what she did

not choose to do. So when the emergency came, she would stoop

down, and in a trice cut the blade off close to the sod with just

one nip; then up again on her feet in a sitting posture, she would

finish it in a comfortable and becoming way. On one occasion a

worm crept out of the sod, and Hespie at once fell to it and soon

had it tucked away without cooking. As to exercise, she manages

to take a great deal. In the day time her exercise is less, as she

does a good deal of sleeping then. It is at night that her peculiar

talents appear to advantage, beginning at vespers, as her name

might imply. Then, as a singer, her genius literally shines. It is

with her singing that we are the most concerned; and indeed, at

the moment of this writing (for it is night) she is in fine song. _

Perhaps, however, it will seem more literal and actual if her per-

formances are described in the past tense.

Our little musician had several snatches or bits of melody which

were often repeated. But in her repertoire were two notable ones,

each of which deserves to be dignified as a professional role. e

one by far the more frequent is notated below ; and because it is

her favorite, when running in her revolving cage, I have named it

The Wheel Song.*

The last bar of this would frequently be prolonged to two

or three; and she would sometimes change from C sharp and D, to

C natural and D, then warble on these two notes awhile, and wind

up with a quick chirp on C sharp and D. The distinctness between

the semitones was very marked, and easily appreciable to a good

ear. I have always enjoyed the mellow little strains of the song

sparrow and the house wren. But in either case it was short, and

*The musical notation was written by my son, Ferris C. Lockwood.

764 A SINGING HESPEROMYS.

apt to become monotonous from its admitting almost no variation.

Monotony was not chargeable to Hespie’s Wheel Song. With

unconscious skill she would work out of it a wonderful variety.

Instead of the first measure she would sometimes open with the

second one, then follow it with the first. Or she might start with

the third, following with the second, or the first, just as fancy

seemed to dictate. Then she had her own whims as to the amount

of repetition of each bar; that is to say, she would double or even

NO. i. THE WHEEL SONG.

gestcs Aei

triplicate a measure, when the notion took her. In this regard,

time was quite ignored. Indeed, whatever may have been the

Hesperomys’ canon of musical procedure or propriety, we could

not but regard it as arbitrary, or beyond our comprehension. Still

it must be admitted, that this little performer possessed precision,

delicacy, and scope of execution.

She had one role, which although the notation is simpler than

that of the Wheel Song, yet I think to her its execution was more

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. 765

difficult. It is certain that she was far more chary of its perfor-

- mance; and to me its effect seemed more impressive. I have on

account of its less frequency distinguished it as The Grand Role.

This was seldom given, yet quite often enough to allow it to be

written down. The second measure would be sung quite fast,

sounding almost like the pecking of the woodpecker on the tree ;

and at other times ft would be slow like the dropping of water.

Although she had no ear for time, yet she would keep to the key

of B (two flats), and strictly in a Major key. This fact I consid-

ered interesting, as Wood declares his belief “that the untaught

cries of all the lower animals, whether quadrupeds or birds, are in

the Minor key.” Herein theory must yield to observation. If I

might venture an opinion, it would be that the music of the really

musical wild animals is oftener on a Major key; while the Minor

key characterizes savage man. A remarkable fact in the above

role is the scope of little Hespie’s musical powers. Her soft, clear

voice falls an octave with all the precision possible; then at the

wind-up, it rises again into a very quick trill on C sharp and D.

Though it be at the risk of taxing belief, yet I must in duty

record one of Hespie’s most remarkable performances. She was

gambolling in the large compartment of her cage, in a mood indi-

cating intense animal enjoyment, having woke from a long sleep,

and partaken of some favorite food. She burst into a fulness of

song very rich in its variety. While running and jumping, she

rolled off what I have called her Grand Role, then sitting, she

went over it again, ringing out the strangest diversity of changes,

by an almost whimsical transposition of the bars; then without

for an instant stopping the music, she leapt into the wheel, started

it revolving at its highest speed, and went through the Wheel

Song in exquisite style, giving several repetitions of it. After this

she returned to the large compartment, took up again the Grand

Role, and put into it some variations of execution which aston-

ished me. One measure I remember was so silvery and soft, that

I said to a lady who was listening, that a canary able to execute

that would be worth a hundred dollars. I occasionally detected

what I am utterly unable to explain, a literal dual sound, very like

a boy whistling as he draws a stick along the pickets of a fence.

So the music went on, as I listened, watch in hand, until actually

nine minutes had elapsed. Now the wonderful fact is that the res

between the roles was never much more than for a second of time ;

766 A SINGING HESPEROMYS.

and during all this singing the muscles could be seen in vigorous

action through the entire length of the abdomen. This feat would

be impossible to a professional singer; and the nearest to it that

I have seen was the singing of a wild mocking bird in a grove.

For several days the wheel grated on its axle. This afforded

Hespie great delight; and her own little warble was completely

lost in the harsher sound. It was pretty much as it is with

some of the modern methods of praise; as when the vocal is

subordinated to the instrumental, a mere murmur of song, on

which the organist comes down as with the sound of many waters.

A drop of oil, and the sound of the friction stopped. This quite

excited her temper; and she bit the wires of her wheel most

viciously. A little device was hit upon which set her in good

humor again. A strip of stout writing paper, a half inch wide,

was pinned down in such a way that its clean cut upper edge

pressed against the wires of the wheel, making with its revolution

a pleasant, purring sound. It was on the principle, exactly, of

the old-time watchman’s rattle, and the old toy known as a cricket.

This for a while greatly delighted the capricious creature, and she

made the wheel almost fly; at the same time, in unison with the

whirr of the wheel, was her own soft, cheery warble. It was very

low, yet very distinct. I remember once on a larger scale wit-

nessing an analogous sight, when, unseen, I entered a room in

which was a woman spinning wool, and singing at the top of her

voice, in keeping with the loud whirring of her spinning wheel.

Without her wheel the domestic life of little Hespie would be

rather monotonous. Expecting to see some antics in the slipping

line, the trick was tried of covering a part of the inside of the

wheel with smooth sized paper. Mousie entered and started the

wheel, and in the prettiest way jumped the smooth paper floor at

avery: Hewolition; actually keeping the propulsion up with but a

slight diminution of the usual speed. This was certainly a very

pretty feat. We next shut her out by corking up the entrance.

_ She worked desperately at the closed aperture; then in despair

gave vent to a piercing little cry. It was surprising what ®

strange pleasure this sound afforded me; it showed so clearly the

difference in the timbre or quality of this sound of distress from

that which I have called its singing. She was a good deal excited,

and ran frantically into and out of her little bed-box, which had a

hole at each end. Soon this tiny gust of rage passed over. She

ates

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. 767

now, although running about her cage, indulging in little gambols,

indicating exquisite grace and agility, struck off into a truly beau-

tiful strain of song. It occupied about three minutes, and had in

it considerable scope and variety. First there was a clearly enun-

ciated expression like that of the cooing of a turtle dove, a soft

note, with a deliberate slowness. This changed into a series of

more rapid notes strangely suggesting, though not so weird-like,

the conchy clamor of the American cuckoo (Coccyzus), then clos-

ing with a series of short, rapid sounds, like the tapping of the

woodpecker on a tree.

A very noticeable fact was, that a great deal of this little crea-

ture’s song was poured forth while at play—that is, while in ac-

tual activity ; and, take the wheel-play, for instance, when really

in quite violent exercise. A thing, too, which much surprised me,

was, that often when eating she sang and ate at the same time,

literally in the same breath. This singular habit, so suggestive of

a great physiological difficulty, led to an incident, which caused

considerable merriment for those who witnessed it. I had been

examining some insect larve on a twig of black alder. Without

any real motive, a bit of the twig, about an inch long, and an

eighth of an inch thick, was offered to Hespie. She was delighted,

and at once began in her usual pretty way, sitting up, to eat the

bark, although it is very bitter. Thus she sat “bolt upright ;”

and the manner in which she held this little black stick in both

hands up to her mouth, at the precise angle in which a fife is held,

although nibbling away, yet singing at the same time, it looked so

like a little fifer playing on an ebony fife that laughter was irresis-

tible at the comical sight.

Wishing to see how this Hesperomys would behave in company,

I put into her cage a young domestic mouse about one-third grown.

She was asleep in her little box. When she woke, it was a pretty

sight. What animation! How the black eyes started and spar-

kled! To me they seemed to snap with fire. The whole frame

was in a quiver— first of astonishment, then with rage. It was

not a ran— but a jump which she made at the little involuntary

intruder, who received a nip that made it squeal in terror. We

removed the little captive, who was so astonished that it was quite

content to lie in our hand. Its terror had won our pity, and we

restored to it its liberty. I had a friend who had once a singing

domestic mouse, of very moderate musical ability, however. But

768 A SINGING HESPEROMYS.

one day he captured two specimens of the white-footed mouse

(Hesperomys leucopus), and supposing it would be good company,

he put them into the cage. Great mistake it was. The two

white-footed barbarians abused the hospitality, and murdered poor

Mus musculus.

And now we ask are these phenomena that have been herein

described the result of an abnormal condition of things or not?

How much truth is there in the theory of some that the singing of

these mice is the result of disease, or of some bronchial distur-

bance? In my opinion the following reasons disprove the truth of

any such theory.

1. The exquisite animal enjoyment, and actual physical condi-

tion, for it is fat, and perfect in pelage and form, indicating high

health. Every form of bronchial disease is in its most ordinary _

effect depressing to the animal spirits.

2. When engaged in song, the exercise reaches to the very depth

of the chest, as is so often seen in the lowing of kine, where the

muscles may be observed in action for the whole length of the ab-

domen. Persons afflicted bronchially avoid deep vocal exercises.

3. The singing is so often performed under those precise cir-

cumstances in which bronchially diseased persons are sure to keep

still, if possible. For instance, take the Wheel Song. Here, al-

though the exercise was violent, yet the song would be sustained

all through with no diminution of vocal strength; and quite fre-

quently was it the case, that when the animal stopped turning the

wheel, though it continued the song, the momentum would throw

it on its back, when as if in surprise, it would roll off four or five

totes on a higher octave, and in a greatly increased loudness of

voice.

4. Our vesper mouse delights in a role, the performance of which

argues these three facts :— A high organization of the organs of

the voice; delicate and skilful adjustment during use; 4 perf

condition as respects health. She can sing and eat at the same

time. When a boy the writer was fond of whistling, usually select-

ing some ballad tune; and it was with perfect ease that the strain

was continued through an entire stanza, without any break for the

sake of getting breath; for ere the expiring air had become

exhausted, he inverted the process, thus continuing his strain by

the inspiring air as it came through the orifice formed by his lips.

He also remembers that it was said of Jenny Lind that she could

A SINGING HESPEROMYS. 769

use the inspiring breath in singing, though he cannot vouch for the

fact. Now this fact, in the case of our Hesperomys, that it could

eat and sing at the same time, even admitting, what is probably

true, that there are intervals of a very short duration (so short as

to be almost undiscernible) when the epiglottis closes to allow the

food to pass down the gullet, demonstrates, as we think, that the

organization of those parts was very delicate, and that the whole

organism was in the very highest condition of health. We say

nothing about that dual vocalization, other than that we think it

looks in the same direction.

Probably it may occur to some that the pathology could be bet-

ter demonstrated by dissection. To us it hardly seems that such

a proof is needed. But I confess to a desire for all possible

knowledge from such a source as respects certain physiological

questions which I feel impelled to propose. In the human ear is

a stringed instrument of amazing delicacy. The physiologist calls

it the Fibres of Corti. It is wonderfully suggestive of the strings

and keys of a piano; and it is believed that it ministers to the

musical function. Query: has our little musician this mysterious

organ? If so, in how much is it like that possessed by man? And

„as Hespie lacked time in her music, and as all animals, other than

man, lack harmony, is this delicate organ consonant with that

defect? Alas! we may not bring to this matter, though under our

hands and our eyes, processes of investigation so delicate as the

astronomer applies to matter far distant in space.

We would not run into the vice of generalizing on too scanty a

stock of facts. Yet we are disposed to think that as an order the

rodents possess a large amount of undeveloped ability for musical

utterance. Few of us are aware to what extent among the domes-

tic mice singers abound. Singing rats also have been observed.

We have now the Hesperomys, thus affording three well marked

genera of the Muride. Of the Sciuride, or squirrels, I can only

speak of three genera with certain knowledge—the gray squirrel,

the chipmunk, and the flying squirrel. All these are capable of

musical sounds, though not to be called singers. And there is

also the whistling of the woodchuck in its burrow. Last summer

I caught a young rabbit in a patch of wild lupines, and was struck

with the silvery musical ring of its ery, when my hand touched it.

It is worth asking how far man’s training or culture could develop

and improve this potentiality or latent power in the rodents to

770 THE LONG-CRESTED JAY.

sing. My friend, who caught the object of this article, is firm in

the belief that on one occasiorf it made, not without some success,

an effort to imitate the canary. If this is a fact, it would of itself

prove much in the direction of these remarks.

THE LONG-CRESTED JAY.

BY ELLIOTT COUES.

sin = Hi

Tus bird is the Cyanura macrolopha of naturalists, and the

genus it belongs to is distinguished among our jays by the ele-

Fig. 134.

The Long-crested Jay.

gant crest that all the species possess, as well as by the rich blue

color that shows particularly on the wings and tail, which are also

barred with black. This group of birds will be immediately rec-

ognized, when we say that the familiar blue jay of the eastern

United States is the type of the whole; there are only half a

dozen species, among which the common eastern species stands a

little apart, being ornamented with richer and more variegated

colors, and inhabiting a different zoological province. In the west

it is represented by two kinds, Steller’s and the Long-crested,

so much alike that they might be considered as one species ; the

last named runs into the C. coronata of Mexico, and this into a

South American kind called C. galeata; while from these last

THE LONG-CRESTED JAY. 771

another Mexican species, C. diademata, differs but little. These

birds are more sombre in general plumage, than the C. cristata of

the east, but still they are beautiful; they differ mainly in the

varying extent of the sooty blackish and the blue, and in the pre-

cise character of the blue or white spots about the head. Our

two kinds above named might be described almost in the same.

terms; they are grayish black with a faint blue shade, passing on

the rump and abdomen into bright blue, which becomes even richer

on the wings and tail; these last are barred with black. The chin

is slightly streaked with whitish; otherwise, the whole head is

glossy black, except that the crest is prettily faced in front with

blue or bluish-white, and there are frequently whitish spots about

the eyelids, as in a robin. It is the character of these head-mark-

ings, and the longer and fuller crest, that chiefly distinguishes the

Long-crested from Steller’s jay. Both are about a foot long, and

nearly half as much in spread of wing; the wings and tail are

each about half a foot. The sexes can hardly be told apart,

though the male is a little the larger; the young rapidly come to

resemble the parents; but when they leave the nest they lack the

black bars on the wings and tail, and the head markings.

Then I was travelling westward in the spring of 1864, I saw

some of these jays in the Raton Mountains, in New Mexico, which

I believe to be about their eastern limit, at least on that latitude,

for they are strongly attached to pine-clad mountains, and, like

Clarke’s crow (Picicorvus columbianus) and the Blue-headed jay

(Gymnocokitta cyanocephala), are found as high up as timber grows.

In crossing the Rocky Mountains through Whipple’s Pass, I did

not happen to meet with any, though others before me had been

` more fortunate; to the westward still, in the lofty forests of the

San Francisco Mountains, they were abundant, and at that time

(July), had just reared their families, and were rambling through

the tops of the trees together. The old birds were in sorry con-

dition, and had literally a “ crest-fallen” air, as if they felt they

had lost their chief ornament, and were stuck full of pin-feathers

besides. But when I came across them the third time, in the

pineries about Fort Whipple, they were in good trim once more,

and saucy as ever. They live in the mountainous parts of Ari-

zona all the year, for they are able to endure pretty severe cold,

being of hardy nature, and well clothed with very soft, thick

plumage, while their food is such as can be procured at any sea-

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V 49

772 THE LONG-CRESTED JAY.

son. Thus being non-migratory, their permanent habitat may be

given with some accuracy; it includes the wooded Rocky Moun-

tain region at large. To the north, and especially about the Co-

lumbia River, they become mixed up with Steller’s jay, which is

the boreal extreme, reaching into Alaska; while in the opposite

direction they run into the Cyanura coronata on the Table Lands

of Mexico.

The imposing crest of this jay merits more than a passing al-

lusion. It does not acquire its full size and beauty, after the July

moult, until the approach of cold weather; but late in the fall,

and all through the winter, this ornament is as striking as at the

breeding season. It grows to be two inches and a half long, and

is composed of many slender feathers with loosened barbs. The

longest ones grow from the crown, while shorter ones fill in from

behind and before, to make an elegant pyramid when standing

close together, or a bundle of plumes when shaken apart, as repre-

sented in the figure, taken from a perfect spring specimen. This

crest is jet black, but it is trimmed in front with a lacing of bluish

white, laid on in two rows running a third way up; the colored

feathers are of a hard, dense nature, looking something like little

bits of metal, and besides these, there are spots of like color

about the eyelids, as already mentioned. The crest can be raised

or lowered, and opened or shut at pleasure; and its rapid move-

ments, when the bird is excited, are highly expressive. The jay

seems to be proud of his top-knot, and generally holds it pretty

high, unless he happens to be on a birds’-nesting expedition, which

I am sorry to say is not seldom, when he lowers his standard, and

makes himself as small as possible, as he skulks silently about,

looking, and no doubt feeling, like the thief that he is.

All the jays make their share of noise in the world; they fret

and scold about trifles, quarrel over nothing, and keep everything

in a ferment when they are about. The particular kind we are

now talking about is powise behind his fellows in these respects ;

a stranger to modesty, and forbearance, and the many gentle qual-

‘ities that charm us in some little birds and endear them to us, he

is a regular fillibuster, ready for any sort of adventure, that prom-

‘ises sport or spoil, even if spiced with danger. Sometimes he

prowls about alone, but oftener has a band of choice spirits with

him, who keep each other in countenance — for our jay is a coward

at heart like other bullies—and share the plunder on the usual

THE LONG-CRESTED JAY. 773

principle in such cases, of each one taking all he can get. Once I

had a chance of seeing how a band of these guerillas make their

raids, and though they went at it in good style, they dame out

very badly indeed. A vagabond troop made a descent upon a

clump of bushes, where probably they expected to find eggs to

suck, or at any rate some chance for mischief and amusement ;

and to their intense joy, they surprised a little owl, quietly digest-

ing his grasshoppers, with both eyes shut. Here was a lark !

and a chance to wipe out a part of the score that the jay family

keep against the owl tribe, for injuries received time out of mind.

In the tumult that ensued, the little birds scurried off at once, the

woodpeekers overhead stopped tapping to listen and look on, and

a snake that was basking in a sunny spot thought best to crawl

into his hole. The jays lunged furiously at their enemy, who sat

helpless, bewildered at the sudden onslaught, trying to look as big

as possible, with his wings set for bucklers and his bill snapping,

meanwhile twisting his head till I thought he would wring it off,

trying to look all ways at once. The impudent jays, emboldened

by the feeble resistance, grew more and more insolent, till their

victim made a sudden break through their ranks, and flapped into

the heart of a juniper tree, hoping to be screened by the tough,

thick foliage. The jays went trooping after, of course, and I

hardly know how the fight would have ended, but here I thought it

time to interfere myself. I got the owl first, as the greater prize,

it being the rare and curious Pigmy (Glaucidium gnoma) hardly

bigger than a blue-bird; and shot four of the jays, before they

made up their minds to be off. The collector has no better chance

to enrich his cabinet, than when birds are quarrelling with each

other; and so it has always been with the third party in a diffi-

culty, ever since the monkey divided cheese for the two cats.

` Since I have spoken of the jay’s noisiness, I ought to say what

his voice sounds like; but that is a hard matter, he is such a gar-

rulous creature, and has such a variety of tones. Ordinarily, he

screams out at the top of his voice, and keeps screaming till he is

tired, or till something attracts his attention. This note is some-

thing like our jay’s, but hoarser and heavier, and can be told in a

moment, by its base quality, from the harsh outery of either Wood-

house’s or Maximillian’s jay, both of which birds run higher up

the scale. He has another way of expressing himself, that sounds

like the rataplan of our golden-winged woodpecker ; and then

TTA THE LONG-CRESTED JAY.

again, when greedily regaling upon acorns, or hopping about with

no particular object in view, or curiously peering down through

the pine fronds to watch an intruder, he talks to himself in a queer

way, as if thinking aloud and chuckling over some comical notions

of his own; or perhaps simply because he likes to hear himself.

Indeed, this talkativeness gave the name — Garrulince —to the

whole tribe of jays; and versatile as they are in this, they are

equally so in the matter of their food, whence they used to be

called Omnivori. The long-crested jay will eat anything that is

eatable. They say jays kill and devour small birds ; perhaps they

may, but I do not think it is their practice. That they will rob

birds’ nests, and suck eggs, no one doubts; and if they cannot

catch winged insects, fat larvæ and beetles do nòt come amiss.

But after all, they are vegetarians, and live principally upon seeds,

berries and other fruit. Out there in the mountains where the

Long-crested lives, pine-seeds contribute in large part to his nour-

ishment. I have often watched the bird hammering away at a

cone, which sometimes he would wedge in a crotch, and sometimes

hold with his feet, like a hawk with a mouse. Though most at

` home in the depths of the pines where the supply is pretty sure,

he often strays into the adjoining patches of scrubby oak and ju-

niper after the acorns and berries, or to pick a quarrel with Wood-

house’s jay, and frighten the sparrows. Wherever he goes he has

it pretty much his own way, hated and feared by the other birds,

whom he silences with his scream, and subdues by a show of au-

thority. But who of his ilk has not enemies to be feared in turn?

Cassius’ flycatcher, almost as noisy and audacious as himself, has

many a set-to with him; and even the nimble little pewees pester

him occasionally. The woodpeckers tease him particularly ; they

can scramble about faster than he can follow, and laugh at him

from the other side of a bough, till he quite loses his temper.

But withal our jay has his good points, and I confess to a

sneaking sort of regard for him. An elegant dashing fellow,

of good presence if not good manners ; a tough, wiry, independent

creature, with sense enough to take precious good care of himself,

as you would discover if you tried to get his skin. As you ap-

proach a tall pine where he is rollicking, his restless bright brown

eye marks you for a suspicious character who wilt bear watching.

Now thoroughly on the alert, he leaps like a squirrel from bough

to bough till he reaches the top; and then, as you advance a step

REVIEWS. 775

nearer, he is off with a scream that makes the woods echo his

triumphant disdain. It will be of no use to follow him, now

that he is alarmed ; give up the hope of that particular skin for your

cabinet. But perhaps on another occasion he may be inclined to

take a better look at you, for his curiosity is great, and so he may

expose himself through the rift of the foliage that forms his look-

out. That moment is your chance, and with the loud report of

the gun comes his shriek of agony, as he falls all bloody from

the bough he just mounted in such pride. If he is only wounded,

you will find him game to the last, in such desperate strait as this,

however he may show the white feather at other times; and you

will have hard work to squeeze the last gasp out of him, with

your fingers pressed on each side of the thorax, as you well know

how. And even though you have a prize, you will think it is a

cruel thing to do, as you plug up the shot holes, and thrust him

in a stiff paper cone — especially guarding his superb crest — be-

fore consigning his warm body to the bag along with other vic-

tims.

REVIEWS.

Grav’s Hanp List or Brps.— With the third Part, which has

appeared this year, one of the most remarkable ornithological

works ever published is brought to a close. The urgent need of

such a work as this has long been felt, while there seemed to be

little hope that the want would be supplied, owing to the magni-

tude and exceptional difficulty of the task. Since Bonaparte’s

‘Conspectus,’ with somewhat similar aim and scope, was abruptly

broken off by the author’s death, no one has hitherto been found

willing, even if able, to bend himself to the undertaking. But

Mr. Gray has proved equal to the occasion. To a knowledge of

birds possessed by only a few leading ornithologists, he adds an

acquaintance with the literature of the subject in which perhaps

he stands alone; while the British Museum affords unrivalled fa-

cilities for one, who, like Mr. Gray, can use them to greatest

advantage. To speak of the work in general terms elisa

would be entirely superfluous. Mr. Gray has laid ornithologists

under a lasting debt of gratitude. `

776 REVIEWS.

The three unpretentious volumes simply purport to be a “ hand-

list of birds, distinguishing those contained in the British Museum ;”

but this does not say what has been accomplished, nor more than

hint at the immense labor involved. This astonishing compila-

tion is really an epitome of ornithological literature. It under-

takes to present and identify all the generic and specific names

that have been proposed in ornithology from the Linnean times

to to-day. And when we find that some five thousand generic

titles, and over thirty thousand specific names, have been collated

and identified, either as synonyms or as valid designations, we

can appreciate what has been done. The index alone (which, by

the way, takes up more than half the last volume) presupposes a

familiarity with the literature of the science hardly to be expected

in one man, to say nothing of the library work required in look-

ing up authorities, and the mere clerical labor of transcription.

But even this seems insignificant, when we recollect that two-thirds

of the thirty thousand “ species” are synonyms, and that an

equal if not greater reduction of the five thousand “ genera” was

required ; that this great mass of bibliographical matter had to be

thoroughly digested, the valid species to be sifted out and assigned

to other proper sub-genera and genera, and then the load of sy-

nonymy to be correctly distributed. Yet this has been approxi-

mately accomplished.

It is not within the bounds of possibility that all this should

have been faultlessly done. In the first place, ornithological

synonymy cannot now be completely disentangled ; in every fam-

ily, and in every extensive genus, there are names that cannot

be identified to everybody’s satisfaction. Secondly, the number

of species cannot be fixed, owing to the well-known and unfortu-

nate lack of agreement as to what shall be held for species and

what for geographical or other differentiation. Supposing a man

to have arranged before him every name that has been printed in

ornithology, and to be personally acquainted with the bird upon

which each one of these names was based ; yet then he would not

be able to pass judgment that would not be contested or reversed

by some other equally well informed ornithologist in at least one

case out of ten. In such insurmountable difficulty as this, Mr.

Gray has adopted the most judicious —in fact the only practicable

—-course ; he gives doubtful species the benefit of the doubt. It

was manifestly impossible for him to attempt, in his individ-

REVIEWS. TIT

ual capacity, critical discrimination in every instance; and the

plan carried out is far more satisfactory. Suppressing only un-

questionable synonyms, he retains all names not satisfactorily

identified, and enumerates separately all geographical and other

differentiations, in the cases of widely spread and flexible species,

that have been distinguished by name. So in any given group

we see at a glance what has been described as distinct, and may

so be held with any show of reason whatever. As each name is

accompanied by precise indication of locality, we can seize at

once upon a probable indication of any specimen we may be look-

ing up ; and after determining that it is such a species of such an

author, it remains with ourselves to decide whether it is sufficiently

distinguished from such another species. Thus any one inclined

to be severe in the matter of species can lump to his heart’s con-

tent ; whereas had Mr. Gray heaped up synonyms in a conserva-

tive spirit, he would have made it like looking for a needle in a

haymow for one of opposite tendencies to pick out the name he

wanted. By this method, Mr. Gray makes an approximation to-

wards a perfect mirror of ornithological literature only limited by

common human fallibility.

The list of species foots up a total of eleven thousand, one

hundred and sixty-two, distributed among two thousand, nine hun-

dred and fifteen genera and sub-genera. Making a reasonable

reduction, upon the considerations just presented, the number

probably will not exceed ten thousand—a figure that accords

with current estimates. But the number of ‘“ genera” — one for

every four species, and that in a class of animals of the fewest

broad types, and an unusual proportion of closely interrelated

orms —is a palpable absurdity. Mr. Gray, however, is not

guilty of any such thing as this. The full genera he adopts are

noticeably few—decidedly fewer than is now customary; at a

rough estimate not one-fifth of the two thousand, nine hundred

and fifteen names enumerated. For in this matter, he has been

guided by the same happy judgment that dictated his disposal

of specific names. In reducing the five thousand and odd genera

that have been proposed to two thousand, nine hundred and fifteen,

he suppresses only those that are positively homonymous— based

upon the same type. The rest are given, as subgenera, each over

its own type, without raising the question of their taxonomic val-

ue; thus among the humming birds, we find only twenty-eight

778 REVIEWS.

genera, but no less than one hundred and seventy-eight subgen-

era! By this means we learn exactly what, if any, names have

been based upon a particular species; and so knowing the types,

we can combine or keep separate at discretion. If Mr. Gray had

brought these various names under the one he adopted for the

genus, we should be completely at a loss. One other reason for

the prodigious number of generic names indexed, may be found in

a peculiarity of Mr. Gray’s; he invariably preserves the original

spelling of names, whether correct or not, against the custom of

the purists who try to amend cacography, false etymologies, and

other ‘barbarities’ of which ornithology is guilty ; he will not even

correct typographical errors ordinarily ; and by citing all the dif-

ferent spellings of the same word as distinct synonyms, his list is

considerably swelled, since the same word is sometimes written

five or six different ways. For the special purposes of this work,

this method is undoubtedly preferable, though obviously it cannot

be fully carried out. For instance, in the 12th edition of the

Systema Nature, the genus Scolopax stands printed Scopolaz.

The classification adopted in the hand-list is fairly open to crit-

icism on every score. If there is any point upon which ornithol-

ogists are almost unanimous in the midst of the taxonomic

enterprises and conflicts of the present day, it is the entire ineligi-

bility of this antiquated classification. Whatever may be said for

or against any other system, this one at least will not do.

We hesitate about mentioning the only other feature of the

work that does not satisfy us; for it is much like asking the master

of a feast why he does not have one more course. But, while a

large proportion of the species (the leading ones in particular)

are indicated by references to the works where they are described,

the greater number-of names, including all the synonyms, are

merely accompanied by the authors’ names, and the locality.

This will often leave the student in the lurch, as he may have no

idea where to look for the description upon which the name is

based. This is complimentary to ornithologists, certainly: but

it presupposes a knowledge of the literature of the science that

all do not possess. It was not so much matter about the syn-

onyms; but if the line allotted to each species had been filled

out with the reference, as it might have been, we should judge

that with little additional labor, and without perceptibly enlarging

the volumes, the usefulness of the work would have been ma-

REVIEWS. 779

terially enhanced. After what has gone before, we hardly need

say, that the Hand-list is simply indispensable to the working or-

nithologist.— E. C.

OrıcrN or Lowest Organisms.*—The author’s aim in this and

other writings is to prove that while some monads (Bacteria) orig-

inate by subdivision of preéxisting individuals (homogenesis),

others originate de novo, just as crystals originate by certain chem-

ical laws. He thus goes still farther than those advocates of

spontaneous generation who believe that Bacteria originate by the

transformation of living matter (heterogenesis). For this new

mode of spontaneous generation he proposes the term * Archebio-

sis.”

We should premise that Bacteria are monads, the lowest and

most minute organized beings, forming mere points of organized

matter ; they are highly refractive spherical bodies, and move with

considerable activity. Torule are very similar bodies and are

the germs of the yeast fungus. Professor Bastian has observed

the ordinary reproduction by fission “ most plainly when a few

Bacteria have been enclosed in a single drop of fluid, pressed into

a very thin stratum, in a ‘live box’ kept at a temperature of

about 90° Fahr. by resting on one of Stricker’s warm water cham-

bers placed on the stage of the microscope. Under these condi-

tions, I have seen a Bacterium of moderate size divide into two,

and each of these into two others somewhat smaller, in the course

of fifteen minutes.” These monas-like bodies, as is well known, de-

velop into higher organisms. “It is a fact, however, admitted by

many, and which any patient microscopist is capable of verifying

for himself, that some Bacteria do develop into Leptothrix fila-

ments, and that these are capable of passing into a dissepimated

mycelial structure of larger size and undoubtedly fungus nature

—from which, fructification of various kinds may be produced.

Some Bacteria may therefore develop into some fungi, just as cer-

tainly as Torule may develop into some other fungi, or just as

surely as some multiplying gonidia may develop into lichens.

That some Bacteria are produced from preéxisting Bacteria, just

as some Torule are derived from preéxisting Torule, may, it is

*The Mode of Origin of Lowest Organisms: including a discussion of the experi-

ments of M. Pasteur, and a reply to some statements by Professors Huxley and Tyn-

dall. By H. Charlton Bastian, London and N. York. Macmillan & Co. 1871. 12mo. pp.

109, with two cuts. $1.25.

780 REVIEWS.

true, be considered as settled.” ‘‘ But” he adds ‘“‘so far as we have

yet considered the subject, there may be just as good evidence to

show that Bacteria and Torul are capable of arising de novo,

as there is that some of them are capable of developing into fungi.”

He next discusses the heterogenetic origin of Bacteria and Toru-

æ :— ,

“It has long been known that Bacteria and Torulæ are fre-

quently to be found within vegetable cells, taken even from the

central parts of plants whenever these are in a sickly condition or

are actually dying. They are apt to exist also within epithelial

cells taken from the inside of the mouth; and the frequency and

abundance with which such organisms are met with in these cells,

is almost in direct proportion to the malnutrition and lack of vital

power in the individual who is the subject of observation. Then

again, in persons who have died of adynamic diseases, in the

course of twenty-four or thirty-six hours (during warm weather),

Bacteria may be found in abundance within the blood vessels

of the brain and of other parts, although no such Bacteria were

recognizable in the blood of the individual during life.

n such cases we must in order to account for the presence

the Bacteria or Torule are met with, are onthe eve of death), or

else we must imagine that when the vital activity of any organism,

whether simple or complex, is on the wane, its constituent par-

ticles (being still portions of living matter) are capable of indi-

vidualizing themselves, and of growing into the low organism in

question. Just as the life of one of the cells of a higher organ-

ism may continue for some time after the death of the organism

itself, so, in accordance with this latter view, may one of the par-

ticles of such a cell be supposed to continue to live after even cell-

life is impossible.” :

This latter theory (heterogenesis) he favors as in part account-

ing for the production of Bacteria, as ‘evidence of a tolerably sat-

isfactory nature, however, is forthcoming which may speak inde-

pendently in favor of the doctrine of heterogenesis.”

“It has been affirmed by Crivelli and Maggi that they have

actually seen the particles within granular epithelial cells (taken

from the back of the tongue of a patient suffering from diabetes)

grow and elongate, so as to give rise to Bacteria, ox fuse in lon-

gitudinal series so as to form a Vibrio. And, moreover, as I have

REVIEWS. 781

myself ascertained, if one takes healthy-looking epithelial scales

scraped from the inside of the mouth, which appear to contain

nothing but the finest granules, and places them with a little saliva

in a‘live box’ (and this within a damp chamber kept at a tempera-

ture of about. 90° Fahr.), in the course of from five to ten hours,

the cells may be found to be studded throughout with motionless

Bacteria.”

The origin, in the third place, of Bacteria and Torule by Ar-

chebiosis is supported by evidence, in the author's opinion, sharply

defined and conclusive.

“ Simple experiments can be had recourse to, which are not ad-

missible in the discussion of the question as to the origin of Bac-

teria and Torulæ by Heterogenesis. Thus, we wish to establish

the fact that living matter is capable of undergoing a certain

metamorphosis, and consequently, we must deal with living matter.

Here, however, with the view of establishing the fact that living

matter can arise de novo, if we are able, shortly after beginning

have been killed—we may feel pretty sure that any living organ-

isms which are subsequently found, when the vessel is broken,

must have originated from some re-arrangements which had taken

place amongst the not-living constituents of the experimental so-

lutions, whereby life-initiating combinations had been formed.”

The possibility of this mode of spontaneous generation is ‘*in-

timately associated with the doctrine as to the cause of fermen-

tation and putrefaction. Bastian espouses Liebig’s theory of the

cause of fermentation, i. e., by sets of chemical changes, against

Pasteur’s, who believes that fermentative changes are begun by the

influence of living organisms.

He also attacks the theory that the atmosphere is laden with

the germs of Bacteria and Torule, and thinks that if they do

have germs, they must be microscopically invisible to us. He

then gives the results of a series of experiments which ‘‘ seem to

show quite conclusively that M. Pasteur’s explanations are alto-

gether inadequate to account for the occasional preservation of

boiled fluids in bent-neck flasks.” They lend no countenance,

moreover, to his particular theory, that fermentation cannot be

initiated without the agency of living ferments, — they are, on

the contrary, wholly opposed to this restriction. In conclusion

our author remarks :— 5

782 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

“It would thus appear that specks of living matter may be born

in suitable fluids, just as specks of crystalline matter may arise in

other fluids. Both processes are really alike inexplicable — both

products are similarly the result of the operation of inscrutable

natural laws, and what seem to be inherent molecular affinities.

The properties of living matter, just as much as the properties of

aes Hee are dependent upon the number, kind, and

mode of collocation of the atoms and molecules entering into its

sitoa, There is no more reason for a belief in the exis-

tence of a special “ vital force,” than there is for a similar belief

in the existence of a special ‘ cry stalline force.” The ultimate el-

ements of living matter are in all probability highly complex,

whilst those of crystalline matter are comparatively simple. Liv-

ing matter develops into Organisms of different kinds, whilst crys-

talline matter grows into Crystals of diverse shapes. The greater

modifiability of living matter, and the reproductive property by

which it is essentially. distinguished from crystalline matter, seem

both alike referable to the great molecular complexity and mobil-

ity of the former. Crystals are statical, whilst organisms are dy-

namical aggregates, though the evolutions of both marked by

their peculiar characteristics, may be regarded as visible expres-

sions testifying to the existence of one all-pervading power —

“Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean, and ae living air,

ago sash pe Apak and in the mind of man:

spirit that ir ave

All i thinking tetas all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things.’

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

On THE LEVER-LIKE ANTHERS IN SALviA.—It must, I think, be

evident to many observers that what we are prone to consider

beautiful adaptations in the organs of flowers, are, as we should

say of many of the operations of men, merely afterthoughts; that

is to say that often parts would be formed without any idea of the

uses which would be subsequently made of them. I have perceived

this for some time, but hardly dared express it in the face of the

universal belief that everything was designed for some special use

and purpose. Last year, however, I submitted in these pages the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 783

idea that if the petaloid lobes of the divided anthers in Salvia,

which closed the throat of the corolla in most of the species, were

really designed to aid in the diffusion of the pollen by insect

agency, the subsequent clasping of the stamens by the upper lip

of Salvia involucrata and thus preventing the said action, was a

queer proceeding.

I hope that this matter will not be lost sight of by those who

advocate the universal adaptation theory, and to aid in keeping

the subject fresh, I would point out that in Salvia coccinea the

“lever” arrangement exists as in most other Salvias, but are set

back against the upper surface of the corolla, in such a way as to

be absolutely useless as an obstruction of the throat, or for any

purpose whatever that I can see. It is getting to be the fashion

to refer any useless organs or structures to some supposed distant

progenitors, from which the modern organism sprung. Our whis-

kers and so forth for instance, are said really to belong to the

monkey from which we are descended, rather than to the modern

man to whom they are now attached. It will be a curious study

for botanists to trace out the progenitors of these Salvias which

may claim the original uses of these petaloid anthers in cases

where they are as useless now as the hair on our faces. But if we

may be pardoned for deriding easy beliefs, as well as easy labors,

we may say of some of these matters, as we say of pollen or of

seeds themselves, that nature makes numberless things, for which

she has no use whatever. Perhaps it may be, that like the human

mind, the mind of nature likes variety and profusion, in the effort

for which mere utility is not always consulted. —Tuomas MEEHAN.

[Should Mr. Meehan read E. Miller’s Discourse, in the July

number of the Naturauist, he will notice that, with the Darwin-

ian school, and in virtue of the very terms of the theory which

has imparted so much interest into the subject, ‘universal adapta-

tion” is regarded as a consequence rather than as a forethought.

Thus far he would seem to be in accord with Darwinians. But in

nothing could he more widely diverge from their way of thinking

than in his suggestions that “ Nature makes numberless things

for which she has no use whatever,” if by his metaphorical ex-

pression he means that the ‘‘things” are of no use to the beings

that produce them. And of this sort, ‘pollen and seeds” are

queer examples. Does he mean that these are useless because ~

perabundant enough to ensure against risk and loss and appropri-

784 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ation by animals, through which fertilization and dispersion are

subserved ? — Eps. ]

PETALS IN ÅTRAGENE. — I have just taken a number of speci-

mens of Clematis (Atragene) alpina which have well developed

petals. In the subgenus Atragene, as is well known, the outer-

most of the stamens are usually abortive, as if to represent the

true petals, which are wanting. I have in one flower, not less

than ten good petals, all of them being as long as the sepals, two-

thirds as broad, and quite as deeply colored.

These petals are all entirely destitute of any traces of the an-

ther at their tips; nevertheless, in all the specimens in question,

the transition from stamen to petal, is a gradual one, similar to

what is seen in the flowers ọf Nymphcea. The usual four sepals

are perfectly normal, and differ from the petals only in being

broader.—Epwarp L. GREENE, Golden City, Col. Territory.

TRANSPIRATION OF Leaves.—In the monthly report of the De-

partment of Agriculture for March and April, 1871, page 149, is a

short notice on transpiration of leaves. Pettenkofer is named as

the observer, but he only made the report of the experiment,

which was performed by Prof. Fred Pfaff in Erlangen. Being on

a visit to Germany two years ago and standing under the same oak

tree, which was the object of the observation, my old friend Mr.

Pfaff explained to me his mode of calculations, which may be of

interest to some of your readers.

Cutting a small twig with the leaves, he brought it in a wide

mouthed glass bottle, corked and weighed it. Then he exposed

the leaves to the open air, weighed it again, after three to four

minutes and marked the differences, from which he calculated the

evaporation of the ‘leaves in a certain time. Then he outlined

each of the leaves on fine paper, the weight and measure of which

he had ascertained, cut the outlines out and weighed these again ;

from the difference of weight he calculated the difference of meas-

ute, and accordingly the surface of all the leaves. Afterwards he

calculated the surface of the foliage of the whole tree in the fol-

lowing manner: the crown of the tree was a regular elipsoid and

easily measured ; deducting the inner leafless part, he found the

bulk of the leafed part. Attaching cubes of different sizes, made

of thin sticks representing the edges of the cube, to parts of the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 785

crown of different density of foliage, he counted the leaves falling

into the hollow space and calculated by repeated measurements

the average number of leaves of the whole tree and the average

surface of them.

The loss by evaporation was measured at different hours of each

day, from the 18th of May to 24th of October ; this reduced the

average loss for a square inch surface, and from this was calculated

the average loss from all the leaves of the tree during the season.

Many minute precautions were taken, which to mention here is

not necessary; but it may be remarked that when exposing the

leaves for evaporation he suspended the twigs in the shade, and as

the cut twigs during the experiment were deprived of any succor

from the tree, the loss is to be considered as a minimum.

The intention was not to find the exact amount of transpira-

tion, but to prove that during the season the tree evaporates con-

siderably more water than it receives by rainfall, and so the method

answers the purpose.—Frep. BRENDEL, Peoria, Il., 9th of June,

1871.

ZOOLOGY.

SPAWNING OF THE Goose Fisa (Lophius Americanus).— During

the summer season the fishermen on the New England coast often

notice a substance floating in the water, which they term “a purple

veil” the precise nature of which has caused much speculation on

their part, and which answers singularly well to its designation.

During a late cruise I encountered one of these veils, which

presented the appearance of a continuous sheet of a purplish

brown color, twenty or thirty feet in length and four or five in

width, composed of a mucous substance which was perfectly

transparent, to which, as a whole, a purple color was imparted by

the presence of specks distributed uniformly throughout the mass

to the number of about thirty or more to the square inch. I was

unable to ascertain whether this was actually a simple sheet or a

collapsed tube, as the material was so extremely slippery that it

was impossible to retain it in a position where it could be easily

examined. With much effort we succeeded in bringing a portion

upon the deck of our boat, when it ran out almost immediately

through the scupper holes. To our surprise on closely: examining

the specks, which gave color to the mass, we found them to consist

of embryonic fish, moving vigorously in their envelope but without

786 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

any appreciable latitude of motion, or change of relative position

to each other.

Portions of this veil, with its contents were brought home, hop-

ing that we might be able to follow the successive transformations

of this embryo, and thereby determine the species; but although

the water in which they were kept was frequently changed they

very soon died.

It was, of course, evident that nothing but a very large fish

could lay so heavy a sheet of mucus, covering as it did an area

of not less than from sixty to one hundred square feet, and I am in-

formed that they are sometimes found even much larger than this.

Allowing one hundred square feet of surface, and an average of

thirty feet to the square inch, the sheet in question would con-

tain four hundred and thirty-two thousand eggs, an estimate de-

cidedly within the mark.

When this specimen was first selected, we had overboard at the

stern of our boat a trawl net about thirty feet in length, of a tan

color trailing behind, and the veil was first seen floating near it,

und so entirely similar in general appearance and color, as to re-

main for some time without attracting special attention, till one

end floated off from that of the net, creating the impression that

the latter had been torn longitudinally into strips by some unknown

accident.

Finding myself unable to ascertain anything about the true

character of this spawn I sent specimens of it to Mr. Alexander

Agassiz, who informed me that it belonged to the goose fish,

and that he had studied out the development of the species from

its earliest stage of growth to maturity. —S. F. BAIRD.

How Livine Toaps May Occur is Limestones.— It is well

known to all naturalists that none of the existing species of ani-

mals were in existence during either the paleozoic or mesozoic pe-

riods, and hence the reported occurrence of frogs or toads in 4

torpid but living: state, embedded in solid limestone strata, has

not been generally credited by scientific men as worthy of serious

consideration. Nevertheless it is not uncommon to hear persons

assert that such occurrences have taken place within their own

personal knowledge, and it seems hardly probable that such re-

ports should arise in various and distant localities, without, some

apparent foundation in fact.

In the winter of 1853 the writer was informed by a gentleman

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 787

of undoubted veracity, that in laying the foundation walls for a

warehouse in the town of Naples on the Illinois river, a living

toad was found entombed in the limestone, which on coming in

contact with the atmosphere soon resumed its wonted activity,

though torpid when first discovered.

Having occasion to pass through Naples a few days after-

wards, I examined the walls of the buildings to see if I could

discover any clue that might serve to explain so improbable an

occurrence. I found the walls constructed out of the brown dolo-

mite of the lower St. Louis, or Warsaw limestone, and observed

that the rock had been more or less fissured, the fissures cutting

the strata at right angles to the lines of bedding, and varying

from a mere line to an inch or more in width. Many of these fis-

sures had been filled wholly or partially with a deposit of stalag-

mite, and in some places the exposed surface of the rock had been

coated for an inch or more in thickness with the same material.

These facts seemed to me to afford an easy explanation of the

reported phenomena ; the toad had sought shelter in one of these

crevices as his home for the winter, where he remained in a dor-*

mant condition, until the constant dripping of water holding car-

bonate of lime in solution sealed him in completely. Here he

remained until he was released by the hammer of the workman,

which broke the crust of his stony mausoleum, and restored him

to liberty. Persons who had paid no attention to the manner in

which limestones are formed, would make no distinction between

the original dolomite which was formed beneath the ocean,

eons of ages ago, and the incrusting stalagmite whose formation

is still going on, and to them it would be all alike, solid lime-

stone. As these comparatively recent calcareous deposits are of

very common occurrence, it would not be surprising that living

batrachians should be found in them, even more frequently than

they are.

It would be a matter of considerable scientific interest, to deter-

mine, were it possible, how long animal life could be preserved

under such conditions; and if the functions of life are so com-

pletely suspended during hibernation, as to cause no waste et

tissue, I see no reason why it might not be preserved for an in-

definite period, though it is by no means necessary to suppose in

the case cited above, that any long period had elapsed after the

entombment of the animal.— A. H. Wortuen, Springfield, IU.

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. V. 50

788 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Young Worms Frenne on Eces or tur Same Broop.—In a

recent biography of the celebrated Swiss naturalist Claparéde, by

M. H. de Saussure, published in the “ Bibliotheque Universelle,”

he is said to haye made the strange discovery that among the eggs

contained in great numbers in the capsule secreted by the worm

(Clitellum) one only transforms into an embryo. This rapidly in-

creases in size, since as soon as its mouth is formed, it devours

the surrounding eggs, which thus serve as a reservoir of food.

This phenomenon is analogous to that which has been described

in certain gastropodous molluscs such as Purpura, etc.

Brack Varnisuep Insect Prns.— M.. Peyerimhoff advocates

the use of black varnished insect pins instead of silvered brass

pins, which corrode in the body of the insects, especially of Micro-

Lepidoptera, very soon disfigure them, and eventually utterly de-

stroy them. The editor of “ Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques,”

thinks that varnished brass pins may last somewhat longer, but

that these will eventually perish in the same way. ‘We be-

HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITES IN A BretLe.— Wishing to compare

certain muscles of locomotion of butterflies with those of some

other insect, I selected from a bottle of alcoholic specimens a spe-

cies of Pimelia which I had collected in Egypt-—a large, compact,

very hard-shelled beetle, with elytra connate to the last degree. On

opening the beetle from above and removing the mass of nearly

or quite developed eggs which lay on the upper surface, I noticed

Some vermiform bodies lying free in the cavity of the abdomen.

Examining them carefully, my astonishment was great on discov-

ering that they were hymenopterous larve, closely resembling

those of certain species of Braconide which are so easily reared

from some lepidopterous larve. I had detected several when I

was called away, and was afterwards unable to distinguish from

ominal cavity of a perfect hexapod? Least of all should we

expect to find them in such hard-shelled Coleoptera? How and

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 789

when do they emerge from their host, and do they interfere with

its vital functions before the eggs are deposited? The beetle was

one of a large colony of lively specimens captured beneath the

ruined walls of an Arab hovel at Ismailia on the Suez canal. The

specimens have been sent to the editors of the AMERICAN NATU-

RALIST.— SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.

[It is well known in Europe that several species of Conops, a

wasp-like dipterous fly, live in the larva state in the abdomens of

adult humble bees. We have reared a species also from the ab-

domen either of Bombus vagans or B. fervidus.— Eps. ]

Mapness 1N A Horse. — In the * Zeitschrift fir Parasitenkunde”

published in Berlin, a remarkable instance is recorded of madness

in a horse, caused presumably by the bite of a mad dog. The

horse was brought to the hospital of the Royal Veterinary School

at Berlin, having refused its food for two days, and exhibited ex-

traordinary wildness and propensity to bite, not only other horses

and inanimate objects, but also its own body, and had already by

this means broken several of its teeth, and inflicted severe inju-

ries on its mouth. When confined in a stall in the hospital, it

cqntinued to exhibit this propensity to a terrible extent, but in a

fitful manner; in the intervals of the paroxysms it stood in a be-

wildered state, and would sometimes suddenly fall as if struck by

lightning, then give a violent bite to one of its hind feet, then as

suddenly spring up, staggering. The loss of blood caused it to

become gradually weaker, and in the evening of the day on which

it was admitted, it expired without any death-struggle. Except

the outward injuries, and some interior swelling and inflamma-

tion, the organs were found to be sound after death.—A. W. B.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

WHERE ARE THE Bones or Prenistoric Men?—In answer to

this inquiry, M. W. Pengelly states in the ‘‘ Quarterly Journal of

Science” that their bones may be more subject to decay than the

bones of other animals, citing the experiments of Dr. Lindley who

‘t placed in water, in a tank, one hundred and seventy-seven spec-

imens of various plants belonging to all the more remarkable

natural orders, including representatives of all those which are

constantly present in the coal measures, and also those which are

790 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

universally absent. The uncovered vessel was exposed to the air

and left untouched further than filling it up as the water evapo-

rated, until April, 1835, or a period of two years. At the end of

that time it was found that certain kinds had entirely disappeared,

others had left some more or less recognizable traces ; whilst others,

especially fungi, ferns and coniferous trees were comparatively

well preserved. In short, the plants remaining and the plants

which had disappeared were respectively of the same groups as

those which are not present amongst the coal fossils.” He also

remarks that it is well known that oyster and limpet shells are

more frequently found fossil than cockles, and it was found by

Mr. Sorby that the carbonate of lime in the shells of limpets, oys-

ters and other molluscs, were turned into calcite, while cockles

and their allies were changed into arragonite, the latter being

liable to disappear. He also says that after the conversion of

_ the Lake of Haarlem into dry land, when thirty to forty thousand

men had been buried in its land, or drowned in its waters, and

thousands of miles of trenches and canals were dug through this

made land, no human bones had been found, and only a few relics

of human art. As direct evidence that the bones of man have

been found mingled with those of extinct animals, he cites the

following facts :— In 1824 Rey. Dr. Fleming stated that ‘man was

an inhabitant of this country at the time these animals, now ex-

tinct, flourished, his bones and his instruments having been found

in similar situations with their remains.” M. Wre pe Gesa

1831, discovered “an undoubted human skull, very perfect and in

good preservation” in the floor of a cave, mingled with the bones of

“extinct and recent animals.” In 1833—’4, Dr. Schmerling of

Liége, in a cave in the valley of the Meuse, discovered certain de-

posits which ‘‘were covered with a floor of unbroken stalagmite,

and contained the commingled remains of extinct and recent ani-

mals, including man,” among which were several skulls, including

the celebrated Engis skull. In 1840, Mr. Godwin Austin remarked

that the bones of man occurred in Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, ” under

precisely the same conditions as the bones of all the other ani-

mals.” In 1841 he added, “at Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, ar-

rows and knives of flint, with human bones, in the same condi-

tion as the elephant and other bones, were found in an undisturbed

bed of clay, covered by nine feet of stalagmite.”

“The late Col. Hamilton Smith devoted a section of his “ Natu-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 791

ral History of the Human Species” (1848), to the question of

“ Bones of Man among Organic Remains” of which the following

is a brief summary :— In a conversation with the author in 1824,

Cuvier admitted that the opinions then in vogue on the point

would require considerable modification. Donati, Germer, Ras-

oumouski, and Guetard, maintained that human bones had been

found intermixed with those of lost species of mammals in sev-

eral places ; they had been detected in England in caves and fis-

sures ; they were found at Meissen in Saxony, and at Darford in

France, by M. Firmas. A fossilized skeleton found in the schist

at Quebec, and in part preserved at the seminary, excited no at-

tention ; and the well known Guadaloupe skeletons had been pro-

nounced recent upon hypothetical reasoning. Those discovered

by M. Schmerling in the Liége caverns were similarly disposed of,

and Dr. Lund’s reports respecting partially petrified human bones,

found by him in the interior of Brazil, in the same condition with

those of numerous animals, now extinct, which accompanied them,

attracted no more than incredulous attention. In the caverns of

Bize, in France, human bones and shreds of pottery were found

in red clay mixed with the débris of extinct mammalia ; a similar

collocation was soon after detected by M. de Serres, in the caverns

of Pondres and Souvignargues ; and Dr. Boué found human bones

mixed with others of extinct species at Lahr. In 1833, human

bones were found together with several species of the well known

extinct cave mammals, in caves near Liége, beneath a thick coat

of stalagmite ; and about the same period, the Rey. Mr. MacEmery

collected from the caves of Torquay, human bones and flint knives,

amongst a great variety of extinct species, all under a crust of

stalagmite upon which the head of a wolf reposed. Amongst the

bones of the mammoth and his contemporaries, found at Oreston,

near Plymouth, at different times before and after that period, the

upper portion of the humerus of a man was detected, and imme-

diately thrown away as valueless on being pointed out to the pos-

sessor. About the end of the last century, gypsum quarries were

opened in the Vale of Kostniz, in Upper Saxony. The gypsum

was groin in every direction by caves and fissures, which

were filled with red clay containing clusters of bones of mamma-

lia, iniia man, elephant, rhinoceros, horse, ox, elk, deer, rein-

deer, a great felis, hyzena, hare, and rabbit. A fragment of an

arm and a thigh-bone of a man were dug out of the clay at a

792 NATURAL. HISTORY MISCELLANY.

depth of eighteen feet; and eight feet below, two phalanges of a

rhinoceros.”

Other discoveries, made since 1860, and well known to our

readers, are alluded to. -The writer might have added the case,

now apparently well authenticated, of the human skull found by

Professor Whitney, under Table Mountain, California, associated

with remains of the mastodon.

FRESH DISCOVERIES or PLATYCNEMIC MEN IN DENBIGHSHIRE.—

Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins records in ‘“‘ Nature” the opening of some

freshly discovered bone-caves in Denbighshire, Wales, in which

were discovered the remains of men with the skulls rather above

than below the present ordinary cranial capacity, but with some of

the leg-bones remarkable for the peculiar antero-posterior flatten-

ing or platycnemism of the shin bones. They are associated with

the remains of sheep or goat, pig, fox, badger and stag, and with

four flint flakes. The interest of the discovery consists in the fact

that the group of caves, which has been used by a race of herds-

men in long-forgotten times as habitations and burial places, must

be referred to the Neolithic age. And we can now be certain that

those people who haye manifested the peculiar flattening forwards

of the shin in Denbighshire belong to that age. Itis a point also

well worthy of note that the cranial capacity of these Neolithic

men was not inferior to that of the average civilized man, although

the ridges and processes for muscles indicated a greater physical

power.— A. W. B.

GEOLOGY.

GEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION To Kansas.—I write to give a brief

account of the expedition of seventeen days which I have just

made in the valley of the Smoky Hill river in Kansas. Through

the courtesy of General John Pope commanding the department

of the Missouri, I was furnished with an order on the post com-

mandant at Fort Wallace for a suitable escort. This was fur-

nished by Captain E. Butler (Fifth infantry), who spared no pains

to make the expedition a success.

We first camped at a spring eighteen miles south of Fort Wal-

lace, and five miles south of Butte Creek. It had a fine flow of

water, and being without a name I called it Fossil Spring. On a

bluff on Butte Creek, Lieutenant Whitten discovered the frag-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 793

ments of a monster saurian projecting from the shale, and on fol-

lowing the bones into the hill, exhumed a large part of the skel-

eton of a Liodon dyspelor Cope. This was welcome, as the

species had been previously known from vertebrae only. The

pelvic arch was found perfectly preserved, and the scapular arch

and limbs partially so. The iliac bone is slender and straight,

slightly expanded at the acetabulum. The ischium has a some

what similar form, but is curved. The axis of the proximal por-

tion is directed upwards, the shaft then turns into a horizontal

direction and lies beneath and at one side of the vertebral column

without uniting with its fellow. The pubes are elongate, but

wider than the other elements and flattened. They are in contact

in front medially, and have an angulate axis. A short process

projects from near the proximal end, on the exterior margin.

The femur is a flat bone slightly constricted medially, and with

a decurved and projecting portion of the proximal articular sur-

face on the inner side representing a head. The extremities of

the dentary bones are each drawn to an acute point differing thus

toto celo from those of the L. proriger.

= On the same bluff another Liodon and a Clidastes were found

with five species of fishes.

On examining the neighboring bluff and denuded areas, bones

supposed to be those of Pterodactyle, two species of Clidastes, a

Dinosaur, a Crocodile, and numerous fishes were brought to light.

In a similar location on Fox creek cañon, one of the escort,

Martin V. Hartwell, to whom I am indebted for many fine discov-

eries, observed the almost entire skeleton of a large fish, furnished

with an uncommonly powerful offensive dentition. The jaws

were stout, the dentary bone very deep. The teeth in a single

row in all the bones, but of irregular sizes. There are two or

three very large canines in each maxillary and one in the premax-

illary; three or four in the dentary separated by one interval.

The lack of the coronoid bone and many other characters, shows

that it should be referred to the order Isospondyli, and is probably

allied to the herring and the Saurodontide. The vertebre are

grooved, and there is a pasioccipital tube but little developed.

The teeth are simple cylindric conic, with smooth enamel, and

project two inches above the alveolar border, and each descends

an inch into its alveolus. The species and genus are new to our

palzeontology, and may be named Portheus molossus. It turned

out on subsequent explanation to have been quite abundant in the

794 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Cretaceous seas. It was probably the dread of its cotempora-

ries among the fishes as well as the smaller saurians.

On another occasion we detected unusually attenuated bones

projecting from the side of a low bluff of yellow chalk, and some

pains were taken to uncover them. They were found to belong

to a singular reptile of affinities perhaps to the Testudinata, this

point remaining uncertain. Instead of being expanded into a

carapace, the ribs are slender and flat. The tubercular portion

is expanded into a transverse shield to beyond the capitular artic-

ulation, which thus projects as it were in the midst of a flat plate.

These plates have radiating lines of growth to the circumference,

which is dentate. Above each rib was a large flat ossification of

much tenuity, and digitate on the margins, which appear to repre-

sent the dermo-ossification of the tortoises. Two of these bones

were recovered, each two feet across. The femur resembles in

some measure that ascribed by Leidy to Platecarpus tympaniticus,

while the phalanges are of great size. Those of one series meas-

ure eight inches and a half in length, and are very stout, indicat-

ing a length of limb of seven feet at least. The whole expanse

would thus be beyond twenty feet if estimated on a Chelonian

basis. The proper reference of this species cannot now be made,

but both it and the genus are clearly new to science, and its affini-

ties not very néar to those known. Not the least of its peculiari-

ties is the great tenuity of all the bones. It may be called Proto-

stega gigas.

The greater part of a large Liodon proriger Cope was found

scattered over a denuded surface at one point, his huge, truncate

bowsprit-like snout betraying his individuality at once. Portions

of other examples of this reptile were afterwards found. Re-

mains of several species of Clidastes occurred at various points

in the neighborhood of Fossil spring. One (C. duw sp. n.) was

found in the side of a bluff fifty feet above the bottom of the

canon ; Martin Hartwell exhumed another near the C. cineriarum

Cope almost complete.

We subsequently left this locality and encamped at Russell

springs on the Smoky Hill, twenty-six miles distant. On the way

a large Clidastes of some forty or more feet in length was found

lying on a knoll of shale, with the head displaying the palatal

surface upwards. On the Smoky our explorations were attended

with success. When we shifted camp, it was to go to Eagle Tail

in Colorado, whence we returned again to Fossil Spring. The

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 795

richness of this locality was again apparent, and we added to our

collection a number of species, among these may be mentioned

Liodon ictericus Cope and a new Clidastes.

The writer originally pointed out the existence of representa-

tives of the orders Pythonomorpha and Sauropterygia, in this

Cretaceous basin. Prof. Marsh’s explorations determined the ex-

istence of Ornithosauria and Crocodilia. The present investiga-

tion adds Dinosauria and perhaps Testudinata, or the group the

new form Protostega Cope, represents.

The preceding account expresses some points of interest ob-

served. These with others now unnoticed will be included in a

final report.

The giants of this sea were the Liodon proriger Cope, L. dyspe-

lor Cope, Polycotylus latipinnis Cope, and Elasmosaurus platyurus

Cope. Of these the first was apparently the most abundant. The

second was the most elongate, exceeding in length perhaps any

other known reptile. The last named had the most massive body, .

and exhibited the most extraordinary appearance in consequence

of the great length of its neck.

For kind assistance I am much indebted to Captain Edwin

Butler post commandant at Fort Wallace ; to Dr. W. H. King

post surgeon; and to Captain Wyllys Lyman. To Lieutenant

James H. Whitten and Sergeant W. Gardiner who accompanied

the expedition much of its success is also due. —Epwarp D.

Corr, Fort Wallace, Kansas, Oct. 9th, 1871.

MICROSCOPY.

Anrens’ Brxocutar.— This instrument, the fourth new binocu-

lar brought forward within a few months, was submitted to the

Royal Microscopical Society, of London, on the eighth of Febru-

ary last. It is applicable mainly to high powers, being manifestly

unable to compete with Wenham’s arrangement for low powers. It

naturally stands in comparison with the contrivances of Mr. Tolles

and President Barnard. Like Dr. Barnard’s, which was published

some months previously, it separates the light above the objective

into two pencils by double refraction by means of Iceland spar,

cut and cemented in a somewhat complicated and difficult manner.

In other respects the two instruments are entirely different. In the

new arrangement the pencils of light pass upward from the prism

796 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

at an equal angle on each side of the axis of the instrument, are

crossed and at the same time rendered achromatic by wedge-shaped

prisms of flint glass placed base to base, and proceed to the two

eye-pieces through tubes symmetrically situated in reference to the

axis of the instrument, as in Mr. Wenham’s early proposals for re-

fracting binoculars. Adjustment for distance of eyes is made, as

in Wenham’s present arrangement, by a draw-tube movement. In

stereoscopic effect, as well as in illumination (only one of the two

polarized rays being utilized), the new arrangement is no doubt

inferior to Tolles’ binocular eye-piece, but it possesses the great

advantage of enabling the eyes to look at the object, through the

convergent tubes, at the natural angle of near vision. It may be

made in the form of an eye-piece applicable to any large stand;

or, more satisfactorily, as a supplementary compound body capa-

ble of being easily fitted to any stand of suitable size, and of be-

ing used interchangeably with the regular body belonging to the

stand.— R. H. Warp.

Nature or Cru1ary Movement.—Professor Heckel has made

some highly important observations on the nature of ciliary move-

ment, as we find in the ‘ Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Sci-

ence.” Recent investigations by others had shown that physiolog-

ically the ciliary is much more nearly related to the amoeboid

movement than to the muscular. Heckel shows that the ciliary

is merely a modification of the amwboid movement of protoplasm.

“ Ciliated cells are of two kinds. In the one kind, Epithelium

Jlagellatum, each cell is provided with a single long flagellum or

lash. Sponges possess only this kind; in the other, Epithelium

ciliatum, numerous hair-like appendages take the place of the

flagellum. This is the kind found in most of the higher animals.

The old notion, that in ciliated cells the cilia are attached to the

outside of the cell membrane, must now be considered as entirely

set aside. Many, probably most, ciliated cells are destitute of a

membrane, and the appendages, whether flagella or cilia, are di-

rect processes of the protoplasm of the cell.” Prof. Heckel’s

observations on lower organisms during the last year have led him

to the conclusion that ciliated cells arise directly by the transmu-

tation of ameeboid cells.

COMBINATION OF THE SPECTROSCOPE AND Porariscorr. — Mr.

Francis Deas has introduced to the Royal Society of Edinburgh

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 797

a very curious department of microscopical study, the details of

which are published in the ‘t Monthly Microscopical Journal.” He

combines the spectroscope with the polarizing microscope, in or-

der to analyze the colors given by double refracting crystals

when viewed by polarized light. In his arrangement, the light

from the mirror passes first through an adjustable slit below the

isubstage, then through a Nicol’s prism and the achromatic con-

denser, and forms an image of the slit on the double refracting

crystal on the stage. The dispersion prisms are placed above the

objective, and the spectrum is viewed with the eye-piece and ana-

lyzing prism. Those who prefer to use the spectroscopic eye-

piece, as most do in this country, would dispense with the slit

below the substage, and place the analyzing prism over the objec-

tive.

A Hien One-rivra. — Assist. Surg. J. J. Woodward, U. S. A.,

resolves Amphipleura pellucida with a Tolles immersion one-fifth.

This is a high one-fifth, but much less than a one-sixth in pow-

er. Angular aperture 110° to 170° according to adjustment. As

these lines count ninety-six thousand to the inch, Dr. Woodward

expected that it might resolve the sixteenth band of Nobert’s

plate. He only succeeded, however, in getting through the fif-

teenth band. This result corresponds with his judgment, based

upon other observations, that Nobert’s lines are more difficult of |

resolution than lines of equal fineness on the natural objects usu-

- ally studied in comparison with them.

FRESH-WATER ALGÆ.— Dr. T. C. Hilgard’s paper on this subject,

read before the Microscopical Section of the American Association

at the Indianapolis meeting, was inadvertently omitted from the

list of papers published in the Association Number of the Natu-

RALIST.

PHOTOGRAPHING HISTOLOGICAL Prerarations.— Dr. Woodward

describes in the ‘ American Journal of Science and Arts” for

October certain improved methods of using the light of the sun

for photographing the soft tissues.

Noserr’s Lixes.—President Barnard judges that it is not neces-

sary to count the whole of one of Nobert’s bands in order to re-

solve it unmistakably, but only to count a measured portion of a

band.

798 NOTES.

STANISTREET’S Lines. — John F. Stanistreet, Esq., of Liverpool,

has ruled some stars on glass and steel, the rays of which, some

fifty in number, consist of bands of parallel lines two thousand to

the inch. The intersection of these different lines gives very curi-

ous and beautiful optical effects under the microscope.

Microscopy 1N Paris. — We learn from the ‘‘ Quarterly Journal

of Microscopical Science” that Hartnack is back at Paris, just as

he was before the war. He is about to establish works at Potsdam.

NOTES.

— OM

“A very large audience, consisting of the teachers in Boston

assembled early in November, in the new hall of the Massachu-

setts Institute of Technology to attend the opening of a series 0

lectures upon Methods of Instruction in Natural History.

As it was the first time this hall had been publicly used, Profes-

sor Runkle, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-

ogy, opened the pro App ber introduced, in a few appropriate

words of welcome, Mr. ii s T. Bouvé, President of the Boston

Society of N ities Histo

Mr. Bouvé stated that “the society which he represented had for

many years by its publications and meetings, but more especially

public mind and endeavored to cultivate a taste for science in the

community. he Teachers’ School of Science was a very appro-

priate supplement to the other operations of the society and had

been in contemplation by several officers of the society for some

time past. The present active beginning, however, was due to

the generosity of one of these gentlemen who had furnished the

pecuniary means for making the necessary collections and paying

the lecturers. The enterprise, however, was considered as an ex-

periment to be worked out rather than talked about, and he would

Mook without further delay introduce Prof. W. H. Niles, who

would deliver the first course on ‘ Physical Geography.’ ~

. Niles made a few preliminary remarks upon the necessity

of teaching science in the schools in a practical manner, and

showed that t e projectors of the enterprise had no intention of

forcing theories upon the minds of the teachers. They simply

wished to help, to join with them in their efforts to educate the

young, and to place before them such information as their special

acquirements in different branches of knowledge would justify.

NOTES. 799

eral, vegetable and animal.

n a few concluding remarks the lecturer spoke of the general

incompleteness of definitions, but also showed that they were es-

sential to the analytical method of teaching, and, when used with

the careful exclusion of all doubtful facts, of great use in classify-

ing natural objects.

This principle was amply illustrated by the objects on the table.

It was really surprising to witness how much might be done with

such simple things as a piece of marble, an apple, a plant, a squir-

rel, a flask of water, etc., in giving a child the fundamental ideas

that govern the distribution and classification of the three great

kingdoms of nature. The spirit manifested by the teachers pres-

ent was evidently very gratifying to the lecturer, and he referred

We learn from one of the committee that they have long recog-

nized the hopelessness of attempting to work upon the public at

large by means of the usual lecture system. However effectual

this may be as a means of cultivating a taste for natural science,

it certainly does not produce any very definite or encouraging re-

sults. Collateral study and practical work with specimens are

essentials without which mere lectures are very barren to the ma-

jority of minds. They have therefore concluded that their efforts

should be concentrated upon the public system of education, and

here they have been nobly seconded by the teachers, who have

come forward to the number of seven hundred and fifty, while an

average of nearly six hundred have actually been in attendance

at the lectures, which have been given by Prof. W. H. Niles upon

physical geography. On this subject the whole class of teachers

can be instructed at once, but in subsequent courses upon miner-

alogy, zoology and botany, it is proposed to divide them into

800 NOTES.

smaller classes, so that each teacher will be able to use specimens

and carry out completely the system of object teaching.

committee hope by so doing, and furnishing the schools, wherever

practicable, with type specimens, to meet the immediate wants of

teachers, and by introducing them to practical laboratory work, to

induce them to pursue for themselves some special branch of natu-

ral science. The committee have been greatly assisted in their

efforts by the masters of the public schools, especially the chair-

man of the masters’ committee, Mr. Paige, and also by the super-

intendent of public instruction, Mr. John D. Philbrick. The ex-

periment owes its support at present entirely to the generosity of

one of the committee, Mr. John Cummings.

The aims of the committee (consisting of John Cummings, Esq.,

and Professors A. Hyatt and W. H. Niles) who have projected the

entire movement, are wholly practical and will be to a large extent

governed by experience. They intend if possible to meet the daily

wants of the teachers now, and in the coming winters of 1872 and

°73 to develop such a plan as will insure the permanent introduc-

tion of the teaching of natural science in the public schools of

Boston at least.

We congratulate the Boston Society on so successful an inaugu-

ration of science teaching, and believe that it has assumed the

most practical form by which teachers can be fitted to teach the ru-

diments of science. We look forward to similar courses in other

cities in connection with the local scientific societies, and thus a

defect in our system of education will gradually be remedied.

We may divide the German Museums into—(1) Those founded

with the intention of exhibiting objects of Natural History to the

general public; and (2) those established for educational pur-

poses. There are not many of the former class. To it belong the

Museums of the formerly independent ‘“ Reichsstadte,” Hamburg,

Bremen, and Frankfort-on-the-Main, one of the Vienna Museums,

and the collections in Stuttgart and Darmstadt. There are others

like that in Mayence, but they have more the character of well-ar-

ranged local country museums. Although originally founded for the

purpose of exhibiting curiosities, they soon took another position

by receiving objects in which the general public takes a very lim-

ited interest (as, for instance, botanical, geological, or mineralog-

ical specimens), and by systematically collecting materials for the

EE E N

NOTES. 801

purposes of purely scientific research. In several instances the sci-

entific results were sufficiently important and extensive to form

not only a nucleus but the sole subject-matter of distinct periodical

works, such as the ‘“‘ Annalen des Wiener Museums,” the ** Museum

Senckenbergianum,” the ‘“ Abhandlungen des Hamburger Muse-

s.” The Frankfort Museum became the head-quarters for the

Zoology of North-eastern Africa; Bremen possesses a unique col-

lection of African birds, celebrated not only for the great number

of standard specimens, but also for their beautiful state of preser-

vation. In the Vienna Museum particular attention was paid to

European fresh-water fishes ; and travellers like Natterer, Russe-

ger, Kotschy, enriched it with collections so numerous that the

Austrian naturalists have been engaged in their examination till

within a very recent period. The Stuttgart and Darmstadt Muse-

ums are now celebrated for their valuable collections of South-

German fossils, worked out by G. von Jager, Kaup, and others.

In the museums of this class great attention is paid to the

local flora and fauna, recent and extinct. Thus the Stuttgart

collection may be mentioned as a model of what a museum ought

to be; besides a most complete series of the plants and fossils, it

contains a collection of the animals of Suabia in all stages of

growth and development and of variation, in a perfect state of

preservation and particularly attractive from the life-like manner

in which the specimens are mounted. — Nature.

The Middletown Scientific Association, accompanied by the

members and friends of the Springfield Association made an Ex-

cursion to Rice’s Cut, Reed’s Gap and Hamilton Mountain, on Sat-

urday, October 28th. On this excursion, the party numbering

about one hundred had an opportunity to observe some of the

most remarkable phenomena connected with the trap rocks of the

Connecticut Valley, and enjoyed one of the finest views in the vi-

cinity.

The Secretary of the Boston Society of Natural History, Rev.

J. A. Swan, died late in October. He was much beloved as a man,

and his scholarly attainments and zeal for natural history, made

him an efficient officer. His successor has not yet been appointed.

It is stated that Prof. Raphael Pumpelly has been appointed

State Geologist of Missouri. Another report states that Prof.

Swallow received the appointment. Which is correct?

802 NOTES. BOOKS RECEIVED.

Prof. E. Claparède, the eminent zoologist of Geneva, died ow

the 2d of June, at Sienne, Tuscany. He had not yet reached his

fortieth year. By his anatomical and systematic works on the

lower animals, especially the worms, and illustrated with his facile

pencil, he had attained the front rank as an investigator, and his

death is a serious loss to science. His principal works were on

the Evolution of Spiders, Studies on the Infusoria and Rhizopods,

the Formation of the Egg in Nematode Worms, Studies on Aca-

rina, and his splendidly illustrated works on the anatomy of the

Worms. He was a pupil of Johannes Müller, and besides a high

order of talent, must have been endowed with great powers of ap-

plication to have produced so muc

We are glad to announce that the Chicago Academy of Science

have resumed their meetings and that the members are resolved

to go on with their good work at once. At the meeting on Nov.

14, Col. Foster read a paper on the ‘‘ Colorado Mountains” which

will be printed in our January number. Mr. Walker in behalf of

the Trustees of the Academy made an informal announcement to

the meeting that the Academy would have left from the fire about

sixty thousand dollars with which to rebuild, and trusted that a lot

would be secured near the lake shore.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

n jap Grænland. Von Dr. Robert Bro 4to. 187

‘Ber om Norges s Deltagelse iden raisindenge Industr Fo castining op Kuni —Udstillin-

gent Stockhom 1866, og Pi 1867. 8vo. Christiania 10

Carcinologiske Bidra an til No orges Fna. Af G. 3: Sars. I. Monographi. Mysider, 4to. 5

plates. Christiania, 1870,

Om Skuringsmærker Glaci arnam og at Passer samt om ‘Aa eg og sparagmit el-

org fjeldt.

Kart over Christiania image AA Randtegn inge r. 1871

ee de Justedal “ ses Glaciers par C. de Seue [witi f gla

cier: ve Christiania, 1870.

ae eae fe til i Lymphekjerternes normale og alharòptsko Anatomi. Af A. Hansen. 4to. 5 jaa:

iristian

Meteor oratia his e Iagttagelser det Sydlige Norge, 1863-6. Folio. dia gfe eng

Meteorologiske qootenpataer’ paa Jem, Teregrafsiationer x ea Vorga ti st. Folio. Christiania, 1866.

On a Method of Registering Natural History Obse by A red Newton. 8vo. pp. ll,

with sample sheet. Norfolk, 1870.

Characters of New we Species ‘of me collected by Dr. Habel i n the Galapagos Islands, By P.L.

Sealter and Osbert Salvin. 8vo. fondon: 157

American Journal of por ei Pro T CMa, Philade [Nov. 24, 1871.]

Fossil Plants of of the Devonian and U; er Silurian jsp Powe z E By J. W. Dawson.

8vo. pp. 100. plates, Geological Survey of Canada. oatren!

Bulletin potted de la Societe Ee Eer ei 2e, Tom. 8. Nos. 9, a Ost Nov., 1871. Paris.

On the Connecticut Valley Glacier, a Examples of Glacier gea along the Valleys

of New England, red Jane es D. Dana. ee ‘ee Bh New r ven, 1

antas Toricus do Brasil, These de Concurso. Do Dr.J. M. Caminhoa. 8vo. pp. 186. Rio

de Janeiro, 18 18;

arterly Journal of Microscopical Science. No.45. Oct., 1871, Lond

~~ eek of the Torrey. Botanical Club. Nov. Bowdoin Seien tific Eois. Nov.

rnal of the 6 ATER guint, Noy. Le Naturaliste Canadien, Nov.

pt potas d Arts. Dee. Nature. Nos.for Nov.

Land and Water ee OF. Oct. The Field. Nos. pits Noy.

The Academy. Nos. for Nov. Science Gossip, N

La France cientifique, Nos. for Nov. Newman’s s Entomologist. No. 97, Nov.

INDEX TO VOLUME FIVE.

ee sont eee 748.

ctinuru

PEA itas, 745.

costes seed a Pg

ae Bec

ro, inate, 382, 383.

Sien

‘Rivatian Telmads, 38

Alligator, New Species, 562.

Amazonian Valle Devonian Rocks in, 121.

Amblystoma, Development of, 578.

American Association tor orano of

aeey ce, tg 385, 451, 6.

33.

Ano optimus Tellkampfii, 745.

Anthomyia,

Anthrobia Monmouthia, 747.

oh ological Institute, 192.

Ant C ats, ite 17

Ar chological Discovery, 19

Arche ological, Survey of Tndia, 62.

Archeology, Peabod. y3 a seum of, 404.

Arctic Expedition, 62, 256, 385.

rkan logical Survey of, 320.

Racuiiane, So

Atlantic Coast, Phy sical Features of, 178.

Atragene, Petals in, 7

Aurora Island, Disappearance of, 184, 379.

Aythya Americana, 662.

ia, Origin of, 779.

` Bacteria,

Bark, egre Layer, 715.

sel

ing 0:

Bee Culture

Bees, Sys of Breeding, 17.

f, 17

i 167.

land Tarsal Bones of, 524.

Birds’ Feathers, 675.

Birds, Flight of, 29.

Birds, Hand List of 775.

Birds, Iowa,

Birds of the ra 6.

bea bas 513.

Biso

Blackbird

Blackbird, Yellow hordod, 195,

Blind Crustacea, 74t.

Blind Fish, 744.

Bloc

Bob-o-li

Bolivia, Exploration of, 383.

Bones of Prehistoric Men, 789.

Botany, Fossi “ud

Boe in Camden, N. J., 63.

Boulder, Carboniferous, 606

Brachiopoda, 3 310, 646, 647.

Bra EATEN new Genus of, 55

Bra beni

Brazil, Takat Indian Pottery of, 259.

Brazil ie tame 448.

Brazil, Geolo

Brazilan Roc Inscriptions, 139.

TETT and Spring-tails, 91.

Bullock’s Oriole, 678.

Byssus fulvus, 753.

Caddis Flies

err din sty ye

Cali swine Aca emy ow Science, 63.

Cambar mee ee 750, 760.

Cambium Layer,

Neem, rn Cookal, Tir.

omg Entomologist, 374.

Gan

Ca pelin, Spawning of, 119.

Car pS irie gones 606.

Cardiff Giant,

Carpal Bones, 5 So,

Casts, nett to Make, 3

t, Hybrid between, aad Raccoon, 660.

Cattle Tick, 176.

ve, Blind Animals of, 739.

Caves, Mammals of, 58. i

Chicago CC agen of Sciences, 671, 801.

ate

Chry Embryology of, 564.

Cilia. 6

Cla: arede, Notice z 802.

Clidastus dux, 794

imbing Pen, 15

Coal, Plan

Coast A mean Boop ‘Sea Pog mae 646.

areata gael a ae

Colaptes au hey tl

Coleoptera, oe 158 » 127

Coleoptera, Distribution of, 644.

paoa Flowers of, 65

oe to, 258.

Gon ifer

eaa

Corals of the nia Coast of America, 306.

ale Flowers on the Ear of, 54.

‘3 ie. 245.

i ain

x in Wells, 754.

bservations on, 706.

(803)

804

Cretaceous Period, 6

S arene in Period, Sore of, 164.

eous Perio od, a of, 641.

grace Tortois

Crustacea 157, 7.

Crustacea, Fossil New, 303.

Crustaceans of the Prairies, 7.

Wells, 753.

roos

Cyclop

Daniingtonia Californica, 307.

nian ioe , 271.

Deen "Ameni is.

Deer, ’ Spike- “Horn ed, 250,

Deutzia, I Dinon hia in, 161. [12

nin Amazonian Valley,

Diabrothiea r

s, Origin of, 122.

Dianne 716.

Distribution of Mammals in America, 387.

Drift, 729.

Duck, Ringneck, 121.

Dytiscus, Foot of, 381.

in, 116, 714.

“5 n ee: "561.

Ear, Fungi

renbgy Fs

ogy, Economical, 307.

Entomology, one of, 158, 321.

Eozoon Canadense, 123, 255. 535, 539.

Erismatura, 44

rythronium, New Species of, 298.

Essor — 375.

Eupho

Europe, Lepidoptera of, 646.

Eyesight, and the Microscope, 189.

Falcons, Game, of New la 80.

Fauna of Lake soe org

Fisheries, Inlan

a U. 3. em a ee of, 319.

Fishes, 175, 397, 436, 579.

_ e of,

Fog,

Fossil Botan: my, 444.

eae 4 Plants, 34I.

Foss sil Repiiişn, , 443.

Fos

Franklin Society, 319.

Fresh be reed Sketches, ges

Fulix affinis, albino, 662

to,271. flO. | In

INDEX.

Fulix collaris, 121.

Fumariacez, Fertilization of, 117.

Fungi, 400.

Fungi in the Human Ear, 714

panel. Spied in the Human Ear, 116.

gi, Study of, 523.

allinula galeata, 662.

Gammarus in Wells, 54.

Geologic cal Pictures, 193.

psn een Survey,

Geolo, I

German Mu acu: §

ot on the Rocky Mountains, 123.

Ave

p hei Fish, To of, 785.

Grasses, 616

rasses, Sea

Grave- mii op their Contents, 155.

Grosbeak, Cardinal, 176.

Gulf of Mexico, Geology of, 514.

se a cigs 356.

Haw Duck, 66%

Hawk, Pige “os

Hawk est of,

Hawks, Migration of, 173.

Ha den’s ‘xpedition, 383.

Helix, 721.

Helix see 728.

enry, Prof., Honor Conf

Hesperomys cognatus, 761.

Holbrook, J. E., 667.

a Muscular, 108.

Honans 376.

Horn et, 172.

Heraa Madness i ina ee

Humboldt oe ‘

Hybrid ‘Cat and Race n, 660.

ee ae Parsee, 788.

d on, 257

Hyst

Ichne oea ‘th ada 42.

Idol, Mex

Illinois Geological ‘Collection Burned, 321.

Illinois, Geological Survey, 300.

Indian Implement, 317

In dians, mi oe in Vermont 11.

Insects, 440. ar

Insects, ee of Darwinian Theory

nsects, Flight of,

pater, Mimic

Insects of the Byte

Insects, Purtuedegensin of, 57.

Iowa, Geology of, 243.

Isoetes in Detroit Biver, 54.

Jardin des Plantes, 158.

Kansas, Geology of, 792.

Kirtland’s Owl, 119.

Labiatæ, Peloria in, 651.

n, 120,

INDEX.

Lake Superior, Fauna of, 722.

Lakes, Survey of, 384.

oe er, Apple, 209.

t pidoptera, era, 646.

Leaves," — of, 78.

Lepism

Lemna polyrrhiza,

Lemna tri a Pig 651.

Lichens

Life at Great Depta 393.

Leuna m, 335.

Lophius, Spaw n 785.

Lygodium ek ho 8 115.

Machilis Mage lis

Madagascar, F Cauna of, 725

Madonos n ina a Horse, 789.

Madre 444.

Mallots pn pi

s; Classification of, 526.

ree Distribution of, ar.

Mamm als in Caves; 58.

Mammals, aera 716.

Mammals of the Prairies, 5.

Mammoth Cave, 739.

Mammoth, Remains x. in Europe, 5s.

7e m = bebe E

Mar miery pple of Science, 321.

pei i 147; Illinois, 605; Ithaca, 314.

May Flies, 417.

Matoso Misamis, 716.

Meteorite, Fossil, 59.

Meteorology, 668.

ny a

Microscop of, 1

Microscopy, 1%, 235, i, B07, 733, 735.

Micro-telescope, 608.

Middletown Seicntific Association.

305.

isso ogy of, 541.

Si . Dr. Koch’s, 147.

_ Mockin. aoe

M idak 358 400 ; iongevit f, 173.

ollus 3, 358 ms o

Mollusks of Quito. 4

Mollusks of the Prairies, T ae

Monac

Monochromatic Illumination, 316.

geen te Sea Seeds, 510.

Moths, s Migrations i 313.

Mou a near Princeton, Il., 60.

Mounds, Tradition Relating to, 544

Mouse’s Ear, 72

Warchinon, Sir R., 737.

Museum in Cea Zoology, 61.

Musk Ox “Pie tah, 3.

Muskrat,

Natica

Natural ‘History i in geen:

oto —

ropte

Route i ig Classification of, 564.

New England, Game Falcons of, 80.

New Mexico, Expedition to, 257.

805

New York Museum of Natural History, 256.

Nile, rasta a of, pony

n Wells, 753.

Niphar

Nitella.

Nobert’s Lines, 797.

Noctiluca, 723.

Homeasisior Zoologicus, 193.

deca ree gy é

So nel rg Or nithological, 64. [326.

No as ooa nstitute of Natural Science,

Nuphar

y ret alea alivons 119.

Objectives, 188, 797.

cean Currents, 732.

Oil Wells, ant

Ophiuride

Organic Development, 593.

Origin of Spe

Omithologicil, 22, 4 37.

Ornithological Notes, 120.

Ornithological Pebivtations, 234.

bee Ss CAB i

Ow pra poaa 119.

Oy sters

Pacific Coast, es

Paramecium, 65

Kotare 375, 4

ade emy of Science, 305.

geere i I foseum of Archwology and Eth-

7, Wi, 705.

lze]

is)

Petrificatio Se

Phar

Aces S hical Society, A 257.

Phosphate of Soun a 320.

Phosphorescence, 72 See

Photographing Histological Preparat ons,

Photo-mierogra phs.

ickere l, Gro ra of Sis.

oat ao

5 rrey slop

lants, crane fertilization of, 647.

Plants’ Fe — pe n

Plan nts, Num

Plants, Rema ji KOs

or, eye of pyare A Vapor

pomeas rin

Port porns 7 Gave, Fi Fauna of, 756.

Portheus molossus.

Portuguese prame ie 313.

Pottery, 113. _

Pottery, Ancient, of Brazil, 259.

Prairie 4 abi ts of, 24

Prairies, of,

Prairie Fires, 68.

Prosuchus fuscus, 662.

806

a ei Ghar 794.

dotremia, 758, 7

Pterodactyl i a America, i

Pteromalus puparum, 72

Quaternary rana 638.

Quissama Trib e, 38

Quito, Natural Thatoi of, 619, 693.

Rabbits, 437.

Raccoon, Hybrid between, and Cat, 660.

Radiate

Piphitopnera subterranea, 745, 759.

Record of rgita , 321.

ER A ountains, Saad in come ‘213.

otif

Salamander,

Salvia coccinea, 782.

Salvia involucrat a, 161

Jommission, 63.

T28.

Sap, Ascent of, 160.

Schools, Natural History in, 129.

Science Instruction, 685, 798.

Scorpio

Sea Bed, Geography of the, 184.

Sea Bottom, Formation of, 124.

Sea Fowl, Preservation of, 253.

neg paren Cua of, 37.

Cla assification of, 234.

n Corals j sh

Sing ng ost

Skun hatomy of, 246.

Sou

arene Comeptuaston of, with Polar-

Spider, 733.

Spiders, Flying

Spirostrephon toh, 748, 760,

Sponges, 726.

Spongiade, i

| Toa an

INDEX.

Spring-tails — Bristle-tails, 91.

Squamella

ga uirr oe ial

Stagobi

Stanietreeb’s Fy poe. 798.

r, 657.

Stilt, ‘2 7.

Stone Age, Hearth of the, 88.

Stone Implements, i

Strawberry Worm, 3

Subterranean hte Tao.

Sucking Fish, 436.

Sun Fish, 360.

Tanis Stone, 664.

Peis Sete 524.

nidæ, 374.

Tertiary Peri rd, 6 638.

Tertiary Period, Fishes of, 643.

Tertiary Period, Flora of, 641.

Tertiary. Period, y ertabrates of, 664.

bo Sg

bia, Fl “tened; 663, 707, 792.

Ticks

i in the unas Ear, 176.

Tin

n En ag rn 329.

Toads in “Rocks, 78

Torto teop, oa Aan 562.

Tortrix

Tree, Chestant, 945.

Transpiration of Leaves, 784.

Triura cavernicola, 747.

y Association, 382, 383.

University of Pennsylvania, 384.

Vallisneria, 339.

Valsa, 323.

Vertebrates. Fossil, from Wyoming, 664.

ae tebrate Sy stem, 559.

| Vorticella, 656, 657.

Walrus, Fossil, 316

Wasps, "Habits of, 246.

Wasps, Parasite on, 120.

ax Insect, 683.

pelle, Crustae ‘ea in, 753.

Whale in oe Drift, 125.

Whippoor + 438

White Mountains, Geology of, 732.

Brazilie rent

g 787.

Wyoming, geoin “Of, 637.

Wyoming,

Xanthocephalus, 196.

Zoological Literature, Record of, 193, 375.

Zoology, Systematic, 353.